Small Business Naked

43 – Marketing a Small Business with Timbo Reid

Nick May — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 11:00:45 +0000

This week, we brought back one of our favorite guests to talk more about small business marketing: Tim Reid from the Small Business BIG Marketing podcast. Tim comes from a background of corporate marketing, but helps small businesses all over the world by encouraging them to take action. Tim can often be found saying: “There has never been a better time to market a small business.” But before you market your business, you need to know your WHY and figure out WHAT your message is before you figure out WHERE to put it…and that is exactly what we talk about today.

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. Please give us a review on iTunes and follow us on Facebook.

42 – How to start a Successful Music School

Nick May — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 11:00:14 +0000

Ever want to know how to start a music school? BUT, this is not your “normal” music school!

Today, Nick and Johnny Battle interview Danny Thompson who owns The Music Factory from Orange County California.

We talked about how he got into owning a music school, how they found their focus, and what separates them from the competition. They know what they know best, and they do it with style. They also know who they are, and who they are not. In small business, we have a hard time saying no to customers, but when you say no to some, you are able to say yes to exactly what kind of customer you want to work with, because they only have 11 teaching rooms, they need to find the students that will be there every time.

As we got into the business, we talk marketing. Danny told us about online advertising, their referral program, building a new website, as well as tracking and ROI on marketing.

If you own a business that caters to parents or kids, there are some great lessons in here to learn. Danny tells us how he has done it. How he has learned what to do, and how to give good service. He also mentioned how he has employed a software system to help manage his business that is specifically designed for dance and music schools.

Check out this video that they created with their students. It’s an Alice in Chains song! This is not what I remember music to be like from my childhood.

41- What’s UP?? Summer 2015. Changing management, Costco, Chic-fil-A, and Minimum Wage.

Nick May — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 11:00:27 +0000

Summer of 2015 was hard on us, but WE’RE BACK!!

I hope you missed us.

In today’s podcast we talk about how the wheels fell off for both of us this summer. Some good, some bad. This lead to a great discussion about managing a small business: do you work on your business or in your business…OR both! John has decided to take a step out, and let his team run the business without his constant input. Nick has had to go the other direction and be more integral in the day-to-day due to his field manager leaving. Both have experienced some new and interesting dynamics in their businesses.

Then we went on to talk about minimum wage and how to best compensate employees. Some think raising the minimum wage to a liveable level is better, but we disagree. We believe that it is better to pay someone more based on the value they bring to the business. But businesses like Costco and The Container Store have have raised the bar, and have higher expectations on their employees, and so they just pay those team members more. You get what you pay for I always say.

Look for a new podcast every OTHER week, as we are trying to set a feasible rhythm for the podcast moving forward.

We have some good stuff planned (and we talk about a little of it), so stay tuned the the Fall Season of Small Business Naked.

40 – What’s Up: In the weeds

Nick May — Thu, 14 May 2015 13:00:00 +0000

We are a little behind with getting episodes us, but today we talk about why that is the case. This week, we talk frank. Both are having a tough go in their businesses with employees, cash flow, hiring, retention, production, and just about anything related to people. Maybe you can relate. So often, all people want to talk about is how well their businesses are going, but if you have been in business a while, you know that is not always the case. Hopefully we learn in the tough times and grow from it.

39 – Multiple businesses from ONE business

Nick May — Mon, 04 May 2015 14:23:26 +0000

This week Johnny and Nick talk to Donnie Shelton from Triangle Pest Control in North Carolina. Donnie has a unique story on getting into business ownership…the MBA cost too much and he thought killing bugs sounded better. Now Donnie is a smart guy and a hard worker.

38 – What’s Up: Getting off the tools by getting on the tools.

Nick May — Fri, 24 Apr 2015 11:00:36 +0000

On today’s podcast of Small Business Naked, we talk about podcasting, working in and on your business, how to retain a employee, how different the United States is from Australia, and Johnny gets a really strange accent.

No, today, Nick is joined by Warrick Bidwell from The Tradies Business Show podcast. Warrick is a co-host with Michaela Clark, and together they host a podcast dedicated to helping Tradies (tradesmen and women in Australia) get off the tools, and into real business ownership. Warrick is a business coach, speaker, and obviously a podcaster…and one good looking bloke!

Johnny is so slammed with work, that today, he had to get on the tools and away from the tools. Maybe he needs to meet Warrick? But in all seriousness, Johnny is just in the weeds, and I asked Warrick to come on the show and have a bit of a chin wag, as they say Down Under.

37 – GOT JUNK? with Brian Scudamore

Nick May — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 11:00:31 +0000

We are very excited to share a really great interview with you today. We speak with a lot of really great entrepreneurs, but few achieve the kind of success that Brian Scudamore has achieved. He owns three businesses, but the most well known is 1-800-GOT-JUNK. It started as Rubbish Boys. He idea for the trash business came while Brian was in college, and the idea was born when he was sitting in a McDonald’s parking lot. After doing about a million dollars in business, he realized that the name was not going to be a great long term play, especially because he knew he wanted to expand into the United States, and Rubbish just did not have the same ring in the States as it did in Canada.
Brian than added a second business concept called WOW 1 Day Painting after trying to hire a paint contractor for his own home. They currently have franchises spread across Canada and the United States.

The most recent business model Brian has started is You Move Me . A moving company focused on creating a fun and pain-free move experience.

When Brian starts a new franchise model, he looks for models that can scale to multi-millions.

“People don’t fail, systems do.” Brian Scudamore

What they do different than their competition? They take the ordinary, and do it exceptionally. They look for the little things to blow the customers away; whether it is moving, painting, or removing junk.

We also interviewed Hugh McKee who owns a franchise of Wow 1 Day Painting.

36 – What’s Up: Hiring for your Small Business

Nick May — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 05:20:50 +0000

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.

35 – Charlie Mullins: Plumber to the Stars in London

Nick May — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 11:00:11 +0000

Before you we go any further, WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. Call us on our new phone number, (775) Fi NAKED or 775-346-2533. You can tell us anything. What do you like about the best small business podcast: Small Business Naked? What kind of business do you have? What has been you favorite episode of the Small Business Naked podcast? Who do you think is better looking?

