The Business of You with Rachel Gogos

Did you know your heart contains 40,000 neurons? Your heart can sense things that your logical brain simply can't–and tapping into that intelligence can help you make better decisions for your business.

Leyla Salvadé is a Heart Intelligence expert and founder of Standing Light™, a company empowering humanity through heart-centered education and events. As a Heartfulness Therapist at an exclusive clinic in Zurich, she guides royalty, billionaires, and visionaries on journeys of healing and self-regulation. Creator of The Standing Light Method™, the world's first heart workout, Leyla bridges science and spirituality to unlock the heart's potential, inspiring individuals to shift from a head-based mentality to a heart-empowered reality.

The Power of the Heart

There are three brains in the body: the head, the gut, and the heart. Many entrepreneurs are caught up in the head (logic, judging, analytical reasoning) and gut (instinct). The downside of overlying on logic is that our brains operate based on memory, and our memories are often based on fear or trauma. The heart brain, which contains 40,000 neurons, is responsible for intuition–the most underutilized resource for most people.

Luckily, the heart is also a muscle. Like any muscle, the more you train it, the stronger and more intelligent it becomes. Leyla's Standing Light Method guides people back into the heart and creates coherence between the head and the heart.

How to Develop Your Heart Intelligence

To make better decisions and lead a healthy life, you need to have a strong relationship with your inner self (your heart).

One easy way to connect with your intuition on a daily basis is to practice placing your hands on your heart as soon as you wake up. Feel your heartbeat. Slow down and tune in until you can really hear it. Practice gratitude for your heart, the organ responsible for keeping you alive and the seat of so much inner wisdom.

Enjoy this episode with Leyla Salvadé…

Soundbytes

10:45-11:50 "So ultimately, we have three brains in the body. We've got the head brain, which in our current society is the All-Knowing King. And then we've got the heart brain, and then the gut brain, and the intelligence of the head brain is logic, and we need that. We need that intellectual logic that deciphers and judges and assesses is this good, is this bad, is this wrong, is it right? The Heart Brain, its intelligence is intuition, and then the gut brain is instinct."

13:49-14:02 "The future is heart, but without understanding that the heart has its own brain, people would assume that it's just all very airy and beautiful, but that's not fact. That's not the truth. It's a matter of training this heart intelligence, which is also a muscle, and just like any muscle, the more you train it, the stronger it becomes, and the more intelligent it becomes."

Quotes

"I was always on a mission to make the world a better place."

"It was the transmutation, the alchemization of my deepest pain point into my greatest healing, and I knew I needed to share this with the world, and that that was my destiny."

"Logic will get you into the door, but intuition will keep you in the room."

"Emotions are energy in motion."

"You don't need anything outside of yourself to have the deepest transformational experience."

Links mentioned in this episode:

From Our Guest

Website: https://www.standinglight.com/

Connect with Leyla Salvadé on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leylasalvade/

Connect with brandiD

Download our free guide to learn 16 crucial website updates that attract more leads and convert visitors into clients: https://thebrandid.com/website-tweaks/

Ready to elevate your digital presence with a powerful brand or website? Contact us here: https://thebrandid.com/contact-form/

As any venture capitalist knows, not every investment pays off. Half of all new businesses fail within the first five years–but today's podcast guest has learned to spot the winners.

Brandon T. Adams is a 2X Emmy® Award-Winning Producer, Podcaster, Media Expert, Investor, and Advisor. In 2017, he founded Accelerant Media Group, an agency that produces commercials, social media content, and TV shows. Accelerant Media Group has produced TV Shows and Documentaries such as Ambitious Adventures, Success in Your City, Red Flags, and Beyond Small Town Dreams.

Brandon is the Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Big Brand Ventures, an advisory and marketing firm that helps scale companies from 7 figures to 8-9 figures in revenue. His expertise in business growth has led to successful campaigns across diverse industries, such as Tech, TeleHealth, Marketing, Blockchain, Entertainment & Film, Franchising, and Consumer Products.

