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Stephen Warley is a self-employment expert. He came on to discuss the 4 major trends that are causing work to change and what you can do to prepare for them. This is a must listen to episode for all the new or soon to be solo-professionals out there. Enjoy! In this episode we cover: How automation will change a majority of jobs by 2030.  What the half-life of skills means and how it will affect your career. Why it's not a good time to be in middle management. How you can make it big in business by going small with your market. Quotables: "I believe the future of work is all about self-management." "Automation will lift productivity and economic growth, but millions of people will need to upgrade their skills." Links and resources mention: Get Apprenticeship  How Work Is Changing Building Your Community ABR #2 Life Skills That Matter Podcast The Big Leap Full Disclosure: I earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

In previous careers, Nathan has been a designer, author, and blogger. After learning the power of email marketing he gave up a successful blogging career to build ConvertKit. He's come on the show to let us know how you can start using email for your service based business. In this episode we cover: Why starting an email newsletter isn't a priority when starting out. What email you should write first to get more clients for your business. When you should consider writing your first automated email series. Where to find your first newsletter subscribers. How to demonstrate your expertise through teaching everything you know. Quotables: "Email marketing is just a method to push out something useful to people who want it." "We have written, video and audio as ways of conveying a message." "With email, the expectation is that you either read, archive delete or reply to every single message. So people engage with it." "I wanted to make sure people had all the information they needed to deci

Does a majority of your new business come from referrals? Do you often wish you had a bit more control over when and where your next client will come from? Then today's show is for you. My guest, Patrick Ewers, is Silicon Valley’s top relationship management expert. Patrick and his team at Mind Maven train business leaders to reach their full potential by ensuring they hear about more of the right opportunities. Startup founders hire him to uncover venture funds or their next big hire. You and I can use his actionable insights generate more of the opportunities we want in our business. (Hint: More referrals!) Patrick's opportunity finding tactics are simple, effective and easy to implement. In this episode we cover: The 5 best emails to send when you don't know what to say. How to make sure every interaction you have with your network is meaningful, relevant and valuable. Why it's important to walk into every meeting knowing how you might help. The massive benefits that come from creating posi

Follow-up is important for sales, marketing and the growth of your business. You need to follow up with your: leads clients potential joint venture partners and more. Even if you are a solo professional, business is a team effort. But it is easy to let your follow up activity slip down the to-do list. Unless you are careful, more urgent tasks or more entertaining distractions can botch the best intentions. Fortunately, seasoned entrepreneur Meredeth Bell came on the podcast to share her strategy for making the important but not urgent follow-up process a little bit easier. In this episode we cover: Why prioritizing your follow-up will pay off in the long run. How to make following up a fun game (vs a dreaded chore). What types of follow-up you need to do to grow your business. Video Trailer: Links and resources mention: Meredith's video on LinkedHelper app The Power of Listening ABR #14 Connect with Zack and Meredith: Meredith's LinkedIn – Meredith Bell Meredith's Twitter – @m

Jennifer Bourn is an award-winning website designer. She also runs her own small business. At the beginning of 2011, her web design business ate up all of her time. 100+ hour work weeks were the norm. Travel (her passion) was impossible. Stress was high. Important tasks were falling through the cracks. Then, during her annual business retreat, she created a simple system to help onboard her new customers. Instead of repeating herself, she sent a series of automated emails that: set expectations outlined the project requested specific information sent useful tips and pretty much delighted all of her customers. Her automated email onboarding system worked so well, she added it to other parts of her business. In 1 year Jennifer was able to year cut her 100+ hour work week, filled with admin and email, to a 30-hour work week where she can focus on the thing she does best... design beautiful websites. I love this story so much. Listen in to find out exactly how Jennifer managed to: save time i

Michael Katz is a likable marketing expert for solo professionals. He came on the podcast to show you how you can get more and better clients by positioning yourself as a likable [fill-in-your-service] expert. No marketing budget? No problem! After listening to this episode, you'll know how to attract all the clients you need with word-of-mouth marketing. Like exercise, all it takes to see results is: finding a routine you don't hate the commitment to show up every day If you've been struggling to stand out from the crowd and find the clients you can't wait to work with, this episode is a must listen. Enjoy! Video Teaser: In this episode we cover: Why being a subject matter expert is not enough. How to attract more of the right clients by adding personal stories to your marketing. What percentage of your time should be spent on marketing. 3 criteria for being a likable expert (and getting hired as a solo professional): People need to believe you are capable and see you as an expert.

