Business Casual

Why is it so dang hard to ask for help? Matt and Andrew debate why they have so much trouble reaching out to their network and asking for favors -- even though they both have entrepreneur friends who would gladly help. How can they start leveraging their networks without coming across as fake or needy? They discuss everything from how to craft emails and how to stop procrastinating with pitching their work. Enjoy!P.S. Have you seen the new Lasso sales page? Matt and Andrew are pretty proud of how it turned out. Check out the experiment here: Moneylab.co/MRR

Earning thousands more a month with just a flip of the switch? It's possible. Small changes can pay off in big ways in the online business world. Matt and Andrew talk about the tiny tweaks they've made that have lead to more money. And we're talking really tiny tweaks, like moving around existing links, adding new featured images and making minor updates to existing products. It can take lots of tracking to figure out what changes work, but it makes for a better business in the long run. Maybe it really is the little things in life. Especially if they make you more money. Enjoy!P.S. One of Matt's biggest payoffs? A small change to how he tracks his revenue. Check out his write up about his Lean Business Model at Moneylab.co/Lean-Business

How do you hack the YouTube algorithm? Tom Martin joins the show to teach us everything he knows about YouTube SEO and do a live teardown of Matt's Swim University YouTube channel. Tom is the YouTube mastermind behind several multi-million subscriber YouTube channels, including BBC's Mr. Bean. He shares strategies for getting viewers to binge watch your videos, designing thumbnails with great click through rates and increasing the total watch time on your channel. If you're looking for a step-by-step guide to YouTube SEO and growing a channel to Mr. Bean-level proportions, consider this episode your hands-on tutorial. Enjoy!P.S. Tom was generous enough to offer a few YouTube intro course to MoneyLab listeners at VidPro.com/MoneyLab. Thanks, Tom!P.P.S. Follow along with Matt's YouTube Optimization experiment here: Moneylab.co/Youtube-Optimization

There's money to be made in the advertising world. But is it the right business model for everyone? Both Matt and Andrew have made a living selling sponsorships and advertising through their online businesses. But over the years, they've both realized that it's not the right fit for their businesses or the way they like to work. Why did they abandon that business model? And what is the right business set up for making money through ads? Spoiler: it may just be peddling your own wares. Enjoy!P.S. This episode is brought to you by... Money Lab! (Spoiler). If you want to support the show, check out the extensive menu of Money Lab courses here: Moneylab.co/Products

Ooh, piece of candy! As entrepreneurs, we're constantly being sold on new ideas. And some of us end up "impulse buying" those new ideas. It's classic Shiny Object Syndrome. Like an excited little puppy running after a bouncing tennis ball, it's super tempting to chase after new and exciting business ideas, tools and projects. Matt and Andrew talk about how they've fallen victim to Shiny Object Syndrome and how they avoid running after every idea that comes their way. Enjoy!P.S. If you're looking for a new business idea to run after... check out Matt's course, SEO for Bloggers! But seriously: if you're in the market specifically for SEO training, this is the perfect course for that.

YouTube is soooo hot right now. Matt's noticing an uptick in sales, traffic and ad revenue from the new YouTube videos he's produced and published for SwimU. So he's running an experiment to see if he can make more money through the 'Tube on both of his affiliate websites. Will producing YouTube videos again pay off in the long run? How the heck does YouTube SEO work? And how can you measure if it's working? If you're YouTube curious, this episode is for you. Enjoy!P.S. Check out Matt's sweet new pool videos here on YouTube.P.P.S. Here's a link to the Veritasium YouTube video analyzing why YouTube videos go viral.

FOCUS, PEOPLE! Both Matt and Andrew have historically sucked at setting boundaries with their businesses and focusing on what they actually need to do. But all that's about to change! And Andrew's about to start a family, so he's got extra incentive to figure how to manage his time. They both love working on their businesses, but it means it's easy to get lost in their work or go down a rabbit hole with tasks that aren’t actually that important. So what are the critical areas they need to focus on with their business? And how do they start working smarter (not harder) with the hours they have? The clock starts... now. Enjoy!P.S. Parkinson's Law is the old adage that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." Definitely not "Oslo's Law," guys.P.P.S. If you need some organizational help with your online business, check out Matt's course Asana for Bloggers: Moneylab.co/Asana

You've got business questions, we've got business answers! Matt and Andrew bring all the A's to your Q's, including a deep dive into measuring click-through rates and why goals might be more distracting than helpful. How do you improve affiliate marketing conversions on your website? How do you protect yourself from getting your ideas stolen on the internet? And how do you deal with running a niche website with traffic that dries up in the winter? Keep the questions coming and we'll keep the answers flowing. Enjoy!P.S. Matt mentions his post on website optimization. Check it out on Money Lab here: Moneylab.co/Website-optimizationP.P.S. If you haven't already checked out Matt and Andrew's latest software Lasso, check it out at GetLasso.co

