Business Brain – The Entrepreneurs’ Podcast

How often are you getting patted on the back as a Small Business owner? Not enough, we know. On episode 73 of the Small Business Show, Dave and Shannon discuss developing a “Success List” that you can refer to when things get tough (because they always do), to remind yourself of just how awesome you actually are. By measuring your success in small steps, you’ll achieve larger victories that much faster. We also spend a few minutes talking our recent Vaya Island interview from our previous show, how to stop yourself from being paralyzed by the “what-ifs” and much more! Join us and then come share your Small Business success story via email or text at 401-472-4249. The post Remind Yourself of your Successes – Small Business Show 73 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

Live Easy with John Moran of Vaya Island What’s your small business story? Do you promote your geographic location as a strength? Do you promote your authenticity? How do you find the influencers to help you grow your Instagram presence? Join us for episode 72 of the Small Business Show to find the answers to these questions and more! John Moran from Vaya Island joins us this week for the Small Business Show to discuss how he has created a successful business and a huge social media following in a very short time. John shares how he grew his “Ambassador” program to over 5000 strong by sharing product and discounts with loyal fans on Instagram where he has over 23,000 followers that love Vaya Island products and the Vaya message of leading a positive and stress free lifestyle. Vaya Island’s story is an inspiring one that all of us can learn from. Listen in and let us know your thoughts with a quick text or voicemail to 401-472-4249! The post Authenticity and Small Business Success with John Moran from Vaya Island – SBS 72 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

What technology products and services does your Small Business need to succeed? Computers, phones, software and more – essential tools for starting and running your business.  Join Dave and Shannon on episode 71 of the Small Business Show to learn more! For the first time, both of your hosts are on the West Coast, recording the Small Business Show together! We leave Skype behind for this show and jump right into a discussion about what technology we use to run our various businesses. We start the show with a discussion about computers, then jump right into which type of phone system you’ll need, what type of credit card processing is the best choice, which software will make your life easier and much more. Products and Services mentioned on the show: Cloud based phone systems: Phone.com, RingCentral, Grasshopper Accounting Apps: FreshBooks, QuickBooks, AccountEdge Payment Processing: Paypal, Square, Stripe ShipWorks, ShipStation Customer Support: HelpScout, ZenDesk Database Awesomeness : Filemaker Pro We only got through about half of our show notes, so look forward to Part 2 of Tech and your Small Business coming soon! The post Small Business Technology – Hardware and Software For your Small Business – SBS 71 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

This is NOT how to handle change in your Small Business! Welcome to Episode 70 of the Small Business Show! This week we do a quick follow up on Facebook advertising with comments from Dave about ads for the Gig Gab podcast and their interview with Jan Hammer. You’ll hear about some inexpensive ways to get started with Facebook ads and how to keep tweaking your ads as you start to see results. We then jump into this week’s primary topic: Change and how to make it work for you. Shannon spends some time discussing how, as an entrepreneur and business owner, you may love change, but what about the people around you? Your employees, and even your family. How does change impact them and how do you go about getting everyone onboard when you know a change needs to be made? Changing quickly can be a critical part of success for your small business. Join us this week on the Small Business Show for tips and tricks that have helped your co-hosts succeed over the last 20-years with their businesses. Mentioned on this episode of the Small Business Show: The Real Story of New Coke (as Coca-Cola tells it, anyway) Henry Ford’s interview tactic with Salt. (even if not true, is interesting) Shannon has a favorite quote that he (nor Google) knows who said “When you want to compliment, look out the window, when you want to criticize, look in the mirror” – Do YOU know who said it? Want to reach us? Comment here, email, twitter, facebook or text us at 401-472-4249! The post The Impact of Change on You and Your Small Business – SBS 70 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

Join us this week for episode 69 of the Small Business Show! Dave and Shannon talk about Dave’s new business venture and then they jump right into part 2 of their series of tips about managing the tricky relationship that your business has with the IRS. Things like the importance of putting a human element into the relationship, getting advice BEFORE you need advice and more insight into how to turn a potential problem into just one more challenge that you will power through. If you do have the pleasure of going through an IRS audit, Shannon spends some time discussing how the IRS will also be auditing YOU in addition to your business. Every contact you have will be either a positive opportunity or a reason for the IRS to delve deeper into your business. You’ll want to be sure your lifestyle matches your tax returns. Listen in for more details. Finally, we talk about the all-important Payroll Tax and how to not go astray when managing those funds and we wrap the show up with tips on deciding if your independent contractors are actually employees and the importance of managing the sales tax you collect in your state. Want to chime in and share your experience? Send us a text or leave us a voicemail at 401-472-4249. We would love to hear from you! The post Part 2 of the Small Business IRS Show – SBS 69 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

