Podcasts about Yellow pages

Leadership is about stepping into uncertainty with resilience, vision, and adaptability.In this mashup, Denis Gianoutsos brings together two powerful voices in business and leadership: John Vuong, founder of Local SEO Search, and Nicole Baldinu, co-founder of WebinarNinja and The $100 MBA. John shares his journey from Yellow Pages sales to building a trusted digital agency, navigating disruption, and helping businesses transition online. Nicole opens up about leaving a teaching career to build global SaaS companies and podcasts, highlighting the realities of leadership out of necessity, not design.Together, they show what it takes to build something meaningful through clarity, relationships, and the courage to lead even when the path is uncertain.Tune in to discover how resilience, adaptability, and practical leadership choices can not only shape your business but also positively impact your life.EP 323 - John Vuong: Building an SEO Agency from the Ground UpFrom Yellow Pages sales to launching a boutique digital agencyUnderstanding gaps in corporate structures and creating solutions for SMBsGrowing a team of 40 while adapting through disruptionHow relationship-driven service creates long-term business resilienceEP 416 - Nicole Baldinu: From Teaching to Tech EntrepreneurshipTransitioning from education to co-founding global SaaS companiesBuilding the $100 MBA and WebinarNinja with no business backgroundLeadership lessons learned while managing distributed remote teamsThe balance between expectations, accountability, and trustKey Quotes:“I didn't know anything about SEO. I just knew there was a need for authenticity, transparency, and trust.” – John Vuong“Leadership, for me, came out of necessity. Once you hire people, you realize you have to lead.” – Nicole Baldinu"Sometimes you just have to live within your control and avoid all the news and disruptors in life." – Denis GianoutsosThe 10 Proven Ways to Lead and Thrive in Today's World - FREE Executive Guide Download https://crm.leadingchangepartners.com/10-ways-to-lead Connect with Denis: Email: denis@leadingchangepartners.comWebsite: www.LeadingChangePartners.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/denisgianoutsos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denisgianoutsos/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leadershipischanging/ YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DenisGianoutsos

In this episode of the 'Your Message Received' podcast hosted by John Duffin, the guest is Dave Taylor, co-founder of In Front Marketing. The conversation examines the risks associated with launching a business during adverse conditions, highlighting the benefits of starting a business during a recession, and emphasizing the importance of data-driven marketing. Dave discusses his journey from door-to-door sales and Yellow Pages to founding a marketing firm that prioritizes transparency and data analytics. He shares insights into their approach during the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the importance of relationship-building and community involvement. Taylor also talks about the importance of maintaining a work-life balance and imparting life skills to his children through exposure to the business world. The episode highlights the Importance of strategic alliances, genuine client relationships, and ongoing learning in achieving long-term business success, as well as the crucial role of data in communication and authenticity in business operations.Most importantly, I loved the sense of curiosity (a teachable skill) that Dave instills in his work team, his kids, and everyone around him, so that you learn to find your own natural fit wherever you go. To learn more about Dave Taylor, don't hesitate.https://infrontmarketing.ca/https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-taylor-in-front-marketing/00:00 Introduction and Podcast Welcome01:27 Meet Dave Taylor: Co-Founder of In Front Marketing02:50 The Journey to Starting a Business04:31 Early Career and Sales Experience06:11 Transition to Marketing and Digital Advertising17:15 Leadership and Team Dynamics27:46 Challenges and Growth During Recession32:01 Data-Driven Marketing Strategies32:46 Building Long-Term Client Relationships33:15 Navigating Client Loss and Retention34:53 Pandemic Challenges and Adaptations38:03 Making Marketing Fun and Relatable44:35 Strategic Alliances and Community Involvement49:27 Balancing Work and Family Life54:41 Empowering the Next Generation58:58 Final Thoughts and Contact Information

Did your firm “set and forget” its marketing strategy? Today's marketing has evolved beyond Google ads and billboards. Finding new, niche channels can tap new markets. Imagine a firm still relying solely on a Yellow Pages ad, that would be crazy. Times change. Guest Carrolee Moore is the CEO and chief strategist at the Podcast Pitching Society, a firm dedicated to matching experienced experts to influential podcasts hungry for guests. Connect to listeners in your target audience, listeners who don't know (yet) that they want to work with you. And pay you.  Moore helps clients stand out as thought leaders, experts, and trend setters. If you've been listening to The Un-Billable Hour (celebrating its 200th episode right here), you know the value of podcasts. Maybe you've been that captive audience listening on your commute or your morning jog. Learn to become a sought-after guest and to turn those appearances into revenue.  These are tips some traditional marketing agencies don't want you to hear. Don't hide your business or your expertise. You have wisdom to share, so get out there and shout. Reach new audiences that want to hear from you and hire you. Ask us anything for the Community Table. Leave us a question online   Join the next Community Table discussion live! Always the third Thursday of the month at 3pm Eastern

