It's a Good Start Podcast

When Rand Fishkin accidentally stumbled upon the software model in 2007, his rocket ship of success grew from zero to $30 million in revenue and millions of visitors, yet the challenge of selling his product in the early days of SaaS software was anything but easy.You will learn how entrepreneurs built their path to success and the software products they used to help them get there.Rand Fishkin is the founder of MOZ and SparkToro, two successful companies in the SEO and digital marketing industry. He has been involved in the SEO industry for over 15 years and is known for his transparent and genuine approach to business.Rand Fishkin was never good at running an agency, so when he and his partner stumbled on the idea of a software product and put up a Paypal paywall, it took off like a rocket ship. Interestingly, venture capitalists didn't believe in the idea of self-service software, but Fishkin's years of blogging enabled him to provide a discovery model for customers that was successful. By 2014, the company was worth $30 million and had 180 people on the team. Today, Spark Toro offers audience research, but the challenge lies in explaining to customers how to use it as they are not familiar with the problem.In this episode, you will learn the following:1. How do marketers discover an audience without having to resort to illegal and unethical tactics?2. What techniques can marketers use to gain valuable audience research data?3. How can businesses use dark traffic and personal referrals to increase brand awareness?Resources:https://sparktoro.comConnect with Mike & Kevin:Mike's LinkedInMike's WebsiteKevin's LinkedInKevin's Website

Dan Kirby battles his own physiology and mental health issues to embrace the Wim Hof cold shower method, unlocking his full potential and a newfound sense of focus and discipline. You will learn how to use Wim Hof's argument of temperature equilibrium, music as a mental break, and Ray Dalio's principles of success to achieve success.Dan Kirby is an entrepreneur and DJ from Bakewell in Darbyshire who has been using the Wim Hof method to reset his mental health and stress levels. He is also an avid vinyl collector and music enthusiast, and has a SoundCloud account where he posts his mixes.In this episode, you will learn the following:1. The Benefits of Cold Shower Therapy: Discover how taking cold showers can reset your physiology and mental health and the process of getting into a cold shower.2. The Power of Music & Movement: Understand the value of taking breaks and how incorporating music and movement into your daily routine can help you focus.3. Ray Dalio's Principles: Learn how Ray Dalio's book Principles was created and the importance of generous impulses and reciprocal relationships.Resources:Dan's LinkedInConnect with Mike & Kevin:Mike's LinkedInMike's WebsiteKevin's LinkedInKevin's Website

At first glance, it might seem like getting as many connections as possible is the key to success on LinkedIn. However, having lots of connections won't necessarily help you engage your audience. In fact, it might even have the opposite effect. Here are some tips from Mark Williams — aka “Mr. LinkedIn”— on how to get the most out of your LinkedIn presence and create meaningful engagement with your followers. In this episode, you will learn the following:Connect with more people by understanding how to gain engagement on LinkedInIncrease your LinkedIn engagement by creating interesting, authentic, and engaging contentBoost your professional image and career growth by increasing your LinkedIn followersResources:Mark's LinkedInwww.linkedinformed.comConnect with Mike & Kevin:Mike's LinkedInMike's WebsiteKevin's LinkedInKevin's Website

Glenn O'Grady is an experienced IT project manager and business analyst from Australia who has been living in the UK for over 20 years. He is the founder of a successful software development consultancy that has grown significantly through referrals and a blended rate card.Glenn was an Australian who decided to set off and explore the world when he was 21. He ended up staying in the UK and eventually started his own business after becoming fed up of living out of a backpack and wanting to set down some roots. After working with a modernizer in tech, Clifton, he gathered the experience and knowledge necessary to start his own business and was fortunate enough to be able to recruit a team of excellent developers. With his knowledge of the market, transparency, ethics and competitive prices, Glenn was able to grow his business by referral and eventually became successful.In this episode, you will learn the following:1. How Glenn O'Grady decided to start a business after 20 years of living in the UK as a backpacker and freelancer.2. How he and his business partner crossed the chasm from freelancer to business owners and started to scale.3. How they grew their business using referrals and a system of understanding their client's needs, pricing points, and hiring high quality developers.Resources:Glenn's WebsiteGlenn's LinkedInConnect with Mike & Kevin:Mike's LinkedInMike's WebsiteKevin's LinkedInKevin's Website

