Monthly Archives: May 2023

If you own a business or consider yourself an entrepreneur, than you have no doubt tried to start a 2nd or 3rd business that was not your main business.  If you have had similar experiences to Nick and Johnny, the results were most likely a little lack luster.  On the episode today, we talk about some of the many businesses that we have started over the years.  From t-shirts, to a paint store, to an internet retailing, to house cleaning.  Nick and John have tried many things far removed from their main businesses.  

One of the businesses or 2nd brands that Nick started was One Coat Painting.  It was a low service offering, painting service the incorporated an online estimator.  Best part about it was the mascot, Sammy.  He even had his own Facebook page.

Nick and Johnny each have had their bunny trails, and I am sure they will find others.

If you didn’t have to work, whether you won the lottery or got an inheritance, what would you do?  Would you keep doing the business you are in?

New Sponsor:  VA Staffer.  Check them out and let them know you heard about them here.  J and his team do a great job with all sorts of administrative tasks.

Check out a video I found:

http://audioboom.com/boos/2816553-26-what-s-up-bright-shinny-objects.mp3

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Lots to cover in this What’s Up episode.  Johnny and Nick chat about Customer Service, and all it’s glory.  But before we jumped into that, we had a few shout-outs and an email from Scotty Bowden.  Thanks for the nice note of encouragement.  We love that!

We announced a T-shirt campaign we will do in 2015, so if you have any ideas, please hit us up over on the right hand side.  More details to come…as they come to us I guess.

We also announced that we will be doing something with the gang over at The Big Idea.  We need to chat with them, and then we will let you know what’s up.  Should be fun.

Customer service is one of the biggest thing that can set you apart as a small business.  We cannot always compete on price, but we can always wow them with our level of service.  From answering the phone, to following up when things don’t go according to plan, there are a lot of ways we can deliver good customer service.  When problems come up?  How do you respond? Do you accept the blame, or do you make excuses.  Johnny’s tagline for Erbert Lawns is “We show up.”  That means they show up when the tell the customer, but it also points to the fact that they take care of problems fast.  At Walls by Design, Nick’s team tries to over communicate, and help the customer understand everything that will happen, and what they can expect.  To figure out what you need to do, you should figure out what will emotionally connect with your customer.  This will help them connect with you.  Big shout out to Joy Gendusa, and PostcardMania (past guest of the radio show).

We also talked about doing something unexpected.  Maybe that is giving out dog bones, or upgrading a customer to a premium product or service like Zappos does with two day shipping.  Give them a surprise and they will remember you.

Good quote that Johnny pulled by Zig Ziggler:  “You can have anything in life you want, if you just help enough people get what they want.”

To listen to the entire interview, please visit us on iTunes or Stitcher or at our website at smallbusinessnaked.com 

http://audioboom.com/boos/2722456-20-what-s-up-customer-service.mp3

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If you are reading this post, than most likely you have listened to our podcast.  If you listen to our podcast, there is a good chance that you listen to other podcasts.  That if fantastic.  BUT, are you able to connect the material you are hearing to your small business?  It’s great that there is so much good content out there, but if you don’t take action on it, it will never help you grow your small business.

If you listen to as many podcasts as I do, you may have some of the same problems that I have. Every time I listen to a podcast, I think, WOW, that is a great idea.  I should do that.  It can be a small thing, or it can be a big scary thing.  I’ve gotten business ideas, marketing ideas, and book ideas from listening to so many podcasts.  But the problem I have found is that I am usually listening to these shows while I am doing other tasks.  I could be running on the treadmill, driving the car, or mowing my grass.  What do you do when I good idea comes up so you don’t lose it forever?  I am going to give you 5 ways in which to take action.  Action is huge, because without action, ideas are worthless.  Just an idea.

Five ways to take action from a podcast:

1. Cary a small notebook.  I find that big things don’t tend to travel with me well.  I suggest getting a small Moleskin notebook that can fit in your back pocket, and always be with you.  ONLY write ideas in this book.  Then, once a month go through it, highlight things you need to take action on, and cross out things that are no longer valid.
2. MeMail. Great little app for your phone.  Once you set it up, it is very easy to jot a note (I usually use voice to text) and hit send.  It goes only to one email…yours!  Quick and easy, and you will never lose it, because it goes to your inbox.
3. Limit the content. Make a list of things you want to action.  Maybe it is FIVE things.  Once you have FIVE things on a list, do not listen to another podcast!  That’s right.  You heard me.  Once you cross something off the list, you are free to listen again.  The podcasts will still be there, waiting…they don’t go anywhere.  This will help focus you on things that you really want to take action on.
4. Limit the podcasts. If I’m honest, I don’t LOVE all the podcasts on my list.  I do listen to different podcasts for different reasons, but why subscribe to podcasts you don’t like.  If I don’t like several episodes in a row, I delete them off my phone.  Try limiting yours to 5: one for each day of the week.
5. Listen at your desk. If you can’t focus on listening when you are doing other things, try listening only on your computer.  Contrary to popular opinion, multi-tasking is NOT a good thing.  Focus on one thing, and you will do each thing better.

