Business Brain – The Entrepreneurs’ Podcast

One of the most frequently repeated pieces of advice that we give on the show is to get involved with a board of advisors and to connect with other business owners. Connecting with a group of diverse business owners and executives is a powerful way to build relationships and to bring experience to your business that you may be lacking. You’ll gain insight, critique, and knowledge with every...

Today on the show, we’re fortunate to have David Dawson with us, owner of The Instant Print Shoppe . David is going to talk all about printing as well as his journey as a small business owner. Regular listeners of the Small Business Show will know that we are passionate about the customer experience when they receive your product. We recently did a show all about packaging and how big of an impact...

We all know how powerful saying No is. In fact, we’ve done shows where we discuss just that – focusing your power by saying no. But what if you are on the other side of that no? How do you work around being shut down? What techniques can you use to convince someone to change their mind and embrace your idea, your service, or your product? Stick around for the next half-hour or so to learn ho...

We often talk about outsourcing with off-shore companies on the Small Business Show. Back in April, we focused on using outsourcing as a resource for delegating and on last weeks episode, Dave shared some of his frustrations about being impatient and expecting perfection when using outsourcing for a project. Today, we’re fortunate to have Curt Zweier of C3S Software on the show to provide some dee...

Should your Small Business make loans to employees that are in a bind and if so, what policies and procedures do you need to put in place to protect yourself? And creating your own reality is great, but what about the reality of not being able to pay your bills? Join us today for a special listener questions edition of the Small Business Show! Most Small Business owners have found themselves in th...

Every Small Business moves through cycles. From Creation, launch, growth and the grind, are you ready to adapt your skill set to each cycle? On this episode of the Small Business Show, we will explore each of these business cycles and more while we highlight the opportunities and pitfalls of each. Join your hosts Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean to learn how they adapted their leadership styles duri...

What is Intentional Tension and how can you use it to achieve more with your Small Business? Join your hosts Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean for this episode of the Small Business Show to hear why introducing Intentional Tension to your company culture can increase productivity and produce higher quality results. We also discuss why some people feel the urge to quit on the cusp of success. What is...

As regular listeners know, we recently welcomed Mint Mobile on to the show as a sponsor. What they don’t know is before those sponsor spots started, we met with Mint Mobile’s Chief Marketing Officer, Aron North and we were so impressed with the story of Mint and how it began that we have asked Aron to come on the show today to talk about how Mint got started and how he and his team came up with th...

Join us today as we welcome Garry VonMyhr , Co-Founder of Tech Defenders , Mobile Defenders and Genius iPhone Repair to discuss his journey starting and running multiple businesses in the mobile electronics space. We all know that mobile devices, phones, laptops, and tablets are critically important in the business and educational markets as well as our personal lives. When these devices stop work...

Mastering accountability for yourself is critically important for the success of your Small Business. Now it’s time to teach the same skills to your employees and contractors to create a culture of accountability that will lead to your inevitable success. Part 2 in our series on Accountability, today on the Small Business Show your hosts Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean focus on how to transfe...

Have you found the Small Business Show useful? You can give a little love back to the show by leaving a quick review for us. It has a tremendous impact and could be the most powerful thing you do today. Thanks! Being focused on accountability is a powerful way to steer yourself and your Small Business towards success. When you are holding yourself accountable, you are in charge of the actions you...

For Small Businesses, making the sale is only half the battle. How we handle things after the sale is crucial to developing customer loyalty and encouraging repeat buyers. Today on the Small Business Show, your hosts Shannon Jean and Dave Hamilton discuss four after-sale situations where you have a chance to impress your customer, build that loyalty and earn their repeat business for life. We take...

One of the most challenging times when developing a new product or service or when starting a new business is when you are close to being ready to launch. You are at the 80-90% completion point, but you just want to make a few changes, add another feature, run one more test.  This is the point where things can go terribly wrong. That feature you want to add, that change you want to make, that...

Are you maxing out rewards programs for hotels, airlines and credit card companies for your Small Business? You should be and today on the Small Business Show we share a few examples of why you’re missing out on some big benefits if you ignore these programs. Join your hosts Shannon Jean and Dave Hamilton for another episode of tips, advice, and strategies to help your Small Business. After...

Continuing with our series on subscription-based businesses, we’ve been fortunate to meet some very smart folks that have started or transitioned to a subscription model for their product or service. This week, we get to learn from a founder that created a business to help others succeed in the software and subscription market. Paddle was Co-Founded in 2012 by Christian Owens and we’re thrilled to...

Developing positive habits and minimizing negative habits is important for you AND for your employees. By breaking down our larger goals into small tasks and habits, we can shift the focus away from willpower and motivation to small steps, habits that lead us down the path to our ultimate goal of world domination. “Habits​ ​are​ ​the​ ​underlying​ ​driving​ ​force​ ​of​ ​either​ ​success​ ​or​ ​fa...

Are Podcasts a good marketing tool for your Small Business? Can you connect with your customers on a different level by hosting your own Podcast and if so, how do you get started? Join us today on this episode of the Small Business Show to find out about this topic and more. Podcasts are increasingly popular. Over 51% of the US population has listened to a Podcast and 31% of the population have li...

We constantly talk about maximizing our time on the Small Business Show and how using our time wisely is one of the key aspects of being successful as a Small Business owner. Automating processes and using tools to manage repetitive actions is part of a system to increase your productivity each day. Today, we get a chance to talk with Greg Scown , Co-Founder of Smile , creators of life-changing an...

What’s in a name? Everything when it comes to your company or brand! As founders, owners, and stewards of Small Businesses, we all know how important your company or brand name is. Joining us today on the Small Business Show, Mike Pile, Founder of Uppercase Branding discusses his own business as well as sharing tips and methods for coming up with great names. Mike discusses how prioritizing tasks...

Using persuasion techniques when working with customers and your employees can help everyone get the results they want. Specifically, using Pacing and Leading can help you build empathy and create a connection between people that then allows you to achieve a positive outcome. “Pacing builds trust because people see you as being the same as them. After pacing, a persuader can then lead, and the sub...

Being proactive when communicating with your customers helps to build trust and credibility. What happens when your customers find out about bad news before you tell them? Join your hosts Shannon Jean and Dave Hamilton for this episode of the Small Business Show to hear a great example of what NOT to do when things go wrong. Dave shares his experience with poor communication that literally stopped...

We all have an inner judge that can help us or hold us back. Our subconscious mind is constantly absorbing information and playing it back to us, sometimes reminding us of our successes, but often replaying our failures and sabotaging our success.  Can we focus the power of our subconscious to help us succeed? Damn right we can. With some practice and consistent exercises, we can tune our inn...

There’s a procrastinator in all of us. When it comes to Small Business, putting things off can create problems, but it can also create opportunities. Join us today for episode 222 of the Small Business Show to hear how you can overcome this natural tendency and take advantage of the opportunities it creates. Join your hosts Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean – two experts at procrastination and...

Marketing your business online, whether on search engines or social media can be challenging. There are so many platforms, where do you focus most of your energy? How do you measure results and what tactics have the biggest impact with a limited marketing budget? Today on the Small Business Show, we’re going to answer those questions and more as we’re joined by Kirk La Sala, digital marketing expe...

Continuing our series of shows about Coaching and Mentoring, today we’re joined by Chris Prefontaine , Founder of Smart Real Estate Coach . Chris and his family have been in the Real Estate business for over 25 years and after building 100’s homes and buying and selling over 80 million in properties, Chris decided it was time to share his expertise with others.   Join your hosts Shannon Jean...