Bootstrapped with Kids Podcast: Entrepreneurship |

Brecht left off last episode talking about hiring copywriters. How did they do? What challenges were faced with this hire? And most importantly, what was the outcome? Scott is looking to get a VA. It'll open up time for him to focus on more important tasks and streamline the daily workflow. How do you know when to walk away from something? It's hard to part with things you've put time and effort into. But when results aren't what you need and it's beginning to hamper everything else - maybe it's time to cut the cord? Stuff: Aluminyze - Print photos on aluminum to add depth The Power of Now - Eckhart Tol Psycho Cynernetics - Maxwell Maltz You Need a Budget! - Get your budgeting done the right way Podcasts we listen to: Scott: Reply All Cracked Radiolab TechZing Brecht: The Art of Paid Traffic Digital Marketer Podcast The Active Marketer The Startup Chat

Brecht and Scott talk about things helping and hurting their business. What goals need to be met for 2016, and what they would like to meet for 2016. Scott is actually thinking about decreasing revenue by 10%, what crazy reason could he have for making less money?!? Brecht is in the midst of hiring a copywriter, and it's been the hardest decision he's ever had to make about an employee. Listen in on why going beyond goals and looking deeper is important, why hiring a copywriter is seriously a tough thing to do - especially when you've always written your own content, and how to deal with unresponsive people on your list! There's a holiday treat at the end of this week's episode. Stuff: Drip Email Mastery - Rob Walling & Patrick McKenzie PersistIQ - Cold Email Automation

Brecht sits down with Rob Walling, an online entrepreneur who you may have heard of. He's a co-host of the podcast Startups For the Rest of Us, former owner of HitTail, organizer of MicroConf, and creator of Drip (email marketing software), among other things. They chat about what it's like to be in the realm of buying and selling online businesses. Hear what you need to know and how to research info for buying an online business, and also the data you should have at the ready when you're at the point where you'd like to sell your online business so you can get the highest valuation. Listen in as they talk about what will work better for your entrepreneurial aspirations, buying or building a product? How do you reach out if you want to buy? Where can you find listings of businesses for sale? How to you protect yourself if you do buy. What bases do you need to cover? Rob talks about small wins to help gauge the overall picture of success and the ultimate goal when just starting out after acquiring. And is it hard to part with the business after it's no longer yours? Putting a lot of work into something isn't always easy to walk away from, even if you were paid for it... Stuff: Startups For the Rest of Us Drip - Lightweight Marketing Automation That Doesn’t Suck MicroConf - The Conference for Self Funded Startups ZenFounder Podcast - Onboarding Your Spouse Tweet Rob!

Scott would rather not deal with the corporate bureaucracy from one of his clients, which pays nice - so he's getting rid of them. Sometimes the money just isn't worth the headache. He's coming along with Sysdoc, but are some of the deadlines being met? And he has been asking clients about a product that they seem to all want, but are they truly qualified customers if he builds it? Brecht is working on his list and how to stay in the inbox, get clicks, and keep people engaged. There are some tricks you can do to make sure you don't keep emailing people who never open or click links in your emails. Would you want to hear Brecht & Scott talk more? Of course you would! So check out the form on this week's episode at http://www.bootstrappedwithkids.com/116/ about a spin-off podcast which will talk about some categories that you the listener will choose. Stuff: Little Bits - Sweet stuff your kids can build

Scott has trouble getting an EIN for BWK. It's a complicated process that used to be pretty straight forward. But, there are some good things. He is still getting good response from his LinkedIn outreach and it's also helping him perfect his sales funnel and follow up process. He got two tips from his dad this week which we can all use, and some help on keeping morale up when your workforce is distributed all around the globe. Brecht says, "shoulda kept my mouth shut" about implementing a Neil Patel like landing page, but it also helped him develop a new strategy for delivering webinars and getting users to watch. Hear his new tactics and why having personality is going to draw the right kind of attention. Stuff: Bootstrapped Chat on Slack

Help support the show on Patreon! Scott is running Purpose Built Software (Blackfin), working on SysDoc, and has always been looking for that "other" product to create. He's got some shiny object syndrome going on, but these objects are really shiny and are already partially validated. Hear Brecht and Scott talk about why it may or may not be a good idea for Scott to pursue these. Brecht launched The Academy, this time in a different way, without testing anything. He tried a new format and set it off into the wild. Was it a success, did it fail miserably, or was it on par with other launches? Listen to Brecht talk about this and how he's hoping to deliver his BankProspector product in the future. Happy Thanksgiving! Stuff: Bootstrapped Chat Rich Buggy - Growing eCommerce Ken Wallace - Mastermind Jam | Nights & Weekends Podcast Drinks: Sazerac Remember The Maine Boulevardier