Katie Street shares her do's and don'ts of being an agency leader and entrepreneur today, revealing her own journey from a difficult start to the top of the sales world.Katie Street is a business marketing expert with over 20 years of experience in the industry. She has worked in sales and marketing for both big and small brands, and is passionate about helping businesses grow and succeed.This is Katie Street's story...Katie Street has always worked in sales and marketing, and she's good at it. She's been successful because she's not afraid to take action and she's always believed in the products she's sold. When she was younger, she had to be brave to get by, living in a hostel and working to support herself. She started her career in advertising, working her way up to bigger and better things. Now she uses her experience to help other entrepreneurs and salespeople be successful.In this episode, you will learn the following:1. How Katie went from working in a call center to becoming the top salesperson at a major magazine publisher2. How Katie's background in sales and marketing helps her be successful as an entrepreneur3. How Katie's unique approach to sales and marketing generates leads and closes dealsResources:katie@street.agencyhttps://street.agency/ https://linktr.ee/street.agencyhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestreet/https://www.linkedin.com/company/streetagencyConnect with Mike & Kevin:Mike's LinkedInMike's WebsiteKevin's LinkedInKevin's Website

Why do we need to learn from our mistakes?Leon Milns is the founder of Adam, a business that helps ambitious businesses find great people. Milns has over 20 years of experience in the recruiting industry, and has used his experience to build Adam into a successful business.This is Leon Milns's story...I am Leon Milns, the founder of Adam, a business that helps ambitious businesses find great people. I got my start in the industry over 20 years ago, working for Michael Page. I learned a lot during my time there, including discipline, hard work, and how to treat people well. I left Michael Page to start Adam with two other partners. Unfortunately, after a few years, it became clear that one of the partners wasn't aligned with the direction we were going. We had to exit one of our partners, which was a challenge, but we were able to overcome it and the business is now better for it. I've learned that the market is always changing and that as an entrepreneur, you have to be prepared for anything.We've all heard the saying, “You learn more from your mistakes than you do from your successes.” That's especially true when it comes to running a business. Every successful entrepreneur will tell you that it takes hard work and dedication, but also that it's important to be prepared for the worst case scenario.No one likes making mistakes but they are an inevitable part of running a successful business venture. The key is learning how to handle those mistakes in a safe environment while also planning for worst case scenarios, should anything unexpected occur along the way. With advice from experienced entrepreneurs like Leon Milns, these tips will help ensure that your business stays afloat no matter what happens! Planning ahead helps reduce stress when something does eventually go wrong – don't forget about this simple yet powerful tip! Knowing when and how to learn from our mistakes can ultimately lead us down the path of success as entrepreneurs.In this episode, you will learn the following:1. How to get started in your business2. What it takes to be a successful entrepreneur3. The importance of planning for the worst case scenarioResourcesleon@weareadam.comLeon Milns' Linkedinwww.weareadam.comConnect with Mike & Kevin:Mike's LinkedInMike's WebsiteKevin's LinkedInKevin's Website

If entrepreneurs and business owners are after Inspiration, Imagination, and Uniqueness, then they have to check out this episode. This episode goes through the solution so that they can get the Inspiration, Imagination, and Uniqueness they are looking for."Rather than see that as a problem, yeah, I think we said, let's embrace that on the basis that we're going to go into this questioning all the norms. We're not going to be anchored to any kind of approach. We're going to be very fresh and different in the way we do it, because we're doing it from the perspective of what makes sense, what feels right, not what does the industry do." - Damian HornerDamian Horner is an entrepreneur, author, and consultant who has worked in advertising, creative hot shops, book publishing, and the finance industry. He is the founder of Real Vision, a video channel for the finance industry which has over a million subscribers worldwide.This is Damian Horner's story...Damian Horner is an entrepreneur who has had a variety of careers, including working in advertising, writing a book, consulting, developing a mobile game, and starting a video channel for the finance industry. He attributes his success to his eagerness to learn new things and approach problems from a fresh perspective, not an industry norm. He believes that when creating content, it is important to add value beyond the content itself to stand out in the crowd. He encourages others to think creatively and tap into the power of personality and emotion for success. He has gone from 342 subscribers to a million, proving that hard work and dedication can pay off.In this episode, you will learn the following:1. How Damian Horner approaches business problems from an unconventional perspective, embracing ignorance and questioning norms.2. The importance of adding value beyond content to stand out in a saturated content market.3. The underestimated power of personality and emotion in professional communication.ResourcesDamianhorner.comConnect with Mike & Kevin:Mike's LinkedInMike's WebsiteKevin's LinkedInKevin's Website

