The $100 MBA Show

Location independence is a beautiful thing. If you work online, you’re free to live where you want, when you want. That leaves you with literally a world of choices. That’s a good problem to have — but it’s still a problem! What should you look for in an international location? Is it safe? Can you afford it? Is there wifi? We’ve done some extensive traveling, even as we built our businesses, so we...

It’s not you, it’s me. Or is it? It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’ve got a tough question from a listener about an uncomfortable subject: firing. Almost every successful business has to let people go at one time or another. But after a few too many firings, is the real problem the employees, or the employer? If you’re even asking that question, we have good news — it’s probably not you. But it might be...

Sometimes, you just have to say no. While entrepreneurs are driven to be positive, affirmative, and happy to take on a challenge, limits are our friends! And while fostering good relationships means helping people when you can, overextending yourself can lead to the worst reputation killer of all: failure to deliver. So how can we turn people down without turning them off? How can we say “no” in a...

As entrepreneurs, we spend a lot of time thinking about how to get customers. But are we doing enough to keep the ones we have? Today on The $100 MBA Show, we’re talking churn: the rate at which your business loses customers over time. To help understand this complex metric, we’ve brought in another expert guest teacher: Stefan Pretty of Subbly.co. Pretty is an authority in the subscription servic...

Have a great idea for a mobile app? We’ve got your back! Today is Part II of our series on developing and selling your mobile app, from start to finish. Yesterday, we discussed how to design and build your app, with a focus on user experience and customer problem-solving. Today, we cover how to get your completed app in front of those customers, by applying basic marketing strategies. The good new...

What’s an idea worth? Without execution, nothing! That’s why we’re devoting two episodes this week to executing something that plenty of folks have ideas about, but aren’t sure how to carry out: mobile apps. If you have a great idea for a mobile app, congratulations! That’s step one. It’s those pesky other steps that today’s (and tomorrow’s) episode will help you with. We discuss exactly what goes...

It’s marketing 101: the “customer avatar,” also known as the “buyer persona.” In theory, every business keeps an imaginary customer in mind when crafting…well, everything. From the product itself to the marketing content, everything is designed with the aim of pleasing this avatar, this stand-in for your potential customers. But who is this person? And how do you create them? That’s the topic of t...

What is social media costing you? What is it gaining you? The answers to these questions — and finding the right balance between them — could mean as much to your business as it does to your personal life and well-being. Our host Omar decided to find out in the most direct possible way: by quitting social media altogether. 4 months in, and Omar’s learned a lot about the time and headspace consumed...

What can you learn from someone who made millions out of nothing? No capital, no connections, and no fantastic product idea? That’s the story of popular comedian Kevin Hart. His autobiography I Can’t Make This Up is the subject of this week’s Must-Read Book Review, and it’s packed with valuable insights that any entrepreneur can utilize. It’s a long read, but engaging all the way through. Most imp...

Not all content is created equal. There was a time when a simple weekly 500-word blog post, stuffed to the brim with keywords, was all you needed to get the attention of consumers. Not any more. Today’s content market is bigger, more sophisticated, and not likely to be fooled by anything less than the genuinely valuable. Free content can still work, but only if it’s done right. Today, we discuss w...

Some days, you just don’t feel like it. That’s ok! One myth of entrepreneurship is that you should love every second of running your business. A fantasy of doing what you love and “never working a day” pervades the laptop-on-a-beach culture of easy independent success. But it’s absolutely healthy and normal to struggle with motivation, and to just…well, hate it sometimes. The key to navigating thi...

You’ve got a great business idea, but you’re keeping it to yourself. If you let your million-dollar cat out of the bag too soon, surely someone will come along and beat you to market with it, right? Not exactly. Today, we address a frequently asked question about protecting business ideas from would-be thieves. Long story short: don’t worry about it! As we’ve said many a time, business isn’t about...

Get ready for launch! Sometimes, entrepreneurs struggle to get their product market-ready in time. It’s no secret that we believe strongly in the principle of launching the MVP, or Minimum Viable Product, as soon as possible. So while we never recommend “perfecting” your product into non-existence, you do want to make sure that the first version you release will have the best possible impact — and...

