Business Owners Freedom Formula With Paul Maskill

Asking this ONE question to your team will start to change everything. It's our job as business owners to make sure our employees are fulfilling and achieving all of their goals. When we do, it eliminates the boss/employee hierarchy and puts everyone on a level playing field. Our team sees the empathy we are putting out there and that we recognize and appreciate their hard work. Toss your ego out the window and ask this question consistently.

When we first start our business, we say YES to everything! Sure, we can do it cheaper. Sure, we can figure out how to do that. And before we know it, we're a jack of all trades, master of none. When you try to serve everyone, you serve no one. The solution? Niching down. Niching down will provide you massive clarity while allowing you to work less & make more while working with your ideal customer. So how do you niche down? Three ways...check out the show :)

In 2013, Tim Fargo wanted to promote his new book, Alphabet Success. Using Twitter, he quickly realized his evergreen content scheduling was a  time-suck. He thought there had to be a better way. Reaching out to a colleague to build what he needed, Tim quickly had a solution to his problem of automating posts in a deliberate manner. Now, Social Jukebox serves hundreds companies from micro businesses with no staff to personal brands to major companies. Tim understands what it takes to launch a business. His first major success with Omega, an investigation company, started in an extra bedroom. Tim led the company through growth to over 300 employees in just a few years, selling it off for $20 million. Now he’s helping others reach larger  audiences through social media marketing automation with his company Social Jukebox. In my interview with Tim, he shares all sorts of valuable business tips based on his massive success, including, why most big ideas suck! 

Stop selling INPUTS...time, hours, material and whatever else it takes to deliver your service or product. Start selling the outputs that you provide...saving time, customer experience, value, how your service/product makes them feel, etc. When you continue to sell inputs, it's simply a race to the bottom...a race to see who can go out of business the fastest!

The power of saying NO is so hard to do yet so liberating once you've done it. The root of saying YES to everything (in my opinion) is a scarcity mindset. We don't know when the next "thing" or opportunity will come along...especially when it's related to customers. So we say YES to every customer...and then we realize we aren't charging enough, we're competing on price and dealing with customers we can't stand.

Darrell Darnell began podcasting in 2008 and formed the Golden Spiral Media podcast network in 2010. Now Darrell is a full-time podcast consultant and producer with his company Pro Podcast Solutions. Darrell nearly went out of business in January of 2015, but now has a rapidly growing company serving over 80 clients worldwide and earning multiple six figures per year. Darrell and his team at Pro Podcast Solutions offer a full-suite of services to support new and existing podcasters. Pro Podcast Solutions offers one-on-one podcast consulting, audio production, voiceovers, custom artwork, podcast publishing, show notes, and more.. In my interview with Darrell, we learn about his unexpected journey into the world of podcasting...first as a hobby and now as a full-time business owner supporting podcasters! Darrell first got into podcasting while listening to Lost podcasts (yes, the TV show Lost!). With a new sci-fi show out, Fringe, Darrell decided to turn on the mic, hit record and start talking about the show.

With several businesses going on and bright shiny objects and rabbit holes all over the internet, it's very easy to get distracted. Especially with things that don't move the needle! After reading AND implementing the 12 week year, my daily schedule is much calmer and my goals are much more attainable. Check it out!

After the excitement of buying anything, doubt starts to creep in. No matter what we paid for it...we question, did we make the right decision. The human brain does not like the unknown. It want likes things it knows that will keep it safe. The unknown is scary and causes buyer's remorse. So how do we put the kibosh on buyer's remorse? Simple! By showing our customers how appreciative we are of their business right away!

Marc Mawhinney is a lifelong entrepreneur who helps coaches get more clients (without paid advertising)! He achieves this with his coaching programs; his podcasts (Natural Born Coaches and The Marc Mawhinney Show); his Facebook group The Coaching Jungle, and his exclusive print newsletter Secret Coach Club.  He's been a speaker at events like Social Media Marketing World, frequently makes media appearances and contributes for Entrepreneur.com. You can learn more about Marc at NaturalBornCoaches.com. In my interview with Marc, we learn about his journey to becoming one of the leaders in the coaching industry. We also dig into the importance of increasing your fees in order to work with your ideal client while having to work with a lot less clients! In the day and age of digital marketing and online advertising, Marc goes against the grain with his marketing...no paid ads! Lastly, we discuss how daily emails will skyrocket your sales!

Following up to Episode 182 where I set out to visit 10 apartment complexes of where my ideal clients might be, this episode shares the preliminary results. And they were very surprising! Sometimes you just have to ASK. Because if you never ask, the answer is already NO.

