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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A common misconception is that it’s the great idea that makes a Small Business successful. Join us today on the Small Business Show to hear us dispel that myth and discuss taking Action to propel your business to success.

Don’t wait. You’ll hear that message over and over again on this episode of the Small Business Show as Shannon Jean and Dave Hamilton share tips to get yourself started – to help move you from Idea to Implementation.

Listen in and you’ll hear about the power of removing limits (most of them in your head) to get your business concept on paper, how to create and use an Action Plan to figure out what steps you need to take to make your idea a reality and why we believe creating an Org Chart (even if your name is in every box) is key to planning out the structure of your Small Business.

We wrap up the show with a discussion of the ever important Working Agreement and why sometimes you just need to throw structure out the window to just start….Start today.

Join us here, then get involved in the discussion at the Small Business Support Group!

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #183 for Wednesday, August 8, 2018
• 00:03:56 Opportunity for Efficiency
• 00:08:41 Take the time to build systems and micromanage yourself
• 00:11:27 Takeaway: Re-energize, Dig In
  • Feedback@BusinessShow.co
• 00:13:21 SPONSOR: Timing, for anyone billing their hours. Visit timingapp.com/smallbusiness and get a 14-day free trial and save 10% when you purchase.
• 00:15:22 SPONSOR: Visit TextExpander.com/podcast for 20% off your first year.
• 00:17:43 Starting a Business Step 1: Ideas to Action
• 00:19:28 Go make it happen!
• 00:21:12 Get it on paper
  • Remove the limits!
• 00:23:36 Create an action plan
  • Who’s involved?
  • Partner, Banker, Spouse,
  • How much money do you think you’ll need? Add more.
• 00:24:30 Budget your time.
• 00:27:51 Failure is part of the process
• 00:28:30 What other resources do you need?
  • What marketing will you do?
• 00:29:24 Create an Org Chart
  • The E-Myth
• 00:33:14 The Working Agreement
  • Concept
  • Partnership organization
  • Partner Contributions (money, time, effort)
  • How is the money split?
• 00:35:13 The Friendship Clause
• 00:36:26 Forget all this: get started.
  • Employ those… folks.
• 00:40:13 SBS 183 Outtro

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If you own a Small Business, it’s bound to happen: a long-time employee drops a bomb by telling you they are leaving to take a position at another company. How you react can have a dramatic impact both inside and outside your business. Your actions will send a message to both your employees’ and your customers.

Join Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean for this episode of the Small Business Show where they discuss their methods for handling a surprise departure of a key employee.

Listen in for tips about not taking things personally, how to gauge the short and long-term impact, managing the timing of the employee’s departure, and why your customers are more concerned about who’s staying vs. who’s leaving.

After the show, stop by the Small Business Support Group to share your story and join the discussion!

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #182 for Wednesday, August 1, 2018
• 00:01:37 Carr Fire
• 00:02:13 “Poor Me” is the wrong attitude
• 00:04:37 Surprise, I quit!
• 00:07:18 First question: Why? Can I control this? Do I want to?
• 00:09:24 Advice: Don’t take it personally!
• 00:12:48 Second question: What’s the short-term impact
• 00:14:35 Do they leave immediately?
  • Do they continue to benefit your business?
• 00:23:01 Do you counter-offer?
• 00:27:42 Be authentic to be positive
  • People don’t care about who left. They care about who *is* left.
• 00:32:49 Avoid comfort. Stay on edge.
• 00:35:14 Let us know your story! feedback@businessshow.co
• 00:35:44 Loyalty defined. Differently.
• 00:39:32 A symphony of action!
  • “I don’t need time. I need a deadline.”
• 00:40:27 SBS 182

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Creating a lifestyle business that funds your Charmed Life is a goal for many Small Business owners. Today on the Small Business Show, we’re joined by Kimanzi Constable, business owner, author, consultant and coach who has created a lifestyle business that we can all learn from.

Shannon Jean and Dave Hamilton learn how Kimanzi started out small and then built up his business as his credibility grew to the point where he typically travels to 25+ countries each year consulting for Fortune 500 corporations.

During our discussion we cover topics including how to power through being told no and being ignored, how the power of small earnings can propel you to larger profits, becoming a knowledge worker, using an email list as the core of your online business, self-marketing tips and much, much more.

Listen in and then join the discussion on the Small Business Support Group!

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #181 for Wednesday, July 25, 2018
• 00:01:04 Kimanzi Constable
• 00:02:37 25 Countries per year doing his own thing
• 00:04:39 Vacation relief – It’s a business!
• 00:06:45 Corporate Consulting, Consulting Agency, and Training People to do it all
  • Smart Passive Income Podcast
• 00:09:39 180 Proposals = 36 Paid Gigs
• 00:11:37 Online vs. Offline Pricing
• 00:12:26 Be a knowledge worker
• 00:14:29 “Don’t ever get complacent in your successes”
• 00:18:05 SPONSOR: Visit TextExpander.com/podcast for 20% off your first year.
• 00:19:35 Email list: the core of what I do online
  • Leverage Permission-based marketing
• 00:22:09 Self-Marketing Tips
  • Be transparent.
  • Add value.
  • Connect and make yourself available.
• 00:25:02 Managing time: 70% on business, 10% on marketing, 20% on Netflix
• 00:26:00 Planning each month’s content plan
• 00:27:37 Create a business with life balance
• 00:29:49 Favorite mistake: Over-reaching
• 00:32:07 Find Kimanzi at kconstable.com
• 00:32:58 SBS 181 Outtro

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Keeping focused while dealing with multiple tasks can be a challenge for any Small Business owner. Join Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean as they discuss how they keep focused on the critical parts of their businesses each day.

