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Just The Tips, with James P. Friel and Dean Holland

James P. Friel and Dean Holland

The Best Business Podcast in the World

  • 57 minutes 39 seconds
    Finding The Right Business Partner with Damian Lanfranchi, Ep 204

    Something magical happens when you get the right business partner. Plus getting it right can add a lot of zeros to your bank account and eliminate a ton of stress.

     

    But getting that RIGHT person is not as easy as it sounds, because this topic isn’t discussed enough.

     

    This week’s guest, Damian Lanfranchi, is Todd Brown’s business partner, and they’ve been business partners for over seven years. Tune in to hear what makes their partnership successful and profitable as well as long-standing; and how to find the right business partner for you.

    Outline of This Episode
    • 4:29 The first try (and why it didn’t work)
    • 11:14 The glue that holds it all together
    • 18:58 How to tell whether you should have a business partner
    • 26:15 The visionary and the integrator
    • 31:14 Who’s who in the partnership?
    • 46:47 Successful implementation
    • 51:57 Don’t get “married” on day one
    What holds it all together?

    This might sound a little fluffy, but according to Damian, a business partnership cannot succeed without trust. Nobody’s perfect, and you may not always agree with your partner, but you’ve got to be able to trust them to do right by you and have your back. Damian and Todd have bumped heads during their partnership, but there was never any doubt they had each other’s backs.

    Don’t fill the same roles as your partner

    One top cause of conflicts between business partners is both of them trying to fulfill the same roles. It’s super awkward and inefficient, and leads straight to conflict. Clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of each partner eliminates a lot of head butting; and of one partner feeling like they’re doing all the work. Tune in for an example of how this aspect of a successful business partnership works in Damian and Todd’s case.

    When NOT to bring on a partner

    Sometimes people bring on a business partner because they don’t want to do it alone. “It’s more fun to get lost in the woods with a buddy than to get lost in the woods with yourself,” as Damian says on the episode. But basing your business partnership on insecurity or loneliness isn’t a healthy reason to work with a business partner. Tune in to hear more on this, plus other bad reasons to team up with a business partner.

    Be strategic, not desperate

    When Damian and Todd teamed up for their second crack at a business partnership--the one that succeeded--it was strategic. Both were running their own businesses, and found they each had a need for the other person’s gifts. The partnership was strategic, not desperate, and definitely not based on insecurity or loneliness. A business partnership that doesn’t make sense, strategically, is unlikely to go well.

    Who’s the visionary and who’s the integrator?

    Damian can function as both visionary and integrator. But since Todd is pure visionary, Damian serves as the integrator in their partnership. Todd sends him ideas, Damian helps bring them to life. The most successful partnerships operate like this, because it’s unlikely two pure visionaries (unless they have identical visions) or two pure integrators will do well in a partnership together. In the case of two visionaries, what if one wants to sell marketing funnels and the other wants to sell sweaters to cats? The company’s unlikely to get far in that situation. If you want a business partner, look at partnering with someone who’s your opposite in this area.

    Resources & People Mentioned

    Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

    Connect With James and Dean

    James P. Friel:

    Dean Holland:

    JTT Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/justthetipsshow/

    JTT Listeners Free Portal: www.JTTShow.com

    15 July 2021, 10:00 am
  • 55 minutes 50 seconds
    Signs You’re Ready To Scale, Ep 203

    “How do I scale my business?” is a question on many entrepreneurs’ minds, but there’s a lot more to scaling your business than most entrepreneurs realize.

     

    It’s not just about whether your business is growing and successful. It’s also about whether your business has all the pieces in place to scale without collapsing. 

     

    In this episode, James and Dean share some telltale signs your business is ready to scale. They also reveal how to avoid the many potential pitfalls of trying to scale before you’re ready, and what being “ready” to scale actually means. (It’s not what most people think.)

    Outline of This Episode
    • 6:30 What does it actually mean to scale?
    • 10:15 Growth and scaling are not the same thing
    • 16:25 You’ve got a winner - what’s next?
    • 21:01 Find out what breaks
    • 25:02 Get your ducks in a row FIRST
    • 30:55 Scaling for the first time in a new business or industry
    • 33:59 The most dangerous traffic source
    Growing is not the same as scaling

    The word growing is often used interchangeably with scaling, but they aren’t the same thing. Growth is about getting traction in your business, creating predictable results from your sales, marketing, delivery, operations, and finances, and creating the infrastructure your business needs to be able to scale. Scaling is about adding more volume to what’s already there. Some overlap is expected, but don’t make the mistake of confusing growth with scaling.

    Success doesn’t mean you’re ready to scale

    Another mistake many entrepreneurs make is thinking that because their business is successful, it’s ready to scale, but there’s a lot more to being ready to scale than being successful. Scaling even a successful business without the right infrastructure in place is like putting up the walls of a house with no foundation under them. It’s only a matter of time before everything comes crashing down. Tune into the episode to hear how to identify which areas of your business still need that infrastructure before you’re ready to scale.

