Welcome to the practical podcast for technical people who want to start their own company. From founding to building your business, we’re here to help.
Harris and I are sad to report that we have decided to shut down the Hello Blink Show. We had an incredible time creating the episodes, sharing knowledge about sales and marketing, and meeting amazing new people. We learned a lot from our guests, and we hope you did, too.We discuss some of the things we could have done better if we were to go back in time and redo the show: The name “Hello Blink Show” was a potential SEO miss. While it was a unique name and meant someone would land on our site when searching for that phrase, it did nothing to convey what the show was about. We need to find a way to break out of the core group of listeners who either knew us personally or followed one of us on social media. Find a way to build a community for technical people building or running their own companies. Chris Gammell's Contextual Electronics Forum attracts a similar audience, and we would not want to compete with his forum. We would want to ramp up our production and marketing efforts to include releasing an episode every week as well as engage people more on social media (e.g. Twitter). Harris is pivoting his career to go from individualized consulting to building a virtual sales assistant. This pivot grew out of his experience developing Intro CRM. He found that even though Intro CRM provided a simplified set of CRM and sales tools, people were not using it. That revelation led to the idea of creating a productized service to literally help people with sales. Shawn is pivoting to focus on embedded machine learning and teaching as opposed to marketing consulting. Part of this focus includes doing research with the hope of being published in academic journals or pursuing a PhD.Hello Blink Show will continue to exist as an archive of episodes, but for the time being, we have no plans to produce future episodes.SponsorWe want to thank Twilio for sponsoring this episode! Twilio is a cloud platform that helps developers automate phone calls, text messages, and other communications through their web API. Check out twilio.com/go/helloblink for more information about using Twilio for automated messaging and IOT applications. List of ResourcesPodcast - Pipeline MeetingWebsite - Intro CRM Host Contact Informationshawnhymel.comkennyconsultinggroup.comLinkedIn - Shawn HymelLinkedIn - Harris KennyTwitter - Shawn HymelTwitter - Harris Kenny License Information“Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0
Nonsense marketing is the seemingly frivolous activities that marketers do that have a chance of “catching on” or “going viral.” For example, Wendy's often provocative Twitter account is an example of nonsense marketing. It requires creativity and is often experiential.Christine gives us some other examples of nonsense marketing, such as Ford's Home of the Future project. The purpose of these projects can be difficult to grasp sometimes if you're not the intended audience.Shawn gives the example of Bud Light's “Whatever, USA” campaign where the renowned beer company rented an entire town for a weekend to host a giant party for contest winners. The winners, rather than being drawn randomly, were selected based on personality and social media engagement, as the event was a targeted way to promote the brand through influencers.To make nonsense marketing work, companies need to analyze their audience(s) to determine what kinds of authentic messaging works. If the messaging is missing or the content is inauthentic (e.g. using superficial aspects of viral videos without regard to the audience), nonsense marketing will likely fail.Shawn talks about SparkFun's soldering activities as a form of nonsense marketing. The Badger Hack soldering activity performed much better at SXSW Create (correction: Shawn says “SXSW Edu” in the show, but it should be “SXSW Create”) than the Roshamglo activity at the larger SXSW conference. Christine comments that reaching a critical mass of interest is important and can be more easily achieved in a smaller group.Harris gives the example of Lulzbot manufacturing 3D printers on the CES show floor one year, which attracted a lot of attention from attendees and the press. This helped drive engagement from distributors, which was the ultimate audience of the marketing effort.Christine talks about her project of building an Alexa device inside antique telephones. She sold a few of these as a form of art, which caused a buzz among her tech audience.SponsorWe want to thank Twilio for sponsoring this episode! Twilio is a cloud platform that helps developers automate phone calls, text messages, and other communications through their web API. Check out twilio.com/go/helloblink for more information about using Twilio for automated messaging and IOT applications. List of ResourcesPodcast - Pipeline MeetingWebsite - Intro CRM Guest InformationChristine Sunu is a developer, designer, and creator who builds emotive interfaces and experiences. Though her main area of focus is the overlap between technology and human emotion, she has worked extensively in product, marketing, and design in both hardware and software. She has often worked with developer education and trending content, appearing in videos for outlets such as BuzzFeed and The Verge and helping to coordinate IoT-related content at Twilio. Among other things, Christine has created soft robots for anti-anxiety, produced trending tutorial builds about sourdough bread, levitated paramecium in giant magnetic fields, and attended half of medical school at Yale. She writes and speaks widely about human motivation and interactivity in hardware and connected interfaces, and she engages an international audience through online open-source tutorials. Guest Contact InformationWebsite - Christine SunuLinkedIn - Christine SunuTwitter - @christinesunu Host Contact Informationshawnhymel.comkennyconsultinggroup.comLinkedIn - Shawn HymelLinkedIn - Harris KennyTwitter - Shawn HymelTwitter - Harris Kenny License Information“Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0
In this episode, we talk to Alessandro Grande and Robert Wolff, who run the Arm Innovation Coffee livestream on YouTube (which you can check out here). They tell the story about how they joined forces about a year ago to create a weekly interview video series during the pandemic.Alessandro and Robert use StreamYard to help manage the livestream, including green (waiting) rooms for guests, overlays, and live comment pop-ups. They also use Open Broadcaster Software Studio (OBS Studio) to stream their own personal feeds into StreamYard to manage multiple cameras and other overlays.Livestreams are great for making connections with audiences where people can chat and ask live questions. They offer a different form of engagement rather than a video or podcast where audience members are expected to passively watch/listen to the presenters. This helps humanize a brand by allowing customers (or potential customers) to interact directly with the presenters and each other.Developer evangelists (advocates, etc.) should consider adding livestreaming to their toolbox as a way to interact with customers and audiences.The new form of voice-only hangouts (e.g. Clubhouse, Twitter Spaces) offers something similar to livestreaming, but seems to lack many feedback features available on other platforms, such as the ability for audience members to type something into a chatbox. Robert talks about how to measure success with livestreams, which can be different than many common business metrics. These measurements include brand awareness and engagement compared to the amount of time to prepare and create the livestream (i.e. the return on investment). Alessandro mentions that a livestream should offer something to the audience to keep them engaged. SponsorWe want to thank Twilio for sponsoring this episode! Twilio is a cloud platform that helps developers automate phone calls, text messages, and other communications through their web API. Check out twilio.com/go/helloblink for more information about using Twilio for automated messaging and IOT applications. List of ResourcesArm Innovation Coffee LivestreamStreamYardOpen Broadcaster Software Studio (OBS Studio) Guest InformationAt the time of this episode’s release, Alessandro Grande has left Arm and taken a new position as Director of Technology at Edge Impulse. Robert Wolff is an Ecosystem Developer Evangelist Manager at Arm. Guest Contact InformationLinkedIn - Alessandro GrandeLinkedIn - Robert WolffTwitter - Alessandro GrandeTwitter - Robert Wolff Host Contact Informationshawnhymel.comkennyconsultinggroup.comLinkedIn - Shawn HymelLinkedIn - Harris KennyTwitter - Shawn HymelTwitter - Harris Kenny License Information“Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0
Darian Johnson joins the Hello Blink Show crew for a live brainstorming session. He is working on a low-power, battery-operating LCD digital assistant. He plans to fund manufacturing through a crowdfunding campaign, but he needs help figuring out how to market the device first.Darian starts the episode by sharing a personal story about how he encouraged his 12-year-old son to build his own TV. Rather than simply buy a TV, he gave his son a Raspberry Pi and a monitor. The son had to install the operating system, connect all the components, and load streaming services.One of Darian’s recent projects was a set of smart candles made with real wax, which you can read about here: https://darianmakes.com/scent-terrific-smart-candle/. These were turned into a product called the Pyllr. He asks Harris and Shawn for ideas on how to market his LCD digital assistant. Harris mentions that blogging or sending prototypes to beta testers is a great way to gauge product-market fit. Even if it is not open source, sharing the journey and process is a great way to build an audience. Sites like https://hackaday.io/ or https://www.hackster.io/ offer good platforms for sharing projects and journaling the process.Since recording this episode, Darian has started chronicling his efforts at https://hackaday.io/project/178328-always-on-low-power-digital-assistant.SponsorWe want to thank Twilio for sponsoring this episode! Twilio is a cloud platform that helps developers automate phone calls, text messages, and other communications through their web API. Check out twilio.com/go/helloblink for more information about using Twilio for automated messaging and IOT applications. List of ResourcesWebsite - Hackaday.ioWebsite - Hackster Guest InformationDarian Johnson is a managing director for a large technology services company, where he leads major cloud computing initiatives. Darian is also a hobbyist maker of IoT (Internet of Things) projects. His projects have been featured in numerous publications and won multiple awards. His most recent project, the Pyllr Trio Candle, is scheduled for a crowdfunding launch in the Spring of 2021. Guest Contact InformationWebsite - darianmakes.comLinkedIn - Darian JohnsonTwitter - @darianbjohson Host Contact Informationshawnhymel.comkennyconsultinggroup.comLinkedIn - Shawn HymelLinkedIn - Harris KennyTwitter - Shawn HymelTwitter - Harris Kenny License Information“Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0
Julio Terra (Launch Studio) and Sean Montgomery (EmotiBit) join us to talk about what it takes to put together a successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, etc.
In this episode, we chat with Christine and Dom of Twilio about what makes efforts successful in developer relations and developer advocacy.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a collection of tools and techniques used to increase the search ranking of a site or content piece with the ultimate goal of getting more views. We provide several SEO tips to help your content perform better in search results, and we recommend some of our favorite tools for assisting with these practices.
We chat with Sean Hadley, founder of MagicDAQ, which is a professional data acquisition and testing tool that can be scripted with Python. He talks about how he lives as an expat in New Zealand selling primarily back into the United States. Additionally, he tells us what has worked for marketing, sales, and coming up with a good price for his product.
We check back in with Jonathan Georgino, who reports that sales have increased and inbound marketing efforts are starting to pay off. In addition, he tells a story about how he turned a potential legal battle into a collaboration effort.
Creating videos on YouTube to engage an audience can be tricky. We chat with Daniel Bogdanoff about how he grew the successful Keysight Labs YouTube channel to function as one part of a marketing effort to sell oscilloscopes.
How do you get your first customers, and when should you hire help? Natalie Luneva, who runs her own coaching and consulting business, joins us to discuss these issues.
In this episode of the Hello Blink Show, Harris and Shawn take a look back at 2020 to talk about what worked and what didn't work for the show. They also ask listeners to respond with what they want to hear in 2021
This is the practical podcast for technical people. We cover topics involving business, sales, and marketing with the engineer and developer in mind. If you've been wanting to jump from your corporate job to start your own business or sell your invention on the side, this is the show for you.
