Business Infrastructure - Curing Back Office Blues

When Nicole McCullum promoted her real estate school using online ads, she quickly learned how difficult it was to fill her classroom. It was 2004 and the competition was stiff. Determined to crack the code of digital marketing, she began educating herself about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). She soon found herself immersed in the world of SEO. What started as a desire to generate more ROI from her online ads turned into a new, full-fledged, and highly successful business called Captivate Designs. Nicole is now a preeminent coach, teacher, and public speaker to small businesses seeking to get found online using cutting edge digital marketing strategies and tactics. In this episode, you get a chance to hear from the SEO maestro herself! She shares best practices that include: 👉 4 pillars of effective SEO, 👉 Webpage vs. website optimization, 👉 5 factors that Google looks for when ranking a webpage, and more. Nicole also shares over 10 resources you can start using now to increase your chances of luring potential customers to your site and ultimately buying from you! Getting found online in an increasingly noisy world is no small feat. It requires having more than an attractive website. There's an art and science to ranking on the first page of an online search. Once visitors come to your company's website, your number one goal is to keep them there and…to convert them! Find out how in this episode. You won't be disappointed! 🔗 Get Access to SEO Resources Nicole Recommends: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/250-small-business-advisors-nicole-mccullum-highlights-seo-best-practices 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Never judge a book by its cover – an analogy that definitely applies to Prosper Taruvinga. Considering his massive success as a preeminent digital marketer, you'd never guess his humble beginnings as a child growing up in a small village in Zimbabwe plagued with inflation. In this episode, we welcome Prosper as our next small business advisor. He's the Founder and CEO of Livelong Digital, a digital marketing agency with a proven formula for scaling revenue from $200,000 to $2M in two years, specifically for business coaches and consultants. How does he do that? Well, that's exactly what you'll find out. Listen now to discover his controversial, yet revolutionary Online Prosperity Blueprint for radically transforming service-based small businesses. In particular, you'll learn how to supercharge your revenue and profitability by: 1) Capturing the attention of those whose pain and problems you can solve, 2) Developing original content that lures potential leads, 3) Converting those leads into loyal, repeat customers, and 4) Building communities that continue to engage and address our customers' needs. 🔗 Links to Resources Prosper Recommends: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/249-small-business-advisors-prosper-taruvinga-shares-his-controversial-million-dollar-marketing-strategy 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

We're kicking off Season 20 on the Business Infrastructure podcast! This season will feature 12 guests all of whom are small business advisors with specialized expertise they can't wait to share with you. Expect to hear, learn, and discover specific strategies, tactics, and tips that you can begin applying right away to transform your back-office operations. With small businesses being the backbone of many of the world's economies, they are central to the vitality of local communities and must be protected at all costs. And one way to do that is to give entrepreneurs like you access to the information necessary to not just grow but scale your operations in a sustainable, repeatable, and profitable way. Our first guest this season is Shawn Palmer. He's a small business advisor and pricing expert with OneRedmond, an organization that works in concert with the Washington Small Business Development Center (SBDC). In this episode, Shawn shares five main pricing strategies to consider as you work to increase sales, revenue, and profitability in your growing small business. He also gives a tutorial on the Law of Supply and Demand and why understanding the type of supply and demand curve your business has is critical for repeatable and sustainable growth. As a military veteran and former small business owner himself, Shawn offers a unique yet easy-to-understand perspective on how the right pricing strategy can make all the difference in keeping the doors to your business open! 🔗 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/248-small-business-advisors-shawn-palmer-talks-pricing-strategies 248-small-business-advisors-shawn-palmer-talks-pricing-strategies 248-small-business-advisors-shawn-palmer-talks-pricing-strategies 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

We've come to the final episode in our encore of the 13-part audio masterclass on business infrastructure! At this point, you've heard six stories of entrepreneurs and leaders in small businesses trying their best to keep their cool amid chaotic fast growth. If you've missed any of those episodes, be sure to go back and listen to them so that you can follow along with the info contained in this episode. Behind the impressive façade of the businesses featured in this masterclass, lies operational landmines that threaten to destroy everything these founders and leaders have worked so hard to build. Thanks in part to the consultants they each work with, they're able to restore order. You were able to get a detailed understanding of the work they do together in six follow-up episodes that serve as D-I-Y tutorials in this masterclass. Each consultant recommended participation in a business process workshop. And that's what this episode is about – you're going to get an audio-based front row seat to this workshop and learn how to create a Business Process Manual! A Business Process Manual, commonly known as an Operations Manual, is a physical or digital collection of documentation that describes your organization's operations with a level of detail and precision that allows your team to work without your daily presence. It's also the seventh and final element of the Kasennu framework for business infrastructure. In this final episode, host Alicia Butler Pierre teaches an 8-step guide on basic principles for identifying and documenting key processes in your organization. Discover how to secure your intellectual property, guarantee consistent product and service quality, and keep your customers happy. You'll also learn how the Kasennu framework sets you up for success in using advanced process improvement frameworks like Lean Six Sigma. 🔗 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/247-business-infrastructure-masterclass-missing-link-how-to-identify-and-document-processes-for-scaling-small-businesses ❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

