In studio today is former teacher and basketball player turned internet business instructor and solopreneur, Omar Zenhom.

We talk hoops, how messed up iTunes is for Podcasters, how get got a bunch of haters by giving away a free webinar on Podcasting, why the teaching profession is screwed up, and how to get the equivalent of a $135,000 education for just $100!

Omar and his fiance Nicole have a great podcast called "People Who Know Their Sh*t", and they are about to launch the $100 MBA Show.

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Like so many great solopreneurs and entrepreneurs, Omar has taken lessons from the different areas of his life and applied them to his business pursuits. As a young man, he was a track and basketball athlete both of which taught him the value in perseverance and to focus on your own improvement, not how you stack up against others.

Omar has taken that attitude of perseverance and personal betterment into his work life, from his previous career was as a teacher to his online endeavors.

Previously, he taught at both the high school level and at the university level. Though he thoroughly enjoyed teaching and the students in his classroom, and was quite successful at it, he became disillusioned by the education system. He believes it strips teachers of their creative license at the door and everyone suffers for it. He taught for over 10 years until one day he discovered the possibilities of the Internet and new path was opened!

You'll also discover things like:

*  What did he learn when his first podcast was removed from iTunes?

* Why you need to be YOU in the marketplace.

* How his company's name, Business Republic, was born.

* The #1 misconception he hears from his audience - Omar debunks it.

* Why a great idea is worthless.

* And lots more!

 

 

 

In 1998, Omar began playing around in the online world. He explored eBay and making money there as well as creating web sites for other people. It took him about 8 months before he resigned his teaching position to pursue his online endeavors full-time.

Still feeling insecure as an entrepreneur, Omar applied for the Wharton School of Business and was accepted. During his first semester, his marketing professor pulled him aside and asked him why he was there. Omar told him - he wanted to be a great entrepreneur and his MBA schooling would provide that. His professor responded by saying an MBA was not the way to become a great entrepreneur. Instead he offered Omar a list of 40 books to read that would help him on his way and told Omar to drop out.

Omar did leave after his first semester because he understood he was at Wharton simply to bolster his confidence. He felt insecure about being in the online marketplace without the letters behind his name, not because he needed the schooling to be a great entrepreneur.

Seeing the opportunity in his experience, Omar and his fiance Nicole created their $100 MBA program. It's a course designed to give entrepreneurs an MBA education, without the time and monetary investment of an actual MBA. With Nicole's New York Film Institute education under her belt, they designed a series of eight core courses laid out in video format and complemented with written notes and checklists as well as an online forum for their participants to meet other like-minds.

Building off the success of their course, Omar and Nicole are soon launching their $100 MBA podcast. The format will be a short podcast aired 5 days a week with all content, no fluff. It's designed for the listeners to tune in, learn something and then go apply it. The topics discussed will be covered in chunks, meaning marketing will be the topic for podcast number 5-20, sales from 21-35, etc.

Welcome to another addition of The Solopreneur Hour. Today we're doing another installment of answering your Facebook questions. I love doing these shows, so keep those questions coming!

Here's what you'll discover on this show:

* If Google Plus is on the way out...or about to explode.

* Should you hire a copywriting pro or trust your own instincts?

* How to make the most of your brand with a blog.

* What mile marker did the show reach in July?

* What do you when someone buys your product, but does nothing with it?

* A whole bunch more!

So without further adieu, let's get to your questions...

Steve G: Steve wants to know if I've updated my vision board.

And the answer is if I haven't updated it, but I have an idea where I want the show to go next and where I want to go next.

I capped off my five year growth period with the purchase of my watch but I haven't updated my vision board with the next item.

However, I am focused on where I am committed to taking the show next. I want it to become a legitimate A-list show with the top actors, real estate agents, trainers, etc. The best of the best. That's my long-term vision for the show.

For me personally, I want to buy a crappy old warehouse somewhere here in San Diego. I'll fix it up so I can drive my cars right into the warehouse and build out my living quarters with modern, industrial-type design. That'll be the back end and the front end will be a space with working stations, super high-speed Internet and conference rooms. It'll be a free co-working space and I'll have a local coffee cart sponsored by a local coffee shop and food trucks. Friday, Saturday and Sunday there'll be live jazz playing during happy hours.

