Be a PROFITABLE Badass Small Business Owner

Episode 24 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Today's Topic: How I Survived a Failed Business In today's episode: I will share my small business failure. While I ran a successful business on one hand, it just wasn't enough. We will talk about the lessons I learned and how I've turned my 2nd business into a success and soon my 3rd. Shownotes: Today I want to discuss something that impacts many of us. Maybe in your past, maybe in your future or maybe you are going through it right now. Let's talk about Recovering from a Business Failure. Now, I'm going to be honest with you. This not going to be an easy podcast episode for me. While I have become passionate about the topic, it was not a fun experience when I went through it and it still stings. But I know that it is critical that we discuss this topic since I know that I am not alone and some of you are going through this right now. Please know that failure comes in many forms. For some of us, we had well ran businesses but they were the wrong business at the wrong time and then the financial crash took us out. Were any of you a victim of the recession we had? I know I fall into this group. For others, maybe they made all the wrong decisions and they just bled losses and the business went under. Truth is, there are many reasons a business can fail. We actually covered many of these in Episode 21 where we discussed 25 Ways Local Small Businesses Fail. Today, I want to focus on how you recover once you do go through a business failure. Specifically, I will share my journey. If you are like me, you are someone that loves to succeed. You might even be a person that doesn't do failure well. I know I don't. It crushes my heart, my spirit, my soul. I work so hard at succeeding that failure isn't an option. So when I do fail at something, it crushes me. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not perfect. Far from it. I make a lot of mistakes. But for some reason, I never equated mistakes as failures. Which is funny since a mistake is a mini failure. You just recover faster. When I left my corporate job after 22 years to take over a local small business, there was no doubt in my mind that I would succeed. I looked at this business's books, I saw a $48,000 loss but instead of running, is saw it as an easy fix for me to turn around. I was right. I did get it to a breakeven in one year. Now, I know what I would be thinking if I was you listening to this part of the story… what the heck were you thinking Tammy!? I laugh now, but usually I just look in the mirror and shake my head. I was so caught up in how I could turn around the business, I failed to factor in what the heck was I going to do to then turn it into a livable income? Here is the worse part. I left my successful job in November 2008 and took over the next week. I remember sitting in a hotel at my training orientation for the franchise and watching the stock market tank. My heart sinking as my entire savings to live off of while I get this business turned around was disappearing overnight. Later that year, my rental homes tanked right along with the stock market. Six months later I no longer had a great salary, my stock was disappearing fast, my rentals were underwater and I had a business that was losing money and losing customers fast. My entire town was disappearing as folks walked away from their homes and left our small town. If I was smart, I would have ran for the hills and protected what little I had left. But noooo, for some reason I thought I would survive. I would succeed just like I always do. For the next 5 years I struggled through the crash and two competitors opening up. Every time I would get back to even and making a great increase on my customer count and sales, the next hit would come. Each year, just barely breaking even. ** For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 24 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 23 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Today's Topic: You Have to Do the Work! In today's episode: We discuss a great conversation I had with a local small business owner and a frustration I have with folks who just will not do the work!. Shownotes: I'm excited for today's episode. I had the best conversation today with a woman who is killing it in her cleaning business! During our conversation, I was reminded of a topic that I've been meaning to do an episode on. And after our talk, I knew today was the day. Her and her team showed up to clean our office and another agent and I told her how much we appreciated the job she was doing. We then asked if she was taking on any new clients since we are always looking for folks to recommend to our clients. She started to tell us about how busy she was and then she made the most profound statement that hit my topic today dead on. She said... "Anyone who says there are no jobs in this town doesn't know how to work for it. I built this from nothing and if I can do it, they can too." Wow, how great was that? Without any prompting, she told all of us that we were the secret weapon to our own success. When I started quizzing her on how she built her business, I was amazed. Other than some business cards, she has spent zero dollars on advertising. It has all been through word of mouth. She started with one client, then they recommended her to another and it snowballed. Now she has 17 monthly recurring customers, 4 commercial properties and many other winter visitors she watches their homes. She has 5 folks on her team and she works constantly. When she gets a new client, she clearly lays out what they can expect and she prides herself on how thorough she is. Then she works hard to deliver everything she promises. She now has a waiting list of folks that would love to use her services. She is always hustling and building her reputation. She isn't afraid to tell a client that maybe they aren't a right fit. If they feel she is too intense for them, she let's them know this is who she is and maybe she isn't the right person for their home or office. You might be wondering why she even started this cleaning businesses in the first place. She was at a crossroads and needed to either go back to work or find something else to do. The thought of earning $10 an hour and having a long drive didn't interest her, so she looked at what she loved to do and this business was born. She knew there was a lot more money to be made. She just needed to hustle and build it. She told us that she only knows how to work hard. That her reputation was everything to her. She wanted folks to think of two words when they thought of her: Service and Pride. She wanted to make sure that she was known by the level of service she gave and the pride she took in her work. Let me tell you, I think that is exactly what her clients are getting. ** For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 23 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Bonus Episode – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Success Saturday: Believe You Can! In today's episode: We start our new Success Saturday episodes where we will dive in for a quick nugget on things that help us be successful in our small businesses Shownotes: Hey everyone, it's me, Tammy, so were you surprised that there was a bonus episode this week? I know when the inspiration hit to do this episode, I was on the fence but decided why the heck not go for it. After all, life is about taking chances and tossing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. I had this thought of doing a quick bonus episode each Saturday that was say anywhere between 2-5 minutes long and I would call Success Saturday. Currently, I have a few ideas I'm kicking around with what these episodes will contain but I don't want to commit quite yet so who knows what will strike me each week or if they will even last. Heck, I don't even know if I will even do show notes. So we will see. So what created this inspiration for a bonus episode? As I've mentioned, I'm a podcast junkie and I really like when folks pop in with a quickie if you will. Drop a little