Salary to CEO

E8: In the last episode I spoke with content creator, entrepreneur and venture capitalist Joe Pompliano whose newsletter Huddle Up has amassed over 120,000 subscribers and launched his entrepreneurial and investing career.

Joe’s success building audience-first businesses starting with a newsletter, inspired me to launch my own as a companion to this podcast.

This week I spoke with Newsletter Content Creator Daniel Roman (@idanielroman) to get some advice. He’s like the inception guy of newsletters. He writes a newsletter about writing a newsletter.

The following episode contains the juiciest excerpts from our conversation that you can steal to launch your own newsletter the right way.

Topics covered:

• The best beginner newsletter platform to choose

• Creating effective lead magnets for newsletter subscribers

• Newsletter content strategies to become a top 1% newsletter

• A little known secret for launching your lead magnet to new audiences

• Optimising your newsletter deliverability through email list management

• How to optimise your social media profile for more newsletter subscribers

Whether you’re a podcaster like me, a real estate agent, an online marketer, a landscape business owner or a content creator - this podcast episode is going to help you learn how to grow your email list through newsletter and build your online audience, to ultimately sell more products and services.

With the right consistency and implementation of these lessons, who knows…

You could be the next Joe Pompliano.

Follow along on my SMB journey:

Twitter @JakeMRichards

Sign up to the Salary to CEO Newsletter to catch exclusive behind the scenes content, small business tips and reminders when each episode releases:

https://salarytoceo.beehiiv.com/subscribe

E7: You’ve got big dreams for your life. And you want to build a successful business to make those dreams a reality. But right now, that feels a long way off. But what if it wasn’t?

What if there was a path where you could leave your current job within 3 months and be on a totally different trajectory? A path that required zero capital, network or reputation to get started?

And what if within 5 years that path brought you wild business success and a life on your own terms?

Join host Jake Richards (@JakeMRichards) as he sits down with world class content creator, entrepreneur and investor Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) to uncover how you can dominate the new age of entrepreneurship through audience-first businesses.

Joe went from a regular guy working in finance to building the business of his dreams. And he made that possible by first starting with audience. Only 3 months after starting to post online, Joe had built enough momentum to quit his job all together and went all in on content.

Fast forward to today and Joe’s dominated the sports business niche. He’s amassed over 1 million followers across all social media platforms. He features on major tv networks like ESPN and NBC. He’s got the number 1 sports newsletter on substack called huddle up with over 120,000 subscribers. He’s worked with F1 teams like Mclaren. He’s interviewed people like Dana White, Gary Vee, Francis Ngannou, Lance Armstrong, Ryan Garcia, Barcelona FC president Joan Laporta, the list goes on and on.

And off the back of all of this success, Joe’s unlocked his biggest dreams in venture capital. Thanks to his audience first approach he’s got access to invest in companies like Airbnb, Reddit, Underdog Fantasy, The Premier Lacrosse League and so many more. All in 5 years.

Discover Joe’s advice for how you can bridge the gap to your dream life by building audience first businesses.

Topics discussed:

• The content creation playbook to quit your job in 3 months
• The 2 must have ingredients for explosive social media audience growth
• Building an audience-first business: The new age model of entrepreneurship
• How to design your dream life: time & freedom vs building something bigger than yourself
• Behind the scenes on investing in ventures like a bagel franchise and the Premier Lacrosse League
• Joe's frameworks for selecting investment opportunities and assessing risks

You’re a lot closer than you think to realising your biggest business ambitions. If you understand and apply Joe’s Audience-Business-Investment framework you too can make your dreams a reality.

E6: In today’s episode, I break down a $450 million entrepreneur’s contrarian advice for getting into small business ownership.

There’s only 2 ways to get into business right?

1. Start a business
2. Buy a business

WRONG!

There’s a 3rd path that this world class entrepreneur swears by and says that everyone he knows who's won at the highest level has followed.

I explain how I’m using this approach to enter my next business, and outline the steps for you to do the same.

