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Mastermind.fm
Mastermind.fm episodes
- Episode 53 – The Five Man WordPress Development Panel
This episode Mastermind.FM has a complete international developer panel, ranging from Canada, Spain, United States and Malta.
There are some many good talking point ‘deep dives’, that show notes just won’t do it justice. So, sit down as with this weeks crew as Mastermind.FM embodies its namesake.
Topics Include:- All things WordPress.
- Through the eyes of developers.
- Views on development and WordPress.
- Frustrations and Challenges
- Defining Standards
- Rewriting in core.
- Looking forward.
1 hr 17 min - Episode 52 – Growth, Processes, and Challenges
This week, a Mastermind update, as Jean and James catch up on their personal businesses and side projects.
In this laid back core episode, many laughs await. Our hosts lead in by jesting about Jean’s pajamas, as James elaborates on potentially getting into the physical product space, with playing cards no less.
Topics Include:- Jean talks about his recent conference experiences.
- AI, chat bots, customer and company ramifications.
- Virtual Assistants
- Self-driving Cars
- Cryptocurrencies
- Crowd Funding
- James and Jean close out the topic with future conference plans.
- On Growth
- Break points, James’s switch from team growth to revenue being the determining factor.
- Implementing Processes
- The consideration toward outsourcing support.
- The Pros and cons of growth.
- Past, present, and future challenges.
- Be aware of your product, processes, and revenue.
- As you continue to grow, you have to be able to ensure things are being done appropriately, efficiency, and with care.
Featured on the Show:- Help Scout
- Kustomer
- Prophet First Podcast
50 min - Episode 51 – SEO, PR, & Influencer Marketing with Dmitry Dragilev
This week Mastermind.fm is joined by content marketer and founder of JustReachOut – PR That Converts, Dmitry Dragilev. He’s here to talk in-depth about things that are sure to revamp your SEO game plan, get you headed in the right direction, and maximize your SEO potential!
Topics Include:- Getting to the top of Google search results
- On advanced SEO strategies.
- Becoming a SEO “hacker”.
- PR Outreach & Content
- What is Influencer Marketing?
- What to look for to rank higher.
- Finding holes in content.
- Addressing topical depth.
- Capitalizing on engagement.
Featured on the Show:- Criminally Prolific
- JustReachOut
- PR That Converts
- On Page SEO: Anatomy
- Link Building Case Study
- SEMrush.com
1 hr 7 min - Episode 50 – All Things Codeable with Per & Tomaž
We have a first this week on Mastermind.fm, with a full four cornered discussion.
James and Jean are joined by Per Esbensen and Tomaž Zaman, cofounders of Codeable.
Topics Include:
- How Per and Tomaž met.
- Conceptualizing Codeable.
- How Codeable developed.
- Addressing startup challenges.
- Per on Elance and why he felt Tomaž was underselling himself.
- Why paying your employees what they are worth is win-win.
- Explaining the process of signing up and/or working from Codeable.
- The ins and outs of the entire Codeable ecosystem.
- How and why outsourcing is bleeding.
- Codeable’s solution and strategy to fight that.
- “Success is not determined by the projects you take on, but rather the projects you turn down.”
- “Quality comes at a price.”
- “Treat your business as a boutique.”
- Combating clients poaching experts & experts poaching clients.
- Coedable’s plans moving forward.
Featured on the Show:
Codeable
54 min - Episode 50 – All Things Codeable with Per & TomažWe have a first this week on Mastermind.fm, with a full four cornered discussion.James and Jean are joined by Per Esbensen and Tomaž Zaman, cofounders of Codeable.Topics Include:* How Per and Tomaž met.* Conceptualizing Codeable.* How Codeable developed.* Addressing startup challenges.* Per on Elance and why he felt Tomaž was underselling himself.* Why paying your employees what they are worth is win-win.* Explaining the process of signing up and/or working from Codeable.* The ins and outs of the entire Codeable ecosystem.* How and why outsourcing is bleeding.* Codeable's solution and strategy to fight that.* "Success is not determined by the projects you take on, but rather the projects you turn down."* "Quality comes at a price."* "Treat your business as a boutique."* Combating clients poaching experts & experts poaching clients.* Coedable's plans moving forward.Featured on the Show:Codeable54 min
- Episode 49 – Outsourcing, Ecommerce, & Blogging with Brian Jackson
This episode Jean interviews Brian Jackson, director of inbound marketing at Kinsta
His methods of digital income are vast, a blogger of food & finance, Brian has worked with WordPress plugins, as a super seller on Flippa, and even as an eBay power seller.
