Today on the show, Luke Ford shares not only the strategies he used to grow My Computer Works to $4.6M but also how focusing on NPS doubled the LTV of his customers, the marketing strategies he used to scale, and much more! He has a very interesting story about raising money, so listen in and enjoy!

TOPICS:

• What inspired Luke to get into entrepreneurship and start a business? [01:34]
• What was one of the unique things about how Luke started My Computer Works? [02:41]
• What was it like trying to raise money pre-revenue and working on it for six months? [03:11]
• What were the steps that Luke took to put this business together and line up the investors? [02:54]
• What was their target customer and how did they get their first 100 clients? [04:58]
• What was their business plan? [07:58]
• What kind of bottlenecks did they run into? Did they have to change their business model? [08:52]
• Why did they choose to custom-build their automation technology themselves? [11:42]
• How far did the automation take My Computer Works in terms of customers and revenue? [14:35]
• How did doing infomercials help Luke scale the business? [16:12]
• What were some of the big issues they needed to address in the process of scaling the business? [20:42]
• What are some of the unique things about My Computer Works? [21:43]
• What are their criteria for hiring technicians? [22:54]
• What were some of the things that they did between getting from $1M to $4.6M? [25:29]
• How did they handle customer churn? [31:46]

“Early adopters have to be informed on why this is a cool idea, or innovators have to spend a lot of time educating the marketplace.” — Luke Ford

“Never stop trying to figure out what the next channel is because you’re going to hit a good channel.”— Luke Ford

More from Luke Ford

My Computer Works

Resource mentioned

The Ultimate Question

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In today’s episode, Alex Brown shares the strategies he used to grow Dollar Beard Club to $11M in one year, sell over 1.7M boxes, generate 200M viral video views, and how he convinced Dan Bilzerian to promote their products. Tune in and learn from his journey!

TOPICS:

• What’s the story of how The Beard Club came to be? [01:37]
• How many years did it take before it felt like they had some traction and success? [06:40]
• What was their strategy for building their email list of 15,000 people? [08:02]
• Why did they choose to work with influencers and how did they build relationships with them? [10:41]
• If someone is looking to get into influencer marketing, how should they negotiate rates? [12:55]
• How did Alex get connected with advisors who are really influential and how does he create relationships with them? [14:48]
• How did they first build their brand through video marketing? [16:48]
• How did they get things lined up in order to launch the brand? [19:10]
• How did they find the manufacturer to make their product? [25:40]
• What was it like for Alex and his partners to grow the business so quickly? What were some of their lessons learned? [27:51]
• What were the strategies they employed when it came to customer retention? [31:41]
• What’s the one thing that they did that Alex thinks had the biggest impact on the growth of The Beard Club? [36:43]

“Aligning with people that were in the influencer world was our biggest secret to success there.” — Alex Brown

“Just really having the ability to know where you’re going and to attract people to that vision is super huge.”— Alex Brown

More from Alex Brown

Alex’s branding website
LinkedIn
The Beard Club

Resources mentioned

Gleam
PressRush
The Power of Now

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In today’s episode, I interview Jeremy Young, who has sold multiple online businesses for 8 figures. His current business, Tanga, generates over $24M in revenue a year. Tune in as he shares his journey, and learn how he built these businesses without driving his own traffic or raising money.

TOPICS:

• What kind of business is Tanga? [1:37]
• How did Jeremy come up with the idea for his first business, Virtual Servers, and how did he get started? [02:00]
• How did Jeremy grow Virtual Servers? [03:34]
• How does Jeremy go about finding good partners? [08:19]
• How did Jeremy sell his first company? [09:51]
• How did Jeremy come up with Uberplay? [10:40]
• How was Jeremy able to make the connections he needed to start Uberplay? [11:21]
• What did Jeremy do to build relationships within the board game industry? [12:35]
• How did Jeremy get started with Tanga? [15:50]
• How was Jeremy able to get traffic to sites in order to push the daily deals in Tanga? [16:11]
• How does Jeremy reach out to new people and how does he reach out for best-price deals? [21:11]
• What were the major milestones or breakthroughs that enabled Tanga to scale up to $2M? [24:19]
• How does having a customer dossier work for Tanga? [26:35]
• What are the two ways for a business to reach consumers? [29:25]
• What are the strategies for becoming profitable on a customer’s first purchase? [30:18]
• How long did it take for paid traffic to work for Tanga and what did they do to make it work? [31:24]
• What did Jeremy do to turn things around at those time when he felt like he was going to fail? [32:07]
• What is the difference between bootstrapping and raising money, and when is the right time for each of those? [34:15]
• Why is the right culture fit an issue? [36:44]

