Develpreneur: Become a Better Developer and Entrepreneur

This episode of our Gregory Offner interview series looks at root goal analysis. He shares his story and how it can be used to create a pattern interrupt that helps others. We can all find ourselves in a rut and with an improper focus. The discussion here goes into how we should review our goals and set them to truly achieve our wants and desires. Root Goal Analysis - A Proper Focus Life is full of distractions. That includes things that can make us think we are progressing towards our objectives but are leading us away. For example, a job that supports a hobby instead of turning that hobby into our job. While there are many things we have to do, there are also those we think we must do. The core of root goal analysis is a proper focus on what we need to do to progress towards our goals. Thus, we craft a direct route to our objectives instead of taking several detours along the way. A Little Background Doctors handed Gregory two options: lose the ability to speak forever, or undergo a vocal surgery that would require a complicated and lengthy recovery. But Gregory soon learned that this first procedure was only the beginning. Five years and 15 surgeries later, Gregory transformed both his voice and his life. Today, as an award-winning keynote performer, Gregory helps organizations and the people within them elevate the experience of work, and use piano bar secrets to inspire their people, amplify teamwork & collaboration, and build organizations full of highly fulfilled, high-performing people. He discovered his perspectives on navigating change, and his passion for creating experiences that 'rock' could serve, inspire, and delight audiences around the world. The use of music in his programs (as a metaphor for engagement and resilience) connects with audiences in a deep and unforgettable performance. Thus, leaving them refreshed and equipped with skills to reframe obstacles as opportunities. His programs have broad appeal. Therefore, they can be customized to suit events with a diverse mix of roles and responsibilities in the audience. That includes audiences composed mainly of leaders. Learn More http://www.gregoryoffner.com From Greg: I'm on all the major socials, but my main jam is LinkedIn. In the real world, you can find me keynoting on stages at conferences around the world. If not, helping corporations and organizations level up their meetings, sales conferences, or board retreats. Thus, if you've got an event coming up, or know someone who plans events like these, let's connect.

This episode starts a master class in how to turn around tragedy as we talk with Greg Offner. His story is mesmerizing, and he does a pretty darn good job sharing it.  Just kidding, Greg is an incredible guest and I think you will want to buckle in as we discuss a broad range of topics. Whether you are trying to find your happiness, build and retain a team, or learn a little about approach avoidance, it is all here. Turn Around Tragedy From One Who Has Most of us understand that life has some "ah-ha" moments and even those that slap us in the face. Greg has a story that starts from one of the latter situations. He had a long and difficult journey just to be able to speak to us today. However, he found out a lot about himself during that journey and now is motivated to help everyone he meets do the same. Life is too short to be unhappy or even to simply exist. He helps us see how to kick our life up a notch by running towards what we like instead of avoiding what we dislike. A Little Background Doctors handed Gregory two options: lose the ability to speak forever, or undergo a vocal surgery that would require a complicated and lengthy recovery. But Gregory soon learned that this first procedure was only the beginning. Five years and 15 surgeries later, Gregory transformed both his voice and his life. Today, as an award-winning keynote performer, Gregory helps organizations and the people within them elevate the experience of work, and use piano bar secrets to inspire their people, amplify teamwork & collaboration, and build organizations full of highly fulfilled, high-performing people. He discovered his perspectives on navigating change, and his passion for creating experiences that 'rock' could serve, inspire, and delight audiences around the world. The use of music in his programs (as a metaphor for engagement and resilience) connects with audiences in a deep and unforgettable performance. Thus, leaving them refreshed and equipped with skills to reframe obstacles as opportunities. His programs have broad appeal. Therefore, they can be customized to suit events with a diverse mix of roles and responsibilities in the audience. That includes audiences composed mainly of leaders. Learn More http://www.gregoryoffner.com From Greg: I'm on all the major socials, but my main jam is LinkedIn. In the real world, you can find me keynoting on stages at conferences around the world. If not, helping corporations and organizations level up their meetings, sales conferences, or board retreats. Thus, if you've got an event coming up, or know someone who plans events like these, let's connect.

