Real People, Real Business

Today, we're breaking the mold on our usual format, and taking a minute to reflect on what being a woman means, on International Women's Day. While this day is often a bit of a Hallmark holiday, I wanted to dig in to something a bit more real, vulnerable and personal.

Being a woman, and being with women, is a privilege and a joy. It can also be painful, frustrating and hard.

I wrote this essay a few years ago during a retreat, and it is a personal reflection on my own journey through womanhood and how that has evolved and manifested itself throughout my life.

I hope you find it poignant, entertaining, and heartfelt, and helps you reflect yourself on your own relationship to women, or to being a woman.

Happy International Women's Day!

Chris Troka is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Focused-Biz, an innovative marketing company that leverages AI to help businesses create better customer experiences, increase conversion rates, and reduce time spent on administrative tasks using automation.

In this episode, you’ll hear how Chris identified a gap between technology and marketing and developed an AI-based solution to fill it, the collaborative approach he uses to develop his business tool, and the opportunities and considerations for using AI in your business. 

Chris tells us about the incredible success of his first business as a wedding DJ and falling in love with marketing, the drive behind launching a marketing agency, using AI and automation for business enhancement, and his quest to improve customer experience and administrative efficiency.

Chris describes the gap he saw between marketing and technology, Focused-Biz’s Comprehensive 14-in-1 business tool, the collaborative approach he’s taken to developing and improving the tool, and how businesses can use the tool to enhance their processes. 

Chris gets candid about the challenges of becoming a business owner, why he says you need to “choose your hard” as an entrepreneur, how the shift in work culture and worker motivation impacts business strategy and the two channels that have been most successful in generating leads. 

Lastly, Chris shares why most businesses can benefit from using AI, the big opportunities he sees in AI, ethical considerations to be aware of in your marketing and communications, why he believes in collaboration over competition in business, and the work he’s doing to create industry-specific AI solutions.

Skip to Topic:
3:20 - Starting an AI-based marketing agency
4:59 - Taking action and avoiding analysis paralysis
6:01 - How Focused-Biz’s 14-in-one AI business tool works
7:06 - Two ways businesses can leverage Focused-Biz’s AI tool
8:40 - Using open-source development and improving upon what’s already out there
10:58 - Creating a solution to fill the gap between technology and marketing
13:08 - The challenges of becoming a business owner
15:26 - Why you need to understand worker motivation as a business owner
19:12 - Why most businesses can benefit from AI
21:35 - The emergence of new skill sets and uses for AI technology
23:49 - Ethical considerations in marketing and communication
26:02 - Opportunities in AI and marketing to enhance your business
28:55 - Two lead generation strategies that Focused-Biz uses to attract customers
30:37 - Using a collaborative approach to development and business
32:46 - The truth about competition in business
34:50 - Creating industry-specific AI technology solutions
37:11 - The value of niching by industry

Find Chris at:
Website: https://focused-biz.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/focusedbiz
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/focused-biz

Visit Stephanie at: https://stephaniehayes.biz/

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Ali Nichols is the co-founder of Getaway, an innovative real estate financing platform that empowers real estate entrepreneurs with creative financing solutions to build portfolios without taking on restrictive capital. 

In this episode, you’ll hear how Ali merged her passions into founding a business, the insights she gained along the way that led her to shift business models, why she prefers working with a business partner, and what her plans are for the future to scale Getaway.

Ali tells us how she combined two of her passions into entrepreneurship, the inspiration she gained from working at Uber, and the early stages of launching her business and raising capital.

Ali describes how she used research and testing to develop her value proposition, the importance of honing in on the core problem you solve, and how Getaway helps its customers build real estate portfolios. 

Ali shares the two channels that have yielded the most growth, how Getaway uses customer research and feedback to improve its product, pivoting from offering fractional investments to assisting customers in outright property ownership, and how she realized Getaway needed to shift business models.