nugget for me to contemplate. So I started to wonder if I could do the same for you guys. I'm sure some episodes will be hits, some might be misses but I'll never know if I don't at least try. Think about it, isn't part of our job as small business owners to try new things and see if they resonate with our customers or clients? Think of this experiment as my way to find something you might like. Today, I came across a quote that I thought I'd share and why it resonated with me. The quote was by Robert Anthony and it was this… You can have anything you want if you are willing to give up the belief that you can't have it. --Robert Anthony After I read this, I' thought about some of the stuff we have discussed in the past. How each of us can have anything we set our mind too. Far to often we dream big yet with the same breath we tell ourselves there is no way we can pull it off. The sad part is, we absolutely can if we set out minds to it. Think about how often you do this to yourself. For example, do you have a business that is currently doing say $40,000 yet you dream of having it do that $100,000 we are always talking about? When you allow yourself to dream of that $100,000 do you think of all the ways you can get there or do you give up after a few minutes thinking there is no way you will ever get there? Do you believe in your heart it isn't a matter of maybe but when? Or do you get frustrated each month and give up on the possibility? I know it is easy to think it will never happen. It is easy to give up when you see no progress. It is hard to keep pushing. It is hard to carve out the time needed to make a difference. It is easy to give up. I don't want you to give up. I want you to believe in every fiber of your being that you are building something big. That you are building a seriously successful business. That you are the CEO of a successful company that is growing each year. I promise, if you see it clearly in your minds eye you will achieve it! So as we wrap up our first Success Saturday, I want to leave you with only one thought Just like a professional athlete, a successful business person is working each day to improve their craft to achieve that success. A professional athlete only sees winning as an option and so must you! I hope you liked this quickie and I hope to see you on Monday for our normal episode. HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Bonuse Episode 1 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 22 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Today's Topic: Ep 22 – Q & A: Do Car Wraps Really Work? In today's episode: We take a question from Sully who wonders if it is worth the cost of a car wrap. Do you get a return on your investment? Shownotes: Today is Friday, so you know that means we will be taking one of your questions. Don't forget, that if you would like to ask a question and possibly have me answer it on the podcast, then head on over to the localsmallbuinsesscoach.com website to leave your question with the speakpipe button. Or just shoot it to me at [email protected]. Even if I don't cover it on the podcast, I will always try and get back with you. So shoot those suckers to me. With that said, let's dive right in. Today's question comes from Sully, I have a carpet cleaning business and I have been on the fence about getting my van covered with one of those car wraps. They aren't cheap and I'm having a hard time justifying the cost. I know you mentioned that you had one and I'm curious if you think it is worth this high cost? Hey Sully, have a case of sticker shock, do you? I don't blame you. Those suckers aren't cheap. Had I been asked this question prior to 2010 I would have had the complete opposite answer than what I have for you today. Back then, I would have seen the price and ran for the hills. Who in their right mind pays that much money when they can slap some magnets on for under $100? But now after having seen the benefits first hand, I'm a huge fan. For those of you that don't know what a car/truck wrap is, you have probably seen one a thousand times. It is when you take your vehicle and completely cover it with your advertising. Normally you will have your logo on all 4 sides and maybe even the hood. You might include some pictures of what your business is about. Stuff like that. For example, when I had mine, not only did it say Baskin Robbins and my address and phone number, but I also had giant pictures of ice cream, shakes, cakes, etc. Like I mentioned, I'm sure all of you have seen these on the highway or in your neighborhood. You can't miss them as they really stand out and catch your eye. Which is exactly why you want one! Sully, obviously, I am a fan, but let's take a look at the pros and cons of having your vehicle wrapped. Pros and Cons First up, let's talk about the Cons… Here are the Cons: The Cost – As we mentioned earlier, these puppies aren't cheap and honestly, this is the #1 con to them. Now the cost does vary depending on what type of vehicle you wrap. The larger vehicles obviously have more surface area and take more vinyl wrapping material. But believe it or not, even smaller ones can cost more if they have a lot of cutting in and detail to work around. So what exactly is this cost? You can be looking at anywhere between $1500 on up towards $5,000 for a large van or box truck. Obviously a van will be more than a smart car. It will also depend if you have your own graphics or they have to create from scratch Another con, You should hand wash or beware of certain car washes that might scratch or tear the wrap. They can take a good beating but one scratch might lead to it starting to peel off Let's take a look at the Pros Which by the way, far outweigh in my eyes, the cons When done right, these puppies can last for years. The latest technology is saying 5-7 years. With some places saying almost 10 years. Since most of you will have work trucks, you might find that you are more in that 5 – 7 year range depending on how much abuse your vehicle takes. The wrap actually will protect the original paint from UV, road debris, road salt and offer the paint protection from chips, nicks and scratches. So yes while a tear in the vinyl will be a con but the protection part is a pro You can always peel it off later. Let's say you decide to sell the vehicle or close the business for some reason or maybe change your graphics. You can always peel it off without damaging the paint usually. Since it is put on with heat, a little hit loosens the vinyl and it comes off. When I closed my store, I obviously couldn't keep driving around with ice cream all over my truck. I could have gone back to the place that put it on but I used a weekend to take it off myself. Not going to lie, it was a pain in the kester in some spots. Specifically on my roof and hood as the heat of Arizona and the heat of the engine baked it on a little more than on the sides that just peeled right off. You are a driving billboard for your business. You will never have to worry that people will not see you or learn about your business. I would be sitting at stop lights and have that feeling that someone was staring at me. Sure enough, someone was looking at the ice cream on the sides. I can't tell you how many people actually thought I had ice cream in my truck, that is how good the wrap was. Heck, I had kids offering me free food at every fast food in exchange for ice cream. You should have

