The $100 MBA Show

Everyone needs a break: especially entrepreneurs. This isn’t an episode that tells you where to go. This all about the types of vacations that are most restful, useful, and valuable for independent business people. These entrepreneur-friendly trip types will recharge your batteries, and accomplish the one goal of a true, proper vacation: sending you back to work fresh and motivated. And of course,...

We’ve all had the sensation: Inbox Dread. The knowledge that you’re so behind on emails, the list of black, bolded “unreads” will just be too much to bear.  How can you dig out of email overwhelm, and still get things done? It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’re helping a listener who’s got 10 pounds of To-Dos on a 5-pound plate. Trudging through hundreds of emails — most of which are of little to no value...

If you know our intrepid host Omar, you know he’s a reader. Omar plows through over 50 books each year, searching for those golden lessons that resonate and have a real impact. That’s because he believes a book has the greatest ROI in terms of professional development. For usually less than $20, you can learn things that change you as a business person forever. Of course, not every book he reads i...

The market is a crowded place. One of the first hurdles new entrepreneurs struggle with is the old classic: how the heck do you stand out? Fortunately, we’ve got an expert in just that. Suzanne Chadwick has turned standing out into a full-time occupation. She’s mastered the art of being memorable for the purpose of branding and marketing. Author, speaker, and consultant, Chadwick knows how to get...

You know you want to start a business. But that’s about all you know. You’re not alone! So many people think that entrepreneurs start by having some grand product idea, but that’s rarely the case. More often, entrepreneurship starts with nothing more than the desire to be independent, and the chutzpah to go for it. So you’re off to a good start, even though you have no idea what’s next. Successful...

Ready to start a software company? These are the most important things we learned from building ours! It took time to learn them. It took a lot of trial, and no small amount of error. Software as a product type has exploded, especially the SaaS (Software as a Service) model. For anyone looking to start a business, software is quickly becoming the first, best option.  We’ve seen a zillion software...

Entrepreneurs are in a tough spot.  We take on tremendous responsibility to improve our lives, but sometimes it comes at the expense of our lives. We know that a happy, healthy entrepreneur is more successful than an overworked one, but business doesn’t care when you need a break. We want freedom, but we chain ourselves to our computers. How we can have lives and businesses at the same time? It’s...

Bad days will happen. What matters is how you respond. Our intrepid host, Omar, is no stranger to rough days at work. He’s learned how to feel it coming; the insurmountable To-Do list, the shift in mood, the feeling that nothing can go right while this particular sun is up. We’ve all been there. And we know that finding a healthy way to manage the emotions that come with a bad day is crucial to ru...

It starts with posture.  Jordan Peterson is a controversial figure, ever since he left academia and touched many a nerve with his hugely successful self-help career. His landmark book, 12 Rules for Life, lays out a philosophy guided by deceptively simple advice — like standing up straight — rooted deeply in his interpretation of history, philosophy, and religion. There’s plenty to argue about — an...

Social media is a fickle thing. One year it’s the key to your business, the next year all your “likes” don’t translate to a dime in sales. The social media Powers That Be (that’s Facebook, Insta, and the like) are constantly updating their algorithms and tweaking the way they determine how much of your content actually reaches the people you’re speaking to. It can seem a fool’s errand to try to ke...

So you’re ready to speak in public. Kudos. Public speaking — especially at industry conferences — can be a massive brand-builder. It can turbo-charge your networking. It’s not for everyone, but the effects on a small business are undeniable. Somewhat surprisingly, it can also be the perfect way for introverted entrepreneurs to connect with people. But how do you book a gig? We’ve been there: befor...

It’s an SEO emergency! It’s the first big, scary challenge that many entrepreneurs face: how the heck to get people to your website. There are literally hundreds of millions of websites out there, many of which are filled with advice on how to get traffic.  But what can you do, right now, today, that’ll give you a chance to be heard? It’s Q&A Wednesday, and one of our listeners has hit a plateau....

“You should write a book.” “I could write a book.” “One day I’ll write a book.” We’ve all had the thought, the suggestion, even the plan. But as a marketing strategy, is it smart? Are books still relevant in a digital economy? Does the (considerable) time, effort, and money required to produce a book pay off? What’s the ROI? Today, we answer those questions. We’ll discuss what makes writing a book...