Selling your business is tough. There is lots to consider both in your business and in yourself. Garret Turley has personally exited his business and helped multiple other do the same very successfully. In this episode he walks you through many of the things that he has learned.Here is Garret's story:Garret qualified as a veterinary surgeon from Cambridge University and, after a few years as a practicing vet, co-founded Pet Doctors, one of the first buy-and-builds in the UK veterinary clinic market in 1998. After a successful exit to trade in 2010 he shifted to the private equity world and was a partner at Bridges Fund Management for 6 years followed by 4 years as a partner at August Equity - for both firms he focussed on the healthcare, social care, and education sectors. In March 2022 he commenced on a portfolio career and is a board chair and company advisor with roles at Avado and Blackrose. He is a keen but slow cyclist, a lover of Italian wines, and has a passion for Italian late medieval art.In this episode, you will learn the following:1. How do you manage the psychological transition when you sell a business?2. What are the key considerations for structuring an earn-out?3. How important is it to due diligence the buyer of your business?Resources:Garret's LinkedInConnect with Mike & Kevin:Mike's LinkedInMike's WebsiteKevin's LinkedInKevin's Website

When Captain Hoff (Steve Hoffman) tries to help startups scale their businesses, he discovers a unique pain point that people have and creates a solution for it. How can you take your service and make it a product that you can scale?"The founders of YouTube, when they started, they did not think of the big idea. They did not think, we're going to build the largest video broadcast network in the world. We're going to change how the Internet works and people consume content. They did not think that..."Steve Hoffman is the author of Make Elephants Fly and the founder of Founders Space, a global startup incubator and accelerator. He has over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur and has helped hundreds of startups around the world grow and scale their businesses.This is Steve Hoffman's story...I'm Steve Hoffman, and I'm the author of Make Elephants Fly. I'm also the founder of Founders Space, a global startup incubator and accelerator. I've been an entrepreneur for over 25 years, and I've learned a lot about what it takes to grow a business. One of the most important things I've learned is that successful startups don't just sell a product once to customers. Instead, they use a recurring revenue model to keep customers locked into their business. This allows them to grow without being limited by the number of people they can hire. I've also learned that it's often more effective to start small and solve specific problems that you notice in your customers' process. This was the case for YouTube, which started as a video datingIn this episode, you will learn the following:1. How do successful startups achieve rapid revenue growth?2. What is the difference between productization and standardization?3. How can thinking small lead to big innovation?Resources:Steve's websiteMake Elephants FlySurviving a StartupThe Five Forces That Change EverythingConnect with Mike & Kevin:Mike's LinkedInMike's WebsiteKevin's LinkedInKevin's Website

In this episode of It's a Good Start podcast, Mike and Kevin are talking about what it takes to form a senior leadership team in the company. Learn about a founder role and the signals to start taking this next step of natural agency structure evolution seriously - whether you are getting to the £1 million barrier in your business or already there, find out how to move your growth forward, delegate and invest in people.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

In this episode, Mike Lander and Kevin Gibbons discuss how to improve the conversion rate on RFP (Request for proposal), RFP qualifications and success factors, and what the agency can do to stand out. Learn how RFP process is viewed from both buyer's and seller's sides, what is the scorecard and the qualifications for it and how to increase your chances to win.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

If you spend your time on a £1000 a day task,  not a £100 - your business moves forward. In this episode, Mike and Kevin discuss what you can do as a business owner / CEO that moves the business forward by doing the high-value thing that someone else can't do, regardless of whether is it a 1-person agency or £50 million revenue company. Learn from the speaker's experience how to build a team of freelancers / specialists, how to implement effectively the tactic of Outsource / Automate / Stop and how to focus more on the business and less in the business. The book mentioned in the episode: - The Road Less Stupid by Keith J. Cunningham   The article mentioned in the episode: - Growing pains — How to get to £1m revenue by Mike LanderCheck It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

How has your work model changed since the pandemic? In this episode, Mike and Kevin are talking about remote working - how it impacted workflow management and how to keep the teamwork, creativity and collaboration at the highest level. Find out about different scenarios of an evolving model of work, how to make it more efficient and how it works at Re:signal digital agency.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

