Working Without Pants - Creative Entrepreneurship
Jake Jorgovan
Working Without Pants is the podcast for agency owners and consultants who are wanting to win more clients and better clients for their business. Each week, Jake Jorgovan brings you interviews with industry leaders and experts on how to win more clients for your agency or consulting practice. Past guests have included Brennan Dunn, Brent Weaver, Kai Davis, Philip Morgan, Brian Casel, Blair Enns, and many more. Learn more at https://jake-jorgovan.com/podcast
213: Leading Others and Letting Go
To experience the freedom that entrepreneurship can provide, you need to learn how to let go of certain responsibilities and let others lead. In this episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, I provide some tips on how to let team members take ownership of more responsibility and what that process looks like. In many cases, people confuse delegation with letting others lead. Delegating new tasks can be a step toward moving someone into a different role, but you’re still overly involved
Jun 27, 2022 • 13:03
212: What Got You Here Won't Get You There
There are many shifts you go through as an entrepreneur. And there most definitely will be a time when the tactics and mindsets that worked for you previously will need to be updated in order to level up. In this episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, I discuss the importance of continuing to evolve as an entrepreneur and why there are always new challenges awaiting you throughout your entrepreneurial journey. Many entrepreneurs think things will get easier as they reach certain miles
Jun 21, 2022 • 10:17
211: M&A for Agencies with Amanda Dixon
Digital agencies are very different from traditional businesses, thus buyers and sellers of these agencies need to approach M&A in a particular way. In this episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, I sit down with Amanda Dixon, co-founder of Barney, to discuss how agency owners should be thinking about M&A to maximize their exit. We also talk about what buyers are looking for when acquiring digital agencies. Amanda shares that M&A for digital agencies requires a different approach because
Jan 3, 2022 • 31:52
210: Finance for Agencies
Though making money is a key goal of any business, many business owners aren’t very financially savvy. If you’re a business owner that simply hands off your finances to a bookkeeper without involving yourself at all, you’ll likely have a finance problem at some point in time. In this episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, I discuss the importance of understanding your business’s finances and provide some useful tips to start becoming more financially literate. Many entrepreneurs don’t
Dec 14, 2021 • 15:34
209: How To Think About Systems
When building a business or starting a new entrepreneurial pursuit, we tend to handle many of the day-to-day tasks ourselves. And though working this way is fine for a while, at some point you need to turn that chaos into an orderly system. In this episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, I explore the importance of building systems and why they are needed in order to scale your business in an organized and predictable way. If you’re new to building systems within your business, it can
Dec 7, 2021 • 17:47
208: How To Think About Marketing
One of the most common mistakes I see business owners and marketers make is spreading their marketing efforts across too many channels. The focus needs to be on the scalability of a few channels instead of getting caught up in launching as many campaigns as possible. In this episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, I share my insight on how you should be thinking about marketing in order to produce real results for your business. To see which marketing channels will work best for your
Dec 2, 2021 • 11:01
207: Building Outbound as a Sustainable Growth Channel With Isaac Marsh, Partner at Lead Cookie
Many people expect quick wins from outbound and if they don’t see results in a few months, they drop it altogether. This is unfortunate because the real power of outbound comes from your ability to build outbound as a long-term growth channel for your business. In the new episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, Isaac Marsh, Partner at Lead Cookie, joins me to discuss how people should be thinking about outbound and why it's such a sustainable growth channel. We kick off the show by dis
Nov 30, 2021 • 30:34
206: Why To Consider a 4 Day Work Week
Traveling or engaging in other activities outside of work is always great. But trying to fit in a full week of work in a three- to four-day period to accommodate these activities can be stressful if not approached correctly. Instead of feeling anxious about getting everything done, I’ve found it’s best to re-prioritize work and focus on the essentials. In this episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, I share my journey of how I’ve come to love a three- to four-day workweek while still bei
Nov 16, 2021 • 8:44
205: Introducing my New Company, CustomData.ai
In this special episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, Isaac Marsh joins me to discuss our new business venture, CustomData.ai. At a high level, Custom Data scrapes the internet looking for prospects with your specific intent signals to buy. We gather this intent data and deliver you and your sales team hand qualified leads every single week. Not only is this data immediately actionable, but it gives you all the details you need to confidently approach your outbound efforts. We discuss th
Aug 24, 2021 • 23:17
204: How Lead Cookie is Navigating the Evolution of Outbound with Isaac Marsh
Many outbound agencies focus on delivering high quantities of leads but leave much to be desired in regards to the quality of those leads. Though playing the numbers game can work to an extent, we believe there are better outbound strategies that reduce the risk of damaging your agency’s reputation and at the same time bring qualified leads to your clients. In the new episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, Isaac Marsh, Partner at Leader Cookie, joins me to explore how we have seen the ou
Aug 16, 2021 • 32:50
203: Why We Are Happy about LinkedIn’s Limits with Isaac Marsh
If you’ve been a user of LinkedIn over the years, you’ve probably witnessed the shift from it being a very relationship-focused platform, to one where your inbox is filled with spammy messages and connection requests. For these reasons, LinkedIn has reduced the number of connection requests you can send from 2,500 per month to 100 per week. This is bad news for those that spray-and-pray connection requests, but it's extremely beneficial for those that already focus on quality outbound efforts. I
Aug 10, 2021 • 22:09
202: Packaging and Pricing for Productized Services
When productizing services, it can be a challenge to figure out how to package and price those services. Additionally, having the discipline to stick to a productized framework is often more difficult than people realize. In this episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, I share a methodology that has helped me productize services successfully, and the benefits it can bring to your business. In essence, I recommend building three core packages to align with different tiers of service, as wel
Aug 3, 2021 • 18:53
201: A Framework for Improving Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance is crucial for the sustainability of any entrepreneur. Most of us have some method, activity, or way to find this balance, but sometimes this balance can only be found through the prioritization of your tasks at hand. In this episode of the Working Without Pants Podcast, I share an effective framework of prioritization I have been using to find more work-life balance. The framework is quite simple. You start by organizing your work tasks and projects into three categories: 1)
Jul 26, 2021 • 15:22
200: Systems Development and Credit-Based Pricing with Corey Northcutt
Building and implementing robust processes and systems for your business is a must when trying to create more efficiency and scalability within your business. In this episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, I sit down with Corey Northcutt, Founder and CEO at Northcutt, to discuss the processes he has built for his SEO enterprise agency, and why using a credit-based pricing model was the right fit for his business. Corey notes that when offering technical services with many steps such as wi
Apr 28, 2021 • 43:04
199: Converting from an Agency to a SaaS Company with Kane Jamison
On this episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, I sit down with Kane Jamison, Founder of Content Harmony, to discuss his journey of transforming his content marketing agency into a SaaS business. Kane shares that though his content marketing agency was successful in many respects, it wasn’t going to reach the level of self-sufficiency that he desired. He wanted to narrow his focus on an offering that could scale better and help content marketers everywhere. Thus, Kane decided to take the c
Apr 20, 2021 • 40:30
198: Running a Multi-Million Dollar Sales Team with Dan Morris
On this episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, Dan Morris, Managing Partner at Mindracer Consulting, sits down with me to share his experience of growing, training, and managing world-class sales teams. Dan discusses his journey in sales and why cultivating internal motivation and curiosity are key factors for the success of any salesperson. This curiosity paired with the right training and market research are what bring down the walls for clients and can position you to close more deals.