From Crowdfunding to Equity Consulting

Brandon entered the investing world through crowdfunding. After helping people raise money for their businesses, he realized there was an opportunity to trade his consulting talents and network in exchange for a piece of the company. He could get paid to help the founders increase the value of their company.

Not every investment pays off. No one can predict the future and many businesses fail within their first few years, but some turn into other opportunities–and it just takes one good bet to make it a win for all parties.

What Makes a Successful Entrepreneur

When Brandon is choosing his investments, he bets on the founder more than the business. Part of their vetting process involves auditing the founder to see how coachable they are, if they're open to different ideas, or if there's a real reason they haven't been able to scale on their own. Some of the qualities they look for are integrity, grit, and adaptability.

Being open to change is essential because every level of business requires something different from the founder: a different operating system, team, and skill set. To go from zero to $100,000 takes a different person than $100,000 to $1 million or $1 million to $10 million. The most successful founders are able to evolve into what their business needs at that new level.

Enjoy this episode with Brandon T. Adams…

Soundbytes

15:47-16:03 "I bet on the person, the CEO, the founder. I've seen really good products and opportunities that fail and don't scale because the person running or operating the business is their own worst enemy. They're not open to change."

17:39-18:04 "What it takes you to go from zero to 100,000 is one thing. Going from 100,000 to a million is one thing. To go from a million to 10 million is a whole other story. To go from 10 million to 100 million…That whole process takes different people, different conversations, different structures, different systems, and you, as the founder and CEO, have to become a different person."

Quotes

"If you want anything in life and you surround yourself with the right people and work towards it, you'll achieve it."

"If you can communicate the story, and obviously the brand around it, that's what people buy into."

"When you're around certain people that do things at a certain level, it opens your mind to that level."

"That's the thing with this world, you never can predict the future, and it just takes one time to be right to make it a big win for all parties."

Links mentioned in this episode:

From Our Guest

Website: http://www.BrandonTAdams.com

Connect with Brandon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandontadams1/

Connect with brandiD

Download our free guide to learn 16 crucial website updates that attract more leads and convert visitors into clients: https://thebrandid.com/website-tweaks/

Ready to elevate your digital presence with a powerful brand or website? Contact us here: https://thebrandid.com/contact-form/

Could your digital business benefit from more physical marketing? Mark Stern is reimagining direct mail with experiential boxes designed to set your customers up for success and extend lifetime value.

Mark is a serial entrepreneur and founder of the Custom Box Agency, a design agency that specializes in optimizing the customer journey through direct mail. His innovative work caught the attention of Forbes, which featured him as one of the Next 1,000 Entrepreneurs redefining the American Dream. He was also highlighted in Joey Coleman's Wall Street Journal Bestseller, Never Lose an Employee Again.

Before embarking on his entrepreneurial path, Stern was a top-ranked strategy consultant at Deloitte Consulting, the world's largest consulting firm. He is an MBA graduate from Duke University. Stern is also a six-time Spartan Trifecta holder and serves as a mentor at South by Southwest (SXSW), guiding up-and-coming startups.

Connecting the Digital to the Physical

The idea for the Custom Box Agency was born out of Mark's experience buying online courses. After spending $2,000+ on a course, he was left to print out the workbook or go to the store to track down what he needed to get started. Oftentimes, he didn't end up starting at all. He began to wonder how course creators could better set their students up for success–beyond simply sending swag with the company logo.

When Mark started shipping out his boxes, the idea immediately caught on. People shared unboxing videos and became unofficial ambassadors and salespeople for the business. In the first year, Custom Box Agency grew from zero to a million dollars in revenue, all through organic word-of-mouth.

The 3 Customer Journeys

One key aspect of Mark's custom box business is tailoring the boxes to the customer journey. There are three different types of journeys throughout the customer lifecycle: acquisition, delivery, and retention. And within those journeys, there are multiple steps.

On the acquisition journey, prospects might discover you through social media, SEO, or in-person events. After someone finds you, you don't necessarily want to pitch them right away–those are cold leads. So you might nurture them through case studies, demos, or free content to build more of a relationship with them. From there, you have to close them as a customer. What does the point of sale look like?

