Podcasting Secrets

Sam Mallikarjunan is the co-author of the book, Inbound Commerce: How to Sell Better Than Amazon, which is ironically the number one bestseller in its category on Amazon. Sam is the CEO and founder of OneScreen.ai, an Internet of Things (IOT) enabled ad marketplace for the physical world. He is also the former Chief Revenue Officer of Flock.com and the former head of growth at HubSpot Labs. Sam taught advanced digital marketing innovation management and strategic economics at Harvard University. He is also the faculty chair for the digital marketing department at the University of South Florida. 

 

In today’s episode, we’re going to discuss Sam’s journey, how we can market ourselves, and how to get a job with our dream company. Sam shares his story of how he got a  recruiter from his dream company to contact him within 3 hours and 26 minutes. 

 

Sam’s Journey

 

While Sam worked as a talk radio host, his team asked if he could build their website and find a way to make money off it. He didn’t know much about websites so he started Googling things and came across HubSpot. As Sam downloaded and read through HubSpot’s educational content, he decided he wanted to work for them. 

 

“I built a website called HireMeHubSpot.com, and I got the free credits you get when you sign up for Google, LinkedIn, [and] Facebook ads, and I ran ads targeting people who worked at HubSpot to sign up for the free webinar about why they should hire me. Ironically, it's the best campaign I ever ran. Three hours and 26 minutes later, I got a call from the recruiter,” Sam said. 

 

At HubSpot, Sam helped the company build a software that lets e-commerce companies, such as themselves, beat Amazon.

 

Sam worked at HubSpot for eight years before leaving to work for Flock. Then, in March 2020, he started his own business building a digital marketplace to connect people who own ad inventory with the brands that value them the most. 

 

Marketing Ourselves

 

Sam’s biggest home run happened because he was able to market himself to HubSpot. Once he decided he wanted to work for their company, he created a free webinar where he marketed his talents and abilities. He did this so well that HubSpot reached out to him less than four hours later, and he got a job working for them. How can we market ourselves like this?

 

In today’s marketplace, it is becoming more and more important to market ourselves. When someone buys our product or service, they are also buying us. Consumers want to feel connected to whoever they are buying from and so we need to learn how to not only market our business, but also ourselves. 

 

When we market ourselves and provide value to our customers, we become the asset. A customer will be more likely to buy from us if they like who we are and what we stand for, if we give them good value, and if they trust us. 

 

3 Ways to Market Ourselves

 

Here are three ways we can market ourselves. 

 

 

• Know Our Target Audience

 

 

Sam researched HubSpot and read their educational content before he created the website, HireMeHubSpot.com and started marketing himself. Before we can start to market ourselves, we need to know who our target audience is. This means we should do research before we start. 

 

Nate Elliot said, “If you want to create messages that resonate with your audience, you need to know what they care about.” When it comes to our customers, we need to understand their needs, values, hobbies, and wants. Who are we trying to sell ourselves to? Are we trying to market ourselves to a customer or a business partner? We should ask, “How can I serve my audience?” The only way we can know this is if we know them. 

 

Once we know who our target audience is, we can determine what value we can offer. Gary Vaynerchuk said, “The best marketing strategy ever: CARE.” The more we care about our audience and understand what they need, the more likely they are to convert to our brand. 

 

It may seem backwards, but it is true. When we focus on our customers instead of ourselves, we can actually market ourselves better. The conversation shouldn’t be about how amazing we are, but how we can help our customers in a way that will amaze them. 

 

 

• Show Personality and Stand Out

 

 

When we market ourselves, we need to make sure we show our personality. What makes us different from everyone else? What makes us unique? What can we offer that no one else has? We need to have a unique selling point. 

 

Emma Stone said, “What sets you apart can sometimes feel like a burden and it’s not. And a lot of the time, it’s what makes you great.” We shouldn’t be afraid of being different. Our interests and passions show that we’re human. We’re not just trying to sell a product to our customers, we’re also trying to build a relationship. Remember, businesses are shifting to becoming more and more personalized. 

 

According to recent reports, 71% of customers feel frustrated when a shopping experience is impersonal and 80% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand that provides a personal experience (Source: Forbes). When we show more of our personality and become more personalized with our customers, our chances of success increase substantially. 

 

Sam uses his passions to help market himself and his business. He said, “I am really passionate about how we [can] create a world in which small businesses are a viable economic model 20, 30, 100 years from now, given the fact that everything currently is favoring larger and larger companies [with] more and more consolidation.” Since his passion reflects the goal of his new business, OneScreen.ai, he can share it with his audience to show his personality and stand out. It will also help him build trust and credibility with his audience members. 

 

Coco Chanel, a French fashion designer and businesswoman, said, “In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.”

 

 

• Build Trust and Credibility

 

 

Credibility marketing is one of the biggest tectonic shifts I’ve seen today. Customers simply don’t trust advertisements the way they used to. We have to market ourselves in ways that show we are trustworthy and credible. 

 

One way to build trust is to admit when we don’t know something or when we are wrong. If a customer asks us a question we simply don’t know the answer to, that’s okay. Instead of pretending to be perfect and all-knowing, it’s actually beneficial to accept that we don’t know everything. We are more likely to trust someone who admits when they are wrong compared to someone who pretends to know it all. Admitting we are wrong actually helps us gain trust. People admire others who are willing to acknowledge their mistakes and take responsibility for their actions.

 

Another great way to build trust and credibility is by being reliant. If we say we’re going to do something, we better do it. If we tell a customer we have great customer service and will listen to their feedback, we better do that. If our website promises a response to a question, we better respond. If we don’t fulfill the promises that we give, our customers aren’t going to know what they can trust us with. People will begin to doubt if we are committed to any of our promises. 

 

Finally, another great way to build trust is to communicate with our customers and simply listen to them. Listening shows that we respect and care about what our customers say.