Apr 13, 2021 • 45:00
Part 6 - How to host, syndicate, and promote your podcast
To get your podcast out to the world, proper hosting and promotion are a must. In this episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, I’ll cover the essential details you need to consider when hosting, syndicating, and promoting your B2B podcast. I walk through some of the available hosting platforms and recommend using Anchor because it’s easy to use, budget-friendly, and utilizes up-to-date technologies. Anchor also makes syndicating your podcast to iTunes, Spotify, or other channels a breeze.
Apr 6, 2021 • 12:23
Part 5 - How to Conduct a Great Podcast Interview
Though hosting your podcast and interviewing guests may seem a little intimidating when you’re just starting out, it’s much easier than you think. As a host, you’ll actually only be speaking a small portion of the time. It’s your guests and their insight that fills most of the conversation. On this episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, I’ll cover the tips and strategies you can use to conduct engaging interviews with world-class guests. I discuss the importance of researching your guests
Mar 30, 2021 • 11:20
Part 4 - Preparing for Your B2B Podcast Launch
In between the ideation phase of your podcast and your first guest interview, there are important details you need to get in order. On this episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, I’ll dive into everything you need to accomplish to be well prepared for your B2B podcast launch. Beginning with podcast artwork, I discuss how to find a graphic designer and what details you need to communicate to them. I provide suggestions for which podcast microphones will suit your purposes and outline how t
Mar 23, 2021 • 15:50
Part 3 - How to Build Your B2B Podcast Strategy and Plan
All great podcasts start with an idea to share valuable information. But, the idea alone isn’t enough. You need to refine this idea into a functional strategy for targeting a specific audience with a distinct message. In this episode of the Working Without Pants Podcast, I’ll explore some of the things you need to consider before ever hitting record on your first podcast episode. I discuss why when deciding on your podcast’s subject matter, it’s important to appeal to prospects and partners ins
Mar 16, 2021 • 16:15
Part 2 - How to Build Your B2B Podcast Production Team
Any great podcast is backed by a full podcast production team. From conceptualizing your strategy all the way through publishing and promoting a finished product, there are many moving parts that need to be organized. Typically, you either outsource this work to a full service podcast production agency, or you can choose to hire individuals to build an in-house team. Though it may be more cost effective to try and tackle this in-house, it takes a tremendous amount of time and project management
Mar 9, 2021 • 17:07
Part 1 - Why Launch a B2B Podcast
The biggest myth around starting a podcast is that you need to build a large following in order to be successful. Building an audience is part of the equation, but it is far from the greatest value driver of starting a podcast. In this episode of the Working Without Pants Podcast, I describe why the number one value driver from podcasting is how it amplifies your ability to network with strategic partners, prospects, and influencers. I discuss why it’s easier than you think to get high level gue
Mar 2, 2021 • 20:14
191: Building for a Lucrative Exit with Ryan Tansom
A multitude of startup founders who take the plunge into entrepreneurship do so with the goal of financial freedom and independence. But when faced with the prospect of an investment, an acquisition, or a merger, most entrepreneurs don’t realize what needs to be done. This can lead to a shattered realization of a broken dream as the vision of that financial gain from all your hard work begins to fade into obscurity. Today’s episode of Work Without Pants features Ryan Tansom. Ryan is the Co-Found
Jan 14, 2021 • 46:50
190: Running 9 companies at the same time with David Henzel
This week's episode compliments last week's chat with Dave Schneider. David Henzel is the CEO of Upcoach and co-owner of an impressive amount of businesses he runs with Dave Schneider. David has been a huge inspiration to me and my businesses. We often hear people preaching the mindset of doing 1 thing really well, but David inspired me to act differently and take action on my natural penchant towards working on a variety of projects... ever since I took his advice, I've quadrupled my income! To
Dec 10, 2020 • 36:44
189: Selling your first company with Dave Schneider
On today's show, I sit down with Dave Schneider of Ninja Outreach. We discuss what it's like to sell a company, and Dave shares how his journey with Ninja Outreach led him to create Shortlist, a marketing agency. If you're interested in building and selling a software company, this episode is for you! Be sure to tune into next week's episode with David Henzel to hear how Dave and David partnered together to start a bunch of different companies... and ended up running 9 companies at the same time
Dec 4, 2020 • 42:22
188: Why entrepreneurs should take more vacations
11 days… no email… no calls… no business. Recently I returned from a vacation where I stepped completely away from my businesses. It was a powerful milestone to hit, and one that many entrepreneurs fear of committing to. In this podcast episode, I dive into why entrepreneurs should take more vacations… and how taking time off can accelerate your growth as an entrepreneur. Want to work with me as an advisor? Visit jake-jorgovan.com/coaching
Nov 20, 2020 • 12:45
187: Building a market research firm with Sarah Weise
