What’s In This Episode:

It's that time of year... How do you feel about holiday gifts? Do you love them or hate them? Jill LOVES handwritten thank-you notes because they're so thoughtful! But Brad thinks that all the pens and mugs and all the logo stuff... that can go away.

If you're going to give gifts to your clients,  stay away from blanket, generic gifts where you can and think about what might be heartfelt and/or truly valuable to them.

 "Put an angle on your personal brand." - Jill

Jason Feifer, editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur, host of the Problem Solversand Pessimist Archivepodcasts, and co-author of the recently released Mr. Nice Guy, has a problem related to his book. All of the firepower was concentrated on the launch of the book, so now what does he do? How can he keep the momentum going?

Jill wants to know what his goal is for the book, and ideally, he'd like this one to sell well so that he and his wife can write another. Brad suggests that he does the podcast circuit for sex and relationships in order to promote the book further. Jill says that if he finds an angle (maybe as a sex entrepreneur?) that's much more memorable, and therefore will encourage people to evangelize the brand and his book. He can also attain longevity with an email list or building a community.

"People listen to podcasts long after they first come out, so they have an evergreen effect." - Brad

What do you do about holiday gifts?

What’s In This Episode:

Brad started his business because he wanted to be free. He didn't want anyone telling him what to do! And then he sits down in front of his computer and thinks, "What should I do?" Sound familiar?

"I love that every day is different and that I choose priorities based on how I feel." - Jill

As business owners, you could have 1000 things to choose from, when really three of those things may help move your business forward. How do you choose? Jill goes with her gut. She loves that every day brings something new and that she can choose priorities based on what she's really invested in. Overall, her business is her priority and the work is never done because she's running a business.

Brad doesn't like that strategy because he feels like there's no way to know when you can stop something. But he often looks back at the end of the day and wonders what he got done.

"Should I spend time selling? Recruiting? Monitoring my team?" - Brad

So what's the best way to get things done? Setting priorities? Building systems? Seeing how you feel on any particular day? Do you need to delegate more or focus? Should you concentrate on the one area that makes you a lot of money? So many questions! Jill and Brad talk it through (and find a little help from Warren Buffett and the word "no").

Do you have a process for getting things done? How do you decide what to do next and choose what's right for your business? Let us know!

What’s In This Episode:

How do you celebrate Thanksgiving? And how does it apply to business owners? Jill looks forward to the beginning of (vegan) egg-nog season, the Macy's Day Parade, cooking, spending time with family, and on and on.

Brad likes the family time and all, but he doesn't think that we'd ever practice gratefulness unless we carved out a day for it.

"It's a moment to remind us all to stop, eat too much food, and be grateful for what we have." - Jill

Jill's got a book coming out on November 24th called The Best Business Book In The World* (*according to my mom). She'll pretty much be working through the holiday (you can pre-order it here, or buy it on Amazon when it comes out). She's grateful to her team - she sometimes gets told she says "thank you" too much.

Brad's impressed with that because he's not as grateful for his crew as he should be. He's very future-oriented and it's hard for him to reflect on the past and the present. As a result, he tends to feel more isolated. He's already moved ahead when everyone else is finishing up the last thing.

"I think it's interesting that Americans have to stop and be forced to be grateful." - Brad

But taking the opportunity to pause and reflect on the fact that he never would have made it as far as he did without his team does soften things a little for him. Jill suggests that maybe they celebrate "giving thanks" one day a month as a way to instill the practice (and they wouldn't even have to eat turkey to do it.

What do you think? Would you celebrate "giving thanks" this way? Let us know!

What’s In This Episode:

If you're like Jill, you love marketing but hate sales. If you have brands you really love though, do you trust them? And when you notice they are selling to you, what's your reaction? Are they marketing well or poorly?

What's the difference? Brad thinks that when marketers are trying to convince you of something you don't really need or want, those are bad examples. But when you believe in what you sell, you want other people to believe in it with you. And when you're really good at marketing (like Apple), you can clearly craft an identity around your brand that makes people feel good.

