The Making Business Fun Podcast Eric Goeres

Today we're gonna be talking about old-school tactics to get the word out about your business, on a shoestring budget. 

Hey listeners: Be sure to check out and bookmark The Making Business Fun Podcast Blog at https://www.ericgoeres.com/the-making-business-fun-podcast-blog.

If you would like to work with Eric Goeres as a coach, head to www.ericgoeres.com.

And don't forget to subscribe. :)

Why do Facebook ads not work for my business? What do I need to do to rank on Google? Why are my Instagram ads not working? The answer is, sadly, these digital ad market places are over saturated with advertisers. The noise is immense, their systems are complex, and the time, effort and money to mount and effective digital marketing campaign can be overwhelming. Particularly for a business owner who is in the business of running a business, not in the business of running a bunch of digital marketing ad campaigns.

What does it require? Well, more than anything it requires creativity and consistency.  Of course, getting the word out about your business is not the primary objective. The primary objective is getting people to your business, and having them buy your products. By the end of the podcast, you should have a few ideas as to which channels you may want to explore for your shoestring marketing initiatives. One thing I will tell you, it is very important that you measure the results. It's important that you keep track of what you spend, it's important that you pay attention to the reports that you get back from whom you spend your advertising money with, and it's important that you pay attention to how many sales, and how many dollars are generated from, your shoestring marketing efforts.

The name of the game of course, is to drive as many sales as you can, with the lowest possible spend on advertising. A little bit of terminology: the amount of money that your business receives as a direct result of what you spend on advertising is known as your ROAS — the Return On Ad Spend.

Co-op advertising 

We start with something very interesting, called co-op Advertising. This kind of advertising is a split payment arrangement, where the cost of the advertising is paid for partially by you, but also partially by one of your suppliers. For example, when you see an ad for Weber grills, and the ad points out that Weber grills are available at Ace Hardware, this is an example of co-op advertising. 

Remnant Advertising 

This is a little bit of a throwback to the print advertising era, but it does work in digital space as well. It goes like this: right before the end of a sales period, or right before publication goes to print, there's usually some leftover space for advertising that has not been sold. 

Discount Radio 

This is a fun one, and I love advertising on radio. Radio has the ability to reach many many many potential customers, and unlike social media marketing, search engine marketing, and other forms of digital advertising, radio is oh so simple.

Local cable television 

Television advertising can be expensive, particularly if you're advertising nationally, on major networks, during major sporting events. However, advertising on local cable television, especially at night, is not expensive. 

Newspapers and local magazines 

It's true, circulation is down. Newspapers and magazines are certainly not what they used to be, but that doesn't mean that people don't pay attention to them. And, with lower circulation, that means advertising in them is often a lot less expensive than it used to be. 

Today I'm gonna be talking about health insurance, business owners catchall policies, property and casualty insurance, liability insurance, Worker's Compensation insurance, errors and omissions insurance, business interruption insurance and also auto and life insurance. Fasten your chin straps, it's going to be an exciting day talking about insurance.

Hey listeners: Be sure to check out and bookmark The Making Business Fun Podcast Blog at https://www.ericgoeres.com/the-making-business-fun-podcast-blog.

If you would like to work with Eric Goeres as a coach, head to www.ericgoeres.com.

And don't forget to subscribe. :)

**Health insurance **

Let's start with a bit of a heavy hitter, health insurance. Health insurance is so important because, if you have employees, it's something that they are going to inquire about as part of their compensation package. If you don't have employees, then it's something you need to think about for yourself as the owner of the business. The best advice I can give you from the very start is to shop around. You may have an existing relationship with an insurance company that insures your house, and you can start with them by calling and asking if they offer business health insurance policies. Also, there's plenty of advertisements on TV for national brand insurance companies. Almost all of them will offer some sort of healthcare insurance for business owners and their employees. Again, going to their website, checking them out, getting a quote is a great place to start. One key distinction, however, is that if you are working with an insurance agent, that means they are tied to working with one insurance company for example an agent for State Farm insurance, can only sell you State Farm insurance. However, an insurance broker, works with many many insurance companies, and can really get into the details of what your business needs it looks like and can shop around and get you a policy the best fit your business. How to pit? Well if you have a great relationship with an insurance agent already, you can start with him or her. If you don't, then it's probably not a bad idea to find a local insurance broker that you can start working with and start shopping around. By shopping around, of course, you're going to get a bunch of quotes, and you're gonna be looking at a lot of different prices. The problem with that, however, is that each of these policies will be really complex and detail oriented, and I can get confusing real fast.

