IIP071: Buying Businesses & Life In The Entrepreneurship Fastlane

IIP071 quote

“Emotion doesn’t make money; Logic does.” Click to Tweet

Episode Highlights:

  • How to join the entrepreneur fastlane by buying successful businesses and making them better rather than building from scratch
  • How my guest, Jock, turned a $10,000 investment into a multi-million dollar business
  • The behind the scenes of online business brokerage
  • How to valuate the worth of your online business, and how to quadruple it
  • The most important entrepreneurship lesson you can teach your children or yourself
  • Creative ways to finance online businesses that you might have never considered

Today’s Guest: Internet Entrepreneur & Online Business Broker

Jock Purtle
Jock Purtle, CEO and President of Digital Exits

We are joined today by Jock Purtle, founder and CEO of Digital Exits — a business brokerage firm focusing on buying and selling online businesses.

Jock, 24 years old, grew up in Sydney, Australia in an entrepreneurial family. His family has a brokerage business and they made him a part of it by the time he was 8 years old. The foundation that he got from being in the family business, learning how to evaluate the worth of goods and how to resell them for profit, has proved to be extremely helpful for the rest of his career.

At 2009, he bought his first online business for $10,000. That website made most of its money with ads. A few months later, he made his money back and resold the business (website) for just shy of $18,000. From that point on, Jock repeated the process each time with a bigger deal, leading him to 2014 where he expects to complete between 20 to 30 deals, each one with a transaction value between $100,000 to $4.5M.

The Beginning

In the interview, Jock shared how grateful he is for his mom and dad taking him when he was young to every business meeting, sharing the profit and loss sheets, and teaching him how the business works.

He remembers at one time when he was young, he wanted to buy something that cost about a thousand dollars. When he asked his father to buy it for him, his father refused. A few days later, he came back and gave him five hundred dollars: “If you can take these five hundred dollars and turn them into a thousand, you can buy whatever you want with them.”

That exercise taught Jock about the power of putting money to work for you and reshaped his mindset for the rest of his life. In fact, he believed it’s a truly crucial exercise for anyone to do, whether for themselves or giving it to their children. “It doesn’t need to be five hundred dollars or a thousand, it can be as little as twenty. It’s the idea of putting the money to work for you, by investing in something that will yield more than the investment in return — that is the key.”

Today

Today, besides running Digital Exits, Jock also hosts a podcast covering the subject of buying and selling online businesses — whether as a buyer or as a seller or as a broker, frequently writes content for his blog about the same subject and has also released several free e-book guides on the subjects that you can find in the mentioned resources section.

Podcast Starter Kit

As mentioned in today’s episode, I’m really excited to announce my new free course: The Podcast Starter Kit.

The Podcast Starter Kit is a 7-day video course that will take you from knowing nothing about podcasts, to planning, recording and launching your successful podcast show, ranking in the top of Apple New & Noteworthy ranking, building your list, your brand, and your authority in whatever niche you’re in.

Click here to get immediate access to the Podcast Starter Kit.

Mentioned Resources

I Need Your Help!

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Leave a review for Meron’s podcast!

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IIP070: Why Would You Pay For Something That’s Free?

Episode Highlights

  • How my guest made the transition from jumping from helicopters and running convoys into Baghdad to becoming an independent author and publisher.
  • The similarities between army life and successful entrepreneurship (mainly SOPs, systems and teamwork)
  • How my guest started making money by allowing people to download everything he has for free
  • How the Pay What You Want model was born, and how it allows my guest to make 3x more money than he would had he used traditional payment models
  • How to use Gumroad to sell anything online within a few seconds and with no technical knowledge
  • How to make money from attending conferences
  • DO’s and DONT’s When Using the Pay What You Want model

Today’s Guest

Tom Morkes, CEO of Insurgent Publishing
Tom Morkes, CEO of Insurgent Publishing

When Tom Morkes was 22 years old, he was in-charge of 40 guys and a dozen MRAP, when he was running convoys in and out of Baghdad. His role in the US Army required him to come up with new SOPs and TTPs (Tactics, Techniques and Procedures) for convoys, since the type of technology and environment they served in were new to the army. He had to figure out everything on his own without being able to rely on previous knowledge in the communication.