In the last story of our Business Infrastructure audio masterclass, you met Clenard Smith. He's determined to take his flourishing food distribution company public. But there's one problem. He needs more physical space! Or at least that's what he's convinced himself. His consultant manages to convince him otherwise while also getting him to contend with the root cause of his company's space constraints. A Work Space Logistics plan organizes, consolidates, and segments your space into work zones according to your organization's departments. It considers the proper placement of all team members, furniture, and equipment to ensure seamless work and information flow. It's also one of the seven elements of the Kasennu framework for business infrastructure. From tidying up to sprucing up, in this encore episode host, Alicia Butler Pierre guides you through an 8-step process to create a Work Space Logistics plan for your organization. Discover how to declutter your space, take an asset inventory, and sketch the optimal layout of your workspace. The result is an intelligent workspace design that maximizes floor space and stimulates productivity and communication. 🔗 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/246-business-infrastructure-masterclass-how-to-create-a-work-space-logistics-plan-for-flourishing-small-businesses ❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Prior to the pandemic, people were already spending a lot of time in their offices likely sitting behind a computer. Now, that time has doubled if not tripled for many as companies begin to adopt work-from-home policies. In fact, there are scientific studies that show a direct correlation between the actual layout of a workspace and productivity, job satisfaction, and profitability. A Work Space Logistics plan considers the best placement and arrangement of your team, furniture, and equipment to ensure seamless work and information flow. It's also one of the seven elements of the Kasennu framework for business infrastructure. This encore features the story of Clenard Smith, a no-nonsense veteran who wants to take his food distribution company public. His military background serves him well when it comes to strategy and execution but proves to be no match in his latest battle for more workspace. A consultant devises a Work Space Logistics plan to dramatically increase productivity and help him defeat this formidable enemy once and for all. 🔗 Behind the Façade Book: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/245-business-infrastructure-masterclass-organized-chaos-the-story-of-clenard-smith-the-flourishing-food-distribution-company ❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Vandana Thiagarajan was the subject of the last story you heard in our Business Infrastructure audio masterclass. She's desperately trying to make sure she and her co-founders can once again fulfill their promises to their customers. Their consultant introduces them to the Service Delivery Blueprint as a solution for quickly pinpointing the source of missing target deadlines. A Service Delivery Blueprint is a visual control tool that documents the people, process, tools, and metrics necessary to provide your core product or service. It offers a holistic view that shows how everyone in your company gets involved or at least provides some level of support in providing goods and services to your customers. It's one of the seven elements of the Kasennu framework for business infrastructure. In this encore tutorial, host Alicia Butler Pierre guides you through an 8-step process to create a Service Delivery Blueprint for your organization. Discover how to succinctly document, track, and manage lifecycle processes like order-to-delivery, farm-to-table, procure-to-pay, intake-to-discharge, and more! The result is a one-page overview of what you do, how you do it, and the associated timeframe. 🔗 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/244-business-infrastructure-masterclass-how-to-create-a-service-delivery-blueprint-for-small-businesses-on-the-rise ❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

As small businesses grow, so does the need for consistency. Your company's ability to provide value and meet promised deadlines is only as good as the people, tools, and processes you have in place to deliver your goods and/or services. A Service Delivery Blueprint describes how you provide goods and services to your customers. Once defined, it enables consistency in your customer order-to-delivery process without compromising quality. It also affects how customers and vendors experience your business. It's one of the seven elements of the Kasennu framework for business infrastructure. This encore features the story of Vandana Thiagarajan, one of three co-founders of a promising real estate upstart in New York. They also work as mortgage talent on a reality TV show. Lately, she's been shouldering most of the responsibility at the expense of missing client deadlines. Torn between growing the business or pursuing the TV show, she describes her decision as choosing between taking the red pill or the blue pill. A consultant shows her how to create a Service Delivery Blueprint to pinpoint the source of quality issues so that they can keep their promises of a fast loan processing time. 🔗 Behind the Façade Book: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/243-business-infrastructure-masterclass-red-pill-or-blue-pill-the-story-of-vandana-thiagarajan-a-mortgage-companys-meteoric-rise ❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

In the last episode of our Business Infrastructure audio masterclass, you heard the story of twin co-founders, Karen and Sharen Benoit. They've been given a second chance to pass an audit of their mental health clinic's records. Their consultant friend comes to the rescue by teaching them how to design a compliant Paper Records Management system that consolidates, organizes, stores, and protects their physical files. You might be wondering, "Why are we talking about organizing paperwork in the digital age?" Some industries are heavily regulated and require the maintenance of physical files for certain periods. Paper Records Management is the fourth element in building business infrastructure. Think of it as the paper-based version of your Digital Records Management system. Now you can experience the satisfaction of decluttering and organizing your company's paper records! In this encore feature, host Alicia Butler Pierre offers a 10-step tutorial. The result is an audit-ready paper management system that standardizes best practices for recordkeeping. 🔗 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/242-business-infrastructure-masterclass-how-to-create-a-paper-records-management-system-for-expanding-small-businesses ❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

As appealing as paperless offices are, there are still some industries that require meticulous physical recordkeeping. These types of records must comply with regulatory guidelines to legally operate. This is where a Paper Records Management system can be useful. A Paper Records Management system links the processes, tools, and people needed to create, name, categorize, store, and purge physical data in an easily accessible, color-coded and organized manner. It also represents one of the seven elements of the Kasennu framework for business infrastructure. The encore of this storytelling episode features twin sisters, Karen and Sharen Benoit. Their mental rehabilitation facility takes off following a natural disaster. But patients aren't the only people drawn to them. Regulators are too. They can't risk another failed audit. Help comes from a familiar, yet unexpected source who teaches them how to create a Paper Records Management system that's compliant, audit-ready, and keeps the doors to their business open. 🔗 Behind the Façade Book: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/241-business-infrastructure-masterclass-troubled-waters-the-story-of-the-benoit-sisters-the-expanding-medical-office ❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

We're continuing our encore of the masterclass edition of the Business Infrastructure podcast. In the last episode, you heard the story of Sarah and Steve Reuben - siblings whose rivalry and siloed leadership enabled a virus attack on their family-owned business's network. A consultant taught them how to design an Electronic Records Management system to organize, store, and secure their digital files while also protecting their operations from future digital disasters. Electronic Records Management is the third element in building business infrastructure. It involves organizing all your digital files based on the departments you identified in the Business Parts Analysis. It also includes assigning proper access rights according to the roles identified in your Business Design Blueprint. It's the perfect complement to disaster recovery and business continuity planning. Now you can discover how to create one for your organization! In this episode, host Alicia Butler Pierre offers a 9-step tutorial on creating an Electronic Records Management system. You'll not only end up with an organized, disaster-proof system, but you'll also have peace of mind knowing that your digital assets are accounted for and protected. With remote back-office operations and small business cybersecurity attacks on the rise, you don't want to miss this lesson! 🔗 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/240-business-infrastructure-masterclass-how-to-create-an-electronic-digital-records-management-system-for-small-businesses-in-high-demand ❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