Matt needs money! He's already trimmed his costs down to the bone in his business and now he wants to focus on efficient ways to ratchet up his revenue. So how can he increase the flow of his existing income streams on his websites? Should he focus on micro changes, like optimizing click through rates? Or is it something bigger, like monetizing his video content on his YouTube channel? In this conversation, Matt and Andrew debate ways to increase their revenue without adding additional costs and by leveraging their super powers. Enjoy!P.S. Want to create some affiliate marketing income streams in your business? Check out Matt's affiliate marketing course at Moneylab.co/Affiliate

Getting to $15,000 monthly recurring revenue in 6 months... piece of cake, right? Matt and Andrew have challenged themselves to get their product Lasso into the hands of 300 customers by the end of November. It's a time crunch, which means not relying on long-term SEO and focusing on strategies that'll get more customers in the first few months. What tactics will get them the quickest and most impactful results? And how can they leverage their personal superpowers to get to that 6 month finish line? Enjoy!P.S. You can read about the entire $15,000 MRR challenge at Moneylab.co/MRRP.P.S. Jump on the Lasso waiting list at GetLasso.co. Giddy up, cowboy.

You know you should have processes in place for your business. So why does every entrepreneur avoid this? At what point is it time to create better processes versus always fixing things as you go? Matt and Andrew break down the process of creating processes, including how to trick yourself into doing the really un-sexy work of building a business operating system. Matt has a literal gasping ah-ha moment in this one and maybe even solves the reason why Andrew has avoided this work. Enjoy!P.S. Need better business operating systems? Have you seen Matt's Asana for Bloggers course? Check it out here: Moneylab.co/Asana

Spoiler: classic email marketing tactics don't work for every online business. Can complex marketing funnels, slow drip campaigns and content upgrades actually hurt sales? Matt and Andrew dive into the details of Matt's multi-month experiment trying to optimize his sales funnel at Swim University. They pick through Matt's sales stats, walk through his elaborate email set up for converting readers to customers and debate why a complicated funnel wasn't the right move for his website. Get ready to talk UTM codes, conversion rates and customer avatars. Enjoy!P.S. Check out Matt's full write up about his email marketing experiment here: Moneylab.co/email-funnels

WWMD (What Would Matt Do)? Travis Sherry of Extra Pack of Peanuts joins the show as Matt plays business consultant and dives into what's working and what's not on Travis' website. Travis shares all the juicy details (revenue, traffic, subscribers) and Matt unloads his advice on how he thinks Travis can start to rank for some meaty keywords and pull in more revenue. Buckle up: this episode is like a live mini course/case study in auditing an online business. Enjoy!P.S. You can find Travis at ExtraPackofPeanuts.comP.P.S. Want Matt to play consultant with your business? You can get the next best thing by checking out his SEO and Affiliate Marketing Courses: Moneylab.co/products/

It's listener question time again! Matt and Andrew unpack all of your burning questions. How do you save an article that flopped in the SEO rankings? What should you focus on if you're only one person trying to build an affiliate site? And how much does Matt LOVE banner ads? (Hint: 0%). Thank you everyone for sending in your questions. Enjoy!P.S. The Affiliate Marketing Video Course is on sale for $149! Check it out here: Moneylab.co/affiliate AND since you're a beautiful listener of the show, you can use the promo code PODCAST for 10% off.P.P.S. Do you know what a meatball shorty is?

Move, please! Get out the way! Like any good entrepreneur that cares too much, Matt and Andrew are prone to self-sabotaging the very same business that they love so dearly. So how do you stop yourself from derailing the growth and success of your online business? In this episode, Matt and Andrew discuss how to stop micromanaging and create business processes that last. Their little business babies grow up so fast - time to finally set them free! Enjoy!P.S. Have you checked out Matt's Affiliate Marketing Video Course yet? It's a ton of affiliate marketing how-to video content (duh) and it's 10% off if you use the promo code PODCAST. Check it out here: Moneylab.co/Affiliate

It's the one year anniversary of the Money Lab Podcast! Steph Halligan joins the show today to celebrate with Matt and take a behind-the-scenes look at everything that goes into an episode of Money Lab. From the work flow that makes podcasting easier to Matt's crazy tech setup in his new office-turned-podcast-studio, we explore each piece that make for an entertaining podcast. Enjoy!P.S. You can find Steph hanging out on Twitter @StephHalliganP.P.S. Matt documented his super profesh podcast set up here: www.Moneylab.co/professional-podcastP.P.P.S. Have you seen Matt's Affiliate Marketing Video Course yet? Check out www.MoneyLab.co/Affiliate and get 10% off when you use the promo code PODCAST.

