1 to 10

On the latest episode of 1 to 10 I interviewed my good friend Charlie Bailes, the Founder of CB Supplements. Charlie is a health and fitness expert.

In this episode Charlie talked about why business founders need to invest in themselves — and what happens when you don't .

Marketing in a niche industry?

You may get to the office every day and think, "I'm the only person marketing in this entire industry. I'm a loner." You probably think of all the interesting marketing campaigns other marketers are running, or maybe you watch TV commercials and think "If only that would work in my industry."

Addie Ventris had every reason to feel the same way — In 2011, she became a marketing specialist for Tactical Electronics, which sells to a very niche industry: SWAT teams.

Their products help SWAT officers and other tactical law enforcement teams see into situations before approaching. (My favorite device: They have a K9 camera that goes on police dogs!)

In the next few years, she would be continually promoted, until she arrived at her current position as Marketing Director.

She found a way to market to her niche industry. (And she crushed it.)

She came on the 1 to 10 podcast to share what she's learned:

WordPress: If you've been considering building a new website, or migrating to something easier, there's no doubt that WordPress has come up. But how do you know if it's right for your business?

We asked a true WordPress expert this very question on our 1 to 10 podcast, and he gave us the pros, the cons, and the ugly (well, nothing ugly, but you get the idea).

Michael Wender is a Web Developer, Graphic Designer, and Internet Consultant, specializing in WordPress and PHP. He's ran his own consulting firm for over 17 years, and we're kindred spirits — both graduates from Full Sail University.

Check out his reasons you should (and shouldn't) be using WordPress.

Conversion optimization is the new SEO.

It's a hot topic right now.

Why? Because it's crucial. You're spending tons of money on driving customers to your site. But what good is that if they don't convert?

Joel Klettke is a conversion expert. He's a conversion copywriter to B2B and SaaS companies. He's also the founder of Case Study Buddy, a done for you case study service that helps companies capture, share, and cash in on customer success stories.

Joel recently came on the 1 to 10 podcast to talk about creating copy that converts

Here's what he had to say.

Sometimes you experience growth. When you didn't mean to.

Meet Ian Lawson: He's a designer, entrepreneur, father of two, and he loves music. A man after my own heart.

He came on our 1 to 10 podcast and told us all about Slickplan — his amazing website planning tool that is used by thousands of businesses (including ours). Here's the interesting piece: Slickplan was never intended to be its own company.

Here's what happened:

In this episode, Irit Eizips, CEO and Customer Success Evangelist at CSM Practice, talks to us about the important of Customer Success.  

Irit emphasizes the importance of the customer journey.  Shifting power to the customer, the subscription model of business has catapulted customer-centric business focus to the forefront of importance in successful models, making success for each customer a major factor in not only keeping existing customers, but also in attracting new customers.

You'll love her Executive's Guide To CS Initiatives.

You can also follow along by subscribing to the CSM Practice Newsletter!

Whether we're aware of it or not, bias impacts our decision making every day on both personal and business levels.

In this episode, I sat down with my good friend Naveed Usman, Principal and CEO at The Usman Group, to talk about some of the traps we fall into while trying to make decisions.

Naveed is very excited at the opportunity he has to help leaders navigate their biases and make better decisions for their business.  Having these conversations with those you trust or consultants empowered to point out changes can also help you avoid many mistakes of bias laden decision making.

Everyone has an identity problem.  For a business, this fundamental struggle is evident when trying to name or rename the company.

In this episode, Phillip Davis, President and Founder of Tungsten Branding, talks about the creative process they go through with clients in order to land on a name that catapults their brand forward.

Finding a company name is about more than just being creative; it's about knowing who you are and hope to accomplish.

Animation provides the opportunity to creatively and unlimitedly tell your story.

But first, you have to know your businesses' purpose and have a vision for that narrative.

That's where Michael Cardwell, Owner and Creative Director of Digital Brew, comes in.  He and his team have been creating award winning live action and animated videos since 2011.

His team is made up of marketers, so they make sure the stories they tell look cool and get business results.

Some businesses close their doors because they fail to adjust.

And some dreams are never realized because of poor focus.

Wayne J. Hilmer Sr.,  Founder and Chairman at Touchrate, tells a different story - of ideas that became reality because Touchrate was willing to look at what was coming and seek business partnerships that could help!

One day your business may be marked by what it did to learn and adapt.