The $100 MBA Show

There’s (way) more money in people than in products. One of the hardest early lessons new entrepreneurs have to learn is to stop chasing the best product idea.  Almost all of us start with some version of the thought: “If I come up with the right product or service, I can build a business.” Or, we build a business because we thought of a product or service. But that’s getting it backwards. To buil...

For a startup, paid ads can be a game-changer…or a complete bust. It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’ve got a listener who runs a small SaaS business in need of more traffic. Our listener has been sinking money into paid digital advertising for months — and has exactly $0 to show for it. So how long should you lose profit on paid ads, before finally tapping out? Today, we discuss why paid ads work better...

Redefine your “why.” Most of us get into business hoping to make a certain amount of money. But a radically different approach is gaining steam, helping entrepreneurs totally rethink what they’re really working towards. Spoiler alert: it’s not money. Today, we explore the concept of a “time billionaire.” That’s a specific term for a specific reason; it represents a measurable portion of your finit...

What’s the point of starting a business?  Is it to earn money, or what money buys? Probably the latter. And the most important, valuable thing money can buy isn’t real estate or caviar — it’s time. Free Time by Jenny Blake takes a different approach to entrepreneurship. Rather than trying to win the game of Who Can Make the Most Money, Blake decided to prioritize the creation of time for herself....

How many company newsletter emails do you really read? The email newsletter goes all the way back to the beginning of the Internet. But needless to say, times have changed. With stuffed inboxes and the invention of the ‘Promo’ tab, does anyone give a hoot about your newsletter now? Well, that depends on you. Today, we share 3 strategic approaches to newsletters. From marketing your products to act...

Creating a course? Listen to this first. Our intrepid host Omar wasn’t always a SaaS entrepreneur. Before that, he was a professional educator for over a dozen years. And since then, he’s created (and taken) dozens of online courses.  In other words, we know what makes a good course…and what makes a bad one. Today, we share 5 essential elements every course needs. These aren’t suggestions or optio...

How risky are money-back guarantees? Can they hurt your business more than they help it? It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’ve got a coach whose potential clients want some reassurance, in the form of a guaranteed refund if they don’t get results. But quite reasonably, our listener is hesitant to commit to not being paid for their time and effort.  So what’s the right move? To guarantee or not? Today, we...

When software tools pile up, they’re no longer solving problems — they’re creating one. Every business picks up excess tools along the way. Software for marketing, project management, analytics, design, and more come and go. But inevitably, too many come and not enough go!  Today, we explore how to give your business a little tool audit. We did our own audit recently, and found we were able to get...

Stage fright? Get nervous before a big talk, meeting, or pitch? We’ve got you covered. Caroline Goyder is a celebrated author and presenter who knows exactly how to approach speaking with cool, calm, and confidence. Today, she’s here with 5 specific exercises you can use as often as you need to develop the kind of poise that makes speaking a breeze. Fair warning though: maybe listen to this episod...

Sometimes, the best way to push forward is to simplify. For a new business, a million shiny objects can become distractions disguised as goals. As legitimate as these goals may be, you can’t take your eyes off the most important prize of all — the one that’ll ensure your business’s long-term future. Today, we explore exactly what that goal is (and how to achieve it). No matter the industry, no mat...

Looking for traction on social media? Need to work the ol’ algorithms a bit?  We’ve got a strategy for you.  Actually, we’ve got 3 strategies. Today, Omar shares the “3 S’s,” a simple framework for creating social posts specifically to drive engagement. Whether you’re looking for likes, shares, or comments, the 3 S’s have you covered. Remember: marketing works best when it’s simple! The strategy w...

You have a great idea for an app. That doesn’t mean you have a business. So how can you possibly tell if your idea has legs? It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’ve got a listener with a banger of an idea for a business app, but who isn’t willing to start throwing money around to develop it just yet. Wise decision! Today, we explain how to get some reliable market research, so you can make the best bet. Hin...

