Small Business Show

As Small Business owners, we have a duty to uphold. That duty, to our employees, partners, suppliers and service providers is to communicate in a timely manner and pay our bills on time, among other things. What happens when we fail at this? Well, that depends on how you handle the situation. Join Dave and Shannon on episode 97 of the Small Business Show to discuss a real world example of how NOT to handle things when they go wrong. We also discuss the impact of employees, suppliers and customers having their own audiences to share their experiences with – are you OK with word getting out about how you treat your employees? We hope you are, because that is just a few clicks away for every Small Business. Listen in to the show and then join the conversation on the Small Business Support Group! Chapters/Timestamps: 00:00:00 Small Business Show #97 December 14th, 2016 00:02:44 What happens when the boss goes sideways? 00:08:18 Communication and Transparency is key 00:11:52 What to do when you can’t pay

Think you can do it better? The jobs at your company, that is. Do you remember when you did every job at your business? If it’s been awhile since that time, join us today on the Small Business Show as we discuss how this “job swap” can energize you, allow you to reconnect with employees and provide some valuable insight into what’s really happening behind the scenes each day. On Episode 96 of the Small Business Show, Dave and Shannon discuss how they have both benefitted over the years when they had to jump in to do an employees job. Wether it’s due to a vacation or unexpected vacancy, getting your hands dirty by working in the warehouse, or making sales calls again can be a very positive thing. We also touch on using humor in the workplace, realizing we need to do an entire show on that topic! Finally, if you enjoy the show, please give us a quick click and a review on the iTunes store. It really helps!   Chapters & Timestamps 00:00:00 Small Business Show #96 December

Join us today on the Small Business Show to listen in on our conversation with Steve Baines, Co-Founder of Forcivity, a software development firm focused on simplifying how you access your data in cloud based applications like SalesForce. Steve’s years of experience working with data as both a consultant and previous business owner led him to launch Forcivity with a group of like minded folks that have a mission to free your data from apps and present it to you in a much more useable format. Steve shares his experience moving from consultant to business owner and how becoming your own customer can lead to a new business venture. We also spend time discussing motivating yourself to power through tough times, how to pick a (good) partner, how to pick the right employees and one of our favorite topics: creating your own reality to nudge you along towards success. Listen in and learn about Steve’s journey and more on episode 95 of the Small Business Show! Questions, comments or need help? Visit the Sm

One of the most trusted people in your life can be a huge help with your Small Business success – your spouse! But, there’s some important details to work out to insure success when working together. In this episode of the Small Business Show, Dave and Shannon share their experiences working with their spouses and their tips for maximizing the benefits while minimizing potential problems that may come up. A critical first step: manage expecations, roles and clearly lay out who will be responsible for which tasks in your business. We also discuss deciding who’s the “boss”, how to promote good communication, using humor to remove tension and keeping the right perspective during the workday. Join us today and them share your story at the Small Business Support Group on Facebook! Chapters/Timestamps: 00:00:00 Small Business Show #94 November 23rd, 2016 00:01:30 Working with your spouse! 00:02:11 Hiring your spouse 00:04:23 Firing your spouse! 00:05:22 Managing expectations – ro

Has your Small Business lost it’s edge? Has your past success enabled people to slow down the pace of work? How do you beat back complacency and invigorate your team to take on new challenges and grow your Small Business? Maybe hiring a consultant will do the trick – someone to evaluate your team from the outside and offer an unbiased opinion and tips to shake things up. Should you encourage your employees to go out and “side-hustle” to make some extra cash and learn a new skill? We like this idea, but you need to be aware of the pros and cons of promoting outside work in your Small Business. Listen in to episode 93 of the Small Business Show as Dave and Shannon discuss these topics and more! Chapters/Timestamps: 00:00:00 Small Business Show #93 November 16th, 2016 00:00:51 Living by your favorite catch-phrases 00:03:10 Never stop stopping…and thinking about your business. 00:03:41 Identifying that your personality is not right for every role in your company 00:05:00 Keeping your

Welcome to episode 92 of the Small Business Show! On today’s show, we spend some time getting updated on Shannon’s social media business experiment that he started back in June. The goal was to start a new business solely using social media and selling apps on an iPhone. No computer and no website. So, how’s it going? Listen in for more detail, but a quick snapshot looks like this: 28,0000+ followers gained since starting mid-June Selling 3-10 designer handbags (the product chosen to experiment with) per day Net is currently $150-500 per day with about 60-90 minutes of time spent each day on the business Significant profit margin increase with new, “upstream” supplier relationships At the point where the business is becoming scalable We also discuss the current “political theatre” as it relates to Small Business, developing an org chart even if your name fills every role and managing supplier relationships. Join us today for these topics and a few more as we work to