Episode 21 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Today's Topic: The 25 Reasons Local Small Businesses Fail In today's episode: We discuss the top reasons that local small business often fail. By knowing what causes small business failure, you can react quickly to get back on track Shownotes: Today we are going to take a look at 25 reasons that local small businesses fail. First, I'd like to share a couple of statistics. Did you know that it is widely held and understood that 50% of small businesses will fail within 5 years and that 90% of small businesses will no longer exist in 10 years. That means that if true, 9 out of 10 of you will no longer be in business in the next 10 years. That is crazy. Did you start your local small business thinking would be a statistic? Heck no. You went into it with high hopes and swearing that you would defy the odds. My goal is to help you do that! The best way to avoid failing is to know what the most common pitfalls, local small business owners make. Now, before we dive in, we must acknowledge that many of you are probably falling victim to any number of these items right now. Our mission today is to recognize it and put a plan in place to right the ship. Since we have a lot to cover, let's dive right in. Oh, before we do, please know there is no rhyme or reason to the order Trying to Do It All If your goal is to remain small and only do a few small jobs here or there, then this might not be an issue for you, however, for most of us, we want our business to grow large enough to not only pay our bills, but we also want it to produce enough profit to fund our future retirement. In order to do that, odds are you will need help at some point to keep up with the additional business. Maybe it is to do the actual work, to help the customer or maybe it is to run your office management or bookkeeping or maybe someone to do your marketing. When you are doing it all, then you are 100% guaranteed to start dropping some balls. Something will have to give. Sure you might be able to hang on 7 – 8 years, but you are the highest risk at that 10-year mark. You hold on as long as possible until it becomes too much. Not Adjusting to the Changes in the Market Over the course of any 10 years, the odds are strong that there will be lots of changes in the market place. Technology will change, attitudes will change, what people find to be important will change. Their wants and desires will change. I'm reminded of this whenever I show homes. What was popular in the 70s is different than what was popular in the 90s. Heck, in my small town, most of the homes are 10 years old and folks already feel they hate what was so popular in 2006. Think about when the market shifted from a cash basis to credit and then debit. A business that didn't take cards due to the hassle or cost, slowly saw business slide to those that did. Maybe your business has a new technology that you have been fighting. I'm not saying there is an issue with old school, but when the market is screaming for something else, you have to make sure you aren't making an emotional decision but rather a calculated one. Insufficient Capital / Financial Resources Many small business owners are surviving job to job. Very similar to their counterparts with jobs living paycheck to paycheck. When you are taking every dime out of your company and not creating some cash reserves for emergencies or growth, you risk losing everything in a blink of an eye. You also stunt your businesses growth as you don't have the capital to grow. You can't invest in marketing, in people or in equipment. Another risk you have is, when the weather doesn't cooperate. If your business is landscaping and you have not saved up for those leans months, then you will not have the financial resources to survive. Not Paying Taxes When you transition from an employee to a business owner, one of the most shocking things is to discover that you are not required to put money away for your taxes and you now get the privilege of paying your full 15% social security tax. The problem is, when you have $1000 in your hand, the last thing you want to do is put half of it away for your taxes. So many don't. ** For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 21 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 20 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Today We Discuss: The 3 Ways to Increase Your Local Small Business's Sales In today's episode: We discuss the 3 core ways that you can increase your small businesses sales. While there are a lot of action items, they all focus on one of these core areas. We will dive into what might be the best one for you and your business. Shownotes: There is a saying that Sales cures all. Basically it means that the more you do in sales, the more it hides the weaknesses in your business. I would agree that additional sales help to cover your weaknesses, but I would disagree that it "cures all". I'd argue that it actually makes your situation even worse. When you are swimming in sales, it gives you a false sense of security, that you will have enough sales to cover your costs and expenses. However, the wrong types of sales can actually have the reverse effect. There are plenty of businesses that did millions in sales and still ended up closing their doors due to bleeding losses. Remember, it isn't just about the money coming in the door, but more about the money staying in the business after everything is paid. You want sales that come with profits! So why am I starting with this sales disclaimer? I want you to be methodical about what types of sales you go after. Selling $10,000 of goods or services that have no profit to them, will do you no good. You want a good mix of sales. You want to get customers through the door that will also provide both sales and profits. So with that, let's jump into the 3 ways to increase your sales. I know your first thought is that there are more than 3 ways to drive more sales. You would be correct. However, if you were to look at all the various sales generating ideas, they typically fall into one of three buckets. The reality is, there are only 3 ways to increase your sales. You can.. A) Increase your customer count B) Increase your average ticket C) Increase your customer frequency Let's take a closure look at all three. ** For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 20 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 19 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Today We Discuss: Q & A Friday: Dealing with Problem Employees in Your Local Small Business In today's episode: We answer a question from one of you! Tom is having issues with his team and needs to replace them but has no one to hire. What should he do? Shownotes: Tom has been having issues with several members of his team. Their performances have been subpar. And since their hiring market is tough, he has put up with it longer than he probably should have. He would prefer to fire them but is afraid he would be force to hire more poor people just to have enough people. He is wanting some advice on how to handle this situation. Tom, I can guarantee you that you are not alone in this challenge. You actually have two different challenges – The first is your poor performers and the second is not having a great hiring pool. The important thing to remember is, NEVER, EVER hold on to poor performers just because you don't have folks to replace them with. The longer you hold on to poor performers, the more potential cancer you allow to grow within your organization. So it is critical that you address these performance issues quickly. Now, please know, this doesn't necessarily mean to fire them. It means, address the performance issues. If you have been documenting their performance and you have been coaching and retraining and there is absolutely no confusion on where they stand on their performance then sure, terminating their employment is probably the right course of action. However, if you haven't documented anything and you haven't been coaching and retraining them, then don't you think you owe it to them? Now, it will also boil down to what the issue is. If it is not performing tasks right, that is fixable. A really crappy attitude, not so much. However, either way you need to sit down and go over what your concerns are and then document that conversation. Make sure there is no doubt in the employee's mind what needs to change and what both of your commitments are to make that happen. Arrange a training plan, assign them a mentor, outline clear next steps and expectations. Part of your challenge is going to be, they will not believe you. Especially when you get a final warning. Why would they? If you have a pattern of holding on to poor performers or those with poor attitudes, why would they think it would change now? You must draw that line in