Stop for a moment. Think about your day. Are you doing work that should be delegated to your employees or contract workers? Small Business owner Robert is feeling overwhelmed and looking for tips to save time and increase his profits at the end of each month.

Would you be surprised to hear that your Small Business Show co-hosts have experienced this situation a few times? Dave and Shannon offer Robert some advice about delegating and keeping the phrase “Who is going to do this for me?” in his thoughts as he moves from working IN the business each day to working ON the business to become the manage and leader his company needs. Additional tips include saying no more often, raising your prices to reach an equilibrium between revenue and profit that works for you and your business and developing an Organization Chart to really see who’s doing what each day.

We then jump into a question about the impact of an impending increase of the minimum wage to $15 on Gail’s local Ice Cream business. The guys suggest offering more self-serve options, “gamifying” your product to incentivize customers to spend more, starting a membership or loyalty program and more. Just as important, your co-host remind Gail to be unique; “Don’t sell Vanilla”, with some examples of other food small businesses that have succeeded by being different.

Join us today for episode 121 of the Small Business Show! Then, follow us over to the Small Business Support Group to get YOUR questions answered.

The post Delegating more in your Small Business, learning to say no and surviving the $15 minimum wage increase – Small Business Show 121 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

You’ve got questions about your Small Business and we’re here to help! Join Shannon and Dave today on the Small Business Show to hear their thoughts on setting up data sharing for a virtual office and the pros and cons of freelancers vs a business partner that has the skill set you are missing.

If you need to share real-time data with your team that is working from different locations, what’s the best solution? Dropbox? Google Drive? How about a private solution like the Synology CloudStation? Your hosts spend time discussion these options and more to help one listener keep the data flowing between team members.

We’ve spoken at length on the Small Business Show about outsourcing talent to help your business. Todd M. wants to hear what we think about hiring a freelancer vs bringing in a business partner for his technical needs. The guys talk about their experiences in this area and what to look out for with both solutions before making their recommendation.

Listen in to episode 120 of the Small Business Show for all this and more! Then, join us in the Small Business Support Group to get your questions answered.

The post Answers to your Small Business questions – Small Business Show 120 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

Have you used outsourced talent for specific tasks in your Small Business? Ever run into quality problems? We thought so.

Neil Napier ran into so many problems outsourcing that he realized there was a business opportunity to minimize headaches and increase the quality of the talent pool and thus, JobRack was born!

Listen in to episode 119 of the Small Business Show and learn about the importance of having systems and procedures in place BEFORE deciding to outsource projects and how to get help if you don’t have either. We also discuss the pros and cons of outsourcing and what type of tasks lend themselves to using outsourced talent. Neil offers up some great tips to increase the likelihood of success with your outsourcing by developing Key Performance Indicators to insure that all progress is measurable.

We then jump into ways to use larger companies to jumpstart your business, riding on the “coattails” of a larger company to launch your own, how to educate your customers about quality over quantity and Neil takes the time to share with us how outsourcing is just like sex. Don’t skip ahead to this section!

Join us today for these tips and more, then click over to the Small Business Support Group to comment and get your questions asked!

Chapters/Timestamps:

The post Small Business Interview: JobRack Founder Neil Napier on Outsourcing – Small Business Show 119 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

It’s as simple as it is powerful. If we were using clickbait headlines, this one would read: This One Tip Will Make Your Customers Love You! But, since we don’t do that stuff on the Small Business Show, join us this week as we dive in deeper to the Two Tokens concept of Customer Service, as so eloquently described by Jean-Louis Gassée in his Monday Note.

Gassée, who has a storied history at Apple and founded Be Computing and the BeOS, uses the United Airlines customer service disaster to shine the spotlight on the concept of Two Tokens when solving customer service problems.

In a nutshell, the Two Tokens concept states that: “When a customer brings a complaint, there are two tokens on the table: It’s Nothing and It’s Awful. Both tokens are always played, so whoever chooses first forces the other to grab the token that’s left.” Your Small Business Show co-hosts were so impressed with how Gassée explained this concept and how important it can be when solving problems, that they spent the entire Small Business Show today digging into the practice and discussing how powerful it is.

Listen in, and then join us in the Small Business Support Group to discuss and learn more!

The post How to change the conversation when solving customer service problems in your Small Business – Small Business Show 118 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

Can you work from anywhere? Is your dream to create a business that can be managed from Thailand, Europe, Florida and anywhere in-between? If so, you need to meet the folks from Jumpanzee. Join us on episode 117 of the Small Business Show!

After spending years working for Ginormous Corp, David Denning and his wife Elle wanted to own a business that would give them the flexibility to live anywhere on Earth for months at a time. Jumpanzee, a branding, design and web management firm, allowed them to do just that.

After spending time discussing the challenges of running your business from an island, we jump into a discussion of distinguishing yourself in a crowded marketplace without getting into a race to the bottom on pricing, how to manage customer expectations and understanding that you can’t be everything to everyone and still be the best at what you do.

It wouldn’t be a Small Business Show interview without finding out about David’s “best” mistake that taught him some powerful lessons about making yourself accessible 24/7 and learning that time is your most precious commodity. We then talk about the obstacles in the way of scaling Jumpanzee and how David and his team are overcoming them.

Shannon and Dave wrap up the show with a discussion about just what exactly an “Explainer” video is and how Jumpanzee uses them to market their customers businesses.

Listen in and learn, then jump over to the Small Business Show Support Group to comment and connect with Jumpanzee!

Chapters/Timestamps:

The post Small Business Interview with David Denning Co-Founder of Jumpanzee – Small Business Show 117 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.