Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland
James P. Friel and Dean Holland
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Navigating E-commerce in the Beauty Space, with Robyn Holland, Ep. 114
Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland
09/19/19 • 34 min
Creating a successful business in the beauty space can be intimidating. With many powerful brands to contend with, how do you set yourself apart in the niche? Where do you even begin? Our guest star today happens to be none other than Dean’s better-half, Robyn Holland. She’s here to walk us through her greatest challenges and successes—and living proof that a small business can succeed against powerhouse brands.
Robyn originally attended beauty school intent on being a makeup artist. She realized that there wasn’t a lot of money in her field of choice and veered into telecommunications sales. After 10 years in sales as a top-performer, she quit and started her own business in the beauty industry, which is now exploding onto the scene. This episode of Just the Tips walks through her winding entrepreneurial journey, so don’t miss it!
Outline of This Episode- [1:40] Robyn Holland guest stars!
- [3:50] Where her focus is right now
- [6:25] Running an e-commerce business in the beauty space
- [17:00] Lessons she has learned along the way
- [22:40] Challenges to overcome to scale your business
- [27:10] Your business will never be problem-free
- [30:40] Don’t be afraid to change and adapt
When Robyn finally had enough of her poor treatment at her sales job, she decided it was time to move on. Dean, being the husband that he is, encouraged her to consider starting her own business. Because of her experience in the beauty industry it was a natural choice to settle on that niche. So she dove in and began building her business.
Everything she originally tried flopped completely.
Selling her product on eBay didn’t succeed. Marketing on Facebook was a dud. She even hired models for her product, and their videos never gained traction. But her first paid ad exploded. With over 600,000 views and climbing, it catapulted her sales. But she could never get her continuing ads to reach the same success. Keep listening as we talk about what she was doing wrong, how her expectations needed to change, and what she did.
Be the raw and real YOUDean had helped Robyn build out this amazing studio with a green screen and all of the bells and whistles they could need for shooting ads. He even hired a videographer to help her produce high-quality videos. No matter what she did, the videos never found success. But they learned something important through this process.
People want a human connection that is real and raw and lets them see who you are.
After years of testing, their highest converting videos were of Robyn sitting at her vanity demonstrating the products—filming on her cell phone. The expensive highly produced ads made customers feel as if they were being sold to. Humans see through the fakeness. They desire connection. As an entrepreneur it is our job to recognize that!
Scaling your business quicklyRobyn’s product has taken off quickly in the last 6-8 weeks—so much so that they are completely out-of-stock. They’ve currently switched tactics from selling an in-stock product to allowing customers the option to pre-order. Here are a few tips she has to help you scale quickly (and avoid running out of stock):
1. Her product takes a while to produce, package, and ship to their warehouse. She recommends having at least a couple of different production channels so that running out-of-stock never happens.
2. To scale your business, you need to have a customer service and fulfillment team in place that doesn’t consist of just you. Your home can’t be a warehouse and distribution center forever!
3. Build a relationship with your customers. Create content that they’ll love. Offer them something of value that only you and your product can give. Interact with them on social media platforms.
While Robyn didn’t predict her spike in sales in the last few weeks, she now has a better idea of how to be prepared. Listen in as we chat about her experience.
Just keep moving forward—solve problems as they comeSomething that entrepreneurs don’t necessarily realize in the beginning is that your business will never be easy. Ideas will fail. Sales vary. Every problem creates a new challenge to overcome. Problems can be a good thing—especially when it’s because your product is selling so well that your stock plummeted overnight.
Just keep pushing forward.
Don’t be afraid to change and adapt as the market is changing. Robyn learned that you cannot be overly attached to anything, especially if it isn’t working. Sometimes, you will need to rebrand and start over—and that’s okay. Overcome worrying about people will think, ask for help when needed, and keep moving forward.
Resources & People Mentioned1 Listener
The Art and Science of Hiring with Steve Lowisz, Ep. 29
Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland
01/18/18 • 30 min
On today’s episode of Just the Tips Dean and I welcome, entrepreneur, speaker and “people person” Steve Lowisz, to talk about one of the biggest roadblocks for entrepreneurs out there: HR and recruiting. Steve is one of the great, leading-edge thinkers when it comes to hiring and managing people, and the insights he gives here are so critical to a growing business’s success. Steve has the methodologies down, and cuts through all the cloudy thinking around hiring to give you precise tips on how to improve your HR function. As he says, “I’ll know it when I see it,” doesn’t cut it, and if you want to improve your hiring, you’ll have to listen to this episode.
