Businessing with Pat Miller

Pat Miller
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Daily

Businessing is the daily show where small business owners figure out what to do next. Live weekdays at 11am Central with Pat Miller, founder of the Small Business Owners Community. The news of the day the way an owner hears it, one big story boiled down to what to do about it, and an Idea Slam where a real owner brings a real problem and we work it on the air. Nobody taught you how to run a business. You're running one anyway. The show is the front porch; the community is the house: a $9 a month group for people who own a business, weekly Idea Slam every Thursday, owners only, nobody pitching. Join at sboc.smallbusinesscommunity.com. Newsletter: fridaysoffnewsletter.com. It's Your Dream, Don't Grow It Alone®.

  1. 4d ago ·  Video

    What to Say at a Networking Event | Businessing

    What to say at a networking event comes down to three words: clear, curious, and kind. Nobody ever handed you those words, so here they are. You walk in, you scan the room, and then you're standing by the food table hoping somebody talks to you first. That isn't a confidence problem. Nobody ever taught you how to open, how to keep it a conversation instead of a monologue, or how to leave without stepping in it. Pat walks through all three, including the networking tennis trick he actually uses. Money Monday with Lisa Raebel: chasing the sale is the thing that costs you the client. Lisa walks the whole client experience timeline, from the first intake call to the renewal ask, and explains the panicked friends and family discount you should stop giving. If a prospect's budget is short, cut the scope, not the price. Idea Slam: how do I get clients to stay longer? Cards are great. Gifts are great. The only thing that actually keeps a client is getting them the result you promised, then telling them what you were going to do, telling them while you're doing it, and telling them once it's done. Two AI stories: Grok is turning a swarm of bots loose to research, build, launch and monetize a small business live over three days, and Businessing got written up on claude.com in Anthropic's piece on what 1,000 small business owners taught them about AI. Businessing is the daily live show where small business owners figure out what to do next. Hosted by Pat Miller, founder of the Small Business Owners Community: owners only, nobody pitching, $9 a month. In this episode: 00:00 - Good morning and what's on the show 01:23 - The big story: what to say when you walk into a networking event 03:08 - Be clear: how to answer “so what do you do?” 04:51 - Be curious: how to play networking tennis 07:05 - Be kind: why complaining in the room costs you business 10:12 - Money Monday with Lisa Raebel: when chasing revenue costs you clients 14:46 - How to stop giving away the store to get the yes 16:18 - How to audit your client experience step by step 23:08 - Idea Slam: how do I get clients to stay longer? 26:12 - AI story: Grok turns a bot swarm loose on building a business 29:20 - AI story: Businessing gets written up on claude.com 32:44 - SBOC26 starts tomorrow, and the show schedule ahead Resources mentioned: SBOC26 Conference: https://event.smallbusinesscommunity.com/26conference Money Masters Bookkeeping: https://www.moneymasters4biz.com/ Foureva Media: https://fourevamedia.com Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BusinessingShow?sub_confirmation=1 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/businessing-with-pat-miller/id1870663109 Listen anywhere: https://businessing.captivate.fm/listen Fridays Off Newsletter: https://fridaysoffnewsletter.com Small Business Owners Community: https://smallbusinesscommunity.com #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #PatMiller #Networking #ClientRetention #SmallBusinessTips

