Podcasting Secrets

When I started Monetization Nation less than 2 months ago, I accepted a challenge from Russell Brunson to publish every single day for a year. This is the 54th episode, and the best part about this journey is the amazing guests that I’ve been able to interview and learn from. In addition to the published episodes, I have already recorded about that many episodes which have not yet been published. I’m in awe of some of the amazing people who have agreed to be on my show.

Cringe-Worthy Moments in My Show

As I’ve recorded and published the episodes so far, I’ve had some truly cringe-worthy moments. Here are a few examples:

1. When I recorded the episode of John Lee Dumas, the host of Entrepreneurs on Fire, who is one of my heroes, my Internet connection died as I was introducing him. Thankfully, he was gracious enough to let me reschedule the interview.
2. I received my first real backdrop on the day I was interviewing a high-level video producer at Apple. I had woefully underestimated how many clips I needed to keep the backdrop tight. So the backdrop was embarrassingly loose behind me, and I didn’t realize how bad it looked until I was reviewing the footage after the interview.
3. When I interviewed one of my past business partners, there was a significant audio/video sync lag so his mouth and the sound were saying different things.
4. When I interviewed a top user experience designer, the audio quality was painfully distracting.
5. When I interviewed one successful entrepreneur, he had a bright window behind him and I didn’t ask him to close the blinds. As a result, the lighting on his face was horrible. 

As I’ve reviewed some of the episodes I’ve published so far, I’ve cringed and been tempted to not publish them. However, I published these episodes and learned from them. When I realized how bad the backdrop was in my video with the Apple video producer, I emailed him and apologized. I loved his response. He told me not to worry about it, and that "It is better to be prolific than perfect." I believe that original quote was from Joe Polish. 

Picasso Was Prolific

Picasso is a great example of this principle of prolific over perfection. He could have spent months or years trying to create one perfect masterpiece. But, instead, he created his masterpieces by being prolific. 

“Picasso was exceptionally prolific throughout his long lifetime. The total number of artworks he produced has been estimated at 50,000, comprising 1,885 paintings, 1,228 sculptures, 2,889 ceramics, roughly 12,000 drawings, many thousands of prints, and numerous tapestries and rugs.” (source: Patrick O’Brian in Picasso: A Biography)

Most of those paintings, sculptures, and other forms of artwork were not masterpieces, but because he created so many different pieces of artwork, he had many more chances to create his masterpieces. 

Strive for Continuous Improvement

“Strive for continuous improvement, instead of perfection.” (Kim Collins)

Through the last two months, producing Monetization Nation has forced me to be in a state of continuous learning and improvement. When my audio quality was unacceptable, I had to learn about microphones and how to get the sound I want. I had to learn to keep my mouth close enough to the microphone whenever I was speaking. I had to learn how to check to be sure Zoom was actually recording with the microphone I wanted it to use. When my backdrop sagged, I had to learn how to secure a backdrop correctly. When my episodes had too much echo, I had to learn how to stop the echo by putting sound-absorbing squares on the walls of my office. 

I’ve made a lot of progress in producing my show, and I feel much better about the episodes I’m recording now than those first episodes. However, my show and I are still very far from perfect. There are still issues I’m working to fix. For example, I’m out in the country and only have access to wireless internet connectivity, and I know I need a much better Internet connection. I’m still working to find a solution for that.

When I started this show, I could have focused on creating perfect episodes, but if I had done that I probably would have only been able to publish about ⅓ as many episodes. Because I was willing to publish imperfect content, I was able to publish a lot more content, and learn many more things I could never have learned. Plus, content producers never know which blog post, podcast, or YouTube video is going to really take off. By producing a lot more content, I have a lot more opportunities to find that “masterpiece” that goes viral. 

Perfection is the Enemy of Progress

“Perfection is the enemy of progress.” (Winston Churchill)

Hopefully, as entrepreneurs see me learn cringe-worthy mistakes, they will connect with me since they also make mistakes. None of us are perfect, so it’s really hard for us to connect with and relate to someone who appears to be perfect. 

Imagine a software company that keeps putting off its release while they work to perfect their software. First, their software will never be perfect. Second, the only way to learn how to make great software is to put it out there and get real feedback from real users. Putting out imperfect software and then improving based on the feedback of real users will get us much closer to perfection than trying to create the perfect software in a vacuum. 

