Business Growth

Patrick Combs is a master storyteller and has a fascinating past of having a show on HBO, consulting with Google and selling out theaters doing a one-man show. Patrick shares the mechanics of a good story so business owners can raise more capital, hire better employees, and convert more prospects into customers.

Spencer runs a real time experiment and shares his story for doing the podcast while Patrick deconstructs the story to make it 100X better.

Show notes:

00:29 Introducing Patrick Combs

01:59 His first mentor

03:09 His crazy transition at 33 years old

03:59 Getting a deal with HBO

05:58 Helping business owners tell their story

06:55 Every entrepreneur has an origin story

08:29 A good origin story tells people in 2-3 minutes your values, your reason for existence, your why, and it humanizes you in a way that draws people closer to you.

09:03 Your signature story

11:20 Spencer telling his signature story and totally sucking at it

13:56 Patrick deconstructing Spencer’s story, starting off with finding the drama

16:31 Start with a climactic moment, have a failure, and then feel your phoenix rising in the second half of the story

19:39 If you take an hour to do the work of crafting your story you will be able to wield it like a master

21:03 First step to telling a good story

22:38 The formula to every good story

24:10 Why the final piece is telling people your why

25:40 Stories trump logic and facts every single time

26:27 The reason why people don’t tell stories

27:43 Listener call to action

29:11 Say thanks to Patrick and take action by reaching out on his site www.patrickcombs.com or message him on Facebook www.facebook.com/PatrickLive

Resources:

www.patrickcombs.com

www.facebook.com/PatrickLive

www.youtube.com/user/pcombsgtc

Ty Crandall from CreditSuite.com talks with Spencer about business funding and business credit in today’s episode. On BGP episode #49 Spencer interviewed Gerri Detweiler from Nav.com and talked about building your business credit, so in this episode we dive deeper into another approach to business credit and financing.

Show Notes:

00:30 Introducing Ty Crandall

02:31 Where to start with your business credit

03:56 Using business credit to protect yourself from liabilities

06:20 Why most people don’t set up business credit

07:35 Can you establish business credit with bad credit or bankruptcies?

09:22 What’s the next step for building business credit?

10:06 Establishing vendor accounts

11:07 Establishing major retailer credit

12:15 What timelines you should expect with establishing credit

13:40 The best kind of credit to obtain

15:09 Hidden benefits for credit cards and cash credit

16:53 The difference between www.nav.com and Ty’s company www.creditsuite.com

19:50 The #1 pitfall most business owners face when establishing business credit

22:00 How to get business financing

23:59 Free guide www.creditsuite.com/ein

Resources:

www.creditsuite.com

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/business-credit-financing/id962410056?mt=2

https://www.uline.com/

http://www.quill.com/

https://www.mymonline.com/

http://www.seton.com/

http://www.gemplers.com/

Garrett Robins is currently working on a venture in the home automation industry. They talk why you can’t do it all as a business owner and how putting yourself out there by creating a good ole boys club sets you up for success.

Show Notes:

00:30 Introducing Garrett Robins

03:29 What he’s working on right now

03:52 From making $100k a summer selling home security systems to making $8/hr to learn internet marketing

05:42 His newest venture in home automation

08:04 Why he considers his business a marketing company and not a hardware or SaaS company

08:45 How shooting someone in the face with a paintball gun opened up opportunities

09:23 Why he’s laser focused as a marketing company vs SaaS project

10:19 Garrett's vision to educate entrepreneurs and bring them in as affiliates

11:11 Why the landscape for information products has changed and what’s happening

12:41 What it feels like to scale winning offers

13:52 Getting in with the “Good Ole Boys Network”

15:38 Putting yourself out there and being willing to sacrifice

16:22 Why you can’t do it all

17:17 What KPI’s he is paying the most attention to

18:34 Nothing tells the whole story like a good old fashion phone call

20:26 It sounds really sexy, but it doesn’t give you sexy money

21:36 How automating as much as you can helps you build something bigger

23:15 The real lessons when walking away from a business and losing money

24:42 The right way to structure the deal when taking outside money

25:45 Assembling the team around you as an entrepreneur

27:36 One of Garrett's biggest rules with business partners

30:18 This final piece of advice tightly wraps together what successful entrepreneurs do

31:30 Say thanks to Garrett Robins on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/garrettrobins/ or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/garrett.robins1

Resources:

Book - Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

https://www.instagram.com/garrettrobins/

https://www.facebook.com/garrett.robins1

Business owners that know their credit score are 41% more likely to be approved for a business loan. In this episode we talk with Gerri Detweiler the Head of Market Education at Nav where she shares insights on how business owners can establish and build their business credit. You can get your business credit score from www.nav.com for free.

