The Kim Doyal Show

When I looked back to the first time I had Dan Norris on the podcast I was floored to see that it was almost 100 episodes ago!

Dan as always has been busy creating, producing content,  and even launching a brewery!

I had a ton of questions for Dan about Black Hops as well as the sale of WP Curve his books, and the fun project he launched for explainer videos, BoredAF ( I told you he's been busy). At the time of this recording, Dan and his partners with Black Hops Brewing had just hit a milestone revenue mark which was pretty exciting (he was pretty generous with sharing numbers when he could, which I kind of put him on the spot a few times, unintentionally. Sorry Dan!).

Of course, I had to pick his brain about content creation. Having gotten sidetracked a couple years ago with the mastermind I was in, you guys know I've come full circle back to working on (and mastering) the fundamentals. Content is a huge part of the fundamentals for me and Dan's book, Content Machine, was pivotal for me.

Questions I Asked Dan

* How has opening a brick & mortar business been for you? (Black Hops has brewery you can go to as well as finding the beer in other local pubs & stores)

* Your books Content Machine and Create or Hate were game changers for me. What are your thoughts when people say they're not good at creating content?

* How did your third book, Create or Hate come about?

* What can you share about the sale of WPCurve to GoDaddy?

* You've also been very transparent about the challenges you've dealt with to get to where you are (when you discussed getting kicked out of University and not making money with your agency). What are your thoughts about people being hesitant to share the struggles?

* How do you balance everything?

* What are your thoughts on focusing on "one thing?"

* Let's talk about Bored AF. I'm assuming the name came out of you wanting something new to work on, how's that going?

* What are your thoughts on Medium?

* What's in store for you next?

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What You're Going to Learn

* Where the idea for Black Hops came from

* How they created a unique beer for a video game (major release)

* The next step in growing and expanding the brewery and their beers

* The roll his books play in his overall business plan

* How the sale of WPCurve to GoDaddy happened (and what he could legally share with us)

* Dan's thoughts on repurposing content (hint: he's not a fan)

* What he's focusing on now

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Where to Connect with Dan

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Links from this episode

A 7-Figure Business in 18 Months with Dan Norris WPCP: 056

Black Hops Brewing

Content Machine

When I looked back to the first time I had Dan Norris on the podcast I was floored to see that it was almost 100 episodes ago!

Dan as always has been busy creating, producing content,  and even launching a brewery!

I had a ton of questions for Dan about Black Hops as well as the sale of WP Curve his books, and the fun project he launched for explainer videos, BoredAF ( I told you he's been busy). At the time of this recording, Dan and his partners with Black Hops Brewing had just hit a milestone revenue mark which was pretty exciting (he was pretty generous with sharing numbers when he could, which I kind of put him on the spot a few times, unintentionally. Sorry Dan!).

Of course, I had to pick his brain about content creation. Having gotten sidetracked a couple years ago with the mastermind I was in, you guys know I've come full circle back to working on (and mastering) the fundamentals. Content is a huge part of the fundamentals for me and Dan's book, Content Machine, was pivotal for me.

Questions I Asked Dan

How has opening a brick & mortar business been for you? (Black Hops has brewery you can go to as well as finding the beer in other local pubs & stores)

Your books Content Machine and Create or Hate were game changers for me. What are your thoughts when people say they're not good at creating content?

How did your third book, Create or Hate come about?

What can you share about the sale of WPCurve to GoDaddy?

You've also been very transparent about the challenges you've dealt with to get to where you are (when you discussed getting kicked out of University and not making money with your agency). What are your thoughts about people being hesitant to share the struggles?

How do you balance everything?

What are your thoughts on focusing on "one thing?"

Let's talk about Bored AF. I'm assuming the name came out of you wanting something new to work on, how's that going?

What are your thoughts on Medium?

What's in store for you next?

What You're Going to Learn

Where the idea for Black Hops came from

How they created a unique beer for a video game (major release)

The next step in growing and expanding the brewery and their beers

The roll his books play in his overall business plan

How the sale of WPCurve to GoDaddy happened (and what he could legally share with us)

Dan's thoughts on repurposing content (hint: he's not a fan)

What he's focusing on now

Where to Connect with Dan

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Links from this episode

A 7-Figure Business in 18 Months with Dan Norris WPCP: 056

Black Hops Brewing

Content Machine

Create or Hate

7 Day Startup

Operation Brewery

O.K, guys...

This episode is a little different in that I recorded the episode from the car before I wrote the show notes.