A paperless office comes with many perks. It frees up physical space, removes geographic work restrictions, and makes information accessible from anywhere. But there's a catch. Without careful organization, adequate security, and an ironclad data backup and recovery plan, there's always the risk of losing electronic records due to manmade or natural disasters. An Electronic Records Management system specifically links the processes, digital technologies, and people needed to consolidate, organize, backup, and archive digital information in an easy-to-follow, structured manner. It also represents one of the seven elements of the Kasennu framework for business infrastructure. This encore episode features the story of feuding siblings, Sarah and Steve Reuben. Equally smart and ambitious leaders, they're blind-sided when a malicious virus attacks their furniture store's network. If their customers and vendors find out, it could ruin their family's business and their brand's good name. A consultant implements an Electronic Records Management system as a preemptive strike against future disasters and to ensure business continuity. 🔗 Behind the Façade Book: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/239-business-infrastructure-masterclass-the-princess-vs-the-politician-the-story-of-the-reubens-the-furniture-store-in-high-demand ❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Welcome back to this encore edition of our audio masterclass on business infrastructure! In the last episode, you heard the story of Albert Andoh, the optimistic child entrepreneur of an emerging tech startup. He met a consultant who introduced him to the Business Design Blueprint as a way of proving organizational capability, capacity, and scalability to investors. Now you can learn how they did it. The Business Design Blueprint is the second element in building business infrastructure. It takes the departments and roles identified in the Business Parts Analysis and spatially arranges them according to your chain of command. It's also like a vision board for your business that allows you to measure and track your success in achieving team expansion goals. In this episode, host Alicia Butler Pierre gives a guided tour of the Business Design Blueprint – what it is, how to make one for your company, and why it differs from a traditional organizational chart. If you apply the lessons, then you'll walk away with a visual illustration of your company's growth goals as well as a clear promotional path for each role. If there's any business infrastructure tool that shows how you plan to grow your company, it's this one! Listen now! 🔗 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/238-business-infrastructure-masterclass-how-to-create-a-business-design-blueprint-for-emerging-small-businesses ❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

What comes to mind when you think of an organizational chart? Do you have one for your small business? After listening to this episode, you'll understand just how powerful this tool is. An organizational chart visually communicates more than just your company's chain of command, but also its maturity and growth opportunities. For these reasons, at Equilibria, we refer to it as a Business Design Blueprint. It represents one of the seven elements of the Kasennu framework for business infrastructure. Next up in our encore of the Business Infrastructure Audio Masterclass is the story of Albert Andoh, the bright-eyed and ambitious founder of an emerging tech startup. His software company's popularity is beginning to expand beyond its local market. Most people have no idea he's a teenager, that is until he speaks publicly at a conference. The extra attention means more business but can also expose his vulnerabilities as a leader. A consultant introduces him to the Business Design Blueprint as a way of proving capacity, capability, and scalability to investors. 🔗 Behind the Façade Book: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/237-business-infrastructure-masterclass-childs-play-story-albert-andoh-emerging-tech-startup ❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Welcome back to our Encore of the masterclass edition of the Business Infrastructure podcast! In the first episode of this series, you heard the story of Emily Miller. She's the founder of a fast-growing non-profit. She met a consultant who introduced her to a Business Parts Analysis as a means of sustaining the growth. As Emily discovered, fast growth is exciting but requires adding more people to your team to make sure important tasks don't get overlooked. Sometimes you may have to re-allocate roles and responsibilities and, through introspection, objectively evaluate your own role as a leader. The Business Parts Analysis is the first element in building business infrastructure. It sets the foundation upon which all other back-office activities are organized and managed. In this tutorial episode, you'll learn more about what a Business Parts Analysis is and how to create one in your growing organization through a series of exercises. The results include task, role, and department identification along with a prioritized hiring strategy and succinct job descriptions to attract the right talent. No, this isn't just for NGOs and non-profit organizations. It's for entrepreneurs and owners of any small business serious about establishing a foundation to scale back-office operations to the next level. 🔗 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/236-business-infrastructure-masterclass-how-to-create-a-business-parts-analysis-for-fast-growing-small-businesses ❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Welcome to Season 19 featuring an encore of our business infrastructure audio masterclass. That's right. The original season was so well received by our listeners, that we are sharing it again in case you missed it the first time. Over the next 13 episodes, you'll hear the fictional stories of entrepreneurs faced with the challenges of fast-growing customer demand and the specific tactics different consultants use to calm the chaos as well as tutorials. Although the stories are fictional, they are based on real businesses that our show's host, Alicia Butler Pierre, has worked with over the past 17 years. Each story episode is followed by a tutorial episode where you can discover exactly how each entrepreneur rises to the challenge of unmanageable fast growth through lessons taught by Alicia Butler Pierre – lessons that you can immediately apply to your small business. First up is the story of Emily Miller, the founder and Executive Director of a fast-growing non-profit. An appearance on a daytime talk show puts her non-profit on the map but also exposes her leadership weakness. When she learns the board is threatening to replace her, she springs into action by hiring a consultant who introduces her to the Business Parts Analysis – the first element of building business infrastructure. This helps secure her future and reputation. Listen. Take notes. And be inspired to start 2023 with improved operations! 📝 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/235-business-infrastructure-masterclass-identity-crisis-the-story-of-emily-miller-the-fast-growing-non-profit 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

It's the last Sunday of 2022! It also marks the end of our 12-country audio tour on this international business season of the Business Infrastructure podcast. That's right – we visited 12 countries in 12 weeks with 14 special guests. In this final episode of Season 18, producer and host Alicia Butler Pierre summarizes key lessons learned as well as five key factors to consider if you are serious about expanding your small business operations or starting a new business altogether in another country. She also hints at what's coming up in 2023. If you think 2022 had a great episode lineup, then "You ain't seen nothing yet!" Discover all this plus additional resources Alicia recommends and more in this commemorative episode! 📝 Links to Alicia's Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/234-international-business-season-18-wrap-up-with-alicia-butler-pierre 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