Sponsor: We want to thank Cyber City Circuits for sponsoring this episode! Cyber City Circuits is an electronics shop and contract manufacturer based in Augusta, GA. Use the coupon code HELLOBLINKSHOW to receive 10% off your order of electronics or mention that you heard about them on the Hello Blink Show for a 25% discount on the assembly costs of manufacturing. Overview: In this episode of the Hello Blink Show, Harris and Shawn wanted to share their presentation on sales and marketing for Boulder Startup Week 2020. They are joined by Katie Hackos to delve deeper into retaining customer relations but the disconnect between sales and marketing can have adverse effects on these efforts. Listeners will hear their insights on communicating with customers and why marketers and sales people should work together. They explore the dynamics to why these departments operate in different directions and include best practices. This episode is an interactive, mock business discussion as they elaborate on these topics. One Powerful Quotation: 36:01: Harris: “...If you’re not creating a culture where everyone feels bought into what’s happening in the sales side of the business, you are not helping that build a culture that’s going to help the company grow in the long run…People need to understand what the sales team is thinking about. How they’re thinking about it. Marketing needs to know what the sales numbers are.” Key Topics: * 4:25: The episode kicks off with Katie, Harris, and Shawn introducing themselves and their work background. 8:15: Shawn is introduced as Chief Marketing Officer of boulder.io as he prepares to meet with the CEO to cover their annual statistics. 12:54: Harris is introduced as Director of Business as he shares his reflections of boulder.io. 17:15: Shawn and Harris answer questions from viewers and discuss their mock roles. 25:46: Shawn continues his talks on why marketing teams should recognize KPIs to discover buyer personas. He also explains the Pareto Principle. 33:14: Harris talks about the dysfunctions in sales teams and why this department should not be disjointed with marketing. He also discusses the prisoner’s dilemma as it relates to business strategy. 41:40: Shawn talks to the audience about The Hello Blink Show. 43:08: Shawn clarifies the Pareto Principle, and Harris/Shawn discuss calculating the lifetime value of your customer base. 48:56: Harris and Shawn articulate the most common and costly mistakes they’ve witnessed in organizations for sales and marketing. 52:50: Harris and Shawn respond to why there are no chief revenue officers in more organiza-tions. Harris thinks there is a cultural shift in venture capital moving away from having this position. List of Resources Website - Bonusly (https://bonus.ly/) Website - Boulder Startup Week (https://boulderstartupweek.com/) Website - Prisoner’s Dilemma (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma) Article - Round canoe syndrome (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-round-canoe-syndrome-erik-host-steen/) Website - Pareto Principle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle) Guest Contact Information* LinkedIn - Katie Hackos (https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-hackos-486645146/) Twitter - Katie Hackos (https://twitter.com/KatieHackos) LinkedIn - Ben Travis (https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamintravis/) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Katie Hackos.
Sponsor: We want to thank Cyber City Circuits (https://shop.cybercitycircuits.com/discount/HELLOBLINKSHOW) for sponsoring this episode! Cyber City Circuits is an electronics shop and contract manufacturer based in Augusta, GA. Use the coupon code HELLOBLINKSHOW to receive 10% off your order of electronics or mention that you heard about them on the Hello Blink Show for a 25% discount on the assembly costs of manufacturing. Overview: In this episode of the Hello Blink Show, Harris and Shawn welcome developer Lola Ojabowale to the show. Lola shares her insights in no code development to listeners. Whether you have a new product idea or business project, listeners will appreciate hearing her experience with developing and building software applications. Lola is involved in the Atlanta tech startup scene, where she currently runs Lunch Pail Labs, a digital product studio and consultancy. Her insightful remarks range from being a solopreneur to the trends in risk capital investments. One Powerful Quotation: * 30:35: “I think the rise of the almost solopreneur I think we’ll see more of in this decade enabled by some of these tools that just enable you to do so much more with your time like the automation tools as a one person business.” Key Topics: * 2:01: Harris opens the show by asking Lola about no code development. * 3:27: Lola shares use case examples of no/low code and internal business productivities that can be automated including web flows and domain sites. * 6:02: Shawn asks Lola about cross app development tools. * 7:21: Shawn further inquires with Lola about API integration for hardware. * 8:48: Shawn and Lola discuss custom, no code solutions that have integrated tools for transferring data. * 9:53: Lola shares her background and the inspiration behind her business, Lunch Pail Labs. * 11:42: Lola explains how she runs her business and acquires clients. * 14:42: Lola digresses on this year, how remote work and networking help her succeed, and her thoughts about what it means to be an entrepreneur. * 18:40: Harris asks Lola about her client base and their type of use case needs. * 23:07: Lola talks about being a venture scout at Indie.VC and explains the difference of risk capital. * 27:00: Lola responds to Harris’ commentary on venture capital and the idea behind the “power law” compared to independent risk capital. * 29:19: Lola adds to Shawn’s remarks that there is a gap in raising capital. One of the trends has been the exchange for equity in business by providing human resources they need to grow and scale their business. * 32:32: Lola shares another trend in revenue sharing type agreements that invest in people that want to develop and create. * 34:06: Shawn and Lola talk about networking and how she became involved in the startup scene. Lola highlights how early connections can help shortcut your business growth and create partnerships. * 37:08: Shawn and Lola further extrapolate on how these partnerships facilitate finding clients/customers. * 39:27: Harris inquires with Lola about considering building her own product. * 40:14: Harris wraps up the show and asks Lola to share her contact information. List of Resources Website – Lunch Pail Labs (https://www.lunchpaillabs.com/) Website – MicroConf Community (https://microconf.com/) Website – Zapier (https://zapier.com/) Website – Integromat (https://www.integromat.com/en) Website – Elementor (https://elementor.com) Website – Wordpress (https://wordpress.com) Website – Squarespace (https://squarespace.com) Website – Wix (https://wix.com) Website – Indie.VC (https://www.indie.vc/) Website – Adalo (https://www.adalo.com/) Website – Bubble (https://manual.bubble.io/) LinkedIn – Robert Walling (https://www.linkedin.com/in/robwalling/) Website – TinySeed Investment Thesis “Power Law” (https://tinyseed.com/thesis) Website – Steve Case’s “Rise of The Rest” (https://www.revolution.com/entity/rotr/) Website – Intro CRM: Harris' new project, built with no-code (https://introcrm.com/) Guest Contact Information* Website – Lola Ojabowale (https://www.lolaojabowale.com/) LinkedIn – Lola Ojabowale (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lolaojabowale/) Twitter – Lola Ojabowale (https://twitter.com/ojabowalola) Website – Lunch Pail Labs (https://www.lunchpaillabs.com/) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Lola Ojabowale.
Sponsor: We want to thank Cyber City Circuits (https://shop.cybercitycircuits.com/discount/HELLOBLINKSHOW) for sponsoring this episode! Cyber City Circuits is an electronics shop and contract manufacturer based in Augusta, GA. Use the coupon code HELLOBLINKSHOW to receive 10% off your order of electronics or mention that you heard about them on the Hello Blink Show for a 25% discount on the assembly costs of manufacturing. Overview: In this episode of the Hello Blink Show, Harris and Shawn welcome back legal expert and attorney, Mark Tyson. Mark shares some legal advice in negotiating contracts and how to handle particular pitfalls with your employer or contractor. One Powerful Quotation: * 43:47: Shawn: “Read your damn contract.” Key Topics: * 3:17: Shawn opens the show by asking Mark about the invention of assignment clause in contracts as a conflict of interest for ownership. * 7:18: Shawn discusses with Mark about forgoing statutes as an employee. Mark recommends negotiating your contract and understanding all of the terms/conditions. * 10:20: Harris asks Mark about defining formal employment agreements as an employee with a small company or startup. Mark encourages listeners to be upfront with the employer and the reality behind trying to copyright ownership. * 12:49: Shawn inquires with Mark about red flags in contracts and when to seek legal advice. Mark highlights what to be look out for in the contract language. * 15:31: Shawn and Mark agree that everything is negotiable; Mark adds this can leverage your value including compensation, benefits, stock options, etc. * 18:25: Mark explains his definition of inventions and how they are defined in contracts. He delves into the prior ownership clause and the importance of due diligence. * 27:32: Mark responds to Harris’ comments on future success and how contract negotiation are formulated. * 31:14: Mark explains the difference between prior ownership and background technology clauses and their implications. * 33:37: Shawn asks Mark about disclosing prior inventions or body of works on contracts. * 37:02: Harris asks Mark how people should approach seeking legal advice. * 40:45: Mark discusses contract negotiation and reasons you need to ask good questions. He suggests sample agreements and why pricing isn’t always the benefit of the bargain. * 44:34: Mark talks about the risk-analysis in the value of contracts for ownership. * 46:48: Harris shares his final thoughts for the episode, and Mark adds that enforcing new contracts is contingent on additional independent consideration and covenants such as noncompetes or non-solicitations. List of Resources Example of Invention Assignment Clause Assignment of Inventions - Research or any other work performed while working on the behalf of CLIENT to CLIENT. You agree that all Inventions, research or any other work performed while working on the behalf of CLIENT that are developed using the equipment, supplies, facilities, or Proprietary Information of CLIENT or result from or are suggested by work performed by you for CLIENT or are conceived or reduced to practice during your contract term with CLIENT and relate to the business and products, or to the actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development of CLIENT. Example of Prior Inventions Clause Prior Inventions - It is understood that all Personal Inventions, if any, whether patented or unpatented, which I made prior to my employment by the Company, are excluded from this Agreement. To preclude any possible uncertainty, I have set forth on Schedule A attached hereto a complete list of all of my prior Personal Inventions, including numbers of all patents and patent applications and a brief description of all unpatented Personal Inventions which are not the property of a previous employer. I represent and covenant that the list is complete and that, if no items are on the list, I have no such prior Personal Inventions. I agree to notify the Company in writing before I make any disclosure or perform any work on behalf of the Company which appears to threaten or conflict with proprietary rights I claim in any Personal Invention. In the event of my failure to give such notice, I agree that I will make no claim against the Company with respect to any such Personal Invention. Example of Background Technology Clause The parties acknowledge that certain intellectual property developed, acquired, or otherwise obtained by Contractor prior to, or independently of, this Agreement (collectively, “Background Technology”) may be used by Contractor in the performance of Services. Contractor shall not include Background Technology in any deliverable or Work Product without Company’s prior written consent. Contractor unconditionally grants to Company a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, fully-paid right and license, with the right to sublicense through multiple levels of sublicensees, under all of Contractor’s intellectual property rights in any Background Technology incorporated into or necessary for Company to fully utilize and capitalize the Work Product, (a) to reproduce, create derivative works of, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, digitally transmit, and otherwise use the Work Product in any medium or format, whether now known or hereafter discovered, (b) to use, make, have made, sell, offer to sell, import, and otherwise exploit any product or service based on, embodying, incorporating, or derived from the Work Product, and (c) to exercise any and all other present or future rights in the Work Product. Guest Contact Information Website - Mark Tyson (https://www.marktysonlaw.com/) LinkedIn - Mark Tyson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-tyson-2388482b/) Twitter - Mark Tyson (https://twitter.com/markwtyson) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Mark Tyson.
In this episode of the Hello Blink Show, Harris and Shawn interview Matt Liberty. Matt shares his experience with finding contractor work and how you should go about referrals and selecting the best candidate. Listeners will hear his advice as Matt discusses his company, Jetperch, and their tool, Joulescope. One Powerful Quotation: * 20:47 Matt: “Overall, trying to find better ways to do your job, find better ways to value your work and value the parts and work you have and how to negotiate with local people as well to do it. I found that working through these freelancing sites has helped me figure that out better and be better positioned.” Key Topics: * 1:31: Shawn opens the show by asking Matt about his self-employment experience as a software consultant. 2:06: Matt explains why he developed Joulescope as a way to measure the dynamic range of battery power. 5:32: Harris inquires with Matt about his go to market and direct sales strategy. Matt describes how his operations and contract manufacturing work. 8:59: Harris asks Matt about his scaleability and why working with distributors is a roadmap to get back to working with engineering. 9:44: Matt describes his freelance process discerning that his manufacturers/designers act as his engineers, and smaller projects were relegated to others with varying degrees of success. 10:53: Matt notes his success with freelancers has been with designing his logos for Jetperch and Joulescope. 12:14: Shawn follows up with Matt on his experience with hiring freelance engineers. 14:16: Matt shares what he believes is the biggest challenge. 15:29: Shawn asks Matt about his experience with managing freelance, software engineers. 17:32: Harris surmises that the risk benefits of freelancing are not worth the hidden and unseen costs. 19:06: Matt explains the differences in using Fiverr, Upwork, and Freelance.com for finding artists and freelance engineers. 22:47: Matt highlights why finding your community and leveraging relationships can can develop key strategic partnerships. 25:16: Matt explains the tradeoffs with screening and hiring, qualified talent as full time employees versus paying freelancers for one time transactions. 27:28: Shawn asks Matt his recommendation on a project management framework with freelancers. 30:37: Harris asks Matt why you should consider using freelancing for accelerating the growth of your business. Matt encourages listeners to delegate responsibilities to those with the skills you need. 34:51: Matt adds to Shawn’s commentary that the scaleability of your business can determine the amount of work to give your partners. 36:28: Matt shares the percentage of managing his product engineering and customer service. 38:00: Shawn and Harris wrap up the show, and Matt shares his contact information. List of Resources Website - Jetperch LLC. (https://www.jetperch.com/) Website - Joulescope (https://www.joulescope.com) Website - Contextual Electronics Forum (https://forum.contextualelectronics.com/) Website - Shopify (https://www.shopify.com/) Website - Upwork (https://www.upwork.com/) Website - Fiverr (https://www.fiverr.com/) Website - Freelance (https://www.freelance.com/) congruentgraph on Fiverr (https://www.fiverr.com/congruentgraph/custom-graphic-design-project) Guest Contact Information LinkedIn - Matt Liberty (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattliberty/) Twitter - Matt Liberty (https://twitter.com/mliberty1) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Matt Liberty.
