Past Episodes
Episode 113:I Will Solve Your Problem, and You Will Pay Me
What separates a consultants proposal from a contractor's proposal?
Episode 111:Audio Recording Tips
Notes
- Focusrite Scarlett Solo (2nd Gen) USB Audio Interface with Pro Tools | First
- Shure BETA 87A Supercardioid Condenser Microphone for Handheld Vocal Applications
- MXL Mics MXL-BCD-STAND Professional Articulating Desktop Microphone Stand
- Shure A85WS Black Foam Windscreen for SM85, SM86, SM87A and BETA87A, and BETA87C
- Sendt SNT-XMF-6 6' XLR Male / Female Microphone cable 24 AWG
- Fovitec StudioPRO - 1x 7'6" Deluxe Light Stand
- Fovitec StudioPRO - 1x Bi Color 600 LED Panel
Episode 110:Why You Shouldn't Be On Call 24/7
Notes
- Why Alan Weiss says you should put yourself on call 24/7 (and why we disagree with that).
- Being on call 24/7 disrupts your work/life balance and exceeds boundaries.
- Unless you're working in a situation like DevOps, Backups, or it's a situation where Something Is On Fire And Costing The Business Millions, it isn't necessary.
- https://alanweiss.com
- https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/p/4672/springbank-10-year-old
Episode 109:Productized Consulting for Drinking in Meatspace
Notes
- What constitutes a Minimum Viable Meetup?
- Once it starts to go well, how do you expand it out? How do you add things to it?
- How do you delegate out responsibilities?
- What happens if you want to stop doing the meetup (and pass it off to someone else)?
- https://ti.to/home
- https://www.chicagofriends.website/
- https://design.football
- https://creativemornings.com/
Episode 107:Project Scheduling, a How To
Notes
- How should you effectively schedule projects? (ex: no deadlines on a Monday)
- How do you best estimate a project length?
- How do you schedule work around a break (sabbatical, etc.)
- How do you ensure that client's respect deadlines?
- How do you 'reset' expectations if there has been a bit of drift?
Episode 106:Writing Time is Sacred Time
Notes
- What do our writing practices look like?
- How did we get started writing?
- How should listeners work on building their 'writing muscle'?
- Is it necessarily to write daily?
- Should you just write? Write and publish?
- Andrew Chen on Writing and Blogging
- Robin Sloan on "Stock and Flow" as it applies to the writing / publishing process
- Nick's Newsletter
- Kai's Newsletter
Episode 104:How to Say "No" to Clients
What's the best way to give a no to clients?
Notes
- When should you say no to clients?
- What's the best way to give a no?
- How should you politely turn down small projects?
- How do you avoid making compromises in scope?
- How do you fire bad clients?
Episode 103:How to Have a Good Phone Call
How do you have a good phone call with a prospect? How do you prepare enough?
Notes
- How long should the call be?
- Should you leave a buffer after the call?
- Should you prepare an agenda?
- How do you determine who is leading the call?
- How do you end the call?
Episode 102:Reading, Writing, Doing
What's a good balance between educational content consumption and doing the work?
Notes
- Time management
- Reading may just happen. Optionally: intentionally schedule time around it Implementation: when you finish a book, how do you decide what to read next?
- Tape flag ("This is a thing I want to remember")
- Highlighting
- "This is an interesting thing to know about" and then apply later
- Rereading to extract notes / directives
Episode 101:Speaking at Local Meetups
Notes
- Subject of meetup
- People at the meetup
- Go to one before speaking
- If you don't have a good meetup, start one, but don't be the first to speak
- Good places to host a meetup
- Good places to announce a meetup
- Scaling/growing your meetup (as you grow, make sure there isn't an in-group and an out-group)
- Avoiding Groupthink in Meetups (Creative Mornings: Someone manages it for a fixed term and then passes it off)
Episode 99:The Actual Doing of the Thing
How do you transition from being an "overthinker" to a "doer"?
