The Entrepreneur Start-Up Series Week 24 -

These entrepreneurs dedicate their businesses to a very specific niche. They follow the adage “The Riches are in the Niches”.

Ep #122: AJ Wilcox, The LinkedIn Expert

Ep #123: Sam McRoberts, VUDU Marketing

Ep #124: Kevin Harrington, Original Shark

Ep #125: Guy Kawasaki, Chief Evangelist of Canva

Ep #126: Peter Reitano, Abacus Agency

The Daily Grind Business Podcast interviews successful business owners and people in hopes to inspire the next great entrepreneur.

Welcome to Week 24 of The Daily Grind Business Podcast Weekly Summaries. Each week the interviewees impart their wisdom by sharing their experiences. Learn from them. To connect with them and to receive some free information please click on the links below.

There is a common thread with all successful entrepreneurs and that is the importance of investing in both your business and personal growth. So each week we also share with you titles of books that either these entrepreneurs have written or suggested that you read.

The people who Colin interviews didn’t just make a million dollars. They persevered. A lot of them failed; but they got back up, dusted themselves off and got back in the race. They had an undying belief that what they were doing was the right thing and would eventually take off – it just needed time and more hard work. In the process, they reached out to mentors, read books, listened to podcasts and audiobooks and attended seminars. They got rid of their egos and they learned from people who were doing exactly what they wanted to do.

We are passionate about helping entrepreneurs get started in their businesses so this is why we have compiled weekly notes from our weekly podcasts. The entrepreneurs who so graciously offered their time to be interviewed are passionate about giving back and helping others as we do.

Week 24

1. AJ Wilcox is a long-time digital marketer who fell in love with the LinkedIn Ads platform in 2011. He founded B2Linked.com in 2014, which specializes in LinkedIn Ads account management, training, and consulting.

Since then, he has managed hundreds of accounts and a combined $100 million in ad spend on the network. He has worked directly with several of LinkedIn’s top 10 accounts.

AJ’s entrepreneurial journey is deeply rooted in his faith. After he was fired from his last job, he was offered multiple job opportunities. He prayed to God to figure out what he should do and the answer was to turn them all down and start his own business — and he’s never looking back!

2. Sam McRoberts, founder & CEO of VUDU Marketing, has been doing web design and online marketing for 18 years, and has extensive experience with search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, paid search marketing, conversion optimization, and social media marketing.

He has done work for hundreds of companies such as HTC, Microsoft, Nokia, Getty Images, HostGator, Goodreads, Scholastic, and Shane Co.

Sam is the author of Screw the Zoo (#1 Amazon best seller in self-help), a book about escaping from the mental and societal cages that keep us trapped, and writes for Inc. and Entrepreneur.

3. Kevin Harrington is an orginial “Shark” onthe hit TV show Shark Tank, the creator of the infomercial, pioneer of the As Seen on TV brand, and co-founding board member of the Entrepreneur’s Organization—Kevin Harrington has pushed past all the questions and excuses to repeatedly enjoy 100X success.

His legendary work behind-the-scenes of business ventures has produced well over $5 billion in global sales, the launch of more than 500 products, and the making dozens of millionaires. Twenty of his companies have each topped $100 million in revenue.

4. Guy Kawasaki did not invent secular evangelism, but he popularized it. This goes back to 1983 and his work with the Macintosh Division of Apple. He is currently the chief evangelist of Canva, an online, graphics-design Company from Australia.

Guy is the author of thirteen books. These books are textbooks for the finest academic institutions in the world and have been both New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers. His writing focuses on the tactical and practical in order to empower and inspire.

Guy gives over fifty keynote speeches per year. His clients include Apple, Nike, Gartner, Audi, Google, Microsoft, and Breitling as well as dozens of trade associations. His topics include innovation, enchantment, social media, evangelism, and entrepreneurship.

5. Peter Reitano is the Co-Founder and CEO of Abacus Agency. He is an Agency side marketing veteran with 10 years in the industry. Built and sold Spark Marketing, teaches digital marketing at Bitmaker Labs, mentors at Futurpreneur, and regularly speaks at conferences and industry panels around the world.

Here are the key overarching takeaways from Colin’s interviews.

Marketing is the oxygen to your business. Colin spoke to 3 entrepreneurs who found their niches in the marketing world – Facebook, LinkedIn and SEO. They provided some great tips and resources for you.