After someone buys your product, you need to take them from onboarding to delivering the value you promised. Retention involves recognizing your clients. How do you celebrate them when they hit a milestone or introduce the next way that you can serve them? If someone goes through one journey, the question is, what's next?

Enjoy this episode with Mark Stern…

Soundbytes

5:57-6:22 "If you have something digital, you need something physical to complement it. And now, in this day and age, where it's becoming even more relevant, is the rise of AI. We have so much digital content being pumped into the system. When we think about experience, design experiences seen through the senses, everything digital is only what you see and hear. A podcast is what you hear, YouTube is what you see and hear, and Facebook scrolling is what you see. I can activate the kinesthetic, touch, taste, and smell."

13:28-13:42 "Recognition is huge. How do I celebrate you and see you when you hit a milestone or introduce the next way that I can serve you? So when we think about journey stacking, if people get through one journey, the question is, what's next? And that becomes the retention play. How do I extend the relationship and extend lifetime value?"

25:32-25:57 "How are we thinking about the programs we're creating, and are we engineering a replayable story? And we should be. The example I tell course creators and coaches all the time is, have you ever played a song and then six months later, listened to the song again and it had a new meaning? Or have you ever watched a movie and then years later, watched it again and it was a completely different experience? That's because we evolve."

Quotes

"It started this idea of, if you have something digital, you need something physical to compliment it."

"We went from zero to a million in the first year via word of mouth, just because we had a unique perspective on how can we truly set people up for success."

"Swag means stuff without a goal. Stop sending people stuff. Truly engineer the things that they need to be set up for success."

"People love getting surprises in the mail."

"As an entrepreneur, it's important that we hold a bigger vision for our people than they hold for themselves."

Links mentioned in this episode:

From Our Guest

Website: https://customboxagency.com/

Connect with Mark Stern on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marustern/

Connect with brandiD

Download our free guide to learn 16 crucial website updates that attract more leads and convert visitors into clients: https://thebrandid.com/website-tweaks/

Ready to elevate your digital presence with a powerful brand or website? Contact us here: https://thebrandid.com/contact-form/

Did you know that every year, the government gives small business owners millions of dollars in funding? Most entrepreneurs aren't even aware that this type of assistance is available, let alone how to access it. Today's guest shares an inside look at how you can secure funding for your business.

Matthew Lesko is a well-known author, speaker, and advocate for government programs and benefits. He has dedicated his career to educating Americans about available government assistance, authoring over 20 books that have sold more than 4 million copies, including Get Government Money for Your Business.

Matthew gained national recognition through his engaging infomercials, which showcased various government grants and programs. He has made numerous appearances on popular television shows, including Oprah, Larry King Live, Good Morning America, and The Tonight Show with David Letterman.

In recent years, Lesko has transitioned to a community-focused model with his platform, Lesko Help, which connects individuals with resources and support for navigating government benefits. With a community of over 15,000 members, he continues to empower people to access legitimate government programs that can enhance their quality of life.

The Free Money Economy

Although about 60% of our economy is capitalism (companies that want to take your money), the other 40% is what Matthew calls the free money economy: organizations that want to give you money. These are government offices, grants, and nonprofit organizations.

As the American economy grows, 10% of the population benefits while 90% of people are getting a smaller and smaller share of the pie. Matthew's mission is to help the 90% find and use the government assistance that's already available.

How to Find Funding Opportunities

To look for funding opportunities, your first instinct might be to go to Google–but search engine rankings are determined by whoever is most effective at marketing.

Instead, search on government websites that end in .gov or nonprofit websites that end in .org. You can also try the database at sba.gov/local-assistance to search for more local opportunities. Another great resource for entrepreneurs is careeronestop.org. These job help centers often provide free training, grants, and even funding for you to grow and train your team.

Whenever possible, try to connect with a real human being rather than fill out an online application. The people who work for these organizations will be able to point you in the right direction.

Enjoy this episode with Matthew Lesko…

Soundbytes

9:28-9:48 "Once you're having fun, then I think that's where you find out what your superpowers are because you're what's special about you is usually what other people call weird. That's a clue, that's probably a superpower. You can do that better than anybody else."