Did your firm “set and forget” its marketing strategy? Today's marketing has evolved beyond Google ads and billboards. Finding new, niche channels can tap new markets. Imagine a firm still relying solely on a Yellow Pages ad, that would be crazy. Times change. Guest Carrolee Moore is the CEO and chief strategist at the Podcast Pitching Society, a firm dedicated to matching experienced experts to influential podcasts hungry for guests. Connect to listeners in your target audience, listeners who don't know (yet) that they want to work with you. And pay you.  Moore helps clients stand out as thought leaders, experts, and trend setters. If you've been listening to The Un-Billable Hour (celebrating its 200th episode right here), you know the value of podcasts. Maybe you've been that captive audience listening on your commute or your morning jog. Learn to become a sought-after guest and to turn those appearances into revenue.  These are tips some traditional marketing agencies don't want you to hear. Don't hide your business or your expertise. You have wisdom to share, so get out there and shout. Reach new audiences that want to hear from you and hire you. Ask us anything for the Community Table. Leave us a question online   Join the next Community Table discussion live! Always the third Thursday of the month at 3pm Eastern Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I'm talking to economic historian Judge Glock, Director of Research at the Manhattan Institute. Judge works on a lot of topics: if you enjoy this episode, I'd encourage you to read some of his work on housing markets and the Environmental Protection Agency. But I cornered him today to talk about civil service reform.Since the 1990s, over 20 red and blue states have made radical changes to how they hire and fire government employees — changes that would be completely outside the Overton window at the federal level. A paper by Judge and Renu Mukherjee lists four reforms made by states like Texas, Florida, and Georgia: * At-will employment for state workers* The elimination of collective bargaining agreements* Giving managers much more discretion to hire* Giving managers much more discretion in how they pay employeesJudge finds decent evidence that the reforms have improved the effectiveness of state governments, and little evidence of the politicization that federal reformers fear. Meanwhile, in Washington, managers can't see applicants' resumes, keyword searches determine who gets hired, and firing a bad performer can take years. But almost none of these ideas are on the table in Washington.Thanks to Harry Fletcher-Wood for his judicious transcript edits and fact-checking, and to Katerina Barton for audio edits.Judge, you have a paper out about lessons for civil service reform from the states. Since the ‘90s, red and blue states have made big changes to how they hire and fire people. Walk through those changes for me.I was born and grew up in Washington DC, heard a lot about civil service throughout my childhood, and began to research it as an adult. But I knew almost nothing about the state civil service systems. When I began working in the states — mainly across the Sunbelt, including in Texas, Kansas, Arizona — I was surprised to learn that their civil service systems were reformed to an absolutely radical extent relative to anything proposed at the federal level, let alone implemented.Starting in the 1990s, several states went to complete at-will employment. That means there were no official civil service protections for any state employees. Some managers were authorized to hire people off the street, just like you could in the private sector. A manager meets someone in a coffee shop, they say, "I'm looking for exactly your role. Why don't you come on board?" At the federal level, with its stultified hiring process, it seemed absurd to even suggest something like that.You had states that got rid of any collective bargaining agreements with their public employee unions. You also had states that did a lot more broadbanding [creating wider pay bands] for employee pay: a lot more discretion for managers to reward or penalize their employees depending on their performance.These major reforms in these states were, from the perspective of DC, incredibly radical. Literally nobody at the federal level proposes anything approximating what has been in place for decades in the states. That should be more commonly known, and should infiltrate the debate on civil service reform in DC.Even though the evidence is not absolutely airtight, on the whole these reforms have been positive. A lot of the evidence is surveys asking managers and operators in these states how they think it works. They've generally been positive. We know these states operate pretty well: Places like Texas, Florida, and Arizona rank well on state capacity metrics in terms of cost of government, time for permitting, and other issues.Finally, to me the most surprising thing is the dog that didn't bark. The argument in the federal government against civil service reform is, “If you do this, we will open up the gates of hell and return to the 19th-century patronage system, where spoilsmen come and go depending on elected officials, and the government is overrun with political appointees who don't care about the civil service.” That has simply not happened. We have very few reports of any concrete examples of politicization at the state level. In surveys, state employees and managers can almost never remember any example of political preferences influencing hiring or firing.One of the surveys you cited asked, “Can you think of a time someone said that they thought that the political preferences were a factor in civil service hiring?” and it was something like 5%.It was in that 5-10% range. I don't think you'd find a dissimilar number of people who would say that even in an official civil service system. Politics is not completely excluded even from a formal civil service system.A few weeks ago, you and I talked to our mutual friend, Don Moynihan, who's a scholar of public administration. He's more skeptical about the evidence that civil service reform would be positive at the federal level.One of your points is, “We don't have strong negative evidence from the states. Productivity didn't crater in states that moved to an at-will employment system.” We do have strong evidence that collective bargaining in the public sector is bad for productivity.What I think you and Don would agree on is that we could use more evidence on the hiring and firing side than the surveys that we have. Is that a fair assessment?Yes, I think that's correct. As you mentioned, the evidence on collective bargaining is pretty close to universal: it raises costs, reduces the efficiency of government, and has few to no positive upsides.On hiring and firing, I mentioned a few studies. There's a 2013 study that looks at HR managers in six states and finds very little evidence of politicization, and managers generally prefer the new system. There was a dissertation that surveyed several employees and managers in civil service reform and non-reform states. Across the board, the at-will employment states said they had better hiring retention, productivity, and so forth. And there's a 2002 study that looked specifically at Texas, Florida, and Georgia after their reforms, and found almost universal approbation inside the civil service itself for these reforms.These are not randomized control trials. But I think that generally positive evidence should point us directionally where we should go on civil service reform. If we loosen restrictions on discipline and firing, decentralize hiring and so forth — we probably get some productivity benefits from it. We can also know, with some amount of confidence, that the sky is not going to fall, which I think is a very important baseline assumption. The civil service system will continue on and probably be fairly close to what it is today, in terms of its political influence, if you have decentralized hiring and at-will employment.As you point out, a lot of these reforms that have happened in 20-odd states since the ‘90s would be totally outside the Overton window at the federal level. Why is it so easy for Georgia to make a bipartisan move in the ‘90s to at-will employment, when you couldn't raise the topic at the federal level?It's a good question. I think in the 1990s, a lot of people thought a combination of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act — which was the Carter-era act that somewhat attempted to do what these states hoped to do in the 1990s — and the Clinton-era Reinventing Government Initiative, would accomplish the same ends. That didn't happen.That was an era when civil service reform was much more bipartisan. In Georgia, it was a Democratic governor, Zell Miller, who pushed it. In a lot of these other states, they got buy-in from both sides. The recent era of state reform took place after the 2010 Republican wave in the states. Since that wave, the reform impetus for civil service has been much more Republican. That has meant it's been a lot harder to get buy-in from both sides at the federal level, which will be necessary to overcome a filibuster.I think people know it has to be very bipartisan. We're just past the point, at least at the moment, where it can be bipartisan at the federal level. But there are areas where there's a fair amount of overlap between the two sides on what needs to happen, at least in the upper reaches of the civil service.It was interesting to me just how bipartisan civil service reform has been at various times. You talked about the Civil Service Reform Act, which passed Congress in 1978. President Carter tells Congress that the civil service system:“Has become a bureaucratic maze which neglects merit, tolerates poor performance, permits abuse of legitimate employee rights, and mires every personnel action in red tape, delay, and confusion.”That's a Democratic president saying that. It's striking to me that the civil service was not the polarized topic that it is today.Absolutely. Carter was a big civil service reformer in Georgia before those even larger 1990s reforms. He campaigned on civil service reform and thought it was essential to the success of his presidency. But I think you are seeing little sprouts of potential bipartisanship today, like the Chance to Compete Act at the end of 2024, and some of the reforms Obama did to the hiring process. There's options for bipartisanship at the federal level, even if it can't approach what the states have done.I want to walk through the federal hiring process. Let's say you're looking to hire in some federal agency — you pick the agency — and I graduated college recently, and I want to go into the civil service. Tell me about trying to hire somebody like me. What's your first step?It's interesting you bring up the college graduate, because that is one recent reform: President Trump put out an executive order trying to counsel agencies to remove the college degree requirement for job postings. This happened in a lot of states first, like Maryland, and that's also been bipartisan. This requirement for a college degree — which was used as a very unfortunate proxy for ability at a lot of these jobs — is now being removed. It's not across the whole federal government. There's still job postings that require higher education degrees, but that's something that's changed.To your question, let's say the Department of Transportation. That's one of the more bipartisan ones, when you look at surveys of federal civil servants. Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, they tend to be a little more Republican. Health and Human Services and some other agencies tend to be pretty Democrat. Transportation is somewhere in the middle.As a manager, you try to craft a job description and posting to go up on the USA Jobs website, which is where all federal job postings go. When they created it back in 1996, that was supposedly a massive reform to federal hiring: this website where people could submit their resumes. Then, people submit their resumes and answer questions about their qualifications for the job.One of the slightly different aspects from the private sector is that those applications usually go to an HR specialist first. The specialist reviews everything and starts to rank people into different categories, based on a lot of weird things. It's supposed to be “knowledge, skills, and abilities” — your KSAs, or competencies. To some extent, this is a big step up from historical practice. You had, frankly, an absurd civil service exam, where people had to fill out questions about, say, General Grant or about US Code Title 42, or whatever it was, and then submit it. Someone rated the civil service exam, and then the top three test-takers were eligible for the job.We have this newer, better system, where we rank on knowledge, skills, and abilities, and HR puts put people into different categories. One of the awkward ways they do this is by merely scanning the resumes and applications for keywords. If it's a computer job, make sure you say the word “computer” somewhere in your resume. Make sure you say “manager” if it's a managerial job.Just to be clear, this is entirely literal. There's a keyword search, and folks who don't pass that search are dinged.Yes. I've always wondered, how common is this? It's sometimes hard to know what happens in the black box in these federal HR departments. I saw an HR official recently say, "If I'm not allowed to do keyword searches, I'm going to take 15 years to overlook all the applications, so I've got to do keyword searches." If they don't have the keywords, into the circular file it goes, as they used to say: into the garbage can.Then they start ranking people on their abilities into, often, three different categories. That is also very literal. If you put in the little word bubble, "I am an exceptional manager," you get pushed on into the next level of the competition. If you say, "I'm pretty good, but I'm not the best," into the circular file you go.I've gotten jaded about this, but it really is shocking. We ask candidates for a self-assessment, and if they just rank themselves 10/10 on everything, no matter how ludicrous, that improves their odds of being hired.That's going to immensely improve your odds. Similar to the keyword search, there's been pushback on this in recent years, and I'm definitely not going to say it's universal anymore. It's rarer than it used to be. But it's still a very common process.The historical civil service system used to operate on a rule of three. In places like New York, it still operates like that. The top three candidates on the evaluation system get presented to the manager, and the manager has to approve one of them for the position.Thanks partially to reforms by the Obama administration in 2010, they have this category rating system where the best qualified or the very qualified get put into a big bucket together [instead of only including the top three]. Those are the people that the person doing the hiring gets to see, evaluate, and decide who he wants to hire.There are some restrictions on that. If a veteran outranks everybody else, you've got to pick the veteran [typically known as Veterans' Preference]. That was an issue in some of the state civil service reforms, too. The states said, “We're just going to encourage a veterans' preference. We don't need a formalized system to say they get X number of points and have to be in Y category. We're just going to say, ‘Try to hire veterans.'” That's possible without the formal system, despite what some opponents of reform may claim.One of the particular problems here is just the nature of the people doing the hiring. Sometimes you just need good managers to encourage HR departments to look at a broader set of qualifications. But one of the bigger problems is that they keep the HR evaluation system divorced from the manager who is doing the hiring. David Shulkin, who was the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), wrote a great book, It Shouldn't Be This Hard to Serve Your Country. He was a healthcare exec, and the VA is mainly a healthcare agency. He would tell people, "You should work for me," they would send their applications into the HR void, and he'd never see them again. They would get blocked at some point in this HR evaluation process, and he'd be sent people with no healthcare experience, because for whatever reason they did well in the ranking.One of the very base-level reforms should be, “How can we more clearly integrate the hiring manager with the evaluation process?” To some extent, the bipartisan Chance to Compete Act tries to do this. They said, “You should have subject matter experts who are part of crafting the description of the job, are part of evaluating, and so forth.” But there's still a long road to go.Does that firewall — where the person who wants to hire doesn't get to look at the process until the end — exist originally because of concerns about cronyism?One of the interesting things about the civil service is its raison d'être — its reason for being — was supposedly a single, clear purpose: to prevent politicized hiring and patronage. That goes back to the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883. But it's always been a little strange that you have all of these very complex rules about every step of the process — from hiring to firing to promotion, and everything in between — to prevent political influence. We could just focus on preventing political influence, and not regulate every step of the process on the off-chance that without a clear regulation, political influence could creep in. This division [between hiring manager and applicants] is part of that general concern. There are areas where I've heard HR specialists say, "We declare that a manager is a subject matter expert, and we bring them into the process early on, we can do that." But still the division is pretty stark, and it's based on this excessive concern about patronage.One point you flag is that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which is the body that thinks about personnel in the federal government, has a 300-page regulatory document for agencies on how you have to hire. There's a remarkable amount of process.Yes, but even that is a big change from the Federal Personnel Manual, which was the 10,000-page document that we shredded in the 1990s. In the ‘90s, OPM gave the agencies what's called “delegated examining authorities.” This says, “You, agency, have power to decide who to hire, we're not going to do the central supervision anymore. But, but, but: here's the 300-page document that dictates exactly how you have to carry out that hiring.”So we have some decentralization, allowing managers more authority to control their own departments. But this two-level oversight — a local HR department that's ultimately being overseen by the OPM — also leads to a lot of slip ‘twixt cup and lip, in terms of how something gets implemented. If you're in the agency and you're concerned about the OPM overseeing your process, you're likely to be much more careful than you would like to be. “Yes, it's delegated to me, but ultimately, I know I have to answer to OPM about this process. I'm just going to color within the lines.”I often cite Texas, which has no central HR office. Each agency decides how it wants to hire. In a lot of these reform states, if there is a central personnel office, it's an information clearinghouse or reservoir of models. “You can use us, the central HR office, as a resource if you want us to help you post the job, evaluate it, or help manage your processes, but you don't have to.” That's the goal we should be striving for in a lot of the federal reforms. Just make OPM a resource for the managers in the individual departments to do their thing or go independent.Let's say I somehow get through the hiring process. You offer me a job at the Department of Transportation. What are you paying me?This is one of the more stultified aspects of the federal civil service system. OPM has another multi-hundred-page handbook called the Handbook of Occupational Groups and Families. Inside that, you've got 49 different “groups and families,” like “Clerical occupations.” Inside those 49 groups are a series of jobs, sometimes dozens, like “Computer Operator.” Inside those, they have independent documents — often themselves dozens of pages long — detailing classes of positions. Then you as a manager have to evaluate these nine factors, which can each give points to each position, which decides how you get slotted into this weird Government Schedule (GS) system [the federal payscale].Again, this is actually an improvement. Before, you used to have the Civil Service Commission, which went around staring very closely at someone over their typewriter and saying, "No, I think you should be a GS-12, not a GS-11, because someone over in the Department of Defense who does your same job is a GS-12." Now this is delegated to agencies, but again, the agencies have to listen to the OPM on how to classify and set their jobs into this 15-stage GS-classification system, each stage of which has 10 steps which determine your pay, and those steps are determined mainly by your seniority. It's a formalized step-by-step system, overwhelmingly based on just how long you've sat at your desk.Let's be optimistic about my performance as a civil servant. Say that over my first three years, I'm just hitting it out of the park. Can you give me a raise? What can you do to keep me in my role?Not too much. For most people, the within-step increases — those 10 steps inside each GS-level — is just set by seniority. Now there are all these quality step increases you can get, but they're very rare and they have to be documented. So you could hypothetically pay someone more, but it's going to be tough. In general, the managers just prefer to stick to seniority, because not sticking to it garners a lot of complaints. Like so much else, the goal is, "We don't want someone rewarding an official because they happen to share their political preferences." The result of that concern is basically nobody can get rewarded at all, which is very unfortunate.We do have examples in state and federal government of what's known as broadbanding, where you have very broad pay scales, and the manager can decide where to slot someone. Say you're a computer operator, which can mean someone who knows what an Excel spreadsheet is, or someone who's programming the most advanced AI systems. As a manager in South Carolina or Florida, you have a lot of discretion to say, "I can set you 50% above the market rate of what this job technically would go for, if I think you're doing a great job."That's very rare at the federal level. They've done broadbanding at the Government Accountability Office, the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The China Lake Experiment out in California gave managers a lot more discretion to reward scientists. But that's definitely the exception. In general, it's a step-wise, seniority-based system.What if you want to bring me into the Senior Executive Service (SES)? Theoretically, that sits at the top of the General Service scale. Can't you bump me up in there and pay me what you owe me?I could hypothetically bring you in as a senior executive servant. The SES was created in the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act. The idea was, “We're going to have this elite cadre of about 8,000 individuals at the top of the federal government, whose employment will be higher-risk and higher-reward. They might be fired, and we're going to give them higher pay to compensate for that.”Almost immediately, that did not work out. Congress was outraged at the higher pay given to the top officials and capped it. Ever since, how much the SES can get paid has been tightly controlled. As in most of the rest of the federal government, where they establish these performance pay incentives or bonuses — which do exist — they spread them like peanut butter over the whole service. To forestall complaints, everyone gets a little bit every two or three years.That's basically what happened to the SES. Their annual pay is capped at the vice president's salary, which is a cap for a lot of people in the federal government. For most of your GS and other executive scales, the cap is Congress's salary. [NB: This is no longer exactly true, since Congress froze its own salaries in 2009. The cap for GS (currently about $195k) is now above congressional salaries ($174k).]One of the big problems with pay in the federal government is pay compression. Across civil service systems, the highest-skilled people tend to be paid much less than the private sector, and the lowest-skilled people tend to get paid much more. The political science reason for that is pretty simple: the median voter in America still decides what seems reasonable. To the median voter, the average salary of a janitor looks low, and the average salary of a scientist looks way too high. Hence this tendency to pay compression. Your average federal employee is probably overpaid relative to the private sector, because the lowest-skilled employees are paid up to 40% higher than the private sector equivalent. The highest-paid employees, the post-graduate skilled professionals, are paid less. That makes it hard to recruit the top performers, but it also swells the wage budget in a way that makes it difficult to talk about reform.There's a lot of interest in this administration in making it easier to recruit talent and get rid of under-performers. There have been aggressive pushes to limit collective bargaining in the public sector. That should theoretically make it easier to recruit, but it also increases the precariousness of civil service roles. We've seen huge firings in the civil service over the last six months.Classically, the explicit trade-off of working in the federal government was, “Your pay is going to be capped, but you have this job for life. It's impossible to get rid of you.” You trade some lifetime earnings for stability. In a world where the stability is gone, but pay is still capped, isn't the net effect to drive talent away from the civil service?I think it's a concern now. On one level it should be ameliorated, because those who are most concerned with stability of employment do tend to be lower performers. If you have people who are leaving the federal service because all they want is stability, and they're not getting that anymore, that may not be a net loss. As someone who came out of academia and knows the wonder of effective lifetime annuities, there can be very high performers who like that stability who therefore take a lower salary. Without the ability to bump that pay up more, it's going to be an issue.I do know that, internally, the Trump administration has made some signs they're open to reforms in the top tiers of the SES and other parts of the federal government. They would be willing to have people get paid more at that level to compensate for the increased risks since the Trump administration came in. But when you look at the reductions in force (RIFs) that have happened under Trump, they are overwhelmingly among probationary employees, the lower-level employees.With some exceptions. If you've been promoted recently, you can get reclassified as probationary, so some high-performers got lumped in.Absolutely. The issue has been exacerbated precisely because the RIF regulations that are in place have made the firings particularly damaging. If you had a more streamlined RIF system — which they do have in many states, where seniority is not the main determinant of who gets laid off — these RIFs could be removing the lower-performing civil servants and keeping the higher-performing ones, and giving them some amount of confidence in their tenure.Unfortunately, the combination of large-scale removals with the existing RIF regs, which are very stringent, has demoralized some of the upper levels of the federal government. I share that concern. But I might add, it is interesting, if you look at the federal government's own figures on the total civil service workforce, they have gone down significantly since Trump came in office, but I think less than 100,000 still, in the most recent numbers that I've seen. I'm not sure how much to trust those, versus some of these other numbers where people have said 150,000, 200,000.Whether the Trump administration or a future administration can remove large numbers of people from the civil service should be somewhat divorced from the general conversation on civil service reform. The main debate about whether or not Trump can do this centers around how much power the appropriators in Congress have to determine the total amount of spending in particular agencies on their workforce. It does not depend necessarily on, "If we're going to remove people — whether for general layoffs, or reductions in force, or because of particular performance issues — how can we go about doing that?" My last-ditch hope to maintain a bipartisan possibility of civil service reform is to bracket, “How much power does the president have to remove or limit the workforce in general?” from “How can he go about hiring and firing, et cetera?”I think making it easier for the president to identify and remove poor performers is a tool that any future administration would like to have.We had this conversation sparked again with the firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner. But that was a position Congress set up to be appointed by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and removable by the President. It's a separate issue from civil service at large. Everyone said, “We want the president to be able to hire and fire the commissioner.” Maybe firing the commissioner was a bad decision, but that's the situation today.Attentive listeners to Statecraft know I'm pretty critical, like you are, of the regulations that say you have to go in order of seniority. In mass layoffs, you're required to fire a lot of the young, talented people.But let's talk about individual firings. I've been a terrible civil servant, a nightmarish employee from day one. You want to discipline, remove, suspend, or fire me. What are your options?Anybody who has worked in the civil service knows it's hard to fire bad performers. Whatever their political valence, whatever they feel about the civil service system, they have horror stories about a person who just couldn't be removed.In the early 2010s, a spate of stories came out about air traffic controllers sleeping on the job. Then-transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, made a big public announcement: "I'm going to fire these three guys." After these big announcements, it turned out he was only able to remove one of them. One retired, and another had their firing reduced to a suspension.You had another horrific story where a man was joking on the phone with friends when a plane crashed into a helicopter and killed nine people over the Hudson River. National outcry. They said, "We're going to fire this guy." In the end, after going through the process, he only got a suspension. Everyone agrees it's too hard.The basic story is, you have two ways to fire someone. Chapter 75, the old way, is often considered the realm of misconduct: You've stolen something from the office, punched your colleague in the face during a dispute about the coffee, something illegal or just straight-out wrong. We get you under Chapter 75.The 1978 Civil Service Reform Act added Chapter 43, which is supposed to be the performance-based system to remove someone. As with so much of that Civil Service Reform Act, the people who passed it thought this might be the beginning of an entirely different system.In the end, lots of federal managers say there's not a huge difference between the two. Some use 75, some use 43. If you use 43, you have to document very clearly what the person did wrong. You have to put them on a performance improvement plan. If they failed a performance improvement plan after a certain amount of time, they can respond to any claims about what they did wrong. Then, they can take that process up to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and claim that they were incorrectly fired, or that the processes weren't carried out appropriately. Then, if they want to, they can say, “Nah, I don't like the order I got,” and take it up to federal courts and complain there. Right now, the MSPB doesn't have a full quorum, which is complicating some of the recent removal disputes.You have this incredibly difficult process, unlike the private sector, where your boss looks at you and says, "I don't like how you're giving me the stink-eye today. Out you go." One could say that's good or bad, but, on the whole, I think the model should be closer to the private sector. We should trust managers to do their job without excessive oversight and process. That's clearly about as far from the realm of possibility as the current system, under which the estimate is 6-12 months to fire a very bad performer. The number of people who win at the Merit Systems Protection Board is still 20-30%.This goes into another issue, which is unionization. If you're part of a collective bargaining agreement — most of the regular federal civil service is — first, you have to go with this independent, union-based arbitration and grievance procedure. You're about 50/50 to win on those if your boss tries to remove you.So if I'm in the union, we go through that arbitration grievance system. If you win and I'm fired, I can take it to the Merit Systems Protection Board. If you win again, I can still take it to the federal courts.You can file different sorts of claims at each part. On Chapter 43, the MSPB is supposed to be about the process, not the evidence, and you just have to show it was followed. On 75, the manager has to show by preponderance of the evidence that the employee is harming the agency. Then there are different standards for what you take to the courts, and different standards according to each collective bargaining agreement for the grievance procedure when someone is disciplined. It's a very complicated, abstruse, and procedure-heavy process that makes it very difficult to remove people, which is why the involuntary separation rate at the federal government and most state governments is many multiples lower than the private sector.So, you would love to get me off your team because I'm abysmal. But you have no stomach for going through this whole process and I'm going to fight it. I'm ornery and contrarian and will drag this fight out. In practice, what do managers in the federal government do with their poor performers?I always heard about this growing up. There's the windowless office in the basement without a phone, or now an internet connection. You place someone down there, hope they get the message, and sooner or later they leave. But for plenty of people in America, that's the dream job. You just get to sit and nobody bothers you for eight hours. You punch in at 9 and punch out at 5, and that's your day. "Great. I'll collect that salary for another 10 years." But generally you just try to make life unpleasant for that person.Public sector collective bargaining in the US is new. I tend to think of it as just how the civil service works. But until about 50 years ago, there was no collective bargaining in the public sector.At the state level, it started with Wisconsin at the end of the 1950s. There were famous local government reforms beginning with the Little Wagner Act [signed in 1958] in New York City. Senator Robert Wagner had created the National Labor Relations Board. His son Robert F. Wagner Jr., mayor of New York, created the first US collective bargaining system at the local level in the ‘60s. In ‘62, John F. Kennedy issued an executive order which said, "We're going to deal officially with public sector unions,” but it was all informal and non-statutory.It wasn't until Title VII of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act that unions had a formal, statutory role in our federal service system. This is shockingly new. To some extent, that was the great loss to many civil service reformers in ‘78. They wanted to get through a lot of these other big reforms about hiring and firing, but they gave up on the unions to try to get those. Some people think that exception swallowed the rest of the rules. The union power that was garnered in ‘78 overcame the other reforms people hoped to accomplish. Soon, you had the majority of the federal workforce subject to collective bargaining.But that's changing now too. Part of that Civil Service Reform Act said, “If your position is in a national security-related position, the president can determine it's not subject to collective bargaining.” Trump and the OPM have basically said, “Most positions in the federal government are national security-related, and therefore we're going to declare them off-limits to collective bargaining.” Some people say that sounds absurd. But 60% of the civilian civil service workforce is the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Homeland Security. I am not someone who tries to go too easy on this crowd. I think there's a heck of a lot that needs to be reformed. But it's also worth remembering that the majority of the civil service workforce are in these three agencies that Republicans tend to like a lot.Now, whether people like Veterans Affairs is more of an open question. We have some particular laws there about opening up processes after the scandals in the 2010s about waiting lists and hospitals. You had veterans hospitals saying, "We're meeting these standards for getting veterans in the door for these waiting lists." But they were straight-up lying about those standards. Many people who were on these lists waiting for months to see a doctor died in the interim, some from causes that could have been treated had they seen a VA doctor. That led to Congress doing big reforms in the VA in 2014 and 2017, precisely because everyone realized this is a problem.So, Trump has put out these executive orders stopping collective bargaining in all of these agencies that touch national security. Some of those, like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), seem like a tough sell. I guess that, if you want to dig a mine and the Chinese are trying to dig their own mine and we want the mine to go quickly without the EPA pettifogging it, maybe. But the core ones are pretty solid. So far the courts have upheld the executive order to go in place. So collective bargaining there could be reformed.But in the rest of the government, there are these very extreme, long collective bargaining agreements between agencies and their unions. I've hit on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as one that's had pretty extensive bargaining with its union. When we created the TSA to supervise airport security, a lot of people said, "We need a crème de la crème to supervise airports after 9/11. We want to keep this out of union hands, because we know unions are going to make it difficult to move people around." The Obama administration said, "Nope, we're going to negotiate with the union." Now you have these huge negotiations with the unions about parking spots, hours of employment, uniforms, and everything under the sun. That makes it hard for managers in the TSA to decide when people should go where or what they should do.One thing we've talked about on Statecraft in past episodes — for instance, with John Kamensky, who was a pivotal figure in the Clinton-Gore reforms — was this relationship between government employees and “Beltway Bandits”: the contractors who do jobs you might think of as civil service jobs. One critique of that ‘90s Clinton-Gore push, “Reinventing Government,” was that although they shrank the size of the civil service on paper, the number of contractors employed by the federal government ballooned to fill that void. They did not meaningfully reduce the total number of people being paid by the federal government. Talk to me about the relationship between the civil service reform that you'd like to see and this army of folks who are not formally employees.Every government service is a combination of public employees and inputs, and private employees and inputs. There's never a single thing the government does — federal, state, or local — that doesn't involve inputs from the private sector. That could be as simple as the uniforms for the janitors. Even if you have a publicly employed janitor, who buys the mop? You're not manufacturing the mops.I understand the critique that the excessive focus on full-time employees in the 1990s led to contracting out some positions that could be done directly by the government. But I think that misses how much of the government can and should be contracted out. The basic Office of Management and Budget (OMB) statute [OMB Circular No. A-76] defining what is an essential government duty should still be the dividing line. What does the government have to do, because that is the public overseeing a process? Versus, what can the private sector just do itself?I always cite Stephen Goldsmith, the old mayor of Indianapolis. He proposed what he called the Yellow Pages test. If you open the Yellow Pages [phone directory] and three businesses do that business, the government should not be in that business. There's three garbage haulers out there. Instead of having a formal government garbage-hauling department, just contract out the garbage.With the internet, you should have a lot more opportunities to contract stuff out. I think that is generally good, and we should not have the federal government going about a lot of the day-to-day procedural things that don't require public input. What a lot of people didn't recognize is how much pressure that's going to put on government contracting officers at the federal level. Last time I checked there were 40,000 contracting officers. They have a lot of power. In the most recent year for which we have data, there were $750 billion in federal contracts. This is a substantial part of our economy. If you total state and local, we're talking almost 10% of our whole economy goes through government contracts. This is mind-boggling. In the public policy world, we should all be spending about 10% of our time thinking about contracting.One of the things I think everyone recognized is that contractors should have more authority. Some of the reform that happened with people like [Steven] Kelman — who was the Office of Federal Procurement Policy head in the ‘90s under Clinton — was, "We need to give these people more authority to just take a credit card and go buy a sheaf of paper if that's what they need. And we need more authority to get contract bids out appropriately.”The same message that animates civil service reform should animate these contracting discussions. The goal should be setting clear goals that you want — for either a civil servant or a contractor — and then giving that person the discretion to meet them. If you make the civil service more stultified, or make pay compression more extreme, you're going to have to contract more stuff out.People talk about the General Schedule [pay scale], but we haven't talked about the Federal Wage Schedule system at all, which is the blue-collar system that encompasses about 200,000 federal employees. Pay compression means those guys get paid really well. That means some managers rightfully think, "I'd like to have full-time supervision over some role, but I would rather contract it out, because I can get it a heck of a lot cheaper."There's a continuous relationship: If we make the civil service more stultified, we're going to push contracting out into more areas where maybe it wouldn't be appropriate. But a lot of things are always going to be appropriate to contract out. That means we need to give contracting officers and the people overseeing contracts a lot of discretion to carry out their missions, and not a lot of oversight from the Government Accountability Office or the courts about their bids, just like we shouldn't give OPM excess input into the civil service hiring process.This is a theme I keep harping on, on Statecraft. It's counterintuitive from a reformer's perspective, but it's true: if you want these processes to function better, you're going to have to stop nitpicking. You're going to have to ease up on the throttle and let people make their own decisions, even when sometimes you're not going to agree with them.This is a tension that's obviously happening in this administration. You've seen some clear interest in decentralization, and you've seen some centralization. In both the contract and the civil service sphere, the goal for the central agencies should be giving as many options as possible to the local managers, making sure they don't go extremely off the rails, but then giving those local managers and contracting officials the ability to make their own choices. The General Services Administration (GSA) under this administration is doing a lot of government-wide acquisition contracts. “We establish a contract for the whole government in the GSA. Usually you, the local manager, are not required to use that contract if you want computer services or whatever, but it's an option for you.”OPM should take a similar role. "Here's the system we have set up. You can take that and use it as you want. It's here for you, but it doesn't have to be used, because you might have some very particular hiring decisions to make.” Just like there shouldn't be one contracting decision that decides how we buy both a sheaf of computer paper and an aircraft carrier, there shouldn't be one hiring and firing process for a janitor and a nuclear physicist. That can't be a centralized process, because the very nature of human life is that there's an infinitude of possibilities that you need to allow for, and that means some amount of decentralization.I had an argument online recently about New York City's “buy local” requirement for certain procurement contracts. When they want to build these big public toilets in New York City, they have to source all the toilet parts from within the state, even if they're $200,000 cheaper in Portland, Oregon.I think it's crazy to ask procurement and contracting to solve all your policy problems. Procurement can't be about keeping a healthy local toilet parts industry. You just need to procure the toilet.This is another area where you see similar overlap in some of the civil service and contracting issues. A lot of cities have residency requirements for many of their positions. If you work for the city, you have to live inside the city. In New York, that means you've got a lot of police officers living on Staten Island, or right on the line of the north side of the Bronx, where they're inches away from Westchester. That drives up costs, and limits your population of potential employees.One of the most amazing things to me about the Biden Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was that it encouraged contracting officers to use residency requirements: “You should try to localize your hiring and contracting into certain areas.” On a national level, that cancels out. If both Wyoming and Wisconsin use residency requirements, the net effect is not more people hired from one of those states! So often, people expect the civil service and contracting to solve all of our ills and to point the way forward for the rest of the economy on discrimination, hiring, pay, et cetera. That just leads to, by definition, government being a lot more expensive than the private sector.Over the next three and a half years, what would you like to see the administration do on civil service reform that they haven't already taken up?I think some of the broad-scale layoffs, which seem to be slowing down, were counterproductive. I do think that their ability to achieve their ends was limited by the nature of the reduction-in-force regulations, which made them more counterproductive than they had to be. That's the situation they inherited. But that didn't mean you had to lay off a lot of people without considering the particular jobs they were doing now.And hiring quite a few of them back.Yeah. There are also debates obviously, within the administration, between DOGE and Russ Vought [director of the OMB] and some others on this. Some things, like the Schedule Policy/Career — which is the revival of Schedule F in the first Trump administration — are largely a step in the right direction. Counter to some of the critics, it says, “You can remove someone if they're in a policymaking position, just like if they were completely at-will. But you still have to hire from the typical civil service system.” So, for those concerned about politicization, that doesn't undermine that, because they can't just pick someone from the party system to put in there. I think that's good.They recently had a suitability requirement rule that I think moved in the right direction. That says, “If someone's not suitable for the workforce, there are other ways to remove them besides the typical procedures.” The ideal system is going to require some congressional input: it's to have a decentralization of hiring authority to individual managers. Which means the OPM — now under Scott Kupor, who has finally been confirmed — saying, "The OPM is here to assist you, federal managers. Make sure you stay within the broad lanes of what the administration's trying to accomplish. But once we give you your general goals, we're going to trust you to do that, including hiring.”I've mentioned it a few times, but part of the Chance to Compete Act — which was mentioned in one of Trump's Day One executive orders, people forget about this — was saying, “Implement the Chance to Compete Act to the maximum extent of the law.” Bring more subject-matter expertise into the hiring process, allow more discretion for managers and input into the hiring process. I think carrying that bipartisan reform out is going to be a big step, but it's going to take a lot more work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub

This is going to come as a surprise to my friends who know how technically challenged I am when it comes to building things, but over the years, my sons and I have built several houses together. Don't expect to see a pickup truck that says "Hutchcraft and Sons" on the side. No, and don't look for us in the Yellow Pages. Actually, our houses haven't fared too well. It wasn't because we didn't work hard on them - we did. And it wasn't because they didn't look good; actually they were pretty good. And it wasn't because they weren't big; we did some pretty good sized ones. But every house we built literally collapsed within hours of the time we finished building them. It might have had something to do with the material we built our houses from - sand on a beach next to the ocean. I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Sandcastle Syndrome." Jesus is involved in an incredible building project, and what He's building will never collapse. It will never be washed away by any tide or any storm. And He's inviting you to join Him in building it. Of course, you'll have to get out of the sandcastle business first. Jesus describes His building project in our word for today from the Word of God in Matthew 16:18. Jesus says, "I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." That's some powerful words. There's no doubt about what Jesus is building. He's building His church. Are you? Well, what are you building? We're all working on some structure. For you, it's wherever your dreams are focused, what you put a lot of your money into, what you put most of your time into. It's a subject of a lot of your daily conversations. Maybe you're building a reputation for yourself, or financial security for yourself, or a romantic relationship, a business, your income, a comfortable retirement. You may even be building a religious empire for yourself in Christian work. Problem: it's all sandcastles. Just ask my boys. A sandcastle is something you put a lot into that just can't last. Jesus is inviting us to focus what we have on something that will last forever - building His church. Even our Christian work could be building our own kingdom which won't last. You see, that church is not about an actual physical building. It's about reaching the lost people He died for; for adding them to His family. It's about building up the lives of believers. Are those the causes that get you excited, that you're passionate about? Someone has wisely said, "In order to pray, 'Thy Kingdom come,' you first have to pray, 'My kingdom go.'" Maybe it's time to stand back and take a candid look at your motives, at your great obsession, and at your top priorities. Is it getting lost and dying people to Jesus? Or has Jesus' building program taken a back seat to something you're building, something out of sand, something that a strong tide or a big storm can wash away? Jesus said "the gates of hell" itself would not prevail against what He is building. Look, you've got maybe at best 70-or-so years on this planet. Don't waste those years on building something that isn't going to last. Jesus is building His church. What are you building?

Episode #381: Vicky Bowman, the former UK Ambassador to Myanmar and past director of the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB), explains what sanctions are meant to do - prevent harm and promote reform, rather than punish - and how Myanmar's “opaque information ecosystem” makes this challenging.She recalls that in the early 2000s, compiling sanctions lists was difficult, with EU diplomats sometimes relying on public donation plaques or even the Yellow Pages to identify names of people and companies. While noting that identification and evidence have improved since then, and that stronger coordination now exists among allies in shaping their sanctions policies, she emphasizes the continued importance of due process for those targetted, including to petition for their removal. Concerning the recent delistings that stirred public outrage, she notes that the original reasoning that put three of the delisted subjects on the U.S. list had not been considered equally compelling by the U.K. or E.U.Sanctions, she says, take different forms: there are targetted measures such as arms embargoes and “dual-use” controls on goods with civilian and military uses, as well as measures against individuals like asset freezes and visa bans. There are also more general sanctions and measures impacting the wider economy, such as removal of tariff preferences and suspension of development aid.Bowman also details the possible “spillover” harms of sanctions. At the macro level, sanctions can lead companies to exit, and impact jobs and the wider economy. At the micro level, they can impact jobs in, and services provided by, sanctioned firms. Sanctions on named individuals can also cause collateral damage to completely unrelated individuals due to confusion about Myanmar's naming culture.Concerning the practice of sanctioning family members of regime figures, especially adult children, and the desire for punishment, rather than prevention, Bowman reflects that it could be considered to resemble the collective punishment practices used by the Nazis, known as Sippenhaft. She questions whether Western democracies should “sink to the same level” or take the “when they go low, we go high” approach of Michelle Obama.Bowman also reflects on the future for responsible business in Myanmar. She notes that the desire for ‘bottom-up federalism' should avoid fragmenting the laws and institutions needed to drive responsible business practices including well-enforced human rights based laws, transparent procurement processes, functioning courts, and effective anti-corruption bodies.

More companies will fail to repay debt as funding costs stay high, according to Mudrick Capital Management. “What we’re getting is just elevated defaults every year, we think for the next five to seven years,” Jason Mudrick, the distressed debt fund’s founder and chief investment officer, tells Bloomberg News’ Irene Garcia Perez and Bloomberg Intelligence’s Mike Holland in the latest Credit Edge podcast. “The catalyst today is not an economic downturn — it’s this normalization of interest rates,” says Mudrick. They also discuss the Tropicana, Yellow Pages and Shutterfly debt restructurings, as well as flying taxi maker Vertical Aerospace.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, I am joined by Elise Balsillie for a special ‘double-header' release. Elise Balsillie is the head of Thryv Australia and New Zealand Check them out here www.thryv.com). Thryv (formerly known as Yellow Pages in NZ) has been supporting the small business economy in New Zealand by helping small business owners navigate the complexities of marketing and growing their business. Elise is an ardent advocate for the small business community and has a focus on helping small business owners digitise their operations. This is a space in which small changes can make a significant difference in the lives of business owners. On side A of the podcast Elise talks with me about the small business digital divide in New Zealand noting that a whopping 50% of NZ businesses are not as digitally enabled as they could be and how this can be bridged. Then on side B we continue the discussion by delving into how small business can build business resilience through smarter technology. There should be a number of nuggets in this podcast for small business owners.Is there a topic you want covered or a person you want to hear from? You can contact us through the Godfreys Law website, or you can message the Godfreys Law Facebook page. We'd like to hear from you, and any ideas you have about making the podcast better. The Real Solutions Business Podcast is presented by Godfreys Law - A Christchurch based law firm, serving Canterbury for over 140 years.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Are you stuck chasing new clients while ignoring the goldmine in your past customer list? Does your agency feast on projects but starve for predictable revenue? Today's featured guest knows what it's like to hit a growth ceiling and being tired of the one-and-done client hamster wheel. He shares how he pivoted his agency after becoming a HubSpot partner, why he turned to project-based work after customer habits changed following the pandemic, and how he got out of the dreaded “no man's land”. Eric Baum is the CEO and founder of Bluleadz, a HubSpot Onboarding and Implementation Agency dedicated to transforming the way companies market, sell, and service their customers through the power of the HubSpot platform. He'll discuss his cash flow challenges, pricing mistakes that almost tanked the business, and how EOS helped him escape “no man's land.” If you're stuck in the fulfillment hamster wheel or scaling past $5M feels like pushing a boulder uphill... listen up. In this episode, we'll discuss: Reinventing his agency as a HubSpot partner. The real scaling struggle: cash flow. Why project-based doesn't mean profitless. Strategic partnerships are the future. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. Accidental Founder, Intentional CEO Back in the Yellow Pages era, Eric was running two service-based franchises and needed a better way to market them. He brought marketing in-house for PPC, SEO, web dev, and that hire didn't just turn things around. It turned into a new business. Fast-forward a few months, and other franchise owners across the country started asking for help. Eric spun that in-house team into an agency, and had 50 clients out of the gate. As many owners before have admitted to, Eric started out charging way too low—$250 to $500/month. “I don't know how I didn't go broke right out of the gate,” he laughs. And if you've ever undercharged in the early days, you'll feel that one deep in your soul. Reinventing the Agency (and Himself) Around HubSpot The turning point came when Eric discovered HubSpot and pivoted Bluleadz to become a certified partner. That's when the “real” agency began, as he started to study the industry and figure out what he had to do to be profitable, take care of his team, and do it without necessarily doing all the sales work all the time. From there, Eric leaned into strategy, profitability, and systems. He stopped trying to be the everything guy and started building an agency that didn't need him in the trenches every day. Fifteen years later, his agency isn't just thriving. It's structured, profitable, and on track to hit 8 figures. Life in “No Man's Land” – The $1M to $5M Plateau After fifteen years in the industry and getting closer to the eight-figure mark, one of the things that most surprised Eric was getting stuck in the ugly middle: the zone between $1M and $5M where a lot of agency dreams go to die. Many call it “no man's land,” and if you've been there, you know the pain. “It was up, down, up, down,” he says. “I'd grow, then lose key employees. Revenue would spike, then tank. I kept asking, ‘What am I doing wrong?'” The answer: a lack of structure. So about nine years ago, Eric implemented EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System). That gave his agency the foundation it needed—vision, accountability, and a cadence to scale. It didn't fix everything overnight, but it got the business out of reaction mode and into growth mode. The Real Scaling Struggle: Cash Flow Even with all that success, Eric's biggest constraint today isn't clients or talent. It's cash. In the agency world, sometimes you can grow so fast that you can actually outpace your ability to fund it. As Eric explains, “Receivables stack up. You can't hire, build, or invest without the cash reserves in place to hit the down terms.” For instance, just this year his agency was down 20% compared to last year because of all the uncertainty for businesses. Sound familiar? So far, Eric's solution has been airtight payment terms. They moved away from waiting on client deliverables and toward milestone-based billing. They typically charge: 50% upfront 25% after month one 25% at month two or fixed date Not based on deliverables. Based on time. Why? Because waiting on clients kills momentum (and your margin). “We used to wait months to get that final 50%. Now we're often 100% paid before a project is even done.” Moral of the story? Set clear terms and stop letting clients hold your agency hostage. Project-Based Doesn't Mean Profitless If You Structure It Right Five years ago, 85% of Bluleadz's revenue came from retainers. Then COVID hit. Buying behavior shifted fast. Clients wanted results without long-term commitments. So Eric pivoted hard into project work—today, 80–85% of their revenue comes from one-off HubSpot onboarding and implementation projects. That means 50–75 new customers per month, each on 30 to 90-day timelines. The lesson: project-based doesn't have to mean chaos - if you systemize delivery and payment. However, Eric does admit he and his team had been failing to recapture clients for a second or third project. “We were just focused on getting new clients through the door.” Instead of nurturing clients post-delivery, they handed off the project and moved on. Meanwhile, past clients drifted—only to come back a year or two later in total chaos saying, “We lost our HubSpot guy. Can you help?” The opportunity cost was massive. They are currently working on recapturing these relationships. By reselling past clients, his agency could double or triple revenue in a year. The Triple-Team Model: Sales, CSM, Implementation In their efforts to start creating more lifetime value for customers, Eric's agency introduced Customer Success Managers (CSMs)—not just to check in, but to hunt for value. CSMs dig into each client's needs post-project, surface upsell or cross-sell opportunities, and feed them back to the sales team. Now they're farming the base, increasing LTV, and stacking wins without chasing cold leads. This third new role adds a new layer to his team's structure, which he now breaks down as: Salespeople close net-new deals and join key milestone calls.           Implementation Specialists own delivery and are the client's main point of contact. CSMs sit above delivery, watching for success gaps, retention issues, and upsell opportunities. “Salespeople are hunters, not farmers. Trying to make them farm didn't work. So we changed the model.” This layered structure gives clients clarity, keeps teams focused, and ensures no growth opportunity slips through the cracks. Strategic Partnerships Are the Future Another key reason Bluleadz is scaling so quickly is partnerships. They're one of HubSpot's top onboarding partners, and at one point this partnership drove most of his agency's net new leads. More recently, however, as they start to expand their efforts to engage past clients, only 40% of their leads come from HubSpot, while 30% comes from existing customers, and another 30% from their inbound marketing efforts, other strategic partners, and referrals. This makes for a more balanced pipeline: “Inbound, outbound, and strategic partnerships”. Those are the three pillars in the Playbook. You've got ‘em dialed in. As for Eric, he's all in on strategic partnerships, which he considers to be the way of the future. The One Thing Eric Would Do Differently If he could go back and give his younger self advice on agency ownership, Eric would say “Let go faster.” He held on too long to sales, finance, client services… all of it. And every time he finally let go, the agency grew again. Today, Eric has zero departmental responsibilities. His job is vision, strategy, and leadership—and it's paying off. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Host Dave Fiore speaks with Dan Campbell, owner of Wash Around the Clock. Dan's journey into the laundry business began in Jacksonville as the youngest of five brothers. After exceling in multiple sports, including being a state champion discus thrower, Dan was invited to walk-on at Florida State and play football for legendary coach Bobby Bowden. His time on the FSU campus included being part of FSU's first national championship team in 1993, but more importantly it was where he met his wife, Collette. After college, Dan had great success selling ads in the Yellow Pages, which helped the couple make a series of smart investments in real estate and small business, which eventually led to building their clothes-cleaning empire one quarter at a time. Dan loves football, travel and adventure, but his priorities and clear and strong – faith, family and making a difference in the community. Much like the slogan of the Sunrise Rotary Club he recently served as president, Dan likes to Do Good and Have Fun!