Show Notes:

00:28 Introducing Gerri Detweiler

03:08 Only 72% of small business owners know their business credit scores

03:58 Nobody needs your permission to get your business credit

04:43 The traditional vs nontraditional source for acquiring capital

05:50 Case Study: How David Edmonson’s got capital for his sauerkraut business

06:59 Business credit cards vs personal credit cards

08:09 Where to start: The easiest and first type of business credit to establish

10:23 What you should expect once you have established business credit

12:10 How the your business and credit age factors into your access to capital

14:13 Why your business category determines if you are high risk vs low risk

16:02 How much capital a business owners should expect to get

17:10 Financing based on cash flow or sales - very expensive

18:02 Financing from PayPal, Square and other merchants

18:34 Access to capital based off of cash flow

19:10 Crowdfunding options like Kiva, Able Lending and Kickstarter

20:44 Do these 5 things to prepare for financing before you need it

21:36 Get your business credit score at Nav.com

23:00 Why business credit is used with government contractors and large vendor relationships like Wal-Mart and Target

26:13 Say thanks and ask Gerri question at https://twitter.com/gerridetweiler

26:50 The Ultimate Guide to Financing Your Business in 2017 free ebook at www.nav.com/ebook

Resources:

www.nav.com

Gerri’s books on Amazon

The Ultimate Guide to Financing Your Business in 2017

https://twitter.com/gerridetweiler

Special shout out to Joel Jensen at Nav for connecting us together.

Miguel Hernandez is the founder of Grumo Media. They talk about his fascination of learning and then deconstructing the information and applying it to creating online courses. You can see some of his best courses on the Udemy platform. This is a special interview because Miguel was in BGP Episode 20 a couple years ago.

Show Notes:

00:29 Introducing Miguel Hernandez

03:08 How Miguel learns and processes information

05:03 Why he listens to audio and video at 2x speed or faster

06:45 Consuming information using the food framework

11:16 How to apply what you learn into practice

13:30 Why you should teach others

16:25 How to decide on what topic to teach

19:31 Follow these tips to increase engagement with students

22:19 Designing and structuring your course

25:00 Why it’s so important for people to get a quick win

27:12 Strategies for building support and efficiently educating

29:30 Why Miguel is successful on Udemy

33:44 Building marketing channels and funnels for Udemy courses

35:36 How Udemy rewards you for creating a good course and good conversions

42:55 Leveraging the review credibility

43:34 The fastest way to monetize your knowledge

46:52 What Miguel is focusing on moving forward

48:18 His course funnel is www.marketyourcourse.com

49:39 What it actually takes to be successful teaching online

54:26 Say thanks to Miguel on Twitter @grumomigs or his blog www.grumo.com

Resources:

Miguel’s courses on Udemy

Video Speed Controler Chrome Plugin for faster audio/video learning

www.marketyourcourse.com

Joel Widmer is the CEO of Flux Digital Marketing and talks about his success as a content creator and teacher. They dive into the Udemy platform and share insights on creating high quality courses with different strategies for marketing your material.

Show Notes:

00:29 Introducing Joel Widmer

01:38 How to find a topic to teach

03:10 Using reviews to get ideas

04:10 Why most people don’t do the correct research

04:55 Creating a system for putting all your research and ideas together

06:38 Get feedback to avoid analysis paralysis

07:23 How to determine what’s valuable and what’s not

08:02 Teaching a mix of strategic and execution pieces

09:37 Quality standards: The difference that makes the difference

11:50 The 3 different levels of learning

13:35 Why your lectures and sections should be short and succinct

14:35 How to keep people engaged

16:49 Strategies for getting people to take action

17:49 Advice Joel wishes he would have received when he started

19:19 How much time to put into marketing vs content creation

20:53 Run different tests on your titles, images and sales copy

22:35 What KPI Joel is focusing on

24:32 Nailing the promo video to get people interested in your course

30:25 How to create an introduction video and conclusion call to action video

33:29 The true value of feedback and reviews

35:18 Launching a course and marketing it

37:37 Be as clear as possible because many students are outside the USA

38:43 External marketing tips

41:54 What Joel would have done different if he started today?

44:26 Other ways to leverage your course and content

47:22 Say thanks to Joel on Twitter @jwidmer and visit his blog www.fluxedigitalmarketing.com/blog

Resources:

https://workflowy.com

www.hemingwayapp.com

www.fluxedigitalmarketing.com/blog

https://www.udemy.com/user/joelwidmer

https://www.udemy.com/udemy-marketing-course

John Michael Morgan is one of the most inspiring individuals you will meet. He’s worked with some of the greatest companies in the world and authored a best-selling book.