Steve G: His second question is about Google Plus: is it about to die or is it the next big thing?

If you had asked me two weeks ago, I would've said it's about to die. But after having Michael Stelzner of The Social Media Examiner on the show (Episode 138), I'm inclined to say it has possibilities.

Right now Facebook is all about monetizing, yet the engagement is so low. Couple that with the fact that everyone has a Gmail account and business accounts plus Google's search engine ranking capabilities makes it seem like Google Plus is a place worth exploring.

Timothy Dwight M: What's the best way to get good sales copy written for your audience? Hire a pro or trust your own instincts for your followers?

I was writing a bio for people who interview me for their podcasts and when I was done, I sent it to David Roth (Episode 25 and Episode 8) for his input and expertise. So I say - hire a pro. Find someone who is a masterful copywriter on Fiverr or Odesk and have them do it for you.

Bob N: How good should I feel about wrapping a podcast in a blog?

You should feel great about that Bob. The way I do The Solopreneur Hour is to upload the show to Libsyn, which then goes to The Solopreneur Hour.com blog which then goes to iTunes. What happens because of that is TONS of organic traffic and audience growth that reinforces the brand.

This show is 11 months old and yet I feel completely confident I own the word solopreneur. So has that word grows in the world at large, this show's audience will only continue to grow. So you should feel great about wrapping your podcast within a blog!

Rey B: Talk about monetizing when starting a business. I know for the first 90 days we should focus purely on audience-building.

There's a belief that as solopreneurs, if we just hustle and keep looking for it, opportunity and success will find their way to us. Our guest for episode 143 is a great example of that.

Chandler Bolt is a best-selling author and marketer who trains others how to write and sell their ebooks successfully on Amazon. But his earliest inclinations were not of the writing persuasion and the path to his current endeavor is an interesting one. Today he joins us to talk about his early days as an athlete, musician and the path that led him to his present solopreneurial success.

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Just a few years ago if you would have told Chandler Bolt he'd be a best-selling author and someone who teaches people how to write great books, he would not have believed you! Chandler was not an A+ English student and didn't enjoy writing in school. It didn't seem like a likely path for him to pursue.

But one of the earliest influences that impacted where he is today was growing up in an entrepreneurial household; his dad ran his own construction business and his mom was a real estate agent. The time flexibility he saw his parents' businesses afforded them appealed to him in many ways, from the after-school competitions they always attended to the family vacations they all took together.  Even at an early age, Chandler knew he wanted that for himself.

He didn't need much of a push beyond that. As a youngster, he began selling snacks to other kids and then ran a lawn care business that helped him pay for college.

While in college in Charleston, South Carolina, Chandler went to work with the company called "School Painters". He learned the ins and outs of running a successful enterprise with them, from hiring and firing to marketing to selling to customer service. He learned it all in his first year and did over $100,000 in business.

The next year he returned and helped three other solopreneurs do what he did in his first year: run a successful painting business. Again, he caught on quickly and did a tremendous job with his trainees. They all did over $55k in sales and were awarded spots on the company cruise.

Chandler was well on his way.

You'll also discover things like:

* What does MVP stand for and how can you apply it in your business?

* What are the 3 pillars of being a solopreneur?

* Entrepreneurs don't make excuses, they make ___ ____. Chandler fills in the blank.

* What are the benefits of having an accountability partner?

* What is a weekly action doc and how can you use it?

* And lots more!

 

His most recent successes are his ebooks, The Productive Person, The Productive Person Action Guide and Breaking Out of a Broken System.

He was an Amazon best-seller with those books and did what any wise and savvy business owner would do: he created a course to show others how to have the same success he had with self-publishing ebooks.

Today he has a 3 month program, Best-Selling Book System, that takes you from your book idea to an Amazon best-seller in 3 months. This program accelerates you through the writing and editing processes, and walks you step by step from idea to ebook launch. The great thing about this program, aside from the information it provides, is how it was created. Chandler didn't have it all locked down when he started, he knew what he wanted to cover but he hadn't created the content.