Today, Johnny and Nick interview maybe the most successful plumber in the world. Charlie Mullins bunked off school at age 9 and dropped out of school by 15, started working for himself by 19, and never looked back. They run over 120 trucks on the road and over 150 staff, doing around 20 million pounds a year. Charlie’s company, Pimlico Plumbers clears drains for James bond and the Prime minister.

Pimlico Plumbers: The UK’s largest independent plumbing company and the most recognized plumbing company in the world. They have expanded into all sorts of services for the home and work around the clock…24 hours a day.

Best small business tip from his book Bog-Standard Business: Give someone the best service you can give them. You can buy it on Amazon!

Charlie likes to employ a great mix of people. He had Buster working for him at 104 cleaning vans. Charlie knows the value of having older team members and younger people. Charlie thinks we can learn something from older and younger people.

Business is like making a cake: a bit of this and a bit of that. Eventually, you will find the right mix. When you get the right mix, stick with it.

Charlie like to say that he runs his business on common sense and hard work.

Charlie has a fantastic small business, and is a wonderful guy. Charlie gave us, and our listeners an open invitation to come see their offices if you find yourself in London.

If you want to hear the full story, sign up on the right to join our mailing list and you will get access for exclusive content. We have at least another 30 minutes of juicy content to share with you. This is new, but you will also get access to all the additional edited content from our interviews.

34 – What’s Up: The Website Competition!

Nick May — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 14:43:14 +0000

Big show today on our small business podcast. Even though it is just the What’s Up episode. Several announcements.

FIRST, we have a new phone number. If you have a question, comment, or just want to get on the show, call us and leave us a message.

The number is (775) Fi – NAKED or (775)346-2533. We would love to hear from you.

Second: We are on MeetUp in Denver and in Boulder (in April). We would love to have you join us. AND, if you are interested in having a Small Business Naked MeetUp in your city, let us know. We want to expand it soon.

Third: We have a new sponsor!! MhelpDesk.com can help you if you have a service based business. Nick has been using them for about two years. Check them out FOR FREE!!! It is all cloud based, and easy to use. Even Nick can use it.

Then, we spent most of the time talking about how we both need new websites, and that we have each selected different companies to build new websites for each of us. AND yes, we are spending real dollars. If you have ever had a website built for your small business, you know what a chore and a time suck this can be. We have each chosen very different companies to do each site, and we are going to be reporting back and sharing how things go. Stay tuned!

33 – Software for Small Business – Mhelpdesk

Nick May — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 03:20:05 +0000

Today on the show, we interview a super interesting entrepreneur who got his start by selling Chameleons online. He sold so many chameleons on Screameleons.com, he was ablet to afford to buy a Lamborghini and a house! Vincent Wong may have started out with lizards, but soon graduated to a super-successful online software company that he co-founded with a friend called

Vincent Wong may have started out with lizards, but soon graduated to a super-successful online software company that he co-founded with a friend called Mhelpdesk.com . Mhelpdesk is field service software for small to medium size businesses. Nick has been using Mhelpdesk almost since their inception.

Vincent shared some great nuggets of wisdom in our chat. Everything from lessons on how to become an entrepreneur to some great advise on how to manage a company and what to look for. Another amazing entrepreneur.

32 – What’s Up: Small business podcast with Ramon Ray

Nick May — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 12:00:44 +0000

Today is another What’s Up episode with Nick and Johnny. We thought we would bring on an industry expert to help us sort out some issues with tech, as we are not the small business podcast tech experts. We asked Ramon Ray to come on to help us, give us some tips and insights, and to help us be more productive with some tech tools.

Ranon Ray is a small business evangelist, works with/for Infusionsoft, runs Smart Hustle Magazine and SmallBizTechnology.com, so we figured he’d have some good stuff for us. The first tips Ramon gave us were:

Back up your data
Download apps on your phone to be more productive
Make sure your data is secure.

Ramon recommended a few apps as we talked:

Asana – a task management app
Concur – a financial tracking app
Evernote – a business diary and filing cabinet for data and notes.

As for choosing an app, Nick suggested that when you are considering a new type of app, download several similar apps, use them all, and see which one you like the best, then delete the ones you don’t like.

Turning a corner into marketing (Johnny always wants more customers), Ramon shared with us a system for building your business that everyone show be doing…no matter what technology you are into (or out of):

Attract
Sell
Wow

Super simple, and to get all the details, check out the podcast.

Ramon shared lots of awesome with us, so be sure to listen to the podcast.

31 – Jake Nickell is Threadless Chicago

Nick May — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 12:00:21 +0000

This is the shirt design that caught our eye, and the reason for Nick to break into song. You will have to wait for it though (it is in the outtake real).

Have you heard of Threadless Tees? It is a hugely popular crowd sourcing website started by our guest today, Jake Nickell. The most impressive thing is that Jake started this multi-million dollar business by bootstrapping it with only $1000. Jake is a soft spoken guy that has a crazy successful business Threadless Chicago, and while I am not sure that Jake was all that comfortable with us at first, he sure opened up by the end, and gave us the good stuff.

The most popular shirt on the site was one called The Communist Party seen here. If you want to see examples of all the shirts over the years, you need to go visit their hidden page. Threadless Chicago hosts a ton of events for it’s designer community. Their 50,000 sq. ft facility is an amazing space.

They have some cool digs too.

Jake had lots of good stuff to share with us, from how he started this as a second or side business, to the fact that they didn’t event think it was a great idea to start with. They tried several different business ideas, until they finally realized, oh, this Threadless tees thing is the ticket.

30 – What’s Up: Accounting, payroll, and stuff.