    Find the breaking points

    Odds are excellent that if you tried to scale right now, some parts of your business would “break” because they’re not structured in a way that supports scaling. Before you try to scale, identify the breaking points, and a way to fix them. For example, if you’re getting 100 orders a day now, and want to scale to 500 orders a day, could you keep up with inventory and delivery, or would something break? If you’re a service-based business, do you have enough support and systems in place to serve all the people who want to work with you? These are the questions that have to be addressed BEFORE you try to scale.

    Beware scaling with one traffic source

    In light of the war between Apple and Facebook over who gets access to what data, along with other changes Facebook has made, business owners who depend on Facebook ads as their only source of traffic are experiencing rising ad costs and lower profit margins. The Google “slap” from years ago also illustrates the danger of depending on one traffic source. As you look to scale your business, make sure your plan includes additional sources of traffic.

    Simplicity equals scalability

    The simpler you structure every facet of your business, the easier it will be to scale. Look for ways you can make things simpler instead of more complicated. What that looks like for your business depends entirely on what you do and where you’re at. It could be you need more software, or it could mean you need LESS software. It could mean you need another team member, or it could mean you have too many because you’ve overcomplicated the way your business is set up. Look for ways you can simplify.

    Resources & People Mentioned

    Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

    Connect With James and Dean

    James P. Friel:

    Dean Holland:

    JTT Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/justthetipsshow/

    JTT Listeners Free Portal: www.JTTShow.com

    24 June 2021, 10:00 am
  • 57 minutes 14 seconds
    The Hustle Detox, Ep 202

    Freedom, time, and the ability to make more money are the top three reasons most entrepreneurs will give as their reasons for becoming entrepreneurs.

     

    So how is it that so many entrepreneurs find themselves stuck in the hustle and grind, with LESS time and freedom than they want, instead of more?

     

    That’s exactly what James and Dean are diving into in this week’s episode. 

     

    Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur or already have a team, tune into this week’s episode to hear how to detox from the hustle by turning your business into an asset that works for you (instead of the other way around).

    Outline of This Episode
    • 2:54 Do you HAVE to “kill yourself” to grow your business?
    • 6:06 Busy is not the same as productive
    • 11:32 Unintended consequences of success
    • 19:31 Where to focus to get results
    • 23:59 Take action on the right things
    • 28:40 The efficiency trap
    • 35:47 Spread super thin
    You’re not doing it right

    A false perception has taken hold of the entrepreneurial space--that you HAVE to hustle and grind 24/7, lose sleep, alienate your loved ones, and destroy your health. If you’re not doing all those things, you’re not “doing it right” and you don’t want success badly enough. It’s true that hustling has a place, especially when you’re in a growth phase, but not how your business has to always and forever operate in order for you to become and stay successful.

    Think like a CEO, not like an employee

    Many entrepreneurs, without realizing it, think like an employee instead of like a CEO. It’s a huge part of why they end up shackled to their business, instead of their business becoming a vehicle to freedom, time, and unlimited income potential. Growing and scaling your business without 24/7 hustling and grinding requires making intelligent decisions at a high level, and that comes from thinking like an effective CEO.

    Productivity vs. activity

    A lot of people mislabel activity as productivity. Activity is “being busy,” which may or may not grow your business. Productivity is focusing on what will move your business forward NOW. If you’re active without being productive, you end up stuck in the grind with nothing to show for it. Make sure what you’re working on is the next best step to help your business grow.

    Focus, then execute

    Step one is to identify where your focus needs to be right NOW. Where that is depends on your business and how far into it you are. Once you’ve identified where to focus, step two is to execute...but not just on any old thing. It has to be focused. Mediocre execution focused on the right thing is always better than perfect action focused on the wrong thing. When things that are proven to work don’t work, always assume it’s because there’s a flaw in your execution. Then work on finding and removing that flaw.

    Are you efficiently doing the wrong things?

    Efficiency is not about doing more, better. It’s about doing the right things better. A mistake a lot of people make when trying to systematize their business is efficiently doing things that don’t need to be done at all. The quickest path to a more efficient business is to remove tasks that don’t need to be there.

     

    Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

    Connect With James and Dean

    James P. Friel:

    Dean Holland:

    JTT Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/justthetipsshow/

    JTT Listeners Free Portal: www.JTTShow.com

    17 June 2021, 3:02 pm
  • 57 minutes 28 seconds
    Master the Art of Persuasion with Kenrick Cleveland, Ep 201

    Most people think of persuasion as selling a product or service. That’s one use for persuasion, but there’s so many more. If you’re a parent, you’re persuading your kids to take a bath and eat their vegetables. If you and a group of friends are deciding where to go to dinner, you may want to persuade them to choose your favorite restaurant.