Instead, he let his participants show him what they needed and they would customize based on their needs. And that's exactly what they did with their initial 41 group members, all of whom have been pleased with their experience.

Comic Con started in 1970 as a place where people who collected comic books would gather. That first year there were 300 people.  Forty four years later in 2014, there were 150,000 people who attended! And all of those 150,000 people cram into one little section of San Diego called the Gaslamp District.

It's a pretty crazy experience, so much so I thought I'd take this show to share the nine lessons I learned from attending. Let's dive in:

1. Niche down.

Don't be afraid to niche down deep and find exactly what you're passionate about, then go after it. The fans in attendance are hugely passionate about their favorite TV show, movie, character or actor. You can find something you love as much, you'll have no trouble creating a strong business around.

2. Over-deliver in value. 

Comic Con itself provides so much you can't possibly take it all in at once. You'd need an all-access pass and John Lee Dumas to prepare and execute your itinerary for you to see everything available in the four days of Comic Con. And Comic Con continues to up their game and offer more every year, because they know their fans will appreciate them for it.

3. Strength in numbers.

Remember the statistic about how many people came to the first Comic Con vs. 2014? You don't need those kinds of numbers to succeed but pay attention to the lesson at hand: when you have a rabid following, you can do anything. And the way you grow these numbers and get the muscle they provide is by doing the previous two steps. On a practical level, you grow your numbers by offering them something in exchange for their email address. Grow your mailing list by offering a giveaway, you're well on your way.

4. Building a strong brand trumps all.

Think about brands like Star Wars, Bugs Bunny, etc. These aren't just movie or animated characters, these are brands that have stood the test of time. More than likely you could quote something from either of these two brands and they've been around for decades. It's worth investing time and energy into creating a strong, memorable brand that represents what you're doing. Make sure it's absolutely clear what you are promising from your branding.

5. The power of community is unmatched.

Comic Con is a community in and of itself, as are all the subdivisions. I overheard so many people talking about how they met their new friend the day before and they've been inseparable ever since. Community happens when people connect based on their common interests. When that connection happens, it can last a lifetime.

6. Let your business morph and evolve.

Start out with an idea of what you'll be doing and then let your audience tell you what they want, then morph and adjust what you're doing.

For example, when I started SoloLab I did 40 Skype calls with people about what they would want from a mastermind group. I had an idea of what I would offer going into those calls, and it was completely changed by the time I finished talking to those 40 people.

Another great example is TV vs music. Look at how TV has kept up with evolving media, technology and the way people want to view their shows. How many times have you watched your favorite show on your iPad or your phone - or some device that was not your television set? Music hasn't changed and they've been buried as a result.

Keep up with evolutionary changes and keep your business growing.

7. Leverage celebrity!

Everyone knows someone so if you can somehow attach a celebrity to your services, do it. And always ask for referrals - remember the power of community? This is a great way to leverage your people's people (and perhaps their people's people).

Who are the reachable celebrities in your niche? Find them, connect and eventually you'll land someone. Once you get one, others will follow.

8. Hustle.

The people who made Comic Con happen probably didn't sleep for a...

What if the concept behind Tom's Shoes (you buy one pair of shoes, one pair is donated to a child in need) was applied to a healthy food network marketing company? Would that concept intrigue you? It captured my attention, enough to bring my friend Bryon Jaymes on to this edition of The Solopreneur Hour.

There are a number of lessons we solopreneurs can glean from the network marketing field, whether we are in it or not. And Bryon is bringing those lessons to episode 141. He's been a leader in several companies and is here to talk about what the social entrepreneurship concept behind his newest company, what he's learned in the trenches and how that applies to your business, whatever your industry.

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When I first met him, Bryon was involved in his second network marketing and was doing very well for himself. He had figured out that people buy from people, not from companies. So he had created a brand for himself and his team, West Coast Movement.

West Coast Movement had actually been started by Bryon when he was in his first company: Amway. Bryon got involved with Amway the old-fashioned way: someone he knew and respected introduced him. Bryon has always been committed to health and fitness so when his friend told him about the nutritional product options at Amway, Bryon was immediately interested for himself and for his personal training clients.

