Grow A Small Business Podcast

In this episode, Troy interviews Lola Mormino from Lola's House. She's based out of Los Angeles in the United States. When Lola was younger, She used to play ice hockey with a focus to be in the Olympics. Once she healed from all her health issues and challenges, that's when she wanted to start learning more about the mind and body and how to stay as healthy as possible and really share that with others. She started her training business when she was 17. She became certified the day after she graduated high school because you were not allowed to become one until you graduated from high school. She opened her own gym at age 18. Lola didn't take any debt when she started her gym and it was smart not to just buy everything all at once, she took her time with making those purchases as she got paid. The least she enjoyed about managing fast growth is dealing with the accounting side of it which to her is so tedious. This Cast Covers: How she started her gym business the moment she felt like she had succeeded Number one thing she'd recommend for marketing a fast-growing business area in business she had to work on the most to add the greatest value Book and podcast she recommends Number one habit a small business owner needs to develop and maintain Links: Lola's Instagram Reach App The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz Additional Resources: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill Shoe Dog A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE by Phil Knight Quotes: "You can't expect everyone to be at the same pace that you are."" — Lola Mormino "The more you try and work, the more you try and consistently do things every single second of the day, the more likely it is you're going to get burnt out, which means you don't want to go back to doing what you're doing." — Lola Mormino "Being patient and understanding that it's a process, you have to enjoy the journey. Because if you don't, then if you're constantly searching for that end result, it's never going to come." — Lola Mormino "I am able to do anything I set my mind to as long as I put the work into it." — Lola Mormino "You might not agree with everyone's opinion. But it doesn't mean you can't listen to what someone has to say." — Lola Mormino

In this episode of QFF, Rob talks to Naomi Johnston, the founder of The Noa Group, a company that creates and markets brands. She's based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They work with real estate agents around Sydney or Brisbane, construction, financial services, small-medium businesses, property developers, buyer's agents, mortgage brokers, and accountants. The Noa Group uses various strategies to help its clients with their custom-built digital growth strategies, comprehensive web designs and curated social media content that will build their brands and generate leads—getting high-level ROI that will justify the expenditure with the conversions. In terms of digital marketing, Naomi suggests that small-medium business owners should focus on reaching out to five of their best clients over the past six months and ask them for a Google review, then repeating it every month. Free SEO and skyrocketing your online digital presence. This Cast Covers: Growing a business through means of digital marketing. A business focusing on a specific niche. The effects of consultancy in companies. Why small-medium business owners should lean more into consulting. Small-medium business owners need to pay more attention to the difficulty of digital marketing. Knowing the trajectory that small-medium business owners want for their business. The importance of branding. Keeping up the conversions with the generated leads. Always improving the SEO of your business. Links: Naomi Johnston's Linkedin Naomi's Company Website Additional Resources: Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk Quotes: "You have to kind of think about the client, and you have to kind of backstep and think kind of what content would resonate best with them." — Naomi Johnston. "Strategy sessions, a great point, raise a lot of questions for the business owner about kind of the way that they're wanting to go on their business trajectory." — Naomi Johnston. "Branding is number one." — Naomi Johnston. "So there are leads there, but the lead quality isn't great." — Naomi Johnston. "They're wanting to see that other people have worked with you as a professional." — Naomi Johnston.

