Podcasts about kissmetrics

Polish doesn't build trust—personality does. And no one understands that better than TikTok creators, who turn raw ideas into magnetic, shareable content every day.In this episode, we're pulling marketing lessons from TikTok's creative chaos with the help of Rhonda Hughes, award-winning B2B marketing leader.Together, they explore what B2B marketers can learn from leading with authenticity, embracing low-fi experimentation, and having the courage to make something truly original.About our guest, Rhonda HughesRhonda Hughes is a storyteller and connector of people and ideas with 18 years of experience helping brands engage their customers and audiences. She believes in creating value, not noise, and she has a knack for inspiring teams to push boundaries with fresh, fun, relevant content, campaigns, and programs. Rhonda's team's work has earned recognition from Mashable, Business Insider, Hubspot, Sprout Social, KISSmetrics, Content Marketing Institute, and snagged her a spot on North Bay's 40 under 40 “Ones to Watch” list, noted among the “Top 50 Women in Content”, and awarded for "Best B2B Campaign on TikTok."What B2B Companies Can Learn From TikTok Creators:Fun is a strategy—not a distraction. Brands win when they lean into playfulness—not just performance. “The brands that, to me, the companies that feel like they win are the ones that are really always putting their audience in the center and trying to figure out a way to be useful and be human and be playful,” Rhonda says. This kind of joyful creativity builds connection—and makes your brand memorable.Imperfect content is often the most relatable. Audiences don't crave polish—they crave authenticity. “The most engaging content isn't the most polished… you can tell that this was just a creative idea and somebody with their camera and they're rallying the folks internally around how they bring the story to life,” Rhonda says. “And that's part of what makes it so relatable and likable.” Let your audience in on the process, not just the finished product.Iterate like a creator. TikTok's best creators don't get stuck in strategy mode—they test, tweak, and try again. That mindset is essential for B2B marketers too. “TikTok creators are constantly iterating… they've gotta test formats and hooks and trends and sounds, and they have to move fast and be playful with this,” Rhonda says. The takeaway? Strategy doesn't mean overthinking. It means being in motion.Quotes*“You just never know what's gonna work. So you kind of have to be okay with trying and missing and trying again.”*“You want to build content that's gonna resonate with your audience and also be something they want to share.”*“If you're not enjoying what you're making, your audience probably isn't either.”*“It's not about going viral—it's about showing up over and over again.”Time Stamps[00:55] Meet Rhonda Hughes, Award-Winning Marketer[03:37] The Power of Authenticity on TikTok[06:00] Engaging Content Strategies[10:34] Spotlight on Successful TikTok Campaigns[16:16] Creative Marketing Examples[27:28] The Power of Authenticity in Social Media[29:37] The Bravery of Unique Marketing Strategies[30:33] TSA's Unexpected Social Media Success[32:39] The Importance of Fun and Experimentation in Marketing[42:03] Creating Value, Not Noise[43:37] The Utility of Content and Audience Engagement[50:03] Final Thoughts and Advice for Marketing LeadersLinksConnect with Rhonda on LinkedInAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today's episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Head of Production). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Neil Patel is one of the most recognized names in digital marketing and entrepreneurship. As the co-founder of NP Digital, Crazy Egg, and Kissmetrics, he has helped businesses worldwide scale through data-driven strategies, SEO, and cutting-edge marketing techniques.In this conversation, Neil shares his unfiltered thoughts on what truly drives business success, the role of AI in marketing, and why human creativity matters now more than ever.To learn more about Neil, follow him on IG @neilpatel and check out his website https://neilpatel.com/If you enjoy this episode, please consider leaving a rating and a review. It makes a huge difference in spreading the word about the show and helps us get more great guests.  Thanks for listening! Follow Moshe on social media:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MoshePopack/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mpopack/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mpopack Topics: 0:00 – Intro1:30 – His love of marketing3:00 – AI's impact on marketing7:00 – Human connection is irreplaceable9:30 – Marketing more creative or analytical?13:00 – Identify your optimal marketing channel17:00 – SEO strategies20:00 – A good logo is essential23:00 – How Neil got his start27:00 – Gratitude30:00 – Experimentation is the key to marketing

Want to boost your income? In this episode, marketing expert Neil Patel shares his best tips and strategies for making more money through smart marketing and investing.---Neil Patel is a digital marketing expert, entrepreneur, and co-founder of companies like Crazy Egg, Hello Bar, and KISSmetrics. Specializing in SEO and content marketing, he has helped major brands like Amazon and HP boost their online visibility. Patel is known for his data-driven strategies and shares marketing tips through his blog, podcast, and YouTube channel.---Like this episode? Watch more like it

Neil Patel's story shows how hard work, persistence, and learning from failure lead to success. As a teenager, he started businesses, including building websites, but struggled with ineffective marketing agencies. This pushed him to learn digital marketing, and by 16, he helped a client make $20M, marking the start of his career. After facing challenges with his earlier ventures, he shifted from starting businesses to acquiring and turning underperforming ones into successes. Now, as the founder of NP Digital, he runs a global marketing company that helps businesses grow. In this episode, Neil talks with Ilana about his journey, the strategies behind his success, and how businesses can overcome challenges and scale in today's competitive market. Neil Patel is a New York Times bestselling author, digital marketing expert, and the founder of one of the top 100 most brilliant companies, according to Entrepreneur Magazine. With over 15 years of experience, Neil has been instrumental in helping businesses grow their online presence and revenue. In this episode, Ilana and Neil will discuss: (00:00) Introduction  (01:11) The Power of Hard Work Over Privilege (01:39) From Teenage Hustle to Launching His First Website (08:01) Learning Digital Marketing After Agency Failures  (08:55) Helping a Client Reach $20M in Revenue at Age 16 (10:17) Attending College Due to Family Expectations (11:55) How Experimentation Reveals Your True Strengths (14:26) Lessons from Surviving Legal Battles at Kissmetrics (19:53) Businesses That Found Success Despite Their Flaws (22:35) Balancing Personal and Corporate Branding for Success (25:24) Shifting from Building to Acquiring Businesses (27:10) Neil's Strategy for Improving Acquired Businesses (31:15) Why “Renting Your Dreams” Can Lead to Future Success (33:29) How Consistency and Networking Create Opportunities (35:48) Empowering and Trusting Your Team for Results (37:44) Hiring Experts to Reduce Risk and Drive Growth (40:57) Neil Patel's Digital Marketing Services Neil Patel is a New York Times bestselling author, digital marketing expert, and the founder of one of the top 100 most brilliant companies, according to Entrepreneur Magazine. Recognized as a top influencer by The Wall Street Journal and one of Forbes' top marketers, Neil has helped companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google grow through marketing. He is also the co-founder of NP Digital, a leading marketing agency. With over 15 years of experience, Neil has been instrumental in helping businesses grow their online presence and revenue. Connect with Neil: Neil's Website: https://neilpatel.com/  Neil's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkpatel/  Neil's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/neilpatel  Resources Mentioned: NP Digital: https://npdigital.com/  Neil's Book, Hustle: The Power to Charge Your Life with Money, Meaning, and Momentum: https://www.amazon.com/Hustle-Power-Charge-Meaning-Momentum/dp/1623367166  Leap Academy: Ready to make the LEAP in your career? There is a NEW way for professionals to Advance Their Careers & Make 5-6 figures of EXTRA INCOME in Record Time. Check out our free training today at leapacademy.com/training

RE-RUN There was a time when Neil Patel said a $15k/month burn rate was all he needed. But now his monthly burn is $200k. Roughly. He's not completely certain… because he doesn't budget. So what changed in his life to make his burn rate increase nearly 14 fold? That's what this episode is going to find out. Neil Patel is a household name (for marketers). He's an entrepreneur and blogger known for his expertise in digital marketing and SEO. He co-founded companies like Crazy Egg, Hello Bar, and KISSmetrics, but his biggest company is his namesake, Neil Patel Digital. In this episode, Neil not only explains how and why his spending has evolved to the point where he's burning $2.4 million a year, he'll also break down where that money is going, how it compares to his income, investments, and savings, and why he doesn't feel the need to set a budget.  He'll also get candid about how he uses his money to bring joy to his life, and he'll share how soon he plans on being a billionaire. This is MoneyWise, a podcast where host Sam Parr is joined by high-net-worth guests to explore exclusive insights into personal finance and lifestyle tailored for other high-net-worth people, or those on their way. They'll get radically transparent about the numbers, revealing things like their burn rates, portfolios, and spending habits. Who is Sam Parr? Sam is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder of The Hustle, which he sold to HubSpot in 2021. He's also the co-host of one of the world's top podcasts for entrepreneurs, My First Million. Known for his insightful business acumen and candid communication style, Sam Parr continues to be a prominent figure in the world of media and entrepreneurship. Sam's newest and biggest venture yet is Hampton, which he co-founded in 2022. This podcast was made for the Hampton community, a private, highly-vetted, peer membership community for founders and CEOs of fast-growing, tech-enabled startups. Chapters: How rich Neil actually is and how he made it (1:58) When he said $15k/month was enough (4:12) What changed (6:34) Extravagant living in Las Vegas (7:57) How he spends his money quickfire (10:51) Why he doesn't budget (14:40) How kids changed his spending (18:22) What he won't give up (20:12) Neil's friends that spend more (23:44) What a $50k/month budget would look like (26:39) His billionaire goal (27:56) This podcast was produced in partnership with Lower Street and distributed by Morning Brew.

In this episode of the Daily Mastermind, host George Wright III interviews Wayne Mullins, the CEO and founder of Ugly Mug Marketing. They discuss Wayne's journey from a struggling salesperson to starting his own lawn and landscape business, eventually leading to the creation of a highly successful marketing agency. Key topics include the importance of incremental growth, the natural progression in marketing, and turning customers into brand evangelists. Wayne emphasizes the need for a strategic approach over merely tactical actions, leveraging human psychology, building trust, and the powerful role of customer referrals in enhancing marketing efforts. The episode concludes with advice for business owners to evaluate their strategies and continually exceed customer expectations. 01:00 Wayne Mullins' Background and Journey04:28 The Importance of Incremental Growth06:33 Understanding Marketing and Sales11:22 Building Trust in Marketing16:14 Turning Customers into Evangelists22:45 Strategic Marketing Advice Thanks for listening, and Please Share this Episode with someone. It would really help us to grow our show and share these valuable tips and strategies with others. Have a great day. George Wright III“It's Never Too Late to Start Living the Life You Were Meant to Live”FREE Daily Mastermind Resources:CONNECT with George & Access Tons of ResourcesGet access to Proven Strategies and Time-Test Principles for Success. Plus, download and access tons of FREE resources and online events by joining our Exclusive Community of Entrepreneurs, Business Owners, and High Achievers like YOU.Join FREE at www.JoinTheEvolution.comAbout GUEST:Wayne Mullins is a passionate entrepreneur committed to creating remarkable experiences, and building a team at Ugly Mug Marketing that produces extraordinary results for their clients.He has been called “the guru's guru,” as he is regularly called upon for advice from industry leading CEO's, New York Times Best Selling Authors, and Silicon Valley startups. He loves helping entrepreneurs challenge their assumptions, create value from places they've never looked, and reach goals they never believed possible. He has personally worked with clients in 91 different industries, from 34 states, and 11 countries.Ugly Mug Marketing, which Wayne founded 10 years ago, has won the praises of some of the leading influencers in the business world, such as, Neil Patel (Founder of QuickSprout & Kissmetrics), Chris Voss (New York Times Best Selling Author of Never Split the Difference), and Ari Weinzweig (Co-Founder of Zingerman's Community of Businesses). Wayne's work directly influences more than a quarter million entrepreneurs annually through his blog, books, and training programs.Guest Resources:Website: UglyMugMarketing.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fireyourself/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fireyourself/ About George Wright III:George Wright is a Proven, Successful Entrepreneur- and he knows how to inspire entrepreneurs, companies, and individuals to achieve Massive Results. With more than 20 years of Executive Management experience and 25 years of Direct Marketing and Sales experience, George is responsible for starting and building several successful multimillion-dollar companies. He started at a very young age to network and build his experience and knowledge of what it takes to become a driven and well-known entrepreneur. George built a multi-million-dollar seminar business, promoting some of the biggest stars and brands in the world. He has accelerated the success and cash flow in each of his ventures through his network of resources and results driven strategies. George is now dedicated to teaching and sharing his Prosperity Principles and Strategies to every Driven and Passionate Entrepreneur he meets. His mission is to Empower Entrepreneurs Globally to create Massive Change and LIVE their Ultimate Destiny.

In this episode, I sit down with the incredible Neil Patel. Neil is a New York Times bestselling author and cofounder of companies like Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics. He's known for boosting revenue for major firms like Amazon and NBC and has been recognized by Forbes as a top 10 marketer. Neil's expertise has made him a sought-after speaker in the marketing space.We dive deep into what it's like navigating a recession as an entrepreneur and why simplifying your marketing strategy can be a game-changer. Neil and I discuss the pros and cons of chasing more revenue versus expanding your reach. We also cover how to get the best return on investment (ROI) for your ads, ensuring every dollar spent is maximized.Neil shares his top three lessons as a $100M CEO, offering a true masterclass for business owners. We explore how to build a resilient business during tough economic times and the importance of maintaining a balanced life while scaling your company.Tune in to learn from one of the best in the business. You don't want to miss this episode!---Secure your spot at the #1 conference for real estate, entrepreneurship, and social media here - https://www.wealthcon.org/Feeling lost as an entrepreneur or real estate investor? Get access to our community, coaching, courses, and events at Wealthy University https://wealthyuniversity.com/If you want to level up, text me at 725-444-5244! ---About Ryan Pineda: Ryan Pineda has been in the real estate industry since 2010 and has invested in over $100,000,000 of real estate. He has completed over 700 flips and wholesales, and he owns over 650 rental units. As an entrepreneur, he has founded seven different businesses that have generated 7-8 figures of revenue. Ryan has amassed over 2 million followers on social media and has generated over 1 billion views online. Starting as a minor league baseball player making less than $2,000 a month, Ryan is now worth over $100 million. He shares his experiences in building wealth and believes that anyone can change their life with real estate investing.

In today's episode of Good Authority, Jonathan sits down with Silicon Valley legend Hiten Shah, founder of KISSmetrics, CrazyEgg, and host of The Hiten Show. Hiten discusses his unique approach to giving advice, emphasizing the importance of truly serving those he helps and his penchant for empathy over ego. He shares insights on the irony of advice-giving—people seek wisdom from those with experience, yet often lack sufficient context themselves. Throughout the episode, Jonathan reflects on his own journey toward becoming a more empathetic and effective advisor, highlighting the challenges of advising tech executives and the delicate balance of influence in coaching. They delve into the nuances of trust-building and the high stakes of making tough decisions, wrapping up with a discussion on the crucial role of self-awareness and clarity in leadership and communication. Key insights that you'll want to pay attention to are the interplay between experience and advice, the critical nature of trust in professional relationships, and the personal growth necessary for impactful leadership.   Connect with Hiten: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hnshah/ https://www.hiten.show/   Continue the conversation with Jonathan: Website: ⁠⁠⁠www.jonathanraymond.com⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Try Refound's AI Coaching Platform: ⁠⁠refound.com⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanrefound⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/jonathanrefound⁠

There was a time when Neil Patel said a $15k/month burn rate was all he needed. But now his monthly burn is $200k. Roughly. He's not completely certain… because he doesn't budget. So what changed in his life to make his burn rate increase nearly 14 fold? That's what this episode is going to find out. Neil Patel is a household name (for marketers). He's an entrepreneur and blogger known for his expertise in digital marketing and SEO. He co-founded companies like Crazy Egg, Hello Bar, and KISSmetrics, but his biggest company is his namesake, Neil Patel Digital. In this episode, Neil not only explains how and why his spending has evolved to the point where he's burning $2.4 million a year, he'll also break down where that money is going, how it compares to his income, investments, and savings, and why he doesn't feel the need to set a budget.  He'll also get candid about how he uses his money to bring joy to his life, and he'll share how soon he plans on being a billionaire. This is MoneyWise, a podcast where host Sam Parr is joined by high-net-worth guests to explore exclusive insights into personal finance and lifestyle tailored for other high-net-worth people, or those on their way. They'll get radically transparent about the numbers, revealing things like their burn rates, portfolios, and spending habits.