John Corcoran is an expert at strategically managing the relationships that make a difference in your business. He believes sharing: your connections free, helpful content (podcasts, blog posts, videos) are the two best way to grow a network of people who want to support you and your venture. Service-based entrepreneurs listen up, this might be the best marketing advice you've heard all year! This podcast will show you how to start helping others in a way that will also drive your own success. In this episode we cover: How to do an 80/20 analysis of your network. Why tracking your lead sources is vital for effective networking. (Hint: Ask all prospects, "How did you hear about me?") How to use interviews as a way to connect with high-level mentors, partners and clients. How to get Rob Lowe to play you on TV. Quotables: "It's good to be helpful. You never know what might come of it." "If you can’t get $600 out of your CRM [in a year], you are just not using it." Links and resources m

Learning from past actions is one of the most effective ways to make improvements to your personal and business productivity. Today productivity strategist Mike Vardy is on the podcast to give you a simple game plan to review your year. By listening, you'll get some fun strategies to help you: celebrate your successes learn from your mistakes move forward with more purpose Enjoy! In this episode we cover: How to use your calendar to kick-start your annual review. Why breaking your annual review into 4 separate 'seasonal' journaling sessions will give you the most accurate snapshot of the year. Examples of quantitative and qualitative data you can take from your past to help you become more effective in the future. Vardy Quotables: "We don't tend to look back enough when we are trying to move forward." "The holiday season is like being on a plane ride for two weeks. You've got fewer expectations at work. You can use that extra time to reflect and plan." "Productivity is about intenti

What would a perfect year look like for you? Mentally? Physically? Spiritually? With your finances? Devin Ambron put on a workshop this December to help Austin entrepreneurs build, plan and live their best year. We go over some of the strategies he used to help attendees kick butt in 2018. Including: reflecting on the past understanding the present looking toward the future One exercise that will help you understand your past, present and future is discovering your productivity personality type. Devin's 4-part framework helped me understand why I love lists and reminders but have a hard time scheduling work for a specific time. If you've ever felt like traditional time management books don't work for you, you'll definitely want to tune in. We cut right into the conversation. Enjoy! In this episode we cover: 4 Productivity personality types and tips for succeeding with all of them. Why most time management books don't work. (Hint: They are only written for 1 personality type.) How advice fr

Humans are creatures of habit. If we do something one way on Wednesday, odds are we’ll do that same thing the same way on Thursday. Sometimes that helps us. Think about those who exercise regularly and can’t imagine otherwise. Other times, not so much. Think about those who arrive home each night and unthinkingly switch on the TV. So how do habits come to be? And how can we change them? This podcast is the third and final episode of this goal setting, clarifying and doing series. It's all about how to take consistent action on your goals using the power of habits. In this episode we cover: 3 ingredients needed to create, break or replace a habit. How to know if a habit is formed. 4 habit forming personality types. Quotables: "The best plans in the world don't mean much if you don't follow through." Links and resources mention: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits by Gretchen Ruben  MyFitnessPal Podcast 42: How To Choos

Goals have an impact beyond the obvious. Specific goals are connected to more important life goals. These higher goals reflect your most important ideas. The specific goal of losing 20 pounds, for example, may be an element of a more important life goal of being healthy or attractive to your (potential) romantic partner. For the goal you selected from the Wheel of Life exercise, consider the following questions: Questions To Answer: Use these questions as prompts for a 5-minute free writing exercise about your goal. Do you truly believe that pursuing this goal is important? Would you feel ashamed, guilty or anxious if you didn’t? Do you want to achieve this goal personally, or are you doing it to please someone else? Is the pursuit of this goal enjoyable, stimulating or satisfying? Is this goal part of a deeply felt personal dream? How would success in this area change the way you see yourself? How would other parts of you personal life change as a consequence of achieving your goal? How wou

In this episode we cover: How to make a new year's resolution that lasts How to prioritize your goals to make the most positive change Quotables: "You can anything, but you can't do everything." Links and resources mention: YNAB - You Need A Budget How to use the wheel of life: Print out the above wheel of life image: wheel_of_life.png Grab a pen. Rate each of the areas by marking one of the ten rings in the section based on how well you feel like you are doing in that area of life. 1 means not satisfied. Terrible. Couldn’t be worse. You weigh 500 pounds. You have a hoarder house. You’ve got $50,000 in credit card debt. 10 is highly satisfied. You just ran the Boston marathon. You’re financially free. [3] You married the woman of your dreams. Once you’ve made your marks, take your pen and connect all the lines: You can also shade in the sections: Pick the 1 or 2 areas you ranked the lowest. Take a walk and brainstorm ways you can make improvements to it. Find one i

New, repeat and referral business all come from one place. Your relationships. Contactually CEO Zvi Band comes on the podcast to show us how to take the heavy lifting out of reaching out to and following up with your important business relationships. In this episode we cover: How to use a game to sort and 'bucket' your contacts. How to use Contactually to: remind you to follow up with important contacts create personalized email templates make an introduction efficiently keep up with your contact's social media tag contacts based on location and personal interests schedule emails to go out on a future date keep personal notes on contacts The power of a $10 basketball and doggie bowties. What to say when reaching out to your network. How many relationships you can realistically expect to keep track of. The one thing that separates the most successful and least successful Contactually users. Quotables: "The best businesses in the world are built off of authentic relationships

Imagine this scenario. You sit down at your desk with a cup of coffee. Open up your computer to a blank desktop screen. You move your cursor to the bottom doc where your most used applications live. Click on the colorful, beachball looking Chrome icon. Your browser fires up, and all of this happens instantly: Google Chrome welcome you back by name. A beautiful new wallpaper, the time and local weather appear on your open tab. Chrome asks you to what your main focus is so you can stay on track. Your projects, resources, and calendar are one click away. You are also one keyboard shortcut away from automatically logging into any needed websites. This episode of Able Business Radio shows you how to optimize your online work environment with Google Chrome. In this episode we cover: Why the Chrome browser is almost 4x as popular as the closest competitor. How to optimize your work environment to maximize your willpower and decisions making juice. Where to start when customizing your Chrome accoun

