The $100 MBA Show

We’ve discussed Mastermind groups, those collections of experienced entrepreneurs who meet to share their wisdom with each other, before. And some groups, frankly, are more valuable than others. But are some Masterminds valuable enough to pay for? Our intrepid host Omar decided to find out. Omar shelled out a significant sum of his hard-earned cash to gain access to an exclusive, highly-qualified...

For entrepreneurs, ideas come easy. Often, it’s the next step we stumble on. Transitioning from idea to initial product can be a doozy, especially if your idea is a tech or software product. If you’re not an engineer, and you don’t have any handy, how in the heck do you move forward? Is your idea doomed to be just another coulda, woulda, or shoulda? Of course not! It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’ve got...

Video marketing is the latest must-have skill for 21st century entrepreneurs. While the power of text to drive traffic hasn’t waned, video is where smart entrepreneurs are finding their competitive edge. From social media marketing to YouTube SEO, video content has to be in your arsenal. But so many new entrepreneurs balk at shooting their own films. Why? We think it’s that age-old enemy, the inti...

You can avoid wasting money without being cheap. In fact, you kinda have to. New, independent businesses depend largely on their founder’s ability to keep quality high but expenses controlled. You can’t spend yourself out of business, but you can’t disappoint your customers (or your team) just to save a buck. Quality is a must, but it’s no excuse to shed cash unnecessarily. This week’s Must-Read w...

Entrepreneurship: it’s fun and exciting at the start, but after a while, some uncomfortable questions may start to creep in. Usually, those questions have to do with your progress. Are you successful enough? Are you “making it,” whatever that means? It’s time to reframe the question. One of the most important lessons an entrepreneur can learn is that you’re always learning. There is always a next...

Your “to do” list is out of control. That’s entrepreneurship for you. Sometimes, just getting started is the biggest challenge of every day. With so many potential tasks and projects on the horizon, you need a way to prioritize. It has to be efficient, fast, and (most importantly) it has to guarantee the best return on the investment of your precious time. Fortunately, we’ve got the perfect system...

Are you in a position to transition? Many of us entrepreneurs started out side-hustling, building our little businesses while holding down a 9-to-5. But at some point, you have to decide if and when it’s time to ditch the day job and invest fully into your independent creation. It’s Q&A Wednesday, and one listener wonders how to know when it’s time to take that leap. What level of success should y...

Every barrier between your customers and your product is an opportunity for lost business. One of the easiest ways to remove those barriers? Integration. Whether you’re selling a course, software, or even a physical product, integrations are and important key to closing, onboarding, and retaining customers. The more apps your products work with, the bigger your customer base — and the easier it is...

Leadership can be tough, and so can the conversations. When it comes to criticism, course correction, and other awkward talks, only the leader can (and must) buck up and say what has to be said. It has to be done smoothly, professionally, and in a way that creates change without creating resentment. It’s not easy. It’s a skill, one that every entrepreneur needs to practice. Fortunately, we’ve foun...

Rise and shine, entrepreneurs. The early bird gets the profit. Or does it? Expert after expert, guru after guru, claims that jumping out of bed at the you-know-what-crack of dawn is the key to productivity and efficacy. But does that hold true for everyone? Can’t a night owl be successful? Can’t you make strides after 12pm? Is the snooze button so bad for business? Today, we discuss whether the ea...

What entrepreneurs focus way too much on: customer acquisition. What entrepreneurs focus way too little on: customer retention. Onboarding and retention are key to long-term sustainability. The first step? The initial welcome email your new customers receive when they purchase your product. That email is the start of something big, and it needs to be more than just a few hastily typed lines with a...

In business, public speaking is a must, even if it’s only occasionally. Communication is everything. It’s Q&A Wednesday, and one listener is ready to make a conscious effort to become a better public speaker. As it turns out, our host Omar wasn’t always the comfortable, confident maestro of the mic he is today. In fact, as a young educator, Omar realized quickly that he needed help talking to a cr...