Episode 98:Books We've Read Recently
Notes
- https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1517901804
- https://smile.amazon.com/Food-Lab-Cooking-Through-Science/dp/0393081087
- https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0300215126
- https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1591865484
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nature_of_Order
- https://smile.amazon.com/Calm-Technology-Principles-Patterns-Non-Intrusive/dp/1491925884
- Content Design by Sarah Richards
- Million Dollar Consulting
- Value Based Fees
- Personal MBA
- Interviewing Users
- Calm Technology
- Sourdough: A Novel
- The 12 Week Year
- The One Thing
- Deep Work
- Breakthrough Advertising ($125 + Shipping and Handling)
- Square Foot Gardening
- Tools of Titans
Episode 97:Positioning: How Specialized Should You Be?
How do you know when you've specialized enough?
Notes
- Know your target market, like Ecommerce
- Know niches within your target market, like Women's Fashion and Beauty or Every Day Carry
- Identify if there are 20-50 companies in your niche in your target market; identify if of those 20-50 there are 15-20 companies that are paying for consultants, have paid for consultants, or are looking for help solving a problem
Episode 96:Shipping Physical Goods
This week, Nick and Kai dive into the world of shipping for online businesses. (Hint: There's a reason Kai likes selling courses!) We've both run businesses that shipped things to people. What does it take to ship things to people? Learn about Kai's previous eBay businesses and how Nick handles shipping copies of his books to customers and clients.
Notes
Episode 94:How to follow up with clients after a project
Why follow-up? What outcomes are you looking for? What makes good follow-up? What resources do we recommend? How often should you follow up? What should you say in your follow-up? Who should you be following up with? What's your next step?
Episode 93:Webinar Quickstart Guide
Why run a webinar? What outcomes should you look for? What tool(s) should you use? How do you prepare? How do you prepare your content/presentation? What's the format to follow (20/30/10 -- 20 on presentation, 30 on questions, 10 on pitch)? What do you do with the webinar video after the webinar?
Notes
Episode 92:Referrals From Past Clients and Teams
You work with a client. They have a great team. You part ways. Their team members eventually part ways, too. Then they reach back out.
Episode 91:Welcome Packet Overview
Notes
- Why use a welcome packet?
- What's included in a welcome packet?
- When do you send a prospect a welcome packet?
- How do you update your welcome packet?
- When shouldn't you use a welcome packet?
- How do you get started?
- What tools do you use to create a welcome packet?
Episode 89:Closed Doors
Why is it important to close enrollment in courses, and what's the strategy and thinking around opening enrollment?
Episode 88:Speaking from the Right Dictionary
What do you need to do when you want to get more specific and double down on an industry?
Episode 86:When Should You Offer a Money-Back Guarantee?
Money-back guarantees are helpful in some situations, and really harmful in others. When should you offer a money-back guarantee, and what should the conditions be around it?
Episode 85:The Dreaded Price Hike
How do you know when to raise your prices? Quantitatively and qualitatively, what signs should you look for?
Episode 84:Educational Products: Creating Your First
What defines success for the product? What type of info product makes sense? What's high impact / low risk? How do you figure out what to make? How to promote it if you have a small (or no) list? What should you aim for after you've created your first educational product?
Episode 83:Podcast Equipment: The Travel Rig
In this episode, we dive into The Travel Rig that Nick bought for recording interviews and group panels at conferences or events. If you want to learn more about on-the-road podcasting hardware, listen to this one. (A 'nuts and bolts' episode)
Episode 82:Why Aren't We Making More Money?
In this episode, we answer listener Max's question from Twitter: "Why aren't the two of you making more money?". We go inside our own businesses to examine what we're working on. We discuss when you can say "I have enough" as a business owner and stop focusing on growth.
Notes
Episode 81:Should You Offer a Free Call?
In this episode, Nick and Kai discuss if you should offer a free strategy call as a consultant and where an intake call should fall in your client intake process.
Episode 80:Self-Care
In this episode, Nick and Kai discuss how to care for yourself when you're running a business.