On this episode of VIE Speaks: Conversations with Heart & Soul podcast, host Lisa Marie Burwell, VIE's CEO/editor-in-chief spoke with interior designer, Libby Baker Speight. Lisa and Libby talk all things design, knowing your worth, and having love for what you do. She is a member of the American Society of Interior Designers. Libby earned a Bachelor of Arts in Interior Design from the University of Southern Mississippi. But before then, at 16, she recalls grabbing the Yellow Pages and calling every interior decorator company in her area looking for a job. Libby brings us back to how the industry used to be — no Pinterest, Trading Spaces on TLC! Her extensive portfolio ranges from residential to commercial. Anyone who listens can hear the real passion she has for creating and providing her client with a one-of-a-kind space. #viemagazine #storieswithheartandsoul #magazines #alifestylepodcast #celebratestories #storytelling #viespeaks #podcast #podcasts #interview #newpodcastalert #podcastlaunch #interiordesign #designer #homedecor #style #lisamarieburwell #libbybakerspeight

In this episode, host John Duffin interviews Ken Jordan. Ken is the Branch Manager, Loan Officer for the Premier Mortgage Team at Princeton Mortgage. We delve into various topics related to achieving early business success, including insights from Ken's experience navigating an earlier restaurant career. Lots of cursing, crying, and yelling (think Gordon Ramsay). Don't miss Ken & JD discussing the significance of sales skills received from Ken's Yellow Pages experience, and the principles of running a business where continuous learning is paramount. Pay particular attention to Ken's split-second decision in shifting his rituals and "joining" the 5 AM Club. You'll find that timing (and action) equate to significant results. Ken highlights the impacts of his 'Big 3' traits—skill set, mindset, and habits—and how these traits drive him to stronger relationships and increased success. Additional takeaways include the importance of surrounding yourself with inspiring people, trying new things, and finding happiness through progress rather than mere attainment. I am a huge fan and a friend of Ken Jordan. In addition to being a highly influential money man, Ken also hosts a series of podcasts (I have been fortunate to guest on Ken's "Selling the Dream" podcast). Ken is currently also hosting a series of mini-podcasts (five minutes, three questions) which are well worth your attention. The episode references a preview of Ken's upcoming quarterly workbook, designed to help you track and encourage your growth. If you're able, make sure to grab a copy. To learn more about Ken Jordan, check out these links. kjordan@princetonmortgage.comInstagram@real_name_bill

Why Are My Digital Marketing SEO Efforts Not Working? with SEO Expert, ⁠Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS⁠⁠⁠ | Get exclusive SEO newsletters in your inbox.This Clubhouse session features offering advice on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), particularly for small businesses. Favour explains that effective SEO involves consistent effort and strategy, likening it to a conversation where businesses answer frequently asked questions.He suggests creating diverse content formats, like long-form "pillar" blog posts supported by shorter "cluster" content, and emphasize the importance of localizing content for brick-and-mortar businesses.The discussion also touches upon tools like Semrush and Ahrefs for SEO analysis, while advocating for a "mindset, skillset, toolset" approach to digital marketing, stressing that understanding fundamental principles and consistent application are more crucial than expensive tools alone.Favour illustrates concepts with real-world examples and interactive exercises, encouraging listeners to apply the strategies themselves to improve their online presence and drive organic traffic.AD BREAK: Get 20% off your first booking & be the first to know about our new arrivals, spa deals, and events with Somatic MassageFrequently Asked Questions1. Why aren't my SEO efforts working, and what's the fundamental issue?SEO efforts often fall short due to a lack of consistent strategy and the failure to address user intent directly. The core problem is not "showing up for a term" because the relevant link or content isn't "activated." This means your content isn't directly answering the questions people are frequently asking online or isn't positioned to be easily seen by search engines. Expecting different results from repeating the same ineffective actions is likened to "insanity." Effective SEO, at its heart, is a conversation where your content provides clear, direct, and valuable answers to user queries, similar to how a meaningful conversation builds understanding and leads to further engagement.2. How can I effectively create content for SEO in 2025?The primary goal for content creation in 2025 is to answer frequently asked questions online and establish yourself as the authoritative "person of interest" providing those answers. This transforms SEO into a conversation. To achieve this, focus on creating content that directly addresses user queries. For instance, if the most searched question of 2024 was "What time is it?", then providing a direct answer makes you the "respondent to the answer." This content can be distributed through various formats, with podcast episodes and blogs being the fastest ways to publish. Consistency is key, with a suggested minimum of 10 minutes to 10 hours per week dedicated to content creation.3. What is the "pillar and cluster" content strategy, and how does it improve SEO?The "pillar and cluster" strategy involves creating a comprehensive "long-form" piece of content (the pillar) that covers a broad topic in depth, acting as a foundational resource. This pillar can include comparisons, statistics, infographics, videos, listicles, charts, and FAQs. Subsequently, you create "mid-form" and "short-form" content pieces (the clusters) that delve into more specific sub-topics or variations derived from the pillar. These clusters link back to the main pillar, creating a strong internal linking structure. This method allows you to cover a topic from multiple dimensions, compound your SEO interest, and establish semantic connections across your website. Each published blog can generate numerous new "keywords" or "seeds," further expanding your content ecosystem.4. How does updating old content contribute to better SEO, and what is a "last modified page"?Regularly updating old content is a powerful SEO tactic. When you update an existing article, especially with current information (e.g., changing "2025" to "2026"), it signals to search engines that your content is fresh and relevant. This updated page becomes a "last modified page," which AI algorithms prioritize and pick up more readily from the internet. The concept is that an active website with recently updated content is more likely to rank higher. By updating older posts and linking them to newer ones, you create a dynamic "spiderweb" of content, ensuring your website always appears "on" and active, leading to improved rankings and longevity.5. Are SEO tools like Semrush and Ahrefs crucial for a comprehensive hyperlocal SEO strategy, and are there free alternatives?While tools like Semrush and Ahrefs are excellent for comprehensive analysis, especially for hyperlocal strategies (e.g., checking Name, Address, Phone number consistency across directories), they are not strictly necessary to get started or achieve results. These tools can be expensive, and it might be more cost-effective to hire a professional or agency if you're not committed to learning and consistently using them yourself.For free alternatives and effective strategies, Google itself is your "best friend." You can use Google Search Console to identify search phrases and even leverage specific "search operators" (like blog/ [keyword]) to discover articles people are already finding. This allows you to identify topics and competitors for which you need to create your own content. Ensuring consistent "Name, Address, Phone number" (NAP) information across all online directories (Yellow Pages, Yelp, Google Business Profile, etc.) is crucial for local businesses, as inconsistencies can raise "red flags" with Google.6. How does consistency in business information and brand identity impact SEO?Consistency in business information and brand identity is paramount for SEO and overall online visibility. Just as a credit report requires matching details, search engines, particularly Google, look for consistent "Name, Address, Phone number" (NAP) across all online directories and platforms (social media, review sites, business listings). Inconsistencies or typos can confuse search engines, making it difficult for them to verify your business's legitimacy and location, leading to poor ranking.Beyond NAP, consistently presenting your brand name, author name for content, and overall messaging ensures that people recognize and trust your presence. This consistent "showing up with the same name" builds familiarity and reinforces your authority in your niche, proving to search engines and users that your brand is reliable and relevant.7. How does the "mindset, skillset, toolset" framework apply to successful SEO efforts?Successful SEO, like any business endeavor, operates within a "mindset, skillset, toolset" framework.Mindset: This refers to your approach and intention. It's about being proactive, understanding why your efforts might not be working, and being open to learning and adapting. It's about having the commitment to consistent action rather than expecting overnight results.Skillset: This is the knowledge and ability to execute SEO strategies. This includes knowing how to research keywords, create content, optimize pages, and analyze data. While tools can assist, the underlying skill to interpret and act on information is crucial.Toolset: These are the actual resources you use, whether paid SEO tools like Semrush, free Google tools like Search Console, or even basic search operators. The effectiveness of your tools depends on your skillset and mindset; a great tool is useless without the knowledge and consistent effort to wield it properly.Consistent "reps" across these three sets are essential for continuous improvement and achieving tangible SEO results.Digital Marketing Resources:>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our exclusive SEO Marketing community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SEO Optimization Blogs⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Book Complimentary SEO Discovery Call⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to We Don't PLAY Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Brands We Love and Support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Loving Me Beauty | Buy Vegan-based Luxury Products⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Unlock your future in real estate—get certified in Ghana today!⁠See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome back to Screw It Just DO It, the show where you meet the entrepreneurs who've taken risks, built from scratch, and kept going when others stopped.This week I'm joined by Richard Harpin, founder of HomeServe, who scaled a plumbing insurance business into a global £4 billion empire. In this episode, Richard breaks down his 9-step blueprint for building a billion-pound business, covering everything from why copying and pivoting works, to how to find the right investor early, and why evolution always beats revolution.He also dives deep into international expansion, how he backed himself when funds ran low, and why he believes mentorship is one of the greatest competitive advantages in business. Richard's now backing the next wave of founders through Growth Partner and Business Leader, aiming to support 10% of the UK's mid-sized companies on their scale-up journey.There's a lifetime of lessons in this conversation: all hard-earned, none sugar-coated.Key Takeaways:Follow the 9 steps – including copying, pivoting, getting investment early, hiring a replacement, and prioritising persistence.You need a mentor – Richard's own journey proves that finding the right mentor can change the course of your business.Evolution wins – Businesses that constantly evolve avoid becoming the next Blockbuster or Yellow Pages.Go global, but do it right – Be present locally. Hire serious talent where it matters.Don't overcomplicate it – Strip your business back to its core value and double down.

In which we find ourselves thinking, "if I only knew then, what I know now!" On the curse of Sir Walter Raleigh and other things about which we know better. How to learn from other folks' mistakes! More on altruism, as Amy contemplates writing a book on Objectivism & Virtues for a general audience. Also, cigarette smoking in hospitals and on airplanes (and anywhere else), telephones without screens, payphones and dimes, and The Yellow Pages. Also, how to think about events when everyone is right (in their own epistemological & ethical context of knowledge) but disagree completely with one another. Which happens a lot more than you might think.

#517 If you've never considered building an online directory as a business, this episode might just change your mind! Host Brien Gearin is joined by Frey Chu — known as the directory expert — who shares how he built multiple profitable directories from scratch and turned them into passive income machines. Frey breaks down what a modern directory business really looks like (hint: it's way more than Yellow Pages), how to find profitable niche ideas, and the step-by-step process he uses to build, rank, and monetize directories using SEO, affiliate links, and display ads. He also reveals how directories can become sellable assets or fuel even bigger ventures like SaaS or lead gen agencies. Whether you're an SEO nerd, digital side hustler, or aspiring solopreneur, this episode uncovers an underrated business model with surprising upside! What we discuss with Frey: + What online directories actually are + How Frey built passive income from directories + SEO strategies for ranking directory sites + Niche research and data enrichment tips + Common monetization methods (ads, leads, products) + Tools used to build and scrape data + How to stand out from larger competitors + Selling directories as digital assets + Why directories still work in the AI era + Growth potential through lead gen and SaaS Thank you, Frey! Check out Ship Your Directory at ShipYourDirectory.com. Follow Frey on YouTube. Watch the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠video podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ of this episode! To get access to our FREE Business Training course go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MillionaireUniversity.com/training⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. And follow us on: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tik Tok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To get exclusive offers mentioned in this episode and to support the show, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠millionaireuniversity.com/sponsors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Want to hear from more incredible entrepreneurs? Check out all of our interviews ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Annie Wingate Spell, Louisiana State Representative for District 45, joins Discover Lafayette to share the journey that led her to public service. Annie's story is one of unwavering determination, professional excellence, and personal resilience. A licensed clinical child psychologist, Annie holds degrees from UL Lafayette and LSU. In 2024, she was honored with the Angel Award by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation for her long-standing advocacy on behalf of Hearts of Hope, which supports survivors of sexual assault victims in Acadiana. A lifelong learner and self-starter, Annie recounted the early days of her path to becoming a psychologist. While studying at USL, she pivoted from business to psychology after realizing her passion for understanding human behavior. She reached out to 16 local psychologists listed in the Yellow Pages, offering to pay for their time to learn more about the profession. “They didn't charge me.” One of those who answered her call, Dr. Kenneth Bouillion, became an influential mentor, helping her determine that child psychology was her calling: “I always thought it was easier to build up a child than build up an adult. There's so much flexibility in a child's development and fluidity that if we can affect change on their environment, we could have better outcomes for them. ” A Lafayette native, Annie credits her parents, Joan Babineaux Wingate and Keith Wingate, with instilling a deep sense of faith, gratitude, and service. “God will provide. But don't act as if He will. Don't take anything for granted.” Her mother, she said, is “the epitome of a servant leader. My father was one of those dads that was ever involved. Having three girls, he learned that shopping malls could be fun. He learned that cheer camps are the best thing ever." Annie's grandfather, Judge Allen Babineaux, was also a defining influence in her life. A former Louisiana State Representative for District 45, he served as a judge in the 15th JDC. He championed CODOFIL, advocated for the recognition of Acadiana as a geographic and cultural region, and played a key role in bringing about the Acadiana flag. “He wasn't just a politician… He was a neighbor, a friend, and a leader.” The flag of Acadiana was first displayed on Feb. 22, 1965, the centennial of the Acadian arrival in this area. Shown are Thomas Arceneaux, president of the Bicentennial Celebration of France-Amerique and the designer of the flag; Roy Theriot, president of the Acadian Committee; and Judge Allen Babineaux, who sponsored the flag's creation. Photo credit: Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court Louis Perret She also spoke of her experience helping children and families after Hurricane Katrina, both in New Orleans and later during her residency in Houston, where she worked with evacuees from Louisiana. “The strength of a community and the ability for people to mobilize together is really critical. "The need for a strong community was ever evident to me in those moments when crisis hits, in those moments when what you thought was certain, which you had taken for granted, was no longer there. The strength of a community and the ability for people to mobilize together is really critical. I saw children who are by far very resilient most times when it comes to tragedy. So a lot of what I did was supporting the parents in those moments because they were the ones that were obviously dealing with the very serious consequences of their home, their work, all of that.” Annie married Joe Spell, founder and CEO of Tides Medical, in 2006. She described him as “a generous person, generous in spirit and time” who waited for her while she pursued her goals. The strength of their relationship was evident when Annie was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin's lymphoma shortly after the birth of their first son. "The day I was diagnosed was the day that my husband Joe, was hiring his first executive besides himself.

