The Drive - Business & Growth with Dan Nedelko

Dan Nedelko
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Let’s talk business, real business. No hustle. No gimmicks. Real business talk for the real small business owner and entrepreneur. Join me if you’re interested in building a real sustainable business that can secure your future and your freedom.

Episodes

  1. 12/09/2023

    The True Cost of Hiring vs. Partnering with Professional Services for Small Businesses

    I often hear in many different different business, the idea of building a team versus hiring a professional services provider and a trusted partner. A few things to keep in mind: Take into account the true cost of building a team. Understand it’s your time and that is a never ending commitment. Your team may move on, resetting your resources and causing you even more time. Key team members may move on and then you really have to focus on their role and the impact on your business. In the world of small business ownership, every decision can have a significant impact on your success and bottom line. One critical decision that often arises is whether to hire an employee or partner with professional services for various business needs. Let’s disect the scenario and look at both options. The Employee Hiring Scenario Let’s start by considering the traditional route—hiring an employee. For many small to medium-sized businesses, hiring staff may seem like the natural progression to handle tasks like marketing, payroll, human resources, accounting, bookkeeping, and more. The Initial Salary Suppose you decide to hire a marketing manager with 2-3 years of experience. In December 2023, the average starting salary for such a position in Ontario is around $42,000 annually. This amount, however, is just the beginning of your financial commitment. Recruitment Costs Recruiting the right employee can be a time-consuming and costly process. On average, it takes about 42 days to find the ideal candidate. During this period, resources are allocated to the recruitment process, adding up to approximately $4,129. Onboarding and Ramp-Up After hiring, the employee’s productivity typically remains low during the initial months. This period of onboarding and ramp-up can be conservatively estimated at one additional month’s salary, which is another $3,500. Paid Time Off Your employee will likely require paid time off, which typically includes two weeks of vacation and two weeks of sick leave. This adds an extra $3,500 to your yearly expenses. Payroll Taxes and Benefits Employers are responsible for payroll taxes, employee benefits, and contributions to health spending accounts (HSAs). Factoring these in, you’re looking at an additional $12,000 annually. Software and Tools To equip your employee for success, you’ll need various software tools, such as CRM systems, project management tools, and design software. A conservative estimate for these expenses is $1,000 per month or $12,000 per year. Total Cost of Hiring an Employee Summing up all these costs, the true cost of hiring one employee in this scenario comes to a staggering $84,649 annually, nearly double the initial salary. The Alternative: Partnering with Professional Services Now, let’s shift our focus to the alternative—partnering with professional services. Instead of hiring an employee, you can collaborate with trusted partners who specialize in areas like marketing, payroll, human resources, accounting, bookkeeping, and more. Cost Predictability One significant advantage of partnering with professional services is cost predictability. You can typically negotiate a retainer fee, which remains consistent throughout the partnership, making it easier to budget and plan for your business expenses. Expertise and Experience Professional service providers often have years of experience and a team of specialists at their disposal. They bring industry-specific knowledge, best practices, and a track record of success to your business. No Onboarding or Ramp-Up Period When you work with professionals, there’s no need for an onboarding or ramp-up period. They’re ready to hit the ground running from day one, delivering immediate value to your business. No Employee-Related Costs Partnering with professional services eliminates the need to worry about payroll taxes, benefits, or employee-related costs. You pay a fixed fee for their expertise, and they handle the rest. Focus on Your Core Business By outsourcing non-core functions to professionals, you can focus on what you do best—growing your business and serving your clients. Should You Hire Internally or Find a Partner? In conclusion, while hiring an employee may seem like the obvious choice for small businesses, it’s essential to consider the hidden costs and complexities involved. Partnering with professional services offers cost predictability, expertise, and a streamlined approach to meeting your business needs. The decision ultimately comes down to whether you want to take on the responsibilities and costs associated with hiring, or if you’d prefer to leverage the skills and experience of trusted professionals. In many cases, the latter proves to be the more efficient and cost-effective solution for small to medium-sized businesses, but that’s not always the case. There are no silver bullets. When evaluating the true cost of hiring versus partnering, it’s clear that the value of professional services can far outweigh the expenses of hiring and maintaining an employee. As small business owners and entrepreneurs, we should always be building a network of trusted advisors and service providers to help us navigate the challenges of growing our businesses.