     

    Plus law enforcement officers need to persuade people out of hurting themselves or other people. Doctors may need to persuade a patient to participate in a scary but life-saving surgery. The art of persuasion is not limited to selling something in your business. 

     

    In this episode, persuasion master Kenrick Cleveland joins James and Dean to reveal his secrets to persuading people in a way that feels good to them--and to you--instead of resorting to outdated tactics like problem-agitate-solution and grinding away at pain points.

     

    Kenrick is known worldwide for his charismatic teachings in sales, including what’s known as conversational persuasion. If you want to get to Yes more often in your communications with other people--including your customers and clients--tune in to hear how to master the art of persuasion.

    Outline of This Episode
    • 4:20 How to use persuasion for good
    • 8:01 Why problem-agitate-solution is garbage
    • 14:23 You don’t have to grind people’s pain points
    • 18:24 What to do instead of “bring the pain”
    • 25:17 Leverage without negativity
    • 30:32 Help them realize it for themselves
    • 38:09 How to inspire people to buy in a way they feel good about
    Persuasion Is Not Evil, It’s Misused

    Like any tool, persuasion can be used for good or evil. Fire in the hands of an arsonist is dangerous, but to someone dying of hypothermia, fire is life-saving. A scalpel in the wrong hands can hurt people, but in the hands of a surgeon bypassing a clogged artery, it may allow you or a loved one to live for several more years. Use persuasion for good, and you can help a lot of people who might otherwise continue to suffer.

    Sooner Or Later, Pain Points Backfire

    In Kenrick’s extensive work with a neuroscientist, he discovered that when you get people into a negative, depressed state, their ability to see solutions shuts down. If someone’s not in a state to see or believe a solution exists, they’re not going to buy. Even if someone does buy while they’re in pain, they’re only motivated long enough to get away from pain. When avoiding that pain is no longer motivating, you’ll have to hit them with more to get them to stay. Eventually they’ll tire of being around someone who’s constantly reminding them of pain and suffering, and cut you (and your solutions) loose. Any way you slice it, grinding away at pain points will cost you the sale - either up front or in the long run.

    Ask The Right Questions

    Asking questions is a powerful way to persuade, but only if it’s done the way Kenrick teaches. A lot of salespeople ask irrelevant or obnoxious questions that make them seem disconnected, pushy, or both. For multiple examples of how to ask the right questions at the right time, in a way that leads to YES, tune into this episode. (Do this part right, and in most cases you won’t even need to close the sale, because your prospect is already persuaded.)

    Ditch The Scripts

    One of the worst examples of persuasion you’ll ever encounter is someone reading off a cookie cutter script. Companies often hand their employees a “sales script” and instruct them to follow it. If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a sales call where someone’s reading from a script, you know how cringe-worthy it is. You don’t feel heard or understood, and you definitely aren’t inspired to buy. Ditch the sales scripts and instead do when Kenrick talks about in this episode.

    From Nice Guy To Creep

    One of the worst things you can do in persuasion is get needy and desperate. In this episode Kenrick shares a classic example of a guy trying to ask a girl out. The girl says no, she’s busy. The guy pushes, saying he’d really like to hang out with her, and she says she’s seeing somebody. The girl doesn’t want to go out and she’s trying to be nice in telling the guy no, while wondering what it’ll take for him to get the hint. In her mind, he’s gone from nice guy to creep pretty quickly. Many entrepreneurs resort to that same kind of behavior with their customers and call it persuasion, but it’s not. Tune into the episode to hear what to do instead of beg, plead, or push for the sale.

    Resources & People Mentioned

    Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

    Connect With James and Dean

    James P. Friel:

    Dean Holland:

    JTT Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/justthetipsshow/

    JTT Listeners Free Portal: www.JTTShow.com

    10 June 2021, 10:00 am
  • 56 minutes 59 seconds
    Our 200th Anniversary - Biggest Tips & Lessons Learned, Ep 200

    Four years and 200 episodes later, Just The Tips has moved from “arguably” the best business podcast in the entire world to THE best business podcast in the entire world (at least, according to its “humble” co-hosts).

     

    Seriously, Just The Tips was born after James P. Friel and Dean Holland met in the same mastermind and decided to host a podcast together. Both agreed that building a business could be fun AND profitable, and decided to bring that same mentality to a podcast. 

     

    Tune into this 200th anniversary episode for the guys’ favorite tips, lessons, and insights from the past 200 episodes (along with plenty of jokes at each other’s expense...because it wouldn’t be a Just The Tips episode without them!).