When you need to hire a hiring firmDean and I were surprised to learn that Steve actually started out as an architect. But when he began looking around for more, he joined the sales team of an office supply company where he lives in Michigan and was put in charge of hiring some new employees. Without knowing what to do, he hired a firm to make the hires, and as he says, his boss told him “great job,” and then sold the business. So Steve took a job with the firm he actually hired, and from there has loved what he does. If you think hiring and HR is a nightmare or something you’re hesitant to tackle, then listen to this episode of Just the Tips to pick up advice from a guy who eats, sleeps and breathes this stuff.
The three keys to successful hiringI asked Steve whether he mostly focuses on recruiting, retention or managing and developing, and I was surprised by his answer. Steve told us that ultimately all three of those aspects are just one thing you have to get right. So if you define your needs in a candidate, you use those same aspects to help develop them, and then you retain them until they’ve developed so far that you have to let them go. As Steve says, “We get it wrong, because we separate them too much.” But as Steve tells us, it’s often defining that need where entrepreneurs go astray.
The baker’s dozen of questions you need to askSteve has what he calls the “baker’s dozen of questions” to get at the heart of what an entrepreneur needs in a new hire. A lot of the questions are fairly direct and simple, he says. Questions like: “What’s working for you right now? Where do you want to go? What are your obstacles?” He says the process is a combination of art and science. The science is running through the questions, but the art is in teasing out what’s behind the answers. He also has some fascinating insights about assessments, and tools for assessments, that I think buck the common wisdom. You’ll want to hear what he says about the “thumbs up/thumbs down” approach to assessing performance.
The “core four” in the science of hiringWhen Steve says he has hiring down to a science, he has it down to a science. He told us about his sets of “core four” principles. One set revolves around production, can the person do what you need them to do. Another set revolves around purpose: Is the candidate aligned with what you’re trying to do, and with your culture. These are often very squishy terms for entrepreneurs, but Steve has such a clear-eyed view of what they actually mean that you’ll be surprised by how you can put them into practice. If you’re even thinking about making a hire in the near future, you can’t miss this episode of Just the Tips.
Outline of This Episode- [3:50] Why Steve got into the people side of business
- [5:53] Steve’s hiring horror story
- [8:09] The three keys to HR
- [9:23] The baker’s dozen of questions
- [14:04] Assessments and the “core four”
- [17:16] What culture really means
- [27:43] One last nugget from Steve
Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Connect With James and DeanJames P. Friel:
- AutoPilot Entrepreneur Program: www.jamespfriel.com/autopilot
- Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/autopilotentrepreneur
- Site: www.jamespfriel.com
Dean Holland:
- Blog: www.DeanHolland.com
- FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/DeanHollandHQ
- Digital Business Entrepreneurs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DigitalBusinessEntrepreneurs/ <...
Effective Marketing Strategies with Bill Bice, Ep 139
Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland
03/12/20 • 34 min
Today’s guest started his first tech company at the early age of 18. Joining James and Dean is Bill Bice, the CEO of Boomtime and Zebraworks. Bill was able to build an eight-figure business that became the market leader in the corporate legal industry. This venture led to an acquisition by Thomson Reuters, where he joined the management team of a $2B business.
A programmer at heart, Bill tackled the problem of how one can create great marketing consistently. Thus, he created Boomtime by following the data and understanding what really works. Since then, Bill has founded and invested in 27 companies, always seeing the same correlation: the better you are at marketing, the more significant the success.
In this episode, Bill shares the best marketing strategies to drive referrals to your business through word of mouth, the importance of effective marketing, and the impact of creating a great marketing foundation. Plus, Bill also goes over common mistakes that entrepreneurs are unaware of that lead to the downfall of their businesses.
Before you spend a dollar on any form of paid advertising, you need to build the marketing foundation. – Bill Bice
Outline of This Episode
[06:58] What brought Bill back to startups and entrepreneurship
[09:15] Why effective marketing is one of the biggest driving forces in any business
[15:10] The three core goals of creating a marketing foundation
[17:26] Two huge mistakes that businesses make
[21:12] Understanding the concept of amplifying the word of mouth to drive more referrals
Marketing is a crucial part of any business
Any entrepreneur knows that the presentation and promotion of his business are fundamental for it to grow. A determining factor to know if you are good at marketing is to look at the result or the solution you provide to your clients’ problems. One should be able to demonstrate that there is a return of investment as well.
