Podcasts about resources rob

In this episode, Rob and Vinnie continue their introduction and overview of the book of Revelation. They discuss Rob's proposal that the book of Revelation is a love story as well as a brief look at the structure of Revelation and how that impacts our understanding of the text.  See notes and recommended readings below Please "follow" this podcast and give a review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your review will go a long way towards helping others find this podcast. Then share it with others so that we can get the word of the Gospel of the Kingdom to more people!   Also, our goal is to keep these episodes free of charge. I do not intend to ever hide them behind a paywall. I can only do this if those of you who have been blessed by them and can afford to give ($5, $10, $25, or more/month) do so. You can give a tax-deductible contribution by following this link. APP: If you wish to view these podcasts on your smartphone through the Determinetruth app simply download the “tithe.ly church” app on your smartphone and insert “determinetruth” as the church name you wish to follow. Once it is loaded, simply click on the “blog” icon and it will automatically load.   NOTES: John has made the structure really explicit: Rev 1:9; 4:1-2; 17:1-3; 21:9-10   Jesus is first introduced in 1:5 with the titles Faithful witness Firstborn from the dead Ruler of the kings of the earth   5:5-6   Lion 6x; only 1x for Jesus Lamb 28x; 27x for Jesus!     5:9 But it is not only who is in power but how we do power! Is it Lion power or Lamb power?   Lion power Lamb power   Mark 10:42-45   Babylon v New Jerusalem 17:6 18:24   Matt 6:19-34 We cannot love God and mammon   Resources: Rob's book: Follow the Lamb: a Guide to Reading, Understanding, and Applying the Book of Revelation  Rob's book: Understanding the New Testament and the End Times For all Rob's books: Amazon.com page  Rob's blog posts 7 Seals and Revelation 3rd Seal and Covid Revelation A Love Story End-times Return of Jesus Introductions to the book of Revelation Dalrymple, Rob. Follow the Lamb: A Guide to Reading, Understanding, and Applying the book of Revelation. Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock, 2017.   Commentaries Simple: Poythress, Vern S. The Returning King: A Guide to the Book of Revelation. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 2000. Basic: Keener, Craig S. Revelation. NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000. Peterson, Eugene H. Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988. Resseguie, James. The Revelation of John: A Narrative Commentary. Grand Rapids, Baker Academic: 2009. Rossing, Barbara. The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the book of Revelation. New York: Basic Books, 2005. Advanced: Barr, David. Tales of the End: A Narrative Commentary on the Book of Revelation. Salem, Or.: Polebridge Press, 2012.   Topical studies on Revelation Gorman, Michael. Reading Revelation Responsibly. Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock, 2011. deSilva, David, Unholy Allegiance: Heeding Revelation's Warning. Peabody, MA.: Hendrickson, 2022 McKnight, Scot and Cody Matchett. Revelation for the Rest of Us: A Prophetic Call to Follow Jesus as a Dissident Disciple. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2023.

Everyone knows that mediums can speak to people from the other side. And this week's  certainly does that.....but his special power is speaking with animals that have passed on to the afterlife. On this show, this pet medium gives us the low down on what it's like for our pets on the other side.7/20/2022The Skeptic MetaphysicianThe Secret Afterlife of Pets"Pets are amazingly intelligent. They have the intelligence of a three to five year old child... So they learn on a lot of different levels. They learn language, they learn emotion, they have instinctual learning, they learn social interaction... I love to say the only difference between a human child and a dog is that dogs won't grow up and marry someone you don't like and move away."-- Rob GutroSome topics covered:- How he learned to communicate with pets that passed on- What types of things does he prefer not to disclose to owners of deceased pets and why?- How he uses his abilities to help people learn how their pets died- Does the spirit of your pet move with you if you move or do their spirit remain where they died?- DO all dogs go to heaven?- Did Karen's beloved pet Kyra make an appearance on the show?And much, much more!About our Guest:Rob Gutro is an author, paranormal investigator and medium with Inspired Ghost Tracking of Maryland. He's become known as a pet medium, although he communicate with pets and people who have passed. Since he was a child he could receive messages from ghosts or spirits (who have crossed over). His latest book is ""Pets and the Afterlife 3: Dog Spirit Signs." Resources:Rob's Books Can Be Found Here: https://amazon.com/author/robgutroGuest Info:Website: https://www.robgutro.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/RobGutroAuthorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/robgutro_authorFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/HarmonicEggLike the show? We'd love to hear your thoughts!Please rate/review the show here:https://lovethepodcast.com/SkepticMetaphysiciansSkeptic Metaphysician Info:Website: skepticmetaphysician.comFacebook: @TheSkepticMetaphysicianIG: SkepticMetaphysician_PodcastHolistic Life NavigationThis podcast explores how to heal stress & trauma holistically. I am your host, Luis...Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Uplifting PodcastThis is your space for cosmic conversations with Randi LeeListen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Rob Romance, Mental Health Advocate and podcast host of The Sunrise Society discusses overcoming his past experiences of bullying and depression and shares why self-love is the best love!    In this episode, we talk about…Why mental health matters to RobHow bullying impacted Rob's mental health as a childAdvice for parents dealing with bullying How Rob dealt with his depression Understanding your support system can be just one personThe best thing that's happened to Rob on his journey of self-loveThe power of learning to love yourself and embrace who you are Why self-love is not selfish and a necessary practice Guest BioRob Romance, Mental Health Advocate and podcast host of The Sunrise Society believes it's possible to enjoy talking about Mental Health!  Rob uses his own past experiences, provides a space to be vulnerable and brings important mental health topics to the forefront.  He normalizes conversations around Mental Health to make it easier to talk about!  While you can't go back and give your younger self advice, it can still help the next generation.Links to Resources:Rob's Clubhouse - https://clubhousedb.com/user/witmys The Sunrise Society's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sunrisesocietypod/The Sunrise Society's Website - https://bio.link/TSSTo learn more about Lorrine or to order her Amazon Best Selling Book, Freeing Your Heart For Love visit her link below: https://beacons.page/lorrinepatterson Follow the podcast on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/showupandlove/.Please like, subscribe, and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode!

Acoustical Engineer Rob St. Claire has taken a couple of giants leaps since graduating from Purdue (’16 MDE Acoustical and ’18 MS ME) leaving his mark on two high profile projects for the Ford Motor Company – the Lincoln Aviator and the all-new Mustang MACH E. Following along with host Teresa Walker, you’ll learn about these unique opportunities as well as his early internship at Apple and his most recent position at Knowles Corporation. Rob also talks about his extracurricular hobby at Purdue that has followed him present day as a sports media hobbyist for the Volleyball League of America. Lastly, he shares his take on the importance of his Purdue Engineering degree and the tools he learned in First-Year Engineering 131 and 132 that he still uses today. All good stuff and all-inspiring!  Resources: Rob with the Volleyball League of America: https://volleyballleagueofamerica.com/the-deep-corner Multidisciplinary Engineering, Acoustical Engineering Concentration: https://engineering.purdue.edu/ENE/Academics/Undergrad/MDE/PlansofStudy/acoustical-engineering First-Year Engineering: https://engineering.purdue.edu/ENE/Academics/Undergrad/FYE