    22 min

  2. 11/30/2023

    Differences Between Partners and Service Providers

    What’s the difference between a Partner and a Service Provider as it applies to professional services? Specifically Digital Marketing or Software Development? There are some major differences IMHO…let’s dive into it. Partners are part of the process, involved in the conversations as they are developed. Partners are on the team and involved in the development of strategy. Pro tip: when you engage a partner, engage them in your desired outcome not in the task at hand. If you’ve got a good partner, then they’ll use their experience to work with you to achieve that outcome. Service Providers are not distinctly part of the process. They’re valuable in their own way, but they are not strategic. Service providers provide a specific task, complete that task and move on to their next project. Each type of professional service; whether it’s a partner or a service provider fulfills a specific need and one is only superior to the other within the context of the bigger picture. The danger? In asking for a partner when in fact you really want a service provider. That can get messy for both sides of the equation. Enjoy this “sort of” Transcript. Introduction: In today’s episode of The Drive, Dan Nedelko dives into a crucial distinction that often gets overlooked in the business world: the difference between a partner and a service provider. He emphasizes the importance of choosing the right term because words matter, especially when it comes to defining the relationships within your service-based business. Defining Partners and Service Providers: Dan starts by clarifying that the definitions of a partner and a service provider are worlds apart. Service providers are there to fulfill specific requests, complete tasks, and move on. On the other hand, partners engage in a more profound relationship, actively participating in the process, and sharing their expertise and experiences. Digital Marketing: Dan delves into the realm of digital marketing and explains that distinguishing between a partner and a service provider is crucial. Partners should be deeply involved in the client’s internal dialog, helping them understand the intricacies of their strategies. While service providers fulfill tasks efficiently, they may not contribute to strategic discussions. Software Development: Shifting gears to software development, Dan points out that the choice between a partner and a service provider depends on the client’s technical infrastructure and needs. If you need specialized technical skills, a service provider might be suitable. However, if you seek a comprehensive understanding of how technology aligns with your business goals, a software partner with a broader experience is essential. The Power of Partnership: Dan underscores the value of partnerships, where both parties work collaboratively to achieve desired outcomes. Partners bring a wealth of experience and want to see your business succeed. When the partnership is genuine, it becomes a powerful force for growth. Conclusion: In closing, Dan urges listeners not to confuse partners with service providers and warns against misusing the term “partner” when seeking specific services. He emphasizes that choosing the right word is essential, as it sets the tone for the relationship. Final Thoughts: In the best-case scenario, a partnership is a true collaboration, while a service provider fulfills a specific task. As you navigate the world of business relationships, make sure you choose the right partner or service provider based on your unique needs and goals. Outro: That’s it for today’s podcast. We hope you found this episode enlightening. Stay safe out there, and remember, words matter in defining your business relationships.

  3. 11/25/2023

    The Drive – Business and Growth with Dan Nedelko

    Welcome back to The Drive with me, Dan Nedelko. Join me to learn about Business and Growth for Small Business. It’s practical, snackable, pragmatic and hopefully helpful. In this welcome back episode I’m explaining a bit about my perspective on Business and what value I can convey to you in the rejuventated verion of The Drive. Join me and I’ll be talking about: Business – running a small business as an Entrepreneur. Marketing – how can you make practical marketing decisions that will serve your business well. Technology – what can you do to leverage technology to your benefit. Finances – how to make the right moves FOR YOU right now. Government Regulation and Taxes – dealing with our glorious leaders in government and taxation issues that can protect you, your business and your family. Sanity – maintaining relationships while running your business. Peace of Mind – making sure you’re taking care of the most important person in the equation. YOU. Efficiency and Productivity – I’m NO guru but I’ve learned a few tricks about being efficient. When I’m efficient, I’m happier and more productive. Thanks for being here. Remember: you know more than you realize.