The most powerful thing about marketing is referrals. Considered a social currency, referrals are key to a business’s growth and expansion because you cannot possibly expect your business to develop without getting new and more clients.
How to create a strong marketing foundation
Equipped with over 30 years of knowledge and experience, Bill shares three core goals for any businessman to address in order to create a strong marketing foundation. He emphasizes the idea that you must be familiar with these goals to avoid making random acts of marketing, which causes inconsistency.
These goals concentrate on creating and capturing leads, producing referrals, building market automation, and staying on top of your audience.
Three channels that you can focus on to amplify referrals
Driving referrals to your business is vital to keep the trade in existence. The most well-known concept in driving referrals is through word of mouth. When people give positive reviews about a certain business, more and more people will become interested, and this leads to the widening of an establishment’s audience.
Utilizing the advancements of the internet, these three channels optimize the expansion of a business’s audience. This strategy in driving more referrals to your business is a must-know.
Resources & People Mentioned
Bill Bice’s Website: https://www.boomtime.com/
Bill Bice on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billbice
Bill Bice on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.bice
Bill Bice on Twitter: https://twitter.com/billbice
Check out his Podcast: https://boomtime.podbean.com/
Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Connect With James and Dean
James P. Friel:
CEO Quickstart: https://jamespfriel.com/ceo-quickstart/
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hustledetox/
Facebook Group (BulletProof Business): https://www.facebook.com/groups/1107362546297055/
Site: https://jamespfriel.com/
Interested in being a guest on the show?
Dean Holland:
Blog: www.DeanHolland.com
Being an Entrepreneur Couple, with Masa Cemazar and Miguel Montero, Ep. 19
Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland
11/09/17 • 41 min
As you know, and as many of our guests on Just the Tips have said before, being a successful entrepreneur is difficult, consuming work. The same could be said about being in a successful relationship. That makes it all the more fascinating that the guests on today’s show are doing both of those things so well. Masa Cemazar and Miguel Montero have launched dozens of successful businesses and two years ago embarked on their latest and largest endeavor, Pyjama Bosses, their software and training company for network marketers. Dean and I had a lot of fun talking with this power couple, and you’re going to appreciate how open and honest they are not only about their business but how they make it work balancing startups and matrimony.
How “Desperation” turned a pilot and a geneticist into an entrepreneur coupleDean and I enjoyed hearing how Masa and Miguel first met, on a plane ride to Australia. The international couple—she’s from Slovenia, he’s from Spain—decided to make that country their home. But Miguel had difficulty finding a job as a pilot due to visa issues, while Masa held down a six-figure job as a geneticist. But she told us that she was frustrated with her own job, too, discovering her work did more to benefit pharmaceutical companies than it did people. So the two of them decided to go into business by themselves, for themselves. On this episode of Just the Tips, You’re going to be inspired by how thoughtful and mindful they are about how they made that transition and how they’re always pushing themselves—and each other—to grow.
In Australia, if you argue with your wife, you sleep with the snakesAs I said, Masa and Miguel lay it all out for listeners of Just the Tips, so when I asked them what it’s like when they have a disagreement, Miguel didn’t hesitate to share a surprising story about how they make it work. One night, he and Masa were arguing, and Miguel felt he needed to take a breath and take a walk, so he ambled down the street to a park bench to cool off. He decided to lay down on the bench and, with the beautiful Australian weather providing a comfortable spot, decided to sleep off the fight. But then, he remembered that the poisonous snakes of Australia would have other ideas, so he hurried back to his wife, and made up. As Masa told us: “Certainly there have been very hard times. But you have to get your minds really clear and really together.” You’re going to want to hear how they do that.
What is work/life balance when work is your life?Just like any entrepreneur, Masa and Miguel face the difficult task of separating their work from the rest of their life. It goes double for them since they are business partners and husband and wife. But you’ll be able to learn a lot from how they toss aside the conventional wisdom that says you need that bright line between your work and your home life. As you hear Masa explain their routine of starting the day, walking the dog, discussing what’s coming up for the day in their business and what they hope the outcomes will be, you’ll see that if you’re already living your passion, there’s no need to compartmentalize them.
