Small Business Show

How many business ideas have come from a group of people sitting around over a few beers? Must be thousands, maybe millions, right? But when you look beyond the idea stage and see how many of those folks actually executed on one of those ideas, the numbers drop exponentially. This week on the Small Business Show, we get to spend time with one of those guys that has executed and built a wildly successful business. Listen in and learn how Tim Cote took Commonwealth Foreign Exchange from an idea over a few beers to a powerhouse in the currency exchange and payment processing industry. Tim shares some great stories about hustling to pay the bills when Commonwealth was young to hiring their first employee that is still with them today. We had a great time talking to Tim, learning about Commonwealth and sharing stories about moving from idea to execution. Join us and let us know what you think! Send a text or leave a voicemail at 401-472-4249. The post Small Business Show Interview: Tim Cote from Commonwealth Forei

Welcome to episode 76 of the Small Business Show! This week, Dave is back from Europe and shares some time saving strategies that are good for travel as well as in your daily business. We then get an update from Shannon about his social media business experiment (spoiler alert: it’s working!) and we spend a few minutes sharing Scott from DC’s experience with community banks and why he feels they are a good fit for cash businesses. Want to share a story, ask a question or offer a critique? You can text or leave us a voicemail at 401-472-4249. We wrap up the show with a question from Sharon L. who wants to know how and where to source products to sell. It’s a tricky question, Sharon, but we hope we at least got you started on the right path to finding sources for a product that might work for you. Listen in for these stories and more! The post Community Banks, Social Media Small Business and Finding Suppliers – SBS 76 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

On this week’s episode of the Small Business Show, one of our hosts is starting a new business. But, there’s a twist! They have vowed to do things completely different than they have in the past by focusing solely on social media for promotion and to sell their products only using apps on their phone. Listen in and then stay tuned to find out if this experiment will be a profitable one, or just a learning experience! We also dive into a Small Business Study that surveyed thousands of Small Businesses to learn about the surprising demographics of most small business owners. Hint: it’s not what you think it is! Show links from our discussion include: Poshmark Small Business Owner Study Free worldwide Boingo Wireless for SPG Amex cardholders! eBay mobile selling app. The post Starting a new Small Business using Social Media – SBS 75 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

It’s time for a Rant! Specifically, Small Business Show co-host Shannon Jean has had it with a new bank that does a poor job of managing customer expectations. After Dave calms Shannon down, we dig deeper into ways to manage your customers expectations so you can be a hero to your clients as well as your employees. The discussion leads us into the dreaded Terms and Conditions document and how to not rely on it too much when trying to make your customers happy. We wrap up the show with a crucial question to ask your employees that can make their jobs much better. Listen in! Then, share your story by visiting our Facebook page or texting us at 401-472-4249.   The post Managing Customer Expectations for your Small Business – SBS 74 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

How often are you getting patted on the back as a Small Business owner? Not enough, we know. On episode 73 of the Small Business Show, Dave and Shannon discuss developing a “Success List” that you can refer to when things get tough (because they always do), to remind yourself of just how awesome you actually are. By measuring your success in small steps, you’ll achieve larger victories that much faster. We also spend a few minutes talking our recent Vaya Island interview from our previous show, how to stop yourself from being paralyzed by the “what-ifs” and much more! Join us and then come share your Small Business success story via email or text at 401-472-4249. The post Remind Yourself of your Successes – Small Business Show 73 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

Live Easy with John Moran of Vaya Island What’s your small business story? Do you promote your geographic location as a strength? Do you promote your authenticity? How do you find the influencers to help you grow your Instagram presence? Join us for episode 72 of the Small Business Show to find the answers to these questions and more! John Moran from Vaya Island joins us this week for the Small Business Show to discuss how he has created a successful business and a huge social media following in a very short time. John shares how he grew his “Ambassador” program to over 5000 strong by sharing product and discounts with loyal fans on Instagram where he has over 23,000 followers that love Vaya Island products and the Vaya message of leading a positive and stress free lifestyle. Vaya Island’s story is an inspiring one that all of us can learn from. Listen in and let us know your thoughts with a quick text or voicemail to 401-472-4249! The post Authenticity and Small Business Success with

What technology products and services does your Small Business need to succeed? Computers, phones, software and more – essential tools for starting and running your business.  Join Dave and Shannon on episode 71 of the Small Business Show to learn more! For the first time, both of your hosts are on the West Coast, recording the Small Business Show together! We leave Skype behind for this show and jump right into a discussion about what technology we use to run our various businesses. We start the show with a discussion about computers, then jump right into which type of phone system you’ll need, what type of credit card processing is the best choice, which software will make your life easier and much more. Products and Services mentioned on the show: Cloud based phone systems: Phone.com, RingCentral, Grasshopper Accounting Apps: FreshBooks, QuickBooks, AccountEdge Payment Processing: Paypal, Square, Stripe ShipWorks, ShipStation Customer Support: HelpScout, ZenDesk Database Awesomeness : Filemaker

