The Tech Of Business Podcast

Do you use social media to get advice or recommendations from friends, colleagues, acquaintances or groups of like minded business owners? I see it every day… People will post a question asking for recommendations for service providers and for software or tools. There are two topics of discussion here, let's break down the software or tools question first. Let's say it says : “What software should I use for courses?” Such a simple question… And there will be a myriad of answers. Some top picks that will be in the list are Thinkific, Kajabi, MemberVault, Teachable and the list will then go on to include WordPress plugins like Lifter LMS and Wishlist Member and it will go further and someone will suggest using email marketing to deliver the content. All valid answers… But... Here's the biggest concern I have with this approach: the people who are responding may not know anything about you, your business, your zone of genius or your style of work. People who respond with their recommendations are doi

Laura Petersen (as she says with 3 “e”s) is our guest today. She has a system that helps entrepreneurs ethically and strategically write, self-publish, launch, and leverage a bestselling book. Laura is a wealth of information and I'm guessing that "Write a Book" might end up on your goals after listening to this episode! Join the Tech of Business Community! Topics Discussed The lead domino of business publicity: writing a book Using Amazon as a research tool The benefit of hitting #1 on Amazon (outside of the pretty screenshot) The logistics for getting your book up on Amazon Key Takeaways There are subcategories (beneath business, marketing or your umbrella category) that are very relevant to your niche and those are the categories where it’s manageable to hit #1 bestseller and be proud of doing so. Select the subcategory where the #1 ranked book has a lower OVERALL Kindle ranking because it’s a less competitive category. This means you’ll likely need fewer sales to hit #1 than you would in a

Katherine is a money gal. She is also an artist and host of the forthcoming podcast called “Pivot don’t Quit it” I’ll link to the podcast when it’s live (psssst, Katherine interviewed me and we recorded a bonus for today’s episode that I’ll share once the podcast is live!) Topics Discussed Tech to invest in (both time and money wise) The cash flow process in the business Documenting expenses Invoicing and Getting paid Reporting Bill Pay Finding the best right tool for each segment of the cash flow process, unique to your business needs Understanding the cash cycle in your business so that bills are paid when money is available. Key Takeaways Investing in tech can save you time. So investing your time in tech must benefit the future time savings. Managing money well is the key to a profitable business staying in business. Profit without cash flow management can cause bankruptcy. There is a tech stack we can build that make accounting and money more efficient. Start not only tracking what needs to be paid

Last week, I unveiled the Tech Stack Framework and today we’re going to run the Tech of Business through the framework. I mentioned near the end of last week’s episode that the framework can and likely should be gone through multiple times. I value your time and thank you for taking the time to listen and share each and every podcast episode. As I looked at the tools I use, it became clear that the most advantageous part of my tech stack for us to dig into is my client on-boarding process. This is the exact set of tools and processes that we go through in the early stages of working together. Now, let’s get started! I attract clients to my business through my Thinkific Experts listing (https://experts.thinkific.com/courses/jaime-slutzky), this podcast, my websites, being a guest on podcasts and web shows, organic social media and referrals and recommendations. Once you think you might want to work with me, we’ll have a conversation so that we can vet one another and discuss the potential relationship. From th

Today we’re digging into the Tech Stack Framework. I developed this framework as part of my Virtual CTO services – we’ll get into those more later in this episode. In 2010, when I first started out building WordPress websites for clients, I knew I wanted to put together a website that would support their business. Trouble was, I was also just starting out and didn’t have a deep understanding of the online infrastructure required to support their businesses. This left me feeling quite accomplished with the website I delivered but anxious that I hadn’t met the actual needs that we were trying to fill. So, I went on and dug into my intuition to make sure I firmly understood what else is needed online to truly support a business. And I dabbled – I dabbled in Facebook Ads. I dabbled in copywriting. I dabbled in email marketing. I dabbled in landing pages and funnels and membership site and online courses. As I dabbled, I took copious notes (mostly in my head) as to what was a fad, what had serious potential and wh