Today I chat with Sarah Weise of BIXA Research, a marketing research firm with clients like Google and other prominent Fortune 500 companies. I came across Sarah while I was doing my own research into... marketing research. Sarah teaches the LinkedIn Learning course on Market Research. There are tons of marketers and agencies out there, it was fascinating to learn what big companies will pay for and how much money is spent on researching how to do better marketing. Want to work with me as an adv
Nov 5, 2020 • 38:39
186: Building a performance-based marketing agency with Adam Weiler
On this week's episode, I have a chat with performance-based Amazon expert Adam Weiler of Sunken Stone. Sunken Stone is an Amazon consulting partner doing brand management services that help companies selling Amazon products to optimize their business and gain more presence. What's interesting about Adam's business is that it runs on a performance model, which means they charge on increased new revenue. This model is quite different from cash paying marketing services, which you can hear more ab
Oct 29, 2020 • 41:44
185: Rethinking success with Doug Holladay
On this show I have a chat with Doug Holladay, the CEO of PathNorth and author of Rethinking Success. We're super lucky to have Doug on the show today, he's highly successful and has a fascinating story that sees him surrounded by affluent people (think Warren Buffet level affluent) and, you guessed it, lots of success stories. If you're interested in finding meaning in work and life, that's what Doug is all about, you'll love what we dive into on this episode. Want to work with me as an advisor
Oct 22, 2020 • 44:41
184: The slow build of a SaaS product with Jeroen Corthout
In this episode, I sit down with Jeroen Corthout of Salesflare, a CRM SaaS product. Jeroen has great insights to share about his journey in building a sustainable software company. In light of starting my first software company (Passaroo.com - in beta), I will be reaching out to connect with more people in the software game to learn from their experiences. I'm sure you'll find tons of value in this episode! Want to work with me as an advisor? Visit jake-jorgovan.com/coaching
Oct 9, 2020 • 46:04
183: Building an outbound training company with Jason Bay
On this episode of the Working Without Pants podcast, I have a chat with my friend Jason Bay of Blissful Prospecting. Outbound Prospecting SER world. Jason and I have been working in the space outbound prospecting, SER space for some time now. His company started off providing services and eventually moved into training for larger companies. While we both started in similar places, our journeys have taken us down very different paths. Tune in to hear the story of how two people navigated differe
Oct 1, 2020 • 50:05
182: Building your personal brand with Elyse Archer
On this episode, I sit down with Elyse Archer of Brand Builders Group. Since recording this episode, I became a customer of theirs because this discussion sold me on how awesome their service is. In this episode, we dive into how they grew to a team of 50 (!) over only 2 years. We also chat about what makes for a strong personal brand and how to think through the process of building a brand. Tons of value here, don't miss out! Want to work with me as an advisor? Visit jake-jorgovan.com/coaching
Sep 24, 2020 • 39:15
181: Why selling marketing services is stupid
Yes… as a person who runs two marketing agencies, I am calling this business model stupid. In this episode, I go into why. I also share the opportunity that most service companies have to 10x their client value… And examples on how I have done this myself. Want to work with me as an advisor? Visit jake-jorgovan.com/coaching
Sep 10, 2020 • 13:24
180: How to succeed in your next hire
Hiring… this is something that most entrepreneurs struggle with. And messing it up is an expensive mistake to make. In this episode, I go through my framework that I have used 30+ times to make successful hires. Want to work with me as an advisor? Visit jake-jorgovan.com/coaching
Sep 3, 2020 • 10:52
179: Building a business that scales without employees featuring Pia Silva
In today's episode, I sit down with Pia Silva of Badass Your Branding. Pia took the branding agency model and flipped it on its head - instead of doing huge branding engagements, the kind that often take tens of thousands of dollars and many months to produce, she started offering 2 day intensives with her customers. Tune in to hear how Pia scaled up, expanded beyond just branding and built up a successful training business. Here's what's even more interesting - she did it all this with zero emp
Aug 27, 2020 • 36:18
178: Scarcity mindset never goes away
Scarcity mindset… this is something that has been on my mind a lot lately. I’ve seen this in myself. I’ve seen this in the people I advise. And I’ve seen this in millionaires who never need to work again… What has become apparent is that scarcity mindset never goes away. That is what I dive into and unpack in this episode. Want to work with me as an advisor? Visit jake-jorgovan.com/coaching
Aug 20, 2020 • 10:41
177: Chaos and Order in your business
Chaos and order… this is possibly one of my favorite frameworks for life and business. Feeling stressed and overwhelmed... this episode is for you. Feeling content and wanting more… this episode is for you. This episode gets into another high-level mindset of how I think about my life and business. Want to work with me as an advisor? Visit jake-jorgovan.com/coaching
Aug 13, 2020 • 8:42
176: How to spot when you are a bottleneck in your own business
As your business grows, you inevitably become a bottleneck within your own companies' growth. The hard thing is to identify when this happens. We find all sorts of reasons to justify to ourselves to stay in a role that we know we should hand-off… yet there is a time and place to recognize when you are a bottleneck to your own growth. Want to work with me as an advisor? Visit jake-jorgovan.com/coaching
Jul 16, 2020 • 9:24
175: What do you want
This simple question is a powerful one. In this solo episode, I dive into this question and share some exercises for you to get clear on what you want.
