How important is creating content to share with your existing and potential customers to your Small Business success? And what are some of the keys to being successful with a content marketing plan? Join us today for episode 193 of the Small Business Show to hear how your co-hosts Shannon Jean and Dave Hamilton have used relevant and timely content in their businesses to connect with followers, drive new business and keep in touch with their existing customers.

We jump right into what we believe is one of the most important aspects of getting the biggest impact with content marketing: consistency. Creating a plan and sticking to a publishing schedule will make your content marketing exponentially more successful than just posting random content every now and again.

You’ll hear more tips and real-world examples about tapping into your employees expertise, why newsletters and mailing lists are so powerful and why being authentic and sharing your personal stories are ways to fast track your success. Listen in for these topics and much more, then come join us at the Small Business Support Group to share your tips and comments. Cheers!

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #193 for Wednesday, October 17, 2018
• 00:01:13 Content requires a Commitment to Consistency
• 00:02:49 Every business is in the Content Business
• SBS Interview with Ben Schroeder from Santa Barbara Cider
• 00:05:27 Use content to highlight – and share – your expertise
  • SBS Interview with Cowboy Crickets
  • Small Dog Electronics
• 00:07:40 Tap your team’s expertise
• 00:09:57 Use the Newsletter
• 00:12:50 Later is now!
  • $Later = NOW()
• 00:15:22 SPONSOR: Timing, for anyone billing their hours. Visit timingapp.com/smallbusiness
• 00:18:15 SPONSOR: Gusto is refreshingly easy payroll, benefits, and HR for the modern small business. Visit Gusto.com/SBS for a free, 3-month trial.
• 00:20:11 Be authentic!
• 00:21:21 Share your personal brand
• 00:23:55 Balance your requests for information with shared value
• 00:26:47 Be honest about the perceived value of your content
• 00:28:10 “We lied”
• 00:29:14 Workshop: Start an email list
  • Shannon: Creates the content
  • Dave: Creates the form, Links the engine
• 00:34:39 Always be Creating!
• 00:35:20 SBS 193 Outtro

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• Ever thought of starting a Small Business from your hobby? We often hear about home beer brewers taking the leap and launching a company built around their love of beer, but what about Cider makers? Join us today as we talk with Ben Schroeder, founder of Santa Barbara Cider!

Many of us follow our interests and passion from hobbies to Small Business owner. Ben Schroeder spent 7-years perfecting his different cider flavors in his garage before opening the Santa Barbara Cider taproom with his sister, Twilight and close friend Niklas. Today they create over 60 flavors with 12 rotating taps at any one time. Ben shares how he made steady, methodical steps to get the business off the ground and to grow it to where it is today, serving a large community at their tap room and expanding into other local venues.

Listen in and you’ll hear about the importance of creating an experience your customers will love, how asking for help can get people on your side and how starting with your neighbors is the key to getting final approval when applying for a federal liquor license.

There’s a lot of great tips on this episode of the Small Business Show. Listen in, then ask your questions and comment at the Small Business Support Group. Cheers!

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #192 for Wednesday, October 10, 2018
• 00:00:44 Interview with Ben Schroeder from Santa Barbara Cider
• 00:01:29 Celiac disease points small business to Cider!
• 00:02:57 “This is great, where did you buy it?”
• 00:05:14 So many small steps and eventually it’s a business
• 00:07:02 How many hours means “full time” for this business?
• 00:07:41 Create an experience
• 00:09:33 Marching band supplies lead to Cider
• 00:10:53 Only 100 gallons per year
• 00:12:05 “Hey I need some help”
• 00:13:27 Are your neighbors comfortable with what you’re doing?
• 00:14:57 Time to distribute!
• 00:18:23 SPONSOR: Visit TextExpander.com/podcast for 20% off your first year.
• 00:20:31 SPONSOR: Gusto is refreshingly easy payroll, benefits, and HR for the modern small business. Visit Gusto.com/SBS for a free, 3-month trial.
• 00:22:07 Social media? Be social!
• 00:24:06 Relational not Transactional
• 00:24:59 Mistakes: Rushing, Doing too Much, or Completely Distracted
• 00:27:44 Find Santa Barbara Cider on Instagram or Facebook or at sbcider.com

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What’s the best way to handle conflict when things go wrong with a customer, partner or employee? Join your hosts Shannon Jean and Dave Hamilton for this episode of the Small Business Show to hear about their experiences in managing, resolving and de-escalating conflicts that will inevitably try to ruin your day.