“If they don’t fit your culture, get rid of them. Find someone that does.” — Jeremy Young

“Know what your limits are and get out when you should be getting out. — Jeremy Young

More from Jeremy Young

Jeremy’s email
Tanga
TangaMonkey

Resource mentioned

BoardGameGeek

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In this episode, I interview Ryan Carson, who discovered the power of building a community when he started hosting meetups in a bar. The meet-ups evolved into conferences, which he used to launch Treehouse, an online education platform, and acquire his first 3,000 customers. Today, Treehouse has over 286,000 students in 190 countries and $15M annual revenue. Pick up some of the lessons that Ryan learned throughout his journey and enjoy the show!

TOPICS:

• What did Ryan do that put him in a position to be successful with Treehouse? [01:34]
• Why did Ryan want to start his own company? [05:41]
• How did Ryan get into the conference business that led to Treehouse? [11:24]
• How did Ryan build a community of web designers and web developers? [14:48]
• What is the value of building a community? [15:59]
• How did Ryan scale his conference business and build Treehouse? [18:23]
• How did Ryan build his email list? [20:58]
• What were some of the steps Ryan took to grow from $1M to $15M in revenue? [23:51]
• How did Ryan figure out the right people to focus on? [24:49]
• Why should you train managers? [26:59]
• What started taking up Treehouse’s revenue higher? [27:51]
• How does Ryan figure out what’s good and what’s bad and what’s the right user experience in terms of improving his product? [29:37]
• What is Ryan’s advice for people who are interested in potentially raising money? [31:03]
• What is the one thing Ryan did that had the biggest impact on his growth? [33:15]

“I believe people don’t have some miraculous idea for the company and the best idea of their life in an instant. It’s something that builds over years.” — Ryan Carson

“You have to have a good product and you have to time it right.” — Ryan Carson

More from Ryan Carson

Ryan Carson's Twitter
Ryan Carson's Instagram
Treehouse Website
Treehouse Twitter
Not Silicon Valley

Resources mentioned

Jason Fried’s Basecamp
lynda.com
Treehouse blog (formerly Think Vitamin)
Manager Tools Podcast
SaaSTr
SaasTr Pro

Sponsor link

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Have you ever been in debt and wondered how you can get out of that muck and build a business? If so, then you’ve come to the right podcast! Listen as Veronique James shares her incredible story of how she went from being up to her neck in debt to now running a $4M award-winning agency. Enjoy!

TOPICS:

• What inspired Veronique to get into business? [01:21]
• How did two-and-a-half years of experience working in an agency helped Veronique start her own business? [06:16]
• When did Veronique start thinking about starting her own business? [08:40]
• How did Veronique’s personal life impact her decision to start her own business? [09:50]
• What did Veronique do to leverage networking groups and get her first few clients? [14:04]
• What was it like for Veronique to work with contractors? [21:25]
• What are some of the lessons that Veronique learned the hard way? [25:05]
• How did Veronique’s business take off to a $1M revenue? [29:53]
• How does Veronique build recurring revenue into her business? [37:14]
• How does Veronique make her agency model work? [39:10]
• What were some of the major things that Veronique did that got her to $4M today? [42:55]
• What’s the one thing Veronique did that had the biggest impact on her growth? [46:09]

“I feel like my 20s were my years to make mistakes and learn. My 30s are to apply what I learned in my 20s. Hopefully, in my 40s, I can coast.” — Veronique James

“Pay attention to everything. That’s the most important thing.” — Veronique James

More from Veronique James

The James Agency | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Resource mentioned

Entrepreneurs’ Organization

Sponsor link

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We’ve got an extraordinary episode for you today as I interview my good friend Kevin Gianni who shares with us his story of how he started out as a personal trainer to becoming a health blogger, and finally launching Annmarie Skin Care, a multi-million dollar skin care line that is currently on an eight-figure run rate. It’s an episode that’s packed with some really actionable strategies, so let’s dive in!