 "Offer what they need, but at a higher price." - Brad

Rachael Kay Albers, founder of RKA Ink and host of Awkward Marketing, is going into her tenth year of business. She's looking to scale up and be more of the creative director for her business, but she has her hands in all aspects of everything. She needs to hire more people for her team, but she needs more money to do so. But to do the sales she needs to do, she needs to be doing less work.

RAISE YOUR PRICES, RACHAEL!

"Charge what you're worth." - Jill

So, do you sell products or experiences?

Guest:

• Rachael Kay Albers is the founder and creative director of RKA ink. Her sweet spot is the space where business, marketing, and design meet. She is also the host of Awkward Marketing, which blends storytelling and comedy with marketing and business advice for entrepreneurs who want to build epic, unforgettable brands online.

What’s In This Episode:

What do you do for bonuses in your business? It's the time of year when year-end bonuses become a focal point. Jill and Brad talk about that, and a listener question involves asking if you canbuy loyalty. (We're never going to escape this loyalty debate.)

"It's so exciting from an employee perspective but it's so burdening for a boss." - Jill

There's so much anxiety surrounding bonuses, especially when employee and employer expectations don't match. But Brad believes there's no reason to start giving bonuses. Gifts are good when warranted, but he thinks that some employers think they are buying loyalty by giving out bonuses.

"A bonus means you're giving something unexpected." - Brad

But bonuses can be given for performance. A general bonus rewards the lowest paid employee more than the highest paid employee. A lot of employers fall into the trap of treating everyone equally like you'd want to treat your own family, and Brad wholeheartedly disagrees with that. But introducing that doesn't allow for any accountability.

When bonuses are given for performance, however, it bridges the gap for an employee who works for a small business and shares the risk of getting (or not getting) that extra perk. If you're going to give out a surprise bonus, Brad advises that you don't do it in December because there's more expectation that time of year. Make the bonuses proportional.

What’s In This Episode:

Ever needed help finding your tribe? What does that even mean, anyway? Is it customers or colleagues?

"Your tribe are the people that need that special thing that you have." - Brad

It's a common misperception that your tribe - in this instance - is your group of friends. But to find loyal customers, you want to be authentic. Does every brand need a tribe? Not necessarily.

If customers are responding to you, what do they have in common? Where do they congregate? That's where you can be your authentic self. It's very rare that your tribe turns out to be people just like you, which Jill was surprised by when she started The Founding Moms, and it took some testing to figure out what worked best. Brad spends a lot of time with trade groups and that's how he finds his tribe.

"Go out there and test what you think it might be." - Jill

And once you've found them, how do you get them to engage and commit? Jill constantly reaches out and checks in to foster the relationship. Brad looks for hot-button issues that he consistently hears his clients talk about so that he can talk about them passionately and offer solutions to those problems. If you can give a voice to people who are thinking and feeling what you are thinking and feeling, it's a great way to resonate with your tribe.

Then, to turn the tables, Saul has some listener questions and some followup on last episode's employee battle betweenJill and Brad.

What’s In This Episode:

Jill and Brad are talking about what to do when one of your team quits! What hurts more: the ego punch or the extra work? (Brad's voting for extra work.)

"I don't want them to have loyalty to me. I want them to have loyalty to the mission." - Brad

It does hurt when one of your team members quits. You get used to them being reliable and a good employee. When they leave, you have to cover their responsibilities while hiring someone else. It's a lot to take on.

Does loyalty factor into it? Jill seems to think so. Brad disagrees.

"When employees collaborate with the boss, I would hope that the employee doesn't look at it as a transactional experience in their day." - Jill

At Anchor Advisors, the greater good is to help small business owners run their business because they believe small business is a better place to work. A better offer is not always the best idea. So ideally, creating an environment of trust where employees can talk about their dissatisfaction helps to cultivate engagement. Hopefully, that means a team member wouldn't quit unnecessarily. But if they found an opportunity that worked out better for them, Brad understands.

What’s In This Episode:

How many businesses are too many? Have you ever thought to yourself, "How many businesses can I run at once?" If you have, listen in!

Pop culture references Jill makes during this episode that may or may not have anything to do with the episode: Sarah Koenig, Jeff Bezos, Julia Child, and Beyonce.

