Could you make the leap from dog walker / poop-picker-upper to creating a software platform for service related Small Businesses? Well, Britt Alwerud did just that, creating the Handlr Business Management suite of tools to help manage your employees or contractors, communicate with customers, generate reports and perhaps most importantly, get paid on time!
Join Dave and Shannon for episode 130 of the Small Business Show and our awesome interview with Britt from Handlr.
During our talk, you’ll hear about how Britt had to hit rock bottom and be told by a client that she was “…not a businesswoman, you’re a dog walker” before she realized she needed to create a software platform to help manage her company so she could become the businesswoman she knew she could be. We jump into a discussion about marketing (cold calling!) and we hear about mistakes (lessons learned) made along the way during the creation of Handlr.
We explore what it takes to find and hire a reputable software developer and what methods Britt and her team are using to expand Handlr to create a complete ecosystem of businesses and customers that can benefit from using the platform.
Wrapping up the interview, we discuss using Asana and SCRUM to keep your tasks moving forward and on time and the importance of advisors and mentors to help bring a product to market.
Join us for all this and more before jumping over to the Small Business Facebook Support Group to comment and ask your own questions!
Chapters/Timestamps:
- 00:00:00 Small Business Show #130 August 2, 2017
- 00:00:47 Next week: Shannon’s eBay conference experience
- 00:01:02 Brittany Alwerud from Handlr Business Management
- 00:01:58 From dog poop scooper to business owner
- “You’re not a businesswoman, you’re a dog walker”
- 00:05:06 Britt hit a wall… and needed a system
- 00:07:27 Uber for running your business on demand
- 00:09:02 Freemium… for businesses!
- 00:09:43 Find an ecosystem and then build it
- 00:11:47 Cold calling and SEO
- 00:13:27 $10MM/year from Dog Walking!
- 00:13:59 Make money by judging people’s appearances
- 00:14:41 Launch quickly, but not too quickly
- 00:16:26 Finding a reputable and reliable developer
- 00:18:37 Expanding the platform
- 00:21:38 Cross-promotion as a growth path
- 00:22:44 Letting your customers be your advisors
- 00:26:49 Steer clear of technology and invent a poop-eliminating spray!
- 00:28:26 Finding Handlr
- 00:28:58 SBS Outtro
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:28 — 13.6MB) | Embed
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