 

Key Takeaways

 

Thank you so much Sam for sharing your stories and knowledge with us today. Here are some of my key takeaways from this episode:

 

1. When someone buys our product or service, they are also buying us. We need to become a personal brand and learn how to market ourselves. 
2. Customers are more likely to make a purchase when a brand provides a personal experience. 
3. Before we can start to market ourselves, we need to know who our target audience is. 
4. If we want to share messages that resonate with our audience, we need to know what they care about.
5. We need to show our personality. What makes us different from everyone else? We need to provide a unique selling point. 
6. We can build trust with our audience by being reliant and admitting when we are wrong or don’t know something. 

 

Connect with Sam

 

If you enjoyed this interview and want to learn more about Sam or connect with him, you can find him on his LinkedIn or visit his website, www.onescreen.ai. 

 

Want to be a Better Digital Monetizer?

 

Did you like today’s episode? Then please follow these channels to receive free digital monetization content:

 

1. Get a free Monetization Assessment of your business
2. Subscribe to the free Monetization eMagazine.
3. Subscribe to the Monetization Nation YouTube channel.
4. Subscribe to the Monetization Nation podcast on Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. 
5. Follow Monetization Nation on Instagram and Twitter.

 

Share Your Story 

 

How do you market yourself? Please join our private Monetization Nation Facebook group and share your insights with other digital monetizers. 

 

Sam Mallikarjunan is the co-author of the book, Inbound Commerce: How to Sell Better Than Amazon, which is ironically the number one bestseller in its category on Amazon. Sam is the CEO and founder of OneScreen.ai, an Internet of Things (IOT) enabled ad marketplace for the physical world. He is also the former Chief Revenue Officer of Flock.com and the former head of growth at HubSpot Labs. Sam taught advanced digital marketing innovation management and strategic economics at Harvard University. He is also the faculty chair for the digital marketing department at the University of South Florida. 

 

In today’s episode, we’re going to discuss Sam’s journey, how we can market ourselves, and how to get a job with our dream company. Sam shares his story of how he got a  recruiter from his dream company to contact him within 3 hours and 26 minutes. 

 

Sam’s Journey

 

While Sam worked as a talk radio host, his team asked if he could build their website and find a way to make money off it. He didn’t know much about websites so he started Googling things and came across HubSpot. As Sam downloaded and read through HubSpot’s educational content, he decided he wanted to work for them. 

 

“I built a website called HireMeHubSpot.com, and I got the free credits you get when you sign up for Google, LinkedIn, [and] Facebook ads, and I ran ads targeting people who worked at HubSpot to sign up for the free webinar about why they should hire me. Ironically, it's the best campaign I ever ran. Three hours and 26 minutes later, I got a call from the recruiter,” Sam said. 

 

At HubSpot, Sam helped the company build a software that lets e-commerce companies, such as themselves, beat Amazon.

 

Sam worked at HubSpot for eight years before leaving to work for Flock. Then, in March 2020, he started his own business building a digital marketplace to connect people who own ad inventory with the brands that value them the most. 

 

Marketing Ourselves

 

Sam’s biggest home run happened because he was able to market himself to HubSpot. Once he decided he wanted to work for their company, he created a free webinar where he marketed his talents and abilities. He did this so well that HubSpot reached out to him less than four hours later, and he got a job working for them. How can we market ourselves like this?

 

In today’s marketplace, it is becoming more and more important to market ourselves. When someone buys our product or service, they are also buying us. Consumers want to feel connected to whoever they are buying from and so we need to learn how to not only market our business, but also ourselves. 

 

When we market ourselves and provide value to our customers, we become the asset. A customer will be more likely to buy from us if they like who we are and what we stand for, if we give them good value, and if they trust us. 

 

3 Ways to Market Ourselves

 

Here are three ways we can market ourselves. 

 

 

• Know Our Target Audience

 

 

Sam researched HubSpot and read their educational content before he created the website, HireMeHubSpot.com and started marketing himself. Before we can start to market ourselves, we need to know who our target audience is. This means we should do research before we start. 

 

Nate Elliot said, “If you want to create messages that resonate with your audience, you need to know what they care about.” When it comes to our customers, we need to understand their needs, values, hobbies, and wants. Who are we trying to sell ourselves to? Are we trying to market ourselves to a customer or a business partner? We should ask, “How can I serve my audience?” The only way we can know this is if we know them. 

 

Once we know who our target audience is, we can determine what value we can offer. Gary Vaynerchuk said, “The best marketing strategy ever: CARE.” The more we care about our audience and understand what they need, the more likely they are to convert to our brand. 

 

It may seem backwards, but it is true. When we focus on our customers instead of ourselves, we can actually market ourselves better. The conversation shouldn’t be about how amazing we are, but how we can help our customers in a way that will amaze them. 

 

 

• Show Personality and Stand Out

 

 

When we market ourselves, we need to make sure we show our personality. What makes us different from everyone else? What makes us unique? What can we offer that no one else has? We need to have a unique selling point. 

 

Emma Stone said, “What sets you apart can sometimes feel like a burden and it’s not. And a lot of the time, it’s what makes you great.” We shouldn’t be afraid of being different. Our interests and passions show that we’re human. We’re not just trying to sell a product to our customers, we’re also trying to build a relationship. Remember, businesses are shifting to becoming more and more personalized. 

 

According to recent reports, 71% of customers feel frustrated when a shopping experience is impersonal and 80% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand that provides a personal experience (Source: Forbes). When we show more of our personality and become more personalized with our customers, our chances of success increase substantially. 

 

Sam uses his passions to help market himself and his business. He said, “I am really passionate about how we [can] create a world in which small businesses are a viable economic model 20, 30, 100 years from now, given the fact that everything currently is favoring larger and larger companies [with] more and more consolidation.” Since his passion reflects the goal of his new business, OneScreen.ai, he can share it with his audience to show his personality and stand out. It will also help him build trust and credibility with his audience members. 

 

Coco Chanel, a French fashion designer and businesswoman, said, “In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.”