In this episode, Troy interviews Dr. Lee Mathias, shareholder/director at Tend and Pictor. She's based in Auckland, New Zealand. Dr. Lee has an illustrious career, she served as a Principal Nurse at Middlemore Hospital, and she was a critical figure in the transformational changes to primary maternity services as the founder of Birthcare, now she is continuing her career as an entrepreneur by being a director at Pictor, an in-vitro diagnostics company that is still running strong after 13 years. After seven years as a Principal Nurse, she took her MBA in '85 to '87' an academic degree that she used to its full extent to manage multiple companies. Keeping Pictor afloat by valiantly finding ways to fund the business, such as various public sector funding sources, angel investors, series fundings, etc., whilst generating revenue to compensate for burning $700,000 a month. Apart from all the things that Dr. Lee loves about growing a business, the one thing that she doesn't is funding. Dr. Lee heavily emphasized the fact that when developing a business, "you need to have a pretty good idea where your money is going to come from." to plan, determine how much money you have available to invest in new projects, hire employees, or expand operations. This Cast Covers: The remarkable accomplishments of Dr. Lee Mathias throughout her career. Various public healthcare services. Developing your brand through transparency and empirical evidence. Exhausting every possible way to raise funds. The difficulty of running out of money in a business. Getting people to understand exactly what the product you're selling is. Always having a process and method for your business. Celebrating achievements to build a sustainable culture. Heavily investing in your professional and personal development. Making sure to have the best hardware you can afford. Links: Dr. Lee's Linkedin Pictordx Tend Health Ltd Additional Resources: Porter's Five Forces: Understand Competitive Forces and Stay Ahead of the Competition (Management & Marketing) by 50MINUTES Reinventing American Health Care by Ezekiel J. Emanuel The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done (Harperbusiness Essentials) by Peter F. Drucker Quotes: "If you have the entrepreneurial spirit, do not try, do not ever think, don't contemplate that you're going to deal with a large public company." — Lee Mathias. "It's important for anybody in small business to think about their education." — Lee Mathias. "You need your specialists and don't try and do everything yourself." — Lee Mathias. "You need to have a pretty good idea about where your money is going to come from because you can't live on silverbeet forever." — Lee Mathias. "The other thing you'd have to do is to keep reading." — Lee Mathias.

In this GASB Podcast episode, Troy interviews Michael McGovern. Michael is based in Gold Coast, Australia. You might know him as one of the founding members of Black Hops Brewing in 2014. He started sweeping floors in a brewery, then tried out an innovative beer idea with his friends. With their honest storytelling and way of marketing, they grew their audience quicker than anticipated, and not long after, they started to build their first brewery. At the start of their brewing career, they utilized different ways to raise funds for a business. Breaking records; in August 2018, raising about $400,000 on the first day, then last year raising $2.5 million a couple of months ago in an hour, and a staggering $14 million in sales. To achieve the kind of growth Michael experienced, you need to build a sustainable and kickass culture by understanding that people have different currencies, e.g., what motivates them to work for money. That's why it's essential to have different rules for everyone rather than sticking to a one-size-fits-all style to please most people most of the time. This Cast Covers: The humble origins of Michael McGovern. Several facets of the process of making beer. The current progress of Black Hops Brewing. How the team assembled to start Black Hops. Michael's unique way of earning trust. Different types of raising funds for your startup. Helping others start their breweries through consulting. Truly understanding who you're customers are and what they want. Developing your staff carefully to have a solid team. Prioritizing yourself a little bit more. Links: Michael's LinkedIn Michael's Company Website Additional Resources: Zen Golf: Mastering the Mental Game by Dr. Joseph Parent Quotes: "In an online world, you don't really have much other than trust." — Michael McGovern. "Running a small business is like, you need to be good at finding money. So we would try every option available to us." — Michael McGovern. "It's great to have talent, but not when it's too heavily weighted in any one person." — Michael McGovern. "Truly understanding who your customers are and what they want." — Michael McGovern. "You can get away with making plenty of mistakes if you do it with kindness, and people will allow you the space to grow if you have a kind heart." — Michael McGovern.

