Make Money Online

[116] Business Puberty

[115] Market Research: How do you identify a company's expensive problem(s)?

[114] General Counseling

[113] I Will Solve Your Problem, and You Will Pay Me

What separates a consultants proposal from a contractor's proposal.

[112] How to Optimize Products

[111] Audio Recording Tips

Focusrite Scarlett Solo (2nd Gen) USB Audio Interface with Pro Tools | First Shure BETA 87A Supercardioid Condenser Microphone for Handheld Vocal Applications MXL Mics MXL-BCD-STAND Professional Articulating Desktop Microphone Stand Shure A85WS Black Foam Windscreen for SM85, SM86, SM87A and BETA87A, and BETA87C Sendt SNT-XMF-6 6' XLR Male / Female Microphone cable 24 AWG Fovitec StudioPRO - 1x 7'6" Deluxe Light Stand Fovitec StudioPRO - 1x Bi Color 600 LED Panel

[110] Why You Shouldn't Be On Call 24/7

Why Alan Weiss says you should put yourself on call 24/7 (and why we disagree with that). Being on call 24/7 disrupts your work/life balance and exceeds boundaries. Unless you're working in a situation like DevOps, Backups, or it's a situation where Something Is On Fire And Costing The Business Millions, it isn't necessary. Links https://alanweiss.com https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/p/4672/springbank-10-year-old

[109] Productized Consulting for Drinking in Meatspace

What constitutes a Minimum Viable Meetup? Once it starts to go well, how do you expand it out? How do you add things to it? How do you delegate out responsibilities? What happens if you want to stop doing the meetup (and pass it off to someone else)? Links https://ti.to/home https://www.chicagofriends.website/ https://design.football https://creativemornings.com/

[108] The Importance of Sleep

[107] Project Scheduling, a How To

How should you effectively schedule projects? (ex: no deadlines on a Monday) How do you best estimate a project length? How do you schedule work around a break (sabbatical, etc.) How do you ensure that client's respect deadlines? How do you 'reset' expectations if there has been a bit of drift?

[106] "Writing Time is Sacred Time"

What do our writing practices look like? How did we get started writing? How should listeners work on building their 'writing muscle'? Is it necessarily to write daily? Should you just write? Write and publish? Andrew Chen on Writing and Blogging Robin Sloan on "Stock and Flow" as it applies to the writing / publishing process Nick's Newsletter Kai's Newsletter

[105] How to Take a Sabbatical

[104] How to Say "No" to Clients

When should you say no to clients? What's the best way to give a no? How should you politely turn down small projects? How do you avoid making compromises in scope? How do you fire bad clients?

[103] How to Have a Good Phone Call

How do you have a good phone call with a prospect? How do you prepare enough? How long should the call be? Should you leave a buffer after the call? Should you prepare an agenda? How do you determine who is leading the call? How do you end the call?

[102] Reading, Writing, Doing

What's a good balance between educational content consumption and doing the work? Time management Reading may just happen. Optionally: intentionally schedule time around it Implementation: when you finish a book, how do you decide what to read next? -- Tape flag ("This is a thing I want to remember") -- Highlighting -- "This is an interesting thing to know about" and then apply later Rereading to extract notes / directives

[101] Speaking at Local Meetups

Subject of meetup People at the meetup Go to one before speaking If you don't have a good meetup, start one, but don't be the first to speak Good places to host a meetup Good places to announce a meetup Scaling/growing your meetup (as you grow, make sure there isn't an in-group and an out-group) Avoiding Groupthink in Meetups (Creative Mornings: Someone manages it for a fixed term and then passes it off)

[100] Finally, a Legitimate Podcast

[99] The Actual Doing of the Thing

How do you transition from being an "overthinker" to a "doer"?

[98] Books We've Read Recently

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1517901804 https://smile.amazon.com/Food-Lab-Cooking-Through-Science/dp/0393081087 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0300215126 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1591865484 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nature_of_Order https://smile.amazon.com/Calm-Technology-Principles-Patterns-Non-Intrusive/dp/1491925884 Content Design by Sarah Richards Million Dollar Consulting Value Based Fees Personal MBA Interviewing Users Calm Technology Sourdou...

[97] Positioning: How Specialized Should You Be?

"Obviously there's a diminishing return if you hit specialization of 'There's one business in my region I can market to' -- how do you know when you've specialized enough" Know your target market, like Ecommerce Know niches within your target market, like Women's Fashion and Beauty or Every Day Carry Identify if there are 20-50 companies in your niche in your target market Identify if of those 20-50 there are 15-20 companies that are paying for consultants, have paid for consult...

[96] Positioning: How Specialized Should You Be?

"Obviously there's a diminishing return if you hit specialization of 'There's one business in my region I can market to' -- how do you know when you've specialized enough" Know your target market, like Ecommerce Know niches within your target market, like Women's Fashion and Beauty or Every Day Carry Identify if there are 20-50 companies in your niche in your target market Identify if of those 20-50 there are 15-20 companies that are paying for consultants, have paid for consult...

[95] 💰⚓ How To Use Price Anchoring As A Consultant

[94] How to follow up with clients after a project

Why follow-up What outcomes are you looking for What makes good follow-up What resources do we recommend How often should you follow up What should you say in your follow-up Who should you be following up with? What's your next step

[93] Webinar Quickstart Guide

Why run a webinar What outcomes should you look for What tool(s) should you use How do you prepare? How do you prepare your content/presentation What's the format to follow (20/30/10 -- 20 on presentation, 30 on questions, 10 on pitch) What do you do with the webinar video after the webinar Crowdcast Zapier Zoom Webinar Jam

[92] Referrals From Past Clients And Teams

You work with a client. They have a great team. You part ways. Their team members eventually part ways, too. Then they reach back out.

