Live In The Feast

Live In The Feast

Jason Resnick

Live In The Feast is a seasonal podcast for developers and designers looking to discover their niche to build recurring revenue. So that they can live the life that they want and ultimately reach the goals of why they started their own business in the first place. Each season will be a theme specific to your business. And each episode features a guest who's been there before and achieved success. You'll get actionable takeaways for you to implement in your business immediately after each show. No fluff, no pie in the sky dreaming, this is real-life examples and takeaways for you.

37 minutes 42 seconds

911 - Differentiation, Reputation, and Pivoting From the Top-Down with Peep Laja
Today’s co-host is Peep Laja, founder of Wynter, CXL, and Speero. Peep is a believer in differentiation and disrupting yourself before the competition does it for you.

Sometimes all it takes is stumbling upon a simple market problem without a solution. For Peep, discovering an industry gap led him to launch Wynter. Backed by a true entrepreneurial spirit, Peep became that market solution. Fortunately, his other venture was in a strong spot, so focusing all of his attention on building Wynter was possible. If you take anything from this podcast, it should be this: dual-focus is dangerous.

In this episode, Peep talks about the sometimes intangible aspects of business, when to pivot, how to position yourself so clients actually want to work with you, and how to cut through the clutter and stand out from stiff competitors.

“Differentiation is not a line of copy. It needs to be your actual DNA, what you stand for. And it should be owned by the founder or CEO of the company.” ~ @peeplaja

Main Takeaways
- Having a dual-focus is not sustainable. Your company should be working towards one specialty. To help prioritize your day, focus on what moves the needle.
- If you lead a conversation with a client’s problem, they’ll immediately get defensive. Instead, approach the conversation with a story or a narrative, then address how your company will fix external problems within that narrative.
- Problematic messaging happens when companies act as if they’re the only ones that do website development or social media or branding. Instead, figure out what makes your business unique. For clients to choose you, you must say things other companies aren’t saying.
- Always pivot to where the market is changing and constantly focus on what makes your business unique to the people you serve. When you’re smaller, it’s easier and more advantageous to pivot.
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20 May 2021, 9:50 am
36 minutes 32 seconds

910 - How Specialties Lead to Priceless Referrable Moments with Chase Dimond
Today’s co-host is Chase Dimond, an expert e-commerce email marketer who’s sent more than one billion emails resulting in more than $50 million in email attributable revenue.

As a hustle culture entrepreneur turned efficiency-obsessed first-time dad, Chase chats about his philosophies for success in business and life. One of his earliest success memories is standing out as an all-around soccer player throughout high school and college. Back then, his value came from his versatility. But when he started a marketing agency early in his career, Chase hit a wall. It was only when he decided to specialize in email marketing that the referrals poured in and his business finally grew.

In this episode, Chase talks about how and why he successfully transitioned from jack-of-all-trades to email master, the pivots in business and life that shaped him, and the powerful mindset shift that reinforces his daily decisions.

“By not choosing something and by picking everything, I did nothing. So as soon as I started telling people, ‘Hey, I’m gonna try this email marketing thing, that’s the thing I love, that’s the thing I’m good at’, they were like, ‘Oh, you do email marketing. All those emails I get in my inbox, I get it.’ It started feeling really really tangible. And when people understood what I did, that allowed them to help me. They were able to send me clients, they were able to give me advice, they were able to connect me with people in the industry.” ~ @ecomchasedimond

Main Takeaways
- When people understand exactly what you do, they can refer you to leads and ultimately help your business grow.
- The transition from doing everything to having a specialty means sometimes you have to say no. And you have to hope that people who only know you as one thing will give you a chance to pivot.
- Listening more than you talk can give you an advantage in business and life.
- Strive to add value to those around you, rather than add negativity or constantly fighting against those with different opinions.
Links and Important Mentions
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20 May 2021, 9:48 am
1 hour 59 seconds

909 - Launching a Business, Finding Balance, and Staying Valuable
Today’s co-host is Matt Medeiros, host of the Matt Report podcast and the Director of Podcast Success at Castos. To mark episode 100 of Life in the Feast, Matt will be taking the reins and interviewing Jason about his 10-year “overnight” success story.