Lisette Sutherland helps people work from anywhere online. She came on the podcast to talk about some of the challenges and opportunities of working in virtual teams. In this episode we cover: Why you should invest in rocking internet and good headphones. The best way to start every meeting (especially for introverts). When you should turn the video on in virtual meetings. (Hint: Always) The benefit of recording ALL of your team's meetings. How to use post-it notes to keep people engaged. When to put ideas into a virtual parking lot. How to make all meetings optional. Where to build personal time into the meeting. Quotables: "If you are spending the first 10 minutes getting the tech set up [for an online meeting] you are doing something wrong." "Nobody wants to come to your webinar." Links and resources mention: Jim Benson Personal Kanban Interview Trello App Zack's Butler For Trello Review Hack Zack's Free 8 Part Kanban Training Zoom (referral link) Blue Jeans Web App T

Is your email inbox count in the 3, 4 or 5 digit range? This podcast will give you the exact step-by-step process for getting that number down to zero in 2 hours or less. Roll up your sleeves, we are going to work on your inbox! In this episode we cover: How to make email a less addictive. What you need to do to get out of email inbox H-E-Double Hockey Sticks. Set up your @Action, @Read, @Waiting folders. Filter by date. Archive anything older than a month. Sort remaining emails into your @Action, @Read, @Waiting folders. Process those email folders to zero. Key differences between Outlook and Gmail. Ninja Email Processing: Quotables: "You get the email you deserve."- @mattcowdroy Links and resources mention: Matt's Building A Second Brain Podcast Episode https://zacharysexton.com/productivity-ninja/ Zack's Email Workflow Podcast https://zacharysexton.com/emailworkflow/ Sanebox vs Unroll.me Podcast and Video https://zacharysexton.com/unrollme-safe/ How To Bulk

If you’re like me, you probably set up a LinkedIn account at some point during your career, then promptly forgot about it. That's about to change. My guest John Nemo will have you looking at the professional networking site with a fresh set of eyes. Eyes with dollar signs in them. Coaches, consultants, small business owners and sales professionals listen up, what you learn in this episode has the potential to earn you thousands in increased sales. Enjoy! In this episode we cover: How to set up a LinkedIn profile that gets your target customers interested in your products and services. How to generate nonstop clients and revenue with LinkedIn messenger. Step 1: Set up a client facing profile. Step 2: Use LinkedIn search to find your ideal leads. Step 3: Engage and sell to prospects via 1-on-1 conversations in LinkedIn messenger. What parts of LinkedIn can be ignored. Quotables: "Talk to someone about themselves and they'll listen for hours." - Dale Carnegie "The riches are in the niches

Matt Cowdroy and fellow Clean Slate members have a discussion on the effects a mindfulness practice can have on your personal productivity and stress levels. In this episode we cover: Why separate "boss time" and "worker time" How mindfulness training can help you become more productive. Strategies for dealing with the stress of the "never-ending to-do list" Quotables: "Mindfulness is a willingness to turn towards our experience." "When your mind is wandering, and you bring it back- you're strengthening the muscle." Links and resources mention: Clean Slate Group Coaching How To Be A Productivity Ninja Meditation Apps: Calm Headspace Insight Timer Connect with Matt and Zack: Matt's Website: thinkproductive.com.au Matt's Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattcowdroy Zack's Twitter: https://twitter.com/zwsexton Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, PocketCast or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps t

Josh Fonger is a business systems specialist that came on to tell us the how, why and when of setting up business processes that will allow you to make more money while working less. In this episode we cover: Finding and documenting systems and that will help scale your business. How to exercise strategic restraint to get more out of your time. What to prioritize to grow your business faster. Quotables: "Work begets work." Links and resources mention: Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less Good To Great Connect with Josh Fonger: Twitter: https://twitter.com/wts_josh LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshfonger/ Website: http://www.workthesystem.com/josh-fonger/ Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, PocketCast or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show gain exposure. The shownotes can be found at zacharysexton.com/35

I Googled the word 'entrepreneurial' to make sure I spelled the word correctly for the podcast shownotes. (Hint: I didn't.) Google thought I would like to know the definition of 'entrepreneurial.' It gave me the following as my first search result: Entrepreneurial - adjective - characterized by the taking of financial risks in the hope of profit. Entrepreneurship is by definition risky. Or is it? The question of riskiness depends on how you think about risk. If you choose to have a job, you have one steady income stream. That income stream is called your paycheck. Steady seems less risky. But what happens if you are let go from that job? 100% of your income goes away is what happens. And that's the situation my guest Dorie Clark found herself in. She's had one income stream. That income stream went away at a less than opportune time (seriously... could not have been a worse date). It's now been many years since her fateful 'no mo money' day. Dorie has spent the time growing her skills, experimenting