In this episode, Kevin Gibbons is talking about his personal life journey and sharing his learning and life lessons of running an agency business for 17 years and what did it take to become one of the top UK SEO agencies -  Re:signal.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

In this episode, Mike shares his personal story starting from his school days followed by an apprenticeship, university years, engineering career, MBA and growing various businesses. This is an honest conversation about facing huge self-doubt, building personal confidence, realising ambitions and lessons learnt from the many successes and big failures along the way.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

In this episode, Mike and Kevin are joined by Renaye Edwards, Co-Founder & Marketing Account Director at Digital Radish, to talk about how to grow your business by developing your account management and account-based marketing (ABM). The speakers covered the topics: When you say “Account Management" and "Account Planning”, what do you mean and why is it important? Digital Project Manager and Account Manager - where they overlap and how they differ Is it a repeatable/scalable discipline process? Or is it about people and their skills and talents? How do you build “Trusted Advisor” status with your clients? What are the 3 key success factors for any agency/entrepreneurial firm to manage and grow key accounts? Based on all your experiences, what is your piece of advice to our audience to help them make a big impact on growing key accounts?Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

In this episode, Kevin and Mike are joined by Jeremy Smith (Managing Partner at 4C Associates) to discuss all the aspects and the inherent tension between buying (Procurement) and selling (the Vendor). The speakers cover the topics as: Jeremy, as a procurement professional, to talk about procurement vs. sales and how it's not always about the lowest cost but the most value Is there such a thing as a win-win negotiation? How are procurement enabling marketing to drive growth Kevin, as a seller of strategic SEO services, to talk about his experience of negotiating with procurement Lessons learnt when buying and selling marketing servicesCheck It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

In this episode, Kevin and Mike talk about why great businesses need the entrepreneur to step out of being central to how everything works, and build into a model / framework that can deliver the same outcomes on its own.   Book: Jim Collins "Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't"  Clock-building, Not Time Telling by Jim CollinsCheck It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

This episode is about what it means to become a trusted advisor as part of the client's relationships model. Mike and Kevin discuss what it takes to build trust and authority, the evolution of the sales and negotiation process, and the models to set up long-term solid business relations. Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

This episode is all about the value and power of niche B2B community building, why and how to start developing the community, and how it changed since the pandemic.In this episode we talk about: Our experiences building and being part of successful communities Platforms designed specifically to make it easy to build your communities (e.g. Slack, Guild, Circle.so, Mighty Networks, etc) The indirect link to sales pipeline building and more.Links: SPI Pro Slack SEO CommunityCheck It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

Over the last 15 years, Mike and Kevin have recruited over 200 people. This episode is all about the lessons learnt when recruiting, how you can avoid the pitfalls and get a shortcut to potential success.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

In this episode, Mike and Kevin delve into 4 books that they recommend to the listeners for inspiration, practical tools and a bit of fun. The books discussed: Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher, William L. Ury and Bruce Patton Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition by Robert B. Cialdini Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear Greenlights by Matthew McConaugheyCheck It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

If you talk to 10 successful entrepreneurs, over half will not have amazing academic qualifications. If it's not qualifications that set them apart, what does? In this episode, Mike and Kevin are talking about academic background, what qualities make an outstanding entrepreneur and prove that academic success is not always a golden ticket to business accomplishments and growth.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

It is said that productivity is the output divided by the input and not all hours are equal. In this episode, Mike and Kevin discuss the tools, tips and mental techniques to become more productive and get more out of your environment. If you have ever felt that you've done like a hundred things and achieved nothing, but doing just one thing really makes the difference - you will find this episode useful. The basic tools the speakers discussed - Google calendar, Calendly, Asana and more.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

In this episode, the speakers are talking about the roles of the visionary and operator in the business. Quite often, the business founder is the visionary and a salesperson, however, once the business reaches £1m turnover, the wheel stops and you start to churn clients. There is either a disconnect between these roles or there is just a visionary themselves. Mike and Kevin also touch upon the excellence, retention & growth business model.Books mentioned in the episode: Rocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination That Will Get You More of What You Want from Your Business by Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin MaresCheck It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