 

 

• Build Trust and Credibility

 

 

Credibility marketing is one of the biggest tectonic shifts I’ve seen today. Customers simply don’t trust advertisements the way they used to. We have to market ourselves in ways that show we are trustworthy and credible. 

 

One way to build trust is to admit when we don’t know something or when we are wrong. If a customer asks us a question we simply don’t know the answer to, that’s okay. Instead of pretending to be perfect and all-knowing, it’s actually beneficial to accept that we don’t know everything. We are more likely to trust someone who admits when they are wrong compared to someone who pretends to know it all. Admitting we are wrong actually helps us gain trust. People admire others who are willing to acknowledge their mistakes and take responsibility for their actions.

 

Another great way to build trust and credibility is by being reliant. If we say we’re going to do something, we better do it. If we tell a customer we have great customer service and will listen to their feedback, we better do that. If our website promises a response to a question, we better respond. If we don’t fulfill the promises that we give, our customers aren’t going to know what they can trust us with. People will begin to doubt if we are committed to any of our promises. 

 

Finally, another great way to build trust is to communicate with our customers and simply listen to them. Listening shows that we respect and care about what our customers say.

 

Key Takeaways

 

Thank you so much Sam for sharing your stories and knowledge with us today. Here are some of my key takeaways from this episode:

 

1. When someone buys our product or service, they are also buying us. We need to become a personal brand and learn how to market ourselves. 
2. Customers are more likely to make a purchase when a brand provides a personal experience. 
3. Before we can start to market ourselves, we need to know who our target audience is. 
4. If we want to share messages that resonate with our audience, we need to know what they care about.
5. We need to show our personality. What makes us different from everyone else? We need to provide a unique selling point. 
6. We can build trust with our audience by being reliant and admitting when we are wrong or don’t know something. 

 

Connect with Sam

 

If you enjoyed this interview and want to learn more about Sam or connect with him, you can find him on his LinkedIn or visit his website, www.onescreen.ai. 

 

Want to be a Better Digital Monetizer?

 

Did you like today’s episode? Then please follow these channels to receive free digital monetization content:

 

1. Get a free Monetization Assessment of your business
2. Subscribe to the free Monetization eMagazine.
3. Subscribe to the Monetization Nation YouTube channel.
4. Subscribe to the Monetization Nation podcast on Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. 
5. Follow Monetization Nation on Instagram and Twitter.

 

Share Your Story 

 

How do you market yourself? Please join our private Monetization Nation Facebook group and share your insights with other digital monetizers. 

 

Read at: https://monetizationnation.com/blog/124-how-to-get-a-job-with-your-dream-company/ 

Dave Rose and his team build custom revenue engines for companies around the world. He is the author of Overcoming the 15 Categories of Rejection. Rejection is a common occurrence that we all encounter in our lives. In this episode, we’ll talk with Dave about rejection and how we can overcome it.  

Read at: https://monetizationnation.com/blog/123-how-to-overcome-rejection/

Dave Rose and his team build custom revenue engines for companies around the world. He is the author of Overcoming the 15 Categories of Rejection. Rejection is a common occurrence that we all encounter in our lives. In this episode, we’ll talk with Dave about rejection and how we can overcome it.  

 

The Journey to Writing His Book

 

Dave was asked to speak to an audience about rejection. Dave thought, “No problem.” He jumped online, looking for the categories of rejection, and couldn’t find anything. So he went to the library. The librarian searched on her computer and couldn’t find anything. She asked another employee for help and they all started searching through the drawers that still used the Dewey Decimal System. They couldn’t find anything.

 

Dave happened to be advised at the University of North Texas. He asked some of the professors there, but none of them knew anything either. “Nobody [had] ever categorized rejection,” he explained. “It just hadn't happened. There are lots of books around persuasion, and great books about overcoming being told no and rejection, [or] being more powerful with these kinds of skills, but no one had ever categorized [it].”

 

Dave continued, “Fast forward 10 years of studying in 22 countries to be able to say I'd categorized rejection and named the categories and helped people overcome [them]. I had no idea that was going to be how the book came about. But that's what's happened and it's changing people's lives.”

 

Categories of Rejection

 

In our interview, Dave shared some of the categories of rejection from his book.

 

Mind Blocks

 

Dave said this category was hard to identify. Most people understand a monetary block; they understand that they can’t buy a $50 million house without that much money. But people miss mind blocks as a source of rejection. Dave explained that this mind block “stops people from even trying.”

 

He gave the example of asking me to borrow my car when he knew I’d say no. When people know what the answer will be, or think they know, they won’t even ask.

 

“There [are] mind blocks in the audience's mind,” Dave continued. “This has been the most powerful [thing] where we help CEOs and companies change mind blocks [of their audience].”

 

Decision Makers

 

The next category is decision-makers. “Most people aren't even talking to the right [person],” Dave explained. “They're walking away rejected, they're trying to get somewhere in life and their trajectory is dampened. And they weren't even dealing with the right decision-makers. That was something that was overlooked for a while as an actual category of rejections. . . . It's like you're asking mom to borrow the car on Friday night but you know it's dad's decision, or you're asking dad and it's mom's decision.”

 

Likeability 

 

Likeability is the third category of rejection. Before the book came out, Dave was speaking about it and taking questions. A woman said to him, “Love is a category. Did you get that?” Dave said, “Well actually . . . love is not a category.” She said, “If you don't say love is a category, then you've never figured it out.” Dave said, “Well, we figured that the third category of objection is likeability.” He asked her “Have you ever loved someone?” She responded, “Well, yes.” He asked, “Have you hated that person?” She said, “Yes.” Dave told her, “You [see] how that's on a scale. So we call it likeability on a scale. [You can go from] maybe in the neutral middle, to love, [to] hate, however you want to look at it, but likability is a category of rejection that encompasses love.”

 

Goal Shot or Close

 

Another important category is the goal shot or the close. This is “asking for what you want,” Dave said. “Most people think they're rejected, but they never really try to get what they want.” They might say, “I didn't become a doctor (or a lawyer, accountant, dentist, etc.) because I didn’t have the money for school.”