the sand and share with your entire team on the expectations and consequences going forward. You good employees need to know just as much that you doing something about it. They too will not believe you. You need to make them believers again. Their attitudes have been suffering as well from having to deal with these bad apples. When the time comes to make that final decision, do it! You must show that your words are more than words. That you will do all you can to help them succeed but you will also cut bait when they don't perform their end of the bargain. I'm a big fan of looking in the mirror first as a leader. Look to see if the poor employees are due to something you can help control. For example, maybe that employee with a poor attitude is someone who use to do a great job for you but they lost their fire when they worked side by side with folks who dragged them down. This is the cancer we don't want to spread. Ok, so that is the crash course on dealing with your poor performers, now let's discuss the 2nd part of your problem. A poor hiring pool. The first question is, is this poor hiring pool a community wide problem or just for your business? The reason I ask is, you have to ask yourself if you a known on the community as a great place to work? Maybe your lack of qualified people is due to not being a desired place to be hired? Now, let's assume that it is a community wide problem. They key thing to remember In tough hiring areas is to ALWAYS BE RECRUITING. If a great candidate shows up, hire them! You may never get the shot again. Then performance manage those that need to go. Even if those folks get better you now have a win/win. You can't afford to let good folks slip through. ** For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 19 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 18 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Today We Discuss: Why Your Small Business Needs a Sales Journal or Log In today's episode: We discuss how keeping a sales log / journal gives you powerful information to use increase your sales & profits each year by learning from the past. Shownotes: Now, let's dive into today's topic which is a huge game changer when implemented and used. With used being the key word. But, more on that shortly. I am a big fan of having a daily sales log. Now, for those of you that aren't familiar with a sales journal or log, it is basically about capturing key information that you can refer to in the future to better drive your profit and sales. It also can lead to better decisions on processes and people. Since they hit all 4 of our key topics of profit, sales, process and people, it is a fantastic tool to have in your tool belt. So, what types of information would be great for you to capture? Sales – The most obvious thing you will want to capture is your sales. I recommend your daily sales and depending on your business, possibly even what items or services you sold. This is last part is much easier on some brick and mortar businesses that have registers that capture sales by item. Why is this important? What better way to look back and know your sales pattern and your peaks and valleys? You gather information that shows trends by the day of the week as well as how your weeks and months play out. It is really fun to watch once you can stack each year on top of each other. I think you really see clear trends. Which now leads into another great category to capture Categories – For those of you that have certain services or categories that are critical to watch, tracking how these do can offer great insight into purchasing product and what you can expect in sales. An example I'll share from when I had my ice cream shop was the category of ice cream cakes. This was a big chunk of my business. It was very important for me to capture these sales so I knew what to plan for. Which leads to another great thing to capture: Unique situations – Since we are talking about this part of my business, one thing that I had to capture were any unique situations that happened. Now, unique can be something as basic as the impact of holidays or something that is important in your local community and it impacts your business, such as pioneer days, freedom days, graduations, chili cook offs, etc. We all have local events that could potentially have an impact on our business. By the way, other things can impact or business but they don't happen that often. But a year from now, you might not recall them happening. A great example of this might be repaving of your parking lot or a broken fire hydrant or road closures. Which leads to another common impact on our business. Weather – Weather can have a huge impact on a lot of local small business owners. Think about what hurricanes, floods, etc. Now those are extremes, but any storm - whether rain or snow will impact most folks business. Especially if it wasn't normal for the time of the year. It could be a heat wave as well. Holidays – Holidays will impact businesses differently. Some will flourish during these times and others will tank. You need to know by how much and see the trend. Here is why knowing you jump in sales in November just isn't enough. Let's say you have tracked the last 2 years of sales for the Christmas season. Your business tends to jump 20% the past 2 years. Now, let's assume you have been tweaking your business and now you are having your best year ever. You are actually up 20% in your business all year long. Think about how much business could be missed if you didn't plan on seeing a true 40% jump this coming holiday season? You have to plan for the 20% trend you already are on plus an additional 20% for your normal jump. So if last year you did say $10,000 in business, you now much prepare for an additional $4,000 on top of that! Having this information helps you be prepared for our next item Better Hiring – Knowing what is coming allows you to not only plan for your inventory needs, it also allows you to prepare for your people needs. Do you need to hire more folks? Do you need to cut back your part time hours? If you see that last year your sales dipped for two weeks due to the street being repaired, then you know you probably don't need to cut back your people needs during this same time this year. Coupons & Ads – Finally, you want to capture the impact that any coupons or ads you run have on your business. What worked and what didn't? So as you can see, there are quite a few key things that impact your business and would be great to know the history. I can't tell you how often I referred to my sales log to see how I could maximize my sales and profits. ** For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button

Episode 17 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Today We Discuss: Walk Your Local Small Business Thru Your Customer's Eyes In today's episode: We discuss why it is critical that you walk your business through your customer's eyes. You will be amazed at what you are telling your customers at any given moment. Shownotes: I was reminded of this critical step in the daily routine of any small business owner. One that is often overlooked and it can be very damaging to your businesses sales and profits. I knew at that moment that we needed to take some time to discuss it. I decided to have lunch at a local fast food joint and when I got out of my truck, the first thing I saw was a trash can that was over flowing with old wrappers and soda cups. The ground littered with this trash. At the front door was another trash can that was also overflowing and a stack of gross trays with ketchup oozing out the sides. Since I was planning on dining in, my first thought was, I sure hope the tables look better than the trash cans. Later I would realize I was out of luck. Tables were littered with trash, crumbs and drink stains. By the way, the tables weren't alone, the chairs and floor looked like a bomb when off. Just like those confetti cannons. You've all experienced this before. You know, where you go table to table hoping one will be semi clean so you can sit down. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. Nothing screams I don't care about you as a customer more than this. It tells your customers that I don't care that you sit and eat in crud. It tells them that if I don't care about my lobby, I probably don't care about keeping my back line clean either and odds are my food prep areas. It screams, I don't care about you the customer. When I had my place, I was a fanatic about this. Even in busy times, I knew it was critical to send the right message to my customers that I cared about the environment they and their children ate in. But, please know, this conversation isn't just about dining room lobbys. It is much greater than that. A business lesson I learned at an early age was to walk each 8 ft section of my business through the eyes of a customer. What do they see? Is the product fresh? Is it signed well? Does it answer the questions someone might have? Is it faced and cleaned? Or are there torn packages, an inch of dust, no signs and no rhyme or reason to the placement of the product? Are the shelves blocked by freight? You get the idea. Basically, what is the customer experience? I want you to think about when you go personally go shopping or when you visit businesses with your family. Let's assume there are no employees and the business had to stand on it's own. What do you find that frustrates you? ** For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 17 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 16 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Today We Discuss: Q &A: Help, I Need More Advertising! In today's episode: We discuss a Franchisee's question on not getting enough advertising Shownotes: Today's questions comes from Kristen. Kristen asks… Hey Tammy, I own a business that is part of a franchise. As part of my franchise agreement, I pay 5% of my sales into the company advertising pool. The problem is, it seems all the money goes into the bigger cities and none of it is used at my local level. This is very frustrating as I put in thousands of dollars and get nothing in return. What can I do to get some of this money to be spent on my potential customers? I appreciate any insight you might have since you mentioned your store was a franchise as well. Kristen Kristen, you are speaking to me! This was probably my biggest frustration as a franchisee. There is nothing worse than pouring money into something that you never see any benefit from. ** For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 16 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 15 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Today We Discuss: Are You a Victim of Your Own Success In today's episode: We discuss how your success can lead to your business's failure. Shownotes: You always hear how 90% of small businesses are out of business within 5 years. Half don't make it the first year. Usually when you hear these statistic people are talking about all the things folks did wrong. People assume that the businesses were run poorly. The reality is, there are quite a few local small businesses that actually crashed and burned due to their success! Sounds weird and counter intuitive doesn't it? One normally doesn't equate success with failure. Unfortunately, it is more common than you think. You might be one of these businesses with a successful business that is about to crash and burn. So how on earth does this even happen? Those of you in this situation want to know how to not become a statistic and those of you just starting or doing well, want to know how not to wake up and find yourself in this position at all. Let's take a look at 4 of the big reasons why this even happens: Before we discuss these 4 items, what put someone in this position in the first place. ** For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 15 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 14 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Today We Discuss: Learning from Other People's Mistakes & Successes to Grow your Local Small Business In today's episode, we will discuss how critical that you learn from others successes and failures. Shownotes: I want to dive into something today that I feel is critical for any leader to embrace. And when I say leader I mean both local small businesses owners but also those that lead teams within any company. If you currently are working towards either of these goals, today's episode will give you some great insight into what it will take to be successful. I've mentioned this in passing in a previous episode but want to expound on it more and why I feel so strongly about it. Let me start with a quote from motivational speaker, Jim Rohn "It's important to learn from your mistakes, but it is better to learn from other people's mistakes, and it is BEST to learn from other people's successes. It accelerates your own success." —Jim Rohn I LOVE this Quote! It sums up my philosophy for the past 30 years. What is fascinating is that I actually just discovered this quote. Imagine my happiness when I found out that my personal philosophy lined up with one of the greats! ** For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 14 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 13 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Today We Discuss: Question on Finding Help that Sticks Around In today's episode, we will discuss why do I think your team is your #1 asset. For today's question, I'm actually going to answer one that I had from a small business owner I was speaking with the other day. This business owner has no employees but does hire folks for the day to help with various jobs. Technically they are called independent contractors for those of you mistakenly call them temporary help. While yes, they are usually temporary, in the eyes of the government, temporary help is usually associated with hired folks. Those who you hire for a job here and there and are not part of your hired team are called these independent contractors. Now, the subject or hired folks vs independent contractors can get pretty complicated and not for this particular episode but we will discuss it more in a future podcast. Ok, now back to our question. This business owner's question was: How do you find people that will last longer than a few hours or that you can at least count on and they do a good job? The first thing that popped to mind when he asked the question was where has he been finding his "hired hands" from currently? I already had an idea but wanted to get confirmation that my hunch was correct. You see, experience has shown that when someone needs help for the day they tend to look around for folks that have nothing to do but might want to make some extra money. So they typically will ask around, ask people they run into, folks on the corner, things like that. Trust me, I've seen plenty of folks picked up for a days work through the years on the corners of Home Depot. When I asked this small business owner, my hunch was correct. He found his help typically through folks he ran into. His last one was someone from his street who had been looking for work. While this can be a quick fix to the problem of needing someone right away, honestly, you are lucky to get what you get. Here's why this approach rarely works out. ** For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 13 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 12 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Today We Discuss: Your People Are Your Greatest Asset In today's episode, we will discuss why do I think your team is your #1 asset. Plain and simple. They are the ones that are interacting with your customers and clients. They are the ones that are accomplishing each and every task. They are the ones that represent you and your brand! The folks you accept to represent you speaks volumes to you as a leader. The behaviors you encourage and accept tells every customer or client what you stand for. Think about any business that you have gone into and the people didn't acknowledge you, or they didn't care if you were there or not. What if you saw them taking to each other and not to you? What if they sneezed on your food or slopped stuff on your plate? How