The $100 MBA Show

Conferences can be worth their weight in gold. But how can you tell? It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’ve got a listener with a business in its infancy. Their YouTube following is impressive, and they’re wondering if it’s a smart move to spend $4k to attend a conference that could help them better monetize it. Thing is, at this stage in the business, $4k is nothing to sneeze at, budget-wise. Is it a wise...

At any stage of entrepreneurship, indecision can kill your business. Whether you’re just starting out, or making higher-stakes calls at an established company, not deciding something can be the worst decision possible. And consistently avoiding decisions is almost a guarantee of stagnation at best, and failure at worst. Fact is, in the long term “analysis paralysis” hurts businesses just as much a...

You can pay for ads. But organic traffic is (literally) priceless. The ROI on paid marketing and advertising grows more and more questionable, especially as moves like Apple’s tracking opt-outs make consumers more savvy, and less susceptible. But you know what consumers don’t mind? Actively choosing what they engage with. All you have to do is offer genuinely good reasons to engage with your brand...

So you’re ready for outside investment. …or are you? The decision to take on someone else’s money is a huge one. If you’re going to sacrifice some autonomy, and ask someone to risk their capital, you have to know exactly what your goals are — and what your business is realistically capable of. And of course, you need to know how much scratch you’re asking for. Today, we discuss the complex factors...

If your email list is dead, your business may not be far behind. As the Internet continues to bombard consumers from every angle, earning a special place in someone’s inbox is the key to maintaining a relationship. So when the open and click rates are in a freefall, it’s critical to do something to reawaken engagement with your newsletter. So what can you do? How can you bring back a dormant newsl...

For many businesses, the year-end holiday season is a slow period. …but does that mean your business should slow (or stop) its marketing efforts? It’s Q&A Wednesday, and one of our listeners is wondering whether they should pump the brakes on marketing ‘till the new year. It’s not an unreasonable question; the holidays are busy, and consumers might be less inclined to engage with any of the zillio...

What’s the marketing value of a Facebook group? With all of Zuckerberg and Meta’s stumbles — and Apple’s undercutting of Facebook ads with its tracking opt-out policy — you might think Facebook is an empire in decline. But that’s not the whole story. There’s still a place for Facebook in your marketing, and Groups is probably it. Today, we discuss how Facebook’s struggles in some areas make Groups...

Some tools are so good, we can’t keep it to ourselves. They’re not sponsors. We’re not affiliates. In fact, this tool is free — and it’s causing tsunami-sized waves across the Internet. It’s called OpenAI, specifically its GPT-3 writing platform. Content and copy written by a bot, you say? Sounds like a recipe for disaster…except it isn’t. The good folks at OpenAI have finally cracked a way for ar...

What habits really make a difference? There’s no shortage of tips, tricks, and hacks on the Internet, promising that if just do this, everything will improve. Some of it is legitimately game-changing, and some of it is clickbait and content fluff. At the end of the day, all we can trust is our experience — so Omar’s sharing his. The habits we share today worked for Omar, and they might just work f...

It’s that time of year! Time to reflect, assess how we did in 2022, and look ahead to our goals for 2023. But having goals is one thing; actually achieving them is another. What’s the difference between companies (and people) who meet their goals, and those who don’t? We think it comes down to one thing — yes, one thing. Today, we share a single strategy that undeniably works, no matter what else...

Email marketing still works better than almost anything else — but only if people get your emails. There are a million ways to get someone’s email address, but they don’t work as well as they used to. Consumers are understandably wary of junk emails clogging their inbox. So what still works? What gets people to sign up (and actually open your emails, too)? It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’ve got a liste...

We’ve all had that “Just take my money!” feeling about a product or service. It happens when what’s being offered is…perfect. Perfect for your needs, perfect for the price, and perfectly explained in its features and benefits. Best of all, we tend to tell our friends, family, and colleagues all about that kind of product. So how do you come up with something like that? How can you get a “Hell Yeah...