 

Dave continued, “So there's a combination of money [and a] combination of a mental block. There might have been a combination of not asking for what you wanted. You can analyze a situation and find multiple categories of rejection impacting a situation. When you study it, you can start to remove those categories of rejection and get a lot more in life, and it just works for sales, for leaders, for a relationship, [etc.].”

 

How These Categories Can Benefit Entrepreneurs

 

In our sales efforts, one of these categories might be an obstacle to overcome in order to motivate someone to buy our product. There are also other ways these categories can benefit us. “Sometimes [the benefits are] not so obvious . . . report, culture, morale, employee relations, using it for how people interact and work together. Oftentimes they're hitting up against one another.”

 

Sometimes in companies, we have one team for one aspect and another time for a different one. We might think that one of the teams does this specific thing and someone from that team can’t go into the other team. “That's a communication and rejection issue,” Dave said. 

 

“Helping people understand how to communicate and how to get what they need from one another and overcome the rejections with one another and the teams . . . is very transmogrifying for a business. You find that it starts to impact the short term, the morale, and then you're gonna impact culture, and you can get a consistent, repeatable process in there.” - Dave Rose

 

Being Proud of Our Passions

 

One day, Dave was talking to a rock star speaker who’d heard Dave speak. This person said to Dave, “When I'm asked on a plane what I do, it's sexy. I just tell them “I help companies build rock stars,” [and] I love that. I just thought it's hot, but what you do isn't sexy. You build revenue engines and the customer experience.”

 

When Dave heard this, it hurt. He said, “For a couple [of] weeks, it hurt, and then I realized . . . but we sell millions of dollars worth of stuff every year. I mean it works. . . . My passion is building revenue engines, and that's not really sexy. And if [I] just say that . . . it's kind of confusing to people in a way. [But] I don't care anymore. My passion is to build revenue engines. . . . I don't make any apologies for that anymore.”

 

Dave is doing the thing his target audience wants the most: he’s helping CEOs make more money. Someone else’s passion may look more exciting or sound more interesting, but as Dave has learned, we don’t have to feel bad about what we are passionate about.

 

Jumping on Tectonic Shifts and Breakthroughs

 

Here are a few examples of people or companies who had great breakthroughs or jumped on big tectonic shifts early to leverage them.

 

Elon Musk 

 

When I asked Dave who he thinks the best digital monetizer is, he said Elon Musk. Dave compared Musk to Donald Trump, saying, “Donald Trump has a potential of notoriety and big ideas and an audience. And you take Elon, and he does it right. He does it right, and I'm not subscribing to any political side [or] ideology one way or another, I'm just saying there's a little bit of a similarity to me in terms of the platforms they have and what they can do, and comparing them, Elon takes this to another level from the digital side, and [he’s] a master.”

 

Elon Musk is a great example of someone who has jumped onto tectonic shifts early and leveraged them. There’s a great story about Elon Musk I told in a previous episode that is very relevant here. When the internet was very young, he went to one of the CEOs of one of the top yellow page companies, and he tried to sell them on a deal. Musk wanted to put the yellow pages online, and the CEO of that company took his huge, thick yellow pages, and threw it at Musk and said, “Do you think you're ever going to replace this with the internet?” 

 

This is one of many situations where Elon Musk was rejected by someone who could not see his vision for leveraging tectonic shifts. But Elon went on to create something even bigger and more successful than the Yellow Pages.

 

Netflix

 

There’s a legend that a similar thing happened with Netflix and Blockbuster. Netflix apparently asked to meet with the CEO of Blockbuster, and the Blockbuster CEO said, “What’s a Netflix?” Obviously, they never made a deal, but it’s the same question as with the yellow pages: What would have happened if they had made a deal? Blockbuster could have so easily been the digital streaming platform. They had all the resources. They had connections. It would have been so easy for them to do it, and they didn't take advantage of that tectonic shift. It destroyed and put that company out of business.

 

It’s easy in hindsight to look back and see who ended up on top. However, it's not just what those big companies are doing wrong, but it's the opportunity that it presents for people like us. A lot of times people like us think there isn't a way for us to compete with those well-established, well-funded, and huge brands, the behemoths that are out there. We give up and are rejected before we even try. But all we have to do is find that tectonic shift, that disruption, that almost by definition the big companies are not going to quickly and effectively adapt to. We need to jump on that and build our business around that. That's our best strategy to leapfrog well-funded and established businesses.

 

Flamin’ Hot Cheetos

 

Dave and I also discussed how breakthroughs can come from anyone. Dave said, “You need to set your company up to believe that it can come from anyone. Sounds like some sort of Fantasyland [to] make that happen, but you can do that with the right system. That's what leaders need to work on, creating a system that anybody here can make something amazing happen.”

 

The idea for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos came from Richard Montañez who was working as a janitor for the company. A broken machine produced a batch of plain Cheetos, and he took them home. He put chili powder on them and tested them out on his family. When they liked them, he pitched the idea to a CEO over the phone and two weeks later presented it to the executive suite. Montañez ended up becoming an executive inside the corporation (Source: newsweek.com).

 

That CEO was wise enough to not reject a great idea or its messenger because someone with a lower position came up with the idea.

 

Key Takeaways

 

Thank you so much Dave for sharing your stories and knowledge with us today. Here are some of my key takeaways from this episode:

 

1. Sometimes our journeys will take us in unexpected directions, as with Dave’s book. As he did, we can turn the unexpected into something great.
2. Mind blocks happen when people don’t even try to ask for what they want. 
3. We must make sure we are asking the right decision-makers.
4. Likeability is a scale that encompasses love. 
5. There can be a combination of categories of rejection impacting a story. This is why it is important to identify each of them so we can overcome each of them. 
6. When we’re facing competition from large, well-established companies, we can often leverage tectonic shifts more quickly than they can, and that may present an opportunity to leapfrog the competition.
7. We should set up our companies so that anybody can make something amazing happen.

