The Bean Ninjas Podcast Meryl Johnston: Bean Ninjas CEO, entrepreneur and accountant

Want to increase your leads and sales with online ads, but not sure where to start? Meet Ilana Wechsler.
In Episode 81 of the Bean Ninjas Podcast, Bean Ninjas CEO Meryl Johnston talks to Ilana Wechsler, Founder of Green Arrow Digital and Teach Traffic, about getting started with Pay-Per-Click Advertising.

Source: Green Arrow Digital
Episode Highlights
 3:00 – Ilana’s background as corporate analyst and her transition into SEO and web traffic
 8:00 – Using flippa to analyse websites and content websites and keyword research using Google-ads
15:00 – The challenges of agency work! Buying more traffic does not solve all problems!
21:00 – Launching online courses to allow business owners to run their own traffic
23:00 – Re-targeting as the best ROI activity in advertising
26:00 – Why you should install tracking codes for Google & FB
30:00 – How to choose between FB ads (more social things, need to go softly and not sell right up front, need to develop awareness) vs Google Ads (known products work, but expensive cost-per-click)
33:00 – Why the sequence of what people see when ads appear is so important
34:00 – The benefits of using Google and FB platforms 
Transcription
Meryl Johnston:
Hi everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Bean Ninjas Podcast. Today I’m joined by Ilana Wechsler, who is the founder of Green Arrow Digital, which is a PPC (pay-per-click) agency and she’s also the founder of teachtraffic.com.
We chat through some of Ilana’s tips and they’re pretty practical around things that you can do to improve the way that you’re using Google Ads or Facebook ads and she covered really some learning of things that you can implement pretty simply in your business to get results. That’s one component of the episode.  
And then, the other is hearing about Ilana’s transition from running her agency to focusing on her education business, teachtraffic.com. And I found that really interesting, her thought process in working out where she wanted to spend her time and how she made that transition. 
And if you’ve been listening regularly on the Bean Ninjas Podcast, you will have heard that I’ve been focusing on building Financial Literacy Training products and we’re still absolutely running the agency somehow to Bean Ninjas where we’re delivering done-for-you bookkeeping, financial reporting and dashboard reporting.  But we’re really focused on building up the education side of things, too.
And so, it was interesting getting Ilana’s perspective on her thought process around why she came to that conclusion. And then also, how she’s gone about implementing that so that she can focus on building the education about her business.
Hey Ilana. Welcome to the show.
Ilana Wechsler:
Thank you so much for having me on. It’s my pleasure. 
Want to increase your leads and sales with online ads, but not sure where to start?? Join us on the Bean Ninjas Podcast as Ilana Wechsler, Founder of Green Arrow Digital and Teach Traffic shares her knowledge. Click To Tweet
Meryl Johnston:
It was funny, we were taking a few weeks back and I was on your podcast and then we were having a little chat afterwards about education and running agencies. And I was really interested in your story. And I thought, “I have to get you back on to the Bean Ninjas Podcast to share not only that story but also some of your knowledge around traffic.” So really excited to have you here and have this chat. 
Do you want to start by sharing with the audience a little bit about your backstory in terms of your agency and how you got started with that, and then, will dig into that – the evolution? 
 
Ilana Wechsler:
Yeah, sure. So I have I guess an interesting story, but I guess everyone’s story is interesting on some level, of course, right? But I’m not your typical story of I always dreamed of opening, start

How does Patrick Manosca build his community and bring awareness to the Xero brand?
In Episode 80 of the Bean Ninjas Podcast, Bean Ninjas COO Wayne Richard talks to Patrick Manosca about how Xero approaches selling, community and advocacy in order to build a leading global brand.
 