Back in 2012, Jason was forced to choose between paying rent and his cable bill. His bed or his business. And even deeper, his passion or his family. At that moment, Jason made the tough decision to end his freelancing career and return to a job for the sake of his then-fiancé. However, when he broached the subject with her, she reminded him that freelancing was his dream. She encouraged him to keep on trucking a little longer.

So that’s exactly what he did. Rather than throw in the towel, Jason re-examined his business, raised his prices, and doubled down on a new niche. He kept grinding and ended up on the other side.

Almost a decade later, Matt talks with Jason about his journey to freelance success, navigating tough life and business decisions, what he’s learned about networking and adding value, and why shutting up served him in unexpected ways.

“Everything that I try to do from the business perspective is to serve the customers, but also see where a trend is headed and try to cater to that in some sort of fashion.” ~ @rezzz

Main Takeaways
- Staying a generalist won’t lead you to success. While it’s tempting to say yes to everyone, especially as your business is still launching, focus on figuring out what your niche is and then double down on it.
- If you’re struggling to find your niche, go straight to your clients and see what they need help with. Look for trends and determine where your expertise aligns with a common need.
- Fill in the gaps of your knowledge and expertise by outsourcing and finding wise mentors whenever possible.
- The key to success with clients is learning to listen. Spend more time hearing what their needs are and observing things about their life and business. Listening always pays off.
- Start adding free value in the communities you live and influence in. The more people you can help, the easier networking and growing your business will become.
Links and Important Mentions
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20 May 2021, 9:46 am
37 minutes 9 seconds

908 - Understanding Emotional Data and Listening to Your Audience with Adrienne Barnes
Today’s co-host is Adrienne Barnes, a content strategist and audience researcher specializing in the B2B SaaS industry.

Most clients Adrienne works with are terrified of bothering their customers. They hate to be calling and asking and bugging, but the reality is, people want to share their experience with a product. In fact, as we speak, Adrienne’s calendar is fully-booked with customer calls. As Adrienne puts it, thinking your customers don’t want to chat is a self-limiting belief – don’t succumb to it!

In this episode, we bust other audience research myths, unpack how to own our audience by asking the right questions to the right people, and outline the number one question Adrienne asks to uncover golden nuggets and crack a marketing research conundrum.

“A lot of it, if we’re just gonna get real, boils down to shame or embarrassment. People feel like their product didn’t meet the mark, their tool was wrong or bad or whatever the case may be. But that’s not the case at all. The case is, somehow, somewhere along the line, we attracted a poor fit. And I need to know why. What did we do, what was the message we were sending out, the signal we were sending out, that told these people that this was gonna be the tool for them?” ~ @adriennenakohl

Main Takeaways
- Sometimes the only way to catch blind spots and stop customer complaints is to sit down and chat with someone who’s actually purchased your product.
- The first step is figuring out who to reach out to from your audience. Adrienne typically separates a customer base into three segments – the ideal customer, the average customer, and the unhappy customer.
- Third-party researchers are more effective because they’re often better listeners. When you work at a company, you’re more inclined to offer up solutions or otherwise attempt to fix a customer complaint. Refusing to empathize shuts down a conversation almost immediately.
- A common research myth is that it takes endless time and money to understand an audience.
- In a conversation, ask customers why at least five times. This helps them dig deeper and often leads to golden nuggets about customer experience or ineffective messaging.
Links and Important Mentions
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20 May 2021, 9:44 am
33 minutes 27 seconds

907 - Stacking Power-Ups, Maintaining Focus, and the Art of the Steal with Eric Siu
Today’s co-host is Eric Siu, CEO of Clickflow and digital advertising agency Single Grain. Eric’s recent book, Leveling Up: How to Master the Game of Life, is all about stacking your “power-ups” to achieve something greater.

Eric learned many life lessons from poker – how to guard your emotions when the waves get rocky, understanding where to pick your bets, and never playing beyond your means.

After years of developing a good eye and a clear mind, Eric was leading marketing at a startup when, pressed with a make-or-break moment, he made the right bet and led his company straight to success. Now Eric runs two businesses and uses the power of focus and habitual growth to continue compounding his wins.

