We often ask our guests on the Small Business Show to tell us about their biggest mistake in business, as well as what advice they would have given themselves if they could go back to when they were just getting started. A very common response: Better accounting, better bookkeeping! On today’s episode, we are thrilled to have Justin Sisley of Digidern Bookkeeping as our guest to discuss the how and why of keeping track of your cash, as well as lessons from his own business experiences.

The show begins with a discussion about what makes a good bookkeeper, how NOT to choose one and what to look for when searching for someone to help guide your accounting decisions. We quickly move into business strategy topics such as pricing your services, replicating yourself to grow (can you?) and the best marketing practices for service and consulting businesses.

As the show proceeds, we get back into some accounting basics, such as not doing your own payroll and how critically important it is to keep up with your bookkeeping so you can catch mistakes, problems and opportunities early.

Join Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean on episode 112 of the Small Business Show for these topics and more. Then, head over to the Small Business Show support group on Facebook to meet Justin and get your bookkeeping questions answered.

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #112 March 29, 2017
• 00:00:55 Justin Sisley from Digidern Bookkeeping
• 00:03:11 How did that begin?
• 00:05:04 Anyone can be a bookkeeper… what separates you?
• 00:06:19 Take someone’s headaches away
• 00:08:00 Target the bootstrappers!
  • Brian Tracy
• 00:09:26 You can’t replicate yourself, don’t try!
• 00:12:18 Pricing yourself: show that you’re serious
• 00:13:42 Marketing yourself as a solopreneur consultant
  • Thumbtack
  • Using social media to connect with small business owners – find businesses that you are passionate about.
• 00:16:39 You’re in a niche, target another niche
• 00:18:14 Stay the course, or use the shotgun approach?
  • Following different business ideas
  • Designated Driver business concept – first business.
• 00:21:21 Putting off Accounting – #1 mistake
• 00:23:34 Don’t do your own Payroll!
• 00:25:40 Back in time with advice! Resist the shiny objects – focus on your core business
  • Don’t half-ass two things!
• 00:28:46 Uniquely Qualified … Unfair Competitive Advantage!
• 00:30:37 Finding Justin

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Today on the Small Business Show, we discuss the launch of the Apple Market Forum, Dave’s new business venture with longtime colleague, Paul Kent. Shannon gets a chance to quiz Dave about the impetus for starting AMF and some of the juicy details behind the concept for the event that will be held this summer in Silicon Valley.

During the course of the show, we discuss some critical aspects of partnerships including differing skill sets, mutual expectations and managing different types of communication. Other topics include finding an expert in a different field than your own to partner with, limiting the launch size of a new business and developing no-nonsense, clear communication with your business partners.

We wrap up the show with a discussion about feeling nervous or apprehensive can be a good thing and the trick of insuring your success (or failure) by your thoughts.

Join us today for these topics and more! Then jump over to the Small Business Show Support Group to share your comments.

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #111 March 22, 2017
• 00:03:18 Apple Market Forum – Dave’s & Paul Kent’s new gig
• 00:06:08 How long have you been planning?
• 00:08:06 Partnering with an expert
• 00:11:20 Limiting your launch in size  – easier to manage, scarcity
• 00:13:25 Be careful of overwhelming yourself
• 00:17:39 Believing is Creating. Success/Failure
• 00:17:58 Do good partners make good partnerships?
• 00:25:27 Teach yourself to crave apprehension
• 00:26:52 SBS Outtro

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What’s in a name? Everything when it comes to your company or brand! As founders, owners and stewards of Small Businesses, we all know how important your company or brand name is. Joining us today on the Small Business Show, Mike Pile, Founder of Uppercase Branding discusses his own business as well as sharing tips and methods for coming up with great names.

Mike discusses how prioritizing tasks and projects when you are the boss can be one of the most challenging adjustments after leaving a corporate job, along with being sure to disconnect at the end of the day to keep your creative juices flowing. We then move on to discussing how Uppercase got its start and what marketing methods worked the best for them. You might be surprised to hear what traditional methods produced the best results.

Later on the show, we spend time talking about how to come up with a great name for your business or brand with some examples of good and bad.

Listen in to your co-hosts Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean and then post your comments and questions to our Small Business Support Group on Facebook!