Zillow has been consumer-centric since its inception in 2006. And in the early days, the tech company didn’t pay much attention to agents. Now Zillow realizes that reducing friction for consumers means helping agents respond to online leads and schedule showings, for example. But is it too late to earn the industry’s trust?   Errol Samuelson is the Chief Industry Development Officer at Zillow Group. With 25 years of experience in proptech, he served in leadership roles at Realtor.com, Top Producer Systems and Move, Inc. before joining Zillow in 2014. On this episode of Industry Relations, Errol sits down with Rob and Greg to explain why Zillow is acquiring ShowingTime and explore what’s behind the industry’s volatile reaction to the announcement.   Errol discusses the real estate industry’s distrust of Zillow, acknowledging the frustration the tech company has caused over the years and assuring us that his team will not misuse ShowingTime data. Listen in to understand how Errol thinks about CoStar as a competitor and learn why he believes an industry without cooperation and compensation is not good for agents, brokers or consumers.   What’s Discussed:     Why the real estate industry went apeshit over Zillow’s acquisition of ShowingTime Zillow’s assurance that ShowingTime will remain an open platform with a strict privacy policy What problem Zillow is trying to solve by acquiring ShowingTime Errol’s insight on the rumor that Zillow bought ShowingTime to keep it out of CoStar’s hands How Errol thinks about the fact that people assume Zillow is lying Errol’s acknowledgement of the frustrations Zillow has caused agents over the years and how the company’s behavior may have amplified the industry’s distrust The possibility that social class and age are a factor in the industry’s mistrust of Zillow The focus of Zillow’s Q4 earnings call (Zillow Offers vs. streamlining the consumer experience overall) Why innovation in the lending space is limited by federal regulations The unique opportunity Zillow has to innovate around ownership models Errol’s thoughts on CoStar as a competitor and why CoStar’s success hinges on the government putting an end to cooperation and compensation Connect with Errol: Errol at Zillow Errol on LinkedIn Errol on Twitter   Connect with Rob and Greg:  Rob’s Website Greg’s Website   Resources: Rob’s Post on Zillow, ShowingTime & Paranoid Realtors Zillow’s Press Release on Acquiring ShowingTime ShowingTime Steve Murray at REAL Trends CoStar News Greg on Twitter Zillow’s Q4 2020 Earnings Call Zillow Offers Nick Bailey at RE/MAX Gary Keller’s 2021 Family Reunion Vision Speech Recap Trulia Dotloop Jay Thompson on Inman Susan Daimler at Zillow Rob’s 2020 List of the Seven Most Interesting People in Real Estate Zillow Home Loans Divvy Federal Regulations on Mortgage Finance REA Group Andrew Florance at CoStar Rob’s CoStar Red Dot Report CoStar’s Q4 2020 Earnings Call Rob’s Interview with Joe Rand   Our Sponsors:  Cloud Agent Suite Notorious VIP

Massive disruption typically comes with both needs and opportunities for change. So, under challenging circumstances, how can organizations effectively address change during challenging times? And, is is possible to do so while avoiding and addressing the potential for burnout? In this episode, I speak to Robert Bogue, business leader, author and public speaker, about how organizations can address critical change initiatives with confidence in order to achieve success.   Bio: Robert Bogue has a driving passion for delivering solutions through both teaching and learning. His drive for resolving problems is fueled by his creativity and innovation to find solutions that others cannot. A business owner and community leader for over 10 years and 17-time Microsoft MVP, he has authored 27 books and edited over 100 additional books. He knows how to ignite engagement, stop from burning out, and freeze a snowballing conflict in its tracks.   Rob's Confident Change Management Course: confidentchangemanagement.com Six Keys to Confident Change Management book: https://www.amazon.com/Keys-Confident-Change-Management-Transformation-ebook/dp/B08HCZ65KN Rob's website to help combat burnout: Extinguishburnout.com   Resources: Rob's SharePoint Shephard's Guide for End Users: https://www.sharepointshepherd.com/   Kurt Lewin's Change Management Model: https://confidentchangemanagement.com/change-models/lewin/   Dr. John Kotter's 8-Step Process for Leading Change: https://confidentchangemanagement.com/change-models/kotter-8-step-model/   The Prosci ADKAR change management model: https://confidentchangemanagement.com/change-models/prosci-adkar/   The William Bridges Transition Model: https://confidentchangemanagement.com/change-models/bridges-transition-model/   Wicked Problems was a concept developed by Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber: https://confidentchangemanagement.com/change-models/understanding-wicked-problems/   More information about Ethnography: https://confidentchangemanagement.com/book-reviews/ethnographic-interview/   Subscribe to Humans, Now and Then wherever you stream.   Make sure to follow the show on social media: twitter.com/humansnownthen instagram.com/humansnowandthen facebook.com/humansnowandthen linkedin.com/in/rscottcbap clubhouse: @rebeccascott

Rob Ell is the Founder of the Rob Ell Academy, a sales and consulting business based in Vancouver. Rob is also a former StoryBoarder of the year. Storyboarding is the magic behind Disney's customer experience. Storyboarding experiences are also used at Starbucks, Apple and Amazon to name a few.   Rob also perfected his sales framework in the theme park he co-founded called Dinotown that celebrated over one million visits and won many marketing awards. After selling Dinotown, Rob took a sabbatical, before being diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 49.In this episode, Rob talks about the fear and uncertainty that he faced throughout his battle with a brain tumor. We also talk about his success in business, and reconnect with what really matters in life. Enjoy!    Highlights:   How Rob’s father influenced his pursuit of entrepreneurship. Rob’s journey building a theme park from the ground up. The story of Rob being diagnosed with a brain tumor at age 49. How Rob’s experience with illness helped him gain a greater appreciation for his relationships. Why Rob loves going to funerals. How the pandemic has reminded Rob to focus on the things that really matter in life. The importance of healthy sleep, healthy eating, healthy relationships, healthy fun, and healthy finances. Why everybody is now in the business of selling an experience. Resources: Rob’s LinkedIn Rob Ell Academy Website Rob Ell Academy on Facebook   Before you go...If you liked this episode, click the

In this episode, we are talking about one-on-one discipleship. We will be speaking with Sarah Malcolm, who serves as a campus pastor at Yale University with her husband, Rob. Sarah understands the importance of one-on-one discipleship and is going to give us some great thoughts and advice so we can have better one-on-ones with our disciples. We will also be sitting down with Kelly Gouin, a small group leader at Yale University and hear what one-on-ones are like from her perspective. Resources: Rob and Sarah Malcolm's full teaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACTEoNuVc-o&list=PLtxMQhc6upHtvzD3QtnxTEq1xZEYQCKid&index=14

“Too often companies don’t think about integrity. They have a pretty poster with their values and the word integrity with a sunset in the background. They send out their company’s code of ethics, but they ironically stole that code of ethics from another company online and they just stuck their logo on top.” - Rob Chestnut“Integrity” is a buzzword that gets used by companies large and small, but how many companies are actually practicing intentional integrity? As today’s expert guest explains, defining integrity is difficult. Once understood as “telling the truth and keeping your word,” it was about following not just the letter but the spirit of the law. But in a moment when workplaces are becoming more diverse, global, and connected, silence about integrity creates ambiguities about right and wrong that make everyone uncertain, opening the door for the minority of people to rationalize selfish behavior.Rob Chestnut has spent a 35 year legal career exploring and helping to enforce rules that we all live by. Most recently, Rob spent 4 years as Airbnb's General Counsel and Chief Integrity Officer, helping Airbnb navigate a complex regulatory framework as it grew into one of the world's leading hospitality companies. Today, Airbnb offers over 7 million accommodations and 40,000 handcrafted activities, all powered by local hosts. With more than half a billion guest arrivals to date, and accessible in 62 languages across 220+ countries and regions, Airbnb promotes people-to-people connection, community and trust around the world.In today’s episode Rob reveals the way that his latest book, Intentional Integrity shows how smart companies can lead an ethical revolution in this fast-changing global environment we find ourselves in. Get the free video series on The Five Habits That Help Women Rise:http://bravebydesign.net/fivehabitsLearn more about working with Laura one-on-one:https://www.bravebydesign.net/private-coachingInvite Laura to speak at your live or virtual event https://www.bravebydesign.net/work-togetherConnect with Laura Khalil online:instagram.com/iambravebydesignlinkedIn.com/in/LauraKhalilWhat You’ll Hear In This Episode: How Rob transitioned from working as a prosecutor to working for Airbnb [2:22] What he says that employees should expect from the companies the work for today [9:28] What is intentional integrity and its importance in corporate ethics [10:36]The topic of sexual harassment and some steps you can take to avoid it in the workplace [13:49]What is the psychology behind integrity [15:47]The “6 C’s” of intentional integrity and why they are so important to companies and their employees [21:48]The steps he recommends a company should take if they find themselves in a lapse of integrity, or where to start if they haven’t been intentional with integrity previously [28:23]Additional Links & Resources:Rob’s Latest Book, Intentional Integrity: How Smart Companies Can Lead an EthicaSupport the show (https://www.paypal.me/bravebydesign)