We've made it to the final destination of our 12-country audio tour this season. And this country is extra special to us here at the Business Infrastructure podcast. Why? Because it's home to two of our team members - Erika Ve Revilla and Jodie Maquiran. These ladies play an integral role in this show's back-office operations. After working fully remotely for almost two years, this is our first-time meeting and working together in person! This episode is a live recording from the beautiful Marco Polo Plaza hotel in Cebu City, Cebu in the Philippines. The Philippines is the sixth most populated country in the world and with over 7,000 islands, this jewel in the Pacific is a destination for corporate offshoring and digital nomads alike. In this episode, Erika and Jodie each share how they came to work at Equilibria and the digital technologies they use to keep our own back-office operations flowing seamlessly despite inclement weather conditions and frequent power outages. You'll also discover some of the processes we use for internal training, managing invoices and payments, and more in a 100% remote working environment! If you've ever been curious about expanding your small business operations with a Filipino team, then this episode is for you! 📝 Links to Erika and Jodie's Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/233-international-business-doing-business-in-philippines-with-erika-ve-revilla-and-jodie-maquiran 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Imagine growing up in a city known for its bitterly cold winters and as an adult, moving to the desert with temperatures hot enough to melt tires. Well, that's what Tiffany Smith did, and she has no regrets. In fact, she's been living in Saudi Arabia for four years. We're taking a slight detour with this episode on our 12-country tour this season. Rather than focusing specifically on what it's like to do business in Saudi Arabia, Tiffany will share what it's like for her as a single woman to not just live and work there but also thrive. In this episode, she gives a humorous take on her career journey from I.T. to instructional design and how her tech background came in handy when she relocated across the world. In true fashion, she describes the business infrastructure she uses to deploy systems in managing two homes in two countries, assemble her "tribe" of trusted people to assist her, and leverage various digital technologies to streamline both communication and commerce. Discover how she converted her home into a smart house, why she says America's banking system isn't friendly for expats, and much, much more! 📝 Links to Tiffany's Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/232-international-business-living-and-working-in-saudi-arabia-with-tiffany-smith 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Jules Brooke is on a mission to amplify the voices of women entrepreneurs, especially those over 40. It's her drive, ambition, and persistent determination to blaze new trails that attribute to her success in graphic design, sales, and public relations. With so much to learn from her, it's an honor to have her be our guide to Australia, the next country on our audio tour this season. By the time she was twelve years old, Jules already experienced living in different countries and adapting to different cultures – experiences that might take a lifetime for others. Shortly after, her family relocated to Australia. Though she moved to England as an adult and did a bit more traveling around the world, there was something about Australia that kept tugging at her heartstrings. In this episode, Jules shares what makes Australia a great place to start, grow, and scale a business. She specifically explains her own entrepreneurial journey in starting her company, Handle Your Own PR, as well as her She's the Boss show which has evolved into a movement. And the resources – oh, the resources! Jules offers a comprehensive list of resources sure to get you headed in the right direction. If you've ever been curious about what it takes to do business in Australia or with Australian businesses, then this episode is for you! 📝 Links to Jules' Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/231-international-business-doing-business-in-australia-with-jules-brook 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

São Paulo is one of the most populated cities in the world and it's located in Brazil, the next country on our audio tour this season. We have the pleasure of being joined by Paula Palermo, the co-founder of Impacta Finance - a blockchain company specializing in scaling solutions that have a social impact. As a fluent speaker of six different languages, Paula's insights on becoming immersed in the language, culture, and social norms of Brazil will resonate with you if you are interested in tapping into the Latin American market of 600 million people. In this episode, Paula lays the foundation for sound business practices that not only apply to operating a business in Brazil but anywhere. Specifically, she explains the importance of planting seeds of value to grow a network of resources and giving first to cultivate those relationships. This interview is packed with useful information for building business infrastructure and even includes a crash course on blockchain technology and how you can leverage it to scale your operations. You don't want to miss it! 📝 Links to Paula's Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/230-international-business-doing-business-in-brazil-with-paula-palermo 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Sofía Benedicto is on a mission to make the world a better place. As the co-founder of Nodalab, a podcast production company, she's providing a platform for independent creators in the Latin American (LATAM) market. She's also our guide during our visit to Mexico as the next stop on our 12-country audio tour this season. No topic is off the table! In this episode, Sofía shares what makes Mexico, particularly Mexico City, such an attractive hub for entrepreneurs, technologists, and expats. We also have a candid discussion about political corruption, drug cartels, and how important it is to speak Spanish if you are serious about doing business in Mexico. Her professional niche lies at the intersection of politics and business. This enables Sofía to give an interesting, historical perspective not just on the small business climate in Mexico, but throughout LATAM. Discover all that Mexico has to offer to aspiring entrepreneurs and founders of emerging small businesses alike who are serious about building a business infrastructure that supports international operations. 📝 Links to Sofía's Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/229-international-business-doing-business-in-mexico-with-sofia-benedicto 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Next up on our 12-country tour this season is Poland, a country with a population of 37 million situated in Central Eastern Europe. Hosting us is Ben Esmael, a Libyan-born entrepreneur who has proudly called Poland home for the past seven years. After working as an accountant and project manager for companies like IBM and Heineken, Ben started his own business with a mission to provide much needed financial and operations support to small businesses eager to scale. In this episode, Ben taps into both his corporate and business ownership experiences to give an honest account of what it takes to start, grow, and scale a business in Poland. He also describes how to leverage their booming shared services and business process outsourcing industries to support and expand your company's back-office operations. If you've ever thought about tapping into the European market and building a remote, multilingual team, then you don't want to miss what Ben has to say! 📝 Links to Ben's Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/228-international-business-doing-business-in-poland-with-ben-esmael 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

We're headed further east to Bali, Indonesia as the next stop on our 12-country tour this season. Our host here in this Pacific paradise is a chemical engineer turned "million-dollar sales guy," Desmond Dixon. When he made the decision to leave behind a lucrative STEM career and instead venture into the world of high-pitch sales, Desmond did not know where it would lead him. But one thing he knew for sure was that he wanted to be a part of it! Following a brief stint providing holistic services in the health and wellness industry, he stood up to the challenge of scaling a startup. This led to him working in Ukraine, an experience that opened a Pandora's box of international work and travel. In this episode, Desmond shares the details of how he set up his U.S.-based companies, CXO Republic and RemoteSalesManager.io, to provide sales staffing and training services to other businesses around the world. This includes a detailed conversation about applying for visas, his strategy for pricing services and receiving payments, and building a fully remote team. One thing's for sure – Desmond does not let dust collect on his shoes! So, buckle your seatbelts as he takes us on an international journey that spans Hawaii, Ukraine, Mexico, Greece, and more! Find out what it takes for an American entrepreneur to become a digital nomad. Even if this lifestyle isn't feasible for you, you're sure to learn some things that you can apply to digitize and streamline your company's back-office operations! 📝 Links to Desmond's Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/227-international-business-doing-business-in-indonesia-with-desmond-dixon 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Germany – it's the next stop on our 12-country tour this season. Here to greet us and tell us all about how to start a business or partner with an existing business in Germany is the "Connectpreneur" himself, Jens Heitland. Considering their membership in the European Union, you may find what Jens reveals about doing business in Germany shocking. What's not surprising is hearing him describe German culture as one of accuracy and precision which explains why STEM-focused industries thrive there, particularly automotive and traditional engineering and architecture firms. But it takes more than having a STEM focus to succeed in business in Germany. In this episode, Jens explains other factors like language, accounting protocol, and the legal paperwork required for success there. And he should know. As a native German who started his first business in Germany, he's in a great position to share his insights which include pricing strategies, global labor sourcing, and innovative leadership. Jens is a serial entrepreneur, a former IKEA executive, and a current director at Foot Locker. He's worked in every size company and offers a unique perspective for anyone seeking to not only do business in Germany but to also develop human innovation in the process. Discover more by tuning in now! 📝 Links to Jens' Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/226-international-business-doing-business-in-germany-with-jens-heitland 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

