Part 3 of 3 : 57 Actionable Insights From 57 Episodes Of The Productive Insights Podcast (2015 — A Year In Review)
Welcome to part 3 of the three-part series which covers the 57 actionable insights from the 57 episodes of the productive insights podcast in 2015. If you haven’t listened to part 1 or 2 of this 3 part series please go back and have a listen. Part 1 extracts the insights that I found most actionable from episodes 1 to 20 and part 2 extracts the insights from episodes 21 to 40.
In this episode I’ll share some of the actionable insights from episodes 41 to 57. As always I’ll also include links to each of the episodes (below) in the show notes so you can always go back to those episodes and listen in more detail.
If you find this information valuable or helpful then please do share it with friends via social media or email so it can reach as many people as possible as possible. Also please do stop by iTunes and leave a five-star review if you feel so inclined. It would mean the world to me.
041. Mobilegeddon Is Here! Is Your Site Mobile Responsive? – with Eric Enge
At around the 3 min mark Eric and I talk about the evolution of SEO over the years. This was a really important piece of the episode because it gives you insight into where Google’s search alogrithms are headed. The day of black hat SEO are over (discussed at the 27 mark)
Action Step: When creating content think about specifically who you’re creating the content for and how it would improve their situation. Don’t try and game the system. In other words just focus on creating shareable content!
042. Chris Ducker on The Secret To A 6 Hour Day, A 4 Day Week, & A Multi-Million Dollar Business
Chris talks about how he works only 6 hours a day and 4 days a week and runs a multi million dollar Business. Some great discussion about how he increases his productivity. He talks about delegating and how to overcome the fears of delegation at around the 7 min and 15 sec mark. At the 9 min and 41 second mark he talks about how he reliquished control to his inbox and let them clear his inbox out (he hired someone to do this exclusively). At the 19 min mark he talks about the myth of multitasking. That was music to my ears!
Action step: Hire intelligently and be aggressive before you hire the person (rather than deal with staff issues after the fact)
043. Membership Economy with Robbie Kellman Baxter
Robbie’s worked with various large companies including Netflix who was one of the first adopters of the membership model. She talks about the evolution of the membership model and how it’s evolved with the internet at around the 3 min mark. We had another great discussion about evangelists and how Apple grew it’s business through evangelism at around the 7 min mark.
Action Step: Seriously consider starting a membership model for your business (because most people that spend time and money on marketing could benefit from a membership model).
044. Hiten Shah — Cofounder of Kissmetrics — How To Assess If The Software As A Service (SAAS) Business Model Is Right For You
Hiten is the co-founder of Kissmetrics and I interviewed the other founder — Neil Patel — in episode on of the podcast. At around the 7 and a half minute mark Hiten talks about whether or not your business is a good canidate for SAAS (software as a service). At the 12 and a half minute mark we have an interesting discussion about Moore’s law which predicted that computer chips are going to double every 2 years in their capacity and power.
Action Step: Find something that people are doing manually and automate it (at the 22m and 41 second mark)
045. The 10 Key Elements Of A Great Job Advertisment That’ll Make You An Outsourcing Ninja!
This is a useful episode which gives you 10 key elements of a highly successful job offer for sites like upwork, elance etc.
Action step: Start with what you can offer the applicant in your job ad. “What you’ll get out of this role”. This could be training that you offer, a good work environment etc. Start with something you’re going to give. Set the tone for a collaborative role.
046. Kim Garst — Founder Of Boom Social — On How To Use Social Media To Grow Your Business
Some good insights on this show with Kim Garst the founder of Boom Social. At the 4 min mark she talks about how she uses her freemium model to convert twitter followers into customers. At the 10 min and 50 sec mark Kim talks about her conversion rates.
Action step: Start with a servant based mentality to your audience. Look at what specifically you can give to your customers and what problems you can solve before you pitch to them. Provide value first and recognise it will take a bit of time.
047. Web Copywriting with Demian Farnworth — Chief Content Writer at Copyblogger Media
Demian Farnworth is one of the best writers I’ve come across on the web. I find his content very compelling and he specialises in blog post openings. At around the 5 min and 35sec we have an interesting discussion about how SEO and content are linked. At the 9 min and 21 sec mark we talk about the key elements great copy. At the 17 min mark we talk about the competencies to look for around hiring a good copywriter.
Action step: Go to copyblogger media to hire certified writers. The other site you can look for is problogger or elance for writers.
048. John Logar On How To Use High Value Consulting To Increase Profitability
In this podcast John about how to use high value consulting to increase profitability. It’s an action packed episode. John shares some very practical tips on proftiability and acquisition strategies at around the 1 and a half min mark. Some great discussion around how businesses don’t invest enough in marketing at the 5 min mark. At the 38 min mark he talks about how John Carlton says you’re only one email away from your next big paycheque.
Action Step: To maximise your conversions pick up a phone and talk to a real person. This is the best way to start.
049. Porters 5 Forces To Analyse Your Business’ Viability
There are so many market forces that are constantly in operation today. Have you ever wondered how competitive your business is going to be in two years time? In five years time?