13:54-14:23 "About 60% of everything in our economy is capitalism. On the other side, that's what I call the free money economy. Give out money. These people want to take money. You want your money, right? These people want to give you money. These are government offices and nonprofit organizations. I had no idea about all that stuff, but it represents 40% of everything in our economy is giving away money.

Quotes

"The most important decisions are those that other people think you're hurting yourself, but you're not."

"You make up reasons why it's okay not to follow your heart. And I just had to do it."

"Your heart is smarter than your brain."

"Those failures were a godsend. Because I wasn't having fun, I wasn't succeeding."

"You have to fail to grow."

"40% of everything in our economy is giving away money."

Links mentioned in this episode:

From Our Guest

Website: https://www.free.lesko.com/leskohelp

Connect with Matthew Lesko on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesk0/

Connect with brandiD

Download our free guide to learn 16 crucial website updates that attract more leads and convert visitors into clients: https://thebrandid.com/website-tweaks/

Ready to elevate your digital presence with a powerful brand or website? Contact us here: https://thebrandid.com/contact-form/

Between employee burnout, working remotely, and economic stress, being a leader these days comes with its fair share of challenges. This week's podcast guest shares how to steer your team to success.

Karin Hurt is the Founder and CEO of Lets Grow Leaders, a global leadership company known for practical tools and leadership development programs that stick. A former Verizon Wireless executive with more than two decades of experience in sales, customer service, and human resources, Karin is known for growing courageous leaders, building great cultures, and inspiring high-performance teams.

Karin and her husband, David have helped tens of thousands of leaders on every continent (except Antarctica) with their leadership development programs and keynotes. They also provide clean water to the people of Cambodia through their Winning Wells philanthropic initiative. Karin is an award-winning author of five books and host of the popular LinkedIn show, Asking for a Friend. She was recently named by Inc. Magazine as a Top 100 Great Leadership Speaker.

Developing Leaders in Your Company

Lets Grow Leaders works with fast-growing startups to help them expand beyond the founder group. When you have a small team, everyone is a visionary and free to pursue their ideas. But once you reach 50 people, you need systems and processes. You need to create alignment throughout the organization.

The first step is to clarify your vision. Where is the company going and what are your most important things (what Karin calls MITs). What is your communication style? How are you how are you leading? How are you training and growing leaders within your company? Get everyone on the page.

Turning Conflict into Collaboration

After surveying 5,000 people in 45 countries, 70% said they were experiencing the same or significantly more workplace conflict than before the pandemic. More people are working remotely, some are feeling disconnected due to lingering mental health challenges. Others are experiencing burnout from understaffing and increased workload.

The biggest cause of conflict is a lack of shared expectations. As the leader, you might think you've clearly communicated your expectations, but your team could have misinterpreted them.

If you tell your team they can work from anywhere, it's worth clarifying what exactly that means. Do they still need to attend meetings in your time zone? Do they need to have their camera on? If you require people to come into the office, what are they expected to do with that time? Define what success looks like and share that definition with your team.

Enjoy this episode with Karin Hurt…

Soundbytes

10:16-10:32 "It gets very frustrating because you do not have the systems and processes, and everybody is used to being able to come up with their idea and follow their idea, but you really need alignment and you need communication plans. You need all those foundational things."

15:03-15:28 "You've got remote and hybrid teams. You've got people who are feeling disconnected with lingering mental health challenges. You've got burnout and understaffing, and all of that is emerging, and yet we're coming to people and saying, 'You've got to do more.' The economy is uncertain, and all of that is really creating a lot of stress and anxiety for people. And so we need to give people practical ways to collaborate."

Quotes

"The biggest challenge that we're seeing right now is that there is so much conflict."

"On the other side of differences of opinion, that's where innovation really lies."

"One good conversation about expectations can prevent 14 'why didn't you' conversations."