    10 min

  4. 06/27/2019

    Planning for marketing versus a marketing plan

    Planning for marketing versus a marketing plan I’ve decided to resurrect my podcast in order to be more relevant to a wider audience, in addition to it being easier and more convenient for me to record a short ten to fifteen minutes podcast on my drive into the office every morning. I’m anticipating that it will be a podcast full of tips, anecdotes, gripes, strategies, tactics and techniques that I’ve used over the years and in my day to day adventures in the world of startups and marketing. If you know me then you’ll know that I have a number of concurrent projects happening all of the time. The concept of the “lean startup” is not new to me. It’s actually called bootstrapping, or, “starting up without any money” – this concept is as old as commerce itself. For some reason it’s the new rage in the world of technology startups, so I’ll refer a bit to that audience but in reality this should be useful for any entrepreneur, small business owner or marketing/business professional making their way in this new digital economy that has developed. Episode 1: Planning for marketing versus a marketing plan. I cover why a marketing plan written in stone will do you no good at all, especially when you’re moving quickly and defining your product or service. I give up a process I’ve used successfully dozens of times in both the online and offline business worlds. Click the play button to get started, and please forgive the noise, I really am driving while I recorded this!

    14 min

  5. 12/31/2016

    Digital Marketing 2016 Recap: Google, Facebook, Twitter From The Trenches

    As we wrap 2016, it’s a good time to look back and reflect on the fact that there have been more updates in the past year in terms of SEO, Google, Facebook, Twitter than the past 3 years combined, all which affect how we market and do business on the internet. Platforms such as Google and Facebook have introduced new tools that take digital marketing to the next level and that makes reaching our target audience a whole lot easier. In today’s Marketing Drive we’re not talking about the 2017 trends but rather the 2016 changes and how that will affect how we think about our activity in the digital marketing industry. These are my personal observations from my day to day work and client work that span these different digital marketing platforms. 2016 has been a great year for Honeypot Marketing, thanks to everyone for subscribing to The Marketing Drive YouTube channel and podcast. Happy New Year! In The Marketing Drive Episode 22 we’re talking about: The 2016 digital marketing changes that make an impact on how brands and companies need to communicate online. Google’s introduction of the new indexing infrastructure ‘Caffeine’ and the Mobile First Index. Facebook’s updated pixels and updated video features – how these tools can connect you to your audience even further. How Twitter real time moments will be the newest way to consume the latest news on politics and society. Video Transcription Welcome to the marketing drive. I’m Dan Nedelko and it is the end of the year. On today’s marketing drive I wanted to talk a little bit about, not trends because I don’t like the word trends. But for 2016 especially, in the world of digital marketing, there has been full of changes this particular year from my observations. Working day to day in digital marketing on client work, our own projects, using all of the different channels in the platforms that we use, this year has seen some really substantial changes. Now you can probably look back every single year and say the same thing but I feel that this year there was a huge maturity that happened on a lot of social media platform. 1.Google Starting with the big ‘G’, Google introduced the caffeine platform. I’m probably going to miss a couple of these milestones, such as Penguin 3 and Penguin 4, but I think how I’m going to hit on the generalities of it. So we saw the caffeine platform which really underpins Google’s infrastructure roll-out and that really put an end to your “google update”. Since that happens now in almost real time, those rankings move around. There are thousands of thousands of PageRank algorithm updates that happen. They’ve said over a thousand, so I actually would trust that would be the case given the size and scale of the search engine itself, and the number of people working on it and the platform is running on. What I would say is very effectively and I have been involved with a number of projects who you know we’re living in a state of denial about what penguin means? Why is content important? Why SEO and just site development best practices are extremely important? And they got penalized for it. A lot of old-world thinking about what content means? Is content important for the user? Which it absolutely is and the holistic approach of SEO which I think is often forgotten. Search engine optimization is not a thing that is completed, it is a process that takes the user into account and as such it’s more closely aligned with customer experience and user experience. Information architecture is more than architecting the physical structure of the site, but how the information flows back through to the user. If Google can understand your site, then a human being can understand your site. So take the time to consider the user in terms of their understanding of your site, your product, how they interact with it, what stage of interaction there at with you. What we saw with penguin, caffeine, and now google mobile first is that we’re seeing a massive shift where Google’s algorithms are really becoming more and more closely aligned with what I would call the customer