Adventures in Businessing: Entrepreneurship, Small Business, and a Healthy Dose of Humor

This week, after a brief on person project updates, the AIB crew has a roundtable discussion on the marketplace business model.

Sub-Topics Include:

• Defining & analyzing collaborating developer expectation.
• 3rd Party Auditing
• How Ninja Forms developed its own marketplace.
• Pros of having a marketplace.
  • Monetary
  • Marketing
  • Growth
  • Exposure
• Cons of having a marketplace.
  • Compatibility Issues
  • Support Overhead
  • Repercussions
• Developing a language and culture expectation for collaborators.
  • Create an expectations document.
  • Ensure you are protecting your brand.
  • Establish standards.
  • Switching from a dev application to a product application.
• On requiring collaborators to use your support system.
• Narrowing down pricing of integrations.

This week AIB casually closes out the show with 'Favorite Things', as we get to know each other, and reach out to you, the listener, about your favorite movie. Be sure and let us know your favorite film in the comments below, as we'll go over answers in the following episode. 

Special thanks to the CrashJonesBand for providing us with our theme music. No One Can Tell You How To Live by CrashJonesBand

This week AIB discusses how to get the most out of your freemium product.

The Freemium Model:

• The free version of your product can’t be worthless.
• Be careful not to include premium feature candidates in your free product.
• Avoiding the 80/20 principle.
• Weigh support cost.
  • How prone is this feature to be being misused.
• You can’t be everyone’s solution.
  • Staying from feature bloat.
  • When everything is emphasized, nothing is emphasized.
  • Capitalize on your strengths.
• Yes, integrations can broaden your market.
  • However, integrations will not keep you afloat.
• Working backwards from the goal.
  • Measure success in meeting goals, not a specific dollar amount.
• [Whatever you do] “make something awesome.” -Josh Pollock
  • Go in with confidence.
  • Charge what you’re worth.
  • Don’t be afraid to experiment.

Special thanks to the CrashJonesBand for providing us with our theme music. No One Can Tell You How To Live by CrashJonesBand

You need a co-founder, and this week Adventures in Businessing explains why. Part group sourcing, part compare-contrast between the James/Kevin & Jon/Kenny dynamic as business partners, listen in as they cover why cofounding is near essential for what is required in the modern era.

Why You Need a Partner:

• You can’t be good at everything.
• Make sure you fail every now and then.
• The cofounding of Hardly Casual.
• Doing the work before you are awarded a title.
• Why a designer/engineer partnership works so well.
• Find someone that compliments your weaknesses.
  • Someone who can pull you out of dark times.
• Entrepreneurship is lonely.
• Ask yourself, “Who do I want to answer the phone at 3am?”
• Honesty & Trust are key in any partnership.
• You must have a mutual respect.

Special thanks to the CrashJonesBand for providing us with our theme music. No One Can Tell You How To Live by CrashJonesBand

The AIB crew starts this week's episode by visiting THE 'Ancient Email' that started James and Kevin's business partner. Which leads into the celebration of the WP Ninjas transitioning Jon from part-time, to the newest member of their salaried roster. They then briefly (in proper AIB jokingly-awkward fashion) segway into emotions and being/not being in touch with them.

Our Favorite Things:

• Productivity tips, tools, and hacks.
• Compartmentalization
  • Separating your concerns.
• Bear Notes
• Noteshelf
• Basecamp
• Omnifocus
• TextExpander
• The value of good ol’pen and paper
  • “Thoughts untangle themselves through the lips and the finger tips.”
• SnagIt
• SmarterQueue
• Analyze when you’re most productive.
  • Be mindful of your time.
• PhpStorm IDE
• Codetree

The crew topic breaks with Kenny “gratefully” delivering this week's sponsor, Chevrolet, and the Chevy Volt.

Business Processes, Systems, and Productivity:

• Implementing a support ‘Andon’ system.
  • What it is, why it matters, why you need it.
• Measure the health of process flow.
• Support will be with you always.
  • 24/7 support is NOT healthy.
    • You team cannot be effective with that philosophy.
• On implementing process.
• Preparing for the probable and the unlikely.
• Never 100% trust forecasts.
  • Treat your data with a grain of salt.
  • Acknowledge trends and react to them.
• Why James enforces and lives his "no one left behind" mentality.

The AIB crew starts this week's episode by visiting THE 'Ancient Email' that started James and Kevin's business partner. Which leads into the celebration of the WP Ninjas transitioning Jon from part-time, to the newest member of their salaried roster. They then briefly (in proper AIB jokingly-awkward fashion) segway into emotions and being/not being in touch with them.