Sometimes people run more than one business simply because they think they can handle it. Sometimes they get bored with the one business that they run, not realizing that the "boring" business is the one that actually makes them money. And the more you do it, the better you get at it, the more money you make, and making money is fun!

Neither Jill nor Brad thinks running more than one business at a time is a great idea, but it took personal experience for them to learn. Jill used to have the perspective that, if the businesses enhance each other, why wouldn't you run them simultaneously? Brad now thinks that a business owner lacks confidence because they don't think they can profit off of just one main business.

"When you figure out you're talking to a different audience, kill the idea. It's not working." - Brad

If you have product lines and they're all to the same audience, then it's possible that everything contributes to one focus. And it may take some time to realize that you're actually not focusing on one audience, no matter what you think. Jill experienced that when she offered Founding Kits for The Founding Moms, a product-based offering that ultimately failed.

Brad has run three businesses all at once, and it didn't work out for him. He kept trying to revise and rework his projects to make them fit, and it just didn't. But he had spent so much time and money, he was unwilling to let it go. Sometimes, you just need to.

What’s In This Episode:

What do you do when your team member quits? That's the topic of discussion today. Plus, Jill and Brad get the best review ever.

It sucks when you do all the work to hire someone, then train them, and then they quit. Then you have to do their job in the interim, not to mention the morale dip. But there are also upsides.

The biggest advantage of having people quit is that it forces you to have systems. When people quit, it's an opportunity for new ideas. Sometimes you can find someone even better. And in terms of cost, turnover gives you an opportunity to reset salaries to the market.

 "You're already making your marketing easier by specializing." - Brad

Zach Ventresca is an Army veteran and serial entrepreneur. He's having difficulty scaling his newest company, Command SEO, because it's a very saturated market. Brad suggests that he tailors the SEO company to serve lead generation needs of the target market of his other company, which deals with window-washing and power-washing. Once that gets going, get into other niche markets.

"Write down the process you use and create a playbook for your role in this company." - Jill

If you want to explore employee turnover, check out this postthat Brad was inspired by.

Do you have systems for when people quit?  

Guest:

• After a full and decorated career as a leader in the US Army, Zach Ventrescabegan a second career as an entrepreneur. Beginning with a small government contracting company and later purchasing a residential and commercial cleaning company, he entered the world of digital marketing out of his own frustration with achieving his marketing goals. Zach’s vision has brought together leaders in all aspects of digital marketing in order to provide a comprehensive solution to Command Placement’sclients. This ensures that businesses achieve their full potential even in the middle of this digital jungle, and allows business owners the freedom to focus on what they do best.

What’s In This Episode:

Have you ever hired someone that wasn't so great? Jill and Brad talk about the reason why you can't fix your team.

"You need to be more specific. You have to give measurements. You have to talk about what you're willing to tolerate and what you're not." - Brad

Business owners always want to task Brad with fixing their team. Maybe they thought they've hired the wrong people, or that those people are too inexperienced or incompetent. But Brad thinks that maybe it's not all those employees who are at fault. After all, the boss is the one who's leading and managing. The person in charge is the one who should be setting up systems.

But the team that you have is fully curated by you. If you need something to change, start by looking in the mirror, he says. And if you don't know how to build the systems that will help your team, you can always hire someone to help you do that.

"You are an expert because you run your business." - Jill

Saul asks listener questions. Q: "How do you convince people that you are an expert?"

Brad:Telling people you're an expert makes them think you're not. So instead of telling people, we have to show them - ideally, by showing that you understand how to solve a real problem.

Jill:You can show people all the time, but you have to also convince yourself. You have to tell yourself, "I'm an expert."

Q: "What are some habits of yours that have been amplified by tech?"

Brad:I used to answer emails right away all the time and I had to change the habit because it was out of control. Social media has amplified our time wasting. But there are certain apps that are so good you don't even notice: 1Password, Zapier...

Jill:I've gone through so many apps and I've had a lot of bad systems. But when it comes to my newsletter database, the technology has made my life so simple and easy.

Do you have questions about fixing your team? Let us know!