Jonathan Barnes of Work Heartily highlights the enormous challenge of needing an experienced executive team before you can afford one to go from Stage 1 of a business (start-up/mom & pop) to Stage 3 (enterprise).  Twenty years ago you tried to make this transition on hope and prayer, and most didn’t make it. Today, Jonathan points out how companies can embed fractional executives as part of their management team. Fractional executives work for you part-time while also working with several other clients giving them some unique perspectives on the challenges your business is likely facing. 

Fractional executives should be at half of the cost of a full-time employee, but because of their expertise and efficiency, they will move your team along, act as a liaison between the tech team and leadership, analyze policies and procedures and perform the functions that you would expect a seasoned executive to do. Jonathan provides 3 steps to strengthen your team from being dependent on the founder to having an experienced executive team to get your business to the next level.  Listen to the end for a special gift for our listeners.

Show highlights

04:51  Transitioning between Stage 1 to Stage 3 is like navigating white water rapids.

08:02   When you have no more time and you’re getting burned out.

09:44   How you get your executive team from founder dominated to enterprise caliber.

11:32   Having fractional leadership is very different from outsourcing a business function.

14:17   Effectively utilizing fractional executives.

17:52   The benefits from using fractional executives.

23:37   3 steps to follow to bring a fractional executive onto your team

26:27   Learn about Jonathan.  Email Jonathan at [email protected].

Connect with Jay

Email Jay at [email protected]

Sign up for a free one hour workshop called Fast Track Your Way To A Thriving Consulting Practice. The workshop will show you how to replace the income you left behind in your last corporate job and then 5X it, get fully booked with clients at premium prices, and to have prospects chasing you so you can pick the clients and projects you want to work on while maintaining your revenues.

Natalie Cook of Cooper8 Strategies clears up the confusion on the difference between accounting and finance. Finance is really about strategy, deep thinking, and forward-thinking. Accounting is a numerical recording of your results and is backward looking. Instead of only reviewing financials sent by your accountant every month (which you should do), Natalie recommends taking out a notebook and pen every month and thinking through your revenue, expenses, and significant decisions for your business for the next three months. She advises asking questions like, Are you at max capacity? How many potential clients do I have in my pipeline? Are any of my clients at risk? What expenses can I cut or change? Review your financial history to see if you're reaching your goals (KPIs) and then take a step back to see if there's anything that needs to be adjusted.

Natalie states that a CFO should drive cash flow and reduce costs increasing EBITDA 1-2% at a minimum and for some 5-10%. She provides a 5 step process for using finance to help you run your business. Listen to the end for her gift to our listeners. 

Show highlights

03:04   Accounting, bookkeeping, and finance are very different functions. 

12:03   Introduce the finance function in the early stage of your business.

15:27   The importance of finance when taking in outside money (debt and/or equity).

20:32   Business benefits from having a finance function in your business.

22:51   5 steps to take to incorporate a finance function into your business.

27:56   Learn about Natalie.  Email Natalie at [email protected].

Connect with Jay

Email Jay at [email protected]

Sign up for a free one hour workshop called Fast Track Your Way To A Thriving Consulting Practice. The workshop will show you how to replace the income you left behind in your last corporate job and then 5X it, get fully booked with clients at premium prices, and to have prospects chasing you so you can pick the clients and projects you want to work on while maintaining your revenues.

Nadia Boutaoui of NanoNares likes to zag while everyone else zigs. Starting with a Minimal Viable Product (“MVP”) is the conventional wisdom in the startup world. An MVP is a launch version of a product with the elementary set of features to learn about customer needs and gain customers with the least effort. Nadia advocates starting with a “problem first design thinking” approach before working on your MVP. 

She argues you spend more time defining the problem statement by talking to stakeholders that make up the market ecosystem, including buyers, influencers, gatekeepers, and saboteurs. This allows you to contextualize the problem, evaluate the need for your solution, and justify the need to solve the problem before you develop an MVP. Nadia observes that design-driven companies have outperformed the S&P Index by 219% over ten years. She provides a 4 step process to implement a design first approach. Listen to the end, where Nadia offers a special gift to our listeners.