We wrap up our interview with Brandon Leibowitz of SEO Optimizers with insight into long tail keywords and how modern searches are made. This discussion provides some important considerations when you are thinking about search. That includes the idea that almost every search Google sees is new. The advance of voice recognition and mobile searches gives us almost infinite variations on search. What Are Long Tail Keywords? We skip over what a long tail search is and thus a definition of long tail keywords. Think of each additional word on a search a filter or qualifier. For example, a search of "cars ford sedan blue used" is far more specific than "blue cars". That is how we get into a niche. We keep adding on keywords and extend into a long tail search. The words may be limited in usefulness individually. However, they combine to provide a very specific (and useful) list of results. A Little Background SEO Optimizers is a digital marketing company that focuses on helping small and medium-sized businesses get more online traffic, which converts into clients, sales, leads, etc. Brandon started in digital marketing in 2007 after graduating with a degree in Business Marketing. In his first job, he handled the marketing aspects of an e-commerce website. The company was a national e-commerce brand that had recently built its website and was looking to bring more traffic to it. He had no idea what he was doing, and neither did they. Thus, he spent a lot of time reading books and joining digital marketing forums to learn as much as possible about this new type of marketing. That led to him helping them with many tasks: search engine optimization, email marketing campaigns, creating an affiliate program, optimizing paid ads on Google AdWords, setting up social media profiles, and a bit of web design. You could say that he wore many hats working for this company. The Start Of SEO Optimizers In 2008, he realized that most businesses would need a website to stay competitive in the future. Having a website is only one piece of the puzzle. Ultimately, they need someone to help market their website to bring in traffic that will, in turn, convert to clients. That led him to stick with digital marketing and start his own company, SEO Optimizers. A friend built him a website in exchange for doing SEO for his insurance website. That work ranked him above government websites for all his major keywords. He has always worked full-time at ad agencies, helping clients with search engine optimization. He worked on freelance clients from SEO Optimizers at night after work. Recently, he was able to quit his daytime job to pursue the company full-time. See more of Brandon at: https://www.youtube.com/c/BrandonLeibowitz/videos He is offering listeners a special gift. Claim Your SEO Gift From Brandon Leibowitz & the SEO Optimizers Team. Special Early Access to their SEO Masterclass. Learn How They Use Search Engine Optimization To Increase Sales & Leads. https://seooptimizers.com/gift

Part two of our interview with Brandon Leibowitz of SEO Optimizers progresses into placement and backlinks. We look at how sites get ranked for search results and the general rules for SEO. This episode is one of those where it is good to take notes. Likewise, it can be very motivating to go back and address your approach to keywords, backlinks, and search in general. The Value of Backlinks Google has a complex approach to search, but in some ways, it is still simple. Their goal is to give the customer what they want. Thus, they look at a search and then where other sites point to a page as results for that search. A backlink is, generally speaking, a reference. We all know that the more positive references one has, the better. That is how one becomes an authority in the real world or the world of Internet searches. A Little Background SEO Optimizers is a digital marketing company that focuses on helping small and medium-sized businesses get more online traffic, which converts into clients, sales, leads, etc. Brandon started in digital marketing in 2007 after graduating with a degree in Business Marketing. In his first job, he handled the marketing aspects of an e-commerce website. The company was a national e-commerce brand that had recently built its website and was looking to bring more traffic to it. He had no idea what he was doing, and neither did they. Thus, he spent a lot of time reading books and joining digital marketing forums to learn as much as possible about this new type of marketing. That led to him helping them with many tasks: search engine optimization, email marketing campaigns, creating an affiliate program, optimizing paid ads on Google AdWords, setting up social media profiles, and a bit of web design. You could say that he wore many hats working for this company. The Start Of SEO Optimizers In 2008, he realized that most businesses would need a website to stay competitive in the future. Having a website is only one piece of the puzzle. Ultimately, they need someone to help market their website to bring in traffic that will, in turn, convert to clients. That led him to stick with digital marketing and start his own company, SEO Optimizers. A friend built him a website in exchange for doing SEO for his insurance website. That work ranked him above government websites for all his major keywords. He has always worked full-time at ad agencies, helping clients with search engine optimization. He worked on freelance clients from SEO Optimizers at night after work. Recently, he was able to quit his daytime job to pursue the company full-time. See more of Brandon at: https://www.youtube.com/c/BrandonLeibowitz/videos He is offering listeners a special gift. Claim Your SEO Gift From Brandon Leibowitz & the SEO Optimizers Team. Special Early Access to their SEO Masterclass. Learn How They Use Search Engine Optimization To Increase Sales & Leads. https://seooptimizers.com/gift

We move on in our Interviews 2.0 season to an interview with Brandon Leibowitz of SEO Optimizers. The name gives away his specialty, so it is sort of a spoiler alert. However, we have a great conversation about how to approach SEO, and I think you will have a notepad full of tips when we finish. An Introduction and Then We Get To Work In this episode, we start at the beginning. We get an introduction to Brandon and how he came to found the company. However, the conversation is not just light and fluffy. We start right into the meat of our discussion on SEO and what it can mean for you and your organization. This topic is one that is often misunderstood and Brandon lays out the details in a way that is easy to understand. A Little Background SEO Optimizers is a digital marketing company that focuses on helping small and medium-sized businesses get more online traffic, which in turn converts into clients, sales, leads, etc. Brandon got his start in digital marketing in 2007 after graduating from college with a degree in Business Marketing. In his first job, he handled the marketing aspects of an e-commerce website. The company was a national e-commerce brand that had recently built their website and was looking to bring more traffic to it. He had no idea what he was doing and neither did they. Thus, he spent a lot of time reading books and joining digital marketing forums to learn as much as possible about this new type of marketing. That lead to him helping them with many tasks: search engine optimization, email marketing campaigns, creating an affiliate program, optimizing paid ads on Google AdWords, setting up social media profiles, and a bit of web design. You could say that he wore a lot of hats working for this company. The Start Of SEO Optimizers In 2008, he realized that most businesses would need a website to stay competitive in the future. Having a website is only one piece of the puzzle. Ultimately, they need someone to help market their website to bring in traffic that will, in turn, convert to clients. That led to the decision to stick with digital marketing and start his own company, SEO Optimizers. A friend of built him a website in exchange for doing SEO for his insurance website. That work got him ranked above government websites for all of his major keywords. He have always worked full time at ad agencies helping their clients with search engine optimization. At night after work, he would work on freelance clients from SEO Optimizers. Recently, he was able to quit his daytime job to pursue the company full time. See more of Brandon at: https://www.youtube.com/c/BrandonLeibowitz/videos He is offering listeners a special gift. Claim Your SEO Gift From Brandon Leibowitz & the SEO Optimizers Team. Special Early Access to their SEO Masterclass. Learn How They Use Search Engine Optimization To Increase Sales & Leads. https://seooptimizers.com/gift

We wrap up our interview with Irina Poddubnaia with a focus on finding the right product fit. That goes for your customers and your own needs. There are many options available, and it is valuable for us to be able to navigate the field to find the best fit. Irina starts with a discussion about her customers and then deftly shifts into providing insight into how she has selected her solutions in a bootstrap/low-budget environment. Ways To Assess Product Fit We once again return to core questions as part of our process. The "why" and "what" of our problem are both critical in finding the best product fit. Some options will provide too few features, and some that will be overwhelming for our needs. That leaves us to search for the "just right" option for either our needs or for us to build for our customers. This process requires research and time spent assessing what is real and what is simply marketing. So Many Niches There are numerous problems any business has to solve. Some are prevalent, and some are specific to an industry or specific company. However, there are almost always options available to assist with these challenges. It is worth your time researching and then doing the due diligence to find the best fit for today. Then, review the market periodically, and you might find a better fit or price. A Little Background Irina is a SAAS founder and a business consultant specializing in Operations and Processes Optimization. Irina has over eight years of experience in eCommerce with its different challenges and obstacles. These span from running a fulfillment center in China, where she was living for over two years, to launching her own SAAS "TrackMage." TrackMage allows eCommerce stores 5-10% extra sales by simplifying the customer experience. Likewise, it will enable them to track their products on the platform and do the upsell, then automatic follow-ups for reviews. Free ebook: https://trackmage.com/flywheel-extra-sales/ Irina's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/irina-poddubnaia TrackMage Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/34952655/ Track Mage Site: https://trackmage.com/ Bonus Links Mentioned: https://mattermost.com https://matomo.org https://posthog.com The E-Book Free ebook "How To Make 5-10% Extra Sales On Autopilot Without Increasing Your Ad Spend Or Hiring More Staff." Here is the brutal truth about eCommerce: Most eCommerce sellers focus on getting traffic to their stores. Paid ads, affiliate promotions, events, direct outreach, SEO, etc. The thinking goes like this: traffic -> paying customers and more traffic -> more paying customers. So, all this becomes a race to get as much targeted traffic as possible. While doing that, they forget about existing customers. Do you know that it costs you five times more to acquire a new customer than it takes to keep an existing one? The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while the chance of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%. In this guide, she explains how you can drive back traffic to your store after purchase and make 5-10% extra sales by upselling your existing customers. All this while they are waiting for their orders. This technique doesn't require coding and is easy to apply.