Here's something that's really working for my dog walking business and my coaching/consulting business. Napoleon Hill defined mastermind as “The coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people, who work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony.” The two biggest game changers in Masterminds are: 1. Accountability 2. Getting to where you want to go MUCH quicker.

Jay is a partner at a startup consulting agency called Arizona Bay and the founder of a SaaS company called CloudSponge. He helps entrepreneurs fund, build and scale their startups with a particular focus on people who are trying to pivot from services to product businesses. He has launched several of his own product businesses from his own services company and he's talking with us today to see if he can help our listeners do the same. In my conversation with Jay, we first chat about how he got started with Arizona Bay as an employee...he liked it so much that he eventually became a partner! We even talk about how he's able to balance the life of an entrepreneur with the life of a dad and husband. By protecting his time and being very diligent with how he spends it, he's able to accomplish his personal & professional goals while achieving his ideal view of ultimate freedom.

Switching things up a little bit on the podcast! Starting today, my Freedom Friday episodes will now begin to document my journey as a local business owner as well! As you might now, I own a dog walking business and am a partner in a landscaping business. So I'm going to share with you what's going on each week to inspire you, help you and give you some insight into problems I might run into so you can avoid them :) In today's episode, I discuss how to go where your customers are without being salesy!

How often do we have businesses call us just to check in and see how things are going? The answer? Not very often...if ever! So since nobody is doing it, that sounds like a great opportunity to me! Here's one of the easiest ways to start improving your customer's experience today!

Jim Palmer is a marketing and business building expert. He is the founder of the Dream Business Academy and Dream Business Coaching and Mastermind Program. Jim is the host of Dream Business Coach TV, and the Dream Business Radio Podcast. Jim is a serial entrepreneur and creator of No Hassle Newsletters, No Hassle Social Media, Concierge Print and Mail on Demand Success Advantage Publishing, Custom Article Generator just to name a few! Jim is also the acclaimed author of Just Say Yes Create Your Dream Business and Live Your Dream Lifestyle; Decide- The Ultimate Success Trigger, Stop Waiting For It To Get Easier, The Fastest Way to Higher Profits, Stick Like Glue, Its Okay To Be Scared, But Never Give Up and The Magic of Newsletter Marketing. Currently Jim and his wife, Stephanie, along with their rescue dog, Blue are living their dream aboard their floating home. Jim conducts business from the boat and enjoys traveling the east coast of the United States, They spend time in New England near one daughter and tw

You started your business because you have a passion for the service or product and you're probably pretty damn good at it. And, what better way to get rid of a boss than to follow your passion. After all, they say "Do what you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life!" Until you end up doing a bunch of things that you hate that go with running a business. How do you focus just on what you love? Listen to this episode and I dig into it! :)

Just like any local business, it's all about the people that are out there delivering your service. And, as you know, it's usually a constant struggle to hire the right people for your team. We try Craigslist. We try Indeed. We scrape around and find other places to post...and then have to weed through a bunch of applicants that don't fit. Those days are gone with JazzHR. Streamline and automate your application process so you're only spending time ON HR tasks that move the needle.

Lee Caraher is the CEO of Double Forte PR & Digital Marketing; an acclaimed communication strategist, shes known for her practical solutions to big  problems. Her company works with some of the top consumer and technology brands in the country. Lee is the author of Millennials & Management based on her experience with failing and then succeeding at retaining Millennials.  Her second book, The Boomerang Principle was published in April 2017. Lee has a reputation for building cohesive, high producing teams who have fun together at the same time. She is a straight talker, although she does her best to be pleasant about it. Her big laugh and sense of humor have gotten her out of a lot of trouble.  Lee is active in the community and currently serves on three nonprofit boards. A graduate of Carleton College with a degree in Medieval History, which she finds useful every day, Lee lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, two sons, and a blind cat. Brace yourself, Lee has some good (albeit a littl

So many times in business, we get so far into the weeds and we just do what makes sense to us and what's easier for us...and we totally neglect how this could impact the customer experience. We just assume that since it makes sense to us, it makes sense to everybody. But that's not the case. If we start to make sure every system we implement improves the customer experience, we will win...big!

Are you one of those business owners who saves all of their receipts and enters them into QB once every 3 months? And then you realize that you’ve lost more than a few receipts and don’t remember what you bought that day? Or, even if you do track your expenses diligently, do you want to make it more efficient? Check out ReceiptBank and never have to save a receipt again!