Seeing Beyond the Numbers

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing podcast with Greg Cabtree (Click to play or right click and “Save As” to download – Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen)

Woodlouse via Flick CC

Far too often business owners trick themselves into believing their business is healthy, when in fact it’s one bad month away from disaster. Or, they become so focused on beating the IRS in the tax game that they miss the entire point about building wealth.

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast I visit with Greg Crabtree, a CPA who’s spent most of his career helping business owners see beyond the numbers that blind and focus on the simple numbers that help unlock business potential.

Crabtree’s book – Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits!: 4 Keys to Unlock Your Business Potential – should be required reading for every business owner on the plant.

In Simple Numbers you get some very practical talk about how to manage your business based on the numbers that count.

Today’s break even is 10% Net Profit.

You get a salary on what you do and a return on what you own. So many business owners confuse profit with revenue or treat profit as salary. A salary is what a job pays. If you’re not focused on creating a net, after tax, after salary profit then all you’ve created is a job.

Taxes have become the tail that wags the dog. Business owners jump through tremendous hoops in order not to pay taxes – including doing things that rob from the future of the business. Crabtree advises that we need to stop focusing on the tax implications and focus on the true financial dynamics of the business. We need to take the energy we spend on not paying taxes and go make money.

Another crucial number that Crabtree reveals is something he calls the Labor efficiency ratio – Hiring people can either lift a business or sink it. But, good labor is a lever if you understand how to calculate what every dollar of labor produces in terms of profit.

You must understand how to hold your labor cost accountable for profit. Once you can do this you can set what you need in terms of additional revenue and additional profit for each hire.

Crabtree has created a number of tools for better understanding both labor cost and profit.

The last issue we discuss is cash flow. Many business owners struggle with cash flow. The thinking is that I must manage cash flow before I can think about profit. I believe and Crabtree certainly supports this notion, that if you focus on profit, you’ll fix cash flow.

The real problem with cash flow is that people don’t get cash flow considerations in the right order. On average 40% of your profit must be paid in taxes – that needs to come out first. Far too many businesses sink on this number because they consume based on total profit.

Simple Numbers is a very accessible read and just may do more towards helping business owners come to grips with the right numbers and right priorities than any other book on the subject. Go get it and make everyone in your organization read it!

Then start having discussions about labor productivity and profit at your next all hands meeting.

Does Your Marketing Make the Grade

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing podcast with Laura Fitton (Click to play or right click and “Save As” to download – Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen)

A number of years ago Hubspot created something called the Website Grader, a tool that graded a number of important aspects about a website and concocted a score or grade based on those factors.

Although no tool can really accurately measure the effectiveness of a website, the tool had a nice marketing bent to it and was a pretty simple way to help someone understand the most important elements of their site.

About a month ago Hubspot upped the game and came out with what they are calling Marketing Grader. The tool still focuses on your website, but it also considers a number of offsite considerations that have a great deal to do with success on the web these days.

Things like Facebook, Klout and Twitter use are considered and the overall integration of social in general. Again, no tool will ever be perfect, but I highly recommend running your site through this tool.

The report it produces breaks your grade into three topics – top of the funnel – what you’re to attract visitors, middle – what you’re doing to convert that traffic, and analytics – what you’re doing to measure the effectiveness of your marketing.

In addition to simply grading your site, you’ll be offered action items for things that need attention and every element measured comes with a handy tip that talks about best practices for the item. Simply going through and reading those tips would be beneficial for many people.

For this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast I visit with Hubspot’s Inbound Markeitng Evangelist Laura Fitton. Fitton, who some may know as @Pistachio, does a great job in this interview explaining the ins and out of the Marketing Grader.

Infusing Your Business With Platform Thinking

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing podcast with Phil Simon (Click to play or right click and “Save As” to download – Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen)

Iman Mosaad via Flickr CC

And, they are a places where an entire community can participate in building things they are passionate about and get more of what they need from the platform regardless of what the business was originally created to do.

So the thinking goes like this – How can I get more of what I want out of life through this business, how can I attract people that share that purpose and want to bring more of themselves to working on the company, and how can I build an opportunity that allows other strategic partners or community members to build onto this platform in order to get more of what they need.