Let's give it another shot. All right. This is really hard for me. I've recorded this more times than I can count, now. Part of the reason is I had the mic facing the wrong way the first time. So, let me just give you a quick update and get this all out of the way. I'm launching a new show and it's all about honest conversations with founders working through some of their biggest challenges as they're happening. These are the conversations that as I've been in startups for the last 20 years, don't really happen. And what I mean by that is direct, honest, meaningful, impactful, actionable feedback on whatever challenge that founders are going through. But I need something from you. I need your help to make this great. So, what I ask is that you check out the first episode, you find the feedback form in the description or on the website, and then you tell me exactly what you think. I want to know what's good, what's great, but most importantly, the thing that's going to make me smile, is tell me your most critical feedback. What you don't like, what you hate, what you think can be improved. I'm calling it The Hiten Show Connect with Hiten Website: ⁠https://www.hiten.show⁠ YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@hitenshow⁠ TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@hitenshow⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/hitenshow⁠ Apply for an upcoming pitch session: ⁠https://www.hiten.show/pitch⁠ Ask Hiten a question: ⁠https://www.hiten.show/ask⁠ Thoughts? Ideas? Questions? We're always looking to learn and improve! Leave your feedback for Hiten: ⁠https://www.hiten.show/feedback⁠ Where you can find the show All episodes: ⁠https://www.hiten.show/episodes⁠ YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@hitenshow⁠ Spotify: ⁠https://www.hiten.show/spotify⁠ Apple: ⁠https://www.hiten.show/apple⁠ Amazon: ⁠https://www.hiten.show/amazon⁠ About Hiten Shah Hiten Shah is a veteran entrepreneur who's been building and investing in successful startups for over twenty years. Beyond founding of three SaaS companies (Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics and Quick Sprout). Hiten has been a key investor in hundreds of other startups, and has helped founders raise billions of dollars in VC money along the way.

In today's episode, sharing her story is Jenn Steele. Jenn is an entrepreneur, CEO, and founder with a solid track record in the fields of marketing technology and startups. With over a decade of executive experience, Jenn has consistently demonstrated strategic leadership and go-to-market skills that have led to outstanding outcomes. After successfully turning around and selling Kissmetrics in 2023, she is currently founding another company in the martech space. Her journey includes roles such as CEO at Kissmetrics, Vice President of Marketing at Reprise, Chief Revenue Officer at ORSNN, Chief Marketing Officer at Madison Logic, and Vice President, Product Marketing at Bizible. She started her marketing career at HubSpot in 2009 as one of the first hundred employees.Tune in to hear: Jenn share insights on her experiences with Marketing Operations (Ops) teams across different roles, highlighting how her perspective on Marketing Ops has evolved and varied depending on her position, and how it has changed over time.As a former CMO and current CEO/founder, Jenn outlines her approach to building a marketing organization, emphasizing the timing and importance of integrating Operations and the early focus areas for the Ops team.The conversation delves into Jenn's transition from marketing to entrepreneurship, exploring the motivations and influences behind her decision to start new ventures in the marketing space.Jenn reflects on pivotal moments and key figures in her career, discussing how certain decisions and individuals have significantly influenced her current success and providing final thoughts on her journey and advice for others.Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations Professionals

Today, I'm talking with Neil Patel, co-founder of NP Digital – a digital marketing agency that helps companies of all sizes get more traffic and sales. His marketing blog generates over 4 million visitors per month, his Marketing School podcast generates over 1 million listens per month, his YouTube channel about marketing has over 31 million views and 765,000 subscribers, and he has millions of social media followers.  Before his agency, Neil built online companies like Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics, and Hellobar. He has been named “Top Influencer on the Web” by The Wall Street Journal, a “Top 10 Marketer” by Forbes, and Entrepreneur Magazine says he has created “one of the 100 most brilliant companies.” Today, you'll hear Neil share his strategies for marketing to enterprise, mid-market, and small businesses. You'll also hear his best practices for creating engaging content, cutting through the noise of ad saturation, and scaling a company to 1,000 employees and beyond.  Key Takeaways with Neil Patel Neil's 22-year background in marketing  Why marketing agencies get a bad rap Catering to enterprise companies Scaling headcount to 750+ employees Why AI falls short with marketing content How to stand out among $700B of digital ads Is SEO dying? What marketing tactics no longer work like they once did?  How to produce high-quality, high-volume content How CTAs change depending on your audience Producing new content vs. repurposing content Creating content that gets qualified leads Reducing your tax liability  Get the full show notes here: https://beyondamillion.com/109 Subscribe to the Podcast We hope you enjoy this episode and that you find some golden nuggets within this interview. Trust us, it's there! If you want episodes delivered straight to your inbox, consider subscribing to the show and we'll email you each time a new episode is released! Thanks for tuning it & keep being awesome. BAM!

