Streamlined Solopreneur: Tips to Help Busy Business Owners Save Time

I sweat bullets over finding the right tools. Some might say I am an Overthinker.

And that is an asset to me. But occasionally, it causes crippling analysis paralysis. I’ve spent every day of this very young year, thinking about the implementation for my membership, even though I know the simplest solution is to use Substack. And last week, I would have told you that’s the end of the story. But it’s not.

So today, I’m going to tell you about a journey that led me to Substack and grossly overcomplicating my publishing process. And why that could be a good thing.

For members, we discuss how I’m managing multiple publishing places, why “Be Everywhere” is so important to me, and my goals for this experiment.

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It was a wild year for social media in 2023. Twitter turned into X. Meta launched Threads. And LinkedIn started off the year as a promising platform for engagement and growth before tweaking the algorithm and tanking all of that.

Matt Clark, founder of The Virtual Edge, host of the Rainmaker Show, and expert in sales argues that we shouldn’t treat LinkedIn like a social media platform because it’s not one. It’s a professional networking platform.

That means we need to treat it more like a networking event if we want to make the most of it. And today, he’s going to tell us how.

In the subscribers-only show, Matt and I talk more about building a lifestyle before you build your business. We touch on how people like Alex Hormozi oversimplify how they do things in order to push how "easy" it is to build a business. We also talk about the difference life choices we've made, and how our businesses support that — and what you should consider as well!

Top Takeaways

• LinkedIn wants you to be intentional. That means you need to know WHO you’re talking to, and HOW you help them.
• Make sure your profile is optimized for your client. Do some research to figure out their biggest problem, and how you can fix it for them.
• If you don’t know where to start, run a poll. This will re-engage your connections. Ask 3-4 questions that are targeted to your ideal client. Then for the people who DO engage, follow up and ask to get on a quick call.

Show Notes

• Matt Clark
• Matt on Linkedin
• Stop doing “Sales” and Start Having Conversations with Nikki Rausch
• Why You Need to be on LinkedIn if You’re a Creator with Kathleen Celmins
• How to be a Scrappy Researcher (to Actually Sell Products) with Becky Pierson Davidson
• Power vs. Force
• Leonardo Da Vinci
• Chris Lema

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The word 'Control' evokes various thoughts and emotions, many of which are negative. Control is often associated with an excessive desire to dominate or dictate every aspect of a situation.The bad guys in movies and in real life desire control at almost any cost. Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars said the only way to improve life in the galaxy was for him to seize control. Thanos said the only way to save the universe was to control the population by controlling the infinity stones.

Countless dictators and wannabe dictators have justified taking control because they’re the only ones who can save us.

It sounds micro-managy, almost authoritarian when you say, “I want to be more controlling.”

But Control at the right scale is super important. If you don’t control your car, bike, or other vehicle, for example, you will end up hurting yourself or someone else.

In thinking about my next yearly theme, a recent conversation I had with my therapist was top of mind. I told her that I didn’t feel like I was in control of anything. Not my health. Not my money. Not my time or schedule.That's why my 2024 Yearly Theme is *The Year of Control.*

For members, we discuss the themes I didn’t choose, how the membership will work in 2024, and the direction of the podcast in general. You can join here.

Links

• My 2024 Yearly Theme
• Favorites of 2023
• Cortex 2024 Yearly Themes

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Over the last few weeks, you’ve heard from multiple guests about the importance of research – Dappz talking about calculated risks and doing research for the actual calculation. Nikki Rausch talking about speaking your potential customer’s language. Adriana tells us to do research when we’re guesting on a podcast.

But that begs the question: how? How do we make sure we’re doing the right kind of research to yield helpful information – especially if we’re not a huge company?

We need to do scrappy research – which is why I brought in my friend, Becky Pierson Davidson. She’s an educator, speaker, and community-driven product strategist who’s focused on helping people like us simplify our customer journey, improve retention, and increase customer LTV. And she’s got the receipts, working with diverse clients, including personal brands, fortune 500 companies, creative service agencies, and startups.