In many ways, he agrees, there are many similarities between his role in the army and becoming an entrepreneur.

When you become an entrepreneur, you find yourself with no manual. There is no step-by-step guidance and you need to figure it out for yourself. You need to figure out what works for you and in what way. In the army, Tom spent a lot of time planning the worse case scenario and then trying to define best practices in order to avoid, handle and get out of such scenarios. In many ways, that’s what we do in the early days of entrepreneurship.

When he left the army, Tom knew he doesn’t want to answer to other people’s order anymore. He decided to use his skills of writing and started his first website. He sailed forward — meaning he was failing but learning. For the first 6 months, he didn’t make a single dollar.

“But that might be due to the fact I didn’t offer anything to sell.”

He had an idea that he decided to test out: After attending a conference held by Seth Godin with a hundred other people, he decided to take the notes he made and create a small e-book from it titled, 2 Days With Seth Godin. Of course that is already brilliant branding, if you asked me. Since when I heard about it, I figured Tom and Seth are close friends at least, and then realized it was on the context of conference.

At the time, Tom had just short of 150 e-mail subscribers. He sent them an e-mail, letting them know about the book and offered it to them to download and to pay for it as much as they want. People could get it for free or choose to pay some amount of money that would go to contribute for Tom being able to continue to do his work. 80 people ended up downloading the book, half of which contributed money. In fact, on average, the book sold at $15 a piece, which was more than 3x more than what Tom would make had he made his book available on Amazon!

Ever since, Tom has been intrigued by Pay What You Want model. You can learn about it more in his latest book The Complete Guide To Pay What You Want Pricing. And in today’s episode, he shares what he learned.

Tune in to find out how you can start making money with your brand … without asking for money!

Mentioned Resources

I Need Your Help!

If you haven’t already, I would love if you could be awesome and take a minute to leave a quick rating and review of the podcast on iTunes by clicking on the link below. It’s the most amazing way to help the show grow and reach more people!

Leave a review for Meron’s podcast!

Affiliate Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links. There is no additional cost to you, and I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.

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IIP069: James Schramko On Building A 7 Figure Business With What You Already Know

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On Today’s episode, Internet Entrepreneur James Schramko Shares:

  • How to make the switch from working a full time job (even when you have mortgage, debts and four children to support) into a full time entrepreneur, running a 7-figure business.
  • How to use what you already know to create a profitable business.
  • The “chocolate wheel” strategy to create businesses where customers buy from again and again and again.
  • How to systemize your business so you can outsource all time-consuming tasks.
  • Two frameworks that you can use to make your communication both in sales and in training a lot more effective.
  • 3-step action plan to get started today.

Today’s Guest

James Shramko, Internet Entrepreneur
James Shramko, Internet Entrepreneur

James Shramko is an Australian internet entrepreneur. In 2005, he was working in a car agency, and while he was bringing in a nice income, not much of it was left every month after paying his mortgage, his debt and the cost of being a parent for four children. James made a decision to create his own wealth instead of working all the hours helping someone else create their own wealth.

Unlike previous guests on the show, James’ beginning wasn’t easy. For the first nine months trying to do online business — he made zero sales. He had to learn a lot, and he struggled a lot. In today’s episode James shared the processes he had to go through, the things he tried, and the lessons learned on the path to becoming a successful entrepreneur.

There are several key takeaways from today’s episode, perhaps the most important one is James’ emphasis on actually doing the right thing. There are two things to pay attention to in this — one is doing and the other one is the right thing. As James says, “Knowing what the right thing to do can be very hard.” And you will have to listen to today’s episode to find out how he chose the right thing and how you can do the same.