This episode title is a bit misleading (sorry!) because Benny is actually marking 17 years with type 1! He's away at college and while I hope to talk to him for the show soon, we just couldn't swing it in time for his actual diaversary. To mark the date, we're going to replay the first time I talked to Benny for this podcast – which I did along with my husband and my daughter back in 2016. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Find out more about Moms' Night Out - we have announced FOUR LOCATIONS for 2024! Use promo code MOM30 to save $30 off any city This is a longer episode, so I wanted to break it down a bit - and a full transcription is below. 00:00 2023 Stacey introduction, talks about Benny's 17th diaversary 03:55 2016 Stacey explains how the order of interviews and a few housekeeping notes 05:22 Slade 24:27 Lea 40:42 Slade (part 2) 1:12:15 Benny 1:26:07 2023 Stacey wraps it up   Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Take Control with Afrezza  Omnipod - Simplify Life Learn about Dexcom  Edgepark Medical Supplies Check out VIVI Cap to protect your insulin from extreme temperatures Learn more about AG1 from Athletic Greens  Drive research that matters through the T1D Exchange The best way to keep up with Stacey and the show is by signing up for our weekly newsletter: Sign up for our newsletter here Here's where to find us: Facebook (Group) Facebook (Page) Instagram Twitter Check out Stacey's books! Learn more about everything at our home page www.diabetes-connections.com  Reach out with questions or comments: info@diabetes-connections.com Episode transcription below - our transcription service doesn't speak diabetes perfectly, so please excuse any mistakes. Thanks! Stacey Simms 0:05 This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. This week is my son's 17th diversity 17 years with type one to mark what's really his entry into being a young adult with T1D. He's almost 19 We're going to take a look back at when he was a lot younger. We've got a replay of the first time I talked to Benny for this podcast back in 2016. It's a conversation that also includes my husband and my daughter. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. I'm your host, Stacey Simms. And you know, we aim to educate inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. I am not great about remembering Benny's exact dye aversary. And most of the reason why is because his diagnosis was very, it was prolonged, I would say it really only took a week, maybe a week or a couple of days from the time that I called our pediatrician and said, I don't like what I'm seeing Something's really wrong to an actual in hospital diagnosis and, and all the education that goes with it. But we had so many bumps along the way. And I've told these stories before, you know, a fasting blood glucose. That was normal, it was 80. And that was on a Monday. And then some subsequent diagnoses of things that we now know were just symptoms, you know, infection, things like that, that they treated, and we thought, yeah, we got it. And then finally, the A1C results, which came back five days after that initial fasting blood glucose, which is when they sent us to the hospital, all of that to say I remember the days of the week, Monday was the pediatrician Saturday was the phone call to go to the hospital. But I never remember the actual dates. Social media memories usually remind me and sure thing they came up this morning. So I'm recording this on Benny's actual 17 year diver serie on December 2, December also means and I need to tell you one quick thing about moms night out that the early bird special for Charlotte is over. I do have a promo code for you that you can use on the regular price to save $30 off. And that promo code is m n o 30. Mom's night out m and o 30. You'll save $30. With that I will put a link in the show notes. You can always go to diabetes dash connections.com. We have a mom's Night Out tab as well there now. If you go there we are announcing our next cities this week, I may have already done so. So follow on social for that announcement or click on over to the website, click on the mom's side out tab. See the new cities registration is not open for them. But you can sign up to be emailed directly when registration does open. And for more information. All right. I am hoping to talk to Benny for a new episode soon. As you know he's away at college. And I cannot wait to get that kid home for winter break. As this episode goes live. I think he's coming home in about 10 days, not that I'm counting diabetes, while he's been away has been fine. But I've tried really hard not to ask him a lot of bout it other than once in a while like you're doing okay. Right? Because we don't follow his Dexcom anymore. And I really don't know much day to day. You know, he's reordered supplies with me. So I know he's he's doing that kind of stuff. I can't wait to talk to him more. I will let you know when we're going to be taking questions for that episode, we'll post to the Facebook group for that. These conversations you're about to hear were recorded in fall of 2016. Benny is in sixth grade, his voice hasn't even changed yet. Oh, my goodness, I left in the original introduction, which gives more context. But I also want you to know, this is a much longer discussion than I remember. So I'm going to do more comprehensive shownotes with some time codes, if you want to kind of jump around on this episode and pick and choose where you want to listen. So here we go. My family's thoughts on one decade. Remember, this is seven years ago with type one. Stacey Simms 03:55 This part of the podcast is usually where I interview somebody else get them to share their story and their thoughts about living with diabetes. This is different. This is my family's story. And let me tell you, this is what I've done my entire career, talk to people interview people since before I even graduated from college. And these are the toughest interviews I've ever done. I was so nervous. But they were they were wonderful. And I was just thrilled that they agreed to even talk to me. My husband and my daughter are really not front and center. Attention people. I don't know how they live that way. But here's how it's going to go. You're going to first hear from me and my husband Slade. And then you'll hear from Leah. We're in the middle of that interview. I'm going to pause the conversation. And then you'll hear Leah's interview, because I had maybe the most Frank, honest and open conversation about our brothers diabetes that we've ever had. And then we'll wrap that up and you'll hear more from me and slay And then finally you'll hear from Benny. Oh my gosh, that kid, if you have a middle school boy, maybe you'll understand that conversation was, let's say it was interesting. There is a bit of overlap in these conversations as you'd expect. I mean, there are some events that we all talk about. So you'll hear about those things more than once, that sort of thing. Okay, here we go. I'm really interested to see what we talked about today because Slade doesn't really talk about Benny's diabetes publicly. I mean, of course, you you're very, very involved, and you talk about it, I'm sure with friends, and things like that. But it's not like you are front and center at functions. And, you know, that kind of thing over the years, I don't Slade 5:41 have a podcast, Stacey Simms 5:43 I could help you set one up. But I've been told in the past, I speak enough for everybody in the family. So I'm really interested to hear what you have to say if your conversation matches mine. Alright, so let's start 10 years ago, Ben, he was diagnosed with type one. He was not yet two years old. And Leo was just had just turned five. What I remember vividly is the month before he was diagnosed, when I was working at WB T, doing morning radio, you got the kids every morning. So you used to text me, like 730 or seven o'clock every morning and say, you know, kids are okay are off to daycare or you know, here's a funny picture. And you texted me one day and said you are not going to believe the amount of pee that came out of this kid. Do you remember that? Like the mattress is soaked in the floor was wet. I Slade 6:35 remember one morning, getting him out of his crib, right? And the entire mattress was soaking wet. Like everything. All the blankets were wet. The pillow was where the entire mattress was. So it was I'm like it didn't make any sense to me. Stacey Simms 6:53 Right. And you know me at work. I was kind of thinking when you trade off like we did because sleep had a restaurant for many years. So I had the kids in the afternoon and in the evening when he was working. And he had the kids every morning because I used to do a morning radio show that started at 5am. And I just remember thinking, not on my shift like you gotta fix Slade 7:14 which I did right away. Of course, drying the mattress out trying to figure out what happened, but we Stacey Simms 7:19 kind of thought it was a one off. Oh, yeah. Because it didn't happen again for a while. Yeah. And then it happened to get about three weeks later. Well, Slade 7:25 we noticed I think from that point on over the next couple of weeks that he was drinking a tremendous amount of liquid for a 18 month old or 20 month old. It was you know, and he would suck down a little 10 ounce sippy cup in like, you know, 15 or 20 seconds. It was absurd. Stacey Simms 7:45 So the the mattress wedding thing was in October, I think late October or something. And then of course, there was Halloween, which I'm sure didn't do him any favors. That was the year the kids dressed up. But it was the only matching costume we ever did. Leo was Ariel and Benny was flounder. And then, at Thanksgiving, we had family photos on the Friday of Thanksgiving that year. And then we went to the lazy five ranch. And I've told this story before one of my brothers was here, right brother David was there, right? And I posted that picture recently on Facebook of David and Benny with a giant glass of orange juice. And then we went to the lazy five ranch and of course Benny couldn't he was still in diapers and he was soaked and he was just laying down and he was exhausted. He felt like garbage. And then that Monday, we went to the pediatrician that Monday right after Thanksgiving, right? And Slade 8:37 then I mean, I think they did a fasting glucose and a few other things. And they thought he had a urinary tract infection knew and I already had suspicions that it was something more like it didn't make any sense. Yeah. And then it was a few days into an antibiotic for what they thought was a urinary tract infection and there was no change. And so his outward symptoms continued to be the same right where he drank tremendous amounts of water and liquid and was always going to the bathroom. Stacey Simms 9:08 Well on that Monday when we went to the doctor his as you said his fasting glucose was normal. It was 80. And then they did a blood draw. They must have found something in his urine, right? They must have found sugar in it because I remember they did a urine test to do a urine test on a kidney. They didn't Slade 9:24 remember that we had to kind of push for them to do an A1C like they it took a week or so. Yeah, Stacey Simms 9:30 but we didn't ask for A1C We just asked for a blood test. I didn't know what we were asking for did I remember holding you had to hold him down? Yes, I did have to hold them down Leah was in the hallway Leah remembers that remember some screaming? Slade 9:40 It wasn't exactly pleasant. Stacey Simms 9:44 Yeah, and then he did that they said I had a urinary tract infection. And I remember when we treated it he seemed to feel better once a day right just from the urinary because he did have one but you know job raucous or pediatrician friend down the street said to me Why would a healthy two year old boy have a urinary You're trying to keep keep looking. So I was convinced at this point that he was he had contracted a fatal disease. I was on the internet. I was looking at all sorts of horrible things. I thought he had kidney cancer. I really did. I was so scared. And then he seemed to feel better. And then on Saturday, they called us and David was still here. And they called us on Saturday and said, like it was an emergency get to the hospital. But they wouldn't. They didn't tell me why. Well, they did tell they thought they told me why because they told me his blood sugar was like, you know, 700, or the A1C correlated to, you know, I don't know what it was. But I remember thinking, He's fine. He looks fine. He's doing okay. Why do we have to rush to the hospital? But we did. Slade 10:33 Yeah. But I remember during that week that we kind of, we were guessing that it might have been diabetes? Stacey Simms 10:42 Oh, well, yeah. Because most people and you know, the symptoms matched perfectly. But I think it was the fasting glucose being kind of normal that threw me off. And I of course, went to worst case scenario, Slade 10:51 you went, you definitely went deeper. But you know, still concern. Yeah. Not knowing. And it's, it's a scary thing, when the doctor calls and says, Take your kid to the emergency room. And you go while he's walking around playing with some toys, he's just fine. So and then, of course, it's just a, it's a crash course. Right? You get admitted in two days later, you're out and you have diabetes and have to live with it the rest of your lives. Stacey Simms 11:19 Oh, you know, one thing I forgot is, when we took him to the pediatrician that first time on the Monday after Thanksgiving, when I called, we knew just enough to say he's got the symptoms of type one. We knew that much that the pain and the drinking, because of all the stuff I'd done with JDRF already and in Charlotte, and my pediatrician, Dr. Scott said, I've never seen it in anybody younger than two. Right, bring him in, and we'll rule it out. And thankfully, you know, they took us seriously because I've heard some nightmare stories of people that don't. But what's funny is, here we are 10 years later, almost every time I go to that pediatrician, and it's one of these big practices with like eight doctors, they all look at Benny's chart and we go in, they say, oh, like he was the youngest one we saw at that time, you know, and now of course, there's lots of kids that are diagnosed younger, unfortunately. But for that practice, it was it was unusual. It's pretty unique. Slade 12:07 Yeah, I just I just distinctly remember that we had to push a little bit. Yeah. To get them to think in that direction. Stacey Simms 12:15 Oh, when he walked in with AD, yeah, they tried to figure out something else. So Slade 12:19 I mean, I think all that really says is, doesn't matter what the age or what you're thinking, you have to be your own advocate, you know, in some way, shape or form, if you're not your voice, then there's an opportunity to miss something. Right? Not get a good look at it. So I think that I think that not going down the you know, the rabbit hole right? To something considerably more catastrophic. And trying to rule that stuff out. You have to, you have to ask and you have to instruct and you have to, you know, your medical team, you have to be part of the conversation, right? You can't just tell me what to do. Stacey Simms 13:04 But it's hard to in some ways, because you don't know what you don't know. But you're I agree with you. You have to we've learned this for many years. Now. You got to push you got to be your own advocate, you got to ask questions. But, you know, if I didn't know, peeing and drinking was a sign of type one, I don't think I would have known what to ask the doctor. Right. But Slade 13:19 I also think that that I don't think doctors are offended by that. I think that that helps them do what they're trained to do is help. Help people get better. And if you're not engaged in the conversation, it's a one way street. Yeah. It Stacey Simms 13:32 would help. Alright, so we're in the hospital now. And I remember he had those things. What are those things called all over you with a stick you the sticky things I had like an Slade 13:41 EKG monitor, right, and he kept pulling Stacey Simms 13:43 them off? Slade 13:44 Yeah, that couldn't have felt good. Stacey Simms 13:48 That was like when we first started using the Hulk analogy, because he was like the baby Hulk pulling everything off. Slade 13:54 Well, it's interesting, and he doesn't have any idea what's going on. Stacey Simms 13:57 But that night, we took turns, you know, you went home. I stayed. And they pretty much didn't tell us until the middle of the night that he had type one. They kind of I think everybody thought we knew. And finally I asked if they had a diagnosis. And they said, Yeah, he's got they would like yeah, he's got type 1 diabetes. I mean, they were nasty about it. But I think everybody thought someone else had told us along the way. Slade 14:19 We didn't see Dr. Werner alto second day or the next day. Yes. We Stacey Simms 14:23 went in on Saturday morning or Saturday, mid morning. We saw nurses and hospitalists there was that one horrible woman. She came in and she smelled. She didn't say anything to us, like not Hello, how are you? I'm so and so she came right in and smelled him. And now I know it was for fruity breath. Right? So when she came in, she smelled him. And you know, I am of course very calm. I said, What are you doing to my son? Who were you? She kind of explained but she kind of left us like you're not coming back and just I don't know what I said. I'm sure it was very nice. But yeah, that night we met the hospitalist. And that was when that was when he said to me, who stays home with Benny, not our endocrinologist, but but just a hospitalist, a doctor who sees people in hospital. And I was already panicking because I had my dream job. And I had health insurance. You had a restaurant you owned a restaurant is that like you can untangle from that pretty easily? You know, I'm closing the doors. When Slade 15:21 we tried to untangle from it, it took a long time. Stacey Simms 15:25 And I was terrified because it couldn't really quit. I wanted to quit my job. But I had to health insurance and I really didn't want to quit my job either. So we said who stays home with Benny? I said, nobody really nasty. And then I burst into tears. And you weren't there. And Vinnie, do not remember you were not there. He was another night. And then then he put his kidneys awake. He's 23 months old. He puts his arm around me. He says it's okay, Mommy. I was like, Dude, you better get your stuff together to myself. You bet this is your 10 year old is comforting you this is not how it's supposed to work. And that was a big turning point for me. And like the guy was great. He said, I'm sorry. He said, What I should have said is what's your situation? He's like, I'm just trying to help you acclimate? And he told us even go back to daycare. And he you know, nobody said no to us. They'll try to help us figure out how to make it work. But that moment was a big turning point for me. Slade 16:14 I don't think I had any big turning points. I mean, the only thing that I realized was, you know, when we finally did come home, and you know, I went grocery shopping. Stacey Simms 16:26 Oh my god, wait. So hold on. Let's get there. So we met Dr. V. The next morning on a Sunday. And he came in and I remember him coming in and saying hi to us and being great. But getting right on the floor with Benny. Yeah, Slade 16:39 and what I remember. And and you have a better memory than I do. But what I remember is him saying listen, based on where we are today with treating this. There isn't any reason he shouldn't have the exact same life he would have without diabetes that he has with diabetes. I mean, that was that was that just set the tone? Right? Stacey Simms 17:00 Yeah, it really did. And I remember, thank you. I will anyway, I remember, like my first questions to him, because what do you know about diabetes? Right? You know, type two, I remember thinking and asking him like, do I have to cut his toenails differently? Like? He was like, Oh, I could see, right? Yeah, take a deep breath. And like, this lady is gonna be fun. But he got right on the floor and met Benny and I don't think he had kids at that point. He did not. Yeah. And he was terrific. But I interviewed him. I said to him, you know, I'm glad to meet you. But you know, I don't know anything about endocrinology, or endocrinologist, or endocrinologist in this town. Right? Of course, I want to make sure that my child has the best. So I asked him a million questions. And he was great. He was really great. Yeah, Slade 17:49 I just think he set the tone that said, hey, what you're going to deal with is lifelong. And then that's the way it is. But it's not life threatening. Yeah. Doesn't have to be life threatening, right? Stacey Simms 18:03 He didn't he didn't come in and tell us a cure is around the corner. He talked a little bit about the artificial pancreas. I remember because I asked him about technology. He he did say that they were one of the first practices in the country that routinely gave pumps to toddlers, because this was 2006. So that wasn't happening all over the place that he thought that Benny we know down the road, we would talk about that. But he was not overly he didn't promise anything. Slade 18:30 No, actually he did. He promised us Benny would have a normal life if he took care of himself. Right? Well, that's true. It didn't make that that's Stacey Simms 18:36 true. And that was very reassuring. And he has been consistent in these 10 years. He said, The three things that he says at almost every appointment, I'm pretty sure he told us then, which was he wants to make sure that he can live a long, healthy life he's supposed to, that he has, he feels good, and can enjoy life right now. And that we find a way to make diabetes fit into what he wants to do, and not the other way around. And we've been able to do that pretty much. It's not you know, when people say, Oh, diabetes can't stop you. I mean, some of that I, you know, I shake my head a little bit or I raise an eyebrow because, you know, obviously diabetes definitely can slow you down. And there are days when it can stop you. That's okay. I mean, you know, when you break your leg, it's gonna stop you. You know, I you know, it's I know, it's a mindset more than a truism. But, you know, I think we've had a pretty realistic look at it. Yeah, I Slade 19:27 think you as you go through, particularly growing up, and there's, you know, there's minefields everywhere, right? It's just one more minefield, right? I mean, it's something else, you have to navigate it and it gets added into your routine added into the way that you think. And it's, yeah, it's a it's a burden because it's different than what a lot of your peers have to deal with. Is it a burden in it in that it can be a roadblock to accomplishing something you want to accomplish? like you and I think that way, I don't think that's true. Stacey Simms 20:02 We try not do not it's not a not a dead end road, you can make it that way. Well, it can be a roadblock that you can overcome, right. But it shouldn't stop you in your tracks. Slade 20:11 You can do a lot of what was me? Well, yeah, well, that's different, right? You can do a lot of what was me, but there isn't. There's a, there's a roadmap to accomplishing what you want to accomplish with diabetes. All Stacey Simms 20:24 right. Speaking of routine, let's talk about that grocery store. Slade 20:28 That was hysterical. So, you know, of course, you know, when you talk about diabetes, you talk about carbs, right. And as you load your body up with carbohydrates, you need insulin, Stacey Simms 20:38 oh, and I should add, we were put on a carb counting regime or a carb counting routine. Immediately. We didn't do any eat to the insulin, it was all give them as many shots as you want, right? And count carbs and dose him that way. Right. I mean, obviously, at first, we tried not to give him a lot of injections. But we were some people go on different routines at first, right? We weren't, we were all carb counting from the beginning, Slade 21:00 right? But it's really all about, you know, the basics of understanding how to take care of yourself is you have to know what you ingest, right? You have to know what you eat. And you can give yourself insulin to help your body, right, continue to move forward and act the way it should act right by adding an insulin. So we're like, you know, maybe we should really go low carb or no carb. So I went to the grocery store, I think I spent two and a Stacey Simms 21:30 half hours. That's what I was gonna say. It was definitely two hours. And Slade 21:34 I it's I think I know the label of every item in the grocery. But I just went and bought everything that was low carb when he came home and put it in the cupboards and put in the refrigerator and he loved some of the food and fed it to him for a few days and then realized we were feeding him fat. Yeah, Stacey Simms 21:50 we did two weeks almost of Atkins, basically. And I lost about six pounds. It was, I'm sure that had nothing to do with being crazy. But yeah, I mean, we went from eating, moderate. Everything in moderation and pretty healthy. I mean, our kids were five and not an almost two. It's not like they were drinking soda and McDonald's all the time. But we were eating things like oatmeal for breakfast and pancakes and stuff. And we went to eating sausage. And I don't it was ridiculous. Like everything Slade 22:19 was a lot of me. Yeah, it was a lot of meat and a lot of cheese. And we realized is we're just gonna, we're just eating fat, and we're gonna kill him. So after a couple of weeks, I actually threw a bunch of that stuff out. But Stacey Simms 22:29 the turning point for me or the final straw was when you were like, how about pork rinds? That's a good snack. He's doing we're Jewish. I mean, we don't keep kosher, but I don't remember. I was like, that's, I know, many people enjoy pork rinds. I'm not. I don't, I bet he would love them. Now. You can find some things, I mean, olives, beef jerky, Slade 22:56 just remember kind of throwing it out and go, that's it, we're just going to, I'm going to feed him the way we would normally feed him. And, and we will treat him medically the way that we are given the tools to do it. And that's what we're gonna do. Stacey Simms 23:08 And we also counted every carb tried to do it exactly. I think it's I think the whole thing, we figured it out two hours of routine to our day, because we had a yellow legal pad, right, we wrote everything down. We've got all the food, the dosage, the routine, but we were counting carbs, and ketchup, and green peas. And I mean everything because that's what we were told to do. Right. And I remember going for a follow up, when you go for free first followed two months later, one month later, and there was a mom and dad was like, really? This is excellent. But you do not need to do with the two cards that are in the ketchup. Well, Slade 23:40 I still think actually, that's kind of important, because you need to understand that it's out there. You need, I mean, their cards, you're ingesting Stacey Simms 23:47 what we need, and we needed to do it then to learn. Yeah. Slade 23:49 And that's what happens is you learn you know, kind of what carbs are, where they are, where they're hidden, how your body reacts to them, particularly how Benny's body reacts to them. And then it's really kind of an art at that point, right? It's not really a science. I mean, there's all kinds of ratios and logarithms and all that stuff. But it really comes down to everyone's body is a little different. And it's it's much more like juggling right than it is like anything else. Stacey Simms 24:27 I'm gonna pause my talk with Slade here and bring in our daughter Leah. She's three years older than Benny four years ahead in school because of where their birthdays fall. And about 40 years older in maturity right now, you know, it's okay to say that I was so happy she agreed to talk to me about this. And this might be the best discussion we've had about her brother and diabetes. I will say I remember a few things a little differently. But this is her story. Alright, so let's start at the very beginning. I when I talked to dad, we talked about when Benny was first day He noticed and one of the things that I brought up was when we had to take the first blood draw. You were outside of the doctor's office. Do you remember that? No, Lea 25:08 I remember the electrodes, but and him always pulling them off. But I don't remember the blood draw. We Stacey Simms 25:13 because you went to the pediatricians office with us. And he was screaming his head off, and you were in the hallway. Because you were just you just turned 508. Lea 25:21 I think I do. Remember I was playing with my LeapFrog. And I was sitting in the hallway. And I was like, I would hear screaming, but I'd be like, Oh, it's whatever. It's fine. I'm gonna play my game. Stacey Simms 25:33 And then we went when Benny was in the hospital. You remember the electrodes and Uncle David was with that Lea 25:38 was funny. I mean, because I didn't understand what was going on. So it was funny, because he had electrodes all over him. And he would just like, pull them off. So they couldn't do anything. And I mean, he was crying and like, you were very frustrated. And I'm just laughing because I had no idea what was going on. Stacey Simms 25:52 And then the next day, we actually went ice skating. It was our community ice skating thing with when we were making the temple. It was like our first time though, into the ice skating rink. Lea 26:01 Did the rabbi go, Stacey Simms 26:03 I don't think they had the rabbi yet. It was just us. And you were very little. Okay, so you remember, okay, so what do you do you remember, like, what kind of things you remember from when you were little. Lea 26:14 I remember very general stuff. I don't really remember like specific instances. Like when he was first diagnosed, I didn't think anything was wrong. But apparently he was like, drinking too much and peeing too much. And I was just like, Yeah, whatever. Because I was not the biggest fan of my little brother. And I remember, as he got older, and I think it was more, I was less of like a small child and more of like, preteen, I was very upset because he'd always get so much attention, which now it's like, you get it, because it's an awful horrible thing and all blah, he needs all this stuff. But as as a small child, it was like, pay attention to me, Mother, I exist to you have a second child who was actually your first child. But you know, it was cool. I was an only child for four years, which was a wonderful thing. Stacey Simms 27:03 It was like, almost three years. Before, it was three Lea 27:07 years. Like for almost four. Stacey Simms 27:10 It was almost three, it was three U turn three, November, whatever. And then he was boring. Okay, very similar. But I remember a lot of when you were very little as you were a big helper. Like when he was first born, you would help me with the help with the baby, you would help with diapers, you would read to him every night, you know, to get sick of him all that stuff. And the same thing with diabetes. You wanted to learn how to do everything. You guys would give shots to the stuffed animals. Lea 27:35 Oh, yeah. The Little Bear and there were like little patches on it. Yeah. That's Rufus the bear with diabetes. Oh, that's fun. Stacey Simms 27:44 That's nice. And right. So you would do that. But you were very helpful to me in the backseat of the car. Because when you have a kid in a baby seat, basically, right, he was in front facing. I don't remember what the requirements were now. But like, you'd have the three point harness the five point harness those kinds of chairs. And so you were next to him? And if he was low, you you actually checked him once or twice for me when you were like five or six years old. You did? And then yes, and then you but not often, but you were very responsible. And you were like I'll do and usually I would pull over if I needed to like if dad wasn't mad. That's I mean, it wasn't making you do it. But you did it once or twice. But you were always willing and helping me the juice boxes and stuff like that. So much