    Outline of This Episode
    • 7:20 Why James and Dean created Just The Tips
    • 11:06 The difference between marketing and selling
    • 15:16 The $300,000 decision
    • 21:49 When thinking things through backfires (and what to do instead)
    • 25:27 How to make your social media ads more effective
    • 35:47 Why network marketing has such a bad rap
    • 38:10 Always this before you start a business
    Business Can Be Fun

    Somewhere along the line it was decided business had to be “serious.” A lot of misery and burnout have resulted from business owners being afraid or unable to enjoy the business they’ve created. All this was a factor in why James and Dean created Just The Tips. They wanted to show their fellow entrepreneurs and business owners that business can be profitable AND fun.

    Stop Mistreating Your Audience

    One of the guys’ favorite insights in 200 episodes came from direct response marketing master Brian Kurtz. Before email and the Internet, businesses had to mail their leads, and that cost a lot of money. For that reason, the most successful businesses put a lot of thought into every single piece of communication they sent out. To do otherwise was to lose six figures, easily. In today’s world, you can post on a social platform and send an email for a fraction of that. As a result, a lot of business owners take their leads for granted, and easily forget they’re talking to real people. Just because communication is on the Internet doesn’t mean you’ve stopped talking to human beings.

    Just Do The Thing

    One of James and Dean’s favorite mindset tips came from a guest who exploded his online presence over the last few years. There’s value in thinking things through, but thinking about things can also backfire. If there’s something you know you’ve got to do in your life, don’t think about it. Instead, just do it. Whether it’s pushups, making a sales call, writing and sending that email, just do it.

    It’s A Scrolling Platform

    Every social media platform is designed for a specific user experience. YouTube, for example, wants people to stay and watch. Facebook, on the other hand, wants people to stay and scroll. The mistake a lot of business owners make is taking a piece of content that does well on one platform and repurposing it to another, without taking that platform’s unique user experience into consideration. To get the most bang for your content buck on any given platform, take the platform’s specific user experience into account.

    Network Marketing’s Bad Rap

    There are people making millions of dollars in network marketing, and there are people going about it all wrong and giving network marketing a bad rap. Several networking marketing companies encourage them to do so! It’s a shame, because networking marketing can not only be insanely profitable, it can help you develop foundational business and relationship skills...IF you learn it from the right people doing it the right way. Tune into the episode to learn about network marketing from a guest who does it the right way.

    Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

    Connect With James and Dean

    James P. Friel:

    Dean Holland:

    JTT Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/justthetipsshow/

    JTT Listeners Free Portal: www.JTTShow.com

    3 June 2021, 10:00 am
  • 1 hour 28 seconds
    How to Scale Your Company Fast, with Brandon & Kaelin Poulin (Replay), Ep 199

    This episode was SO good, we’re re-airing it for you this week! If you’re ready to scale your company fast, tune in to hear how Brandon and Kaelin Poulin took LadyBoss Weight Loss from a startup to a company with 350,000 customers in just a few short years. 

     

    Don’t miss this in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to grow and scale a successful company like LadyBoss, which helps women lose weight, transform their health, and love themselves and was named number 4 on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing privately-held companies in the United States in 2019, in a few years instead of a few decades.

     

    The strategies, the mindsets, the vision, the customer relationships--you’ll hear it all.

    Everything you do starts with you

    Brandon and Kaelin started in network marketing separately, before they ever met, and both found their way into weight loss, health, and fitness. Network marketing taught them how important developing and maintaining relationships are to success. It taught them how to listen and find out what people really want. It also taught them how to face rejection, over and over and over. Finally, it taught them about personal development, something they now know is critical to both their early success and their ongoing success. Everything you do starts with you, and if you’re tripping over the same issues within yourself, it’ll trip up everything you try to do.

    Dig in and do it

    When Brandon and Kaelin were ready to start their own company, it wasn’t the ideal time to pull away from the company they’d been with for five years. They were two months behind on rent, on their car payment - basically everything - and in danger of sinking even further into a financial black hole. With their backs against the wall, they locked themselves away from the outside world for two straight months, and worked around the clock to launch their company. It didn’t take stars aligning, or a fairy godmother waving a magic wand. All it took was the commitment to dig in and do it.

    How to get off the shiny penny highway

    With no shortage of tools, training, and strategies available in the world, Brandon and Kaelin often found themselves cruising along the shiny penny highway. Look, another awesome software we need! Look, another “new” marketing strategy we have to try! There was always something new to try. To avoid getting stuck on the shiny penny highway, Brandon and Kaelin developed a litmus test to help them decide whether “the next thing” was worth their time and energy: Was it what their customers and their company needed at that exact time? If not, they steered clear, because it was a distraction, not a step on the path to fulfilling their vision. Saying no to what didn’t align with their vision also allowed them to simplify, while simultaneously (and quickly) growing their company and better serving their customers.

    Don’t neglect the customer relationships

    A lot of companies fall into the trap of being cool and aloof with their customers. Brandon and Kaelin’s experience in network marketing helps them see it differently. They know, from years of experience, how crucial the customer relationship is to their success, so rather than shut their customers out, they encourage communication with their customers. Without customers, you don’t have a business. Don’t neglect them.