Perfection is the Antithesis of Authenticity

But, you might say, that’s scary. Other people are going to see my cringe-worthy video or software. 

My response to that is that there is a power in imperfection and that visible imperfection we are willing to show to the world creates authenticity. 

“Perfection is the antithesis of authenticity.” (Willie Garson)

I have a good friend named Deidre Henderson who was recently elected as the Lieutenant Governor of Utah. Deidre told NPR, “I got married after my freshman year at BYU. I was 18 years old. I had five babies in eight years. I spent 13 years after that, you know, working to get my husband through physical therapy school, wiping noses and bottoms, doing all of those things."

After putting her college degree on the backburner, she ”kind of fell into politics.”  Deidre felt shame about not having her degree, and that kept her from pursuing it. In 2014, she “decided to be open and to be transparent about it and to hopefully encourage other women or men who are in a similar situation, where they're wanting to go back, but maybe feeling awkward about it, too, to help inspire them to just do it."

Because Deidre is so open about going back to school, among other things, this makes her very authentic and relatable to so many people. It’s no wonder why she was selected as the running mate by the leading candidate for governor. 

Hopefully, as entrepreneurs see me someday have a successful business powered by this show, they will have seen that I went on the journey they want to go through. They will see all these mistakes that I learned along the way in learning how to do it right. And, they will trust me to guide them through their journey to do something similar for their businesses. 

Key Takeaways

Here are some of my key takeaways from today’s episode:

1. The expectation of perfection is the entrepreneur’s enemy. 
2. This expectation of perfection can paralyze an entrepreneur from being prolific and can reduce the opportunities for the entrepreneur to find their masterpiece, like Picasso.
3. Let’s be prolific so we have more opportunities to create our masterpieces.
4. This expectation of perfection can prevent an entrepreneur from being authentic and connecting with their customers. 
5. Imperfection can give us authenticity. Perfection is the antithesis of authenticity.
6. The goal is not perfection. The goal is continuous improvement. Gragos Roua said, “Perfection is boring, getting better is where all the fun is.”
7. Let’s leverage the power of imperfection to be far more successful than is possible from pretending to be perfect. 

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Read at: https://monetizationnation.com/blog/54-its-better-to-be-prolific-than-perfect/

People often talk about spirals that descend downwards, but we often forget that spirals can go upwards too. In today’s episode, James Clarke and I talk about some of the ways to propel our credibility into an upward spiral.

James Clarke is the managing partner of Clarke Capital Partners. Early in his career, James founded and led a Utah-based online retailer named CLEARLINK with more than 2,000 employees. He’s earned some prestigious awards. For example, the Utah State Bar named James as the "Technology Pioneer of the Year" and BusinessQ Magazine named him as one of their “10 Coolest Entrepreneurs”. He is also the Governor-appointed Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees at Utah Valley University.

Credibility spirals can start in a small situation with low stakes. Maybe it’s a project that is due. When someone comes through for us in that situation, and they do what they say they are going to do, we tend to give them more trust. Then we’ll ask them to do something with a little higher stakes. When they prove they can do that they earn even more trust. That same process repeats in an upward spiral of responsibility and trust. 

James shared an example of how he saw this upward credibility spiral happen with his business partner. They knew each other in school, and as they built their relationship, that trust grew. It spiraled throughout the years, and now they have an implicit trust with one another, trusting everything about each other.

“When we like people we want to work with them, when we trust them we want to work with them, and then the last part is about the nuts and bolts of what we do as a business.” -James Clarke

A mentor of James’ taught him about the three things that make people want to work with each other... if we like the person, trust the person, and know that they’ll make us money. Those last two elements are obviously elements of credibility. It is important for us to instill that trust in our associates, and we do that by being reliable and ethical.

There are people we like that we don’t want to do business with and it’s often because we don’t trust them and know they aren’t reliable. We need to become the kind of people that we want to work with. We must do what we say we’re going to do, be honest at all times, especially when it’s hard, and take responsibility when things go wrong.

James did the Owner/President Management (OPM) program at Harvard Business School. He spent two years in the program and built some of the best relationships he’s ever built in his life there, working with incredible people, a handful of whom were already billionaires. It was his first experience and exposure to great business professionals. 