Jul 9, 2020 • 11:23
174: What to do when you are overwhelmed
Overwhelmed… That is a good way to summarize how I felt the past few weeks. Too many projects. Too many opportunities. Too many tasks. Too many calls. As entrepreneurs, we often hit this level of “overwhelm” when we are working too hard… I’ve hit it many times, and many of my advising clients have experienced this also. In this episode, I talk through how I deal with overwhelming situations.
Jul 2, 2020 • 13:36
173: Invest in your customers
There is a famous story from Charlie Munger where he talks about his early days as a lawyer. He talks about how his focus at any given time is on doing the best job possible at the work in front of you today. So many entrepreneurs are focused on themselves and growing their business... Their head is in the sky instead of focusing on doing the best they can for the customers they have today. In this solo episode of the Working Without Pants Podcast, I dive deep into this idea of "Investin
Jun 25, 2020 • 7:30
172: How my mindset on money has evolved
Here is another solo podcast episode where I talk about money, mindsets, and how my mindset has evolved with money over the course of my entrepreneurial career.
Jun 11, 2020 • 21:41
171: How I am launching 5 new companies
Yep. I have fully embraced the title of serial entrepreneur. Currently ramping up a total of 5 new companies in partnership with others... (and more coming soon). Want to work with me as an advisor? Visit jake-jorgovan.com/coaching
Jun 4, 2020 • 18:59
170: Building a productized content agency with Dani Bell
This week I have a chat with Dani Bell of Scribly.io, a productized content marketing agency that does everything from planning through to production and ongoing guidance to help clients consistently boost traffic and attract leads. Scribly is 18 months old and after a pivotal shift, they've seen a great growth. We talk about the challenges that come with big pivots and Dani shares everything she's learned along the way. With everything that's happening in the world, it seems there is a changi
Jun 3, 2020 • 43:02
168: Building an agency / media company / speaking firm with Jay Baer
Today's episode sees me chatting with Jay Baer of Convince and Convert. Jay has been working in digital since 1993 - tune in to hear a story about the sweet deal he made with Anheuser-Busch over ownership of Budweiser.com. Jay's agency is built up of 3 parts: a content strategy firm, a media & sponsorship company, and a paid public speaking business. It's not your typical agency as it focuses on strategy only, as opposed to execution. Did I mention Jay is a Hall of Fame speaker? Super intere
May 28, 2020 • 40:26
167: Selling to enterprises with Brian Burns
This week I had the pleasure of chatting with Brian Burns, host of a network of podcasts, including The Brutal Truth About Sales & Selling podcast and the B2B Revenue Leadership podcast. Brian worked in software enterprise sales for 25 years before going out on his own. Today, he's built up such a stellar podcast following that he's able to work full-time on creating value through podcast content. In this episode, we discuss the complex sale and how to sell to bigger companies. If you're stu
May 20, 2020 • 43:45
166: Scaling to 140+ remote team members with Kean Graham
This week I had a chat with Kean Graham of MonetizeMore, a large ad tech company with over 140 remote workers living all over the world. MonetizeMore serves a really unique niche in the publishing industry. They help publishers with ad monetization through the use of tech and proprietary manual optimization techniques. Tune in to hear the story of how the company grew and how they successfully niched-down. I think you'll find a ton of value in this episode.
May 13, 2020 • 43:21
165: Scaling a content agency to 100+ team members with Alyssa Patzius
On today's episode I chat with Alyssa Patzius, COO of Influencer & Co., a content marketing agency based in Columbia, Missouri (near where I grew up!) Influencer & Co. connects the dots between earned media PR and your on-site content so you can build an entire cohesive inbound funnel with tangible ROI. This is a great episode for anyone interested in learning more about scaling from a small local business to a large global agency with team members all over the world. Tune in to hear how Influ
May 6, 2020 • 44:21
164: Evolutions, working with your spouse, and psychology with Jason Bay
On this episode, I sit down with Jason Bay of Blissful Prospecting. Jason and I are in the same Outbound industry, but we took different paths. His business helps sales teams to bring in more leads through cold outreach. Sales reps are great at taking demos and doing sales calls, but the struggle is often that the marketing team isn't filling their pipeline with leads - Blissful Prospecting provides training for sales teams so they can fill their pipeline with more organic leads (and depend less
Apr 29, 2020 • 50:11
163: Building a recurring video content agency with Tristan Pelligrino
Today I sit down with Tristan Pelligrino of Motion, a content marketing agency that helps B2B tech companies generate demand with genuine conversations. They do this through the creation of thought leadership programs that revolve around podcasts, video series and other shareable formats. Tristan has 15 years of experience working with agencies, which means he has tons of great advice to share when it comes to building and running agencies. We both run our companies off of the EOS model, if yo
Apr 22, 2020 • 44:38
162: Make more sales today with John Logar
On this week's episode I sit down with John Logar, founder of ConsultingUnleashed.com. John isn't just a coach, he has tons of experience building and scaling a variety of different businesses, and also runs a huge successful agency. He is a great example of someone who practices what he preaches, while he's learning at the same time. Through Consulting Unleashed, John is known for building companies quickly using a consistent methodology (Attract, Convert, Leverage) that teaches people to sca
Apr 15, 2020 • 58:53
161: Patents for entrepreneurs with Dvorah Graeser
In this episode, I sit down with Dvorah Graeser, founder of KISSpatent, a productized patent service. Dvorah took what used to be an expensive, oft lengthy legal service mostly used by corporations and turned the model on its head by offering it as a fixed-price product that puts the power of patents in the hands of innovators. This is a great episode for anyone wondering how they might able to apply a patent to their business. Tune in to us discuss a number of different forms of idea protecti
Apr 9, 2020 • 46:23
160: Transitioning from corporate to entrepreneur with Geoff Atkinson