Today, Dr. Robert Hindman talks about mindfulness for improving mental health. Topics include what mindfulness is, how to implement mindfulness in daily living, why it is useful for mental health, and how it helps reduce depression and anxiety. Dr. Hindman also leads a brief mediation! Resources: Rob's Mindfulness trainings: https://psychwire.com/beck/cbt-mindfulness-series Beck Institute: https://beckinstitute.org/ Cognitive Behavioral therapy, Second Edition: Basics and Beyond: https://www.amazon.com/Cognitive-Behavior-Therapy-Second-Basics/dp/1609185048 Vienna Beat by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

What You’ll Learn From This Episode: How to build and nurture your audience How Math and Mindset is crucial to your financial goal Why laser coaching is a fantastic coaching model ​ Related Links and Resources: Rob got a report that list 4 ways to bring in coaching revenue into your business. Get your free report copy from the website: www.innovativecoachingmodels.com Summary: Today’s guest, Rob Goyette, has always looked for a Better Way. While most people tend to adapt to this industry and then polish things up to the next level with the standard way of doing things, Rob constantly looks for better and better ways to get things done easier, faster and more profitably. Rob has been supporting leaders in the coaching industry since 2007 and is the creator of the innovative Fast Revenue Laser Coaching model. He lives in Puerto Rico with his wife and 8-year old son. Here are the highlights of this episode: 1:35 Rob’s ideal Client: Coaches and Business Owners 1:45Problem Rob helps solve: I help them get clients and customers. The big problem, challenge or opportunity is that, a lot of them don't know how to build an audience or nurture that audience. What sell are two factors; it's trust and an irresistible offer. If anything is not working in your marketing, it's one of those two factors. People are either going to trust you or they don't trust as you as a person because you're the experts who can get them the results they want. Or your offer is not irresistible enough, they either don't understand it or it's a not a no brainer for the value you give compare to the relatively small amount of money you charge. You can troubleshoot any marketing with trust and irresistible offer. 3:09Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Rob: They symptoms is usually not enough clients or not enough money coming into their business. As far as emotions, some of its confidence and mindset is like do they deserve it, can they really do it, etc. I like to say that they can hit any financial goal with two factors; Math and mindset. Math is knowing how are you going to hit your goal, and the mindset is do you really deserve it and is your stuffs really worth it. If you don't think so, your audience is going to feel that. If you know absolutely your stuffs is worth it, they're going to feel that too. 4:30What are some of the common mistakes that folks make before finding Rob and his solution: Thinking that building a website is going to bring them business. I've gone to business for years with over six figures without a website. Sure, it's where people should go if they don't know you're trustworthy and want to check you out. But what we really want to do is to drive people to go to your landing pages that have one main goal for them to do; opt-in to your email list, watch your webinar, buy a program. And so, a lot of people just fulfill their dreams, build it and it will come, they think that building a website is going to bring them business but it doesn't. 5:51Rob’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): The big picture is you want to build and nurture an audience and then make irresistible offers to that audience. And I believe that the number one way to grow your list, and then nurture them and make an offer is by offering a giveaway. What you can do with the giveaways, is that you can identify your top 10-40 JVP (Joint Venture Partners) and invite them to give a gift or giveaway to your event and tell your list about it. If you can get 10 people with a nice-size list each, they're send their people to your front door which builds your list. And then people come to the front door and can choose the 10 most giveaways, what they want. But the even bigger impact it has, is that you will network between 10 to 40 of your ideal JV partners, meaning you started a relationship. And if you have a good relationship and now you have a list of the giveaways, you can start promoting each other.

What You'll Learn From This Episode: How to build and nurture your audience How Math and Mindset is crucial to your financial goal Why laser coaching is a fantastic coaching model ​ Related Links and Resources: Rob got a report that list 4 ways to bring in coaching revenue into your business. Get your free report copy from the website: www.innovativecoachingmodels.com Summary: Today's guest, Rob Goyette, has always looked for a Better Way. While most people tend to adapt to this industry and then polish things up to the next level with the standard way of doing things, Rob constantly looks for better and better ways to get things done easier, faster and more profitably. Rob has been supporting leaders in the coaching industry since 2007 and is the creator of the innovative Fast Revenue Laser Coaching model. He lives in Puerto Rico with his wife and 8-year old son. Here are the highlights of this episode: 1:35 Rob's ideal Client: Coaches and Business Owners 1:45Problem Rob helps solve: I help them get clients and customers. The big problem, challenge or opportunity is that, a lot of them don't know how to build an audience or nurture that audience. What sell are two factors; it's trust and an irresistible offer. If anything is not working in your marketing, it's one of those two factors. People are either going to trust you or they don't trust as you as a person because you're the experts who can get them the results they want. Or your offer is not irresistible enough, they either don't understand it or it's a not a no brainer for the value you give compare to the relatively small amount of money you charge. You can troubleshoot any marketing with trust and irresistible offer. 3:09Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Rob: They symptoms is usually not enough clients or not enough money coming into their business. As far as emotions, some of its confidence and mindset is like do they deserve it, can they really do it, etc. I like to say that they can hit any financial goal with two factors; Math and mindset. Math is knowing how are you going to hit your goal, and the mindset is do you really deserve it and is your stuffs really worth it. If you don't think so, your audience is going to feel that. If you know absolutely your stuffs is worth it, they're going to feel that too. 4:30What are some of the common mistakes that folks make before finding Rob and his solution: Thinking that building a website is going to bring them business. I've gone to business for years with over six figures without a website. Sure, it's where people should go if they don't know you're trustworthy and want to check you out. But what we really want to do is to drive people to go to your landing pages that have one main goal for them to do; opt-in to your email list, watch your webinar, buy a program. And so, a lot of people just fulfill their dreams, build it and it will come, they think that building a website is going to bring them business but it doesn't. 5:51Rob's Valuable Free Action (VFA): The big picture is you want to build and nurture an audience and then make irresistible offers to that audience. And I believe that the number one way to grow your list, and then nurture them and make an offer is by offering a giveaway. What you can do with the giveaways, is that you can identify your top 10-40 JVP (Joint Venture Partners) and invite them to give a gift or giveaway to your event and tell your list about it. If you can get 10 people with a nice-size list each, they're send their people to your front door which builds your list. And then people come to the front door and can choose the 10 most giveaways, what they want. But the even bigger impact it has, is that you will network between 10 to 40 of your ideal JV partners, meaning you started a relationship. And if you have a good relationship and now you have a list of the giveaways, you can start promoting each other.