Episode 79:Recurring Revenue
In this episode, Nick and Kai discuss recurring revenue for freelancers and consultants: What are the different options for recurring revenue in your business? Taylor Swift is mentioned exactly once.
Episode 78:Whale Clients
In this episode, Nick and Kai discuss how to manage your business when you have a whale client. What should you do? How do you future proof your business?
Episode 77:One Single Fact About Olive Oil That Will Absolutely Shock You
How do you make great infoproducts, and how do they fit into your product ladder?
Notes
Episode 75:Writing, Publishing, and Daily Emails
How frequently should you publish? It's probably more often than you're currently publishing.
Episode 74:De-Risking the Cthulhu
Have either of you ever attempted to make the leap from consulting to running a SAAS business or other type of online/tech company?
Notes
Episode 73:Best Buyers
How do you identify and work with your best customers?
Notes
- Kai Davis Platinum Reserve: http://www.achewood.com/index.php?date=04282006
- 1,000 True Fans: http://overcomeeverything.com/4450/hint-3-1000-true-fans/
- 💸 Make Money Online: Episode 13: Your Incremental Steaming Abomination💣
- Ultimate Sales Machine: http://www.chetholmes.com/ultimate-sales-machine
Episode 72:Skip Steps 1 & 3
What are our quarterly goals? Why are goals important? What shape should they take?
Notes
- Tiny Habits: http://tinyhabits.com & http://tinyhabitsacademy.org
Episode 71:How do you write more as a freelancer or consultant?
In this episode, Kai and Nick discuss how you can write more as a consultant and revisit the importance of reusing your existing writing as 'grist for the mill' (repurposing it for other uses). This is a good one!
Notes
Episode 70:What do you do if a prospect stops responding after you send a proposal?
In this episode, Kai and Nick discuss what to do if a prospect, lead, or client stops responding after you send a proposal and different systems and strategies to use to overcome this obstacle.
Notes
Episode 69:Dear Savvy Entrepreneur
Nick and Kai do a deep dive on important business strategies that you need to know about. Also, if this is your first episode of Make Money Online, we're so sorry.
Episode 68:The First Thing Bought
In this episode, Nick and Kai discuss the importance of the 'first thing' that a customer or clients buys from you (be it a product or a service) and how that transaction sets expectations for the duration of the relationship. Nick and Kai also briefly discuss how to get started with your first product.
Episode 67:Making Retainers Work
In this episode, Nick and Kai talk about how retainers function for freelancers and consultants and the benefits of costs of offering retainer based offerings. Nick and Kai also discuss alternative to retainer based engagements to increase your client lifetime value.
Episode 66:Travel Time is Sacred Time
This is another in our series on how to travel well as a freelancer or consultant. In this episode, we talk about treating your vacation as sacred time, what (and how) to pack, how to deal with airlines, and how to vet restaurants.
Notes
Episode 65:How to Fill Your Client Pipeline (and What to Focus on This Month)
In this episode, we answer a listener question: If you woke up and had 0 clients and wanted to start filling your pipeline, what do you do?
Episode 61:Why It Is the Way It Is
Responding to a listener question (write in, listeners!) Nick and Kai discuss what you need to know about UI (User Interaction) and UX (User Experience), the 80/20 when getting started, and recommended books to build your library on the (very important) subjects. Thanks for the wonderful question, Max!
Notes
- Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services: Kim Goodwin
- About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design: Alan Coopers
- Rosenfeld Media: User experience books, training, workshops, seminars, and experts
- Web Form Design - Luke Wroblewski
- Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (3rd Edition) Steve Krug
- Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems: Steve Krug
- Cadence and Slang by Nick Disabato
- Revise Weekly by Nick Disabato
- UIE.com, Jared M. Spool
- IDEO: Reimagining the Shopping Cart
Other Resources
Episode 59:Pig 5 Syndrome
How do you deal with crowded markets, and how do you fine-tune systems in the long run?
Notes
Episode 55:Customer Service as a Consultant
We talk about the importance of customer service as a consultant.
