A very small podcast about reckless, unfettered business domination.
How should you effectively schedule projects? (ex: no deadlines on a Monday) How do you best estimate a project length? How do you schedule work around a break (sabbatical, etc.) How do you ensure that client's respect deadlines? How do you 'reset' expectations if there has been a bit of drift?
What do our writing practices look like? How did we get started writing? How should listeners work on building their 'writing muscle'? Is it necessarily to write daily? Should you just write? Write and publish?
When should you say no to clients? What's the best way to give a no? How should you politely turn down small projects? How do you avoid making compromises in scope? How do you fire bad clients?
How do you have a good phone call with a prospect? How do you prepare enough? How long should the call be? Should you leave a buffer after the call? Should you prepare an agenda? How do you determine who is leading the call? How do you end the call?
What's a good balance between educational content consumption and doing the work? Time management Reading may just happen. Optionally: intentionally schedule time around it Implementation: when you finish a book, how do you decide what to read next? -- Tape flag ("This is a thing I want to remember") -- Highlighting -- "This is an interesting thing to know about" and then apply later Rereading to extract notes / directives
Subject of meetup People at the meetup Go to one before speaking If you don't have a good meetup, start one, but don't be the first to speak Good places to host a meetup Good places to announce a meetup Scaling/growing your meetup (as you grow, make sure there isn't an in-group and an out-group) Avoiding Groupthink in Meetups (Creative Mornings: Someone manages it for a fixed term and then passes it off)
How do you transition from being an "overthinker" to a "doer"?
"Obviously there's a diminishing return if you hit specialization of 'There's one business in my region I can market to' -- how do you know when you've specialized enough" Know your target market, like Ecommerce Know niches within your target market, like Women's Fashion and Beauty or Every Day Carry Identify if there are 20-50 companies in your niche in your target market Identify if of those 20-50 there are 15-20 companies that are paying for consultants, have paid for consultants, or are looking for help solving a problem Iterate. Too many companies come out? Become a little more specialized, based on your research. Too few? Become a little less specialized ("SEO optimization for women's fashion and beauty stores selling $1,000,000/yr and based in New York" → potentially too specialized)
"Obviously there's a diminishing return if you hit specialization of 'There's one business in my region I can market to' -- how do you know when you've specialized enough" Know your target market, like Ecommerce Know niches within your target market, like Women's Fashion and Beauty or Every Day Carry Identify if there are 20-50 companies in your niche in your target market Identify if of those 20-50 there are 15-20 companies that are paying for consultants, have paid for consultants, or are looking for help solving a problem Iterate. Too many companies come out? Become a little more specialized, based on your research. Too few? Become a little less specialized ("SEO optimization for women's fashion and beauty stores selling $1,000,000/yr and based in New York" → potentially too specialized)
Why follow-up What outcomes are you looking for What makes good follow-up What resources do we recommend How often should you follow up What should you say in your follow-up Who should you be following up with? What's your next step
Why run a webinar What outcomes should you look for What tool(s) should you use How do you prepare? How do you prepare your content/presentation What's the format to follow (20/30/10 -- 20 on presentation, 30 on questions, 10 on pitch) What do you do with the webinar video after the webinar
You work with a client. They have a great team. You part ways. Their team members eventually part ways, too. Then they reach back out.
Why use a welcome packet What's included in a welcome packet When do you send a prospect a welcome packet How do you update your welcome packet When shouldn't you use a welcome packet How do you get started? What tools do you use to create a welcome packet?
Why is it important to close enrollment in courses, and what's the strategy and thinking around opening enrollment?
What do you need to do when you want to get more specific and double down on an industry?
Money-back guarantees are helpful in some situations, and really harmful in others. When should you offer a money-back guarantee, and what should the conditions be around it?
How do you know when to raise your prices? Quantitatively and qualitatively, what signs should you look for?
What defines success for the product? (Increasing rates, early rung of product ladder, general + focused w/in your positioning, etc.) What type of info product makes sense What's high impact / low risk How do you figure out what to make? How to promote it if you have a small (or no) list? What should you aim for after you've created your first educational product? (Speaking, podcasts, conferences, etc.)
In this episode, we dive into The Travel Rig that Nick bought for recording interviews and group panels at conferences or events. If you want to learn more about on-the-road podcasting hardware, listen to this one. (A 'nuts and bolts' episode)
Description: In this episode, we answer listener Max's question from Twitter: "Why aren't the two of you making more money?". We go inside our own businesses to examine what we're working on. We discuss when you can say "I have enough" as a business owner and stop focusing on growth.
In this episode, Nick and Kai discuss if you should offer a free strategy call as a consultant and where an intake call should fall in your client intake process.
In this episode, Nick and Kai discuss how to care for yourself when you're running a business.
In this episode, Nick and Kai discuss recurring revenue for freelancers and consultants: What are the different options for recurring revenue in your business? Taylor Swift is mentioned exactly once.
In this episode, Nick and Kai discuss how to manage your business when you have a whale client. What should you do? How do you future proof your business?
In this episode, Nick and Kai discuss how to get started making infoproducts as a consultant and how they fit into your product/service ladder.
In this episode, Nick and Kai have a deep discussion on coffee and tea. Come for the nuanced opinions, stay for the recommendations.
How frequently should you publish? It's probably more often than you're currently publishing.
Have either of you ever attempted to make the leap from consulting to running a SAAS business or other type of online/tech company?
What are our quarterly goals? Why are goals important? What shape should they take?
In this episode, Kai and Nick discuss how you can write more as a consultant and revisit the importance of reusing your existing writing as 'grist for the mill' (repurposing it for other uses). This is a good one!
In this episode, Kai and Nick discuss what to do if a prospect, lead, or client stops responding after you send a proposal and different systems and strategies to use to overcome this obstacle.
Episode 69: Nick and Kai do a deep dive on important business strategies that you need to know about. Also, if this is your first episode of Make Money Online, we're so sorry.
In this episode, Nick and Kai discuss the importance of the 'first thing' that a customer or clients buys from you (be it a product or a service) and how that transaction sets expectations for the duration of the relationship. Nick and Kai also briefly discuss how to get started with your first product.
Cramming Your Work in a Retainer Hole In this episode, Nick and Kai talk about how retainers function for freelancers and consultants and the benefits of costs of offering retainer based offerings. Nick and Kai also discuss alternative to retainer based engagements to increase your client lifetime value.
This is another in our series on how to travel well as a freelancer or consultant. In this episode, we talk about treating your vacation as sacred time, what (and how) to pack, how to deal with airlines, and how to vet restaurants.
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