How to Turn What You Know Into a Business

Today’s guest on Hack the Entrepreneur is the founder of The Improv Effect, a company that gives their clients a competitive edge, through creativity, collaboration, and effective communication.
Her goal was to help businesses reach their full potential and she has successfully done this for global companies such as Groupon, Johnson & Johnson, The PGA Tour, Crayola, and many more.
With techniques that she learned on the job at Disney and Sesame Street, she leads teams and organizations to achieve teamwork, creative problem solving, presentation skills, and product development sessions.
In addition to this, today’s guest is a much sought-after speaker, as well as a speaking coach to leaders worldwide.
She also co-authored a book called CTRL Shift: The book for any day.
Now, let’s hack …
Jessie Shternshus.
In this 30-minute episode of Hack the Entrepreneur, host Jon Nastor and Jessie Shternshus discuss:

Why we are made to improvise every day (and how to relearn this skill)
Letting your audience come up with ideas on their own
How teaching local classes helped Jessie’s business get off the ground
How Jessie trusted her gut and following her instincts
Why business should be treated like a game of chess

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About the authorRainmaker.FMRainmaker.FM is the premier digital marketing podcast network. Get on-demand business advice from experts, whenever and wherever you want it.

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How a Minimalist Design Made an Unexpected Impact on Book Sales

Once in a while, you make a decision that affects your business and 100 percent of your revenue stream.
Such was the case with Joshua Becker of Becoming Minimalist, except that he had someone else to share the blame with when things fell apart — Brian Gardner.
Nearly a year ago, Brian redesigned Joshua’s website, and along the way Brian insisted he remove the sidebar … which was where Joshua was selling his books. In the spirit of minimalism, they felt it was necessary, and the impact it had was something neither one of them expected.
In this 18-­minute episode of No Sidebar, host Brian Gardner and Joshua Becker discuss:

The prequel to Joshua’s website, Becoming Minimalist
The burden of our possessions
How Becoming Minimalist began
The story of how Brian and Joshua met
Thoughts on Becoming Minimalist’s redesign
Removing the sidebar on Joshua’s website and how it affected book sales
Leo Babauta and selling your readers’ attention
The Proxima Nova typeface
#brocation in Breckenridge and our ski run down Briar Rose

Click Here to Listen toNo Sidebar on iTunes
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About the authorRainmaker.FMRainmaker.FM is the premier digital marketing podcast network. Get on-demand business advice from experts, whenever and wherever you want it.

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Should You Really ‘Walk in the Direction of Your Fear?’

We are often told to “walk in the direction of our fears.” But is that really good advice?
Is it possible our fears know something we don’t … and that we should listen to them?
In this episode of The Lede, the third in the Hero versus Villain series, hosts Jerod Morris and Demian Farnworth take up this debate — and yes, another special guest is invited.
You’ll learn about Jerod’s fear of clowns, Demian’s fear of public speaking, and you’ll get to relive the terrifying moment when one of conversion expert Joanna Wiebe’s biggest fears manifested itself in ten unwelcome gray hairs.
And, of course, they’ll answer the question: is “walk in the direction of your fears” really good advice?
Find out all of this and more on the latest episode of The Lede …
Click Here to Listen toThe Lede on iTunes
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About the authorRainmaker.FMRainmaker.FM is the premier digital marketing podcast network. Get on-demand business advice from experts, whenever and wherever you want it.

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8 Harsh Truths about Social Media (and 1 Pretty Awesome One)

Saying that the Internet isn’t working for us is like saying the solar system isn’t working for us.
It’s our job to learn how it works, and then learn to be smart about working with its nature.
In this episode of Confessions of a Pink-Haired Marketer, host Sonia Simone talks about some lessons she has learned from being on the social web for 26 years now. Which is, yes, a pretty darned long time to spend fooling around on the Internet.
In this 28-minute episode of Confessions of a Pink-Haired Marketer, host Sonia Simone talks about:

Why “digital sharecropping” is so dangerous
Why you don’t own the conversation — and how you can benefit from it, if you’re smart
Why outrage is like meth
How the room is bigger than you think it is
Why everything on the web becomes 100 percent visible just at the moment you don’t want it to be
Why you should never get into a flame war (but what to do if you need to defend yourself)
Why personality matters, but train wrecks die broke
How to use natural disasters or other terrible events in your marketing (spoiler: You don’t)
The awesome way that social media can make you a much, much better writer (or artist, or musician, or whatever you happen to be)

Click Here to Listen toConfessions of a Pink-Haired Marketer on iTunes
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About the authorRainmaker.FMRainmaker.FM is the premier digital marketing podcast network. Get on-demand business advice from experts, whenever and wherever you want it.

