The Builders

In this episode we are joined by Brian Bauer.  He is the founder of a CRO Agency called Bauer Entertainment Marketing.  We first talk talk about his journey from becoming a 3rd generation drummer in his household, his work on in radio, becoming a member of a touring band and landing in Nashville where he eventually takes all that experience in the entertainment industry and builds an agency to help others. One of my favorite parts of the conversation is how his team and agency responded to the pandemic.  How they maintained their momentum and grew over 300% since.  We talk about how he survived, what he did for his clients and we identified some key traits for those that kept their businesses open. From there we talk about story.. after our initial conversation I really wanted to highlight how he took his story and love for entertainment and baked that into his brand story.  Then we land on another thing he’s passionate about - conversions.  He shares some key insights into how a business can incrementally improve their conversion rates and how we can adapt to an environment where ads become more expensive and more difficult to target.  Good stuff!  Enjoy!

In this episode, Matt’s joined by Ilisa Millermoon.  Ilisa is an “Intuitive Energy Artist” working in Acrylic Ink and Gouache.  But through this conversation there’s so much more that she does.. the art is a means to an end – it is a ‘tool for healing’.   It’s interwoven into more services and the content she creates for her ‘tribe’. We talk about her journey to becoming an artist; from years working as a goldsmith, in management to making the leap and becoming a full-time self-employed artist.  What did that transition look like?  She shares some amazing advice and insights into becoming your authentic self and creating a business that attracts ‘your people’. I was really interested in how she wove 'story' into her artwork and how she sells her art.  We visit that and how she personally looks at marketing.  What does she focus on the most?  Does she use any of the traditional methods we come to think about when promoting our products and services online?  A lot of gold from the former goldsmith in this one.  Enjoy!

In this episode, Matt talks about marketing for non-marketers.  There are a lot of people that find themselves in business because of their passion, talents and just because they do their thing.. their craft.  But at some point think, “I would really like to market this business now”. But that sounds easier said than done.  You’re busy!  You don’t know much, if anything, about marketing and where to start.  Matt been online for almost 20 years marketing a range of products, services and businesses.  From his offline insurance agency in the early days, as an affiliate for near a decade, his own digital products, memberships, web design services and more.  It’s engrained in him. But he doesn’t talk about it much these days (“been there, done that”).. here’s a rare exception.  He shares what he thinks about when he’s marketing his business.  And his advice to those that don’t have that base of knowledge about marketing..  how to approach it so it’s less stress and how to ‘grow it’ in your business so your business can thrive.  Enjoy!

In this episode, Matt provides his perspective on estimating - from the trenches.  Estimating is an important part of any agencies business.  That’s how we win business after all.  But if one is not careful, estimating can soak up a lot of time.  Time that would be better spent in our areas of your business or taking care of your existing projects, clients and team. Learn how Matt approaches estimating in his AGENCY.  When it’s a ‘cost of doing business’ and when additional fees come into play.  A big part of this is prequalifying before you spend the time.  He discusses what he does up front to save him (and the prospects/leads) time.  How do you find out if it’s a good fit first?  How can you leverage intro calls?  What other ways are there to prequalify? But when do fees kick in?  Listen to the episode to find out!

In this episode, Ryan Lawrence joins us again to discuss WordPress Full-site editing (FSE) and it’s impact on existing or future client sites and projects.  Both Ryan and I service clients and other agencies that use WordPress.  In fact, for both of us, the vast majority of our clients have WordPress sites or build them. But a lots been changing with WordPress.  And the reality is the separation between the ‘ideal roadmap’ for WordPress' development team (their vision) and the Real Life application - how it’s actually used on a day to day basis - is bigger than ever. As developers we have to be prepared for almost everything; there are endless ways to actually develop a site with WordPress.. and the reality is many of our existing clients and projects will have a slower, gradual adoption of FSE - if they do at all.  Having said that though, new clients and new projects, complete redesigns.. that’s where the opportunities to build FSE themes really exist.  So much to dig into here from the trenches.. enjoy the episode!

Today Ed Fox joins us.  Born and raised in Australia (now living in America) Ed’s been a serial Entrepreneur since he was a kid!  He was finding creative opportunities to sell stuff already when he was 7 years old.  He was building businesses when most people are still trying to figure out who they are in their teens. But this is not by accident.  Ed grew up in an environment surrounded by others in business.. almost everyone he mentions in his family had a business of some kind and influenced him.  So it was instilled in him at an early age and he had no one around that would tell him, “you can’t do that, Ed!”. One of the things that always intrigues me is how successful people come up with ALL THOSE IDEAS.  So I had to ask, “Ed, how do you come up with ALL THOSE IDEAS??”  He shares his secrets and there are some amazing takeaways that I plan to implement in some way into my own business; I have no doubt some of you’ll benefit in the same way. Enjoy the listen!

In this episode Matt dives into a topic near and dear to his heart: project and time management… getting things done. He starts out recapping how 2022 is going, networking and his experience so far with his new VR headset. Then we he shares his experience from THE TRENCHES as it relates to the main topic. A big part of how he manages his day to day is having an awesome team to help him in a variety of ways. But, as he discusses, the transition to having a team didn’t mean he got less busy. It just meant he entered a new phase of his business this past year with a new role. He talks about how he applies ‘Kaizen’, how he tracks time, how he balances and gets stuff done, self-managed teams, agile project management and so much more. And how he applies ‘Getting Things Done’ to his business.  Digging into how he captures everything into his businesses systems, processes and documentation.. and how it forms a ‘less stress’ framework. At the end he shares his vision for the coming years. Good stuff! Enjoy!

In this solo episode with Matt, he talks about ‘building’ from a different angle.. building YOU and your confidence. You can have a perfect idea and a perfect plan to execute that idea, but if you don’t have the confidence or ability to see it through, then that’s a sad state of affairs. You deserve more in your life! We have enough obstacles and things to overcome in life and business, we certainly don’t want to stand in our own way. You don’t want to be paralyzed and not take action because a small voice inside you says you’re not qualified.. Matt pulls from his personal journey building himself up over the years, building confidence, and finding himself in a place where he doesn’t allow ‘Imposter Syndrome’ to control his own pursuits. You’ll be introduced to a number of areas that he believes changed him for the better over the past 3+ decades and could help you if you focus on them.

In this solo episode with Matt Levenhagen, he talks about what him and his team are building!  In 2022 they are on a path to launch their own product called Unified Toolkit (UTK).  It is currently in development.  This is not his first product.  He’s built, launched and sold many products over the years.  So his insights will most certainly be unique.. especially around some no-hype, realistic expectations for how things will go. UTK will provide a brand new Full-site Editing WordPress Block Theme, a suite of new plugins and resources for freelancers and agencies.  It’s an ambitious project!  Matt shares the status, who’s doing what on his team and what the launch plans are.  And the ‘why’.  Why THIS project makes sense in the context of his Web Design Agency.  Enjoy!

In the first solo episode of the year, Matt talks about Virtual Reality, it’s impact on web design and businesses.  We first learn about one of Matt’s pastimes to set the stage for the topic.. why is he getting into this topic now and why the interest?  Then we learn about what VR is and how it relates to AR or mixed reality. With that foundation we delve into aspects of VR that will start impacting your own websites or the websites of your clients.  Where is it today?  You might be surprised to know someone could be looking at your website in virtual reality right now!  And where is it headed?  In what ways might a business leverage VR to sell more of their products and services? If you’re a web designer or developer, how might it present itself to you?  Do you need to worry about it?  Enjoy the episode!