Lea 28:23 has changed. Stacey Simms 28:27 But then as you got older, like you said, it became more of a why? Why him? Why are you giving all the attention kind of thing? Lea 28:34 Because I never, I mean, until now I never really fully understood what, like, why he got so much of the attention. It was always just like, you spent so much time like talking to him talking about him, like calling people about it. And just you had all this you had like Lantis and Hume along, whatever all that stuff is just words that I hear around the house. But you had all of these packages shipped, like every couple of months or like, whatever you would go to these conventions and the walks and it was just like, well, let me do my walk, Dude, where's the layup walk? Stacey Simms 29:09 Do you think we should have done a better job educating you about diabetes? Because I feel like we did tell you it's Lea 29:14 not that I wasn't. It's not that I didn't really understand what it was it was just that like, I was a child. And I still am a child, but it's like, pay attention to me pay attention to me. It wasn't that I didn't know that it was some awful thing that he like needed to have all this attention because I knew that it was just like, why can't I also have attention? It wasn't like I was trying to take it away from him. It was just like me to say him. Stacey Simms 29:37 What would your advice be to parents listening to this who have a kid with type one and other kids who don't in the family? Lea 29:43 Well, you certainly don't have to. You shouldn't like take attention away from a child with diabetes just because one of your other children is feeling a little like left out but that doesn't mean that you can be you can totally ignore that child because they're still like They're your child. They're there, they need you. But it's, I think it would be better if you if someone explained to me that, like, if you'd like sat me down, and with Benny, and been like, this is what's happening, blah, blah, blah. This is why we give them so much attention. It's not that we don't love you. And just something like that. And sure, I probably still want to complain, but whatever. Like, it's fine. Stacey Simms 30:23 So like, the little things that we tried to do, like weekends away, or just you and me stuff like that, like spending, Lea 30:29 spending a weekend with my dad or with my mom, like, that's great. Because it's, it shows like, sure you spend basically every second of every day worrying about this other kid. But you still have time for me, which is pretty awesome. Stacey Simms 30:43 So tell me about camp a little bit, because this is something that you and Benny share that you do not really share with me and your dad. You I don't know if you remember, but used to come home from camp. This is the regular summer camp slip away for about a month. And tell Benny, it's gonna be so great. You're gonna love it, you know, can't wait. So you would go and I would always think there's no way. There's no way and you were ready to go when you were eight. And when he was eight, I was not ready for him to go. But we sent him anyway. What? Do you remember why you want them to go? Did you just think he would have fun? Lea 31:14 Well, I mean, when he first went, what unit like, well, how old was I? When he first went? Stacey Simms 31:21 Well, he was bony one. So you would have been three years older than that. I don't know how we can never keep track of those things. Well, he Lea 31:26 was like eight when he when he was eight. So I would have been like 11. Yeah. So at 11 It was still very much like it will because because of the fact that he's had diabetes, and we've known for so long. It's just kind of part of our lives. And I don't think of it as like this huge deal. Like it's just something that he just has to deal with him. It's like whatever, because he's a normal kid. It's not like, it's not like some other things that people can get where like you see, like, what you see the symptoms or you see, like the damage that it does, it's just sort of something that you have to deal with. And it's just like, whatever. So, I mean, it never even occurred to me that like he wouldn't go to a sleepaway camp, because that was just like, oh, yeah, it's like, Andy has diabetes. It's like, he's got brown eyes. He's got diabetes, like whatever. So, I mean, it was it was just, like, such a fun place to like to go and to get away. And it was, like, you get to do so much there that you don't really get to do at home. And it was never, it was never about him. Like, oh my gosh, he's my brother. I love him so much. I want to come to camp. It was like, I want you to experience this wonderful place. But it was it was never, it was never about the diabetes. It was just about him wanting to like go, Stacey Simms 32:37 I don't think he ever would have gone if you hadn't been so excited about it. Because that was part of the reason I wanted him to go because you liked it so much. That was wonderful. Yeah, he's really has a good time there. I mean, I'm so glad you had such a great experience to Lea 32:50 take my place. Okay, Stacey Simms 32:52 okay. All right. So that was great. I can't Unknown Speaker 32:55 go anymore. Yeah, Stacey Simms 32:56 you're too old for camp. Now. That stinks. No, Lea 32:59 but I can go back this summer if I wanted to. Next summer next summer. Yeah, but I don't think I would I might be counselor, be counseling Stacey Simms 33:06 keep your brother in line on the different side of the camp. Okay. Has since since Benny was diagnosed, I know you've met other kids with type one. But you don't come to conferences much. So it's not like this is a hey, it's a type one atmosphere, you know, other than the walks and things? Do you feel that? First of all, have you ever talked with someone and I haven't really been asked this question. But like, do you feel like knowing about Benny's diabetes has maybe helped you get to know other kids with type one better? Lea 33:38 Not really, I mean, most of the people that I talk to, like kids my age, or adults or kids Benny's age, it's always, like, that's just sort of a thing that we both know about them that they have diabetes. And it's we don't, I mean, the most that we would ever talk about is like if they were low, or if like they had to bolus for something, and it would never be like a big deal. And most of the time, we would just talk about like, other things, just because, I mean, for me, I'm just so used to my brother having it. And for them, they have it, so they just kind of have to be used to it. So neither was ever make a big deal out of it. And it's just kind of like whatever, Stacey Simms 34:11 it would be kind of weird. For teenagers, you'd be like, so tell me about your type 1 diabetes. Lea 34:18 You wouldn't. I mean, you can certainly have a conversation with somebody else about it if you don't have it yourself. But I mean, unless you're like you're very new to what diabetes is. It's generally not a big deal. Like if you're talking to somebody who has diabetes, you generally know they have diabetes, and that's why you're talking to each other. So it's never really like a major point of discussion. If that makes any sense. Got it. Did Stacey Simms 34:47 you ever have a moment where you were scared with Benny? Lea 34:51 There was I was like, it was like five minutes where you first showed me an epi pen like in case he got like really low. Oh, the glucagon, glucagon. It's an epi pen. Stacey Simms 35:05 But it's okay. But it looks like the same thing. Lea 35:07 It does the same thing. And I remember like you came up and you showed me and it was like, this big red needle or whatever. I'd never seen anything like it. And you're and you explain the whole thing to me. Like if Benny gets really low, or this happens, or if he passes out, you have to stab him in the thigh with this giant needle. Like, if nobody else was around, you have to do it, or he's gonna die. How old was like nine, five? Stacey Simms 35:30 No, I don't think I'm kidding. I don't remember how Lea 35:35 it was before I turned 10. I remember this. And I was just like, What on earth is this? You want me to stab my brother? If he's like lying on the ground? But and you're like, keeping it in the cabinet downstairs? And it's like, what is this? But I mean, other than that, it's pretty much been totally normal. And Stacey Simms 35:52 it's funny because some of our babysitter's we found because of diabetes, and you've learned to be really good friends with them, which is pretty cool as you've gotten older. Yeah. But Lea 36:01 it was never because of their diabetes. It was just like, oh, you know how to take care of yourself. You can take care of our child. Well, it Stacey Simms 36:07 was for us it was for you had nothing to do with it. What do you care if they had diabetes, it was just one of those things that we felt, we just fell into these great, we found great people. And, you know, like our neighbor, Christina, who was diagnosed as a young adult, and now she's family friends, which is really nice. She's pretty awesome. She is pretty. So family is pretty awesome. Do you worry about Ben growing up with diabetes or being an adult with diabetes? Now? Have you ever even thought about it? Um, Lea 36:29 I'm not worried for him. Not, not with him being able to take care of himself because he's totally capable. I'm just worried about like, what other people might say about it. Because when, because, people when you hear diabetes, you think of like, generally what people think of diabetes I think of as normally type two, which you can get, which is like, generally related to like obesity, or just being overweight and not healthy. But he has type one, which is totally different. And I just, I don't know, kids are mean. I mean, really, kids are kids are mean. And I don't know, I'm not worried about him. I'm worried about everybody else. Stacey Simms 37:06 In what they're gonna say that you'll beat them up if they're meeting of course. Alright, let me just make sure before we start, people had questions. I think they were mostly for Benny, but somebody did so offended. Will do me a question. It gets all the attention. I Lea 37:21 know. Isn't it? Great? Let's see if all this it's okay to complain about your sibling getting all the attention. I think that's a great point. Stacey Simms 37:30 Definitely. It's okay to complain better than season. Lea 37:34 See thing. Don't hate your parents. They're just trying to keep your other sibling alive. Oh, Stacey Simms 37:40 this was an asked these questions. I would love your daughter's perspective. Did it cause her to be jealous? attention seeking, seeking? And how does it feel to have to worry about him? Or do you worry about him? Well, Lea 37:52 I'm gonna go with the second part of this because I feel like I've already addressed like the first part of this question, but I don't really worry about him. Like at all. It's always I know, you and dad worry about him all the time. Because it's like, what if he's not bolusing? What if he's really high? Like what's going on? But I'm just like, whatever, you can take care of himself. You won't let him die. It's okay. There's a hospital down the road, he'll be fine. I mean, I probably should worry just a little bit more than I do. But it's just, it's part of my life. It's part of his life. It's just, it's something we have to do. Well, I Stacey Simms 38:23 think what we tried to do was to make you aware, but not to make it your responsibility. I just never felt like it was your responsibility as a kid, everybody. And if you remember when he got on the bus, he was in kindergarten. So you were in fourth grade. And people a lot of people said to me, Oh, well, it's what a relief that he's on the bus because even though you can't be with him, Leah's there and she can take care of. And I never felt what I told you at the time was, you don't have to worry about his diabetes, just take care of him as a sister and brothers should take care of each other. We told him that to like, if somebody's picking on you, he needs to stand up for you. And vice versa. If you get sick, he needs to holler for help. You know, it's just that kind of stuff. It was never diabetes specific. And I know you guys looked out for each other all the time, or didn't you sit next to each other all through elementary school? Lea 39:08 No, for one grade, Stacey Simms 39:09 I think Did you really say that? I was kidding. No, Lea 39:11 I think it was no, I remember because I was in like fourth grade. So I was I was like, slowly like into like the cool part and like the back of the bus. And I was really excited about it. Because like me and all my friends. We sent like the ferry back and it was like, Oh my gosh, we're so cool. We sent back the bus. But the bus driver, it was Ben he was in like second grade or like, I Stacey Simms 39:30 don't know, I remember this. This was in kindergarten. We foster going to school to major sit together. Lea 39:34 He sat in the very front row, right? They were terrified right behind the bus driver because they were like, what if he like passes out? What if he goes totally insane where he doesn't have any food. And so they made me sit with him? Because I was at SR and like, I knew that they were olders I knew it was going on and I could like call like my mom because I knew your phone number. And I was very I was very upset. But you did Stacey Simms 39:56 that for like a week or yeah, I've been told Does Yeah, there was no, yeah. And then you were like, Mom, we need to address Lea 40:04 this. We have an issue. That's Stacey Simms 40:06 great. I forgot all about that. And he was happy to see you go to Yeah, we Lea 40:10 were both like, Go away. Get away from because my brother like he couldn't talk to females on the bus because they're like, why is your sister with you are like really awkward because like, he was like in kindergarten and I was like a cool fourth grader, not really. And so, and I was just upset because I was like, I want to go sit with my friends. Now. I don't want to do my little brother like ill. Stacey Simms 40:30 And on that note, thank you so much, sweetie. This was great. No problem. You're listening to Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. I am so proud of her. Even though I was biting my tongue a bit. I mean, we explained diabetes a lot with her. I am sure you know that, you know. And yes, she knows an epi pen and glucagon are not the same thing. But wow. That was that was nice for me. That was really great to talk to Leah. All right, let's go back to me and Slade. And when we left off, we were started to talk about how we try to make diabetes fit into our life, rather than making life revolve around diabetes. Before before we left the hospital, though. We had a long planned event with our congregation. That that year that summer, we had also decided to help start our temple, right. That was that summer and then this this winter, this happened. But we had a an ice skating. I had planned an ice skating event in downtown Charlotte for the Sunday the day after Benny was diagnosed. So we were still in the hospital. And we talked about it and you said you should go right. And I didn't take Leah. And so you went to the hospital that day, we traded off. And I took Leah to the ice skating rink and I was really nervous. And I was really kind of upset about leaving him in the hospital. I'm so glad I did that. I'm so glad I did that. Because it showed her that life goes on. It kind of convinced me that life goes on. It was a great fun event. And our friends and our community were amazing. They were just amazing. It was so supportive of me. And they made sure we had fun. It was great. I'm so glad we did that. That was cool. Slade 42:17 Yeah, I think that kind of sets or maybe not on purpose, but kind of set the tone for how are you we're trying to normalize we we work really hard and normalizing our lives. In fact, we live our lives first and treat diabetes second, almost, right, because it's just part of what you have to do. It's kind of like you have to put your shoes on if you're gonna go outside, right. So you have to treat your diabetes when whenever you're out and about so. But I think that kind of set the tone for it, right? I mean, because you can you can get into a dark place if you don't. Stacey Simms 42:50 Well, and Dr. Dr. V. also told us probably that day, or the next day, don't buy him a pony for checking his blood sugar. Right. Don't reward him unduly because this is not going away. Yeah, it's not like, you know, oh, boy, I Slade 43:04 think you started looking at ponies Stacey Simms 43:06 I would have looked at I was looking at Porsches looking at everything. It's really funny. You know, it's it's interesting to when you talk about life goes on. I think we put him back in daycare, right? Three days later? Slade 43:19 Well, we're very fortunate. Was it three days high? It Stacey Simms 43:22 was very soon, probably within a week. And we were lucky. Slade 43:25 But we were very fortunate in that the people who are the managers at the daycare center, had had some experience, and then took it upon themselves to go and get more training. Yeah, it was crazy. So we were really fortunate, but that that wasn't common than it was only 10 years ago isn't common, but it's very common now. So I think the challenges that people have about daycare are they're much easier barriers now than when, even just 10 years ago. Stacey Simms 43:56 I would say that there are more resources to help. But I think that daycare is a huge challenge for a lot of people. I don't know how lucky we were. Slade 44:06 Well, no, I don't disagree that it's a huge challenge. But it's there are more and more kids that are diagnosed that come through the doors at daycare centers, and they are their experience level is much higher than it was 10 years. Stacey Simms 44:19 Well, what happened with us was there was a family right before us with a little girl and the mom was a teacher and a nurse. It was crazy. So she had made a whole guide book for them and came in and trained a few people. And so when we brought Benny they knew more than we did I wanted him to sleep there. I kind of did no no. And and Rebecca who was the manager who really just became part of the family for a while. And one or two of the teachers, as you said they did more training. I sent them to one of the JDRF training days and they learned along with us they were absolutely amazing. Then that little girl moved just like three days after we came back from the hospital so they weren't even there. And then the other thing I remember, I should probably stay chronological but I'll skip ahead We had a planned trip with my friends, my college roommate with Beth and Dave, to Las Vegas in. Slade 45:06 But you know, back to the daycare thing, I think the key, the key to that is, and it's kind of the way we've always dealt with it is, our objective is when we put our son in the care of somebody else, particularly early on, our objective was to make them feel as comfortable and as confident as possible, that they that they could take care of them there or, you know, we didn't put pressure on them to say, you know, you were worried you're not going to be able to, or we were scared parents, we let them know that, you know, it's if you have to dial 911, you dial 911, it's okay, you do the best that you can with the tools that we're giving you and the tools that you have. And I think that that's, that's a hard hurdle for people to get over. But I think if you get over that, you get a lot more help. Right, and you get a lot more people who, when they're when your child is in their care that they feel confident, we all know that feeling confident, no matter what you're doing, helps you perform better. So we really worked hard at trying to instill confidence in the people that were at times across the years taking care of our son. Stacey Simms 46:16 I think we were also the beneficiaries in a weird way of less or no social media. You're not on Facebook a ton, and you're not in all these diabetes groups. But I think if if I had been when Benny was diagnosed, my outlook might be different. Because some of them have 1000s and 1000s of people in them and everybody's experience is different. And you know, it is on Facebook, you only see the best and the worst. And people post a lot of nightmare stories that other people assume are the norm, and they're not. And I think I would have been more frightened, I would have loved the support. I mean, we had nobody up here for the first couple years. We didn't know anybody. But I think that that that has added to I don't want to do a whole thing on social media here. But I think that has added to some of the fear was, Slade 47:01 I think that and because social media wasn't as prevalent as it isn't, it's the same thing, right? You believe half of what you hear and less than what you read, right? I mean, it's you have to make decisions based on your own experiences. And it's okay to view other experiences and see how they might, might influence what you're doing. But you can't, you can't say it happened to that person. So it's going to happen to me. Exactly. Stacey Simms 47:26 And I will say he was great. I mean, he had highs, he had lows, he was always safe and happy, which as you know, if you listen, that's my goal is not perfect, but safe and happy. And the one time he went to the hospital was Was he he just got his thumb caught in the door. You remember he did Slade 47:41 the same thing that other people do at daycare, they get hurt falling down, you know, somebody threw a block at his head, right? I mean, that's the same kind of stuff. And you Stacey Simms 47:51 needed stitches. That was the one thing. And I was so nervous, because that wasn't too long after diagnosis, maybe a couple months, and I'm still nervous, because my oh my gosh, how are we gonna manage diabetes? Fine. It Slade 48:01 was fine. It was easy. Stacey Simms 48:02 It was easy. So the next big thing that happened in terms of life goes on was we went to Las Vegas with my college roommate. And I called my mom because she was going to come watch the kids and my parents lived in Florida. And I said, you know, I don't know if we should do this, you know, should we stay? And life goes on. You have to go you have to go. She said, You know, this is not you know, I'll do it. I'll do it. So as we started talking about she said, but I can't give them a shot. I got it. And you know what? I think she would have if she had to she would have right? Yeah. But we were very fortunate one of the girls from daycare, who was as she was trained to be a nurse, right? She was nursing student, Kristen. She was so she came over. I met her she stayed here. But she came over and did all the insulin at the weekend. And you know and mom called us a ton we were in was the Aladdin was it? It was it was the end of the Aladdin right? Because they Slade 48:59 Yeah, it wasn't. Oh, yeah, it was yeah, they return it they were tearing Stacey Simms 49:03 down around us. And so I remember distinctly like taking a call from her getting in the elevator on the Aladdin and losing the call. And then she called me back. So when we when we mean it, but we had a great time. Slade 49:15 Was that before the show we went to what show the show when Dave Stacey Simms 49:19 No, that was that was months after the show was the following weekend. It's what you tell us. Okay, so when you tell I'll tell the story. So one week after diagnosis. We're so fortunate. My brother in law David Slate's brother says four older brothers. And David is closest in age to him. So David was staying us for like a month after Thanksgiving. It was great. He was in between jobs. And he's just so close to my kids. It was wonderful. Unfortunately for him, he was here for diagnosis. So we had tickets to spam a lot. Me and you that following weekend. So again, David's like go go I've got it. I mean, David knew just as much as we did at that point. Yeah. So we get three numbers into spam a lot. I mean to know if it was that lady of the Like, I don't know where that is, or maybe I made it up. And, you know, in the phone rings, so you go out to take the call and like 15 minutes later yeah, it wasn't because I saw three numbers I think you saw like, and I went out to see what was going on. And he thought, you know, when you think about how you dose a little kid, he was 27 pounds. He was 23 months old, and he got like little puffs of insulin. But we were using syringes, right? So he would get like a quarter of a unit or you tried to estimate a half a unit and I think he was supposed to get a half a unit and David gave him six units or something like that. Or two, you couldn't have taken two units. I mean, he had this tiny little dose and David thought he gave him four times as much right? So we couldn't figure it out. So we just said forget it. We went home. As I remember Slade 50:43 on our way home. We were driving home and he had it under we never stopped him. Did we? Yes, of course. We Stacey Simms 50:49 came home. Okay, we we didn't come home. I thought we went right to the NATs house. Okay, so he's but But what happened? Is we checked or he checked. Isn't that funny? I can't remember either. We're getting old honey. So he checked or we checked and his blood sugar never felt right. He was perfectly fine. He was like, I'll make it up. He was like 150 all night. I mean, never fell. So he couldn't have possibly either do injection? Or he never miscalculated, right? Or, or Benny snuck a pizza in the middle of the night that we didn't know about. And so we were on our way home, right. And a friend of ours had had a holiday party going on that night. We're like, I will just go there Slade 51:22 just fine. So the we left the show early, right. I mean, we're 20 minutes into the show. We laughed. We're driving home talking back and forth with David and realized he was fine. So we kept going went by the house and went to a friend's holiday party. Stacey Simms 51:35 We're terrible parents. No, we're not. I don't think we're gonna terrible parents either. That's really funny. Yeah, and that we never saw spam a lot. No, I still haven't seen it. Slade 51:48 I mean, I want to I don't know if I could bring Benny Stacey Simms 51:55 All right, um, I promise we won't go year by year, day by day through the 10 years. But just a couple of quick things about the Look at me. Like, are you sure? Slade 52:06 I don't have a good enough memory to do that, please. Stacey Simms 52:10 Benny, God has insulin pump. We talked about that with Dr. V. Right from the beginning. And he got his pump. We went to our educator to Lynette Right. And, and we said, I remember saying give me the one that's easiest for me to use, and will be the best for him. Because I was really scared of how complicated it was gonna be. And we wound up with the atom is 2020, which is what they had back then. And I showed it to Benny, and he threw it across the room. Got Slade 52:40 your hand and chucked it. Stacey Simms 52:44 Maybe this won't work out so well. But he was two and a half. You know, we kind of explained to him what the deal was. And you know, this will be a big shot every three days. But not all the shots in between that by this point. He didn't care. You could give him a shot. Slade 52:55 He would just stick his arm up like shot, he raised his arm you give me I put his arm down. He Stacey Simms 52:59 didn't care at all. At that point. He was so so good. And so used to it. But that night when he had the pump, because we had the sailing trial for a couple of days, he said, I said do you want it? I didn't know he was gonna sleep in. So I kind of said, Do you want me to take it off? And he said no mine. And that was it. He loved it. He's just he wouldn't give it up after that. So that was really good. And we had a little trouble with the very first inset we ever did. We had a capillary, there's a lot of blood member and then we weren't sure it was going to work. And we like geniuses, we decided we were going to go away to start the pump. So we went to my parents house where this was in the summer. So you I went to my parents house for a week, because when you start an insulin pump, and they probably still do this now you have to check every three hours around the clock for the first couple days to get the level, you know, close to right. I'll go with, I'll stay with my mom. My parents spent the summers in New York at that point. I'll spend the summers spend the week in New York. And then my mom can spot me with the kids. It'll be great. I'll sleep when I sleep. And you had a golf tournament with Bill in Vermont, in Vermont. And I said, Oh go I can do this. Go ahead. And you know, I'm fine. I'll be with my parents. So I remember thinking when we first had that bad inset, this isn't I'm never gonna get on a plane. This is not working. And I remember we changed it and he was, you know, we've checked in right before we got in the car to go to the airport. And luckily it was fine. So I was much calmer. We were crazy to do this Slade 54:20 as well. And I remember I was in Vermont and I don't know if I think I was supposed to pack up the diabetes supplies. Stacey Simms 54:29 I don't know. That guy was yes, you packed all the diabetes supplies and I for the record. Slade is fastidious, he is an excellent Packer. Usually what happens is I put out clothing and then you pack it. Yeah, I mean, he's really, I would trust him more than myself in terms of remembering things. So I'll give you that much credit. Yeah, well, you blew this one. Oh, I forgot to add Slade 54:51 the cartridges that you refill and then put back in the pump. And I'm in Vermont and you we're scrambling, we're on the phone, you're scrambling trying to figure out what to do. And Bill had a good friend whose son had type one. And he was on a pump. We had no idea if it was the same. But like, he calls them at like eight o'clock at night, we go to his house, he gives us a couple of cartridges. I mean, it was really, and we were ready to drive back to Manhattan, right? Or back to New York, to bring it to you. And you guys had figured out another way to Yeah, Stacey Simms 55:27 but it was really funny. Because again, before Facebook, yeah, I probably could have put out a message and said, Does anybody have this within 30 miles and somebody would have helped me out. So what happened was, we went to change the cartridge, and I'm all proud of myself, because I've got it all laid out, and I'm calm. And so we had a good start to the pump. We really, we didn't need a lot of adjusting for whatever reason the dosing worked out pretty easily pretty quickly. So when I went to change the cartridge, I was feeling maybe overconfident. So I had everything else spread out everything right. And I realized where the cartridges were the cartridges. So I called our endocrinology office, and I called our educator and the endocrinologist called back first and said, You need a luer lock needle, and what the heck and you can't get it at a pharmacy. So my dad is gone. I'm going to the hospital. And he goes to get the luer lock needle so he can say you can screw it on to the cartridge and I had insulin I had an insulin vial. So then Lynette our educator calls me back, she says, We're gonna MacGyver this thing. And she teaches me over the phone, how to, you know, open up the cartridge had to make sure that you have enough space in it and and then we just injected the insulin and it was a regular needle. So she was really helpful, and she was so happy to do it. She was fantastic. I also had called the Animus, and they couldn't do anything that night. But the next morning, they came to my mom's house in rural Westchester County, which if you're not familiar with Westchester County, there's like old she is less than I said rural Westchester County it is what is it? It's not like there are farms there. I mean, they're like Ralph, Lauren owns a farm. But what I mean is they're tiny roads, they're not well marked. I can't say that. It's Slade 57:11 like any other street it has. Your house has a number in his street name, I find it to be very confused. Like it was unmarked land and her whole western neighbor fought Stacey Simms 57:20 with machetes to get to my mother's. I was impressed that they came over the next morning, and they gave me different cartridges, different sam