Bryon spent five years building and growing his West Coast Movement team at Amway; he was making from $5k-$6k a month by that time and also earning yearly bonus checks of $20k or more. Despite his success, Bryon felt it was time to move on to a new company. There were a number of things that weren't in line with his own integrity and commitments, so after careful consideration he decided to find a new home for himself and his West Coast Movement team.

He went through a fairly length selection process, he settled on a new network marketing company in the health and wellness field. He saw a real opportunity to influence where the company was going and he wanted to be a part of that. Again he built his team, bringing with him about 400-500 people from his previous organization.

And for the next three years, that was where he hung his network marketing cap. It was also during that time that we met and became friends.

You'll also discover things like:

* Who was one of the first partners in EM squared?

* What's the greatest thing about being a solopreneur?

* What's the worst thing about being a solopreneur?

* Why did Bryon build West Coast Movement and why does it matter to your business?

* Which group is the most malnourished today and why?

* And lots more!

As fate would have it, that company was then acquired by another company. Bryon saw the writing on the wall and decided to pack up his West Coast Movement people and go elsewhere.

Eventually he settled with his present company, EM Squared. The concept behind the company is like Tom's Shoes but applied to healthy food bars. When someone buys a box of bars from EM Squared, one box is donated to children in need. Right now they are only in Mexico and Central America but they have a vision to expand and help malnourished kids around the globe.

The compensation side works like other network marketing companies: when you enroll someone, you get paid. When they enroll someone, you get paid and so on down the line. But with EM Squared, you can choose to donate what you earn to charities or to cash it out. It's up to you!

And you can also take that box of healthy bars you bought and donate it to a local charity, homeless people you see, etc. Again, the choice is yours.

It's social entrepreneurship at work and it's been working well for EM Squared. In their first 3 weeks, they fed over 10,000 kids! Imagine what they're going to do in their first three months.

Hey all!

I posted to the Proudly Unemployable Group to see if anyone had questions for today's show. I answered all kinds of cool questions. Here's what you'll learn:

* What I'm doing with my two presentations at Podcast Movement, and who my star-studded guests are

* A great way to "fill the funnel" if you're in a service business

* How to scale a service business

* What to do when you hit a plateau

* How "perfect" you have to be when you begin something

* How to know when you can begin coaching someone, and the correct path to do so

* How my racquetball game has been lately

* What it was like to take a private jet to Napa Valley this weekend

* What it means to me to Live, Laugh, Love

* Where to find my favorite resources and apps

* How I find good guests, and how you can too

* a whole bunch more!

Because there are SO many questions, let's jump right in and get through these suckers!

Dwayne asks: Launching and growing as you go, is this something that can be done or does it all have to be lined up, all your ducks in a row from the start?

Dwayne you can definitely launch and grow as you go, your start-up needs and foundation will vary depending on the industry. If you've got a blog, definitely launch, grow and expand as you go along. If you're doing a podcast, there are two foundational elements you must have and they are 1. It must sound good and must be dialed in from the beginning. I give podcasts one chance and if it sounds terrible, I don't listen in again. 2. Your brand must be nailed and locked down.

Ultimately we are selling ourselves, when people are buying our products and services they are buying us. Be where you are on the timeline and learn as you go. It doesn't matter that you're not the world's best at what you do, you just need to get started.

Alan C asks: talk about your journey from the pile of equipment to where you are now.

You all have been along for the ride! Part of the point of this show from the beginning was to take you with me on this journey. I did follow a pretty certain path and had a strategy in mind; I listened to people who gave me advice and it's been very successful. Between the podcast itself, my coaching and mastermind groups, The Solopreneur Hour has generated or will $250,000 in 10 months.

I never thought I would get so much joy and energy from the coaching I do; I love to hear how people get motivated and what they accomplish from working together.

The next piece is upleveling from here. I'm asking how can I raise the bar, make this show totally professional and get insane guests - that is where I am focused. I think as a show this is just getting started, as is the industry of podcasting itself.

Michelle C: Live, Laugh and Love, talk about this phrase and why it is used so much in speech. What meaning is it given and to what extent?