Notes
Episode 54:Nü-Positioning
How do you update your positioning over time? And what if your work is more "touchy-feely"?
Episode 52:One Year of Making At Least, Like, Twelve Bucks Online
You've been listening to this podcast for a year now -- Thank you; we're so sorry -- so we've provided a retrospective episode to look at the highs and lows of Make Money Online.
Notes
Episode 49:How You Track down Your Number 1 Skill to Start off Your Consultant Business
What do you do? Wait -- before that -- how do you figure out what exactly it is that you do?
Notes
-
A wonderful reader wrote in with this question:
- How do you track down your number 1 skill to start off your consulting business?
Nick and Kai proceed to break down why (and why not) to start with your skills, how to identify valuable skills, and how to make sure that what you're offering is something that the market -- most likely -- needs. Probably.
Want to submit your questions for us to ponder over and eventually answer? Tweet at Kai.
Also, positioning.
Episode 48:Getting Unstuck When You Feel Stuck
You are staring at a computer screen for too long. Stop that. Get off the internet. Pause this podcast if you have to. Leave your phone and smartwatch at home. Go to a park. Sit on a bench. Stare at a pond. There are ducks in the pond. Ducks are kind of jerks, but the way they swim is cute. You don't know what time it is. You can hear traffic faintly in the distance. Others care about going someplace, it seems, but you don't.
Episode 47:How To Deal With Constraints When Consulting
Constraints - real or artificial - are a way to impose a restriction on what problem you can solve and how you can solve that problem -- like the problem of these show descriptions being limited to 211 chara
Episode 46:It's The Economy, Stupid
How, as an independent business owner, should you handle a shock to the economic (or psychological) system of your country?
In this episode of Make Money Online, we talk about how to secure your business against economic disruption, why you should always be thinking about how your industry will change over the next few years, and why it's important to diversify your income stream from purely consulting to consulting, information (educational) products, coaching, mentoring, etc., in case one stream drys up.
We also discuss about the importance of positioning as a consultant. To survive in a down (or changing) economy, you need to have strong, specific positioning that identifies both the target market and the expensive problem that you solve. Why?
Because in a changing economy, generalists are the first against the wall when the budget is cut.
Thanks for listening. Best recommended with a strong beer or a nice, sippable whiskey.
Notes
- The Positioning Manual, Philip Morgan's book on positioning. Go buy this right now.
- Positioning Crash Course, Philip Morgan's free course on positioning. Can't afford his book? Start here.
- Free Pricing Course, because there is no better time than today to start raising your rates.
Episode 45:Kai Buys a Tent
How did Kai prepare for taking two weeks off of his business? What did Kai learn by forcing himself to make this space? What was the Burning Man like?
Notes
Episode 44:Risky Business
What is risk? What's the definition? How does that factor into client objections? How do you overcome these objections?
Episode 43:nickd Buys a Dog
Who is Basil, the world's greatest organism, and why is he so wonderful?
Notes
- One Tail at a Time, the no-kill dog rescue where Nick fostered & adopted Basil.
- Donate to One Tail at a Time.
- Basil.
Episode 42:The Problem, She Is Forever Expensive
How do you research expensive problems and craft offerings to solve them?
Notes
Episode 41:This Episode Will Be Delivered in March 2017
We're working to provide the maximal amount of value from this episode, and we'll be delivering it then – at which point we'll be permanently raising the price to $1,000. We're terribly sorry for the inconvenience.
Episode 39:Thoughts on Products
Are products a way to replace services, or do they help augment your services?
Notes
Episode 38:Pricing Your Services
How do you price yourself as a consultant? What's the difference between pricing as a consultant and a contractor? What's the difference between pricing on time versus on outcome?
Episode 37:The A/B Testing Manual
We discuss Nick's new book, The A/B Testing Manual. That's it. That's all we do today.
Notes
- The A/B Testing Manual
- Periodically Yelling for Profit Note: Nick said there would be a money-back guarantee at one point in the episode. Then he thought better. Now there is no such thing. In fact, if you buy a copy of The A/B Testing Manual, there are no refunds of any kind. We apologize for the error.