On episode #167 of Kickoff Sessions, I sat down with Neil Patel, co-founder of NP Digital, Kissmetrics, Crazy Egg and more. He's recognised as one of the Top 10 Online Marketers by Forbes and is a New York Times Bestselling Author.We break down how entrepreneurs can harness AI for social media branding, SEO strategies, social media marketing, and content marketing for brand awareness and sales. We share our insights on how AI can be utilised to create innovative tools and games, generate effective backlinks, and develop creative campaigns for brands. Neil also gives us the blueprint to crafting a unique and contextual approach to SEO, where authority, trust, and experience are the tools to secure a spot on the first page of search engine results. If you enjoyed this pod, please leave a 5 star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple podcasts.⏺️ Voics: https://www.voics.co/

Neil Patel was always thinking about what he could do to become financially successful, but as a teenager without a college degree, he couldn't get a high-paying job. To solve this problem, Neil Patel created his first company, a job site called AdviceMonkey, at just 16 years old. Neil learned the vitality of SEO and online marketing, and since then, he has launched digital marketing agencies around the world to help businesses firsthand. In this episode, Neil will tell the story of how he became one of the world's most recognized marketing experts. He will break down his biggest digital marketing tips, from social media, to email marketing, to SEO, and he'll share his insight on marketing trends in 2023. Neil is a digital marketer, NYT bestselling author, entrepreneur, and investor. After founding CrazyEgg, Kissmetrics, and other multimillion-dollar companies, Neil now focuses on running his SEO Tool Ubersuggest, as well as his agency NP Digital, which specializes in paid campaigns, SEO, social media, and content marketing. He has worked with global brands like Amazon, NBC, GM, HP, and Viacom. In this episode, Hala and Neil will discuss:  - How Neil started his first company at 16 - Neil's Marketing Formula - Understanding upsells vs. downsells - Increasing customer lifetime value - How to be omnipresent on social media - The biggest SEO hacks for entrepreneurs - Valuable email marketing tactics - New podcast marketing trends - How to view and leverage AI - Neil's thoughts on the verification check - And other topics… Neil Patel is a digital marketer, NYT bestselling author, entrepreneur, and investor. In terms of accolades, Neil has received dozens over his 20+ years as a marketer. To name a few: Forbes says he is one of the top 10 marketers, he was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama, and The Wall Street Journal calls him a top influencer on the web!  After founding CrazyEgg, Kissmetrics, and other multimillion-dollar companies, Neil now focuses on running his SEO Tool Ubersuggest, as well as his agency NP Digital, which specializes in paid campaigns, SEO, social media, and content marketing. He has worked with global brands like Amazon, NBC, GM, HP, and Viacom. Resources Mentioned: Neil's Website: https://neilpatel.com/ Neil's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkpatel/ Neil's Twitter: https://twitter.com/neilpatel  Neil's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neilpatel/ Neil's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/neilkpatel/  Neil's Podcast Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips: https://marketingschool.io/ Neil's book Hustle: The Power to Charge Your Life with Money, Meaning, and Momentum https://www.amazon.com/Hustle-Power-Charge-Meaning-Momentum/dp/1623367166 Neil's company Ubersuggest: https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/ Code Canyon: codecanyon.net LinkedIn Secrets Masterclass, Have Job Security For Life: Use code ‘podcast' for 30% off at yapmedia.io/course. Sponsored By:  Brevo - Go to youngandprofiting.co/brevo and use the promo code "PROFITING" to save 50% on your first 3 months of the Starter & Business plan! Collective - Go to Collective.com to save on taxes this year Nom Nom - Go to trynom.com/YAP for 50% off on your two-week trial More About Young and Profiting Download Transcripts - youngandprofiting.com/episodes-new/ Get Sponsorship Deals - youngandprofiting.com/sponsorships Leave a Review - ratethispodcast.com/yap Watch Videos - youtube.com/c/YoungandProfiting Follow Hala Taha LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Instagram - instagram.com/yapwithhala/ TikTok - tiktok.com/@yapwithhala Twitter - twitter.com/yapwithhala Learn more about YAP Media Agency Services - yapmedia.io/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join my free weekly newsletter to get 1 free audience growth tip to scale your online business: ⁠⁠https://www.mattgray.xyz/newsletter⁠⁠ Join the Founder OS Course to build a proven system for audience growth in 2 hours here: ⁠⁠https://www.mattgray.xyz/courses⁠⁠  In this one-hour interview, I had the pleasure of having a great conversation with the legend, Neil Patel.  Neil Patel is a Founder and Best-selling Author. After founding CrazyEgg, Kissmetrics, and other multimillion dollar companies, today he works to grow Ubersuggest and my agency NP Digital. As a marketer he's also helped companies like Amazon, NBC, GM, HP and Viacom grow their revenue. The Wall Street Journal calls Neil a top influencer on the web. Forbes says he's one of the top 10 online marketers, and Entrepreneur Magazine says he created one of the 100 most brilliant companies in the world. Neil was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama and one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 35 by the United Nations. We discuss how to 10x your business, the biggest mistakes founders are making, why content creation is so important and other key strategies that will help you build massive companies. Make sure to visit Neil's website for more: https://neilpatel.com/ If you're interested in working together 1:1 with me, join here: ⁠⁠https://www.mattgray.xyz/coaching⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/matt_gray_⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠https://instagram.com/matthgray⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/@realmattgray  ⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgray1