Send us a textFrom Fortune to Fulfilling Dreams in Costa Rica: The Tammy Lovell Story on Gale Force Wins.Join Gerry Carew on a truly inspiring episode of Gale Force Wins as he sits down with Tammy Lovell, a Newfoundlander who embarked on an extraordinary journey from her small hometown of Fortune to becoming a successful real estate entrepreneur in Costa Rica!Tammy shares her incredible story of tenacious ambition, from her early career in Yellow Pages and commercial real estate to making a life-changing decision to move to Central America. Learn about the challenges of starting from scratch in a new country, navigating language barriers, and building a business from the ground up, one house at a time.Discover how Tammy leveraged social media to share the "Pura Vida" lifestyle, attracting clients from around the world and growing "Tammy Sells Costa Rica" into a thriving company with a dedicated team. This conversation is a testament to the power of perseverance, the importance of passion, and the belief that anything is possible if you're willing to work for it.In this episode, you'll learn:Tammy's surprising childhood dream that led her to real estate.The pivotal decision to leave a successful career for an unknown adventure.How she overcame initial struggles and built a booming business in a foreign country.The "secret sauce" behind her unique social media marketing.Her philosophy on life, taking risks, and why it's crucial to pursue your dreams.How her move to Costa Rica transformed her husband's life too!Practical advice for anyone considering a significant life or career change.Whether you're dreaming of a vacation, an investment, or a complete relocation to a tropical paradise, Tammy offers valuable insights and an open invitation to connect.Gale Force Wins started out simply as an inspirational podcast releasing episodes wherever you get your podcasts every Tuesday evening. We continue to do that every Tuesday but have expanded into custom content for clients. We also have perfected a conference and trade show offering where you can receive over 20 videos edited and posted to social media at the same time the event is unfolding.For businesses and organizations we also create digital content quickly and efficiently.Visit our services page here:https://galeforcewins.com/servicesTo message Gerry visit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerrycarew/To message Allan visit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allanadale/

In this episode, Michael D. Levitt sits down with Justin, founder of Aryo Consulting Group, to unpack small businesses' real-world challenges in today's fast-paced economy. With a track record of helping over 350 companies—ranging from scrappy startups to established enterprises—Justin brings practical insight into what works (and what doesn't) when scaling a business.

Entrepreneurship is often seen as a path to freedom and success, but it also comes with its own challenges and uncertainties. Today, I sat down with my good friend John Dyess, CEO of Dyezz Surveillance & Security, for a conversation about entrepreneurship, leadership, and purpose.Initially, John did not envision his business becoming a significant venture. He thought it would be a side project while he continued to work for someone else. However, over the course of 25 years, his business flourished, thanks to a loyal clientele and a dedicated team. We dive into how the events of 9/11 shifted his path and led him to launch a security company built on trust, service, and treating customers like people, not numbers. He walks me through the early hustle—running ads in the Yellow Pages, scrambling to answer calls—and the mindset that took him from street-smart beginnings to scaling across Texas cities.Empowering your team matters more than just a paycheck. What happens when burnout hits? Growing your business isn't exclusively about revenue—it's about creating jobs and making an impact. For anyone building something meaningful, John's story is a roadmap for how to persist, pivot, and put people first.Get in touch with John and find out more about what Dyezz Surveillance Security is capable of:LinkedInInstagram

In this episode, Tiffany Anton chats with Cy Sears, owner of Serious SEM, about his journey from Yellow Pages to digital marketing and web design. Cy shares insights on the value of original content, building business websites that act as true assets, and why customized ad leads outperform generic ones. Listen To The Local Matters Podcast Today! News Talk 94.1

Thinking of selling your business? Discover key strategies for pricing, preparation, and attracting the right buyers to ensure a smooth and successful transaction.   In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene speaks with David Barnett, a seasoned business transaction advisor and author who shares his extensive expertise in the small and mid-market business sale process. As the creator of popular programs like How to Sell My Own Business, David helps entrepreneurs navigate the complexities of business valuation and sales. In this episode, he discusses common pricing mistakes, the importance of seller empathy, and how to prepare your business for a successful sale.   Key Takeaways: → How overpricing a business can repel the right buyers. → Key factors to consider when determining the right time to sell. → The difference between strategic buyers and individual entrepreneurs. → Why most small businesses are sold to individual buyers, not private equity groups. → How seller empathy can help adjust expectations and improve deal outcomes.   David Barnett, BBA, CMEA, is a seasoned expert in small and medium-sized enterprises, with over two decades of experience in business development, commercial debt solutions, and business brokerage. A graduate of the Williams School of Business at Bishop's University and the Electronic Commerce Management Program at UNBSJ, David has built a strong foundation in understanding the challenges entrepreneurs face. His career spans roles as a major account representative at Yellow Pages, a successful small business owner, and the founder of Advantage Liquidity Partners Ltd. He later became a Certified Business Intermediary and a Certified Machinery/Equipment Appraiser. As the author of several best-selling books, including How to Sell My Own Business, David now works with entrepreneurs globally, helping them buy, sell, and manage their businesses for growth and success.   Connect With David: Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can download your FREE report on how you can avoid financial mistakes as a dentist using the link just here >>>  dentistswhoinvest.com/podcastreport———————————————————————What does it take to build a dental empire in today's competitive landscape? Sandeep Kumar reveals the strategic pivots that transformed his career from a single practitioner to the architect behind a network of 150 dental practices spanning multiple countries.Qualified as a dentist in India, Kumar's journey began with working as a dental nurse in the UK before requalifying in 2000. Within just three years, he purchased his first practice and dramatically expanded it from one surgery to six. But the real transformation came when he made the courageous decision to step away from clinical dentistry entirely in 2017—a move many dentists fear would collapse their income."When you're starting out, there's no such thing called work-life balance," Kumar explains. "You just have to put your hours in and work your ass off. Nobody's going to teach you." This raw honesty about the entrepreneurial journey sets the tone for a conversation filled with practical wisdom rather than sugar-coated theory.The episode explores the evolution of dental marketing from Yellow Pages to digital strategies, the crucial shift from owner-operator to owner-only business models, and the birth of the MySmile Network—now 150 practices strong and expanding internationally. Kumar shares how finding time to analyze patient data led to the insight that transformed his business: customers were specifically asking for Invisalign by name, revealing an opportunity to build practices entirely around this treatment modality.For dentists contemplating business growth in 2025, Kumar offers three practical cornerstones: surround yourself with exceptional people, embrace technology to enhance patient understanding, and build your personal profile as patients increasingly research providers before making appointments. His philosophy of "who not how"—finding the right people rather than trying to do everything yourself—emerges as perhaps the most valuable lesson for scaling dental businesses beyond the limitations of your clinical hours.Whether you're an associate dreaming of practice ownership or an established principal looking to expand, this conversation offers a blueprint for building something extraordinary beyond the dental chair.———————————————————————Disclaimer: All content on this channel is for education purposes only and does not constitute an investment recommendation or individual financial advice. For that, you should speak to a regulated, independent professional. The value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up, so you may get back less than you invest. The views expressed on this channel may no longer be current. The information provided is not a personal recommendation for any particular investment. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and all tax rules may change in the future. If you are unsure about the suitability of an investment, you should speak to a regulated, independent professional. Investment figures quoted refer to simulated past performance and that past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results/performance.Send us a text

This week, we venture forth into the world of awkward uncles and isekai absurdity with Uncle From Another World. Follow Takafumi as his uncle awakens from a 17-year coma—only to reveal he's been living a second life in a mystical, magical land the entire time! Will he use his newfound powers in the real world to save lives, end world hunger, or do literally anything productive? No, of course not, you absolute buffoon! They'll just start a YouTube channel and bond over how bad they are with women. Naturally.   Talking Points: Klevin Clunt; The Yellow Pages; The PyraMid-Terms; Butt Pugs; Party Up! Intro/Outro Music: Down With The King/Orbit by Good Kid

What do you do when you've got a dream, no cash, and a 1969 Camaro? If you're Danny Daniel, you sell the car and buy a Yellow Pages ad. Two decades and a $42 million verdict later, Daniel Stark Law is a 170-person litigation powerhouse—and Danny is still “on the verge.” His relentless drive to optimize systems, tell client stories, and extract full case value powers the firm's evolution from claim-heavy to courtroom-crushing. This episode of PIM dives deep into growth mindset, branding through story, and leveraging AI and committees to fight commoditization. If you're chasing full value—not fast settlements—this one's for you. You'll learn: Why life impact reviews and story-driven advocacy drive big verdicts How “On the Verge” became a brand, a mindset, and a podcast Why BAM (Brand Advantage Monitoring) beats basic attribution How Danny uses AI and validation to 3X productivity (without risking client care) If you like what you hear - we do this every week. Learn how to build the personal injury law firm of your dreams - its easy.  Just hit subscribe.   VIP PIMCON 2025 Tickets On Sale Now. Get yours today! Get Social! Personal Injury Mastermind (PIM) is on Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

Malcolm Beatty was meant to auction cattle, not cars. But after his dad died and the family farm future vanished, the 16-year-old opened the Yellow Pages, circled “car salesman”, and never looked back. In this raw conversation, the MB Motors founder reveals: •    How a £450 Peugeot 306 on his driveway became a 150-car forecourt – and why he still trusts auction sheets over glossy adverts. •    The thieves who stole seven of his best cars and the brutal lessons that now keep his yard fortress secure. •    Why farmers make the toughest negotiators and the one tactic that still closes deals today. •    Building an award-winning website on an independent budget and using #SourceIt to beat franchised giants. •    Franchise vs. independent sales – the red-tape, the margins, and the simple reason customers drive past showrooms to buy from him. If you're dreaming of swapping a salaried sales-manager desk for your own lot, or just want to know how to turn setbacks into silverware, Malcolm's story is the playbook. About Symco Training: Symco Training was founded in 2000 by Simon Bowkett and it was his belief that the business had to offer its clients something different. That difference was clear to Simon from his days in the dealership when he experienced many sales trainers who had all the answers, but were unable, unwilling or both to actually show the delegate how they could be implemented. It remains the ethos of the business today. You see, Symco only employ trainers that are committed to delivering not only in spiring and insightful training, but are equally as happy to demonstrate these skills and techniques with real customers in your own showroom. We believe in order for sales training to be effective and in Simon's words ‘real world', it needs to be tried and tested in the only place it matters the showroom floor. There is no room for theory when your goals are for your team to sell more cars, hours or parts and retain more profit. In dealerships around the world the focus applied by many of the sales executives is to try and sell a deal. Symco specialise in getting your teams to focus on selling themselves, the product and then supporting this with the deal. To find out more visit: www.symcotraining.co.uk

James Lott Jr got a NEW physical copy of the Yellow Pages. He goes in between!

In this high-energy episode of the Bug Bucks Podcast, Eric and Jake sit down with Matt Rogers, COO of Lizard, to break down how artificial intelligence is flipping the script on digital marketing. From old-school Yellow Pages nostalgia to the latest in AI-driven SEO, Matt walks us through the new marketing KPIs pest control owners should be tracking—and why "impressions" and "click-through rates" are quickly losing their value.

Entrepreneurship Isn't for Everyone—But It Was Always for Jerry FreshitatAt just 23 years old, Jerry Freshitat started his first business selling window treatments out of the trunk of his car. With nothing but hustle, weekend installs, and Yellow Pages ads, he turned a side hustle into a thriving business—and learned early what it means to be all in.In this episode, Jerry breaks down:How to know if you're truly built for entrepreneurshipThe grind it takes to grow something from the ground upLessons from launching a business in the ‘80s—and how they still apply todayThat first feeling of financial freedom and what it taught himIf you've ever wondered whether you've got what it takes to build something of your own, this one's a must-listen.

Remember getting the Yellow Pages to call the grocery store and asking, "Do you have Chef Boyardee in a can?" And then hilarity ensued when you then told them, "You better let him out before he suffocates!" Those were some good times in the 80s. Well, a guy just pulled off perhaps the biggest "OH NO YOU DIDN'T!" prank call ever that left a quarterback "yelling into his receiver."But first! It seems like everyone has a Costa Rica story. Liz's sends her son there and comes home bored, Even was absolutely certain his buddies were planing his batcherlor party there but they just went on a trip with out him, and Rick smears termite larvae over his body in the jungle for a very smart reason. Pura Vida!Enjoy the show, give us a 5-star rating, and then go spend a ton of money with our advertisers!APC Pest and Termite ControlPerez Martial ArtsRoyal PizzaWinslow Design

Greg Banning, VP of Sales and Channels for North America at Service Express, offers his expertise on navigating the unpredictable economic landscape, providing listeners with valuable insights into third-party maintenance within the data center sector. As an IBM Platinum partner, Service Express is helping businesses extend equipment life and manage costs. Greg shares his unexpected journey into sales, fueled by grit and perseverance, offering an authentic take on career success and the power of self-belief in overcoming personal challenges.  Mentorship and creativity take center stage as Greg reflects on the profound influence of mentors like Barb Johnson and Pete Peterson in shaping his career. Barb's contribution to building his confidence and Pete's wisdom in fostering self-awareness highlight the irreplaceable human elements in personal growth. Greg also sheds light on the role of AI in sales, emphasizing how creativity and human ingenuity remain unmatched by technology, and how these traits drive sales processes forward in an AI-driven world.  Listeners will gain insights into developing leadership through authenticity and balancing technology with human relationships. The discussion covers AI's potential to enhance sales processes and the traits required for identifying future leaders, like empathy and a growth mindset. Greg underscores the importance of storytelling in leadership and the long-lasting impact it can have on careers. The conversation wraps up by celebrating CRM systems as essential tools for driving sales success and supporting both personal and professional growth through understanding and aligning with team members' aspirations.  Greg is a seasoned sales executive with over 20 years of leadership experience across Fortune 500 companies and private equity-backed startups, spanning industries like SaaS, technology, finance, and manufacturing. He currently serves as Vice President of Sales & Channels for North America at Service Express and has held senior roles at Adobe, Capital One, Amazon, SAP Concur, TD SYNNEX, and HNI. Greg began his sales journey cold-calling from the Yellow Pages and has since built a career defined by growth, strategy, and performance. Originally from Oakland, California, he now lives in Tampa, Florida, with his wife Laura, their three children, and their Australian Shepherd, Bailey. Outside of work, he enjoys working out, meditating, MMA, golf, beach days, cooking, and fine wine.    Quotes: "In the world of sales, grit and perseverance are the cornerstones of success. It's not just about hard work, but also about believing in yourself and being a lifelong learner."  "While AI is a powerful tool in sales, it will never replace the human touch. Creativity and ingenuity are irreplaceable elements that drive the sales process forward."  "Leadership is about authenticity and understanding your team. It's not just about positional authority; it's about having a positive impact on people's careers and lives."  "Storytelling is a powerful tool in leadership. It allows you to connect with your team on a deeper level, helping them to see the bigger picture and motivating them towards success."   Links: Gregory's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbanning/ Service Express - https://serviceexpress.com Find this episode and all other Sales Lead Dog episodes at https://empellorcrm.com/salesleaddog/ 