  2. Sep 10 ·  Video

    Host Your Own Event for Under $200 | Businessing

    Host your own event and every advantage moves to your side of the table. You pick the room, you pick the topic, you pick who's in it, and you're the one standing in the middle of it. Pat runs the math out loud. A qualified lead from a big conference booth can run you four hundred dollars. A morning spread from Panera and a couple jugs of coffee for eight or ten people runs under two hundred. Then he walks through how he actually builds an event, starting with the test every event has to pass before you invite anybody: does it save them time, make them money, or build their network. Plus picking your format, curating the room to owners only, why you have to over-invite because 20% of your yeses don't show up, and the difference between hosting a community and hosting an audience. He started with the Breakthrough Breakfast. Three people, some bagels, ninety minutes. Six years later it's a conference. Idea Slam Mailbag: I'm terrible at telling my story on social media, so how do I do it without sounding like a sales pitch? Pat's answer is to quit using your own words. Ask your clients to describe what you did for them, then go say that. Nobody cares about your why. They care about what changes when they hand you a credit card. The AI story of the day is the one nobody wants to answer out loud. Forty-six percent of Gen Z workers say leaning on AI is making them less sharp, and half of employees say they're too dependent on it at work. Pat's take: working with a thought partner is fine, handing over your judgment is not, and telling those two apart is going to be the whole game. Businessing is the daily live show where small business owners figure out what to do next. Hosted by Pat Miller, founder of the Small Business Owners Community: owners only, nobody pitching, $9 a month. In this episode: 00:00 - Nobody taught you how to run a business, and today it's building your own room 01:15 - Why not host your own event instead of standing around at somebody else's 02:01 - You went to the chamber breakfast and left with nothing 02:39 - The math, and the $400 lead at a conference booth 03:37 - Do it in the morning, because breakfast is cheap to cater 04:04 - When's the last time you had a bagel with an ideal client 04:56 - The Breakthrough Breakfast: three people, coffee, ninety minutes 06:13 - The test every event has to pass before you invite anybody 07:01 - Pick your format, then curate the room 07:50 - Only the people who sign the checks understand the people who sign the checks 09:02 - Over-invite, because 20% of your yeses won't show 09:29 - Community or audience, know which one you're throwing 11:05 - Ten minutes of presentation, then let them grill you 11:50 - Don't let them leave without selling the next one 13:04 - Barbara asks: host it alone, or partner up 16:27 - Money Masters Bookkeeping 17:56 - Idea Slam Mailbag: telling your story on social without the sales pitch 18:48 - Nobody cares about your why 19:13 - Ask your clients to describe what you did, then use their words 22:38 - Mitchell asks: how do you do the math on a sponsorship 25:58 - Foureva Media 27:27 - AI story of the day: are we forgetting how to think 29:43 - AI is a junior employee, and a thought partner isn't cheating 30:36 - Collaborate all you want, but keep the judgment 32:36 - I walked into the conference venue this morning and saw the whole thing 34:26 - This week in the SBOC, and Monday is the last show before the conference Resources mentioned: SBOC26 Conference, September 15-17 in Brookfield: https://event.smallbusinesscommunity.com/26conference Money Masters Bookkeeping: https://www.moneymasters4biz.com/ Foureva Media: https://fourevamedia.com Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BusinessingShow Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/businessing-with-pat-miller/id1870663109 Listen anywhere: https://businessing.captivate.fm/listen Fridays Off Newsletter: https://fridaysoffnewsletter.com Small Business Owners Community: https://smallbusinesscommunity.com #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #PatMiller #SmallBusinessEvents #Networking #EventMarketing

  3. Sep 9 ·  Video

    How to Get AI to Recommend Your Business | Businessing

    Somebody in your town is getting recommended by AI right now, and there's a good chance it isn't you. There's no magic to how it picks. It reads what the web already says about you, then answers three questions: can it find you, can it trust you, and can it quote you.   Pat walks through what actually moves the needle on each one. The Google My Business profile nobody updates, claiming Bing in fifteen minutes, getting your name said in rooms you're not in, and putting the answer in the first paragraph of a blog post instead of burying it. Then the piece he didn't see coming: describing yourself the exact same way everywhere on the web, because years of old titles and old brands turn you into a jumbled up mess an AI can't trust. And the reality check, Google still sends 89% of the traffic and AI chatbots send about 1%, so you're not behind.   Idea Slam Mailbag takes a question straight out of the community. Somebody's thirty minutes late to your meeting, so how long do you wait? Pat's answer is ten minutes and an instant reschedule, plus the line that changed how he shows up: your punctuality is directly proportional to how important you think the meeting is. The last story is the NFL playing in Australia tonight, which is a lookalike audience play you can run at your size, without a stadium.   Businessing is the daily live show where small business owners figure out what to do next. Hosted by Pat Miller, founder of the Small Business Owners Community: owners only, nobody pitching, $9 a month.   In this episode: 00:00 - Nobody taught you how to run a business, and today it's getting found by AI 00:41 - How do you get your business recommended by AI 01:51 - SEO, AEO, GEO, and why the letters barely matter 02:39 - You're not behind, Google is still 89% of the traffic 03:30 - The three questions: can it find you, trust you, quote you 04:13 - Can it find you, and the Google My Business profile nobody updates 05:24 - Can it trust you: reviews, citations, and other people's pages 07:06 - Can it quote you: put the answer in the first paragraph 10:14 - The trust signal nobody mentions, describe yourself the same way everywhere 12:12 - Here's the homework, go search yourself in an incognito session 13:06 - Google Search Console now shows which AI are recommending you 14:32 - Money Masters Bookkeeping 16:20 - Idea Slam Mailbag: they're thirty minutes late, how long do you wait 17:45 - The ten minute rule, then it's an instant reschedule 18:30 - Your punctuality says what you think the meeting is worth 20:57 - The NFL is playing in Australia tonight, and it's a business decision 21:48 - Foureva Media 24:03 - Lookalike audiences, and how to run one at your size 25:45 - Partner up, change the geography, productize the side thing 29:29 - This week in the SBOC, and tomorrow we build a conference   Resources mentioned: Claude training for small business owners: https://ai.smallbusinesscommunity.com SBOC26 Conference, September 15-17 in Brookfield: https://event.smallbusinesscommunity.com/26conference Money Masters Bookkeeping: https://www.moneymasters4biz.com/ Foureva Media: https://fourevamedia.com   Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BusinessingShow?sub_confirmation=1 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/businessing-with-pat-miller/id1870663109 Listen anywhere: https://businessing.captivate.fm/listen Fridays Off Newsletter: https://fridaysoffnewsletter.com Small Business Owners Community: https://smallbusinesscommunity.com