A beautiful Website doesn’t matter if no one can find it!

But you cannot start advertising or even start pitching your business idea to investors if you cannot answer the question “What do you do” clearly and succinctly.

“LinkedIn Ads targets B2B. On Facebook you can do things like target by job title or company name but so few people actually put that information into their profile. That it is really difficult to scale. LinkedIn allows advertisers the ability to target based on nearly all of the attributes of a professional’s LinkedIn profile.” by AJ Wilcox

“There are 3 areas that should consider advertising on LinkedIn. One is High value business to business leads. If you are selling a product or service to a business and it gives you $15,000 over the lifetime of that one customer then it is a good platform to advertise on. The 2^nd is White Collar recruiting – an HR department looking to hire 100 or more tech people. The 3^rd is Higher Education – MBA Programs and PHD Programs looking to recruit.” by AJ Wilcox

“I have an investment mindset. I knew I could continue my business for a solid 6 months without revenue because I saved a nest egg. For the first year and a half, I wrote guest blog posts for digital marketing companies, I partnered with someone doing a webinar so I could teach other people about LinkedIn ads, and I wrote courses. I knew doing this wasn’t going to generate income tomorrow but maybe over time it would build up a library of inbound content that might bring me leads. I cared about what I was doing and how it would affect my business 6 months later. I was interesting in building long‑term relationships with people.” by AJ Wilcox

“The bigger you are the more likely your mistakes will be technical in nature. For example, is your content mobile friendly, are there errors on your site, or is your site slow.” by Sam McRoberts

“I learned early in the business that I am not a bank. Some companies want to pay 60 – 90 days out. Some companies want to pay you after the work is done. Some companies are terrible. I hated chasing money so one year later I decided not to work under their terms. I now expect cash out front. Once you push back a little most people are fine with it. Operating under this model has saved me a lot of headaches.” by Sam McRoberts

“Learn everything you can about marketing. It is so important for your business.” by Sam McRoberts

“I started several businesses as a young entrepreneur. I started in 1984 selling products on the Discovery Channel during their down time. This was the beginning and the birth of the infomercial industry. We started selling ginsu knives, food savers, juicers, George foreman products etc. I am considered the Inventor of the Modern Day Infomercial. I have done over 500 infomercials and this led to a public company on The New York Stock Exchange that grew into the billions of dollars in sales.” by Kevin Harrington

“It is important for early entrepreneurs to perfect their pitch. I believe it is vital. You need it also for a press release, you need it for a good Website. You need to write a sales pitch for your business and to sell your products. You also need a great pitch to raise capital.” by Kevin Harrington

“When you start your business surround yourself with smart people. Today, I spend over $100,000 in mentors and coaches in all different areas. Don’t be afraid to spend money to get the right people.” by Kevin Harrington

“I wish I could say being prepared and hard work is not only necessary but sufficient. It may be necessary but not always sufficient. There are times when you will get lucky or unlucky. There are shades of grey. Properly prepared or more prepared increases your probability of success but it doesn’t guarantee success.” by Guy Kawasaki

“The key for an entrepreneur wanting to launch a product is to understand that the purpose of a company is to create a customer. It is not to raise money. Many entrepreneurs are so focused on the pitch and the plan and the forecast when they should be focused on the prototype.” by Guy Kawasaki

“I highly recommend that you read the book “If you Want to Write”. This book changed my life. It will unshackle you from limitations that people put on you. It will free you from external and internal limitations.” by Guy Kawasaki

“Facebook is just a behemoth and it has turned the advertising platform into an incredible tool. It is only a matter of time until more people will be advertising on Facebook. Last year was the first time that major banks in Canada spent more on digital marketing than traditional marketing.” by Peter Reitano

“Having an ego can be very destructive. Marketing is very ego driven and if you continue to think that you know everything then your relationships with your clients and your employees will be ruined. So let the best idea win, have humility and watch the data.” by Peter Reitano

“There are a couple of common mistakes that a lot of entrepreneurs make when advertising on Facebook. Number 1 – they are not spending enough. You should spend enough to get statistically significant data sets. You can then make good decisions based on that data. Number 2 – people create content that isn’t specialized to the platform. Every platform has its own language so change up your message.” by Peter Reitano