 

Connect with Dave

 

If you enjoyed this interview and want to learn more about Dave or connect with him, you can find him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmrose/, you can learn about his book at https://15cor.com/ and you can learn about his consulting services at https://www.clevelglobal.com/. 

 

Want to be a Better Digital Monetizer?

 

Did you like today’s episode? Then please follow these channels to receive free digital monetization content:

 

1. Get a free Monetization Assessment of your business
2. Subscribe to the free Monetization eMagazine.
3. Subscribe to the Monetization Nation YouTube channel.
4. Subscribe to the Monetization Nation podcast on Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. 
5. Follow Monetization Nation on Instagram and Twitter.

 

Share Your Story 

How has overcoming rejection helped you and your business? Please join our private Monetization Nation Facebook group and share your insights with other digital monetizers.

 

Read at: https://monetizationnation.com/blog/123-how-to-overcome-rejection/ 

This is Entrepreneurs of Faith, a Sunday episode of Monetization Nation. I’m Nathan Gwilliam, your host. In today’s episode, we’re going to discuss four ways to make better decisions.

Read at: https://monetizationnation.com/blog/122-4-ways-to-make-better-decisions/

This is Entrepreneurs of Faith, a Sunday episode of Monetization Nation. I’m Nathan Gwilliam, your host. In today’s episode, we’re going to discuss four ways to make better decisions.

 

Choices

 

Henry Eyring gave a sermon in which he discusses the choices we are faced with in life. He said, “Such choices are not always easy to see clearly. You make choices every day and almost every hour that keep you walking in the light or moving away toward darkness. Some of the most important choices are about what you set your heart upon.”

 

“There are so many things you may consider desirable,” Eyring continued, “For instance, all of us want, to some degree, the approval of other people. All of us feel a need for friends. All of us are searching for some evidence that we are persons of worth. We make choices based on those desires. Some might lead us away from the light God offers us as a guide. Some may brighten that light by which we can find our way.”

 

We have been given a guide for how we can make choices. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (KJV James 1:17)

 

Deciding To Sell

 

For Kim Walsh Phillips, founder of Powerful Professionals, it was hard to decide whether or not to sell her business. “For years I had an inkling that I was meant to do more,” Phillips said. “Some might call it the universe's energy pulling me in a different direction. I call it God's whisper that I was meant to do more and serve more.”

 

She knew she could do the work, but she didn’t want to let go of the revenue.”When I finally got the courage to let go of my marketing agency and pursue my true passion for teaching and coaching, I got three offers for my firm within 30 days. Not only was I able to exit with a nice payday, but the staff I didn't take to my new company were all retained by my buyer.” Since selling, Phillips' revenue has tripled Source: Forbes). 

 

4 Ways to Make Better Business Decisions

 

Good choices are from above. We can use our morals and values to help us with our decision-making. However, these aren’t the only tools we’ve been given. As entrepreneurs, we have to make decisions that will impact our business every day. 

 

“Every action in a business has some type of consequence. When making a decision, consider wisely what will produce the best results, not only for the short term but for the long term, as well. It can often take just as much effort to produce a negative result as it does to produce a positive result. Direct your energies, therefore, into those areas that have the potential to produce the most positive business results.” (Source: forbes.com) 

 

Here are a few ways we can make better choices in our business.

 

 

• Take It One Step at a Time

 

 

It can be overwhelming, especially at the start of a business, when we are forced to make decisions. We shouldn’t try to make all the decisions at once. 

 

Being overwhelmed can paralyze us and stop us from making important decisions. “When you have too much on your mind, it becomes difficult to think clearly or to make good decisions. . . . Taking small bites is a good strategy for any decision that seems to overwhelm you. If you are faced with 12 choices, narrow it down to 3. If you want to buy 10 investment properties, decide to buy your first one. If you want to save $100,000, decide to save $10,000. Chunking decisions into smaller, bite-sized pieces allows you to process them and move forward.” (Source: coachcarson.com)

 

When things are overwhelming, taking a break can do a lot of good. “When things get hectic stop what you're doing and take a 10-minute break. Take a few deep breaths and try to do something that will make you feel more relaxed such as taking a 10-minute walk, listening to the radio, or doing some stretching exercises to help de-stress. You will feel better and gain a fresh perspective on your current situation, whether it is dealing with your employees, giving a presentation, or improving your company’s marketing plan.” (Source: entrepreneur.com)

 

Breaking decisions down into one piece and taking breaks will help us be able to think clearly about our decisions, and therefore, make better decisions. I find that focusing on one decision at a time when I’m overwhelmed helps me to process the options much more effectively. The decision-making is much easier for me this way. Thomas Monson, another church leader, said, "Life by the yard is hard; by the inch, it's a cinch."

 

 

• Consult Others

 

 

Sometimes as entrepreneurs, we may feel like all the decisions rest on our shoulders. While we often have to make the final decision on some things, we can leverage the people around us who we trust for support and guidance. Our partners, employees, family, and friends can often help us with our decisions, even if all they do is listen to us talk through our options.

 

I love exploring my options with trusted sources. Often, when I go through this exercise, the right decision appears much more clearly and the decision is much easier to make.

 

Chad Carson, entrepreneur and real estate investor said, “I have a rule in my real estate business never to make a large acquisition without at least letting 2-3 people I trust evaluate it with me. No matter how much I know, I am sure to have blind spots. Wise counsel from others gives me confidence and avoids large problems.”

 

Carson gave a list of all the people he consults: his business partner, wife, CPA, father (also an experienced investor), mentor, lenders, contractor, real estate agent, and attorney. “You may have different people on your list depending upon your business or situation,” he said. “But the important thing is to actually have the list, and then call upon them when you’re facing an important decision.” (Source: coachcarson.com)

 

 

• Learn the Facts

 

 

In order to make any decision, we need to know as much information as possible, not only about our options, but also about ourselves, our company, and what’s best for us. 