Part three of our interview with Irina Poddubnaia focuses on building her team. She had plenty of experience but still had things to learn. The good news is that she had people she had worked with in the past that helped her over the hump of finding resources. She loves her team and provides a great episode of singing their praises. Look To Experience For Building A Team We all have mixed experiences with each team we work on. At least, I hope we do. That equates to some good people and some that are not so good that we get to know. We can reach out to them later when we keep track of those people we find to be highly competent or geniuses. Thus, building out and maintaining our network can lead to success in the future. The people that are not good co-workers can. of course, be quickly forgotten. Next Steps For Your Product Start with figuring out which people you know can fit your needs. Then, reach out and see if you can find ways to get them to help you either part-time or full-time. A side hustle can be a perfect approach to "stealing" just a few hours a week from these experts you have met in the past. A Little Background Irina is a SAAS founder and a business consultant specializing in Operations and Processes Optimization. Irina has over eight years of experience in eCommerce with its different challenges and obstacles. These span from running a fulfillment center in China, where she was living for over two years, to launching her own SAAS "TrackMage." TrackMage allows eCommerce stores 5-10% extra sales by simplifying the customer experience. Likewise, it will enable them to track their products on the platform and do the upsell, then automatic follow-ups for reviews. Free ebook: https://trackmage.com/flywheel-extra-sales/ Irina's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/irina-poddubnaia TrackMage Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/34952655/ Track Mage Site: https://trackmage.com/ The E-Book Free ebook "How To Make 5-10% Extra Sales On Autopilot Without Increasing Your Ad Spend Or Hiring More Staff." Here is the brutal truth about eCommerce: Most eCommerce sellers focus on getting traffic to their stores. Paid ads, affiliate promotions, events, direct outreach, SEO, etc. The thinking goes like this: traffic -> paying customers and more traffic -> more paying customers. So, all this becomes a race to get as much targeted traffic as possible. While doing that, they forget about existing customers. Do you know that it costs you five times more to acquire a new customer than it takes to keep an existing one? The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while the chance of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%. In this guide, she explains how you can drive back traffic to your store after purchase and make 5-10% extra sales by upselling your existing customers. All this while they are waiting for their orders. This technique doesn't require coding and is easy to apply.

We continue our interview with Irina Poddubnaia of TrackMage to discuss the benefits of SAAS solutions, why they chose them, and how to distinguish your solution from the pack. This delves into many practical challenges for building traditional software. Then, we switch gears to focus on how a similar solution can differ in critical areas. Delivery Over Packaging The bottom line of benefits of SAAS solutions is that you can focus on delivering features over platform configuration headaches. Rather than spend time tightly integrating into an OS or device, a SAAS approach tackles that once, and then developers can move forward, adding features and resolving bugs. Yes, there are some admirable aspects of an installed application, but how often would you rather have features than that level of accessibility? Different Goals There are many ways to deliver software in the modern world. These range from plugins, to applets, to installed applications, SAAS, and more. These products may also be focused and simple to create or full-featured and highly complex. The challenge with selling your product comes down to highlighting where it fits in the mix. Customers are not always clear on how the options compare. While this is one of the benefits of SAAS products, i.e., you can quickly add those quick-to-build features and make them available. It also can be confusing. Customers may see a simple plugin providing one or two features you offer and try to equate the products. It is up to you to craft the story for your product and why the other options fall short. A Little Background Irina is a SAAS founder and a business consultant specializing in Operations and Processes Optimization. Irina has over eight years of experience in eCommerce with its different challenges and obstacles. These span from running a fulfillment center in China, where she was living for over two years, to launching her own SAAS "TrackMage." TrackMage allows eCommerce stores 5-10% extra sales by simplifying the customer experience. Likewise, it will enable them to track their products on the platform and do the upsell, then automatic follow-ups for reviews. Free ebook: https://trackmage.com/flywheel-extra-sales/ Irina's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/irina-poddubnaia TrackMage Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/34952655/ Track Mage Site: https://trackmage.com/ The E-Book Free ebook "How To Make 5-10% Extra Sales On Autopilot Without Increasing Your Ad Spend Or Hiring More Staff." Here is the brutal truth about eCommerce: Most eCommerce sellers focus on getting traffic to their stores. Paid ads, affiliate promotions, events, direct outreach, SEO, etc. The thinking goes like this: traffic -> paying customers and more traffic -> more paying customers. So, all this becomes a race to get as much targeted traffic as possible. While doing that, they forget about existing customers. Do you know that it costs you five times more to acquire a new customer than it takes to keep an existing one? The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while the chance of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%In this guide, she explains how you can drive back traffic to your store after purchase and make 5-10% extra sales by upselling your existing customers. All this while they are waiting for their orders. This technique doesn't require coding and is easy to apply.

