The Builders

In this episode we have Wilson Mattos joining us.  He co-founded Rapid Crush and serves as it's current CEO.  Wilson and I first met many years ago at a seminar I spoke at (in 2009).  We remained friends and have had a number of great business adventures together..  In this conversation we start by digging into his roots, where he's from (Brazil), how he came to America and his journey climbing the corporate ladder to become a business leader and entrepreneur! We dig deeper into a couple of great topics and he shares some incredible nuggets.  We talked about partnerships, how him and Jason Fladlien first met and maintained their partnership for over 10 years.  We also talk about his team, culture and relationships.  Good stuff!  I hope you take a listen.. enjoy!

Today Vova Feldman, owner of the popular WordPress Platform, Freemius, joins me to talk about his journey and business.  We start out having him dig into his past and he talks about his family's migration from the Ukraine to Israel when he was 4 years old.  We learn how those experiences shaped him, how he discovered his love for building things, programming and business. From there we talk about how his company leverages and creates content for his user base and fans.  We discuss how he started his company, built relationships and found his first customers.  Learn how he prefers selling, his focus on the long game and his approach to marketing.  Great guy, great conversion!  Enjoy!

Quitting gets a bad rap.  Some people will tell you quitting is never a good thing.  But is that true?  The truth is there are different types of 'quitting'.  There's a spectrum.  And if you quit something it doesn't mean your overarching plans, goals or strategy has to change. In fact, sometimes quitting can be the strategy.  When we are testing something, we need to define when we are quitting.  In this episode I tell the story of products I tried to sell years ago and they didn't work.  I quit each attempt, but I didn't quit the idea and eventually succeeded!  I'm doing the same thing with this podcast and discuss that. Don't miss this episode!  Learn why micro-quitting.. is a good and healthy thing to do!

Join me for a discussion with Stephen Wilson Downey; our first guest from Ireland! Stephen and I first met on LinkedIn.  We got on a call and talked about his product (an AI-based WordPress plugin) and what he was doing in the WordPress space. Of course, that lead to him being on this podcast episode. Stephen's got an interesting backstory.. we dig into his roots, his journey as a chef and how he discovered his love for business and entrepreneurship. We of course also dive into what he's been building these last couple of years. We get into AI systems, machine learning.. well, if that doesn't pique your interest already, I don't know what will! Enjoy the episode!

In this solo episode, I'm back at it telling stories from my past. This is the story of how I first learned the power of systems and processes as a literal insurance salesman and how that carried over to my stint as an PPC advertiser, affiliate marketer, creating my own system and processes called “Campaign Blasting“.. to today running a web design agency and teams. This is without a doubt one of my favorite topics BECAUSE I think it has a significant impact on any business or endeavor. Systems and processes working in concert can help your business or agency become more efficient, consistent and streamlined. A system is a living thing.. everything under it can be iterated on and improved over time. It's a framework to help you continuously improve. Enjoy the episode!

Doland White is back with another great conversation around building teams. If you're run a business or agency for any length of time, you may find yourself in a position where you need to consider how you might grow or scale your team. But what does that mean? What is the difference betweening scaling and growing your agency or business? What is elasticity ad how does that play a role? He starts by defining the 3 dimensions of a team.. From there we both share stories, he extracts lessons from them.. and we benefit from his decades of experience building teams. 100% worth a listen if building teams is a thing for you and your business!

In this solo episode I dig into two topics that, when combined, form a powerful foundation for your marketing and getting more business.  The first topic is 'discovering your competitive advantage'.  Knowing what sets you apart can play a big role in how you attract business.  And sometimes, it's not something you know up front; sometimes it develops organically as you work with customers or clients. Then I discuss 'defining what you do'.  You could decide that you are a jack of all trades and do everything and anything.  But I'm willing to bet that if you define what you do and limit yourself, you'll do so much better!  That doesn't mean you just say 'no' or don't help that customer or client.  That's what strategic partnerships and referral business is for!

If you're building an agency or business, this episode is for you. Besides revealing my 5-10 year vision for my agency, I delve into how my web design business has developed. Any time we release a service or product it can end up being something we didn't anticipate.. my agency has been the same way. But as I talk about in this episode, that doesn't mean we let go of our initial vision. You adapt, take advantage and then circle back! I also talk about my current products and my suite of products I'm releasing later this year or early next year. At the heart of this new product is the goal to help agencies and freelancers; to provide them a toolkit.. so, if you are one of those two things, exciting things coming! Enjoy!

I'm joined by Widmaer Telisma in this episode.  Wid, as we call him, currently runs a successful web marketing agency in Montreal (Canada).  Him and I have a very similar story these past 15 or so years; in fact, he had joined one of my memberships back in 2007.  That is where I first met him hanging out in my community and forum.  We both started our days online doing a wide variety of things to make money.  In the early days we did a lot of affiliate marketing, PPC (AdWords), some Adsense and so much more. But today we have another parallel.. he followed the path of starting his own marketing agency which he's been doing successfully for the past 5 years; as you know, I run a web design agency.  We talk about his journey, common experiences and touch a variety of topics related to building and managing an agency.  I hope you join us.. Enjoy!

In this solo episode I dig into telling stories to sell your personal brand, services and more.  Learn how I incorporate stories into my business..  how to connect stories from your past into a conversation that helps 'soft' sell.  Learn the types of stories you can tell and how to deliver them. Stories are things we tell verbally.. but we are also telling a story with the content we spread across the web.  Your websites, social media and other avenues all work together to tell the story of your brand.  Being your authentic self, telling the good and the bad stuff and curating your stories over time is powerful and will help you attract more business.  Enjoy the episode!