SOPs and Creating Fast Business Systems

One of the things that James is most known for is his insane ability to crank out new products every single month.

In order to be able to create content at this astounding pace, James has systemized every aspect of his business in order to make sure he doesn’t need to do any repetitive task that isn’t related to content creation.

Systemization Example: Systemizing Your Podcast

For example, take podcasting: James hosts and co-hosts more than 5 different podcasts. If he was to try and edit those shows, write the show notes, and share them on social media — on his own. That will probably be a full time job.

Instead, the entire content creation for his podcast is fully streamlined:

  • First, James records the episode
  • James places the recording in Dropbox
  • James’ team starts working on the podcast
  • They will remove the “uhms” and “ahs” and clean up the sound
  • They will add intro, outro and other bumpers
  • They will export the file, convert to mp3, complete tagging and add all the information to it
  • They will transcribe the file
  • They use transcription to write it as a blog post and someone else from the team will create a sharable infographic from the same content
  • The team shares the podcast episode when it goes live on social media, etc.

What Should You Systemize?

As James put it, “Anything that has to be done more than once in my business needs to be systemized.” For him, SYSTEM is an acronym that stands for Save Yourself Some Time, Energy and Money.

The way he developed his System is by documenting every step he takes when doing a task. Next, he gets together with his team and briefs them whether they’re online or face-to-face about the system.

The briefing includes the raw material (or what’s been input into the system), the steps he take and the expected outcome. His team is encouraged to change the process, update it and add/remove steps as much as needed as long as the end product remains the same. Then he will sit together with the team member that will do the task and will show him step-by-step how it’s done. Then the team member will do it step-by-step with James watching. When it’s been done correctly, James will let the team member complete the task on his own next time.

The Key Thing For Making Your Systems Truly Work

Here’s the caveat that many people miss. On the episode, James explains that the most important thing to do the first time your outsourcer or VA does a task on his own, is to check it thoroughly and make sure it’s perfect and return with at least 3 cycles of comments for improvement before you accept the final product.

Please allow your VA to know your boundaries for quality control and the kind of quality you expect from this deliverable. Well, this might sound tedious, but after that is done, James found that his employees can crank the deliverables time after time after time for years over years, have the same quality without him ever needing to spend time on this task again.

Creating Additional Income Streams

James has a unique view of online business that arises from his history working on a car dealership.

“I have this philosophy called the Chocolate Wheel and that is that a customer might come in to one part of your business, but sure enough they’ll move around the other parts. So it’s like this big wheel, where the slices of the wheel for each product and service and they fit well together because you typically have the same customer in the middle of that wheel. And that’s exactly like a car dealership.

“If you think about it, someone buys a car and they’ll come back to service it; or they service a car and they eventually renew their car; or they break something or they wanna update their accessories so they go into the parts department and they buy parts or accessories. Maybe they wanna finance their vehicle so they use the finance department; maybe their finance runs out and they wanna renew it so they renew their finance, and then they come back to you and they see another car and they buy a new car…

“So, the thing is, the dealership has one customer, but they’re experiencing all the different products and services. They’re buying stock, they’re buying time and they’re buying money. They buy 3 different things from the dealership on the different department labels.

“So the way to build a profitable business is to start with your one customer and see what else you can provide that they’re already consuming and that they absolutely need. And usually they’ll ask you if you provide that.”

Becoming an Internet Entrepreneur

Finally, James provided his 3-step action plan to making a transition and becoming a successful internet entrepreneur.

  1. Be honest about your situation. Accept the fact that you’re going to have to do it yourself. You will never win a lottery not will you get a huge inheritance. So what can you do to start building your wealth?

  2. Carve out new routines. Add repeating events dedicated to working on your business to your calendar and make sure that you stick to it. Watch less TV if you have to. No one said entrepreneurship has no sacrifices.