My standard process for solo show episodes is that I write out the show notes first, then use those as a guide to record the episode. I've been thinking about how to proceed with the show notes for this episode and am going to do something a little different.

I'm going to give you the bullet points and then will include the transcripts after the fact (I'm still working on them). I'm sure I'll be adding to the post after the transcripts are completed but I really wanted to get this episode out first (not wait for the transcripts).

This episode was a ton of fun for me because I've been a little extra fired up lately. But fired up in a good way.

I feel super focused with everything I'm doing.

Why You're Not Making Money with Your WordPress Site

Are you the technician or the entrepreneur?

If you're stuck in the day-to-day tasks in your business and don't feel any further than you did in your business last year? You're probably the technician.

If you're able to focus on what you're really great at (as opposed to keeping yourself busy with what I call the 'peripherals'), then you're the entrepreneur. At some point, you need to shout from the rooftops that you have something to SELL. That YOU can solve a problem for your customer/subscriber.

If you don't want to do the marketing and promotion, it's quite possible you don't want to be an entrepreneur.

Which is O.K.

Not everyone who is good at a particular skill wants to sell that skill.

They simply want to practice it.

Here's an example of what I mean.

Let's say you're an amazing woodworker. You create custom furniture pieces and love what you do. If you're more excited about woodworking than you are about selling the creations? It might be time to hire someone for marketing (or you have to step into marketing until you can hire someone).

[spacer]

My Deep Dive into Expert Secrets

This book has totally turned my life upside down (in a good way) and is where I've discovered "the missing piece" in my business.

It was because of reading this book that I've had this light bulb moment and have really dug into ALL my messaging in my business. I'm starting with LeadSurveys (because it's a new brand and I'm still not super clear on everything) then will dive into WPChick.

Here are a few things I've been working on:

* messaging

* why

* my story (what was the moment or thing that got me excited about LeadSurveys in the first place)

* what are people's beliefs when it comes to list building and growing their audience

* what is the pain point for our customer? what is the new opportunity that LeadSurveys offers them?

* what is the psychology behind what makes someone want to take action?

NONE of this is new you guys.

I've heard it all before, I've read it before, but for some reason, it's all clicking into place.

And it's WORKING.

[divider top="no" divider_color="#95aa4d" size="1" margin="40"][divider top="no" size="2" margin="30"][/divider]

Links from this episode

Content Creators

LeadSurveys

Expert Secrets

 

O.K, guys...

This episode is a little different in that I recorded the episode from the car before I wrote the show notes.

My standard process for solo show episodes is that I write out the show notes first, then use those as a guide to record the episode. I've been thinking about how to proceed with the show notes for this episode and am going to do something a little different.

I'm going to give you the bullet points and then will include the transcripts after the fact (I'm still working on them). I'm sure I'll be adding to the post after the transcripts are completed but I really wanted to get this episode out first (not wait for the transcripts).

This episode was a ton of fun for me because I've been a little extra fired up lately. But fired up in a good way.

I feel super focused with everything I'm doing.

Why You're Not Making Money with Your WordPress Site

Are you the technician or the entrepreneur?

If you're stuck in the day-to-day tasks in your business and don't feel any further than you did in your business last year? You're probably the technician.

If you're able to focus on what you're really great at (as opposed to keeping yourself busy with what I call the 'peripherals'), then you're the entrepreneur. At some point, you need to shout from the rooftops that you have something to SELL. That YOU can solve a problem for your customer/subscriber.

If you don't want to do the marketing and promotion, it's quite possible you don't want to be an entrepreneur.

Which is O.K.

Not everyone who is good at a particular skill wants to sell that skill.

They simply want to practice it.

Here's an example of what I mean.

Let's say you're an amazing woodworker. You create custom furniture pieces and love what you do. If you're more excited about woodworking than you are about selling the creations? It might be time to hire someone for marketing (or you have to step into marketing until you can hire someone).

My Deep Dive into Expert Secrets

This book has totally turned my life upside down (in a good way) and is where I've discovered "the missing piece" in my business.

It was because of reading this book that I've had this light bulb moment and have really dug into ALL my messaging in my business. I'm starting with LeadSurveys (because it's a new brand and I'm still not super clear on everything) then will dive into WPChick.

Here are a few things I've been working on:

messaging

why

my story (what was the moment or thing that got me excited about LeadSurveys in the first place)

what are people's beliefs when it comes to list building and growing their audience

what is the pain point for our customer? what is the new opportunity that LeadSurveys offers them?

what is the psychology behind what makes someone want to take action?