Episode 36:How You Signify To People What You Do
How do we present ourselves to different groups of people? Folks who have no idea what we do, folks who know too well what we do, ultra-nerds, etc.
Notes
- The Triumvirate of Positioning, How to Create Referable Moments
- What's your favorite positioning (Make Money Online: Episode 18)
Episode 35:Kai's non-planning v. Nickd's overplanning
You have $38 and need to get to Hong Kong in 18 hours. How you respond determines what kind of business you get to run.
Notes
Episode 34:Impostor Syndrome
You're incompetent and don't deserve to be a consultant. Except you're great. How do you resolve that?
Episode 33:Setting Healthy Boundaries
As a consultant, setting boundaries in work and life is absolutely critical to running a successful business – and not letting it take over. You never learn this in school. There is no Boundaries 101. How do you start? What do you do?
Notes
Episode 32:Three Rotting Rutabagas
What do restaurants have to do with independent consulting businesses? We try, and partly succeed, at answering this question.
Notes
Episode 31:What Nick Does
Kai interviews Nick about what he does, what A/B testing is, how he started Draft, the type of projects he's worked on in the past, and the types of projects he wants to work on in the future.
Notes
Episode 30:What Kai Does
Nick interviews Kai about what he does, what outreach / digital public relations is, how he started his business, the type of projects he's worked on in the past, and the types of projects he wants to work on in the future.
Episode 29:How To Prep Your Clients For Your Travel
It's one thing to be totally awesome at traveling. It's another thing to travel a lot. But how do you preserve your client relationships while traveling?
Episode 28:How To Travel Practically Anywhere As A Consultant
How do you get in a sky tube in a way that does not cause you to hate Earth? We spend a lot of time figuring this out.
Notes:
- SeatGuru
- KnowRoaming
- Kai's Recommended Suitcase
- Nick's Suitcase
- Sandqvist Lightweight (Nick’s backpack when traveling)
- Timoni’s blog post on her uniform
- The Minimalist Packing List
- Minimalist Travel from Miss Minimalist
- JR Liggett’s
- Global Entry
- The Wirecutter’s Travel Gear
- Nick’s folding hangers
- Muji, for toiletry cases
- “All Caps”
Episode 27:The Pepsi Gravitational Field: Make Money Offline
In this special episode of Make Money Online, we talk about automating systems for client intake and email management with our friend Kurt Elster. This was recorded in front of a live audience at Double Your Freelancing Conference in Stockholm, Sweden.
Notes:
Episode 26:Marketing and Sales Pages: Artisanal, Hand Crafted, Locally Sourced, Farm to Browser
How do you build a good marketing page? We have no idea, but we’re going to try and figure it out anyway.
Notes:
Episode 25:Freebie Offerings: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
In this episode we talk about the advantages and what goes into free offering in a consulting business.
Notes:
Freebies are tough. Give away too much and you decrease your value to clients. Don't give enough away and you're stuck without enough prospective clients. Today Nick and I discuss the ups and downs of both sides.Violet Hour at Home
Episode 24:Passive Income: Fallacies and Truths
In this episode, we talk about the idea of passive income – which a lot of people find to be the holy grail of a durable freelancing practice. What is passive income? What forms does it typically come in? How passive really is passive income, anyway?
Sponsor: This episode of Make Money Online is brought to you by Just Fucking Ship (http://justfuckingship.com), a book by Amy Hoy about how to ship your work, create something others want, and break down the barriers that are stopping you from success. Take a look and buy Just Fucking Ship today for only $19.Episode 23:Incorporation! Taxes! Insurance! These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business.
Kai and Nick discuss incorporation, taxes, and insurance and give you, dear listener, a bit of advice on the steps you should take to secure yourself in these three areas. Needless to say, neither Kai nor Nick are lawyers, accountants, or insurance brokers and are not qualified to give legal, tax, or financial advice like a qualified professional. All information in this episode is simply our personal opinions. For best results, you should consult a lawyer, accountant, insurance broker, or bookkeeper local to you with knowledge of your industry.