Nick May — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 12:00:11 +0000

On today’s What’s Up episode, we bring in a guest. Yes we are going to talk taxes and accounting, but don’t worry, we keep it brief, and informative. Did you know that there are special taxes you need to pay if you are doing oversees online transactions? That is just one of the things we talked about with Dave Heistein from Profitwise Accounting based out of California. Dave is a CPA and Long-Term Business Advisor that works with small business owners around the country with all sorts of accounting issues from data entry and book keeping, to tax planning, to tax preparation and outsourced CFO duties.

We announce our new Small Business Naked MeetUp group that is actually starting in Denver THIS WEEK. If you would be interested in starting a Small Business MeetUp in your city, please contact Nick[at]smallbusinessnaked.com for more details. What could be better than getting 50 to 100 small business owners in a room and a fantastic local business owner talking about his/her fabulous business?

29 – How to Start a Food Truck

Nick May — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 12:00:56 +0000

How to Start a Food Truck

Have you ever wondered what it takes to start a food Truck? Well, one of our listeners asked us to dive into it. So we reached out to about a dozen food trucks, and were finally able to pin down two different models, food styles, and business owners. One truck is here locally in Denver, Crock Spot, is a more traditional food truck serving slow cooked food by Stephen and Mandy Daniels (they recently got hitched). The other model is a food cart in Minneapolis, Minnesota (way up North for our international listeners), that serves high quality gourmet hot dogs, Natedogs.

First we spoke with Stephen and Mandy from right here in Denver, CO. They have a unique take on the food truck called Crock Spot. I had never heard of a food truck serving slow roasted cuisine, and that is exactly what they do. When you walk up to the truck, you can pick you carb, your protein, and your sauce. I’m hungry just thinking about it. I love that they use a model that I firmly believe in when starting their business: minimal viable product. They first tried their concept on friends, then went to a farmers market and got great feedback, then moved into the food truck where they offer traditional side walk service and catering, and they are looking into a brick an mortar spot that they would share with a brew pud. Fantastic progression.

Their advice to anyone wanting to start a food truck: focus your food on one thing, and have some capital to start.

Then we spoke with Nathan Beck with a food cart he called Natedogs up in Minneapolis. Nate is another bootstrapper. He is fanatical about keeping his costs and overhead low for his small business. While not a traditional “food truck”, Nate runs with the big dogs on a consistent basis, going to a lot of the typical food truck venues and events. We loved how he has found a niche in the beer festivals. He goes to them all in the area. Nate has done a fantastic job creating a brand and an experience for his customers. While he does serve a super high quality hot dog, he thinks the customer experience is just as important. With his background in music and theater, that is a piece of cake for Nate.

Nates best advice: Build a great brand and bootstrap. Don’t borrow money.

We loved both of these food truck businesses. They are each on a different and unique path, and have tons of opportunities for the future. Feel free to reach out to either of them with additional questions on their websites, or ask us below, and we will have them respond.

28 – What’s Up: Hiring the RIGHT team.

Nick May — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 12:00:36 +0000

You have a few employees, but do you have the RIGHT employees? Do you cringe when it is time to hire? Johnny and Nick talk today about how they go about hiring s team for the office as well as in the field. In the conversation we talked about:

Interviewing
Finding the right skill
Marketing for the position
Training
Being brutally honest

We all need a team around us. We can’t do it alone. A friend just shared this video of a TEDx talk. It is worth the watch when you have 15 minutes.

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

27 – How Identity theft can turn into a $7 Million Business with Matt Noon

Nick May — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 12:00:16 +0000

How Identity theft can turn into a $7 Million Business with Matt Noon

For a small business podcast, it is a good thing that we have the explicit rating, because I will warn you…there is a TON of great stuff in this episode. You are going to learn what it really takes to kill it, and make a fantastic business. Matt is not your ordinary small business owner. He started his business to pay for school by stealing his brother’s identity and getting a credit card, he didn’t know he actually had to bill clients to get paid, almost had a nervous breakdown because he was too successful, sold the business, and started a new one.

Lawn care. He has a $7 Million dollar lawn care business. Holy Crap!

We talk a lot about focus on our show, and after building a successful lawn care and landscaping business with the help of his brother, Matt thought that he needed to niche down and focus on a small percentage of their business: fertilization. Now, it is mainly what they do. At Noon Turf Care they fertilize and do pest control.

For more information on Matt and Noon Turf Care, check out their website at NoonTurfCare.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.

26 – What’s up: Bright Shinny Objects

Nick May — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 12:00:15 +0000

Bright Shinny Objects

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:

25 – Tom Shane, founder of the Shane Co.

Nick May — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 12:00:16 +0000

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.

24 – What’s Up: Year End planning for your Small Business

Nick May — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 12:00:33 +0000

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

23 – Driving 200 Miles an Hour, and Running a Great Business – Adam Olalde

Nick May — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 12:00:04 +0000

Driving 200 Miles an Hour, and Running a Great Business with Adan Olalde

Every little boy dreams of racing exotic cars. Adam Olalde at the age of 30, has owned over 20…and gets to write them off! While you might be thinking we just wanted to talk to Adam for the opportunity to lean about growing a business with the coolest product and service, know to man, and you would be correct. However, The Xtreme Xperience, is not just a cool business, Adam was able to create a profitable business from day one!

We learned a lot from our talk with Adam. The bad thing was that we (and when I say “we”, I mean Nick) messed up the audio part of our interview. But thankful you can hear Adam really well, but you might not hear Nick and Johnny all that well…sorry about that. This interview is what instigated the purchase of new sound equipment that you have actually already heard on several of our podcasts.

We all have a different path into business ownership and Adam is no different. His started in the bathroom. Well, not really, but he was selling bathroom supplies for a company, and that is what lead him eventually into selling amazing auto experiences. He know his business well, and we can all learn a thing or two about building a successful business. He started with sales first, kept his debt low, brought on staff to help him focus, listened to the market, and his customers, and is now THE industry leader in the country.

For more information on Adam Olalde and Extreme Xperience, check out their cool new website, with plenty of pic and videos of their cars.