This week on the Small Business Show, we start off by revisiting the concept of not setting financial goals for your business, but rather, developing systems that you can continually achieve success with and adjust for mistakes over time. Dave and Shannon have been using this concept for years, but it took Scott Adams book, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big to lay it out in detail. Scott’s book is a must read. Longtime listener Dan T. sent in a question which led us into the main topic of the show, How to interact with the IRS. Dan’s question: Hey guys – I have a question for you. I’ve started getting some letters from the IRS about my businesses tax filings from a couple of years ago. I think I know the answer to most of the questions they have, but I’m kind of freaking out that this may lead to an audit or something. I don’t have anything to hide, but having never been through this type of thing before, any tips for dealing with the IRS? Thanks so much for contacting us for help, Dan! It’s no surprise that we do have some tips on how to interact with the IRS that may help with your situation. We dive into a lot of details, but the two main points we want to make this week are: First, humanize your relationship with the IRS. Pickup the phone and make contact with who sent the letter, or call your local IRS office for help. Be up front, honest and transparent and chances are, you’ll find someone at the IRS that will take a vested interest in helping your situation. Treating that person with respect and connecting with them personally can make a tremendous difference in how things go for you. It’s also important not to forget that YOU are a customer of the IRS! That’s right, part of their job is to please you, believe it or not. IRS employees are trained to treat you well and to offer council to help solve problems to everyone’s benefit. Now, this doesn’t mean they have the power to relieve you of paying money if you owe it, but they can (and should) make the process as painless as possible. If you are not getting the type of treatment you expect, Shannon has some tips on getting someone else to take over your case. The IRS and your business are such huge topics that, of course, we ran out of time to cover everything we wanted to. Look for a 2nd installment of the The IRS Show soon!   The post The IRS Show – How you and your business should interact with the IRS – SBS 68 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

Do you compartmentalize your business? How do you keep things in perspective when solving problems? We discuss the importance of AMF (always moving forward!) when tackling problems with your small business as well as setting up triggers to help keep you accountable. We then move into a discussion of the new Federal Overtime rules that hike the hourly threshold from $23,660 to $47,476. How will this impact your managers and supervisors that are salaried? Will you adjust pay rates to cover additional overtime payments? Dave and Shannon do their best to be objective and discuss both sides of this new rule. In this episode, you can also find out how to get yourself one of the coveted Small Business Show T-shirts shown below. It’s simple, we promise! And we wrap up the show with some tips on Facebook advertising that you won’t want to miss with information about targeting your audience, getting help and finding out about local Facebook events near you. Listen in, learn and join in the discussion! We would love to hear from you via our voicemail and text line at 401-472-4249 or on our Facebook page. Show links: New Federal overtime rules – article in the NY Post Facebook business advertising info What works best on Facebook? Boosted posts, promoted posts or newsfeed ads? Good article on the CBO blog. Finding local Facebook events to learn about promoting your business on the site.   The post Salaried vs Hourly Employees, Facebook ads and more! – SBS 67 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

Does everything always go right with your small business? We didn’t think so. Dave and Shannon have had a bad week and no amount of their patented optimistic self-delusion will get them through without spending some time on the Small Business Show sharing their stories and talking through ways to keep yourself and your team motivated when times are tough. Shannon talks about the risks of being overly optimistic and what to do when donuts just aren’t enough to get smiles back on your employees faces after a setback. Dave share’s a story about using the law to solve a problem when things go really bad. Speaking of the law, we discuss advice from your attorney and why you should take every step possible before you file a lawsuit that will eat up your cash, your time and your mindshare that would otherwise be focused on your small business. We’re big fans of outside advisors and this week we talk about Clarity.fm. Clarity’s service can connect you with business experts on a cost-per-minute basis when you need some quick advice in a specialized area. If you are a business consultant, Clarity also offers a good way to connect with new clients. Where else can you get a phone call from Mark Cuban, even it does set you back $167 per minute! Listen in and you’ll learn about the importance of the destroyed floor photo above and much more on episode 66 of the Small Business Show! The post Small Business Highs and Lows. Overcoming Adversity and Powering Through Problems – SBS 66 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

What happens to your well thought-out Small Business plans if you become incapacitated? Who steps in to handle the myriad of details that you take care of each day. Dave and Shannon have discussed the more formal ways to setup a succession plan, such as disability insurance and Key Man policies, but what about the equally important, but informal information that you may have stuck in your head? We talk about how we setup “bread crumb” trails to help whoever may have to step in to take over our role, as well as ways to share information to help during a management transition. We call this the “Hit By a Bus” plan. Shannon then opens a discussion about a new book by Scott Adams of Dilbert fame, “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big.” A favorite quote, “goals are for losers,” leads us to talk about Adams’ concept of Systems instead of Goals. You’ll hear about why we think this is right on target and you’ll find out if Dave or Shannon have EVER set a financial Goal for their businesses. We wrap up the show with a powerful story from Dave based on the idea that it never hurts to ask as well as a phone call from Scott that sheds some insight into Dave’s idea of becoming an Expert Witness as a side business. Our favorite comment from Scott: “You’re basically teaching children, using adult language”. Thanks for the call, Scott! The post Small Business Planning for the Worst and Scott Adams Book – SBS 65 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

Ever have a crazy idea? Of course you have. Exploring those ideas can be the thing that leads to the next business opportunity. And that next business opportunity might eventually be the thing that puts food on your table. You need to pay attention to those crazy ideas, but you also need to learn how to make sure you don’t just spend your time chasing all the ideas. Shannon and Dave have experience with both sides of this and today’s the day they talk about it. Dave even throws in a new crazy idea of his own… and who knows? Maybe it’ll be lucrative some day soon! We also spend some time talking about how to deal with naysayers, if you should be sharing all your crazy ideas or just waiting to talk about how things are going once you get them started and giving yourself permission to just mess around. You just never know where things will lead and if you don’t let yourself wander a bit, you’re bound to miss opportunities. We wrap up the show by discussing your personal brand, when to start developing it, why you need to in the first place and what you can do with it once everyone knows what a rock star you actually are. Come join us! The post Crazy Ideas vs. Managing Your Time and Naysayers – SBS 64 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.