In this week's QFF episode, Rob interviews Kyle Stout, Founder of Elevate and Scale, based in the United States. Kyle is an expert in email marketing and sales process optimization and is working with E-commerce businesses and service businesses. Email creation may be complex and hassle for some, but it significantly impacts foot traffic to your business. Kyle ​​breaks email into two categories to help entrepreneurs improve their skills in email marketing where that includes the automation side and the ongoing email marketing. He also shared a step-by-step process for creating an impactful email that could attract your ideal customers. According to Kyle, having advanced expectations and studying what your ideal customers might like or know is essential to making the message you want to convey more effective. He also added entrepreneurs should have come up with something interesting to start the conversation of the email that looks exactly different from what you usually do. This Cast Covers: Expert in email marketing. Offering a holistic approach to retention marketing. Creating and managing reports programs. Sharing profitable marketing strategies. Breaking email into 2 categories including automation and ongoing email marketing. Implementing a step-by-step process from being a stranger to being a good customer. Coming up with topics relevant to the ideal customers and to what the client is selling. Advising on attracting new names as a first-timer in email marketing. Links: Kyle's Linkedin Kyle's Facebook Kyle's Twitter Additional Resources: Elevate and Scale Quotes: "They know they can get better results, but they don't have the time to dedicate to it." —Kyle Stout "Just because people aren't as excited about it. Now, it doesn't mean that it's not very profitable." —Kyle Stout "If you want to start, try to be thoughtful about your ideal customers." —Kyle Stout "Know that the first email you send, or the second one, doesn't have to be perfect." —Kyle Stout "One thing that's great about email is you can use that to bring in foot traffic to your business." —Kyle Stout

In this episode, Troy interviews Michelle Nedelec the Founder and CEO of Awareness Strategies based in Calgary, Canada. Michelle has set up her own business to help entrepreneurs automate marketing, sales, and billing to focus on their personal growth. With over 20 years of experience in helping entrepreneurs with their personal development, Michelle figured out that the best thing an entrepreneur can do to grow is doing things the way they wanted with full control through proper coaching and self-awareness. Awareness Strategies was established in 2003 and has been running for 20 years, growing with over 500,000 dollars in revenue and 12 FTEs. Michelle has said that growing a small business requires perseverance in order to drive things. So she says, "It's just being able to get back on the bus as you see fit, making sure you're taking appropriate breaks, and then it never ends, this business may end, this journey may end, this whatever it is may end, but that only allows you to get on to a bigger better bus." This Cast Covers: Helping business owners by doing their marketing tech for them. Making sure that clients can move on and focus on the thing that they love to do. Speaking and teaching personal development programs for almost 15 years. Had 28 career pivots since starting the business. Constructed the business with a longevity-based system. Learn how to choose clients that will give a positive impact on your business. Understanding how tension and stress is actually a good sign for entrepreneurs' growth. Focusing on hiring for aptitude and culture. Learning how knowing yourself can be a good help to run a kick-ass culture. Helping entrepreneurs make improvements by setting goals. Links: Michelle's Linkedin Michelle's Facebook Michelle's Instagram Additional Resources: Awareness Strategies Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich by Wallace D. Wattles Quotes: "Ask more questions before putting money out to solve problems." —Michelle Nedelec "Negotiate with people who will give value to your work." —Michelle Nedelec "The tension and stress that entrepreneurs facing in are actually a good thing." —Michelle Nedelec "Allow your past experiences to mold you to become better than you are yesterday." —Michelle Nedelec "You cannot run a badass culture without knowing who you are." —Michelle Nedelec

In this episode, Troy interviews Yegor Sak the Co-Founder and CEO of Windscribe based in Toronto, Canada. Yegor Sak has set up his own business to assist people in learning about general internet privacy or security. With over 20 years of experience in learning programming and operating software development firms, Yegor Sak figured out what he wanted and decided to build his own business together with his two business partners. Windscribe was established in 2016 and has been running for over 7 years with over 50 million users and 50 FTEs. Yegor has said that growing a small business requires trying to do something that you can do for yourself. So he says, "Learn every single aspect of the business that you're operating in, whether it's technical, whether it supports, whether it's if you're doing marketing, marketing, do all of these things yourself." This Cast Covers: Helping people who have very little knowledge about general internet privacy or security. Creating tools to be as easy as possible to use for everyone. Operating a freemium model with a vast majority of 50 million plus users. Formerly operating a software development firm until creating his own business. Connecting with customers through becoming a very active presence on social media. Focusing on protecting other people's privacy rather than being showy to the audience and target markets. Using word of mouth as their sole method of growth. Providing practical tips on how to handle issues with your customers. Working on turning the power user platform into a business-oriented platform. Learning how failures can help you see the things that need improvements. Links: Yegor's Linkedin Yegor's Twitter Additional Resources: Windscribe Quotes: "In failure, you do learn what works, and what doesn't hone your development skills." —Yegor Sak "If your sole objective for running a business is to be rich, you will most likely fail." —Yegor Sak "Talking directly to people that have issues with your product is extremely beneficial." —Yegor Sak "To be successful, you have to appreciate what you do." —Yegor Sak "You have to force yourself to have that balance" —Yegor Sak

