Author: Omar Zenhom

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MBA895 Guest Teacher: Dorie Clark – Practical Steps to Taking the Leap Into Entrepreneurship

Post author By Omar Zenhom
Post date October 2, 2017

So you want to be an entrepreneur. Honestly, who doesn’t? Who hasn’t occasionally dreamed of that freedom and self-determination? Who isn’t intrigued by the thought of making their own living on their own terms?

Of course, dreaming is one thing. Doing is another.

That’s what we’re here for: to help you become one of the “doers” who actually takes concrete action. And that’s why this week’s special guest teacher is here: to share her incredibly valuable experience on the subject of breaking into entrepreneurship.

Dorie Clark knows more than most about transitioning from conventional employment to entrepreneurship. She literally wrote the book on it, and she’s written another one that hits the shelves this week. Today, Clark offers a special preview of Entrepreneurial You: Monetize Your Expertise, Create Multiple Income Streams, and Thrive. Her years of studying independent success and profiling great entrepreneurs has given Clark unparalleled insights. She’s here to share them.

On the podcast, Clark discusses 6 specific principles that make the difference between considering entrepreneurship and actually doing it. These 6 strategic concepts allow you to hone in on what actually creates independent wealth. With so much to know, being able to focus on what really matters is crucial. These 6 things are the pillars that can turn the desire for entrepreneurial freedom into something real, feasible, and sustainable.

These are not hacks. They’re not tricks. They are instructions. Honest, practical, actionable instructions that you can apply today. With Clark’s extremely well-informed advice, you can start laying the roadmap for your own success right now. Clark has found success over years of study and experimentation. She’s lived the trial and the error. Now, let her experience increase your chances of making it.

Stick around after Clark’s lesson for two fantastic bonuses: Our host Omar offers his own tips on building and sustaining entrepreneurial momentum— after all, he knows a thing or two about independent success himself! And, Dorie Clark would like to offer all of our listeners a special free download, one that can jumpstart your journey to entrepreneurship today.

That’s right: Free Gift!

There are no shortcuts. As Clark and Omar detail in this lesson, entrepreneurial success is earned, not taken. We’re not here to sell The Dream, and neither is Dorie Clark. What we can offer is the truth about exactly what it takes to do business— your business, your own way. It’s not easy, and it’s not quick. But it is possible. With some honest effort and the right guidance, you can do this.

Tune in. Hear Clark’s advice and Omar’s analysis. Get your free gift. Go forth into the future you make for yourself. Click Play!

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MBA894 Are You a Terrible Boss?

Post author By Omar Zenhom
Post date September 25, 2017

Worst. Boss. Ever.

We’ve all had a terrible boss. As entrepreneurs, we never have to have one again. But as our independent business grows, how can we avoid becoming one? That’s the topic of this week’s deep-dive lesson, and it’s one worth exploring. Do you have the courage, the honesty, and the wisdom to ask yourself the question:

Am I a terrible boss?

Right off the bat, let’s be realistic: you’re probably not. But just as realistic is the probability that you could be a better one. We could all improve, in whatever we do. But it’s especially important for entrepreneurs to stay on top of their personal development as leaders.

Your business depends on your ability to lead your team. As we expend our mental capital on product development, marketing, budgeting, and all the rest, we can forget this. We can neglect a skill that’s just as important to develop as salesmanship or technical expertise. We can forget to strive to be the best boss we can be.

Our team suffers as a result.

When our team suffers, the work suffers. When the work suffers, the business grinds along at a fraction of its true potential. It’s incumbent upon every entrepreneur to give their customers the best experience possible— but it’s just as incumbent upon them to give their employees the motivation they need to create that experience. There are ways to achieve this. There are strategies to ensure it.

We’re here to share them.

Fortunately, being great at bossing is just like being great at anything; you can learn how. You can practice. You can consciously develop the ability you need to lead. On this podcast, we explain how to evaluate and develop your leadership skills. We share our experience as bosses, and offer specific, actionable tips on how to be better.

We discuss the biggest pitfalls common to new bosses, the balance between high expectations and empathy for your employees, and how to be open to improvement. We offer examples of bosses to emulate, and reflect on the unique position of company founders.

When you’re the boss, the stakes are high. Tune in, and learn how to maximize your potential as a leader. Learn how to earn the loyalty and dedication from your employees that gives your business the edge. Boss “like a boss!” Click Play!

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Must Read: Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger

Must Read: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

Must Read: Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance

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MBA893 Do You Need a Product Road Map?

Post author By Omar Zenhom
Post date September 18, 2017

The product is never perfect. Smart entrepreneurs realize that in order for a business to grow, the product has to grow with it. But what if you could direct (or at least guide) the evolution of your product? What if you could time that evolution, and set goals for certain improvements? What if you could see the development of your product in the future, as you move your business forward into it?

