Mastermind.fm

Mastermind.fm

By Jean Galea & Joe GaleaBusinessHealth & FitnessEducationSelf-ImprovementFitnessInvesting
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Mastermind.fm episodes

  • Episode 63 – Property Crowd Funding, with Andrew Gardiner

    This week Jean is joined by the CEO and founder of one of Europe’s first property crowdfunding platforms: Property Moose. The company was founded in an attempt to democratize property investment, believed to be previously reserved only for those with access to large amounts of capital. Prior to Property Moose, Andrew worked as a solicitor at a top-tier U.S. Corporate Finance firm, as well as a leading Private Equity firm.

    Topics Include:
    • Describing Property Moose and services.
      • What is Property Crowd Funding?
      • The types of investments offered.
      • The difference between first and second charge.
      • Typical investments and strategies.
      • Cautions for those unfamiliar with property crowd funding.
      • Recommended timeframes.
      • On international clientele.
      • The misconception of low versus high capital investments.
      • The advantage for those outside of the U.K.
      • Advantages of diversified location investments.
      • Plans to expand outside of the U.K.
      • How to approach currency as an outside investor.
      • Why American investors are not permitted, and how this may change in 2018.
      • Returns on investments, in relation to time spent in research.
      • Property Moose and project management.
      • Regulations, security, and safety.
      • Details of the secondary market and fee structures.
      • Properly educating yourself in investment.
        • Mentioned on the Show:
        • Property Moose
        • Why Use Debt to Finance Property Investment 
        • Multi-tiered Security Property Moose Mortgage
        • A Beginner’s Guide to Property Moose Mortgage Lending
        • Comparing Property Moose Mortgage to Other Platforms
          • 40 min
        • Episode 62 – Managing Large Teams Remotely, with Amir Helzer

          This week, Jean and James are joined by Amir Helzer, founder of WPML, which is perhaps the best WordPress Multilingual plugin. Having met abroad in Israel, Jean decided the ongoing conversations with Amir were to good not to have him on to discuss the challenges and opportunities in managing large teams remotely, this and much more in episode 62 of Mastermind.FM.

          Topics Include:
          • Amir’s start and 10+ years experience in WordPress.
          • The personal journey toward making WordPress Multilingual.
          • A brief on Toolset.
          • Remote Team Management of 90+ People
            • Team Size/s
            • Managing as a digital nomad.
              • Amir’s road to digital nomadism.
              • Letting go of tasks, delegating to employees.
              • Hiring the right people is more important than having the best procedures.
              • Set up a culture that allows your employees to succeed.
              • Come up with or adopt a simple project/person management system.
                • Fiddling with this system should not be a challenge of the business.
                • Measuring results only.
                • You hire good people.
                  • Nobody wants to fail.
                  • Nobody is being lazy.
                  • Your people aren’t broken, something in the process is.
                  • Ensure everyone is enthused about success.
                    • Do so by making sure everyone is involved in the vital processes.
                    • Past time activities.
                      • Absorbing books on psychology, HR, marketing.
                        • Mentioned on the Show:
                        • WPML
                        • Toolset
                        • YouTrack
                        • Codeception
                        • blackfire.io
                        • Amir’s Facebook
                        • Amir on Twitter
                        • Amir’s WP Mayor Interview
                          • 58 min
                        • Episode 61 – Automatic Renewals & How to Write More Content

                          This week Jean and James have a classic mastermind discussion about renewal rates and how one goes about writing more. From why everyone needs to implement automatic renewals, to the obstacles a writer faces, and mind over matter techniques to encourage you to write more. Expect a content rich episode, loaded with great takeaways!

                          Topics Include:
                          • James’s newest article.
                            • Automatically Renewing Subscriptions
                              • From business conference epiphany to reality.
                              • On renewal rates.
                              • The results; reaping the benefits.
                              • The magic of forecasting and predictability.
                              • Article idea generation.
                                • Where to start?
                                • Maintaining momentum and enthusiasm.
                                • Striking while the iron is hot on motivation.
                                  • Understanding your motivations.
                                  • Fighting imposter syndrome.
                                  • Defining why you are writing.
                                  • Measuring your audience.
                                  • Honing in on inspiration.
                                    • Mentioned on the Show:
                                    • Seth Godin
                                    • Automatically Renewing Subscriptions
                                    • “I did it without getting on a list and so can you.”
                                      • 55 min
                                    • Episode 60 – Growth Hacking: Create, Connect, Deploy, Succeed

                                      Transparency and paying forward good advice; this episode takes on a new format, based on experience and hard learned lessons from both of our hosts, as they aim to help those new to the digital playing field. This week, Jean and James have Iszuddin Ismail, of RunCloud.io, on to talk about growth hacking for startups, and take on any questions from their guest along the way.

