BiggerPockets Business Podcast

Are you overwhelmed with all the things you’re falling behind on in your business? Not sure what to do next? Have you been taught to believe that as business owners, we need to tackle all of our business issues at once?

Well, it doesn’t have to be that way!

Michael Michalowicz—author six books, including the newly released Fix This Next—knows firsthand what it’s like to struggle with too much to do and not enough time to do it. And on this episode, he teaches how we can evaluate and prioritize the issues in our business—and also how to FIX THEM!

Mike starts with an overview of why identifying the biggest obstacles in your business is important and why so many entrepreneurs make the mistake of trying to solve too many issues at once. From there, he reveals the business hierarchy of needs—the five parts of our business that we must in order to truly put our business on autopilot and create a legacy that can be handed down. Then, he tells us how to identify the biggest obstacle in our business, and the methodology of how we can solve that problem before moving on to the next.

The formula is simple, even if it’s not obvious. But Mike breaks it down step by step so that even the most frantic among us will be able to use it to get our business under control and relieve our daily headaches. He helps us realize that the biggest challenge that most of us face as entrepreneurs is figuring out what our biggest challenge is—and then helps us do that!

And make sure you listen for Mike’s explanation of “the double helix” while helping business owner Carol solve the biggest business challenge she’s facing today.

Check him out, and subscribe to the BiggerPockets Business Podcast so you won’t miss our next show!

In This Episode We Cover:

• The biggest challenge entrepreneurs have
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for business
• What Survival Trap is
• OMEN (Objective, Measurement, Evaluation Frequency and Nurture)
• Why sale is not complete until delivery of the service.
• Actual Case Studies
• Two stages of Business: Get Stage and Give Stage
• How to make employees act like owners
• And SO much more!

Links from the Show

• BiggerPockets
• BiggerPockets Business Podcast 30: How to Guarantee Profit From Day 1 with Mike Michalowicz

Check the full show notes: http://biggerpockets.com/bizshow53

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Not happy in your current career? Looking to do something entrepreneurial but don’t know where to start? Well, maybe this is the inspiration you need to build something HUGE!

Laura Spaulding is a former police officer who was ready to forge her own future. Using the experience, knowledge, and insight she got working undercover, she decided to start her own business focused on cleaning up crime scenes, meth houses, and a host of other environmental hazards that many of us don’t have the stomach for.

Laura walks us through how she decided on her business path, how she financed it, and how she came to realize that the real opportunity was in expanding it through franchising. But it hasn’t all been rainbows and teddy bears—franchising created a whole host of challenges that Laura had to tackle in order to continue to grow and expand her business.

And grow her business she's done! Entrepreneur Magazine recently ranked Laura's company as one of the top 10 new franchises, and Spaulding Decon has been at the forefront of the coronavirus cleanup across the U.S. over the past six weeks.

If you’ve ever thought about creating your own franchise system from the ground up, this is the episode for you. Laura tells us how it’s done, how NOT to do it, how much to expect to pay, and all the good and bad that come with expanding your business nationwide.

If you have a strong stomach, make sure you listen to the end, when Laura tells us some of her favorite crime scene cleanup stories...

Check her out, and subscribe to the BiggerPockets Business Podcast so you won’t miss our next show!

In This Episode We Cover:

• How she went from being a beat cop to cleaning crime scenes
• How she funded and started her business
• How she drives house to house to get leads
• How her first hires were stay-at-home moms
• How she got into franchising
• The lesson she learned from hiring a consultant
• Entrepreneur vs. franpreneur
• Why brand culture matters
• The common misconception in franchising
• The biggest reason franchisees fail
• And SO much more!

Links from the Show

• BiggerPockets
• Crime Scene Cleaning Youtube Channel
• Chick-fil-A

Check the full show notes here: http://biggerpockets.com/bizshow52

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Have you ever considered buying a business but were terrified of paying more than the business is worth? Have you ever wondered what you can do to help ensure that a business you buy today will generate the numbers promised by the previous owner?

Well, today’s guest answers both those questions, helping us to minimize our financial risk when buying a small business!

Brit Foshee—real estate investor and small business owner—walks us through the process he used to buy his first five landscaping companies, how he consolidated them into one big company to increase their value, and how he did it all with minimal financial risk. And he tells us how we can do the same thing if we decide we want to go the route of buying a small business.

Brit tells us how he finds the businesses he buys, how he evaluates them, how he recruits partners to run them, and most importantly, how he gets the owners to all but guarantee their financial success. And for you real estate investors out there, you’ll be amazed at how similar buying a business is to buying real estate!