NONE of this is new you guys.

I've heard it all before, I've read it before, but for some reason, it's all clicking into place.

And it's WORKING.

Links from this episode

Content Creators

LeadSurveys

Expert Secrets

Don't let the name of this show (or book, The Complete Software Developers Career Guide), fool you.

Having this conversation with John Sonmez, one of the co-authors of the book, was a little bit of a shift for me in term of what I talk about on the show but it's also one of my favorite topics. We talked a lot about self-development, personal productivity, books that changed John's life and how you can take a different perspective on all of this.

The amazing thing about John is that he's got both sides of the equation when it comes to what he calls 'soft skills' as well as the tangible skills you need to have as a software developer (basic overview of things like 'what is source control, what is unit testing, what is continuous integration, etc.). He's also devoted an entire chapter to women in tech, which is awesome.

We covered SO much in this interview! Even if you're not a software developer, you're going to gain a ton from this conversation. John is a huge inspiration and the book is definitely worth grabbing!

[button url="https://simpleprogrammer.com/products/careerguide/" target="blank" style="flat" background="#e05455" size="13" center="yes" radius="5" class="tvehover"]Get The Book Here[/button]

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Questions I Asked John

* Before we jump into your new book, The Complete Software Developer's Career Guide, can you share your story with the listeners?

* Was there one specific thing or incident that brought on this shift for you in your business? From software developer to performance coach?

* How did you step into 'act as if'?

* Pulling in the mindset and self-development into the software development space isn't common. How did the book come about?

* Were there any epiphanies or things that have come out of writing the book that surprised you?

* Are you running paid traffic to promote the book?

* You're producing a LOT of content, how big is your team?

[clickToTweet tweet="I woke up one morning and I thought to myself, “Why not me?” @jsonmez" quote="I woke up one morning and I thought to myself, “Why not me?” @jsonmez" theme="style6"]

 

What You're Going to Learn

* How John went from a shy kid to software development to performance coach

* What book kept showing up in John's life that changed everything

* How John multi-purposed his blog posts into the book (and how you can too)

* How John used the Pomodoro timer to get the book written

* How John marketed the book

* What John means by 'Unmortgage Your Life"

[clickToTweet tweet="I’m no longer going to try and protect myself. I’m going to embrace uncertainty. @jsonmez" quote="I’m no longer going to try and protect myself. I’m going to embrace uncertainty. @jsonmez" theme="style6"]

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[button url="https://simpleprogrammer.com/products/careerguide/" target="blank" style="flat" background="#e05455" size="13" center="yes" radius="5" class="tvehover"]Get The Book Here[/button]

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Where to Connect with John

Website | YouTube | Twitter

Links from this episode

The Complete Software Developer's Career Guide Book

Simple Programmer

Don't let the name of this show (or book, The Complete Software Developers Career Guide), fool you.

Having this conversation with John Sonmez, one of the co-authors of the book, was a little bit of a shift for me in term of what I talk about on the show but it's also one of my favorite topics. We talked a lot about self-development, personal productivity, books that changed John's life and how you can take a different perspective on all of this.

The amazing thing about John is that he's got both sides of the equation when it comes to what he calls 'soft skills' as well as the tangible skills you need to have as a software developer (basic overview of things like 'what is source control, what is unit testing, what is continuous integration, etc.). He's also devoted an entire chapter to women in tech, which is awesome.

We covered SO much in this interview! Even if you're not a software developer, you're going to gain a ton from this conversation. John is a huge inspiration and the book is definitely worth grabbing!

Questions I Asked John

Before we jump into your new book, The Complete Software Developer's Career Guide, can you share your story with the listeners?

Was there one specific thing or incident that brought on this shift for you in your business? From software developer to performance coach?

How did you step into 'act as if'?

Pulling in the mindset and self-development into the software development space isn't common. How did the book come about?

Were there any epiphanies or things that have come out of writing the book that surprised you?

Are you running paid traffic to promote the book?

You're producing a LOT of content, how big is your team?

 

What You're Going to Learn

How John went from a shy kid to software development to performance coach

What book kept showing up in John's life that changed everything

How John multi-purposed his blog posts into the book (and how you can too)

How John used the Pomodoro timer to get the book written

How John marketed the book

What John means by 'Unmortgage Your Life"

Where to Connect with John

Website | YouTube | Twitter

Links from this episode

The Complete Software Developer's Career Guide Book

Simple Programmer

Think & Grow Rich

As A Man Thinketh

Psycho-Cybernetics

Content Snare is the product every web dev person has been waiting for.