Owner of AllBids Rob Evans is a successful Canberra business owner. He's been through many ups and downs and has now established the Fyshwick Business Association. He shares his struggles and insights. Why you should listen: Learn the specific steps Rob took to turn his workplace culture around that you can use too Find out about the most important strategy that led to business improvement: results mapping How the guiding force of “We're all in this together” can help shape buy-in for employees and broader stakeholders by simply asking for feedback. We explore: The journey from accountant to sports management to auctioneer How Rob spotted changes in the online environment that helped him scale his business How smart recruitment of graduates set his business up for long-term success Recognising burnout and the attitude shift that changed things Results mapping and the principles of less is more and no ‘weasel words' in strategies The genesis of the Fyshwick Business Association and becoming a leader for a community through advocacy, collaboration, and sharing information.

The NSW Department of Education introduced a distributed authorship approach with user generated content to support peer-to-peer learning for teachers. Rob Wilkins talks about how the change was rolled out, the challenges and wins and why we, as L&D, need to “let go and let learn.” Hosts: Karen Moloney & Michelle Ockers Producer: Amanda Ashby Guest: Rob Wilkins Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawilkos/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/wilko64  Resources: Rob’s blog: Ruminations of a Learning and Development Professional Distributed Authorship/User Generated Content Articles http://littlepig.org.uk/texts/authorship_community.pdf https://elearningindustry.com/user-generated-content-6-recommendations https://www.trainingjournal.com/articles/news/user-generated-content-be-key-trend-corporate-e-learning More episodes and information https://learningexperts.com.au/about-learning-uncut-podcast  