In the 10th episode, Kevin and Mike prove that in order to grow you have to define your focus and get narrow in terms of what you do. The model of being a full-service business on a micro-scale leads to low-margin business and does not deliver profitable growth. Personal events influence us and help us to reassess and change the way we focus our business - learn how divorce and the death of a close person change the way Kevin defines the agency focus.Learn more about our eCommerce report - https://resignal.com/ecommerce-seo-report/.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

What's the difference between a project manager and an account manager? Pretty often these can be a hybrid role, certainly in small agencies, so it's important to balance the priorities. In the ninth episode, Mike and Kevin draw the line between these two roles, discussing the potential benefits or risks when having them combined in one person.  Find out which role the business would need first and what is the role of the founder to leverage client relationships and win new business.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

Start small, aim big - it's about the importance of knowing where you're going and running controlled experiments. Kevin and Mike discuss the importance of lead and lag indicators, cadence, measurement and how to implement the golden What/How/Why model. Learn about the 5 step sequences that help alleviate the frustration and enable entrepreneurs to push through to the next staging post.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

The seventh episode is devoted to the account management role in an agency. Account management is a discipline to be treated as seriously as Finance, Legal, HR, etc. The person whose expertise fulfils this role helps to put the company in the position of trusted advisor as opposed to a supplier. Mike and Kevin go through real examples of account management actions including the reporting framework and their recommendations as to how to engage senior stakeholders in more effective collaborations.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.

In the second part of the negotiation techniques podcast, Kevin and Mike continue discussing the discipline of negotiations and how to design a clear process - the set up, deal design and the negotiation part.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.Thanks to Ricky Chopra for writing and producing our Podcast music - https://open.spotify.com/artist/1sFRM0m007EC1009ko68sv

In this episode, Mike and Kevin are talking about protecting profit margins, especially when emerging from an economic crisis. You have to be prepared for tough negotiations when this “V (or W) shaped recession” ends. Mike has recommended tools, templates and negotiation tactics.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.Thanks to Ricky Chopra for writing and producing our Podcast music - https://open.spotify.com/artist/1sFRM0m007EC1009ko68sv

Re:signal wins a large amount of new business from referrals and the CEO's personal network. In this episode, Kevin Gibbons, CEO at Re:signal, shares where to start to build your personal brand and how to turn it into something that can be a core way of growing your business.The speakers also touch upon what types of content works well on social media, what is a good engagement rate and the importance to stick to your unique perspective.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.Thanks to Ricky Chopra for writing and producing our Podcast music - https://open.spotify.com/artist/1sFRM0m007EC1009ko68sv

Who are these procurement people and what do they want? What are their priorities and personas? In this episode, Mike Lander is sharing his expertise (having managed over £400M of Procurement spend as a Procurement Director and Managing Partner in a specialist consulting firm) in the procurement process and discusses deals from the buyers and sellers sides.Learn more about RFP qualification, the Procurement Success Equation© (a real-life example scoresheet presented) and how to prepare your negotiating strategy to negotiate towards a mutually beneficial outcome.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.Thanks to Ricky Chopra for writing and producing our Podcast music - https://open.spotify.com/artist/1sFRM0m007EC1009ko68sv

In the second episode, Kevin Gibbons shares his expertise of building organic growth and explains how to understand if SEO is the right fit for a business and good place to invest marketing budget. You will also learn why controlled experiments are so important and why it can be a good idea to start with paid search first.The book mentioned in the episode: Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.Thanks to Ricky Chopra for writing and producing our Podcast music - https://open.spotify.com/artist/1sFRM0m007EC1009ko68sv

Learn from Kevin Gibbons, and Mike Lander, who share their experiences in entrepreneurship, running digital agencies / consultancies and looking at the buyer side perspective, so that you can take what's useful and get off to a good start yourself.In the first episode of It is a Good Start podcast, Mike Lander and Kevin discuss how the Big4 Consulting firms - EY, PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and McKinsey - have successfully established in the consulting landscape.  Mike Lander shared. his experience and insight after 6 years of working within the Big 4 Consulting firm environment, what was his journey through KPMG like and key points why these are the well-known and most successful consulting firms ever.  The Big 4 became so big and successful, in his experience, because of:   The culture they create and therefore the people they attract The business model they built The incredibly strong relationships they built with the C-Suite.Check It's a Good Start Youtube channel for more episodes and discussion.Thanks to Ricky Chopra for writing and producing our Podcast music - https://open.spotify.com/artist/1sFRM0m007EC1009ko68sv