Working Sessions

In this episode, we provide updates on our respective businesses and share how we qualify prospects for our services during the sales process. It's tempting to take the "easy money" of a new client, especially in the early days, but it's better to focus on right-fit clients from the start to set your business up for long-term success.

As always, we also provide updates on Castaway and EditorNinja, which include...

• Another new hire for EditorNinja!
• Setting benchmarks for performance before investing in sales/marketing
• Continuing to iterate on offers until you find the right option
• Using "slow periods" to dial in your operational efficiency
• Gearing up for a podcast promo tour

Sound interesting? You should give it a listen. We think you'll really enjoy it.

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Thanks & Recognition

This episode was edited by PodPanda.

In this episode, we provide updates on our respective businesses and discuss which metrics or KPIs we're tracking – and how. It's easy to spend all day refreshing your dashboards, so we provide some advice for striking the right balance between knowing your numbers and getting stuck in analysis paralysis.

As always, we also provide updates on Castaway and EditorNinja, which include...

• New hires and new pricing models for EditorNinja
• How John is increasing traffic to key pages on his site
• A freemium offer to attract more EditorNinja prospects
• How to make the most of time away from work
• Emerging trends in the content repurposing space

Sound interesting? You should give it a listen. We think you'll really enjoy it.

Want to support the show? [FREE]

1. Subscribe to future episodes in your favorite podcast app
2. Ask a question or leave us feedback on this episode
3. Leave an honest review on your favorite podcast platform
4. Share the show with a friend who might also enjoy it
5. Reach out to us on Twitter and give us your unfiltered feedback

Want more regular updates? Here are other ways to follow along:

• Join Our Email Newsletter for early access and bonus content
• Come and hang out with us in our Slack community
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• Follow John on Twitter

Thanks & Recognition

This episode was edited by PodPanda.

In this episode, we provide updates on our respective businesses and talk about the value of coaching in our lives and businesses. James hasn't had a serious coach since high school, whereas John has hired multiple coaches to support him in various areas.

We discuss the merits of hiring a coaching, but also the risks or downsides of hiring the wrong coach. If you've ever considered working with one yourself, this episode should be excellent pre-work to help you make a smart decision.

As always, we also provide updates on Castaway and EditorNinja, which include...

• Letting go of your first team member
• A ranking update on the top-level service pages we made last time
• How to evolve your offerings based on market demands
• A whale client is in the pipeline for Castaway
• What to do when competitors start to go silent

Sound interesting? You should give it a listen. We think you'll really enjoy it.

Want to support the show? [FREE]

1. Subscribe to future episodes in your favorite podcast app
2. Ask a question or leave us feedback on this episode
3. Leave an honest review on your favorite podcast platform
4. Share the show with a friend who might also enjoy it
5. Reach out to us on Twitter and give us your unfiltered feedback

Want more regular updates? Here are other ways to follow along:

• Join Our Email Newsletter for early access and bonus content
• Come and hang out with us in our Slack community
• Follow James on Twitter
• Follow John on Twitter

Thanks & Recognition

This episode was edited by PodPanda.

In this episode, we provide updates on our respective businesses and discuss how much hand-wringing about business growth is healthy. It's easy to get emotionally attached the performance of our business, so we share thoughts around when to separate yourself from your company.

As always, we also provide updates on Castaway and EditorNinja, which include...

• Whether or not John should hire an operator for EN
• How to build top-level pages that convert well
• What to do when your sales pipeline dries up
• The Four Burners theory of managing your time and energy
• A new Fractional CMO opportunity for James

Sound interesting? You should give it a listen. We think you'll really enjoy it.

Want to support the show? [FREE]

1. Subscribe to future episodes in your favorite podcast app
2. Ask a question or leave us feedback on this episode
3. Leave an honest review on your favorite podcast platform
4. Share the show with a friend who might also enjoy it
5. Reach out to us on Twitter and give us your unfiltered feedback

Want more regular updates? Here are other ways to follow along:

• Join Our Email Newsletter for early access and bonus content
• Come and hang out with us in our Slack community
• Follow James on Twitter
• Follow John on Twitter

Thanks & Recognition

This episode was edited by PodPanda.

In this episode, we provide updates on our respective businesses and discuss how to build a resilient business. There are a number of things that can hurt your performance – war, economic downturns, new competitors, platform risk – so how do you set your company up to thrive in any environment?

As always, we also provide updates on Castaway and EditorNinja, which include...

• How to deal with challenging times as a business owner
• The importance of regularly testing your pricing model
• Why listening to your customers and adapting to their needs is critical
• The growing momentum behind content repurposing
• How to balance recurring revenue with one-off projects

Sound interesting? You should give it a listen. We think you'll really enjoy it.

Want to support the show? [FREE]

1. Subscribe to future episodes in your favorite podcast app
2. Ask a question or leave us feedback on this episode
3. Leave an honest review on your favorite podcast platform
4. Share the show with a friend who might also enjoy it
5. Reach out to us on Twitter and give us your unfiltered feedback

Want more regular updates? Here are other ways to follow along:

• Join Our Email Newsletter for early access and bonus content
• Come and hang out with us in our Slack community
• Follow James on Twitter
• Follow John on Twitter

Thanks & Recognition

This episode was edited by PodPanda.

