The $100 MBA Show

Billboards just won’t cut it anymore. Today, it seems like every kind of company is investing in media: everything from books to series to full-on films, all for marketing purposes. Is it a wise investment? Does someone who sells shoes or auto parts or coding courses need a movie to convert their audience?  Well, maybe. It’s all about the impact of “touchpoint” marketing, and the need to give way...

Where’s the line between you and your business? Legally speaking, it’s a question worth asking. It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’re helping one listener decide when it’s time to register a business as a separate entity from themselves. A solopreneur is still running a business, after all — even if it’s a one-person show. Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages to both sole proprietorship and r...

We all need a break. That includes your employees. As your team grows, it’s inevitable that your team members will ask for some downtime. For that reason, it’s important to have a set policy in place that defines when and how they can access a little R&R.  Plan for it now, and you’ll avoid problems later. There’s a spectrum of leave policies, from “take off whenever you want” to “we work 24/7 365....

How did they do it? It’s a question entrepreneurs ask about other successful startups all the time. Very rarely do we get a full, honest answer. Even more rarely do we get an answer that’s completely original. But every once in a while… Shape Up by Ryan Singer is the true story of how the wildly successful Basecamp blazed their own trail, with creative approaches to business management that no one...

Market researchers obsess over figuring out what customers want. We have our own method. We just ask them. Customer interviews are an underutilized strategy that can cut right to the heart of product development. When you get on the phone and learn exactly what customers like — and don’t like — you can guide your company more wisely. From features to benefits to the specific language customers use...

We all love our customers — especially the ones who first bought our products and helped us build the foundation of our business. But “grandfathering,” the policy of keeping prices eternally low for those early adopters, may not be a sustainable long-term strategy. Your business has to grow, change, and evolve. Usually, that means prices have to rise too. We’re not saying you should never grandfat...

Enough already! When you’re new to business, it can feel impossible to turn anything, or anyone, down. But if you’re not careful, you can “yes” yourself into a total productivity breakdown — leaving your business worse off than if you’d simply had the courage to say “no.” It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’re helping a classic “yes” addict. What many of us don’t realize is that every time we say “yes” to...

Marketing: should you hire out, or hire in? It’s kind of like deciding whether to cook or call for takeout. On the one hand, you have ease, convenience, and the experience of specialists. On the other, you have a chance to create something that’s yours — something truly grounded in your own business and message.  We’ve done both, so we know the advantages of each option. Today, we discuss the true...

What are you worth? That’s the essential question of this week’s Must-Read book for entrepreneurs, Bob Burg’s The Go-Giver. It’s a book that’s simple, highly readable, digestible, and fun. But the lessons it imparts are as profound as they are practical. Honestly, it’s a book we couldn’t wait to read and review. Burg is a respected speaker, writer, and friend of the $100 MBA Show. The Go-Giver , i...

What’s a leader’s job? As our business grows, we can find ourselves plateauing. That’s because a business founder has to make a difficult transition: at first, you’re the person responsible for everything. But ultimately, you have to let go of more and more responsibilities, handing them off so that you can focus on bigger, broader things. And that can be hard as heck. As CEO, refusing to let go o...

Before you try to sell, ask yourself: what’s the point? All products, and all marketing, should address the pain point. It’s about being customer-centric. Customers will choose your business if they think it offers the best cure for their pain. In other words, customers ultimately don’t want the most features or the coolest look or even the best price.  They just want the best solution to their pr...

It’s gonna happen. If you make even a modest name for yourself in business or media, your inbox will become a very crowded place.  Potential investors, partners, and guest writers and speakers will find your email address and fire away. We all want to network, but networking strategically is tough when you have a thousand unopened cold emails from perfect strangers. What’s an entrepreneur to do? I...

What’s the right website hosting platform for you business? There’s no shortage of options. Recently, we pondered whether Webflow would be a better fit for certain businesses, including ours. Omar did some intense research, comparing and contrasting Webflow with WordPress, Weebly, and the rest. The results are an in-depth lesson on what makes this platform unique, and how it might serve your busin...