Jared Warner is a marketing guy, the creator of the Entrepreneurship Growth Formula, an international best-selling author, speaker and host of the Get Found Radio Podcast. Topics Discussed Where Jared recommends starting a brand-new online business in 2018 Word-cloud software & websites The software he uses with his clients and team Subdomains for redirection Key Takeaways Don’t try to create solutions for your ideal customers until you’ve interacted with them and find out if they actually want what you think they do. Use Amazon as a research tool for understanding the gaps in the market place for your customer. Paste reviews into a word-cloud software to help percolate the top. These are terms that might be really good for your marketing material. Sometimes tools work different on different devices. Creating different workflows on the website versus inside the phone app may improve productivity or effectiveness of the software. If things are falling through the cracks in your business, it may be time

Meg is a former Facebook employee who now offers done for you Facebook marketing services. She transitioned from working on the platform to working in the platform so that other business owners could stay in their own zone of genius (not to mention that she has four daughters that she is now present and available for!) Topics Discussed Having success on the Facebook platform Standard Facebook Events and Custom Conversions Google Tag Manager Key Takeaways The number one element that we need to effectively use the Facebook platform for our businesses is the Facebook pixel. It will allow you to do three main things: Track analytical data on your Facebook ads Optimize your Facebook ads Retarget audiences The tracking code will be place on the page immediately after the desired action is taken. If someone is purchasing a product, the purchase event will go on the thank you page for that product. Google Tag Manager allows you to have a dashboard to manage all your tracking events for your site in one single p

I invited Shannon onto the podcast to talk about Schedulicity and how she uses it in her businesses. We took that and ran with it. Towards the end of the episode we did a mini-tech breakthrough session because Shannon was really interested in my perspective on something that was tripping her up. Topics Discussed Online Scheduling Software: Schedulicity Using the online chat or means of contacting your software provider Mini Tech Breakthrough – switching from MailChimp to ActiveCampaign Using Slack in conjunction with a Trello workflow for podcast production and release Key Takeaways Understand what you need your software to do. In Shannon’s case, partial payments and credit card holds were critical to taking up a spot in a workshop or class. Investing in relationships, even with software providers and their support staff, can do great things for your business. In Shannon’s case, it landed her a podcast sponsor! When adding new software or systems to your business, take a look at what you have and take a lo

This is a deep dive episode all about choosing a tech platform for your next project. First a caveat: it is my belief is that most business owners do not need to focus on choosing the tech platform by themselves. It’s far better for you as the business owner to get completely clear on the project vision and goals. Then after that’s in place, the right tech platform will reveal itself… most likely by working with your tech team! To give this episode context, I'm speaking about the platform decisions that I used with two of my recent clients, Greg and Claire. Greg and Claire are at completely different stages of their businesses, but both came to me to build out a membership site for them. In fact, both of them came to me to build out membership sites using Thinkific. But only one of them ended up on Thinkific. To understand why I steered Greg away from Thinkific and welcomes Claire’s Thinkific membership site with open arms, let’s discuss what goes into making a tech decision. I alluded to this earlier

  Topics Discussed Podcasting and Larry’s Book 1+1=Podcast Scheduling tweets Paying attention to the real impact rather than vanity metrics Key Takeaways With whatever you do, you want to keep it accessible and you want to want to actually do the thing. During the content production, create your social media posts simultaneously so that they are ready to go when the content is released. Larry does this with his podcast editing! A podcast doesn’t need to run for an extensive amount of time. Speaker Quotes “A podcast is nothing more than a vehicle for your voice.” “With a podcast they [your audience] get to hear your voice, they get to hear your expertise on the subject matter!” Be sure to take a listen to Larry and I on his podcast Readily Random! Connect with Jaime Instagram: @techofbusiness Twitter: @techofbusiness LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaimeslutzky/ Email: jaime@techofbusiness.com Connect with Larry Roberts Email: larry@readilyrandom.com Website: https://readilyrandom.com Book: 1+1=

