Tim's story began at the ripe old age of nine years old back in 1975, where he watched his father come home one night after getting laid off from another job. He remembers it like it was yesterday at that moment thinking that no company is going to determine when his family would go on vacation, what types of clothes his kids can wear, what type of house he would live in or what kind of food my family will eat. It was that day that he decided it and it stuck. But also at that moment he realized that the system did not work and he checked himself out. One of the greatest negative things in life that clicked around him was when his parents had him tested in school and the school administrator told his parents that he just needed to pick up a trade because he was not going to do that well in life. That in and of itself is a huge put down for any kid at any moment but in perspective he looks back on it now and that is the driving point that he needed to say, ‘oh yeah...

Instead of show notes this week, Mason was kind enough to write-up what he discussed, along with images!

Facebook offers a lot of powerful tools for market research. You have audience insights that rival nearly any tool in the industry for consumer analytics, and can use graph search to spy on competitors. But, if you get creative, the Facebook Ads Manager can up your competitor analysis to James Bond levels.

I’m going to walk you over a fictitious example. Let’s say I have an idea for a new company that will offer hot air balloon rides over DFW airport. (I didn’t say my idea was good.) So, naturally, before I look into those pesky FAA guidelines and Federal Laws with those men in suits who don’t like people hovering over airports, I start my analysis of prospective customers. I’m a startup. I have to move fast and break things.

Make Some Lists

I like to use a Google spreadsheet to keep a list of companies, interests and events that are similar to my...

Reading is essential part of growing and being in tune with what you do.  As some of us go about our daily lives much like Jeff he found himself just not enjoying reading much at all. However, in 2003 that all changed when he was working for a radio company.  The leader of the company decided that the heads of the departments were going to read important, world-changing, and life changing business books together and meet about them weekly.

Jeff was a stranger to the world known as business books. They were just not on his radar and something that he now is ashamed to say.   So when he opened up his first business book called the “Purple Cow “ by Seth Godin he just fell in love with reading again. Now, as a host of the podcast Read to Lead, he is reading fifty plus books a year,. However, going from not reading to really enjoying books was a huge life change. He realized by reading that he was truly missing out. One of the best quotes from Dan...

A painting business is not just about selecting a color or slapping some paint up on the wall; it is a large artistic canvas to some. Take the journey with us as we go from a dream of a college student to the life of a businessman with all of the in, out, ups and downs.

Nick shares with us how he conquered the fears of entrepreneurship and has flourished with his painting company. He can literally look back and say that he has been to hell and back and has the business today to thank for it. What's great is that he still has ability to say that he loves being an entrepreneur and being in business.

Painting was something that you thought you enjoyed at first and then you slowly thought you should work a corporate job and went back to painting. If you will tell us your story of how you got started painting. Nick took a summer job when he was in high school painting for a friend of his moms since he was getting ready to go off to college. The reality was he would help them paint...

As the popularity of podcasting increases, it's more important than ever that what you do stands out about the rest.  Not only is the interview important, but so are the show notes.  Today Lara Loest breaks down what it takes to have great show notes attached to your podcast, so that it grabs the reader's attention and wants them looking for more.

There are many ways to have show notes, one for one, notes that give the highlights and then just a very brief description of what you will find when you listen to the podcast.

What do you feel constitutes great show notes? Are you trying to do the whole thing or are you pushing for the listener to press play? There are really two parts to it for me and for my clients. One is to give the readers content and give them something tangible that they can take away and leave them wanting more. So they do press play and they do download, because as we know in the podcast world downloads are BIG.

What makes a great copywriting? Where do...

So many times when we have one job, we believe it's enough.  Dr. Karen Osburn, who is a chiropractor, decided to start a blog.  When she discovered it was the parenting posts which really took off, she decided to take the blog from her business website and create a 'life' of it's own.  She found a group of mom's who loved hearing her stories and loved her honesty and vulnerability.

Her goal is to create a safe place for moms.  Where it's about not feeling shame, and to be allowed to be honest without fearing judgement.

How did you go from blog to podcast?  Dr. Osburn and her husband actually had a program where they taught families how to be healthier. When they had a harder time getting people to show up, they decided to take it online.  Their first podcast was to promote this program.  She heard another podcast where they talked about reading blog posts.  She felt she could revise the ones she had written.  She launched her podcast and...

To know podcasting, is to know Elsie Escobar.  She is probably one of the most passionate people for this medium who I have met, and her love for it is infectious.  As podcasting gains more popularity, there seems to be less and less originality in the newly released podcasts.  If you're thinking about creating your own, this is a can't miss episode, as Elsie gives some brilliant ideas of what you can do with a podcast outside of the basic interview.  

Elsie started podcasting because she really loved listening to podcasts.  She has made it a goal to be a student for life, and it was podcasting that really gave her that ability.  She started her own podcast by teaching yoga classes.  Because she was one of the only few producing a yoga show, iTunes was very good for building her brand.  Today, Elsie has several different shows.

What are some ways to use podcasting to promote your business outside of the standard interview format?...

Failures are okay.  Yes, they're kind of scary, but you know what there are a lot of lessons to be learned from them.

Instead of pretending how perfect and awesome I am (okay, so I'll take the awesome), I wanted to lay out my top 3 failures, and the lessons that you can learn from them.

This one's been heavy on my heart for a while, so I hope you enjoy!

(Oh, and tell me your failures, I want to hear!!)

Jessica Rector’s story is the ultimate making lemonade out of lemons.  After she found herself with an unexpected pregnancy, she not only decided to take on motherhood, but she also made it her mission to help other single moms.   Her mission is to help the moms out there who want to start making a life that they love versus just trying to get through the day. 

She joined us to share her story of this incredible business, along with telling us how she juggles a 20-month-old and a booming business.

How did ‘The Single Mom Movement’ come about? Jessica was a life coach, traveling all over the world and living life to the fullest. After becoming pregnant she thought her life was coming to an end. Being very career-focused she had no idea what to do or what her life would look like as a single mom and kept her pregnancy a secret as shame took hold of her. She ‘came out’ to the world through her blog titled ‘The Clueless...

Sue B. Zimmerman is a successful business owner who was all about using social media to bring business into her store on Cape Cod.  After she saw her daughters using Instagram, she wanted to see how she could use this tool for her business.  Well, not only did she use it for her business, but she has spends her time traveling the world, teaching others how to utilize it for their businesses.  We were lucky enough to have her stop by and share some amazing tips on using Instagram for your business!

Can you explain how Instagram can benefit you as a business? You can communicate what you do very efficiently, by your visual story. That means sharing things about your business like new products, people who you admire, or events that you attend. You can show what you are passionate about and what your business represents.   Sue has 6 accounts because she's found that the more that you niche down what you do and what you share the more likely you are to...