Small Business Naked

This week, we brought back one of our favorite guests to talk more about small business marketing:  Tim Reid from the Small Business BIG Marketing podcast.  Tim comes from a background of corporate marketing, but helps small businesses all over the world by encouraging them to take action.  Tim can often be found saying: “There...

Ever want to know how to start a music school?  BUT, this is not your “normal” music school! Today, Nick and Johnny Battle interview Danny Thompson who owns The Music Factory from Orange County California. We talked about how he got into owning a music school, how they found their focus, and what separates them...

Summer of 2015 was hard on us, but WE’RE BACK!! I hope you missed us. In today’s podcast we talk about how the wheels fell off for both of us this summer.  Some good, some bad.  This lead to a great discussion about managing a small business:  do you work on your business or in...

We are a little behind with getting episodes us, but today we talk about why that is the case.  This week, we talk frank.  Both are having a tough go in their businesses with employees, cash flow, hiring, retention, production, and just about anything related to people.  Maybe you can relate.    So often, all people...

This week Johnny and Nick talk to Donnie Shelton from Triangle Pest Control in North Carolina.  Donnie has a unique story on getting into business ownership…the MBA cost too much and he thought killing bugs sounded better.  Now Donnie is a smart guy and a hard worker. To listen to the entire interview, please visit us...

On today’s podcast of Small Business Naked, we talk about podcasting, working in and on your business, how to retain a employee, how different the United States is from Australia, and Johnny gets a really strange accent. No, today, Nick is joined by Warrick Bidwell from The Tradies Business Show podcast.  Warrick is a co-host...

  We are very excited to share a really great interview with you today.  We speak with a lot of really  great entrepreneurs, but few achieve the kind of success that Brian Scudamore has achieved.  He owns three businesses, but the most well known is 1-800-GOT-JUNK.  It started as Rubbish Boys.  He idea for the...

If you have owned a small business for a while, one of the biggest things you deal with is hiring.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve hired thousands of people over the years.  Yes…THOUSANDS.  Johnny and I have lots of fun on today’s show sharing our pains and victories in hiring staff.  Probably more...

Before you we go any further, WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU.  Call us on our new phone number, (775) Fi NAKED or 775-346-2533.  You can tell us anything.  What do you like about the best small business podcast: Small Business Naked?  What kind of business do you have?  What has been you favorite episode...

Big show today on our small business podcast.  Even though it is just the What’s Up episode.  Several announcements. FIRST, we have a new phone number.  If you have a question, comment, or just want to get on the show, call us and leave us a message. The number is (775) Fi – NAKED or...

Today on the show, we interview a super interesting entrepreneur who got his start by selling Chameleons online.  He sold so many chameleons on Screameleons.com, he was ablet to afford to buy a Lamborghini and a house!  Vincent Wong may have started out with lizards, but soon graduated to a super-successful online software company that he...

Today is another What’s Up episode with Nick and Johnny.  We thought we would bring on an industry expert to help us sort out some issues with tech, as we are not the small business podcast tech experts.  We asked Ramon Ray to come on to help us, give us some tips and insights, and...

  This is the shirt design that caught our eye, and the reason for Nick to break into song.  You will have to wait for it though (it is in the outtake real). Have you heard of Threadless Tees?  It is a hugely popular crowd sourcing website started by our guest today, Jake Nickell.  The most...

On today’s What’s Up episode, we bring in a guest.  Yes we are going to talk taxes and accounting, but don’t worry, we keep it brief, and informative.  Did you know that there are special taxes you need to pay if you are doing oversees online transactions?  That is just one of the things we...

How to Start a Food Truck Have you ever wondered what it takes to start a food Truck?  Well, one of our listeners asked us to dive into it.  So we reached out to about a dozen food trucks, and were finally able to pin down two different models, food styles, and business owners.  One truck...

You have a few employees, but do you have the RIGHT employees?  Do you cringe when it is time to hire?  Johnny and Nick talk today about how they go about hiring s team for the office as well as in the field.  In the conversation we talked about: Interviewing Finding the right skill Marketing...

How Identity theft can turn into a $7 Million Business with Matt Noon For a small business podcast, it is a good thing that we have the explicit rating, because I will warn you…there is a TON of great stuff in this episode.  You are going to learn what it really takes to kill it,...

Bright Shinny Objects If you own a business or consider yourself an entrepreneur, than you have no doubt tried to start a 2nd or 3rd business that was not your main business.  If you have had similar experiences to Nick and Johnny, the results were most likely a little lack luster.  On the episode today,...

Tom Shane, founder of Shane Co. Most people do not know his face. Many know his name…and legions know his voice.  In the United States, I would bet that there is no other voice as well-known on the radio airwaves. Tom Shane is a legend in radio advertising. But Tom is not just a pitch...

Year End planning for your Small Business I’ll be honest, if you are not in business, or have just started, today’s show might not make much sense to you, but it will give you an idea of why tracking performance for lots of different things can be.  This could be marketing activity tracking, it could...

Driving 200 Miles an Hour, and Running a Great Business with Adan Olalde Every little boy dreams of racing exotic cars.  Adam Olalde at the age of 30, has owned over 20…and gets to write them off!  While you might be thinking we just wanted to talk to Adam for the opportunity to lean about...

Financing your Small Business and Personal Finance If you have started a small business, you know what it is like to have to figure out the dilemma of financing.  Most people are comfortable with going down to the bank and getting a small business loan.  Today on our What’s Up section, Nick and Johnny talk...