experience. You have to adjust your search engine optimization strategies, for example, to work in line with that. If you ignore that and continue to develop pages that have content for the sake of having content, you’re going to be spinning your wheels without the definitive plan of what you want to have happened someone lands on your site through a search engine. Beyond direct is still the number one source of traffic for almost every site that we work on and we work very hard to make sure that that happens. In November 2016, Google’s mobile first index came out and what that really means is that there are in fact two different Google indexes now. When you visit on a mobile device, you will see different search listings and different results than you would see if you’re coming from a laptop, desktop or even the tablet device. Mobile first is extremely important because it is the growing channel people have to interact with you online. Again the simple analogy is you may be watching this on your phone – if you’re not watching this on your phone, I’m going to bet that your phone is no more than arm’s length away from you. So that shift late this year heralds a lot of big changes. Our entire content strategy needs to be shifted and adjusted to really work with a lot of that maturity especially on the google side, so your content has to change and the way that you design a site has to change being mobile-first, possibly even custom app development which is the primary way that people interact with sites and applications on their mobile devices. So that’s google, it’s going to be mobile – mobile first, mobile app development, search optimization in app. So iTunes Store, Google Play, taking into account that google now has google pixel which is going to be a probably a rising kind of star for google, but again just on the mobile front is really tailoring a mobile experience primarily rather than secondarily, and moving into the app development space, and really understanding when you design pages specifically on your site whether they’re lead acquisition pages or information pages or anchor pages, the device is important for the layout of your content and how people interact with that. Obviously, screen size is a massive issue. Smaller screen sizes should have content tailored for people and understanding how people use devices. When you’re mobile you’re typically on-the-go. You’re not going to read a five-page document right. You may watch a video it needs to be scan-able all of those types of things. 2. Facebook The next biggest player in the game, in the industry, is Facebook. Facebook has come a long way in 2016 in particular. Facebook went from having, what I would call a fairly embryonic advertising platform into having something very sophisticated and obviously they’ve been pouring tons of resources into it. All of the different channels that are available on Facebook now, in particular, how Instagram interaction works within the Facebook environment, which is actually very powerful. It’s powerful brand and it’s powerful for conversion. It should not be dismissed; it is an integrated part of the Facebook experience whether it appears that way on the front side or not it very much is. Facebook released their advance new pixel which can be installed on sites and then you can gain additional advanced levels of information about your users, about how they’re interacting, how you can remarket and retarget to them.  How you can build up those custom audiences and refine those custom audiences and also how visibility works on the Facebook platform. All of those things have accelerated more in one year than they probably have in the combined three years before that. One of the biggest changes for Facebook is the roll-out on stripe and PayPal payments being accepted via messengers for e-commerce retailers on Facebook specifically and Facebook will not be charging a fee to do that. So that means that your customers that interact on Facebook will then have the ability to pay you via messenger using stripe and PayPal so that really accelerates the importance of how you could use things like a Facebook Messenger to interact with your customers for resale, for purchase and actually accept the payment in a seamless way. The next big thing for Facebook will be, Facebook doubling down on video. One of the biggest things that I think people don’t know or haven’t noticed is the Facebook now has a very similar media library to YouTube. It’s obviously not a YouTube, YouTube is still kind of the king of video, but Facebook again has the ability to create and move people into the platform very quickly that is going to be interesting to see how that pans out. I see video becoming more and more important. The ability to cross-post between two brands seamlessly is extremely important for partnerships because digital marketing in 2016, partnerships have become more critical and more welcomed by everybody in order to reach the right audiences. Facebook is going to continue to double-down I think on new ways for businesses to interact with individuals which will then allow them to kind of filter out the noise of Facebook, that’s always been kind of a big thing since the Facebook brand page was introduced. Making it even more critical for you as a brand and as a marketer to connect with the right individuals, not the most individuals. 3. Twitter Twitter had an interesting year and fascinating to watch. We weren’t sure where Twitter was going to end up but it has turned into a media outlet for politics and current events. It gave Twitter a snowflake status, and no it’s not going to “beat Facebook”, they’re just two different things altogether. Beyond the finances of that company they’ve got

