My guest on this episode is Sam Shepler. Sam is the founder of Testimonial Hero, a company he bootstrapped that helps companies create more effective video customer testimonials. Sam and I spend much of the episode talking about how to create great testimonials for your company and what the driving reasons are for using video over text or other mediums.
In addition to being focused on a really interesting part of a sales process, Testimonial Hero itself is an interesting case study at what a bootstrap services company grows into overtime.
Over the course of the episode, we talk about hiring a great team, using software and technology in your business to automate processes, and we spend some time near the end discussing time management and productivity. Enjoy.
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Links:
Sam on Twitter
Testimonial Hero
Gumroad
Andrew Wilkinson: Lazy Leadership
Topics:
(3:31) - How do you think about investing yourself and your professional development?
(6:45) - What are some of the biggest changes you’ve made in your routine as you’ve grown in your career?
(8:05) - What are some learnings you’ve had from working with coaches?
(10:02) - How did you build Testimonial Hero? What were the early days like?
(12:12) - What research have you found in the comparison of effectiveness between pull quotes and video reviews?
(14:15) - What kinds of companies are best suited for video testimonials?
(17:16) - If a company doesn’t have a content strategy or video testimonials, which should they pursue first?
(18:16) - Were video testimonials always the main product at Testimonial Hero?
(19:11) - What’s been your journey as a founder?
(21:01) - Was there a tipping point that launched your growth?
(22:15) - What did your day as a CEO look like in year 1 vs. now?
(24:40) - Was there a moment where you realized you needed to bring on a General Manager?
(25:50) - Tracking a CEO’s time
(27:53) - What college course would you teach if it could be on anything?
(28:35) - What strongly held belief have you changed your mind on?
(29:24) - What’s the best business you’ve ever seen?
(30:53) - Are there parts of Gumroad you’ve tried to emulate?