    A must-have mindset for all business owners

    Once your success reaches a certain level, it’s all other people see. But Brandon and Kaelin have been kicked in the teeth, made mistakes, and have had to get very resourceful to make it where they are. And it’s likely to continue to be that way, because that’s just the nature of business. Brandon and Kaelin are successful not because they haven’t faced challenges, but because they know they have the power, always, to overcome any challenge. Believing and accepting that no matter what comes your way, you have the power to deal with it and find another way forward, is a must-have mindset for all business owners.

     

    Outline of This Episode

    • 05:29 Backs against the wall
    • 12:40 Trial by fire
    • 20:56 Why the shiny penny highway goes nowhere
    • 29:36 Never forget exactly who you’re serving
    • 34:01 Are you doing this to your customers?
    • 38:48 The secret to becoming and staying a team
    • 46:15 How to handle it when the hits keep coming
    Resources & People Mentioned
    • LadyBoss Weight Loss: https://ladyboss.com/
    • https://www.instagram.com/ladyboss/
    • https://www.facebook.com/LadyBossKaelin
    • https://www.youtube.com/c/LadyBossWeightLoss

    Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

    Connect With James and Dean

    James P. Friel:

    Dean Holland:

    JTT Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/justthetipsshow/

    27 May 2021, 10:00 am
  • 56 minutes 48 seconds
    How To Sell Your Business For A Huge Profit with (Michelle Seiler Tucker), Ep 198

    Since the pandemic, a lot has flip-flopped including the fail rate of startup businesses vs. established businesses. Startup businesses went from having a 95% fail rate in the first five years to just 30% in the first five years.  Businesses with a decade or more under their belt, on the other hand, are at a staggering 70% fail rate. 

     

    To help business owners build a scalable and sellable business they love, and avoid becoming the next statistic, James and Dean welcome Michelle Seiler Tucker, a keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and co-author of Exit Rich, as this week’s guest.

     

    With small businesses making up 80% of the American economy (which heavily influences the world’s economy), Michelle is on a mission to save as many American companies as she can, by teaching them how to become sellable.

     

    She’s personally sold over 500 businesses and her company has sold over 1,000! For more than 20 years, Michelle’s been in the trenches helping create a business that works for them, rather than the other way around. She’s helped thousands exit rich!

     

    Tune in to hear exactly how to make your business sellable, including why a sellable business is your best bet even if you have zero intention of selling it.

    Outline of This Episode
    • 4:01 Why established businesses are in more danger than startups
    • 9:33 The #1 reason 70% of established businesses are failing
    • 14:44 The most dangerous number of buyers
    • 23:51 This determines whether a business is sellable
    • 28:02 Where most companies go wrong with processes
    • 33:00 Branding for a sellable business
    • 43:21 Lack of profits is never the problem
    Premium Pricing For A Business That’s Not Premium?

    The number one reason most businesses don’t sell, according to Michelle, is probably not what you think: Denial! Business owners tell themselves, “It’s too much for me to do.” Then they burn out, or a catastrophic event hits (which is the worst time to try and sell), and they desperately need a premium price for their business. Yet they haven’t built their business to where buyers want to pay them a premium price. Businesses where the business is 1000% dependent on the business owner are a prime example of this. If you pull yourself out of your business, can it operate 100% independently? If not, you’re going to face buyer resistance to premium pricing.

    “This Is My Baby”

    A lot of business owners see their business as “their baby” instead of as an asset. When you treat it like “your baby” instead of like an asset, you’re going to miss things that would help you ensure it’s sustainable, profitable, and sellable, including the corporate veil. Even if you have no intention of ever selling your business, there are multiple benefits to structuring it like an asset instead of “your baby.” Tune in to hear these benefits (many will surprise you).

    You Don’t Build A Business, You Build This

    If you want your business to be sellable--or to continue if you need to step away for any reason--don’t build a business. Build people, because they will build the business. Michelle shares a story of a dentist, in business for 15 years, who approached her to sell his business. He was burned out and ready to be done. But because he was so mired in the day-to-day runnings and customer interaction, Michelle explained it would take two to three years before he could leave, because he built a business instead of building people.

    Blockbuster Or Amazon?

    Is your business going the way of companies like Blockbuster Video? Or is it in its prime, like Amazon? It’s really key to understand this, because if your business is going the way of Blockbuster and many other once-hugely successful companies, you’ll have a harder time selling it. Michelle shares three questions to ask yourself to help you identify whether your business, whatever its size or industry, is a Blockbuster (on its way out) or an Amazon (in its prime).