This thinking will either inspire and excite you, expand your view of what your business is or scare you to death, but in my mind this is the greatest opportunity to build a fully alive business that exists today.

For this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast I visited with Phil Simon, author of The Age of the Platform: How Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google Have Redefined Business

I think it can be very instructional to look at how these very obvious examples of platforms got there and how, in some ways, this same thinking and approach can apply to the smallest of firms.

If you create a free eBook that’s packed with lots of great information and offer it to several strategic partners to cobrand and send around to their clients, you’re using platform thinking. If you create a blog in your town and and invite a handful of complimentary business professionals to contribute their expertise for the benefit of both reader and the group of bloggers, in a small way, you’re creating a platform.

That’s the kind of thinking that I believe holds one of the most powerful opportunities for a business of any size to differentiate, attract committed staff and build a loyal community.

Does a Franchise Make Sense as a Business Option

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing podcast with Joel Libava (Click to play or right click and “Save As” to download – Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen)

Franchises have been with us now for more than half a century and in that time the model has produced fabulous business ownership and fabulous business flops.

The promise of a franchise is alluring – proven system, proven processes, successful model, help with marketing and operations.

Of course there’s a price for the promise – less control, limited profit, territorial restrictions.

Buying into a franchise makes complete sense for some, but it’s not for everyone.

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast I visit with Joel Libava, you may know him as The Franchise King, author of Become a Franchise Owner!: The Start-Up Guide to Lowering Risk, Making Money, and Owning What you Do

Libava’s history is perfectly suited to be the one to give you the straight scoop on the franchise industry. He spent a number of years working in a franchise and now consults with scores of would be franchise owners to help them find the right fit.

His advice has a lot to do with knowing yourself – “if you’re someone that needs to be in total control and do it your way, a franchise might not be right for you,” he offered during our interview.

There are a number of books out there on the industry, but none with such a great amount of straight forward advice and realism.

Joel’s publisher asked me to review the book for a possible cover quote, which I gladly offered and still contend: “The decision to become a franchise owner is a big one—you would be crazy to even consider making it without Joel Libava’s years of experience in your corner.”

The Five Most Engaging Podcasts of the Year

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

I’ve been recording podcast interviews since some time in 2005 and it’s one of my favorite things to do. The show has opened some pretty cool doors and allowed me to meet some very cool people.

This year I met the likes of Harvey MacKay, Stephen Pressfield, Eric Reis, Derek Sivers, Kevin Kelly and Hugh MacLeod through my podcast and reconnected with old friends such as Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, Chris Brogan, David Meerman Scott, Peter Shankman and Scott Ginsberg.

The following five episodes make up what you my readers called my most engaging shows of the year.

1) Anything You Want

This week’s guest on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Derek Sivers, founder of CDBaby and author of Anything You Want 40 Lessons (When you buy any version of the book you can grab 200 musical downloads as a gift from Derek too!)

2) The New New New Rules of Marketing and PR

My good friend David Meerman Scott stopped by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast recently to talk about the release of the 3rd Edition of his mega best selling book The New Rules of Marketing and PR. This book changed the way many people think about marketing and has remained on many a “must read” list since it was first released.

3) 5 Google Plus Tips and Chris Brogan

For this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast I grabbed a few minutes with Chris Brogan. Chris is the founder of Human Business Works, writes and speaks on all things related to social media and is a documented Google Plus fanboy.

4) 5 Types of Content That Every Business Must Employ

The creation and distribution of content has become such a significant aspect of effective marketing that it requires a high place in the strategy conversation in most every business.

Some might go as far as to suggest content marketing has become the most effective way to build a business.

5) Understanding the Most Fundamental Shift in Marketing

When I want to make marketing extremely easy to understand, I sit small business owners down in front of the above graphic and have them fill in some process, touchpoint, campaign, product of service in each of the seven blanks. The idea behind this graphic I call the Marketing Hourglass is that marketing is no longer a hunt and close business, it’s a be found, build trust, nurture, wow and refer business.

Does Google Plus Change Everything

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing podcast with Chris Brogan (Click to play or right click and “Save As” to download – Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen)

There certainly are those that believe Google has landed a game changer with their social network Google+ and those that are ready to claim it’s a nice niche platform for techie kind of people.