In our conversation we talk about how to overcome self sabotage, create a massive turnaround and set up each day for success. If you check out his blog www.johnmichaelmorgan.com  you’ll see he writes engaging articles about goals, success, and becoming an achiever in life. More important than his business success, he puts his family and faith first. Because of that you will love this powerful message.

Show Notes:

00:30 Introducing John Morgan

01:35 Where to start with goal setting?

02:41 Why there’s no emotion to goals and what to do to fix that

03:54 Are you motivated to gain a reward or prevent pain?

05:38 John’s process to creating clarity.

07:24 Who do I have to be? What habits do I need to have?

09:33 Income improvement follows self improvement.

11:18 Scenario #1 - How to avoid self sabotage and create a turnaround.

16:39 What you can do to create the smallest win.

18:15 Your attitude in the first 15 minutes of the day will determine your attitude throughout the day.

21:02 John shares the details of his morning routine.

29:45 It’s human nature for us to compare.

30:10 Stop comparing yourself to other. Compare yourself to past versions of yourself.

31:33 Make your own rules so you can win

33:03 Scenario #2 - How high achiever’s can accomplish even more

36:05 A lot of people start off and they want to grow and become a leader but the moment they get there they become a manager.

37:04 Why you need to change your environment

41:50 Throughout the day ask: Is the habit and activity I’m doing right now going to make me the person I need to be?

43:41 Spencer’s take away from the conversation.

45:49 John shares his biggest motivator in life and business

47:27 Say thanks to John on Twitter @johnmorgan or facebook.com/johnmorgan

Kevin Davis is the best Facebook Ad expert in the world and he shares advanced strategies to understand your audience and to grow and E-Commerce business.

He’s explains where to get priceless market research data, how to start ad sets, and strategies for growing your business with Facebook ads. Some of these advanced tips he’s sharing have changed businesses overnight. You will walk away with a clearer understanding of how to grow your business with Facebook advertising.

Show Notes:

00:30 Introducing Kevin Davis

01:46 The detective foundational work Kevin does for market research

02:25 Use magazine media kits to better understand your audience

05:20 The critical things to look for in the media kits

06:48 How to leverage others editorial calendar for your ads and content

07:58 The best strategies for using SimilarWeb

10:19 Where to put all the information you’ve gathered

11:55 Starting the targeting process in Facebook Ads

14:28 How to get the top 10 states to target using Google Trends

17:42 Desktop vs mobile?

18:00 Send traffic to landing page or lead generation page?

18:51 Big ticket or low ticket offers?

20:18 The easiest and lowest cost method for running ads

22:02 What to do when an ad segment starts working?

22:31 Advanced strategy on how to scale your winning ad sets without being penalized

25:18 Scenario #1 - What to do when you are almost profitable

28:53 Scenario #2 - What to do when your ad sets aren’t converting and you are losing money

33:26 What your retargeting plan should be for an E-Commerce store

35:30 Scenario #3 - How to grow winning ad sets and campaigns

40:39 Pro Tip: Running right hand side video ads on Facebook

41:52 Strategies on expanding product offerings

43:22 Using lead boxes and contests to grow your audience

46:41 Pro Tip: Segmenting your video view durations into specific audiences

48:45 Say thanks to Kevin at www.paidtraffic.com or facebook.com/paidtrafficlab

We’re talking about that one bank account that all of us business owners have but never talk about… the emotional bank account.

0:48 Quote from Gene Simmons “Self-confidence is your greatest business partner. An enormous, almost delusional sense of self-confidence. It is neither genetic, inherent, nor for sale. But it is learnable and 100 percent essential to success.”

1:25 I’m borrowing the term Emotional Bank Account from Dan Pena The 50 Billion Dollar Man

2:12 Hard work is one of the greatest ways to make deposits to your emotional bank account

2:34 Improving the core group of people you spend time with will also add to your emotional bank account

Spencer Shaw shares the exact template he uses to grow his personal and business network. This episode came from a conversation with Allison Harden our Social Media Manager at PodKick.

0:58 The warm introduction and cold introduction template

1:23 I learned this approach from Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You To Be Rich

2:16 A world class connector I met through Ramit’s group was Naveen Dittakavi

2:58 Always start with the warm introduction through mutual connections

3:40 Pre-write the email for the mutual friend and bullet point why it’s a valuable connection and why you two should be connected together.

4:01 The challenge on this episode is for you to make warm and cold introductions to grow your business network