Sponsor: We want to thank Cyber City Circuits (https://shop.cybercitycircuits.com/discount/HELLOBLINKSHOW) for sponsoring this episode! Cyber City Circuits is an electronics shop and contract manufacturer based in Augusta, GA. Use the coupon code HELLOBLINKSHOW to receive 10% off your order of electronics or mention that you heard about them on the Hello Blink Show for a 25% discount on the assembly costs of manufacturing. Overview: In this episode of the Hello Blink Show, Harris and Shawn interview electrical engineer, Mihir Shah. Mihir shares his insights into the success of his latest startup and his acquisition by another firm. Listeners will hear his advice as he shares his experience with selling inspectAR to Cadence Design Systems. One Powerful Quotation: * 9:16: Mihir - “Fundamentally, your business has to make money…And if you don’t understand that this is going to make money, then don’t even bother going to an investor…Investors inherently are not bad people; there’re not sharks; their job is to buy into companies and in many ways help them get to a successful exit so they can get a return.” Key Topics: * 1:03: Shawn opens the show by asking Mihir to describe inspectAR and how he envisioned the design to debug hardware. * 3:43: Shawn inquires with Mihir about the inspiration to form inspectAR as a need for the market. * 9:16: Harris advocates for Mihir to make the case for capital investment. * 13:55: Mihir tells the story of what he pitched investors inspectAR as a lens for how all interactions and electronics will be done. * 19:30: Shawn inquires with Mihir about his acquisition and how that changes the process of growing and building a business if it’s your exit strategy. * 24:27: Shawn follows up with Mihir about VC funding and how it met the needs of his business. * 27:49: Mihir explains the how and why of his structured acquisition plan. * 29:00: Mihir delves into the promenade process and his internal champion at Cadence that made his exit strategy successful. * 35:09: Mihir shares his background and why his work experience was so invaluable to his professional development. * 46:49: Shawn wraps up the show and encourages Mihir to impart his final advice to listeners. List of Resources Website - InspectAR (https://www.inspectar.com/) Website - Cadence Design Systems (https://www.cadence.com/en_US/home.html) Website - Royal Circuits (https://www.royalcircuits.com/) Website - Y Combinator (https://www.ycombinator.com/) Website - Autodesk (https://www.autodesk.com) Website - Transistor FM (https://www.transistorfm.com) LinkedIn - Justin Jackson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinijackson/) Website - Paul Graham - Don’t Talk To Corp Dev (http://paulgraham.com/corpdev.html) Website - Axon (https://www.axon.com/) LinkedIn - Luke Larson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-larson-573130a/) Website - LaBarge Weinstein (https://www.lwlaw.com/) LinkedIn - Colin Wrynn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-wrynn-656bba1/) LinkedIn - Alicia Grant (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia-grant-36318972/) Guest Contact Information* LinkedIn - Mihir Shah (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mihirmshah8/) Twitter - Mihir Shah (https://twitter.com/Mihir_Shah_8) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Mihir Shah.
Sponsor: We want to thank Cyber City Circuits (https://shop.cybercitycircuits.com/discount/HELLOBLINKSHOW) for sponsoring this episode! Cyber City Circuits is an electronics shop and contract manufacturer based in Augusta, GA. Use the coupon code HELLOBLINKSHOW to receive 10% off your order of electronics or mention that you heard about them on the Hello Blink Show for a 25% discount on the assembly costs of manufacturing. Overview: We chat with Lisa Lewis Miller, career coach, owner of Career Clarity (http://getcareerclarity.com/), and author of an upcoming book about changing careers (or starting fresh!). Lisa describes the four pillars for career fulfillment that make up the framework she has been using throughout her coaching practice to assist many clients in their journey. She also discusses the importance of finding a good lifestyle fit (even if that means working for a company rather than entrepreneurship) and how a “bridge job” can help make a career transition smoother. Lisa runs her own career coaching service and is releasing a book, Career Clarity (https://getcareerclarity.com/order/), which is due out on November 17, 2020. One Powerful Quotation: * 8:45 – Lisa: “Phase one of the career discernment journey is: you need to start with who you are, what you value, and what you prioritize, and use all of those data points to then help you generate some hypotheses and some ideas for what could be next.” Key Topics: * 0:45 - Lisa talks about starting her journey as a career coach and her upcoming book, Career Clarity, which you can pre-order here (due out on November 17, 2020): https://getcareerclarity.com/order/ (https://getcareerclarity.com/order/). * 6:30 - Shawn asks Lisa to describe her “Career Clarity” framework to career coaching. Lisa responds by talking about how someone can prioritize happiness in their life and career to achieve success. * 8:45 - Lisa talks about doing some self-discovery to figure out what drives a person and makes them happy before trying to find the right job or career. * 11:00: - Lisa lays out the four pillars for career fulfillment: strengths and gifts, interests and passions, personality, and lifestyle. * 15:30 - Shawn asks where making money fits into the pillars. * 20:45 - Shawn asks Lisa to share her views on how much luck plays into career success. * 24:15 - Lisa talks about finding a “bridge job” to help people transition from one career to another (or to help prepare for entrepreneurship). * 28:15 - Harris asks Lisa about the benefits of not working for yourself. Lisa mentions that if safety and security are high priorities for someone, they may be better off working for a company. * 34:00 - Shawn and Lisa talk about “paving your runway,” which involves taking side hustle jobs before jumping into full-time freelance or entrepreneurship. * 36:30 - Harris and Lisa discuss the risks of working for yourself while trying to start a family. List of Resources Career Clarity by Lisa Lewis Miller (https://getcareerclarity.com/order/) Good to Great by Jim Collins (https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0066620996) Pivot by Jenny Blake (https://www.amazon.com/Pivot-Only-Move-That-Matters/dp/0143129031) Guest Contact Information: Lisa Lewis Miller (http://helloblinkshow.fireside.fm/guests/lisa-lewis-miller) Career Clarity (https://getcareerclarity.com/) The Career Clarity Show (podcast) (https://getcareerclarity.com/podcast/) LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamlewis/) Twitter: @CareerClarity (https://twitter.com/CareerClarity) Instagram: careerclarity (https://www.instagram.com/careerclarity/) Facebook: Career Clarity Show (https://www.facebook.com/TheCareerClarityShow/) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Lisa Lewis Miller.
In this episode, Harris and Shawn chat with David and Chris, owners of Cyber City Circtuits (https://shop.cybercitycircuits.com/). David and Chris are working to expand their contract manufacturing (for electronics and PCB assembly) business and need help reaching new customers. As a result, Harris and Shawn perform a live consultation with them to give advice on how to approach marketing and sales. In particular, Harris gives his thoughts on best ways to set up a sales pipeline, and Shawn helps brainstorm marketing ideas. Both Harris and Shawn agree that marketing and sales must be approached with a scientific mindset: experiment and learn from the experiments. One Powerful Quotation: * 58:45 - Shawn: “Everyone thinks marketing is fun colors and shapes and photographs, and while that is a part of branding, real marketing comes down to ‘what do customers engage with?’...you have to take a scientific [approach] to go ‘I have a hypothesis, I’m going to test it, and see the results.’” Key Topics: * 1:00 - Shawn asks David and Chris to explain what Cyber City Circuits does. * 3:40 - David talks about how he’s working to ramp up a contract manufacturing business within Cyber City Circuits. * 4:45 - Harris asks David and Chris about why shipping is a hard problem. * 9:00 - Shawn talks about automating shipping processes to allow for capacity and time to work on sales and marketing. * 12:00 - David talks about wanting to find more CM customers to help pay for his and Chris's time and provides some examples about what ideal customers would look like. * 14:00 - Shawn askes David and Chris to define whether they want to be B2C or B2B. * 15:30 - Harris gives his thoughts on setting up sales pipelines. * 18:15 - Shawn asks David and Chris to elaborate where their current customers are coming from. * 20:30 - David mentions that they currently test 100% all of their boards. * 21:30 - Shawn and Harris help David define their current sales pipeline. * 23:00 - Harris gives some advice on setting up onboarding techniques when hiring a salesperson. * 28:30 - Harris talks about how a good, simple CRM tool can help Cyber City Circuits. * 32:00 - Harris and David discuss the various ways to position a brand when it comes to sales. * 33:45 - Harris recommends that David and Chris create marketing and sales personas and then use outbound marketing to validate hypotheses about those personas. * 36:30 - Harris talks about the customer acquisition process. * 37:15 - Shawn asks if Cyber City Circuits is seeing repeat customers for their CM service. * 41:00 - Shawn recommends following Hubspot’s tutorials (https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/buyer-persona-research) for developing personas. * 43:15 - Shawn and David talk about potential problems Seeed Studio’s CM service might run into. Correction in the show: Seeed Studio still offers their Propagate service (https://www.seeedstudio.com/propagate/) for low-to-medium volume manufacturing. * 45:00 - Chris and David talk about why tooling costs are so high for CMs. * 46:45 - Shawn talks about how to find potential customers outside of an existing network along with how to engage with people on Twitter. * 50:30 - Harris gives feedback on Cyber City Circuits’ Twitter profile page. * 54:30 - Shawn talks about what it takes to create good content. * 58:00 - Harris and Shawn talk about experimenting in sales and marketing. * 1:00:00 - Harris and David talk about the difficulty in setting up a bootstrapped business. David mentions that he used Shopify (https://www.shopify.com/) to build his ecommerce storefront. * 1:01:30 - Harris and Shawn talk about how to test and measure various sales and marketing tactics. * 1:07:00 - Harris and Shawn discuss ways to develop good content and apply search engine optimization (SEO) to appeal to a particular audience. * 1:12:30 - David and Shawn talk about the necessity of having a good product to start with before being able to market it. * 1:14:30 - David talks to Shawn about handling poor designs or customers that want things outside of what a CM can provide. * 1:19:00 - Chris and David talk about wanting to transition to being primarily a CM shop with electronics distribution on the side. * 1:25:30 - David leaves listeners with some words of wisdom. List of Resources * Hubspot’s Buyer Persona tutorial (https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/buyer-persona-research) * Shopify (https://www.shopify.com/) Guest Contact Information: Cyber City Circuits (https://shop.cybercitycircuits.com/) David Ray (https://helloblinkshow.com/guests/david-ray) Chris Williamson (https://helloblinkshow.com/guests/chris-williamson) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guests: Chris Williamson and David Ray.