So I thought there was no better way to close out the year than to talk to her about scrappy research.

Top Takeaways

• Research prevents you from building the wrong thing. Launches that flop are usually launches that have no research backing them up.
• Don’t just build something for you. It’s not about you. Sure, some people will tell you to dog food your own product – but your business won’t survive if you’re the only customer.
• You want quantitative and qualitative research. Look at all of your analytics, see what content performs well, but also survey your audience, and have real conversations with potential customers. You only need 5 to find a problem to solve.

Show Notes

• Becky Pierson Davidson
• Get $100 off Journey Makers Live with code FRIENDOFJOE
• Steve Woodruff "King of Clarity"

Sponsored by: Sensei

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A few weeks ago, I ruffled some feathers on social media. I said, “Telling people you wrote your book with AI is like telling people you ran a marathon with your car.”

Wow. People took umbrage with that statement. And while I stand by what I said, I thought it would be a good idea to talk to an AI expert. So I reached out to Bryan McAnulty of Heights Platform to see me (or everyone else) straight. And you know what he told me?

We’re all doing it wrong. We shouldn’t use AI as a proxy for Google. We should use it as an actual assistant. And for that, we need to give it a ton of context.

Top Takeaways

• Instead of thinking of AI as a tool, think of it as an instrument. You need to learn how to play it and personalize it to play your kind of music.
• In the long run, you won’t be able to use AI to cheat, because what makes your content unique is your personal experiences.
• Since AI works on how you train it, You can have as many AI assistants as you want. It doesn’t just have to be one.

Show Notes

• Bryan McAnulty
• Obsidian
• Smart Connections
• Copilot
• Cortex Podcast
• All the News from Open AI's First Developer Conference
• Heights Platform
• Creator Climb

Sponsored by: Sensei

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Imagine that you’re going to give a talk on a topic you know really well. You spend time on the presentation, rehearse it 100 times, dial in the slides, and you’re feeling great. You get the conference, deliver the talk, and you think you nailed it. But when you ask for questions, one person raises her hand and says, “Nous ne parlons pas anglais.”

That’s right. You just delivered your talk in English, and the entire audience speaks French. You made an assumption that you knew that audience. And the conference host made that same assumption.

Now the effects, or embarrassment, may not be as strong if you guest on a podcast, but they can cut against your credibility, and potentially waste your time…and the audience’s time. That’s why you need to be prepared.

And that’s exactly what public speaking coach (and fantastic guest) Adriana Baer is going to talk to us about today. We chat about everything from research to storytelling, and she even has a few bonus tips. Be sure to stick around until the end for a special bundled deal we’re offering.

Top Takeaways

• Podcast guesting is a gift. While the rest of the world lives in 5 second sound bites, podcasts give us the time and space to flex our expertise.
• To be an effective podcast guest, you need to do your research. Understand who you’re talking to, and how you can help them.
• You need to tell good stories – you do that but having some prepared, but also by actively listening to the host.

Show Notes

• Adriana Baer
• Why Podcast Interviews are a Content Goldmine with Tom Schwab
• The Digital Storytelling Aspect of Podcasting
• The Solopreneur's Gift Guide

Sponsored by: Sensei

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Recently, I sat down to dinner with my family when the doorbell rang. It was a door-to-door HelloFresh salesman, who wanted to make dinner easier for us (while ironically preventing me from eating dinner). I immediately got frustrated for two reasons:

1. It was dinner time and the interruption was unwelcomed
2. I had already told this guy’s partner “no” several hours earlier.

It was a conversation that not only was unwelcome but was already flat-out rejected once before.

This sort of tactic is what gives sales a bad name, and why folks like us hate sales. But today’s guest, Nikki Rausch, is here to tell us that’s not at all how sales should work – and what we should do instead.