Time to wrap it up? Matt and Andrew debate how to know when it's stop growing a revenue-generating website. Is there a moment when an online business is “done” and it’s time to move on to other projects? Or should they always double down on the work if a website is making money? I don't think there was ever an episode where Matt and Andrew disagreed more ;-) Enjoy!P.S. The Affiliate Marketing Video Course is here! And it's 10% off for listeners with the promo code PODCAST. Check it out at www.MoneyLab.co/Affiliate

A subscription-based online community sounds good in theory, but what does it actually take to run a monthly membership site?Jason Moore stops by to explore the payoffs and challenges of managing a paid community. How do you keep adding value so customers stick around? And can a skeptic like Matt be convinced to start his own Money Lab community? Jason helps Matt debate whether or not it's a fit for his business and his lifestyle. Enjoy!P.S. You can find Jason at LocationIndie.com and ZeroToTravel.comP.P.S. Check out the latest Money Lab offering, The Affiliate Marketing Video Course: www,MoneyLab.co/Affiliate.

It's a battle royale between affiliate sites as Matt and Andrew debate the pros and cons of their different affiliate business models. From only using the Amazon affiliate program to managing tons of affiliate partners, how do they structure their affiliate revenue streams? And what are the challenges of running a site that makes 100% of its money from affiliate marketing? Matt and Andrew dive into the revenue and risk of each of their money-making affiliate sites. Enjoy!P.S. Speaking of affiliate marketing... the newest Money Lab course is here! Check out Matt's in-depth affiliate course at www,MoneyLab.co/Affiliate.

"Internet stuntman" and long-time friend of the show Justin Jackson stops by to dive into what it takes to build a successful SaaS company. Justin's own company Transistor.fm (a podcast hosting platform) has reached over $8,000 in MRR in 8 months. How do you figure out how to price your product? How do you do stand out at a crowded market? And how the heck do you actually get your product to spread through word of mouth? This is a juicy one. Enjoy!P.S. You can find Justin at JustinJackson.ca and Transistor.fmP.P.S. Check out Jason Cohen's in-depth SaaS post that Justin talks about in this episode.P.P.P.S. Have ya heard? Matt and Andrew have their own SaaS product called Lasso. "People like us use products like this!"

It's listener question time! Matt and Andrew bring the A's to your Q's about everything from starting a site from scratch to the ethics of affiliate marketing. And what would it take to get Matt and Andrew to sell Swim University or Listen Money Matters? Thanks for submitting your questions and keep 'em coming. Enjoy!P.S. Naturally, Matt talks a lot about his SEO course in this episode. Check it out at MoneyLab.co/SEOP.P.S. Have you guessed what Andrew's secret niche site is? (He gives some big clues in this episode. But will he ever tell us outright?!)

It only took 15+ combined years for Matt and Andrew to "make it" as "entrepreneurs." And you can, too! Listen in on Matt and Andrew's beer-fueled trip down memory lane recapping the slumps, the wins and the eff-it-all moments on the loooooooong road to "success." Enjoy!P.S. Andrew casually recommends checking out WP Engine: www.Moneylab.co/wpengineP.P.S. This episode may or may not be brought to you by Little Caesars Pizza.

Gotta spend money to make money, right? RIGHT? Matt and Andrew go over their business expenses from the past year and debate whether or not this old entrepreneur adage lives up to the hype. They talk real dollars and debate whether spending all that money in their business actually makes cents. Enjoy! P.S. One thing that Matt's happy to spend money on? Email. Check out his Converkit experiment here: https://www.moneylab.co/email-funnels/

Oh snap, it's here! Matt and Andrew have finally launched their SaaS product, Lasso (an affiliate link manager and monetizer for Wordpress sites). In this episode, they talk about the crazy-making process of bringing a SaaS product to market and how excited they are to start using this beautiful piece of software. Enjoy!P.S. Read all about Lasso and the entire challenge at MoneyLab.co

It's 10 PM. Do you know where your income streams are? Running an online business means you're exposed to a lot of external forces, like algorithm updates, affiliate commission changes and even economic recessions. Matt and Andrew debate how to future-proof their businesses to protect against the unpredictable. Enjoy!P.S. Sorry about the audio crackles in this one. Maybe Matt shouldn't eat pop rocks while recording.

It's no secret: Matt and Andrew love using Ahrefs. But they're more than just a kickass SaaS product: they're approaching marketing in a totally different way. Tim Soulo, the CMO of Ahrefs, stops by to talk about how they're blowing up the traditional SaaS marketing model and debate what does and doesn't work in the online marketing world. Enjoy!Read Tim's post about marketing here.