  Topics Discussed Amanda’s Podcast – Fit N Chips Being at the mercy of the social media algorithms The tech that Amanda is using to deliver her 6-month Menopause Hacks Key Takeaways If you can take away just one single nugget from a podcast episode, it’s a podcast to come back to As a business professional using social media to engage with clients and potential clients, where do you draw the line on sharing? Your clients and prospective clients are busy as it is, and it’s important to set clear expectations as to when and how your message will be communicated (this can also change over time!) Learn how your audience wants to receive paid content from you and build it so that they will find success in it Speaker Quotes “My first focus [for the beta] was content related. And now I’m looking at how I’m delivering [the course.]” “I’ve started a snowball and it’s going to keep going. That’s the way that I look at this.” “If you want good clients that want to stay with you, you have to build the connection… a

This is a deep dive episode of the Tech of Business podcast. and we're talking about internal team communication tools. This came up over the weekend in a Facebook group that I’m a part of, and I decided to jostle the release schedule around to share this information today. The question that was posed in the Facebook group revolved around internal communication and collaboration tools. Some that were mentioned include Slack, Trello, Asana, Google Docs Voxer and Email and Facebook Messenger. That’s a lot of tools, and in this episode, I’m going to share my thoughts on how to best select and utilize internal team tools. First up, I would like to convince you that email is never the right tool for internal communications. Even the big companies use other chat or messenger tools over clogging up inboxes. I think that email is a necessary evil. It has become for many of us a dumping ground for promotions from other entrepreneurs and businesses, automated updates from service providers and social media and proj

Topics Discussed Who needs systems and project management The types of systems you need for day to day operations The real money leaks in your business Key Takeaways Think about what you have to offer the world – in Marina’s case this is how she thinks It’s 100% awesome to be able to disregard a tool if it doesn’t match your needs even if other people speak highly of it Speaker Quote “Play to your strengths. And build the systems around your strengths.” Website and tools mentioned in this episode Wrike Gantt Charts Asana Trello Basecamp Smart Sheets MS Project Infusionsoft Connect with Jaime Instagram: @techofbusiness Twitter: @techofbusiness LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaimeslutzky/ Email: jaime@techofbusiness.com Connect with Marina Darlow Podcast: https://systemsmeethumanity.com Website: https://vision-framework.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/VisionFramework/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VisionFramework/

Picking up right where last week’s session with Micah Larsen left off, this episode, with Amanda Semenoff, talks about tech in conflict and conflict resolution – which comes back to communication. Topics Discussed Tech as it pertains to being the conflict and part of the conflict resolution Setting parameters around and expectations within technology choices for communication Chat bots, to help conversations and interaction at the outset of communication Voice recognition, Cortana, Siri and Alexa Key Takeaways When we communicate asynchronously (such as in email), one party will give what they believe is important and the reply expanding and questioning on that and it becomes an iterative loop. It could be replying 15 or more times to get to the core of the substance. If that communication transitioned faster to voice and interactive conversation the duration of the communication would be much shorter and more succinct. Use tools that meet the needs of the clients that come in the door. It doesn’t make sen

Most of us as business owners started our venture because we love our modality and want to share it with others. We likely didn't start our businesses to coerce people to buy from us or hire us. And that's exactly where Micah's research can step in and help us all -- in this episode Micah demonstrates how communication and persuasion work hand in hand in business. Topics Discussed The way people communicate through technology (Micah refers to technology as the “mediator”) The rules of business communication and the emotional context of messages Choosing one form of video communication over another for different settings and what’s going on in the background of video conferences Micah’s Persuasion Algorithm Technology in Persuasion Science (hint, it’s science fiction coming to reality… at a theater near you!) Key Takeaways Emojis, Emoticons and GIFs help deliver the emotional context of a message, but are not generally used in business and therefore we need to learn how to communicate with persu