  4. Sep 8 ·  Video

    Five Reasons You're Not Doing The Thing | Businessing

    There's something on your to-do list that hasn't moved in weeks, and it isn't because you're lazy. Five faces of inaction keep small business owners stuck, and today Pat names all five: high standards, worrying what people will say, plain old procrastination, money ghost stories, and hunting for validation before you move. Then he hands you the one rule that beats all of them. You can just do things. Michael Rampolla of Fortum Advisors joins to talk conference strategy, how to actually get an R on your I, and why the follow-up plan you build before you go is the whole ballgame. Idea Slam takes on the hardest thing in small business, which is saying the price out loud and then shutting up. And the AI story of the day is show and tell. Pat spent two days with Claude cleaning up six years of conflicting information about his business online, and he walks through what changed and how to run the same thing on yours. Businessing is the daily live show where small business owners figure out what to do next. Hosted by Pat Miller, founder of the Small Business Owners Community: owners only, nobody pitching, $9 a month. In this episode: 00:00 - The five faces of inaction, and the thing on your list that never moves 01:37 - High standards, or waiting until the work is flawless 02:01 - What will people say 04:12 - Procrastination, because hard work is hard 04:58 - Money ghost stories, and how they stop you on both sides 06:44 - Hunting for validation before you act 07:26 - You can just do things 09:41 - Foureva Media 11:17 - Michael Rampolla on conference strategy and the R on the I 15:58 - Working the elements: Coaches Row, meals, and breakfast meetings 19:12 - Building the relationship without coming off as a creep 20:46 - The number one conference failure is no follow-up plan 26:52 - Idea Slam: you said the price, now stop talking 29:29 - First to speak loses 30:35 - Minuteman Press of Brookfield 32:34 - AI story of the day: six years of conflicting information online 35:44 - What Claude did to 280 blog posts, the RSS feeds, and the invisible stuff 40:42 - How to run this on your own business 42:00 - SBOC news and the conference is seven days out Resources mentioned: Michael Rampolla, Fortum Advisors SBOC26 Conference, September 15-17 in Brookfield: https://event.smallbusinesscommunity.com/26conference Foureva Media: https://fourevamedia.com Minuteman Press of Brookfield, 20% off your print order through November 13: https://minutemanbrookfield.com 🎙️ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BusinessingShow?sub_confirmation=1 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/businessing-with-pat-miller/id1870663109 🌐 Listen anywhere: https://businessing.captivate.fm/listen 📬 Fridays Off Newsletter: https://fridaysoffnewsletter.com 👥 Small Business Owners Community: https://smallbusinesscommunity.com #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #PatMiller #Procrastination #ConferenceStrategy #AIForSmallBusiness