Top Takeaways

• Sales isn’t a one-way street. It’s a collaborative conversation that you have permission to enter into. And you get permission by asking.
• The person you’re speaking to has their own language – you need to tailor your offer to meet their needs and use their language.
• Never make assumptions! You can’t further a relationship without asking questions. Assumptions are driven by limiting beliefs. Questions lead to concrete answers.

Show Notes

• Nikki Rausch
• What Prepared Plumbers Can Teach You About Winning Business
• The Selling Staircase: Mastering the Art of Relationship
• Mastering the Sales Conversation

Sponsored by: Sensei

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Social media advice these days reminds me a bit of the parable of the Emperor with no Clothes. See, it's easy for anyone to display how smart and successful they are. They say things like, "Here's your content strategy for 2024: Post three times on X daily, post one thread on X daily. Create three LinkedIn posts per day and one LinkedIn carousel per week."

People read that and think, "That's easy to understand," without realizing that just posting content is not a strategy at all.

I often think about how people perceive me and my show because I consider myself a successful podcaster. But I also feel conflicted – I don't feel I've done a good job of leveraging this show to grow my audience. So, I've decided to have my friend, Zach Swinehart, come on to talk about how I can improve my conversions for this show.

However, it almost feels a bit like the emperor has no clothes. Am I putting myself out there? Am I letting myself be too vulnerable? I guess you’re about to find out.

Top Takeaways

• When it comes to determining your lead magnet, you should test a few to see which resonates.
• When you're testing calls to action or lead magnets in a podcast, you should try a few different spots with a few different links.
• Know who you're talking to and try to understand your audience by looking at their pain points and objections.

Show Notes

• Double Your Email List Growth Rate in 29 minutes
• Check out the full interview over on Zach's podcast, Full Time Creator
• Personalization is the Path Forward with Brennan Dunn

Sponsored by: Sensei

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How much help is too much help? When do you go from the actual worker to the visionary? And where does AI fit into all of this? Over on LinkedIn, I said using AI to write your book is like using a car to run a marathon.

People took issue with that. So my friend Alastair MeDermott and I decided to have a good old fashioned debate.

You’ll hear a nuanced discussion around:

• How to think about AI assistance in writing and content creation
• Where AI can help versus replace in the creative process
• How iterative prompting can shape the AI output
• Whether AI will ever replicate truly original human ideas
• The importance of the human editorial eye in approving AI-generated content
• What we potentially stand to lose in fully outsourcing creative work to machines

If you’re feeling uncertain about how to responsibly and effectively leverage AI tools like ChatGPT in your business and content creation, don’t miss this lively exchange of perspectives. Tune in now to help shape your own ethical framework.

Check out Alastair's podcast over at https://therecognizedauthority.com/

Imagine making $70,000…from your bedroom…in one night.

That’s exactly what Matt “Dappz” McGuckin did with his online trading cards shop. He got his start “breaking” – that is, buying and opening boxes of cards live online, and selling the contents…all on TikTok.

Sounds risky? It is! But today, Dappz Sports is the Live Shopping Company on TikTok in the U.S., making over $20 Million in gross sales. So the risks have paid off.

Now maybe it seems like too far-fetched to say you’ll make $70K in one night, but it’s not too far-fetched to say that making calculated risks will elevate your business.

It’s a proven strategy and Dappz, and today, he’s going to tell you how you can do it too.

Top Takeaways

• Don’t try to think about how you’ll go viral. Instead, be consistent and try different things. Experimenting can be low-stakes risk-taking.
• One of the biggest risks that pay off is hiring someone. They will take SO much off your plate. It sounds scary, but it’s a must for any business owner.
• Research is SO important with it comes to mitigating risk – remember, this is about calculated risks, not being a cowboy, and doing crazy stuff to see if it pays off.

Show Notes

• Matt "Dappz" McGuckin
• Matt on Tiktok
• The Social Dilemma on Netflix

Sponsored by: Sensei

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