Today, another serial entrepreneur, Rob Walling, joins us to discuss founding and generally running a bootstrap startup. We sat down and talked to Rob about his journey of getting his software startup off the ground, developed, and eventually sold with no outside funding. Rob Walling is not only the co-founder of Drip, which recently sold for eight figures, he also writes a blog and hosts two podcasts for startups. He is most known for starting, running and selling Drip but he has also bought and sold several smaller SaaS applications, including HitTail. Finally, Rob is co-founder of Microconf, a bi-annual conference for software startups. Rob's goal is to continue to acquire new businesses while maintaining the time-clock free lifestyle his years of software startup and acquisition experience have afforded him. Episode Highlights: The story behind Drip and what led Rob into marketing automation. Building and growing a SaaS company. Launching a new software business without a lot of staff or cash. Building the automation that ended up being the key factor that got Drip on the consumer radar. How the company managed to compete against the larger players. The luxury of being a small team and working primarily in person. Why Rob would now choose remote over local. Tips for hiring high quality candidates that fit in with your company's principles. When you know it is time to scale up your startup. Knowing when you have something that people really want. How to recognize when the option to sell comes on the radar. Knowing when you've found the right buyer. The importance of putting all the deal-breakers on the table and sticking to your guns. What small startups learn in the acquisition and transition process and how that changes their teams. The story behind Microconf, Rob's bi-annual global software conference unlike any other. Transcription: Joe: So this morning we were deep into a program called GetDrip and it's what we use for our automated email sequences. And I understand you had the founder of that gentleman … with that software as a service program on the podcast that's all right? Mark: That's right and I think a lot of our listeners are probably familiar with Rob Walling. He writes over at Software by Rob. He is the host over at Start Ups for the Rest of Us Podcast. He's the founder or co-founder I should say of MicroConf the SaaS conference. He is also the founder of HitTail an SEO software and of course Drip – Email Marketing Automation; one of the leading email marketing automation softwares out there which was acquired by Leadpages a few years ago in an eight figure acquisition. So really cool guy, tons of experience in a lot of different areas especially in that start up environment. And Joe you and I like to have these calls with people … these conversations with people where we try and like pull out a certain lesson or something else. Remember the episode with Mike Jackness and the crazy high open rates and returns that he gets on his Facebook marketing. I went into this without any specific agenda. I just want to talk to Rob about his story and kind of the adventure he's been on since he started up Drip and some of the other things as well. But we didn't get into much else because we just kind of talked about his journey with Drip which was fascinating. And one of the things to think about with Drip, they started off in a world where there was really big competitors. You had Infusionsoft, you had Klaviyo that was still big at the time, you had MailChimp which was absolutely a monster, AWeber which had been around forever. And here you have this little start up with no funding just a handful of coders working out of basically a closet as it were. And they ended up blowing up into one of the biggest email marketing automation softwares out there and being acquired for eight figures by Leadpages a few years later. And so we talked a lot about how they do it … how do they go through that, how does he hire people? We covered a lot of territory but it was fascinating. Joe: Well I think you said founder maybe five or six times there so I would think you would have to be fascinating when you're founding that many companies and that successful. So I don't think anybody wants to hear you and I talk about this anymore. Let's just go right to Rob. Mark: Yeah let's get to him. Mark: Rob thanks for coming on. Rob: It's my pleasure thanks for having me. Mark: All right so you've listened at a couple of the episodes of the Quiet Light Podcast you know how we work. Why don't you give people a quick introduction as to who you are? Rob: Yeah so my name is Rob Walling and I'm a serial software entrepreneur probably most known for running … founding and selling Drip which is email marketing or marketing automation software. I've also or run a number of other SaaS apps including HitTail which is an SEO tool. I co-founded MicroConf which is a conference for self-funded startups. And I have a couple of podcasts. One's called Start Ups for the Rest of Us and the idea there is to help people … give people an option in starting software and SaaS companies that's like you don't need to raise funding to do it. And that podcast has been running since 2010 so we have like 400 something episodes. Another one is called ZenFounder it's with my wife who's a psychologist and we talk a lot about just trying to stay sane while running a business. Mark: Well trying to stay sane while running a business that's a pretty hard thing to be able to do. Rob: It is, yeah. Mark: Yeah. That's pretty cool so we have a lot that we could talk about here. I want to talk a little bit about just building and growing a SaaS business. But one thing I want to start off with here is you're kind of like a member of the very old guard when it comes to Internet entrepreneurs. When I started in the online world it was kind of expected that you do everything right? You code, you market, you design, and you do everything top to bottom and it's a lot harder to do that today but you've been [inaudible 00:04:35.0] keeping up with that. So are you still actively doing a lot of the coding? Rob: I am not. I backed away from it. I … you know we'll software professionally for a paycheck from about 2008 and I really enjoyed that time and it basically gave me a leverage and a little bit of savings to be able to start acquiring businesses. I mean that's what a lot of people don't know is I really only started a couple of software companies. I've bought way more than I … products and websites and software SaaS apps than I started so … but around let's say 2011, 2012 it just became … it just was no longer worth it for me to code. My time is more valuable doing all the other stuff … that pulling the big levers to move the business rather than sitting behind a [inaudible 00:15:19.12] even though I love it. I still write code on the weekends though. I hack with PHP scripts; I was scraping Twitter feeds and trying to do sentiment analysis. I was … it's just myself having fun. It's just fun to build things but I don't … I have a push production code in probably five years. Mark: Yeah, I used to code … I started to code out of necessity when I first was an entrepreneur and at first, I had no money so I was like I need to build this … I think I built a very basic pay per click search engine and kind of advertising platform. I did that and pearled all things and then yeah again self-taught myself and since then I've missed doing it but I just don't have the time to jump back in. So the fact that you're doing it on the weekends [inaudible 00:05:58.8] for sure. So let's talk a little bit about building and growing a SaaS company because you've done it a couple times, you've done it successfully, and maybe also I didn't know that you were active in the buying world so let's talk a little bit about that. Let's talk about what you look for when you are buying this SaaS Company and how do you go about some of those code challenges. So let's start with a basic question; ball park number how many businesses do you … would you say that you bought over the last five or six years? Rob: Let's go back a little further because see … once I started Drip which was 2012 so I bought zero in the last six years. But before then from let's say 2005 was my first acquisition and 2011 was my last so over that six year period I probably purchased I would say 25 or 30 different. They're either software products, SaaS, or even … I mean I bought like half a dozen Ad Sense websites back in the day. So I really enjoyed it. I mean the idea of being able to skip product market fit and not have to do all the hard work up front and have a great history has always been attractive to me. Especially if someone … I mean when I was writing softwares I was doing, I was contracted, I was doing 125 an hour or 150 an hour sometimes and I mean my time was super valuable. I was booked 40, 50 hours a week and so I was like wait let me get this straight I couldn't … back then it was Flippa, right? I mean it was before you guys, before FE and other folks, and I would go on Flippa and pay 18 months of net profit and sometimes I got totally hosed on it because Flippa can be a little bit dangerous but the ones that worked were life changing for me. By 2009 I was full time just on products. Sorry, that was a long answer but that's the value I see in acquiring over. I've told my wife like if I do this again … because I don't know if I'm going to do it [inaudible 00:07:44.5] have to but it's just a lot of work, there's no chance I'm doing it from scratch. Zero chance that I will do something from scratch for the rest of my life. I will always acquire from this point on. Mark: And obviously, we are big believers in that. I mean that from product fit and like you said and doing our work is difficult. When you started Drip … when did you start Drip? Rob: We worked on the code in December of 2012 and then we launched in 2013. Mark: Okay, and you were originally just sort of an add-on or a layer on top of existing software programs right? Rob: That's right. Mark: So like AWeber and I think mail Chimp was one of the main vehicles. Rob: Yeah, we were just like a pop up and auto responders but we also fed into mails because we didn't … we couldn't even send broadcast emails at the time. Mark: Wow, all right so then you layered on top of that and did you always have in mind with Drip that it was going to be an automation; the sort of kind of logic sequence. Rob: No, we didn't. And in fact, we resisted it pretty heavily because I didn't want to get into the marketing automation. It's just a big … at least in my eyes at the time it seemed like this big, enterprisey, clunky, old, really hyper competitive space with a bunch of funny competitors; just not a market I want to get into. I tend to like really tight niche markets where you can just own that thing and you don't have to … you're not fighting red water every day with someone else. It's not a feature race all the time. But it became clear about a year into running Drip … a year, year and a half that that was where the whole space was going. And not building that would have just relegated us to being undifferentiated; everybody just had another major product and by building an automation and building it in a way that was more elegant and … or you know at least I think so, more elegant, easier to use than Infusionsoft and Active Campaigns and some of the other competitors it … we became, that's how we got on the radar. I mean we were an unfunded marketing automation platform in essence. We didn't raise any money and we were five people basically in a closet in Fresno, California and we were number 12 on Data Analysis Marketing Automation List. And all the 11 ahead of us had raised … decked a million, some had raised nine figures, I mean it was crazy. Mark: Well, that's one of the things I find fascinating about your story. When I first saw Drip kind of pop up you had these really large players out there that you knew had significant revenues coming in, significant funding, very large programming teams of developers, how did you guys manage to stay agile like that at such a small footprint of a company but still put out incredible code? What were some of the things … I'm asking you to go back here and kind of think back but [inaudible 00:10:28.3] so what was all those things that you did to be able to compete against these larger players? Rob: Yeah, that's a really good question because Derek and I … so Derek is my co-founder with Drip and we are both software people. I've written code since I was a kid and so had he. And so we built the company. It was very much a product focused company you know a lot of [inaudible 00:10:47.7] tech companies launch and they're very marketing focused and the software is kind of a piece of crap. And then you'll see them get legacy over the years and eventually they can't ship features so they ship very very slowly, one or two releases a year. And for a SaaS app that's just not the way you need to do it. So Derek and I from day one built a very strong foundation. It took six months to get Drip into people's hands and it really … we could have done it in three months but it would have been shitty code. And so we focused early on of not having a legacy, we took our time to build a really solid foundation architecturally, and then the first three hires that I made were Derek who was a contractor at the time and then became W2 and then eventually got chairs and was retroactively made him a co-founder and then two other developers. So when we were a team of four which was three developers and me and I did everything else. And that allowed us without the legacy; it allowed us to ship really fast. We were super agile. We used to get hub issues and we just … we were, I mean we would hammer out features. We would hammer out an entire integration in less than a day. Because there was one dude who had built … he built 35 integrations for us. And it was just this relentless focus, there were no meetings, there were no … if there was a question we stood up at a white board. It's a luxury of A. being a small team and B. being in person. And I know if I build a team again it's going to be really remote but we move way faster because we were in person two to three days a week and then we're all at our houses the other two or three. And it was just perfect blend of like speed. I mean our velocity it's funny you call that out because so many people call that out and even [inaudible 00:12:22.5] Leadpages called that out early on and said how are you … you're like five people, how are you shipping this many features? And we were shipping multiple features a week and it was just getting in there. Our architecture was stable and the developers … also we hired really good developers we focused very much on that; Derek and I being two developers. We were super rigorous and super picky about who we hired and so there's a lot goes into it and then you know I'm kind of been rambling but it was really this relentless focus on the product comes first and the product is what is we're going to be really good at. And at the same time and I have some regrets you know of like I think I should have marketed it harder early on. I think I should have hired a marketer that was better than me. I think that you know there were certain things now that I look back that it's like didn't we focus on the product a little too much? But I don't know in the end I think it worked out. Mark: Obviously it worked out. And this is kind of an interesting thing I've seen with software companies. I've read a book by the founder of Zoosk [inaudible 00:13:16.3] and they talked about their ability to push out code and features rapidly. It would be we've come up with that idea in the morning and pushed it out by midafternoon because they were able to do that. What sort of approval process did you guys have in place to be able to ensure that you weren't just getting all sorts of really conflicting features? Rob: We had … well A. both Derek and I knew every feature that was shipping. And we knew that until we hit … I mean even … so I left Drip about three months ago it was acquired by the Leadpages you know I think it's kind of the punch line that some people know about that, and even when we were 10 or 12 engineers Derek and I still knew everything we were shipping and so it's just a product management. To be honest when there's only three or four developers you can keep it all on your head or on a whiteboard you don't even need that much process. Now soon as you tip to four or five then you need some type of can ban you know or something and then when you hit … when we hit seven or eight it was like all right we do need a weekly meeting now; 30 minute weekly meeting. But we had no standing meetings, none of that. I mean it was like you're writing code 100% of the time or you're talking about writing code. So we also had extensive unit test coverage. We had I think three lines of unit testing code of unit test for every line of production code so it allowed … that allowed us the safety of like pretty sure this is going to break anything because one of these tests would have caught it and then we do a sanity check on the server and push it. We … you know knock on wood we have very few over the five-ish, five and a half year run like production bugs that really did some damage. And we get a little things here and there but we only had maybe two that I can remember. It was like a scheduling issue, it's like oh crap we forgot to send emails for an hour like that's a big deal you know and that happened maybe once and there is [inaudible 00:14:58.5] so code quality was high and we focused on that. Mark: So you mostly run your team local to some extent but at some point when you started to grow and before the acquisition with lead pages did you have a remote team? Rob: We did yeah. Yes so there were 10 of us total by the acquisition and there were five of us in Fresno in office. And like I said we came in about two to two and a half days a week to that office and worked from home the other days and that was a great balance of there was enough time to whiteboard, there were enough days, every other day you're going to see some people and ask questions but then you could go home and get a ton of work done right. And then we have five people who are all over the place really [inaudible 00:15:38.5] guy in Mexico and we had a developer in another part of California and somebody in New York and stuff so it was … it worked out. Mark: So given … you said if you start something again here in the future it will probably be remote even though you're not really convinced that's necessarily the better way to go about it; why is that? Why would you choose a remote in the light of the fact that you might think it's not the best way to go? Rob: Yeah, I think the ideal way is that everybody can meet in a room a day or two a week. As I've said that was the best working environment I've ever had. I would go remote because it's just so hard to find the right talent at the right price in any given metro area. It's like you can go to Silicon Valley and yes there's a lot of engineers but damn are they expensive. Or you can come to Minneapolis and they're going to be less expensive but how many ruby developers are actually here and how many are going to leave Target or Best Buy to come work for me? It's going to be tough. If I'm making a nationwide search or even as I tip tend to go three time zones in either direction, three hours in either direction from where I am; so I'll go north to south. [inaudible 00:16:40.6] hire in Canada or Mexico Central South America you're going to just find really people who sometimes live out in the middle of nowhere and if you're able to work with them remotely then they can ship some really good stuff for you. Mark: Yeah hiring people is always a challenge. I don't think I've ever talked to an entrepreneur and business owner and I'll throw myself in that ring as well, hiring people has an absolute pain. Do you have any insights that you want to give us right now? Rob: Oh my gosh. We could do all episode on this. Mark: You really could do all episode on this and so we'll keep it a little bit short because I want to talk a little bit about MicroConf and also more a bit of the history of Drip but this is more for me [inaudible 00:17:19.9]. Rob: Totally, yeah I know some quick tips. One thing that Derek and I did was we hired a lot around personality. We really want … especially when we were small it was like I want to be able to hang around in a room with [inaudible 00:17:36.9] hours a day [inaudible 00:17:38.6] I don't do that or I've worked at don't do that they really do hire based on skills and talent and as a result we passed over some pretty good developers. But we could just tell they were edgy or they were a little to opinionated or let you know they were just things it was like we were super super careful. So we did hire slow and then our hiring process took a long time. We also presented it for what it was. The job postings were written very … almost like a blog post or like it was very conversational, oh it was more like a sales letter it would start my job descriptions and say it was all you language, it was like you're an excellent developer the world is your oyster, you can go work at any company you want but here's why you don't want to work at an agency because that da da da da da, you know you could go here but come work for us, you can be fully remote you can be … and then I present the benefits. It was very much like either magic or writing a sales letter where you present the you language and then you're going to present the problem and then what are the solution like come work for us. So as a result we got really high quality candidates and it was a very … I bet I would say look we do not pay, don't come here if you want to make what you are going to make at a Fortune 500 company. We do not pay these exorbitant developer wages but here's what you get in exchange, you get the freedom to do this, there are no set working hours, you're fully remote we're going to send you a MacBook Pro, we're going to buy you two Dell monitors, we're going to … you know just all the stuff that; some developers don't want that. They just want the maximum paycheck and other developers loved it, there were people who came and said I can't get this kind of flexibility in work. So having … like what is your differentiator? That's what we figured out early on and we put it right from the start in the job description of like you … this is either awesome for you or this sounds terrible. And then the last thing on and I'll stop is one thing that I learned once we went into Leadpages, because our hiring process took a long time. It was 20, 30 hours a week for me at times and once we got to Leadpages there were two in-house recruiters, just full time recruiters who were freaking phenomenal. And I … one thing that I would do if I were to do again is try to find someone like that on an hourly basis and not a contingency recruiter where they charge at 15% of the salary but just find somebody on Upwork or whatever who's 50 bucks, 75 bucks an hour who I can have … I can train to do all these stuff, or they can train me frankly. Because once we get to Leadpages like they had bat it down. I mean they grew 50 people a year for a few years. So they had that process down and they taught me a ton of things that I wished I had outsourced more of that in essence is what I'm saying. I felt like as a founder I had to do all the hiring. But it turns out as long as I did the last mile and I would thumbs up or thumbs down someone it was plenty good and sort of the funnel was filtered so much for me. You know by the time we worked and we paid and so I was like I shouldn't have been doing that type of funnel stuff and hiring process. Mark: Yeah, I can tell you, I just went through the process of hiring somebody on for Quiet Light Brokerage and typically with Quiet Light the people that come on and work with us they approach me about coming on as a broker. But we needed some work on the marketing side and so I put out a job application. It's a full time job and going through and trying to vet these people and you know you want to hire slowly but you've got a bunch of other stuff on your to do list. Outsourcing that and if you're able to do so makes sense. So the tip that you gave as far as writing the job post in terms of you … you're the second business owner that I've talked to recently that has given that tip. I think it's a phenomenal way to go about it instead of just saying we need this, we need that, we … or you know this is what we need given the benefits that you attract that top talent is a good suggestion. Okay, let's talk and go back again to Drip here, when did you realize that this was not just like a little project that you were going to have as like a super niche product and really something that could play with some of the big boys? I mean now you guys would be direct competitors with a Mail Chimp and with an AWeber and those guys have had to play catch up to you frankly in some ways or to what you built. So when was that realization? What made you turn and say okay I'm going to go all in on this for a while? Rob: Yeah, it was a very difficult decision and it was a hard one to make as I said because I've had a lot of lifestyle businesses and I value my lifestyle very highly. And it was a decision of boy am I going to continue to have a lifestyle business or am I going to scale up like a startup? Do I want to go all in on this? And I was talking with Derek about it too but it was really a turning point for me. So we started doing our early access in mid-2013 and we launched to our launch list in November of 2013, and it took us until August of 2014 to hit product market fit. We were just struggling you know just adding and it was when we added automations, the initial automation there wasn't even the work for us that are all visual it was just kind of almost like if this [inaudible 00:22:22.1] stuff. That was game changing because we started growing I don't know 20% month over month. We're already flailing around a bit until June as we start rolling out missions then it was like all right now we're going 10%, now we're going 15%, now we're going 20% and it was like boy this is becoming a fact. You know this is we have built something that people really want and we at that point we weren't ahead of … you know Infusionsoft had a visual builder and Active Campaign did too and I don't know it was Klaviyo I mean there were competitors around. We weren't ahead of them but we had just done a very elegant job. You know it's kind of like we had built a really easy to use platform like on Mail Chimp and we added automation to it in a way that really didn't exist quite in the same way. So that was when it was really towards the latter half year of 2014 it was like man this thing is growing fast and we have to hire lift the staff up like that was the realization. Mark: Was that the point in time when you decided that possibly selling was on your radar? Rob: No selling came on the radar in 2015. And it was we were staffing up and I realized [inaudible 00:23:29.7] Derek and I have a lot of conversations that's like we can't hire fast enough. Like we don't have the money you know. Running Drip was … especially with the staffing and trying to keep up with everyone else it was just an expensive thing. I mean SaaS apps obviously have great margins and we had a great gross margin but our net margin was not very good because I kept hiring. You know it 10 grand of MRR and now I go out and hire another developer every time because I know we have to keep up with all these competitors. So that was when I realized you know we had a need to raise an angel round, like a seat round probably half a million or we may want to think about answering one of these e-mails we're getting to acquire us. So we got maybe five pretty serious inquiries, we got more than that they were just you know whatever. You get weekly funding offers from a junior rep at a VC firm and every couple of months we get an email of like we'd like to acquire you and about five of them were people who companies or funds who actually had the money to do it. And that was when it was coming all right so what we do, do we take chips off the table you know cash out in essence, have a good outcome for us and the employees or do we push more tips and basically raise funding you know to at a valuation? Because we probably would have raised funding similar to the valuation we're going to be acquired at and that puts you in for two three four five more years of doing it. So that was a big decision process for us and frankly, I was burning out a bit. I mean I was struggling to run the company. I didn't delegate or outsource as much as I should have. Next time around I would it a little differently for sure. Mark: So how did you decide Leadpages was going to be the partner that you're going to work with? You had five serious potential acquirers. Rob: Yeah, Leadpages was just the best strategic fit and I knew the CEO Clay Collins. We kind of ran in overlapping circles. He was in like the Internet marketing space and I was in more of the startup space but we overlapped a bit. He had been on my podcast and stuff so it wasn't just like oh we have these five suitors and we're going to pick Leadpages. It was kind of like well let's kind of follow each of these tracks you know and then we had … and it didn't all happen at once right it was over the course of maybe 18 months that like these five conversations happened. And so we just kind of followed each of them to the logical extent and the one that made the most sense and just kept coming back up again and again because deals fall apart like this right? Because someone puts a number on a piece of paper and you're just like yeah that's nowhere close and then it's like all right well then we're out you know. And then two months later you get an email and it's like hey so we want to rekindle the … and that's how these things go right. So it took 13 months from the first email when Clay reached out to when the deal closed. And it was really about six, seven months of hard negotiation during that. Mark: Sure yeah and that walking away right? That's so typical on a lot of these deals especially in a strategic deal, being able to walk away and you know people just set goals and objectives change over that time as well so they can re-evaluate things. What was some of the things that you learned going from a complete startup environment where you're a super agile small team that you're building and that kind of hanging on to this year past sort of growth and then being absorbed by a company that had raised tens of millions of dollars and much different sort of environment; what sort of transition was that? Rob: The transition, it was probably one of the best that I've heard about. They did a really good job of kind of leaving us alone for three to four months because we just … we were all shell shocked. I was … it was so crazy I mean we [inaudible 00:27:00.2] moved here and then go on [inaudible 00:27:02.5] pick off [inaudible 00:27:03.0] people we were and it was just this culture shock for us. So they made it as good as it could have been I think. They didn't screw with the product nobody said [inaudible 00:27:11.5] all our people came on board and joined the team. So I feel like the transition went as good as it could have but it was still hard on me and hard on some of the team members because it … we have been just this tiny little team and then you get kind of absorbed into 170 person company. But I mean to Clay's credit he set it up really well. So I learned a bunch of stuff … the interesting transition, there was a mental transition at a certain point is we've gone from basically being kind of cash strapped to having tens of millions of dollars in the bank as you said from the funding they raised. And I just realized we had to think about things totally differently. Like I needed to stop every week checking our AWS bill and trying to turn servers off and adjust things on the weekends. It's like that was no longer … it was not worth saving $500 a month for all that time. And you have to be cognizant of the money but it's like 500 bucks a month is just a rounding error. They probably spend that on toilet paper in a month and it's like focus on some … if I'm going to spend that mental damage do it on something that grows the bottom line or that improves the product. It was things like that and we … when we can finally pay everybody market rate salaries it was so so cool. We had to hire a lot of junior people and train them up [inaudible 00:28:22.5] up so we … it took us a while for people to really hit the ground running. And once we got here and it's like oh man we can pay market rate. We're able to hire senior engineers for the first time ever and that was another game changer of like the luxury of having someone come in and like come with code three days into their job because the code base is solid and they are super advanced. They've been doing it for seven years instead of six months like some of the folks that … who are great developers now but they were just very junior when we hired them. Mark: You have a lot of other projects besides Drip obviously over the years. You've had Start Ups for the Rest of Us, you've had MicroConf; they were totally cool with you just continuing on with those projects? Rob: Yeah that was the nice part is you know as Clay and I talked through the whole acquisition it was like … I was like Clay here are my deal breakers number one we can't … I'm not going to fire anybody like I do not want to lay people off and we didn't. Number two I do not want to screw our customers like please don't pivot us into some crazy niche or leave the customers behind that we already have, shut the product down you know let's not do damage to that. And [inaudible 00:29:23.3] deal breakers although I have like a price, oh I want it … I said it kind of needs to be for enough money that I never have to work again. Like that was one of my things and so we figured all that out. Oh and that was … the third one I was like look I do MicroConf and he knew that and I do the podcast and I don't spend that much time on them. In all honesty like the podcast is about 30, 40 minutes a week and MicroConf typically was off hours and it might be 20 hours aside from when I would go there [inaudible 00:29:54.0] offer and he said yeah that's good. And I said I do a lot of public speaking too and I said you know I'll be representing Drip and Leadpages at that point so it's actually a … perhaps of benefit to the company so it was good. That would've been a really … I was going say be tough but I just that would've been a deal breaker. I don't think I would have not stunned the podcast or the conferences it's just something I've done forever you know. Mark: Yeah, let's talk about MicroConf for a quick … for people that don't know what is MicroConf? Rob: Yeah MicroConf is a conference that's run twice a year in Las Vegas and then in Europe and it is a conference for self-funded startups, so bootstrap startups. And we're not anti-funding. It doesn't mean that companies that raise funding can't come because certainly a lot of … 80% of what funded and unfunded companies worry about is the same thing. It's hiring and it's marketing and it's building a good product and then there's just 20% percent that we just don't talk much about at MicroConf. And so we get about … we have a Growth Edition which is for businesses that are providing a full time income or more. So it's a lot of six seven and some eight figure businesses but it's definitely smaller. Its SaaS focused but we do get e-commerce people we do get Word Press plugins and info marketers and stuff. And that conference the growth one is about 250 people and it sells out every year. And then we have the Starter Edition which is from idea to full time income and that's at the same time right around the same time in Vegas and then we have of course the Europe edition which is here in a few months in Croatia; it's in October. And I'm excited to go to Croatia and now we started selling tickets for that a couple weeks ago. So we try to get … we wanted to build a conference that we wanted to attend. Like Mike and I who was my co-host with the conference, it was like I go to these conferences and there's multi-tracks and there's the vendor halls and there's all this bullshit. I really just want to come, I want to meet entrepreneurs. I want the attendees to be top notch. I don't want it to be the marketing guy, the C level guy from this oracle or it's like that no that doesn't help me you know. I want the attendees to almost all be entrepreneurs in a similar space. And then we want to keep it small. They tend to be about 120 to 250 attendees. And then we want to get really good speakers that may not … these are not like the big name speaker who comes up and pumps you up and you know there's time and place for that but it's super super tactical and so that's what we've … it's kind of like if you want tactics and some inspiration come to our conference. If you want just pure inspiration and you just want to get pumped up then go see Tony Robbins or go to the World Domination Summit. It's just a very very different thing. So that's my spiel on it. That's MicroConf.com if folks are interested. Mark: Yeah absolutely and I absolutely love those smaller conferences the 100 to 150 attendees, you know 200 attendees but where it's really focused again on the people that you get to know from those conferences. I just find that you do get to know people so much better and the partnerships and relationships that come out of that more than pay for any sort of price that you're going to have to pay. Your location is Croatia, are you kidding? That's incredible. Rob: Ain't that awesome? Yeah, I'm stoked. We did it in Barcelona … we did in Prague for two years, Barcelona for two years, and then we did it in Lisbon, Portugal last year, and this year we're upping the game. It's going to be a little harder to get to but man we're stoked because I've never been to Croatia. We do try to like put it in places that A. people would want to go to but that we want to go to as well. You know it's an excuse to visit a cool country. Mark: Yeah absolutely, all right we're up against a clock here but what does the future hold for you? You left there a few months ago. Rob: Yup. Mark: What are you looking at the doing here in the future? Rob: I don't know yet. I started writing a book about my experience. I've written a couple books about software startups and that kind of stuff. And I started writing another one and then I kind of … I got about 12,000 words in and I was like you know I don't know that I want to do this right now. It was all about my experience with Drip and everything and it was funny I just kind of petered out. So I don't know if I'll come back to that. I don't have a deep desire to do anything bigger than Drip. I think I'm going to take another few months off and I know something will come up and I'm probably going to acquire something is what's going to happen. And but I wanted to do something that like it needs to make money for my personality you know like I just I have to that's how we keep score right? But I kind of want to do something in like … even in the hobby space that I really enjoy. I can't imagine going back and then doing another SaaS app. It's just I've been there I've done that what's new? Like could it be a just a completely different thing that I really enjoy that it also makes some money but maybe it's not some big fancy startup that's acquired. Mark: Well awesome. Well, good luck with all of that and let's make sure that we stay in touch especially being local to each other here. But let's make sure that we stay in touch. Thanks so much for joining me. Rob: Absolutely Thanks for having me on Links and Resources: Rob's Website Startups for the Rest of Us Podcast Zen Founder Podcast Microconf Rob's blog

