meek-investor

TOPICS THIS WEEK: Risk, Experimentation and Change Part of running a business and being an entrepreneur is trying new things. We're all about connecting with our community on this podcast. We think the most successful businesses are the ones that engage well with their target market. They build communities. In this week's episode, we talk about changing the podcast to allow us to engage better and more directly with our listeners. In fact, we're thinking about how you can participate in the actual recording of the podcast. One way of doing that is using Google+. Our conversation leads us to discuss how audiences and companies find each other and how they build relationships. Rather than trying to please everyone all of the time, the better strategy is to please a smaller subset of people who really get your business. That involves taking a leap of faith. Risk is part of finding your true audience. The video Links to people and things we mention Chris Brogan New rallying po...

TOPICS THIS WEEK: Fear, Firewalking, The Flinch by Julien Smith, SOBCon, Social Media Camp Fear is a powerful hurdle we all have to overcome in life. Often, the fear wins out and we don't negotiate the hurdle. Our lives end up poorer for it. We don't progress. So what can we do to overcome this fear? We discuss solutions ranging from fire walking to smashing plates. Fear is also a great ingredient in the story of our business. Admitting the fears we have and the hurdles we have to overcome, along with our doubts, makes us human. It makes it easy for others to connect with what we want to achieve. They start rooting for us and following our story. Brian Moore of Peak Potential at one of his firewalking events. By the way, that's concentration on his face, rather than pain © 2012 Roger Overall Links to people and things we mention Chris Brogan Social Media Camp SOBCon Brian Moore, Peak Potential The Flinch/Julien Smith New rallying point You are a big part of the story of thi...

TOPICS THIS WEEK: Shipping imperfection; Being unique and marketing that; Working from Sheds Perfection is key to success in business, right? Your product needs to be perfect to survive in the marketplace. If it isn't, your clients won't like it. Your competitors will steamroller over you. Really? Maybe not. Just how perfect should perfection be? There is a point at which perfection is a killer. You keep delaying shipping. Remember that a project that is 95% done, but hasn't shipped, is as good as 0% complete from the perspective of the marketplace. And a 0% product or services isn't attractive at all. This week we look at perfection in business and how you don't always need to deliver perfection. In fact, have a listen to this episode of Chris Brogan's podcast in which he interviews Paul: The Human Business Way, Episode 10. The conversation about perfection or imperfection turns to office space. Jane has moved into a shed. Sounds odd? Turns out working from she...

Many good stories share a common storytelling device: an epic challenge that the protagonist must overcome. The story of your business is also about overcoming challenges. You are on a quest – a quest to grow your business, launch your product, reach your targets. The higher you intend to reach, the more epic the quest, the more we are drawn to it. You are the underdog we are cheering on. We've set some epic challenges for this podcast, and we'd like you to be part of the quest. Join us on the journey and help us build the bright, giving, supportive, valuable community we have in mind. What are the challenges we've set? You'll have to listen to this week's episode for that. You'll hear how many weekly downloads we'd like to hit by 31st December of this year. You'll also hear of an epic geographic goal as well. New rallying point You are a big part of the story of this podcast. We'd like you to be an even bigger part of it. To help with that, and to h...

In this episode of the podcast, we look at the power of asking directly for help – from your support community and from your clients and customers. Sometimes you need to seek out help, sometimes an offer of help drops in your lap. In the case of the latter, we often let the moment slip because we're not ready. That's happened to all of us. So how can you make sure that next time you're ready? We also lift the veil on where the podcast is at the moment and start to reveal where we'd like to go with it. Community is key to the future of the show and to grow it we need the help of you, our listeners. One of the things we've wanted to do for a while is start a group on LinkedIn. It's there now. We'd love it if you stopped by and joined the community: Business Jazz LinkedIn Group . You can listen to this week's podcast using the player at the top of the post or download it directly here: Business Jazz – 13th April, 2013 . We're also in iTunes . We'd l...

In this episode of the podcast,  Jane and Roger  continue their discussion about  Chris Brogan 's concept of Loving the Grind. What's the Grind? The grind comprises all those things that you don't really like doing but are essential to the health and success of your business. The boring, dull, hard, difficult, tedious stuff that underpins the success of your business. You can listen to this week's podcast using the player at the top of the post or download it directly here: Business Jazz – 6th April, 2013 . We're also in iTunes . We'd love it if you subscribed or left some feedback. Business Jazz Players This podcast is a collaboration of people dotted around the world. Most of us have never met each other. It's quite a story and it's still evolving. 
If you'd like to read what's happened so far, you'll find it here: Our Story . Extras We have a tradition here at Business Jazz of recording a segment of audio around the main podcast, usually ...

Chris Brogan talks a lot about learning to love the grind. The grind comprises all those things that you don't really like doing but are essential to the health and success of your business. In this episode of the podcast,  Jane and Roger  discuss various ways in which to make doing the grind more palatable based on their own experiences. You can listen to this week's podcast using the player at the top of the post or download it directly here: Business Jazz – 30th March, 2013 . We're also in iTunes . We'd love it if you subscribed or left some feedback. Business Jazz Players This podcast is a collaboration of people dotted around the world. Most of us have never met each other. It's quite a story and it's still evolving. 
If you'd like to read what's happened so far, you'll find it here: Our Story . Extras We have a tradition here at Business Jazz of recording a segment of audio around the main podcast, usually afterwards. Sometimes we forget. Thi...

Can you build a sustainable business based on providing services for free? Counter-intuitive as it seems, there are people doing just that. And they're making good money. Messes with your head, doesn't it? In this episode of the podcast,  Jane and Roger  discuss various business models based on the notion of giving away work for free or leaving the decision on the level of compensation up to the client. Meanwhile, Jane has launched another new website – all about building conversations around your business, event, charity, whatever. You can find out what she does in more detail over at www.45conversations.com . You can listen to this week's podcast using the player at the top of the post or download it directly here: Business Jazz – 23rd March, 2013 . We're also in iTunes . We'd love it if you subscribed or left some feedback. Business Jazz Players This podcast is a collaboration of people dotted around the world. Most of us have never met each other. It's quit...

We've talked a lot on the podcast about how putting the emphasis on your customers and clients is a cornerstone of being attractive as a business.  Chris Brogan  highlights the perspective of "You" (the customer) rather than "Me" (the business) in marketing. We buy into that. You probably do too if you're a regular listener of the podcast. In this week's episode, Jane  and Roger  discuss the opposite approach – just talking about yourself. This works well for a large number of businesses, and you'll hear that there are some clear benefits. It makes us wonder whether Chris is wrong. Or is it a case that both approaches work and that you have to find the one that fits best with who you are? You can listen to this week's podcast using the player at the top of the post or download it directly here: Business Jazz – 10th March, 2013 . We're also in iTunes . We'd love it if you subscribed or left some feedback. Chris has a newsletter If you want...