Our Favorite Things:

• Productivity tips, tools, and hacks.
• Compartmentalization
  • Separating your concerns.
• Bear Notes
• Noteshelf
• Basecamp
• Omnifocus
• TextExpander
• The value of good ol’pen and paper
  • “Thoughts untangle themselves through the lips and the finger tips.”
• SnagIt
• SmarterQueue
• Analyze when you’re most productive.
  • Be mindful of your time.
• PhpStorm IDE
• Codetree

The crew topic breaks with Kenny “gratefully” delivering this week's sponsor, Chevrolet, and the Chevy Volt.

Business Processes, Systems, and Productivity:

• Implementing a support ‘Andon’ system.
  • What it is, why it matters, why you need it.
• Measure the health of process flow.
• Support will be with you always.
  • 24/7 support is NOT healthy.
    • You team cannot be effective with that philosophy.
• On implementing process.
• Preparing for the probable and the unlikely.
• Never 100% trust forecasts.
  • Treat your data with a grain of salt.
  • Acknowledge trends and react to them.
• Why James enforces and lives his "no one left behind" mentality.

Special thanks to the CrashJonesBand for providing us with our theme music. No One Can Tell You How To Live by CrashJonesBand

In this episode, Jon hath become undead... Barring that breach of logic and reality, the whole crew moves into a fantastic, content rich topic lineup of quantifying success and launching a product amongst a multitude of competitors.

The Startup Rat-race:

• Defining success.
• You should NOT be obsessing about your product, numbers, or work 24/7.
• Every business is a lifestyle business, the question is, “What kind of lifestyle is it giving you?”
• Be the captain of your own ship.
• Don’t be apart of the rat-race.
  • Compete with yourself, then beat yourself.
• Hockey stick growth is great, but don’t expect it.
  • Be happy with steady growth.
• The dangers of venture capitalist funding.
• Silicon Valley should not be your standard
• More money does not equal happiness.
  • There are ample studies showing those who make over a 70-75k salary, have diminishing returns on happiness.
    • The same studies show 35-75k being the happiness sweet-spot, depending on family size and location.

Launching a Product in a Saturated Market:

• Weighting starting in a saturated market versus creating a category.
  • Pros and cons of launching in the middle of saturation.
• A demo for your product is a great tool.
• Finding out what users need.
  • Be the solution.
• What are people saying about the competition?
• Fanboys can be dangerous.
• Beware of false standards from the competition.
• Legacy users can be trouble in some situations.
• Price is a terrible differentiator.
  • You must stand out in other ways.
  • You want customers who are seeking solutions, not bargains.
  • Don't undercut your worth.
• Anybody can build a feature that you have.
  • Anybody can do what you've done.
• Evaluate and often reevaluate what can, will, and does set you apart.
  • Finding your differentiator versus finding your niche.

We close out with Kenny dropping a hilarious bit of hot knowledge on us (which gets mildly explicit), as he explains business jargon, as only a Kenny can.

Special thanks to the CrashJonesBand for providing us with our theme music. No One Can Tell You How To Live by CrashJonesBand

The crew comes to terms with life without Jon. ...James gets so choked up that he can't pronounce the show title. James, Kevin, and Kenny proceed to suggest many ways to bring Jon back…which includes everything from replacing him with his twin, picking another Jon from the multiverse, to cloning. (Spoiler: Due to the dark turn this show has taken, Jon may very well be undead at this point. Find out in Episode 11!) We also learn that Kenny has baby arms, like that of a newborn T-Rex.

Criticism and You:

• What do you do when other's critique your work?
  • Make sure you're absorbing the feedback, regardless.
  • Harsh words and mean spirits don't negate the truth.
    • Be self aware and humble enough to take criticism.
  • Analyze, are they a troll, or just rude?
  • Be careful how you respond; think before you act.
  • "I'm not concerned with whether your critics can sleep at night, I'm concerned with whether you can sleep at night." - James

The guys take a mid-show break with a fantastic product of Taco-Bell's finest food-mancers, the Naked Chicken Chalupa. Now antibiotic free!

WordCamp Breakdown:

• Conference season is here.
  • How can you get the most out of your experience as a business owner, freelancer, etc.?
  • Increasing a conference's value for a business.
  • What IS a hallway track??
  • Go in with a plan.
  • Be strategic and network with a purpose.
• If you are sponsoring a WordCamp, take it seriously.
  • Are you trying to raise brand awareness, launch a product, or revitalize interest in your offerings?
  • Don't be a swag robot...unless you are Swagbot 9,000.
  • Leave your options open, there are other ways to raise awareness.
  • Trade time...or in Kenny's case, dignity for money.
    • Grassroots/Guerilla Marketing
    • The superhero origin of the Kenatee.
  • Why the WP Ninjas won't be sponsoring as avidly in 2016.
  • Sunglasses and T-shirts are a wonderful method of marketing.
    • T-shirts are potential expensive, branded sunglasses much less so
    • Make sure your logo is prominently displayed on the back!
• Don't be afraid to approach new people.
  • Implant yourself in a group.
  • People in the WordPress community are generally super inviting.
  • Look for the relationships that bring synergy to you & the companies you are trying to connect with.