The program didn’t grant a master’s degree, but it gave James wonderful connections and the credibility that comes with saying he went to Harvard. James realized that a master’s degree would give him even more credibility, so he decided to go to Oxford. This is another school that provides instant credibility.

Why do these schools provide so much credibility to graduates? One reason may be that they have rigorous application and interview processes, and the programs themselves are rigorous. Graduates from these schools are considered intelligent and hard working. 

In addition, most people believe in a traditional education like this. Society generally supports the idea that the best way to become educated is to attend a university, and one of these prestigious universities will give us an even more prestigious education. Wherever we are in the process of our education, receiving higher education, if that is an option, maybe something to consider because it may give us greater credibility.

“Upon the subject of education… I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in.” -Abraham Lincoln

We don’t generally think about love as a part of business, but there are a couple of concepts related to love that build credibility. For example, we don’t care what someone has to say until we know that they care about us and what we’re doing. This also plays into the credibility spiral. When someone really loves us, we are open to them giving us good advice, and we’ll apply their advice more often. When their advice works in our lives, they have more credibility in our eyes, and we listen to their next advice more, and the credibility just keeps building.

James has hired thousands of employees, and he’s seen this play out with many of them. If it doesn’t work out with an employee, it’s usually for one of two reasons. The first reason, which is very rare, is that they just don’t get it. They don’t have the mental capacity, or they don’t have what it takes to understand. 

The second reason is that they just don't care. They just don’t love what they’re doing, so they don’t care about their job or the people they’re working with. Unfortunately, when this is the situation, we can feel it in every part of what they’re involved in.

This is why it is important to go into fields that we love and work with people we love. We will do better work, give better advice, and rise in our credibility spiral with those around us.

“Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” -Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States

There is another angle of love that we can relate to marketing, which is passion-marketing. This is finding what customers love and connecting with them through those top-level passions. At PetIQ, where James worked for about 10 years, they didn’t focus on their products in their marketing. Instead, they focused on what their customers are passionate about their pets. They were no longer pet owners, they were pet parents. For many of their customers, their pets are like their children, so they used that passion to market to their customers.

James has done this kind of thing in other organizations as well. In healthcare, for example, James can’t imagine anything nobler than trying to save people’s lives, so they talk about helping cure highly infectious diseases, which is something that people can be highly passionate about. 

When James was selling CLEARLINK, he started doing business with a good friend of his. Six months into this service, James was billed for the equivalent of five years of fees in one single quarter. He knew something was wrong but didn’t know what. James immediately brought it to the attention of his friend, who humbly apologized and said he would take care of it. 

James thought the issue was a mistake that had been completely resolved and continued to work with the friend, but he soon learned that the same thing had happened to others that James had referred to as his friend. They had all been overbilled and not by small amounts but by hundreds of thousands of dollars. That relationship ended before it really began. Fast forward to today that individual has now been sentenced and is headed to federal prison. We need to be sure we always strive to do what we say we’re going to do so we increase instead of destroying our credibility.

“Once you lose your credibility, you can never restore it.” -Reinhold Messner, Italian mountaineer, explorer, and author

James and his aunt both had a very similar upbringing. They came from middle-class families, working on their family’s farms. James’ aunt built her own global business named Diet Center and was very successful. She was also very generous, always telling James he could borrow her very nice car, or asking him how she could help his school. She was a great example of James being successful and giving back, and he thought, “If she could do it then I can do it.” She and her husband were truly authentic and credible. They got behind different causes, and they really helped build up the community. James thinks of her as the most credible person in his life because she was very successful and generous.

Key Takeaways

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

1. Start growing our credibility spirals by doing what we say we are going to do and proving we can be trusted in low-stake situations, then building toward being trusted in higher-stakes situations.
2. Be honest and quickly take responsibility when things go wrong.
3. Education can really boost our credibility. Consider getting more relevant education or training if we haven’t already.
4. Share love to show people that we truly care about them and what they love to further build our credibility.
5. Go into fields we love to ensure that we care about what we’re doing and increase our chance of success.
6. Use passion marketing to connect with the things our customers are most passionate about.
7. When we are successful, be generous with that success to help others.

Connect with James

If you enjoyed this interview and want to learn more about or connect with James or his business, you can find him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesclarke2/. 

1. Get a free Monetization Assessment of your business
2. Subscribe to the free Monetization eMagazine.
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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 have you seen others propel their credibility in an upward spiral? Please join our private Monetization Nation Facebook group and share your insights with other digital monetizers.

