Grow A Small Business Podcast

In this episode, I interview Dr. Angela Lim, the Co-Founder, and CEO of Clearhead. Angela has set up her own business to assist employees in remaining resilient, avoiding burnout, being more productive, and feeling more confident in doing their tasks. Angela, a trained medical doctor, has decided to leave her previous job to pursue the opportunity she saw for employers to step up in providing better mental health and wellbeing support for their people. Clearhead was established in 2018 and has been running for 5 years. Went from basically no customers to a 15% market share in one year. Last year they9x their revenue and 6x their customers and 3x their workforce to 20 FTEs. Growing a small business, according to Angela, necessitates being self-aware of your mental state in order to work efficiently. So she says, "If you give up, then your team will give up. If you're excited, your team will be excited. This Cast Covers: Running an employee well-being solution that was delivered both online and in person with the help of intelligent AI support. Providing mental health support for those employees that are struggling but also to small business owners. Tips and tools on how to helping business owners and their employees to stay resilient prevent burnout be more productive, and be more confident. How running your own business is like training to be a professional athlete Sharing the highs and lows of running a startup to the steps to finding product market fit Discuss the growing pains from going from no customers to a 15% market share in one year. Discussing Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and LifeTime Value (LTV). Links: Angela's Linkedin Additional Resources: Clearhead Good to Great by Jim Collins Quotes: "Culture is not what you say it's what you do." —Angela Lim "Humans don't change unless you make it very clear why they should change." —Angela Lim "Success for Clearhead is to be the go-to digital mental health brand that people trust ." —Angela Lim "You have to dutifully understand who your customers are." —Angela Lim "If you build something that people resonate with, you are solving a meaningful problem, that's when you know you've found product marketing fit. —Angela Lim

In this episode, Troy interviews Sabrina and Rik Konings from Kings Digital based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Kings Digital is a team of digital specialists who provide expertise across Strategy, Digital Brand & Web Design, Technical Development, and Digital Marketing. The business started in 2013 as a sole trader and then evolved quickly into the original business KingsDesign. The business grew organically with the help of consulting work for larger Tasmanian businesses and founder Rik's foresight to create a good network of professional contacts. The Kings Digital team uses customer retention to measure the success of their business and aims to work with clients across multiple areas of expertise. What Rik and Sabrina have found the most challenging is creating a good team, which is integral to the business. To them, success would be to be able to step out of the business for a reasonable period of time and not feel that you need to be part of it. This Cast Covers: How they got a 75 to 80% client retention The struggle of finding the right staff How effectively removing the single-point dependencies within the business allows for growth Self-funding the business without any investor and financing Rebranding from Kings Design to Kings Digital Links: Kings Digital Entrepreneurs' Programme Grant Additional Resources: It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried Scaling Up by Verne Harnish Quotes: "Marketing can be quite confrontational upfront because you're literally questioning your client, whether what they want is right or not. Sometimes that means we're literally not getting to work because we don't agree with their approach. But I think that honesty upfront does build a lot of trust in that relationship." — Sabrina and Rik Konings "I think we've said no to more work than we've said yes to because we are now looking at work that isn't going to serve us and isn't going to make our team happy." — Sabrina and Rik Konings "We're going to make a lot of mistakes, we're going to get things wrong but it's about constant discipline, chipping away at it and getting that momentum in terms of growing your business." — Rik Konings "Honesty upfront does build a lot of trust in that relationship." — Rik Konings "In Marketing, I think the main thing is to do your research upfront. And then to not try a single thing, try multiple things, and have well-detailed reporting in place." — Rik Konings Be strategic upfront, think about your audience, think about what you're trying to do, really think about those goals and then try the channels that you think are going to be worthwhile. Be brutal, cut what doesn't work and hone in what does and capitalise on that. - Rik Konings

