The $100 MBA Show

No business leader can do it all. But here’s the good news: you don't have to! Today, learn why you should consider putting together a board of directors (even if your business is just getting started). Yes, this is something even new entrepreneurs should start thinking about. It might sound a little daunting or even corporate-y, but having a team of experts to help guide your decisions can make a...

Crazy thought: cold emails can work. Yeah, we didn’t think so either — until we realized how they work when you do it properly. All thanks to this week’s Must-Read for entrepreneurs! If you're like most people, you probably assume that cold emailing is a bad marketing strategy.  It's too direct, too forward, too scammy, too annoying. Right? But what if you're wrong? What if cold emailing can actua...

Thinking about bringing interns into your business? Free labor has its upsides — but also its disadvantages. Even if you’re paying nothing, both parties in an internship need to get an ROI. So when do interns make sense? It all depends on what your business needs, and what role the intern is fulfilling.  Some work, anyone can do. Other work requires the kind of skill, experience, or credentials th...

Looking to get started with paid ads? It’s the perfect time! Over the past year, the most effective strategies have become more clear and well-established — though some of them might surprise you.  Today, you'll learn why paid ad campaigns can fail, and how to increase their odds of success. We'll discuss how to spend your time, money, and resources more wisely and effectively to get the best ROI....

YouTube can be a gold mine — or a minefield. One of the biggest headaches for YouTube content creators is getting flagged for copyright violations. Even music you think is “safe” can trigger a demonetization. So how can you ensure your soundtracks won’t kill your revenue? It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’ve got a listener whose videos keep getting flagged, despite their best efforts. Before losing yet a...

It's tough to give your business your all. We're always juggling multiple projects, sometimes a day job, hobbies, and personal commitments. But if you're serious about your business, it's time to focus. So why do we struggle to go all-in?  Most of us think it’s due to fear of risk, of putting all the eggs of our time and energy into the basket of one mission. But that’s not really it.  The truth i...

If nothing else, an entrepreneur needs to be a fighter. And who better to learn fighting from than Iron Mike himself, whose rise and fall (and rise again) is the perfect lesson in resilience and adaptability.  No matter what business you’re in, this book is a knockout. Entrepreneurship is much like boxing; you have to fight through challenges, adapt to changing situations, be disciplined, and lear...

You’re in profit. Congrats! To keep it that way, you have to reinvest. But where? How much? Where you put your money will determine if your business grows or stagnates. Let’s approach this strategically. Today, we take a detailed look at how to evaluate your business’s strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement. By doing a little homework, you can get a clear picture of where reinves...

Stress doesn’t just hurt you (although that’s reason enough to address it). It also hurts your business. Understanding this is the best way to stop thinking of stress management as an afterthought or a luxury. You can’t avoid stress, but you have to mitigate it.  Once you see what stress costs, you’ll do something about it. If you don’t take action, the costs aren’t just emotional — they’re tangib...

Remote work isn’t going anywhere, especially for lean startups who want a big talent pool and low overhead. But for new entrepreneurs, it can be hard to know if you’re in touch with the team enough. Also, let’s admit it: most people hate meetings. Including the boss. It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’ve got a listener with a small remote team who isn’t sure how often to bring the crew together (virtually...

There’s one skill that differentiates people who can make it in business (or anything really) in the long term: a comfortable relationship with disappointment. Including the kind that comes from your own failure. Don’t worry, this episode won’t bum you out. It’ll empower you! Long understood in the sports world, the ability to shake off a bad outcome is the key to survival in business. If you don’...

We’ll never stop saying it: the easiest people to sell to are the people you already sold to. But too many of us focus almost exclusively on new customer acquisition, instead of going back to a perfectly good well. This is especially important when it comes to eCommerce. Today, special guest Jessica Totillo Coster shares a detailed, step-by-step plan for making sure that those who buy, buy again....