In this episode, we start by brainstorming a few ways that early-stage business owners can attract prospective customers, even when their time, money, and resources may be limited. Part of the conversation is a friendly debate about how you should distribute your effort between short-term strategies (Ex: paid ads) and long-term strategies (Ex: SEO, Content Marketing).

As always, we also provide updates on Castaway and EditorNinja, which include...

• When to bring on development help and how to find trustworthy providers
• Doubling-down on marketing strategies that show promise
• Why churn isn't always a bad thing (in fact, it's probably healthy)
• How to use research, feedback, and observations to home in on "right fit" customers

Sound interesting? You should give it a listen. We think you'll really enjoy it.

Want to support the show? [FREE]

1. Subscribe to future episodes in your favorite podcast app
2. Ask a question or leave us feedback on this episode
3. Leave an honest review on your favorite podcast platform
4. Share the show with a friend who might also enjoy it
5. Reach out to us on Twitter and give us your unfiltered feedback

Want more regular updates? Here are other ways to follow along:

• Join Our Email Newsletter for early access and bonus content
• Come and hang out with us in our Slack community
• Follow James on Twitter
• Follow John on Twitter

In this episode, we start by talking about how to know when it's the right time to "cash in" and sell your business. When is the right time to open your mind to selling the company? How do you know when an offer is an okay deal versus a no-brainer? What can you do today to prepare yourself for an eventual sale? We share our thoughts on each of those point and more.

As always, we also provide updates on Castaway and EditorNinja, which include...

• What to do when a marketing decision kills your sales call/demo volume
• How to structure your website navigation when you offer numerous services
• Whether you should be a niche specialist or an end-to-end solution
• Where to start with process and training documentation
• How to build a personal brand to drive new leads for your business

Sound interesting? You should give it a listen. We think you'll really enjoy it.

Want to support the show? [FREE]

1. Subscribe to future episodes in your favorite podcast app
2. Ask a question or leave us feedback on this episode
3. Leave an honest review on your favorite podcast platform
4. Share the show with a friend who might also enjoy it
5. Reach out to us on Twitter and give us your unfiltered feedback

Want more regular updates? Here are other ways to follow along:

• Join Our Email Newsletter for early access and bonus content
• Come and hang out with us in our Slack community
• Follow James on Twitter
• Follow John on Twitter

In this episode, we start by talking about how to balance "learning" with "doing" as an entrepreneur. It's important to continue to invest in professional development, but if you spend too much time learning, you'll never make as much progress in your business as you'd like.

So, how do you find the right combination of learning new skills and applying those skills to actually grow or improve your business? That's the question we hope to answer in this conversation.

As always, we also provide updates on Castaway and EditorNinja, which include...

• How to manage capacity as your team grows
• What a quiz funnel is and if it might be a good option for your business
• Why investing in client experience can pay big dividends
• Ideas for generating leads for a new service business

Sound interesting? You should give it a listen. We think you'll really enjoy it.

Want to support the show? [FREE]

1. Subscribe to future episodes in your favorite podcast app
2. Ask a question or leave us feedback on this episode
3. Leave an honest review on your favorite podcast platform
4. Share the show with a friend who might also enjoy it
5. Reach out to us on Twitter and give us your unfiltered feedback

Want more regular updates? Here are other ways to follow along:

• Join Our Email Newsletter for early access and bonus content
• Come and hang out with us in our Slack community
• Follow James on Twitter

In this episode, we start by talking about a recent post from TestimonialHero's Sam Shepler, in which he suggests that selling subscription services isn't always the "no-brainer" that it's made out to be. John and I share our thoughts on the matter, considering both of our companies current sell subscription offerings.

As always, we also provide updates on Castaway and EditorNinja, which include...

• Year-to-date revenue updates
• New service offerings (bundled word count and personal branding)
• New team members (editors, video editors, and editorial leads)
• The need for better project management "plumbing"

Sound interesting? You should give it a listen. We think you'll really enjoy it.

Want to support the show? [FREE]

1. Subscribe to future episodes in your favorite podcast app
2. Ask a question or leave us feedback on this episode
3. Leave an honest review on your favorite podcast platform
4. Share the show with a friend who might also enjoy it
5. Reach out to us on Twitter and give us your unfiltered feedback

Want more regular updates? Here are other ways to follow along:

• Join Our Email Newsletter for early access and bonus content
• Come and hang out with us in our Slack community
• Follow James on Twitter
• Follow John on Twitter

In this episode, we start by talking about how first time entrepreneurs are more likely to take a "do it yourself" approach to business for longer than experienced entrepreneurs – and what that might be costing them.

As always, we also provide updates on Castaway and EditorNinja, which include...

• How bundled services vs. subscriptions impacts forecasting
• Why webinars are working well as lead generation
• Choosing between instant purchase vs. applications vs. sales calls/demos
• How to A/B test different offerings with Google Optimize
• Why you should always triple-check your Stripe notifications

Sound interesting? You should give it a listen. We think you'll really enjoy it.

Want to support the show? [FREE]

1. Subscribe to future episodes in your favorite podcast app
2. Ask a question or leave us feedback on this episode
3. Leave an honest review on your favorite podcast platform
4. Share the show with a friend who might also enjoy it
5. Reach out to us on Twitter and give us your unfiltered feedback

Want more regular updates? Here are other ways to follow along:

• Join Our Email Newsletter for early access and bonus content
• Come and hang out with us in our Slack community
• Follow James on Twitter
• Follow John on Twitter