Ali discusses the importance of building and nurturing partnerships for distribution, the difference between investment buyers and residential home buyers, and the challenges in the current real estate market.

Finally, Ali talks about the symbiotic relationship she shares with her co-founder, the benefits of being in business with a partner, the importance of defining roles and responsibilities in a partnership, the unglamorous reality of entrepreneurship that isn’t talked about enough, and Getaway’s future plans for expansion.

Don't miss Ali Nichols' reflections on her journey with Getaway and the hard-won wisdom she shares.

Skip to Topic:
3:31 - Going from business idea to startup
4:41 - Validating your business idea through research and testing
6:43 - Identifying the core problem you solve for customers
9:01 - How Getaway helps customers build real estate portfolios
10:37 - Shifting business models based on customer feedback
12:04 - The two channels that have contributed to Getaway’s growth
14:05 - Knowing when it’s time to shift your business model
16:29 - Identifying your ideal customer
17:16 - How to use partnerships to grow your business
22:20 - Understanding the risks of real estate investing
24:40 - Forging a successful co-founder working relationship
28:21 - The unglamorous truth about being an entrepreneur
 31:58 - Scaling the business to include foreign investors

Find Ali at:
Website: https://www.getaway.co
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicnichols/

Visit Stephanie at: https://stephaniehayes.biz/

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Wil Reynolds is passionate about helping people and businesses grow. He’s the founder and CEO of Seer Interactive, one of the most reputable digital marketing agencies in the US, where he helps Fortune 500 companies develop SEO and digital marketing strategies.

In this episode, you’ll hear how Wil launched his business after discovering his philanthropic side, how he’s grown Seer into a multimillion-dollar business, and the insights he has gained along the way.

Wil discusses the client-centered approach that has helped him stand out and grow his business, why he looks at business like a sport, the point when he recognized he was becoming more of a liability than an asset as a CEO, and why he’s passionate about fostering growth and development for his team.

Wil shares the important characteristics he looks for in clients, how he differentiates his company in the market, his approach to managing the financial uncertainty of being an entrepreneur, and why you should calculate the cost of business growth.

Drawing from his own experiences, Wil offers his insights about growing at your own pace, comparing your journey to that of others, balancing your business and personal life, and making conscious decisions to prioritize your personal well-being.

Skip to Topic:
11:38 - Using a client-centered focus to grow your business (without relying on salespeople) 
14:16 - Recognizing when you’re becoming a liability to your business & what to do about it
16:43 - Creating a business that fosters growth and development for your team
18:44 - Hiring talent that is strong in areas you are not
21:55 - How to mitigate the uncertainty of entrepreneurship
26:18 - Using a data-driven, honest approach to stand out in the market
28:33 - Working with clients who are outcome and customer-focused
31:09 - Finding your market fit to differentiate yourself
33:26 - The fallacy of comparing your business to your competitors
37:17 - Why you should calculate the cost of business growth

Find Wil at:

Website: https://www.seerinteractive.com/
Wil’s Blog: https://wilreynolds.medium.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wilreynolds
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seerinteractive/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeerInteractive
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilreynolds/

Visit Stephanie at: https://stephaniehayes.biz/

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It’s our 100th episode at the Real People, Real Business Show, and we’re celebrating this milestone with a very special guest. Join my conversation with my longtime business partner, colleague, and dear friend, Jame Healy. Jame is a leading economist and entrepreneur who has spent the last 28 years helping executive leaders from Fortune 1000 firms credibly articulate, align, assure, and accelerate the realization of value from modern capabilities and emerging technology such as cloud services, artificial intelligence, robotics process automation, quantum computing, and others.

In this 100th episode, you will hear how Jame went from economics to entrepreneurship, his unconventional approach to running a consulting business, creating a value-centered culture in his businesses, and how prioritizing relationships has helped him grow his business…with a little bit of humor sprinkled in.

Jame shares his transition into technology consulting doing integration work, his experience leading a company through the dot-com crash, and the work that brought us together and forged a lifelong business partnership and friendship.