In this episode we talk about execution, how to break down big goals into actionable steps, how and why Neil hired a “mama” for himself, the “ten minute rule” that could help you achieve big productivity gains and how to optimize your life to free up huge amounts of time with entrepreneur Neil Patel.Neil is the co-founder of Crazy Egg, Hello Bar and KISSmetrics. The Wall Street Journal calls him a top influencer on the web, Forbes says he is one of the top 10 online marketers, and Entrepreneur Magazine says he created one of the 100 most brilliant companies in the world. He was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama and one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 35 by the United Nations. Neil has also been awarded Congressional Recognition from the United States House of Representatives.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What's great about Neil Patel, aside from his valuable advice, is his direct, to-the-point answers to questions that all of us have, which is why this episode is very valuable. In this episode of the Super Entrepreneurs Podcast, we sit down with digital marketing expert Neil Patel to explore his strategies for success in the online world. From SEO tips to content marketing hacks, Neil shares his secrets for boosting your business and taking your marketing to the next level. About Neil Patel: As far as digital marketing goes, Neil Patel is on top of the game. He is a New York Times bestselling author, entrepreneur, and digital marketing expert. He has helped companies like Amazon, NBC, HP, and Viacom grow their revenue and traffic, and is the co-founder of Crazy Egg, Hello Bar, and KISSmetrics. Neil is also a prolific blogger and podcaster, sharing his insights on marketing, entrepreneurship, and personal growth with his followers around the world. How is Neil Patel SUPER? Neil Patel is widely regarded as one of the foremost experts in the digital marketing industry. He says that his super power is his passion, but we all know that he's more like Iron man; he creates tools like Ubersuggest that make him super.  With over 20 years of experience, he has a proven track record of helping businesses of all sizes succeed in the online world. His insights on topics like SEO, content marketing, and social media have been featured in major publications like Forbes, and he is a sought-after speaker and consultant. Shahid Durrani's Key Insight: In this episode, our host Shahid Durrani had the pleasure of sitting down with Neil Patel to discuss his journey to becoming one of the most respected names in digital marketing. Shahid Durrani also gained some valuable insight into how he can grow his businesses online from this episode with Neil Patel, especially when it comes to SEO best practices.   Chapter Stamps: 00:00 01:42 Introduction 01:42 03:50 The power of organic traffic and why SEO matters 03:50 06:58 How to do digital marketing correctly (be unique, fresh, and diverse) 06:59 09:20 “The riches is not in the niches” (Something Shahid Durrani relates to a lot) 09:20 12:10 Ubersuggest is a SUPER TOOL 12:10 14:26 Neil Patel's simple morning routine and success story 14:27 17:25 Creating ranking content is all about mindset and Facebook has a lot of potential for coaches 17:25 18:20 Neil's Super Power: Passion 18:20 20:30 How to learn from failures? 20:30 21:25 Outro   Pullout Quotes:   “The riches is not in the niches”   “You can also promote with paid ads too, there's nothing wrong with that, but you can do most of it through organic (traffic) and save the money.”   “In the United States, each month there's an overwhelming amount of content. If you're not saying anything unique, don't waste your time. So, focus on a unique perspective, sharing your experience, sharing things that you may have that others have not read or seen before. In essence, anything new. The second thing I do is create content on all platforms. So, I'll create podcasting content, video content, short-form videos, whether YouTube shorts or Instagram reels.”     Socials:   Contact Neil Patel: https://neilpatel.com/contact/ Ubersuggest: https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl-Zrl0QhF66lu1aGXaTbfw LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkpatel/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neilpatel/?hl=en Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/neilkpatel/?_rdc=1&_rdr

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Jenn Steele recently became the CEO of Kissmetrics, an advanced product and marketing analytics platform. She talks about marketing and product analytics, using data, and how other marketers can become CEO themselves. Marketing and product analytics. Jenn spent tens of thousands of dollars when she didn't have to. She talks about why. How marketing and product analytics can work together. CMO to CEO transition. Jenn shares her background working at HubSpot, with private equity firms, MIT, and a bunch of other places.  Kissmetrics as a Google Analytics 4 alternative. Jenn talks about how they're adapting their go to market strategy to capitalize on changes to Google Analytics (GA4, specifically). Rebuilding sales and marketing from scratch. Without having any players in sales or marketing seats, Jenn has been recreating those those, recreating processes, and hiring specialists to take these things off her plate. First 90 days as CEO. She walks us through the myriad of tasks on her plate as a new CEO, some of which are not her area of expertise. Like taxes. And all the ways she wants to fire herself. That's not all. We also reminisce about T-shaped marketers. How companies like Carvana use Kissmetrics. And a big risk of her marketing background: Spending too much time on marketing. Jenn Steele: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennsteele/Kissmetrics: https://www.kissmetrics.io/ 

Jeanne's guest, Jenn Steele, CEO of Kissmetrics, has come up through the ranks and been at every level at companies. As a new CEO, she remembers being the marketing manager and wrangling the idea puppies. She recalls that these CEOs with free-flowing ideas were a lot of fun, but without a bit of training, the Idea Puppies would be set loose to try to bring each idea to reality without thinking it through. Resources can be wasted without some ground rules as to who initiates the next push since it will affect profitability and focus. She has some ideas on how to keep her company engaged and caught up on all initiatives. Her big wins and Wicked Loving shout-outs go to her previous company since she's only been at Kissmetrics for a week as of this episode. Based on her track record of success, we can't wait to check back with her in a few months to hear the highlights at Kissmetrics.   About Jenn Steele: She says, "I like big data and I cannot lie..." One of her business school professors described her as "Often unexpected; never boring." She loves taking products to market, growing people and companies, and telling stories (both with and without data).

Today we have another episode of Better Done Than Perfect. Listen in as we talk with Julian Juenemann, founder of MeasureSchool and a Google Analytics expert. You'll learn how Google Analytics has evolved over the years, the benefits of organizing your data, tips when using Google's entire suite of data tools, and more.Please head over to the episode page for the detailed recap and key takeaways.Show notesMeasureSchool — Julian's membership companyMixpanel, Kissmetrics, Amplitude — popular analytics toolsGA4 — the new version of Google AnalyticsGoogle Tag Manager, Google Data Studio, Google Search Console — adjacent Google data productsMeasure Masters — Julian's MeasureSchool membership programSubscribe to the MeasureSchool YouTube ChannelFollow Julian on TwitterFollow MeasureSchool on TwitterSponsorThis show is brought to you by Userlist — an email automation platform for SaaS companies. It matches the complexity of your customer data, including many-to-many relationships between users and companies. Book your demo call today at userlist.com.Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more here.Leave a ReviewReviews are hugely important because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes. Here's how.

How do we make the most of our data in Google Analytics? It's free and extremely powerful, but also intimidating. In this episode, we talk to Julian Juenemann, founder of MeasureSchool and a Google Analytics expert. You'll learn how Google Analytics has evolved over the years, the benefits of organizing your data, tips when using Google's entire suite of data tools, and more.Visit our website for the detailed episode recap with key learnings.MeasureSchool — Julian's membership companyMixpanel, Kissmetrics, Amplitude — popular analytics toolsGA4 — the new version of Google AnalyticsGoogle Tag Manager, Google Data Studio, Google Search Console — adjacent Google data productsMeasure Masters — Julian's MeasureSchool membership programSubscribe to the MeasureSchool YouTube ChannelFollow Julian on TwitterFollow MeasureSchool on TwitterThanks for listening! If you found the episode useful, please spread the word about the show on Twitter mentioning @userlist, or leave us a review on iTunes.SponsorThis show is brought to you by Userlist — an email automation platform for SaaS companies. It matches the complexity of your customer data, including many-to-many relationships between users and companies. Book your demo call today at userlist.com.

Jon talks with Dan McGaw, CEO of McGaw.io, analytics, and marketing technology consultancy. Using a data-driven approach, he will build and oversee your new marketing program so that it creates sustainable growth. Dan, one of the original growth hackers, currently serves as a part-time CMO at multiple companies and comes with years of experience you can't find anywhere else. He knows what needs to be done to grow your business and how to manage a team to get it done quickly. Dan McGaw is an award-winning entrepreneur and speaker. He is also the Founder and CEO of McGaw.io, analytics, and marketing technology consultancy. Coined as one of the original growth hackers, he has led the teams at Kissmetrics.com, CodeSchool.com, UTM.io, and more. In 2015, Dan was selected to be a United States Ambassador of Entrepreneurship by the United States Department of State, where he had the privilege to advise the government, universities, and private corporations on how to build entrepreneur ecosystems. Connect with Jon Dwoskin: Twitter: @jdwoskin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.dwoskin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejondwoskinexperience/ Website: https://jondwoskin.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jondwoskin/ Email: jon@jondwoskin.com Get Jon's Book: The Think Big Movement: Grow your business big. Very Big!   Connect with Dan McGaw: Website: https://mcgaw.io/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mcgawio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/McGaw.io LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mcgaw-io

“Most businesses…they haven't finished their site.” Since 2005, Sean Work has been the go-to internet marketing consultant for startups, universities and many other businesses. Additionally, as Marketing Director, Sean grew the Kissmetrics blog (its business-to-business publication) to over 1 million readers a month. Sean's extensive knowledge of search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, copywriting, site architecture, and company building, makes him an invaluable adviser for any new venture or existing business looking to increase its numbers. Questions and topics we covered included: What does it take to get 1 million dedicated blog readers a month? The dangers marketers face by becoming the “yes person” to the CEO. What are the essential elements of a successful website? What are some noteworthy challenges that Sean's faced while working at Crazy Egg? His thoughts on how to stand out during your job search. Do blogs still work in 2022? What are some common misconceptions when it comes to keyword analysis? His process for identifying opportune keywords. How he aligns opportune keywords with content ideas. And more! You can say hello to Sean via his Twitter - https://twitter.com/seanvwork --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/kennysoto/message

Too many mid-to-large businesses still handle marketing like small business. If that's you, it's restricting your growth. The technology is there to help, but few businesses devote the bandwidth and expertise to leveraging it to their full potential. It takes intentionality and a strong knowledge of industry tools to implement it correctly. Enter our guest today: Dan McGaw of McGaw.io. Dan is a specialist in helping mid-market and large enterprises integrate and take advantage of all the marketing technologies available today. There are software and cloud-based applications that help engage your clients more deeply, have better relationships with them by increasing contact with them, and do it in a way that adds value to clients. Dan is an award-winning entrepreneur and speaker with 20+ years of experience in marketing technology and analytics. Dan was formerly the head of marketing at Kissmetrics and was head of growth at CodeSchool.com which was acquired by Pluralsight. Coined as one of the original growth hackers, and one of the godfathers of marketing technology, he has helped thousands of companies over his career. After listening to today's episode, check out Dan's book, Build Cool Sh*t, if you would like to improve your marketing efforts and create a powerful, flexible marketing technology stack.

Ep #108 - This week on the podcast, I'm joined by Dan McGaw, an award winning-speaker and entrepreneur. Dan is the founder of several companies including McGaw.io, UTM.io, and The National Association of Marketing Technology. He presently serves as CEO to McGaw.io, an analytics and marketing technology consultancy. Deemed one of the original "growth hackers," Dan has led teams for KissMetrics.com, CodeSchool.com, UTM.io, and more on his entrepreneurial journey. In 2015, Dan was selected to be a United States Ambassador of Entrepreneurship by the United States Department of State, where he had the privilege of advising government, universities, and private corporations on how to build entrepreneur ecosystems. Learn More About Dan McGaw, McGaw.io, & UTM.io: Visit the McGaw.io website: https://mcgaw.io/ Visit the UTM.io website: https://web.utm.io/ Follow Dan McGaw on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmcgaw/ Also, please remember to subscribe, rate, and leave a written review for the show if you find value in it. Your reviews help this show to reach a wider audience and I appreciate everyone that has been leaving them. FOLLOW CHARLES GAUDET ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Follow Charles Gaudet on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/charlesgaudet Follow Charles Gaudet on Facebook: https://facebook.com/charlesgaudet Follow Charles Gaudet on Twitter: https://twitter.com/charlesgaudet   VISIT THE PREDICTABLE PROFITS WEBSITE: https://PredictableProfits.com

Starting a business is easy.  Scaling it is where things get a bit more challenging.  70% of start ups fail within two to five years of launching.  Not encouraging numbers.  In today's competitive market, even establish businesses are facing new and unanticipated market challenges.Still, we are firmly in the Age of the Entrepreneur, with solopreneurs launching new micro businesses, creators developing new products and services, and mega corporations being told to “be more entrepreneurial” in their thinking.In this new and often chaotic environment, what are current best practices?  What do those who succeed have in common?  What should we at least be considering as we navigate a market where it seems that none of the old rules still apply?To get a better idea of what successful startups do right, I reached out to a man who's mentored 100's of startups and whose career has been deep in the fast growing MarTech (marketing technology) sector. Dan McGaw, is CEO of McGaw.io, an analytics and marketing technology consultancy and SaaS platform, UTM.io.  Dan previously was Head of Marketing at Kissmetrics and  worked as a CMO consultant for a number of high-growth companies, implementing tools, offering support, and analyzing data.  He was also selected to be a United States Ambassador of Entrepreneurship by the United States Department of State.In this episode of A Seat at The Table, Dan talks about: Why ‘traction' can be more important initially than sales or profits.The critical, but often overlooked, role that corporate culture plays in building a successful business.Why data is important - but so is human instinct - in making the right decisions.What the ideal MarTech stack looks like today.USEFUL LINKSLearn more about SPINEXPO:  https://www.spinexpo.comConnect with Dan McGaw: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmcgaw/Dan's websites:  mcgaw.io  and utm.ioGet Dan's FREE ebook:  text +1-415-915-9011A Seat at The Table website:  https://seat.fmContact us at A Seat at The Table:  https://seat.fm/contact-us/