As a property manager, you're familiar with the uncomfortable shuffle when trying to ensure utilities are set up correctly at move-in. What if you could make the whole process easier? In this episode of the Property Management Growth Show, property management growth expert Jason Hull sits down with the founder of Utility Profit, Zac Maurais, to discuss wires, pipes, and signals: Everything you wish you knew about home utilities. You'll Learn [01:48] How Zac Built a $100 Million Business [07:38] Solving Utility Challenges with a Streamlined Tool [15:54] Using Utility Profit to Make Extra Profit [23:26] Integrations and Frequently Asked Questions [30:20] Take Action on The Things You're Avoiding! Quotables “I think the secret to being smart is just being willing to look stupid.” “Done is better than perfect.” “Have a bias for action. Get your hands dirty. Do it yourself.” “ Whatever it is that you think that's holding you back, just start trying to do it.” Resources DoorGrow and Scale Mastermind DoorGrow Academy DoorGrow on YouTube DoorGrowClub DoorGrowLive Transcript [00:00:00] Zac: It's almost like we're like taking the Yellow Pages and then putting it online or something. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of a wacky problem that we're solving there.  [00:00:08] Jason: So you're single handedly bringing the utility space into the future. So, All right. [00:00:16] Jason: Welcome DoorGrow Property Managers to the Property Management Growth Show. If you are a property management entrepreneur and you want to add doors, you want to make a difference, you want to increase revenue, you want to help others, you want to impact lives, and you're interested in growing in business and life, and you're open to doing things a bit differently, then you are a DoorGrow property manager and you just don't know it. DoorGrow property managers love the opportunities, daily variety, unique challenges and freedom that property management brings. Many in real estate think you're crazy for doing it. [00:00:47] Jason: You think they're crazy for not because you realize that property management is the ultimate high trust gateway to real estate deals, relationships, and residual income. At DoorGrow, we are on a mission to transform property management business owners and their businesses. We want to transform the industry, eliminate the bs, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win. [00:01:13] Jason: I'm your host, property management growth expert, Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGrow. Now let's get into the show and I'm hanging out today with Zac Maurais. Did I say it right?  [00:01:25] Jason: That's right, yes.  [00:01:26] Jason: Hey. All right, cool. It's great to have you on the show. So Zac we're going to be chatting today about wires, pipes, and signals, everything you wish you knew about home utilities. [00:01:38] Jason: I think this will be interesting to our listeners because, you know, we get into this stuff as property management people. So, so Zac before we get into that though, give us a little backstory on you. How'd you get into being an entrepreneur? When did you first figure that out, that you maybe were one and then we can get into why you started this business so that you've got going and tell us, tell everybody about it. [00:01:58] Jason: Cool.  [00:02:00] Zac: Let's do it. Yeah. So, quick intro myself, I live here in Austin, Texas. I've been an entrepreneur now for better part of a decade and a half. Right out of college I started a business it was actually a food delivery business called Favor. We ended up scaling that business to having 50,000 delivery drivers in the state of Texas. [00:02:22] Zac: So it was the second largest employer in the state. And over the course of building it up over a couple of years, we were doing over a hundred million dollars of food sales a year. So sizable company and we sold that to HEB grocery and yeah.  [00:02:38] Jason: And if people don't know, HEB I'm in the Austin area, I'm up in Round Rock. [00:02:41] Jason: But if people don't know HEB. HEB consistently wins the best grocery store awards like in America every year. Like it's always winning.  [00:02:51] Zac: It's kind of amazing. I mean, they are an institution. There's so many small towns across Texas where the only show in town, I would kind of say it's akin to like a Walmart or something like that for a national brand that people would be more familiar with. [00:03:04] Zac: Family run business, been around for a hundred years. So it's cool that it had joined forces with Favor. And learned a lot from doing that company. I mean, at the time that we sold it, we had over 140 corporate employees, designers and software engineers and business intelligence people and salespeople. [00:03:24] Zac: So I'm right there with you, Jason, where I like growth. I like growing things and learning about business and learning about new categories. So as I sold it, I was looking for the next thing to do.  [00:03:35] Jason: So people are clear, Favor, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but Favor competes with like Instacart and like some of these, it's like a delivery service. [00:03:44] Zac: That's right. So the way that the service worked was, it was like an on demand. It was part of the on demand delivery kind of thing that was happening. The gig economy, you know, people will probably remember Lyft coming out and Uber. There wasn't one for delivery of kind of like fast casual food or groceries yet. [00:04:02] Zac: And we brought that into the market. We had first mover.  [00:04:05] Jason: Oh yeah. So yeah, it's kind of like Uber Eats and, you know, these kind of things.  [00:04:08] Zac: Exactly. So you could tap a button, request a Favor, and then someone would go shopping for you, go pick up some tacos or yeah, run at the grocery store or something like that and bring it to you in 45 minutes or less. [00:04:20] Jason: Got it. And is Favor just a Texas thing?  [00:04:23] Zac: At one point in time we tried to go national expansion, but it was a bit of a wartime thing that was going on. Yeah. A lot of VC dollars getting put in. And we had a very strong Texas brand. We had over a million people in Texas using it. [00:04:37] Zac: Yes. So we said we just doubled down on home base.  [00:04:40] Jason: I mean, Texas is like its own little universe. We've got Favor, we've got HEB, we've got, you know, there's all these things that are just specifically Texas. So if y'all come to Texas, you got to like experience the whole Texas deal. You got to go to an HEB, you got to go to Bucky's, you got to go to all these things, right? [00:04:56] Zac: So yeah, right. When you're here in town for Jason's event, go get yourself some Yeti swag.  [00:05:02] Jason: Yes.  [00:05:02] Zac: And then order yourself a Favor.  [00:05:04] Jason: Yes. There you go. Yeah. Cool. Yeah, and people get really religious about their, you know, things like Yeti. It's like Yeti Mecca. Like people, like my brother-in-law comes into town. He is like, "I got to go to the Yeti store." He's like, just like starry-eyed in there. And I'm like, "why? Why?" Coolers, thermases? I don't know. Cool drinks. Yeah. Yeah. It's a thing. So he like collects them, and then sometimes he's flipping them too. Like there's limited edition things, so. My brother-in-law's name is Jason also, so he might listen to this. [00:05:36] Jason: So Jason, I mentioned you on my podcast, so, all right.  [00:05:39] Jason: Shout out to Jason.  [00:05:41] Jason: Shout out to Jason. So, cool. So Zac, I mean, that's a pretty impressive thing. Not many people can say they built a hundred million dollar, you know, business or had an exit or something like that. So, and then what did you do next? [00:05:55] Jason: Like, you sell this thing, did you lose all meaning and purpose in life and decide to start a new business or what happened?  [00:06:01] Zac: I think that happens with some people, right? You sell it, you have somebody, you're like, "what am I going to do with my life now?" I'm going to take a good thing and somehow it becomes a bad thing. [00:06:09] Zac: But I just, I really like building. And I like the process of entrepreneurship where you talk to people, you try to find a problem and you like go hit a whiteboard, you sketch, it becomes more tangible, and then all of a sudden you can partner with an engineer and make it and then bring it back to the customer. [00:06:26] Zac: And I just like that. It kind of just scratches something in my brain, I think. And something else that's been cool for me on my entrepreneurship journey. I had mentioned that I've been doing it now for a decade and a half and the entire time that I've been working and doing startups, I've been doing it with like my best friend Ben from growing up together. [00:06:45] Zac: We  [00:06:46] Jason: best friend Ben.  [00:06:46] Zac: wen to school in New Hampshire. And it's fun to be able to go on that journey with someone like that.  [00:06:52] Jason: Yeah. That's cool. So you and Ben are still doing stuff together then.  [00:06:55] Zac: Right.  [00:06:56] Jason: Yeah. Third company.  [00:06:57] Zac: Third company now, so.  [00:06:59] Jason: Yeah. Dynamic duo. All right. And so I imagine that you have some complimentary sort of skill sets and challenge each other a bit. [00:07:08] Zac: Yeah, I think our brains have kind of been swapped and became more of the same brain. But the way that I explained it originally was like Ben was the left brain engineer, right? He is going to build out the backend database. He was a civil engineer, so he was just constantly doing math. And then I was more of the, you can kind of see there's some paintings behind me, like I was the artist.  [00:07:30] Jason: The right brain guy. Yeah. Got it.  [00:07:32] Zac: But now it just kind of became one, somewhere between now. He kind of went a little bit more right. I went more left, so.  [00:07:38] Jason: Cool. So bring us up towards the present day. So like, what are you and Ben, you know, getting together and working on? [00:07:45] Zac: Yeah, so I guess the way that we got into the property management industry was we were trying to build some leasing automation tech over the last few years. We had something called Sunroom Leasing, and it was like a platform that would help. With self showings, with different things related to collecting some data from renters about the home. [00:08:05] Zac: We had at one point in time, around 8,000 homes that were leasing across the country for some real estate investment trusts and some large scale property managers. And it kind of turned us on to this like, it had some challenges I think of that scale. And so we ended up realizing that's not what we want to do long term. [00:08:26] Zac: And something that it was like a good ride, but I think we were onto something that could be more scalable and a more acute problem to solve.  [00:08:35] Jason: Yeah, this was like a tuition business. You're learning and paying the price of tuition. Yeah. So you got familiar with the property management industry a bit through that. [00:08:44] Jason: That's right. Figured out kind of your target audience and you probably started to see some different problems you like started scheming with your whiteboard on, so.  [00:08:52] Zac: Yeah, and the problem that we zoomed into was around utility setup. And what we thought was kind of a silly thing was, here it is, it's 2024. [00:09:01] Zac: This was last year that we had launched it. We realized that there wasn't like a Google Maps of utilities. We thought it was silly that you couldn't just type in an address online and then see what's the water, what's the electric, what's the gas, what's the internet? There was no transparency for that. [00:09:20] Zac: And when we looked closer, there's like, you zoom in on water, there's over 20,000 water providers and they have really weird setups, you know, or it could be down just by the neighborhood or the zip code or the, you know, it's just wacky the way that the mapping works. And we thought if we could build out the whole mapping infrastructure, that would be a valuable thing, both for owners of the property that just want to have a more streamlined process, property managers that are doing it every day, and then renters. If you kind of think of this problem of setting up utilities while it's annoying and they have to Google around and make a bunch of phone calls, this is just one problem within a whole, you know, iceberg of other things. It's just the tip, small thing that they're doing a ton of things related to the move. We thought that if we could streamline this, then it could have a broad appeal and be something that we could do nationally and do at a big scale. So, over the last year, what we've done is we've built out that infrastructure to be able to do mapping at scale. [00:10:21] Zac: And we have built a platform that streamlines the process of turning on utilities. We're trying to make the utility on switch and it's a cool tool because the property managers using it can get confirmation that utilities have been set up correctly. And this is helpful for them because, you know, if you don't turn on the electricity and it's the dead of winter, you're probably going to have some problems on your hands with pipes bursting, you know, and things like that. [00:10:48] Zac: So, it's a useful tool in the process.  [00:10:51] Jason: So let's talk about this problem, right? This is super annoying. Like everybody that's moved has had to figure out this weird, you know, puzzle to like, which utility providers are available here? Which internet provider can I use? What are my options? Can I get this cool fiber, you know, thing, can I get this? Is there..? Like what's available? Then they're trying to figure out like water, electric. You're maybe trying to find out from the previous owner or somebody and you're trying to like negotiate all this and then like getting things switched and then the timelines like it's a mess. [00:11:25] Jason: Like it's really annoying and yeah, it's like why do we just deal with this and put up with this? We're living in the age of AI and this AI revolution now and. Why isn't there a better solution to this? It seems like it's just like chaos and confusion. Yeah, so.  [00:11:45] Zac: It is chaos and confusion. Yeah. And people waste so much time doing it and oh god. [00:11:50] Zac: Yeah. And I think as a result, like sometimes people will just make sacrifices where they'll be like, well, I was on this telecom company before. Maybe I'll just go back to them. And then I might miss out on being able to be like, well, I could have had faster internet or a better plan that's cheaper or something If they had just...  [00:12:07] Jason: sure. Yeah.  [00:12:07] Zac: ...known that they had options.  [00:12:10] Jason: Right. You're like, man, I'm still using dial up. And I didn't realize Google Fiber was available here. Yeah, right.  [00:12:15] Zac: Throwing that in an old AOL like.  [00:12:18] Jason: Yes, I remember those days. I was such a nerd. Alright, so yeah, and people may maybe get impatient and they just make some quick decisions. [00:12:27] Jason: You know, and all these companies try to give them incentives like, Hey, if you move, like we'll move it and help you get it set up. And they try to make it seamless, but because they're trying to retain their, you know, the customer, but that might not be in the best interest of the customer.  [00:12:41] Zac: Totally. Yeah. So this we're in the spirit of trying to add transparency into the process, make it more streamlined. And and have a really lightweight tool like, you know, not another app you have to download, but just something that seamlessly fits in the move in process. Okay. [00:12:55] Zac: Integrates really well with the tools that the property manager is already using, you know, just is able to sync, in real time, figure out what are the addresses coming up, and then give the property manager a way to both communicate what the utilities are and then check that they've been turned on. [00:13:16] Zac: And then interestingly, there's a lot of places in the US where these telecom companies are competing. And they spent a lot of money to lay down these fiber optic lines, you know, or copper lines, and they're trying to recoup some of that cost. Yeah. And so they'll pay money for more customers. [00:13:35] Zac: And so we're able to generate revenue and then share that with property managers as an incentive to use the tool.  [00:13:43] Jason: Okay, cool. So what's the name of the tool or this service?  [00:13:46] Zac: It's called Utility Profit.  [00:13:48] Jason: Utility profit. Okay. All right. And it's P-R-O-F-I-T I would assume? Yep, exactly. Not like you're prophesying. [00:13:57] Jason: All right, got it. So Utility Profit, and so this really is solving that challenge to just streamline all that, and there's a financial incentive or benefit for the property manager helping to get these things connected.  [00:14:11] Zac: That's right. That's right. Yeah. And one of the...  [00:14:14] Jason: Win, win, win all the way around win. [00:14:15] Zac: Yeah, exactly. And that's the best type of tool. You know, something that it doesn't just benefit one party, but all the people involved. Yeah. And so, you know, it's exciting there. Now there's people across the entire United States using it. We've been helping thousands of renters per month. [00:14:32] Zac: Just in the last year there's been, I think over 750 property managers using it. Some really big ones with thousands of properties all the way down to people that just have a couple homes in the portfolio. I think the average has about 400 homes and, you know, it's really kind of empowering that we bring something to the world and that fast that many people are using it. [00:14:55] Zac: It's cool to see.  [00:14:56] Jason: Yeah. Cool. So. And Ben's leading the nerds on the team making this all work.  [00:15:02] Zac: Yeah, we're both working closely with engineers and, I mean, it's been a big lift. I mean, we've had to do all sorts of wacky things to be able to like get this data because like I said, it didn't exist. [00:15:12] Zac: I imagine. [00:15:13] Zac: We have to like literally go and draw service maps, you know, that were PDFs on old websites and then, you know, turn them into a structured database. Right. I, you know, pull it up correctly. Yeah.  [00:15:26] Jason: You're just doing this ground level legwork to like get... it's almost like you're transferring old records into a digital format. [00:15:35] Jason: You know? Yeah. So that people could play their MP3s or something. Yeah.  [00:15:38] Zac: It kind of feels like that. It's almost like we're like taking the Yellow Pages and then putting it online or something. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of a wacky problem that we're solving there.  [00:15:48] Jason: So you're single handedly bringing the utility space into the future, so.  [00:15:54] Zac: Yeah. And one thing that we've we've been doing over the last couple months that I think is pretty cool is that there's this whole industry that exists for the multifamily apartment space related to what they call as like fiber as an amenity or fiber to the home. [00:16:11] Zac: Yeah. And so the way it would work on multifamily would be, you know, these big telecoms would say, "Hey, we'll sell you a thousand units of internet and then we'll give you a discount for doing so. And then you can either kind of keep that for yourself or you can, you know, share that with your tenants as a way to help your apartments stand out from other apartments." [00:16:33] Zac: The apartments are i identifiable and also you know, easier for the telecoms to spot. The hard thing about homes is it's this long tail of properties and there hasn't been a good way to aggregate them. I think over the last few years there's been some, you know, real estate investment trusts that have got to scale. [00:16:54] Zac: And so it kind of got these telecom companies thinking, "Hey, maybe I should go you know, sell into this market, see if we can apply the same principles of this program from apartments to single family." But it hasn't yet been done at any sort of significant scale. It's kind of a new concept. Now that we have hundreds of thousands of homes, that we are effectively the on switch for, we're helping to source these deals. [00:17:20] Zac: And we're able to bring, you know, significant discount from retail pricing to property managers and consumers. So we we're adding that as a new program that we're doing. We're calling it like Fiber Ready Homes. So it's a cool thing because we can help property managers identify what portion of their portfolio has the underlying technology at the home to have, you know, hyper fast internet speeds. [00:17:47] Zac: Yeah. And then do all of the enrollment process and the billing process to be able to offer a program like this. And and it's pretty gnarly. Like the average property manager that will turn on this program can make tens of thousands of dollars a year. It's roughly $10 per month per door. [00:18:04] Zac: So if you're a 300 door property manager, this is about $18,000. 18,000 per year that you'd be able to generate. And just, you know, kind of free cash flows for enabling something that the renters want.  [00:18:18] Jason: Right. Just making more money and yeah, I mean, high speed internet also being able to bring that to your units. [00:18:26] Jason: It creates a bigger incentive for people to rent it. I mean, it's definitely something I research before I buy a home or move anywhere. I'm always like, what Internet's available there because my life is going to be happening through this. And a lot of more people working from home, especially since Covid. [00:18:41] Zac: True. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, I think a lot of renters see internet more important than running water in some ways. I mean, it's like everyone's on Netflix and doing work from home calls. You know, it's just, it's super important for renters.  [00:18:55] Jason: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. That's interesting. And it sucks though when you like if you rent somewhere and that you only have one option and it's not the option that you really want in that area because sometimes they've negotiated like, oh, it's Comcast cable or something like this, and it's low speed or whatever. [00:19:11] Zac: Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Sometimes you're kind of limited by what lines have been laid, and sometimes there's limited options, but it's cool because now we have these two programs. We have one, which is that one I just explained, and then we have a second one. We call it like a marketplace. So it'll truly show you everything that's available, every single company, every single speed all the details of it and help to facilitate just being able to turn it on a lot easier. [00:19:34] Jason: Got it. How does this work? Like a property manager gets set up in your system, they've got their properties, you know, in this, and then they can figure out the tenants when they're onboarding a new tenant, they're like, "Hey, before we give you keys and move you in, we want to make sure utilities are getting moved over." [00:19:49] Jason: So you help streamline this?  [00:19:51] Zac: That's right. Yeah. So it will connect seamlessly with property managers, property management software. Pull in the active listings that they have, and then it will have triggers around the move in date. So once someone's been approved and you have a move in date that's approaching. [00:20:08] Zac: It will send reminders and say, Hey, you know, you're moving in end of the month, like before you move in, please show that you've turned the electric on so that there's not going to be bill back problems and things like that.  [00:20:20] Zac: So, it handles the communication and then what's pretty cool about the tool too, is it's all white labeled. Utility Profit, it's not, you know, like a tenant friendly name, you know? Yeah. It's really for the property manager. And so, okay. We're just helping to facilitate these things. So it's got the property manager's logo, you know, we're more just the underlying technology, which I think is good because like a renter in the process doesn't want to get handed off to another third party. [00:20:48] Zac: They just want to... [00:20:49] Jason: yeah, "Who are these guys? Why should I trust them? I trust you. I'm working with you," but yeah. Got it. No, I think that's really smart. And so your business model then, your growth strategy really is to leverage and support the property managers.  [00:21:02] Zac: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. We're trying to partner with all the property managers in the single family rental space. [00:21:08] Zac: And you know, last I checked, you know, there's at least five to 10 million homes that are managed by third party property managers. And we want to become the main place where where people used to turn on utilities. And you know, we talked about entrepreneurs and having a big vision earlier in the call. [00:21:26] Zac: You know, I think we're solving an important problem by building this Google Maps of Utilities and also just making a better experience. I think anytime we start a business though, you're kind of thinking about like, okay, "Well if I'm able to pull this off, how could this even be even more significant long term?" [00:21:42] Zac: And one of the things that I've been just thinking about as I've been doing it is you know, today we are helping to connect the dots between these things, but I bet in the not too distant future, maybe a few years out, we'll be responsible for millions of homes in helping to turn on these utilities. [00:21:59] Jason: Yeah.  [00:22:00] Zac: We'll probably want to go down the stack of utilities, you know, instead of just directing you to be going to, you know, XYZ local power source. Maybe they get directed to a company that, similar to how we're able to get discounts on internet because we have so much scale, we could buy energy contracts in deregulated markets and, you know,  [00:22:22] Jason: okay. [00:22:22] Zac: Inch down becoming a utility.  [00:22:24] Zac: Okay.  [00:22:24] Zac: And so, I think it's a, it's an interesting thing.  [00:22:27] Jason: So you're saying maybe there's a potential the property manager could be the utility?  [00:22:32] Zac: We'll be able to help the property manager earn more money... [00:22:35] Zac: yeah. [00:22:35] Zac: ...on this process because we...  [00:22:38] Zac: just more margin [00:22:38] Zac: ...want to direct them to like a utility that we own. And we're able to help them monetize these other things like natural gas and electricity.  [00:22:49] Jason: Got it. Love it. Yeah. You're passing the benefit onto the property manager. So, yeah. That gives them quite an incentive to help you grow this. [00:22:55] Jason: Right. So I love it. So, I mean, this really gives property managers a strong competitive advantage over self-management then. [00:23:03] Zac: Yeah, I think so. You know, I think property managers, they have so many things that they're doing and this is one of those set it and forget it types of tools. You know, it's not something you have to have mastery over and like learn another thing, this is like you get on, you set the thing up, you get the logo added and get it synced to your PM software and then you're done with it and it just kind of is happening in the background and then just notifies you. [00:23:26] Jason: Got it. So the setup is pretty easy and then it makes it a lot easier for the property management team to make sure utilities are getting set up correctly. There's visibility into seeing what's been set up and what hasn't, it sounds like. And you mentioned integrations with property management software, and I know everybody listening's like, "but what about my software? The one I'm using?" Yeah. So what integrations do you guys have set up already?  [00:23:49] Zac: It's all the major ones. So what we find is like AppFolio is popular. Rentvine is becoming more and more popular. You know, Propertyware is another one. Buildium's one that we you know, have in the works too, but yeah, I think most people... [00:24:04] Zac: Rent manager? [00:24:05] Zac: Rent manager, yeah. That's one that we work with too. Yeah. I know there's a lot of options for property managers there, but yeah. [00:24:11] Jason: Very cool. Yeah. So everybody listening there. There you go. So they're like, "oh, he mentioned mine. I'm okay."  [00:24:17] Zac: Yeah, that's right. Yeah it's cool that it, you know, just works in a broad way like that. And it's kind of interesting too that the tool even is able to work you know, even if you don't even have a property management software to figure out some ways to you know, even work in that use case. [00:24:32] Jason: Sure.  [00:24:32] Zac: But most people have software.  [00:24:34] Jason: So as long as you can get the properties like into your system, then...?  [00:24:38] Jason: That's right.  [00:24:38] Jason: Got it. Okay, cool. But if they have those then and you have that connection, then it's, yeah, it'll just streamline things. Makes it even more turnkey.  [00:24:47] Zac: That's right.  [00:24:48] Jason: Got it. Cool. So, all right, so you, what else should people know about this? [00:24:52] Jason: Like what are the big questions property managers have been asking you?  [00:24:55] Zac: I think one question is, you know, how much money I earn from this? You know? Okay.  [00:24:59] Jason: They like, they want to know about the money. Let's talk about the money.  [00:25:03] Zac: So the average property manager will, it's a range of 25 to $40 per move that, that happens. [00:25:10] Zac: It ends up being about 25 to, to $30 on average is what we're seeing across the country. And so I think it's one of those things where it's like nice gravy. What we find is that the average property manager, they're like, "this is nice. I can make some extra money from it." But I think it's like, you know, not enough to go, you know, it just adds to the bottom line a little bit. [00:25:32] Zac: Every little thing. Sure. So the main reason why people use it is the time savings, you know? Absolutely. It's just one last thing to have to worry about. So that's that's what we're seeing as we talk to people.  [00:25:44] Jason: Yeah. Yeah, because I mean, just the amount of time you're paying a team member, if they're like 25 to $35 an hour, for example you know, they might be spending an hour or two here or there just calling, trying to negotiate back and forth with the tenant, get these things set up so. [00:25:59] Zac: Property management some days feels like death by a thousand mosquitoes.  [00:26:04] Jason: Oh yeah. I often joke it's, it can be death by a thousand cuts or it can be a really well oiled systemizable machine, but yeah. [00:26:12] Jason: Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, it offsets a little bit at the move in cost and then just the time savings. You're not having to pay your team to do all this communication. And you know, speed in onboarding is a real challenge for a lot of companies that are really in a high growth sort of state. [00:26:28] Jason: Like small companies might have a hard time just onboarding 10 units in a month, you know? Yeah. And larger companies, it can be pretty hairy if things aren't well dialed in.  [00:26:36] Zac: Yeah, I think that's a good point. It's all about having the systems in place. So that they scale.  [00:26:40] Jason: Very cool. [00:26:41] Jason: Well, is there anything else you think people should know about utility profit? And then we can get into like, how can they connect and get something like this going?  [00:26:50] Zac: Yeah. So the website's, utilityprofit.com.  [00:26:53] Jason: Okay.  [00:26:53] Zac: And it has some more information about how it works and has has some videos of the actual product. [00:26:59] Zac: You can see what it looks like from the renter's perspective, from your perspective and the dashboard that gives transparency. And and it kind of just walks you through everything about the product. And then there's a way on the website to be able to either book a demo if you have any questions about how something works. [00:27:17] Zac: And then, what we do is we'll just help you do like an onboarding call where we have people connect their PM software, upload a logo, invite their team members, really simple, straightforward process and then and then it's kind of good to go. So it's very streamlined thing. People typically will do it and it'll be live same day. [00:27:38] Zac: It's not like some big heavy lift or something. You just kind of go through this 15 minute process. We help you get it all synced up and then it's good to go.  [00:27:45] Jason: So, there's competition out there, right? Like this is a new thing in the space, but previously there's all these companies that try to, you know, negotiate and be able to pull in money and by being the person that gets people on a certain internet service or gets people and they get these kickbacks from the companies and that's how they make their money. [00:28:03] Jason: How do you feel like utility profits sort of stands out from those and I mean, my guess is you have the database, you have the data, like your ability to streamline. You're not having to go and start doing research and that you're just much faster.  [00:28:17] Zac: Yeah, I think that's exactly it. So there's been this whole category over the last couple years that's called a home concierge. [00:28:25] Zac: Yeah. And it's historically been like a call center model. Yeah. Where a rep will get the address and they'll, on your behalf, Google around, make some calls, you know, go try to set things up. And I think that was a helpful first step, and it seems like the natural thing that, that the industry would've been doing. [00:28:43] Zac: But this is just the natural progression of it, you know, building that database out, making it something that is like, you know, a true streamlined tool for everybody. And and just digitizing it a lot more.  [00:28:57] Jason: This is the future. This is the future. It's the next step. You're going to be a sponsor at DoorGrow Live. [00:29:02] Jason: So make sure, you know, everybody come to DoorGrow Live this year. Our theme this year is innovating the future of property management. And so we're going to be sharing innovative stuff. Innovative new models of pricing, not doing it the same way everybody else has been doing it, like percentage or flat fee. There's a lot of innovation and that's our goal at DoorGrow. We're always trying to figure out what are the most innovative stuff? We've got AI maintenance coordinators, we've got all sorts of stuff that are going to be showcased at this event. So if you don't want to be behind the times and have your lunch eaten by competitors and startups that are savvier and more focused on the future, make sure you come to DoorGrow Live. You're going to want to be there because the people that are at DoorGrow Live are going to be the ones that are getting a head start on these really effective cost, saving new tools, these ideas, they're going to help you have more profit in your business. [00:29:54] Jason: And so, Zac, we appreciate you being a sponsor. We're excited to showcase you and some other tools at our event, so.  [00:30:00] Zac: It's going to be fun. It'll be here right around the corner, so. [00:30:03] Jason: Check it out at doorgrowlive.com, and make sure you get your tickets. And we're going to be talking a little bit more in the future, probably on our podcast here. And just online about some of the cool things that you will get or learn if you come to DoorGrow Live this year in May at the Kalahari Resort in Round Rock, Texas. [00:30:20] Jason: So, cool. Well, Zac, is there anything else you want to share before you go? Parting word of wisdom for entrepreneurs out there that haven't had a hundred million dollar exits and built big giant things and they're just struggling to build their little machine, what would you say to them?  [00:30:36] Zac: I would just say like, whatever it is that you think that's holding you back, just start trying to do it. [00:30:43] Zac: You know? I think a lot of times you build up whatever it is in your head. And you think, "well, I would do it if I had this. Or what if I have to hire this person? Or, you know, I need to have this figured out, or I don't know how this works. Like I'm going to just say no to it." I would just say, just start doing it. [00:31:02] Zac: It doesn't have to be perfect to start. And the more you just take that first step it will become more clear and sometimes, it's harder to see the next 10 steps in front of you, but it's pretty easy to take that first step. So I'd say, have a bias for action. Get your hands dirty. Do it yourself. You have mentioned a lot of these things about AI and how the best companies are using ai. [00:31:25] Zac: We're really leaning into that as an organization. It doesn't matter what people's role is, we're saying. You know, download, ChatGPT three and talk to it. Ask it questions like, you know, there's so many cool resources today. It's the best time to figure things out and do things and and take that first step. [00:31:44] Jason: Yeah. GPT 4.5, we're getting clues of that's dropping and going to be out for everybody soon. And then Grok 3, I've been really geeking out on Grok 3, so it's pretty next level, so, but yeah. Cool. I love the idea. Done is better than perfect. I love the idea of rapid iteration. You know, so many times for those of you that are in the earlier stages of entrepreneurs listening to this, this is great advice because I've seen inside a lot of businesses, a lot of small businesses, and one of the biggest mistakes a lot of them make is they try to make everything perfect before they ship it, before they launch it. "I want to get all my processes dialed in," and they're trying to solve problems they don't even have yet. [00:32:20] Jason: They're trying to solve future problems instead of their current problem. And so rapid iteration really is the secret to growing a business quickly because you learn very fast what does and doesn't work. Just start trying shit. Just do it. Break stuff and you're going to learn way faster and everything's figureoutable, so.  [00:32:39] Zac: Yeah. And in that spirit, it doesn't matter what the thing is, you can always get feedback from it, even if it's not totally built yet, like it can be on a napkin, you know, or it could be the next level of that. But go build the thing in whatever low fidelity way. Yeah. [00:32:55] Zac: And then go talk to your customers about it. And this is going to have different applications for different types of business. because you're going to talk about different things. But you know, maybe you have a new program that you're thinking property owners might want to see, like get their feedback on it. [00:33:10] Zac: Or maybe you want to launch a new website or a new logo or whatever it is. I would just say, it doesn't have to be perfect, bring it but you have to get feedback on it. So definitely go and partner with who it is that is going to see it, and then just talk to them about it and say, "Well, how could this be better? What is this missing? What would be the next thing to do? If you could do anything with this, what would you do?" And, you know, people love to share advice. I mean, I think that's the other thing. Yeah. It's like over the last couple years since I've been doing entrepreneurship, I've been kind of amazed at how many people have been willing to share their time and their advice. [00:33:46] Zac: Yeah. And especially if you get an intro to someone from something. Yeah. You know, I think there's this huge thing of maybe you're afraid to ask for that intro or, you know, have that conversation because it's not perfect yet. I would say, you know, find the ideal person that you want to talk to and then figure out how to work backwards and how to get an intro to them and then have that conversation. [00:34:08] Zac: You know, I think you have to be vulnerable in it because you are going to come across dumb sometimes. You know, people are going to say like, "how did you not know this? Everyone knows this," but like, just lose your ego in that. Be okay with not being okay. And then you're going to feel a lot better because on the other side of it, you're going to learn so much. [00:34:27] Jason: Yeah, I think the secret to being smart is just being willing to look stupid. So, I mean, for sure. Ask the dumb question that you're afraid to ask because you're going to learn way faster. And I really think proximity is power. Like just another reason people should come to DoorGrow Live is I think we attract the most growth oriented property management, business owners in the industry and just being in proximity to all these sort of change makers and people trying new stuff and people experimenting, people willing to invest in themselves and to pay like coaches, like DoorGrow. And then I use all my clients as a mass rapid iteration sort of project. [00:35:05] Jason: Like we're always figuring out more and more stuff and I'm gathering these ideas and so we've got systems in place to just allow us to innovate in this industry a lot faster. And so we're really excited about bringing these kind of things to DoorGrow Live and showcasing it. [00:35:19] Jason: So if you're not part of our program, you're not one of our clients. Come check out the magic at DoorGrow Live. Connect with some of the people there and you might realize you found a home, so yeah, your family might be there. So yeah, entrepreneurs we're different breed of people. We, you know, we take risks, we're willing to try new things, and we're not focused primarily on safety and security. [00:35:39] Jason: We're focused more on fulfillment and freedom and contribution. And so this natural offshoot, entrepreneurs are the most helpful people, especially the healthy ones. When you're in a healthy growth-minded state, you want to benefit and help everybody. You're not gatekeeping information like people are sharing stuff and so yeah, I found the same thing to be true in the high level masterminds, coaches that I work with. [00:36:00] Jason: Like just being around the people in these programs has been probably the biggest benefit more than even learning from the guru or whoever that is sharing stuff sometimes. And so, yeah, proximity.  [00:36:11] Zac: Yeah, I think that's well said. You kind of become an average of the people that you spend most time with. [00:36:15] Zac: So if you're around, you know, someone who's going to be pessimistic about everything, then chances are, not going to try things as much. I mean, that, that was like one of the reasons why I had originally moved from, you know, where I was growing up in New Hampshire. I remember when I was pitching Favor when I was 20 something people were like, "ah, no one's going to pay five bucks for something like that. And how do you know how? You don't know how to code. You can't figure that out. Right? Go get a job like everybody else." And then I kind of moved and found my tribe you know, and in Silicon Valley area and then in Austin, Texas. And then next thing you know, I'm actually doing the thing.  [00:36:53] Jason: I think even if people just come to DoorGrow Live to connect with somebody like you and they can create a relationship with somebody like you or any of the change makers or players that we attract at our event. [00:37:05] Jason: I mean, you've done things that a lot of people would dream of being able to do in business, right. And so come make those connections, come to DoorGrow Live and make some connections because it's going to change your life for sure. So, well Zac, I appreciate you coming on the show. People can connect with your company at utilityprofit.com. [00:37:22] Jason: Do a demo. And it's been great having you here.  [00:37:26] Zac: Hey, thanks so much for having me on Jason.  [00:37:28] Jason: All right, so everybody, if you are struggling to grow your business or you're struggling to deal with operations, reach out to us. Check us out at DoorGrow.com. We would love to have a conversation, see if we might be able to help you with something. [00:37:39] Jason: And that's what we do all day long and we care about our clients. We really want to make sure that everybody succeeds. We only win if you're winning. And so until next time, everybody to our mutual growth, let's all win. Bye everyone. 