In this episode, Eric talks about how maintaining simple habits can transform your business, the power of giving back, and why everyone should steal from time to time.

“I talk about 15 power-ups in the book, but there’s actually a lot more than that in life. Power-ups can be habits, they could be mental models, and there’s a lot of tools. And so the goal in life, one of the things that’s going to help you grow and level-up to your highest potential, is to just go around collecting things and learning and just getting better and better. Getting that one percent better every single day. And part of that involves getting different power-ups.” ~ @ericosiu

Main Takeaways
- You can’t be successful trying to do everything all at once. The more you can focus on reaching one destination, the more likely you are to reach it.
- Stack great habits on top of one another to “win” the game of life and outperform your competitors.
- Even the greats took inspiration from others. “Stealing” a great idea and making it your own will help you move the needle.
- Rather than generating leads through cold calls, provide as much free value as you can for others. Find out what people want and give it to them!
Links and Important Mentions
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20 May 2021, 9:42 am
34 minutes 9 seconds

906 - How To Pivot, The Secret to Great SEO, and Why Business Is More Important Than Craft with Tom Hirst
Today’s co-host is Tom Hirst, a longtime freelancer, WordPress developer, mentor, author, and creator. Tom breaks down his outlook on SEO and why landing pages are your best weapon for lead generation.

Like most entrepreneurs, Tom realized at a young age that working for someone else would never fulfill him. Luckily he’s found success as a full-time freelancer and has a few lessons to share about his path to financial freedom. He credits his accomplishments to a focus on business rather than a blind love for coding. And he reminds us that experimentation is key to creating a website that works.

In this episode, Tom talks about his process for driving new and qualified leads, how to discover killer keywords, what most people miss when building a great website, and why there’s more to success than SEO.

“What you’ve got to think is, the person, the prospect, the lead, are coming in and seeing that page, they’re landing on that page, and a lot of the time, they’re not really going off that page. So if you’ve got one page with one specific focus, it doesn’t really matter what the other pages look like, per se.” ~ @tom_hirst

Main Takeaways
- A service-specific landing page is the key to generating leads, and many freelancers miss that when caught up in SEO technicalities. SEO is only one piece of the discovery puzzle.
- When you pivot, there’s no need to create an entirely new website. Just take your existing site and build out a new landing page that calls out the benefits of your new service.
- There’s no exact science to discovering great keywords. Sometimes you just have to experiment with different landing pages that are optimized for different content and keywords.
- Always put contact information on the same page as trust signals. This creates a frictionless experience for users. In other words, it doesn’t leave them searching for ways to find you.
- You have to focus on the business behind your craft to get ahead.
Links and Important Mentions
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20 May 2021, 9:40 am
36 minutes 47 seconds

905 - Doing Your Research, Communicating ROI, and Innovating Outside Your Niche with Eman Zabi
Today’s co-host is Eman Zabi, launch strategist and conversion copywriter. Eman is the founder of copywriting agency Scribesmith and, more recently, the creator of Terrain, a new course platform that’s shaking up the way people sell and market courses.

In simple terms, Eman describes copywriting as writing words that get people to do stuff.
Eman has successfully built her copywriting business from the ground up, despite family obligations, growing pains, and a few bumps along the way.

Working heavily with course creators, she realized her team has collectively spent $20,000 on bad courses with fabulous marketing. So she decided it was time to change the course business and create a platform of her own.

Enter Terrain. Terrain vets each course and markets the course for creators at no additional cost. Whether you’re a famous name or an industry newbie, your course has the same opportunity for success.

In this episode, Eman talks about the importance of market research, how to re-engage lost leads, and why building a business on word of mouth is terrifying and fantastic.