As well as layering in some additional tools like the permissionless apprenticeship to supercharge this opportunity.

Topics covered:

• Why a $450m entrepreneur advises against starting or buying a business and what to do instead

• How to Build Relationships With Industry Titans Using The Permissionless Apprenticeship

• How to creatively get equity in high quality small businesses with no money down

This episode breaks down the 3rd path into small business ownership that you can use to dramatically increase your probability of success, save yourself hundreds of thousands, potentially millions of dollars in start up or acquisition costs and avoid the painful mistakes that’ll put you out of the game long term.

Especially if you’re a first time business owner.

Follow along on my SMB journey:

Twitter @JakeMRichards

Sign up to the Salary to CEO Newsletter to catch exclusive behind the scenes content, small business tips and reminders when each episode releases:

https://salarytoceo.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Resources mentioned:

• Jack Butcher’s Permissionless Apprenticeship

• @visualizevalue

E5: Miguel Contreras (@Miguel90Cont) was sitting around waiting for his real estate license when his wife walked in:

“Why don’t you take your truck out and pick up people’s junk. You can probably make some cash.”

Boom! $10k in the first month. Wait a second there’s something here.

Then:

3 months → $15k/month

6 months → $25k/month

18 months → $50k/month

Host Jake Richards (@JakeMRichards) sits down with business owner Miguel Contreras to unpack the ultimate boring business… Junk Removal.

But don't be fooled...

It's not as simple as taking your truck out and picking up rubbish. Miguel’s implementing a sophisticated and aggressive system that any service business owner or future service business owner can apply.

Topics covered:

• Mastering the ‘Pyramids of Competence’

• Battle tested sales strategies to upsell your clients

• How to build a high performance culture that your team loves

• How to charge (and deserve) premium pricing in your service business

• Self awareness vs environmental awareness when scaling your business

• First 6 month game plan to launch a $50k / month garbage removal business

• Miguel’s mentor’s insider secrets to build a $2 million per year junk removal business

This episode is a must-listen for those seeking a straightforward cash flowing business. With minimal capital invested, and some basic business skills, even a first time entrepreneur can be profitable from day one and on their way to building a junk removal empire like Miguel.

Follow along on my SMB journey:

Twitter @JakeMRichards

Sign up to the Salary to CEO Newsletter to catch exclusive behind the scenes content, small business tips and reminders when each episode releases:

https://salarytoceo.beehiiv.com/subscribe

E4: Ever had a killer business idea hit you out of nowhere, making you feel like the next Elon Musk, only to end up doing nothing about it? Or maybe you got pumped, picked a name, bought a domain, and then... nada. Sounds familiar? You're not the only one stuck in 'idea-preneur' mode, where great ideas never see the light of day.

Join host Jake Richards in this episode of the Salary to CEO Podcast, as he tackles this head-on with a game-changer: the 12 Week Year system.

Jake breaks down how this system helped him move from just thinking about a podcast to actually launching it. It's not just for business either – this thing can turbo-charge any goal you've got.

Topics covered:

• Breaking Out Of 'Idea-Preneur' Mode

• The Flaws Of Annual Goal Setting And What To Do Instead

• The 12 Week Year Overview: How To Get More Done In 12 Weeks Than Most People Do In 12 Months

• The Secret Sauce To Actually Executing And Staying On Track: A Bullet Proof Measurement System

• Developing A Compelling Vision To Navigate The Emotional Cycle Of Change

• What Criteria To Use For Effective Goals & Tactics

Whether you're aiming to launch a business for the first time or just want to hit some personal targets, this episode's got the goods to get you there in under 12 weeks.

Follow along on my SMB journey:

Twitter @JakeMRichards

Sign up to the Salary to CEO Newsletter to catch exclusive behind the scenes content, small business tips and reminders when each episode releases:

https://salarytoceo.beehiiv.com/subscribe

E3: What would your life look like if you could build multi-million dollar businesses around the things you love and hobbies you can’t get enough of?