I know, I know, that's a big claim.

But ask anyone who has ever done a website for a client... I don't care if it's an individual or an agency, getting content from clients is a pain in the arse! Projects can go on way longer than necessary and before you know it, you've got yourself into work debt (basically you start feeling like you're working for free because the project just keeps going on and on and on...).

With Content Snare it doesn't have to.

I had the good fortune of connecting with James Rose, one of the founders of Content Snare a while back for the podcast and am SO glad I did! Not just because they're solving a huge problem in this space but because he's a great guy. There are some amazing things happening in the WordPress space that makes it so much easier for freelancers or agencies to work more efficiently (and be more profitable). I'm really excited to share Content Snare with you guys.

[clickToTweet tweet="If they paid for it then they’re probably going to be more active. @contentsnare" quote="If they paid for it then they’re probably going to be more active. @contentsnare" theme="style6"]

Questions I Asked James

* Before we get into Content Snare, can you share a little bit about your business and what you've been doing before launching Content Snare?

* I'm a huge fan of content and the power of good content marketing. Why do you think clients struggle so much with content?

* I'm sure there are a ton of reasons you guys created Content Snare but was there a moment or something that happened that made you guys say "we need to create a solution to this problem?"

* Tell us about the journey to Content Snare.

* How did you decide which features to include?

* Have there been any requests that you guys hadn't thought of?

* What are the plans for Content Snare this year?

* Your company overall?

[clickToTweet tweet="To take away the time and stress from following up was the #1 thing that had to go in. @contentsnare" quote="To take away the time and stress from following up was the #1 thing that had to go in. @contentsnare" theme="style6"]

[spacer]

What You're Going to Learn

* How they came up with the idea for Content Snare

* How having conversations with designers gave them the validation they needed to start

* What they did to double their email list in only 3 days when promoting Content Snare

* What features will be included in the MVP (version 0)

* Who Content Snare was built for (but I see so many possibilities with it)

* What future features they'd like to include

[spacer]

Where to Connect with James & Content Snare

Website | Facebook | Twitter

 

[divider top="no" divider_color="#95aa4d" size="1" margin="40"][divider top="no" size="2" margin="30"][/divider]

Content Snare is the product every web dev person has been waiting for.

I know, I know, that's a big claim.

But ask anyone who has ever done a website for a client... I don't care if it's an individual or an agency, getting content from clients is a pain in the arse! Projects can go on way longer than necessary and before you know it, you've got yourself into work debt (basically you start feeling like you're working for free because the project just keeps going on and on and on...).

With Content Snare it doesn't have to.

I had the good fortune of connecting with James Rose, one of the founders of Content Snare a while back for the podcast and am SO glad I did! Not just because they're solving a huge problem in this space but because he's a great guy. There are some amazing things happening in the WordPress space that makes it so much easier for freelancers or agencies to work more efficiently (and be more profitable). I'm really excited to share Content Snare with you guys.

Questions I Asked James

Before we get into Content Snare, can you share a little bit about your business and what you've been doing before launching Content Snare?

I'm a huge fan of content and the power of good content marketing. Why do you think clients struggle so much with content?

I'm sure there are a ton of reasons you guys created Content Snare but was there a moment or something that happened that made you guys say "we need to create a solution to this problem?"

Tell us about the journey to Content Snare.

How did you decide which features to include?

Have there been any requests that you guys hadn't thought of?

What are the plans for Content Snare this year?

Your company overall?

What You're Going to Learn

How they came up with the idea for Content Snare

How having conversations with designers gave them the validation they needed to start

What they did to double their email list in only 3 days when promoting Content Snare

What features will be included in the MVP (version 0)

Who Content Snare was built for (but I see so many possibilities with it)

What future features they'd like to include

Where to Connect with James & Content Snare

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Social Campaigns on automation sounded like a little more hype than I was interested in, but after a friend told me I should take a look at it I did.

And I was HOOKED.

Everyone knows I'm a user and fan of CoSchedule, so part of me thought, "do I really need another social tool?"

When it's Missinglettr, the answer is yes. I do need another social tool. I did a quick review and post of Missinglettr when I signed up.

As soon as I signed up I knew I wanted to talk with Benjamin Dell, the founder of Missingletter.

Before we get into the interview, let me give you the quick overview of what Missinglettr is and does.