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

22 – What’s Up: Financing your Small Business and Personal Finance

Nick May — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 12:00:19 +0000

Financing your Small Business and Personal Finance

If you have started a small business, you know what it is like to have to figure out the dilemma of financing. Most people are comfortable with going down to the bank and getting a small business loan. Today on our What’s Up section, Nick and Johnny talk about how they started their service businesses. Johnny admits to have not borrowing any money, while Nick started his business using a credit card. Both are in agreement to borrow as little as possible because it makes you think about the purchases for your business, not to overspend, and to keep overhead lower.

In our conversation, we talk about Love Money – money give from friends or family, either given or lent. We also talked about bootstrapping – growing slow, just like putting one boot on at a time.

Then, we talk about personal finance. Nick and Johnny believe that personal finance is the foundation for a happy life. Nick shared how he made a turn around after listening to Dave Ramsey and learning how to correctly manage money: build an emergency fund, pay off debt (smallest to largest), save for retirement and kids college, invest, give and enjoy life. There is much more to it than that, but it is not complicated.

We also talked about leasing vehicles vs. financing a car vs. paying cash.

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

21 – Making money in Real Estate

Nick May — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 12:00:34 +0000

Nick Ruiz: Alpha Home Flipping

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

20 – What’s Up: Customer Service

Nick May — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 12:00:49 +0000

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

19 – Turning your passion into a $2 Million business with Trish Sare

Nick May — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 12:00:42 +0000

Trish Sare: BikeHike Adventures

What would it be like to step out of life and travel the world for FIVE YEARS?! That is what Trish did at the age of 20. Her mom had passed away while Trish was young, and had regretted that she had not been able to go see the world, and so she encouraged her daughter to NOT do the same. Trish quickly fell in love with meeting people and getting to know different cultures. After doing an internship with a travel company, she decided to launch her own company 20 years ago. Trish leads a staff of four, and organizes trips all over the world, but specializes in small group multi activity holidays in South and Central America, Canada, Europe, Oceania, Asia and Africa. The trips place a strong emphasis on culture.

BikeHike’s Passion for Active Travel from BikeHike Adventures on Vimeo.

Trish and her team organize the logistics, and form relationships with local tour operators that fit with her philosophy of responsible travel, environmental sustainability, and safety. Individuals, couples, and groups can choose from a variety of ability levels and activities. Everything from biking, hiking, climbing, spelunking, and more. Most trips are about a week long, but most can adjusted to fit the needs of the travelers.

Keeping expenses low has been very important to Trish and is one of her keys to success. Doing more with less always gets a big thumbs up from Nick and Johnny. Trish admitted that her favorite part of owning the business though is going on trips, and more specifically, going on scouting trips to find resources and locations.

For more information on Trish and BikeHike Adventurs, click here.

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

18 – What’s Up: How to get PR for your small business

Nick May — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 12:00:05 +0000

How to get PR for your small business

This week we have another episode of What’s Up! But, it is a little bit all over the board. Nick throws Johnny several curve balls, but as always, they keep talking about growing a small business.

Big news this week, Small Business Naked hit the top 15 under “small business” in iTunes, and hit #1 under Management and Marketing in iTunes in Australia. But maybe more importantly, we got an email! So excited. Paul from Australia about his lawn care business. Johnny, with a little bit of Nick’s help, answers this great question about firing an employee. Scary ground for the uninitiated, but vital if you want to grow your business bigger than just you.

When running a small business, PR or a press release can be an effective addition to your marketing mix. Nick and Johnny have both had some success with submitting articles and getting business for each of their businesses. As a part of trying to reach more people with the Small Business Naked message, we reached out to the folks at eReleases to help get out a press release. In doing so, we felt that an interview with the owner, Mickie Kennedy, and had a bit of a chat about PR and small business.

Three takeaways from our talk with Mickie:

Have something to share that is note worthy
Don’t be afraid to stand out
Sometimes it takes an outside perspective to know what to talk about.

Depending on what kind of business you have, will determine what kids of releases would work, and what kinds of publications would help. If you want some help with creating a little PR for your business, give Mickie a call or just check out their website. ereleases.org.

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

17 – Timbo Reid: Marketing your small business

Nick May — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 12:00:18 +0000

Timbo Reid: Marketing your small business

“There has never been a better time to market a small business.” Timbo Reid of the Small Business Big Marketing podcast, Australia’s #1 marketing podcast (and pretty high up in the rest of the world as well).

It may be a little strange that we are interviewing another podcaster, but there is a good reason…Timbo is the inspiration for Nick to re-start the Small Business Naked podcast. After finding Tim’s podcast while on a family trip to Portland, Nick was hooked, and has been a loyal listener ever since; “Listening to Timbo has helped me find focus in my marketing efforts for my painting business, and made me realize that podcasting is a great way to become an influencer and to build my personal brand.”

Tim, or Timbo as he likes to be called, started his career in a big ad agency, working for the man…like many of us. After several years, he realized that he liked to teach, and loved talking to small business owners about their marketing. So after finding one bigger client, he launched out on his own to do marketing consulting under his own name. Soon he started Small Business Big Marketing, which helped to launch his personal brand. Now he spends most of his time speaking around the world, consulting with a few clients, and producing his very popular podcast.

We had a blast talking about small business, marketing, and podcasting with Tim. Here are a few of the key take-a-ways from our time with him:

Be yourself. Don’t try to be something your not. Be who you are, and portray that in your business, and your marketing.
Marketing is everything and everything is marketing. Weather you are talking about your logo, your business card, answering your phones, or how your team interacts with your customers. IT IS ALL MARKETING.
Find your WHY, then communicate it through great marketing.

We talked about several of Tim’s guests, but one example of a small business owner doing great marketing was Tom Dickson of Will it Blend? He takes the most rediculous things possible, puts them in his blender, and mashes them up. Take this video of him blending iPhones. Rediculous.

For more information on Timbo, click here for his bio page, click here for his forum, to book him for speaking, and click here form his favorite interview with Melissa Maker (who we also interviewed), which was his favorite interview.