One of the cornerstones of most conflicts is the misunderstanding of the intention of one or both parties. You’ll learn about methods to be sure your good intentions are interpreted correctly and when sometimes you or your employees will just have to pickup the phone to clear the air.

Next, we jump into a discussion about how to make written correspondence (email, text, chat) show empathy and how creating templated responses can help you set the correct tone you want your customer service department to use when solving conflict. Then it’s on to a discussion about your sense of justice and why it has no place when trying to resolve conflicts with your customers!

You’ll hear us discuss the power of apology (even when you’re not at fault), how to train instruct your team that these are just business decisions and not personal battles and how the Two Token Concept of Customer Service is critically important for success.

Join us today, then ask questions or share your Small Business story at the Small Business Support Group!

Chapters/Timestamps

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #191 for Wednesday, October 3, 2018
• 00:01:07 Sharing the Charmed Life excitement
• 00:02:31 Know your audience
• 00:04:27 How to de-escalate
• 00:04:53 “How can I take your headache away?”
• 00:07:47 Misunderstanding intention
• 00:08:34 Get on the phone!
• 00:09:30 Show that you care, and are willing to listen
• 00:10:30 Use emojis!
  • TextExpander saves the day
• 00:12:17 Lead with the right message
• 00:13:50 Emotion engenders loyalty
• 00:17:37 SPONSOR: Timing, for anyone billing their hours. Visit timingapp.com/smallbusiness
• 00:19:35 SPONSOR: Gusto is refreshingly easy payroll, benefits, and HR for the modern small business. Visit Gusto.com/SBS for a free, 3-month trial.
• 00:21:18 About our sponsors
• 00:22:10 Justice doesn’t matter
• 00:23:29 Amazon: “That is a business decision”
• 00:26:10 Empower your team to avoid escalation
• 00:27:37 Permission to apologize
  • “I’m sorry that things haven’t gone right for you.”
• 00:29:51 Add empathy to the scenario
  • The Two Token Concept of Customer Service
• 00:32:02 Remember Meatloaf!
• 00:33:07 Define an escalation path
• 00:34:04 Leverage loyalty: “What do you want to do?”
• 00:34:48 Customer service ain’t for everyone!
  • Pacing and Persuasion
• 00:36:13 Find common ground
• 00:37:15 SBS 191 outtro

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Start a business and you become a leader. Not just for employees, but to your customers, suppliers and other partners. What type of leadership style creates the most successful Small Businesses? Join your hosts Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean today to learn about different leadership styles and why you’ll need more than one type for success.

Should you be a constant cheerleader, or a steady, persistent force that your followers count on? We’ll discuss why you’ll need to be both and when it’s appropriate to use each style. You’ll hear about prioritizing relationships over tasks and how you’ll get better results from your followers this way. Shannon discusses his favorite “Mirror vs. Window” analogy for praise and accountability and Dave discusses the differences between leadership and just working hard.

We share our tips about granting autonomy, how ethics play a role in what your followers think of you and how persistence needs to be your super power. We wrap up the show with a discussion about emptying the trash and cooking lunch for your followers – always fun topics.

Listen in and then share your own leadership tips at the Small Business Support Group.

Chapters/Timestamps

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #190 for Wednesday, September 26, 2018
• 00:00:57 Better than the alternative
• 00:02:08 The definition of retirement: Dave’s Ice Cream Truck!
  • Bill Ready on Small Business Show
• 00:05:49 No results for Leadership!
• 00:06:36 SPONSOR: Timing, for anyone billing their hours. Visit timingapp.com/smallbusiness
• 00:09:13 What type of Leadership creates a successful small business?
  • Leadership vs. Just Working Hard
• 00:12:23 Setting the priorities: Dashboard-level view of your business
• 00:13:17 Categorize problems: systemic or one-offs
• 00:13:45 Cheerleader vs. Steady Hand that Leads through Crisis
• 00:14:48 Leverage silence
• 00:15:28 Spin your perspective
• 00:18:33 Always make a decision!
• 00:21:12 Openly praise, privately correct
  • Build a Safe, Trusting Environment
• 00:23:09 SPONSOR: New Square Payroll App – Everything you can do on a desktop you can do in the app. Visit Square.com/Go/SBS for More
• 00:25:10 Small Business Support Group
• 00:25:31 Managing your management: focusing on tasks vs. relationships
  • “These people worry about the business more than I do.”
• 00:27:23 Developing your people
  • Adjust roles to take advantage of skills and strengths
  • Take a genuine interest to learn who your employees are
  • Create an environment you enjoy!
  • Ask: “Do you need anything?”
• 00:32:11 Pay attention to the new person
• 00:33:23 Extend financial autonomy
• 00:34:17 Monitor your ethics
• 00:36:21 Persistence – Communicate during crisis
• 00:38:17 Be the janitor and the cook!
• 00:39:18 SBS 190 Outtro

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Getting paid might be the most important task for your Small Business. Processing payments quickly for your customers, avoiding fraud and managing your cash are all critical and daily tasks. Today’s guest on the Small Business Show has a wealth of experience in the payments processing business and is currently the COO of PayPal. Bill Ready joins your hosts Shannon Jean and Dave Hamilton to talk about PayPal’s new Funds Now service and much more.