AIB then signs off with a 'If Kenny were president, what would be his top five executive orders signed off day one?'

Special thanks to the CrashJonesBand for providing us with our theme music. No One Can Tell You How To Live by CrashJonesBand

This week AIB starts with four lightning rounds of Jelly Belly's ‘BeanBoozled’. (Spoiler: it takes no prisoners...except for Jon, who got out scot-free.) As the crew washes out their BeanBoozled mouthes with whiskey, they inquire, "how are those New Years goals coming along?" Then, for a bit of potential instant gratification and group accountability, the group establishes 7 day goals on the spot. All to be followed up on in episode 10. Finally, before the main event, AIB gets sponsored by Canada herself! Itself?

Firing customers:

• What kind of customers should you be firing?
• When you start your business you’ll take any customer.
  • One toxin customer can bring your business down.
  • At what point is it not worth it?
• Invest time and energy into loyal customers.
  • To do that, identify what type customer each person is.
• How exactly do you identify the tares from the wheat of customers?
• When should you fire?
  • When they become unreasonable unprofessional.
  • When they breach ethical or moral behavior.
• Think of every person and why they behave that way.
  • “Hurt people, hurt people.”
  • Put yourself in their shoes.
• Give first offenders the benefit of the doubt.
  • You’ll find that most people will apologize or feel guilty after being verbally abusive.
  • They often just want to be heard and empathized with.
• Fire customers when they become a drain on your resources.
• At some point you have to acknowledge that, “We may not be the right fit for you.”
• How do you deal with it.
  • Be candid, polite, and thorough with each interaction, as you consider firing a toxic customer.
• Jon shares his first experience in considering firing a customer.
• You want to go above and beyond for your users.
  • Sometimes customers request things that just aren’t possible with your product.
  • You don’t necessarily want to fire them, but you may have a better solution for them.
  • That solution may not be connected to you product and ecosystem.

The main topic gets interrupted with “Kenny’s Breaking News”! Also...a random, brief debate of an old pickle idiom breaks out. BeanBoozled Treehouse  Code School JavaScript.com Bear Note Application Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast The Origin of the 'In a Pickle' phrase

Special thanks to the CrashJonesBand for providing us with our theme music. No One Can Tell You How To Live by CrashJonesBand

In this episode (after James pours a massive Jack'n'Coke) the guys ease into things by briefly discussing what they've been working on... Kevin slips on the developer management shoes, as the WP Ninjas trial a potential hire. Kenny learns from his coding philosophy mistakes on a big project. (Spoiler: Communication saved the day.) Jon gets support savvy, while beginning to march to the beat of JavaScript. While James has been figure-heading support, piercing issues like spearfishing goblin sharks right in their ugly mugs. Then as a special treat for you, the crew delivers a double-feature, two topic episode!

Support

• Breaking down WP Ninjas renewed focus on support.
  • The immediate (monetary) fruits of that labor.
  • The near instant change in customer tone.
• "As support goes, so to does sales."

Hiring

• Best practices.
• Biggest mistakes.
• How we think about hiring.
• When do you hire?
  • How do you know it’s the right time.
• Have you properly budgeted for a new hire?
• It’s all about “Attitude, then aptitude.”
• Ask yourself the following about your potential hire...
  • “Do they get it, do they want it, do they have the capacity to do it?”
• Hire for the person, not the position.
• How you can apply this to your company.

Special thanks to the CrashJonesBand for providing us with our theme music. No One Can Tell You How To Live by CrashJonesBand

FYI:  This episode contains explicit language. While we would love you to listen and get your feedback, you do so at your own undetermined peril. FYI Part II:  This is a sneak peek of what the podcast may be. We are still learning our equipment, format, and chemistry. Also, this site has yet to actually be built. 😜 Welcome to episode zero of the Adventures in Businessing podcast. As the site title suggests, at it's highest level, this show is all about the adventures that come in building and running a business. At a more focused level, it's a show about two business partners. One an entrepreneur and the other an engineer. Together they currently build WordPress plugins like Ninja Forms. Where this adventure takes them is anyone's guess. You don't have to though. You can eavesdrop in on every episode. 🤘🏼 We hope you enjoy!

Special thanks to the CrashJonesBand for providing us with our theme music. No One Can Tell You How To Live by CrashJonesBand