 

“There is no darkness but ignorance.” - William Shakespeare

 

We must gather all the relevant facts and information we can that impact our business. “This is important because you do not want to miss critical information that could make a difference in how you run your business. Also, by being part of the information-gathering process, you can eliminate biases or opinions others may have.” (Source: entrepreneur.com)

 

We should understand how our competition is doing business and know how satisfied our customers are and find ways to improve. We can talk to our employees, clients, or customers “to get the necessary information regarding certain business operations. It is also important to read all of [our] important business reports and keep abreast on the media coverage of [our] business.” (Source: entrepreneur.com)

 

Through the internet, we also have mountains of information at our fingertips. The answer to most questions is just a few clicks and some research away. If there is something we don’t know about an aspect of our business, we can easily search for answers online. 

 

“Of course, this does not replace real expertise born by experience. [We] won’t be able to install [a] tile floor immediately just because [we] read a checklist. But more information does allow [us] to ask better questions. More information makes the right and wrong decisions become more obvious. And more information removes some of the natural fear that comes from ignorance of any topic.” (Source: coachcarson.com)

 

 

• Have a Goal

 

 

Without having a clear goal for our business, we will wander aimlessly in different directions and our decision-making will be a lot harder and less effective. “If you’re an entrepreneur or micro business, you don’t NEED a strategy, but having one will get you where you want to go faster. . . . Strategy is like a map. You don’t need a map to go somewhere new, the map will help you get there faster and on the best route (i.e. saving you time and money). The decisions you make on where you invest your time and money will be dictated by the vision for your business and your desired future.” (Source: smestrategy.net)

 

A goal, vision, or strategy will give us direction and unification. If everyone in our business knows what our goal is, we can all work toward that together. For example, one of Monetization Nation’s main goals right now is to publish one episode every day for a year. We’ve emphasized this to all of our team members, so everyone knows how important it is to make sure our episodes are ready to be published when the time comes. We’ve had some close calls. For example, one episode was published less than 10 minutes before midnight, but we hit the goal. Without a goal, there is no way we would have published every day so far. Everyone knows exactly what they need to do to help us reach that goal. Because of this, we haven’t missed a day so far, and we hope to continue that streak. 

 

Key Takeaways

 

Here are some of my key takeaways from this episode:

 

1. Our values can help guide us to make good decisions.
2. Break decisions and steps down into smaller pieces to avoid being overwhelmed and simplify the decision-making.
3. Take breaks when necessary. They can help us think more clearly and give our minds time to process the options.
4. Ask others for their thoughts and talk out our options with them. 
5. We should learn as much as we can about the situation and our options.
6. Having a goal will help us make decisions that bring us closer to that goal.

 

Join Entrepreneurs of Faith

If this episode of Entrepreneurs of Faith resonated with you, please subscribe for FREE to Monetization Nation so you can receive future episodes of Entrepreneurs of Faith.

1. Subscribe to the free Monetization Nation eMagazine.
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4. Follow Monetization Nation on Instagram and Twitter.

Share Your Story 

 

What strategies do you use for decision-making? Please join our private Monetization Nation Facebook group and share your insights with other digital monetizers.

 

Read at: https://monetizationnation.com/blog/122-4-ways-to-make-better-decisions/ 

Welcome back to another episode of Monetization Nation with Ben Roberts. In the previous episode, we discussed how to create a successful business through consistent publishing.

In today’s episode, we’ll discuss how we can use buzzwords to build our personal brand.

Read at: https://monetizationnation.com/blog/121-how-to-leverage-buzzwords-to-build-our-personal-brand/

Welcome back to another episode of Monetization Nation with Ben Roberts. In the previous episode, we discussed how to create a successful business through consistent publishing.

In today’s episode, we’ll discuss how we can use buzzwords to build our personal brand.

Have you ever heard of buzzword marketing? I hadn’t until this interview, but it makes a lot of sense, and now I’m working to implement it through my business. Ben Roberts is a highly experienced digital marketer. He wrote a book titled Marketing Buzzword to Marketing Authority, and in this episode, he will teach us how we can increase our authority with buzzword marketing.

Today, buzzwords are everywhere. No matter how many people try to hate buzzwords, they still use them in their everyday language. Oftentimes, “people use buzzwords not to convey factual meaning, but to show they belong to a social group … Buzzwords are code words to show you're an inside member." (Source: WSJ) 

How Buzzwords Differ from Jargon

Jargon and buzzwords may seem similar, but there is a distinct difference. Jargon is very industry-specific. It’s very technical and ingrained in industry-specific language. On the other hand, buzzwords are terms and phrases that help describe something else. Terms like social media marketing and content marketing were big buzzwords. Now, they’ve become part of the vernacular. It’s now common to talk about things like artificial intelligence, chatbots, and cryptocurrency which are also buzzwords.  

Businesses that Used Buzzwords Effectively 

Many companies have used buzzwords effectively to their advantage.

HubSpot and Inbound Marketing

HubSpot has succeeded in effectively using and leveraging the buzzword “inbound marketing.” Until HubSpot started using it, most people had never heard of inbound marketing, but now, HubSpot has now built a business around inbound marketing.

Ben believes buzzwords are powerful because they’re memorable. People will remember and associate us with that term when they hear or see it. This is how we build personal brands. 

 

Coining our Buzzwords vs. Leveraging Existing Ones

At Monetization Nation, we focus on some buzzwords, such as tectonic shifts, passion marketing, and credibility marketing. Credibility marketing is a newer buzzword that has become more popular recently which means it's not a saturated buzzword. Where there's less competition, we have more opportunities to grow our personal brand around the buzzword. 

One of the elements Ben explores in his book is how to choose between coining our own buzzword and leveraging one that already exists. 