Being an entrepreneur “compresses a 40-year career into three months”Masa and Miguel are so smart about starting a business and so focused on personal growth, it’s no wonder that things have moved quickly for them. They started Pyjama Bosses two years ago and it’s grown exponentially since. Masa talks about how it’s important to not fall in love with your own idea and ensure there’s a market for your product before pursuing it. She talks about one fateful conversation that kickstarted their new venture and set them on a path to success. You’re not going to want to miss this episode of Just the Tips, which more than fulfills the promise of providing useful tips for any entrepreneur
Outline of This Episode- [2:36] How Miguel and Masa met
- [6:52] The factors that led to their lives as entrepreneurs
- [10:38] How they started Pyjama Bosses
- [14:51] The good, the bad and the ugly of working as a couple
- [20:00] The stresses of growing a business together
- [26:53] Balancing work and life as an entrepreneur couple
- [32:16] Finding they’re suddenly software developers
Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Connect With James and DeanJames P. Fri...
How To Catapult Your SEO Rank Fast With Robert Kanaat, Ep 184
Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland
02/11/21 • 58 min
Robert Kanaat built a multi-million dollar business with one paid traffic source. Business was booming--so much so that Robert got complacent, as he puts it, “went off the deep end.” His customers started to complain, and that led to ALL of his ads getting shut down.
With employees and commissions to pay, Robert scrambled to figure out what he could do to not only bring in customers, but do so without relying solely on paid traffic.
His search sent him down the SEO rabbit hole, where he discovered the best ways to catapult your SEO rank fast. Robert’s since gone on to become one of the top SEO masters in the world, earning praise from Ryan Deiss, Roland Frasier, and many others.
Whether you’re brand new to SEO or experienced and looking to further improve your SEO rank, tune in to hear Robert’s top three world-class strategies to catapult your SEO rank fast.
Beware The One-Legged StoolSooner or later, most entrepreneurs learn the hard way that relying on one traffic source, whether free or paid, is like sitting on a one-legged stool. Sooner or later you’re going down. When you’ve got one traffic source consistently pulling in qualified leads and sales, get to work on another. You don’t need every traffic source on the planet, but having only one puts your entire business in jeopardy. Tune into the episode to hear Robert’s tips for adding organic SEO to your rolodex of traffic sources.
Reduce The BounceMost people don’t have the patience to wait on slow websites, which means the faster your pages load, the less visitors bounce, and the better your organic traffic. Tune in for Roberts tips on setting up organic SEO without bogging your site down in mountains of links, banner ads, and other elements that drain your website visitors’ patience.
Robert’s Top 3 Organic SEO StrategiesAs far as search engines are concerned, putting a new website onto the Internet is a lot like being a brand new business owner who wants a business loan from the bank. This is especially true if they don’t know you or have a relationship with you. If you don’t have a history of growing successful businesses, they’re going to be a lot more leary of lending you money. It’s the same with Google and other search engines. When your site first goes up, they’re waiting to see if you stick around, follow their rules, and prove yourself with quality content, and for most new sites it takes two years to hit that status. But Robert’s top three organic SEO traffic strategies can help you speed that process up. If your site’s already established, Robert’s strategies will improve your organic SEO even more.
How To Use Videos For Organic SEOAccording to Robert, well-crafted, valuable written content is superior for organic SEO. That means a video with a blurb under it is unlikely to perform as well as a 2,000-plus word blog post. It doesn’t mean videos are useless for organic SEO. You just need to include one extra step (that you can affordably outsource if you don’t want to do it yourself) to ensure your videos pull their own SEO weight. Tune in to hear exactly what to do.
Where Never To Put Your BlogA lot of free software, like WordPress, gives you a free subdomain to host your blog. The problem is, website subdomain URLs like blog.thebeardedwonder.com don’t perform well in search results. If you’re just starting out, spend a little extra cash for a real domain, so you can put your blog at, for example, the beardedwonder.com/blog. Otherwise, when you get around to buying a real domain to host your blog, you’re starting from scratch with your SEO ranking for that page. Do it correctly straight out of the gate and save yourself that frustration.
Outline of This Episode- All about paid traffic, UNTIL... [5:15]
- Instead of gaming Google, get better results with this [12:24]
- Don’t buy domains, buy established websites [20:01]
- SEO content dos and don’ts [26:10]
- Get more SEO from your videos by doing this [33:03]
- Never rely on one traffic source [38:05]
- To mask or not to mask the domain [46:52]
- http://outrankfast.com/ to get a free website audit from Robert. Mention you heard Robert on Just The Tips and he’ll send you a book.