  5. Sep 3 ·  Video

    4 Ways to Partner Without Trading Referrals | Businessing

    Not every referral partner is ready to send you business yet, and that's fine. There are four ways to move a new partnership forward without either of you selling to the other one's list. I start with the five steps that make you a good referral partner in the first place. Know exactly what you do and who you serve. Know who else sells to that same audience. Be an actual human being on the first call. Find one slice of the business to work on together instead of the whole thing. Then build something fresh rather than trading names. Part two is what to do when you like the person but you're nowhere near ready to put them in front of your clients: asset trades, co-branded test events, link swaps for AEO and GEO, and case studies. Topgolf just pulled off the asset trade of the week with an arcade game company, and there's a version of that sitting in your business right now. Also today: every major AI tool went down this morning, and that is not an inconvenience anymore, it's missed labor. And the AI story of the day is the restaurant that put AI-generated shrimp on its menu and got its window graffitied for it. In this episode: 00:00 - Building collaborations that are more than swapping referrals 01:54 - The five steps that make you a good referral partner 07:53 - Part two: partnering when you're not ready to refer 08:16 - Asset trades, and what Topgolf just did with arcade games 10:34 - Co-branded webinars and low-stakes test events 11:31 - Link swaps, AEO, GEO and trust signals 12:33 - Case studies as a way into someone else's audience 13:48 - Your homework: work one intro without asking for a sale 15:26 - Sponsor: Foureva Media 16:56 - When Claude, ChatGPT and Grok all go down, that's missed labor 19:59 - AI story of the day: the AI slop backlash is real 26:24 - Sponsor: Minuteman Press of Brookfield 27:55 - Do not spend Labor Day weekend getting ahead 31:09 - This week in the SBOC: new member meetup, Idea Slam, Friday Finish Line 33:50 - The SBOC26 Conference is 12 days out 36:09 - Sending my son to Japan for a year Resources mentioned: SBOC26 Conference, September 15-17 in Brookfield: https://event.smallbusinesscommunity.com/26conference Forever Media: https://fourevamedia.com Minuteman Press of Brookfield: https://minutemanbrookfield.com The Money Habit by Mike Michalowicz 🎙️ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BusinessingShow?sub_confirmation=1 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/businessing-with-pat-miller/id1870663109 🌐 Listen anywhere: https://businessing.captivate.fm/listen 📬 Fridays Off Newsletter: https://fridaysoffnewsletter.com 👥 Small Business Owners Community: https://smallbusinesscommunity.com #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #PatMiller #ReferralPartners #Collaboration #AINews

  6. Sep 2 ·  Video

    Start Using AI With One Small Task | Businessing

    Most owners stall out on AI because they're trying to hand off the whole business at once. Start with one small task instead. Think of everything you have to get done in a week as a deck of 52 cards. A few of them are aces, the work only you can do. Most of them are twos of diamonds, the small repeatable stuff that eats your week and grows nothing. Every time you teach your AI to handle one of those little cards, you get to fold it and never deal with it again. Pat walks through his own two of diamonds, the weekly receipt filing he handed off to Claude, and the ten minutes it takes to find yours. Then in the Idea Slam mailbag, four steps to recover when you're burned out and can't find your love for the business anymore. Plus what's new in Claude Fable 5.1, and why using the wrong model on a small job is bad resource management. In this episode: 00:00 - What's on the show today 00:37 - Why owners get stuck trying to use AI 01:02 - Your week is a deck of 52 cards 02:51 - How to find your two of diamonds 03:39 - The weekly receipt filing Pat handed off to Claude 07:05 - The ten minute exercise to do today 08:16 - SBOC26 Conference update, 13 days out 11:46 - Idea Slam mailbag: I'm burned out and I need to find my love for the business again 12:14 - Step one, create the time 13:12 - Step two, actually step away 13:58 - Step three, do something you love 15:17 - Step four, run a time audit before you go back 18:08 - AI story of the day: Claude Fable 5.1 20:09 - What's cheaper and smarter in Fable 5.1 23:00 - Stop wasting your premium model credits 25:12 - Pick the right AI model for the job 26:36 - What's happening in the community this week Resources mentioned: SBOC26 Conference, September 15-17 in Brookfield: https://event.smallbusinesscommunity.com/26conference Minuteman Press of Brookfield: https://minutemanbrookfield.com Forever Media: https://forevermedia.com 🎙️ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BusinessingShow?sub_confirmation=1 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/businessing-with-pat-miller/id1870663109 🌐 Listen anywhere: https://businessing.captivate.fm/listen 📬 Fridays Off Newsletter: https://fridaysoffnewsletter.com 👥 Small Business Owners Community: https://smallbusinesscommunity.com #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #PatMiller #AIForSmallBusiness #Burnout #ClaudeAI