In this episode, Michael interviews Alisha Conlin-Hurd, co-founder of Persuasion Experience. She's based in Melbourne, Australia. She started her career in sales, cold calling agency, ebook leads, and telco sales, eventually ending up building funnels and landing pages for 400+ clients. Now she is the co-founder of Persuasion Experience - a funnel and conversion agency that focuses on the post-click experience. A sales funnel is a marketing concept that describes the journey a customer goes through in the process of making a purchase. A funnel is every single touchpoint that somebody has with your brand. Alisha Conlin-Hurd helps small-medium business owners by revolutionizing how they handle traffic by focusing on the post-click experience, prioritizing traffic conversion. Alisha emphasized the importance of small-medium business owners understanding their target market. Focusing on the target market's pain points and position the conversation around it rather than using internal jargon to oversell themselves. She said, "because giving what they want to hear is different from what they need to hear." This Cast Covers: Alisha Conlin-Hurd's endeavors before co-founding Persuasion Experience. Mapping out all your company's touchpoints to mitigate revenue leaks. Ways to map out the touchpoints. The difference between the channels and the traffic. Prioritizing getting the lead. Business owners understand their target market. Focusing on the customer's pain points. Doing marketing is answering what's in it for the customers. The two levers you can pull in lead generation. Going back to the basics. Links: Alisha's LinkedIn Alisha's Company Website Alisha's Twitter Alisha's YouTube Additional Resources: Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works by A. G. Lafley Quotes: "Most people should focus on is their acquisition." — Alisha Conlin-Hurd. "What they want to hear and what they need to hear are two different things." — Alisha Conlin-Hurd. "If your marketing is led by assumptions, you'll usually be pretty disappointed." — Alisha Conlin-Hurd. "It's your responsibility as a business owner to better yourself." — Alisha Conlin-Hurd. "Don't forget the little things that made you successful." — Alisha Conlin-Hurd.

In this episode, Troy interviews Steph Whittle, founder of HVAC Growth Lab. She's based in Austin, Texas, United States. HVAC is an acronym that stands for Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning. Basically, working with the contractors who do all the heating and cooling work in your home. In 2020, during COVID, decided to niche down her digital marketing business and focus on the HVAC industry with a mission to help 500 of America's top HVAC contractors double their business through profitable marketing by 2027. Steph says the most stressful point is when COVID hit, there was just so much uncertainty at the time. Like, where's this going to go? She didn't like the conversations, the sales conversations with prospects, she was starting to feel defeated. But she just kept putting one foot forward, sharing to people what she knows pertaining to HVAC industry. This Cast Covers: How a small talk on the military plane while on mission inspired her to learn marketing Why she niched down to HVAC industry Fun fact about Legionnaires' disease How funding the first 2 years through day trading stock hinder their growth The benefits of having two kinds of mentors - a tactical and strategic The challenge of trying to improve everything by 1% How she used to avoid problems but is now embracing it How she relates to Drew Barrymore's character from the movie '50 First Dates' Links: Josh Nelson's Seven Figure Agency Wave Apps Additional Resources: Nuts!: Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success by Kevin Freiberg The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone Quotes: "Anyone who's good at sales should never be doing less than 250k a year in income. And anyone good at marketing should never be doing less than a million a year in income." — Steph Whittle "Success is being able to do what you want, whenever you want, wherever you want, with whomever you want." — Steph Whittle "Focus on the volume and perfection will come." — Steph Whittle "I think sometimes when you have a little too much funding, you start to get sloppy, and I don't ever want to get sloppy." — Steph Whittle "The best way to generate startup revenue, is to get customers and get them to pay you." — Steph Whittle

In this episode, I interview David Feldman the Founder, and CEO of 3 Owl based in Atlanta, United States. David has set up his own business to provide in-house services to help clients benefit as far as hands-off. With over 5 years of experience in building websites, designing logos, and copywriting, David has decided to leave his former jobs to create his technology-first-creative agency in order to scale and open windows for improvements. 3 Owl was established in 2012 and has been running for over 10 years. Hit 7-figure business and experienced 35% compounded annual growth for 6 years with over 20 FTEs. David has said that growing a small business requires developing your own systems and consistency in order to become efficient. So he says, "I think everyone is different but I think just developing good habits is so easy to just get to go off the rails and not be efficient." This Cast Covers: Running the intersection of design strategy and technology. Expert at building systems in business. Doing everything from designing the visual identity of a brand while in-house. Learning the benefits of doing business in-house. Connecting design and technology and measuring results. Made a seven-figure profit in 2019 and is currently growing at a 50% annual rate. Wrote a book during the pandemic called Small By Design. Relating the benefits of hiring experienced employees in your business. Helping entrepreneurs to dream, come up with ideas, and get them executed Sharing his small but gold achievements including the story of his people. Links: David's Linkedin Additional Resources: 3 Owl Traction by Gino Wickman The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger Quotes: "Success means being able to do things that make you happy in a balanced way." —David Feldman "If you can't find replicable systems, you're not going to grow." —David Feldman "When you're small, you have to get the work done." —David Feldman "Building boundary between your job and personal life improves your efficiency." —David Feldman "Be real like be as transparent as you can be with your company." —David Feldman