Show highlights

03:44  Improve your MVP by starting with a problem first design thinking approach.

05:11  Use observations on how the customers experience the problem to inform building your MVP.

07:40  Complexities in large ecosystems where your solution fits drives the need for observation before MVP.

11:14  Starting with a problem first design approach can reduce the risk of your MVP and shorten your time to market.

13:07  The benefits from adopting a problem first design approach in advance of your MVP.

15:34  What you need to do to implement a problem first design approach.

18:55   Learn about Nadia.  Email Nadia at [email protected].

Connect with Jay

Email Jay at [email protected]

Sign up for a free one hour workshop called Fast Track Your Way To A Thriving Consulting Practice. The workshop will show you how to replace the income you left behind in your last corporate job and then 5X it, get fully booked with clients at premium prices, and to have prospects chasing you so you can pick the clients and projects you want to work on while maintaining your revenues.

John Carpenter of Expense Reduction Analysts observes that topline sales is a powerful growth engine for business, but controlling expense is an often neglected but highly effective way to grow.  Nothing is more efficient at increasing profit, EBITDA, and valuation than a dollar of savings on expenses.  A dollar in savings will increase EBITDA and profit by one dollar.  On the other hand, only 20 cents of a dollar in sales will make it to EBITDA and profit.  Likewise, when it comes to valuation, a dollar in savings is over five times more efficient than a dollar in sales.  

John provides a 4 step process for wringing every extra dollar out of your expenses without hurting your capability to deliver your service.  Listen to the end to get the details of his gift to our listeners.

Show highlights

03:38  You can’t only focus on expense control when times are tough - you do it across the economic cycle. 

05:52   You have to combine an effective procurement process with a continuous read of where market terms and conditions are.

07:02   Controlling expenses is the most efficient way to increase EBITDA.

09:39   Example of how a focused expense management program contributes to profitability.

11:23   What a good expense management program does for the CEO/CFO decision maker.

12:40   A 4-step implementation process for expense management.

17:57   Learn about John.  Email John at [email protected] or call at +1.908.803.2885.

Connect with Jay

Email Jay at [email protected]

Sign up for a free one hour workshop called Fast Track Your Way To A Thriving Consulting Practice. The workshop will show you how to replace the income you left behind in your last corporate job and then 5X it, get fully booked with clients at premium prices, and to have prospects chasing you so you can pick the clients and projects you want to work on while maintaining your revenues.

Joshua Goldberg of Nath, Goldberg & Meyer warns that protecting your intellectual property on an international basis is both necessary and non-trivial. Josh points out that there is no such thing as a world-wide patent, effective anywhere you might be doing business or might want to do business. Patents are territorial, with each country around the world having its own separate patent system with different laws and protections. This means that, if you get a US patent, you can only use it to stop competition here in the US. Should you conduct sales, manufacturing, or other operations in other countries, you could face undue competition there if you have not filed for patent protection in each relevant country.

Failure to obtain patent protection in certain key countries might lead to the existence of a global marketplace for “your” product, but one that is entirely out of your control. Third-party manufacturing can happen in one country, where there is no patent protection, with goods from there being shipped around the world. Even further, a prospective client of yours could try to buy the goods in the other country and then bring them here to the US, rather than buy them directly from you.  Josh provides 6 key steps you need to follow to protect your inventions on an international basis.  Listen to the end for a gift that can help get you started.

Show highlights

03:40   Think about where you operate today and in the future because patents are territorial. 

07:42   Playing defense - how to use intentional patents to protect your current business in your home market.

12:06   You could sue your customer for a patent violation but is that wise? 

13:49   There are a lot of nuances to consider when it comes to global competition..

15:10   You don’t need to file for patent protection in every country, just the key ones.

18:00   6 steps to create a strategy for patent protection on a global basis

19:52   Benefits and costs from having the right international patent protection program.

24:24   It takes an international team of patent attorneys and experts.

28:56   Learn about Joshua.  Email Joshua at [email protected] or call at +1.703.548.6284.