In this episode of the Hello Blink Show, Harris and Shawn interview electronics engineer, Chris Gammell. Chris shares his insights into how he manages his clients and education for his businesses. Chris works as a hardware engineering consultant designing boards for clients as well as teaching through workshops and YouTube videos. He is a co-host of the Amp Hour Electronics Podcast and organizes several Meetups, such as the Hardware Happy Hour in Chicago. Listeners will hear Chris's advice as he delves into his wisdom from his principal companies, including getting initial clients for consulting, billing, and managing his time. One Powerful Quotation: * 3:10 - Chris: “When it comes down to it, I usually say you know get your name out there somehow…it could be a YouTube channel, it could be a Twitter account, it could be a wide range of things, but it has to basically be as what I say is who thinks of you as the second person to call…if you can start to build those second connections, that is the most powerful thing you can do.” -- Key Topics: * 1:18 - Shawn opens the show by asking Chris about his background and why he wanted to start his own consulting business. 2:36 - Chris goes into how he acquires clients and why he believes you should build that second connection. 5:05 - Chris explains his hourly billing and deliverable process. Check out Website - Steve Friedl's Tech Tips: So you want to be a consult-ant…? (http://unixwiz.net/techtips/be-consultant.html). 6:22 - Chris shares his latest workings with RF/firmware as part of his consulting expertise. 7:21 - Shawn inquires with Chris about finding tutors for learning about RF/firmware. 9:56 - Harris asks Chris his thoughts about diversifying in the areas of his personal brand. 13:43 - Shawn curiously asks Chris how he transitioned himself into managing contract work with his other roles. 18:07 - Shawn shares the sentiments with Chris and asks why he avoids academia learning. 23:02 - Chris expresses his intrinsic motivation and how he likes to freestyle his work. He also describes how this lead to the creation of the Hackaday Supercon from Maker Faire. 29:00 - Chris agrees with Harris’ remarks on the rise of hardware and explains why he believes sensor technology is the future. 30:20 - Shawn and Chris discuss designing neural networks for anomaly detection and machine learning on microcontrollers. 35:00 - Chris shares how his inbound client leads come from his podcast and referrals. He notes how this process is more open ended and conducive for his business. 36:44 - Shawn asks a follow up question to Chris on how often he declines client leads and manages their interests. 39:03 - Harris inquires with Chris on if he has experimented with value based pricing for projects. Chris delves into why that strategy is more applicable to software than hardware by proof of the end customer value. 43:13 - Harris asks if Chris believes in strategic advising and selling prototype hardware sets the tone for lead generation. 55:53 - Shawn and Harris wrap up the show, and Chris shares his contact information to listeners. List of Resources Website - The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast (https://theamphour.com/) Website - Contextual Electronics (https://contextualelectronics.com/) Website - Analog Life LLC. (https://analoglife.co/) Website - Steve Friedl's Tech Tips: So you want to be a consult-ant…? (http://unixwiz.net/techtips/be-consultant.html) Book - The Start Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career - Reid Hoffman (https://www.amazon.com/Start-up-You-Future-Yourself-Transform-ebook/dp/B0050DIWHU) Website - ABB (https://new.abb.com/us) Website - Supplyframe (https://supplyframe.com/) Website - Hologram (https://www.hologram.io/) LinkedIn - Brock LaMeres (https://www.linkedin.com/in/brock-lameres-ba724629/) LinkedIn - Thomas Lee (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomastlee/) Website - Hackaday Superconference (https://hackaday.io/superconference/) Website - Maker Faire (https://makerfaire.com/) Website - Tiny ML (https://tinyml.org/home/) Website - Embedded FM - A Little Bit of Human Knowledge With Daniel Situnayake (https://embedded.fm/?offset=1587682860044) LinkedIn - Daniel Situnayake (https://www.linkedin.com/in/situnayake/) Website - OpenMV Camera (https://openmv.io/) Website - The Engineering Commons (https://theengineeringcommons.com/) Book - Value-Based Fees by Alan Weiss (https://www.amazon.com/Value-Based-Fees-Charge-Youre-Worth-ebook/dp/B0062O8UBY/) Article - Saas Pricing by Patrick McKenzie (https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/saas_pricing) Website - Tindie (https://www.tindie.com/) LinkedIn - Ryan Cousins (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlcousins/) Website - Krtkl (https://krtkl.com/) Website - Punch Through (https://punchthrough.com/) Website - KiCad Forum (https://forum.kicad.info/) Website - Hardware Happy Hour (https://hardwarehappyhour.com/) Guest Contact Information: Website - Chris Gammell (https://chrisgammell.com/) LinkedIn - Chris Gammell (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisgammell/) Twitter - Chris Gammell (https://twitter.com/Chris_Gammell) YouTube - Contextual Electronics (https://www.youtube.com/user/contextualelectronic) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) Special Guest: Chris Gammell.
Pariss Athena is the creator of the #BlackTechTwitter community and founder of Black Tech Pipeline, which helps connect Black technologists with companies looking for employees. She shares her story of growing and managing an online community and how she is turning that into a business. Pariss also provides some great tips on steps companies can take to diversify their applicant pool when hiring engineers and developers. One Powerful Quotation: * 26:00 – Pariss: “If I’m unsure about something, [I] don’t agree to it. Tell people you’ll think about it and get back to them. If you don’t want to do it, don’t do it. You don’t have to feel pressured to do things you’re not ready for.” Key Topics: * 0:40 - Pariss talks about launching Black Tech Pipeline (https://www.blacktechpipeline.com/), which grew out of the #BlackTechTwitter community and serves to open more opportunities for Black technologists. The site offers a job board for applicants as well as profiles for companies to be more transparent about their commitment to diversity and inclusion. * 3:37 - Haris asks Pariss how she keeps her platform to be centered on the job candidate. * 5:40 - Pariss talks about how she’s working with others to build out the website. * 8:00 - Haris and Shawn commend Pariss on her social media presence and ask how she keeps an authentic voice on Twitter. * 9:10 - Shawn asks Pariss about what skills prepared her to launch Black Tech Pipeline. Pariss gives great advice on learning how to say “no.” * 10:54 - Pariss talks about how interactions with people changed as her Twitter following grew. * 14:17 - Haris asks Pariss which platforms she used to grow her following. She says that Twitter was her main platform and she got lucky with the timing of the #BlackTechTwitter movement. * 16:59 - Shawn asks Pariss what companies, especially tech startups, can do to make sure diversity and inclusion are baked into their founding. Pariss recommends that companies engage with various online communities, such as the #BlackTechTwitter community, to build relationships with more diverse groups of potential employees. * 19:58 - Pariss, Shawn, and Haris talk about how a more diverse design team can create better products. Haris mentions that engineers and companies should reach out to diverse groups of people to test their products. * 27:10 - Shawn asks Pariss about which other social platforms she uses to manage her community. * 29:09 - Pariss and Haris talk about their experiences using Basecamp to manage projects.. List of Resources Black Tech Pipeline (https://www.blacktechpipeline.com/) Black Tech Twitter (https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackTechTwitter) Guest Contact Information: Pariss Athena (https://helloblinkshow.com/guests/pariss-athena) Twitter - @ParissAthena (https://twitter.com/ParissAthena) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Pariss Athena.
Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) are the pages displayed by various search engines when a user searches for a particular word or phrase. When creating content as part of your inbound marketing strategy, you’ll want to employ various Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to have your page rank higher in search engine results. You can use SERP rankings to measure the effectiveness of your content and SEO techniques. In this episode, Harris and Shawn discuss how founders and marketers can use SERP as an important metric to measure the performance of content against particular keywords. They begin by talking about the need to understand a product’s niche and audience before moving into various SEO and SERP tips and tools. One Powerful Quotation: * 30:10 – Shawn: “You employ all of your good SEO techniques to make [your content] rank more highly, and then you use SERP to measure how well your page [performs in search results].” Key Topics: * 1:00 – Harris and Shawn talk about life events and various work projects. Shawn mentions that he’s working on a collaboration project with @Odd_Jayy (https://twitter.com/Odd_Jayy) and @glowascii (https://twitter.com/glowascii). * 4:20 - Shawn gives tips on how to find time to read books. * 9:00 - Shawn gives a definition for Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) and why it offers a better metric than Search Engine Optimization (SEO). * 11:45 - Harris asks about good versus bad (trickery) SEO. * 14:00 - Shawn defines SERP, which is an indication of where your site shows up in search engine results when a user searches for particular keywords * 16:15 - Harris talks about Google’s new shopping tab * 17:15 - Harris and Shawn talk about how product search engines within a site (e.g. Amazon’s search) differs from broader search engines, like Google. * 19:00 - Shawn mentions a recent development where people are receiving random packages containing seeds. It turns out that this is a part of a scam to boost Amazon reviews for vendors (https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/08/04/free-amazon-orders-scam-mysterious-seeds-packages-brushing/5580858002/). * 21:08 - Harris and Shawn give their perspectives on running traditional outbound marketing techniques, such as running Google or Facebook ads. * 23:52 - Shawn recounts his experiences creating content for SparkFun and how successful it was at driving pageviews. * 25:40 - Shawn talks about creating content to maximize SERP number. Namely, “evergreen” content that continues to draw users for years after posting offers some of the best SERP value. * 29:53 - Shawn describes how SEO can be used to boost SERP. * 30:30 - Harris and Shawn give reasons for why they’re using Binho, LLC (https://binho.io/) as an example of how to create evergreen content for a niche audience. * 31:01 - Shawn describes the importance of patience with inbound marketing. * 33:20 - Harris talks about reusing and distributing content. * 34:27 - Shawn talks about why voice and video should (probably) not be your primary content for inbound marketing (at this point in time). Most search engines still prioritize written content, so written content should be your focus. * 39:03 - Harris introduces his new project: Intro CRM (https://introcrm.com/). * 41:11 - Shawn helps Harris brainstorm ideas for evergreen content that could be created to drive traffic to his new service. * 49:58 - Shawn mentions that Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest tool (https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/) can be very helpful for discovering keywords, creating article titles, and analyzing people’s search patterns. * 51:29 - Shawn introduces the concept of pillar content (https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-is-a-pillar-page), which is a collection of related articles that link to each other and all pages link back to a single, important piece of content. * 56:22 - Harris asks what would be good content if your audience doesn’t know the right words or jargon to use (i.e. they don’t know what a “host adapter” or “CRM” is). * 1:02:23 - Shawn talks about setting your expectations when competing with content from large companies. * 1:03:05 - Harris stresses the importance of having a good, differentiated product to start with. * 1:06:52 - Harris and Shawn talk about how to market products that may not have all the features you hoped for on launch. * 1:09:21 - Shawn recommends the book The Innovator’s Dilemma (https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-Change-Business/dp/0062060244) to learn about how to create products that serve a niche well. * 1:11:11 - Shawn talks about the importance of needing to market your product while you’re developing it and recommends the book Content, Inc. (https://www.amazon.com/Content-Inc-Entrepreneurs-Successful-Businesses/dp/125958965X) to assist in this journey. * 1:13:50 - Shawn talks about his experiences creating pillar content and measuring SERP. He recommends the tool Serposcope (https://serposcope.serphacker.com/en/) to automatically report the SERP rankings of your site versus various keywords on a daily basis. * 1:17:34 - Harris asks Shawn about the tools he uses to measure SEO and SERP. Shawn lists Neil Patel’s SEO Analyzer (https://neilpatel.com/seo-analyzer/) and Rank Math SEO for WordPress (https://rankmath.com/) in addition to the previously mentioned tools. * 1:19:29 - Harris talks about his poor experience working with an outsourced SEO firm. * 1:20:26 - Harris and Shawn talk about the skills required to create good content and why building trust is so important. * 1:22:02 - Harris and Shawn talk about how to create content that’s relevant to your audience. Shawn recommends the book Youtility (https://www.amazon.com/Youtility-Smart-Marketing-about-Help/dp/1591846668) for learning how to create valuable, relevant content. List of Resources * Rework (https://www.amazon.com/Rework-Jason-Fried/dp/0307463745) * Sapiens (https://www.amazon.com/Sapiens-Humankind-Yuval-Noah-Harari/dp/0062316117/) * Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest tool (https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/) * The Innovator’s Dilemma (https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-Change-Business/dp/0062060244) * Serposcope (https://serposcope.serphacker.com/en/) * Neil Patel’s SEO Analyzer (https://neilpatel.com/seo-analyzer/) * Rank Math SEO for WordPress (https://rankmath.com/) * Youtility (https://www.amazon.com/Youtility-Smart-Marketing-about-Help/dp/1591846668) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
On this episode of the Hello Blink Show, we welcome Jermaine Murray as our special guest to discuss best hiring practices for a company and how a startup can go about recruiting top talent. We ask Jermaine about his experiences that led to founding his own recruiting firm, JupiterHR, and about his role at TandemLaunch. Additionally, Jermaine tells us about his personal experiences growing up and how early experiences with STEM can help keep kids, especially minorities, interested in tech. One Powerful Quotation: * 56:23 – Jermaine: “How you manage your business is how you manage your relationships with your customers, your employees, and with your investors.” Key Topics: * 1:28 - Jermaine talks about his work as a recruiter. * 2:27 - Shawn asks Jermaine about TandemLaunch, a startup incubator in Montreal. * 7:09 - Jermaine discusses running his own business, JupiterHR, and how he focuses on recruiting members of the Black community into tech jobs * 9:15 - Shawn asks Jermaine about his inspiration for starting JupiterHR * 12:47 - Jermaine talks about how his experiences led him to helping companies recruit talent and create a more diverse workforce * 16:08 - Jermaine expresses how education (formal and informal) can help create a safe culture at work and curb microaggressions * 19:38 - Jermaine mentions that the 2020 goal for JupiterHR is to help 100 Black jobseekers find employment with tech companies. * 20:47 - Harris asks Jermaine about his thoughts on companies being more deliberate to hire from a diverse pool of applicants. * 23:31 - Jermaine discusses the need for a better education system for low-income communities in the United States and Canada and how that can help with diversity in STEM. * 25:04 - Harris and Jermaine talk about the importance of cultivating a safe work culture * 30:51 - Shawn and Jermaine talk about how accountability starts at the top of an organization when it comes to creating a workplace culture * 31:00 - Shawn asks Jermaine what companies can do to attract top and diverse talent * 35:41 - Shawn and Jermaine talk about how a small company can compete with large companies when it comes to attracting talent * 37:10 - Jermaine talks about his podcast, the “Launch” by TandemLaunch, which focuses on running startup companies * 40:23 - Shawn asks Jermaine what steps companies can take to get a more diverse set of applicants when posting a job opening * 42:30 - Jermaine talks about how companies can donate to and volunteer at organizations that help with social causes, such as introduction STEM to low-income schools * 48:24 - Harris asks Jermaine what smaller companies can do to show that they care about diversity. * 50:37 - Jermaine shares his experiences growing up and how he emotionally connects to the Black Lives Matter movement and protests List of Resources TandemLaunch (https://www.tandemlaunch.com/) JupiterHR (https://www.jupiterhr.ca/) The Launch podcast (https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-launch-a-podcast-by-tandemlaunch#/) Guest Contact Information: Jermaine L. Murray (https://helloblinkshow.com/guests/jermaine-l-murray) JupiterHR (https://www.jupiterhr.ca/) LinkedIn - Jermaine L. Murray (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jermainelmurray/) Twitter - @JermaineJupiter (https://twitter.com/JermaineJupiter) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Jermaine L. Murray.