“We decided that we wanted to create a physical product and we created the conversion kits, pre-sold them, and shipped them out this year. And I think having that kind of space is really important to find new things to do and stay relevant and stay top of mind. But, also, to kind of change the way people think of you. You’re not just a service provider after that, you’re somebody who’s innovating in your industry and innovating in your niche and I think that really helps you get to the point where you're booked out. It helps you get to the point where you’re able to charge rates beyond what you would've imagined when you were just starting out.” ~ @eman_zabi

Main Takeaways
- Until you’ve interviewed your audience or done message mining, you haven’t done the proper market research. Don’t put marketing spend behind feelings and hunches about what your audience wants or needs.
- When you’re launching a product or writing any sort of persuasive copy, always use the voice of your customer.
- A powerful strategy for writing persuasive copy is finding your audience’s biggest pain points and positioning your service as the solution to those problems.
- If you’re trying to re-engage lapsed leads, pitch a solution for one of the problems they previously expressed. Adding free value is a great way to secure clients.
- Having a word of mouth business is terrifying because it means you can’t track when you will get your next client. Rather than constantly putting energy towards prospecting, innovate in your space and work on building your reputation so prospecting becomes easier.
Links and Important Mentions
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20 May 2021, 9:38 am
42 minutes 56 seconds

904 - Finding Your Niche, Building an Audience, and the Art of Podcasting with Joe Casabona
Today’s co-host is Joe Casabona, podcaster, web developer, and course creator. Joe helps creators launch their own podcasts while also hosting and producing the product development podcast How I Built It.

Joe began as a web developer specializing in WordPress, but he felt it necessary to transition his audience from DIYers to those looking for full service. With encouragement from peers and mentors, Joe found his niche in the podcasting space.

To grow his new audience, Joe offered free consultations. While free sessions may not be lucrative off the bat, Joe gained invaluable information about common creator struggles. He used that information to improve his educational content and market his courses in a way that spoke to creator concerns.

In this episode, Joe talks about everything podcast-related, from picking a topic to getting rid of nerves, to sustaining your show long-term.

“We’re still at the beginning of podcasting. So if you’re worried that, ‘oh, nobody wants to listen to me talk about this’ you're wrong. Just figure out why you want to start a podcast, what’s going to drive you, and record those first few episodes.” ~ @jcasabona

Main Takeaways
- Simply presenting a digestible solution to someone’s problem is enough to build an audience, especially if you’ve done your market research and can anticipate your audience's main questions and concerns.
- When it comes to podcasting, practice makes perfect. You don’t need perfect sound and perfect video to succeed.
- When choosing a topic, think about why you want to start a podcast. Is it to help people? To establish yourself in a field? To explore a topic? Figuring out your why will help you stay the course.
- You can always repurpose the content you have on other mediums if you’re running low on episode ideas. Keep a notebook and write down ideas whenever they come to mind.
- Oftentimes the most popular episodes aren’t the episodes with big-name guests. Your audience will respond more to people who feel relatable to them.
Links and Important Mentions
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20 May 2021, 9:36 am
42 minutes 14 seconds

903 - Intentional Parenting, Handling Social Media, and Scheduling Me-Time with Rob Roseman
Today’s co-host is Rob Roseman, podcaster and author specializing in all things fatherhood. Rob explores what it means to be a great dad in an era where social media and hustle culture can seep into our home life and impact the family dynamic.

Plenty of podcasts interview CEOs about work ethic, inspiration, creativity, and the secret sauce for success. But how many of those CEOs are fathers struggling with balance and dad-guilt behind the scenes? Most, if not all.

After interviewing plenty of powerful men himself, Rob realized that, at the end of our lives, we think more about our families than we do profit margins and going public. So why aren’t we talking about the struggles of parenting and what success means as a dad?

From feeling less guilty about screen time to scheduling time for ourselves, Rob Roseman walks through a few principles for parenting in a tech-centric and comparison-obsessed culture.