Today’s consumer is used to pushing a button and having magic happen. (Thank you for the insight Jeremy Waxman.) And more often than not, we are willing to pay an extra fee for things like convenience and certainty. For this reason alone, the iBuyer phenomenon is here to stay, and the real estate industry would do well to consider how traditional agents might participate in the changing market.   Rob and Greg are back to offer a different perspective on the iBuyer movement, discussing how the industry is misunderstanding the phenomenon. Greg explains how organized real estate might address the consumer experience by partnering with a large financial institution to ‘be the bank’ and Rob shares his take on FSBOs and iBuyers as opposite ends of a spectrum—with the traditional REALTOR experience in the middle.    Rob and Greg address fiduciary duty, describing the conflict of interest that occurs when agents have the capacity to make on offer on a prospect’s home. They cover the difference between iBuyers and traditional house flippers, describing the considerable capital behind companies like Offerpad and Opendoor and the significance of Zillow’s recent acquisition of a mortgage lender. Listen in for insight around iBuyers moving into high-dollar markets and learn how agents fit into a future world where iBuyers are the default.   What’s Discussed:    How the industry is misunderstanding the iBuyer phenomenon Intention to change process of buying/selling home Company to figure out user experience wins How MLS and association execs might consider the agent experience Greg’s proposal around NAR partnering with a financial institution Rob’s prediction that the iBuyer movement is here to stay The conflict of interest agents face in offering to buy a client’s home Rob’s take on FSBOs and iBuyers as opposite ends of a spectrum Working with REALTOR = middle ground The potential ‘buyification’ of the brokerage business Why iBuyers are not as vulnerable as traditional house flippers The significance of Zillow’s acquisition of Mortgage Lenders of America The tipping point when iBuyers become the default for consumers The significance of iBuyers moving into high-dollar markets The value in agents learning to pitch investor offers to sellers   Sponsors: Cloud Agent Suite The Red Dot   Resources: Rob’s iBuyer Blog Post Denee Evans on Listing Bits Zillow’s Q2 Webcast Cloud Investor Connect Inman News: Agents can show sellers iBuyer offers with new Cloud CMA feature Brad Inman: In real estate’s tech platform race, I’m betting on an underdog   Connect with Rob and Greg:   Rob’s Website Greg’s Website  