We welcome to the show Kia Roberts, who worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn and the Director of Investigations for the National Football League (NFL) and founded her own company, Triangle Investigations. Triangle Investigations performs third party investigations for companies into allegations of misconduct, including sexual harassment, discrimination, and bullying. Kia talks about why she founded the company, successes she’s had, and what the future of company culture and human resources will look like. We also ask for her opinions on how new and established companies can create and manage a healthy and positive culture.. One Powerful Quotation: * 21:33 - Kia: “Employees are in a position right now where they’re making demands and they’re being heard, and I think at this point, there’s going to have to be follow-through.” Key Topics: * 0:48 - Harris asks Kia about how her career prepared her to start her own business. * 2:30 - Shawn asks Kia what the most difficult steps were for her when starting a business. * 3:00 - Kia talks about using an external marketing firm to help with client acquisition. * 4:10 - Kia describes how Triangle Investigations works to investigate workplace misconduct, including sexual harassment, descrimination, bullying, etc. * 6:25 - Kia talks about how her job at the District Attorney’s office prepared her for launching her own business and how she overcame the hurdles of client acquisition. * 7:15 - Harris asks Kia about how she’s integrating technology, specifically Triangle’s Telli platform, into her work as an investigator. * 9:54 - Shawn asks Kia how the Telli smartphone app works. * 11:30 - Kia discusses how her app helps inform decisions in the rest of her company * 13:45 - Harris mentions how Kia’s app fills a need and then asks Kia how she is funding her business. Kia responds that she is bootstrapping her efforts. * 15:26 - Harris asks Kia her opinions on what steps someone in a hostile work environment should take to address problems. * 18:00 - Kia discusses what happens when companies do not address misconduct. * 23:30 - Shawn asks Kia about what kinds of symptoms might appear if misconduct goes unnoticed or unreported in a company. * 25:12 - Shawn then asks what might companies do to maintain best practices around minimizing and addressing misconduct. * 26:04 - Kia mentions the “No Jerk Policy.” See below for a book recommendation. * 27:00 - Shawn asks how a company can enforce misconduct rules. * 29:15 - Shawn shares his experience with diversity (or lack thereof) in the tech world. * 31:09 - Kia and Harris talk about how fighting discrimination needs to be at the top of the list of priorities for CEOs. * 35:15 - Kia and Harris discuss how Triangle Investigations provides a level of risk management for other companies. * 36:00 - Shawn asks Kia how she recommends new companies go about establishing a healthy, inclusive work culture. * 37:51 - Shawn asks Kia for book recommendations. She recommends Book Yourself Solid (https://www.amazon.com/Book-Yourself-Solid-Reliable-Marketing-ebook/dp/B076G811V8). * 38:48 - Harris asks Kia where people can find out more about Triangle Investigations and how they can follow her on social media. * 40:03 - Kia talks about things businesses should avoid doing and what are proactive steps they can take to address misconduct. * 42:09 - Harris talks about the effect Glassdoor reviews can have on a company. * 44:00 - Kia discusses how nonprofits can be affected by negative Glassdoor reviews. * 45:55 - Shawn talks about how mission statements should include what companies do for their employees along with what they provide for customers and shareholders. * 47:30 - Harris and Shawn discuss the potential pitfalls of focusing on growth rather than sustainability. * 48:40 - Harris asks Kia for advice on how people in leadership positions can better hold each other accountable rather than adopting a defensive posture to maintain the status quo. * 52:22 - Kia tells the story of how a pastry shop in New Orleans had to shut down because of a string of sexual harassment lawsuits. * 53:44 - Kia shares how she got the idea for Triangle Investigations. List of Resources * Triangle Investigations (https://www.triangleinvestigations.com/) * Triangle Investigations’ services and Telli app (https://www.triangleinvestigations.com/services) * How To Manage Workplace Misconduct Issues For Remote Employees (https://www.triangleinvestigations.com/blog/2020/5/13/employment-laws-still-applytips-for-hr-managers-handling-employee-misconduct-when-employees-work-remotely) * Book: No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One that Isn’t (https://www.amazon.com/Asshole-Rule-Civilized-Workplace-Surviving-ebook/dp/B000OT8GV2) * Book: Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling (https://www.amazon.com/Book-Yourself-Solid-Reliable-Marketing-ebook/dp/B076G811V8) * Book: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t (https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0066620996) Guest Contact Information: Kia Roberts (https://helloblinkshow.com/guests/kia-roberts) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Kia Roberts.
In this episode of the Hello Blink Show, Harris and Shawn interview firmware developer, hardware designer, technical writer, and community leader, Kattni Rembor. Kattni shares her insights into how she engages followers and educates her peers. Listeners will hear her advice as she delves into her experience with Adafruit and the process involved with fostering a community on learning CircuitPython. Listen after the closing credits for an update on CircuitPython and how people have been integrating it into finished produts! One Powerful Quotation: *36:00: “I think it’s a huge part of growing a community is being open to changes and open to possibilities because, if you are rigid about things and you expect everything to fall within a certain scope, you’re either going to drive people away or you’re going to have a really bad day.” Key Topics: * 1:03: Shawn opens the show and asks Kattni about her story with working at Adafruit Industries. She mentions how she became involved writing libraries which led to creating communities for teaching and learning. 6:00: Kattni shares how she started with no programming/electronics experience and has become a self-taught engineer, developer, and community leader. 7:17: Kattni highlights her inspiration for wanting to work with electronics. 10:43: Kattni responds to Harris’ commentary on the tangible results produced from one’s work. 11:22: Shawn and Kattni discuss using Circuit Python versus Arduino. The two compare its programming application for educating users. 17:18: Harris relays a question to Kattni from a listener on her thoughts on the balance between using Circuit Python for education over finished products and how this will change over time. 20:45: Harris asks another a question to Kattni from a listener on adding support for RISC-V as a prioritized, developer tool for educational consideration on Circuit Python. 22:14: Shawn and Kattni discuss how Circuit Python supports specific development boards. 23:29: Kattni gives her perspective on what it means to have a developer community for Circuit Python. 26:02: Kattni talks about the forums she uses for collaboration including Discord and GitHub. 27:27: Kattni describes the free form structure of their forums with admins, moderators, and helpers that reinforce positive feedback and build better relationships. 29:43: Kattni notes that these positions consist of Adafruit employees and members that are active in the public channels. 31:26: Shawn and Kattni reminisce about old bulletin board forums and how moderation teams were made up of volunteer members based on their posts. Kattni adds the one difference with their community help is the quality of the member’s contribution dictates their position. 33:10: Harris, Shawn, and Kattni openly talk about planning a community and go about creating an environment that is open, safe, and non-toxic. 45:11: Kattni answers Shawn’s question on when to restructure your channel setup and curate a community that is adaptable to your audience. 46:47: Harris and Shawn wrap up the show and ask Kattni how they advertise and recruit members. 50:19 (Post-Show): Harris, Shawn, and Kattni address the commercialization of products using Circuit Python. List of Resources Website - Adafruit Industries (https://www.adafruit.com/) Website - Circuit Python (https://circuitpython.org/) Website - Ardruino (https://www.arduino.cc/) Website - GitHub (https://github.com/) Website - Discord (https://discord.com/) Guest Contact Information GitHub - Kattni Rembor (https://github.com/kattni/) Twitter - Kattni Rembor (https://twitter.com/kattni) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Kattni Rembor.