- Robert Kanaat on LinkedIn
- Robert Kanaat on Twitter
- Robert Kanaat on YouTube
Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Connect With James and DeanJames P. Friel:
- CEO...
3 Easy Ways To Boost Your Profits, Ep 191
Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland
04/01/21 • 55 min
How is it possible to have a multi-million dollar business and not be making any money? Simple: Because sales are not the same thing as profits.
Everywhere you turn are businesses boasting about making six figures, seven figures, and up, but when you peek behind the scenes, are these businesses actually profitable?
If not--or even if they are--the best way to make them profitable may not be to simply make more sales. More sales can help, but only to a point. There are other key areas of your business influencing whether or not it’s profitable.
Neglecting these areas in favor of “more sales” is exactly how your business can make millions a year yet not be profitable.
Tune into this episode as James and Dean share three of these key areas, and how to use them to easily boost your profits.
First, Reduce ExpensesHere’s a little math to show you why “making more sales” in an effort to increase profits isn’t as always as effective as it seems. Let’s say you sell an item that grosses $100 per sale, but only $25 of that is profit because the rest goes to expenses and overhead. By selling two of that item instead of one, yes, your gross sales are up to $200 and profit is $50, but the percentage of profit--25%--is the same. That means the economics of your business haven’t actually changed. One way to change those economics is to first reduce expenses, so that, using our previous example, each $100 sale nets $50 in profit instead of $25. With a 50% profit per sale, you’ll get a lot more traction a lot faster than if you’d only focused on “making more sales.”
How To (Potentially) Free Up Thousands A MonthPull up your bank and credit card statements and take a look at how many subscriptions and other products you’re buying or hanging onto “in case you might need them one day.” If you’re not even using them, odds are you can cut them and won’t even miss them. Even if it’s “just” $1,200 a year per subscription, those smaller expenses really add up when you’ve got a bunch of them. If you’re not using them, or can find an effective way to live without them, do it. You could potentially free up hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars a month.
Reduce The Most Expensive CostAcquiring a new customer is typically among the most expensive parts of running a business. Many businesses lose money on customer acquisition on the front-end. It’s even expected. Even so, the lower your customer acquisition cost, the more customers you can afford to bring in. The best way to lower customer acquisition costs is to test, test, and test some more. Tune in to hear examples from James and Dean on which things you should test to reduce what it costs to acquire a customer.
You’ve Got A Customer - Now What?So you’ve put in all this time and money to acquire a customer. Your customers have more problems to solve. If you aren’t solving them, they’ll find someone who will. Yet a staggering number of business owners do NOTHING once someone becomes a customer. We’ve already established that new customers are the most expensive to acquire. Instead of doing nothing, help your one-time customer become a repeat customer. Stay in touch with them, send more offers, and get a feel for what else they need help with. To do otherwise is miss out on potentially thousands upon thousands of dollars PER CUSTOMER.
The Valuable Real Estate You’re Probably Not UsingYes, consistent followup is a must. Yet no matter how skilled of an email marketer you are, there will always be a percentage of people who rarely, if ever, open your emails. But nearly 100% of people who buy your offers will see the thank you page. Use that valuable real estate to keep people engaged, promote another offer, send people to your blog, or even watch a video. Give people who buy from you a compelling reason to stick around, even if they never open another email from you.
Outline of This Episode- The difference between sales and profit [6:05]
- The simplest way ever to increase profits [11:51]
- Freeing up thousands of dollars a month [21:45]
- Reduce customer acquisition costs [25:13]
- Are you completely missing this valuable real estate? [34:45]
- Deciding where to price your product [37:03]
- After you acquire a customer, do this [40:04]
Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Connect With James and DeanJames P. Friel:
- CEO Quickstart: https://jamespfriel.com/ceo-quickstart/
- Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hustledetox/
- Facebook Group (BulletProof Business):
Visionaries: Trust Your Vision with Jaime Cross, Ep. 27
Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland
01/04/18 • 31 min
Today’s guest on Just the Tips has done something that, as far as Dean and I know, is nearly impossible: Built a thriving, rapidly expanding business while also raising four boys. Jaime Cross is the founder and CEO of Mighty in Good handcrafted bath and body collections, and her story is truly inspiring. It’s not just the fact that she’s built a successful business while balancing family life, it’s that her business has philanthropy hardwired into its model. If you’re looking for something to listen to that will get you fired up and inspired for the new year, this is the episode you were looking for.