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

16 – What’s Up: Make more money by doing less

Nick May — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 12:00:47 +0000

I know we have talked about focus before, but we talk about it A LOT! So, we are talking about it again. We need reminders. As business owners, and as entrepreneurs, we all need MORE FOCUS. Before we get into that, we got caught up a little.

Johnny just got back from a cruise. He took his two managers on an end of the season reward: a cruise. They went on the largest boat in the world. He blew away his team, gave then a great reward, and invested into them and their significant others, as a thank you, and to invest into them.

We announced out show sponsor, a past guest, Hatchwise. So if you need a logo, a business card, or anything designed, we want you to give Hatchwise a try. They give you really great value, and Nick and Johnny have both used them for several projects, and believe that they are the BEST design contest site for graphic design.

Rule of ONE. Anytime you have more than one of anything, it complicates things. This is Johnny’s way of keeping things simple. How do you stay focused?

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

15 – Melissa Maker: Teaching us how to clean up in business and on YouTube.

Nick May — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 12:00:45 +0000

Melissa Maker: Clean My Space

If you have ever thought, “I should do YouTube videos for my business.” Than this is the show for you. Melissa had just started a cleaning business (after working in a bank…BORING!), and thought that YouTube videos would be a good way to market her business. In fact, here is her very first video she produced:

The editing is bad, the jokes are worse, and the editing…wow!! How did she ever make a go at this video thing? Well, she kept going, she kept improving, and now, she produces videos like this:

Melissa has made a name for herself in the cleaning business, and she started this business while hating to clean. Now, she has a great business that employs about 20 employees, and provides a great income for her and her husband Chad. Starting to market her cleaning business, let to a second small business, she now speaks, and receives ad revenue from her website and YouTube videos.

In our interview with Melissa, we talk about how she started her small business, what she loves about being an entrepreneur, and so much more. Clean my space now has an international presence, and Melissa shared all about it. She not only shares what it was like to start a service based business, but also how to make money on YouTube, what the videos have led to, and how she splits her time in her business.

To watch some cool videos, go to CleanMySpace.com and to go to Melissa’s cleaning business site, go to CleanMySpace.ca. To listen to the entire interview, please visit us on iTunes or Stitcher or at our website at smallbusinessnaked.com

Show Transcript

Hey! Thanks for joining us today. I’m Nick.

And of course, I’m Johnny John.

[Laughs] You’re listening to “Small Business Naked”.

I will say something different. So, it throws Nick off every time.

He always has to just mess with me. I don’t understand this. But this is what I have to deal with him on a daily basis, guys. But we have a great show today. We’ve got Melissa Maker from “Clean My Space”.

A.k.a. Mrs. Clean. I know the expert is an overused term, but she’s really an expert on cleaning.

She’s also from Canadia eh.

Yes, eh.

Eh.

She’s going to share with us two of her business stories. She has two because she’s actually owned the service business. She has a media company. What a great insight she has on both. So, I think you’re going to find them both are really valuable.

Yes. You’re going to learn, not only about starting a business, but how to market your business and what marketing potentially could do for you. It’s not only grown her service business. But it’s also helped her create a secondary business, one that, I think, she says in an interview, is more profitable than her actual business.

She’s also going to tell us how we can make videos if we’re interested, and how they work, and do they work, and all those types of things. So, take a listen. You’re going to like this.

Beer, wine, or a cocktail.

I don’t drink.

So neither.

14 – What’s up: How you answer the phone MATTERS!

Nick May — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 11:00:03 +0000

How you answer the phone MATTERS!

On this episode, Nick and Johnny prank call a few businesses for your benefit. No, not just for a laugh, but they did have a few of those. Your phone is an important part of your marketing mix, and your customer service experience. Nick and Johnny call competing businesses to see how they answer their phone, if they answer their phone, and then turn the table on each other. Wait to you hear what happens!

For most small businesses, the phones are an afterthought, or just an expense. But we find that there is money to be made in answering the phone…all the time. If you don’t answer your phone, you are wasting marketing money in your small business. Because if you don’t answer your phone, your competition will be answering theirs. If your potential customer doesn’t get someone when they call, they will go on to the next company to call. If you put customers first, you will make an effort to answer your phone all the time.

If you spend money or time to market your business, and it goes to voice mail, then you have just wasted that money. Thrown it out the window! Don’t wast good marketing money.

Nick uses Ring Central for his phone. Great VOiP phone service. You can find our more about them on our resources page.

13 – George Ryan – Learning to do more with less in your business

Nick May — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 11:00:40 +0000

George Ryan – Learning to do more with less in your business

Have you ever wanted to grow a business, but not wanted to manage any employees? On this episode of Small Business Naked, Nick and Johnny interview George Ryan, a former lumber yard worker, turned internet marketer. His company Hatchwise leverages the power of the world wide web of designers from around the world with a smoking hot website that connects designers to mostly small business owners. Because he has leveraged the power of his website, he has been able to build a business that only requires himself and one other subcontractor…his brother.

George has decided to keep his life and his business simple. His business allows him to spend a lot of time with his family.

Hatchwise was one of the first design contests sites that connects individuals needing design services with thousands of graphic designers from around the world. Once a design contest is started on the site, over 16,000 designers have the option of submitting a design given the design brief. Depending on the length of the contest, a winning design can be selected with two days or a week. The person creating the design contest chooses how much prize money will be awarded, and Hatchwise makes sure that the customer his happy with the end result, and that the designer is paid.

Both Nick and Johnny have hosted design contests with some great results. If you are interested in hosting a design contest, visit their website at hatchwise.com.

12 – What’s Up: Opposite Day and Focus in your Small Business

Nick May — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 11:00:26 +0000

After having our conversation with Tres fro Voodoo Doughnuts, Johnny and Nick talked about how they do a lot of things the opposite of what the so-called experts would say are the “right” things to do in business.

Check out our Resources page. You will find services and tools for your business that we use.

Keeping things simple is easier said than done. Johnny and Nick have both experienced trying to do too many things. One of the best examples of focus is In-N-Out Burger. They only have a few things on their menu, and do it very well. It is hard to turn customers away, but if we say no to some people, it allows us to say YES to the things and people we really want to do.