We welcome to the show historian and invention lover, Anton Howes. Anton recently released a book, Arts and Minds: How the Royal Society of Arts Changed a Nation, about how the Royal Society of the Arts encouraged invention and innovation during the Industrial revolution. As a result, we are excited to ask him about his thoughts on innovation culture and the nature of inventions. Additionally, Anton shares his findings on inventions that appear to occur later than they should have (“behind the times”), such as the popular tabletop game, Dungeons and Dragons, and the role of government in incentivizing invention. We also talk about pirates. Please note that this interview was recorded on May 4, 2020. One Powerful Quotation: * 11:15 - Anton: “If you can prove prior art--that you’ve done something before--then if someone takes a patent for the same thing, you’ve got very public proof that they can’t sue you for infringement.” Key Topics: * 1:00 - Harris asks Anton about how societies and governments can incentivize innovation. Anton discusses his book, Arts and Minds: How the Royal Society of Arts Changed a Nation and how a similar approach might be used to help people find a cure for COVID-19. * 7:25 - Shawn asks Anton his opinion on patents: are they good or bad? Anton says that a diverse incentive system is probably the best. * 10:30 - Anton talks about how an invention prize can be used to both maintain open source as well as legally protect the inventor from having their creation copied or stolen by proof of prior art. * 12:05 - Harris asks Anton about why some inventions seem to be “behind the times.” Anton theorizes that people get stuck in their ways, and so some innovations and inventions seem to take a long time. * 16:22 - Shawn mentions a Reddit discussion about Anton’s Dungeons and Dragons blog post. Anton talks about the importance of constraints on invention. * 18:15 - Anton talks about other inventions that seem to have been created too late, such as semaphore flags and the flying shuttle. * 21:00 - Anton talks about Britain’s promigration policy to attract inventors during the Industrial Revolution. * 25:40 - Anton discusses how location matters for inventors to be inspired and work effectively. * 27:54 - Shawn asks Anton about how inventors flourished during the Industrial Revolution. * 30:00 - Anton talks about the role of the government to incentivize invention in the Industrial Revolution. * 32:57 - Anton gives his thoughts on how society can cultivate a culture of invention. * 36:56 - Anton shares his personal inventors and invention stories. * 39:36 - Pirates! * 41:30 - Harris asks Anton if invention is ultimately good for society and humankind. * 45:07 - Shawn asks Anton to clarify the “promigration” term. List of Resources Book - Arts and Minds: How the Royal Society of Arts Changed a Nation by Anton Howes (https://www.amazon.com/Arts-Minds-Society-Changed-Nation-ebook/dp/B081J6JP69) Blog Post - Innovation: Eyes on the Prize by Anton Howes (https://www.tenentrepreneurs.org/blog/innovation-eyes-on-the-prize) Blog Post - Age of Invention: Where be Dragons? (https://www.tenentrepreneurs.org/blog/innovation-eyes-on-the-prize) - Why did it take so long for people to create Dungeons and Dragons? The Adventure Zone podcast (https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/adventure-zone/) - Inspiration for Anton to write about the invention of D&D Reddit discussion about Anton’s D&D blog post (https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/f66zlz/age_of_invention_where_be_dragons_a_historian/) Anton Howes’s Age of Invention weekly newsletter (https://antonhowes.substack.com/) Guest Contact Information: Anton Howes Bio (https://helloblinkshow.com/guests/anton-howes) antonhowes.substack.com (https://antonhowes.substack.com/) LinkedIn - Anton Howes (https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonhowes/) Twitter - Anton Howes (https://twitter.com/antonhowes) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Anton Howes.
In this episode of the Hello Blink Show, Harris and Shawn interview business banker, Saira Rahman. Saira shares her insights in how she advises her clients at Alpine Bank. Specifically, Saira discusses broader topics including why financial management is important and what a bank can do for your business legally. One Powerful Quotation: * 17:50: “As you grow, you’re going to want to branch out and have multiple relationships depending on what you need…It all depends on what your niche is and what you’re focused on and the level of knowledge that your banker has not only on your specific industry but also on the overall market.” Key Topics: * 1:05: Harris opens the show by asking Saira about her background. * 2:14: Saira shares how she became a business banker with Alpine Bank. * 4:09: Shawn asks Saira about the charter of Alpine Bank. * 4:56: Shawn inquires if Saira enjoys her role at a smaller bank. * 6:12: Saira shares how she uses Twitter as a means to discussing important items and acquire information for her work. * 8:14: Harris asks Saira about her experience with the process of handling commercial clients and the Small Business Administration. * 11:16: Saira explains the difference between PPP, EIDLP, and small business loans. She describes the process involved and how they are applied. * 15:16: Harris remarks that small banks have been very responsive to loan grants. In turn, he asks Saira her opinion on why it matters what bank you choose. * 18:39: Shawn inquires with Saira about protected guarantees with a community bank. * 20:17: Saira shares what to research for in bank’s financial statements including their balance sheet, income statement, and loan loss reserve. * 22:41: Harris and Saira discuss how choosing a bank should be a considerate decision and personality fit. * 25:03: Harris asks Saira about the drawbacks in having only an online banking provider. * 27:44: Shawn and Saira talk about why you must have a separate banking account from your personal. * 29:33: Saira explains the benefits of using a business credit card to streamline your taxes and help underwrite business loans. She also encourages listeners to work with a CPA. * 31:22: Saira notes the value of a business credit card based on the lowest fee and best perk available. * 33:49: Harris asks Saira her advise on increasing your financing needs based on capital structure and loan/line of credit requests. She also advises listeners to forecast their finances with a branch manager or accountant to plan out their goals accordingly. * 37:01: Saira remarks why it is important to have a continual conversation with your financial adviser through the up and downswings of your business. * 38:00: Saira shares what she thinks are the biggest mistakes small business owners make. * 40:55: Harris wraps up the show, and Saira shares her contact information. List of Resources Website - SBA (https://www.sba.gov/) Website - Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) (https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relief-options/paycheck-protection-program) Guest Contact Information* LinkedIn - Saira Rahman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sairarahman/) Twitter - Saira Rahman (https://twitter.com/sairarahman) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Saira Rahman.
In this episode of the Hello Blink Show, Harris and Shawn interview engineering and programming expert, Michael Dominick. Mike shares his insights on how he operates his business, The Mad Botter, an automation development company focused on making distributed teams and remote work more efficient. Specifically, Mike discusses his service platform for data analysis. Harris and Shawn talk about his success and ask questions ranging from business development experience to inbound marketing strategy. One Powerful Quotation: * 8:03 — Mike: “I would say the government is like the biggest, most bureaucratic enterprise customer you could possibly have, but there are advantages.” Key Topics: * 0:59: Harris opens the show and asks Michael about the foundation for his company, The Mad Botter. 2:35: Harris asks Michael about the customer types he serves. 3:27: Shawn inquires with Michael about the comparison in business development with military and civilian operations. The two discuss the pros and cons of government contracting and why smaller entities partner with larger institutions. 11:20: Mike advises that niche, proof of concept job proposals are the most widely available and act as a good source for referral opportunities. 13:28: Shawn asks Michael and Harris if they have experienced backlash from working with government contractors. 16:27: Michael describes his product offering Rabbot Automation as a service solution for data analysis among open source platforms. He also discusses his reason as to why he and his team developed Rabbot Automation. 20:57: Michael talks about his niche audience and how he pivoted his inbound marketing strategy. 24:56: Michael shares why Twitter is his favorite platform for business opportunities. 29:07: Michael, Shawn, and Harris share their thoughts on using Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. They note how their content creation differs in response from audiences in each medium. 36:53: Harris asks Michael his experience with how his business has dealt with working with these types of platforms in delivering their product services. 39:50: Michael shares why Apple is the most difficult developer platform to work with. 44:54: Michael explains how he monetizes from an open source platform. 46:20: Shawn asks Michael why he chooses to use close source applications but offers open source as a library for his audience. 51:22: Harris wraps up the show, and Michael shares his contact information. List of Resources Facebook - The Mad Botter (https://www.facebook.com/TheMadBotterINC/) Twitter - The Mad Botter (https://twitter.com/TheMadBotterINC) https://themadbotter.com/ (https://themadbotter.com/) Guest Contact Information* Twitter - Michael Dominick (https://twitter.com/dominucco) Twitter - The Mike Dominick Show (https://twitter.com/MDominickShow) https://www.automator.show/ (https://www.automator.show/) LinkedIn - Michael Dominick (https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dominick-23107010b/) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Michael Dominick.
In this episode of the Hello Blink Show, Harris and Shawn share tips and techniques on staying focused and productive throughout the day. Working from home can offer a great deal of flexibility, but it comes with the added responsibility of managing your own time. Finding motivation can be a tough challenge when family, chores, and social media vie for your attention. Specifically, Harris discusses the importance of food and exercise over other time management techniques and Shawn weighs in regarding the necessity of rest. The two then give insights on various methods of managing a daily schedule and keeping to-do lists before concluding with some recommended reading material. One Powerful Quotation: * 26:46 - Harris: “You can use Pomodoro...and whatever other kind of system you want, if you’re not giving your body the nutrients that it needs,...I don’t really care about the system [that you use].” Key Topics: * 1:15 - Harris opens the show by talking about how he is helping his clients navigate the Coronavirus stimulus and loan programs as well as how he is working with the Make4Covid group in Colorado that is making personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers. 3:20 - Shawn discusses his recent machine learning project and making his Arduino course free. 7:30 - Shawn talks about motivation to work while at an office versus at home. 10:06 - Harris and Shawn talk about the illusion of looking busy in an office environment. 12:44 - Shawn discusses the problem with distractions and his own personal experiences in understanding his own daily rhythm. 15:31 - Harris gives an account of how he handles motivation throughout the day. 17:47 - Shawn talks about the importance of choosing and structuring tasks to keep focus. 19:07 - Shawn and Harris discuss how nutrition, exercise, caffeine, and alcohol affect focus and motivation. They conclude that diet, exercise, and sleep is more important than any time management program. 28:56 - Shawn discusses supplementing vitamins for helping with focus. 34:01 - A discussion about preventative medicine ensues. 36:51 - Shawn asks Harris about his experience with a nutritionist and how it might be better than going to a doctor. 39:58 - Shawn talks about the importance of getting rest, not just getting enough sleep but also taking time to deliberately abstain from work. Know how your body works! 43:25 - Harris and Shawn discuss staying focused on a granular level: hour to hour. They share tips on various techniques ranging from calendar blocking, maintaining to-do lists, reminder apps, and personal Scrum. 51:56 - Shawn talks about utilizing ultradian rhythms to be more productive and stay focused throughout the workday. 53:23 - Harris and Shawn discuss the various merits and pitfalls of social media in their lines of work and how they affect productivity. 55:56 - Shawn introduces two competing schools of thought: should you use the morning to tackle easy tasks or hard projects first? List of Resources Make4Covid (https://make4covid.co/) Making It podcast (https://www.makingitpodcast.com/) Basecamp (https://basecamp.com/) Trello (https://trello.com/) Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland and JJ Sutherland (https://www.amazon.com/Scrum-Doing-Twice-Work-Half/dp/038534645X/) Michael Hyatt: Why You Should Never Start With Your Most Difficult Task (https://michaelhyatt.com/most-difficult-task/) Brian Tracy: Eat That Frog! (https://www.amazon.com/Eat-That-Frog-Great-Procrastinating/dp/162656941X) Buffer (https://buffer.com/) Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (https://www.amazon.com/Rework-Jason-Fried/dp/0307463745/) Work Clean by Dan Charnas (https://www.amazon.com/Work-Clean-life-changing-mise-en-place-organize/dp/1623365929) The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (https://www.amazon.com/Power-Habit-What-Life-Business/dp/B007EJSMC8) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
In this episode of the Hello Blink Show, Harris and Shawn interview legal expert and attorney, Mark Tyson. Mark shares his knowledge and how he advises his clients into incorporating their business while minimizing liability. Specifically, Mark discusses how he helps entrepreneurs and creators as Shawn and Harris weigh in on the importance of legal counseling. The two give their insights as well as ask questions from listeners on recommended steps. One Powerful Quotation: * 26:29 — Mark: “What I would encourage listeners to do is to shift your perspective to… see lawyers…really the value you’re going to find is 'okay let’s do some planning, let’s talk through these scenarios. You know, what am I trying to do with my business? Where are the threats coming from?'” Key Topics: 1:35: Shawn asks Mark about an appropriate time to consult for legal advice. 4:20: Harris asks Mark to share about Tyson Law and how he acquires clients from inbound marketing and flat fees. 7:03: Mark talks about seeking consultation and the benefits of having a lawyer. 11:23: Shawn inquires with Mark on intellectual property and the cost of having legal representation for filing trademarks or patents. 15:19: Mark is asked a question from Twitter on the patent filing process being costly and timely. Mark explains how it depends on the product and market. 18:42: Mark shares his thoughts on forming an LLC or corporation. He highlights the differences between them as well as S-Level/C-Level incorporation. 21:37: Mark addresses Shawn’s inquiry into the structure of LLCs and corporations having stock or owner interest in another company. 23:25: Mark further discusses the tax treatment of a single member LLC from the IRS. 24:38: Mark contrasts the legal perspective of how lawsuits are handled with sole proprietorships and LLCs. 25:47: Mark comments on the value of having a good business lawyer for mitigating risk. 27:05: Harris and Mark discuss how strategic conversations are essential, and Mark shares a personal experience when he tried to hire an accountant. 29:23: Mark explains the reasons why most corporations are filed in Delaware. He also notes some of the disadvantages that are associated with it. 33:29: Shawn asks Mark his thoughts on the legal barriers in misclassifying workers as employees or independent contractors for a business. 36:25: Harris and Mark discuss how treatment of workers and the culture of an organization is essential to any successful business operation. Shawn adds that a mission statement should serve to benefit customers, stake holders, and employees. 41:45: Mark delves into the technicality of contracted work including hours, lump-sum pay, and length of engagement that government agencies may clue in on. 44:27: Mark reminds listeners they have a responsibility in educating themselves on any legal engagements they participate in. 46:17: Shawn asks Mark a question from a friend on arbitration and neutral jurisdiction clauses for intrastate/international business and if legal counsel is needed. 50:17: Mark shares his views on interviewing lawyers based on their knowledge, personality, and communication. 53:33: Mark suggests the communication style of your attorney should best suit your needs. 55:22: Mark explains why legal guidance is the surest way for trademarking intellectual property instead of doing it on your own. 59:09: Mark comments why it is important and easier to copyright your medium. 1:01:38: Mark details what are trade secrets and safeguarding that information from the public. 1:03:26: Shawn and Harris wrap up the show with Mark, and he shares his contact information. Guest Contact Information* https://www.marktysonlaw.com/ (https://www.marktysonlaw.com/) LinkedIn - Mark Tyson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-tyson-2388482b/) Twitter - Mark Tyson (https://twitter.com/markwtyson) https://www.marktysonlaw.com/ (https://www.marktysonlaw.com/) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn - Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter - Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter - Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Mark Tyson.