For me it means every day we focus on asking: How can I live this moment to the extent that I am capable. How can I maximize this moment? Why shouldn't I be the first one to the dance floor? Why shouldn't I be the first one to raise their hand and ask a question?

Everyone's waiting for someone to go first, why do you have to wait? And why must you choose between this or that - why not BOTH? How can you live and maximize it?

How can you laugh in ANY situation no matter how tense, and no matter how much adversity you're facing?

And how do we choose to love the things we already have? Our girlfriend/boyfriend, our house/apartment/living situation, etc. How can we love things as they already are?

Love is what you surround yourself with and what makes you feel good inside.

David Michael G: He wants an update on my racquetball game. I've been on the DL, I tore something in my forearm. I can't squeeze enough to give a proper handshake - that's why if we met at WDS, my handshake felt like you were holding a fish.

The New York Times once reported that 81% of Americans feel they have a book in them. Whether you count yourself among those 81% or not, you’ll want to listen to this show.

Our guest for episode 139 of The Solopreneur Hour, who is making his second appearance on the show, is the uber-talented TV writer and novelist Dean Lorey. Dean and I chat about how his latest self-publishing venture came to be, the lessons he’s learned as a writer and how they apply to the life of other solopreneurs.

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If you missed Dean’s first visit to the show, find out about more about his history here.

But to quickly recap, Dean is a Hollywood writer who has worked on such notable series as Arrested Development, The Crazy Ones, My Wife and Kids, among others.

In this edition of the show, we talked a bit about what it was like when he found out The Crazy Ones was cancelled. He says as a TV writer you always know it’s a possibility your show won’t get continued and it’s something you learn to live with…and, like any good solopreneur, you go for it anyway.

And when he’s not working on a TV set, he’s writing novels. His latest is the hilarious satire called Romance For Men. The premise is a story told from the perspective of a mountain man in wilds of Alaska named Jack IceFloe Jackson. Jack is pissed off that romance novels are written for women so he decides to pen his own version based on his experiences.

Keep in mind, Jack is a short, fat, balding man with a 6-incher (according to Dean and Jack’s Twitter profile). Hilarity ensues when Jack retells his tales of saving the world through his lovemaking exploits; every woman in the world wants him and, through some twist of fate (aka fiction), the Earth continues to be put in perilous scenarios that can only be salvaged by Jack’s sexual conquests.

As you might imagine, the book is uproariously funny and ridiculously filthy. In fact, Dean says it’s the filthiest thing he’s ever written and perhaps that has ever been written!

You'll also discover things like:

* Netflix: how they became a major player in the world of television

* What shows would he have loved to have written for?

* Who orgasms at the end of the audio version of his book?

* How to find a good publicist for your next launch of anything.

* The necessity of marketing your book and how it applies to your business.

* And lots more!

The origins of the book and its rise to self-publication are a tale in and of themselves. Dean originally began writing a book within a book: he cast himself as a fiction character who finds Jack’s book in a secondhand book store. This fictional Dean chases Jack all around trying to get the rights to the book so he can make a TV show about it. The original version of the book chronicled those exploits.

When Dean showed people what he had written, they all wanted to read the book that fictional Dean finds in the secondhand bookstore. There was such demand for that book that Dean decided to sit down and write it.

But it wasn’t written with any intention to publish it. It wasn’t until he again showed more people this second distillation of the book that he saw the potential for self-publishing.

In fact, one of the people he gave it to was Adam Reed who created Archer for FX. Adam loved it and convinced Dean to make an animated series pilot for FX, which is now in the works.

Dean says writing the book wasn’t the hardest part, as many people think. The hardest part is to make people aware of it. As a writer, you have to be thinking of how you’re going to write it but also how you’ll get the word out. The same goes for other solopreneur ventures: when you’re creating something, think about how you’ll create it but also how you’ll spread the word about it.

Did you know that before Social Media Examiner was launched, Michael Stelzner was known as THE white paper guy? What's a white paper you ask? In the 138th edition of The Solopreneur Hour, Michael joins us to explain what a white paper is and what it does, and he shares how that white paper industry expertise led to his interest in social media and the eventual launch and success of Social Media Examiner.

