Radio Free Enterprise

Since the earliest days of television, video has been a powerful marketing medium. But due to its expense, production complexity, and professional scriptwriting requirements video has not always been every marketer's first choice.

My guest this week argues that, due to lower costs, global distribution channels, and the presence of a high-quality video camera in every person's pocket, we have entered The Video-First Era, and he has written a book of that same title to drive home his point.

Please join me and my guest, video marketing expert and author Patrick Frank, as we talk about what The Video-First Era of marketing means to you and your promotional efforts.

Learn more about Patrick: http://videofirstera.com/

Connect with Patrick on Twitter: @PatFrank

Resources Patrick shared:

https://loom.com

https://prezi.com/video

https://gather.town

https://mmhmm.app

Is it possible to hire a skilled worker in the Philippines to perform top quality production, marketing, and customer support work on a full-time basis for 25% or less of the cost of an American worker performing the same task? My guest this week says, "Yes!"

In this episode I'm speaking with John Jonas, creator of the OnlineJobs.ph employment site, the largest marketplace to find Filipino workers with over 1,000,000 Filipino profiles in the database.

He is also the author of The Outsourcing Lever. Secrets of How Successful Entrepreneurs Grow Their Businesses with Virtual Assistants.

While making a full-time living he rarely works full time. His team of 37 full-time Filipino virtual assistants do the work in his businesses, while he manages the process. They range from programmers, designers, and webmasters, to writers, researchers, project managers, and just general VA's.

John has made millions of dollars online directly from work that his Filipino workers have done for him and now teaches others exactly how to do the same thing.

In our conversation I'm going to ask John about his best practices for hiring, training, and managing skilled Filipino workers, both individually and as a team.

Learn more about John: https://JohnJonas.com​ https://www.outsourcinglever.com​ https://OnlineJobs.ph

In business, the customer is king.

They are not always right and they are sometimes abrasive but they are always the arbiter of what products, services, and businesses succeed and which do not. Ignore that fact to your peril.

Occasionally, an offering or company comes along that fills needs that customers didn't even know they had. Think iPhone, Facebook or Tesla.

But, more often than not, companies are trying to generate more sales from existing products or are developing slightly different products that they hope will unseat their competitors'.

Billions of dollars are poured into research and development only to have a product flop almost immediately. How could this have been avoided? By simply asking customers - in person - to share their thoughts and reactions early in the process.

My guest this week, Sage Baker, specializes in what is called Qualitative Research. Through focus groups, in-depth individual conversations and a variety of other tools, Sage finds out what people really think about a given idea, product, or service.

Please join us as Sage shares what she knows about finding out what your customers are really thinking.

Learn more about Sage: https://SageBakerConsulting.com

A well-written business plan is essential for any firm looking for debt or equity financing.

While banks and investors are looking for different things to make them feel good about your business model, they both expect you to have a professional business plan to review. Do you?

My guest this week is Cheree Warrick, a professional business plan writer and author of the book, "Creating Business Plans that Actually Get Financed."

Over the past decade Cheree has written hundreds of business plans that have helped her clients acquire loans and equity investments from $10,000 to $20,000,000.

If you want to know what it takes to create a business plan that is "investable," tune in to learn the answers from Cheree Warrick.

The events of the past 14 months are unprecedented in the past century of global business history.

The pandemic has had has been devastating to many industries and a boon to others. The workplace changes it has created have been enormous, with impacts on commercial real estate and knowledge worker migration that we are just beginning to fully appreciate.

But what about the future? What's next and how can we as business owners and executives best prepare for it?

My guest this week, Scott Crawford, president and CEO of VA811, argues that we are not at the beginning of the end of this transformation, but rather at the end of the beginning.

And he is uniquely qualified to share his perspective, being both a business executive and a historian.

Join us this week as Scott takes us back to previous plagues and pandemics and describes how we can use the lessons of history can guide our business planning into the future.

Technology startups attract a lot of attention from the investment community because of their potential to leverage their intellectual property to create multi-billion dollar companies and even entire new industries.

But most technologists are just that - science wonks - with little to no business, management, marketing, or capital markets experience. How can they take their big idea from the garage to a point where it could serious attract the attention of the investment community? Through an SBIR.

My guest this is week is Roger London, a technology investment expert who has worked with a number of companies that started in the SBIR program and are now moving toward commercializing their intellectual property with the help of private capital.

Though it just turned one year old, Clubhouse seems to be taking off like a wildfire across the social media landscape.

For years I have been helping entrepreneurs, authors, speakers, coaches and consultants establish and elevate their personal brands in print, video, audio and social media.

So, when I suddenly started hearing about Clubhouse everywhere I turned, I knew I needed to find someone knowledgeable to talk about it - pronto!

That's why I'm so pleased to share that Social Media Innovator Jessie Newburn has agreed to be my guest on Radio Free Enterprise this week.

Learn More About Jessie Newburn:

Atigro Marketing

Jessie on LinkedIn

In her upcoming book Nina Hershberger makes the audacious claim that she can walk into almost any business and find $100,000 in new revenue opportunities within 30 minutes. But can she really?

I have known Nina for many years - I've even visited her and her husband in their Fishers, Indiana home - and know her to be a no-nonsense businessperson. So when I saw the claims she was making in this book, I had to learn more.

In this week's conversation I'm going to ask Nina where this money comes from and, if it's so readily available, why aren't more business owners picking it up off the ground right now.

Nina is a smart, experienced and successful marketer who is guaranteed to give you at least one AH-HAH moment. This is an interview you don't want to miss.

Apply to work with Nina: http://findmy100k.com/

Startups in the Medical Technology industry face a lot of unique challenges when looking to raise capital to grow their company - not the least of which is just explaining what their technology is, how it works to help people, and how that translates into profits for investors.

In this conversation I'll be speaking with Luke Steuber, Director of Clinical Research and Development for a company called Cognixion that is doing amazing work to help people with conditions like ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) better communicate and engage with their environment.

Please join us as we look at the startup scene through the eyes of a MedTech company and learn about the amazing ways their technology can help all of us. More info: https://cognixion.com

Sir Richard Branson once famously said, "Take care or your employees and they will take care of your business."

Many business owners give this idea lip service but don't really focus on empowering their front-line customer service people the way that Sir Richard or other fabulously successful entrepreneurs do.

That's why I'm so excited to have none other than The Customer Service Doctor, Dr. Kelly Henry, join me on Radio Free Enterprise this week.

Dr. Henry's book, Define And Deliver Exceptional Customer Service, is a must-read for every business owner who has workers interfacing with - and solving problems for - their customers.

After all of the effort we go through to attract and do business with new clients, why don't we work harder to keep them as long-term sources of repeat and referral business? Dr. Henry knows the answer to that and many other perplexing questions about the state of customer service among businesses of all sizes around the world.

Please join us this Thursday at 10:00​ as we stream live right here.

Learn more about The Customer Service Doctor: https://DrKellyHenry.com​

Buy Dr. Henry's book: https://amzn.to/3v9yjZA