Links mentioned in this episode:

From Our Guest

Website: https://letsgrowleaders.com/

Connect with Karin Hurt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karin-hurt/

Connect with brandiD

Download our free guide to learn 16 crucial website updates that attract more leads and convert visitors into clients: https://thebrandid.com/website-tweaks/

Ready to elevate your digital presence with a powerful brand or website? Contact us here: https://thebrandid.com/contact-form/

With the digital marketing world changing so fast, how can you keep up? Sunny Dublick shares her recommendations for effective marketing in 2025 and how your company can innovate to stay ahead of the curve.

Sunny is an award-winning marketing specialist and founder of Sunny Dublick Marketing. Sunny has spent over 15 years in the marketing and advertising industry, working with high-profile clients such as the Philadelphia 76ers and HanesBrands, as well as small and medium-sized businesses spanning the hospitality, retail, and professional services industries.

After nine years working for various advertising agencies and corporate marketing departments, Sunny set out on her own, forming Sunny Dublick Marketing to provide transparent and effective marketing solutions to businesses nationwide. Her strategies are designed to inspire creativity and enable clients to grow the best, most authentic version of their brand.

The Future of AI in Marketing

The digital marketing landscape is constantly shifting. Instead of fighting to stay ahead of the curve and keep up with rapidly changing technology, Sunny recommends slowing down. If you decide to incorporate something new, be intentional. Act from a place of purpose instead of fear of the future.

At one point, no one knew how to post on Facebook or run Google ads. There were a lot of unknowns–but business owners and marketers figured it out over time. The same will be true for AI and these new technologies. The important part is to stay open and be willing to try new things.

If you want to incorporate AI into your marketing, Sunny recommends using it to kickstart ideas rather than write all of your content. It can be helpful for a first draft, so you're not staring at a blank page, but it still needs a human touch. No one wants to read a blog post written entirely by AI.

The Importance of Innovation

The role of marketing in your organization goes beyond generating new leads. Your marketing team can also problem-solve across departments, inspire new offers, and overcome sales objections.

Instead of assuming there's a marketing problem when leads slow down, Sunny recommends starting at the source. Are your offerings still what your customers want? Is there room for innovation and growth? Has the market evolved?

Separating marketing from branding, sales, and finance doesn't serve your organization. This is why more and more companies are shifting away from Chief Marketing Officers to Chief Growth Officers or Brand Officers, to bridge different functions.

Enjoy this episode with Sunny Dublick…

Soundbytes

11:11-11:32 "People are looking forward to like, Metaverse and web 3.0 and how do we stay ahead of that? There's always been, for a really long time, a question mark of where things are going. And the worst thing that you can do, from a marketing perspective is just running after that shiny object and being like, I have to do this too, right?"

23:20-23:42 "Oftentimes companies will work with a marketing company and they'll have a fancy new logo, some pretty pictures on a website, and they're like, cool, we're done, right? That's what I call lipstick-on-a-pig marketing. You made it pretty. But at the end of the day, your offering is something that can and should change over time."

Quotes

"The beautiful thing about marketing, especially digital marketing, is so much of what you need to know is available to be self-taught."

"The worst thing that you can do from a marketing perspective is run after that shiny object."

"The nature of marketing is one in which you always have to be agile, and you always have to be willing and able to try new things."

"Now we can write six posts a day automatically, but just because you can doesn't mean you should."

"Marketing can and should be something that bridges a lot of different functions within an organization, and you're only getting a tiny piece of it if you're keeping them pigeon-holed into these are the people that put up my social media posts and run some ads for me."

Links mentioned in this episode:

From Our Guest

Website: http://sunnydublick.com

Connect with Sunny Dublick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunnydublick/

Connect with brandiD

Download our free guide to learn 16 crucial website updates that attract more leads and convert visitors into clients: https://thebrandid.com/website-tweaks/

Ready to elevate your digital presence with a powerful brand or website? Contact us here: https://thebrandid.com/contact-form

Just how safe is your business online? Fraud cases have more than doubled in recent years, while AI-driven scams are only growing more sophisticated. Today's guest shares how you can protect your business.

John King is an experienced business executive and IT consultant who has worked with many small, midsize, and Fortune 1000 companies. He has held various management positions including Controller, CIO, Director of Applications Development, and president of his own consulting company. His book The Compass Approach provides techniques for managing a business around the four points of the compass to achieve improved results.