Ken Hardison from PILMMA joins us today to discuss what PILMMA is and how it started. Ken also covers the benefits of mastermind groups, how the PILMMA Super Summit works, his favorite part of the conference, how firms grow with the help of each other, and the future of PILMMA. PILMMA Super Summit 2025 will be April 29, 2025 - May 2, 2025 in Denver, Colorado. Visit PILMMA online here: https://www.pilmma.org/. Get Ken's book, The Mastermind Effect, here: https://www.amazon.com/Mastermind-Effect-Owners-SECRET-Growth/dp/0983937974. See all episodes or subscribe to the Personal Injury Marketing Minute here: https://optimizemyfirm.com/podcasts/. Transcript: Intro: Lindsey: Welcome to the Personal Injury Marketing Minute, where we quickly cover the hot topics in the legal marketing world. I'm your host, Lindsey Busfield. As a legal SEO agency, the law firms we work with all have a dedicated interest in growing their firms with strategic marketing initiatives. As such, we field a lot of questions regarding which marketing strategies are worth investing in and which are more hype than results. One organization we have been asked about multiple times is PILMMA. Many of the clients we work with are already PILMMA members and they consistently praise the strategic marketing and business management strategies that they receive as a result of their membership. Additionally, I had the opportunity to meet Ken Hardison, the Founder of PILMMA at their annual summit last year. And while I could talk secondhand about the great work that PILMMA does, nobody is going to be able to explain the game-changing resources PILMMA provides as well as Ken can himself. Thank you so much for joining us today. Ken: Oh, thank you, it's my honor. How Did PILMMA Start? Lindsey: Well, let's start with a little bit of information just about you. Can you share a little bit about your journey from becoming a lawyer to a leader in the legal marketing and management industry? Ken: Yeah, so I started practicing in '82 in a little town called Dunn, North Carolina. And I was a partner in another firm from 82 to 96. And I wanted to start marketing because I had went to court one day, I used to do PI, disability and criminal, and one of the partners did estate, real estate and the other one did domestic. And I went to court and this guy came in with crutches and I said, "What happened, Joe?" He said, "Well, I got hit by a semi." I said, "Well, you know, I do PI." He said, "Yeah, but I hired this guy off the TV." And it just hit me. Well, I went and tried the case and we won the case and I drove back to the office and I told my partner, I said, "I wan to have a meeting," I said, "We have got to change with the times," I said, "We need to start marketing." And they said, "No, it's unprofessional. We're not going to do it." So we had a dialogue for about six months. I left, took one associate and three staff and I went out and kind of went out, spent three days with John Morgan, this is in '96. Back then he only had 25 lawyers. I went Ken Nunn up in Indiana, and I shadowed him for two or three days and then I went and got involved with Dan Kennedy and Jay Abraham, and I just learned everything, read everything I could about marketing and then tried it to law firms. And I went out and mortgaged everything I had to my name, half a million dollars at that time and went on TV and started Yellow Pages. And of course the Yellow Pages are dead now. But anyway, in five years we went from two lawyers, three staff to 13 lawyers, 47 staff, and the rest is history. 2010, I just got up one morning and I just wasn't challenged, I wasn't looking forward to going to work, and I said, "I think I'm ready to do something else." And so I sold a law firm and I was going to retire, and I moved down to Myrtle Beach from Raleigh, I was living in Raleigh then, and I fished in golf for about six months,