We're on a 12-country tour this season and our next stop is in Canada. Our hosts are seasoned entrepreneurs and business partners, Kathleen Beauvais and Peter Wright. In this episode, Kathleen and Peter give a candid account of what it's like to start a business in Canada both from a native as well as an expat's perspective. Not only do they share how they each landed in the province of Ontario, but they also share their respective entrepreneurial journeys and how they led to their paths crossing and ultimately venturing into different media projects together. Now, as the co-hosts of The Yakking Show, they are in an even better position to share insights, resources, and advice for starting a business or partnering with existing businesses in Canada. Listen in as they share the importance of knowing which province to live and/or work in, understanding the value-added tax system, and why working with Canadian lawyers and accountants is critical to business success and longevity. 📝 Links to Kathleen's and Peter's Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/225-international-business-doing-business-in-canada-with-kathleen-beauvais-peter-wright 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Our next stop on our 12-country tour finds us in Split, Croatia by way of London, England. With a population of a little over 4 million, Croatia is an emerging hub for vacationers and digital nomads alike. One such digital nomad, whose also our guide during this episode, is Bhairav Patel. He's the co-founder and Managing Partner at Atom CTO, a company that provides fractional CTO services to the founders and leaders of startups who do not have a technology background. As a self-proclaimed digital nomad, Bhairav shares what it's like to live and conduct business in Croatia. In doing so, he offers context for selecting Croatia as his latest residence as he takes us on his career journey that's found him traversing a good bit of the Eastern Hemisphere. In this episode, Bhairav explains what it takes to not just start, but build and scale a business and how the covid pandemic catalyzed the growth of Atom CTO during a time when so many businesses failed. Pay close attention as he describes the importance of digitizing operations, leveraging social media to network with others in Croatia, and bringing talent in-house to build a global remote team. Even if the digital nomad lifestyle isn't for you, you're guaranteed to learn some interesting facts about becoming one. You may even tinker with the idea for a month or so after listening to Bhairav! 📝 Links to Bhairav's Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/224-international-business-doing-business-in-croatia-with-bhairav-patel 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

We kicked off this season of international business in Nigeria. Our next stop is in Ireland – a small, but powerful nation considering its gateway position to the European Union. Martina Goss, a certified lean startup coach, is our guide. She's brilliantly transformed her career from a certified accountant crunching numbers for existing businesses to a trusted advisor for startups. Her mission is to save startups from the pains of wasting time, effort, and money on businesses doomed to fail. She does this through a rigorous idea validation process. In this episode, Martina shares what happens next with businesses that have successfully passed the idea validation "sniff test." This includes her specific process for helping these startups establish the foundation for profitability and manageable growth using elements of business infrastructure and the LEANSTACK model. She also explains why Ireland is a hotspot for establishing a European headquarters location, how you can start a business in Ireland, and where you can find Irish businesses to establish an import/export strategic partnership. There's so much more to Ireland than shamrocks, pubs, and leprechauns. Discover how relationships you build can give access to the entire European Union population of 447M people! 📝 Links to Martina's Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/223-international-business-doing-business-in-ireland-with-martina-goss 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

It's a brand-new season on the Business Infrastructure podcast! Season 18 is all about international business. Have you ever thought about expanding your business into another country or maybe establishing a strategic alliance with a foreign business? Or is it something you've never really considered until now? Over the next 12 episodes, you'll hear from natives and ex-pats alike about the possibilities that exist. Get your passport ready! Our first stop is in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria and a city in the sixth most populated country in the world. Mujahid Usman, the Business Development Manager at Outsource Global, is here to greet us and share the scoop on what it's like to really do business there. In this episode, Mujahid also shares interesting facts about the large multinational presence in Nigeria, debunks myths and stereotypes about African businesses and societies, and explains why he believes people, not gold and diamonds, are Africa's most precious resources. He even reveals why he ultimately chose to leave behind a finance career in England and return home to Nigeria to help scale Outsource Global's operations with a business infrastructure worthy of a rival. You're guaranteed to learn some things you never knew about Nigeria! 📝 Links to Mujahid's Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/222-international-business-doing-business-in-nigeria-with-mujahid-usman 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

We're no strangers to risk here at the Business Infrastructure podcast, but even we proceeded with caution during Season 17. Why? Because we tried some radically and fundamentally different things on the show. We experimented with a non-fiction storytelling format for the show that requires much more behind-the-scenes coordination, planning, and logistics to perfect the formula for success. In this final episode of Season 17, host Alicia Butler Pierre shares these changes as part of this podcast's "scale tale." Discover what led to these decisions to experiment with changing the format, the business infrastructure required to consistently produce this new format, and whether the results were successful. You'll even hear the recorded testimonial of one of our guests this season as proof! 📝 Access BusinessInfrastructure.TV for Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/221-scale-tales-season-wrap-up-with-alicia-butler-pierre 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Cheryl Taylor is no stranger to managing projects on a large scale. So when she landed a contract to replace a 17-year-old jail technology, she jumped at the chance. Not only did she complete that project 10 months ahead of schedule, but the project even won an innovation award. That kind of success is the result of a career that spans telecommunications, energy, healthcare, education, and more. She's worked in every sized company from large publicly-traded companies to government institutions and small businesses, including her own – TPM Services. In this episode, Cheryl takes us back to the time when she upgraded that jail technology for a county government organization that had over 800 employees with an $800M annual budget. Discover the business infrastructure she deployed to develop a project plan, keep reluctant staff engaged, and ensure no inmates were lost in the system. 📝 Access Cheryl's Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/220-scale-tales-change-is-coming-cheryl-taylor-describes-how-she-managed-a-large-jail-technology-upgrade 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