This episode of The Jake Dunlap Show features Neil Patel, Co-Founder of Neil Patel Digital. Before Neil became the behemoth of marketing he is today, he had humble beginnings in La Palma, a small city in Orange County CA. From very early on, he realized that having your own business is what generates wealth.He was in his teens when his own entrepreneurial endeavors would kick in, starting with selling burnt CDs, getting licensed as an auto parts dealer, and mixing it up with other jobs like working in a theme park and selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door.At 15, he started his first company, Advice Monkey, and after getting burned with no results, decided to pursue college classes while still in high school. Neil embraced social media marketing early in its inception and he made a name for himself leveraging all the available sites as they were getting popular. Creating his blog was Neil's outlet to simply write and not worry about his other businesses like Quick Sprout. Incidentally, it would be his personal brand that would take off and grow exponentially even if it was not in Neil's intention to do so. Neil's golden nuggets of advice include spending a lot of money hiring rock stars who know exactly what they are doing and knowing your place in the company. For instance, Neil had always known that operations was his weak side so he never aspired to be the CEO of his own companies.Listen to the full podcast on Neil's uncommon entrepreneurial drive and unconventional priorities as a business owner to achieve success and what this truly means for him.QUOTES:16:08 "My grades kept getting worse and worse as I started making more money, because I was like, screw this. I'm just going to go make money."24:18 "My biggest takeaway is, in business, no matter how hard you work, if you don't ride the trends that people are looking for, you don't have some luck on your side, a lot of times things don't work out. Doesn't matter how hard you try."25:19 "If you want to do really well, it's not about how talented you are. It's about how talented your team is. And you got to hire rock stars. That's the biggest lesson I probably learned in my career."36:58 "I'm okay being a father. I'm okay not going to office. I'm okay not being as successful because I get to see my kids grow up. I figured out what makes me happy in life and that's what I do."38:58 "What's changed my life is I avoid making the same mistakes over and over again. You learn from it. You still make mistakes but you're making new ones and you learn from it."More About NeilNeil was born into a middle class family and he quickly noticed how his entrepreneurial uncles seemed to have a better life than his own family. This would drive him to pursue financial success early on even as his peers were focused on their social lives rather than creating wealth.He explored many endeavors including selling burnt CDs, selling hacked satellite TV cards, and reselling car parts. Neil also performed many different jobs just to make ends meet including working as a custodian and door-to-door salesman.His first company would manifest by the early age of 15 and he learned from many, many mistakes in trying to grow Advice Monkey. The dismal results from his outsourced marketing taught him that he might as well learn this skill on his own. It is through marketing that he would meet his larger clients and he really started to enjoy income which already exceeded both his parents' monthly income. To satisfy his parent's desires and to learn even more skills, Neil decided to take early college lessons through night school at Cypress Community College.Neil would found Crazy Egg soon after which would garner the interest of Fortune 1,000 companies. He and his partner ultimately failed to sell it at their goal of $10 million and so they persevered to make their company profitable. By the time he was in the middle of his college life, he would be named one of the top influencers on the web by The Wall Street Journal. Also during this time he would start his first blog, ProNet Advertising. It would be named by Search Engine Journal as the Best Social Media Blog and ranked in Technorati's Top 100    In 2007, Neil launched Quick Sprout blog and a year after that launched Kissmetrics. In 2011, they encountered one of their biggest hurdles which was a data privacy act violation lawsuit. The legal battles would continue for a year before Neil and his company would be cleared of charges.Neil would be recognized by even more organizations for his talents as a marketer as the years roll by. For instance, Forbes would name Neil as one of the top 10 marketing experts of the year in 2014 and President Obama would recognize him as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 30 in 2015.Nowadays, Neil is focused on leading his company Neil Patel Digital but leaves the operations work to his rock star team. For Neil, he would rather focus on the areas he is good at and actually enjoys and leaves the expertise of operations to others. This strategy is what he recognizes as the key to the stellar growth that they have thus far achieved.Find out more about Neil and connect with him in the following links:LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkpatel/Website - https://neilpatel.com/Learn more about Jake Dunlap and Skaled by visiting the links below:Jake Dunlap:Personal Site - http://jakedunlap.com/LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakedunlap/Twitter - https://twitter.com/JakeTDunlapInstagram - http://instagram.com/jake_dunlap_Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JakeTDunlap/Skaled:Website - https://skaled.com/LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/skaledYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsw_03rSlbGQkeLGMGiDf4Q

How can we make the integration process smooth for different email automation platforms? In this episode, we talk to Colin Nederkoorn, founder of Customer.io. You'll learn about the common mistakes companies make when setting up their email tools, how to best handle certain types of data, tips for providing “done for you” services, and more.Visit our website for the detailed episode recap with key learnings.Customer.io — Colin's company, a customer engagement platformMixpanel, Kissmetrics — popular product analytics toolsKlaviyo — an email automation platform for ShopifySegment — a customer data platformRudderStack — a data integration tool competing with SegmentSegment's Data Collection Best Practices — a resource for developing your data tracking planFollow Colin on TwitterColin's personal websiteThanks for listening! If you found the episode useful, please spread the word about the show on Twitter mentioning @userlist, or leave us a review on iTunes.SponsorThis show is brought to you by Userlist — the best tool for sending onboarding emails and segmenting your SaaS users. To follow the best practices, download our free printable email planning worksheets at userlist.com/worksheets.

Wayne Mullins is a passionate entrepreneur committed to creating remarkable experiences, and building a team at Ugly Mug Marketing that produces extraordinary results for their clients. Wayne has been called “the guru's guru,” as he is regularly called upon for advice from industry-leading CEOs, New York Times Best Selling Authors, and Silicon Valley startups. He loves helping entrepreneurs challenge their assumptions, create value from places they've never looked, and reach goals they never believed possible. He has personally worked with clients in 91 different industries, from 34 states, and 11 countries. Ugly Mug Marketing, which Wayne founded 10 years ago, has won the praises of some of the leading influencers in the business world, such as Neil Patel (Founder of QuickSprout & Kissmetrics), Chris Voss (New York Times Best Selling Author of Never Split the Difference), and Ari Weinzweig (Co-Founder of Zingerman's Community of Businesses). Wayne's work directly influences more than a quarter-million entrepreneurs annually through his blog, books, and training programs. Husband and father of 4 and currently living in Pineville, LA. If you like this podcast, consider supporting the effort. Every little bit helps. Thanks.

Marketing automation has made marketers' lives a whole lot easier. Regardless of the size of your business, you can use automation tools to automate a plethora of marketing activities — from email marketing to social media management to internal tasks — to drive more leads and revenue for your business. In this episode, I'm joined by Dan McGaw, founder and CEO of McGaw.io, an analytics and marketing technology consultancy, and UTM.io, a Google Analytics URL Builder. Coined as one of the original growth hackers, Dan previously served as Head of Marketing at Kissmetrics and VP of Growth at CodeSchool. Dan's all about simple yet powerful marketing strategies. He believes that although MarTech concepts like automation, personalization, and multi-touch attribution can seem overwhelming and even intimidating, they are actually pretty accessible for businesses of all sizes. Our conversation in this episode will revolve around marketing automation and how it can help you save time and make you money. If you've ever had questions about marketing automation or the kind of automation tools you should include in your marketing stack, this is the episode for you. -=-=-=-=- Tools and resources discussed in the episode: Autopilot - https://autopilotapp.com/ Mailchimp - https://mailchimp.com/ Hotjar - https://www.hotjar.com/ Freshworks CRM - https://www.freshworks.com/crm/lp/sales-crm-software/ Agile CRM - https://www.agilecrm.com/ ConvertKit - https://99signals.com/go/convertkit Dan McGaw's book: Build Cool Sh*t (Get a free copy here: https://mcgaw.io/build-cool-shit-book/) Follow Dan McGaw on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmcgaw/ -=-=-=-=- BONUS RESOURCES + FREE DOWNLOADS If you're a fan of the podcast, here are some FREE online marketing resources from my blog, 99signals, to help you level up your marketing skills: The Ultimate Guide to Link Building (https://resources.99signals.com/link-building-ebook) - Learn 25 powerful strategies to build high quality backlinks, improve search engine rankings, and drive targeted traffic to your site. Top-rated articles at 99signals (https://www.99signals.com/best/) - This page contains a list of all the top-rated articles on my blog. It's a great place to get started if you're visiting 99signals for the first time. -=-=-=-=- Visit https://www.99signals.com for more insights on SEO, blogging, and marketing. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/sandeep-mallya/message

My guest for this episode is, Dan McGaw, CEO & Founder @ McGaw.io. Dan is an award-winning entrepreneur and speaker. Coined as one of the original growth hackers, he has led the teams at Kissmetrics.com and CodeSchool.com. In 2015, Dan was selected to be a United States Ambassador of Entrepreneurship by the United State State Department, where he had the privilege to advise universities, governments and private corporations on how to build entrepreneur ecosystems.https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmcgaw/ Free book - https://mcgaw.io/build-cool-shit-book/#gs.8rib4p ------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bulletproof your business so that you can…∙ Spend less time working in the business and more time working on the business.∙ Scale your business to create a lasting legacy.∙ Get your business investment ready.∙ Grow it in a way that is robust & scalable.∙ Get your business to a place where you can pass it on to someone else.Learn more - https://www.ie.sandler.com/we-serve/owners-presidents-ceos Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/scaling-your-business-wrian-lanigan. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In episode 82, host Eric Dickmann interviews Brad Smith. Brad is a content marketer and CEO of a SaaS company called Wordable. He runs two successful agencies in the content production and digital PR industry. As a Business Insider featured copywriter, Smith is on a mission to slay awful content one blog at a time. His content has been highlighted by The New York Times, Business Insider, The Next Web, MarTech Today, Marketing Land, Moz, Shopify, Unbounce, HubSpot, Search Engine Journal, Kissmetrics, Crazy Egg, BounceX, and hundreds more.Through his agency work, Brad Smith has helped companies such as Monday.com, AdEspresso, Kinsta, Chargify, Freshworks, PandaDoc, HotJar, and dozens more of SERP-topping SaaS & affiliate brands, dominate their page one positions through content and backlink profiles. Now, Brad wants to share his experience with others on how he ranked on top SaaS sites around the world.For show notes and a  list of resources mentioned in this episode, please visit:https://fiveechelon.com/how-to-build-effective-b2b-content-marketing-strategy-s6e1/A fractional CMO can help build out a comprehensive marketing strategy and execute targeted campaigns designed to increase awareness and generate demand for your business...without the expense of a full-time hire. The Five Echelon Group - Fractional CMO and strategic marketing advisory services designed for SMBs looking to grow. Learn more at: https://fiveechelon.com

Having coined the nickname “the guru's guru,” Wayne Mullins exemplifies professional entrepreneurship to its highest level. Mullins founded the company, Ugly Mug Marketing in 2009. Through his innate hardwork and perseverance, Ugly Mug Marketing has become a top company, earning praise from leading business influencers such as Neil Patel (Founder of QuickSprout & Kissmetrics) and Chris Voss (New York Times Best Selling Author of Never Split the Difference).Wayne offers top-level marketing strategy for successful and driven entrepreneurs looking to challenge themselves and bring their abilities to the next level. Through blogs, books, and training programs, Mullins' work has been able to reach and directly impact a quarter of a million entrepreneurs. You can reach Wayne at:Website: https://www.uglymugmarketing.com/******************************************************************************************************If you'd like to talk to Terry McDougall about coaching or being a guest on Marketing Mambo, here's how you can reach her:https://www.terrybmcdougall.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/terrybmcdougallTerry@Terrybmcdougall.comHer book Winning the Game of Work: Career Happiness and Success on Your Own Terms is available at Amazon. 

In episode 78, host Eric Dickmann interviews Dan McGaw. Dan is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, speaker, marketing specialist, growth hacker, and Founder and CEO of McGaw.io, an analytics and marketing technology consultancy firm. He has led the teams at Kissmetrics.com and CodeSchool.com, and served as CMO of Effin Amazing, an analytics and marketing consultancy.In 2015, Dan was selected to be a United States Ambassador of Entrepreneurship by the United States State Department, where he had the privilege to advise universities, governments, and private corporations on how to build entrepreneur ecosystems. McGaw authored his latest book- Build Cool Sh*t: A Blueprint to Creating a Marketing Technology Stack. His book aims to help your business survive the so-called- Stackapocalyspe,  and improve your marketing efforts by making use of the right marketing tools.  For show notes and a  list of resources mentioned in this episode, please visit: https://fiveechelon.com/using-analytics-business-intelligence-grow-businesss-s5e12/A fractional CMO can help build out a comprehensive marketing strategy and execute targeted campaigns designed to increase awareness and generate demand for your business...without the expense of a full-time hire. The Five Echelon Group - Fractional CMO and strategic marketing advisory services designed for SMBs looking to grow. Learn more at: https://fiveechelon.com

Gavin Bell is the owner of Yatter, a lead generation agency that specialises in Facebook advertising and conversion rate optimisation. He currently manages $3m in advertising spend per year. His work has been featured on the likes of Virgin.com, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur on Fire, KissMetrics, BBC and Social Media Examiner.https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrgavinbell/ https://mrgavinbell.com/Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/scaling-your-business-wrian-lanigan. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Anna Crowe is an SEO expert and Assistant Editor at Search Engine Journal. She's also Head of Content and SEO at Leadfeeder and has worked with brands including Dollar Thrifty Rental, Marriott, Kissmetrics and Moz. We cover how to choose keywords, Google's EAT framework (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust), search volume, link building (good and bad!), URL's, page structure, canonical tags and schemas. We also discussed the regular algorithm changes and Anna suggested following https://twitter.com/JohnMu (John Mueller) and https://twitter.com/dannysullivan (Danny Sullivan) on Twitter who both work for Google and provide semi-official advice on changes.

Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Hiten Shah. Hiten is co-founder & CEO of FYI and co-owner of Crazy Egg. Previously, he was the co-founder of KISSmetrics. He is also an investor and advisor to more than 100 companies. In this episode;1-) Setting up values early on2-) The ability to manage other people3-) Accountability, alignment, and communication4-) Handling disagreementsFounder's FAQ is a book for founders and you can pre-order through the website. You can also reach us through @foundersfaq on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

We are hosting Lars Lofgren, CEO of Quick Sprout, to answer listener questions about SaaS, growth, and more. What is a good content marketing routine for a solo startup founder?Considering aspects such as: publish on own site vs guest writing for popular publications in the niche, ratio of educational/promotional flavour, or any other tips that come to mind- Kasra from FeedbackOnSite.co How much time does it usually take to start ranking for keywords you target? How do you ensure that eventually happens? - Tony w/ Cloud Forecast MicroConf Connect ➡️ http://microconfconnect.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/MicroConf E-mail ➡️ support@microconf.com MicroConf 2020 Headline Partners Stripe https://stripe.com Twitter ➡️ https://twitter.com/Stripe Hey https://hey.com @heyhey Automatically Generated Transcript: We're live. Welcome to today's episode of MicroComp on air as always. I am your host, Rob walling. As every Wednesday at 1:00 PM, Eastern 10:00 AM Pacific, we live stream for about 30 minutes and we cover topics related to building and growing ambitious SAS startups that bring us freedom and purpose and allow us to value and maintain healthy relationships. We believe that showing up every day and shipping that next feature, next piece of marketing copy or closing your next sale is a way to build a sustainable company. So thanks again for joining me today. It's been a couple of weeks last week was Thanksgiving in the U S. And so we, I gave producer Zander the day off. And of course, it doesn't make sense for me to get on here and try to do it without the expert to lineage of, of producers, Andrew and his production. So tryptofan attic. I think it's, to crypto fanatic, do we have a typo in my lower third for those listening on the podcast? Welcome every Thursday morning, we air these episodes on, the MicroComp podcast. You can head to microcuff podcast.com or search for microcuff in any pod catcher. And you can. Here are these here? These, these episodes producers, Andrew says, Tiffin is the chemical in Turkey makes you sleepy. That's right. So I'm a tryptofan addict because things and all that. thanks. Thanks for that. Producer Zander got a great show too. I'm super excited to bring on a first time guest to MicroComp on air, but not a first time guest to the microcosm world. Mr. Lars Lofgren is a many time MicroComp speaker. He's also a tiny seed mentor and all around good guy. He is the CEO of QuickSprout, which you can check out@quicksprout.com. He's a former director of growth at, I will teach you to be rich, where he worked with Ramit Sethi, and he ran growth for Kissmetrics and Lara's specialty is, has been content marketing and SEO for years and years. And he's one of the OJI. Content SEO people that I heard about back in the day, if you recall, Kissmetrics blog was the leading blog. It was the example everyone looked to in our space in terms of a blog that was driving a lot of traffic, a lot of engagement. And just something that we, I think a lot of us tried to model our own content strategies. That, and Laura's was the, essentially the man behind that, that effort. And so with that, I'm going to welcome mr. Lars Lofgren to the show. How's it going, sir? Hey, Rob, it's good to be here. Yeah, thanks, man. Good to chat with you again, Lars and I have known each other for years. I don't know. What do we think we met 2012, 2013, something like that? Yeah. One of the really or micro cops in

