Breaking Down Your Business | Small Business | Business Owners | Entrepreneurship | Leadership

What’s In This Episode:

There are a lot of business owners out there with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. We're talking to you on this episode! There are ways that ADHD may make it hard in life, but it might work to your advantage as an entrepreneur.

 "The more creative you have to be, the better." - Jill

Walt Bayliss, software platform creator and speaker, has finally figured out how to slay the beast of what's eating our time. The cost of doing business has become too expensive. So, he created a dashboard called Gojeo to check everything in one place. No more checking 17 email addresses and Facebook and LinkedIn, bouncing around from platform to platform wasting your time.

Sounds great, right? He and his team have gotten the financial part seemingly taken care of, but what he really needs right now is the exposure. He's reached out to venture capitalists, but they're expecting that the company has gone through an accelerator. But since he doesn't need the money, how does he go about getting introductions?

Brad suggests that he really reach out to the business community. Get in front of journalists and influencers, and eventually, the VCs will be reaching out to him. Put the energy from chasing VCs into gaining exposure for the business instead, and the VC thing will take care of itself.

"Don't believe your own hype." - Brad

Jill and Brad then discuss the top 5 ways your ADHD may be helping your business:

  • People with ADHD are very curious. They find opportunities that others don't.
  • Impatience. You're driven by action.
  • Things are started, but maybe not finished. But your team can step in and take up where you left off.
  • You're optimistic and forward-thinking.
  • And this will absolutely make you a better business owner...

Guest:

  • Walt Bayliss is the founder of Gojeo, a platform that helps business owners get more customers, make more sales, and spend less time. Find him on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Direct download: Breaking_Down_Your_Business_EP_251.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 3:00am CDT

What’s In This Episode:

Why is it so important that we sleep? Jill gets a little feisty: Sleep is SO important! It makes everything better, so you just need to do it. You need more than five hours of sleep a night, and more importantly, you need to build it into a routine. Think of yourself as a performance athlete for your business.

 "Performance athletes sleep 10 hours a night." - Brad

David Ralph, podcaster extraordinaire, calls in to discuss his problem which can be summed up in two words: Virtual Coffees.

As his podcast is gaining more and more traction, more and more people are wanting to reach out and connect. But when he wants more information from people or when he says no, people get moody and rude. Jill solved this problem for herself when she started telling people that they'd have to sign up for a group coffee chat, and they'd have to pay a little bit of money. Eventually, they'd pay and get together in small groups and ask their questions, and everyone was helped. If people really weren't interested, they wouldn't come to the group. If David presents this option to the people reaching out to him, there's no reason for them to have fighting words: He gave them an option; they can choose to take it or not.

"It's exhausting me to talk about this." - Jill

Jill and Brad then discuss the top 5 reasons you need more sleep (and why you want it) :

  • You make better business decisions with clarity.
  • Your mental and physical health is dramatically improved with more sleep.
  • You'll be able to handle negativity or things that go wrong so much better.
  • You're gonna work twice as fast (really).
  • And Jill swears the last reason is magical...

Guest:

  • David Ralph is the host of Join Up Dots, a motivational business podcast inspired by Steve Jobs. Find him on Facebook.
Direct download: Breaking_Down_Your_Business_EP_250.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 2:00am CDT

What’s In This Episode:

In business, we wanna be the hero that wins the day. Jill and Brad discuss times in their businesses when they got to be the heroes. Jill dealt with an angry customer and saved the day by simply e-mailing her personally to apologize. Brad remembers one four-day period where he didn't leave the house and got a lot of work done. He felt really good about it at the time.

 "What are you giving me access to that I'm not getting from anyone else?" - Jill

Dean Williams, recently named one of the best business consultants within the UK, calls in to discuss how to build a community, but first Jill and Brad have to talk about this: Dean got a letter from the Queen of England... and he's also cooked for Jay-Z and Beyoncé? (We're a little star-struck.)

But back to business. Williams really wants to branch out and build his tribe, but doesn't know how to do it. He's got followers on Facebook and LinkedIn, he's working on building his e-mail list, and knows that he can certainly go up and share a stage with Tony Robbins and Gary Vaynerchuk. But, Jill asks, if she were to follow him on every platform she could, what's in it for her? Followers need a reason to stay. Brad also suggests something we that we often do in real life, but forget to do online: We need to invite people to our communities if we want them to join.

"Do you own a business or does a business own you?" - Brad

Jill and Brad then discuss the top 5 reasons your business doesn't need a hero:

  • Heroic efforts don't scale.
  • Heroic efforts are prone to errors. No one wants to buy your 12th hour at work.
  • If you're always the one fixing things, no one else is going to step up and do anything.
  • You're setting an example - if you choose not to have a life, your employees may feel like they don't get to have a life either.
  • And the number one reason is a triple headache...

Guest:

Direct download: Breaking_Down_Your_Business_EP_249.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 2:00am CDT

What’s In This Episode:

Spring is almost here! Sometimes you're so focused on building your business that it's hard to see the big picture. How do you know you're on the right track? Jill asks for feedback. She hears what people say and that helps her know that she's doing something right. Brad was at a low point when he felt like he was going to quit, but then he raised his prices and doubled his clients. It gave him a new fire to keep on keepin' on.

"Hi, guys. Hey, guys. You guys!" - Jill, all the time.

Jill got yelled at. Not in the podcast, surprisingly - but as a response to an email she sent out. She sends out a daily newsletter, and will often start a paragraph very excitedly with, "YOU GUYS!!!!" But one reader was not so thrilled with being called a guy. "Just to update you," the reader said, "I'm a woman." The woman then asked Jill to reconsider her language. Jill said she would, forgetting that she had already scheduled another email with the phrase "you guys" the very next day. The woman again emailed and Jill again apologized. She then reached out to the Founding Moms Community, which led to a discussion about intent versus impact. In the future, Jill decided she would be more mindful of the language she used.

Language is important when you're talking to your customers, and it's important to take your clients' feedback into consideration. Canada even changed their national anthem to use more inclusive language. Let's all be like Canada.

"As a leader, you're responsible for the impact and not the intent." - Brad

Jill and Brad then discuss the top 5 signs you are on the right track:

  • If you've affected someone in a positive way.
  • If you change something major and you don't lose all of your business.
  • People ask what your rates are without you having to pitch to them.
  • Everything comes together in an inexplicable way.
  • And the number one way involves rolling your eyes...
Direct download: Breaking_Down_Your_Business_EP_248.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 11:00am CDT

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