This week, on the Hello Blink Show, hosts Shawn Hymel and Harris Kenny welcome Joel Murphy to the show. This episode focuses on Joel’s work on the Spiro Wave "bridge" ventilator system that can be widely used in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and how designers/small business owners can contribute to their network. Note that this episode was recorded about 2 weeks ago. As such, some of the information may not be up to date. Specifically, the Spiro Wave device is not necessarliy completely open source, although there are plans to release parts of the design to help other companies make similar devices. Read all about it in this The New York Times piece by By Steve Lohr (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/technology/new-york-ventilators-coronavirus.html). Joel is an electronics design engineer and startup entrepreneur who has co-founded four startups specializing in customizable interface sensor devices ranging from heart rate and brain computing to hearing aid development and an open source fitness tracker. He presides as a board member at the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) where he organizes hackathons and engages in public speaking seminars. As a designer, teacher, and engineer, listeners will hear about Joel’s latest project and how makers and small business owners can step up to help their community. One Powerful Quotation: * 35:28: “I think the maker community and the DIY community is really well placed and already has it baked in to share, to help, to give freely, to make a difference and to understand that you can make a difference in ways that may be are not necessarily direct. You don’t have to be the person doing to the magical, wonderful thing. You can actually be contributing a little bit.” Key Topics: * 1:31: Shawn recaps with Joel about the protocols involved with hospital treatment of COVID-19 patients and the demand around medical equipment needed. * 4:38: Shawn inquires with Joel about the shortage of ventilators and why they are used. * 6:18: Harris and Joel discuss the severity of the situation and the risks surrounding vulnerable departments of the world. * 13:00: Joel talks about his latest project, a makeshift ambulatory bag that is customized to act as a ventilator. Joel explains the difference between the two and how its implementation is used for emergencies. * 22:13: Shawn asks Joel about his team and if they experienced problems deploying their device across the medical field. * 26:30: Harris and Joel talk about how the sharing of maker/open source community knowledge with their networks can be leveraged into a formal corporate partnership. * 33:55: Harris asks Joel about his position and how his flexibility allowed him to take on his most recent project. Joel agrees and adds that the maker/DIY community can indirectly help give back to their network. * 38:05: Joel shares with how listeners can get involved. He includes associations needing volunteers and being “hyperlocal” in your neighborhood. * 43:46: Joel gives his final thoughts and why he believes in upholding regulations as a gate-keeper for safety and care. List of Bulleted Resources Spiro Wave in The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/technology/new-york-ventilators-coronavirus.html) OSHWA (https://www.oshwa.org/) Tympan (https://shop.tympan.org/) Contagion movie (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) Open Source COVID-19 Medical Supplies Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/opensourcecovid19medicalsupplies/) Make4Covid (https://make4covid.co/) MIT e-vent project (https://e-vent.mit.edu/) Guest Contact Information Joel Murphy (http://helloblinkshow.fireside.fm/guests/joel-murphy) Host Contact Information: http://shawnhymel.com http://kennyconsultinggroup.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/ https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Joel Murphy.
On this episode, Shawn and Harris tackle gaining early sales and landing partnerships. One Powerful Quotation: * 1:01:30: “When you’re looking for early customers, you probably don’t have a ton of leverage. You are probably gonna be more open to… changing some features or adding some features… If you’re getting started and you don’t have that leverage in the beginning, and if you really are very focused on bringing money in the door and getting started, that’s probably gonna happen in some form or fashion in the beginning, and then over time, you can adapt and move away from that if you need to.” Key Topics: * 0:49: Shawn and Harris open the show welcoming listeners. They both comment how well received the podcast has been and what they’ve learned from guests on the platform. 2:38: Shawn shares his latest project he’s working on with neural networks and machine learning. He describes how he’s using these to manipulate micro controllers and the challenges asso-ciated with it. 6:27: Harris shares his latest workshop on new outbound methods/approaches from small businesses that can be applicable to larger, founder-owned corporations. He notes the importance of a structured, high value, and personalized approach are the keys for generating that sales conversation. 9:18: Shawn asks Harris about his techniques he uses to engage his audience when he presents. Harris admits it can be challenging, but the goal is to have an interaction that is resourceful/useful. 12:32: Shawn and Harris discuss how influencing your customer is to have them do something for you. Harris explains this and how building trust for your customer to take a series of steps/actions will ultimately make it easier to close a deal. 16:04: Shawn and Harris switch topics and talk about formulating your business and creating the first transaction. They offer tips on how to create accounts, limit your liability, and save you money. 23:05: Shawn shares the story of how he landed Digi-Key as his first customer. Harris shares a similar story and they talk about the importance in building your network. 33:14: Harris mentions another approach in finding your next customer through content market-ing conversations. He and Shawn talk about generating feedback from your audience, handling criticism, and how to monetize it. 40:02: Harris illustrates how crowdfunding can be used for projects and how to allocate the funds. Shawn agrees and adds that these campaigns have become more of a pre-order system than for marketing/creating outreach for a project/business. 46:40: Harris brings up the importance of cold outreach and how to successfully implement it. He lists critical steps to follow that highlight drawing attention/interest, crafting contextu-al/personal messages, and offering opt-in/opt-outs preferences to customers. 56:34: Shawn expands on this topic during his time at SparkFun, and he and Harris acknowledge how to leverage the bridged gap between markets, cataloged audiences, and using distributors. Harris also contrasts the differences between larger, VC backed companies versus smaller, lean operations and what they represent as a medium. 1:01:26: Harris and Shawn wrap up the show and give their final remarks. Bullet List of Resources: Influencer Profile * Josh Braun - https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-braun/ Host Contact Information: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/ https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny Follow Hello Blink Show: https://helloblinkshow.com https://twitter.com/helloblinkshow https://www.linkedin.com/company/helloblinkshow/
We hope this podcast is of value to the you as the situation unfolds. We wish all of our followers and listeners their health and safety at this time. Please reach out @ShawnHymel or @HarrisKenny if there is anything they can do for you. One Powerful Quotation: * 26:00 – “If you’re a business owner or you’re a CEO, I think this is an appropriate time to practice good interpersonal management with your people. I would say don’t try to panic people… But in the same sense, be honest. Be upfront. This is a scary situation we are looking at.” Key Topics: * 1:00 – Shawn and Harris open the show with how they are dealing with their self-quarantine and social distancing. They admit they are fortunate with being able to work from home and mention of how many Americans cannot. 4:00 – Shawn and Harris talk about the content marketing strategy from big brands in response to the coronavirus. Shawn says many have taken a bare minimum approach with large email outreaches, and they each give their take on what companies are doing that works. 6:50 — Shawn considers making his online Arduino course free for a period of time and the value of offering free learning tools to everyone. Harris agrees with this, and they delve into how some organizations/events have handled this situation better or worse than others. 10:40 — Shawn and Harris describe their experience attending the online Open Hardware Summit. They highlight their virtual experience with attendee engagement and how presenters are able to format their activities with polling, online streaming, etc. for future events. Harris notes that presenting this way is a skill set and a great opportunity to grow your business. 20:08 — Shawn asks Harris his opinion on what small business can do to alleviate some of their problems. Harris says they should assess their short/long term risk by trying to increase inventory supply and focus on diversifying their offerings such as consulting or starting a new project. He mentions that this is only optimal if cash is available, and your business is in a position to take on more work. 22:24 —Shawn and Harris discuss how operators can pivot to using a local distributor/supplier to continue running their business. They offer their opinions on how owners should handle this crisis and implement interpersonal management to everyone. 27:16 — Harris inquires with Shawn on how he handles his own personal management at home and with work. 29:50 — Shawn and Harris share with listeners their views on how organizations/institutions now have a larger responsibility to give value to others as a sign of empathy and compassion. 37:45 —Shawn and Harris surmise that investment opportunities and industry trends will change as a result to the evident economic turmoil. 41:30 — Shawn and Harris wrap up the show with their final thoughts to everyone. List of Bulleted Resources 7:06 - Shawn's online Arduino course: https://www.udemy.com/course/arduino-programming-and-hardware-fundamentals-with-hackster/ Host Contact Information: http://shawnhymel.com http://kennyconsultinggroup.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/ https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
This week, on the Hello Blink Show, hosts Shawn Hymel and Harris Kenny welcome special guest, Jonathan Georgino. Jonathan is a business owner and hardware engineer who focuses on working through distribution channels and closing multi-unit enterprise deals with his company, Binho. Listeners will hear from Jonathan about the steps he took to land his first deals, market to early customers, and build a quality product that delights users. One Powerful Quote: 23:02 – Jonathan: “I really recommend building your first boards by hand because you will understand if there is any problem whatsoever; if there is anything that can be improved, it will reveal itself when you build them by hand.” Key Topics: * 1:18 – Shawn asks Jonathan about his business Binho, and Jonathan highlights key points including his team of contractors and going to market strategy. He also explains their product, the Nova host adapter, and explains the many benefits that come from it. * 6:18 – Shawn inquires with Jonathan about his thought process for wanting to develop and find a product-market fit for the host adapter. Jonathan admits it is wishful thinking but explains how he wanted to incorporate his previous projects into a user experience. * 8:16 – Shawn follows up with how likely someone will purchase his product. Compared to his competitors, Jonathan explains that his product is sleek, convenient, and low-profile for users. He also notes how functional it can be for teams of developers. * 12:33 – Harris acknowledges Jonathan’s presence in this space, and they delve into how his experiences inspired him to form a business. Jonathan shares his insights into how he became his first customer and truly understood his competitors. He says advice from his network and addressing these issues early on helped build his team. * 15:40 – Shawn and Jonathan have a follow up discussion on the influence of Jonathan’s network that inspired him to market and sell the Nova host adapter. Jonathan says this group came from from varying industries that had different projects and use cases. * 17:08 – Shawn, Harris, and Jonathan have an open conversation about the challenges with scaling a business centered around software and hardware applications. Jonathan mentions how his relationship with a reliable and flexible supply chain manufacturer has set a foundation for his company’s scalability. * 19:02 – Jonathan shares the process of how his product was manufactured and his success in calculating order demand. He also explains the outsourcing process to China and why it was important to originally keep quality control in the U.S. * 27:18: Shawn and Harris commend Jonathan on his focus between launching product and business development. Jonathan describes the details used in their website which handles their e-commerce, product features, and support backin. * 30:30: Shawn, Harris, and Jonathan discuss cold marketing and public relation approaches that helped Binho find their niche audience segment. Jonathan also illustrates what marketing tactics have/have not been successful and explains why. * 38:08: Jonathan expresses how distributors have been the leading source for sales recently and the advantageous benefits that have come from this. * 41:56: Harris asks Jonathan about his business model strategy for go-to market and his decision to use distributors. Jonathan highlights that his experiences as a buyer convinced him these platforms could help him as a seller including their marketing and customer outreach value. He also remarks the importance of having direct customers and keeping the end-to-end product cycle relevant. * 48:10: Shawn and Jonathan discuss the purchasing process for Binho and why Jonathan values this aspect of his operation. * 51:10: Harris asks Jonathan about his scaleability and multi-unit enterprise purchases. Jonathan mentions that this has recently started to happen and acknowledges that this trend validates that users are solving their problems/challenges better and faster. Guest Information: Jonathan Georgino (http://helloblinkshow.fireside.fm/guests/jonathan-georgino) Host Contact Information: http://shawnhymel.com http://kennyconsultinggroup.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/ https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Jonathan Georgino.