 
Episode Highlights
 
When I say community I refer to surrounding yourself with like-minded folks who are on the same journey.Click To Tweet
 
01:00 – What is Xero and how it helps small businesses
04:41 – How to get started in moving to the cloud from paper or excel
07:48 – Tips for driving awareness of your business and brand
09:45 – The best places to find value-add small business communities
13:00 – Tips and traps of joining on and off-line communities
16:40 – The importance of advocates for your business
18:55 – Xero’s five core values to work and live by
23:31 – Being part of people’s journeys to the cloud
25:16 – The importance of being strategic in building a community
30:05 – The importance of being a Xero Partner to commence your Xero journey
 
Learn the foundations of financial literacy and using Xero with Meryl.
 
 
Transcription
 
 
Tips on Selling, Community and Advocacy with Patrick Manosca of Xero
Wayne Richard:
Welcome to the show, Patrick. How are you doing this morning and where are you recording from today?
Patrick Manosca:
Hey, good morning, Wayne. I’m excited to be here. Thanks for having me. I’m in lovely San Diego, the city of our most recent US Xerocon.
Wayne Richard:
Excellent. So today, you’re going to share some tips with us on selling, community, and advocacy. But before you do, I’d like for you to share a bit more about yourself to our listeners and also hear from you your introduction at Xero and hope you can address for us who’s it for and why is it needed. 
Patrick Manosca:
Oh, absolutely. Happy to. But first, let me start by saying a big congratulations to Bean Ninjas for being awarded Xero’s Bookkeeping Partner of the Year in Queensland this year.
Wayne Richard:
Thanks so much. 
Patrick Manosca:
Absolutely. Super, super big congratulations. Your hard work, your passion, and resilience, you’re championing of changing the industry. We’re happy to have you.
To get to how I would introduce Xero, interestingly enough, I’ve actually brought a couple of personal friends who have started up a couple of side hustles, as we call it here in the US, and put their businesses on Xero and couldn’t be happier.
So I typically introduce it as a beautiful, easy to use, cloud platform for small businesses and their advisors. It was born in the cloud as a kind of software, as you know, but Xero has evolved to provide a full spectrum of connected tools and services to help all kinds of small businesses grow. 
So yeah, we’re pretty proud of it. As you know, we are founded in 2006 in New Zealand, one of the fastest-growing software companies globally.
And we’re pretty proud to be not just in the USA, but New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, parts of Asia. And we just passed and announced our latest milestone; just surpassed 2 million subscribers in more than 180 countries. 
Xero is a beautiful, easy to use cloud platform for small businessesClick To Tweet
Wayne Richard:
Congratulations. I know Xero has been a critical partner to us along our growth journey. And as you’ve shared, we’re being recognized recently as Bookkeeping Partner of the year for Xero, not just in Queensland, but we actually, we’re also announced as the Australian Partner of the Year.
So it was a huge moment for the team and one we look forward to celebrating across all of the next 12 months.
Patrick Manosca:
It’s amazing. It’s quite, quite the journey. And as you hopefully have seen what we’ve seen, part of the why is that we feel and have found t

What does it take to launch and scale a productized service and grow a freedom business?
Jake Jorgovan talks about being a start-up entrepreneur and founder of ‘Lead Cookie’ & ‘Content Allies.’ Lead Cookie is a done-for-you LinkedIn lead generation service. Content Allies turns consultants into thought leaders through content marketing. Tune in now to hear Jake’s insights.
In Episode 79 of the Bean Ninjas Podcast, Bean Ninjas CEO Meryl Johnston talks to Jake Jorgovan about launching his productized service businesses and the challenges he faced. Jake explains how he was able to remove himself from his first business and why he chose to develop a second one. Listen now to learn about building a productized service business (or two!) and how Jake really feels about the term “productized service business.”
 