Read at: https://monetizationnation.com/blog/50-how-to-propel-your-credibility-into-an-upward-spiral/ 

This is Entrepreneurs of Faith, a Sunday episode of Monetization Nation. I’m Nathan Gwilliam, your host. Today, we’re talking about a better way to apologize that can show we really mean it and help restore relationships. 

“The art of a sincere and heartfelt apology is one of the greatest skills you will ever learn.” - Jeanette LeBlanc

Yesterday I interviewed an amazing entrepreneur and CEO who happens to be a woman. I was impressed by her. I have 3 daughters, and I thought to myself how valuable it would be for women like them to be mentored by her, someone who had “been there and done that” so successfully. I asked her what advice she would give to a conference of women. However, my guest graciously commented that her advice would be helpful to everyone. After the interview, I thought about what she said and understood her point and my mistake. Of course, her advice would absolutely be valuable to everyone and not just women. I had not meant that her advice would only be valuable to women, but nonetheless, my comment was thoughtless and wrong. So, I immediately contacted my guest and apologized, and she immediately forgave me. 

In our current social and political climate many people feel apologizing for shows weakness, and when these people are wrong, instead of apologizing, they double down on explaining why they were not wrong. Or, if they do need to apologize, they give a non-apology, such as “I’m sorry if you were offended” which doesn’t take any responsibility or apologize for anything. The lack of apology or the non-apology conveys exactly the opposite of a good apology. It conveys that the offender is not sorry, and reinforces the offense. 

“Never believe you’re so great or important, so right or proud, that you cannot kneel at the feet of someone you hurt and offer a humble, sincere apology.” - Richelle E. Goodrich

When my wife and I were parenting our young daughters, as happens with all siblings, there were times when one daughter would do something to hurt or offend one of our other daughters. The offending daughter would sometimes refuse to apologize, and we as parents would step in and require the offending sister to apologize. Then, the offending sister would reply with the words such as “fine, I’m sorry” as sarcastically as possible. She would be saying the words we wanted but conveying exactly the opposite meaning. Or she would give a non-apology such as “I’m sorry you got hurt” specifically avoiding responsibility for what happened.

“‘I’m sorry you’re angry’ is not an apology.” - Lisa Lut

So, my wife researched and found a better way to teach our daughters to apologize in a way that shows we really mean it, and that can help diffuse the situation. It’s a simple 4-step system for offering an effective apology. 

1. We say “I’m sorry for ….” and then fill in the blank with the specific thing we did wrong. This cannot be a vague statement such as “I’m sorry I hurt you.” We must specifically state how we hurt the person and take responsibility. This shows we recognize what we did wrong. This is so important because if we don’t even recognize what we did wrong, there is very little chance we will not repeat the mistake again.  

“Apologies require taking full responsibility. No half-truths, no partial admissions, no rationalizations, no finger-pointing, and no justifications belong in any apology.” - Cathy Burnham Martin

1. Then, we say “This was wrong because…” and then fill in the blank with the reason why we are sorry. This takes more thought but is our chance to show that we understand why what we did was wrong. This step forces us to put ourselves in the shoes of the person we offended or hurt, and show empathy. This may be the most important step in gaining forgiveness. 

“Empathy, the ability to identify with someone else's suffering, is certainly a prerequisite for a genuine apology.” - Danielle Ofri

1. Then, we say “In the future, I will…” and fill in the blank with the specific plan of action we will try to implement to prevent this from happening again. For this step, it is often better to focus on the positive action we will take instead of the negative action we will avoid. For example, it is better to say “In the future, I will speak to you respectfully” instead of “In the future, I will not call you a name.” We can apologize over and over, but if our actions don’t change our words are meaningless. This is our chance to show how we are going to change, and give our words more meaning. 
2. Finally, we ask “Will you forgive me?” Then, it is up to the other person. They may not forgive us. That’s their choice. But at least we ask for it. 

“ An apology offered and, equally important, received is a step towards reconciliation and, sometimes, recompense. Without that process, hurts can rankle and fester and erupt into their own hatreds and wrongdoings.”

- Margaret MacMillan

My wife printed up these four steps, put them up on our wall more than a dozen years ago, and they are still up on the wall of our mudroom today even though we have moved homes multiple times since then. This better way to apologize has been used many times in our family to apologize, diffuse charged situations and restore important relationships.  I found that these steps work effectively in our personal and professional relationships. 