Jame describes launching his own consulting firm, breaking away from the traditional consulting model, the importance of optimizing net value for the customer, and why every team member represents value to the customer.

Jame delves into cultivating a strong organizational culture, the crucial lesson he learned about the importance of cultural fit when integrating team members, his philosophy for attracting and retaining highly skilled talent, and the importance of generously acknowledging your team’s contributions.

Jame talks about the critical role of partnerships for business growth, finding fulfillment without rapid scaling, building a business based on work that’s interesting and meaningful to you, how you can leverage your expertise as an alternative to traditional scaling, and expanding your reach by building relationships.

Finally, Jame leaves us with his insight on what’s real in business, the illusion of quick fixes and solutions for business success, and why it’s key to build strong relationships and connections in business.

Skip to Topic:
4:25 - Living through the dot.com crash
6:44 - Acquiring an eCommerce company
11:09 - Partnering with Microsoft to become the world’s largest BizTalk practice
15:24 - The importance of cultural fit in an acquisition
25:43 - Launching a consulting business using a net value model
29:56 - Using value contribution and acknowledgment to build an expert team
33:21 - The hard lesson learned when you hire people not aligned with your culture
39:17 - Focusing on net value to the customer
44:13 - How to decide if you should scale your business
49:32 - Why building personal connections and relationships are critical for business success

Find Jame at:

Website: https://www.alescent.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamehealy/

Visit Stephanie at: https://stephaniehayes.biz/

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Cleoniki Kesidis is a copywriter and brand storyteller who uses her love of figuring things out and communicating them simply and clearly to help businesses connect with their audiences in a meaningful way.

In this episode, you’ll hear how Cleoniki launched her copywriting business by combining her passions, how she uses relationships to grow her business, the importance of knowing your audience as a business owner…and much more.

Cleoniki recounts her journey into her copywriting business by combining 2 of her passions, the key action she took to go full-time as a freelance writer, how she got her first clients, and how she builds relationships to grow a stronger business.

Cleoniki shares her system for making connections, how she attracts clients she wants to work with, why she doesn’t have a specialized niche, preventing burnout as a creative and business owner, and avoiding the pitfalls of perfectionism as a writer.

Cleoniki discusses the foundational elements you should have in place before working with a copywriter, the importance of knowing your audience as a business owner, how to develop your business brand voice, and why you shouldn’t be afraid to push away certain audiences.

Cleoniki concludes our chat by explaining how to use your business brand voice vs. your personal voice, how she uses AI in her work, and why starting a business is possible for anyone.

Skip to Topic:

6:20 - Using a system to track your networking contacts
14:53 - Avoiding burnout when you’re a creative running a business
17:28 - How to combat perfectionism as a writer
21:07 - Foundational elements a business needs before hiring a copywriter
24:27 - Why it’s critical to know your audience as a business owner
26:28 - Attracting clients you want to work with
29:38 - Should your business brand voice be the same as your personal voice?
32:29 - Using a strategic approach to develop your business voice
35:02 - Using AI in copywriting
40:03 - Why starting a business is possible for anyone

Find Cleoniki  at:

Website: https://cekcopywriting.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cleonikikesidis/

Visit Stephanie at: https://stephaniehayes.biz/

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After discovering her love of numbers in a high school bookkeeping course, licensed CPA and QuickBooks Top 100 ProAdvisor Crystalynn Shelton launched her corporate career in accounting. With years of experience under her belt, she left the corporate world to start her own consulting business, where she helps businesses large and small take control of their finances.

In this episode, you’ll hear how Crystalynn discovered her unexpected affinity for accounting, how she transitioned from the corporate world into her own consulting business, and how she uncovered her true superpower that has helped her scale her business.

Crytalynn describes her unexpected path into accounting, becoming a CPA leading the accounting departments for large corporations, and how becoming certified in Quickbooks opened her up to a newfound passion for teaching. 