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #110 March 15, 2017
• 00:01:09 Mike Pile from Uppercase Branding joins us today
• 00:01:50 “Verbal Identity Consultancy”
• 00:03:42 Pulling out stories from companies
• 00:05:18 Prioritizing tasks and projects
• 00:06:43 Being your own boss: scary and liberating
• 00:07:49 Disconnecting to keep your creativity flowing
• 00:10:21 Marketing YOUR B2B Marketing business – using existing connections
• 00:13:43 A gift in the mail
• 00:18:09 “Brainstorming is a waste of time” Strategy and discovery
• 00:23:09 “A great name won’t help a bad business model” A bad name can be a distraction
• 00:25:09 Vetting your name is just as valuable as creating one
• 00:26:23 Norman Awards – Great new brand names.
  • Good: “Adwash” – Samsung. Not so good: “Scion” – Hotels
• 00:30:07 Set a big stretch goal

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We began episode 109 of the Small Business Show with a plan to chat with Bob LeVitus about his new book, Working Smarter for Mac Users. We talked about the book of course, but we also covered a treasure of information about being a “Solopreneuer” for 20+ years and how creating discipline techniques can be a path to success.

Bob considers himself to be “virtually unemployable” and perhaps that has opened the doors for him to become an author with over 80 books to his name, a regular contributor to the MacObserver and a tech columnist for the Houston Chronicle. We jump right into one of the most critical issues to being successful when working on your own: being disciplined enough to get the work done on and done on time. Bob uses the Pomodoro technique that blocks out 25-minute time-frames with no interruptions to keep on task.

Join us today if you find yourself easily distracted and have trouble getting things done – there’s some great tips that we think will benefit all of us Small Business owners.

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #109 March 8, 2017
• 00:01:16 Interview with Bob LeVitus – Author, Entrepreneur and Small Business owner
• 00:02:37 Virtually unemployable
• 00:04:53 The power of saying “yes”
• 00:06:34 The hardest part about being a _______ is keeping your ass in the chair
• 00:07:20 Crazy glue on my buttocks – developing a system that works to motivate and discipline yourself.
• 00:08:44 Pomodoro Technique
• 00:10:00 Making ADHD work for you – Why the rabbit holes are so attractive
• 00:11:26 A Plan for the Day – isolate things that are the most important. 25 min work sessions
• 00:12:28 The most important deal you make … is the one with yourself
• 00:15:06 “Driven to Distraction”
• 00:16:36 Bob’s Book: “Working Smarter for Mac Users”
• 00:18:43 No stupid PC tricks! Partnering with other experts, using your brand.
• 00:24:42 Set yourself up for success – using quotas to keep you disciplined.
• 00:28:49 Working Smarter for Mac Users, the website!
• 00:31:46 Invent something!

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Problems – we all work on solving them every-single-day. Maybe the solution to a problem is the entire reason for your business to exist in the first place? Today on episode 108 of the Small Business Show, join Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean as they focus on problem solving for your Small Business.

Here’s some of the good stuff we covered on the show today:

Tips to get you and your customer on the same side when trying to solve a problem – a critical maneuver to remove the “us and them” mentality when problem solving.
Managing customer expectations to avoid problems in the first place.
How to deal with problems when your Small Business is the customer.
Getting past the automated systems to work with real humans.
Using Google Docs to document, share and track access to your problem.
Using storytelling to get people on your side that can help solve your problem.
And much more!

Join us on the Small Business Show and then click over to the Small Business Support Group to share your thoughts!

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #108 February 29, 2017
• 00:03:05 Solve your problems with your customer – be on the same side
• 00:04:29 Make sure you manage your customers’ expectations
• 00:09:02 Solve problems together
• 00:10:46 What happens when you’re the customer with a problem?
• 00:12:12 Don’t let the robots win!
• 00:13:36 When complaining, Lead with love
• 00:14:36 Use Google Docs to track your issue
• 00:20:21 If I treated my customers the way you treat me, you wouldn’t have me as a customer
• 00:20:54 Always tell a story
• 00:21:12 Play the reasonable man
• 00:23:20 “You are better than this”
• 00:24:48 Make the document live and breathe
• 00:26:49 Using LinkedIn InMail for Customer Service
• 00:29:50 SBS Outtro

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