And make sure you listen for Brit’s recommendations on using “claw backs”—a way to literally guarantee that a business owner doesn’t misrepresent the numbers when selling you a business.

Check him out, and subscribe to the BiggerPockets Business Podcast so you won’t miss our next show!

In This Episode We Cover:

• Brit's story from buying a property to buying businesses
• How people underestimate what it takes to get a business off the ground
• How he finds available businesses on the market
• Similarities between his business model and buying real estate
• How a business with $1M in revenue is likely sustainable without the owner
• Why he made a partner a part-owner
• Come work "with me" vs. come work "for me"
• Why he recommends the owner financing route when buying a business
• How he reduces expenses and increases income right after buying
• Why he thinks employees are #1
• The top mistake owners make
• And SO much more!

Links from the Show

• BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast
• BRRRR Strategy
• BizBuySell
• Craigslist
• BiggerPockets Business Podcast 37: Choosing the Right Niche—Follow a Business Startup Journey From Day 1 with J Scott

Check the full show notes here: http://biggerpockets.com/bizshow40

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Does the book, “Vivid Vision” sound familiar? Brandon Turner (host of the BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast) raved about it when he we interviewed him on the show last year. Brandon credited the book with helping him overcome his vague thinking, providing him the insight to hone his goals and putting him on the path to massive success with real estate syndications.

In fact, Brandon raved so much about the book that we knew we had to have the book’s author on the show to provide our listeners a first-hand education on why creating a vision is important and how we should be doing it. And that’s what we’re doing today...

Cameron Herold -- best-selling author, founder of The COO Alliance and the operational brain behind several behemoth companies, including 1-800-GOT-JUNK -- is here to help you learn how to clearly define your business and life vision in a way that will put both you and your team on the path to success. Cameron breaks down the steps for defining your vision, documenting your vision (hint: it’s a lot more fun than you think), and then sharing that vision with your partners, employees and prospective employees to ensure that the entire team is aligned with YOUR vision for success.

And, for those of you who like to think about things from an analytical perspective, make sure to listen for Cameron’s mathematical formula for success...

Check him out, and subscribe to the BiggerPockets Business Podcast so you won’t miss our next show!

In This Episode We Cover:

• Cameron's incredible backstory
• Difference between CEO and COO
• How vision impacts your business
• Creative ways to relay your vision
• The craziest vivid vision story
• How vision helps you attract or repel the right people
• The miracle morning for entrepreneurs
• Cameron's secret formula to success
• And SO much more!

Links from the Show

• BiggerPockets Forums
• BiggerPockets Business Podcast 18: How to “Have It All” by Living with Intention with Brandon Turner
• TED Talk: Cameron Herold: Let's raise kids to be entrepreneurs
• Asana
• Basecamp
• The Genius Network
• Tim Ferriss
• Uber

Check the full show notes here: http://biggerpockets.com/bizshow39

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Do you think you’re too inexperienced to start a business? Do you think you don’t have the required education to be an entrepreneur? Do you think you don’t have the marketing chops to create a successful venture? Do you think you don’t have enough money to launch a million-dollar idea?

If so, this is the episode for you...

Sean Pour—founder of SellMax.com, a national used-car buying service—tells us about how he started his business at 14 years old, in attempt to help his parents keep their business afloat. What started out as an effort to help his family has, over the past 10 years, turned into a big business. Sean buys and sells thousands of cars per month all across the United States.

In this episode, Sean talks about getting started even before he had a high school education, how he taught himself the coding and marketing skills necessary to get the business off the ground, and how he was able to bootstrap the company without any capital. He also discusses how to build your network and find a great mentor without spending any money... and even potentially MAKING money in the process!

Listen for Sean’s amazing explanation about why too much education can actually hamper your likelihood for massive success and why those without a formal education often achieve much more.

Check him out, and subscribe to the BiggerPockets Business Podcast so you won’t miss our next show!

In This Episode We Cover:

• How Sean started a business in uncertain times
• How he learned a lot more from running a business than from school
• Sean's focus on affordability and starting on a budget
• How he started this business at 14 years old
• His #1 pieces of advice for those starting a business at a young age
• How their business model achieves a 10-20% profit margin
• Why he thinks marketing is the most important thing to a business
• And SO much more!

Links from the Show

• BiggerPockets
• Wordpress
• Carvana
• Shift
• CarMax
• Upwork

Link to the full show notes here: http://biggerpockets.com/bizshow65

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