Staying Safe Online

John is a founding member of TrustedAndTrue, a one-of-a-kind matchmaking service that addresses a growing concern in the dating industry: fraud and theft. TrustedAndTrue's rigorous enrollment process eliminates the risk of individuals using fake identity credentials, giving users the security that everyone they interact with is who they say they are.

TrustedAndTrue stems from John's work at The Authenticity Institute, an organization working to implement authenticity solutions in different industries. One of their latest innovations is the digital signature, which requires an in-depth identity verification process. To keep your business safe from scams, you could require a digital signature to access certain materials.

Unlike traditional passwords, the digital signature is virtually impossible to hack. Most information security technology aims to catch scammers after they've already broken into your records. Digital signatures could potentially prevent these crimes before they happen.

Marketing Across Industries

Because their technology can apply to so many industries, The Authenticity Institute looks for entrepreneurs with deep experience in a particular vertical. Those experts become the marketing team, spreading the word about authenticity technology in banking, healthcare, law, real estate, and even the music industry. Each industry has a unique perspective business plan.

Enjoy this episode with John King…

Soundbytes

16:24-16:39 "If you have a business and you're counting on the person that you're working with from a vendor, that they're legit, right? You may not be successful with that. You may end up with a write-off you don't really want to have."

22:00-22:17 "If you look at the information security market, it's growing by leaps and bounds. But they're operating on a premise where they 'catch the bad guys' after the fact. We're saying we don't want to do that. We want to catch you before you go in."

31:40-32:03 "What happens is one of your vendors gets their email address hacked and they send you a request to send some information and give you a fake number, and all of a sudden, you send thousands of dollars to an address that you've not sent before. And you've got a problem."

Quotes

"The key is having an entrepreneur who understands the marketplace and can say this is how it should work and this is how we can bring value to that particular marketplace."

"They're operating on a premise where they 'catch the bad guys' after the fact. We want to catch them before."

Links mentioned in this episode:

From Our Guest

Website: https://trustedandtrue.net/

Connect with John King on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/johnwkingii

Connect with brandiD

Download our free guide to learn 16 crucial website updates that attract more leads and convert visitors into clients: https://thebrandid.com/website-tweaks/

Ready to elevate your digital presence with a powerful brand or website? Contact us here: https://thebrandid.com/contact-form/

What makes a compelling offer? According to Michael Barbarita, there are five essential elements that play a role in conversion.

Michael is the founder and CEO of Next Step CFO, providing fractional CFO services to small businesses. Michael has owned and operated retail, service, and manufacturing companies for over 30 years. One of his companies, Ski Town USA, grew from $2.5 Million to $8 million in less than 5 years. His product, Cookies To Scoop Frozen Cookie Dough was featured on the QVC Home Shopping Network and was one of the top 20 products in the State of Massachusetts in 1997.

The Conversion Formula

Michael takes all his clients through a four-step process to conversion. The first step is Captivate: get the customer's attention by speaking to their problems and pain points. The second phase is Fascinate, where you present your unique solution to that problem. The combination of these two elements creates market dominance. Without either one, the rest of the formula falls apart.

The third component is Educate. Now that you have the customer's attention, you can educate them on how to solve that problem. The final phase is the Close, which needs to be a compelling offer. Once you get this messaging formula right, you can use it on any marketing platform you choose.

5 Elements of Compelling Offer

There are five components to a compelling offer. The first is scarcity or urgency, something that compelled the customer to take action due a deadline or limited quantity.

The second component is risk reversal, where the business takes on most or all of the risk associated with the purchase. For example, in the ski industry, customers never know if their skis are truly the right fit until they're out on the mountain. So in Michael's business, he implemented "the ski guarantee" where customers were allowed to try out their new skis up to three times risk-free. Out of the 11,000 pairs of skis they sold that year, only 14 customers returned them.