TOPICS:

• How did Kevin come up with the idea for Renegade Health? [02:03]
• What was different about what they were teaching to people as personal trainers? [03:00]
• What was Kevin’s goal in building an online community and an email list? [06:37]
• How did Kevin come up with the world summits? [07:30]
• How did Kevin start writing books? [11:34]
• How did Renegade Health start opening an online store? [11:53]
• How did Renegade Health generate traffic? [13:54]
• What did Kevin realize about operating in the information business? [16:53]
• What is the challenge of the information business? [17:34]
• What did Kevin realize about the product business? [18:02]
• What inspired Kevin to create Annmarie Skin Care? [24:44]
• What were the challenges in launching Annmarie Skin Care? [26:38]
• How did Kevin figure out what products to create? [28:20]
• How did affiliate offers propel the Annmarie Skin Care business? [30:17]
• How did Kevin set up a solid affiliate offer? [31:51]
• How did SEO help Kevin increase traffic in his product’s website and how did he capture more leads? [36:00]

“What I learned fairly quickly but not quickly enough is that with the information business you’re selling pixels for the most part and pixels are really cheap.” — Kevin Gianni

“Go where the people are and bring some over to you” — Kevin Gianni

More from Kevin Gianni

Annmarie Skin Care | Facebook
Renegade Health

Resources mentioned

An Introduction to UltraWellness by Mark Hyman
Ultraprevention by Mark Hyman and Mark Liponis
Ryan Lee
Dan Poynter Books

Sponsor link

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I’m very excited to introduce you guys to AJ Mihrzad! He has an amazing business, Online Super Coach, and today he is going to share his journey of how he turned his life around and built a $1.2 million business with 90% profit.

TOPICS:

• What is Online Super Coach? [01:46]
• How did AJ Mihrzad become an entrepreneur and start running his own business? [02:23]
• How long did it take for AJ to become a full-time personal trainer? [05:18]
• How did AJ discover direct response marketing and transform his personal training business? [09:28]
• How did hiring a coach help AJ build his business? [11:34]
• What were the three things AJ learned from his coach in order to attract clients? [15:24]
• What kind of compelling offers did AJ put in front of people? [19:05]
• What helped AJ the most in order to be able to sell over the phone? [20:35]
• How did AJ hire and train his team of trainers? [25:48]
• How did AJ come up with the online personal training business? [27:59]
• How did AJ scale up his online personal training business? [33:42]
• How did AJ set up the Online Super Coach and make it into a profitable business? [36:33]
• What were some of the things that AJ did that made him successful in supporting the customer service side? [41:21]
• What was the one thing that had the biggest impact on AJ’s growth? [44:51]

“Coaching really works well for me, so that was my unfair advantage over other people.” — AJ Mihrzad

“It’s one of the hardest things to do, to find a hungry market that is underserved and you create something that’s leveraged. ” — AJ Mihrzad

More from AJ Mihrzad

Online Super Coach
5-Day Online Super Coach Challenge
Facebook

Resources mentioned

Dan Kennedy
Frank Kern
Eben Pagan
Chris McCombs
The E Myth by Michael E. Gerber
The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes
How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger
Jordan Belfort

Sponsor link

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What do you do when your tried-and-true business model collapses? Randy Hartnell spent 17 years fishing in Alaska. When industry demands shifted and he couldn’t meet payroll, he had to make a change. He decided to start Vital Choice, shipping wild salmon by mail to consumers. Today, Vital Choice generates $20M a year. Listen and find out how you can get through challenging times and subsequently grow your business.