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How to Build a Profitable Email List with Social Media Advertising

Your email list is the most valuable asset for an online business. There’s a lot to consider when maximizing the number of people who sign up, but sometimes you have to also focus on getting enough people to see your opt-in in the first place.
Noah Kagan has spent over $2 million on Facebook ads while building his business AppSumo, powered by an email list of over 700,000. A bold move, but you have to also realize that Kagan was employee number 30 at Facebook and helped build their ad system.
Needless to say, Noah has vast experience and can share exactly how to do profitable ad spends on Facebook for list-building. So who better to have on the show for another free consulting wisdom-seeking episode of New Rainmaker?
In this 29-minute episode of New Rainmaker with Brian Clark, Brian and Noah Kagan discuss:

Why you should focus on fundamentals instead of Facebook
Is Facebook now a pay-to-play platform for marketers?
How to convert social traffic into email subscriptions
A longer (more profitable) view of social media advertising
What you should do if an ad spend is profitable
How to make sure your ad campaigns will work
Why he suggests using retargeting for product-based campaigns
Which social ad platforms have performed best for him
How to successfully advertise on Twitter
Two surprisingly successful recent ad campaigns

Click Here to Listen toNew Rainmaker with Brian Clark on iTunes
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About the authorRainmaker.FMRainmaker.FM is the premier digital marketing podcast network. Get on-demand business advice from

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Digital Business, Authenticity, and the Freedom of Being Yourself

It’s no secret that many of us struggle with who we are and that validation is at the very top of our priority list.
Social media and the Internet make it really easy to wear a mask, but that habit can be devastating.
Identifying the issue is a great place to start, but it requires a lot of ongoing work and maintenance. Thankfully, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel … and a way to get it right.
In this 18-­minute episode of No Sidebar, host Brian Gardner and Allison Vesterfelt discuss:

How I met Allison and her husband Darrell
Vulnerability, being unfiltered, and balance
The freedom of being you
The difficulty of starting a podcast
The idea behind our weekly newsletter, No Sidebar
The Skype call that paved the way for the future of the podcast

Click Here to Listen toNo Sidebar on iTunes
Click Here to Listen on Rainmaker.FM
About the authorRainmaker.FMRainmaker.FM is the premier digital marketing podcast network. Get on-demand business advice from experts, whenever and wherever you want it.

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How to Build Your Digital Business with the ‘MVP’ Process

Last week on The Mainframe, Tony Clark explained how he and Brian Clark built Copyblogger into an eight-figure business using the minimum viable product process.
In this episode, Chris Garrett and Tony explain how you can implement the MVP process in your own business for faster time to market, better customer experience, more effective launches, and profitable bootstrap funding.
In this 26-minute episode of The Mainframe, hosts Tony Clark and Chris Garrett discuss:

What you need to get started building your own MVP
Research and the “Co-Creation” process
How to decide what to build
What people really want to buy from you
How to get those first hard-to-get sales
What you need to do after you launch

Click Here to Listen toThe Mainframe on iTunes
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About the authorRainmaker.FMRainmaker.FM is the premier digital marketing podcast network. Get on-demand business advice from experts, whenever and wherever you want it.

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Website Blunders: How to Look Like a Pro (and Not Like a Fool)

We all know we have just a split second to make a great impression online. Users hover over their mouses, ready to click away from your site if they don’t like what they see.
There’s a lot riding on the quality of our websites. (No pressure!)
This week on Hit Publish, three Copyblogger experts share their best advice on designing websites that put the best face on your online business.
Tune in to Hit Publish to hear from host Pamela Wilson and her guests Rafal Tomal, Brian Gardner, and Tony Clark as they discuss:

The real reason “flat” design has taken hold, and how to recognize it when you see it
The website technology that’s the wave of the future, according to Brian Gardner of StudioPress
How to be inspired by other websites (and not follow their lead blindly)

Click Here to Listen to
Hit Publish on iTunes
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About the authorRainmaker.FMRainmaker.FM is the premier digital marketing podcast network. Get on-demand business advice from experts, whenever and wherever you want it.

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