    The Customer Experience, Not Your Agenda

    Companies with the most long-term success design their business around the customer experience, not the owner’s agenda. McDonald’s is one of the most well-known examples of designing your processes around the customer experience. When they got started, the restaurant’s founders wanted to create a restaurant where a customer could get great-tasting food that’s fast and hot in under 30 seconds. Businesses who create processes around a customer experience are sustainable and sellable. Businesses that create processes around the owner’s agenda are not.

    Resources & People Mentioned

    Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

    Connect With James and Dean

    James P. Friel:

    Dean Holland:

    JTT Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/justthetipsshow/

    JTT Listeners Free Portal: www.JTTShow.com

    20 May 2021, 10:00 am
  • 54 minutes 22 seconds
    Best of Marketing: Vol. 1, Ep 197

    In its nearly 200-episode (and counting) run, Just The Tips has welcomed several of the top marketing minds on the planet to share their best business-building marketing tips. In this week’s episode, James and Dean have gathered the best of the best of these marketing tips from recent episodes.

     

    You’ll hear about everything from email marketing, to Facebook ads, to affiliate marketing, to SEO, and MUCH more. Tune in and soak up all the gold (including from James and Dean)!

    Outline of This Episode
    • 0:10 How the “email marketing is dead” myth was born
    • 8:02 When your page isn’t converting from an ad, check this first
    • 14:26 How to use your competitors’ offer to your advantage
    • 20:01 Successful brand-building for entrepreneurs
    • 25:02 Are you making this huge email marketing mistake?
    • 30:04 Getting and keeping GOOD affiliates
    • 35:31 The single biggest online writing mistake
    Why People Incorrectly Assume “Email Marketing Is Dead”

    If you’ve ever gone fishing, you know the importance of the right hook and the right bait. You could be fishing in a lake full of fish, but with the wrong bait, you’re unlikely to get a bite. If you do, and your hook doesn’t work, you lose the fish. If that happened enough, you’d decide, “Fishing doesn’t work.” These days a lot of people try to do the same thing with email marketing. Their hook is ineffective or their bait is wrong. They send offers to their list, no one bites, and they decide, “Well, email marketing is dead.” No, it’s not. It’s that too many people are fishing with bad hooks and the wrong bait.

    Make Your Page An Easy Yes

    There are many reasons why a Facebook ad might not work. One of the top ones is lack of congruency. If there’s a disconnect between your ad and the page it sends people to--for example, it looks totally different, it talks about totally different things than your ad does, or it’s just so vague people can’t tell either way--your page will not convert. The goal of a page you send people to from an ad is to make the page an easy yes. Congruency is a key component of making that happen.

    Stand Out From Competitors With This

    People in today’s world have no shortage of choices, which means in order to stand apart from your competitors’ offers, your offer needs a unique mechanism. In other words, a unique way your offer solves your customer’s problems. One of the best ways to figure out your unique mechanism is to check out what your competitors are doing. Find the unique mechanism no one else is using, and make it yours.

    Make It As Easy Possible For Affiliates To Promote You

    Affiliate marketing, when properly utilized, is a proven and powerful way to bring more people into your business, and providing your affiliates with new products to offer is a powerful way to keep them coming back. Promoting the same offer over and over, with nothing else, ever, gets tiresome--for your affiliates and for their audiences. Creating three to five new offers a year gives your affiliates interesting new things to promote. New offers are just one way you can make it as easy as possible for people to promote you. Tune into the episode to hear other ways. 

    The Single Biggest Mistake People Make When Writing Online

    According to legendary ad man, David Ogilvy, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy of written content. That means, if the headline doesn’t even get their attention, they’re certainly not going to read the body copy. As far as they’re concerned, they have no reason to. Spend some time on your headlines, including on your sales pages, social posts, blog posts, and email subject lines (which are the “headline” of your email).

     

    Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

    Connect With James and Dean

    James P. Friel:

    Dean Holland:

    JTT Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/justthetipsshow/

    JTT Listeners Free Portal: www.JTTShow.com

    13 May 2021, 10:00 am
  • 57 minutes 12 seconds
    Creating The Perfect Sales Pitch Part 2, Ep 196

    Back in episode 193 of Just The Tips, James and Dean covered several foundational steps you need to have in place before you create a perfect sales pitch. They included: Who are you serving? Who are the RIGHT people for your offer? Why are they the right people? 

     

    And, of course, why selling isn’t selfish--it’s a service.

     

    In this week’s episode the guys up where they left off, sharing their proven process to crafting a sales pitch your ideal buyer can’t resist, including: What to say first when you get on the phone with them, how to handle the conversation (and how NOT to), and how to ensure they never see you as “just trying to sell them something.”

     

    If you want to get better at selling, don’t miss this episode!