A company built around impact, not profitJaime told us an incredible story of being home with her first chil and having a literal dream that became the blueprint for Mighty in Good. She says she can still see the dream and the blueprint to this day, and she’s never strayed from that vision. And as she tells us, she believes that if you run a profitable company, it’s your duty to give back, so Mighty in Good has partnered with organizations to help fund work to stop human trafficking, and donated products to chemotherapy patients to help them feel better. And the company makes organic sex oil. So really, all the bases are covered here.
How Jaime slew GoliathJaime says that her vision for her company has allowed her to compete directly with the big players in the skincare industry, by focusing on their values and what makes their products so different and so important to people. And that has made Mighty in Good the fastest growing organic skincare company in the world right now. She allowed us to share what their monthly revenue is, and I’m not going to put it in here, you’ll have to listen. And you’ll want to hear Dean’s mind being blown live on air, as well.
Better the pain of discipline than the pain of regretJaime talks about how entrepreneurs need to have the proper mindset for growth, and for overcoming obstacles, in order to achieve their dreams. She told us about a quote she has “inscribed anywhere I can have something inscribed” that reads “Better the pain of discipline than the pain of regret.” And as she says, that mindset encompasses a number of different viewpoints, including forcing yourself to do difficult things, but also surrounding yourself with people whose skills complement yours. It’s a really insightful and inspiring conversation that’s perfect for anyone at any stage of the entrepreneur growth chart.
Own your audienceJaime is so forward-thinking in terms of where her industry is going and where her business within the industry is going. She read the tea leaves about wholesaling and selling through retail, and turned instead to e-commerce and click funnels where her company can interact directly with its audience, and she’s never looked back. This is truly an episode that will get you motivated, and get you thinking about your own path. If you listen to one episode of a podcast in 2018, make it this one.
Outline of This Episode- [2:55] How Jaime built a company while raising four kids
- [7:27] How MiG took on the big competition
- [10:02] What changed everything for her business
- [15:15] The spiritual side of money
- [17:52] Jaime’s formula for a successful business
- [23:03] How to own your audience
Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Connect With James and DeanJames P. Friel:
- AutoPilot Entrepreneur Program: www.jamespfriel.com/autopilot
- Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/autopilotentrepreneur
- Site: www.jamespfriel.com
Dean Holland:
- Blog: www.DeanHolland.com
- FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/DeanHollandHQ
- Digital Business Entrepreneurs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DigitalBusinessEntrepreneurs/
Signs You’re Ready To Scale, Ep 203
Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland
06/24/21 • 55 min
“How do I scale my business?” is a question on many entrepreneurs’ minds, but there’s a lot more to scaling your business than most entrepreneurs realize.
It’s not just about whether your business is growing and successful. It’s also about whether your business has all the pieces in place to scale without collapsing.
In this episode, James and Dean share some telltale signs your business is ready to scale. They also reveal how to avoid the many potential pitfalls of trying to scale before you’re ready, and what being “ready” to scale actually means. (It’s not what most people think.)
Outline of This Episode- 6:30 What does it actually mean to scale?
- 10:15 Growth and scaling are not the same thing
- 16:25 You’ve got a winner - what’s next?
- 21:01 Find out what breaks
- 25:02 Get your ducks in a row FIRST
- 30:55 Scaling for the first time in a new business or industry
- 33:59 The most dangerous traffic source
The word growing is often used interchangeably with scaling, but they aren’t the same thing. Growth is about getting traction in your business, creating predictable results from your sales, marketing, delivery, operations, and finances, and creating the infrastructure your business needs to be able to scale. Scaling is about adding more volume to what’s already there. Some overlap is expected, but don’t make the mistake of confusing growth with scaling.
Success doesn’t mean you’re ready to scaleAnother mistake many entrepreneurs make is thinking that because their business is successful, it’s ready to scale, but there’s a lot more to being ready to scale than being successful. Scaling even a successful business without the right infrastructure in place is like putting up the walls of a house with no foundation under them. It’s only a matter of time before everything comes crashing down. Tune into the episode to hear how to identify which areas of your business still need that infrastructure before you’re ready to scale.
Find the breaking pointsOdds are excellent that if you tried to scale right now, some parts of your business would “break” because they’re not structured in a way that supports scaling. Before you try to scale, identify the breaking points, and a way to fix them. For example, if you’re getting 100 orders a day now, and want to scale to 500 orders a day, could you keep up with inventory and delivery, or would something break? If you’re a service-based business, do you have enough support and systems in place to serve all the people who want to work with you? These are the questions that have to be addressed BEFORE you try to scale.