Steve Jobs is another example of a company that was saved by focus. Steve Jobs came back into Apple, and chopped everything but about 4 main products. This is what led to maybe the biggest company turnaround in history. They were able to put all their energy and effort into making 4 great products, instead of 15 or 20 weak products.

11 – Tres Shannon – Voodoo Doughnuts: A Rock & Roll Doughnut Shop

Nick May — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 11:00:03 +0000

Tres Shannon – co-owner of Voodoo Doughnuts

If you have never heard of Voodoo Doughnuts, you must live under a pretty big rock, but if you haven’t, it is a super successful doughnut shop that was started in Portland, OR, that now boasts of four locations and a cart. Yep, a food cart. So we could say they have 4.25 locations. Tres was in Denver, CO to visit their newest store when we were able to catch up with him. We talked the whole story, but unfortunately, his partner, Kenneth “Cat Daddy” Pogson, was unable to join us, as he was back making doughnuts in Portland.

The interview is a long one, but one filled with lots of laughs and inappropriate talk, so lock the kids up on this one.

Tres and Cat Daddy were introduced to each other by Tres’ mom, and thought they would always start a business together. They came up with the idea to start a funky doughnut shop, learned some from pastry chefs at doughnut camp, rented a little whole-in-the-wall retail location in Portland, and the rest is history. The two partners did not have any formal business training, but have seen consistent and incredible grown and success, ever since opening their doors 8 years ago.

They have taken a very different approach to business that has helped differentiate them from anything else out there; from performing wedding in their stores, accepting only cash, being open 24 hours, to having a “cock and balls” doughnut that has gotten them much attention…good and bad.

Expanding outside of the Northeast has been a calculated move, and they have been welcomed in Denver with open arms. From the mayor performing the ribbon cutting, to business coverage in the Denver Post, to having great new neighbors. Everyone has been excited to have Voodoo come to Denver.

Tres shared with us how they got started, what it was like opening the first shop, what success has allowed them to do, why they chose to call it Voodoo Doughnuts, and some hints into what might be coming down the track for Voodoo. You are going to love this one.

For the full interview, go to smallbusinessnaked.com

Show Breakdown

1:24 – Opening Denver
Johnny asked him why did he go to Denver, he answered that he have a lot of memories in Denver, he
lived there in 1970’s, and used to see dead Kennedys somewhere around the 80’s and he said that
there’s a lot of good reason that Denver is a good town, and at the same time Marijuana became
legal. Then Tres talked about a lesbian bar, where it’s beside the dental office. And in the same street
they have everything they need in just one location.

02:42 – About Voodoo Doughnuts
Nick asked to tell them more about Voodoo Doughnuts and What he do, he said that he started it by
himself and his business partner Kenneth Pagson, everyone is calling Kenneth “Cat daddy” he was the
one who gave him that name because he was kind of a ladies man though he’s already married with two
kids. They’ve known each other for 8 years. Kenneth worked for his mother in Imperial Bar in Portland,
then his mom introduced him to Kenneth, then when they started hanging out they talked about rolling
a business, then they talked about opening a doughnut shop because there is no doughnut shop in
Portland, even if he does not even have any idea because he never when he was a kid he always had a
doughnut from Gitzon every Sunday after the church. And had a degree in hospitality. Because of that,
he became the dough and he is the “nut”. He recalled that when they started Cat Daddy was not yet
married but he has a son who all of them was his godson.

7:51 – Branding
Nick asked where did the branding started then Tres answered that Voodoo has a lot of o’s and looked more
like a doughnut, and they perform weddings and they like performing a ritual. Barnes is the guy who
adjourns sweets. Johnny asked about where did the business concept came from, he again narrated that
they were done in night life and everyone loves doughnuts whether young or old people. They started at
$.85c doughnut, and now it’s ranging up to $7. Portland crème is the official doughnut in Oregon. They have
2 stores in Portland, they have food carts in suburban area. They hired kids, they also have

10 – What’s Up: Be Weird and Make More Money

Nick May — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 11:00:44 +0000

On this episode of What’s Up, Nick and Johnny talk about being weird and standing out. Sheldon Adelson tells us all how to do it, and because he is a gazillionare and owns the Venetian in Vegas…we believe him.

We have interview many successful business owners, and most of them stand out in the crowd. Jerome Grady, founder of Colorado Ski and Golf, Johna White from the Billy Bob Teeth company, and many others have shown us this again and again. Being different is not only more profitable, but it is more fun.

Johnny has his core values hanging from the ceiling in his shop that his company believe in, and the main idea is: Get Shit Done! Some believe he needs to be more professional, but he believes that is truly what they want to be like.

Johnny’s list of Core Values:

Tattoos in the workplace? Nick and Johnny actually disagree on something! Nick hires purple hair, tattoos, and nose rings, and John wants NO tattoos. John wants his team to look nice, but worries that his customers will be put off by an employee that is not clean cut and nice. Nick uses the edgy look of an artist to further the story of hiring starving artist and teaching the art of painting houses.

How do you create fun in the business. Johnny believes that it needs to be the owner or manager. He needs to lead the team into fun. John reveals how he is walking the walk and provide fun for his team. After a long season, he is bringing his managers on a trip after a long hard season.

If you have a topic you’d like to hear Nick and Johnny talk about in an upcoming What’s Up talk, let us know below. Or, if you have done something to provide fun or weirdness in your business, let us know below.

09 – Jayla Siciliano – It’s all about the F***ing Bubbles!

Nick May — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 11:00:12 +0000

Jayla Siciliano – Bon Affair

You would never imagine that this nice, and sweet lady would be so bold, but what may have landed her a spot on the hit TV show Shark Tank, was the idea to lead with, “We have fucking bubbles” as her headline or attention-getter in her application video that she sent in. It was just enough to get the much needed attention she needed, and then to land a $150,000 investment from Mark Cuban.