And, I’ve learned that the faster we apologize, the more effective it can convey our true remorse. 

Conclusion

Apologizing when done correctly is not a weakness. There is a deep power that can come from apologizing quickly and effectively. It can help restore and heal breaches in important relationships. 

I know that sometimes apologizing effectively can put us in a position of vulnerability and humility. That’s scary sometimes. But it’s worth it. 

“An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just about anything.” - Lynn Johnston

However, apologies are essential to repair and retain great relationships with people that matter to us and anyone else we hurt or offend.

“An apology is such an expression that shows, not only greatness and insight; whereas, it also protects from breaking the family ties, and friendly contacts.” - Ehsan Sehgal

These four quick and simple steps work really well and make apologizing immensely more effective. 

1. I’m sorry for...
2. This is wrong because…
3. In the future I will…
4. Will you forgive me?

The challenge for this week is to try using these four steps to apologize this week, notice the difference it makes, and then strive our best to not repeat the mistake. 

“Apologies aren’t meant to change the past, they are meant to change the future.” - Kevin Hancock

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 Entrepreneurs of Faith each Sunday.

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Read at: https://monetizationnation.com/blog/52-a-better-way-to-apologize/ 

Are you a great problem solver? Great entrepreneurs are often great problem solvers. They find a way to overcome the challenges and problems they constantly face and to get it done and make it happen. In today’s episode, I’m going to tell you a story about the first business conference I attended, and the challenge we faced. 

My First Conference

I launched Adoption.com in February 1997. Just two months later, in April 1997 the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys was holding a conference in Sanibel, Florida. At this time, I was a college student with no money. But my business at that moment was based on an advertising model, and I knew many of my potential advertisers were going to be at that conference. I knew if I missed that opportunity to meet those adoption attorneys it would be another year before I had the opportunity again. And, I needed their advertising dollars to get my business through that year. 

So, I used my credit card to buy flights, purchase a vendor table, and reserve a hotel room.  I wanted to show our Adoption.com site to the conference attendees, so they could visualize what their listings and advertising would look like and where it would be placed on the site. Back then, online advertising was very new. Monitors at that time were far too big, expensive, and delicate to reasonably take on a flight as checked baggage. So, I rented a large screen monitor in Sanibel, which back then probably weighed more than 50 pounds, and arranged for it to be delivered at the hotel. 

As the day of the conference arrived, we went to the airport to catch our flight. However, we discovered there was a winter storm in Denver, where our flight had a layover. The Denver airport was closed and all flights going through Denver, including my flight, were canceled. The airline could put me on a flight the next day, but that meant I would miss the first day of the conference. I couldn’t take another flight that could get me to Sanibel in time for the conference. And, frankly, I didn’t have the money to buy a last-minute flight on another airline, even if there had been another option. 

I was determined our vendor table was going to be set up and ready for the adoption attorneys when they showed up on the first day of the event. As I later learned, the first day of the conference has the most traffic and engagement by far at the vendor tables. The conference attendees may visit the vendor tables once at the beginning of the conference and then never visit again.

Plan B 

After pleading, the same airline was eventually able to re-book us to go through a different city that didn’t have weather issues, and we were scheduled to arrive on the other side of Florida late that night. We took it. When we arrived, we rented a car and drove across Florida through the night. I don’t think we slept at all that night. But, we arrived in Sanibel and had time to set up our table and the monstrous monitor before the conference attendees arrived.

I think we made a good impression at that first conference. We established many relationships that day that become friends and advertisers for a long time. Those adoption attorneys provided much-needed income for my startup venture. That adoption conference and those relationships were pivotal in helping adoption.com become the #1 adoption site. 

There was another startup adoption site at that conference, but over time they didn’t make it, and I don’t even remember their name now. What would have happened if we had not been there, and that competitor had made that impression and established those relationships instead of us? What would have happened if I wouldn’t have had the revenue from those adoption attorneys during my first year?

Entrepreneurs are Problem Solvers

My lesson learned from this story is that it feels an entrepreneur’s job description includes being a perpetual problem solver. It feels like every day there is a series of problems and challenges that entrepreneurs have to face and overcome. Are you a good problem solver? If yes, then, you might be a good entrepreneur. 