about if their pants were hanging low or their shorts up their butt? If your team goes into people homes, what if they cussed in someone's home or knocked over stuff? What if they parked on their yard? It is all these little things that speak volumes. ** For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 12 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 11 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Today We Discuss: Partner with a Real Estate Agent to Double / Triple Your Sales in Your Local Small Business In today's episode, we will discuss a great way for certain types of businesses to double or triple their sales. If you are a new business just starting out, this is a great way to build your business. I'm actually amazed at how this is such a well-kept secret. Those that have figured it out, are enjoying some great growth in their business. If you are a local small business owner whose primary customer / client is a home owner, then you need to learn this major game changer for your business. This secret? Partnering with a Realtor to Double / Triple Your Sales In today's episode we dive in and discuss what steps you need to take to and why Realtor's can be a fantastic lead for your business! ** For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 11 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 10 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Today We Discuss: Question on Starting a Local Business to Pay off Your Debt In today's episode, James is thinking of starting a local small business to help pay off his debt. Believe it or not, a lot of local small businesses are started by folks that just wanted to create some extra income and they took their passions or skills to the community. We discuss James' idea of starting a landscaping business and the pros and cons of this business. We also discuss the ways he can get out to his community his new business and his options to do this with very little money to get going. A great episode for those also thinking about starting a local small business with little to no money. ** For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 10 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 9 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Today We Discuss: Your Small Business's Brand and What it Stands For In today's episode. We are going to discuss your company's brand and what is stands for. Keep in mind that your brand is part of your marketing but it is much more than this. Your brand is what your community tells you it is. Usually this is based off what you tell your community. In today's episode, we will dive into "branding" and what it means. How you create one. And how it is way more than your local and name. ** For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 9 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 8 – The Local Small Business Coach Podcast Today We Discuss: Customer Service is Your Business's Secret Sauce You all know customer service is important. But do you BELIEVE in your heart that it is important? You have to mean it. In today's episode we discuss how customer service has been drilled in my head and why it needs to be drilled in yours as well as your teams. We discuss our favorite customer service locations and why we love them! We also discuss 6 Quick tips to Great Customer Service and how your customer service will separate you from your competitors! ** For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the Speak Pipe Button or just email me at [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 8 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 7 – Question Episode – How Can I go from $35k to $100k Profit in my Local Small Business? Welcome back to the Local Small Business Coach Podcast, I am your coach Tammy Adams. And today, I thought we would go ahead and start our Friday Questions. Eventually I'm hoping we get some great questions and have 1-2 days a week of questions. I'm a firm believer that we can all learn from others so I'm excited for us to share each of our challenges so we can learn together. So let's dive into our first question. I grabbed this one since it ties into the theme we have been having on getting your business up to a $100,000 profitable. This message is from Cliff… Cliff writes… Hello, I listened to your 2 episodes on making $100,000 in my business. Last year I only made $35,000 and I worked my tail off just to get to that. How on earth can I realistically get to $100,000? Thanks in advance for any insight on how I can get started. Cliff Hey Cliff, I can totally understand that this might seem like a huge hurdle and currently you just can't see how you are going to make this happen. Now, you don't mention what type of business you have so I'm going to be a little more generic but you should be able to adapt this to your business. But first, let's address the elephant in the room. Can ALL local small businesses get to $100,000 profit? I'm not going to pretend that each and every business can. For example, a dog walking business is going to have a tough time as that is a lot of dogs at a low price. However, with that said, while 90% can't there are probably 10% that can. They will need to scale it using other people. Creating a team of dog walkers and hiring independent contractors to do the work. Also a dog walker in a city location is going to do much better than a dog walker in the country. Another great example is, an AC repair tech in Arizona is going to make some serious cash compared to an AC guy in Alaska. So the key take a way is you must have the right business in the right area. You must set yourself up for a business that has the best potential to grow. But honestly, the vast majority of local businesses can have a shot at this milestone, you just have to realize you might be building a team vs individual type of business. So if you have one of these types of businesses, then just think creatively. Ok, let's get back to Cliff, and let's assume he has a scalable business. First, please know it is possible. The key to accomplishing this goal is to realize it just can't be "business as usual". If you are like most small business owners, your time is already maxed out and the thought of doubling or tripling your business is not feasible "doing what you are already doing". The best way to attack this goal is to break it down. Just like we did in episodes 3 & 4. Now, I'm not going to rehash those episodes but if anyone hasn't listened to them yet, just check them out afterwards as I go into more detail. Cliff, If you and I were to sit down and go over your business, the first thing we would do is look at your sales, your profit and your expenses. Right away we would be able to identify a potential issue if you didn't have clean books to even have this dialog. There is no way to make that leap if you don't know your current situation. ** For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the SpeakPipe Button or just email me [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 7 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 6 – Standing Out from Your Competition in Your Local Small Business Welcome back to the Local Small Business Coach Podcast, I am your coach Tammy Adams. This is episode 6 and today we are going to discuss how to stand out from your competitors. But before we dive in, I want to take a moment to discuss something that I saw on the Profit last night that really stood out based off our last couple of episodes. If you aren't watching the Profit, you need to. This is probably one of the best TV shows every local small business owner needs to watch. Marcus Lemonis, the amazing businessman behind the show, invests in local business to help not only turn them around, but to develop a brand that he can take national. His main mantra is something I've always been preaching, just using different words and that is People, Process and Product. He gives mini business lessons to the audience and as a small business owner, you can learn so much. The main reason I bring this up is, in last night's episode Marcus asked the small business owner, who had 5 soup