In this episode, we talk about the necessity of building relationships, how to do it with people you admire and fledgling talent you come across, and how he runs a thriving enterprise with a dedicated staff, many of whom are volunteers.

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Since his early days, Michael Stelzner has been an entrepreneur. Growing up as a young boy in the Midwest, he and his brother would dig up nightcrawlers and sell them to fishermen the next morning. For those of you non-fishing folk, nightcrawlers are big worms fishermen used as bait.

Being just a kid, his nightcrawler interested wained so he picked up a paper route. When he grew tired of that, he got into video games and created a video game that was actually bought by a large gaming company. One week after they sent him the contract, they went bankrupt.

Not one to be deterred by a setback, Michael persevered. Though he was the only solopreneur-spirit in his family, his father was always encouraging him to follow his passions. Michael wasn't clear on exactly what those passions were but he also knew he was artistic. He was one of the rare birds who was a good artist and a good writer, his "secret sauce" if you will.

You'll also discover things like:

* What's the biggest content tool in 2014?

* What is unconferencing and should you do it?

* Who was once his assistant and is now an online powerhouse in her own right?

* How many millions of people visit Social Media Examiner now?

* What's the number one thing 68% of marketers plan to do in 2014?

* And lots more!

 

Eventually Michael did find a home for his writing and artistic talents: he became the director of artists at an agency in the 1990s.

From there, he found his way into the world of white papers and positioned himself as an expert. If you're wondering what a white paper is, Michael explains it as a combination of an article and a brochure cross-designed to sell.

To solidify his expertise in the white paper industry, he published a book on the subject called Writing White Papers, created a big portal where people came to learn how to write and create white papers. He segued that into teaching marketers about white papers and training tens of thousands of out-of-work journalists how to write white papers and generate a living for themselves.

And from those experiences he understood the value in teaching and created deep relationships with the marketers and writers he came into contact with. From those close connections, Michael saw trends. He noticed they were all getting on Twitter, so he started interviewing people for his newsletter, which were very big back then in the late 2008/early 2009. With those interviews, he introduced marketers to social media combined with white papers. 

He saw another trend emerging: people were going crazy over anything related to social media so he started hosting online events around the topic. Those events were the most popular and a light bulb went off in Michael's mind: social media was the next big thing and he was going to be a part of it.

Michael had no idea how he was going to get into social media but he knew he was going down that path. The first thing he did? He built relationships. He got to know the people who were movers and shakers - ...

If you combined a hedge fund lawyer, a fitness/wellness entrepreneur, a best-selling author and the creator of The Good Life Project, what would you get? You’d get our guest Jonathan Fields, he’s successfully been all of these in his lifetime!

In episode 137 we talk about his past projects and careers, his 10 business commandments and what he’s learned that has made him who he is today.

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Even as a kid, Jonathan was an entrepreneur. A self-professed “lemonade stand kid”, Jonathan was always interested in entrepreneurship and new creations.

After law school, he got a job in a hedge fund firm and did very well for himself. He did so well he was offered a senior partnership, but he turned it down. He knew in his gut that he didn’t want that role and he didn’t want that life. He loved the people he worked with but he didn’t love the hedge fund world enough to make the necessary sacrifices to be a partner.

So he began looking at his other options and saw he had a love of health/wellness, entrepreneurship and fitness. He had saved up a fair bit of change because he knew he was leaving, and that enabled him to take a job as a personal trainer after completing a certification process.

But he did something not everyone else does: he had a building strategy going into the personal training world. He knew he wanted to build a brick and mortar business eventually and so he took the $12/hour job to learn as much as he could about the industry and how to properly serve those in it.

Within twelve months of taking that job, he had his own private practice. After that, he launched his own facility and soon his company was generating revenue in one month that the big box fitness companies were doing in a year.

You'll also discover things like:

* The moment he knew he had to leave his hedge fund position.

* How he created his first yoga video and why the story pertains to your business.

* The two reasons most people tell you you can’t do something.

* Creative recoil: what is it and how can you avoid it?

* The single worst business idea anyone can buy into it.

* And lots more!