In this episode, Michael interviews Tristan White, the founder of The Physio Co based in Melbourne, Australia. They discussed leadership culture for small business owners. Tristan started as a qualified Physiotherapist, focused on building a strong team culture with being ranked as one of Australia's best places to work in mind. He was able to scale up our business by building a strong team culture. Obsessed over creating the strongest, most purposeful and most sustainable business he possibly can, he thinks the middle ground is that all of us small business owners need to find the sweet spot to be a friendly boss. That is someone who is polite, approachable, and interested. He suggests that people need to accept and park the idea that it's a lonely, isolated job as a small business owner because he hears that far too often. He also tells us that committing to a leadership lifestyle involves forever learning. This Cast Covers: How Michael got to know Tristan Got ranked as one of Australia's 50 Best Places to Work In 2017 released a book called Culture is Everything Founding The Physio Co Books that have him become a better leader Links: Tristan's website Culture is Everything Club Additional Resources: Culture is Everything by Tristan White Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek Small Giant by Bo Burlingham Quotes: "Whether I want to admit it or not, I make a mistake and get something wrong, most hours in my life." — Tristan White "To lead others, you must personally learn to lead yourself." — Tristan White "My suggestion is that people accept and park the idea that it's a lonely, isolated job as a small business owner because I hear that far too often." — Tristan White "Having a strong team culture is such an important foundation for a sustainable business." — Tristan White "Don't stop reading and learning. But don't only read and learn, because it's about actually doing the learning AND then doing the doing to become a more effective leader over time." — Tristan White

In this GABS Podcast episode, Troy interviews Daryl Urbanski, owner of Best Business Coach. Daryl's based right now in Manila, Philippines. Daryl is a marketing consultant. For 17 years, he has been helping businesses/websites get customers and keep them. Before doing consulting work, he was setting up automated online funnels, which was his claim to fame. As a big supporter of small and medium-sized businesses and free-market capitalism, Daryl spent $50,000 hiring the best researchers in the world, reading academic journals, and talking to almost 400 experts. This led him to find the eight most important factors for growing small and medium-sized businesses. According to Daryl, the number one thing he'd recommend in marketing a fast-growing business is to develop strong market intelligence, knowing the stereotypes and the intricate details; then using that advanced market intelligence to form a strategic plan to be the best of all the options. This Cast Covers: Creating seven-figure automated income streams from scratch. Being a proponent of small businesses and free-market capitalism. The eight critical success factors. Adverse consequences of monopolies. Wanting to do something that will have a lasting impact. The definition of self-efficacy. Tips and techniques to avoid burning out. Defining the word, success. Developing vital market intelligence. Using Karl Popper's scientific method to eliminate errors in marketing your business. Links: Daryl's Linkedin Daryl's Company Website Additional Resources: Ancient Secrets Of Lead Generation: Your Primitive Business Guide To Better Leads With Less Effort by Daryl Urbanski Libey and Pickering on RFM and Beyond by Donald Libey Quotes: "Making sales alone doesn't guarantee business success." — Daryl Urbanski. "Monopolies are bad because then there's no incentive to improve." — Daryl Urbanski. "You have to have an openness to experience agreeableness, conscientiousness, acceptance of criticism and feedback." — Daryl Urbanski. "The reality is you want to be at a busy food court to just be the best of all the options." — Daryl Urbanski. "When it comes to marketing strategy you want to have high quality … you have to try to improve the quality of what you're selling." — Daryl Urbanski.

Peter Gartlan, Director and Co-Founder of Gartlans IT Advisors, shares his journey from being an IT guy to a successful salesperson. He discusses the challenges of managing fast growth, the impact of a big deal going wrong, and the importance of professional development and understanding director responsibilities. They also discuss board dynamics, selling the business, and tips for starting out in business.