Every one of your goals depends on mastering one skill: what we normally call “focus.” Nir Eyal thinks of it a little differently. He knows that cutting out distractions and getting in the zone is the key that unlocks all doors. But rather than “focus,” he refers to “traction” — as in, the opposite of “distraction.”  It’s a powerful philosophy — but he explains it better than we can. Nir is this w...

Who wins in business: the jack of all trades, or the master of one? It’s one of the most important questions an entrepreneur can ask about their business. Should your product be defined by versatility, mass appeal, and all-around utility? Or is it best to make your product uniquely, unbeatably awesome at solving one particular problem?  Should you compete with everyone at everything, or should you...

What makes a good developer? More importantly, how can you find one? If you’re building an app, a website, or any other kind of digital product, your business is only as good as your devs. We know — we’ve spent the last several years building our own webinar software, including a radical top-down redesign that took some serious developer talent to pull off.  We can’t do it ourselves, so finding th...

If your content isn’t marketing, you’re not content marketing.  Blogs are fun to write, and valuable for your audience. But if they aren’t converting, they’re worth bupkus to your business. Today, we discuss how to move past the “spray and pray” method of throwing content into the wind, hoping for results. It’s time to start tracking, start measuring, and start using your blog to make progress. Of...

We all want to move our business forward. But true success means reaching a point where your business moves itself forward. That’s momentum, and that’s the topic of today’s episode. At some point, you need to stop pushing the boulder uphill, and get over the hump. There’s a way of working that encourages this — a strategy that’s built for momentum, not just progress. You just have to change your r...

How do people make it in business? Every once in a while, a successful entrepreneur writes a book that helps answer that question. Explosive Growth has a title that sounds like it’s a bit much, but the content lives up to it. Clif Lerner is a startup founder who’s had his share of failures (and then some), but took each setback as a lesson in how to do better on the next try.  Now, his app has ove...

Most people think of podcasting as more of a B2C thing, reaching out to a wide audience of consumers to establish your reputation.  But we’ve got a secret: podcasts are incredible marketing tools for B2B sales, too! Selling to other businesses is all about relationships and networking. As it turns out, hosting a popular podcast creates a ton of networking opportunities, as you can leverage the val...

Thinking about offering a free version of your service? Do the math first. A free plan for your recurring payment/subscription model can be an incredible marketing and sales tool. Just ask Google: the free service can haul potential paying customers in by the bazillions.  But it only works if the freebies convert.  Every day, your free version costs you money — so there has to be an appropriate RO...

Refund requests happen. They’re unavoidable. But how you respond can make all the difference in the success of your business. It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’re helping one listener learn how to turn those refund requests into opportunities — to keep the sale, to keep the customer, or to improve your company’s reputation in the long run. You won’t stop every refund, but you’ll make a positive impact on...

So. Little. Time. It’s every entrepreneur’s curse. But there might be more time than you think — if you know how to manage it properly. We all wish there were more than 24 hours in a day, and we’ve all hit our pillows anxious about what we didn’t accomplish.  But there is hope. There is time you haven’t been using. And we’ve got 3 ways to find it. As we like to say, time is not money; it’s way mor...

When it comes to branding, words are everything. Trademark rules are complicated, and new entrepreneurs face two dangers when choosing company names, product names, and any other brand-identifying language. First, there’s the risk of running afoul of trademark laws. More likely, though, is the brand-killing possibility of not protecting your own business’s uniqueness from potential rippers-off. Go...

The business meal: effective relationship builder, or Mad Men throwback? While the 3-martini lunches of the past may no longer be in vogue, buying someone a meal can be an incredibly good investment. A meal can add a layer of personal connection that’s often missing from today’s mostly virtual business relationships. It can open doors. It can even be the start of a long-term partnership. Of course...