What makes you click? Whether it’s a blog, email, or sales page, you’ve got about 2 seconds to convince your potential customer to read what you have to say. That’s why your headline may be the most important few words in any piece of content. Sean D’Souza is a veteran copywriter, and an expert in the psychology of content effectiveness. Today, D’Souza stops by to give us a detailed lesson on crea...

You’ve got the product. Great! Now how will you get people excited about it? Too many entrepreneurs leave out a key marketing tool, one that’s easy to create and use. Its value is underestimated, but its impact can be profound. Today, we discuss exactly how to create the perfect pre-launch page. This simple tool can generate curiosity, interest, and ultimately customers. We cover it all: the purpo...

Hard work pays off, or so we’re told. But on today’s podcast, we’re discussing something that isn’t easy to say, or hear: Hard work by itself just won’t cut it. Lots of people work hard, really hard, and don’t see success. Your work ethic is immensely valuable to you, but not necessarily to your customers. Like talent, passion, or a great product idea, hard work is only one part of a greater equat...

Online group coaching is one of the best ways to monetize your expertise in a given field. Whether it’s fitness, life coaching, or professional skills, this business model is most coaches’ best opportunity at building a client base. But how many clients should you take on in each class? How many is too many? That’s what one listener wants to know, and that’s what we’re discussing for this week’s Q...

Great businesses can teach great lessons. The same goes for great products — and Apple’s AirPods are beyond great, both as a product and a study in product rollout. No, this is not sponsored content. In fact, we discuss how Apple didn’t exactly release the AirPod according to plan (much to their embarrassment!). AirPods may be the single biggest innovation to come from Apple since the first iPhone...

Do you still quote Seinfeld or The Simpsons ? Do you still listen to U2 or Mozart? Ever read Shakespeare? Art is a product, and like any product, the truest measure of its success is longevity. On today’s podcast, we review a Must-Read book about the art of long-term product viability: Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday. Perennial Seller is about producing work that lasts, and creates profit for yea...

Is it worth it? That’s the first question you should ask yourself about any marketing expense, especially a significant one like sponsoring a major conference. Between the cost of the actual sponsorship, and the associated costs like travel and materials, it can add up. But the potential for sales leads is incredible — if you do it right. Today we discuss the actual, real-world numbers behind conf...

What is success? On a recent trip, we ran into someone whose business accomplishments inspired us to devote an entire podcast episode to him — not just because he’d “made it” in business, but because of how he’d made it, and how he’d defined “making it” for himself. He didn’t create some incredible invention or stumble on some viral marketing strategy. He simply executed a simple business plan wit...

It’s Q&A Wednesday, and class is in session! Not just our class, but yours! This week, one $100 MBA member wants to know how best to improve his online course. Specifically, how can a course be made more interesting? Fortunately, our host Omar knows a thing or two about that, being an educator with years of teaching experience in and out of the classroom. Today, we discuss how to create and delive...

Startups and swag go together like peanut butter and chocolate. But do all the T-shirts, water bottles, stickers, and USB drives work? Does the money spent on giveaways come back in the form of conversions? The coolest swag in the world doesn’t help your business if it doesn’t come with a meaningful ROI. We recently did a swag-speriment to measure the marketing impact of our free goodies. We dropp...

YouTube has been called “the world’s 2nd biggest search engine” behind Google. While so many entrepreneurs are striving to climb the Google rankings, are we leaving potential customers on the table by ignoring YouTube? Our first guest teacher of 2018 seems to think so, and he’s put the time in to discover exactly how to dominate it. Now, he’s here to tell us how it’s done. Brian Dean is an SEO gen...

It’s FREE RIDE FRIDAY!!! For the first time in 2018, we’re giving away a special gift to one lucky listener. We’re also looking back at 2017, and discussing the lessons learned from the most intense business challenges we had to face. And boy, did we ever face some doozies. After a wild year in which we completely re-launched our webinar software, WebinarNinja, the insights we gained were commensu...