This week I speak with Geoff Atkinson of Huckabuy. Geoff was previously employed in the corporate world at Overstock.com as the Senior VP of Marketing and successfully transitioned to running his own business at Huckabuy, which is now generating over 1M MRR. Geoff's first entrepreneurial endeavor started as a B2C affiliate website and eventually pivoted to a performance-based SEO software company. It took at least 2-3 years to find their footing, but they eventually found a way to respond to
Apr 2, 2020 • 27:51
159: Mental health for entrepreneurs with Sherry Walling
Listen to this week’s episode if you’re feeling stressed, overworked, or battling with finding a balance between your entrepreneurial life and your personal life. Sherry Walling has a PhD in clinical psychology and specializes in entrepreneurial health. Sherry also owns ZenFounder along with her podcast and is the author of “The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Keeping Your Sh*t Together: How to Run Your Business Without Letting it Run You”. Now, while this particular interview actually took place befo
Mar 19, 2020 • 39:08
158: Selling a productized service business with Tyler Gillespie
This week, I speak with Tyler Gillespie, the “Thinking Time Chief” of Applause Lab, a company that creates great customer video testimonials and other social proof. Before Applause Lab, Tyler sold his content writing service company, and here we discuss details on what his journey of building Applause Lab was like after selling. This is super informative and a great place to be to learn about the process of starting your own company. Tyler describes his experience with the content writing busi
Mar 11, 2020 • 39:23
157: Book Yourself Solid with Matthew Kimberley
Matthew Kimberley pours out some amazing insights in this week’s episode that you won’t want to miss! With a background in sales and as an author himself, Matthew has also taken over the entire program called Book Yourself Solid, which was originally created and written by Michael Port. With Book Yourself Solid, Matthew helps business owners figure out what path is right for them. The book offers frameworks for you to think through this and what fundamental principles and mindset you can apply
Mar 4, 2020 • 40:24
156: Handing over the sales role with Isaac Marsh of Lead Cookie
For those that have been reading my blog posts, you know by now that I’ve successfully handed off my sales role to a friend-turned-team member. That team member is Isaac Marsh. Isaac is not only head of sales with Lead Cookie, but he helps test new offer strategies we put on the table as well. With a passion for writing, his natural ability to talk with others, and starting his own agency with his business partner, it was a no-brainer to reach out for him to take on this position. The stars a
Feb 26, 2020 • 44:43
155: Building a Valuable Company with John Warrillow
Why is it so important to start thinking about what acquisition looks like for your business? You’ll want to find out here in this episode with John Warrillow. John is the Founder and President of The Value Builder System and author of the books "The Automatic Customer: Creating a Subscription Business In Any Industry" and "Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You.” Knowing what your intentions are for your business is of the utmost importance. If you want your company t
Feb 20, 2020 • 36:37
154: 10x sales with David Ledgerwood
Wherever “Ledge” goes, sales go up! Join this week’s episode to hear what I mean by this and get some great insight into taking leads and rocking a sales execution to help grow your revenue. David Ledgerwood, Managing Partner at Add1Zero, is someone I’ve known for years and I refer to as “Ledge” here. He and his team use a proven process for a 6 to 7-digit annual growth by providing sales strategy, execution, and ops to their clients. Learn about the “secret sauce” Ledge speaks of here! It’s
Feb 13, 2020 • 54:24
153: Storytelling with Kyle Gray
Listen in on this week’s episode to hear about a softer, yet super powerful skill to learn for your business: Storytelling. Kyle Gray joins us from TheStoryEngine.co and walks us through how he went from working for WP Curve to becoming a bestselling author who helps startups and small businesses grow with content marketing. Kyle specializes in helping clients of all different levels tell better stories to not only earn their audience’s trust but for the audience to trust themselves with inve
Feb 6, 2020 • 46:07
152: Ghostwriting Best Selling Books at Scale with Kevin Anderson
In this “best selling” episode, Kevin Anderson joins us from Kevin Anderson & Associates. With offices in New York City, Nashville, and Los Angeles, Kevin’s firm is made up of a team of New York Times bestselling writers, editors, and publishing consultants- offering all three of these top-notch services and producing high-quality content for their clients. Kevin Anderson & Associates buckle down with dedication to each client to help formulate the content to ghostwrite their books-- whether
Jan 22, 2020 • 39:09
151: The Business of Authority with Jonathan Stark
If you are charging hourly and have a hit ceiling, this episode is definitely for you! This week, Jonathan Stark joins me once again as we dive into his “mission to rid the world of hourly billing.” He’s a former software developer and is now the author of Hourly Billing Is Nuts, the host of a podcast called Ditching Hourly, cohost of Business of Authority, and writes a daily newsletter about pricing for independent professionals. Join us here to learn some awesome techniques and avenues to b
Jan 17, 2020 • 46:49
150: Establishing your point of view with Philip Morgan
Philip Morgan is a good friend of mine and joins us this week for the second time on here because he’s got some great insights to share! For good reason, his LinkedIn description says, “I'm a pusherman. I get paid to push people beyond their comfort zone so they can become the self-made experts they aspire to be.” Philip helps small business owners build a point of view and to take a stance for what they believe in, which helps set them apart from others and propels their business forward just
Dec 19, 2019 • 48:34
149: Sales for Nerds with Reuben Swartz
In this week’s episode, learn how to release the vicious cycle of selling that only leaves you feeling frustrated and fake. Join us as Reuben Swartz, head of the Sales for Nerds podcast and Founder of Mimiran- a CRM for people who hate “selling,” talks through all of the failed approaches he’s attempted at sales and what has finally brought him to his success with customers. Reuben is not a “natural-born” salesperson, but he thought he was prepared for what would make him successful at sales. He
Dec 12, 2019 • 45:54
148: Selling your agency with Peter Levitan
Peter Levitan joins us in this week’s episode to discuss how he went about selling his agency and some words of advice for those who are thinking about selling theirs. Currently living in Mexico, Peter is a Business Development Consultant for advertising agencies around the world. Before that, he bought, and then eventually sold, his advertising agency in Oregon by managing the process himself. Ask yourself the critical question, “Would you buy your agency?” If it’s not a solid “yes,” you may