Coining our Buzzword

Deciding on coining our own buzzword or using an existing one depends on many factors. It depends on how much time and energy we have. Coining our buzzword is like creating a product. We have to be able to promote the product and make people aware of it. If we create a new product or buzzword that no one's ever heard of before, we have to market it and convince people why it's different from anything else. 

That being said, coining our buzzword has potential rewards if we do it right. With coining, we may be able to secure the buzzword domain name, file the trademark, and get some proprietary protections that we can't do if lots of people are already using it. It becomes our term, our word, and our phrase that we can leverage as the buzzword popularity grows.

Using Existing Buzzwords

If we choose to use an existing buzzword, it means there are already people searching around it. They already know a bit about our subject matter. We get to stand out through our brand. That's the differentiator. There’s less risk because there’s existing awareness.

Leveraging Buzzwords to Build our Personal Brand

Ben believes that the key to using buzzwords to build our personal brand is to choose the right platform—one that we’re passionate about and can explain clearly, concisely, and share our knowledge on. Ben said, “It's got to be a platform that you enjoy.” He explains how many people are jumping on Clubhouse. As a platform, it may be perfect for one person and it may be completely wrong for another because they don't necessarily enjoy that audio discussion experience. Other people may consider TikTok, Twitter, or LinkedIn. 

It doesn't matter which platform we use as long as we enjoy it and it’s where our potential target market is. After we choose the right platform, we need to reach out and be consistent over a long period of time.

The Future of Buzzwords

Ben believes buzzwords are here to stay. People will keep saying we should get rid of them but we can't. The world is ever-changing and new technologies keep surfacing. For example, people will talk about Clubhouse and form new buzzwords about audio marketing that will stay with us for a while. New buzzwords are always being created. Some will stay around for a long time and become part of the vernacular just like the example Ben gave earlier of social media marketing and content marketing. They are now part of everyday marketing lingo. Using buzzwords allows us to create a business or personal brand that differentiates ourselves from others in the same niche.  

Becoming the Authority our Industry Needs

In his book, Ben talks about becoming a teacher about buzzwords in our space and the buzzword authority our industry needs. He believes we need to educate people about our buzzword especially if it's upcoming or hasn't existed before. If we don't educate people, they won’t know what to do with this word that we’ve suddenly started using. 

The more we teach people and the more wisdom and ideas we share with them, the more they see us as an authority within that subject. This can take a long time but it will establish our credibility in our market. It shows people that we know what we’re talking about and positions us as an expert in our field. 

 

Finding the Right Buzzword  

To find the right buzzword, Ben advises us to look at our business and ask, “What is it that we do? How do we help people?” We should find and use a codeword or phrase that we use in our everyday speech, content that we put on our website, or even just within our business. Then we can start looking at this word or phrase that we can build our business around - one that we want to become known for and be seen as authorities in. This is actually from where Ben got the title of his book, From Marketing Buzzword to Marketing Authority. We want people to be able to sing and echo back to us this word or phrase we use regularly. We want to be the first person they think of when they hear this term.

 

Using Buzzwords to Leverage our Marketing Efforts

The key point of a buzzword is to be able to use it to leverage our marketing efforts. It doesn’t help if we’re just using it a couple of times on our website. This won’t teach people and it won’t build our credibility and authority. We have to tie our buzzword into all the multiple marketing assets that we have such as podcasts, blogs, email newsletters, or any social content we’re creating, and ask, “How do we weave this word into all of those?” We need to make sure our buzzword is related to everything we do because it’ll help build up that knowledge with other people. 

Key Takeaways

Thank you so much Ben for sharing your stories and knowledge with us today. Here are some of my key takeaways from this episode:

 

1. Buzzwords are powerful because they’re memorable.
2. Where there's less competition, we have a better chance to grow our personal brand.
3. When we use an existing buzzword, we're filling an existing demand that exists. We don't have to start from scratch.
4. To leverage our personal brand using buzzwords, we need to be consistent over a single platform with high-quality content over time.
5. We have to tie our buzzword into all our marketing assets that we have such as podcasts, blogs, email newsletters, or any social content we produce.

Connect with Ben

If you enjoyed this interview and want to learn more about Ben or connect with him, you can find him on LinkedIn. You can also visit his website at ben-m-roberts.com or listen to his podcast at marketingbuzzword.com.  

 

Want to be a Better Digital Monetizer?

Did you like today’s episode? Then please follow these channels to receive free digital monetization content:

1. Get a free Monetization Assessment of your business
2. Subscribe to the free Monetization eMagazine.
3. Subscribe to the Monetization Nation YouTube channel.
4. Subscribe to the Monetization Nation podcast on Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. 
5. Follow Monetization Nation on Instagram and Twitter.

 

Share Your Story 

How do you use buzzwords in your marketing efforts? Please join our private Monetization Nation Facebook group and share your insights with other digital monetizers.

 

Read at: https://monetizationnation.com/blog/121-how-to-leverage-buzzwords-to-build-our-personal-brand/ 

Ben spent nearly 10 years leading marketing teams at a SaaS startup, a top 100 UK insurance broker, and a large specialized outdoor e-commerce company. Ben spends much of his time building his personal brand which includes conference speaking, consultancy offerings, and media mentions. In 2018, he launched his book, Marketing Buzzword to Marketing Authority, where he uses all of those experiences to help other people build their businesses and careers.

Read at: https://monetizationnation.com/?p=8133

Ben Roberts is the director of Optipus, a company with one goal: to do SEO the right way. He helps build trust and credibility for his clients by looking at the marketing they own and create, such as their websites and blogs. He then blends it with earned marketing such as reviews, media mentions, and guest posts. 

Ben spent nearly 10 years leading marketing teams at a SaaS startup, a top 100 UK insurance broker, and a large specialized outdoor e-commerce company. Ben spends much of his time building his personal brand which includes conference speaking, consultancy offerings, and media mentions. In 2018, he launched his book, Marketing Buzzword to Marketing Authority, where he uses all of those experiences to help other people build their businesses and careers.