Notes:
- Negotiations: https://www.winwithoutpitching.com/trust-your-gut
- Bench referral: http://mbsy.co/fp8V8
- The Hartford: https://www.thehartford.com & Hiscox: https://www.hiscox.com for business insurance
Episode 22:Masterminds: A book club for the eldritch horrors of running a business
What are masterminds? Why should independent business owners join one? What do you need to watch out for? How do you grow one? How do you grow the group as business owners? What if your mastermind starts to suck?
Notes:
Episode 21:nickd Buys A House
Yes, the system is fundamentally stacked against you and there is nothing you can do about it. Yes, you are abetting a series of societal problems that are probably larger than you – and which you are probably too busy in your own life to address. No, there’s no way to know whether you’re doing the right thing. Yes, there will be a dog – eventually. No, the dinner parties won’t get any better. Nor will your friendships. But the house is something. Your stuff looks better in it. Block everyone who doesn’t understand.
Notes:
- Cara Smulevitz, who will be helping us get a dog.
- This depot. No. Just no.
- Amazon Prime, which nickd uses now.
- nickd’s realty team: Frank Mitrick (realtor), Ed Collins (broker), Dorothy Culhane (lawyer). Reach out to all 3 and say nickd sent you.
- Gusto. Get on payroll or don’t get property ever, full stop.
Episode 20:Periodically Yelling for Profit
Why a mailing list? How much to charge? How should you get members? How does it ladder into other services? What's the precedent for this?
Notes:
Episode 19:Grist for the Mill
Kai and Nick discuss the importance of repurposing your content as a consultant, 'using your sawdust,' so to speak. You can turn one piece of content (like a podcast interview) into a series of articles, a webinar, or additional pieces of content that are all relevant to your audience. Also? Jam bands and what you, as a consultant, can learn from The Grateful Dead.
Notes:
- Revise Weekly
- A humble weekly newsletter about fish
- Rev, our preferred transcription service
- Making the clackity noise (Merlin Mann on writing)
- Amy Hoy and 30x500 (The best course out there on building products)
- Grateful Dead Discography
- Dark Star, by the Grateful Dead
Episode 18:What's Your Favorite Positioning?
Positioning 101: Why positioning is important
In today's episode we discuss:
- Positioning 101
- Why positioning is important?
- The mental aspects of it?
- Refining your positioning: deleting 2/3rds of your website
- ThePositioningManual, a wonderful book on positioning by Philip Morgan
- The Triumvirate of Positioning
- positioningcrashcourse.com
Episode 17:Swimming Up the Entropy Chute
What would your job look like if you didn't have computers?
In today's episode we discuss:
Episode 16:Choose Your Own (Negotiation) Adventure
What is negotiation? How much money do you leave on the table by not negotiating properly? How do you negotiate as an employee vs. as a consultant?
In today's episode we discuss:
- Fuck You, Pay Me by Mike Monteiro and Gabe
- Double Your Freelancing Rate, including Brennan's recommended contract
- MSABundle, a collection of contracts designed for consultants that Kai uses for his business
- Kai's Article On Negotiating As An Employee
- Rands on Negotiation
- Be Aggressive, a wonderful post on Tumblr that is pretty much Kai's life philosophy for 2014, 2015, and 2016.
Episode 15:Working With Experts
Another reader question: “It sounds like you both have expertise in the products you're selling, but feel like any expertise you have in the business side is learned via trial and error. Is that so? If so, why not consult yourselves with a business expert?”
In today's episode we discuss:
- Draft: Evidence, nickd's amazing project on Kickstarter.
- nickd's Coaching Practice
- Kai's Coaching Practice
- Double Your Freelancing Clients
- Jeremy Green of Remarq.io, a fabulous tool to turn your text into beautiful documents, content upgrades, books, and client reports.
- Kuma's Corner, please mail burgers to Kai Davis, PO Box 7631, Springfield, OR, 97475, USA. Thank you.