                                      Topics Include:
                                      • Easily implemented blogging tips.
                                      • Separating product or service updates from curated content.
                                        • Experiment with different types of content and capitalize on your strengths.
                                        • Set an example for your customers, lay an easy path for them to follow.
                                        • Expanding your digital footprint.
                                          • “Create, connect, deploy.”
                                          • Defining your product or service.
                                          • The importance of proper email marketing.
                                            • Use your captured email addresses.
                                            • Do you need funding?
                                            • Depending on your end goal, stay bootstrapped if you can.
                                            • Setting goals as a team determines the length and type of road ahead.
                                            • Implementing affiliate revenue.
                                            • Don’t get stuck believing the way everyone else has met success is the only way for you to succeed.
                                              • Constantly be testing and tweaking.
                                                • Mentioned on the Show:
                                                • RunCloud.io
                                                • DigitalOcean
                                                • Linode
                                                • Forge
                                                • ServerPilot
                                                • App Cloud
                                                • Revue
                                                • The End of the Web Hosting Industry
                                                  • 51 min
                                                • Episode 59 – Sage Advice on Peer to Peer Lending with Laurence Samuels

                                                  This week we focus on money; what we do with the money we earn, reinvesting, peer to peer lending, etc. As Jean is proudly joined by Laurence Samuels, creator of Financial Thing: a blog site full of unbiased P2P lending reviews, DIY investing guides, and home to the new Investing Essentials Podcast.

                                                  Topics Include:
                                                  • Introductions; how and why Laurence started Financial Thing.
                                                  • How cancer, in part, drove Laurence into the world of investing.
                                                  • The book that made investing just click.
                                                  • What is P2P Lending?
                                                  • The things that have lead to the success of, and need for, P2P.
                                                  • What interest look like on P2P platforms.
                                                  • Weighing risk of P2P.
                                                    • Acknowledging the subjectivity of risk.
                                                    • Laurence’s experience based tips.
                                                    • Recommended platforms.
                                                    • Why Europe has a leg up in the P2P space.
                                                    • The difficulty with American money lending.
                                                    • Who is exactly lending to whom?
                                                    • Criticisms of P2P.
                                                    • Investing resources.
                                                    • Dividend investing.
                                                    • Calculating investment returns.
                                                      • Mentioned on the Show:
                                                      • Financial Thing
                                                      • Investing Essentials Podcast
                                                      • The Little Book of Common Sense Investing
                                                      • LendingClub
                                                      • Prosper
                                                      • Bondora
                                                      • Mintos
                                                      • Twino
                                                      • WiseClerk.com
                                                      • 4th Way
                                                      • GoToMeeting
                                                      • Bogleheads
                                                      • Entrepreneurs on Fire Podcast
                                                      • Property Moves
                                                      • Property Partner
                                                      • Watch This Space
                                                      • Property Moose
                                                        • 58 min
                                                      • Episode 58 – The Magic of SAAS Apps and Enterprise Work with Mario Peshev
                                                        Topics Include:
                                                        • Agency Work
                                                        • Enterprise & Obstacles
                                                        • Multisite & SAAS
                                                        • SAAS Apps
                                                          • Converting Plugins to SAAS Apps.
                                                          • Contributing to core.
                                                            • WordPress precautions.
                                                            • Predictions
                                                              • Mentioned on the Show:
                                                              • How to Attract High Paying Clients for your WordPress Business
                                                              • Digital Growth
                                                              • 15 Obstacles That Enterprises Report in WordPress and Development Partners
                                                              • My Store Locator Plus
                                                              • DevRix – Software as a Service

                                                                • https://wordpress.tv/2016/11/11/mario-peshev-building-saas-with-wordpress/

                                                                48 min
                                                              • Episode 57 – Takeaways from Pressnomics

                                                                Welcoming back James, the hosts get back to square one and catch up on both work and personal life, while sharing recent Pressnomics and business takeaways.