Robert Sullivan IV is in the house. Rob is here to talk about - well, about a little bit of everything. He’s written four books and we touch on them all throughout the conversation. His latest book is a horror novel called A Pact With the Devil. Of course, Rob’s most well-known for traveling the fringe-y podcast circuit to dissect the occult symbolism in film. He’s one of the very best in the game at doing that. He’s written two books on the subject, Cinema Symbolism and Cinema Symbolism 2. And then we’ll also touch on his first book, The Royal Arch of Enoch: The Impact of Masonic Ritual, Philosophy and Symbolism. Rob is a 32nd degree Scottish Rite Freemason so he’s well-versed in the occult and esoteric, and after 90 minutes you’ll know it for sure. If you’re on Patreon, you’re getting all 90 minutes, and if you’re not you’re getting the first 60. So head over to patreon.com/occulture to hear this in its entirety. RESOURCES Rob’s website   PATREON Please do take a moment to check out our Patreon campaign. We call it Coda. Four levels of support. Bonus content. Free shit. Click here to check it out.   DONATE If recurring monthly support via Patreon isn’t your thing, we do accept one time-donations via PayPal, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple. Every little bit helps. Click here if you’re interested.   MERCH We recently released our first t-shirt. Check it out on our website or at our Etsy shop.   SOCIAL Twitter Instagram Facebook Tumblr   MUSIC Vestron Vulture - “I Want to be a Robot (Tribute to Giorgio Moroder)”   PRODUCTION & LICENSING This podcast is produced in the Kingdom of Ohio and is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International. Executive Producers: Mike K., Erick, Carter Y., Mauricio G., Alyssa S., Daniel R., Tess, Joe T., Kelly C., Daniel E., Kaleb H.   REMINDER Love yourself. Think for yourself. Question authority.