For this week's QFF podcast episode, Rob interviews Darryl Stickel, Ph.D., who's based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Darryl's an esteemed academic, he earned his Ph.D. at Duke university where he did his thesis on "building trust in hostile environments.", he's also a researcher and consultant, and Darryl is the founder of Trust Unlimited. Trust, is an essential component in any relationship, whether it be between friends, or family members, especially in business. Trust really can make the difference between a high-performing business and a low-performing business. Darryl Stickel, Ph.D., founder of Trust Unlimited, helps small-medium business owners, by providing insights and strategies to help build and maintain trust in a business. According to Darryl, to achieve trust even in times when you made mistakes, you must have benevolence; have others' best interests at heart, have integrity; commit hard to your promises, and ability; being able to follow up on your promises. This Cast Covers: Trust is an important aspect of a business. Darryl Stickel's, Ph.D., perspective of trust. The element of uncertainty and vulnerability when trusting someone. Asking ourselves the two fundamental questions when we trust someone. Managing risks by lowering uncertainty and avoiding vulnerability. Rebuilding trust after the event of a mistake. The 10 Levers you can pull to build trust. Giving an honest and transparent apology. Understanding the best interests of the client. Focusing on the things you have control of, rather than making rash promises. Links: Darryl's Linkedin Darryl's Company Website Darryl's Facebook Additional Resources: Building Trust: Exceptional Leadership in an Uncertain World by Darryl Stickel Quotes: "Trust is, … it's one of the primary drivers of successful organizations." — Darryl Stickel. "Certainty and vulnerability are the two primary factors that drive the trust decision." — Darryl Stickel. "Have somebody's best interests at heart." — Darryl Stickel. "Apology combined with an acknowledgment of the harm that was caused to the other party." — Darryl Stickel. "We don't make promises that it'll never happen again." — Darryl Stickel.

In this episode, I interview Chris Lalomia, the Founder, and CEO of The Trusted Toolbox based in Atlanta, United States of America. Chris has set up his own business to provide quality-focused handyman services that surpass expectations. Chris has over 14 years of corporate experience and has opted to establish a home repair and handyman business in order to pursue greater opportunities. The Trusted Toolbox was established in 2008 and has been running for over 14 years. Growing with over $128,000 in the first year revenue has been running with over 40 FTEs. According to Chris, growing a small business necessitates becoming more thoughtful and predictive of what you're asking for. So he says, "In the beginning, it's all about sales. Now, my mindset shift has been about being more thoughtful and more predictive of what I'm asking for, and keep saying that over and over and over." This Cast Covers: Expert handyman services that are quality-focused and surpass expectations. Left the corporate world and started a home repair and handyman business. Got a master's and bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering. Went to work in manufacturing. Started business with zero knowledge. Creating a team that solves problems without being involved. Did $128,000 in total revenue in the first year of business. Started a business at the age of 38. Got 40% of business coming from customers. Been 4.6 rating on Google, and got over 600 reviews. Links: Chris' Linkedin Chris' Facebook Additional Resources: The Trusted Toolbox The Habits by Stephen Covey The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber Quotes: "Success is freely doing the things that make you happy." —Chris Lalomia "If you want to grow, you have to keep your customer base. —Chris Lalomia "You need to make sure you're getting better. —Chris Lalomia "Be more thoughtful and more predictive of what you're asking for." —Chris Lalomia "Know that you're time is your own." —Chris Lalomia

