#4 Customer Service with Jack Browne

In this episode of the Build Your Own Brand podcast, we talk to Jack Browne.  Jack is a senior level sales and marketing professional with a focus on EXCELLENT Customer service.  Jack shares his tips for how small businesses can deliver OUTSTANDING customer service even in difficult situations.

#3: Considerations for Personal Relationships When Growing Your Business

Today on the Build Your Own Brand Podcast, we feature Dr. Shakenna Williams, the Director of Global Initiatives for the Center for Women Entrepreneurial Leadership. Shakenna has deep entrepreneurial experience and has worked with business owners across the United States with the Goldman Sachs 10K Small Business Program. In today's episode, Dr. Williams talks about how to have a healthy work life balance as an entrepreneur. Some great topics in this discussion include the Work-Life Balance Myth, How to effectively communicate with your loved ones when it comes to growing a successful business. and Setting Expectations with your family and friends when on an entrepreneurial journey.

As always, Thank you to the sponsor for our show, Think of IT Computer Services, whose mission is to make your work life easier by solving common technology challenges in small and medium businesses. Learn more at www.Thinkof.it

Check out the Goldman Sachs 10K Small Business program: https://10ksbapply.com/

If you are a woman owned business or a female entrepreneur, check out the Babson WIN Lab at https://bit.ly/2RjMVQG

#1: Discovering Your Why and How "Your Why" Impacts Your Business Strategy

If your like most business owners, 2019 presents both enormous opportunity, and complex challenges.   In this episode, John Whaley talks with Steve about Business Strategy and finding your why. 

Our freebie is the 2019 Business Roadmap.  Check it out here at our sponsors website.

https://thinkofitwichitafalls.com/download-pocket-guide-2019-planning-roadmap/

Today’s guest is Jon Whaley, or as he’s known to business owners in Houston, Jonyprofit. In addition to being an entrepreneur, Jon is an instructor and executive coach for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business program. He shares his thoughts on small business planning, finding your “why,” and how to chart a course in your business both personally and professionally. We hear about the process Jon goes through with customers when planning for their business and his experience in asking successful people for mentorship.

01:34 – How Jon approaches strategic planning and new year planning.

• The relationship of personal and business growth.
• Jon’s goal for 2019 of his organization becoming the market research and business development arm for small businesses.

04:18 – How small business owners can realize their financial goals.

• Small business owners’ tendency to create competing goals.
• Asking business owners why they chose this path.

6:10 – What business owners answer with when asked what they want.

• Individuals being more ego-driven than money-driven.
• Ways that business owners mask that they are ego-driven.
• The affects on customer satisfaction when a business owner is money-driven.

8:12 – Creating specific goals from vague statements such as “I want to make more money” or “I want to spend more time with my family.”

• Narrowing down goals and planning accordingly.

10:17 – Determining what you don’t want to do to achieve your business goals.

• The ease of saying what you do and don’t want to do if your back isn’t against the wall.
• Getting maximum return on life vs. maximum return on effort.

12:15 – Differences between planning for lifestyle vs. profit.

• The twelve questions that Jon asks clients to figure out how to move forward in any type of business, along with examples of how they get answered.

16:26 – Avoiding recreating the wheel.

• Jon’s special question that he asks during team meetings.
• Reasons that cause people to waste time during their journey.

18:20 – Mistakes that Jon sees business owners make regarding planning.

• The biggest mistake, by far, is business owners not being honest about their “why.”
• Feeling empty inside after building the wrong type of business.

20:43 – What Jon recommends business owners do to find their “why.”

• Getting out and hanging around with winners.
• Seeing people living the dream being interpreted as negative by some people.

24:43 – How talking to successful people can get business owners past their “why.”

• The development of your “why” and remembering that it changes.
• Guiding your investment in a direction that makes you feel whole.
• A personal story from Jon about how he got back into track and field and found his “why.”

30:55 – Jon’s experience of “going to the top” by asking the best person in a sector for advice.

• No one-person being the best at everything.
• The people at the top always being willing to help.

34:12 – Closing thoughts.

The Entrepreneur Hour – https://www.eehour.com/

Think of IT – https://www.thinkofitwichitafalls.com

John’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonyprofit