Grow A Small Business Podcast

In this GASB Podcast episode, Troy interviews Shawn Shewchuk, President and Founder of Change Your Results. He's based in Calgary, Canada. Shawn grew up as a farm kid, going out in the springtime planting 1000s and 1000s of plants, later on, he started knocking on the doors of his home city of Calgary, at the age of 13, thinking he could help them, a true coaching spirit right from the very start. Fast forward 28 years, Shaun is now a successful coach, a bestselling author, and a serial entrepreneur, he successfully worked with well over 12,000 clients and profited from 43 different companies. When it comes to building a business, it doesn't matter what the company is, there are always only two things to be concerned about, profitability, and growth. Shawn helps small-medium business owners achieve those goals first, is by helping them be aware of the things they shouldn't be doing as complacency is one of the main things that hinder business growth, and second is to engage in high-leverage activities to see the outcome they want to see. One tool he recommends to accelerate business growth and generate results is to get a business coach. Two heads are better than one, business coaches can help hold individuals accountable, ease the cognitive load on strategic planning, and help expand your network and make valuable connections in the industry. This Cast Covers: Focusing on what drives the outcomes and results. Impacting the lives of entrepreneurs in a positive way through coaching. Key things that are hindering business growth as well as business owners. Fundamentals of a business: profitability and growth. One of the hardest things an entrepreneur must do is let go. Prioritizing engaging with high-leverage activities to deliver results. Developing a multi-pronged proactive approach to marketing. Carefully selecting who you take in as a business partner. Investigating thoroughly and doing reference checks around the applicants. Various benefits of investing in a business coach. Links: Shawn's Linkedin Shawn's Company Website Shawn's Twitter Additional Resources: Change Your Mind, Change Your Results: #1 Proven Success Strategies by Shawn Shewchuk Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber Quotes: "The reality when it comes to building a business, there's always only one outcome, profitability, and growth." — Shawn Shewchuk. "You can't manage time, the clock doesn't stop, but you can manage the activities and the time you're given and blessed with." — Shawn Shewchuk. "You cannot grow, scale, or expand the business without knowing what you should not be doing." — Shawn Shewchuk. "Be aware of who you partner with, because who you partner with can determine your outcome, good or bad." — Shawn Shewchuk. "Always approach a situation this way, no matter who it is or what it is, there is always a solution." — Shawn Shewchuk.

In this episode, Troy interviews Angela Achitei the Founder of ADV Romania based in Yash, Romania. Angela has set up her own business to help people with disabilities and especially youth a chance to have a job. Angela accepted an offer to manage an organization that provides social services, particularly to children and youth with HIV and AIDS, after working for an international organization in the United States. Romania Group was founded in 2002 and has been in operation for over 20 years. Growing from 5 to 100 employees and a monthly revenue of around 4.5 million euros. Angela has stated that growing a small business necessitates preparing for the challenges and opportunities that will arise along the way. "It's not easy to maintain and develop," she says, "but if you are able to see the challenges and opportunities and work with them, I think it's a good way to be sustainable and in the market." This Cast Covers: Managing a group of social enterprises and reinvesting 100% of the profit in their social services. Giving people with disabilities and especially youth a chance to have a job. Producing different types of equipment, for different companies, or archiving services. Starting in 2002 by providing social services, especially for children, and youth with HIV and AIDS. Growing from 5 to 100 employees and around 4.5 million euros a month. Went to different business training, and competence. Worked in the past for an international organization in the United States. The importance of understanding the numbers before writing a business plan. Worked a lot with the Global Fund for HIV and AIDS. Provides good results and defines actually the good of their future to do things carefully. Links: Angela's Linkedin Angela's Facebook Angela's Instagram Additional Resources: ADV Romania Quotes: "If you don't have very good people with high random and inverted war, this makes you not competitive in the market." —Angela Achitei "Success is when the people around you are happy." —Angela Achitei "It's crucial to look at the market and to do research before trying to go to do something in the field." —Angela Achitei "If you will be very transparent as an organization, you will be very clear in your mission." —Angela Achitei The biggest assets for your organization are the people." —Angela Achitei

In this week's QFF episode, Michael interviews Shelley Brooks, a registered liquidator, director, and owner at Rodgers Reidy. She's based in lovely Hobart, Australia. Shelley's a seasoned corporate and personal restructuring veteran; she's been in the industry for about 19 years and counting. During those 19 years, she gained exposure to a variety of industries facing financial difficulties. Small-medium business owners are as fallible as everyone else. They are susceptible to falling into a financial bind, especially when outside factors like COVID are involved, a mean pandemic that struck in 2020 and put financial distress on almost all business owners. It can be hard for them to bravely tread these stormy waters. The good thing is, they don't have to do it alone. For 19 years, Shelley has successfully helped small-medium business owners who are on the brink of bankruptcy through corporate and personal restructuring; designing arrangements to return to a state of commercial viability, and getting the business back on its feet. Throughout Shelley's 19 years worth of experience, as a recommendation based on her knowledge and expertise in her area, she heavily emphasized the importance of small-medium business owners who are stretched thin to be brave and reach out, ask someone for advice sooner rather than later, instead of sticking their heads in the sand. Topping it all off by saying, "A fresh set of eyes can be your saving grace." This Cast Covers: The condition of being in financial difficulty. Shelley's 19 years of experience in corporate and personal restructuring. Financial distress has major implications for business owners' mental health. Taking action on the situation immediately before it's too late. How the ATO (Australian Tax Office) affects small-medium business owners. A formal restructuring process to rehabilitate the business. Possible reasons why a business is under financial distress. The ins and outs of rehabilitating a business under financial distress. Different classifications of corporate restructuring. Ensuring the return of business viability. Links: Shelley's Linkedin Additional Resources: Corporate Debt Restructuring in Emerging Markets: A Practical Post-Pandemic Guide by Richard Marney, Timothy Stubbs Quotes: "If people put their heads in the sand for too long and don't come in and seek any help, they might find that it's too late." — Shelley Brooks. "It doesn't matter what people think, what the public thinks, what your friends think; you're actually doing the right thing." — Shelley Brooks. "For directors of a company in particular, because the idea of a company structure is to try and protect your own assets." — Shelley Brooks. "You might be great at building houses, but it doesn't mean you're great at doing finances." — Shelley Brooks. "A fresh set of eyes can be your saving grace." — Shelley Brooks.

In this episode, Troy interviews Jeff Greenfield, CEO of Provalytics. He's based out of Boston, USA. Jeff's a tech-savvy entrepreneur. He always had a nose for using technology to drive business growth since the early 2000s. He created one of the first SaaS, Position Solutions, a search engine optimization, but he didn't stop there. As he proceeds on his entrepreneurial journey in the tech world, he co-founded, C3 Metrics a leading MTA platform, and his latest achievement, Provalytics, launched with the notion of preparing for, according to him, "the cookie apocalypse." Of course, Jeff's achievements are undoubtedly backed-up by illustrious credentials and degrees, he studied Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, obtained his Doctor of Chiropractic, and BS in Human Biology from Southern California University of Health Sciences, and was a performing member of the Magic Castle in Hollywood. The wide world of the web has dramatically changed since then. Gone are the days when you can track users across the web, as they went from site to site, following the user's interests and behaviors, based on the websites they visit, the content they view, and the ads they click on. It was all possible due to cookies, however, it all changed with the uprise of privacy policy changes and changes in iOS, which sparked this so-called, as Jeff Greenfield coined it, "cookie apocalypse," which has significantly impacted the marketers and advertisers of various organizations. Fortunately, Jeff found a solution, a new way of connecting small-medium business owners' brands to a sale in this new status quo, with Provalytics. It steps back from the old ways of highly depending on user-level data, borrowing from marketing mix modeling, and producing whole new different types of results that allow you to get the answers that you need to drive business results. Despite this daunting task of preparing for the inevitable future by launching Provalytics, Jeff still seems to never forget the important work-life balance. Making sure to sleep right and eat right. Staying mentally healthy by writing down your thoughts, taking power-downs, and relaxing on your nights off before going back at it again the next morning. This Cast Covers: Driving business growth through ad effectiveness. Privacy policy changes, changes in the iOS, and the effects of it on the status quo. The traceability of the users' data back then, as they could be tracked site-to-site. How Provalytics differ from the deprecated user-level data dependence. Organizations wrongly see marketing as a wasteful expense. Marketers justify the expense by being data-driven and the use of measurement. The types of industries Provalytics focuses on. Series of events and decisions that lead Jeff to enter the industry. An upcoming avalanche this July through the launch of Google Analytics 4. Utilization and integration of Artificial Intelligence to ease and improve your business. Links: Jeff's Linkedin Jeff's Twitter Additional Resources: Lemon. How the advertising brain turned sour. By Orlando Wood Provalytics Producthunt.com Fireflies.ai Close.com Quotes: "The other thing is, is that you have to show people, to take a leap and be willing to take a risk." — Jeff Greenfield. "Overall success is growing a business that enables me to also have a healthy life." — Jeff Greenfield. "Make sure what you say about your business is the same across all platforms." — Jeff Greenfield. "It's about maximizing the time in your current gig so that you can go on to your next one. That's what it's about." — Jeff Greenfield. "We all have doubts. Once we can figure that out. We're in great shape." — Jeff Greenfield.

In this episode, Troy interviews John Jonas, founder of OnlineJobs.PH and a pioneer in outsourcing tasks to virtual workers. He's based near Salt Lake City, United States. After quitting his day job to work online and becoming overloaded with tasks, he decided to outsource tasks to free up time. Now liberated with the idea that he could delegate tasks to keep from burning out, he and his newly hired programmer started OnlineJobs with the goal of helping small business owners all over the world find hardworking virtual assistants in the Philippines. OnlineJobs was launched in 2009 and has seen 50% growth since its inception. It now has a total of 40 FTEs in the Philippines, recently hitting eight figures last year, maintaining a truly remarkable run. Combined with the concept of arbitrage and teaching how to utilize outsourcing differently, John has helped a lot of small business owners manage costs and get more done by introducing them to hard-working VAs in the Philippines and providing Filipinos with a way to support their families. To top it all off, John has placed an emphasis on the subject of thinking. Thinking is the number one habit that small-medium-sized business owners should develop and maintain to grow, as John said. Implying, that being able to think through the hard stuff is the catalyst for a small business owner to make things happen because consequently, it's where ingenuity and success happen. This Cast Covers: The inner workings of John Jonas' company, OnlineJobs. Discovering the amazing work culture of Filipinos. Events that lead to John launching OnlineJobs. OnlineJobs' consistent growth since its inception. Gaining trust between your employees. Success is determined by the amount of progress made. Recognizing that success is not limited to business success. Delegating tasks that you are unfamiliar with to experts. Solving problems through critical thinking. The significance of providing value to your business. Links: John's Linkedin John's Personal Website John's Company Website Additional Resources: The Outsourcing Lever: Secrets of How Successful Entrepreneurs Grow Their Businesses with Virtual Assistants by John Jonas My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy Quotes: "You have to gain their trust, you have to do things so that they trust you." — John Jonas. "Success is progress." — John Jonas. "Success isn't just business success, for me, it's family life, it's a personal life, its relationships and all of that." — John Jonas. "It's not just about money, it's about fulfillment." — John Jonas. "Take responsibility ... when something goes wrong, you have to take the responsibility yourself." — John Jonas.

In this week's Quick Fire Friday episode, Michael interviews David Jenyns, who's based in Melbourne, Australia. David is the Founder of SYSTEMology, the system to systemize your business. A process that breaks small-medium-sized business owners free from being tied to the day-to-day operations by its effective 7-step process that will delegate the recurring, repetitive, essential, delegable tasks down to team members. The process starts with identifying your CCF (Critical Client Flow) and documenting the systems needed. When the documentation process is done, recording the current systems will be assigned to the established department heads, then one of their SYSTEMologists will extract and analyze the information. Proceeding to organize the systems with their systemHUB; integrating it into the team, and fostering a healthy culture of 'systems thinking.' Topping it with a shift in focus in recruitment to boost the scalability of your business, finishing it all off with optimizing the most important systems and processes. "Systems and processes are important," according to David. Systems are important because they provide structure and organization to various processes, operations, and activities to such an extent that they give small-medium-sized business owners freedom. Building a systems-driven culture can have a profound impact on so many different aspects of the business, as well as the lives of the business owners. This Cast Covers: Why systems are critical for small businesses to grow. The tendency of small-medium-sized business owners to do everything. Business owners getting shackled to their businesses. Finding a way that your business can work without you. Building systems for your business using SYSTEMology. SYSTEMology's proprietary 7-step process. The challenge of making changes in a business. Finding someone in your business to be the system's champion. The impact of building a systems-driven culture on different aspects of the business. SYSTEMology, giving freedom to small-medium-sized business owners. Links: David's Linkedin David's Company Website David's Twitter Additional Resources: SYSTEMology: Create time, reduce errors and scale your profits with proven business systems by David Jenyns Quotes: "Most of the resistance to any sort of change, in anything, happens upfront." — David Jenyns. "We need to get someone who becomes the system's champion." — David Jenyns. "You need to do it enough till it becomes a habit." — David Jenyns. "Building a systems-driven culture can have a profound impact on so many different aspects of the business." — David Jenyns. "It's quite natural for the business owner to not feel like a systems person. That doesn't mean you can't own a systems-driven business." — David Jenyns.

In this episode, Troy interviews DaRel Daniels from Alsace Legacy Group. He's based in Charlotte in the United States of America. Alsace Legacy Group is a financial literacy platform that helps smaller companies, LLCs, and entrepreneurs to access capital to start their businesses or help their businesses grow that need 100k to 20k to get started. As a chef, he and his wife started a food truck business in Charlotte in 2014. This was before his knowledge of how to get funding and capital. So they started using their own money. In 2019, they sold the food truck, and at around the same time he started on a financial literacy journey that kind of led to the business that they do today. The most stressful point was when one of their 2 food trucks broke down on its second day so they had to shut down and get more funding so they could shoot the equipment into another truck and get back on the road and running. This Cast Covers: How he got started with a food truck business in Charlotte in 2014 How it grew to around 12 to 13 team members Why they decided to transition to their current business What success looks like to him Luxury car rental named Alsace Auto Group and how it got funded Part of the business he had to work on the most to add value Links: LinkedIn Additional Resources: OnlineJobs.ph Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki Rich Dad's CASHFLOW Quadrant: by Robert T. Kiyosaki Earn Your Leisure (EYL) podcast Quotes: "Get a virtual assistant." — DaRel Daniels "Don't chase the dollars, but chase action and results." — DaRel Daniels "stay consistent, stay on track, know where you're going personally." — DaRel Daniels "Being able to see the change in people that we work with like that's been the most rewarding. Definitely." — DaRel Daniels "Being around people in the same industry, that's doing and kind of the same thing and moving towards the same goal. So just having somebody to bounce ideas off of, really helps." — DaRel Daniels

In this episode, Troy interviews Mark Effinger, the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Nootopia based in Burlington, United States of America. Mark founded their company to help people improve their cognitive performance, live longer, and perform better in activities that require their brains to function at a high level. With over 30 years of experience managing a variety of businesses, Mark has decided to concentrate his efforts on developing high-performance experiential nutritional supplements and maximizing brainpower, extending performance, and improving healthspan through Nootopia. Nootopia was founded in 2020 and has been in operation for over two years. With a run rate of over $3 million and 13 FTEs, the company is expanding. Mark has stated that growing a small business necessitates the development of systems to handle many of the other aspects of the business. "The EOS is integrating your business systems into developing and integrating systems that fit your business and then applying them to your life," he continued. Such as when you wake up and how you go about your day." This Cast Covers: Running the world leader in customized personalized nootropics. Providing mind-expanding, mind-enhancing cognitive performance nutrition supplements. Helping people get higher cognitive performance, last longer, and do better in things that require their brains to operate at a high level. Getting compressed business education through personal interviewing successful people. Running various businesses that represent 19 countries through employees. Using EOS (Entrepreneur Operating System) platform to put a wrapper around systems and processes, Went from 2 million to a 3.5 million dollar run rate. Has a Six Sigma customer support group which is 99.9997% perfect. Learning the importance of metrix and creating proper systems. Giving helpful and positive advice to help us control our minds and make better decisions in the long run. Links: Mark's Linkedin Mark's Instagram Mark's Twitter Additional Resources: Nootopia The Entrepreneurs Manual by Richard White The Pursuit of Wow by Tom Peters Quotes: "The lessons are made when you're in the trenches, trying to keep alive or resuscitated from a near-death experience." —Mark Effinger "The lessons are made when you're in the trenches." —Mark Effinger "Learn to focus on the things that matter the most." —Mark Effinger "You don't have to be the guy that comes up with all the great ideas or has a big ego. Give people credit, all the time." —Mark Effinger "Keep your eyes on the ball and understand where to navigate next." —Mark Effinger

For this week's QFF episode, Rob interviews Atima Omara, President and Founder of Omara Strategy Group. She's based in Virginia in the USA. Atima is something you can call "a champion of the underdog." Atima helps clients from underrepresented communities in American politics run for office and engage the public through training, voter engagement, and communications. In her work, she sometimes encounters imposter syndrome in her clients. Imposter syndrome is a feeling that Atima has experienced as well, in which a person doubts their skills and feels like a fake, even though there is evidence to the contrary. Imposter syndrome has victimized all sorts of people, even if they already have illustrious portfolios, including small- and medium-sized business owners. Atima fights the syndrome by getting technical about it and also helping her clients through coaching and training. Atima further added that if you're somebody who's starting a business, you should not underestimate the people in your network and that you should develop your professional network by building it on Linkedin, or Instagram if you're a photographer. After all, it is 70% more likely to close from a lead that's warm because it's a referral than if it was a cold prospect. This Cast Covers: Altruistic nature in advocacy. Advocating for historically marginalized communities. Overcoming the commonly widespread imposter syndrome. Being comfortable in selling your services. Investing in learning through means of coaching. Identifying your audience and where to find them. Elements needed to build confidence and self-esteem. Psyching yourself up. Benefits of having an accountability partner. The importance of training. Links: Atima's Linkedin Atima's Company Website Atima's Twitter Additional Resources: The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie Quotes: "The other part of it is understanding the importance of selling and doing that in a way that's authentic to you." — Atima Omara. "If you're somebody who's starting a business, invest in actually learning how to feel comfortable in selling your services." — Atima Omara. "Make sure you know who your ideal client is, and then know where they are." — Atima Omara. "Sometimes you do need to be reminded." — Atima Omara. "Practicing things that you aren't great at, is critical to the job, and putting yourself in scenarios where you get to use that skill until you feel like it's very comfortable for you." — Atima Omara.

In this episode, Troy interviews Paris Thomson, the Founder and CEO of SIRAP based in Melbourne, Australia. Paris founded her own company to create fully integrated content-first campaigns and content that sparks new perspectives and emotional embrace both locally and globally. From working as a production studio assistant at an extensive TV network in Australia, Paris has been expanding her creativity and decided to create his own content-led creative production studio featured widely in different media outlets. SIRAP was established in 2013 and has been running for over 10 years with over 16 FTEs. Paris has said that growing a small business requires caring for your mental health and implementing meditation to pour your energy into your job and keep moving. So she says, "I believe that mental health and mindfulness are important for us not just as individuals, but also as business owners and entrepreneurs." This Cast Covers: Running an independent, full-service creative studio. Producing campaigns, video content, and TV. Working across diverse categories from luxury automotive, wellness and beauty, tourism, the arts, and hospitality. Started as a production studio assistant at Network 10. Learning how video content is produced and consumed. They are adapting video content to the Covid-19 pandemic era. They empower the team and strive to deliver a new way of working. Learn how to explore platforms and improve efficiency by creating a system. Sharing helpful tools that can help structure small businesses into well-established ones. The importance of meditation and taking care of mental health in growing a small business. Links: Paris' Linkedin Paris' Instagram Additional Resources: SIRAP Courage for Profit by Steve McLeod Quotes: "Invest the time and energy and money into building and deepening client relationships." —Paris Thomson "It takes patience and time to develop a different way of working." —Paris Thomson "Creating systems and silos can help build efficiencies and explore your platforms." —Paris Thomson "Just because you're small and agile doesn't mean that you can't build systems and routines that keep everyone accountable." —Paris Thomson "Mental health and mindfulness are important for business owners and entrepreneurs." —Paris Thomson