Topics Include:
- Brian’s Journey
- How eBay introduced Brian to internet commerce.
- CDs and DVDs were his gateway.
- From there he jumped into web-hosting & building computers.
- “When you do things online, you quickly find out where your time is best spent.” – Brian
- How learning to outsource proved troublesome.
- After selling the web-hosting company, Flippa was his gateway to flipping websites to make a living.
- Followed by the creation of The IT Bros. blog, which was also sold through Flippa.
- “The only way to learn on the internet, is by making mistakes.” – Brian
- How Brian is always blogging, and hasn’t stopped.
- On Brian’s cooperative business partnership with his brother.
- Their philosophies and strategies.
- Outsourcing content.
- The value of a good writer.
- Saving time on social media.
- Tips to grow your traffic.
- The key to success is research, before posting.
- What drives Brian at Kinsta.
- On WordPress web performance audits.
- Brian’s favorite apps and plugins.
- Plans for the future.
Featured on the Show:
- Quuu
- Smarter Queue
- Gonzales WordPress plugin
- My Theme Shop
- WP Coupons
- perfmatters
- Penny Bros.
- woorkup
- No Gluten blog
54 min - Episode 48 – Podcasting, the Product Space, & SAAS with Dave Rodenbaugh
Guest hosting this episode is Dave Rodenbaugh. Owner of Business Directory Plugin, AWPCP, and Recapture.io.
Dave has been a developer for 20 years, and has been working in the WordPress ecosystem since 2009. He also cohosts the Rogue Startups Podcast with Craig Hewitt, the man behind Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin and Podcaster Motor.
Topics Include:
- James & Dave talk the how, when, and why of podcasting.
- Rogue Startups Podcast anticipates their 1 year anniversary.
- What makes a good podcast stand out against competition.
- Why would you start/maintain multiple podcasts?
- Weighing verbal communication vs written.
- Why Dave believes podcasting has made him a “better business person.”
- James and his mischief bringing.
- Dave’s acquisition of Recaptured.io
- Moving outside of WordPress.
- Brief talk on Magento.
- Comparing and contrasting running a WordPress business and running a SAAS (Software as a Service).
- What lead Dave to the SAAS model.
- How the search and acquisition process happened for Dave.
- How dealing with legacy customers can be tricky.
- Playing the numbers game, and veritably gambling on business.
- Business is always risky.
- Be smart about making the financial decisions that set you up for success.
- How Dave balances managing plugins and his SAAS.
- Spoiler: Believe it, or not, he’s not a wizard.
- The key: a great team with diverse capabilities and tasks.
- “As support goes, so does sales.” – James
- Making sure your team isn’t bottled-necked by something they need from you, or someone else.
- Juggling…in the literal and business sense.
- Adjusting for when things go awry.
- “As a CEO, I ask myself, how do I set my team up for success?” – James
- Looking forward, Dave’s short-mid term focuses.
You can find Dave on Twitter @daverodenbaugh.
Featured on the Show:
- Business Directory Plugin
- AWPCP
- Recapture.io
- Rogue Startups Podcast
- Seriously Simple Podcasting
- Podcaster Motor
- Magento
58 min - Episode 47 – SEO & You with Danny Donchev
In this digital age, whether you thrive in the product or service space, recognition is half the battle. To that end, you want and need search engine optimization to be on your side.
Jean and James are joined by Danny Donchev for professional advice, myths, tips, tricks, and proven strategies that are bound to help you fight and befriend the necessary evil that is SEO.