This is NOT how to handle change in your Small Business! Welcome to Episode 70 of the Small Business Show! This week we do a quick follow up on Facebook advertising with comments from Dave about ads for the Gig Gab podcast and their interview with Jan Hammer. You’ll hear about some inexpensive ways to get started with Facebook ads and how to keep tweaking your ads as you start to see results. We then jump into this week’s primary topic: Change and how to make it work for you. Shannon spends some time discussing how, as an entrepreneur and business owner, you may love change, but what about the people around you? Your employees, and even your family. How does change impact them and how do you go about getting everyone onboard when you know a change needs to be made? Changing quickly can be a critical part of success for your small business. Join us this week on the Small Business Show for tips and tricks that have helped your co-hosts succeed over the last 20-years with their businesses. Mentioned

Join us this week for episode 69 of the Small Business Show! Dave and Shannon talk about Dave’s new business venture and then they jump right into part 2 of their series of tips about managing the tricky relationship that your business has with the IRS. Things like the importance of putting a human element into the relationship, getting advice BEFORE you need advice and more insight into how to turn a potential problem into just one more challenge that you will power through. If you do have the pleasure of going through an IRS audit, Shannon spends some time discussing how the IRS will also be auditing YOU in addition to your business. Every contact you have will be either a positive opportunity or a reason for the IRS to delve deeper into your business. You’ll want to be sure your lifestyle matches your tax returns. Listen in for more details. Finally, we talk about the all-important Payroll Tax and how to not go astray when managing those funds and we wrap the show up with tips on deciding if yo

This week on the Small Business Show, we start off by revisiting the concept of not setting financial goals for your business, but rather, developing systems that you can continually achieve success with and adjust for mistakes over time. Dave and Shannon have been using this concept for years, but it took Scott Adams book, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big to lay it out in detail. Scott’s book is a must read. Longtime listener Dan T. sent in a question which led us into the main topic of the show, How to interact with the IRS. Dan’s question: Hey guys – I have a question for you. I’ve started getting some letters from the IRS about my businesses tax filings from a couple of years ago. I think I know the answer to most of the questions they have, but I’m kind of freaking out that this may lead to an audit or something. I don’t have anything to hide, but having never been through this type of thing before, any tips for dealing with the IRS? Thanks so much for contacting us f

Do you compartmentalize your business? How do you keep things in perspective when solving problems? We discuss the importance of AMF (always moving forward!) when tackling problems with your small business as well as setting up triggers to help keep you accountable. We then move into a discussion of the new Federal Overtime rules that hike the hourly threshold from $23,660 to $47,476. How will this impact your managers and supervisors that are salaried? Will you adjust pay rates to cover additional overtime payments? Dave and Shannon do their best to be objective and discuss both sides of this new rule. In this episode, you can also find out how to get yourself one of the coveted Small Business Show T-shirts shown below. It’s simple, we promise! And we wrap up the show with some tips on Facebook advertising that you won’t want to miss with information about targeting your audience, getting help and finding out about local Facebook events near you. Listen in, learn and join in the discussion! We

Does everything always go right with your small business? We didn’t think so. Dave and Shannon have had a bad week and no amount of their patented optimistic self-delusion will get them through without spending some time on the Small Business Show sharing their stories and talking through ways to keep yourself and your team motivated when times are tough. Shannon talks about the risks of being overly optimistic and what to do when donuts just aren’t enough to get smiles back on your employees faces after a setback. Dave share’s a story about using the law to solve a problem when things go really bad. Speaking of the law, we discuss advice from your attorney and why you should take every step possible before you file a lawsuit that will eat up your cash, your time and your mindshare that would otherwise be focused on your small business. We’re big fans of outside advisors and this week we talk about Clarity.fm. Clarity’s service can connect you with business experts on a cost-per-

What happens to your well thought-out Small Business plans if you become incapacitated? Who steps in to handle the myriad of details that you take care of each day. Dave and Shannon have discussed the more formal ways to setup a succession plan, such as disability insurance and Key Man policies, but what about the equally important, but informal information that you may have stuck in your head? We talk about how we setup “bread crumb” trails to help whoever may have to step in to take over our role, as well as ways to share information to help during a management transition. We call this the “Hit By a Bus” plan. Shannon then opens a discussion about a new book by Scott Adams of Dilbert fame, “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big.” A favorite quote, “goals are for losers,” leads us to talk about Adams’ concept of Systems instead of Goals. You’ll hear about why we think this is right on target and you’ll find out if Dave or Shannon