    Outline of This Episode
    • 5:15 Recap of part one
    • 9:10 Managing the sales call freakout
    • 13:13 Control the frame
    • 18:50 Go into fact-finding mode
    • 26:03 Ask questions, then keep your mouth shut
    • 30:05 When to start your pitch
    • 38:01 Leave them better than they found you
    Control The Frame

    The person who leads the conversation has the power. That’s why allowing your prospect to take the lead in a sales conversation is a huge mistake that can backfire in any number of ways. For example, if your prospect gets you telling them the price before they’re sold on the value, you could lose them. Prevent this from happening by controlling the frame, and keeping control of it for the entire conversation. Tune in for tips on how to do exactly that.

    Be The Investigator

    Your goal is not necessarily to make a sale on every call, and it’s not to force your offer on your prospect. Your goal is to find out if your offer is right for this person. To do that, go into fact-finding mode. Ask questions and listen to their answers. Show this person you’re paying attention and you actually care about helping them. One of the worst sales-killer mistakes you can make is to sound like you’re not listening. Ask your prospect questions about why they’re on the call and what they hope to achieve, and listen to the answers. You’ll need them!

    Speak As Little As Possible

    A common mistake James and Dean see in people new to selling is that they talk too much. It’s understandable. You’re nervous or excited, and you really want the sale. But your prospect, meanwhile, isn’t getting a word in edgewise, and isn’t feeling heard or understood. Remember that this person came to you because they have some sort of problem, and they’re hopeful you can solve it. The more they talk about their problem, the better. Ask questions, close your mouth, and let them tell you about their problem. In the episode you’ll hear exactly what kinds of questions to ask them.

    Don’t Sell What Won’t Help Them

    Once your prospect has talked about their problems, including other things they’ve tried, you can segue into explaining how you can meet their needs, and how your offer is different from the stuff they’ve tried that didn’t work. If you’ve done your job with the listening aspect, you’ll shine in this part. If you haven’t - if you just rattle off random benefits you think are great but have nothing to do with the problems they expressed - you’ll lose them.

    Find Out What They Want

    In addition to finding out what they’re struggling with, find out what they want. Find out their definition of success. Help them get really clear on that, so that even if they don’t buy from you this time, you’ll leave them better than when they started talking to you. You’ve served them even if you don’t end up working together, which puts you in a position of trust and authority. If they don’t buy, they’re SO much more likely to circle back and buy later. Plus they won’t be trashing you to everyone they know because they felt like you didn’t listen and “were just trying to sell them something.” Leave them in a better place for having spoken with you.

     

    Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

    Connect With James and Dean

    James P. Friel:

    Dean Holland:

    JTT Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/justthetipsshow/

    JTT Listeners Free Portal: www.JTTShow.com

    6 May 2021, 10:00 am
  • 56 minutes 19 seconds
    Mindset - An Entrepreneur’s Source of Power, Ep 195

    Ever have days you can’t wait to leap out of bed, and before you know it, 12 hours have passed and you realize you didn’t even eat?

     

    And how about days where, no matter how many hours you sit in front of the computer, nothing positive or productive happens?

     

    How far up the success ladder you climb is determined by your mindset. Mindset is something everyone agrees is important, yet it has a way of tumbling down the list of priorities.

     

    In this week’s episode, James and Dean are diving into what mindset means, exactly why and how it makes or breaks your success, and what you can do to start shifting yours if you still aren’t where you want to be.

    Outline of This Episode
    • 5:50 How important is mindset, really?
    • 9:20 The definition of mindset
    • 14:01 Getting a different outcome than the one you have
    • 20:05 Why a fixed mindset blocks success
    • 26:30 Keep looking for the solution
    • 32:10 It’s not a lack of resources, it’s a lack of resourcefulness
    • 35:03 If you don’t have the knowledge, go get it
    The “Surprising” Secret To Success

    On a recent coaching call with clients, a client asked James about one thing that’s enabled him to acquire the success he now enjoys. The client was expecting James to share a marketing tactic, like Facebook ads or this podcast. Instead, James remarked it was his mindset, because without the right mindset, even the best marketing tactics will fail you sooner or later.

    Change The Filter

    Your mindset is how you perceive and interpret what’s happening, and what you choose to do about it. It’s a collection of beliefs that filters data from the outside world. When your actions aren’t leading to results, the problem is rarely a specific tactic. Usually it’s a belief “hiccup” in your filter that’s leading you to either AVOID the action required to reach your desired outcome, or to take an action that will pull you away from your desired outcome. To change your actions, change your beliefs.

    Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset

    Dr. Carol Dweck wrote a book about the Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset. The fixed mindset is all about refusing to do things differently, or even believe there’s another way. The growth mindset is about finding that other way. The fixed mindset blocks results, and the growth mindset creates them. If you struggle with the fixed mindset, remember this: You’ve had to evolve to get to where you are. If you’re unwilling to continue evolving, you cannot obtain or keep results you don’t already have. Doing so requires growth. If it didn’t, you’d already have the results you want.