Dec 5, 2019 • 45:44
147: Networking through podcasts with Steve Gordon
In this week’s episode, Steve Gordan joins us who also happens to host podcasts of his own. In fact, we dive specifically into how podcasts can be a great tool to use to help grow your business. Steve is the Founder of Unstoppable CEO and specializes in helping agencies get great clients who are ready to hire you. With all the noise out there between marketing strategies, business funnels, and complex sales training programs, you need a unique way to develop trust with people. You need to stra
Nov 21, 2019 • 46:01
146: Grow your business through speaking with Carol Cox
If you’ve been thinking about speaking as an avenue to grow your business, join me In this week’s episode with Carol Cox, Founder and CEO of Speaking Your Brand. Carol is an expert at coaching entrepreneurs and executives on how to launch and build their speaking career for short-term, and long-term, results. Carol reminds us just how valuable speaking engagements and being around people truly are these days. With all of the social media, content creation, and all the “followers” people obtain
Nov 14, 2019 • 41:21
145: Million Dollar Consulting with Alan Weiss
In this week’s episode, join me in hearing tons of advice from Alan Weiss, author of a phenomenal book called “Million Dollar Consulting,” or as I like to call it, The “Bible” of Consulting, which is one of numerous books and articles he’s written. Alan is also the owner of Summit Consulting Group that provides management consulting services to clients across the globe. During Alan’s professional journey, he quickly learned he could charge for the value of his consulting services, to which he
Nov 7, 2019 • 39:49
144: Predictions on the future of LinkedIn
What is the future of LinkedIn? This question comes up a lot in conversations with friends, podcast hosts, prospects, and peers. LinkedIn, as a platform, is becoming the epicenter of business communication. B2B marketers and sales teams are flocking to the platform, and in a post-GDPR world, it has become one of the most reliable and powerful sales channels. But what is to come? As the founder of one of the top LinkedIn lead generation companies, I am very close to the platform. Our team has
Oct 30, 2019 • 26:23
143: Self-reliance with John Jantsch
Catch this week’s episode with John Jantsch, President at Duct Tape Marketing and author of his newest book I’m already loving called “The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur.” John has appeared on here before, and with his years and expertise in small business marketing, it’s a no-brainer to bring him back on the podcast now that he has published his sixth book. This book is a bit different than his first five that are all about how-to-do marketing. But “The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur” is structured more
Oct 24, 2019 • 39:28
142: Hiring your first salesperson with Damian Thompson
If you’re thinking about hiring a salesperson for your business, you NEED to give this episode a listen. Damian Thompson and I discuss the reasons behind why we cringe when someone says, “I’ve got a sales problem- so I’m going to hire a salesperson.” This is the wrong mindset! Damian is the Founder & Chief Training Officer of Salesability. He’s been involved in software services and consultative selling since the mid-to-late 90s, so he knows a thing or two when it comes to when, or why, you s
Oct 18, 2019 • 49:34
141: Selling your company (and giving proceeds to charity) with Michael Thomas
In this episode, I listen to the Founder and CEO of Campfire Labs, Michael Thomas, describe his entrepreneurial journey and I am blown away at his generosity and his frame of mind when it comes to giving back. Michael had a successful company that he decided to sell back in 2017, and because it was during a political turning point, he felt the need to help others so he pledged 25% of the proceeds to charitable causes. He then spent half a year volunteering with refugees in Greece, where he ca
Oct 10, 2019 • 50:57
140: Marketing for consultants with Michael Zipursky
In this week’s eye-opening episode, I dive into a great interview with Michael Zipursky, coach and CEO of Consulting Success. With a background in building and consulting businesses in North America and with multibillion-dollar businesses in Japan, he’s developed a coaching program that began as a blog and then morphed into what is now helping hundreds of consultants build successful businesses by adding six to seven figures to their annual revenues. You may notice a familiar face here becau
Oct 2, 2019 • 41:22
139: Building a world-class content marketing agency with Mary Ellen Slayter
In this episode, I talk with Mary Ellen Slayter , CEO and team leader at Rep Cap, which is a content marketing agency that specializes in creating thought leadership, strategies, and plans for B2B industries. She is also the Publisher and Founder of ManagingEditor.com. Mary Ellen pursues most of her work in Insurance and HR Tech, but worked her way through her journalism career by writing for things like B2B newsletters, career advice columns, and as a finance editor. She has an understanding
Sep 26, 2019 • 36:17
138: Getting real and raw with Franco Cabral
In this week’s episode, I sit down and have a very honest conversation with Franco Cabral , who is the CEO of inMark Media Group and owner of his personal brand at FrancoCabral.com. InMark Media Group helps small to medium sized businesses with their brand and advertising inside almost 700 supermarkets across the nation. In just three and a half years, Franco rapidly grew his sales team for inMark Media Group, but it took a lot more time and energy with his personal growth for him to get to
Sep 19, 2019 • 53:00
137: Building a 35+ person remote content agency with Devin Bramhall of Animalz
In this noteworthy episode, I sit down with Devin Bramhall , Director of Marketing with Animalz, a content marketing agency that works with huge name customers. It was founded as a co-located company in NYC by a man named Walter Chen. Because the best talent isn’t all in one location, the team has expanded to more than 35 people spread across the world who wanted both structure and freedom in their lives. Walter brought Devin and her team on to run this company, and by providing the space these
Aug 1, 2019 • 45:36
136: High-value writing for high-profile prospects with Jessica Mehring
On this episode, I speak with Jessica Mehring, CEO and Senior Copywriter at Horizon Peak Consulting, a content marketing agency that produces very technical and difficult work for companies focused on enterprise sales. Jessica started her copywriting career in the corporate world, and though she was good at what she did, she eventually hit a plateau, so she took the necessary steps to discovering exactly what her niche was. She is now an expert at what she does and has very high standards for