I learned the term “self-efficacy” years later. According to Wikipedia and Albert Bandura, “A person with high self-efficacy views challenges as things that are supposed to be mastered rather than threats to avoid. These people are able to recover from failure faster and are more likely to attribute failure to lack of effort. They approach threatening situations with the belief that they can control them.” 

As entrepreneurs, we must have high self-efficacy. It is our job as entrepreneurs to find the solution, to find a way to get it done and make it happen, even if that means flying to the other side of the state and driving through the night so you can arrive at the conference before the attendees arrive.

So that we don’t have to solve the problems by ourselves, it’s smart for entrepreneurs to find, hire and retain team members who are great problem solvers as well. My job postings regularly say that I’m looking for a “get-it-done, make-it-happen” person who can help solve problems and overcome challenges. 

The most successful people see adversity not as a stumbling block, but as a stepping stone to greatness. - Shawn Anchor

Key Takeaways

Here are some of my key takeaways from this episode:

1. Entrepreneurs are perpetual problem solvers and find a way to get things done and make things happen.
2. We should strive to have strong self-efficacy and see challenges as things that are supposed to be mastered rather than threats to avoid.
3. We should hire and retain team members who are also great problem solvers. 
4. Let’s use our stumbling blocks as stepping stones to greatness. 

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Share Your Story 

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Read at: https://monetizationnation.com/blog/51-entrepreneurs-find-a-way-to-get-it-done-and-make-it-happen/(opens in a new tab)

Mckinsey Global Institute found that data-driven organizations are 23 times more likely to acquire customers, six times more likely to retain customers, and 19 times more likely to be profitable.

Charles Davis is a data analytics expert. He is Vice President and a partner at Blast Analytics & Marketing, a strategic analytics consulting company. Blast solves clients’ data challenges to help optimize marketing campaigns, improve customer experience, increase competitive advantage, and, ultimately, EVOLVE organizations. Blast has been named one of Inc. magazine’s top 5000 fastest-growing private companies.

In this episode, Charles Davis shares strategies to use data analytics to make data-driven decisions that drive growth.  

Charles’ Journey to Become an Analytics Expert

In college, Charles’ wife had an incredible idea to start a meal preparation business. Charles was studying biology and computer science at the time, but when he graduated, he and his wife focused on growing this meal preparation business for about five to six years. Their business had so much growth they expanded to about 20-25 different locations. 

As Charles was growing his meal preparation business, he was a client of Blast Analytics and worked very closely with the CEO of Blast Analytics. After selling the meal preparation business, Blast offered Charles a job, and Charles joined their team. Blast now provides a great place to work for about 65 teammates across the country.

Making Data-Driven Decisions and Using Intuition: Putting the Two Together

While I worked at Deseret Digital Media with Clark Gilbert, one of his core strategies was making data-driven decisions. He taught me that it doesn’t matter what my opinion is or somebody else’s opinion is, test them both, and let’s find out what actually works. Then, let’s make our decisions based on the data. 

That was an enlightening perspective that changed my view about business decision-making. Too often, business decisions are made based on “who” is right, and we end up making less-effective decisions than when we collect great data and make decisions based on that data. Data-driven decisions can often make us look really smart. 

Charles and Blast help their clients do more of what works and less of what doesn’t by leveraging data analytics and intuition.  Charles said, “As a good business person or a good human, we have good intuition in the details. We can also use data to drive that intuition forward and make sure that our business decisions are as informed as they can be. I worry sometimes that people think making data-driven decisions means we’re not using our business sense or intuition.”  

He followed up by explaining that our intuition doesn’t work if we are using bad data to make a decision. We should consider being more data-driven. “Making good data-driven decisions means we’re making that decision with all the right information we need in order to make the best decisions we can.”  

How to Build Credibility Through Industry Associations

In the book I’m writing, I focus on credibility as one of the most important tectonic shifts today. Credibility can come in many different ways, such as through participating with associations and tradeshows. 

Charles described two of the biggest factors that have helped Blast build credibility through industry associations and events.

• Serving as part of the Digital Analytics Association.

Charles has been a member of the Digital Analytics Association and volunteered his time on different initiatives. He recently joined the board of directors. He has also helped lead the local Bay Area Chapter for seven to eight years. The opportunity to serve and help the digital analytics industry move forward through educational events and other initiatives has helped build credibility for Charles and Blast while working with peers from different companies. 