Listen in to hear how Small Business is part of Bill’s DNA, starting out by working for his parents auto repair business and taking those lessons to become an “accidental entrepreneur” that eventually led him to be involved with five startups, including Braintree and Venmo, eventually landing at Paypal and to the Chief Operating Officer role that he fills today.

We all know that getting access to your cash is paramount for Small Business Owners. Bill discusses PayPal’s new Funds Now service that allows for instant access to funds for Small Businesses using Paypal. We discuss PayPal’s goal of “democratizing access to the digital economy” for Small Businesses of all sizes and why this is so important for Bill and Paypal.

You’ll hear some great tips on the customer experience and some unique advice about scaling your business that you might not have considered. Join us today for this very special episode of the Small Business Show and then visit the Small Business Support Group to ask more questions and to share your comments!

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #189 for Wednesday, September 19, 2018
• 00:00:39 Bill Ready from PayPal, Braintree, Venmo
• 00:01:41 Small business in the blood
• 00:03:05 The accidental entrepreneur
  • Dana Bowers
• 00:05:07 The joy and the burdens of small business are tremendous
• 00:06:52 PayPal’s new Funds Now
• 00:11:30 Going international… with immediate funds.
• 00:14:16 PayPal extends trust
• 00:16:20 SPONSOR: Gusto is refreshingly easy payroll, benefits, and HR for the modern small business. Visit Gusto.com/SBS for a free, 3-month trial.
• 00:18:00 SPONSOR: Visit TextExpander.com/podcast for 20% off your first year.
• 00:20:30 Don’t Truck the Farmer’s Livelihood
• 00:22:47 Always remain customer-focused
• 00:24:27 Democratizing access to the digital economy
• 00:27:50 It’s all about the customer
• 00:29:23 Paypal’s customers are buyers and sellers
• 00:31:56 To scale, you need repeatable process
• 00:33:08 ….and you need to hire passionate people
• 00:34:55 Visit the Business section at PayPal.com
• 00:35:55 SBS 189 Outtro

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Time is arguably our most important asset as Small Business owners. You can’t create more of it, but you can increase your efficiency and hack how you use time each day to make it work in your favor. Today on episode 188 of the Small Business Show, your hosts Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean share their tips and strategies for getting the most out of your 24/7.

The subject of time and the lack of it was brought up by longtime listener Todd McCann of the The Trucker Dump Podcast. Todd has the same problem we all do: not enough time in the day. You’ll hear our thoughts on making some changes that could open up more hours for Todd, along with some questions we ask of Todd that just might help your day become more efficient.

Join us today and you’ll also hear about sacrificing some things to succeed, flexibility vs. freedom, learning to Spotlight your time and ignoring those time-killing distractions, scheduling time with yourself, why communicating your time needs to others is critical and if money is what you’re seeking at a particular moment, the most important question to ask yourself that will focus you in the right direction.

Listen in, then share your story with us at the Small Business Support Group!

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #188 for Wednesday, September 12, 2018
• 00:01:19 About our sponsors
• 00:02:27 Todd-What Happens When I Really Don’t Have Time?
  • The Trucker Dump Podcast
• 00:05:42 Recording behind the wheel
• 00:07:30 Two different shows
• 00:08:55 Creating more time
• 00:10:08 Be intentional with your time
• 00:11:14 Are you willing to pay the price?
• 00:12:28 Go back to work at night
• 00:12:55 Flexibility vs. Freedom
• 00:13:26 Learn to Spotlight your time
• 00:16:49 Keep a pad next to you
• 00:17:17 Bob LeVitis on the Small Business Show
• 00:18:58 SPONSOR: Timing, for anyone billing their hours. Visit timingapp.com/smallbusiness
• 00:21:00 SPONSOR: Gusto is refreshingly easy payroll, benefits, and HR for the modern small business. Visit Gusto.com/SBS for a free, 3-month trial.
• 00:22:44 Schedule Time with Yourself
• 00:24:57 Communicate your schedule with the people around you
• 00:28:07 Create your system
• 00:28:59 Tools… and services!
• 00:29:47 Managing optimism and realism
• 00:30:19 Question: What can you be doing right now that will increase your revenue?
• 00:32:19 Decide that you DO want to know this information!
• 00:33:38 SBS Outtro

CacheFly.com provides all the bandwidth to get our show to you!