How do you find topics for your Small Business blog and social media posts? Would you like to be able to tie in your content with what people are already searching for online? Sounds pretty cool, but maybe expensive? Yes, and no. It is cool and it’s free! Dave and Shannon get the Small Business Show started today with a discussion about Google Trends and how using timely search data can not only help you come up with ideas for your content strategy, but also make those posts more successful by including content that your potential customers are already searching for. This is powerful stuff, people! The Google Trends topic first came up in our Small Business Support Group on Facebook, so be sure to join the group to share in the discussion. We then jump into a chat about how to make it easier to just Get Things Done. An article in Bottom Line Personal has some great tips that Dave and Shannon analyze and discuss – agreeing with some, completely disagreeing with others and in typical fashion, adding

You’ve heard us talk about the flexibility vs. freedom of being a Small Business owner many times on the Small Business Show. But what if you actually did have the freedom? Freedom as in “I just sold my business, and now what?” kind of freedom? Our guest last week, Harald Sinow talked about taking a year off (that’s t-w-e-l-v-e full months, folks) to reconnect with his family and take them on an unscripted tour of Europe. Dave and Shannon take that concept and run with it on this episode of the Small Business Show – talking about prioritizing family, decompressing from work stress and working hard to hang onto the things you love. The guys then jump into a discussion about minimizing your weaknesses by hiring someone to manage YOU and the importance of keeping a positive attitude during the normal ups-and-downs of owning a Small Business. Shannon coins a new term as a “Small Business Vampire” due to the fact that starting and running companies provides him with so muc

How easy was it for you to make the transition from doing the day-to-day work in your Small Business to teaching others to do it so you could focus on the business? Harald Sinow, co-founder of MacStation in Vancouver, realized that he needed to change his focus from being the best worker to being the best teacher if he wanted to grow his business. Join us today on the Small Business Show to learn how Harald focused on this transition as well as cash flow and hiring to insure his business would succeed. We also discuss creating a “family” from your customers as well as your employees and how to “fire yourself” as quick as you can so your best people can do their best work. We wrap up the show with a discussion of what happened after Harald sold his company, the impact of taking a year off to tour Europe to reconnect with his family and helping to launch young Small Business owners (Harald’s kids!). This was an especially useful show, folks. If you are interested in creating, or co

Are you involved in every decision that your employees make? Would you like to grow your business, decrease headaches and free up some much needed time? We thought so. Today on the Small Business Show, Dave and Shannon discuss how “not to be in charge” all the time and empowering your employees to make the right decisions. Dave shares some stories about being so concerned about communicating with customers that he would write the email responses and give them to his employees to send out. Dave now says: don’t do this! Shannon brings up the concept of repetitive email templates to handle similar issues that come up over and over with your customer service department as well as using a communication management service like HelpScout to insure everyone is on the same page when it comes to communicating with your customers. We then jump into a discussion of “magic phrases” that build trust with your customers and help convince them that you are on their side and we wrap up the show w

On this episode of the Small Business Show, Dave and Shannon talk about the development of the Small Business Facebook Group, what went wrong at the beginning and what is going right with the Group after making some (much needed!) changes. We discuss how Small Business owners are using the new group to get critical feedback on their websites and apps, how a political discussion really can be productive while taking into account different viewpoints and much more. You’ll want to be sure to join the new Small Business Group to get in on the discussion! Dave then shares 5 traits that Apple CEO Tim Cook looks for when hiring employees and Shannon questions the viability of using those tips with every employee type. Read the article, then share your thoughts! We wrap up the show with a quick discussion about the new Facebook Marketplace that is being re-launched this week. Are Craigslist and eBay worried? Will you use the FB Marketplace for your business? We will continue to discuss this new selling venue as

As we all enjoy the Political Theatre that is our current Presidential Election, Dave and Shannon decide to focus this week’s topic on Politics and how it can (and will) impact your Small Business. Join us as we discuss Dave’s “crazy theory of politics”, looking at the “why” instead of just the “who” when hearing a political message and how to deal with National vs. State and Local politics that might be messing with your Small Business. Of course,  no Small Business political discussing would be complete without touching on new laws about Exempt and Hourly employees and the minimum wage requirements for both. Finally, we chat about the concept of it being better to “Ask forgiveness instead of permission” and how it is NOT a good idea when it comes to dealing with local, state or federal laws. Join us today on the Small Business Show for these topics and more! If you enjoy the show, click over to give us a quick review on iTunes. We appreciate it! Ch

  As Small Business owners, when posting to public social media, what are some things you should look out for? What comments could come back (maybe years later) to cause you headaches, legal problems and money? Dave and Shannon discuss some examples of what NOT to post on social media and that leads into a discussion about Mistakes as Opportunities. When a supplier makes a mistake, Shannon explains, there’s an opportunity to leverage that mistake into a closer relationship (if you want one), a better price and more opportunity for future business. When you are the customer, there are several ways to make the most of a mistake with your supplier or service provider. On the flip side, when you or your business make a mistake with a customer, you have a huge opportunity to earn their trust by making things right. Customers that experience just how good you or your employees are at fixing mistakes and solving problems typically become very loyal and very happy to spread the word about just how good you