Support the show on Patreon if you've gotten value from our episodes! Scott has been at it for 6 weeks now with the LinkedIn Outreach. If you saw the title to this week's episode, I'd say it's been good time invested. Not only has it been able to generate some quality leads but it's been a learning experience. How people respond to your email can tell you if it's a quality lead or not. Hear some tips on what Scott has learned for filtering the do-ers from the want to-ers. Brecht has implemented a new way to sell The Academy. Not only that but he's started to work on upsells for his current products. Hear what works when offering products and how to offer them to maximize customer value. And we can't forget about systematization. What do tasks which take hours out of your work when when you can delegate them! Hear what Scott is planning and how much time/money this could save for his business. Stuff: Chat with other Bootstrappers in a Slack community of 1,000+ Easy screen captures with Record It

Help support the show on Patreon, we're halfway to our first goal! Scott has jury duty (ugh) and misses a full day of work. Earlier in the week he found out 1/4 of his dev team would be out a full week! What gives? Brecht upgrades to a solo office, but is it worth it? Does adding an expense make sense? Here why adding an expense can make sense for you too. What about those little projects you complete which help you finish big projects? Aren't those products too? Hear why you shouldn't let anything you create go to waste. Stuff: Meredith Perry - uBeam wireless power (Video explaining product and how she created it as a non-technical founder) Deadline Funnel - Evergreen sales personalized for each visitor Timerlay - Product scarcity for sales Get beta access to Brecht's product for evergreen sales and ActiveCampaign - dudes @ bootstrappedwithkids dot com

Help support the show so we're able to keep delivering content! Join Brecht as he chats with Keith Perhac, an entrepreneur who has focused on marketing automation to generate sales and keep customer lifetime values up. Listen as Keith explains how he began in online business before the dot com bubble, what his first failed business was, how he got into marketing automation, and what strategies allowed him to be successful when working with some big name companies over the years. Also covered is the 40 hour MVP, how to balance tasks when you have a lot to do, tracking users/potential customer leads, and avoiding over saturation of your product. Links: KeithPerhac.com - Meet Keith Tweet Keith Summit Evergreen - Keith's Course Product Segmetrics - Actionable Analytics for Infusionsoft Keith's Consulting Firm

If you've gotten value from our show over the last 100+ episodes, we'd love for you to help support the show on Patreon! Brecht gets a message from a long time pal about liquidating some properties. Is Brecht getting back into real estate? Maybe just a foot back in, but he's applying a lot of what he's learned with DistressedPro on this quick venture to liquidate these properties fast. Scott has a great open rate for his LinkedIn outreach and he's still getting good responses. Hear about a friend who replied and is working at a top company, in a great position, and exactly why Scott left that life and began to bootstrap it! The dilemma of dedicating time to Blackfin or SysDoc sounds like a great problem to have now! Stuff: Artisan Bread In 5 Minutes Purchase of Churnbuster - ProductHunt Page Manpacks - Manly Stuff When You Need It StickerMule - Quality Stickers!

Support the show on Patreon! Get early access to shows and content before anyone else! Brecht goes through the webinar sales numbers after a slow start. Let's just say he's adjusted his funnel because of webinars for now. Numbers don't lie - and there are tactics which can help you analyze your webinar numbers to improve and increase. Do that and revenue will follow suit. Scott gets some newsletter opt-ins! His outreach is going well - well enough that even if he doesn't get a direct gig from an email, he's figured out how to make a connection that can generate future business. Leaving the corporate environment was one of the many positives of bootstrapping for Scott. Sometimes he gets pulled back in (against his will!). Hear about his weekend fiasco and why a contract with stipulations is a really, really good thing to save your ass! Stuff: Docs to WordPress Tractor Beams Project Update Your Browser GetVetter Tawk.to - Awesome Free Live Chat StealthSeminar - Webinars, Anytime YouTube Live Events

Like this show? Help keep it going. Go to bootstrappedwithkids.com and click on Support the Show. It's like NPR except you like us more. As product and service companies, we've got to communicate - and get the right message delivered to the correct people. Scott learned what worked well for his outreach emails, and from replies can gauge what to include in follow ups for people that didn't respond, or didn't open the original message. He also heard from two big clients, who usually are happy, but the guys who pay the bills want to know where the money is going. Hear how to make sure the right people get the message on how work is progressing, where resources are going, and what goals are being completed. Sysdoc is a go, but is it getting the attention it needs? How do you concentrate on important projects which aren't your main source of income?. What works best for prioritizing? Brecht was working on the funnel but got pulled away to do a webinar. Funny thing is, being pulled away helped refocus on the funnel. Webinars are a tricky thing, you're live and anything can happen. Get a template and stick to it. Use a format which has had success before, tweak it as you do more webinars. And really pay attention to Q&A's from your webinar. Hear why they can be a goldmine for improving your webinar, but content on your site. Podcast Binging: The Startup Chat The McMethod - Cold Email Mixergy with Chris Crawford Art of Paid Traffic Stuff: Scott's Patent Webinar Framework Webinar Ignition Affiliate Software to track sales