Jayla started a wine business based on her own needs and likes. After noticing that others also wanted some of her concoction, she thought she might have found a business worth pursuing. Jayla was having a hard time keeping up with the big boys when she worked at Burton. With the problem solved, she then had her jock guy friends asking for a her spritzer. It was at that point that she knew she might just have something.

While Jayla did come from corporate America, she had been looking for just the right thing to go start. She had attempted a few time, but nothing stuck. Until this.

Jayla fought had in the tank, and even had received four NOs from the other sharks before getting the one yes that mattered. Mark Cuban stepped up, offered her exactly what she had asked for, and invested into Bon Affair, taking a 35% stake in the company. She was just grateful for getting the opportunity, and now it is off to the races. She knows that, that was just the beginning, and she is pressing hard to grow her company. She is not in Costco, as Mr. Wonderful had suggested, but is selling in Whole Foods, and other retailers with plans to expand across the nation.

If you would like to try Bon Affair, Jayla can ship it to most states across the US. Here is a link to the Shark Tank Special. If you are interested in viewing Jayla on Shark Tank, I have posted the video down below. For more information on Jayla and Bon Affair, go to their website at www.BonAffair.com

Items Covered

00:50 – Introducing Jayla Siciliano, business owner.

01:10 – Getting Naked Questions for Jayla

05:28 – Putting the idea into a bottle

06:30 – Jayla talks about her product

07:21 – Who makes the wine?

07:40 – How the formula came up

09:20 – Jayla shares the next morning experiences of drinking a bottle of her product and the others

10:48 – Product distribution coverage and shipping

11:49 – Jayla talks about what she learned from previous companies

14:22 – When Jayla decided to go to Shark Tank

15:55 – What she sent to Shark Tank

17:43 – Jayla talks about her journey with Shark Tank

21:00 – Jayla talks about what it was like after the show aired

22:28 – Jayla talks about her experience during the show

23:35 – What advice Jayla followed from Mark

27:25 – Work relationship with Mark Cuban and Shark Tank

30:47 – Jayla talks about her investors

31:58 – Role change since the show

08 – What’s Up: Employees Dressing The Part

Nick May — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 11:00:37 +0000

Nick & Johnny do a weekly ‘what’s up’ catch up session to talk about their week in business, crazy business ideas and the little things that can make a big difference to your small business.

On this episode of What’s Up, Nick and Johnny talk about some employee issues. Namely, we talk about uniforms, policies, and workman’s comp issues. Do your employees wear a uniform? Do they follow the dress code? Are they wearing appropriate clothing? How does that effect the small business owner, and what kind of impact can it have on the customer?

Nick and John both talk about showing up on Saturday projects, and each catch an employee not dressed appropriately.

A proper uniform can do several things for a business. It elevates the brand. It raises the professionalism. It can also increase job-site safety.

What do your employees wear? Do they follow it? Let us know in the comments below.

07 – John Dicker…he’s back with an update FOUR years later.

Nick May — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 11:00:38 +0000

John Dicker, owner of Geeks who Drink, joined us for another interview…4 years later. It was really fun to see how John’s business has grown, what his new roll in the company is, and how he has stayed true to what he believes his business is about, and who is ideal customer is. We tried to give John a hard time with some trivia of our own, but in the end John made us look bad once again.

In the new economy, one of interesting things that we see is the ability to work from anywhere. John manages a managerial staff of just under 10, but a production team of several hundred…all without the overhead of an office. Remote working is not just for the big companies. Through the use of VOiP phone systems, cell phones, cloud computing, and many other tech resources now at your fingertips, you too can run a virtual office like John and his team.

Sales! How do you get more sales?

Huge question for most entrepreneurs. We talked about how John is doing it all over the country. What once started in a few bars around Denver, has blossomed into a national business, which brings national problems. Could your business scale like this?

Click here for entire transcript.

06 – Joy Gendusa from PostcardMania

Paul Culliver — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 08:20:04 +0000

From the radio show archives, here’s Nick’s & Johnny’s interview with Joy Gendusa from PostcardMania.

Direct response marketing is not the sexy cool marketing activity that most people want to talk about, but Joy has built a great business helping small business owners market their businesses in a more traditional way. Direct response postcards are a cost effective way to get your message out to your perfect customer profile. she started her business after being a graphic designer, and having issues herself trying to kick off a postcard campaign to get customers. With the experience and knowledge she had from brokering print jobs and designing for customers, she decided that she could really grow a business that specialized in postcards after her bad experience in using another postcard company.

Starting her business in 1999, Joy launched PostcardMania. Due to their belief in their own marketing system and delegating tasks to key individuals, PostcardMania has experienced tremendous growth…so much so, that they actually use their own services by sending out 150,000 postcards each week to attract new customers. Joy does share her other keys to marketing their business. This has been a large strength: giving away the information. Joy shares with everyone, even her competitors.

While many business owners complain about the economy and how hard things are, Joy has decided not to participate in the recession, and she wants everyone to prosper. Beat the recession: market your butt off.

We talked about a lot of different things in marketing her business as well as yours, you can learn more about Joy and PostcardMania at their website: www.postcardmania.com

05 – Nick Friedman from College Hunks Hauling Junk

Paul Culliver — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 08:15:11 +0000

From the radio show archives, here’s Nick’s & Johnny’s interview with Nick Friedman from College Hunks Hauling Junk.

From taking college not too serious, to being on a reality TV show, to building a multi-unit franchise, Nick and his partner Omar Soliman have proven themselves to be fabulous entrepreneurs. We were able to do a phone interview with Nick to find out how they started this company at such a young age and manage to succeed. The idea of the business is to move junk that no one wants or can move themselves, weather it is a lot of junk or just large items.

In this show we talk about how Nick and his partner launched the business out of college with the help of his mom. They have reached out to others that have gone before them to learn and for mentor-ship. Because of this, they have built an atmosphere of helping others get into business, and so when they look for employees, they look for team members that would someday want to own their own business. They don’t just look for laborers. They want people that want more. When they find them, the invest into them. They teach them about the business.