After listening to Jesse Torres you'll never underestimate the power of networking ever again. He has a knack for meeting people and connecting them to each other to broker partnerships and alliances. Jesse owns ArroyoWest, an economic and workforce development agency, and Small Business Front, a consultancy targeted at providing small businesses with resources to start, grow, and scale. But his career didn't start with entrepreneurship. It started with what was supposed to be his first job at a local Los Angeles newspaper. When that job fell through due to a merger, it set Jesse on a career ladder that included rungs in academia, government, private practice, publicly-traded companies, and even non-profits. As he continued climbing that ladder to his latest role as an entrepreneur, his vast network and experience in disaster relief aligned when the pandemic happened. In this episode, Jesse shares how he leveraged his network to connect some of his local government clients to form a new organization that provided personal protective equipment (PPE) to tens of thousands of small businesses in California. Pay close attention as he describes the business infrastructure quickly deployed to bring together the right people, processes, and tools that made this mass distribution of PPE possible. 📝 Access Jesse's Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/219-scale-tales-the-connector-how-jesse-torres-leveraged-his-network-for-mass-distribution-of-ppe 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Did you know that joy has financial value? Specifically, happy employees have 31% higher productivity, their sales are 37% higher and they're three times more creative. Marguerite Orane leverages these stats as part of making her case for joy in the workplace. As an executive leadership coach, facilitator, and public speaker, she empowers executives and their teams to imbue joy in their work so that they can scale their organizations without sacrificing themselves and their families in the process. Healthy family relationships are particularly important to Marguerite. Her first leadership role at the tender age of 23 found her as her father's boss in their family-owned manufacturing business. The experience of leading a 70-employee all-male group, navigating unions and erratic business cycles during a time of unrest in Jamaica, and ultimately selling the business to ensure her parents retired financially secure, left her feeling depleted, traumatized, and…free! In this episode, Marguerite describes her journey from running a family-owned business to working in other businesses, and ultimately starting her own coaching business - a business that allows her the freedom and flexibility to lead with ease, grace, and joy. She also shares why her experience as an MBA student at Harvard Business School was the therapy she needed to release the pain and make room for profit. Discover the business infrastructure she's put in place to ensure she has a team aligned to her company's joy-based mission with proven processes that generate the results required to take already successful organizations to even higher heights. 📝 Access Marguerite's Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/218-scale-tales-ease-grace-joy-how-marguerite-orane-coaches-executive-leaders-for-sustainable-growth ❓ Got questions? Ask them here on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Jeremy Streten is on a mission to provide access to legal advice for all small to medium-sized businesses around the world. These aren't just empty words. He really means it as evidenced by the strategic moves he's made to, as he describes it, "…scale myself out of my law firm to remove dependency on me." How's that possible when business laws are country-dependent? Well, turns out that's not entirely true. In this episode, Jeremy describes how his keen observations during a law conference coupled with sage advice from a business coach, led him down a path to scale business legal advice via a business legal lifecycle. It's an easy-to-understand chart designed to empower business owners in proactively securing legal protections using a combination of standard and local or customized practices. Now, he's transitioned out of being a traditional lawyer working on a per-client basis and into the role of CEO of a lawtech company with remote global operations across Australia, the U.S., and the U.K. Listen as he recounts the bumps and bruises along his journey that led to him building a business infrastructure that includes the optimal combination of people, processes, and technologies necessary to scale a service-based business. Jeremy's cracked the code and now you can learn from him and apply the lessons learned from his scale tale to your organization! 📝 Access Jeremy's Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/217-scale-tales-against-all-odds-jeremy-streten-recounts-how-he-expanded-his-law-business-internationally 🎧 Like What You Heard? Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

What would you do if someone dared you to join the military? That happened to Dr. Cynthia "Cindy" Young when she was a senior in high school. Not one to shy away from a challenge, she enlisted in the U.S. Navy where she spent the next 23 years of her life. By the time she retired, she had multiple degrees along with a breadth and depth of experience that some leaders can only dream of. So, when her first job outside the military presented her with an opportunity to work in knowledge management, she accepted that challenge too picking up a doctorate and more certifications along the way. During the pandemic, she joined a new type of rank – entrepreneur. Cindy started a consulting business leveraging her military strategy prowess and her process improvement, operational excellence, and knowledge management skills. Now she needed to land clients. But how? That's where Cindy became the embodiment of leveraging her own knowledge through a killer digital content management strategy. That strategy involves writing books, speaking at conferences, and contributing articles to well-known publications. In fact, she's since been quoted in U.S. News & World Report and contributed over 30 articles specializing in human-centric knowledge management and business to publications like HBR Ascend and Lean Mag. But it was her TEDx Talk that served as a tipping point – she's become a sought-after recognized expert in the field of knowledge management. In this episode, she describes the business infrastructure she strategized and deployed to put her expertise on the map and effectively grow and scale her business. 📝 Access Cindy's Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/216-scale-tales-tipping-point-how-dr-cindy-young-spreads-the-message-of-knowledge-management ❓ Got questions? Ask them here on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Troy Trewin always knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur when he grew up. Having witnessed the successes as well as the struggles of his family's business, he had a leg up on what it took to grow and scale a company. So, after three years of working for one of the world's accounting firms, he started two internet companies. And he learned a lot! Namely, he grew weary of running service-based businesses. That's when Troy decided to shift into managing product-based businesses. The product of choice? Whisky! It was 2011 and over the next decade, his involvement in the distillery business included everything from helping a friend start a distillery from the ground up to functioning as CEO over distilleries to serving on the boards of many other distilleries. When a friend mentioned having trouble scaling a Whisky Academy business in 2019, Troy suggested she change the business model from in-person to online. The timing could not have been more perfect – he along with two others joined forces with his friend in a partnership that started The Distillers Institute. In this episode, he describes the business infrastructure put into place that enabled them to legalize their partnership, build an online course, and launch it in only 9 months…during a pandemic! Discover how they scaled from 60 students to 400 in less than two years, the people, processes, and tools they leveraged to achieve this scale and their plans for expanding across the world. 📝 Access Troy's Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/215-scale-tales-new-zealand-and-beyond-how-troy-trewin-scaled-an-online-course-for-distilleries ❓ Got questions? Ask them here on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

