Grow A Small Business Podcast

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

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