 
Episode Highlights
What does it take to launch and scale a productized service and grow a freedom business? @JakeJorgovan shares how he's done it (twice).Click To Tweet
 
2.04 Jake introduces his two productized service businesses, Lead Cookie, a done-for-you LinkedIn Lead Generation business, and Content Allies, which turns consultants into thought leaders through content marketing.
6.45 How Jake removed himself from day-to-day operations of his businesses
8.57 Jake’s thought process around starting a second business as a diversification strategy
11.27 How Jake felt starting his second business, Content Allies, as compared to building his first business, Lead Cookie
13.15 The cultural differences between Jake’s two businesses
18.00 What financial freedom means to Jake
19.45 How Jake got on top of his business metrics and the effect it had on profitability.
26.30 Building Jake’s personal brand as an asset
30.53 The platforms Jake uses to promote his personal brand
33.00 The value of learning how to deal with numbers
 
Learn the foundations of financial literacy and using Xero with Meryl.
 
 
Transcription
 
 
How to Go From $0 to $33K in 6 Months With a Productized Service Business, Featuring Jake Jorgovan
Meryl Johnston:
Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Bean Ninjas Podcast. Today, we’re chatting with Jake Jorgovan, who is the founder of Lead Cookie, which is a done-for-you LinkedIn lead generation service, and Content Allies, which turns consultants into thought leaders through content marketing. 
So Jake runs two different businesses. He originally founded Lead Cookie and then diversified into another business, being Content Allies. And I think it’s pretty interesting to hearing the contrast as well as the comparison on what it’s like in running two different product-type service businesses.
Jake’s got a whole lot of great information around things that he’s doing to grow both of his businesses, scale his teams, team culture, and he actually has a really interesting story around some things he’s learning to do with finances. And there was a period in his business in the last 12 months where he really focused on finances, accounting and did some workaround that generates some results. I think we’ll find that story interesting as well.
Hey Jake, welcome to the show.
 
Jake Jorgovan:
Thanks for having me on here, Meryl.
 
Meryl Johnston:
I think I actually met you on your podcast. So it’s probably a couple of years ago now. And I’ve been keeping an eye on what you’ve been doing, reading some of your content over the years. So it’s great to have you here and chat all things product-type services.
 
Jake Jorgovan: 
Yeah. I’m excited to share everything with your audience here, so I’m an open book today.
 
Meryl Johnston:
So why don’t we start with a little bit about who you are, and I believe you’re running two businesses at the moment. So maybe you could give just an overview of what those businesses are and how they help your customers.
 
Jake

Tyler Basu shares valuable insights on video content marketing and how it can help you monetize
In Episode 78 of the Bean Ninjas Podcast, Marketing Coordinator Anfernee Chansamooth talks to Tyler Basu about all the ways a good content strategy can bring rapid growth to your business.
Learn the Ultimate Video Content Strategy to Increase Your Influence and Income Online with @tylerbasu #content #marketingClick To Tweet
 
 
Tyler Basu on developing a niche, the metric that matters and founding a business
Tyler Basu is a Content Strategist that specializes in helping personal brands and online entrepreneurs scale their business. He’s the Co-Founder of Influencer Studio, a marketing agency that offers done-for-you content marketing and webinar presentation development services for entrepreneurs. 
He’s also the Publisher of Lifestyle Business Magazine & Podcast, an online publication dedicated to helping entrepreneurs learn how to build a life and business on their own terms
Tyler spent three years working for one of the largest online education education platforms in the world. Although he came in as a professional, his role as a content manager required a lot of learning.
He took courses, listened to podcasts, read books and went to conferences in order to improve his skills.
If you are a content marketer, it’s likely that you know what a content strategy involves. Tyler was focused on growing a blog, publishing YouTube videos, webinars, online courses, articles, interviews, case studies, worksheets, guides and checklists.
Related: Target Your Customers With These Top 10 High-Performing Types of Content Marketing
If you are a business owner, note that, even without a sales department, through content, you can bring in tons of customers.
However, content marketing is most effective when you have interest in smaller businesses. Going after big companies as clients will require an effort put in by account managers and salespeople.
Related: How to Get Big Corporate Clients (And Service Them Right)
If you are considering leaving the corporate job and starting your own business, do some validation first.
It was just me, jumping on the phone, talking to people, finding a need, and then putting together proposals, you know, selling stuff, but selling a service before I actually had created it. And then, you know, getting the first clients before committing to it. And then once I felt like, okay, I’ve honed in on an offer here that people are willing to pay for. I’ve got a couple clients, there’s proof that there’s demand for this. Then I felt less risky, resigning and jumping into it full time.
Co-founding a business can potentially help you grow it faster. These are the two types of personalities every business needs:
#1 A sales and marketing person with a vision
#2 An operations person responsible for recruiting, training and managing people
Related: 5 Things I’ve Learned by Co-Founding a Successful Business
When it comes to growing your business, Tyler shares one incredibly valuable advice in this chat.
Do not focus on audience size as a metric. Getting the attention is beneficial, but you must choose quality instead of quantity in order to sell.
If it’s not the right audience, if they’re not an ideal client, you will not be able to make the sale.
 
