Finding a lead generation service can be a complicated task—there are many fly-by-nighters with a beautiful website and the gift of the gab, but their results lack expertise and are simply hot air. And then there are those lead generation agencies that don’t give value for money.
Read MoreAfter building up Lead Cookie & Content Allies to a decent state, I am beginning to look at building up a third company with a business partner this time.
As I am doing this, I realized I needed to look back on what worked with my two successful companies, and what failed in the many attempts I made on other ventures.
I’ve tried a lot of things before Lead Cookie, while running these companies, and I even made a lot of mistakes in the first couple of years of Content Allies.
So this post… well it’s kind of for myself. To document what I have learned so I don’t repeat these same mistakes on my third company.
But hopefully you find some value in it as well.
Read MoreProcesses… we all know it’s part of what we need to scale our businesses.
You hear people talk about Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) all the time.
I’m a huge believer in SOP’s and have been using them for a while… yet recently I’ve had some mindset shifts in how I think about processes.
In this article, I am going to share the mindset shifts and how I now think about building a process driven business.
Read MoreRecently we published an article at Lead Cookie about the “Your out of invitations for now” error that has started showing up on Linkedin.
Yep. It has finally happened.
After years of mass spamming on Linkedin, they have finally dropped the hammer.
Read MoreProducing a B2B podcast can be challenging. We share the pitfalls to avoid and the technology to use to produce, start, and launch a winning B2B podcast in 2021.
Read More"Wow. I feel like I am starting to really get it... to understand leadership."
This is how I have been feeling lately.
I'm rising, launching several new companies, and also seeing my existing companies evolve.
But what is interesting is that this is not being accomplished by some brute force work ethic on my side...
My businesses are rising because I'm finally understanding what it means to be a great leader.
And in this "epiphany" of leadership, I feel like I have unlocked an entirely new chapter of my entrepreneurial career that is about to be much bigger and better.
In this article, I try to capture this "epiphany" in writing, and teach you want I am learning.
Read More"You really nailed it on the productized service front." - This is what a friend who I hadn't spoken to in a few years said to me the other day.
I laughed because to the outside world, Lead Cookie did look like we nailed it as a productized service.
And to be honest, at one point we did... but markets shift and industries change.
In this post, I am going to share how we have been slowly "un-productizing" Lead Cookie. I'll explain why we are doing this, what that looks like, and what you can learn from our journey.
Read MoreSince COVID-19 hit, I've been in a bit of a panic...
In January and February, I was literally working ~20 hours per week and spending all my free time working on fun side music projects.
Then in a matter of weeks I was thrown back into heavy work on my businesses as I realized just how fragile they are.
Through these weeks, I've gone through a lot of ups and downs... mental hurdles... epiphanies... and setbacks.
In this article, I am going to share one of the simple mental frameworks that has helped me through these uncertain times.
Read MoreThere is a tactic I have used twice now at Lead Cookie to generate significant sales increases.
It's a simple concept, and it's one that any established business can use.
It's the reactivation campaign.
In short, you reach out to every prospect you have ever spoken to before with a new offer.
In this article, I dive into what a reactivation campaign is in more detail, and share how we did this successfully twice at Lead Cookie.
Read MoreAmazing customer experiences don't happen out of luck, or through some magical customer service representative.
Instead, they are designed.
And one of the most common compliments I have gotten for both Lead Cookie and Content Allies is something along the lines of "your processes and the whole experience is on point."
In this article, I am going to share my entire process of thinking through designing a customer experience, and share my most recently revamped experience for Content Allies.
Read MoreOften I hear from many others who are wanting to get started with building their personal brand.
Yet many times, I hear huge objections, excuses, or reasons for not getting started.
Even when they know the value that a personal brand can bring, they still don't get started.
In this article, I'm going to give you the very simple steps to getting started with your personal brand.
Read MoreOver the past few years, I have had countless people come to me who are trying to build a company similar to Lead Cookie.
They look at what we built and want to model something similar.
Yet my advice to them is often a wake up call...
Be careful.
The outbound Industry is evolving... and it's getting way harder...
Read MoreWhen I started down the journey of entrepreneurship, no one told me that my own emotions would become one of the most difficult aspects to manage.
Yet, over the years, I've learned to see how my emotions can be detrimental to business and lead to very poor decision-making.
In this article, I'm going to talk through some of the emotional challenges that you may wrestle with as an entrepreneur, some of the pitfalls they got me in, and how I have done my best to overcome them.
Read MoreThe economy is taking a drastic hit.
It will impact all of our businesses.
That's a fact.
But how you choose to react in this moment, that is up to you.
In this article, I'm going to share the mental frameworks I am using to keep positive amidst the chaos of the world and markets.
Read MoreSince I was 19, I've been running my own companies. Yet, it wasn't until last year that I even began to think about the idea of "selling" the companies I've built.
While the idea was always somewhat on my mind, I didn't even think it was possible or I was anywhere close to being capable of producing something of that value.
Ironically, the lack of understanding acquisitions was actually limiting me as an entrepreneur in building something worth acquiring.
Read More"Once I get to that point... everything will be better."
This is a little lie that I have told myself many times in business.
Once I get that salesperson hired.
Once our revenue hits $X per month.
If we could just reduce our churn to X%...
"If there is one thing I have done right, it's not selling to my peers." - Sam Shepler, Testimonial Hero
This simple statement from a discussion with my friend, Sam, had a profound impact on me. For years, I had fallen into the trap of selling and marketing to my peers. And it wasn't until this simple sentence was said that I realized it.
Read MoreUnique Ability. It's pretty wild but this simple concept (and those two words) have had a profound impact on my life, work, and happiness.
In the early days of Lead Cookie, I started studying the work of Dan Sullivan, of Strategic Coach, which has been around coaching entrepreneurs since the 1980s. One of the concepts that stuck out to me from Dan's work is the idea of Unique Ability.
Read MoreEveryone likes to talk and write about tactics, how to's, and success stories in entrepreneurship. But today, I want to tackle something a bit more ephemeral, yet so essential.
Decision fatigue.
In this article, I'm going to dive into the importance of decision fatigue, how I do my best to manage this, and the consequences of failing at this.
Read MoreFreedom of time and money. That is what most of us are really aiming for as we go down the route of entrepreneurship.
Some people may care more about time; others more about money. But in the end, these are two of the biggest aspects of freedom that your business can bring you.
Yet, freedom from your business doesn't happen overnight. Instead, it happens in a series of evolutions.
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