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Most People Don’t Have the Stomach for This

47:46

Dashboard: A Warning for Small Businesses

26:47

The Tricky Business of Selling Small Businesses

51:32

Dashboard: Is Small Business Optimism Eroding?

24:42

I Think We’re Ready for the Tariffs

52:39

Dashboard: How Do I Get ChatGPT to Notice Me?

31:36

Dashboard: Gene Marks Has an Ambitious Plan to Do Less

This week, Gene tells us that he’s been spending too much time doing and not enough time thinking. So he’s made a plan to free up some time to focus on the more important, big picture issues that sometimes get lost in the day-to-day. How will he free up the time? By getting out of the office more, by leaning more into tech, and by being more deliberate about how much time he spends with customers. Plus: Gene also shares a few highlights (and lowlights) from a Microsoft AI trade show -- including the Microsoft employees who don’t trust their own AI.

Відео

Most People Don’t Have the Stomach for This

47:46

Most People Don’t Have the Stomach for This

Переглядів 614 годин тому

This week, in episode 232, Paul Downs tells Shawn Busse and Jay Goltz why he isn’t sleeping and why he has stopped paying himself. After having his best year ever in 2024, Paul has seen his inquiries fall precipitously. His backlog of work is dwindling, and he’s concluded he needs to take some painful steps. “I'm coming to the realization,” he tells us, “that I need to do something that involve...

Dashboard: A Warning for Small Businesses

26:47

Dashboard: A Warning for Small Businesses

Переглядів 1216 годин тому

This week, having long encouraged small business owners to support President Trump’s pro-business agenda, Gene Marks says those policies are likely to produce a tough year for owners. In a conversation recorded shortly after the president announced that tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China are about to take effect, Gene tells us that he thinks business owners are too optimistic about the immedi...

The Tricky Business of Selling Small Businesses

51:32

The Tricky Business of Selling Small Businesses

Переглядів 12День тому

This week, in episode 231, special guest David Barnett, who started helping owners buy and sell businesses in 2008, offers some guidance on an often-misunderstood sales process. Early on, David was a business broker. “I sold over three dozen companies for other people,” he tells us, “and it was very interesting and exciting. It was also a terrible business.” So he changed business models but ha...

Dashboard: Is Small Business Optimism Eroding?

24:42

Dashboard: Is Small Business Optimism Eroding?

Переглядів 414 днів тому

This week, John Arensmeyer-CEO of Small Business Majority and our man in Washington-stops by to talk about the Trump administration's first week and what it means for business owners. It’s very early of course, but the administration is moving quickly on many fronts and some issues, John tells us, have businesses in his network concerned. Not surprisingly, those issues include tariffs and immig...

52:39

I Think We’re Ready for the Tariffs

Переглядів 1914 днів тому

This week, in episode 230, Liz Picarazzi tells Paul Downs and Sarah Segal that after a year of anxiety, she’s eager to find out what Donald Trump is really going to do about tariffs. Whatever it is, she thinks she’s prepared enough options to survive. “If your tax rate went from 11 percent to 60 percent,” she says, “I think most of us would be pretty freaked out, and I am, but I'm a little bit ...

Dashboard: How Do I Get ChatGPT to Notice Me?

31:36

Dashboard: How Do I Get ChatGPT to Notice Me?

Переглядів 1021 день тому

Last week on Dashboard, Shawn Busse said he thinks that trying to make your business discoverable on AI bots is “a fool’s errand.” So, this week, I invited Sean Campbell, CEO of Cascade Insights (www.cascadeinsights.com/) , a market research firm, to offer an opposing view. In our conversation, Sean talks about what businesses should be thinking about and doing to prepare for the not-too-distan...

46:54

The Power of a Fresh Set of Eyes

Переглядів 321 день тому

This week, in episode 229, Jay Goltz, Jaci Russo, and William Vanderbloemen discuss their experiences bringing in outside consultants to review their business operations. Before the holidays, Lou Mosca, who runs American Management Services (www.amserv.com/) , offered to have his team take a look at any of the businesses owned by the regulars on this podcast. Jaci took Lou up on the offer, and ...

Dashboard: You Have to Make Your Own Weather

30:05

Dashboard: You Have to Make Your Own Weather

Переглядів 1228 днів тому

For business owners, the challenges of digital marketing seem to just get bigger. PIck a platform, any platform: the odds of success have gotten smaller and smaller. Even TikTok, where many small businesses have built followings, may not survive the month. So what’s a business owner to do? This week, Shawn Busse offers an alternative. First of all, Shawn does not believe that figuring out how t...

We’re Not Saving Lives. We’re Saving Livelihoods

49:57

We’re Not Saving Lives. We’re Saving Livelihoods

Переглядів 4Місяць тому

In this week’s bonus episode, David Billstrom and Matt Raker, two business leaders who have played important roles in Western North Carolina’s attempt to recover from Hurricane Helene, talk about what we’re still figuring out about disaster recovery. The world tends to move on pretty quickly after an event, but the economic recovery can drag on for years. And it can be especially devastating fo...

50:32

I’m Looking at an Empty Pipeline

Переглядів 11Місяць тому

This week, in episode 228, Lena McGuire-in her first appearance as a regular on this podcast-tells Paul Downs and Jaci Russo about her plans to turn her hobby, remodeling homes, into a real business. In just her third full-time year of building Spóca Kitchen & Bath (www.spocakitchenandbath.com/) , Lena says she has already experienced both a quick rise in revenue and then a surprising decline, ...

Dashboard: Are Business Owners Too Optimistic About 2025?

24:14

Dashboard: Are Business Owners Too Optimistic About 2025?

Переглядів 5Місяць тому

This week, in our first Dashboard conversation of 2025, Gene Marks talks about why he and other owners are excited about what they think will be a more business-friendly environment this year. But Gene also warns that tariffs and deportations are likely to drive inflation higher and discourage the Federal Reserve from cutting rates, which may not produce the economic growth owners are expecting...

This Is What It Takes to Build a Business, Vol. 3, Part 2

1:15:34

This Is What It Takes to Build a Business, Vol. 3, Part 2

Переглядів 6Місяць тому

This week, we take another look back at the conversations we had over the past year, highlighting some of our happiest, smartest, and most insightful exchanges. We discuss whose advice is worth taking, whether any business can be remarkable, which businesses should try EOS, why family businesses can be so vexing, what to do when big businesses refuse to pay small businesses, the challenges of p...

This Is What It Takes to Build a Business, Vol. 3, Part 1

1:13:49

This Is What It Takes to Build a Business, Vol. 3, Part 1

Переглядів 8Місяць тому

This week, and next week, we take a look back at the conversations we had over the past year, highlighting some of our happiest, smartest, funniest, and most difficult exchanges. We discuss topics such as whether the Great Resignation prompted business owners to overreact and overpay employees, whether the anxiety of owning a business ever subsides, what young couples should ask themselves befo...

46:31

I’m Out of the Valley of Death

Переглядів 26Місяць тому

This week, in episode 225, Shawn Busse, Jennifer Kerhin, and Jaci Russo talk about how their businesses did this year and what they’re planning for 2025. Jaci and Shawn have been surprised by a surge of new clients in December, which they say never happens. And Jennifer is excited because she’s confident that in the first quarter she will finally exit the Valley of Death-that transitional perio...