The third element of a compelling offer is adding more value to your product or service. The fourth is to package or bundle multiple products together, which gives the impression of a discount. The fifth and final element is to be indifferent to the outcome. Go into every sales conversation with the customer's best interest in mind and you'll see your conversions increase.

Enjoy this episode with Michael Barbarita…

Soundbytes

10:18-10:33 "We're all afraid of increasing our prices. But if we market it right and show value, and/or either market it right or show value or market it right and show value, we can charge anything."

20:58-21:33 "If you sound like a used car salesperson, or if you look like you're pressing in any way, shape or form, to make a sale, the customer has this feeling that you're out for yourself and not for them. So you've got to present your selling, your sales presentations and so forth…you've got to be very detached from the outcome. And it's hard. It's hard to do, by the way, but you have to be detached from the outcome so that you can make that sale and the customer knows you have their best interests in mind."

Quotes

"We always implemented business and financial strategies that the competition wasn't doing."

"Once you fail, you gotta get back on your feet quick. Otherwise, you're gonna stay down."

"Only 1-3% of any of buyers in any market, in any industry, at any moment is ready to buy now. The other 97-99% are on this journey, and that journey can last anywhere from 15 seconds to 15 years."

Links mentioned in this episode:

From Our Guest

Website: http://www.nextstepcfo.net

Connect with Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbarbarita/

Connect with brandiD

Download our free guide to learn 16 crucial website updates that attract more leads and convert visitors into clients: https://thebrandid.com/website-tweaks/

Ready to elevate your digital presence with a powerful brand or website? Contact us here: https://thebrandid.com/contact-form/

The digital marketing world has gone through a lot of changes in the past decade, but search engine optimization (SEO) remains as relevant as ever.

Jesse Ringer is the founder of Method and Metric search engine marketing agency. For over 10 years, he has helped business owners and marketing teams build winning SEO strategies for their organizations that drive website traffic and generate revenue.

Jesse's passion for progression, creativity backed by data, and the democratization of tech have led him to build an agency focused on connecting data and people in an ethical and forward-thinking way. He is a creative problem solver, marketer, and entrepreneur, known for building high-performing teams and delivering results.

The Best Type of Content to Create in 2025

As AI becomes more commonly used in content writing, Jesse encourages his clients not to underestimate the value of human connection. Any business can pump out 50 articles per month using AI, but all those articles will sound identical. What makes great content is your brand's unique voice, perspective, and ideas.

On a related note, don't create content just for the sake of ranking on Google. Write for lead generation, not just traffic. What type of content will actually drive revenue in your business? In most cases, this will mean going beyond how-to educational content.

What questions do your clients commonly ask you? Get clear on your target audience and their pain points, then create content that demonstrates your expertise in solving those problems.

The Website Optimization Process

To optimize your website, start by auditing your current system: what technology and plug-ins are you using? How is the website content organized? What keywords are you targeting and which are you actually ranking for? Then decide what your priorities are moving forward.

At this stage, Jesse usually builds out a list of recommendations for his clients: including updates to their keyword strategy, site architecture, website pages, blog content, as well as the technical implementation.

The next step is a roadmap for implementation. Depending on the changes that need to be made, it could take up to six months. Most clients start to see results within the first few months, with exponential growth around the six-month mark.

Enjoy this episode with Jesse Ringer…

Soundbytes

14:13-14:40 "We could pump out 50 articles a month now, right? Okay, but they're gonna sound like all the other ones that are being pumped out right now. How do you continue to make this unique to your brand and resonate with your audience? If they're just producing content for the sake of ranking, great, but that's not like that's not going to be a driving force of their business."

20:59-21:17 "Find the thing that you do really well. And how do you put that into a guide to help educate your potential customers? When smarter customers see how helpful you are and how good you are at what you do, they'll be more inclined to work with you down the road."

27:10-27:36 "If you're running paid ads or social ads, SEO is a way to lower customer acquisition costs. SEO is always on. Organic search is always on. If you decide to stop working, it will continue to help bring traffic in for quite some time after you pull the plug on that. Whereas ads, you turn it off, you don't see any more traffic from those ads."

Quotes

"I always wanted to have my own business. I just had no idea how I was going to get there."