The new season kicks off with an interview with Irina Poddubnaia of TrackMage. This season will once again explore how others have found success and the lessons learned along the way. The topics for this interview include SAAS benefits, building your team, and providing the best experience for your customers. Track Mage Site: https://trackmage.com/ Scratch Your Itch Irina spent her early professional years as a project manager and learning how to build software. She spun these experiences into a plan for solving some of the common problems she saw customers struggle with. Thus, TrackMage was born. It is a story of a side hustle and bootstrap approach that grew into a solid solution and full-time focus. Integrations and Challenges No success story is without challenges, obstacles, and strong decisions. The TrackMage story is no different. This is an industry with many competitors and companies to partner with. However, this is an example of selecting a focus and sticking with it. While the solution may seem like a niche approach, it is useful to almost every business. A Little Background Irina is a SAAS founder and a business consultant specializing in Operations and Processes Optimization. Irina has over eight years of experience in eCommerce with its different challenges and obstacles.  These span from running a fulfillment center in China, where she was living for over two years, to launching her own SAAS "TrackMage." TrackMage allows eCommerce stores 5-10% extra sales by simplifying the customer experience. Likewise, it allows them to track their products on the platform and do the upsell, then automatic follow-ups for reviews. Free ebook: https://trackmage.com/flywheel-extra-sales/ Irina's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/irina-poddubnaia TrackMage Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/34952655/ The E-Book Free ebook "How To Make 5-10% Extra Sales On Autopilot Without Increasing Your Ad Spend Or Hiring More Staff." Here is the brutal truth about eCommerce: Most eCommerce sellers just focus on getting traffic to their stores. Paid ads, affiliate promotions, events, direct outreach, SEO, etc. The thinking goes like this: traffic -> paying customers and more traffic -> more paying customers. So, all this becomes a race to get as much targeted traffic as possible. While doing that, they forget about existing customers. Do you know that it costs you five times more to acquire a new customer than it takes to keep an existing one? The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while the probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%In this guide, she explains how you can drive back traffic to your store after purchase and make 5-10% extra sales by upselling your existing customers.  All this while they are waiting for their orders. This technique doesn't require coding and is easy to apply.

There is an amusing irony to the idea that more mistakes can lead to a better life.  While the trip can be a challenge, the end is enjoyable.  We see this in many "overnight success" stories if we fail to look at the journey.  It is not the same as the end justifying the means.  However, learning from mistakes is a way to make the most of the price paid for them.  We cannot roll back time, but we can avoid repeating it. Better Developer And Better Life The stories shared in this season did not all focus on becoming a better developer.  Nevertheless, they point to a better life, which leads to that more specific goal.  We are not able to be our best in one area if we are not also examining all areas of our life.  It is like a race car with a top-notch engine but shoddy tires.  We are the combination of all of our attributes. The Lesson Learned Life is treacherous, and no one gets out alive.  However, we can spend time learning from our mistakes (and those of others) to make it more fun over time.  We can even see mild to wild success from those early errors.  Maybe the secret to a happy life is eliminating enough bad choices that only the best options are left. If you like this season, you will probably like Scott Adams' book, "How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life."