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Guest: ​​​​​​​​Shirag Shemmassian

​Company / Business name: ​​​​​​ ​​​Shemmassian Academic Consulting

Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting. He and his team help high-achieving students get into America's top colleges, medical schools, and other graduate programs.Tools / Books / Resources mentioned:Books: Calendly, Skype; Mentors: Ramit SethiShow Notes:01:14 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Keep doing what you love to do and money will follow. Shirag starts off by explaining how a Ph. D. in Clinical Psychology got into starting an academic consulting business. It’s primarily started off with Shirag helping friends and family for free which generated enough interest to become a profitable business.03:04 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: All you need are paying customers to validate your business and the rest will fall in place.Shirag talks about how he started making money even before he formally organized or even had a web site. It all started as a side hustle and word of mouth. Then the referrals kept coming and Shirag could really sense that there is a viable business.05:59 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Don’t wait for that magical perfect price or perfect channels. Keep iterating.Shirag talks about the trial and error involved in finding the fair price for his services. He started off with a price that he thought was fair but as he kept realizing that the value delivered by him to help students to get into top colleges like Harvard and Stanford was much higher, he increased his prices. In the process, he also learnt about other aspects of the business like marketing and promotion.11:10 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Be realistic about business challenges especially time management and growth management.Shirag talks about challenges of time management and quality control. Given that the academic consulting is still a side business (even though a very health one), time management has been a challenge but he has gotten better at it. Second challenge is maintaining quality with other coaches he has hired to support the growing business.17:36 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Outsource where necessary. Don’t try to be a superhero.Shirag talks about the operational aspects of his business. Shirag outsourced accounting and payroll. He uses Calendly for appointment scheduling, Skype and phone for coaching.19:06 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Be a constant learner. Be curious. You never know where that will lead you.Shirag talks about his evolution from someone who wanted to become a physician and how his interest in mental health led him into clinical psychology. He also talks about his immigrant background and how that motivated him into keep driving himself. His natural curiosity led him into starting his business and he is now hooked.22:01 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Keep yourself surrounded by a positive...

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Guest: Craig Hewitt

​Company / Business name: ​​​​​​ ​​​Podcast Motor

Craig Hewitt is the Founder of PodcastMotor, a productized service which offers done-for-you podcast editing and production. Podcast Motor has a team of 15 remote members spread across 4 continents and are responsible for around 40 podcasts on a regular basis.

Craig is also the founder of Castos podcast hosting and analytics with a to enable everyone to create their own podcast and share their voice with the world. Castos just celebrated it's 2nd birthday and more than 1,000 customers are on the platform.

Tools / Books / Resources mentioned:

Books: Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, Traction by Gino Wickman.

Show Notes:

01:32 minute mark:

Agile entrepreneur takeaway: If there is no solution for a problem you are facing, most likely other people are struggling too. Solve that problem and you have a business. 

Craig starts off by talking about how he stumbled his way into starting podcast motor when he actually started his own podcast but found it cumbersome to get it edited and published. He calls it ‘scratch your own itch’ way of starting a business where you solve your own problem and in the process build a business to start similar problems.

04:52 minute mark:

Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Figure out your calling in life and focus on what you can accomplish. 

Craig calls himself a hopeless entrepreneur who is practically unemployable in a corporate world. Instead of spinning wheels in a corporate world, Craig really wanted to accomplish meaningful things by being on his own. Even though he started by selling capital equipment to hospitals, Craig is now in a 3rd iteration of his entrepreneurial journey.

06:47 minute mark:

Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Be agile and nimble in starting your business.

Craig is a big believer in productized service business and a prime example of get started quickly. He went from an idea to a paying customer in 3 weeks and a monthly revenue of $5,000 in 2 months. Start with a problem you can solve for customers and find a way to do it soup-to-nuts for them. Then you can keep pivoting from there.

08:30 minute mark:

Agile entrepreneur takeaway: If there is no solution for a problem you are facing, most likely other people are struggling too. Solve that problem and you have a business. 

