Jay is a partner at a startup consulting agency called Arizona Bay and the founder of a SaaS company called CloudSponge. He helps entrepreneurs fund, build and scale their startups with a particular focus on people who are trying to pivot from services to product businesses. He has launched several of his own product businesses from his own services company and he's talking with us today to see if he can help our listeners do the same.

Switching things up a little bit on the podcast!

Starting today, my Freedom Friday episodes will now begin to document my journey as a local business owner as well!

As you might now, I own a dog walking business and am a partner in a landscaping business. So I'm going to share with you what's going on each week to inspire you, help you and give you some insight into problems I might run into so you can avoid them :)

I discuss how to go where your customers are without being salesy!

How often do we have businesses call us just to check in and see how things are going?

The answer? Not very often...if ever!

So since nobody is doing it, that sounds like a great opportunity to me!

Here's one of the easiest ways to start improving your customer's experience today!

In my interview with Jim, he joins us while hanging out in the Chesapeake Bay on his boat! Jim inspires us with his journey to ultimate freedom which includes selling everything and living on a boat. With the power of technology, Jim is able to work 3 days per week while serving his clients and truly living his dream life...while building his dream business. He shares with us how you can too!

You started your business because you have a passion for the service or product and you're probably pretty damn good at it.

And, what better way to get rid of a boss than to follow your passion.

After all, they say "Do what you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life!"

Until you end up doing a bunch of things that you hate that go with running a business.

How do you focus just on what you love?

Listen to this episode and I dig into it! :)

Just like any local business, it's all about the people that are out there delivering your service.

And, as you know, it's usually a constant struggle to hire the right people for your team.

We try Craigslist. We try Indeed. We scrape around and find other places to post...and then have to weed through a bunch of applicants that don't fit.

Those days are gone with JazzHR.

Streamline and automate your application process so you're only spending time ON HR tasks that move the needle.

Brace yourself, Lee has some good (albeit a little long :) stories! From working through the rise (Sega Genesis) and fall of Sega (Dreamcast) to traveling all over the country, Lee realized that in order to be truly free, she needed to be her own boss. For any business owner out there with employees, my interview with Lee is a must listen as we discuss the topics of her two books: 1) How to employ, empower and retain Millenials and 2) Why it's not so bad if you let employees who have left come back.

So many times in business, we get so far into the weeds and we just do what makes sense to us and what's easier for us...and we totally neglect how this could impact the customer experience.

We just assume that since it makes sense to us, it makes sense to everybody.

But that's not the case.

If we start to make sure every system we implement improves the customer experience, we will win...big!

Are you one of those business owners who saves all of their receipts and enters them into QB once every 3 months?

And then you realize that you’ve lost more than a few receipts and don’t remember what you bought that day?

Or, even if you do track your expenses diligently, do you want to make it more efficient?

Check out ReceiptBank and never have to save a receipt again!

Ryan Cote is the Director of Digital Services and Partner at Ballantine, a thirdgeneration family-owned direct mail and digital marketing company based out of Fairfield, NJ. With Ballantine since 2003, a family-owned business started in 1966 by his grandfather and great-uncle, Ryan now manages the growing digital marketing division.

From lead generation to marketing strategy for small businesses, Ryan and his company rise above the get featured-quick schemes so often attributed to digital marketing.