[91] Welcome Packet Overview

Why use a welcome packet What's included in a welcome packet When do you send a prospect a welcome packet How do you update your welcome packet When shouldn't you use a welcome packet How do you get started? What tools do you use to create a welcome packet?

[90] A Single Shot of Bourbon

What do we do when we lose deals?

[89] Closed Doors

Why is it important to close enrollment in courses, and what's the strategy and thinking around opening enrollment?

[88] Speaking from the Right Dictionary

What do you need to do when you want to get more specific and double down on an industry?

[87] Please Don't Buy a Prada Shirt

[86] When Should You Offer a Money-Back Guarantee?

Money-back guarantees are helpful in some situations, and really harmful in others. When should you offer a money-back guarantee, and what should the conditions be around it?

[85] The Dreaded Price Hike

How do you know when to raise your prices? Quantitatively and qualitatively, what signs should you look for?

[84] Educational Products: Creating Your First

What defines success for the product? (Increasing rates, early rung of product ladder, general + focused w/in your positioning, etc.) What type of info product makes sense What's high impact / low risk How do you figure out what to make? How to promote it if you have a small (or no) list? What should you aim for after you've created your first educational product? (Speaking, podcasts, conferences, etc.)

[83] Podcast Equipment: The Travel Rig

In this episode, we dive into The Travel Rig that Nick bought for recording interviews and group panels at conferences or events. If you want to learn more about on-the-road podcasting hardware, listen to this one. (A 'nuts and bolts' episode)

[82] Why Aren't We Making More Money?

Description: In this episode, we answer listener Max's question from Twitter: "Why aren't the two of you making more money?". We go inside our own businesses to examine what we're working on. We discuss when you can say "I have enough" as a business owner and stop focusing on growth.

[81] Should You Offer a Free Call?

In this episode, Nick and Kai discuss if you should offer a free strategy call as a consultant and where an intake call should fall in your client intake process.

[80] Self-Care

In this episode, Nick and Kai discuss how to care for yourself when you're running a business.

[79] Recurring Revenue

In this episode, Nick and Kai discuss recurring revenue for freelancers and consultants: What are the different options for recurring revenue in your business? Taylor Swift is mentioned exactly once.

[78] Whale Clients

In this episode, Nick and Kai discuss how to manage your business when you have a whale client. What should you do? How do you future proof your business?

[77] Information Products and Product Ladders

https://www.amazon.com/Breakthrough-Advertising-Eugene-M-Schwartz/dp/0887232981

[76] The One About Coffee (& Tea)

https://www.jteainternational.com http://www.saveur.com/pu-erh-chinese-tea http://us.teagschwendner.com/US/en/homepage.TG

[75] Writing, Publishing, and Daily Emails

How frequently should you publish? It's probably more often than you're currently publishing.

[74] De-Risking the Cthulhu

Have either of you ever attempted to make the leap from consulting to running a SAAS business or other type of online/tech company? http://businessofsoftware.org/2013/02/gail-goodman-constant-contact-how-to-negotiate-the-long-slow-saas-ramp-of-death/ https://medium.com/@nickkokonas/why-we-are-self-publishing-the-aviary-cookbook-lessons-from-the-alinea-book-e89236ab6ca1

[73] Best Buyers

How do you identify and work with your best customers? Kai Davis Platinum Reserve: http://www.achewood.com/index.php?date=04282006 1,000 True Fans: http://overcomeeverything.com/4450/hint-3-1000-true-fans/ 💸 Make Money Online: Episode 13: Your Incremental Steaming Abomination💣 Ultimate Sales Machine: http://www.chetholmes.com/ultimate-sales-machine

[72] Skip Steps 1 & 3

What are our quarterly goals? Why are goals important? What shape should they take? Tiny Habits: http://tinyhabits.com & http://tinyhabitsacademy.org

[71] How do you write more as a freelancer or consultant?

Show Notes 💸 Make Money Online: Episode 19: Grist for the Mill 💣 Darius Kazemi, Tiny Subversions - XOXO Festival (2014) - YouTube Sign up for Kai's newsletter here: http://kaidavis.com Sign up for nickd's newsletter here: http://draft.nu

[70] What do you do if a prospect stops responding after you send a proposal?

What happens if a client ghosts you after you send a proposal? Episode Links The Berkshire Hathaway of The Internet The Magic Email: A follow-up that works

[69] Dear Savvy Entrepreneur

Episode 69: Nick and Kai do a deep dive on important business strategies that you need to know about. Also, if this is your first episode of Make Money Online, we're so sorry.

[68] The First Thing Bought

In this episode, Nick and Kai discuss the importance of the 'first thing' that a customer or clients buys from you (be it a product or a service) and how that transaction sets expectations for the duration of the relationship. Nick and Kai also briefly discuss how to get started with your first product.

[67] Making Retainers Work

Cramming Your Work in a Retainer Hole In this episode, Nick and Kai talk about how retainers function for freelancers and consultants and the benefits of costs of offering retainer based offerings. Nick and Kai also discuss alternative to retainer based engagements to increase your client lifetime value.