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Everyone knows that coffee is an important part of every Small Business startup, right? With 400 million cups enjoyed every-single-day in the United States, this seems like a great opportunity for a Small Business. But, how do you get your voice heard in this crowded market? How do you create a niche where you can build a unique brand focusing on quality coffee and customer experience?

Join us today for this episode of the Small Business Show to meet Tristan and Jackson Bredehoft, founders of Café Rica, a fast growing local and online coffee business located in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Tracing their family origins back to Costa Rica, the Bredehoft brothers decided to import a unique Costa Rican coffee to share it with customers in the U.S. Literally bringing back two suitcases stuffed with coffee to get things started. You’ll hear the Café Rica founders discuss the benefits and challenges of working with a sibling, how they decided to build a Local, Craft Coffee business and why they wound up building their local coffee shop inside of repurposed shipping containers.

Tristan and Jackson share how they benefited from taking part in a Kitchen Incubator program and how they have leaned on the Mentors from SCORE to shift their marketing focus to dramatically accelerate growth. Join your co-hosts Shannon Jean and Dave Hamilton as they learn about the Cafe Rica story and then come share your own at the Small Business Support Group!

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #187 for Wednesday, September 5, 2018
• 00:01:47 Tristan and Jackson Bredehoft from Café Rica
• 00:03:11 Family joke to family business
• 00:03:52 It starts with a suitcase!
• 00:05:58 The sibling business
• 00:08:05 Assigning duties…and The sibling benefit!
• 00:10:22 “The riches are in the niches”
• 00:12:00 Local, Craft Coffee
• 00:13:29 Differentiator: Shipping containers
• 00:15:27 SPONSOR: Gusto is refreshingly easy payroll, benefits, and HR for the modern small business. Visit Gusto.com/SBS for a free, 3-month trial.
• 00:16:41 SPONSOR: Visit TextExpander.com/podcast for 20% off your first year.
• 00:18:15 Help from a kitchen incubator!
• Score Advisors
• 00:20:48 Biggest struggle – Learning to Tell Your Story
• 00:22:36 Learning from customers: subscriptions
• 00:24:32 Favorite mistake? Gotta listen to hear this one!
• 00:26:02 If you have an idea, do it!
• 00:27:09 Visit Cafe Rica on Facebook
• 00:27:51 SBS 187

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Being persistent is a critical part of making your Small Business succeed. From the very start, you will face obstacles that you’ll have to break through and go around to create something from nothing. Some of these will be mental, some physical and some logistical. Join us today for episode 186 of the Small Business Show to hear how your co-hosts Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean have used their bull-headed persistence to overcome those obstacles during their careers.

We discuss the importance of confidence and believing in yourself with tips on how to use your Success List to remind yourself of your achievements to build up your confidence, as well as learning how to maximize your strengths and minimize weaknesses with strategic partners or employees. Shannon then reminds us that patience needs to be a part of your plan – as long as you are moving along the path you set for yourself and your Small Business. Success takes time.

You’ll hear about how immersing yourself in your Small Business is an important part of pushing through obstacles and achieving success and how creating habits out of things that work for your business will keep you moving forward on your quest. And while it’s important to have a clear vision of where you want your Small Business to go, we spend some time talking about adjusting and adapting when things don’t go exactly as planned (hint: they never do).

We wrap up our discussion with a reminder that commitment to your Small Business success is critical – everything has a cost, get ready to pay it in time and effort to create a successful business that can help you lead that Charmed Life we talk about often on the show.

Listin in and then share your story and comments on the Small Business Support Group!

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #186 for Wednesday, August 29, 2018
• 00:01:07 Bull-headed persistence is the key to success
• 00:02:51 Make sure that you have persistence in your Talent Stack
• 00:04:50 “Which story is more enjoyable to hear?” – Shannon Jean, ladies and gentlemen
• 00:06:30 Be confident! The story is part of the reward.
• 00:07:45 Recognize your achievements
• 00:09:42 Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World
• 00:11:29 SPONSOR: Gusto is refreshingly easy payroll, benefits, and HR for the modern small business. Visit Gusto.com/SBS for a free, 3-month trial.
• 00:13:28 SPONSOR: Timing, for anyone billing their hours. Visit timingapp.com/smallbusiness and get a 14-day free trial and save 10% when you purchase.
• 00:16:20 Maximize Strengths, Minimize Weaknesses
• 00:18:04 Be patient… and realistic
• 00:20:10 Adjust and adapt!
• 00:22:11 Be in it!
• 00:25:13 Consider your path
• 00:25:48 Commitment – Accept the costs
• 00:29:27 SBS 186 Outtro

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What’s more important for your Small Business, profits or cashflow? If you’re a regular listener of the Small Business Show, you know what we think! Join us today as we dig deep into to the importance of managing your available cash and how to get through the inevitable cash-crunch when it hits you.