    There’s Always A Solution

    James shares a story about a group vacation on Lake Powell, where he and his family wanted to stay an extra week, but had no plan figured out to return to civilization. They also had no cell service in most of the area. Figuring out how to stay when the people they vacationed with wanted to return was the challenge, and multiple times his attempts at a solution didn’t pan out. But James kept exploring options until he found one that made everyone happy. The other travelers got to leave, and James and his family got to stay and had a way to return when they were ready to leave. This is an example of the growth mindset in action. Instead of believing there’s no solution and giving up, keep going until you find one.

    Lack of resources or lack of resourcefulness?

    When somebody doesn’t have the result they want, it’s common to blame a lack of resources. As in, I don’t have the time, the money, the willpower, the help, the training - whatever it is. But when you’re resourceful, you’ll find a way to get the resources you need. Not having results is never a lack of resources. It’s a lack of resourcefulness. When you’re presented with a challenge, are you willing to do what it takes to solve it? Are you willing to get outside your current comfort zone, knowledge, and skills to get the resources you need but don’t have? It’s a question you’ll face over and over in your journey as an entrepreneur.

     

    Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

    Connect With James and Dean

    James P. Friel:

    Dean Holland:

    JTT Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/justthetipsshow/

    JTT Listeners Free Portal: www.JTTShow.com

    29 April 2021, 10:00 am
  • 56 minutes 38 seconds
    Discover Your Leadership Style with Melanie Parish, Ep 194

    Most entrepreneurs don’t start out thinking of themselves as leaders. Besides an entrepreneur, you might see yourself as a product creator, service provider, coach, marketers, copywriter, or any other number of titles.

     

    Then your business hits a point where you can’t do everything yourself, you bring on a team, and next thing you know, people are coming to you with decisions that need to be made. Suddenly, you’re a leader.

     

    On this week’s episode James and Dean welcome Melanie Parish, author of The Experimental Leader, to break down what makes a good leader and how to discover your leadership style. If you feel like parts of your business aren’t operating as well as they could be, tune in to hear what you, as the leader of your business can do about it (and hear the leadership mistakes to avoid that could be contributing to the problem).

    Outline of This Episode
    • 4:50 Is leadership harder for entrepreneurs?
    • 8:30 Characteristics of a good leader
    • 13:03 The Experimental Leader
    • 19:01 What it means to be neutral as a leader
    • 22:02 How do we measure success?
    • 27:13 Don’t try to fix everything yourself
    • 33:02 Hiring and firing
    What makes a good leader?

    Melanie advocates a neutral leadership style, where you don’t react to what’s happening around you. It’s not that you shouldn’t have standards for your business and team. It’s that you stay neutral so that when your team brings you decisions that need made, you’re able to take things in, ponder them, ask questions, and send it back to your team. By approaching leadership in this way, you’re helping people move tasks forward vs. being a micromanager.

    Leaders are willing to experiment

    A lot of people get so attached to their ideas they’ll insist on sticking with the bad ones for months, even years, longer than they should have. Melanie, on the other hand, sees leadership as a willingness to experiment. Any time you want change to happen in your business, you’re trying something new to see whether it works. Whether it does or not, you have data you can use to conduct the next experiment. Approaching idea implementation as experimenting protects you from clinging to the bad ones and helps you flesh out the good ones.

    Pass the buckets to your team

    Think of the tasks your team members are assigned as buckets. For example: Scheduling out an email sequence. Your role as the leader isn’t to take charge of your team’s buckets (in this example, to schedule the email sequence). It might be to approve the sequence, or perhaps write it (if that’s something you handle in your business). But not to schedule it. When your team hands you a bucket, make the decision and pass the bucket back.

    Stop fixing everything yourself

    When someone on your team is responsible for certain tasks, and they aren’t fulfilling their duties in the correct way, it’s tempting to fix it yourself (i.e. put yourself in charge of the bucket). The problem with doing that is, your team member never learns how to solve the problem themselves. Remember: As the leader of your business, your job is NOT to collect buckets. It’s to make a decision and pass the bucket back. If a team member isn’t performing, they might need more training, more feedback, or it might just be they’re the wrong person for the job. Tune into the episode to hear where to draw the line between investing in more training for your team member and recognizing they aren’t the right person for the job.

    When firing someone is a gift

    In this episode Melanie shares a story about a job she once held that didn’t work out. She was good at the job and the money was good, yet she was miserable. Leaving the job was actually a relief. Firing someone on your team is uncomfortable, but if that person is miserable, and is bringing that energy to your entire business, you’re not doing them - or your company - any favors by holding onto them. Let them go so they can find a place where they are a good fit and enjoy what they do.

    Resources & People Mentioned

    Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

    Connect With James and Dean

    James P. Friel:

    Dean Holland:

    JTT Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/justthetipsshow/

    JTT Listeners Free Portal: www.JTTShow.com

    22 April 2021, 10:00 am
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