What do personal finance, entrepreneurship, “money dials,” and the importance of fitness have in common? Answer: Ramit Sethi. If you’re a regular listener, you know our intrepid host, Omar, reads a ton of books. Perhaps the most impactful one for him was I Will Teach You to Be Rich by personal finance expert and course-selling mastermind Ramit Sethi.  Seriously, he still gives it to people as birt...

The best part about failing? It’s an opportunity to try something bold. If your business isn’t making it, you shouldn’t give up too soon. But you also shouldn’t keep trying the same strategies that got you into trouble in the first place. If you’re stuck in a ditch, it’s time to try something you wouldn’t normally try. It’s time to go big, before you go home. It’s time to get radical. Like a defib...

What’s your NPS? If you don’t know, you need to find out. Your “Net Promoter Score,” or NPS, is a simple but super-powerful metric for measuring…well, love. Based on a single-question survey, it gives you a snapshot of how much your current customers love your business. That’s all there is to it, but don’t let the simplicity of the equation fool you. You need to know which of your customers can he...

Don’t just look at growth. Look at churn. If the latter outpaces the former, you have a huge problem. Churn destroys businesses, even ones that grow at a decent pace.  If you don’t already know, churn is the rate at which a business loses recurring customers, like monthly subscribers. For these kinds of businesses, keeping existing customers is just as important (if not more important) than findin...

Sometimes, we forget to focus on the customers we already have. Your “buyer’s journey,” the steps your customers took from stranger to lead to revenue source, is crucial to keeping your business alive and thriving. Knowing exactly how you got people interested — and how you converted that interest into a sale — is the key to repeating the process, and to finding customers that will stick around fo...

A recession is coming. That’s a fact. How do we know? Because a recession is always coming. Business is cyclical, and smart entrepreneurs don’t hope against economic downturns — they prepare for them. Jonathan Slain was hit hard by the Great Recession of 2008. After he got back on his feet, he realized that recession-proofing is an absolute must for any business. Now, as the founder of Recession.c...

Catastrophic success is real — and dangerous. Unchecked growth has the same effect on a business as it does on a body: it overloads the systems and puts you at risk for collapse. Yes, growth is necessary for a business to survive. But if that growth isn’t sustainable, your business won’t survive it! That’s why it’s important to have a vision for the pace of your growth. Today, we discuss how to pl...

Sometimes, you’ve gotta sweeten the deal. But like literal sweeteners, bonuses have to be applied strategically. Today, we discuss how free swag, extra content, and other bonuses can move the needle on conversions. When a relatively small investment can motivate the right action and move people down the sales funnel, there’s no point in being stingy. But you have to make sure that your investment...

Do you know what your employees are worth?  It’s Q&A Wednesday, and one of our listeners has a valuable employee with an inconvenient request: a 40 (yes, 40) percent increase in salary. That’s a hard bargain to drive, but driven it is. What’s an entrepreneur to do when a crucial team member makes such a drastic demand?  Today, we’ll discuss if, and how, to keep employees who highball. In determini...

Travel can be a great part of entrepreneurship. It can also hurt your content production — but only if you let it. You don’t have to choose between travel and content productivity. Whether you need to record podcasts or videos, you can stay on schedule with the right tools, the right tricks, and the right approach. Best of all? You don’t have to sacrifice one bit of quality. Our intrepid host Omar...

Discipline isn’t scary. That’s a core belief of former Navy SEAL Jocko Willink, and the central message of his latest book, Discipline Equals Freedom. Willink has experienced the toughest kind of discipline, but it didn’t just help him succeed in the military. It showed him how to enjoy his life more. That’s right: discipline doesn’t make your life harder. In the end, it makes things easier. For e...

“Free” can really cost you. If you’re giving away too much, it’s not just hurting your bottom line. It’s hurting your future chances of success by building an expectation you can’t escape. It’s also creating a very unfavorable impression about your product’s true value. Far more than the actual cost of a product that’s offered for nothing, you might be losing years of potential future revenue. Bef...