- Sleep, Kuma's Corner's Burger of the Month for November.
- MemberUp, a wonderful consultancy focusing on growing your membership site's revenue.
- Amy Hoy of 30x500
Episode 14:MMO Mailbag 3: Nick on Out-Pricing the Competition
In this third and final mailbag installment, Nick answers the question "how does he counter the many low-cost, ‘stack em high sell em cheap’ so-called Designers online currently bidding in 99Designs?"
Episode 14:MMO Mailbag 2: Establishing Prerequisites
In this second part of a 3 part mailbag episode, we talk about our prerequisites in working with somebody who we think we can get the best results for.
Episode 14:MMO Mailbag 1: Kai on Podcast Outreach
In this first of a three part mailbag episode, Kai talks about podcast outreach.
Episode 13:Your Incremental Steaming Abomination
Today we're talking about product ladders and how they're so important to your product development activities. What is a product ladder? Why is it important? How does it connect with your positioning? How do you upsell people effectively? When do you know to create a second ladder? What does a second ladder look like?
In today's episode we discuss:
- Armitage-Halsted. Extremely expensive meals live here.
Episode 12:Hiring and Working with an Assistant
In this episode we talk through the ups, downs, and considerations of hiring an assistant for your business.
The Meta Episode That Both Our Assistants Will Listen To
- How we decided to hire
- The process we followed to hire
- How we vetted candidates
- When to hire vs when to not hire
- The challenges of hiring (or growing as a business owner)
- Mistakes people make when applying (application process, negotiating focus on portfolio & past work vs future work/details of the job)
- Why we - two people say we don't want to hire or have a team - hired assistants
- https://marcusblankenship.com/the-delegation-checklist
Links
Episode 11:“Go Back ‘Draft Evidence’ On Kickstarter Right Now”
Today we're taking a look at Nick's Kickstarter campaign – and reviewing what you can learn from it.
Notes
- Nick’s Kickstarter Project: Draft Evidence, a compilation of essays Nick has written in the last 4 years. Go back this project right now and get a copy. Or else.
- Cadence and Slang, funded twice on Kickstarter.
- Kickstarter, a small website for funding creative projects.
- Nick’s Twitter, which I guess he uses.
- Nick’s Zines (not available, sorry, sign up for his weekly letters in the meantime)
- Following The Hunch on 99U
- Why Wasn’t I Consulted, the fundamental question of the web
- The Brain Audit, on why customers buy and they don’t. Relevant for writing a Kickstarter ‘sales’ page.
- Freaker Kickstarter Video
- The Shape of Design Kickstarter by Frank Chimero
- Double Your Freelancing Rate by Brennan Dunn, a great example of a well-written sales page
Episode 10:“The Importance of Research”
Good research is essential to anyone wanting to excel in any business, and in particular any online business. We break down how and why we do all of our research for our projects.
Notes
- Why is research important?
- How does research fit into business?
- Specifically, how does research fit into each of A/B testing, IX design, Outreach, Marketing, and SEO?
- What methodology do we use for research?
- How do you iterate research?
- How do you throw away research?
- How do you make a good customer survey?
- How do you act on research data?
Episode 9:“A Week in the Job”
We often reflect about what A Week In the Job of an online entrepreneur looks like. Today we dig into it, with all its glory.
Episode 8:“Getting the Heck Out of Dodge”
Nick went on vacation. What happens before you go on vacation? What happens after you return? How do you manage client expectations? What happens if a client oversteps their boundaries?
Episode 7:“Are You Pineapple-Worthy?”
Today we're digging into onboarding clients, students, and customers. Why care about your onboarding? How can you do it better?
Notes
- Nick's Welcome Packet
- Kai's Welcome Packet (nick's welcome packet with white-out applied throughout)
- Sunn o)))'s welcome packet
- Set Expectations
- Explain what you're doing and what they'll be doing
- Explain what won't be happening
- Give direction for questions
References in This Episode
Big Ideas
Episode 6:“On Writing a Book: Why Write a Book?”