  3. Start building. Focus on doing the right things. And as mentioned above, the focus is both on the act of doing as well as on the right thing. James suggests starting what you’re known for.

What do people ask you about? What type of services are you already providing? If nobody asked you anything, ask yourself what services did you need and you learned to do 2 years ago.

For James, a cornerstone of his business was to use the skills he learned in building websites, doing SEO, and writing himself checklists on how to use properly programs and repackage them as an offer he could sell online.

What have you learned in your journey that you can share with others to help them in theirs? What struggles did you say and wish there were clear resources that could help you out? All of these are great places to start and all of these are promising “right thing” to do.

Mentioned Resources

I Need Your Help!

If you haven’t already, I would love if you could be awesome and take a minute to leave a quick rating and review of the podcast on iTunes by clicking on the link below. It’s the most amazing way to help the show grow and reach more people!

Leave a review for Meron’s podcast!

Affiliate Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links. There is no additional cost to you, and I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.

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IIP068: Get Busy Living, Or Get Busy Dying

Create Your Dream Job: Download The 9 Step Action Plan

Note: Kary’s 9 Step Action Plan and start creating your dream job, today!

In Today’s Episode We Talk About:

  • A 9 step plan to create your dream job.
  • The similarities between the 9 to 5 hamster wheel and prison – and they key to escaping both of them.
  • The inspiration and lessons to be learned from the story of Andy Dufresne, and how to apply them to your escape to freedom plan.
  • The worst mistake you could make when trying to launch the brand of you, and how to do it right.
  • Why buying an Olympic gold medal on eBay doesn’t make you a champion (and what does).
  • Some of the things that amateurs do that break the trust and prevent people from following them – and how you should avoid them!

It’s Time To Escape The 9-5 Prison

I got a phone call last week. It was my old boss, wanting to know if I can do some consulting work for him.

As we finished talking (for the first time since I left corporate world) and I hung up, memories starting rushing through my brain.

I could see myself sitting in the company’s brand new light-blue Hyundai, playing with the radio, trying to find my favorite sports show to make my long way home more interesting.

It was only a 25 kilometers drive, but sometimes it took almost two hours to get back home.

I remember feeling trapped – by going corporate I’ve ditched my business, and now I was on the hamster wheel, building somebody else’s business instead. It hit me, that I replaced running in circles for my own good, with running in circles for someone else’s own good — with no prospect of it changing.

The Good Old Hamster Wheel

Life has become more and more about the job.

I found myself working 350 hours a month – sometimes 400. I was busy all the time. When I wasn’t at work, I was on the phone with work, or talking about work with Julie. I felt imprisoned.

Almost two years have passed this way – without me noticing, or doing anything about it.

Looking back, I know now that I fell in the most common loop the western world has to offer: I got busy dying.

This video is from one of my favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemption. The film tells the story of Andy Dufresne, a banker who spends 19 years in Shawshank State Prison for the murder of his wife and her lover despite his claims of innocence. While everyone around Andy loses hope for achieving anything with their lives – within or beyond prison – Andy has different plans.

In the movie, Andy holds in his mind a painted picture of breaking free and building a cheap motel on a Mexican beach in front of the Pacific Ocean.

Through many hardships, beatings and pain, the movie ends with Andy making it alongside a fellow inmate named “Red” (played by Morgan Freeman), to Zihuatanejo, Mexico (you’ll have to watch the movie for the full story of how he did it).

Today’s Guest

As it turns out, I’m not the only one who’s been inspired by the The Shawshank Redemption. In fact, today’s guest wrote his book, From Day Job To Dream Job in the same cell where Andy Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins, spent his days of confinement.

Kary-Oberbrunner

Author, life coach, and speaker Kary Oberbrunner is on a mission to help people escape their own ‘Shawshanks‘ and launch their dream jobs.

Kary recently wrote the Dream Job To Day Job, a book targeted at helping readers “jailbreak” from their day jobs without relying on an MBA, investors, or a lucky break. Instead, he offers his tried-and-tested 9 step plan.