Enter the Product Roadmap.

Increasingly popular as an organizational, motivational, and even marketing tool, the Product Roadmap can be applied to any kind of product (even a service). It is what it sounds like: a visual representation of the planned development of a product. You literally map out your own goals for your product, from the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to the top-of-the-line game-changer you ultimately strive to create.

By aligning what your product could be with feasible timelines, you can turn possibilities into an actionable plan. These Product Roadmaps can be internal, strictly used to keep you and your team focused on your long-term product development goals. Or, they can be publicized, doubling as a marketing tool that lets your audience in on the process— even soliciting their opinions on what your product should do.

But for all its usefulness, is a Product Roadmap right for your business?

That’s what today’s podcast can help you determine. Today we discuss what a Product Roadmap is, how to develop one, and when it’s most applicable and helpful. With this lesson, you’ll learn exactly when Product Roadmaps are most effective.

We speak from experience. From our clothing line to The $100 MBA to our webinar software service, WebinarNinja, we’ve built plenty of products: some with roadmaps, and some without. We know their value, and their limitations. Our experience using Product Roadmaps can give you exactly the insight you need to determine whether it’s a good fit for you. In the right situation, the return on investment can be substantial.

A Product Roadmap can be an efficient repository for all your product ideas, even the most ambitious ones. It can allow you to branch out creatively, fearlessly saying “yes” to everything, and creating an action plan to make things happen. It can help you understand your own product better, and effectively prioritize all the development possibilities.

By establishing goals, deadlines, and expectations, a well-crafted Product Roadmap can keep your team’s work aligned with your overall mission. It can keep that work in context, from here to wherever you want to be.

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MBA892 How To Master The 3 Branches of Your Business

Post author By Omar Zenhom
Post date September 11, 2017

A successful business has many components, but all of them fall into one of 3 main categories. These 3 branches of business are the basic aspects of commerce. They are the pillars that hold up any company, big or small. And like any tripod, without each leg in place, the whole thing comes crashing down. By understanding the 3 branches, and applying appropriate levels of focus to each, you can give yourself the edge that means the difference between success and failure.

You can ensure that your business has a fighting chance.

It all comes down to these: smarketing, product development, and customer service. None of those are likely to come as a surprise, even if you’ve never heard the term “smarketing” before (that’s sales + marketing, the line between the two being a blurry one in the greater scheme of things). But too many entrepreneurs focus on one or two at the expense of the others. While they excel in one arena, they drop the ball in another. Their businesses suffer as a result.

This is a choice.

Proud tradespeople and artists devote themselves to their craft— their product— but put little time into marketing or customer service. Born sales people love the dance of securing customers and making deals, but allow the quality of their product to be sub-par. Devoted, loyal entrepreneurs put customer satisfaction above all else— including the acquisition of new business. As great martial artists are known to say, a fighter’s strength is his or her weakness. By relying too heavily on what comes easiest, some entrepreneurs never develop into well-rounded business people.

You can do better.

On today’s podcast, we discuss the importance of each branch in turn, and the vital role each plays in the development of a successful business, no matter what kind or what size. Going further, we discuss how to prioritize these branches at different points in the growth of your business. While one may be paramount at the beginning, another may become more important later on. Knowing when to focus on which branch is key to leveraging your efforts and maximizing your growth.

Beyond that, knowing which aspects you excel at (and which ones you don’t) is crucial to your development as an entrepreneur. With self-awareness, honesty, and the willingness to shore up your weak points while nurturing your talents, you can be the entrepreneur whose ideas go the distance. While a thousand great business ideas go no further than talk, a balanced approach to the 3 branches of business can turn the dream into a reality.

Tune in, listen to our in-depth explanation of the 3 branches and how to properly utilize them. Hone your skills, and learn how to apply your precious time, resources, and effort where they count the most. Be one of the entrepreneurs who make it. Know what forces need to be balanced, and how to balance them. Succeed. Click Play!

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Entrepreneurship Leadership Uncategorized

How To Disappoint Your Audience In The Best Possible Way

Post author By Omar Zenhom
Post date September 4, 2017
1 Comment on How To Disappoint Your Audience In The Best Possible Way

Sometimes, we have to break bad news. Things happen, despite our best efforts. We find ourselves in the unenviable position of having to tell our audience— our customers— something they definitely don’t want to hear. We mess up, or something entirely beyond our control goes screwy. Whatever the cause, it’s important to know how to tell people something unpleasant. And it’s possible to do so in a way that not only maintains their loyalty, but increases it.