Crystalynn tells us how she leveraged her brand new Quickbooks certification to land a teaching job at UCLA, how she realized teaching is her superpower, and how her work with students helped her get her first business clients.

Crystalynn details how she came to write an Amazon best-selling book, how she has diversified her services in order to help more people, how she uses speaking engagements to build visibility, and the hard lesson she learned from avoiding marketing her business.

Finally, Crystalynn shares her advice for outsourcing the parts of your business you need help with, tips for setting your hires up for success, the value of growing your business according to what brings you joy, and the reality of work-life balance as a business owner.

Skip to Topic:

4:55 - Making the leap from a corporate job to business owner
7:16 - Getting clients by partnering with organizations serving the same audience
8:44 - Building business credibility through teaching
9:54 - Writing an Amazon bestseller
12:20 - Scaling by focusing on doing one thing
16:22 - Why networking and marketing your business is critical
18:17 - Outsourcing business tasks when you need help
19:15 - Tips for hiring and working with virtual support
23:00 - Finding and hiring people who are the right fit for your business
27:52 - Determining whether an agency model is right for you
32:32 - The truth about work-life balance as a business owner

Find Crystalynn at:

Website: https://www.crystalynnshelton.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/crystalynnshelton/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100074172338160
LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystalynnshelton/
Download the free gifts Crystalynn mentioned in this episode - Your First Seven Days in Quickbooks Checklist: https://www.crystalynnshelton.com/first-7-days-in-qbo-opt-in

 Visit Stephanie at: https://stephaniehayes.biz/

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Moira Ni Ghallachoir is an international business mentor and speaker who helps female entrepreneurs create the impact, business income, lifestyle, and freedom they truly desire by speaking from the stage.

In this episode, you will learn how to use speaking to grow your business, how to get started speaking on stage, developing a signature talk, and how to find and book stages to speak on.

After moving back home to her native Ireland and launching a travel business, Moira stumbled upon a rare local speaking opportunity where she experienced the power of speaking on stage after booking a number of clients from just a 30-minute talk.  Today Moira coaches other entrepreneurs to help them do the same.

Moira shares how speaking can help you build rapport with your audience, how to get speaking gigs when you’re first starting out, and what you should do if you’re considering using speaking as part of your visibility strategy.

Moira discusses what your intention should be when delivering a talk, the key areas that make good presentation topics, developing one key presentation, and how to craft a topic into a talk that people actually care about.

Moira details how she helps her clients create a signature presentation, shifting from working with clients one-on-one to group coaching,  how to leverage speaking engagements to get additional talks, and using your signature presentation with multiple audiences. 

Finally, Moira tells us about the pivot she made in her coaching business during the pandemic, how she blends her love of travel into her coaching work today, and why she says being an entrepreneur is messy. 

Skip to Topic:
9:10 - Using speaking to build an audience
10:19 - How to get started when you’re new to speaking
14:17 - Using speaking from stage as part of your visibility strategy
15:57 - What the goal of your talk should be
17:00 - Key topic areas you can speak about
20:48 - Crafting a signature presentation with a built-in offer
23:46 - Moving from one-on-one to group coaching work
24:34 - Leveraging your speaking experience to get additional engagements
26:39 - Presenting your signature presentation with multiple audiences

Find Moira  at:

Website: https://www.moira.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MoiraNiGhallachoir
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moira-ní-ghallachóir
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAwmBpbooTuus-qb5QWu7_w

Visit Stephanie at: https://stephaniehayes.biz/

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Sebastian Schaffer is the co-founder of dofollow.io, a premium link-building agency he started as a side gig and grew to 7 figures in just four years. 

In this episode, you’ll hear how Sebastian founded a successful business after initial failures, the business lessons he’s learned and incorporated into his business today, and the personal growth he’s achieved as a result of being an entrepreneur.

