The show is on break, but that's not preventing me from adding a bonus episode or two! It's no secret I love automation, and invariably those automations spill out into my personal life. I view the holidays as a great opportunity to flex some home automation muscles. Here's what I did, what I use, and some improvements. 

In the PRO show, I get into the gory details, share my shortcuts, and talk about Matter and the future of home automation. 

Show Notes

• Become a PRO member
• Phillips Hue Color Bulbs
• Phillips Hue Play Color Smart Lights
• Phillips Hue Go
• Phillips Hue Light Strips
• Meros Smart Plugs
• Meros Outdoor Smart Plug
• Wemo Smart Plug

————
Streamlined Solopreneur helps overwhelmed solo business owners go from overwhelmed to having their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without selling your soul to AI...and run your business without sacrificing the rest of your life, or your health.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it. https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

It’s the time of the year were small business owners and creators have some extra time to tinker with (or fully redesign) their websites. I’m here with Copywriter Ame Proietti to tell you to skip the new design and focus on the copy instead. We get into what makes good copy, blog posts vs. sales copy, and we finish out with how to write good scripts. As you prepare for 2023, good copy will be at the heart of what you do thanks to Ame’s advice. Plus, in the Pro show, we broke down the sales page Ame wrote for me.

Top Takeaways:

• Where blog posts are meant to share and educate, copywriting is meant to convince people to take an action. Ame calls it “assembling” words and sections in the best way for your target audience
• To get the best copy, you need to talk to customers. Ame recommends interviewing 3 customers and gathering testimonials to learn how you people and the language they use, which you can then mirror in your copy.
• Bringing in someone else can help you get the best results. They are objective and don’t know what you know. They’ll also the right questions and allow you to gain a better understanding of your offer too.

Show Notes:

• Ame Proietti
• Ame on Twitter
• Ame on Linkedin
• How To Build a $1000/year Membership with Jay Clouse
• Don't Make Me Think
• Join Creator Crew

Sponsored by: Ahrefs | TextExpander | LearnDash

————
Streamlined Solopreneur helps overwhelmed solo business owners go from overwhelmed to having their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without selling your soul to AI...and run your business without sacrificing the rest of your life, or your health.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it. https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

It’s a good old fashioned podcast swap with Good People, Cool Things! I really enjoy this show, and the interview we have queued up for you is great.

This is a conversation with Jessi Burg, who started Outgrow Your Garage so she could answer the questions and develop the resources for small business owners that she wished she had when starting out as a business owner. Some of the top highlights include how to overcome common struggles for business owners, the benefits of online courses, and why she encourages an airing of grievances among employees. Be sure to stick around until the end for a good question and a corny joke!

In Build Something More, I give you a behind-the-scenes look on how this happened, and the future of the members-only part of this podcast (don’t worry. It’s not going away).

Show Notes

• Good People, Cool Things
• Ways to Grow Your Small Business with Jessi Burg
• Podcast Swaps Grew My Show by 21%

Sponsored by: Ahrefs

————
Streamlined Solopreneur helps overwhelmed solo business owners go from overwhelmed to having their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without selling your soul to AI...and run your business without sacrificing the rest of your life, or your health.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it. https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

How I Built Bits is back, and better than ever! The focus on the show moving forward will be highlighting helpful tools and processes for creators to run a better business. And I'm excited that the first episode is presented by Groundhogg.

Groundhogg is an open-source CRM & Marketing Automation suite for serious agencies, small businesses, content creators, eCommerce experts, and WordPress professionals. Let's take a deep dive into what it is, how it works, and why it could be perfect for your creator business!

Show Notes

• Get Groundhogg (20% off with code HOWIBUILTIT)
• Interview with Adrian Tobey

————
Streamlined Solopreneur helps overwhelmed solo business owners go from overwhelmed to having their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without selling your soul to AI...and run your business without sacrificing the rest of your life, or your health.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it. https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

With the Podcast Liftoff Playbook out, and Jennifer Bourn’s Profitable Project Plan is open for enrollment right now, I thought it would be a great time to re-air her interview where she talks about running a cohort-based course, and how she built the PPP. I listened to it again as I was looking for inspiration and best practices to realize the Playbook fully. And let me tell you, this episode really holds up! For members, I talk about how my webinar → paid members sales to funnel went.