Much of the book was written inside Shawshank Prison (The Ohio State Reformatory). Kary sat inside the same prison cell where Andy Dufresne served solitary confinement as punishment for playing his famous anthem of freedom, and for Kary – this book has the same goal: Playing the anthem of freedom for millions of people that feel burned out in their day jobs.

The Disturbing Facts (Or: How The 9-5 Is Killing Millions)

Here are some very disturbing facts about what the 9 to 5 is causing1 in America today:

  • The Los Angeles Times reports that there is a 33 percent increase in heart attacks on Monday mornings.
  • According to the NCDC, more people die at nine o’clock Monday morning than at any other time of day or any other day of the week.
  • Male suicides are highest on Sunday nights. This is assumed to be because of them realizing that their careers — and possibly their finances as well — are not where they want them to be.

According to Kary, millions of people are squandering their talents and wasting their time in jobs they don’t love. If you feel that you are one of them, tune in to today’s episode, and then download our free PDF: Kary’s 9 Step Action Plan To Creating Your Dream Job!

For more from Kary, check out his Dream Job Bootcamp:
Dream job to day job bootcamp

Resources For Creating Your Escape To Freedom Plan

Download Today’s Free PDF

Click here to download Kary’s 9 Step Action Plan and start creating your dream job, today!

I Need Your Help!

If you haven’t already, I would love if you could be awesome and take a minute to leave a quick rating and review of the podcast on iTunes by clicking on the link below. It’s the most amazing way to help the show grow and reach more people!

Leave a review for Meron’s podcast!

Affiliate Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links. There is no additional cost to you, and I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.

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  1. Research from 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller. 

IIP057: Conversion Optimization, Vacuum Cleaners, and A Stolen Wedding Ring

Inspiring Innovation Podcast
Inspiring Innovation Podcast episode 57  Get it on iTunes

My guest today is the type of guy any entrepreneur would kill to have as a friend: He’s the conversion educator at LeadPages (which means he KNOWS what works when it comes to turning readers into buyers), ex-musician (appeared on MTV and performed in all continental US states) that used to sell vacuum cleaners, successful podcaster and entrepreneur, and above all — a seriously cool guy.

Today’s episode takes from lucking out in finding a manager for the band (wait till you hear the story) and through building an entrepreneurial career one step at a time, applying lessons from his career as a musician into his business life. Then we get our hands dirty and spend a good 20 minutes discussing some strategies for better conversions, getting traffic, and much more!

Click here to download the “How To Start Building Your List Before You Even Have a Website!” quick list-building checklist now!

Tim Paige (AKA Tim The Paige); Conversion educator at LeadPages, host of ConversionCast, and father of the world's coolest baby :)
Tim Paige (AKA Tim The Paige); Conversion educator at LeadPages, host of ConversionCast, and father of the world’s coolest baby 🙂

Episode Highlights:

  • How you can start building your list with ease within 20 minutes – even if you don’t have a website yet!
  • How to make it dead easy to get traffic (and why it’s so hard for almost everyone who misses out on the point that Tim makes on the episode).
  • The most important tip Tim has for entrepreneurs – this changed his life twice. First, it got him and his band their first manager. Then years later, the same tip got him his current position at LeadPages.
  • The story of the stolen wedding ring (and what to do when you realize you are miserable at your day job).
  • How to create lead magnets that convert.
  • The biggest mistake people make in their opt-in and sales pages.
  • How to use opt-in offers to figure out what you should do (instead of waiting for the $1M idea!)

Mentioned Resources

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I Need Your Help!

If you haven’t already, I would love if you could be awesome and take a minute to leave a quick rating and review of the podcast on iTunes by clicking on the link below! It’s the most amazing way to help the show grow and reach more people!

Leave a review for Meron’s podcast!

Thank you again for your ongoing support.

Stay awesome,
Meron