Details aside, it's important that you don't get a policy that is too cheap and doesn't cover the important stuff. For example, you need to make sure that the plan covers at least the basics, things such as primary care physician, hospital visits and emergency room and urgent care clinics. Also it should include coverage for catastrophic injury, extended illness, and you really wanna make sure that it covers prescriptions. Actually, you can purchase additional policies or purchase with your primary policy extended benefits such as vision and dental. Of course, the more you buy the more you're going to pay.

As a business owner, and I say this quite often, it is your job to choose what kind of business you want to have. So, today, we are talking about profits, and therefore we are going to talk about your relationship to profits and the relationship they have on the business that you want to run.

Hey listeners: Be sure to check out and bookmark The Making Business Fun Podcast Blog at https://www.ericgoeres.com/the-making-business-fun-podcast-blog.

If you would like to work with Eric Goeres as a coach, head to www.ericgoeres.com.

And don't forget to subscribe. :)

I am reminded, often, and I will remind you here, that making a tremendous amount of profit is not the most important thing to all business owners. Some owners of small businesses are perfectly content to break even, and just enjoy their life of stress-free entrepreneurship. Typically these are the kind of people who are running a retirement-stage-of-life coffee shop, art gallery, or wine shop. Or, they are simply in circumstances where money, or rather making money, is not of the upmost importance.

Either way, it's important that we fully understand the concept of profit, the importance it plays on your business, and your relationship to profit. From there, you could then decide what your profit strategy is going to be, and move your business in that direction.

Today we are going to talk about negotiating, specifically in the real world. It's important for the entrepreneur to know the basic strategies and tactics of business negotiations, so that you can choose what strategies and tactics to employ, and also know enough to keep a lookout for them when the other side tries to use them.

Hey listeners: Be sure to check out and bookmark The Making Business Fun Podcast Blog at https://www.ericgoeres.com/the-making-business-fun-podcast-blog.

If you would like to work with Eric Goeres as a coach, head to www.ericgoeres.com.

And don't forget to subscribe. :)

Let's start with one cute little setup that you may have heard of already: good cop/bad cop. You’ve seen it on TV down at the precinct house, but believe me, it works just as well at any business or legal negotiation.

When you decide to play this game, you and your partner assume the roles of someone who is very agreeable, good cop, and someone who is very disagreeable, the bad cop. Adopting these personas makes it much easier for the team to say no, or for the team to disagree, or for the team to pretend like they're upset, or dissatisfied, or disinterested. Bringing forth this or any other type of negativity, is the specific and strategic role of the bad cop.

Consider this — we’re all nice people. It's very hard to be negative when you are normally a pretty positive person. It's just not in the positive person’s DNA. But a member of a negotiation team, when in the role of the bad cop, can very easily, and often with quite a bit of fun, be the person who says no. Be the person who laughs with scorn. Be the person who rolls his eyes. Be the person who scoffs at deal points and says “no way.” The role of the bad cop is to say no, to be disagreeable, be disinterested, be ready to walk away from the table, be ready to work with other people, be ready to throw the whole negotiation in the trashcan because the bad cop believes — or rather, pretends to believe — that there's a better deal to be had somewhere else.

All this negativity could be a bad thing, if it wasn't balanced by the good cop persona. The good cop is the balance to the bad cop. And this is the only way that this game works. For the bad cop to be the bad cop, there must be someone else in the room on the same negotiation team, who can smile, be friendly, tell the bad cop to simmer down, tell the person across the table “don't worry we'll work it out,” and otherwise keep the mood light, airy, positive, and moving in the right direction. I'm sure you can see that if every member of your negotiation team is either overwhelmingly positive, or overwhelmingly negative, things are going to quickly go off track, but a good partnership of good cop and bad cop can be very effective at making sure that your overall team presents an overall attitude of friendliness and good cheer, and also has the teeth and the tenacity to stick up for itself and insist on a good deal. Done well, this is often the best way to be forceful at negotiating, while still preserving goodwill and positive vibes after the negotiation.

And I must say, either one of these roles can be pretty fun to play, provided that you have the comfort and confidence that your partner is going to play the opposite. It’s much easier to be the bad cop knowing that the good cop is standing by to smooth everything over. Of course, it's got to be proportional. If the bad cop is going stand up, and march across the room to kick over a trashcan, then the good cop need to be willing to jump up, run around the table, and give everyone over there a shoulder massage. The antics must be proportional and in balance.

Pop quiz: How much money do you need to have on hand to start your business?? If you don't know, then this episode is for you. There's also a really cool spreadsheet that goes with this episode ... you can get it at www.ericgoeres.com/resources. 

Today, we are going to take a look at two very specific sets of numbers. First, we are going to take a look at the costs to start your business. These are, the costs, the money you must spend, to get your doors open.

Hey listeners: Be sure to check out and bookmark The Making Business Fun Podcast Blog at https://www.ericgoeres.com/the-making-business-fun-podcast-blog.