You’ll also learn about the power of taking a break, how to measure productivity and how keeping simple lists can keep you on track each day. Shannon offers up a powerful question to ask yourself when trying to refocus you or your team on a task and we discuss the System vs. Goals approach to be sure you are focusing on the right tasks to fuel your success.

It’s then on to a discussion about how to get help to keep your focus with resources like the Small Business Support Group being a great place to get started.

Listen in for all this and more on this episode of the Small Business Show!

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #180 for Wednesday, July 18, 2018
• 00:01:54 Focusing on Focus
• 00:03:49 Value in Play Time
• 00:05:56 Feeling productive
• 00:08:09 The immense power of simple lists
• 00:10:24 What could we be doing to generate more cash?
• 00:13:28 What is my system?
• Systems vs. Goals on the Small Business Show
• 00:16:08 What is the why?
• 00:17:45 Talk about efficiency and focus with your peers
• 00:21:00 Small Business Support Group
• 00:21:29 Focus on why you did this?
• 00:24:52 Focus on successes
• 00:26:36 SBS 180

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Join us this week on the Small Business Show for a discussion about current news that could impact your Small Business.

Listen in and hear our thoughts about the new Supreme Court ruling regarding online sales tax rules, Amazon’s new Prime delivery business opportunity and our thoughts about mixing your politics with your business.

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #179 for Wednesday, July 11, 2018
• 00:01:47 The Supreme Court changes online sales tax rules
• 00:05:13 Streamlined Sales Tax
• 00:07:03 TaxJar
• 00:09:33 Amazon seeking entrepreneurs for their Prime delivery business
• 00:14:18 A small business with one customer is not a small business.
• Walmart pricing with Tiffany-level service
• 00:16:13 Contact us: feedback@businessshow.co
• 00:16:32 SPONSOR: Visit TextExpander.com/podcast for 20% off your first year.
• 00:18:44 The politics of mixing politics with your business
• 00:26:05 The nuances of communicating politics
• 00:28:37 SBS 178 Outtro

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Join us this week on the Small Business Show for an insightful interview with Winemaker Tony Biagi to hear his story of moving from being employed by wineries to starting his own consulting business and eventually creating his own wine label, Patria.

During this episode, you’ll learn about how Tony built his own brand equity with his consulting business and how Tony learned early on to “not chase money, let it chase you”. Shannon Jean and Dave Hamilton discuss with Tony the challenges of stepping into situations where you are there to solve problems and how he works through the “because we’ve always done it this way” mentality.

Tony talks about how nature plays a huge role in his business and how he has adapted to take advantage of the good and downplay when things don’t go right. We ask Tony about his favorite mistake and we were not surprised to hear a common answer of “apprehension” and not taking the jump early enough to go out on his own.

Listen in for all this and more before you join us over on the Small Business Support Group with your questions and comments.

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #178 for Wednesday, July 4, 2018
• 00:01:42 Tony Biagi Winemaker, Consultant, Entrepreneur
  • Patria Wines
• 00:02:43 Winemaking: a marine biologists dream
  • Wine Aroma Wheel
• 00:04:38 Formulating a plan… and seeing it through to fruition
• Don’t chase money, let it chase you
• 00:07:28 Building your own brand equity while consulting
• 00:09:30 Trust your gut, own your decisions.
• 00:11:17 Think critically, be proactive
• 00:12:07 Blossom yourself and your business by empowering others to do the job
• 00:14:49 Every decision needs a purpose
  • “Because we did it before” is not a good answer
• 00:17:00 Stop and recognize the charmed life
• 00:18:44 When nature plays a role in your business
• 00:20:55 Protect your reputation
• 00:21:40 Weather patterns, “Global Weirding”, and Risk Management
• 00:23:31 Tony’s favorite mistake: Apprehension
• 00:24:51 Believe in yourself and take the jump!
• 00:25:06 Stop chasing your competitors and start working on your business
• 00:26:26 Accept your role
  • Chase what you love, money will find you
• 00:28:22 Focus on what’s next
  • Relationships and people
• 00:30:38 Find Tony Biagi: tony@patriawines.com
  • Patriawines Instagram
  • Why not What
• 00:36:00 You’re buying the person and the product
• 00:36:57 SBS Outtro

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Hiring the right person for your Small Business is critically important. Hire wrong and you could be making a very expensive mistake. Join us today on the Small Business Show as we discuss the where, when and how of hiring.

Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean have hired hundreds of employees for their businesses during their careers. Listen in to hear tips on where to find qualified candidates, how to make sure you actually need to hire in the first place and what steps to take during the hiring process to insure you get the right person for the job.

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #177 for Wednesday, June 27, 2018
• 00:02:41 Cory asks: Where, When, and How to Hire?
  • Hire slowly, fire quickly
• 00:03:53 Where to hire?
  • Craigslist
  • Monster
  • Indeed
  • Beeya
  • LinkedIn Jobs
• 00:09:09 Communicate your culture to attract the right people
• 00:10:26 What’s the value add?
• 00:13:19 Do you need to hire?
• 00:15:02 SPONSOR: Simple Contacts – Get $30 off at https://simplecontacts.com/sbs or enter SBS at checkout
• 00:16:58 SPONSOR: Visit TextExpander.com/podcast for 20% off your first year.
• 00:18:20 How to Hire?
  • Test to see how people handle situations
• 00:20:56 Use the litmus test to sell your company to candidates
• 00:22:30 Salary history… if you can!
• 00:24:13 Test communication through the entire process
• 00:27:00 Double-team interviewing
• 00:28:37 What’s one thing I should remember about you?
• 00:30:20 The power of silence
• 00:31:50 The offer: your time to sell!
• 00:33:51 Don’t skip new-hire orientation!
• 00:35:43 Contact us! feedback@businessshow.co
  • Small Business Support Group
• 00:36:15 SBS Outtro

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As Small Business owners, building and keeping trust with potential and existing customers is critical to our success. Join us today on the Small Business Show for an interview with Bjorn Burnett, a Small Business owner in the insurance and financial planning field.

Bjorn has transitioned to a 2nd career in the insurance and finance field and shares how he came up with a system to add value to clients to gain referrals and then convert those referrals to future clients.

Listen into the show, then ask questions and comment in the Small Business Support Group. We look forward to seeing you there!

Chapters/Timestamps

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #176 for Wednesday, June 20, 2018
• 00:00:42 Second (or third!) career
• 00:01:17 Interview: Bjorn Burnett
• 00:02:30 Putting out fires… and not the business kind!
• 00:03:00 What else can I do with my life?
• 00:05:06 Made my own stupid financial decisions… and then took a class
• 00:06:12 What does it take to be an advisor?
• 00:06:37 The reality of not making any money right away
• 00:08:43  Preparing for the Cash Flow Shift
• 00:12:00 The Referral Key
  • “Bring us 300 People to Call”
• 00:13:22 Discipline and Consistency: Be Prepared to Ask for the Referral
• 00:15:34 Add Value First
• 00:17:42 Become a therapist – Get used to heavy conversations
• 00:18:56 How do you build trust?
• 00:22:10 Consistency in approach across multiple clients
• 00:23:07 Identify the idea client
• 00:24:46 Favorite mistake?
• 00:27:45 Expanding to the non-local solopreneur
• 00:29:03 SBS Outtro

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Getting started with your Small Business can be challenging. Finding the initiative to power through obstacles is a critically important step on your path towards Small Business world domination. Join us today to hear our tips on startup initiative as well as steps to keep initiative going when you get in a slump and how to keep the fire of initiative lit with your employees’ and partners.

We have talked about creating your own reality and “tricking” your brain to turn it into a machine that will propel you to success when you’re just getting started, but what about when you hit the inevitable “rut” of running your Small Business? We can help you with that, as well.

And then there’s the people around you, your employees’ and partners that you may have to re-charge their initiative from time to time. Listen in and hear how your hosts Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean have kept that fire lit over the years.

How about you? Share your experience, your tips and ask questions in the Small Business Support Group. Join 300+ Small Business owners, get and give help and find ways to rekindle that initiative we’re all looking for.

Chapters/Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #175 for Wednesday, June 13, 2018
• 00:02:22 Don’t be afraid of what you don’t know
• 00:03:42 Shannon’s Get-Started List
  • Pretend there are no barriers
  • Unlimited Resources
• Don’t let “common sense” to get in your way
• 00:06:00 Share carefully
  • Share your ideas with Shannon and Dave – feedback@businessshow.co
• 00:07:53 Getting out of a rut
  • Make a Task List
  • Manage Yourself
• 00:11:31 Use Calculus every day
• 00:12:00 When The River of Momentum Dries up
  • Write it down!
• 00:13:33 Create a success list
• 00:14:30 Look at your system
• 00:15:43 The time to talk
• 00:18:03 Be comfortable being vulnerable
• 00:19:33 SPONSOR: Simple Contacts – Get $30 off at https://simplecontacts.com/sbs or enter SBS at checkout
• 00:21:18 SPONSOR: Visit TextExpander.com/podcast for 20% off your first year.
• 00:22:58 Creating initiative in others
• 00:26:15 Changing/Breaking Habits
• 00:29:11 Have the freedom to talk freely with your partners
• 00:31:13 What is your passion project?
  • Fuel sideways thinking
  • Employee success lists
• 00:34:49 Give people autonomy
• TextExpander for Controlled Autonomy
• 00:37:43 SBS 175 Outtro

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