Craig gives examples of where his friend Justin McGill started a challenge to start a business in 24 hours and his SAS business lead fuse did exactly that. In this segment, Craig also talks about building a customer pipeline with a combination of organic traffic (70%) and paid traffic (30%).

15:04 minute mark:

Agile entrepreneur takeaway: There are always multiple sources of motivation: personal and professional. Find yours.

Craig talks about the motivation needed to build his business. (1) He wanted to quit his full-time job and the side business he started seemed like the path (2) And the pipeline of customers who needed him provided him the additional motivation.

17:37 minute mark:

Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Read the following books if you can: The Profit First and Traction.

Craig mentions two books that were instrumental in shaping him and his business.

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Guest: Phil Strazzulla

​Company / Business name: ​​​​​​ ​​​Select Software Reviews

Phil is the founder of SelectSoftware Reviews where businesses can learn about the best software for their organization. Phil started his career working in venture capital before getting his MBA at Harvard Business School.Tools / Books / Resources mentioned: Tools: Zoom, MixMax, Mailchimp, Google AnalyticsShow Notes:00:56 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Be a trusted advisor for your customers. Phil starts off by explaining about his business which is to provide consumable information for businesses to make informed decisions on buying the right business software from the myriad options that are available for them. Phil’s company makes money by partnering with some of the vendors and with paid advertising on the web site.04:28 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Always start by identifying an ideal customer. Delight that customer first. Phil talks about the ideal customer for his business and that is the HR manager of any business with employees between 100 and 1,000. Phil’s aspiration is that the beachhead of the HR customer will gradually lead to other functions in the org.08:31 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Business will evolve. Don’t sweat over trying to get it right the very first time. Phil talks about the origins of his business. His desire to start a company originated in college when he interned at a one-man company and realized the impact he could have. Phil talks about how his business evolved 7 or 8 times since inception and how each iteration made the company a better business.11:40 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: As an entrepreneur, be prepared to go though lean times. Find strength within. Phil talks about the exhilaration of signing up marquee customers in the beginning but how that excitement was worn off when they didn’t renew afterwards. He talks about the learnings such as the tracking the customer interest to get an idea of what is working and what is not. He talks about the pain of going through lean times and watching his classmates shutter their own businesses within 9 to 18 months of starting their businesses. He found strength within to keep going by staying lean.19:43 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: It’s always a better business model to do something that is already being done in the market faster, cheaper, and better. Phil talks about 2 key challenges he faced in running his business. (1) Time management (2) Prioritization. Phil reminisces about few things he could have done better. (1) Not trying to change the behavior of the customer (2) Instead focusing on helping something that is already being done better, faster, cheaper etc.23:07 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Start with something you know and keep learning and building from there. Phil continues talking about the need to start a business in an area that you are familiar with and unde...

Craig Hewitt is the Founder of PodcastMotor, a productized service which offers done-for-you podcast editing and production. Podcast Motor has a team of 15 remote members spread across 4 continents and are responsible for around 40 podcasts on a regular basis.

Craig is also the founder of Castos podcast hosting and analytics with a to enable everyone to create their own podcast and share their voice with the world. Castos just celebrated it's 2nd birthday and more than 1,000 customers are on the platform.

Phil is the founder of SelectSoftware Reviews where businesses can learn about the best software for their organization. Phil started his career working in venture capital before getting his MBA at Harvard Business School.

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Guest: Shel Horowitz

​Company / Business name: ​​​​​​ ​​​Going Beyond Sustainability DOT COM.