“There’s always more stuff you can do. But you need to write it in your calendar that at this time I’m going for a walk, maybe without my phone, because our brains do need a break. And the payoff is going to be a lot more than you just writing that extra email or doing that little bit extra.” ~ Rob Roseman

Main Takeaways
- Self-care as dads is something that’s rarely talked about and can be a struggle. Schedule designated time for yourself throughout the week. Because taking responsibility for your own life and your own sanity will make you a better parent.
- Find ways to limit your phone and your social media scrolling. But also remember that you’re not a bad parent if your kids are a bit preoccupied with an iPad. There are worse things for them than screen time.
- Model strong behavior for your kids rather than telling them what to do. Watching you take responsibility for your life will encourage kids to do the same. And if you’re telling them to put their phones away or eat their vegetables, but you’re not modeling that behavior, they’ll never listen.
- Carve out one-on-one time with each kid, especially if you’ve got multiple. Be intentional with your time with them.
- You never know if you’re making the best decision for your kids. Dealing with other people’s pressure is hard, but it’s important to give yourself grace. It’s a tough time to be a parent and we’re all doing the best we can.
Links and Important Mentions
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20 May 2021, 9:34 am
42 minutes 6 seconds

902 - Staying Curious, Capitalizing on Your Network, and Adding Value with Samar Owais
Today’s co-host is Samar Owais, email conversion strategist and copywriter for SaaS and e-commerce brands. Alongside helping brands increase conversations and boost sales through email marketing, Samar developed a course, eCommerce Email Boostcamp, for aspiring email professionals.

When her husband’s office relocated and they made the hard decision to move, Samar suddenly had time to take her freelance business full-time. She dove into online copywriting courses and quickly discovered her passion for email marketing.

Samar attributes her success to an innate curiosity and her vast professional network. A lover of learning, she’s an avid course-taker and leans on her freelance community for new leads and writing wisdom. She also took early advice and became her first client, writing copy and sales materials for her own business early on.

In this episode, Samar talks about easy ways to add value and win over clients, and why curiosity and expanding your network are keys to accelerating growth.

“I’ve always felt that communities can make or break your business. And if you can help somebody, start with that. Because we all know something or someone that we can help.” ~ @samarowais

Main Takeaways
- When running an A/B test, ask your audience directly: what made you click on this email? The best research comes straight from the source.
- Curiosity is key to expansion. Always ask why things are done a certain way and don’t be afraid to challenge the status quo.
- Look to expand your network. Your network will help you find leads, vet clients, and guide you in the right professional direction.
- No matter your client or industry, focus on adding value first. Adding value can be anything from sending an article, review, or teardown. The more you can add value, the more you’ll stay top of mind for potential clients.
Links and Important Mentions
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20 May 2021, 9:32 am
51 minutes 44 seconds

901 - Prioritizing Process, Delegating Smart, and Doing What You Love with Austin Church
Today’s co-host is Austin Church, brand consultant, writer, and freelance coach. Austin is the founder of brand and marketing studio Balernum. He also runs Freelance Cake, a business growth course for freelancers and consultants. Above all else, Austin believes in the power of process.

Austin realized that his perfectionism and intense drive for quality were leaving him burned out and scrambling for profits. He struggled to delegate and couldn’t find the balance between quality and scale. Eventually, Austin discovered that prioritizing process actually gave him the freedom to do what he loved and grow his business simultaneously.

Austin talks about how to decide what needs to be delegated, why taking 10 minutes to prioritize tasks leads to quick wins, and the mindset shift that defined his career.

“For me, process equals freedom. I want to have more time to spend on the parts of a project that I love, whether it’s for a client or it’s for myself. And by [documenting] some of the essential but non-creatives tasks, action-steps, that sort of thing, I have so much more freedom. I have so much more joy in my work.” ~ @austinlchurch

Main Takeaways
- Time equals money and money equals the freedom to walk away from clients that don’t value your skillset. Selling premium services at a premium rate is key to unlocking that freedom.
- Standard operating processes (SOPs) are invaluable. If you can automate essential but non-creative tasks and standardize them, you’ll improve the quality of your work because you’ll be free to focus on creating.
- SOPs also save time with onboarding new employees. Instead of training new hires, create a training and give them access to it.
- There’s often a conflict between quality and profitability. The more time you spend on a project the higher quality it will be, but the less profitable it becomes. SOPs and smart delegation free up time so you can improve quality without sacrificing profit. Delegation also helps prevent burnout.
- When deciding which priorities need an SOP, think about the tasks you don’t enjoy, the tasks you aren’t great at, and start there.
Links and Important Mentions
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20 May 2021, 9:30 am
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