He grew his fitness business for about 2.5 years and then sold it. He found himself drawn into the world of yoga and leased a space near his home in Hell’s Kitchen, a part of New York City. He signed the lease the day before September 11.

Faced with a city in chaos and rubble, he wondered if he had made the right choice or if he should leave it all and forget his dream. Jonathan decided the city needed what he and his team were going to offer so he opened his doors, gave a free pass to all the relief workers and marketed his programs to the average middle-aged person who had never done yoga.

And they flourished. They opened a teacher training certification division, a media division and Jonathan’s knack for publicity and marketing helped them shine.

He continued his work with the studio for seven years and then his interest shifted to online marketing and writing, which led to a book deal. His publicity background helped him land a contract with Random House Publishing.

From there, he developed The Good Life Project which continues to hold his focus today.

One other interesting piece of material he’s created is his 10 Business Commandments. They seem to sum up who he is, what he’s learned along the way and what he’s committed to in business.

* Thou shalt have a strategy but be open to serendipity.

* Thou shalt magnify results with delight marketing.

* Thou shalt train thy mind in the alchemy of fear.

* Thou shalt find or purchase a sense of humor.

* Thou shalt embrace the power of mentoring. 

* Thou shalt do epic shit that actually matters.

* Thou shalt align thy actions with thy heart.

* Thou shalt treat people with compassion.

* Thou shalt exalt love as a business ideal.

Did you know YouTube is the second largest search engine on the Internet today? That is reason enough to pay attention to our guest for show 136, Amy Schmittauer, the lovely and vivacious woman behind the vlog Savvy, Sexy Social.

On this show, Amy shares her thoughts and suggestions on how to create a great video without spending a lot of money, who should be creating content and for what industries and why. Join us to hear all of that and so very much more on the 136th episode The Solopreneur Hour.

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Long before Amy became savvy sexy social, she was a youngster in Ohio. And believe it or not, she was NOT a ham! Amy says her mom doesn’t have any photos of her as a child because she threw them all away…Amy was not a fan of the camera growing up.

To hear how that changed, we discuss Amy’s previous life prior to Savvy Sexy Social. While earning her degree in political science at Ohio State University, Amy went to work for a law firm to see if she really wanted to be a lawyer “when she grew up”.

For the first 1.5 years at the firm, she was a receptionist (which she hated). But when the newly-elected governor of the state took office, she convinced the law firm to let her work on his fundraising campaign. And for the next 4 years, that’s what she did and she learned a tremendous amount about working with people and in her words, common sense.

You'll also discover things like:

* What is veda?

* The proper mindset to create before writing an email or shooting a video.

* What’s the sexy in savvy, sexy social?

* What is B roll and when do you use it?

* Who should be vlogging today?

* And lots more!

 

About three years into that position, Amy found the wonderful world of marketing and something inside of her was lit.

Like so many solopreneurs face on their journey, Amy was at a critical juncture. She could either continue her work, she had a great job with good money and she really enjoyed it; or, she could follow her heart and her gut and go on her own. She knew she had to make the leap into this industry and she had to do it with her own business.

Amy had come to that all-important moment: she was about to become unemployable.

Her next step was to take a portfolio-building gig at Bath and Body Works as a copywriter. She says it was great for about a month and then it was a catastrophe.

So she created her vlog and began sharing herself with the world via video. She had become an ardent fan of YouTube and had watched enough videos to know what made one good and the other not as good.

She also knew she wanted to position herself as a thought leader and she needed to let the world know who she was and what she was about. Amy knew the key was offering her audience an inside look that showed people why she was different, a powerful story-telling technique. She knew she’d find her tribe this way.

And so began her vlogging journey, a journey that has given her tremendous knowledge about the video world, who should be creating videos and why, what works and what doesn’t - all of which she shares in this episode.

However one of the greatest lessons she gives is to just get started. And as long as you’re committed to creating great videos, you’ll figure it out along the way. Just do it, put it out there and learn as you go. Whether creating videos or not, that’s a critical lesson we can all come back to at every juncture in our businesses.

Amy was such a fun guest, I really loved having her on the show. After you listen, drop a note and say thanks for being on the show! You can leave a message in the comments below or send her a shout out on Twitter.