When Michiko Wolcott started her consultancy in 2015, it was rare to find someone like her who was interested in exploring the human side of data. Armed with a personal mission to "do data better," she was determined to successfully blend her roles as a technologist and a humanist to understand why some companies fail to scale. In her quest to answer that question she taught herself the mechanics of process mapping and lean thinking. And that's when she realized the reason why some companies, despite having access to robust technologies, still don't scale to their full potential. That reason was people and process. To be more specific, the lack of a focus on people and process development. In this episode, Michiko recounts the time she reengineered a process for a tech company that helped them reduce the time it took to bring new products to market by 70%. This ability to increase annual throughput and transparency among their team helped this company realize revenue quicker and with minimal downtime or investment. Explore the possibilities of what business infrastructure (the linking of people, processes, and tools/technologies) can do for your organization. As you'll learn from this scale tale, sometimes the answer is right there in front of you. 📝 Michiko's Musings, Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/214-scale-tales-go-to-market-how-michiko-wolcott-re-engineered-a-tech-companys-process-and-boosted-revenue ❓ Got questions? Ask them here on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

While his friends pursued careers in fields like law, medicine, and technology, Richard Blank went in a completely different direction – language. In fact, his love of language and communications led him to study abroad for one semester in Spain. That experience changed the trajectory of his life. A few years after graduating from university, he accepted an offer to conduct training at a call center in Costa Rica. At 27 years old he decided to call Costa Rica home. That was over 20 years ago. And he never looked back. In this episode, Richard takes us on his journey as he leverages his advanced Spanish-speaking skills, business prowess, and emotional intelligence to build and scale Costa Rica's Call Center from a one-seat to a 300-seat operation. Discover how he used a cash-only approach to invest in the business infrastructure required to lay a foundation for sustainable growth, his tips for reducing attrition, and why he urges entrepreneurs to "act their wage." 📝 Richard's Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/213-scale-tales-from-the-ground-up-how-richard-blank-built-costa-ricas-call-center ❓ Got questions? Send them to me on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

"Smoke from indoor cooking fires is the leading cause of death for women and children under age 5 in the developing world." This episode's scale tale takes us to Guatemala where a local organization resolves to prevent this tragedy. How? That's where Ripple Effect Images comes into play. By leveraging their ecosystem of filmmakers, editors, photographers, donors, and fundraisers, they were able to show and tell a local Guatemalan community's stories about unsafe indoor cooking to scale the solution and its social impact. This resulted in their partner, StoveTeam International, distributing over 8,000 stoves in a short period. As the Executive Director of Ripple Effect Images, Liz Bloomfield recounts the business infrastructure put in place to support this level of scale and explains how storytelling serves as a catalyst for saving lives. She also reveals how her former careers in the British Army and corporate sector prepared her for the work she's doing now as she continues focusing on "making the world a better place" through humanitarian projects. Listen now and gain a better understanding of the people, processes, and tools required to tell an effective story to scale your organization's operations. 📝 Liz's Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/212-scale-tales-ripple-effect-liz-bloomfield-explains-the-power-of-storytelling-to-maximize-social-impact ❓ Got questions? Send them to me on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

"Never take advice from someone who has nothing to lose by giving it." That quote comes from investor, business coach, and digital marketing aficionado, Darrell Evans. It's a credo that guides him in giving practical tips, tactics, and strategies that lead to profitable results. Over 20 years ago, a bright-eyed Darrell finished college with a degree in finance and an expectation to do big things on Wall Street. As fate would have it, his first job instead landed him in financial sales where he eventually transitioned into the mortgage industry. Twice bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, he started his own mortgage company and later a digital marketing agency. His knack for being an early adopter of digital technologies to market his business was a key factor in keeping his mortgage company afloat during the 2008 U.S. recession. It also caused others to take notice of Darrell's unique approach to leverage the internet to survive the economic uncertainty and his uncanny ability to understand customer behavior. By 2012, he and his business partner met the owner of an auto body shop who, though already successful, wanted to scale to the next level. In this episode Darrell takes us back to that moment when they applied their 6-step framework that incorporated internet marketing in the age of Web 2.0 during a time when things like YouTube and LinkedIn were barely a part of the collective conscious. Backed by an original musical score, this scale tale is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat as Darrell gives you the insights needed to better understand how you can tailor products and services based on your customers' psychology and put a business infrastructure in place to support it. 📝 Darrell's Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/211-scale-tales-web-2-0-how-darrell-evans-and-his-team-scaled-an-auto-body-shop-with-digital-marketing ❓ Got questions? Send them to me on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

As Europe's leading contact centre expert, Marianne Rutz knows all too well the roller coaster of entrepreneurship. Her career in customer support began in 1999, quite by accident when she accepted a project manager position with Hertz in their contact centre. Leveraging her background in travel and tourism and the interactions she had with people made her a natural fit for this position. Eventually, her determination to showcase more of her leadership skills found her at another company where she picked up more operations training. Everything was going well until an unexpected event happened… Cancer. Not one to give up easily, Marianne project managed her way through the rounds of treatment and upon winning this battle, decided she'd start a business. Her consulting firm began with a desire to make customer service a better place by turning frontline customer service divisions from cost centres to profit centres. This has led to some interesting clients, one of whom got inundated with calls during the pandemic. Plagued with poor customer reviews, Marianne and her team guided them through her framework to achieve transformative results. In this episode, you'll hear Marianne tell the story of how this transformation took place and led to a revenue that no one expected! 📝 Marianne's Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/210-scale-tales-uncharted-territory-how-marianne-rutz-grew-a-retail-companys-revenue-through-excellent-customer-support ❓ Got questions? Send them to me on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Picture it – the year is 1990 and Curt Anderson is full of hopes and dreams. However, those dreams are deferred when he accepts his father's request to take over their family-owned floral business. At the time the business was bankrupt and in desperate need of financial resuscitation. Curt spends the next several years grinding and doing everything he can to save the business from ruin. Just when it seems all hope is lost, he discovers a lifeline that will change the trajectory of both his business and his career. That lifeline is the internet. By 1995, he changes the business model from brick-and-mortar to e-commerce. Along the way, he's thrown more lifelines until one day he realizes he needs someone else to come in and help manage the daily operations. After 20 years of hard work, smart partnerships, and investments in business infrastructure he successfully sells his business. How did he do it? That's what you'll discover in this episode. Curt takes us on a journey as he experiments with new technologies, forms partnerships with key people, and outsources a critical part of his back-office operations. Listen now! ______ After six months we're back with a new lineup of incredible guests, each of whom shares a "Scale Tale." This season you'll hear stories about those magical moments when these guests scaled a product or service often to the surprise of everyone involved. Each story is backed by an original musical score that will keep you entertained while educated and inspired to achieve something similar in your small business. 📝 Curt's Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/209-scale-tales-from-fail-to-scale-to-sell-how-curt-anderson-grew-and-sold-an-e-commerce-floral-company ❓ Got questions? Send them to me on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Does hearing about robots or robotic technology trigger doomsday images of nonhuman entities taking over with unbridled power? That fear is often rooted in the unknown. And that's why technologists like Dean Hamilton are so important. Part debunking and part educational, it also explains why this episode is one of our most downloaded. Dean is a Partner and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Wilson & Perumal. With over 30 years of experience, he has a firsthand account of the evolution of software technologies and says, "We live in a golden age of no-programming tech" - one of which is Robotic Process Automation (RPA). In this episode, Dean explains what RPA is, how it falls along a spectrum of intelligent automation tools, and why it can be incredibly useful in streamlining repetitive back-office tasks. It's the boring humdrum of these repetitive tasks where our operations are most prone to errors. Errors that lead to lost profit, angry customers, and sullied reputations. Get in on this game-changing technology and gain efficiencies. It's not as scary or complicated as it may seem. 📝 Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/208-the-top-12-how-to-streamline-repetitive-tasks-with-robotic-process-automation-rpa-featuring-dean-hamilton ❓ Got questions? Send them to me on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Lynda Martin is on a mission to "…repair the world, one small business at a time." One way she does that is through the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). When originally interviewed, Lynda's enthusiasm for this transformative framework was apparent and its likely the reason her episode landed on our list of the Top 12 most downloaded to date. Her entrepreneurial journey began in her childhood. She grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, so it was only natural she'd become one herself. But when she started her first venture, her co-founders didn't think women belonged in leadership. She left, started a consulting firm called Goodwin Growth Works, and never looked back. In this episode, Lynda describes what EOS is and shares a case study of a company that applied it and grew sales by 32% each year for two years in a row. Discover the EOS formula for setting your vision and gaining traction towards effective leadership, sustainable growth, and operational excellence!