Jul 24, 2019 • 34:34
135: $0-2M ARR content agency in less than 24 months with Nat Eliason
In this week's episode, I talk with Nat Eliason, CEO & Founder of Growth Machine. Using a “systems-first” approach and by producing great content, he quickly grew this business from zero to 2 million ARR in less than 2 years and now has a 10-person team working around the U.S. Growth Machine is an SEO-focused content marketing agency that mostly works with eCommerce and tech companies by managing their blog content production. With ad costs increasing, more businesses are looking for someon
Jul 18, 2019 • 39:52
134: Becoming a thought leader with Jason Van Orden
On this week’s episode, I speak with Jason Van Orden who calls himself a “thought leader business strategist”- essentially taking someone who is an expert in their field and turning them into a thought leader within that industry. Whether someone is already a thought leader and wants to grow what they have or someone who is just learning how to become a thought leader, Jason helps guide them by providing valuable marketing strategies to turn their stuff into digital assets. It’s not about th
Jul 11, 2019 • 41:17
133: Building a ghostwriting agency with Lacy Boggs
In this episode, I speak with Lacy Boggs , director of The Content Direction Agency -writing high quality content and creating bespoke content marketing strategies for online entrepreneurs. Determined to stay home with her baby about 8 years ago, Lacy quit her regular job as a journalist, started writing a food blog and eventually started ghostwriting for some big authors. She has an amazing talent of being able to write content from each client’s own tone of voice, so this led her to starting h
Jun 26, 2019 • 48:00
132: Building a successful HubSpot agency with Kieran Flanagan of HubSpot
In this episode, I talk with Kieran Flanagan, the VP of Marketing with Hubspot- an inbound marketing, sales, and service software company. After helping many Saas businesses grow their traffic, users, and revenue, Kieran joined HubSpot because he was a believer in the “inbound movement.” For anyone who is a HubSpot agency partner, this is a must listen to. Even if you’re not, learn how you can build a relationship and partner with a larger tech company like HubSpot and build the dynamic to gr
Apr 27, 2019 • 27:37
131: Building a productized bookkeeping service with Meryl Johnston of Bean Ninjas
On this week's episode I sit down with Meryl Johnston of Bean Ninjas, a productized service focused on bookkeeping i.e. tracking day-to-day transactions in Xero. Meryl came from a background in accounting where she worked on a lot of custom projects that took a lot of time to scope and scale. From this experience, she was able to look back on all the flaws and backtrack to create processes solving those problems. There are some great tidbits on systemized scaling in this episode. Meryl and I
Mar 6, 2019 • 30:29
130: Building a community around your brand with David Sherry of Death to Stock
In this episode I talk with David Sherry about how to build a tribe and community around your brand when building a business. David came up with a premise and after failing at asking others to hire/pay him to make it happen, he finally decided to give himself permission to make it happen himself. He built the premise behind Death to Stock to a bootstrapped company now generating 1.5 million in revenue with a team of only 3 people. He has spent no money on advertising and built his community or
Feb 20, 2019 • 48:22
129: Lessons from my mentor, Alex McClafferty of WPCurve
On this episode I sit down with my coach and mentor Alex McClafferty. Alex is one of the co-founders of WPCurve, a monthly recurring subscription and productized service focused on supporting Wordpress sites for a small monthly fee. WPCurve is an awesome service that Alex and his co-founder grew and sold to GoDaddy. While his startup success has become legend in this space, Alex has a lot to share when it comes to the unpretty parts of the whole journey. From starting off small, to growing, to
Feb 14, 2019 • 49:48
128: Growing your business through a personal brand with Chris Ducker
In this episode I chat with personal branding expert Chris Ducker, founder of Youpreneur. Chris has built call centres employing hundreds of people and built up Virtual Staff Finder which now runs without his involvement. People often ask me how I've gotten to where I am now and one of the secrets behind my success is thanks to building my personal brand. I've been working on and building my personal brand for 5 years now. Having a brand like this is fire! It's a strong foundation and baseline
Jan 31, 2019 • 36:45
127: The Lead Cookie Sales Playbook: Our sales call script
Over the last 16 months, I have built and refined a sales call framework that I use over, and over again. I read books, learned from others, and refined until I had a rock solid sales call flow. I never wing it, I have a refined flow that I take every customer through which can get me to a closed deal in 30 minutes. In this podcast, I share with you my sales call script & framework. Blog: The Lead Cookie Sales Playbook: Our Sales Call Script
Jan 29, 2019 • 35:42
126: 7 LinkedIn Outreach Frameworks that generate results Part 2
Part 2: Frameworks 4-7 At Lead Cookie, we have run over 150 Linkedin outreach campaigns. Each one for has different value propositions for different types of businesses. Through these campaigns, we have come across 7 core frameworks that we use over and over again to generate results for our clients. In this podcast, I am going to share each of these frameworks in more detail and provide you with some examples. Blog: 7 Linkedin Outreach Frameworks that Generate Results
Jan 24, 2019 • 29:28
125: 7 Linkedin Outreach Frameworks that generate results Part 1
Part 1: Frameworks 1-3 At Lead Cookie, we have run over 150 Linkedin outreach campaigns. Each one for has different value propositions for different types of businesses. Through these campaigns, we have come across 7 core frameworks that we use over and over again to generate results for our clients. In this podcast, I am going to share each of these frameworks in more detail and provide you with some examples. Blog: 7 Linkedin Outreach Frameworks that Generate Results
Jan 22, 2019 • 26:42
124: My plan for Zero to $60k in 90 days for my new business
This week's podcast is a special solo episode which I'm also recording for my Youtube channel. After 18 months of building a productized Linkedin Lead Generation service up to ~$60k in MRR, I've decided that it's time to start a second business. In this podcast I am going to talk about my new venture and my 90 day plan to go from zero to $60k in collected revenue. And over the next 90 days, I am going to be sharing the journey and updates along the way as we strive toward and hit this $60k colle