So I have to come clean.  I am not fantastic at this. The reason I wrote this blog was that I am having problems with idea overload.  I feel like I have this basket, and I keep trying to stuff things in it, but things just keep falling on the floor.  Hopefully, I have inspired you to take better action on things you are hearing so you can grow your small business.  If you have an idea or something that has helped you not get podcast idea overload, please share in the comment area below.

Year End planning for your Small Business

I’ll be honest, if you are not in business, or have just started, today’s show might not make much sense to you, but it will give you an idea of why tracking performance for lots of different things can be.  This could be marketing activity tracking, it could be employee performance, it could be your sales process.

At the end of the year, it is incredibly important for you, the small business owner, to look back at what you did the year prior, and make adjustments in your planning based on what worked and what didn’t.  This can only happen if you do a good job of tracking data, recording sources for new business, and know truly, what worked, and what didn’t.  It is okay to make mistakes.  We make lots of them every year.  But the smart small business owner does a good job of learning from those things that did not work and what did.  Do less of what didn’t and do more of what did.

But before we jumped into planning, Johnny shared with us what Johnny Battle is all about:  Johnny Battle is about being like a Spartan warrior, but more importantly, we will all be faced with a challenge; a divorce, a bully, a mountain climb, a business challenge, etc. We are forced to fight because we care about something. As business owners we have to wake up daily and look at ourselves in the mirror and know that you are responsible, and that you will always come out on top.

We get a little introspective on today’s show.  Looking back on 2014 to see what we did well and what you can do better in 2015.  A few things you need however to be able to do this:  you need data from the the year, you need it organized, and you need to know where you want to go with your business.  Do you need more sales?  Do you need more profit?  Do you need more staff?  Do you need to outsource more?

Things we talked about along the way:  Lifetime Value of a Customer, ROI (Return on Investment). and acquisition cost.

We finished up our conversation talking about cutting things out of our businesses that just don’t make sense.  If you decided to cut something out of your business as a result of hearing our show today, we want to hear about it and why.

To listen to the entire show on finance your business and personal finance, please visit us on iTunes or Stitcher or at our website at smallbusinessnaked.com 

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We thought we were going to just learn about investing into real estate, but we learned so much more.  Nick proved to be an on fire entrepreneur that had a crazy life story.  Nick had early success in real estate, but got burned when the market tanked, and ultimately, Nick wound up in bankruptcy.  But, instead of sitting back, feeling sorry for himself, he got back up, and is once again killing it in real estate.

Nick’s business is not just investing in real estate though, he now also teaches others how to invest into what he calls the single family triad:  Rentals, wholesale, and rehab.

Nick has several different ways of making money.  Nick buys, sells, flips, and teaches others how to do the same.  But if you reach out to Nick, you will go for the information about investing, but you will fall in love with his passion and energy.

For more information on Nick Ruiz go to Alpha Home Flipping.

To listen to the entire interview, please visit us oniTunes or Stitcher or at our website at smallbusinessnaked.com 

http://audioboom.com/boos/2738595-21-making-money-in-real-estate.mp3

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Tom Shane, founder of Shane Co.

Most people do not know his face. Many know his name…and legions know his voice.  In the United States, I would bet that there is no other voice as well-known on the radio airwaves. Tom Shane is a legend in radio advertising. But Tom is not just a pitch man; he is the founder and owner of Shane Co., America’s largest independently-owned retail jeweler. What many don’t know about him is how big his family-owned business is.  From the sound of his commercials, you can tell he is “your friend in the diamond business,” and you just imagine him down the street, waiting for you to come into his shop. Shane Co. is a chain of 20 stores in 13 states, plus an online store.

Tom shared some great insights into how and why he started his own business, his business philosophy, what his strengths are as a leader, how the company faced adversity and his fantastic response, and how Shane Co. has positioned itself as small and local in each market it serves. It is not too often we get to sit down and have a chat with a man as successful as Tom, but he really didn’t hold anything back and was very transparent.

For more information on Tom Shane and Shane Co., check out their website at ShaneCo.com.

To listen to the entire interview, please visit us on iTunes or Stitcher or at our website, smallbusinessnaked.com. Small Business Naked is one of the best free small business podcasts to listen to if you are an entrepreneur, a small business owner or you are stuck working for The Man and are looking for small business ideas.

http://audioboom.com/boos/2797698-25-tom-shane-founder-of-the-shane-co.mp3

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If you have owned a small business for a while, one of the biggest things you deal with is hiring.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve hired thousands of people over the years.  Yes…THOUSANDS.  Johnny and I have lots of fun on today’s show sharing our pains and victories in hiring staff.  Probably more pains than victories though.  If you run a seasonal business that is dependant on employees, you know just how hard it is to hire the right people.  Sometimes you might just want a warm body though…like Johnny.

We talk about systems for finding key employees, how to bonus employees, problems with hiring, hourly pay vs. performance based pay.

Nick and Johnny Battle talk about the hard issues of hiring, finding the right person, and just finding a person.  It gets a bit real on this weeks episode of Small Business Naked.

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