"Clicks are not going to make you more money."

"Clicks are part of it. But if those clicks don't convert, it's wasted."

"You could rank number one for 1000 keywords, but if nobody searches for them, what good does it do?"

"SEO helps to inform the whole marketing strategy. It informs your website strategy and it serves a lot of other marketing channels."

"AI is pulling from all of the internet, so you are just going to get the average of all of the internet. And I really hope you don't think your business is average."

Links mentioned in this episode:

From Our Guest

Website: https://methodandmetric.com

Connect with Jesse on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesseringer/

Connect with brandiD

Download our free guide to learn 16 crucial website updates that attract more leads and convert visitors into clients: https://thebrandid.com/website-tweaks/

Ready to elevate your digital presence with a powerful brand or website? Contact us here: https://thebrandid.com/contact-form/

When Luke Boyenger's family business went bankrupt in the 2007-2008 financial crisis, it ignited an unexpected passion.

After witnessing the painful closure of his father's business, Luke began to look around at the other companies that survived the same financial crisis. What did they have in common? The answer came down to accounting and finances.

Luke has since dedicated his career to mastering the art of successful business management. This mission led him to pursue a degree in accounting, secure his CPA license, and start a company of his own: Cruzumi CFO & Advisory, where he helps business owners increase profits and improve cash flow.

The Strategic Value of Accounting

Many business owners view accounting as a necessary evil. But Luke says it should be a major value driver in the business, beyond just filing taxes. Understanding your finances allows you to make data-driven decisions about how to grow your business. Without that data, you're simply guessing.

As a business owner, it's easy to spend all day on busy work that doesn't actually move the needle. Quality financial data helps you determine which tasks drive revenue and create value in the company–and which tasks don't.

Your CFO (whether fractional or full-time) should be producing budgets, cash flow forecasts, and projections. They should meet with you regularly as a strategic advisor to help you build the financial roadmap to achieve your business goals.

When Should You Hire a Fractional CFO?

Luke is often asked about the best time to hire a fractional CFO vs. a full-time employee. In most cases, a part-time fractional CFO is the more cost-effective solution. But it doesn't just come down to revenue–what matters is the complexity of the business.

Some questions worth considering are: What stage of business are you in? What are your growth goals? How are you planning to achieve those goals?

If you have a simple business model and modest growth goals, it makes sense to hire a fractional CFO. If you have a complex model, ambitious growth goals, and plan to sell your company or buy other businesses, a full-time CFO is probably worth the investment.

Enjoy this episode with Luke Boyenger…

Soundbytes

3:29-3:53 "I looked at what happened in my dad's business, and I looked around and saw all these other businesses that did not go bankrupt during the exact same financial crisis. And I was like, Well, why? Why did they survive and we didn't? Something's different about their businesses than ours. And I knew just enough at that point to understand that it was something about accounting and finance."

7:58-8:19 "So many business owners view accounting as a necessary evil or just want to do the bare minimum to be able to file a tax return. The only reason companies do accounting is they can file taxes. There's no other reason to do accounting other than filing taxes, right? No, that's not true at all."

8:20-8:49 "Accounting should be a value driver in the business in terms of the quality of data and analysis and information that they're able to put in front of a business owner to allow them to make strategic decisions about how they're going to drive growth in a profitable organization that they're trying to build. Without that flow of really high-quality, timely data coming out of a well-built accounting function, it's impossible to do that."

Quotes

"This is how I take the skill set that I've developed and deploy it in a way that's actually meaningful to me because I'm getting to work with business owners that I'm passionate about."

"Accounting should be a value driver in the business."

"I want my pricing to be at about 25% of the value that we add."

"Marketing works best when you focus it."

Links mentioned in this episode:

From Our Guest

Website: https://cruzumi.com/

Connect with Luke on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-boyenger

Connect with brandiD

Download our free guide to learn 16 crucial website updates that attract more leads and convert visitors into clients: https://thebrandid.com/website-tweaks/

Ready to elevate your digital presence with a powerful brand or website? Contact us here: https://thebrandid.com/contact-form/