Top Takeaways:

• Online courses are NOT passive income. If you want your course to be successful, you need to evolve it.
• Offering a PRO version was a big mistake for Jen because people bought the non-Pro version and tried to get the Pro benefits. The lesson has one offer OR makes the Pro benefits totally different.
• Running live workshop events are a great way to add accountability and more value to your self-paced courses. You're ensuring your students take action now, instead of procrastinating.

Show Notes:

• Jennifer Bourn
• Jennifer on Twitter
• Profitable Project Plan
• Content Camp
• Jennifer Bourn and Profitable Project Plan
• Company of One
• Introduction to the Block Editor
• 2021: The Year of Opportunity
• Join the Creator Crew

Sponsored by: Nexcess | Ahrefs | LearnDash

————
Streamlined Solopreneur helps overwhelmed solo business owners go from overwhelmed to having their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without selling your soul to AI...and run your business without sacrificing the rest of your life, or your health.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it. https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

In May, I was at a bit of a crossroads. I wasn't sure what I should do with the many things I was working on, and I felt like I was being pulled in too many directions. I couldn't focus on one thing to help take my business to the next level. So I decided to focus on Podcasting. The path from them to now lead me to cutting away a lot of projects (including projects I like doing), all in the service of growing my business. And the centerpiece: my brand new Podcast Liftoff Playbook. 

So today, we're getting back to the roots of the show, and I'm going to tell you how I built this hybrid membership/course site. 

Top Takeaways 

• Think about what your MVP is. Don't spend too much time thinking of every possibility for a new project. You'll never launch. Instead, launch quickly, and get feedback. 
• Don't answer questions people aren't asking. I could have added in a bunch of features I thought were cool, but they would have delayed launch, and frankly, as far as I knew, no one would use them. 
• Spend more time marketing than building something new. Get in front of new audiences and explain the problem your new project solves for them. 

Show Notes

• Special offer on the Playbook
• Playbook Walkthrough
• PaidMembershipsPro
• Kadence
• ConvertKit
• SearchWP

Sponsored by: Nexcess | Ahrefs | LearnDash

————
Streamlined Solopreneur helps overwhelmed solo business owners go from overwhelmed to having their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without selling your soul to AI...and run your business without sacrificing the rest of your life, or your health.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it. https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

We must make content to serve the almighty algorithm to make money on YouTube, right? Wrong! Over the last couple of weeks, you’ve heard from creators who are doing a video that works for them — and today’s guest is no different. Hannah Smolinski is a Fractional CFO who grew her YouTube channel to 38,000 subscribers and doesn’t pay attention to analytics. Instead, she answers questions her target audience has, is generous with her time and her knowledge, and knows it’s all about the long game, not getting rich quickly.

Top Takeaways:

• Don’t make money for Adsense. It’s too unpredictable. Instead, create good content and get people to know, like, and trust you.
• Doing videos on free resources helps get people onto your list. From there, you can continue to provide value, promote new videos, and form relationships with potential customers.
• The beautiful thing about consulting and YouTube: it allows people to really warm up to you. Hannah says most of her calls are with people who are already ready to hire her thanks to YouTube.

Show Notes:

• Hannah Smolinski
• Hannah on YouTube
• Hannah on Facebook
• Hannah on Instagram
• Hannah on Linkedin
• Hannah on Tiktok
• Join the Creator Crew

Sponsored by: Nexcess | Ahrefs | LearnDash

————
Streamlined Solopreneur helps overwhelmed solo business owners go from overwhelmed to having their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without selling your soul to AI...and run your business without sacrificing the rest of your life, or your health.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it. https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

It’s easy to think your content will get better if you just have the right gear. Alas, a $1000 camera can’t save you if you’re not spending time on the content. But that doesn’t mean you can’t look and sound good. So today brought in Dan Bennett, who’s built his business on making people look and sound great on camera. Spoiler alert: This almost never results in buying new gear. Instead, we talk about small tweaks you can make. Then we talk about the growing importance of videos for podcasting.