Topics Discussed Lead Generation Tools (psst, Eli's top pick is ConvertKit which I think is pretty awesome, I generally recommend ActiveCampaign) Website and Course Delivery Platforms Content Marketing Key Takeaways With ConvertKit you can easily add tags to users based on activity directly in the email – signups for webinars and such without having to use a secondary tool to piecemeal it together. When you purchase a WordPress theme from a premium marketplace rather than using a free theme, your purchase comes with support and ongoing development/updates Content is only going to move your business forward if it’s created strategically. You don’t need a ton of content on multiple channels, rather, your content should support and lead prospects to your offer (the product or service that you’re selling.) When trying to figure out the type of content you’re going to create, look at how your audience is going to want to consume that content and then take action on it. Approaching content marketing as one h

Mikael and his team created funnelytics to solve the problem of: mapping the funnel on the whiteboard translating the whiteboard funnel into software tools read and understand Google Analytics to determine what is actually happening with the funnel The idea was to migrate the mapping from the whiteboard to a digital canvas and see the numbers directly on the canvas. This visual allows marketers to see the path that people are taking, conversions from one step to the next, where people are dropping off. And this became funnelytics! When does a business need a marketing funnel? Once your business has the following: proof of concept actual purchasers nailing your messaging done with conversations and one-to-one interaction Then once you know this is the offer this is what we sell this is who it serves this is how it helps them this is the problem that it solves That's when you should think about having a marketing funnel   Key Takeaways A funnel is a linear process and has the ability to be quantitati

The term funnel is thrown around quite a lot in the online space and it is the process by which businesses gain trust and earn clients. The top of the funnel is a geared towards a large pool of potential clients and each step of the funnel moves some potential clients into your paid client sphere or allows them to drop off. Let’s consider each step in a funnel as a conversion. The first step of the funnel, before anyone ever enters is awareness – this could be in the form of referrals, interviews, content marketing, articles, social media or paid advertising to name a few. Once someone is aware of your business they may enter the top of the funnel by signing up for your email list in exchange for a checklist or a worksheet or a challenge or a webinar link or a virtual summit ticket or anything else that has value and is easy to distribute The top of your funnel could even be subscribing to your podcast or joining your Facebook group, LinkedIn group, conversing with your Facebook page via messenger or Slack

In this episode, I chat with Leanne Kabat about the WordPress / Libsyn integration that I use for the Tech of Business in order to help her move forward with the MamaConnects podcast. Here are the steps that we discuss: Record interview / episode Edit episode, write shownotes or takeaways Save episode as MP3 Upload episode to Libsyn Provide Libsyn with shownotes, title and other relevant podcast details Schedule episode for release at given date/time Grab libsyn embed code Start post on WordPress In text mode, paste the embed code from Libsyn Switch to Visual mode and enter shownotes Set post categories & tags Create artwork in Photoshop - 3 formats, episode artwork, Facebook, square Upload episode artwork as featured image Upload Facebook artwork to Yoast SEO social tab --> Facebook Schedule post for release at same time/date as libsyn Also mentioned on this episode: Linktr.ee: Linktree is a free tool for optimising your Instagram traffic by providing an interface to have more than one link in your

In this episode Jaime and Allen discuss: Using technology in employee wellness and experiences Why he creates memes and his process for creating and delivering them Locate photo at depositphotos.com Use PicMonkey.com to merge image with the proper words Deliver meme via social media or email marketing Creating content in a way that the audience is seeking Making connections with the right people and for the right purposes Key Takeaways SEAMLESS is an acronym which reminds you of the eight things to do daily: get plenty of Sleep (quality, uninterrupted sleep of at least seven hours) Eat a balanced diet and drink lots of fresh water Be Active for at least 30 minutes (activity doesn’t mean lift every day) Meditate (nine minutes per day is a good start and you can do it!) Love others, Love yourself and Insert something you Love into every day Expand your horizons to continue growing (learn something new every day) reduce your Stress (don’t manage it — eliminate it!) get plenty of Sunshine & fresh airDo