That’s not hyperbole. If you run a business, the most important thing you can do is figure out how to get back some of your most precious, irreplaceable resource: time. As we like to say, time is infinitely more valuable than money.  One of the biggest obstacles to taking time back is insisting on doing everything yourself. Just as dangerous (but a little more subtle) is insisting that other peopl...

Forget the Oscars thing for a second. Before the…incident, we planned to review Will , the powerful autobiography Will Smith co-authored with Mark Manson (the guy behind The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck). And we couldn’t be happier we decided to stick with that decision. This book is penetrating, insightful, and valuable — recent drama aside. Today, Omar shares some of the incredible lessons th...

Act now! As consumers, we’re told this all the time by people trying to get sales. If you don’t buy ASAP, you’ll miss out on a great deal, or even the chance to buy altogether. But is it…bull?  Is scarcity just another manipulative tool used by unscrupulous salespeople? More importantly, is scarcity a tool you should use? FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) can be a powerful motivator. But is it effective...

TikTok: it’s all the rage. But does it matter to your business? In our case…no. So why don’t we use this powerful platform, where millions of potential customers are engaged?  It all comes down to time, priorities, and defining your goals. When you know what kind of company you are, you can be comfortable with “opportunity costs” — the things you have to say “no” to in order to say “yes” to someth...

Your business is profiting. You’re making a living.  But what’s in store for the long term? It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’ve got a listener who’s seen what can happen when you only give yourself a paycheck, and nothing more. Even long-standing businesses can fall — and when they do, the founders can walk away with next to nothing. Which raises the question: should you be taking dividends? And if so,...

Who are these coaches charging thousands — or tens of thousands — for their services? More importantly, who are their clients, and how are they getting them? No matter what kind of service you offer, working your way up to massive rates is the best way to get the biggest ROI. Making more money from fewer clients is always the smart move.  But as you can probably guess, it doesn’t happen overnight....

Are you thinking like a customer? If you don’t understand your customers’ perspective, there’s a ceiling on how effective your marketing can be. But if you drop the “hacks” and influencer strategies, you can master the fundamentals that create long-term growth. And of course, we have an expert to explain how. Matt Edmundson is an ecommerce mastermind who knows how to achieve growth. But in any typ...

If you’ve ever been asked to like, share, or comment, you know what we’re talking about.  But does it work? Business owners constantly ask for engagement on Facebook, Insta, Twitter and the rest. But does this strategy actually pay off? When you’re blatantly asking your audience to help you game social media algorithms, does it seem savvy, or thirsty? It depends on how you go about it. Today, we d...

Is your sales page…selling? Whether it’s your homepage, your pricing page, or a product-specific landing page, it has a job. And if your copy, design, and more aren’t right, the job won’t get done. Today, we share 7 specific items — some big, some small — that every sales page needs to nail. The problem with many sales pages is that they try to do too many things. Instead, by checking off these 7...

When a long-running business has lost its mojo, should you fight for it? Or is cashing out the smart move? As always, it depends. It’s Q&A Wednesday, and one listener is in a pickle. Their decade-old business has done well overall, but over the last year it’s been stuck in a rut. This e-commerce operation has gone from growing to slowing, from expansion to stasis.  Worst of all, it’s just not…moti...

Your FAQs page can do more than just inform — it can boost sales. When you understand how consumers actually use FAQs pages (and it’s not the way you might think), you can see there are serious opportunities for conversions.  Too many businesses neglect their site’s FAQs page, either by not having one, or simply…answering frequently asked questions. This un-strategic approach leaves money on the t...

You can do better than just survival. When you’re under intense pressure or facing a crisis, it can be easy to focus on nothing more than “getting through it.”  But you’d be shortchanging your business, and cheating your team out of their full potential. There are ways to ensure that there’s always time and space for creativity, and not just in traditionally “creative” fields like content or desig...

Inflation starting to sting yet? Nations like the USA are facing serious drops in the buying power of their currency. Experts don’t predict the situation will improve significantly, at least not anytime soon. So what’s an independent business owner to do? At some point, rising inflation will start to eat away at your profit margins. And if those margins are thin, inflation will soon overwhelm your...