  7. Sep 1 ·  Video

    Why Your Entry-Level Offer Doesn't Sell | Businessing

    Your entry-level offer isn't selling, and the reason is sitting right there on your own price sheet. You built the cheap package because it was supposed to be the easy yes. Instead it reads like a sample, and the client who actually needs you can tell they're only getting a fraction of what you do. Today: why the intro offer fails, why plain information is worth close to nothing now, and how to let people test drive your best work instead of your smallest work. Plus the Idea Slam mailbag on telling your own story, ChatGPT claiming a billion dollars in ad sales, and why August is the hardest month of the year for small business. Businessing is the daily show where small business owners get answers. Every weekday at 11am Central. It's Your Dream, Don't Grow It Alone®. In this episode: 00:00 - The entry-level offer nobody is buying 02:09 - Why your cheapest package makes people suspicious 03:28 - Clients know they're only getting a fraction of you 04:09 - Selling information is not good enough anymore 04:38 - Vitamin or painkiller, which one are you selling 05:23 - Stop promoting your intro offer 06:10 - Let people test drive your best package instead 07:47 - Homework, audit your offer sheet today 09:57 - Sponsor, Forever Media 11:02 - Idea Slam mailbag, I can't turn my process into a story 11:56 - Why experts are the worst at telling their own story 13:36 - The CRM I built and never thought to mention 14:24 - Two ways to catch yourself doing great work 15:40 - The Oracle skill that finds my stories for me 17:15 - AI story, ChatGPT says it hit a billion in ad sales 19:56 - A 3X return on AI ad spend, and why I'm skeptical 21:01 - Sponsor, Minuteman Press of Brookfield 22:18 - Why August is the hardest month in small business 26:12 - Why September is the best month of the year 28:24 - Conference referral offer and what's on tomorrow Resources mentioned: SBOC26 Conference: https://event.smallbusinesscommunity.com/26conference Grab an Idea Slam spot: https://event.smallbusinesscommunity.com/idea-slam-pat-miller Minuteman Press of Brookfield: https://minutemanpressbrookfield.com Forever Media, Jamar Jones and team 🎙️ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BusinessingShow?sub_confirmation=1 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/businessing-with-pat-miller/id1870663109 🌐 Listen anywhere: https://businessing.captivate.fm/listen 📬 Fridays Off Newsletter: https://fridaysoffnewsletter.com 👥 Small Business Owners Community: https://smallbusinesscommunity.com #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #PatMiller #Pricing #OfferStrategy #AIforBusiness

  8. Aug 31 ·  Video

    AI Saved You 5 Hours a Week. Where'd They Go? | Businessing

    AI is handing small business owners more than five hours a week back, so where did the time go? If you're still as busy as you've always been, those hours got redeployed and nobody wrote down where. Pat digs into the 2026 study that says the average AI user gets 5.6 hours a week back, the Harvard Business Review finding that we just took on broader tasks and stretched work into more of the day, and the two habits eating that time before you ever see it. Then the Idea Slam, where an owner asks how to market a business without turning into the person whose every post has fireworks on it. Pat shoots down the premise and explains what to do instead. Plus the AI story of the day: people are stealing Claude accounts, and it is not your data they are after. In this episode: 00:00 - It is Monday and we are businessing 01:03 - Where did the ten hours AI saved you go 01:50 - The sandcastle problem 02:17 - Why entrepreneurs redeploy time instead of taking it 03:26 - The 5.6 hours a week study and what Harvard Business Review found 04:18 - Bad habits and performative eight to five work 04:58 - Where the saved time should actually go 05:54 - Your assignment, audit your last full workday 08:18 - Athena Legal Solutions and the legal confidence review 10:15 - Idea Slam, how to market yourself without the hype 12:08 - Build a highlight reel worth showing off 13:15 - Balancing results with being real online 16:03 - Minuteman Press of Brookfield 17:14 - AI story of the day, hackers are stealing Claude accounts 18:42 - Four ways to keep from getting infected 21:32 - SBOC26 is fifteen days out and ticket sales close this week 22:57 - Tomorrow, why your entry level offer is not selling Resources mentioned: Athena Legal Solutions: https://athenalegalsolutionsllc.com Minuteman Press of Brookfield: https://minutemanbrookfield.com SBOC26 Conference, September 15-17 in Brookfield: https://event.smallbusinesscommunity.com/26conference 🎙️ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BusinessingShow?sub_confirmation=1 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/businessing-with-pat-miller/id1870663109 🌐 Listen anywhere: https://businessing.captivate.fm/listen 📬 Fridays Off Newsletter: https://fridaysoffnewsletter.com 👥 Small Business Owners Community: https://smallbusinesscommunity.com #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #PatMiller #AIforSmallBusiness #TimeManagement #SmallBusinessMarketing

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Businessing is the daily show where small business owners figure out what to do next. Live weekdays at 11am Central with Pat Miller, founder of the Small Business Owners Community. The news of the day the way an owner hears it, one big story boiled down to what to do about it, and an Idea Slam where a real owner brings a real problem and we work it on the air. Nobody taught you how to run a business. You're running one anyway. The show is the front porch; the community is the house: a $9 a month group for people who own a business, weekly Idea Slam every Thursday, owners only, nobody pitching. Join at sboc.smallbusinesscommunity.com. Newsletter: fridaysoffnewsletter.com. It's Your Dream, Don't Grow It Alone®.

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