                                                                Topics Include:
                                                                • James shares his 5 Year Pressnomics veteran experience.
                                                                  • Takeaways from this year’s conference.
                                                                  • The magic of the hallway track & after-party discussions.
                                                                  • Switching things up: personal goal updates!
                                                                    • Jean keys us in on his progress toward being a professional Padel player.
                                                                    • James’s fitness check in.
                                                                    • A brief on diet and hobbies.
                                                                    • Cautionary tales:
                                                                      • When to-do lists do more harm than good.
                                                                      • Limiting digital shopping can open up a surprising amount of free time.
                                                                      • Sleep vs actual rest.
                                                                        • Metrics for maximizing your time in dream land.
                                                                        • The benefits of routine and meditation.
                                                                        • Take advantage of your biological clock’s prime [functional] time.
                                                                          • Mentioned on the Show:
                                                                          • Sleep by Nick Littlehales
                                                                          • Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy
                                                                            • 45 min
                                                                          • Episode 56 – Talking Shopify with Bjorn Forsberg

                                                                            In this episode we cover building a side-business online, making the full-time leap to the Shopify App ecosystem, and how it’s changed over the past 6 years.

                                                                            Topics Include:
                                                                            • Starting in IT and account management.
                                                                            • Learning to code and design.
                                                                              • Choosing a language and path.
                                                                              • Finding an outsourcing partner.
                                                                              • Growing to a full-time business.
                                                                              • The cost of living in Copenhagen.
                                                                              • Multifaceted analysis of revenue numbers.
                                                                              • One time fees versus renewals.
                                                                              • The joys of a lifestyle business.
                                                                              • The ins and outs of the Shopify ecosystem.
                                                                              • The Shopify community.
                                                                              • The state of the tech scene in Copenhagen.
                                                                              • Reducing support.
                                                                              • How to outsource to India successfully.
                                                                              • Audience questions for Bjorn.
                                                                                • Mentioned on the Show:
                                                                                • Bjorn’s hompage: www.forsbergplustwo.com
                                                                                • Bjorn’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/FORSBERGtwo
                                                                                • His partner in India: https://idyllic.co/
                                                                                • Shopify Partner Program: https://www.shopify.com/partners
                                                                                • Open Source Metrics app on Github: https://github.com/forsbergplustwo/partner-metrics-for-shopify
                                                                                • Tyler Tringas’ book on building small SaaS businesses: https://tylertringas.com/micro-saas-ebook/
                                                                                  • 1 hr 6 min
                                                                                • Episode 55 – Interview with Bryce Adams of Metorik

                                                                                  This week Jean is joined by Bryce Adams, founder of Metorik. They talk personal travels, a little WordPress history, and why SAS is the future.

                                                                                  Topics Include:
                                                                                  • Bryce’s Journey
                                                                                    • From Woothemes to Woocommerce.
                                                                                    • Automattic’s Woo acquisition.
                                                                                    • Digital Nomadism and Bryce’s favorite places.
                                                                                      • Much travel, little work.
                                                                                      • WordPress in Japan.
                                                                                      • Why the SAS model?
                                                                                        • The limitations of the plugin/product business model.
                                                                                        • “Will doing this help my customers succeed?”
                                                                                        • How Metorik came about.
                                                                                          • Weighing whether to stay with Woo or chase an alternative.
                                                                                          • Advice for those seeking validation to pursue their own side projects.
                                                                                          • Building your product or service to sustainability.
                                                                                          • Launching a bigger company off of a platform.
                                                                                          • Let your customer lifetime value be your guide.
                                                                                          • Adopting live chat support.
                                                                                          • “The future of WordPress is not in a ZIP file.”
                                                                                          • The technology behind building a SAS.
                                                                                            • Mentioned on the Show:
                                                                                            • Metorik
                                                                                            • Bryce’s Twitter
                                                                                            • Calculating…Average Revenue per User
                                                                                            • What is Success for Metorik?
                                                                                            • Underestimating the Unknown
                                                                                              • 1 hr 19 min
                                                                                            • Episode 54 – Hiring, Stability vs the Startup Experience

                                                                                              This episode we are down one Jean, but James brings a Kevin Stover and Zach Skaggs into the mix, to talk hiring and why anyone would consider leaving a stable job for that of bootstrap offerings.

                                                                                              Topics Include:
                                                                                              • WP Ninjas history in hiring.
                                                                                              • The perspective of one who would trade mega-company stability for startup culture.
                                                                                                • Lifestyle over pay rate.
                                                                                                • Letting growth influence your hiring.
                                                                                                • Hiring for attitude and aptitude.
                                                                                                  • Do they get it, do they want it, do they have the capacity to do it?
                                                                                                  • Good onboarding is important.
                                                                                                  • Don’t over engineer.
                                                                                                    • 43 min

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