On this episode of the Hello Blink Show, hosts Shawn Hymel and Harris Kenny welcome special guest, Moheeb Zara. Moheeb is a hacker, roboticist, installation artist, and software engineer. He currently works as a Senior Developer Advocate at Amazon Web Services (AWS) where he enjoys crafting new projects and generating content for those interested in learning more about AWS. Listeners will hear from Moheeb as he talks about helping businesses leverage their marketing/content strategy. One Powerful Quote: 29:40: “You’re building a better and better product and then you also have a community that’s like, 'Hey, we can also build these tools,' and then, there’s the opportunity for them to build more tools and resources on top of it...when you have those key developers in your community, they become evangelists for you.” Key Topics: * 1:18: Shawn asks Moheeb about his role and the responsibilities as an evangelist to his product development team. He remarks he has to keep a balance with managing his team and upholding customer interests. * 5:41: Harris inquires with Moheeb on how he receives consumer feedback. Moheeb mentions various approaches and how his team addresses specific issues. * 9:39: Shawn and Moheeb discuss how companies provide formal methods to support their internal teams. Moheeb says that it depends on the organization and mentions how AWS operates. * 14:11: Shawn and Moheeb have a follow up discussion on how companies gather feedback from their users. Moheeb mentions that his favorite are hackathons but notes that corporate driven events take away from the spirit of learning and collaborating. He also notes webinars and talks can be useful tools as well. * 25:09: Moheeb notes the difference between hackers and business owners and says how the importance of building an inclusive community can be invaluable. Although hard to measure, Moheeb remarks why evangelists can be beneficial to companies. Guest Information: Moheeb Zara (http://helloblinkshow.fireside.fm/guests/moheeb-zara) Host Contact Information: http://shawnhymel.com http://kennyconsultinggroup.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/ https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Moheeb Zara.
On this episode of the Hello Blink Show, hosts Shawn Hymel and Harris Kenny talk about content marketing and how the right approach can help your business. They discuss their own experiences with creative marketing and how they go about finding their audience. Listeners will hear Shawn and Harris’s insights on servicing their clients and how to deliver valuable content. One Powerful Quote: "Make content that’s useful for people and they will continue to engage with you. Do it not to push your product or service on them. Do it from an actual, genuine, authentic way of 'I want to help somebody have a better day.'” Key Topics: * 0:40: Shawn and Harris open the show with what projects they’re working on. Shawn briefly mentions the latest book he’s reading, “Talking to Strangers” by Malcolm Gladwell. * 5:50: Shawn and Harris discuss an overview on content marketing and understanding the difference between inbound and outbound marketing. Harris mentions how businesses should assess their position in the market and determine the necessary steps to learn about their audience. * 13:00: Shawn inquires with Harris about the suggested expense for marketing. Harris says that, although it depends, he recommends that a realistic business should only spend what is available considering production costs. He also adds that consistent presence in industry events and free PR stunts can alleviate the costs. * 19:02: Staying on the same topic, Harris asks Shawn if business owners should be responsible for creating and promoting inbound marketing. Shawn agrees with this but isn’t opposed to outsourcing a partner to truly represent your brand in discovering the right audience. * 22:00: Shawn and Harris delve deeper into finding your audience segment and offer their perspectives for the important questions to answer such as identifying your audience and maximizing content channel delivery. They also note the common pitfalls some business owners may have with their marketing strategy. * 39:44: Shawn recommends the book Youtility by Jay Baer for its outlook of, “If you sell something, you make a customer today; if you help someone, you make a customer for life.” It summarizes why outbound market is failing and how authentically helping others will build you a loyal following. * 42:13: Shawn asks Harris his success using HubSpot as a customer relationship platform. * 48:50: Shawn and Harris sign off with their final overview thoughts on content marketing. List of Resources: https://www.gladwellbooks.com/ https://www.youtilitybook.com/ Host Contact Information: http://shawnhymel.com http://kennyconsultinggroup.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/ https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny
On this episode of the Hello Blink Show, hosts Shawn Hymel and Harris Kenny welcome friend and innovator, Kitty Yeung. Kitty has lead extensive positions as a research scientist, hardware engineer, and user experience designer at Intel and Microsoft. With her degrees in Applied Physics and Natural Sciences from Harvard and Cambridge University, Kitty is passionate about integrating technology, science, design, and art into her fashion brand, Art by Physicist. Listeners will enjoy hearing Kitty’s perspective on building a sustainable, eco-friendly business as she and Shawn/Harris discuss the essentials into launching your next start-up. Kitty currently works as Senior Program Manager at Microsoft Quantum Systems on quantum computing education and enjoys her many roles as a physicist, artist, maker, fashion designer, and musician. She frequently gives talks reflecting her personal passion and career experience in the wearables industry, digital transformation, quantum computing, and internal startups. If you are interested in seeing her work, check it out at: www.artbyphysicistkittyyeung.com One Powerful Quote: “I think there’s some culture differences between the engineering community and fashion community that those two industries haven’t been helping each other enough and for 100 years we’ve been developing very separately. Fashion hasn’t benefitted from the latest tools that we developed as engineers. It created all these huge problems, global problems, and it doesn’t support the individuals at scale to do more creative work.” Key Topics: * 1:43: Kitty shares what inspired her to start her own fashion brand and how it transformed into a full-fledged business. She mentions she was always curious about the industry and how she could solve its many complex issues. * 6:00: Harris asks Kitty her thoughts on the balance between operational and environmental impact over demand and efficiency. Kitty shares that designing and manufacturing processes do not have the tools to streamline their operations; they are only concerned with cheap, mass produced items. * 12:27: Kitty expresses her concerns in working with foreign partners and manufacturers. She says this was when she started using 3D printing for on-demand production and adds the many benefits associated with it. * 21:34: Shawn and Kitty discuss the advantages in descaled production for boutique owners and the disconnect between engineering and business operators. * 25:07: Harris comments on the difficulty of each stage for Kitty’s business. She agrees and suggests that there must be an ecosystem that aligns these procedures; her biggest challenge is in the design process. * 29:42: Shawn inquires with Kitty about the profitability of her business. She says that, although she is not concerned about that financial aspect, she would like to donate the profits to environmental impacts and STEAM education. * 35:41: Shawn and Harris wrap up the show with Kitty. She shares her contact information and what Art by Physicist is about. * 39:19 (Post Show): Kitty asks Shawn and Harris their sales and marketing advice for her business. They include tips on networking, business development, and content creation. List of Resources: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kittyyeung1/ https://artbyphysicistkittyyeung.com/ Guest Information: Kitty Yeung (http://helloblinkshow.fireside.fm/guests/kitty-yeung) Host Contact Information: http://shawnhymel.com http://kennyconsultinggroup.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/ https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Special Guest: Kitty Yeung.
Welcome to the Hello Blink Show. This week, hosts Shawn Hymel and Harris Kenny introduce listeners to the podcast and what key themes will be discussed. Shawn Hymel is a technology marketing strategist and content creator specializing in technical content and product development for clients. Through content creation and in-person workshops, he is passionate in creating memorable experiences for his audiences. Harris Kenny is the principal of his own consulting group which focuses on providing sales and marketing services for helping businesses grow. He has helped close deals with numerous businesses, schools, and government institutions based on their aligning goals and objectives. The duo wants to share this platform as an inspiration for those who may be considering starting their own business and what that entails. Listeners will enjoy their views on what that means, their words of advice, and upcoming interviews with those who have done the same. One Powerful Quote: "This decision to start your own business or start a project that you think could really become something bigger is a mental and emotional journey first, and then, it proceeds to those more practical things." Key Topics: * 0:55: Shawn and Harris talk about their latest works. Shawn discusses his recent contract project with security cameras and having to learn the features of C++. Harris mentions his work and how networking at events helps his business. * 4:23: Shawn asks Harris how he acquires clients and the specifics behind it. Harris shares that some events he attends are with early-stage companies he may advise for distribution and product development. Shawn compares events he attends that have successfully earned him clients. * 6:33: Shawn inquires with Harris about why he values working with hardware companies. Harris says this is because the constraints forces owners to align their offerings closer to their customer. Shawn agrees that he also enjoys the tangible and manipulative use of hardware. * 9:32: Harris and Shawn openly discuss the nature in finding their audience and advising them to start their own business. Shawn expresses the disconnect in corporate environments for engineers and the necessary steps to help them launch their project or business. Harris agrees this was a one main reason why they formed the podcast. Shawn and Harris both express that it will be an open platform to help those with business and marketing expertise. * 17:30: Shawn explains the name of the Hello Blink Show. * 20:00: Harris and Shawn express how to be in the “driver seat” of your business. They mention what that means and the responsibilities associated with it. Shawn adds how certain inefficiencies inhibit people from taking the next step; Harris suggests asking tactical questions. * 30:00: Shawn and Harris discuss the pros and cons of independent work. They mention important factors to consider such as time, compensation, and effort needed to be your own boss. Shawn and Harris hypothesize that humanizing the experience and collaboration are more beneficial compared to working in the corporate environment. * 36:06: The book Shawn could not remember is Culture Code by Daniel Coyle. You can read a summary about the airline crash incident here: https://aplusala.org/best-practices-center/2018/05/03/how-to-create-a-great-culture-within-your-organization-or-team/. Shawn is also working on correctly pronouncing “aileron” from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/aileron. * 40:00: Shawn offers his advice on the planning needed before leaving your regular job and how to prepare before launching your own brand. Harris adds how service support can help navigate this process. * 49:52: Shawn and Harris preview their work background and how this overview will be incorporated into the show. List of Resources: Culture Code (https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Code-Secrets-Highly-Successful-ebook/dp/B01MSY1Y6Z) by Daniel Coyle Host Contact Information: http://shawnhymel.com http://kennyconsultinggroup.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/ https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
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