In this episode, Troy interviews Lindsay McMahon from All Ears English. She's based in Denver, Colorado in the United States. All Ears English is a platform for global professionals who need English for their careers. Lindsay started out traveling the world and teaching English as a second language. Living in Japan and traveling through South America, she saw first hand the market and the need for people to learn English in their daily lives or their work. In 2013, launched a podcasts that now has around 10 million downloads in total. 3 years after, launched an online course. Lindsay said one of their biggest mistakes was that she and her co-founders never talked about what would happen if one person would eventually want to leave the business. To Lindsay, success means her team is happy. She loves the fact that they can get up and they can say, I get to do this every day. This Cast Covers: Strategic Coach group and how they help entrepreneurs Trademarking the phrase "our value is a connection, not perfection" Launching an online course that is generating revenue and adding value to the business Success is when they receive an email from a listener who's been impacted by an episode Investing $100,000 for an iOS and Android app Using 15Five as a tool to check on his remote team The huge responsibility of seeing results from our courses especially for the IELTS course Effects of the pandemic on their business Links: All Ears English IELTS Energy Podcast Business English Podcast 15five.com Strategic Coach Guideline Additional Resources: Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly? By Seth Godin Who Not How by Dan Sullivan Quotes: "Balance, it helps that the people in my life pull me away from my computer. So my partner kind of gets me to take those vacations, book those trips, take those days off." — Lindsay McMahon "It's a rookie mistake to spend all your time going to the sessions sitting there taking notes, which is something that is easy to do, rather than going out, meeting people and talking to people." — Lindsay McMahon "Anyone who can speak English as their first language, or even as their second language can become an online English teacher or English influencer but it's a lot harder to set up an actual business, that's a different thing." — Lindsay McMahon "If you think about the number of people that need English in their daily lives or their work. It's absolutely humongous." — Lindsay McMahon "The biggest mistake was we never talked about what would happen if one person would eventually want to leave the business." — Lindsay McMahon

In this episode, Michael interviews Aaron Schultz, founder of Outback Mind, based in Queensland, Australia. He is a strong advocate for a preventative approach to men's health. Having overcome his own period of huge self-doubt, crippling anxiety and poor lifestyle behaviours caused by overwork and burnout, Aaron managed to turn his weakness into his strength, becoming a teacher of meditation, yoga and anxiety management education. Aaron now has over 7,000 practical teaching hours, and Outback Mind is now expanding throughout regional Australia. Aaron says you've got to make health and well-being the foundation of your life. If you can do that well and do it continuously, then everything else benefits, not only in terms of business but also family and other people around you. This Cast Covers: The benefits of his daily training to his life Waking up at 4am so no one could see him train to avoid supposed profiling, all that type of stuff. Why getting your rhythm early in the morning is important How kids habits have changed from our time to kids now spending more time in front of a screen How lights can affect the way you sleep Links: Outback Mind Additional Resources: A Wink from A Guru by Aaron Schultz Quotes: "Back then University wasn't an option coming from a small country town, it was sort of either you go to work, or you become an academic, and I wasn't probably one of them." — Aaron Schultz "Look after yourself, if you can do that well and do it continuously, then everything else benefits." — Aaron Schultz "A lot of people start the day with a stimulant like coffee or something. And that sort of gets the nervous system escalated. But there's always a downside to that. But if we can just get into this rhythm early, I think that sets us up for a good day." — Aaron Schultz "One thing that helped me was paying attention to my diet, and my nutrition, to make sure that I was able to do what I needed to do throughout the day successfully and not sort of hit peaks and troughs with my energy." — Aaron Schultz "Putting even just 1% or 24 minutes a day, to be able to commit that to your well-being the physical body responds to that, your emotional health gets better." — Aaron Schultz

In this episode, Troy interviews Michael Chastaine, from Chastaine Law. He's based in New Mexico, United States of America. Michael is a criminal defense lawyer for 37 years. and for 17 years of a public defender before deciding to open his own firm in 2007. After a lot of success over the years he decided to open Chastaine Law. After soon realizing it didn't go as planned and being broke he seeked out help from his mentors and did some reading and research and slowly grew to an eight-person firm with more than seven figures a year routinely before selling out. Michael believes to never trust the data of marketing companies. The one habit, probably the single most overlooked, secret weapon to peak performance is sleep. You got to get enough sleep. If you're not getting enough sleep, your performance is going to suffer. This Cast Covers: Having $100,000 rainy day fund when COVID hit and taking advantage of the down time to grow the firm How technology has changed the industry now from the time he got out of law school in 1985 Success is enjoying in his 10 acre Adobe Hacienda in New Mexico Biggest mindset shift was after selling out, separating himself out of Chastaine Law and treating it as it's own entity Links: Chastaine Law Website Linkedin Additional Resources: Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman Quotes: "You can't grow what you don't measure" — Michael Chastaine "I think the mistake a lot of people make is they put all their money in one account." — Michael Chastaine "The challenge with marketing is that everybody will promise you the world." — Michael Chastaine "It's always good to start with you as the owner." — Michael Chastaine "Don't be a slave to everybody who's got your email address, your phone number, your Facebook page, or your WhatsApp, control your own time." — Michael Chastaine "Don't be afraid to invest, you got to be willing to spend money." — Michael Chastaine