Welcome to episode 84 of the Small Business Show! Join us this week as we spend some time following up with our recent interview with Small Business owner, NYTimes.com blogger and author, Paul Downs. Dave and Shannon then jump into a discussion about being “patently unemployable” and how identifying yourself as such can give a boost to the successful launch of your Small Business. Other topics covered on the show today include the tremendous benefit of creating a safe environment for your employees to take risks and experiment. Listen in and then jump over to iTunes to review the Small Business Show! We appreciate your support, the reviews really help!   00:00:00 Small Business Show #84 September 14th, 2016 00:03:14 Paul Downs Recap 00:08:03 Patently unemployable people can be helpful 00:10:08 Creating a safe environment for your employees 00:16:07 “All I had to do was write the book” 00:17:33 Don’t be so suspect about good people with opportunities The post Boss Life Author Follo

How prepared are you for the challenges of running your small business? What energizes you to make it through tough times and just how transparent are you (and should you be) to your employees and everyone else that you discuss your business with?  If you felt like your business was about to shut down, could you imagine reaching out to the New York Times with an offer to share the experience with thousands of people? Paul Downs thought it would make for a good story and he wrote for the NYTimes.com for 4-years before writing a “year in the life of my business” book: Boss Life. You’ve never read a business book like Boss Life. The book quickly joined our list of “must reads” for all current and potential business owners. The work is the most honest and transparent business book that we have ever read and we encourage all of you to read it. Today, Paul Downs joins Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean on the Small Business Show where they dig a bit deeper into Paul’s story, into Bos

As Small Business owners, we’re always hustling and sleep can often be a casualty of the “up late, up early” workflow. What do you do when your brain just won’t shut down long enough to get some much needed sleep? Listener Elias asks Dave and Shannon for advice about disconnecting enough to fall asleep. Their suggestion might surprise you! You’re an expert in some things and probably need help in other areas. We spend some time discussing why you should create an Expertise List to identify what you do really well and what areas you need to find some tools or people to prop you up a bit. Similar to our Success List exercise, the simple act of writing down what you are good at can help you tremendously to identify areas to get help with. What areas of your business are changing? Yes, we know, all of them. But, if you had to pick revenue streams that you think will be decreasing in the next 12-24 months, could you? And once you identify those revenue streams that are drying up, what

How to you stay healthy and keep your energy level up while you are hustling to make your Small Business a success? Join Dave and Shannon for episode 81 of the Small Business Show to hear about how these two have managed while starting and growing multiple small businesses. Before we jump into health and energy, we start the show with a quick discussion of encryption and why it’s so important for your Small Business website. Dave discusses a new free option, Let’s Encrypt, that allows you to setup free security certificates for your website. After the exciting topic of encryption (Dave the nerd loves talking tech!), we jump right into bed. To discuss sleep, of course, and why it’s important to set a sleep schedule based on your energy levels, rather than traditional hours – if you have the flexibility to do so. Food then takes center stage as the benefits of grazing vs. big meals is discussed, followed by another favorite: Caffeine! Red Bull or Coffee? You make the call! We then jump i

Join us today for episode 80 of the Small Business Show where we spend some time discussing our recent interview with Greg Mercer of JungleScout! Dave and Shannon both agree that Greg is a “career escape artist” and has created a unique business to take advantage of missing data and support in the Amazon FBA marketplace. We also talk about the difference between failing often as a Small Business Owner (which we encourage) vs. being flakey (which we don’t). One way to insure your failures are learning lessons that help you to success is to hold yourself accountable, more accountable than anyone else will. Our Success List idea comes up again during the show and we encourage every Small Business owner to start building their list to refer back to when you need to pull yourself up, to recognize that you are making strides and moving in the right direction. Since it’s a mix of topics today, we also get an update on Shannon’s “Can I create a social media business that runs solel

Today on the Small Business show we are joined by Greg Mercer of JungleScout! Greg shares his story of “escaping employment” to become a small business owner, first by selling wholesale products on Amazon, then developing private labeled goods to distinguish his company with quality products and customer service. Along the way, Greg realized that he could really use some software that would help him figure out what products to sell on Amazon by tracking demand, sell-through and other data. Since no such software existed, Greg decided to create it and JungleScout was born! The company now provides a number of different analytic tools for Amazon sellers along with other products like ReviewKick, Splitly and Fetcher. Listen in and we guarantee you’ll learn as much as Dave and Shannon did during their chat with Greg! The post Escaping Employment – Small Business Interview with Greg Mercer of JungleScout appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

Join us for this week’s edition of the Small Business Show! Dave and Shannon spend some time going over their interview with Tim Cote of Commonwealth Foreign Exchange from the last episode and then quickly jump into some of their core beliefs about how to succeed with your Small Business: Convince yourself (lie if you have to!) that you are a rock star, that every small success you have will build a foundation for larger successes down the road Make your own movie: So what if reality tells you otherwise!? You’re in charge of how your life goes, keep a smile on your face, tell yourself all the great stuff your learning, (even if you are failing a lot) and keep moving forward. Keep your Success List up to date: Be sure to recognize those small successes you have every-single-day Like Scott Adams, we’re bigger fans of Systems than Goals Listen in and then let us know what you think! What works for you to keep you headed in the right direction with your Small Business? Stop by our new Facebook S