How hard is selling, anyway? No matter what kind of experience you have in sales, you can get better at it. It’s a skill, not a magic power.  And like any skill, you can learn it, practice it, improve it. Today, we review a sales strategy guide from one of our favorite authors on the topic, Phil M. Jones. Following up on his excellent Exactly What to Say, Jones’ Exactly How to Sell expands on and...

Just because you’re down, doesn’t mean you’re out. Businesses fail. In fact, some might argue that you’re not a true entrepreneur if you’ve never had a business fail! The question is: what do you do when it’s happening? Today, we explore a few specific options. When every metric available tells you that your business is headed straight for a cliff, you have some decisions to make. Can you save it?...

They say “it takes money to make money.” We say: Hold my beer. You don’t need major investment or capital saved up to create a business. In fact, just to show how little you can start with, today we explore how to start with nothing! Before he was the game-changing business coach and SaaS founder we know and love today, Omar had to start from scratch — without any scratch. In this episode, he shar...

Sometimes, you just need more revenue. Often, that means getting more customers. But not always! For example, today might be the first Q&A Wednesday in which — rather than simply answering the question — we suggest our loyal listener rethink the problem in the first place. In this episode, we help a barbershop owner with a steady, profitable business that just isn’t growing. While the needs of a b...

What are people really buying when they buy your product? The answer to that question can make selling it dramatically easier. Of course, it requires a little thought. Whatever your product or service is, it’s a means to an end for the consumer. And the end is all that matters, when it comes to your marketing and sales approach. What will the customer actually get once they put your product into a...

The better you communicate, the better your business will do. And yes, for almost every entrepreneur, that means having to write well. Whether it’s books, e-books, blog posts, sales copy, or even just social media, you need the written word. Even if it’s just for that all-important SEO, you have to write. The good news? You don’t have to be Stephen King to produce great writing. …just ask Stephen...

No business product magically solves everything. Lately, we’ve seen more and more companies offering pre-fabricated marketing and sales “funnels.” Some of these companies claim that their funnels can replace things like your company website. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with these funnels. But the way they’re marked misses the point. Today, we explore the value of specific, targeted funnel...

Recessions are like rainstorms. They’re not something you can avoid. They’re something you prepare for. Just as you might keep an umbrella or a raincoat around, a business owner needs a plan in place for when the economy takes one of its natural, cyclical downturns. And that plan should not include winding down or stopping your marketing efforts. You just need to approach the market with a recessi...

A bad hire can cost you. There’s nothing worse than wasting time, money, and effort bringing in someone new, only to lose them shortly thereafter. Maybe they don’t have the right skills. Maybe they lack the right work ethic. More often, they don’t have the right attitude. But that’s not the most important reason it didn’t work out. The most important reason is that you didn’t see what they were la...

The Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale feels almost as obligatory as Thanksgiving itself. But do you have to do it? Sometimes, following the herd is the best way to get lost in the crowd. With a billion promotional emails hitting inboxes this time of year, is your holiday sale a smart play, or just adding to the noise? Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean you have to — but it doesn’t ne...

Success is never immunity. Even the biggest businesses fail, as explored in this week’s Must-Read book review. Jim Collins’ How the Mighty Fall is a fascinating look at the demise of huge, multi-billion dollar enterprises — but its lessons are just as applicable to small businesses. If success leaves clues, so does failure. Your business isn’t FTX, or Blockbuster, or Nokia. But the same patterns o...

Affiliate marketing: one of the best ways to grow your business. We would know! There’s currently a small army of content creators and other industry pros pushing our SaaS platform, and we couldn’t be more grateful.  But if you’re thinking about having affiliates sell your own product or service, give this episode a listen first. It’s slightly more complex than simply “You sell my thing, you get a...

Does your business have roller-coaster sales? Up and down, feast and famine; if your sales fluctuate too much, you can’t really run your business effectively. You can’t rely on a predictable revenue stream and plan accordingly. You just go into each month without even a rough idea of what you’ll take in. It’s time to smooth out the ups and downs. It took us years to realize that consistency is key...