Building a Platform on Land He Owned

Ben wanted to start his career before he finished university. While studying marketing, he started getting his feet wet by growing a business and learning how businesses actually worked instead of just hearing about it in a classroom. He started learning about real-world social media and SEO. In 2016, Ben went to the Social Media Marketing World conference where he was exposed to podcasts and he decided to give it a try.

When Ben was at that conference, he noticed many buzzwords he didn’t recognize. He decided he should launch a podcast to break down common marketing buzzwords for his audience. Three years later, Ben had created nearly 100 episodes while working full time. The podcast became the basis for his book, Marketing Buzzword to Marketing Authority. 

Before Ben started his business, he spent years building his platform and constructing it on land he owned. He built his own podcast, his own email list, and his own brand. Even when the world fell apart during the global pandemic, he was able to launch a business successfully, all because he had built it on land he owned—his own email list. 

Ben wishes he had started building his email list from the very beginning. It would have been a bigger and better list by now. He also believes that one of the hardest things to do when we’re starting a business is to stay consistent. One of his biggest lessons he’s learned during his journey is that less is more. When we have so much on our plate, we become inconsistent with our efforts in building our business. Once we lose our consistency, it’s harder to get important things done and to get back on track.

 

Don’t be afraid to reach out to potential podcast guests 

We can’t be afraid of reaching out to people. Ben believes one of the reasons his podcast is successful is because he had the confidence to speak to as many people as possible. We might think that it’s hard to find people who’d want to come on our podcast but people are willing and love it when we ask them to share their stories and insights. 

When we reach out to people the right way, no one is too far out of reach. Before we reach out to potential interviewees, we need to learn about them and what they've already done. Ben finds this a good way of showing that we care. We should reach out to them personally if we want this person to come on our show as opposed to sending a generic email that doesn’t show we know who they are or care about what they do.

Building an Effective Email List

Ben also shared his top two secrets for building an effective email list. 

 

• Give people a reason to join an email list

 

We have to give our customers a reason to join our email list. It helps to give people incentives and reminders about the benefits of being on our email list. If we just have a box asking them to sign up to our email list, people will not do it. By giving them an incentive, we motivate them to join our email list. This can be a discount or exclusive access to part of a group. Either way, there has to be a hook somewhere as opposed to just asking them to join our email list. If people don't know who we are, they're not going to subscribe. We need to give them a reason to subscribe to our list.  

 

• Be consistent and helpful

 

Over the years, Ben has learned how important it is to be consistent and helpful. We need to make sure there is value in every single email we send. When we send something, it helps to ask ourselves a fundamental question, “Would I want to receive this?” If the answer is no, then why are we sending this to someone else?

Everyone gets so many emails. Since we want to be customer-centric, it’s good to put ourselves in the customer's shoes. We want to be building rapport with the people that have joined our email list. We want to send them something that connects with them, so when they receive our emails they know it’s going to include something they want to receive. We should always ask ourselves, “Is it helpful? Does it provide enough value?”

Benefits of Writing a Book 

Many people are scared about writing a book. It's a major project that can take 18 months to two years to complete. It's not an easy undertaking yet it can have many rewards. 

Ben considers publishing a book based on his podcast one of his biggest successes. Over the years, his podcast has built an audience that the book was able to leverage to start his monetization journey. Ben is now able to speak on international stages across different countries. 

For Ben, much of what he does revolves around SEO and personal branding. Even though the podcast was doing good, he wanted to do something that would be long-lasting and improve his credibility. A book would be something he could send to clients and leverage for increased media outreach. It would allow him to put together all the things he had learned from the podcast along with his knowledge and experience. 

Writing a book has opened up many doors for Ben. He has received offers to speak at different conferences around the world, online and offline. He was able to connect with different people that he never thought he could connect with. His email list also grew exponentially because of the book. It's the crux of owned marketing. His email list is something that he owns, has full control of, and builds his trust, credibility, and further extends the reach of his business and personal brand. 

Voice Marketing

Ben believes voice marketing is having a much bigger impact than people realize. It’s predicted that 15.8 billion people will be using digital assistants by 2023 (Source: Statista). Currently, approximately half of the world’s population - 3.5 billion - uses voice-activated search and assistants across the globe (Source: review42.com). The shift is particularly noticeable in Gen Z where the stats show that 38% of them are willing to purchase via voice-activated ordering (Source: review42.com).

Key Takeaways

Thank you so much Ben for sharing your stories and knowledge with us today. Here are some of my key takeaways from this episode:

 

1. It’s better to start building our email list as early as possible.
2. When we reach out to people the right way, no one is too far out of reach. 
3. To build an effective email list, we need to be consistent and provide value to our audience. We also need to give people a reason to join our list.
4. One of the benefits of writing a book is that it is long-lasting and will improve our credibility.
5. Voice search is one of the major shifts impacting businesses today. 

 

Connect with Ben

If you enjoyed this interview and want to learn more about Ben or connect with him, you can find him on LinkedIn. You can also visit his website at ben-m-roberts.com or listen to his podcast at marketingbuzzword.com.   

 

Want to be a Better Digital Monetizer?

Did you like today’s episode? Then please follow these channels to receive free digital monetization content:

1. Get a free Monetization Assessment of your business
2. Subscribe to the free Monetization eMagazine.
3. Subscribe to the Monetization Nation YouTube channel.
4. Subscribe to the Monetization Nation podcast on Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. 
5. Follow Monetization Nation on Instagram and Twitter.

 

Share Your Story 

How has consistent publishing helped grow your business? Please join our private Monetization Nation Facebook group and share your insights with other digital monetizers.

 

Read at: https://monetizationnation.com/?p=8133 

Dave Knox is a leading consultant, speaker, author, and coach in the areas of innovation, marketing, and digital transformation.

In today’s episode, we’re going to discuss Dave’s entrepreneurial journey and how he was able to use his experience to give back to his community. 

Read at: https://monetizationnation.com/blog/118-how-to-turn-your-passions-into-a-career/