Scott gets the rebuild of Sysdoc underway. He's shooting for a 3-4 week finish date, that's including adding the new features. Brecht is back into the webinar game. He's got one coming up next week and we hear what his plans are in order to be successful when it comes to the close in webinar sales. The direct mail marketing outreach is beginning too! Scott's got his draft ready to be critiqued by Brecht and how it should be sent as well. Pricing your product is hard, let's face it. It has to be valuable for the consumer and viable for your business. Where does Scott price Sysdoc? How does Brecht feel about it given he was able to take his product to 4x the yearly cost it was before? Listen in for that and more on this week's BWK.

Brecht & Scott are on the horn streamlining their creative processes, optimizing their marketing procedures, and kicking their content into gear all to reflect on the bottom line. Scott has to turn down a 100k+ client, not because the money isn't right, but because it isn't right for his business. Hear how to avoid a waste on time, energy, and resources before making a big mistake. Brecht is doing spring cleaning...well, fall cleaning. He's settled in after over a year on the road and it's time to clean up. Marketing funnels, content, health, user experience, features, the app, the site - it's all to be shaped up or shipped out. Are your optins buying? Are they bringing money in the door? Listen to a few ways to get cash from your optins even if they don't buy your products.

Last week Scott mentioned his new project. He's really committed to making this one of his at bats. Brecht plays devil's advocate asking every question he can to make sure Scott really is committed to this at bat. Scott talks about his experience while attending DYF Conf. with Brennan Dunn and meeting Jason Sweat & Charlie Irish. Hear about gaining your first audience, and why it's usually the hardest to acquire. Also some sales call tips - and how every question should relate to the end goal of the call.

Brecht has landed! He's in Bend, OR for the foreseeable future. Scott took on a new opportunity that already has a customer base. It's time to ramp up and improve it! This week they talk about systemizing and keeping your operating doc fresh, how to use psychology in marketing, and why reading about actual experiences are probably better than any "Top 10" post you will ever read. Brecht discusses his SEO improvements which he's been working on steadily with the help of Moz and Scott discusses his new project, purposeful working, and sometimes turning down clients because they suck to work for.

Scott is finishing a 7 month long project. There have been ups, downs, and lots of lessons learned. They are also jumping on a quick sprint 3 weeks project to finish a product. Hear how Scott details the contrast in the two projects and what he got on his shopping spree. Brecht finds the power of live chat - well, the lack of confidence if there is no live chat. Hear what happened to sales when live chat was and wasn't there. And appreciate your customers! Scott gets a great tip from another business person about how they keep current customers happy and garner new customers outside of the workplace.

Break out the candles! Hope you brought extra change, we'll need more than one box. Scott is turning 39! More years means more wisdom and it's definitely helped Scott in sales, especially managing conversations with potential clients. Hear how Scott learned to guide the conversation and get the uncomfortable parts over with first (remember swallow the frog, it applies to client convos too!) A potential client most likely doesn't have a "buyer's script" or how they'd like the conversation to go. You on the other hand should have a "seller's script" to guide the conversation in ways you'd like to talk about what you know is important for closing the deal. Don't you hate it when someone answers your question with a question? Brecht explains why this is actually a great thing for business. And don't forget RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS!!! Brecht runs through ups, downs, insights, and things you should know when traveling for the long haul while running a business.

Brecht and Scott grabbed buck a shuck oysters for his final farewell - to the Northeast! He's hitting the road back west, find out where he'll be settling for the near future in this week's episode. Everyone knows somebody in their lives who is the nay-sayer, the hater, the fear everything because it isn't what they want type of person and it's annoying. Matter of fact, you know what you should do - forget about it! So, you want to hire someone new but it's a somewhat confidential position that has sensitive information. How do you measure the risk? What do you trust them with? There's a solution! Hear what Brecht and Scott have to say after their experiences using Upwork (formerly oDesk) and the positives and negatives that come with hiring someone online.

Brecht and Scott talk about feedback from the email that was sent out. They dig into what you may call a leap of faith: Can't work the current job - it's nice, has benefits, cushy work and/or schedule but is meaningless. There's no benefit, you're working for someone else, and at the end all you get is a paycheck. Is leaving worth your trouble? Is your dream feasible? Can it be achieved? Hear what Brecht and Scott say about it before making the plunge.