I was first reminded of this topic by something that happened to an entrepreneurial hero of mine, Elon Musk. Musk, arguable genius that he is, is still capable of mistakes. And when the launch of one of his most innovative products was around the corner, he realized he’d made one— a big one. The Model 3, a revolutionary, affordable, hopefully ground-breaking product, was going to be missing something he’d promised.

When pre-orders were being taken for the Model 3, one of the incentives offered was a pretty huge one: free charges for life! Not only is electricity cheaper than gas already, but Model 3 owners wouldn’t even have to pay for that! Supercharging stations located throughout the US and the world were free perks for other Tesla owners, and Musk had announced that the same courtesy would be extended to owners of the more reasonably priced Model 3. As several analysts had predicted, though, giving away all that electricity wasn’t (pardon me) sustainable.

Musk had to renege on that promise with over half a million pre-orders already in place.

The Relative Value of Reputation

How important is it to keep your business promises? Most people would argue “very,” at least. They’re correct, but like most things, there’s a limit. Is it really worth tanking your entire business in order to keep a promise? Will your reputation (or your self-image) really serve you well if your business is bankrupt? Sometimes, you have to disappoint customers by not coming through in the way they expected, or the way you said you would. It can be unavoidable. What matters is how you handle it.

As long as you have the right strategy for announcing bad news and managing the response, your business will come through intact, or better. There are ways to deliver bad news that minimize the impact. These ways don’t just soften the blow. They demonstrate your honesty. Rather than detracting from customers’ trust in you, well-delivered bad news can actually make you more credible. You can keep the trust you’ve earned, and then some.

Tesla’s announcement didn’t hurt sales. At all. There was no revolt from the audience, no wave of cancellations and refunds. This is because the way that Musk broke the news was framed and contextualized properly. He didn’t shrug his shoulders and say “them’s the breaks.” He didn’t beg forgiveness or martyr himself, either. He simply told the truth in the context of Tesla’s overall mission— and made his audience feel like a part of that mission.

Rather than simply acknowledging the screwup, Musk asked his audience to stick with Tesla out of a shared sense of purpose. He reminded them what they were doing when they purchased his product: standing up to the fossil fuel industry and saving the planet by reducing oil dependence. He explained that free charging made that mission untenable, and he was mistaken for thinking it was possible. He asked his audience to make the sacrifice of a few thousand more dollars in order to save the world. By the time he was done breaking the bad news, his average customer would’ve felt like a jerk for complaining!

This wasn’t a case of a rich CEO simply saying, “Hey, I can’t make money if I come through on this.” It was the leader of a movement saying “Hey, we can’t change the world if I come through on this.” He took what he knew about his customers and their reasons for buying his product, and he used it. He remembered what problem he was solving for his customers (in this case, global warming), and reminded everyone that he was still solving it. By letting them in on his mistake and exposing his failure, he made customers more loyal. By asking them to forgive it as an act of purpose, he left everyone still satisfied.

Breaking Bad the Good Way

A while back, I had to break some bad news to my own customers. I had announced that by the end of 2015, WebinarNinja would have a special new feature: full integration with Leadpages and Sumo for creating opt-in pages and boxes. In this case, I thought I had plenty of time to sort out the details and keep my promise. As it turned out, I didn’t. Unforeseen delays on the other companies’ ends made it impossible. Eventually, the feature debuted, but not on time.

Sending the announcement was one of the most uncomfortable things I could imagine doing. Unlike Elon Musk, I wasn’t trying to solve a global crisis. But like him, I was able to minimize the negativity by being transparent and putting it all in context. As long as my reasons for coming up short had to do with solving their problems, my customers would understand. And they did.

When they’re disappointed, some people will be upset. You may get a few demands for refunds or cancellations. Your true fans, however, will stick by you. The ones to whom you’ve been providing rich content and giving wins, the ones whose trust you’ve earned; they’ll appreciate your honesty. You’ve invested your work in them, and they’ll invest their patience in you.

The 5 Steps To Breaking Bad News

Whatever the misfortune you have to explain, there’s a basic system that will give you the best results:

Be Transparent. Tell your audience everything about why this is happening, within reason. Don’t get overly technical or go over their heads. In layman’s terms, make it clear that you’re not hiding anything, and that you trust them with this (somewhat embarrassing) information.

Announce the plan. Know how you’re going to fix the problem, and tell your audience. Whatever went wrong, explain how you plan to reverse it and prevent something similar going forward.

Compensate if possible. Offer everyone affected a bonus, discount, or some other kind of salve for the wound. If you can’t afford to, at least explain that.

Update. As you move forward and solve the problem, stay in contact with your audience about it. Don’t just apologize and never bring it up again. Keep them posted on how you’re resolving everything.