If you would like to work with Eric Goeres as a coach, head to www.ericgoeres.com.

And don't forget to subscribe. :)

The second set of numbers that we are going to look at, is the monthly operational costs — overhead — and your sales break even point. That is, how much of your stuff you need to sell every day, week or month, to be profitable. Being profitable, of course, has a direct effect on how long you stay in business. Generally speaking, businesses that make lots of profit stick around for a long time, and businesses that don’t make profit don’t last that long.


**The Process**



As was almost everything in business, there is a process. So often, those who are not familiar with running a small business, think that running a small business is some combination of a magic trick and dumb fool luck. That's not the case, at all. These are typically the same people that assume an airplane pilot is constantly upfront juggling levers, paddles, steering wheels, and buttons, in a chaotic frenzy, to keep the plane in the air. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, almost all aspects of the business, can be boiled down to some very simple rules, processes, and tasks, that when executed in the proper way, and in the proper order, will lead to a well running, well organized, well understood, profitable and fun business to run.



Are process here is very simple, and a fast four steps. I'll run through them very quickly now. Step one, we add up all the start up expenses. Step two, we add up all of the assets that you will need to purchase to get your doors open. Step three, we are going to add up your ongoing monthly expenses — otherwise known as overhead. And then finally, step four, we are going to calculate the amount of sales revenue that you must exceed to keep the doors open. Otherwise known as, your break even point.

The first set of dollars and cents that we are going to concern ourselves with are the dollar costs required to get the doors open. These costs fall into two clear categories. The first category is start up **expenses**, and the second category is **assets** to purchase. Start up expenses, assets to purchase.

Operating expenses are the expenses required to, imagine this, operate the business. Before now, all of our costs have been one-time start-up expenses. These monthly expenses are recurring expenses — month after month, for the life of your business. Like rent, is a good example. There are basically five quick categories of operating expenses, and they are: facilities, personnel, what I call moving and shaking, operations, and or old pal, miscellaneous.

What is brand? Something for the small business owner to figure out. In this episode, we talk about what brand is and look at the approach some brands take. 

Hey listeners: Be sure to check out and bookmark The Making Business Fun Podcast Blog at https://www.ericgoeres.com/the-making-business-fun-podcast-blog.

If you would like to work with Eric Goeres as a coach, head to www.ericgoeres.com.

And don't forget to subscribe. :)



Links from this episode:

Mint Mobile: fbuy.me/trwoQ (Referral Link)

Red Bike Brand: redbikebrand.com

Up in a Day: upinaday.co

Schoppee Farm: shopschoppee.com

Flowers & Candy: www.flowersandcandy.me



Brands eventually wind up in our customers’ stomachs, homes, garages, or remembered collection of experiences. Let’s take a look at a few small businesses expressions of their brand. 

Red Bike Brand — Perfect for a small-town apparel business capturing the Key West Vibe, appealing to locals who live the sunny beach paradise vibe, and those who visit it and want to take it home with them forever.  The Red Bike is the mythical metaphorical container for all those beach vibes. It’s a brand that gets charged in the vacation-time sun, and then continues to hum with that vibe  back home, thousands of miles away, melting the snow with thoughts of that red bike, baking in the Key West Sunshine. 

Up In a Day, this is a company that makes websites for small businesses. The team at Up in a Day thinks that small business owners often have to go through unnecessarily long processes and workflows just to launch their website. What does this brand’s name, Up in a Day, tell you about the way they work? What’s the promise they are making to their customers? What does the name Up in a Day communicate about the product benefit? 

Flowers and Candy — a main street boutique in Portland, Maine. Based on that name, what do you think you’ll find in this store? Probably a frothy combination of a florist and a high end candy shop. Well, you’d be surprised to find that when you walk in, there’s not a flower to be found. This brand sells women’s hats, clothing, apparel, accessories and yes, a good bit of candy, although the candy it is really known for is medicinal in the sense that it’s all gourmet candy with CBD infusions. Surprise! The apparent mismatch between the name and the preconceived brand expectations and what the brand actually offers send some very memorable brand signals: surprising, interesting, curious, unique, different. Somewhat edgy. Pretty cool. And definitely oh so memorable and it creates a big guess what, or get this, moment. Where 4 hour later, out to dinner with friends, you talk about the big pleasant surprise you got today when you discovered that Flowers & Candy sells hats and CBD. Also, in this example, the words Flowers & Candy are not a literal descriptive of whats in the store, but more metaphorical as to what kind of vibes the brand promises to bring to its customers. Flowers & Candy is the vibe, not the product offering. And that makes the brand bold and memorable, and goes to show that breaking the rules in a creative way can be genius.