Business Brain – The Entrepreneurs’ Podcast

Join us this week for episode 69 of the Small Business Show! Dave and Shannon talk about Dave’s new business venture and then they jump right into part 2 of their series of tips about managing the tricky relationship that your business has with the IRS. Things like the importance of putting a human element into the relationship, getting advice BEFORE you need advice and more insight into how...

This week on the Small Business Show, we start off by revisiting the concept of not setting financial goals for your business, but rather, developing systems that you can continually achieve success with and adjust for mistakes over time. Dave and Shannon have been using this concept for years, but it took Scott Adams book, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big  to lay it out in detai...

Do you compartmentalize your business? How do you keep things in perspective when solving problems? We discuss the importance of AMF (always moving forward!) when tackling problems with your small business as well as setting up triggers to help keep you accountable. We then move into a discussion of the new Federal Overtime rules that hike the hourly threshold from $23,660 to $47,476. How will thi...

Does everything always go right with your small business? We didn’t think so. Dave and Shannon have had a bad week and no amount of their patented optimistic self-delusion will get them through without spending some time on the Small Business Show sharing their stories and talking through ways to keep yourself and your team motivated when times are tough. Shannon talks about the risks of bei...

What happens to your well thought-out Small Business plans if you become incapacitated? Who steps in to handle the myriad of details that you take care of each day. Dave and Shannon have discussed the more formal ways to setup a succession plan, such as disability insurance and Key Man policies, but what about the equally important, but informal information that you may have stuck in your head? We...

Ever have a crazy idea? Of course you have. Exploring those ideas can be the thing that leads to the next business opportunity. And that next business opportunity might eventually be the thing that puts food on your table. You need to pay attention to those crazy ideas, but you also need to learn how to make sure you don’t just spend your time chasing  all the ideas. Shannon and Dave have ex...

Any growth for your small business is good and the faster the better, right? Bryan O’Connell, co-founder of Meras Engineering would disagree! Bryan joins us today on the Small Business Show to talk about managing growth, choosing business partners, finding an advisory group that holds you accountable and more. We also discuss the value of an MBA degree, creating a customer obsessed culture a...

Kelan Raph has built a career helping people get their products from point A to point B. With his current venture, Grand Canal Solutions , he and his team have developed Optimize , a service that automatically identifies enhancements and optimizations to your product shipments, warehousing and more. Kelan talks to Shannon and Dave about blending partnerships with opportunities, his marketing exper...

Ever thought about selling your business? We thought so! Bob Grewal  of Seapoint Business Advisors sells businesses for a living, and he deals with all kinds of issues you haven’t even considered yet. Recasting financials, dealing with your employees, reducing the perception of risk and distributing revenue are all things you’ll have to deal with and Bob provides some great perspective...

In 1995 it was predicted that the Internet would kill “the middleman.” Here we are a couple decades later and not only are middlemen still in business, they’re the norm. In fact, as Dave and Shannon discover,  everyone is a middleman, even if only for themslves, and that’s OK. Add in a dash about the Gig Economy and a sideline tangent about what the world might be like with...

Shannon and Dave put on their kevlar vests – and tinfoil hats – and tackle the topic of a rising minimum wage as it relates to small business. Do you hire entry level employees or summer workers? Who will benefit from this? Who will get special exemptions with the government? How will it work? These are the questions Shannon and Dave ask… and they’re brave (foolish?) enough to answer t...

Long-time technology journalist Jason Snell spent 17 years writing, editing and managing teams at Macworld magazine before leaving that behind to start his own small business publishing company, SixColors.com . Along the way, Jason also created and managed various Podcasts like  The Incomparable ,  TV Talk Machine , and   Upgrade .   Jason joins Shannon and Dave to talk about the experience of mov...

Shannon and Dave have both run virtual (or semi-virtual) companies for decades and have used all manner of electronic communication tools to keep their various teams in sync. These days they both make use of Slack (among other tools) to organize their lives and make teams feel like teams. Hear them talk about all the tools they use and why “eliminating email” is only one reason you mig...

Ever sit on the beach and have a great idea? Paul Goodman and his business partner did, bought 400 bracelets from cart vendors, traveled home and PuraVida bracelets was born! They sold their first batch, ordered more, started and now they sell 50-100 thousand bracelets each week. Paul tells Shannon and Dave about all kinds of things … including the first public announcement of new products (...

Episode 55 means it’s a perfect time to discuss what your two favorite business geeks have learned from watching Sammy Hagar over the years. You might be surprised to hear the revelations that Shannon and Dave have. Then it’s on to reviews. Every business gets reviews, even those that don’t think they do (someday Dave will learn that every episode matters!). Learn from Shannon an...

Your two favorite business geeks are about to celebrate their one year anniversary of podcasting together and to celebrate … they interview each other. Hear Dave and Shannon ask one another about their starts, their stops, their transitions and more! The post Dave and Shannon Interview Each Other – Small Business Show 54 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast .

It’s mailbag day today! Shannon and Dave answer two of your questions this week, the first is about crafting your public persona. No one is better equipped to represent your business than you are, and that means you have to get comfortable putting yourself out there, too. But you don’t have to put everything online — Shannon and Dave talk through how to build that filter and use it. Th...

Today’s small business show takes us through some of the bigger-picture stuff you can do to grow your small business. What would it take to grow your business to be ten times its size? What would you change if you were running your business like you intended to sell it? If you had to write an executive summary about your business, what would you say? We also spend some time talking about you...

Shannon and Dave talk about the impact that small business owners feel when competing for employees with new, well-funded startups (aka those that can hire people their cash flow doesn’t afford!). Shannon found a great article about how on-demand businesses have created a new era of entrepreneurship  — and how attractive that is to employees that want to break out of the 9-to-5 workweek. Lis...

Rob Gautereaux started JustLuxe.com in 2004 as a site with product articles and classified ads. Within 2 years he realized there was better value to the JustLuxe readers – and JustLuxe themselves – if they were a true publication business. Since then JustLuxe has grown significantly by creating their own great content and partnering with The RGM Group to help them monetize. Rob talks about many th...

Shannon and Dave dig in today, talking about naming your business (and theirs!) as well as reward credit cards. How do you go about picking a good name for a business and what message does it send to your customers? Your favorite business geeks are also rewards credit card geeks that love  earning points and perks by using their credits cards for their businesses. They dissect an article Dave foun...

Cash is king. You hear it all the time, but have you ever sat down and thought about what it means for your small business ? Your two favorite business geeks have and they share their thoughts about how to manage – and even get – cash the right way. Profits are great, but cash is king. Listen now to hear why! The post The Small Business Cash Flow Show – SBS 48 appeared first on Business Brain - Th...

While cash might be king, your employees are queen… and this is one of those cases where the queen needs to win. Shannon and Dave talk about what it takes to not only motivate your employees, but also to keep your team happy. Starting with a discussion about salespeople, the value of quotas is challenged… and other ideas are thrown into the mix, as well. Listen as your two favorite bus...

Bruce Linde is the quintessential service provider, always looking to do whatever he can to support his clients. In fact, he even considers the websites he builds for his clients to serve them after he’s finished; the goal being to have the site “turn interest into a client.” Bruce wryly shares the many stories and lessons he’s learned, including telling us why he believes...

This week on the Small Business Show, we continue the discussion about small business marketing with Shannon and Dave talking about the value of marketing via social media as well as offline marketing. Strategies for authenticity are the core, including specific discussions about Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, offline marketing and more! The post Small Business Marketing Stories – Part 2 – Sma...