Deliver and thank. Once you give your audience whatever it was that was promised, or whatever it is they’re getting instead, thank them. Acknowledge their patience and loyalty, and make it clear how appreciated it is.

Delivering bad news is never fun. That said, it can be a classic “crisi-tunity” to deepen the bonds between yourself and your audience. It will also show you who your true followers are. Like any relationship, business relationships don’t always go smoothly. But overcoming the bumps in the road can make relationships stronger.

It’s one of the least comfortable things in business. We love to satisfy customers; it’s what good business people do. But great business people can turn tragedies into triumphs, and parlay an honest account of failure into stronger bonds. In the long term, that’s how your business succeeds.

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MBA891 Guest Teacher: Dale Beaumont- How to Use Marketing Partnerships to Scale Fast

Post author By Omar Zenhom
Post date September 4, 2017

No man is an island, or so they say. By the same logic, no entrepreneur succeeds entirely on their own.

Independent business doesn’t mean going it alone or taking a solitary approach. It just means you get to choose the terms upon which you partner with others. When you do, you further your success, and theirs. Mutually beneficial partnerships can fast-track the growth of your business by allowing you to access new markets. They can also plant the seeds of lucrative long-term business relationships.

The bottom line: why market alone?

That brings us to today’s podcast. We’ve got a special guest, Dale Beaumont of Brin.ai. Beaumont is one of Australia’s most successful young entrepreneurs, having started several million-dollar business and written 16 best-selling books. But he didn’t do it alone— he strategically partnered with other business people he could trust to help maximize his potential. In doing so, he accessed markets and customers that might’ve taken exponentially longer to reach. Beaumont is here to share his 7-step plan for establishing mutually beneficial marketing partnerships.

This man knows what he’s talking about.

Unlike joint ventures or affiliate marketing, marketing partnerships aren’t about sharing profits. They’re about sharing audiences. By cross-promoting with another trusted brand, you can find customers more quickly, more cheaply, and more efficiently. Through mutual value-sharing, two businesses can multiply their credibility. That means less time and money spent on things like advertising, which serve the same function at a much higher cost— and a much lower return on investment.

For great examples, look no further than the big boys of business. Every McDonald’s happy meal is a promotion for another major company like Disney. Ford sells Eddie Bauer edition vehicles, while Subaru sells LL Bean versions. All over the business world, creative leaders find ways to multiply the effect of one company’s marketing by that of another.

Here at The $100 MBA, we’re no strangers to marketing partnerships. Whether we’re co-hosting an event of webinar, guest-blogging, or guest-podcasting, bringing the value other thought leaders offer to our own audience makes sense. Our audience is happier and better informed, and we get the opportunity to demonstrate our value to their audience as well. Everyone wins! Following Beaumont’s lesson, we’ll offer our own 3 extra tips for optimizing marketing partnerships, in addition to the step-by-step plan from our guest.

Don’t go it alone. Learn how to take the fastest route to growth. Learn Beaumont’s steps, take our tips, and find the partners who can take your business where you want it to go. Click Play!

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MBA890 Must Read: The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

Post author By Omar Zenhom
Post date August 28, 2017

Independent business is never easy. If it was, everyone would do it! Because we choose the path less traveled, we entrepreneurs need to reckon with challenges and obstacles that the conventionally employed never face. At first, that might seem like a negative. But challenge is what entrepreneurs thrive on. Independence is what we work for. No matter how tough the going gets, we don’t just persevere— we enjoy taking it on.

That’s the theme of this week’s in-depth podcast, and the lesson of our latest Must-Read book review for independent business people. It’s been a while, but we’ve finally had time to digest another great entry into our ever-growing library of essential books. Like our other Must-Reads, Ben Horowitz’s The Hard Thing About Hard Things is invaluable for anyone who wants to understand what it takes to succeed in business. It’s so good, reading it once wasn’t enough!

Horowitz is a legend in modern entrepreneurship, leading the way into the tech-scape we inhabit today from way ahead of the curve. He was an early pioneer in web-browsing and cloud computing, building companies that were eventually acquired by the behemoths of the tech industry. And while he met with undeniable success, it was never, ever easy.

That’s the beauty of Horowitz’s approach, and his book. Rather than offering strategies for avoiding the scariest pitfalls of business, he offers advice for dealing with them. His is not a guide to finding the path of least resistance. It’s about facing the most daunting aspects of entrepreneurship, and plowing through the challenges that business inevitably poses. It’s about facing the worst case scenario, fearing nothing, and making the right move when it seems like there are no moves to make.

Take responsibility. Take charge. Focus on results, not shortcuts. Your darkest moments will be your greatest victories, if you have the right attitude. Check out our podcast, read the book, and see how Horowitz’s approach can work for you. Click Play!