Jan 16, 2019 • 24:28
123: Building a content marketing agency with Say Gabriel
In this episode, I speak with Say Gabriel of Anansi Content Solutions. Anansi helps businesses or organizations connect with the people who want to throw money at them! This is done through effective communication and content. Say's work revolves around being the bridge between the creative empathic space of understanding the people served and what they need and value by creating positioning statements and messaging around a company's brand so that people can reach them and connect with them. Ju
Jan 12, 2019 • 46:06
122: Revolutionizing an industry with Josh Elledge
In today's podcast I sit down with Josh Elledge of UpMyInfluence.com. Josh got his start with a business called SavingsAngel - despite having no money to get the business off the ground, he managed to generate over 6 million in revenue by landing free media coverage because he was convinced 'exposure is everything'. He was right and he learned so much about the power of exposure that his whole career took a shift and he became a consultant to help others harness the power of good exposure. Nowad
Dec 21, 2018 • 30:59
121: Winning new consulting clients with David A. Fields
David is the author of The Irresistible Consultant's The Guide to Winning Clientsand The Executive Guide To Consulting. He joins us on the podcast today to discuss how to get better at the sales part of consulting. David's background was on the corporate side of marketing research and sales. He then became a consultant with a boutique firm and worked his way up to partner and then branched off with a colleague to start his own consulting practice of their own. His partner departed after only a m
Dec 11, 2018 • 33:33
120: Productizing content marketing with Madeleine Lambert
Madeleine is the CEO of Content Refined, a content marketing agency built to scale offering productized content marketing packages. The agency is made of up herself, her business partner and a business manager working in tandem with a remote production team and project managers. Together they they bring in over 50K a month in recurring revenue! Tune in to hear Madeleine share about how a life experience brought on the opportunity for her to suddenly get everything off her plate and hire other pe
Dec 4, 2018 • 26:16
119: Mike Michalowicz on Profits & Process
On this week's podcast we have Mike Michalowicz, the author of Clockwork. Profit First, The Pumpkin Plan, Surge, and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. Mike's book Profit First helped me to pay down 15K of credit card debt all while paying myself a better salary. He's gone from being an entrepreneur to becoming a full time researcher and writer. He touches on behavioural psychology and breaks down real applicable strategies that can help you to live a wealthy lifestyle. All too often the reality is
Nov 28, 2018 • 33:52
118: Building a community around your target prospects with Chris Ortolano
Today's guest on the podcast is sales nerd Chris Ortolano of Outbound Edge. Not only does Chris do sales consulting for companies, he's also the creator of a community I always recommend to people: Sales Stack Slack. On this episode we learn a bit about his sales process and the buyer journey at Outbound Edge, but what you really don't want to miss out on are the tidbits about how his Slack community came together and how it brings value to over 1,500 sales professionals. Through this Slack chan
Nov 14, 2018 • 43:09
117: How to get more out of Linkedin with Alex Pirouz of Linkfluencer
Alex Pirouz is the founder of Linkfluencer, Australia's Leading LinkedIn Training Company. Through Linkfluencer, Alex is on a mission to transform social selling on Linkedin and build the next generation of influencers. What influencer marketing breaks down to is essentially becoming an expert in your space. People want to deal with experts. They want to work with people who are featured in the media and who are recognized for what they know. In this episode Alex shares his thoughts on why he be
Nov 6, 2018 • 35:58
116: Becoming a Hands Off CEO with Mandi Ellefson
This week on the podcast I speak with Mandi Ellefson the author of Hands Off CEO. Mandi's business is all about helping entrepreneurs and agency owners to live the dream by building a company that can run without them. Here on the podcast we're all about location independent businesses based on freedom and in this episode Mandi shares her 5 step process on how to free up 10 extra hours per week and use that time to make your company run without you. One of the challenges stopping owners from ste
Oct 30, 2018 • 47:21
115: Transitioning from agency to SaaS owner with Mike McDerment of Freshbooks
This week I speak with Mike McDerment, author of Breaking the Time Barrier and CEO of Freshbooks, the hugely popular invoicing and accounting software built for owners, not accountants. Mike left business school in his 4th year and started an agency building websites in the early 2000s. He started off building basic websites for his clients and quickly learned the importance of going beyond creative pages to validating the conversion science behind each site using SEO, Pay Per Click and conversi
Oct 18, 2018 • 33:56
114: Consulting success with Michael Zipursky
On this week's podcast I speak with Michael Zipursky, CEO, author of The Elite Consulting Mind and coach to elite consultants. Michael is in the business of helping consultants to scale and grow, to attract more clients, to increase fees and win more proposals. But mainly, his intent is to create what he has coined as 'meaningful success', which refers to not only generating more revenue but also aims to create the right business structures that allow consultants to have more freedom and flexibi
Oct 9, 2018 • 37:59
113: Launching a best selling book with Tom Morkes
Are you familiar with The Seven Day Startup by Dan Norris? Stop Thinking Like a Freelancer by Liam Vitch? The Sober Entrepreneur by Russ Perry? All of these past guests of the podcast launched their books with Tom Morkes' help, through his business Insurgent Publishing. Insurgent Publishing is in the business of running online event based marketing campaigns for brands and businesses. Whether it's a book launch, a course launch, a summit, a challenge or a product/service being sold over a specif
Oct 2, 2018 • 46:27
112: Linkedin Secrets with John Nemo
When I was building Lead Cookie, my LinkedIn Lead Generation business, I did a lot of research on thought leaders in this arena and many of the tactics i learned came through John Nemo's courses. I brought John on the podcast so he can share actionable tips and advice on how to get more out of LinkedIn and better manage your profile. John started off in the lead generation game after her took a leap of faith and left his 'soul sucking day job'. With only 1 client and 1 month's worth of wages he
Sep 26, 2018 • 46:24