Sebastian describes the way his early experience running two failed startups has influenced how he runs his business today, what he learned from using investor funding, how he was able to bootstrap his current business from the start, and the clarity he gained by discovering what customers really want.

Sebastian discusses self-awareness as the most important process for a business owner, how owning a business has been a journey of personal growth, and why he targets clients who are in value alignment with his company.

Sebastian shares how dofollow.io has been able to stand out in the SEO space, the growth approach that is working for the company, staying on top of things in the dynamic SEO industry, and the unique way he has positioned dofollow.io in the market.

Finally, Sebastian talks about sustaining their company culture during rapid growth, the challenges of managing a completely remote team, the business goals he’s focused on for dofollow.io in the future, and the impact that running a business has on our personal growth.

Skip to Topic:
1:30: Painful lessons from two failed startups
4:20 - Raising funding vs. bootstrapping
6:12 - Bootstrapping your business when you’re first starting out
8:55 - Finding the right problem to solve
10:12 - The importance of self-awareness for entrepreneurs
13:55 - Targeting clients aligned with your values
16:50 - Standing out in the SEO market
21:03 - Staying up-to-date in the SEO space
22:26 - Positioning your business in the market
24:07 - Sustaining your company’s culture as you grow
28:33 - Managing a distributed workforce
35:31 - Business ownership as a path to personal growth

Find Sebastian  at:

Website: https://dofollow.io/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastianschaeffer/?originalSubdomain=de

Visit Stephanie at: https://stephaniehayes.biz/

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Tim Kachuriak is the Founder and Chief Innovation & Optimization Officer at NextAfter, a cutting-edge fundraising research lab consultancy that helps charities, nonprofits, and NGOs grow their digital fundraising.

In this episode, you’ll hear how Tim built a for-profit business serving nonprofit clients, how he knew he had found his calling in the nonprofit space, the similarities and differences between serving for-profit vs. nonprofit organizations, and how he’s grown his business to over $25 million in revenue.

After starting his own marketing agency, Tim discovered the work he was meant to do - working with nonprofits. He describes how he got introduced to the non-profit space and how his obsession with optimizing fundraising led to his current business, NextAfter. 

Tim explains a common misconception about the nonprofit sector, how nonprofits measure success, his approach to marketing to nonprofit clients, and how he uses his work with large organizations to benefit all nonprofits.

Tim gives us insight into why consolidations in the nonprofit sector are rare, how he uses retail-level funding to help his clients scale, the difference between consumer-based marketing and nonprofit marketing, and how he uses B2B and B2C marketing tactics in nonprofit fundraising.

Lastly, Tims shares the two strategies he’s used to grow his business, what it means to be a disruptor in the nonprofit space, his advice for anyone thinking of starting a business serving nonprofits, what he sees as up-and-coming trends in nonprofit marketing, and what the next phase of his business is.

Skip to Topic:
1:16 - Making the move from for-profit to nonprofit
7:34 - Leveraging your personal brand to create opportunities
8:58 - The massive opportunity in the nonprofit industry
9:53 - Measuring success in the nonprofit sector
11:41 - Different perceptions of nonprofit vs. for-profit businesses
13:25 - How to approach marketing when serving nonprofit clients
16:23 - Why mergers and acquisitions are rare in the nonprofit space
18:24 - Retail-level fundraising and the lifetime value of donors
19:07 - Consumer-based marketing vs. nonprofit marketing
20:45 - Using B2B and B2C marketing tactics in fundraising
24:15 - The roles media buying and content marketing have played in growing NextAfter
27:26 - Disrupting the not-for-profit space through innovation
28:47 - Future trends in nonprofit advertising
30:47 - Advice for starting a business in the nonprofit space
32:19 - The opportunity for Adtech in the nonprofit sector
35:34 - What Tim says is the reality of being a business owner
37:49 - Bringing partners into your business

Find Tim  at:

Website: https://www.nextafter.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timkachuriak/

Visit Stephanie at: https://stephaniehayes.biz/

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