Top Takeaways:

• Audio is king. If you can only upgrade one thing, make it audio. And remember that you don’t need the top-of-the-line mic. In fact, you can sound great on a $40 mic if you have the right technique and environment.
• Looking good doesn’t require an expensive camera. Lighting is a big part of it - get a few white lights and position them properly to give yourself the best possible picture for your camera to capture. Oh, and a little makeup to reduce your face shine goes a long way too.
• But really, it’s about story-telling and getting your reps in. You can’t make a good video if you don’t make video. So use the best of what you have and start recording!

Show Notes:

• Dan Bennett on Antipreneur
• Dan Bennett on 1 Minute Media
• Dan's Website
• Sony a6400 video
• Blue Yeti
• Riverside
• Envato Elements
• Motionarray
• The Secret to Finding Yourself
• Join the Creator Crew

Sponsored by: Nexcess | TextExpander | LearnDash

————
Streamlined Solopreneur helps overwhelmed solo business owners go from overwhelmed to having their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without selling your soul to AI...and run your business without sacrificing the rest of your life, or your health.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it. https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

If you’ve been listening for a while, you’ve heard this lesson 100 times: ship with what you have. Ship what you have. In other words, don’t waste time looking for the perfect tool or process. Instead, ship quickly and iterate. And no one embodies this credo better than Marie Poulin. As one of the best Notion instructors out there, Marie has illustrated time and time again that shipping early and iterating leads to success. We chat about how she uses Notion from delivering her course, gets feedback earlier, and leverages YouTube to grow her audience and make sales…around 90% of her sales come from there! Plus, in Build Something More, We chat about my potential switch from Airtable to Notion.

Top Takeaways:

• Delivering her Notion course in Notion allows her to launch her course quickly without fussing with so many tools and allows her students a quick win by forcing them to log into Notion.
• Feedback is SO important. Too many people are afraid of it, but it will ultimately save you time and make your product better in the long run.
• Ship and iterate. Launching something imperfect is better than not shipping.

Show Notes:

• Marie Poulin
• Marie on Twitter
• Marie on Instagram
• Marie on Linkedin
• Notion Skincare Thread
• You Need to Form Good Writing Habits with Dickie Bush
• Building a Second Brain
• Join the Creator Crew

Sponsored by: Nexcess | Ahrefs | LearnDash

————
Streamlined Solopreneur helps overwhelmed solo business owners go from overwhelmed to having their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without selling your soul to AI...and run your business without sacrificing the rest of your life, or your health.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it. https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

How do you get the NY Times (or the WSJ) to publish your article? Do you just email them and hope for the best? Well…you can, but according to Stephanie Lee, you shouldn’t. See, Stephanie is a media strategist who’s been published in the NY Times, and has gotten her clients into publications like Entrepreneur…through cold pitching! She says the important thing for you is to build clout markers to show you are trustworthy. And today, she walks us through how to do that using her Slingshot method. Plus, we answer the question, “Will PR outreach make me rich?” In an extra long build something more, we chat conferences, World of Warcraft, and…Scranton? Like from The Office?

Top Takeaways:

• Most people ignore this fundamental thing about the media: they work with people they can trust. Just like we buy from companies and brands we trust, the media needs to know you really know what you’re talking about. They are staking their reputation on it.
• You can build up trust by following the slingshot method. Don’t go for the NY Times at first. That’s like trying to pitch in the World Series. Instead, start with a trustworthy industry blog and build from there.
• When you are ready to pitch, do come out with the ask right away. Read an article and send a compliment. Open a dialog, then pitch what your article is about and why it’s important to write about today.
• Bonus: this, like everything good in life, takes time.

Show Notes:

• Stephanie Lee
• Stephanie on Twitter
• Join the Creator Crew

Sponsored by: Nexcess | LearnDash

————
Streamlined Solopreneur helps overwhelmed solo business owners go from overwhelmed to having their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without selling your soul to AI...and run your business without sacrificing the rest of your life, or your health.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it. https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/