Beware scaling with one traffic sourceIn light of the war between Apple and Facebook over who gets access to what data, along with other changes Facebook has made, business owners who depend on Facebook ads as their only source of traffic are experiencing rising ad costs and lower profit margins. The Google “slap” from years ago also illustrates the danger of depending on one traffic source. As you look to scale your business, make sure your plan includes additional sources of traffic.
Simplicity equals scalabilityThe simpler you structure every facet of your business, the easier it will be to scale. Look for ways you can make things simpler instead of more complicated. What that looks like for your business depends entirely on what you do and where you’re at. It could be you need more software, or it could mean you need LESS software. It could mean you need another team member, or it could mean you have too many because you’ve overcomplicated the way your business is set up. Look for ways you can simplify.
Resources & People MentionedMusic for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Connect With James and DeanJames P. Friel:
- CEO Quickstart: https://jamespfriel.com/ceo-quickstart/
- Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hustledetox/
- Facebook Group (BulletProof Business): https://www.facebook.com/groups/1107362546297055/
- Site: www.jamespfriel.com
- Interested in being a guest on the show?
Dean Holland:
- Blog: www.DeanHolland.com
- FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/DeanHollandHQ
- Billion Dollar Project:
The Iceberg Effect - The Hidden Things You Need To Know About Scaling Your Business, Ep 178
Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland
12/31/20 • 55 min
“How do I get new customers??” That’s what most people new to business focus on. It’s what a lot of business training focuses on, and what a lot of established businesses show to the world.
What most people don’t tell you is that there’s a huge problem with focusing only on new customers: It’s not only expensive, it’s not sustainable. New customers are just the tip of the iceberg. Without a backend to your business, you’ll hit a wall and you won’t be able to get around it.
In this episode, James and Dean dive into what has to happen below the surface of your business in order for you to grow it. Tune in to hear exactly why focusing only on new customers is a business death sentence, and what to put in place so you aren’t dependent only on new customers for every dime you earn. This episode will be especially helpful if you’re interested in affiliate marketing, but it applies to all business models.
You Need The Whole IcebergNew customers are an important part of business; however, new customers are not enough to grow and sustain a profitable business. They can get you off the ground, but in order for you to stay off the ground AND go even higher, you need the rest of the iceberg. Tune into this episode to hear what to do once you’ve acquired a customer.
Why The Tip Of The Iceberg’s Not EnoughThe cost to acquire a customer is going up all the time. James used to pay 30 cents when someone clicked on one of his Facebook ads. Now he pays $3.50. Costs in other marketing mediums are up, too. New customers are the most expensive to acquire. They don’t know you and they don’t yet trust you. When ALL your time and money are devoted to new customers--aka the tip of the iceberg--it’s only a matter of time before you end up spinning your wheels.
The Break Even PointPeople new to business are often under the impression that if you’re not profiting from new customers, you’re failing. That’s simply not true. The tip of the iceberg--the front end of your business--is not about profit. It’s about getting customers in the door so you can offer them more solutions. If your front-end is profitable, it means you have room to scale your customer acquisition efforts.
Keep Solving ProblemsProfit happens on the backend of your business. That’s why the worst thing you can do is abandon people after they buy from you one time. You’ve spent all this time and money to acquire a customer. Instead of dropping off the face of the earth in pursuit of new customers, create and offer more solutions to your buyers.
When You Run Out Of OffersIf you reach a point where you can’t solve any more problems for your customers--or they just need help with something you don’t know how to do and don’t care to learn--consider affiliate marketing and referral partnerships. Send your customers to people and products you use and believe in. Become your customers’ trusted guide, show you care about their success by doing what it takes to help them (including sending them to other people), and still make money.
Outline of This Episode- Never focus on just the tip of the iceberg [5:45]
- Who will fold up and who will grow their business [15:05]
- Get to the break even point [21:30]
- He who can pay the most, wins [26:25]
- Money is made beneath the surface [30:05]
- Keep solving your customers’ problems [37:40]
- How to use affiliate marketing on the backend [45:03]
- The Iceberg Effect book: http://icebergeffectbook.com/
Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Connect With James and DeanJames P. Friel:
- CEO Quickstart: https://jamespfriel.com/ceo-quickstart/
- Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hustledetox/
- Facebook Group (BulletProof Business): https://www.facebook.com/groups/1107362546297055/
- Site: www.jamespfriel.com
- Interested in being a guest on the show?