In this podcast I talk about a framework that I’d studied when I did my MBA. It’s called Porter’s five forces and was first presented In 1979 by a young associate professor from Harvard. His name was Michael E Porter
Action step: Go to this link and download your copy of Porter’s Five Forces Framework and apply it to your industry.
050. James Schramko On Frameworks For Business Profitability And Lifestyle
James and I talk about the importance of rejuvination as an entrepreneur at the 3 min mark. This is critical. He talks about his approaches to mindset at the 20 min mark where he talks about the Socratic technique, telling stories to move people, probing thoughts and ideas and sharing information.
Action Step: Stop looking at cost cutting as your only option to increase profitability. Your profit can be increased by investing in better systems and training. So focus on that. e.g. Get your team bigger teams to have a higher output.
051. Textexpander Tutorial — How to Use Snippets To Turbo Charge Your Productivity
Ever wondered if you could find a way to dramatically reduce the amount of time you spend typing away on your keyboard?What if there was a magical way in which you could create CUSTOMISED emails using the SAME template??? Well now there is!
Action step: If you’re using a Mac (and I hope you are because they’re far easier use) then definitely install Textexpander on your computer. As I write the sentence text expander has saved me 31 hours of 562,525 characters assuming that I type at 60 words a minute. If I type at 40 words a minute and save me about 46 hours.
052. Specific Mindset Techniques To 10X Your Prices — With Kyle Tully
in this episode with Kyle Tully I talk about how to 10 X your prices using mindset techniques. Some really valuable content at around the two minute and 40 second mark is where he talks about how 80% of the market is in price focused when they’re buying your product or service. They are looking at many other factors including results you can generate, time frames you can turn around and etc. Definitely have a listen to that.
At about the 10 minute and 21 second mark he talks about value-based pricing and how to position yourself as a person delivering value. As Warren Buffett says “price is what you pay and value is what you get”. At around the 17 a half minute mark there’s an excellent case study where Kyle shares an example of high-priced office that converts. He talks about how Patrick changed from a commoditize approach to a solution-based approach which included high-priced offers.
Action Step: Get clear on the value you can bring to the table and then get in front of a mirror and practice saying that price to yourself as if you were quoting to a client.
053. A Serial Entrepreneur’s Journey From Zero To An Eight Figure Business Valuation — with Pratima Aravabhoomi
Pratima and I discuss her journey about how she got into entrepreneurship and built a successful business which she sold for 8 figures in late 2015! She’s a dear friend of mine and I was delighted to feature her on my show. At the 5 min and 22-second mark Pratima talks about how to deal with self-doubt which is a useful section to listen to. Another very important part is 8 minute and 50 sec mark where we talk about the biggest challenge in identifying the most impactful problem the customer faces and in solving it. Now remember this is the most impactful problem as the customer sees it not as you do.
Action step: Spend at least 10 mins a day (an hour if possible) looking at the world from your client’s perspective! Put yourself in your clients shoes and that’s going to be the best way in which you can move your business forward.
054. The 3 Keys to Community Building, Authenticity & Long Term Business Success — With Mackenzie Fogelson
In this episode Mack and I talk about they keys to community building which is an often overlooked skill when it comes to creating successful businesses. At the 2 min mark we discuss why community building is so critical to business success. At the 12 min mark Mack talks about the three important areas of focus for successful community building. At the 21 min mark there’s a good case study from Mack who used community building in the wine space. They were a thriving business but achieved 100% lead growth by shifting the messaging.
Action Step: Focus on depth of connection with your customers rather than just metrics and put your customers pourpose and journey before your profits.
055. Ezra Firestone on How To Use Ecommerce To Take Your Business From Six Figures To Seven
Ezra is regularly featured on the shopify website and is one of the leading authorities in e-commerce. Ezra and I spoke about the future of ecommerce at the 3 min mark. Definitely worth a listen. I thought what he said about the millenial generation and why they will be the driving force of economies around the world was interesting. He talked about this at around the 6 minute mark.
Action Step: Pick a visibility source (whether it’s joint ventures, facebook advertising) Focus on the promise before the product. People buy the promise before they buy the product. Note this means that your product has to fulfil your promise but your promise is what gets your product in front!
056. Specific Strategies On High Value Content Creation — With Dana Ditomaso from Kick Point
Dana and I talk about where google is headed in terms of SEO and content. This is something I like to ask all influencers in this space as I think it’s probably the most important thing to understand about google. As always that led to a very interesting discussion. We talk about this at around the two-minute mark. and around the four-minute mark is an interesting case study that Dana talks about with one of the clients.
Action Step: Sign up to googlenow for useful contextual and location based information updates.
057. Verve Search CEO Lisa Myers on Creative Content, Mindset And Her Favorite Star Wars Quote
Lisa Myers the CEO of Verve search talked about her signature offering which is creative content. as always at the beginning of the episode I asked her for her views on Google algorithms and Lisa obliged. At the 2 1/2 minute mark we talked about the changes in theGoogle algorithms and the direction in which SEO marketing is headed. At the 12 minute mark she discusses verb searches award-winning content marketing campaign which is definitely worth listening to. The conversation moved towards mindset towards the end. There was a very interesting thought experiment at the end at the 46 min mark
Key action step: Go to the 46 minute mark and do the thought experiment that Lisa explains.