Your co-hosts Shannon Jean and Dave Hamilton share their tips, strategies and stories about the why and how of using your accounting software correctly to help with cashflow reporting, why it’s important not to fall in love with your P&L and why you need to avoid the “shiny object” trap that can suck much needed cash out of your business.

We then jump into ways to raise cash when you need it quickly, how to use unconventional methods to raise short term cash and ways to manage longer term funding from banks and other lenders. The show wraps up with a discussion about the importance of measuring and different methods to measure all aspects of your business – including your cashflow.

Join us today and then share your comments on the Small Business Support Group!

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #185 for Wednesday, August 22, 2018
• 00:01:42 “By, For, and About Small Business”
• 00:04:20 Don’t fall in love with the P&L
• 00:06:41 Import often!
  • FileMaker
  • QuickBooks
  • AccountEdge
• 00:08:57 Profits are for other people, Cash is for you
• 00:10:07 Matching Your Terms
• 00:12:02 Negative Cash Flow
• 00:13:01 Buy used! Buy at auction.
• 00:15:47 SPONSOR: Gusto is refreshingly easy payroll, benefits, and HR for the modern small business. Visit Gusto.com/SBS for a free, 3-month trial.
• 00:17:22 SPONSOR: Visit TextExpander.com/podcast for 20% off your first year.
• 00:19:15 Sometimes embarrassment is your friend
• 00:20:01 A 2-inch stack of credit cards to solve your problems
• 00:21:49 Dump the junk!
  • Accept Sunk Costs.
• 00:23:00 Timing a blowout
• 00:24:51 Pick special customers
• 00:25:30 Sell it for what it’s worth
• 00:26:06 Slow down your A/P
• 00:28:24 Things happen – Communicate with your vendors
• 00:29:40 Treat your vendors like they’re customers
• 00:30:03 Use your lines of credit wisely
• 00:31:42 Talk with your banker about “terming it out”
• 00:34:04 Measure everything
• 00:36:36 SBS 185

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Getting customers to spend their hard earned dollars at your Small Business is tough, right? How about if you had to convince them to eat insects to get those dollars into your bank account? Join us today as we visit with James Rolin of Cowboy Cricket Farms and hear how this Small Business has used education, creative marketing and stubborn persistence to succeed.

Listen in to learn about how feasibility studies can guide you to the right business model, how we’re all eating insects (we just don’t know it), how community outreach as a marketing tool can be powerful and some great tips for working with your spouse and teaching your kids about how to succeed. You’ll also hear about using the Score Mentoring program as a powerful and free tool to grow your business.

You’ll learn a lot, but your co-hosts Shannon Jean and Dave Hamilton continue to think they are learning the most from our awesome guests. Join us today, then share your story at the Small Business Support Group!

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #184 for Wednesday, August 15, 2018
• 00:01:14 Go for the Gusto
• 00:01:20 James Rolin from Cowboy Cricket Farms
• 00:04:30 Doing a Feasibility Study
  • Chocolate Chirp Cookies
  • Bug Buffet
• 00:06:23 Red Dye 40 – Beetle Shells
• 00:07:44 Marketing the largest challenge
• 00:09:33 Contains: Insects
• 00:11:06 Community Outreach
• 00:13:26 SPONSOR: Gusto is refreshingly easy payroll, benefits, and HR for the modern small business. Visit Gusto.com/SBS for a free, 3-month trial.
• 00:14:56 Working with your spouse!
• 00:16:16 Teach your kids the value of hard work
• 00:17:20 Score Mentoring
  • Brimstone
• 00:20:00 Ask for help!
  • Blackstone Launch Pad at MSU
• 00:21:37 “We don’t know if we’re doing things right.”
• 00:23:16 Educating … and being educated!
• 00:24:02 Leverage Stubbornness
• 00:26:54 Advice: Solve a problem
• 00:28:16 SBS 184 Outtro
  • CowboyCrickets.com
  • Facebook – Cowboy Crickets

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