Nick Ruiz:  Alpha Home Flipping We thought we were going to just learn about investing into real estate, but we learned so much more.  Nick proved to be an on fire entrepreneur that had a crazy life story.  Nick had early success in real estate, but got burned when the market tanked, and ultimately, Nick...

Lots to cover in this What’s Up episode.  Johnny and Nick chat about Customer Service, and all it’s glory.  But before we jumped into that, we had a few shout-outs and an email from Scotty Bowden.  Thanks for the nice note of encouragement.  We love that! We announced a T-shirt campaign we will do in...

Trish Sare: BikeHike Adventures What would it be like to step out of life and travel the world for FIVE YEARS?!  That is what Trish did at the age of 20.  Her mom had passed away while Trish was young, and had regretted that she had not been able to go see the world, and...

How to get PR for your small business This week we have another episode of What’s Up!  But, it is a little bit all over the board.  Nick throws Johnny several curve balls, but as always, they keep talking about growing a small business. Big news this week, Small Business Naked hit the top 15...

Timbo Reid: Marketing your small business “There has never been a better time to market a small business.”  Timbo Reid of the Small Business Big Marketing podcast, Australia’s #1 marketing podcast (and pretty high up in the rest of the world as well). It may be a little strange that we are interviewing another podcaster,...

I know we have talked about focus before, but we talk about it  A LOT!  So, we are talking about it again.  We need reminders.  As business owners, and as entrepreneurs, we all need MORE FOCUS.  Before we get into that, we got caught up a little. Johnny just got back from a cruise.  He...

Melissa Maker:  Clean My Space If you have ever thought, “I should do YouTube videos for my business.” Than this is the show for you.  Melissa had just started a cleaning business (after working in a bank…BORING!), and thought that YouTube videos would be a good way to market her business.  In fact, here is...

How you answer the phone MATTERS! On this episode, Nick and Johnny prank call a few businesses for your benefit.  No, not just for a laugh, but they did have a few of those.  Your phone is an important part of your marketing mix, and your customer service experience.  Nick and Johnny call competing businesses...

George Ryan – Learning to do more with less in your business Have you ever wanted to grow a business, but not wanted to manage any employees?  On this episode of Small Business Naked, Nick and Johnny interview George Ryan, a former lumber yard worker, turned internet marketer.  His company Hatchwise leverages the power of...

After having our conversation with Tres fro Voodoo Doughnuts, Johnny and Nick talked about how they do a lot of things the opposite of what the so-called experts would say are the “right” things to do in business. Check out our Resources page.  You will find services and tools for your business that we use....

Tres Shannon – co-owner of Voodoo Doughnuts If you have never heard of Voodoo Doughnuts, you must live under a pretty big rock, but if you haven’t, it is a super successful doughnut shop that was started in Portland, OR, that now boasts of four locations and a cart.  Yep, a food cart.  So we...

On this episode of What’s Up, Nick and Johnny talk about being weird and standing out. Sheldon Adelson tells us all how to do it, and because he is a gazillionare and owns the Venetian in Vegas…we believe him. We have interview many successful business owners, and most of them stand out in the crowd.  Jerome...

Jayla Siciliano – Bon Affair You would never imagine that this nice, and sweet lady would be so bold, but what may have landed her a spot on the hit TV show Shark Tank, was the idea to lead with, “We have fucking bubbles” as her headline or attention-getter in her application video that she...

Nick & Johnny do a weekly ‘what’s up’ catch up session to talk about their week in business, crazy business ideas and the little things that can make a big difference to your small business. On this episode of What’s Up, Nick and Johnny talk about some employee issues.  Namely, we talk about uniforms, policies,...

John Dicker, owner of Geeks who Drink, joined us for another interview…4 years later.  It was really fun to see how John’s business has grown, what his new roll in the company is, and how he has stayed true to what he believes his business is about, and who is ideal customer is. We tried...

From the radio show archives, here’s Nick’s & Johnny’s interview with Joy Gendusa from PostcardMania. Direct response marketing is not the sexy cool marketing activity that most people want to talk about, but Joy has built a great business helping small business owners market their businesses in a more traditional way.  Direct response postcards are...

From the radio show archives, here’s Nick’s & Johnny’s interview with Nick Friedman from College Hunks Hauling Junk. From taking college not too serious, to being on a reality TV show, to building a multi-unit franchise, Nick and his partner Omar Soliman have proven themselves to be fabulous entrepreneurs.  We were able to do a...

From the radio show archives, here’s Nick’s & Johnny’s interview with Wende Curtis from Comedy Works. If you’ve lived in Denver for any amount of time, you know Comedy Works. It has been a staple in downtown Denver for over 25 years.  Not only does Wende own Comedy Works, but she books all the talent,...

From the radio show archives, here’s Nick’s & Johnny’s interview with John Dicker from Geeks Who Drink from four years ago. John will be on a future show (look for him around episode number 7 or 8) to give us an update of what’s going on now. John Dicker from Geeks Who Drink joins us and...

From the radio show archives, here’s Nick’s & Johnny’s interview with Tommy Phillips from Tommy’s Slalom Shop in Denver, CO. Tommy came in several years ago and spoke with us about how he started, how he tried to expand his business, and why he likes to blend into his store and look like the janitor.  We...

Small Business Podcast: Why Naked? Nick and Johnny talk about why they’re relaunching Small Business Naked as a podcast.   Listen in as Nick and Johnny chat about what could be, if they decided to re-launch the Small Business Naked podcast.  A little brain storming, a little yakity-yak but all Small Business Podcast! Why did...