How much more joy would you have if you could tie your financial freedom to your personal passions.

Is it even possible? And if so, how should you get started?

Join host Jake Richards (@JakeMRichards) as he sits down with personal holding company expert Yong-Soo Chung (@YongSooChung).

From a humble start sleeping on an air mattress in his friend’s San Francisco apartment, to building what he calls a “lifestyle business on steroids”, Yong-Soo has transformed his hobbies into a staggering $6.5 million annual revenue business portfolio.

Discover his innovative strategies for turning everyday passions into a thriving Personal Holding Company, and learn how you can do the same.

Topics discussed:

• The Personal Holding Company philosophy
• Why solopreneurship is a bad idea and what to do instead
• How to turn your business cost centres into profit centres
• Mastering Yong-Soo’s proprietary MAPS framework for scaling business success
• How to spot and ride emerging macro trends to launch profit maximising companies
• Designing your own unconventional path to turn your hobbies into multi-million dollar businesses
• A little known credit card cash back strategy Yong-Soo is using to generate $120,000 in yearly tax-free income

This episode is a must listen for any Personal HoldCo. curious entrepreneur, as well as any individual who wants to build a successful business around their life and not the other way around.

Follow along on my SMB journey:

Twitter @JakeMRichards

Sign up to the Salary to CEO Newsletter to catch exclusive behind the scenes content, small business tips and reminders when each episode releases:

https://salarytoceo.beehiiv.com/subscribe

E2: In today’s episode, I expose the flaws of starting a passion business and propose an alternative path to uncover your ideal business fit.

Conventional wisdom goes:

“Find your passion, turn it into a business and never work another day again in your life.”

I explain why starting my first business taught me otherwise, as well as supporting this with lessons from renowned entrepreneurs.

I’m sharing the 2 key questions to ask instead as well as SMB Buying Expert, Walker Deibel’s Personal Career Audit tool you can implement to identify the business uniquely suited to your strengths.

I wish I had these tools and strategies 4 years ago when I was starting out in my entrepreneurial journey.

Topics discussed:

• Insights from my own business ventures and mistakes

• Why 'Following Your Passion' is flawed business advice

• The two essential questions to identify your ideal business

• Lessons and tools from entrepreneurs like Alex Hormozi, Patrick Bet David, and Walker Deibel

This episode covers some fundamental lessons earned in the battlefield of entrepreneurship that you can use to avoid mistakes I’ve made. Enjoy!

Follow along on my SMB journey:

Twitter @JakeMRichards

Joe Rogan episode with White Oak Pasture's Will & Jenni Harris

E1: How do you buy your first SMB? What qualities should you be looking for in a business? And how do you avoid making a multi-million dollar mistake acquiring it?

Today, host Jake Richards (@JakeMRichards) sits down with 6-time business buyer James Richardson (@bizbuyingbrit), who went from salaried employee to building a $15 million per year business portfolio, in just 18 months! James shares the exact strategies he used to launch his career in acquisition entrepreneurship, the subsequent lessons learnt and how you can replicate his success.

Topics discussed:

• Start-ups vs buying established businesses
• Setting your business buying strategy: Solo-Biz Operator vs Multi-Biz Portfolio Owner
• What key business criteria to target in your search
• Pros and cons of different business types: service, manufacturing, etc.
• How to avoid overpaying for your first SMB acquisition
• How to build your investor network and bring on outside capital
• Financing SMB acquisitions

This is a business buying masterclass you won't want to miss!

Follow along on my SMB journey:

Twitter @JakeMRichards

Check out James' podcast here: Business Buying Brit Podcast

Welcome to the Salary to CEO Podcast, the show to take you from 9 to 5 to small business owner.

Host Jake Richards sits down with world class entrepreneurs and investors to uncover their secrets on how to launch, acquire, scale and sell SMBs to generate life changing wealth.

Dropping in your feed every Tuesday, join Jake to unlock the opportunity of small business ownership.