Last year for Christmas my wife bought me the reMarkable. It's marketed as the next generation in paper tablet (kinda like an iPad).  I'm an avid journal user and go through heaps of notebooks every year and I love gadgets so it only made sense that I would love this gift. The packaging was beautiful and visually it looked and felt spectacular (definitely passed the Apple test) but it's usability was a NIGHTMARE.  I lasted less than a week before I put it back in the box never to be used again. Here's the lesson…beauty is important but it must never come at the expense of function. = I see this all the time with health practitioners websites.  They look like they've been designed by an artist.  Stunning pictures, great colours but they totally fail the usability test. If I was given 5 seconds to look at most practitioners websites I wouldn't be able to tell who they were and how they could help me, let alone what their phone number is or how I could make an appointment. This week on the podcast my guest and I are going to solve that problem for you. Wayne Mullins is the founder of Ugly Mug Marketing (interesting name that we'll explain in the show, he's actually a handsome fella!).   Wayne helps peeps like us get better results through marketing, branding and web site design. Here's what we cover The 3 c's of design…contrast, competition and content. (Most website designers completely ignore one of these!) You'll learn the critical 5 components that all successful websites have in common Plus you'll find out how to see if your website passes the 3 second rule. Wayne is the real deal and has won praise from of some of the leading influencers in the business world, such as, Chris Voss (New York Times Best Selling Author of Never Split the Difference), Neil Patel (Founder of QuickSprout & Kissmetrics), and Ari Weinzweig (Co-Founder of Zingerman's) Enjoy the show Thanks for all you do, keep saving lives. Angus Links Email: wayne@uglymugmarketing.com Website www.uglymugmarketing.com Phone:  318-290-3430 Facebook: uglymugmarketing Instagram : uglymugmarketing Bio Wayne Mullins is the founder and CEO of Ugly Mug Marketing. Over the past 20 years, he has scaled multiple companies and helped hundreds entrepreneurs do the same with their companies.. Ugly Mug Marketing has won the praises of some of the leading influencers in the business world, such as, Chris Voss (New York Times Best Selling Author of Never Split the Difference), Neil Patel (Founder of QuickSprout & Kissmetrics), and Ari Weinzweig (Co-Founder of Zingerman's). Wayne's work directly influences more than one hundred thousand entrepreneurs annually through his blog, books, and training programs. Wayne has personally worked with clients in over 100 industries - from every corner of the globe. And through his books and training programs, Wayne directly influences more than quarter million entrepreneurs each year. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's guest is a true mogul when it comes to digital marketing. Frankly, I was surprised to steal some time from his schedule to get him on the podcast. He is a New York Times Bestselling author, and The Wall Street Journal calls him a top influencer on the web. Forbes says he is one of the world's top 10 marketers, and Entrepreneur Magazine says he created one of the 100 most brilliant companies. He was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama and a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 35 by the United Nations. He's helped Amazon, Microsoft, Airbnb, Google, Thomson Reuters, Viacom, NBC, Intuit, Zappos, American Greetings, General Motors, and SalesForce grow through marketing. His marketing blog generates over 4 million visitors per month and his Marketing School podcast generates over 1 million listens per month, while his social media accounts combined boast over 2 million combined followers and subs. He is the co-founder of KISSmetrics, Crazy Egg, and Hello Bar, as well as the founder of Quick Sprout, where he helps businesses drive more traffic and make more sales online. He consults, invests, blogs and speaks all over the world; in short, he knows what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur. My guest today is super start digital marketer Neil Patel. On this very special episode Neil breaks down all the nuances of SEO, explains how there is no secret sauce to success and reveals his next venture launching in 2021 to compete with email giant Mailchimp. Sponsor Before I jump into this episode, I wanted to take a second to thank my sponsors at Bean Bundle, Canada's newest coffee subscription. Before I geared up for this interview I used my french press using beans they sent me from one of the dopest roasters from across the country. Bean Bundle makes it so easy for people like me who drink tonnes of coffee every single day but love to try beans from different roasters. The process is pretty simple...you just visit beanbundle.com , choose how much coffee you want on a monthly basis, medium or dark roast and they ship you different beans from the latest roasters on a monthly basis. Best part is if you live in Canada they ship to you absolutely free and if you sign up using the code BUNDLE10 you'll save 10% your subscription. Now pour yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy this week's episode.

Some entrepreneurs break into SaaS fairly early in life and make a real impact in the community. One of such inspiring founders is today's guest, Adii Pienaar, the founder of WooCommerce and CM Commerce (previously Conversio). In this episode, you'll hear about Adii's successes  and failures in user onboarding, as well as his views on email marketing, task simplification, concierge onboarding, success metrics, segmentation, and much more.Visit our website for the detailed episode recap with key learnings.Show notesCM Commerce, WooCommerce — Adii's previous productsDan Martell's SaaS AcademyLife Profitability — Adii's podcast & an upcoming bookFacebook's Aha Moment Is Simpler Than You Think — an article by Benn Stancil that analyzes the ‘7 friends in 10 days' methodUser Onboarding: The UX Behind Our Magically Extending Free Trial — an article by Janna Bastow on gamified trialsAmplitude, Kissmetrics, Mixpanel — tools for product analyticsadii.me — Adii's websiteFollow Adii on TwitterThanks for listening! If you found the episode useful, please spread the word on Twitter mentioning @userlist, or leave us a review on iTunes.SponsorThis show is brought to you by Userlist — the best tool for sending onboarding emails and segmenting your SaaS users. To follow the best practices, download our free printable email planning worksheets at userlist.com/worksheets.

Recognized by President Obama as a Top 100 entrepreneur under 30, Neil Patel is a highly regarded expert in the online marketing space who has helped brands grow their marketing capabilities, including Amazon, Microsoft, Airbnb, Google, and SalesForces. Neil is the co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and Crazy Egg as well as the founder Kissmetrics. He has earned significant recognition from the United Nations, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and Entrepreneur Magazine for his professional expertise and business growth. He is a New York Times bestselling author, as well as co-host of Marketing School Podcast, with over one million monthly listeners. Additionally, Neil is an esteemed speaker, sharing insights with several hundred audiences, including brands such as Facebook and Thomson Reuters. Neil joins me today to share his expertise in elevating online marketing strategies to drive traffic, engagement, and sales conversions. He highlights specific areas to consider investing in when it comes to your strategy and particular tools to help you stay on track. Neil also discusses his podcast, how he targets his audience strategically, and his recommendations for ensuring that people see your content in a hectic world. “You need to always keep improving yourself, your product, your business… and never stop.” - Neil Patel This week on the SmallBizChat Podcast: Resources Mentioned: Connect with Neil: This episode is sponsored by… Mixmax Mixmax is a powerful email automation tool for business owners, entrepreneurs, and sales teams. Powered with innovative technology and designed to make communicating with clients and customers easier, Mixmax combines the power of Gmail with the efficiency of automation to power the world's fastest-growing companies. It's time to automate, schedule, and engage your clients and customers and systematize your sales process like never before! Try Mixmax for free at Mixmax.com Fix Your Business! Are you ready to run your business with intention? Ready to create a business that allows you to live your dream life and take those dream vacations you deserve? Then you need a copy of my latest book: Fix Your Business: A 90-Day Plan to Get Back Your Life and Remove Chaos From Your Business. Fix Your Business gives you concrete advice on the problem areas many small business owners face as well as the step-by-step process to find solutions so you can live the life of your dreams. It's time to take back control of your business and change how your business is run. Order your copy of Fix Your Business and design your business - and life - with intention. Let's End Small Business Failure - Together! Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of the SmallBizChat Podcast - the show on a mission to improve small business success. If you enjoyed this episode, head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review. Help us spread the word and end small business failure by sharing your favorite episodes with your friends and colleagues on social media. Visit our website or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, or YouTube for more great content, tips, and strategies to improve your small business.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Does cold emailing get you in a cold sweat? Is it something you've put off because you don't want to be accused of being a spammer… Or face rejection, over and over again? Many of us will find anything to do aside from sending a cold pitch email. We create and share content. We go to networking events. We participate in forums and FB groups where our ideal customers hang out. All great marketing strategies but there comes a time when we need to get proactive about our lead generation. Today's episode features special guest, Laura Lopuch, and it will empower you to get on the front foot and start sending emails to bring in more work. Tune in to learn: The career Laura left to become a conversion copywriter How she uncovered sending cold emails as her superpower Whether cold emailing is just a numbers game (and how to win) Tips on preparing to send an email to someone who you don't know The structure of an effective cold email Surprisingly simple follow up tips How to get your mojo right to send a great cold email Question for you! Do you embrace proactive lead generation like cold emailing? Or does it terrify you? Share your thoughts on Twitter (@hotcopypodcast) or our Facebook page! Share the pod love If you like what you're hearing on Hot Copy, the best way to support the show is to take just a few seconds to leave a rating and/or comment over on iTunes or Stitcher. Thanks! Thanks to Kgb_kgb from Canada for a fantastic review of the show. About Laura Laura is an email conversion copywriter + strategist for startups, service professionals, and SaaS companies who want to send those infamous, money-makin' emails you've heard so dang much about. Her expertise lies in cold emails. Which are the hardest email marketing channel to master. Laura's work has been seen on websites like Kissmetrics, Crazy Egg, Get Response, Copy Hackers, and MailShake. One of her cold emails brought in $20,000 in revenue. Thanks to her work with many clients (including online biggies like Joanna Wiebe and Selena Soo), she's seen firsthand that being ultra-relevant to your email reader is pure magic for getting sales. Useful resources The 2 x cold email templates Laura made available to Confident Copywriters Laura's FB live on the 7 Types of cold emails Boomerang (email scheduler and more for Gmail) Streak (CRM for Gmail) Find Laura On Twitter On Facebook On LinkedIn On Instie

Today we're going to learn about the skills accumulated and lessons learned from a great marketer throughout the various stops in his career. Joining us today is a titan of modern marketing, Hiten Shah. Hiten is a serial entrepreneur and founder of marketing analytics, collaboration and visualization companies like KISSmetrics, Crazy Egg, and his current project, FYI, which is a tool that helps teams search and organize all of their documents in one place. In addition to his operating roles, Hiten is the creator of Quick Sprout marketing blog, The Startup Chat Podcast, and he's an advisor to over 50 startups. Show NotesConnect with:Hiten Shah: Website // LinkedInThe MarTech Podcast: Email // LinkedIn // TwitterBenjamin Shapiro: Website // LinkedIn// TwitterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Did you know that almost 80% of online shopping carts are abandoned at checkout? I know that sounds REALLY high, but if you don't believe me, check out this latest statistic on shopping cart abandonment from Listrak. Is your online store a part of the statistics, too? When was the last time you checked your store's shopping cart abandonment rate? Did you even know that you can check? If not, today's podcast episode is a must-listen. There are many reasons why someone adds items from your online store to their shopping cart and leaves without buying. It could be your shipping charges, the fact that they weren't 100% sure if they wanted to buy or they weren't sure if your site was secure, your checkout process has too many steps and many other reasons. In today's podcast episode I share my story about why I recently abandoned an online shopping cart at a jewelry website, even though I REALLY wanted to purchase the jewelry. I talk about one mistake that the website was making that was steered me away for actually checking out. Are you making this mistake, too? Three mistakes you could be making with your checkout process 1. Promo Code When someone checks out at your online store, do they see a field for a "promo" or "discount" code? If so, what do you think happens physiologically to them if they don't have a promo code to enter? It's exactly what happened to me when I was shopping at the jewelry website and it happens to me ALL the time when I shop online (and I shop online A LOT). I usually go to RetailMeNot.com to search for a coupon code, but what happens if there's no coupon code available? There have been many studies that show that a promo code field can be hurting your online sales. Check out this one from Kiss Metrics. 2. Payment Options When you're first starting out, it makes sense to offer PayPal as the only checkout option on your website. There are no monthly fees with PayPal and PayPal has more than 173 million users. Their logo is very recognizable and has a lot of trust built in, but what happens when someone wants to check out at your store, but doesn't want to use PayPal? They leave and go somewhere else. This actually happened to me yesterday when I was purchasing an online gift card for my sister's birthday. The spa that I wanted to get it from only offered PayPal and I only have a PayPal account for my business, not personal, and I didn't want to use my business account to pay for a personal gift. After I tried to checkout without signing in to PayPal, I got an error message that my email address was already associated with a PayPal account and I HAD to log in to that PayPal account in order to complete my purchase. When I tried a different email address, I got another error message saying that the credit card that I wanted to pay with was already associated with a PayPal account and I HAD to log in to my PayPal account. Needless to say, I didn't complete my purchase and instead purchased a gift card at another spa that didn't require me to use PayPal. There are so many payment options now that allow you to take credit cards directly - Stripe is an easy choice because, like PayPal, they don't charge monthly fees and their transaction fees are exactly the same as PayPal's, so you have no excuse not to accept other forms of payment. There are also many other options that offer lower fees, so it's always a good idea to check around. 3. Checkout as a Guest When I had my online t-shirt store about 30% of my customer chose the "checkout as a guest" option. Thi --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/launchgrowjoy/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/launchgrowjoy/support

This week on Product Love, I talked to Hiten Shah, co-founder of FYI, Product Habits, KISSMetrics and Crazy Egg, about feature adoption and retention.

Neil Patel is a Seattle, Washington-based entrepreneur, angel investor, and analytics expert. He is best known for his work in digital marketing, and as the cofounder of the analytics companies KISSmetrics, Crazy Egg, and Quick Sprout Favorite Success Quote “When things are looking good, always remember that someone else out there always has it better than you. And when things are going badly for you, remember someone has it worse” Key Points 1. Do Not Operate from Emotion  One of the biggest mistake that people, especially entrepreneurs, make is that they operate from emotion and not logic. Like the opening success quote, it is important that you always remember that someone out there has it better and is kicking your butt at business, but someone out there also always has it worse and the failures you are facing are not life changing. Stay grounded as a man in your decision making. Always take some time and breathe whenever you feel overwhelmed and simply think through the situation logically. (Something Andrew and many guests have suggested for controlling your emotions are cold showers and meditation.) 2. When You Are Young You Have Nothing to Lose So often, young people allow fear to stop them from taking action without realizing one simple fact…. you have nothing to lose. When you are a young single guy, without a mortgage, car payments, or child support to pay, you are free. So start your business. The best thing that can happen is that you succeed and make millions, the likely outcome is that you will make some money but it won't be your big break, the worst thing is that you learn. Is learning really that bad? 3. Keep Making Mistakes and Keep Learning  No matter where you are in business, always be learning. Look at every “failure” as an opportunity instead of a mistake. Each time that something doesn't work or turn out how you want it to, you have the choice to decide to analyze the opportunity and learn from it. And remember, the more you learn, the more you earn. 4. Business is a Game; Play a Game You Enjoy  No matter what business you are in, it is all a game. A game that you should be playing to win, but a game no less. Be sure that you are playing a game that you enjoy. If you are in a business that you don't enjoy, you are setting yourself up for failure before you begin. Succeeding in life and business is hard, it's significantly harder if you aren't passionate about working ridiculous hours, staying up late, waking up early, and making sacrifices. 5. Focus on One Idea and Go All or Nothing  When you are first starting out in entrepreneurship, it's very easy to get sucked into a million different projects and gigs without focusing on one to master. Find something that you enjoy and freaking crush it! Go after it with everything you have got, get laser focused and devote everything you can to it. Then, and only then will you truly succeed.