Dean Holland:
- Blog: www.DeanHolland.com
- FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/DeanHollandHQ
- Billion Dollar Project: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BillionDollarProject/
JTT Facebook Page -
Finger Painting and Forensics with Molly Montgomery, Ep. 38
Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland
03/22/18 • 34 min
When you think of fun and happiness, generally the three things that come to mind are family, maybe traveling, and of course, accounting. No? Just us? Well, on today’s episode of Just the Tips, Dean and I welcome somebody who went from being an accountant to being sort of an entrepreneur whisperer, helping startup founders achieve their goals and, yes, happiness. She is the creator of Founder's Haven, which believes that “the driving force behind a startup's ability to succeed is in the founder's capacity to evolve, personally and professionally, while actively leading their company through its early stages of growth.” What that means is ensuring there is joy alongside all of the hard work. If you’ve been feeling like the grind is just the grind these days, this episode is for you.
Compassion for the fraudstersMolly told us about how she started out getting her degree in accounting, and actually took a very interesting left turn, conducting audits for casinos and other huge organizations around the world. And while she said the work was fascinating, it wasn’t really what she wanted to do. She found herself fascinated with the people behind the audits, even finding compassion for the people who were committing fraud. And as she heard more and more stories about people starting businesses, and struggling at the outset, she found that was her calling: Helping entrepreneurs. But before we got into that, and because this is Just the Tips, of course we had to hear some good casino audit stories.
Get back to the “why”After seeing so much fraud and corruption in her job as a forensic accountant, Molly decided she needed to do something that allowed her to use her empathy and compassion. As she says, often entrepreneurs lose sight of their own well being while pursuing the dream of their business. And often, when doing that, they lose sight of all of the reasons besides money that they love what they’re doing. So what Molly does is go in and reconnect business owners with the “why” of what they’re doing, set new expectations and new goals to align with why they’re doing it, and take off in a new direction. If you’ve ever felt that you’re caught up in the slog, you’re going to want to hear this week’s episode of Just the Tips.
Molly’s framework for clearing your headA lot of what Molly talks about in today’s episode of Just the Tips jibes with what Dean and I have been saying this year: It’s important to keep things focused and simple. She says she often talks with entrepreneurs who are scattered, losing their way, and one of the first things she suggests is: Turn off social media, turn off your phone, and just grab a pen and a piece of paper and write down everything going on in your head. Basically, do a brain dump of everything you’ve been thinking about or worrying about in your life and in your business. Do some meditation, and then identify what it is you need to focus on.
Reset your expectationsOne of the things that Molly mentions that really resonated with me and that I think will hit home for a lot of our listeners, too: If you’ve been in your business a year or two years or even longer, you’re different now. You’re a different person maybe doing the same things. You need to stop and check in every once in a while and see if what you’re doing is working, if it’s working for you, and if it’s still leading you where you want to go. Molly calls that “resetting your expectations,” because as things change, so should your expectations. Molly was a really interesting guest with a unique, warm perspective that you don’t often hear when talking business, and I think this episode of Just the Tips will really strike a chord with you.
Outline of This Episode- [2:26] Molly’s backstory
- [6:15] Casino stories
- [10:06] Hotel caper
- [14:36] How Molly helps entrepreneurs
- [19:29] Molly’s framework
- [22:58] Resetting expectations
Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Resources Mentioned Connect With James and DeanJames P. Friel:
- AutoPilot Entrepreneur Program: www.jamespfriel.com/autopilot
- Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/autopilotentrepreneur
- Site: www.jamespfriel.com
Dean Holland:
- Blog: www.DeanHolland.com
- FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/DeanHollandHQ
- Digital Business Entrep...
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FAQ
How many episodes does Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland have?
Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland currently has 205 episodes available.
What topics does Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland cover?
The podcast is about Success, Marketing, Management, Entrepreneurship, Mindset, Ecommerce, Podcasts, Entrepreneurs, Sales and Business.
What is the most popular episode on Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland?
The episode title 'Navigating E-commerce in the Beauty Space, with Robyn Holland, Ep. 114' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland?
The average episode length on Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland is 42 minutes.
How often are episodes of Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland released?
Episodes of Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland?
The first episode of Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland was released on Jul 25, 2017.
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