Connect with Jay

Email Jay at [email protected]

Sign up for a free one hour workshop called Fast Track Your Way To A Thriving Consulting Practice. The workshop will show you how to replace the income you left behind in your last corporate job and then 5X it, get fully booked with clients at premium prices, and to have prospects chasing you so you can pick the clients and projects you want to work on while maintaining your revenues.

Lee Barnathan of LB Communications is on a mission to prevent a common mistake made by too many business owners that costs dearly when deciding on an email campaign. They aren’t asking one fundamental question at the outset: Why do it in the first place? Is it to build credibility? Establish authority? Boost revenue? Create or strengthen brand awareness? Build or sustain relationships? You can’t structure and write a successful campaign until you answer that because the way to execute your objective will be different.  Business owners fail to understand at least 95% of the time that different campaigns require different strategies, channels, and tactics. It is not one size fits all.

Lee points out that if you answer the critical, WHY ARE YOU DOING THE CAMPAIGN question first, you will end up with a more focused campaign that targets the right people, is located in the places the target people will see it, decreases the number of people that unsubscribe or don’t respond to your call to action, and increases the likelihood of you reaching your campaign goals.  Lee offers a four steps process to be sure your campaign delivers on the objective you need.  Listen to the end for the details on Lee’s gift to our audience that will get you pointed in the right direction.

Show highlights

03:31  So many email campaigns disappoint because they lose sight of why they are doing it in the first place.

04:43  Your writing style changes based on your objective.

05:30  One message per email per target audience. 

07:08  Writing copy for an email campaign the right way.

08:50  How it feels when you get it right.

10:38   Implementing an effective email campaign in 4 steps.

14:10   Learn about Lee.  Email Lee at [email protected] or call/text during business hours (PST) at +1.818.521.1675.

Connect with Jay

Email Jay at [email protected]

Sign up for a free one-hour workshop called Fast Track Your Way To A Thriving Consulting Practice. The workshop will show you how to replace the income you left behind in your last corporate job and then 5X it, get fully booked with clients at premium prices, and have prospects chasing you so you can pick the clients and projects you want to work on while maintaining your revenues.

Matthew Irish and Dave Hubin of The Embark Group point out that companies that invest in a great employee experience are up to four times as profitable compared to those that don’t.  But executives are trying to improve their employee experience  with massively incomplete data and ultimately end up working on the wrong problems which come with significant costs in things like time, productivity, but also in terms of employee attitudes toward the organization.

Incomplete data from reliance on experience surveys is the key reason why 85% of executives say their organizations are bad at problem diagnosis.  Matthew and Dave advocate using triangulation; a method that allows you to diagnose problems with far more precision and provide insights traditional methods can’t.  Triangulation collects data in three ways - quantitative data (surveys), qualitative data ( interviews or focus groups), and field observations (“walk the walk” to see things in real-life and real-time). Matthew and Dave provide a case study of a large healthcare organization to back up their recommendation.  They provide a 5 step approach to incorporating triangulation to get a better handle on the employee experience.  Listen to the end for the details on how to get their gift to our listeners.

Show highlights

03:23   Improving employee experience is difficult when you have incomplete data.

05:37   Exit interviews aren’t the solution.

06:52   Triangulation should be used to collect the right data to measure the employee experience. 

10:01   How insights from triangulation lead to a much better design of the employee experience.

14:54   5 steps to incorporate triangulation to measure the employee experience.

18:42   Learn about Matthew & Dave.  Email Matthew at [email protected] and Dave at [email protected].

Connect with Jay

Email Jay at [email protected]

Sign up for a free one hour workshop called Fast Track Your Way To A Thriving Consulting Practice. The workshop will show you how to replace the income you left behind in your last corporate job and then 5X it, get fully booked with clients at premium prices, and to have prospects chasing you so you can pick the clients and projects you want to work on while maintaining your revenues.

Burr Cota of Polaris Principles observes that many companies mistakenly believe that celebrating a "return to the office" with team-building events and happy hours will help employees return to their pre-pandemic productivity. Burr notes that people aren't motivated (long-term) by corporate mandates, fun activities, or even increases in compensation. People are motivated to do their best work when they feel a strong connection among their core values, the why behind their work, and their organization's mission. Healthy conversations with people about how they can strengthen that connection must be the focus of our corporate leaders today.