Writing a book is high on most content creators list. But why? What is the allure of writing a book for makers?
Notes
- JetPens, where you will buy your office supplies from now on.
- Tokyu Hands, which is basically IRL JetPens. Go to the Shibuya location next time you’re in Tokyo.
- The Pen Type-A, “over-engineered to crazy town.”
- Platinum; Nakaya. Lamy Safari; Lamy Studio. Kaweco Sport.
- An Alan Weiss interview where he beseeches the reader to get a Cartier or a Mont Blanc pen.
- The H. Moser & Cie. Swiss Alp Watch.
- Ghareeb Nawaz. Girl and the Goat. Alinea.
- The Henry Graves Jr. Patek Philippe Supercomplication, which is a watch.
- The Wu-Tang Clan’s new album, pressed in a single copy.
- The designer of Facebook’s “like” button.
- The Pen Addict.
Episode 5:“Non-Horrible Business Right-Sizing”
How do you scale your business without sacrificing the quality of work your customers have come to expect?
Notes
- JetPens, where you will buy your office supplies from now on.
- Tokyu Hands, which is basically IRL JetPens. Go to the Shibuya location next time you’re in Tokyo.
- The Pen Type-A, “over-engineered to crazy town.”
- Platinum; Nakaya. Lamy Safari; Lamy Studio. Kaweco Sport.
- An Alan Weiss interview where he beseeches the reader to get a Cartier or a Mont Blanc pen.
- The H. Moser & Cie. Swiss Alp Watch.
- Ghareeb Nawaz. Girl and the Goat. Alinea.
- The Henry Graves Jr. Patek Philippe Supercomplication, which is a watch.
- The Wu-Tang Clan’s new album, pressed in a single copy.
- The designer of Facebook’s “like” button.
- The Pen Addict.
Episode 4:“Kai Buys a Pen”
In which our hero learns about the Supercomplication and other sundries.
Notes
- JetPens, where you will buy your office supplies from now on.
- Tokyu Hands, which is basically IRL JetPens. Go to the Shibuya location next time you’re in Tokyo.
- The Pen Type-A, “over-engineered to crazy town.”
- Platinum; Nakaya. Lamy Safari; Lamy Studio. Kaweco Sport.
- An Alan Weiss interview where he beseeches the reader to get a Cartier or a Mont Blanc pen.
- The H. Moser & Cie. Swiss Alp Watch.
- Ghareeb Nawaz. Girl and the Goat. Alinea.
- The Henry Graves Jr. Patek Philippe Supercomplication, which is a watch.
- The Wu-Tang Clan’s new album, pressed in a single copy.
- The designer of Facebook’s “like” button.
- The Pen Addict.
Episode 3:“How We Got Started”
How did we begin our businesses? Where did we come from? And because scale is the only thing that matters, how do we do so?
Notes
- VSA’s gorgeous office.
- Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port.
- Double Your Freelancing Rate by Brennan Dunn.
- Kai’s Twitter bio: “Your real internet boyfriend. RTs and favs are sexts. I love you.”
Episode 2:“Make Money Online”
Now that we are talking to one another, how can we make money online? Methods are discussed; sacred cows are thrown into volcanoes.
Notes
- The Simpsons episode which discusses family, religion, and friendship as the three demons you must slay to succeed at business.
- Kai’s coaching service.
- nickd’s coaching service.
- The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman.
- The Goblin Cock from Kuma’s Corner, which is a hot dog on top of three strips of bacon on top of a burger, with all of the Chicago dog trimmings. Business owners eat the Goblin Cock… infrequently.
- Patrick McKenzie’s standing invitation.
- Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
- NetJets, which is not on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
- The victory music from Final Fantasy VII.
Episode 1:“Click Here to Download Your Free Chapter”
Who are we? What is this? What gives us the right to run a podcast? This is horrifying.
Notes
- “Then a miracle occurs.”
- “How I Won the Lottery” by Darius Kazemi.
- Elon Musk on being less wrong.
- Dennis DeSantis’s book that contains the quote about being miserable as a music producer.