We have some great prank ideas involving throwing milk on the ground and spraying fake poop out of a pressure washer and we plan to do them to the guy from Modest Mouse to help him yelp. Shrek has DEI eyes but the Yellow Pages are back and if your uncle gives you a box of them you can rip them in half page by page. My mom is going to Norway for missionary work giving lap dances to Laplanders.

In this episode, Steve breaks down his personal marketing journey—from starting his business in 2001 with Yellow Pages ads to building a highly profitable marketing machine through digital strategies. He shares the lessons he learned, the mistakes he made, and the investments that ultimately helped him generate millions in sales.If you've ever felt overwhelmed by marketing, Steve's insights will give you a no-BS roadmap for making it work in your contracting business.What You'll Learn in This Episode:The difference between push marketing (home shows, Yellow Pages) vs. pull marketing (SEO, Google Ads).Why home shows and traditional advertising were hit-or-miss.How Steve transitioned from throwing money at marketing to tracking ROI and making data-driven decisions.The power of video marketing and why simple, real-world content converts better than overly polished ads.How Steve scaled his business using content, SEO, and a strong online presence.Why hiring his son to manage marketing was his best decision—and how he leveraged in-house expertise to dominate his niche.The long-term mindset required to make marketing work and why you need to start TODAY.Resources:⚔️ WAR ROOM Ready to scale your business to $5,000,000 or more? No theory. No fluff. Pure action. Join nine other battle-tested contracting companies from across the country to tackle your biggest challenges head-on. https://thecontractorfight.com/war-room

Not just the 1992 "Is Elvis Alive?" conspiracy theory special The Elvis Conspiracy (a sequel to 1991's The Elvis Files). Not just the specific airing of that special from Channel 7 in Adelaide, South Australia on 26 May 1992. The commercials from that airing. It's as granular as we've ever been, and we're joined by Adelaide's own David M. Green, host of VHS Revue, a show which specialises in commercials from Australian TV found on old VHS tapes.  This was originally intended to be a bonus episode for the TCBCast After Dark Patreon-exclusive deep dive into "Is Elvis Alive?" that Rabia, Justin and Felix did in 2024. A bout of Long COVID meant it didn't end up happening at the time, but everyone's back on deck so here it is! Ads discussed include: The Adventures of Vicky, Mr. Footypunt, Jane Debster shoes, Bob Moran cars, promo for Memories of Elvis the following night, Yellow Pages ad with Roy Billing, Tip Top Bread with Andrew Jarman, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, TAB Telephone Betting, Hungry Jacks Ocean Catch, Light West End beer (Not gay), Farmer's Union Iced Coffee, Aussie Tile Fair, Zamel's Jewellers, Pedder's Suspension, Sizzler, AM Adelaide. The full Adelaide 1992 VHS recording on Internet Archive David M. Green's website Watch VHS Revue on YouTube TCBCast Patreon to hear the rest of TCBCast After Dark our website: suddenlypod.gay contact: suddenlypod at gmail.com

Answering mailbag questions on a report that Apple has abandoned its plans for smart glasses, Google, OpenAI and advertising, why LLMs struggle with sports statistics, whether generative AI will become more acceptable in media, and a few thoughts on manufacturing, tariffs, and the de minimis exception.

The cover of the new Wellington Yellow Pages features a stunning image of a mountain biker on a hill trail, surrounded by lush bush, overlooking a modern city by the ocean. The only problem is, it's not Wellington.

As we close out the year and look ahead at 2025, we wanted to mark an anniversary of sorts: 20 years ago, the online review site Yelp was launched — the name reportedly a mashup of “help” and “Yellow Pages.” In the two decades since the site launched, the website has changed the business of online reviews and our relationship to review culture, even has fake review continue being generated.

As we close out the year and look ahead at 2025, we wanted to mark an anniversary of sorts: 20 years ago, the online review site Yelp was launched — the name reportedly a mashup of “help” and “Yellow Pages.” In the two decades since the site launched, the website has changed the business of online reviews and our relationship to review culture, even has fake review continue being generated.

As we close out the year and look ahead at 2025, we wanted to mark an anniversary of sorts: 20 years ago, the online review site Yelp was launched — the name reportedly a mashup of “help” and “Yellow Pages.” In the two decades since the site launched, the website has changed the business of online reviews and our relationship to review culture, even has fake review continue being generated.

As we close out the year and look ahead at 2025, we wanted to mark an anniversary of sorts: 20 years ago, the online review site Yelp was launched — the name reportedly a mashup of “help” and “Yellow Pages.” In the two decades since the site launched, the website has changed the business of online reviews and our relationship to review culture, even has fake review continue being generated.

In this podcast episode, Bela Musits delves into the world of modern marketing with Jeff Greenfield, a seasoned entrepreneur whose current venture, Provalytics, is dedicated to helping businesses navigate the complexities of marketing spend optimization. The discussion underscores the stark contrast between the traditional marketing landscape and the multifaceted digital environment that businesses operate in today. Gone are the days when a simple ad in the Yellow Pages, newspaper, or radio could suffice. The sheer number of available channels to reach potential customers has exploded, creating a complex challenge for businesses to discern which strategies are truly effective and which are simply draining resources. Provalytics steps in to address this challenge, offering tools and expertise to empower companies to make data-driven decisions about their marketing investments. By providing insights into the performance of different marketing channels and campaigns, Provalytics helps businesses allocate their budgets strategically, ensuring maximum return on investment. The conversation likely explores the various challenges businesses face in the modern marketing landscape, the evolving role of data and analytics in marketing decision-making, and the innovative solutions Provalytics offers to help businesses achieve marketing success. It may also touch on the broader trends shaping the future of marketing and the importance of adaptability and agility in a rapidly changing environment. You can find out more about Provalytics here: https://provalytics.com/ Our podcast is now available on a variety of platforms to suit your listening preferences. You can find us on YouTube, where you can watch the recordings of our episodes, as well as on your favorite podcasting app. Simply search for "The Unconventional Path" to subscribe and never miss an episode. We're always on the lookout for interesting guests to feature on our show. If you know someone who has an inspiring story, unique perspective, or valuable expertise to share, please let us know. We're eager to connect with potential guests who can bring fresh insights and engaging conversations to our audience. We also love hearing from our listeners! Your questions, comments, and suggestions are incredibly valuable to us. Send us an email at bela.and.mike@gmail.com with your thoughts, and we'll do our best to address them in a future episode. Whether you have a question about a specific topic, feedback on a recent episode, or ideas for future content, we want to hear from you. Your engagement helps us shape the show and deliver content that resonates with our listeners. Thank you for being a part of our podcast community. We appreciate your support and look forward to continuing to bring you inspiring stories and thought-provoking conversations on The Unconventional Path. Remember to subscribe, leave a review, and share the show with your friends and family. Together, we can explore the endless possibilities that lie beyond the conventional. Thanks for listening, Bela and Mike --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bela-musits/support

On this episode of the podcast, Virginia Congressman Ben Cline dives into the great conversations that he and his colleagues had with President-elect Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leaders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. The Member on Appropriations shared key insights into Republican initiatives that will advance fiscal responsibility and streamline government operations, including a balanced budget proposal from the Republican Study Committee. The Congressman advocated for treating government like a business, privatizing certain functions and relocating federal agencies to save costs. He called for federal employees to return to the office and voiced his strong support for Pete Hegseth's nomination as President Trump's chosen Defense Secretary. Furthermore, Congressman Cline acknowledges the ongoing importance of securing our southern border through comprehensive legislative policy solutions like HR-2.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dave Taylor is the Co-founder and Strategic Digital Marketer at In Front Marketing, a Calgary-based agency specializing in data-driven marketing solutions. Over the past decade, he has grown the agency to serve more than 500 clients annually, including prominent names like the Calgary Flames and Backyard Meats. With a focus on delivering measurable results, Dave ensures clients grasp the performance and ROI of their campaigns, driving significant increases in engagement and conversion rates. Under his leadership, In Front Marketing prioritizes transparency and communication, offering a full range of services, including SEO, digital advertising, and social media management. In this episode… What does it take to transition from working a corporate job to starting a thriving agency from scratch? How does one navigate the treacherous waters of entrepreneurship and carve out a niche in the competitive digital marketing space? Can a commitment to data-driven strategies and robust client relationships make all the difference? Dave Taylor of In Front Marketing reveals how he tackled these questions throughout his journey. Starting in a spare bedroom, Dave's agency has grown significantly by emphasizing the importance of data in digital campaigns. His early experiences at Yellow Pages and other corporate roles taught him what not to do, which he leveraged to build trust with clients by showcasing the direct impact of their campaigns. Dave's collaboration with the Calgary Flames and other organizations highlights his agency's success in providing clear, actionable insights that enhance marketing strategies and boost ROI. In today's episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz interviews Dave Taylor, Co-founder and Strategic Digital Marketer of In Front Marketing, about the evolution and success of the agency. Dave highlights the importance of data in digital marketing, the strategic steps involved in scaling an agency, and the value of fostering strong client relationships. He shares how his agency began in a small spare bedroom and evolved into a significant player in the digital marketing sphere, emphasizing a collaborative approach and community involvement.

Curious about how marketing can transform your child care business? Tune in to this episode of the Child Care Genius Podcast as Brian and Carol discuss the next pillar of leverage in your child care business: effective marketing. Last week, they tackled mindset, and now they're ready to share marketing strategies that every child care owner needs. This episode is part two of an 8-part series covering the essential pillars of leverage for child care business owners.   Listen in as Brian, drawing from his early days in a marketing agency, shares practical, relatable insights on marketing. He emphasizes the power of a strong website, calling it “your signboard to the world.” Discover why having a professional, SEO-optimized website is essential for boosting enrollment and credibility in the digital age.   Brian and Carol also explore Google Ads and social media advertising. They reveal ways to maximize visibility and explain how even a modest budget can reach new families. Carol shares her perspective on the evolution of marketing, from Yellow Pages ads to today's digital platforms, stressing the importance of a consistent online presence. Learn how targeted ads on Facebook and Instagram can make a difference in reaching the right audience.   Finally, the duo highlights the value of word-of-mouth and referral programs, sharing creative ideas like offering cash bonuses to make referrals memorable and motivating. Whether you're new to marketing or looking to refresh your strategies, this episode is packed with actionable advice. Tune in, take notes, and see how these marketing insights can empower your center to attract more families and grow like never before! Mentioned in this episode: GET TICKETS to the Child Care Genius LIVE Conference: https://bit.ly/ccglive25   Need help with your child care marketing? Reach out! At Child Care Genius Marketing we offer website development, hosting, and security, Google Ads creation and management, done for you social media content and ads management. If you'd rather do it yourself, we also have the Genius Box, which is a monthly subscription chock full of social media & blog content, as well as a new monthly lead magnet every month! Learn more at Child Care Genius Marketing. https://childcaregenius.com/marketing-solutions/  Schedule a no obligation call to learn more about how we can partner together to ignite your marketing efforts.   If you need help in your child care business, consider joining our coaching programs at Child Care Genius University. Learn More Here. https://childcaregenius.com/university   Connect with us:  Child Care Genius Website Like us on Facebook Join our Owners Only Private Mastermind Group on Facebook    Join our Child Care Mindset Facebook Group Follow Us on Instagram Connect with us on LinkedIn Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Buy our Books Check out our Free Resources

Next in Creator Media spoke with Jamie Gutfreund, founder of Creator Vision, about why some brands still don't have a strategy for creators, and whether Hollywood is missing the moment in harvesting YouTube and TikTok for talent.Takeaways:• Creator Economy Shift: Goodfriend discussed how traditional media strategies are outdated for the creator economy. • Strategic Gap in Brand Approaches: Many brands lack a clear creator strategy and often make ad-hoc partnerships without defined objectives, resulting in suboptimal returns.• Challenges with Current Media Agencies: Large agencies face difficulties integrating creators due to scalability issues and outdated metrics focused on paid media. • Creator Selection Pitfalls: Brands often rely on tools similar to Yellow Pages for finding creators, which can lead to mismatched partnerships. • Evolving Definitions of Premium Content: Premium content is now audience-defined, moving beyond traditional high-production-value constraints. Guest: Jamie GutfreundHost: Mike ShieldsSponsor: VuePlannerProducer: FEL Creative

David Klein is the Director of Business Development for ConsulTV. David began his advertising journey running his own business doing print advertising and Google Adwords. Comparatively, the shift to programmatic advertising will be to traditional media as pay per click advertising was to the Yellow Pages. He is glad to be in a position to partner with agencies and help them maximize this enormous opportunity.  ConsulTV's platform serves paid media advertising with a focus on streaming TV ads and OTT. Because of buying volume and 100's of private placement deals, we reduce our clients' CPMs and provide more robust targeting and reporting.Connect with David on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidkleinsalesleader Visit ConsulTV: https://www.consult.tv/ On This Episode, We Discuss…The Seismic Shift from Traditional TV Ads to Streaming PlatformsHow Brands Can Adapt to the New Age of Digital MarketingTargeted Advertising in Streaming TVOptimizing Campaigns with Web Lift Pixels

In this episode of Marketing MadMen, Nick Constantino sits down with Tom DiGregorio, the founder of Aquaguard, to explore successful marketing strategies and the importance of brand building. They discuss the urgency of addressing water damage, the complexities of foundation repair, and the critical differences between damp proofing and waterproofing. Tom shares his experiences transitioning from Yellow Pages to digital marketing and emphasizes the value of building a strong team and company culture. Tune in to hear valuable insights on scaling a business and creating long-term brand awareness.patreon.com/TheMarketingMadMen: https://www.nick-constantino.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.