shops by the way, what his gross margin was. This owner looked right at him and had no idea. This really stood out to me since we just got through talking about this last week how you need to know your gross margin. Here is Marcus and one of his key questions was this very thing and then he goes on to share how if this man gets his gross margins up he would add over a million in sales and $300,000 in profit from this one thing. It really drove home how important this is. So if you aren't watching, please go back and watch all the episodes. Maybe we will dive in more in a future episode. But let's dive into today's topic – Standing out from your competitors. I picked this topic to follow our last episode's discussion on our Ego getting in the way on purpose. Our Ego really goes crazy when it comes to our competitors. Often times we beat our chest that we are so much better than they are, that we miss what they are doing well. I actually have a great learning lesson I had on this back in my Depot days. Since I had been with them from the 64th store, we were a very fired up group. We were growing so fast and kicking butt and our ego was huge. We dominated our competition and the love affair American had with us was pretty amazing. As we expanded into the Western states, which is what I was a part of, we just took over a state at a time. We had no problem being obnoxious and cocky. Then a strange thing happened, we went into Washington up against a pretty popular big box retailer similar to us. No matter what we did, these guys kept getting strong and going head to head with us. It kind of through us for a loop since we felt we were so much better than they were. But the customer was telling us something different. Long story short, when we finally stopped beating our own chests and started to listen to the customer and how they were voting with their dollar we learned a valuable lesson. It led to use making a huge change that impacted a large chunk of our business. Those of you that shopped us 15 years ago saw us transition from a huge contractor focus to one that was both a contractor business and a home décor business. This was huge for us and a great move. It all came from us just listening to what the customers were telling us we needed to do to grow our business and meet the needs they were looking for. I tell you this story as it is just as important to each local small business owner as it was to this big box retailer. For each of you, there are others in your community that are also doing either a similar business as you are or they are offering maybe 1 or 2 similar services. Your goal is to find out what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong. What are the opportunities that you can be taking advantage of? How can you stand out from your competitors? For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the SpeakPipe Button or just email me [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 6 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 5 Is Your Ego Getting in the Way of Your Small Business's Success? Today we are going to talk about our Ego and how it can get in the way of our Business's success. I'm sure some of you cringed when I said it that way. I know I would have. My thought would have been some thing like, I don't ever let my ego get in the way, you don't know what you are talking about. The problem is, when I check my ego at the door, it absolutely has cost me money in all of my businesses. Let's face it, many of us are good at what we do, and when we are good at what we do we tend to take a lot of crap from folks that we think we know a lot. I know I do. However, I always respond that it isn't that I think I know it all, I just happen to know a lot. This thinking however, causes us to be over confident at times and therefore we don't see things we should. It might seem wrong to think that your Ego is causing your business to fail. Now, it might not be causing it to fail, but it might be causing your business not to grow or to be losing sales or profits. Let's talk about 5 ways in which our Ego can get in the way of our business's success For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the SpeakPipe Button or just email me [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 5 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 4 - Part 2 - Can Local Small Business Owners Make $100,000 in Profit? These are the 8 Steps they Need to Take CLICK to WATCH THE VIDEO Welcome back to the Local Small Business Coach Podcast, I am your coach Tammy Adams. So in episode 4, we are going jump into Part 2 of Can Local Small Business Owners Make $100,000 in Profit? In episode 3 we spent some time breaking down how to figure out how much you need to sell to hit your $100,000 profit. I know it was a number's filled episode but hopefully you got a lot of insight into profit margins and how it impacts your business. If you missed the episode, head on over to episode 3 to learn how to figure out the sales needed in your business to hit your $100,000 goal. So, after our last episode you should have an idea of what you need to do in sales to hit your $100,000 profit target. Now, getting to this target, is going to be the accumulation of a lot of little things you will do. But let's concentrate on 8 Steps that should get you there. Step 1 – You must set aside 2-3 hours a week to start working ON your business and not just IN your business. You might recall we discussed this in more detail in episode 2. The reason I had this in an earlier episode is because it is going to be a crucial step into setting aside the time you need to work on your marketing, your systems and other critical areas of your business. As long as 99% of your time is spent on the "doing" you will never grow beyond your current capacity. So this step is a very important part of your game plan. So when is the best time to schedule this? Ideally, you would spend your first hour of each day working on your business. However, some of you must get an early start so then set aside time at the end of the day. Worse case, set aside your first few hours on Monday or time on Sunday afternoon. Remember, you need to make this time a habit. The best way to make it a habit is to pick the same time each day or week. Whatever you pick, make sure you fully commit and block your calendar during this time. Make it a sacred part of your week. Step 2 – You need to Identify the gap between what you are currently doing today in sales and what you are needing to do to hit your target. So for example, let's say you are bringing home $5,000 a month or $60,000 a year profit. So we know you need to grow your business by $40,000 in profit. We also know that your existing sales are around $125,000 and that covers both your expenses and the $60,000 in profit. In yesterday's exercise you realized you need to take your business from $125,000 in sales to $230,000 to hit your new $100,000 goal plus expenses. So you need $105,000 more in sales annually or $8.700 a month. Ok, I know I promised you no more math but since some of you didn't figure this out earlier, we need to make sure you do it. LOL For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the SpeakPipe Button or just email me [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 4 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Episode 4 - 8 Step Workbook FREEBIE Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