Matt and Andrew are both severely under-monetizing their email lists. Like THOUSANDS of dollars left on the table each year. Why aren’t they monetizing the hell out of their lists? And is there a happy medium between selling consistently to your audience and selling out? Dive deep into their funnels and see what happens on the other side. Enjoy!

Asana, Google Drive, Intercom... Matt and Andrew get into the nitty gritty details about each system they use to run their business. It's the un-sexy truth behind their businesses that keeps things sane and saves a ton of time and money. Gotta trust The System, man. Enjoy!

Oooo we've got some scandalous business relationship gossip over here! Andrew and Matt have worked with their significant others a lot over the past few years. Sometimes it's been amazing. Other times it's been harder than a Brangelina breakup. In this episode, they spill the tea on what works (and what doesn't) when it comes to working with the one you love. Enjoy!

It’s a bumpy road to building a profitable podcast, but both Andrew and Matt now make consistent moolah talking into your ear holes every week. What were some of the biggest challenges they've faced along the way? What's worked well and what’s still a struggle? Grab your pickaxe, Prospector as we regale you with tales of podcasting gold. Enjoy!

Some old-hat SEO strategies are dying away, or at least they aren’t as effective anymore. So what does the future of SEO look like? In this episode, we debate what's becoming more important when creating searchable content and how Google's AI is becoming more discerning and human-like everyday. I, for one, welcome our new SEO overlords. Enjoy!

We had a lot of business highs and lows this past year. Looking back, what would we have done differently? What are we proud of? And what shenanigans do we have planned for the new year? Do we both blow up our online businesses to start a crypto mining company? Find out what happened in 2018 and what's in store for 2019. Enjoy!

Andrew and Matt had businesses that crashed and burned. Why didn't they work and what have they learned? There was drama and fallouts and money unearned. They unpack it all in this episode. Enjoy!

Facebook. It's changing. It's always changing. So does that mean we need to change how we use it in our businesses? Do we even need to use it at all? Let's discuss. Enjoy!

Structuring an online business. That's what we're talking about. Ya know? LLCs, S-corps, C-corps; stuff like that. Pretty straightforward. Enjoy!

Sometimes when you run an online business, you need to work remotely. What's the best gear? How do Matt and Andrew work remotely and still get things done? Enjoy!

Caleb Wojcik talks about how he and Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income are creating and launching a physical product this year. They built a tripod for vloggers called SwitchPod. Enjoy!Go to https://www.calebwojcik.com/switchpod

Andrew and Matt might be entering a legit business partnership...again. Ut oh! What does that mean? Is that stupid? Is that smart? They have an honest conversation about what a new partnership would look like and if it makes sense. Enjoy!

31 episodes are in the bag! Thanks for following along. Did the podcast grow? Listen and find out. Enjoy!

What is it? You have to listen. Matt also wrote an article about it, but listening about making money is more fun. Don't ya think? Enjoy!

You love it! It's 5 listener questions. Actually, there are 8 of them this time. But 3 of them are similar. Just listen. Enjoy!

Having good, talented people around you will help you build a business faster. That's true. But it's also not true sometimes. When times? Let's talk about it. Enjoy!

Want to make great videos? What does it take? What equipment do you need? What equipment do you don't need do da do da day? Who knows? Let's talk about it. Enjoy!

Your website needs to be super freaking fast. That's what Andrew and Matt dive into on this episode. Everyone's a wiener! Enjoy!

You can't handle the truth about building a software-based business! Can you? Oh, you can? Good because Demi and Tom won't' save you from this episode about software. Maybe they will. Enjoy!

Pricing your online products is arbitrary and hard to do. What do you charge? Is it too much, too little, just right? How hot is that porage, Goldilocks? Andrew and Matt talk about all that. Except for the Goldilocks analogy. They don't mention that at all. You're welcome. Enjoy!

Andrew and Matt talk about Matt's eBook revenue stream. They wanted to know more about how Matt made the products and how it sold. Enjoy!

Andrew and Matt answer five listener questions and really dive deep with their answers on this one. Dealing with imposter syndrome, how to test a business idea before you invest time into it, and how they time block our days. Enjoy!

The basic question Andrew and Matt are trying to get to the bottom of here is, "should you invest in social media marketing to grow your business?" It's not that black and white. Every brand has different needs. They discuss this paradox we face as online business owners. Enjoy!

We all struggle in our business when we don't know how to prioritize or don't know what to do next, right? Right. Well, Andrew and Matt talk about the many ways they filter ideas and pick the project to work on next. And they also talk about the dumb mistakes they made in the process. Enjoy!