The resources Tyler Basu turns to in order to grow and his views on financial freedom

 
Creating content is great for getting attention. But you could probably do pretty good if, you know, even as little as 1000 people that were really, really targeted, knew who you were and followed all your stuff and consumed all your content or even 10,000 people and it’s not super expensive or time consuming to build an audience that big if you’re focused on the right audience in the first place…if you can get 1000 people who actually like your stuff and buy your stuff

How can B Corps help create positive change and a sense of purpose for workers and stakeholders? Tim Jones @thegrowgoodco tells us all about it.
In Episode 77 of the Bean Ninjas Podcast, Bean Ninjas CEO Meryl Johnston talks to Tim Jones about being a B Corp Ambassador, how his past roles led him to this position, and how B Corps are helping create a fairer, greener, more positive future.  Tune in to learn what’s involved in becoming a B Corp, as well as how Tim’s work has evolved into a role filled with purpose.
Tim consults to like-minded, socially-responsible companies and explains how meaningful work has enhanced his sense of purpose in life.
Episode Highlights
What makes a business a B Corp? How can B Corps help create positive change and a sense of purpose for their workers and stakeholders? Join us on the Bean Ninjas Podcast to hear Tim Jones @thegrowgoodco talk about his experiences with B…Click To Tweet
01:00 – 02:00 — Tim Jones explains his mission to help people find their purpose
02:00 – 04:00 — Tim’s take on financial freedom
03:00 – 04:00 — Tim talks about removing debt in your life and becoming free
04:00 – 07:00 — Tim recommends ‘The Bleeding Edge’ documentary on Netflix and talks about his ‘awakening’
07:00 – 08:00 — B Corps are for-profit businesses that aim to balance purpose with profit (and how this fuelled Tim on his new mission)
09:00 – 11:00 — Five pillars of B Corp certification: Governance, Workers, Social Impact, Environmental Footprint, & Business Customer Model.
12:00 – 14:00 —  Tim was made redundant and started his own coaching company for other B Corps
15:00 – 17:00 — Expanding demand for B Corps and the advantages of being a first-mover in your industry when becoming a B Corp
19:00 – 20:00 — The benefits of using LinkedIn to help build your network
20:00 – 21:00 — The importance of knowing your audience and speaking to their level of knowledge
21:00 — Tim talks about his E-book The Why and the How of the Business of Good – available via his website https://www.growgood.co/
 
Learn the foundations of financial literacy and using Xero with Meryl.
 
 
Transcription
 
 
How B Corps Can Help You Live and Work With Purpose and Meaning, featuring Tim Jones
 