For over a decade, Shel Horowitz, “The Transformpreneur,” has shown businesses how to thrive by doing the right thing. Shel shows how not just to go green AND market green affordably and effectively--but how business can thrive by transforming society: turning hunger and poverty into sufficiency, war into peace, and catastrophic climate change into planetary balance. Shel is a consultant, international speaker and TEDx Talker, transformational business consultant, and the multiple-award-winning, bestselling author of ten books, most recently Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World (his second Guerrilla book with Guerrilla Marketing founder Jay Conrad Levinson).Show Notes:01:43 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Your passion leads the way to your business. Be passionate. Shel talks about the beginnings where he and his wife started a movement in their local rural community to stop a private developer from building a large development against environmentalists’ concerns. He used business principles and marketing to make the movement effective.06:00 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Environmentally sustainable business and a profitable business don’t have to be separate things.Shel talks about how he coaches business owners to make money and save money while transforming their business into a sustainable business. He mentions some great examples like Patagonia, Ben & Jerrys, Rocky Mountain Institute which have been very successful in being a sustainable business while making profits.10:00 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Keep growing your business by finding new growth areas. Always think of possibilities. Shel talks about how he started as a freelance magazine writer and started a term paper typing service which grew into resume prep service business. That business evolved into Press Releases and Marketing copy writing business.14:39 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Use variety of techniques to build your customer pipeline: Networking, blogging, speaking.Shel talks about the customer pipeline building process. He uses a combination of techniques such as a gratitude journal on Facebook, blog posts, speaking engagements etc. Many of his clients are either referrals or people who found him through organic google searches. Sometimes, he prospects by going to networking events.21:50 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Be proactive about having a social impact with your business. Shel talks about being proactive to have a social impact with their business. He says it is just a matter of time that customers will ask about your business impact on the society, so be prepared. Shel also advises that it is not difficult to be profitable while having a wider social impact.27:56 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Focus on costs while building a business.

For over a decade, Shel Horowitz, “The Transformpreneur,” has shown businesses how to thrive by doing the right thing. Shel shows how not just to go green AND market green affordably and effectively--but how business can thrive by transforming society: turning hunger and poverty into sufficiency, war into peace, and catastrophic climate change into planetary balance.

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Guest: Mark Viniello

​Company / Business name: ​​​​​​ ​​​OverActive Imaginations, Inc.

Mark Viniello, professional Hollywood make-up effects artist turned Entrepreneur and author. Mark has worked on such films as: The Lord of the Rings, Avengers: Infinity War, Stranger Things and the upcoming Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.Show Notes:01:06 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Many times, a business idea starts with your passionate interests. Be passionate. Mark talks about his love of making monsters and how his work on Adam Sandler’s bedtime stories of making a mermaid tale started the whole thing. Initially, he made some mermaid tails for his four daughters and as the word spread around, Mark started making the mermaid kits for others.4:55 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Deliver a complete immersive experience to differentiate your offering.Mark expands on how he grew that one mermaid sleeping bag idea into an entire kit where the customers get a complete experience with inspirational and educational books, a tote, and complete background on the mermaids.07:37 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Keep learning from people who have done similar things before. Your network can also be a huge help. Mark talks about how he learned from the likes of Jennifer Kepler, Sara Blakley, and Rowland who successfully navigated the journey from artists to becoming successful business people. Mark then relied on friends and family who are into various aspects of a business like licensing merchandise, tradeshows, and packaging to pick their brains. 13:38 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Ensure that price, promotion, and quality are in sync.Mark then talks about pricing and how iterated on coming up with pricing. Once he decided on a price, Mark relied on referrals and testimonials to build his business. Mark also made sure that the product quality is high and the customers could experience the quality of his offering so they feel that the price matches the quality.20:12 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Test different strategies like unbundling a product and customer segmentation. Mark further talks about different strategies like unbundling the product (sleeping bag, book etc.) so the overall price can be lowered without compromising the quality. He also mentioned segmenting the customers so he can provide younger adults with a different product as well.22:48 minute mark:Agile entrepreneur takeaway: Keep you passion going. Most successful businesspeople kept investing initial profits into t...

Mark Viniello, professional Hollywood make-up effects artist turned Entrepreneur and author. Mark has worked on such films as: The Lord of the Rings, Avengers: Infinity War, Stranger Things and the upcoming Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark .

Drew Stevens is a world-renowned business turnaround and revenue expert. Drew works with business owners who struggle with revenue and transforms them into wealthy professionals.