YES!! Local Small Business Owners Can Make $100,000 in Profit! Here is a peek at the Show Notes from the Episode: Welcome to Episode #3 of the Local Small Business Coach Podcast. Today we are going to discuss… Can Local Small Business Owners really make $100,000? First let's acknowledge that some of you have already hit this milestone. Fantastic and I'm so proud of you and your business. Plus, some of you have hit this number but it might be due to being in higher end markets. And since you can charge more, your take home might be more. But since your cost of living is so high, you might find your number might actually be $150,000 vs the $100,000. Either way, this episode will help you as well. It will be for anyone that wants to increase their profits. The vast majority of you however, are probably landing somewhere between what the statistics show which happens to be $35,000 and $75,000. I'm going to split this topic of Developing a $100,000 profit business into two episodes. In our next episode we will dive into the 8 Step game plan to making it happen, but first we need to identify what your target sales/revenue needs to be to obtain your $100,000 profit. For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Link to the Video Link to the Spreadsheet Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the SpeakPipe Button or just email me [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 3 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 2 LSBC - Working On Your Business & Not Just In Your Business Hey everyone, hope your day is going well. Thanks for sharing part of it with me. For today's episode we are going to discuss one of the top reason's that local small businesses hit a plateau Far too many local business owners are spending 99% of their time working in their business vs on their business. Michael Gerber wrote a book called the e-Myth. The current edition is actually called The e-myth Revisited. I'll have a link in the show notes as well. GET EMYTH REVISITED BOOK Long story short, he discusses how small business owners have several hats they wear. The first is the Technician who spends their time on the doing, the entrepreneur who spends their time on the big picture and where the company is going and the manager who is managing the tasks of the job. Ideally, you are working seamlessly between them. The challenge is, far too many of you are running from job to job and doing, doing, doing. And if all you are doing is doing the job, when do you spend the time on developing the future and putting the systems in place to grow your business? Think of the difference you would have in your business if you spent quality time hiring the right folks? Or working on your marketing plan? What would happen to your business if you looked at things you do over and over and you put the process in place make it more automated? What if you took the time to document and track not only all your sales but created a breakdown of costs per item or service? How much better would you react to seasonal swings if you knew what the trend was? Which products or services took off during the critical times. I'm not talking wild ass guesses either, I'm talking using actual numbers that you have tracked. I know what you are thinking, "I hear what you are saying Tammy, but I just don't have the time". I would tell you that you are absolutely right! You don't. But here is the catch 22. You don't have the time because you are working all day in your business due to having poor processes, repeating the same thing over and over, having to chase your customers and your employees. Your success is actually preventing you from even more success. For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the SpeakPipe Button or just email me [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 2 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

Episode 1 LSBC - Being Open to Change in Your Business Welcome back to our Official Episode #1 of the Local Small Business Coach Podcast. Hopefully you had a chance to listen to episode 0 in which I shared a little about myself and my journey to this point. During the course of the podcast I'm sure I'll share even more. Originally I was going to discuss a different topic but after recording and then editing Episode 0, I realized that I really needed to start with the topic of change. Here is some of what you will hear: The best business leaders are ones that have realized they need to embrace change. They realize that they needed to study success and do what successful people do. I want to challenge each of you as spend time together to keep an open mind and to try the various best practices you will hear. Remember, they aren't just my best practices, they are best practices from many local small business owners. I will challenge you to dive into your business more I will challenge you to change the way you currently spend your time I will challenge you to look at your competitors in a positive way and not just how you kick their butt I will challenge you on how you hire and onboard your people Over time I hope to challenge you on all aspects of your business But here is the cool thing, here is what you can expect in return… You will take your business to a higher net income level At minimum, I believe every local small business owner should make $100,000 dollars in profit - Yes, profit, and not just sales You will find yourself not living job to job. Instead you will be building a future for not only your business but more importantly for your family You will make a huge difference in your local community You will have the best teams or crews and be the envy of others You will get over those hurdles that have been holding you and your business back. For the full show notes click the link below! HELPFUL LINKS Podcast Website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com Leave your Message on the website with the SpeakPipe Button or just email me at [email protected] Episode Show Notes: Episode 1 - Local Small Business Coach Podcast Our Training Materials for Local Small Business Owners: TrainingforLocalSmallBusinessOwners.com Starting a Local Small Business Website: StartALocalSmallBusiness.com

The Badass Business Owner Podcast is officially Born (But back then, it was called the Local Small Business Coach Podcast) Hi and welcome to The Badass Business Owner (formally the Local Small Business Coach Podcast) I am excited by this journey we are about to go on and I can't wait to spend time with you! I want all local small business owners to have so much success. I want them to beat the 10% survival odds that statistics tell us. I want you to increase your profits, boost your sales, improve your processes and develop strong teams. I want to be part of your journey! If you are a local small business owner looking to increase your take-home pay to at least $100,000, then this podcast is for you! Listen either on your favorite podcast app or right here on YouTube! And don't forget to check out the website: LocalSmallBusinessCoach.com This is a show about you and for you so please make sure you submit your questions on the website. I'd love to answer them on the air. Let's do this together! ~~~~ Get the Free eBook: 8 Steps to Earning $100,000 in Income in Your Small Business The Badass Business Owner Podcast is for Small Business Owners who are tired of living job to job but want to grow their business income & their personal income. In each episode, we discuss how to increase your profits, boost your sales, improve your processes and develop stronger teams. ~~ WEBSITE: BABOLearning.com YOUTUBE CHANNEL: BABO Learning for Badass Business Owners ~~ RECOMMENDED VIDEOS 6 Stages of a Small Business How to Read a Profit & Loss Statement Knowing Your Business Numbers FREE GUIDES / TOOLS FREE eGUIDE: 8 Steps to Earning $100,000 in Income in Your Small Business FREE eGUIDE: How to Read a Profit & Loss Statement FREE Start Up Guide for Starting a Business COURSES *** Understanding Your Business Numbers *** Start a Local Small Business ~~~ Local Small Business Owners are the Backbone of All of Our Communities! WHO THIS CHANNEL IS FOR: small business owners who serve their local community, local small business owners, service based business owners, mobile businesses, brick and mortar businesses, handymen, landscapers, pool cleaners, cleaning services, carpet cleaners, window cleaners, ice cream shops, QSRs, restaurant owners, mechanics, plumbers, electricians, real estate agents, dog groomers, franchisees, tradesmen, medical, dentist, insurance, pet business owners, & those looking to increase profits, boost sales, improve processes and develop stronger teams. Entrepreneurs who want to make more money. Those who want to know their business numbers better! #BABOLearning #KnowYourBusinessNumbers #BadassBusinessOwnerPodcast