Personally, I think it’s currently the best platform for business in terms of the functionality it offers, but of course is currently lacking the dedicated user base making it hard to imagine a business setting up shop there exclusively.

Even with that limitation Google+ has indeed changed some things already.

• Its existence can certainly claim credit for a number of enhancements for business users rushed in recently by Facebook.
• SEO firms are both nervous and giddy about Google’s integration of G+ with search
• Google+ ties together many of Google’s already entrenched, but untethered services such as Picasa, YouTube, GMail and Apps.

My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is  and author of Google+ for Business: How Google’s Social Network Changes Everything and Google+ evangelist Chris Brogan

Brogan boldly and passionate professes, as the title of the book suggests, that Google+ is the next super power in the social network game and cares little that Facebook has hundreds of millions of users more. It’s the Google connection and the Google dominance in other important business areas that intrigues and excites Brogan most.

Again, from a strictly business point of view, I have to agree. Now is the time to grab, build and enhance your Google+ profile and brand page. This action will never hurt you and you may discover that actively placing content from your blog on Google+ is a way to get your content indexed by Google even faster.

One of the things I like most about Brogan’s book, however, is that while he firmly supports the use of Google+ for business, much of the advice he gives about how to use it is solid advice for anyone that wants to build a following, find great content and engage users on any platform.

You can listen to the show by subscribing the feed in iTunes or a variety of other free services such as Google Listen (Use this RSS feed) or you can buy the Duct Tape Marketing iPhone app. (iTunes link – Cost is $2.99) or

Thinking of Starting a Business?

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing podcast with Carrie Wilkerson (Click to play or right click and “Save As” to download – Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen)

Starting a business has never been easier. The Internet and host of free and low cost apps mean that pretty much anyone can start something for very little money.

Of course, just because you can start a business may not be the best reason to do so.

My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast is Carrie Wilkerson, otherwise known to many as The Barefoot Executive. Wilkerson recently captured years of knowledge in building her own business and that of the many would be, aspiring and thriving small business owners she consults in the appropriately named book The Barefoot Executive: The Ultimate Guide for Being Your Own Boss and Achieving Financial Freedom

Wilkerson shares a bit of her personal story of feast and failure and wanting to find a way to be with her kids while creating a business, but this book is more than her story, it’s a road map of what to do and what not to put together with lots of hard work.

You can listen to the show by subscribing the feed in iTunes or a variety of other free services such as Google Listen (Use this RSS feed) or you can buy the Duct Tape Marketing iPhone app. (iTunes link – Cost is $2.99) or

Finding Purpose and Happiness in Life and Work

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing podcast with Jon Gordon (Click to play or right click and “Save As” to download – Subscribe now via iTunes or subscribe via other RSS device (Google Listen)

There’s a potent lyric in one of my favorite John Prine songs, Angel From Montgomery, that goes like this – “How the hell can a person, go to work in the morning, come home in evening, got nothing to say.”

Well, anyone that’s owned a business can tell you, some days can do that to you – particularly those days when you lose sight of why you’re doing what you’re doing.

My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Jon Gordan, author of The Seed: Finding Purpose and Happiness in Life and Work

In The Seed we meet Josh, an up and comer in his company, who has lost his passion at work. Challenged by his boss to take two weeks and decide if he really wants to work there, Josh takes off for the country, where he meets a wise farmer who gives him a seed and a promise: find the right place to plant the seed, and his purpose will be revealed.

Gordan effectively uses the fable format to help us find our own sources of wisdom and insight.

I think many business owners, and really anyone toiling away in a job anywhere, crave this idea of purpose and meaning, but far too few stop to reflect on the things that make them truly happy and fulfilled.

If you let it, your work can suck the life right out of you. Connecting with some higher purpose that drives and sustains through the good patches and the rough patches is the most powerful tool you can employ.

You can listen to the show by subscribing the feed in iTunes or a variety of other free services such as Google Listen (Use this RSS feed) or you can buy the Duct Tape Marketing iPhone app. (iTunes link – Cost is $2.99) or