    21 min

  6. 12/29/2016

    Building Leads and Developing Relationships Using PPC Channels : Marketing Drive ep 21

    Paying to market your core product or service through Google AdWords, Facebook or Bing (or any other paid channel) will be an extremely expensive proposition. Watch and learn how to reduce your Pay Per Click campaign costs, create a highly engaged lead list and increase your conversion and retention rates. Sound too good to be true? It isn’t, it simply requires an understanding of how a lead and conversion list can be set up to reduce costs and increase your long term conversions. The best part of this? You’ll be investing a lead list your can segment and develop relationships with your potential clients over the long term. In The Marketing Drive Episode 21 we’re talking about: Reviewed our Black Friday and Cyber Monday e-Commerce programs, they were fantastic! Why we saw bad campaigns running for 4 solid days and companies spending millions front loading offers. How we can be smarter with our budgets, no matter how modest they may be, and build real contacts with potential customers. What it means to really stop thinking of this as “lead acquisition” and start thinking of the process as “relationship building”. Subscribe to The Marketing Drive YouTube channel Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes I’ll be covering the latest and greatest marketing, business and start-up tips every day from the road. Agency Life: http://dnedprod.wpengine.com The ups, the downs of agency life. How to build your agency successfully. Marketing Execution: http://honeypotmarketing.com Every day we’re launching, reviewing and optimizing marketing campaigns. Marketing and Business: http://marketerknows.com How to survive as an effective marketer without losing your sanity. Marketer Knows is a community for marketers who are in the trenches each and every day.

    8 min

  7. 09/19/2016

    AdWords Quality Score Talk : The Marketing Drive ep 20

    AdWords is the world’s most advanced and largest network for publishers and an extremely powerful demand-side platform (DSP). If you’re a digital marketing professional managing advertising inventory then this will be a great use of 8 minutes of your day! AdWords Quality Score can have a substantial effect on your advertising performance and your bottom line. The differences equate to 4x to 6x more expensive CPC rates. In today’s Marketing Drive we’re talking about AdWords Quality Score, why it’s important for all marketers from the highest executive levels to the most junior intern to understand the importance of this score. Your Finance team and your year-end budget actuals versis forecasts will thank you for being thoughtful about your digital marketing messaging quality. In The Marketing Drive Episode 20 we’re talking about: The importance of AdWords Quality Score. Digging into some of the misconceptions of AdWords Quality Score and how it works. 5 Actionable tactics you can implement today to increase your Quality Scores. Why I’m going to stop numbering tactics in the podcast. Subscribe to The Marketing Drive YouTube channel Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes I’ll be covering the latest and greatest marketing, business and start-up tips every day from the road. Agency Life: http://dnedprod.wpengine.com The ups, the downs of agency life. How to build your agency successfully. Marketing Execution: http://honeypotmarketing.com Every day we’re launching, reviewing and optimizing marketing campaigns. Marketing and Business: http://marketerknows.com How to survive as an effective marketer without losing your sanity. Marketer Knows is a community for marketers who are in the trenches each and every day.

    8 min

  8. 06/15/2016

    Why You Need To Classify Your Digital Marketing Campaigns : The Marketing Drive ep 19

    Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter Share on linkedin LinkedIn Share on reddit Reddit Share on whatsapp WhatsApp Setting your digital marketing campaigns into one of three main types will help you maintain your sanity and provide clear goal posts for your team. Misunderstood campaign goals can cause a serious headache when the campaign is complete if everyone involved is not on the same page or unclear on the goals. Lead generation is a nurturing and growth process, it does not burn resources. Conversion Campaigns can be very effective when care is taken to understand your true Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). Retention Campaigns can catapult your business into the stratosphere. In today’s Marketing Drive we’re talking about why I do The Marketing Drive without expectation of reward, defining the type of campaign you are launching before it is launched and ensuring it fits into your revenue allocation and targeting model. In The Marketing Drive Episode 19 we’re talking about: Why I do The Marketing Drive (because I ❤️  you, that’s why). The importance of content creation without expectation of reward. Lead Acquisition Campaign. Goal: generating the lead to get them into your funnel. Conversion Campaign: converting that lead or inbound customer into a “sold customer” Retention, Rebuy, Reactivation: a.k.a the “Care” campaign. Subscribe to my YouTube channel Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes I’ll be covering the latest and greatest marketing, business and start-up tips every day from the road. Agency Life: http://dnedprod.wpengine.com The ups, the downs of agency life. How to build your agency successfully. Marketing Execution: http://honeypotmarketing.com Every day we’re launching, reviewing and optimizing marketing campaigns. Marketing and Business: http://marketerknows.com How to survive as an effective marketer without losing your sanity. Marketer Knows is a community for marketers who are in the trenches each and every day.

    7 min

  9. 06/14/2016

    Practical PPC and AdWords Optimizations : The Marketing Drive ep 18

    Managing PPC campaigns on Google AdWords or Bing networks and now Facebook and Twitter is complex. Set it and forget it isn’t going to work in 2016, you’ll burn your budget and reduce your acquisition efforts. In today’s Marketing Drive we’re talking about 10 AdWords PPC Optimizations we can do right now, today to optimize our budgets and increase conversions. This episode of The Marketing Drive is great for PPC marketers or for business owners and marketing teams who hire PPC consultants or agencies. Here’s what you’re going to get in episode 18 of The Marketing Drive: 10 practical AdWords optimizations you can use right now. Checking in on your campaigns daily. Break out your Ad Groups and Keyword Sets to be more targeted and specific by topic. Create customized landing pages that are flexible enough to update and optimize quickly. Cross reference your most effective time of day performance and accelerate your campaign during those times. Go mobile. Run mobile only campaigns and do not blend Desktop and mobile. Optimize your re-marketing groups. Most remarketing is done very badly, limit, cap and customize the messaging. Negative Keywords. Use them. Running in the GDN (Google Display Network) and filtering out the high volume low quality sites that won’t convert. Set up alerts and automations to notify you when significant events happen. Let’s talk marketing on the drive into the office. I’ll be covering the latest and greatest marketing, business and start-up tips every day from the road. Agency Life: http://dnedprod.wpengine.com The ups, the downs of agency life. How to build your agency successfully. Marketing Execution: http://honeypotmarketing.com Every day we’re launching, reviewing and optimizing marketing campaigns. Marketing and Business: http://marketerknows.com How to survive as an effective marketer without losing your sanity. Marketer Knows is a community for marketers who are in the trenches each and every day. In today’s episode I’m talking about sticking to a Marketing Playbook, executing “on point” in an agile manner and a little bit about what I’m going to be talking about in the Drive every day! Subscribe to my YouTube channel Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes

    12 min

  10. 06/13/2016

    How to map Marketing Strategies and Tactics Effectively

    Often marketing strategies and tactics are confused. Here are some tips that will help you to lay out Marketing strategies clearly, assigning tactics to them, then completing the circle by integrating that process into your reporting cycle. Subscribe to my YouTube channel Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes In The Marketing Drive Episode 16 we’re talking about: The difference between strategy and tactics. Making sure your marketing strategies align to business goals. How to map out your marketing strategy and easily assign them to tactics. Ensuring tactics achieve your strategic and business goals. How to be flexible enough to adjust your tactics when performance is an issue or strategies change. I’ll be covering the latest and greatest marketing, business and start-up tips every day from the road. Agency Life: http://dnedprod.wpengine.com The ups, the downs of agency life. How to build your agency successfully. Marketing Execution: http://honeypotmarketing.com Every day we’re launching, reviewing and optimizing marketing campaigns. Marketing and Business: http://marketerknows.com How to survive as an effective marketer without losing your sanity. Marketer Knows is a community for marketers who are in the trenches each and every day.

    8 min
  • 10 Episodes

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Let’s talk business, real business. No hustle. No gimmicks. Real business talk for the real small business owner and entrepreneur. Join me if you’re interested in building a real sustainable business that can secure your future and your freedom.

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