Announcer Welcome to the Bean Ninjas Podcast, where you get an all-access pass to see what happens behind the closed doors of a fast-growing global bookkeeping and financial reporting business.
 Meryl Johnston:
 Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of The Bean Ninjas Podcast. Today, I’m chatting with Tim Jones, who is The Grow Good Guy. Welcome to the show, Tim.
Tim Jones:
Hello! Or as we’d say over this side of the ditch, “Kia Ora.”
Meryl Johnston:
 And where in New Zealand are you chatting to us from? 
Tim Jones:
 So I am based in Christchurch, so down south. I guess the biggest city in the South Island or the mainland, as we call it.
 Meryl Johnston:
 My dad is actually from Christchurch so I have family over there and have visited many times.
 Tim Jones:
 Excellent. That’s nice.
 Meryl Johnston:
Yeah, beautiful part of the world. So let’s start with a little bit about you and what you’re working on. If you were to meet someone at an event and you had 60 seconds to explain who you are and what you do, how would you do that? 
 Tim Jones:
 That’s a great question that has taken me quite a few years to try and distil this. So essentially, the tagline I’m kind of working within the minute is, “I’m in pursuit of purpose.” So for me, but for people around me, and I guess, ultimately everyone, to be able to find more purpose and meaning in life so that you can have a better life and you can contribute more in your life and create a better world for more people.
 Meryl Johnston:
 Love it. And we’re going to dig into how you came to be r

Have you ever wondered what it takes to scale the Great Firewall of China? Join us as we learn from Jons Slemmer about how to succeed at doing business in China.
In Episode 76 of the Bean Ninjas Podcast, CEO Meryl Johnston talks to Jons Slemmer about how to succeed at doing business in China.
In our latest podcast episode, we scale the Great Firewall of the Chinese internet and, with Jons Slemmer’s expert help, show you what’s involved in setting up a Chinese website.Click To Tweet
 
 
Jons’ fascination with China
Jons’ interest in China began in 2007. What was an annual trip of a few weeks eventually stretched into months and, six years ago, he made the big decision to relocate.
At that point, Jons was a technology, internet and IT specialist who owned an online digital business in the Netherlands. Today, he owns and operates Redstar Consulting, through which he and his team helps international businesses to establish a digital presence in China by getting started and growing on the Chinese internet.
Related: How to Work from Anywhere with Andy Willis
 
 
Brands are motivated to do business in China
The Chinese internet is an ecosystem unto itself thanks to what is colloquial known as the Great Firewall. As Jons says, the ‘great firewall’ can be an obstacle for foreign business because it doesn’t allow many of the platforms and apps they’re used to working through, from social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, to cloud-based solutions, such as Google and Dropbox.
Yet the motivation to get into China is huge. A staggering 98.4% of Chinese internet users are active smartphone users. WeChat, for example, is the most popular chat application in China with over 1.056 billion active users. The platform accommodates instant messaging, large file sharing, discussion groups, paying bills, video conferencing, ordering transport and food delivery and more. Weibo is another Chinese social media behemoth, with over 445 million monthly active users and growing. 
The reality is that when leveraged properly, these Chinese social media networks may actually be more effective at affordably reaching audiences than their Western equivalents.
Related: 10 Most Popular Social Media Sites in China (2019 Updated)
Consequently, building brand visibility in China is at the forefront of many of the world’s leading companies’ growth strategies, as well as smaller businesses looking to create direct trade or partnership links. The challenge, however, is in navigating entry into a market that presents multiple obstacles, from language, to currency, to tariffs, to technical differences.
Related: How to Build a 7-figure E-commerce Business With Andrew Youderian
Some of the leading Chinese e-commerce platforms are Tmall and JD, among a myriad of others. So how do you choose one? Jons shares his experience and guides listeners on what it takes to “rent internet space” in China, as well as how to navigate licencing and regulation, and mechanisms for protecting your brand’s intellectual property in China where ‘shanzhai,’ imitation and piracy is common.
“Six years ago you could buy anything, today it’s all about the brand. If someone is knocking off your brand that’s a pat on the back. It means you’ve done good work.” Jons Slemmer
Related: How to Create a Brand Identity & Stand Out From Your Competition With Franziska Iseli
Watch now! The 5 Biggest Challenges of Doing Business in China:
 
Infographic: e-Commerce Statistics and Trends in China:

(source: go-globe.com)
You might assume that the Chinese internet is like ours, just more limited. In fact, it’s a totally different digital ecosystem.Click To Tweet
 
 
Tips for doing business in China
What does it take to have a website and social media presence and for your brand to be active on multiple Chinese channels where your potential customers are loit