When a customer taps out, it’s generally a sad, defeated moment. But not all is lost. Cancellations and refunds are going to happen, period. But each one is an opportunity to learn something that will improve customer retention going forward. There is great value in every loss, value you can reinvest into your business for a better long-term trend. The canceller can be your greatest teacher, if yo...

Stories have power. Stories are the way human beings fundamentally comprehend everything, from their history to their personal trajectory. When you want people to understand something, the best thing to do is tell a story. Especially if you want them to believe in your business. Entrepreneur and author Paul Smith’s Lead With a Story explains exactly how to bring storytelling into your business lea...

Travel is possibly the best fringe benefit of the entrepreneur’s lifestyle. But when you’re on the road, the emails can pile up fast. No one likes coming home to a crammed inbox. So how can you keep the backlog low? Whether you’re traveling for business or pleasure, there are ways to make sure those “unreads” are kept to a bare minimum — without missing anything important. Today, we discuss the ti...

No matter how long you’re in business, there are still incredible, game-changing strategies to be learned. We just found a new one. For the past few weeks, we’ve been using a technique suggested by a keen business mind to increase our productivity. And boy howdy, does it do the trick. “Theming” our work days has made us more productive, more efficient, and better at everything we do. We just could...

It’s a big world, and there’s talent all over it. So how can you attract the right employees for your team? It’s Q&A Wednesday, and one listener’s expanding business is ready to take on new blood. But with so many options for posting job openings, what’s the best move? Today, we discuss our favorite job boards and recruiting services. With a remote team of dozens spread across the globe, we’ve had...

What’s in a name? If it’s a domain name, quite a bit. As entrepreneurs, we often impulse-buy domains, hoping to lock them down for our next great business idea. But all too often, we end up with nothing more than a pile of unused domains draining our resources. Our host Omar is a classic domain addict. Today, he’ll explain how he finally got his extensive collection organized and under control. Wi...

“Fire and adjust.” It’s a military metaphor that works wonders in business; you put something out there, watch it miss, and use that information to hit the target the next time. Or 3 times later. Or 10 times. Whatever it takes. The point is, experimentation is key to creating the “perfect” product, or at least one people will buy. The best entrepreneurs don’t perfect an idea and release it — they...

As your team grows, it becomes tougher to manage. Keeping everyone on task, and getting the results you’re paying them for, gets a little more complicated with each new hire. We’ve got a strategy that keeps everyone on point by keeping everyone accountable. With a far-flung remote team of dozens, our system makes it clear exactly what’s expected when, with full buy-in from all our employees. Best...

We used to think time is money. Since then, we’ve come to realize that time is way, way more valuable. Every way to save time is worth more than its weight in gold, and we recently stumbled on something that takes hours — yes, hours — out of our workweek. While writing can be painstaking (especially for those of us who aren’t great at it), talking is the simplest, fastest way to answer questions f...

The toughest part about content marketing? All that content doesn’t create itself. To keep your audience engaged, you have to produce consistent, quality content. And if you’re truly committed to producing podcasts, blogs, pics, and videos week after week, you can run out of ideas fast. Every content marketer needs a system to keep the topics coming, even when inspiration isn’t exactly striking. I...

Business is failure, and failure is business. Knowing when you’ve lost — and how to move on — is an absolute requirement of entrepreneurship. No matter how much success you create, you will also create flat-out duds, products that miss the mark and just plain don’t sell. No big deal. Today, we discuss how to know when it’s time to admit defeat. And just to prove it happens to the best of us, we’re...

The bad news: you’re on your own. The good news? That’s not such a bad thing after all. Since the 2008 financial crisis, what’s been called the “American Dream” (along with similar dreams globally) has collapsed. The days of just getting a job and supporting a middle-class lifestyle are, for most, over. To thrive in today’s world, you’ve gotta take the reins of your own financial future. This week...

As entrepreneurs, it can be hard to define our goals for our business. Do we prioritize growth? Revenue? Reach? What is success, anyway? Today, we offer one possible answer: longevity. Every business, big and small, has competition. Companies rise and fall all around us, while a select few just keep trucking along through all the ups and downs. How can you make sure you’re the last man standing? W...