Nick sent us some books that he and Omar
had written entitled Effortless Entrepreneur, and his philosophy was summed up in his inscription: “Keep living the Dream”.

We learned that there is a big difference in running a franchise of a junk business vs. actually hauling junk for people. There was a big learning curve to figure out how to sell and how to service his new customer: the franchisee. If you want to learn more about Nick, Omar, and their business College Hunks Hauling Junk, please visit their website.

04 – Wende Curtis from Comedy Works

Paul Culliver — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 08:10:48 +0000

From the radio show archives, here’s Nick’s & Johnny’s interview with Wende Curtis from Comedy Works.

If you’ve lived in Denver for any amount of time, you know Comedy Works. It has been a staple in downtown Denver for over 25 years. Not only does Wende own Comedy Works, but she books all the talent, answers emails, and waits tables. There is nothing beneath her. She is a very active and engaged business owner. Many today love to talk about working on their business, and not IN their business. Wende does a great job of doing both. This is PROOF that the experts and the consultants are not always right. We like to look at the really successful owners like Wende to see what it actually takes to be successful. FULL engagement is what it takes.

While Wende did not start the Comedy Works, she did save it from dieing. Wende started working in college as a cocktail waitress. Eventually bought into the company that had a few partners, and when things started to go bad financially, bought everyone out. She bought into an existing business, and eventually bought out all of her partners. Because of this experience, she is fairly firm on never having another business partner.

Most people are very familiar with the downtown Denver location, about 4 years ago, Wende decided to expand, and in the worst banking environment our generation has seen, Wende borrowed money to build a Greenwood Village location that houses the Comedy Works club, a martini bar, and an event center. Quite the accomplishment.

Wende is not only a fantastic club owner, she manages the carriers of several comics, and consults other would-be club owners. Wende is truly one of Denver’s best and most successful entrepreneurs. Find out more about Comedy Works

03 – John Dicker from Geeks Who Drink

Paul Culliver — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 08:05:00 +0000

From the radio show archives, here’s Nick’s & Johnny’s interview with John Dicker from Geeks Who Drink from four years ago. John will be on a future show (look for him around episode number 7 or 8) to give us an update of what’s going on now.

John Dicker from Geeks Who Drink joins us and shares with us his crazy business story. We talked about why he started, why he bought out his partner, and how he makes money! John’s business is unique as he sells services to bars around the country to attract customers on slow days of the week. We talked about how this creates two different kinds of customers for him; the ones that pay him, and the ones that play their trivia game.

In our talk, we cover hiring employees (his quiz-masters as well as sales people), marketing his business, managing employees, communicating with email, dealing with the bar owners, and potential problems that can come up. He even talks about getting fired and firing the wrong clients.

Working from home and keeping his overhead down has it ups and downs. John shared with us some of those challenges as he deals with being a dad and a husband.

We were shocked that it only comes to about $175 to bring Geeks Who Drink into a bar for a weekly event. John also shared that his model does not allow to only host a bi-weekly or a one off event. You can check out one of their events at over 35 bars around Denver, or around the country.

02 – Tommy Phillips from Tommy’s Slalom Shop

Paul Culliver — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 08:00:11 +0000

From the radio show archives, here’s Nick’s & Johnny’s interview with Tommy Phillips from Tommy’s Slalom Shop in Denver, CO.

Tommy came in several years ago and spoke with us about how he started, how he tried to expand his business, and why he likes to blend into his store and look like the janitor. We were missing the first half of the interview with Tommy, but the Post Show provided tons of great info for you to grow your business.

Tommy talks about:

The busyness of running a retail shop
Running special events
Building excitement
Servicing your customer well
Hey-Dude Marketing
Trade Show success

If you are a REAL water-ski nerd, Tommy tells us how to find glass. The easiest is to go to a private lake that will charge you per ride. If you are in Denver, you can go out and see the folks out at Soda Lakes.

Top tip: Remember people’s name! You may need to decide to do this. People LOVE to hear their name being used. Tommy would teach his sales people to work on this with their customers.

Tommy built a new building and then the economy tanked. How did he survive selling luxury items?

At the end of our talk, we asked Tommy what advice he would give to a young or new entrepreneur. This is what he said:

Learn to live well below your means. Don’t use credit.
Get in shape.
Every contract is negotiable.

Check out their website for more information.

01 – Small Business Podcast: Why Naked?

Paul Culliver — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 05:00:48 +0000

Small Business Podcast: Why Naked?

Nick and Johnny talk about why they’re relaunching Small Business Naked as a podcast.

Listen in as Nick and Johnny chat about what could be, if they decided to re-launch the Small Business Naked podcast. A little brain storming, a little yakity-yak but all Small Business Podcast!

Why did we stop?

Ran out of time. Became an expensive hobby (but ended up producing over $500k in painting sales…who knew?).

Found Another Small Business Podcast.

Ran across Small Business Big Marketing with Timbo Reid while Nick was driving across country for Thanksgiving weekend.

“When we first turned off the mics, I was sad.” Nick

The Small Business Naked show was originally started on AM 560 KLZ radio in Denver to promote a consulting business Nick had started, but became so much more. Interviewing guests, learning from business leaders, and sharing their business stories was more than just a side project for them. The problem was buying the time on the radio station and getting sponsors to cover the costs.

Fast forward to 2014. Let’s do a small business podcast! We can cut our costs, and I bet we can get more traction.

So off we go. We talk about our branding, about who are target listener is, what type of guests we want to get on the show, and so much more. There are a lot of small business podcasts out there, but not many focused on brick and mortar businesses with employees, payroll, and services.

We want to tell the stories from small business owners that are growing it, doing it, and killing it! We want to hear from businesses that are doing the same from around the world. Who would you want to hear from? What type of businesses? What do you struggle with in your business? OR, are you trying to start one, and don’t know what to do? We would LOVE to hear from you. Join our Small Business Podcast.

What is our format?

Talking to successful business owners like Tommy Philips, not through theory.

To read the complete transcription of the Small Business Podcast: Why Naked? show click here.