• The longevity of going to conferences and events.

These events and conferences have all gone online during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Charles is still able to connect with those he has seen every year from various conferences and summits. “I’ve presented at different conferences as well, and those give you the opportunity to build credibility. One of the great things about our industry is that it is a very supportive industry,” Charles said. 

There is a Slack channel that has also been set up within the digital analytics industry, which allows people to connect, ask questions, and receive responses to their questions. “It’s things like that: the sharing of knowledge, the participating in the community, etc. that ultimately builds credibility. Almost every industry has some kind of community associated with it, and if you go into that community looking to serve, you will gain a good reputation. It will give you an opportunity to grow and progress your career.”

The Most Important Pieces of Data: Quantitative & Qualitative

Charles explains that there are two types of data every entrepreneur should be looking for, and how we can use those types of data to learn about our customers and business.

“When we talk about data, we often only think of what we would call quantifiable data. This includes how many visitors come to our website, how many sales we have, etc. What’s often missing with this data is the qualitative side, such as why were those people coming to our website, and why did they make purchases,” Charles said. If he were to give advice to any entrepreneur, it would be to understand the difference between quantitative data and qualitative data and then collect both. 

Charles described a curse of knowledge that we entrepreneurs sometimes have. “We know our business really well and how everything works. Then we get blind spots when somebody from the outside comes in, uses our product or service, and then tells us they don’t know how to get from ‘Step A’ to ‘Step B.’ However, we think it’s obvious how to go from step A to B.”

Blast was working with a client by conducting a quantitative test. This company had enough traffic, so they decided to do A/B testing. In this case, they discovered results they weren’t expecting. Luckily, they also had qualitative data on top of that test, and they were able to survey a small percentage of the customers. What they found was that a set of customers were coming to specific website pages who had a completely different purpose for being there than what was expected. They never would have discovered this if they just relied on the A/B test. 

“As entrepreneurs, if we can understand the difference between qualitative and quantitative data, and incorporate both as inputs to our learning, that’s my best advice.” - Charles Davis

Digital Analytics Tools

Some great tools in the digital analytics world that Charles recommends are Google Analytics, Google Data Studio, Sessioncam, and Hotjar. 

Google Analytics

Google provides Google Analytics which is free to customers up to a certain amount of traffic. “Probably 95% of the websites in the world are using Google Analytics because it’s free,” Charles said. This is probably the most well-known free tool. 

Google Data Studio

Another tool by Google, Google Data Studio, is not as well-known, but it is a great visualization tool that is pretty simple to use by pulling data from a spreadsheet. Charles said that even relative novices can use the tool to connect a visualization tool to a spreadsheet in order to analyze data better. We can analyze year-to-year trends, segment customers, and more by using Google Data Studio. 

Sessioncam and Hotjar

Sessioncam and Hotjar are great tools for gathering qualitative data, and they are fairly inexpensive. We can put them on our websites which will allow us to ask questions or survey customers in order to gather better data. 

Analytics to Measure

Charles suggests we always segment our data, and segment specifically our customer base. 

No customer has the same needs, nor is any customer the same type. As entrepreneurs, it’s good to understand who our best customers are, what they’re doing, and how often they’re re-purchasing from us. It’s also important to recognize our average customers and worst customers.

“This segmentation of our customer base is probably the most powerful thing that business owners should be doing with their data,” Charles said. 

Key Takeaways

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

1. Do more of what works, and less of what doesn’t work. Conduct tests to discover what actually works. Then make decisions based upon the data. 
2. We can make data-driven decisions together with our intuition to improve the success of our decisions. 
3. Sharing knowledge, being involved, and serving within the community create opportunities to grow our careers and gain credibility. 
4. Look for ways to gather quantitative and qualitative data. 
5. There are great, free, and inexpensive tools out there to gather and analyze data such as the Google tools, Sessioncam, and Hotjar. 
6. Segment data, specifically to a customer base. 

Connect with Charles

If you enjoyed this interview and want to learn more about Charles or connect with him, you can find him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesjdavis/ or check out http://www.blastam.com/. 

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Read at: https://monetizationnation.com/blog/50-how-to-use-data-analytics-to-make-data-driven-decisions-that-drive-growth/