In today’s episode, Nicholas talks with Rob Fajardo, host of the Leave Normal Behind TV Show. Rob has helped companies like Red Bull master their message on social media, making them an influencer. Rob gives us tips to market on social media, organically build in followers, as well as gain massive influence.   Time Stamped Show Notes: [ 4:54 ] Question Based Problem Solving [ 7:25 ] Content Creators and Value [ 11:30 ] 4 Stages of Human Development.   [ 13:30 ] Influencer Competence in Branding. [ 23:10 ] Building a Following. [ 27:31 ] Commitment and Accountability. [ 32:08 ] Limiting Beliefs. [ 37:55 ] Masterclass.   Takeaways: How do I become someone that has influence? Question-based problem solving is important because the people that are doing the best in their life have removed emotions from their problem solving and are instead solving problems with questions. “What do I want? What do I have now? What do I need to do?” Being question based as an influencer gives you the opportunity to seek out the value you have to offer to others that they can buy into. A lot of companies wrap up a good message in poor product. Create content around the things that you already know, this way you don’t leave influence or money on the table. How can you ever expect anyone to know what you know if you aren’t giving them the opportunity because you aren’t creating the content to share what you know, your experiences, and add value. Unconscious incompetence: Unaware of you're incontinence. Consciously Incompetent: Aware of where you are incompetent and undedicated. Your success may not mean as much because you know that you could do more to make your success better. Conscious Competence: Consciously aware of becoming more competent. Unconsciously Competent: Who you are and what you do is streamlined that your competence comes effortlessly. A personal brand is your name, what you post on Facebook, Instagram, any form of social media is your personal brand content. Now you have to ask yourself if you are going to put effort into this, are you going to be competent. Repurpose what you learn, read and consume, what it is and how it makes you feel. You don’t have to create content from scratch, you can use anything that inspires you and reuse it. Share strategies that have helped you in your own business. Reframe your mindset, content is happening to you all day, film it while it’s happening, document it, share it.   Resources: Rob’s Masterclass The Billion Dollar Brotherhood Site and Facebook Group. New Year BDB Goal Worksheet.