You might think “If only I had a coach…” And you’d be right — a good business coach can make a world of difference. But that’s only true if you hire the right coach for the moment you’re currently in. What do we mean by that? Well, different kinds of coaches can help you in different stages of your business. The person who gets you from A to B may not be the person who gets you from B to C. It all...

Habits are the key to achieving anything. So which habit brings about growth for your business? It’s not meditation or drinking enough water (though those things don’t hurt). It’s something…unexpected. Except it’s totally expected. But not in the way you might think. It takes some explaining, ok? And this episode description isn’t the place to do it, for one because we don’t like these to be too l...

Sometimes, you just need revenue. For small businesses, cash is oxygen — and when the waters rise, you need to make sure you can breathe for as long as it takes to get to dry land.  That’s when it’s time for a sales push. It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’ve got a listener who ran into some unexpected expenses outside their control (that’s gonna happen, entrepreneurs). Now, the business needs a lil’ extr...

Motivation is easy when things are awesome. But how do you stay on top of your game when the game isn’t going your way? If you can answer that question, you can make it through anything. Today, we offer several answers. Omar’s been there — frustrations, failures, plans that go sideways when you least expect it. And here he is, still running a successful independent business with a global team that...

It’s never the best idea that wins. It’s the best execution. In the history of business, the most successful entrepreneurs were the ones who adapted existing ideas better than anyone else (including whoever had the idea first).  Now it’s your turn. Today, special guest Derek Lidow explains how building on pre-existing concepts is the all-time best way to pursue success. With real-world experience...

Despite what you might’ve heard, ChatGPT isn’t here to end careers. Quite the opposite, really — it can help you start a whole new business, with less time and effort on your part. Today, we discuss how. We’re sharing five different ways you can fire up the AI and set it to work on services people need.  You might ask yourself: why don’t these potential customers just use ChatGPT for themselves, i...

There are lots of ways to make money on your own. But one of the most reliable (and least risky) is the agency business. Today, we discuss what that is, and why it’s such a great option. Long story short, it’s about as low-risk, high-reward as independent businesses get. By providing a service like design or copy or multimedia, you can almost guarantee that if your work is up to snuff, you’ll alwa...

So you’re starting a business, and you’ll need some outside investment to really make it work. Where to seek funding is one problem — but just as important is when to seek funding. Timing is everything when you’re asking for money! No matter who the funding source is, you’ll have to convince them that you’re a good investment. And you can’t do that until you’ve gathered enough hard evidence that y...

Yes, even startups and small businesses can have incredible team retreats. In fact, it’s more fun with a smaller, tight-knit team — especially when that team is remote and doesn’t get much face-time. Of course, not everything will go perfectly. Today, we share lessons learned from our most recent team getaway. We invited our engineering, marketing, design, and other pros from around the globe to f...

How much time do you really have? It’s easy to say “life is short.” But if you really look closely at the numbers, it’s shorter than you might realize. And all the “productivity” in the world can’t change that. That’s the premise of today’s Must-Read book for entrepreneurs: Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman . Yep, that’s about how many weeks most people (in industrialized nations) get before...

You’ve launched — but your business just can’t seem to get anywhere. Why? What makes some businesses grow steadily (or suddenly), while others just get stuck on the ol’ hamster wheel?  Today, we diagnose the problem. In this episode, we’ll explore what exactly creates that all-important traction, and allows new companies to reach “escape velocity,” a.k.a. the point at which you break through the i...

If you think the sky’s the limit, you’re forgetting what’s beyond the sky. Too often, entrepreneurs are held back not by market forces or competition, but by self-limiting beliefs.  So how big can you really go? And how do you define “big” anyway? This episode isn’t a hollow pep talk. It’s about realizing that when you create your own future by starting your own business, you get to decide for you...

For new and small businesses, every cent you spend on employee compensation counts. So are you getting more bang for your buck when you hire part-time, or full-time?  The answer — as is often the case in business — depends. It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’re helping a listener with a growing business spend his payroll dollars wisely. They know they need to build a team in order to reach the next level,...