So be sure and join Mastermind.fm for this great episode, and absolutely have your notepads at the ready!
Topics Include:
- A briefing on Danny’s experience and over 10 years working with SEO.
- An aside on why to avoid Udemy.
- The importance of choosing your keywords carefully.
- How to raise in the rankings.
- How readable does your URL need to be?
- Competing for unique titles.
- Why descriptions are, and can be your saving grace.
- All about slugs.
- Observing the power of star ratings and click-through rate.
- Will your post to be a featured snippet?
- Creating better content.
- Convincing Google that your site is the best search result.
- On theme content & duplicate content.
- Categories & tags.
- Are banners hurting you?
- Updating old posts, the how and why of the resurrection technique.
- Room to grow; SEO guided tips for any website.
Featured on the Show:
- Fortunelords.com
- WordPress SEO – The Definitive Guide 2017
- Keyword Finder – Keyword Research and Analysis Tool
1 hr 4 min - Episode 46 – A Lesson in Bootstrapping with Jason Cohen
You’re in for a treat this week!
Bring a notepad and get ready to jot down some great advice, as James and Jean are joined by Jason Cohen of WP Engine.
Get ready for a guest host who will leave you greedy for more and more of his awesome “knowledge bombs”.
Topics Include:- Jason’s 20 years of startups.
- The Story of WP Engine
- Why Entrepreneurship
- “Start with what you want and optimize for that.”
- “The best form of advice is to help someone think for themselves…” – Jason
- The commonality between having children and running a business.
- Picking your battles.
- Choosing which problems to solve in what order.
- What statistics say about startups.
- “You have to ask yourself, do you want a cofounder?” – Jason
- Answer what feels right to you.
- Jason’s experience as a stay-at-home dad.
- Growing your community.
- Importance of point-of-view, purpose, & where the market is going.
- Prepare for your ideas to be wrong.
- “Strong opinions weakly held.”
- On changing your own role within your company.
- “Why build a company if you don’t like what you do everyday?” -Jason
- Be excited, don’t get burnt out.
- “The state of mind you are in doesn’t have to be terminal, you can change it.” -James
- On “The tour of duty.”
- Defining superpowers!
- The difference between a superpower and excellence.
- You CAN be burnt out by things you are excellent at.
- However, a superpower will never wear you down.
- Hiring for a superpower is one of the best things you can do.
- Be mindful of the ‘ego’ component of being a CEO, or equivalent.
- Have a big ego, but don’t let that drive major decisions.
- How do you go about evaluating all of the above, systematically?
- Being smart about 1-on-1 meetings.
- Keeping a journal and tracking when you are most productive and happy.
- What is ‘Coach mode’?
- How to approach it.
- How to hone it.
- Is it more valuable to obtain new customers, or add a feature?
- What is the one thing that will impact your business the most, that you need?
- Focus on THAT.
- Do you have employees who can be better utilized in other areas?
- Try asking, “If you had a magic wand, what would you do?”
Featured on the Show:- SmartBear
- WP Engine
- 37 Signals (Which is now Basecamp)
- Jason’s Blog
- Jason’s Twitter
1 hr 17 min - Episode 45 – 2016: A Year End Review
Putting a bow on this past year, Jean and James come together to discuss the good, bad, great, and ugly of 2016, from both a business and podcast perspective.
Topics Include:- What Mastermind.FM has done for James and Jean on a personal level.
- James’s “obsessive” revamp of his recording office, now turned full studio.
- Jean “Hurricane Fighter” Galea on his U.S. trip.
- The joy of podcasting.
- The dynamic of personalization.
- Staying on schedule consistently.
- The struggle for engagement.
- Surprising analytics.
- Upcoming plans for the podcast.
- Plug for James’s “Adventures in Businessing” podcast.
- Lessons learned from 2016, as business owners.
- Personal growth.
- Jean’s newfound interest in bitcoin.
- James’s experience in launching a product.
- Goals Met
- Thanks to the sponsors.
- Aims for 2017, keyword: Focus
39 min
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