Ever have a crazy idea? Of course you have. Exploring those ideas can be the thing that leads to the next business opportunity. And that next business opportunity might eventually be the thing that puts food on your table. You need to pay attention to those crazy ideas, but you also need to learn how to make sure you don’t just spend your time chasing all the ideas. Shannon and Dave have experience with both sides of this and today’s the day they talk about it. Dave even throws in a new crazy idea of his own… and who knows? Maybe it’ll be lucrative some day soon! We also spend some time talking about how to deal with naysayers, if you should be sharing all your crazy ideas or just waiting to talk about how things are going once you get them started and giving yourself permission to just mess around. You just never know where things will lead and if you don’t let yourself wander a bit, you’re bound to miss opportunities. We wrap up the show by discussing your personal brand,

Any growth for your small business is good and the faster the better, right? Bryan O’Connell, co-founder of Meras Engineering would disagree! Bryan joins us today on the Small Business Show to talk about managing growth, choosing business partners, finding an advisory group that holds you accountable and more. We also discuss the value of an MBA degree, creating a customer obsessed culture and when to make yourself slow down so you can think. Great show today with some valuable insight and advice from 12-years of building Meras into the success it is today. Join us! Mentions: Alliance of CEO’s The post Managing the Growth of your Business with Bryan O’Connell of Meras Engineering – SBS 63 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

Kelan Raph has built a career helping people get their products from point A to point B. With his current venture, Grand Canal Solutions, he and his team have developed Optimize, a service that automatically identifies enhancements and optimizations to your product shipments, warehousing and more. Kelan talks to Shannon and Dave about blending partnerships with opportunities, his marketing experiments, how best to manage interruptions and much MUCH more! Kelan is a big fan of business books, and recommended more than a few, including: Getting Things Done by David Allen (listen on Audiobook) The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker Rework The Lean Startup Join us on this episode of the Small Business Show to learn more about optimizing your business as well as your time. The post Optimizing your Small Business & Your Time: Kelan Raph of Grand Canal Solutions – SBS 62 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

Ever thought about selling your business? We thought so! Bob Grewal  of Seapoint Business Advisors sells businesses for a living, and he deals with all kinds of issues you haven’t even considered yet. Recasting financials, dealing with your employees, reducing the perception of risk and distributing revenue are all things you’ll have to deal with and Bob provides some great perspective on all of that and more! Listen today and learn how the process might work, along with some of Bob’s favorite stories of things that have happened along the way. Join us for the Small Business Show! Bob Grewal: Seapoint Business Advisors The post When and How to Sell Your Small Business – Seapoint Business Advisors – SBS 61 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

In 1995 it was predicted that the Internet would kill “the middleman.” Here we are a couple decades later and not only are middlemen still in business, they’re the norm. In fact, as Dave and Shannon discover, everyone is a middleman, even if only for themslves, and that’s OK. Add in a dash about the Gig Economy and a sideline tangent about what the world might be like without vehicle ownership and you’ve got yourself a perfectly-crafted episode of the Small Business Show! Stuff mentioned: In Defense of the Middleman Turo (formerly RelayRides) The post Small Business Middleman – thriving in the internet age? – SBS 60 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

Shannon and Dave put on their kevlar vests – and tinfoil hats – and tackle the topic of a rising minimum wage as it relates to small business. Do you hire entry level employees or summer workers? Who will benefit from this? Who will get special exemptions with the government? How will it work? These are the questions Shannon and Dave ask… and they’re brave (foolish?) enough to answer them, too. Listen to what your two favorite business geeks have to say and then send in comments of your own! Stuff mentioned: Swedish town gets an unmanned convenience store Seattle’s Minimum Wage Approaches $15 The post Would a $15 Per Hour Minimum Wage Impact Your Small Business? – SBS 59 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

Long-time technology journalist Jason Snell spent 17 years writing, editing and managing teams at Macworld magazine before leaving that behind to start his own small business publishing company, SixColors.com. Along the way, Jason also created and managed various Podcasts like The Incomparable, TV Talk Machine, and Upgrade. Jason joins Shannon and Dave to talk about the experience of moving from manager to business owner, and shares some of his favorite stories along the way. This week’s Small Business Show includes some key moments where things like authenticity, focus, enthusiasm, passion and reliability come up during the discussion.  A podcasting pro, Jason makes for an entertaining and engaging guest… download, press play, and enjoy!     The post Jason Snell from Six Colors: From Magazine Editor to Small Business Publisher– SBS 58 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.