TOPICS:

• What gave Randy the capabilities that he needed to be successful with Vital Choice? [02:20]
• What made Randy decide to start VitalChoice.com? [04:56]
• How did Randy get through the challenging and pivotal time for his business? [08:59]
• What were the steps that Randy took to get Vital Choice off the ground? [10:44]
• How did Randy tap into influencers to promote his business? [13:30]
• How much of a help were the influencers to Randy in getting his business to the seven-figure level? [13:59]
• How does the company get value from going to conferences and tradeshows? [16:22]
• How did the company grow its revenue from seven figures to eight figures? [20:34]
• What has Vital Choice done to differentiate their products, drive sales, and build brand loyalty? [21:13]
• What areas of customer experience does Vital Choice focus on? [22:54]
• What is the one thing that Randy did that had the biggest impact on Vital Choice’s growth? [26:42]
• What is Randy’s number one recommendation for selecting a partner? [27:42]
• What is Randy’s advice for breaking a ceiling? [30:38]

"To be successful, an idea has to sound crazy, because otherwise, somebody else would have done it.” - Randy Hartnell 

"When you're doing what you're supposed to do, serendipity tends to happen.” - Randy Hartnell

More from Randy Hartnell
Newsletter
Email
Instagram

Resource Mentioned

Essentialism by Greg McKeown

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What does it take to make you happy? Jayson Gaignard, built a $7M a year ticketing business, only to discover it didn’t make him happy. On the verge of bankruptcy, he took a loan from a friend to throw an event and has since turned that event into a business that generates $2.1M a year. Want to find out more? In today’s episode, Jayson shares his story about overcoming adversity and finding your happiness. 

TOPICS:

• What is MastermindTalks? [02:16]
• How did Jayson Gaignard first get into business and entrepreneurship? [03:23]
• How did Jayson get his first couple of 100 clients for his ticketing business? [06:16]
• Why did Jayson get into the retail space? [08:22]
• What is traction and how important is it? [11:45]
• What were the reasons why Jayson wasn’t happy despite the success of his ticketing business? [12:51]
• What is one of the lessons Jayson learned when he was scaling down his ticketing business? [17:57]
• How did Jayson start building everything again from scratch? [20:21]
• What is the value of relationships and being around other entrepreneurs? [21:55]
• How did Jayson throw his very first event with Tim Ferriss? [26:05]
• How did Jayson get people to attend his events? [30:53]
• What were some of the biggest lessons Jayson learned in building Mastermind Talks? [36:16]
• What are Jayson’s mindset and strategy around the events and how do they impact their success? [38:50]

 “I realized that money and happiness scale very differently.” — Jayson Gaignard 

“I would not be where I am, without a shadow of a doubt, without relationships.” — Jayson Gaignard 

More from Jayson Gaignard
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
MastermindTalks
Mastermind Dinners
The Community Made Podcast

Resources mentioned

Who by Geoff Smart and Randy Street
Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters
Scaling Up by Verne Harnish
Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish
Traction by Gino Wickman
The 4-Hour Chef All-You-Can-Eat Campaign of Goodness by Tim Ferriss

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Russ Perry built a marketing agency. His agency had many problems which ultimately led to its failure. Russ shares those lessons he learned and how he built Design Pickle, providing unlimited graphic design, resulting in $4.7M in sales. 

TOPICS:

• What is Design Pickle all about? [02:27]
• How did Russ Perry get into entrepreneurship? [2:56]
• How did his experience working at Apple help Russ Perry start his own business? [05:33]
• What were the first three steps Russ Perry took when he started his agency? [05:56]
• Why is it important to niche down when you’re running an agency? [09:59]
• How did Russ Perry get back on his feet after losing his agency? [15:03]
• How did Russ Perry come up with Design Pickle? [16:11]
• What makes Design Pickle’s business model successful? [22:51]
• How did Design Pickle gain customers? [24:10]
• How does Design Pickle handle customer retention? [29:43]
• How does outsourcing work for Design Pickle? [31:40]

“Agencies are beyond difficult, so anyone who actually can succeed with one, I really admire them.” — Russ Perry

“If you are not doing paid advertising, you do not have enough confidence in your product or service.” — Russ Perry

More from Russ Perry
www.instagram.com/russperry
The Sober Entrepreneur
Design Pickle

Resources mentioned

The 7 Day Startup by Dan Norris
WP Curve
Built to Sell

Sponsor link

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Thank you for listening! If you liked this episode, subscribe to this podcast and to leave me a rating and a review on iTunes!