First, it pulls your content into the platform (Missinglettr is a web app, not a WordPress plugin). You can edit your settings so that as soon as you hit publish on your site it's automatically pulled into Missinglettr. Then Missinglettr goes to work behind the scenes creating a social campaign for you. I've set it so that as soon as the campaign is ready I get a notification from Missinglettr that my "campaign is ready". This is where the magic happens.

You log into your account and can now preview your campaign.

The first step is to review the recommended hashtags. Missinglettr will pull these from your content but you can edit, delete, or add new ones (I tend to edit this every time). Once you've approved your hashtags, the next step is to review the campaign that was created for you. The image below shows you how many campaigns that have been created and are ready for review:

Once you select the campaign to review you'll get the messages that Missinglettr has created for you (there are 9 pieces of content that are scheduled to go out over the next year. And you get to edit them so it's not the same message going out over and over):

Once you edit and approve your messages then you're done!

You get to go about your business and let your content go to your social networks on auto pilot.

O.K., let's jump into the interview.

Questions I Asked Ben

As much as I'd love to dive straight into Missinglettr, I'd love to hear your story and what lead you to develop Missinglettr.

Can you explain what Missinglettr is?

What gave you the idea?

How long was it from idea to MVP?

I love your blog strategy (they use contributing bloggers). What made you decide to approach your blog this way?

How have you guys been marketing Missinglettr?

What You're Going to Learn

What the development roadmap was for Missinglettr

What current features exist

What social networks are connected to Missinglettr (note: at the time of the recording, Facebook wasn't connected. It is now)

When the calendar view is coming

How they're going to incorporate more images and more compatibility with WordPress

Where to Connect

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Build the Machine First.

I literally just heard that on a webinar (podcast?) from Shane Melaugh of Thrive Themes (they're launching a new podcast called Active Growth, so naturally I wanted to listen in for their launch. I love their products & content. They're also brilliant at conversions & growth).

I've followed the content on Thrive Themes as soon as I became a customer. It's one of the very few product sites I read regularly (they do content around using their products as well as online marketing strategies). One of my most favorite things that Thrive Themes does is break things down, step-by-step.

Which was no doubt why Shane said to "build the machine first."

Before we get into building the machine, I wanted to talk about a few things I see going on in the online marketing space and what it means for us.

Buh-bye Bullsh*t

Obviously, there will always be the ding dongs out there who make huge income claims or get caught up in the 'make money teaching how to make money' space, but they won't last long. During a recent podcast interview, I had with Troy Dean he reminded me of something I think most of us who have been online for a while forget... "there are literally hundreds of thousands of people discovering WordPres for the first time every day"... think about that for a minute.

And it doesn't have to be WordPress.

Whatever it is you do, there are tons of people out there who are just discovering what you do and would love to learn more. At the same time, there are tons of people out there who hit the web running with enthusiasm for finding their "thing" and find the douchey marketers first. Then they get frustrated because they've invested thousands of dollars, hundreds of hours (quite possibly thousands of hours as well) and haven't made a penny.

They own more information products than they know what to do with, haven't completed most of them (side note: plenty of these products may very well be great products, but most are rarely a 'one size fits all' solution), and are on total overload.

I wish nothing more for people to understand that creating a profitable online business takes work, commitment, and time.

Can it happen faster than an offline business?

Totally.

In terms of speed, that depends on you. Although it's not how quickly you do things... it's how consistently you do things.

As much as I try not to give energy to regrets, I truly wish I had gotten this lesson earlier. I wish I had trusted what felt right in my gut when I was building my business and had the strength to put blinders on when I came across shiny objects or lifestyle images. Not because everything was bullsh*t, but because they were simply distractions. Every time I went in a different direction (and losing site of the fundamentals), it delayed the results I wanted.

Think about it...

Let's say you decide you want to paint your house (or simply a room for that matter). What happens if start painting one wall, then go to Pinterest and start looking at other paint colors. You see something that appears to look better so you go get a different color and start over.

Then you do this 10 more times.

You NEVER see the end result. You never get the full picture for what the color would look like on the house or in the room because you never complete the job.

Let's say you do finish the paint job...

Unless you're having a party or inviting people over you'll never get the 'wow! Love the paint color you chose!' Of course, you painted the room for you, but the validation still feels good, right?

Can you imagine going through this process over and over and over again?

At some point you'd just pick a color... any color, because you'd be so sick of painting that you would just want it DONE.

This is what happens in business when you keep jumping from one thing to the next (note: there is also a time for letting things go before they're finished as well,