Burr shared that according to a recent research poll, 85% of employees are either not actively engaged or are actively disengaged, and 61% of American employees say they are burned out at work. Each disengaged employee costs their employers approximately 34% of their salary. Burr provides four steps for leaders to follow to better connect with and engage with their workforce. Listen to the end for a gift Burr is offering each of our listeners.

Show highlights

03:36   Why direct conversations with staff are so difficult for managers to have.

04:44   Be careful when giving critical feedback to Gen Z and millennials.

07:10   How to engage your staff using effective communication

12:41   Benefits that come from using effective communication to engage with your staff.

17:25   Four steps leaders can follow to better connect and engage with staff..

23:06   Learn about Burr.  Email Burr at [email protected].

Connect with Jay

Email Jay at [email protected]

Sign up for a free one hour workshop called Fast Track Your Way To A Thriving Consulting Practice. The workshop will show you how to replace the income you left behind in your last corporate job and then 5X it, get fully booked with clients at premium prices, and to have prospects chasing you so you can pick the clients and projects you want to work on while maintaining your revenues.

When you start a venture or company, you expect success.  Koen Knaepen of DIY Growth Strategies points out that most people think success comes from how good your idea is, if you’ve nailed your business plan, or if you have great skills. But the real key to success is the management of your emotions. The experience of building a business is like riding an emotional roller coaster.

Koen advises that you have to create habits so your emotions are in alignment with your goals in every moment of the journey. The lack of control in your business amplifies this rollercoaster of emotions. You need a process and framework to manage your emotions.

Koen shares six simple actions you can take based on insights on how our brain functions that can help you get your emotions under control and allow you to get better business results: time, productivity, influence, confidence, clarity, and reflection. Koen provides three essential steps to follow that will allow you to control your emotional state rather than the other way around.

Show highlights

04:16   Success in a venture comes from how well you ride the emotional roller coaster.

06:55   Aligning your emotions with your cognitive processes.

08:20   Six insights to help you create the right emotional environment for success.

12:22   How you benefit when you align your emotions with your business goals.

15:45   Three steps to implement getting control over your emotions.

18:43   Learn about Koen.  Email Koen at [email protected].

Connect with Jay

Email Jay at [email protected]

Sign up for a free one hour workshop called The Guide To Getting The Right Clients At The Right Time. The workshop will show you how to replace the income you left behind in your last corporate job and then 3X it, get fully booked with clients at premium prices, and to have prospects chasing you so you can pick the clients and projects you want to work on while maintaining your revenues.

Vik Dixit of 369 Growth Partners provided the sobering statistic that while over $612B in venture capital was invested globally in 2021, 97% of startups fail with merely 1.5% returning your principle, 1% or less returning your principle with modest growth and the remaining 0.5% or less becoming the next unicorn. In Vik’s experience, new investors struggle to get access to good companies to invest in, how to structure the investment, and how to conduct due diligence. Vik recommends that new investors should partner with experienced investors, entrepreneurs, or angel investors to diversify their investments.  Vik offers a 5 step process for successfully investing in startups.

Show highlights

3:20   The odds are stacked against an individual who invests in start-up companies.

4:53   The mistakes new investors make when starting to invest in emerging companies.

6:40   The importance of diversification.

9:38   Investors need to think 10 steps ahead to make it easy for future investors to come in.

12:34   How principal investors should enter the start-up space.

14:45   The benefits from partnering compared to going in alone as an investor.

20:00   Five steps to successfully invest in startups.

25:07   Learn about Vik.  Email Vik at [email protected].

Connect with Jay

Email Jay at [email protected]

Sign up for a free one hour workshop called The Guide To Getting The Right Clients At The Right Time. The workshop will show you how to replace the income you left behind in your last corporate job and then 3X it, get fully booked with clients at premium prices, and to have prospects chasing you so you can pick the clients and projects you want to work on while maintaining your revenues.