Dr. Jeffrey K. Liker spent over 20 years studying the Toyota Way – the management system behind the world's leading auto manufacturer. He's since written several world-renowned books summarizing his research and explaining the Lean framework for waste reduction, operational excellence, and continuous improvement. * Those books have collectively sold well over 1M copies and are considered a gold standard in teaching lean operation and management principles in many academic circles around the world. As many organizations continue grappling with the best way to operate post-pandemic, it's no surprise that this episode is one of our most downloaded. * This is less of an interview and more of a masterclass as Dr. Liker graciously spends time to not only share what The Toyota Way is but also the story of how became of the global authorities on this concept. * In this episode, you'll learn the 14 management principles of The Toyota Way, discover how to use perfection as a direction toward breakthrough results and not an end goal, and gain a better understanding of what operational excellence means and looks like. If you're serious about operating efficiently and effectively and embracing process improvement as a part of your organization's culture, then you don't want to miss these pearls of wisdom! 📝 Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/206-the-top-12-the-toyota-way-for-achieving-operational-excellence-with-dr-jeffrey-k-liker ❓ Got questions? Send them to me on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Nigeria produces over 1M graduates annually. But many of them leave the country because there aren't enough local jobs to hire them. Amal Hassan wanted to change that. She set out to start a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) contact center that would employ some of these graduates. She started it three different times only to be forced to shut down and relocate. The fourth time was the charm! * In fact, Amal's living proof of the tenacity required to build, grow, and scale a business. It's no wonder why her original episode continues to garner downloads and made it to our Top 12 list. * Now, Outsource Global employs over 850 people with clients in the U.S., UK, and Japan with 50% of their workforce being women! They single-handedly put Nigeria on the map as a BPO to contend with on the world stage. * In this episode, Amal gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the quality control measures to select the best people, processes, and tools that sustain Africa's top Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) provider. If your path to scaling your business seems treacherous, then you don't won't to miss this episode – Amal's story might be just the inspiration you need to keep forging ahead! 📝 Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/205-the-top-12-how-amal-hassan-scaled-outsource-global-into-africas-top-bpo-provider ❓ Got questions? Send them to me on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Lauren Hisey thought she wanted to be a lawyer until she took some law classes and realized she didn't have a passion for it. A chance encounter working at a call center while in college helped her discover that her true love was in operations. This love is evident as she recounts her operational journey and likely explains why her original interview made it to our list of the Top 12 most downloaded episodes. * Eventually, Lauren went on to have a successful career working at AT&T and Nielsen, leading projects that saved both companies millions. Now, Lauren has her own consultancy where she applies her signature "calming influence" as well as Lean Six Sigma principles to help companies improve profitability and achieve sustainable growth. * In this episode, she shares a behind-the-scenes account of how she helped a company turn around a grim situation – handling unanticipated demand for their new product with limited, burnt-out staff, high customer support hold times, and rising costs. While doing so, Lauren describes what a Gemba walk is and why uncovering root causes is essential to identifying and solving the right fast-growth challenges. 📝 Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/204-the-top-12-how-to-uncover-root-causes-of-chaotic-growth-with-lauren-hisey ❓ Got questions? Send them to me on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Hi! I'm Alicia, host and producer of the Business Infrastructure podcast, and I have a confession to make. * When I analyzed the show's most downloaded episodes, I was shocked to learn that a monologue I recorded back in 2018 about my experiences in Cuba made the list. * I was shocked because this was a recording I did while I was still very new to the podcasting industry and honestly didn't know what I was doing. But one thing I did know was my passion for business infrastructure and operational excellence. It's what led me to share my observations and experiences during a visit to Cuba and how they apply to the way we operate our small businesses. * For example, I was intrigued by the continuous preservation of cars, culture, and cuisine but the lack of maintenance of many homes and buildings. In this episode, I share the role that various economic factors play in our ability to maintain and preserve the businesses we build. I also discuss the role that dashboards play in keeping the score of our daily operations. I hope you enjoy listening to this "oldie but goodie" episode. If nothing more, may these lessons serve as a cautionary tale of the importance of developing processes to monitor all aspects of your business to minimize both risk and…ruin. * 📝 Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/203-the-top-12-business-infrastructure-lessons-i-learned-in-cuba-with-alicia-butler-pierre ❓ Got questions? Send them to me on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Hassan Dantata is a promising young entrepreneur who made a lasting impression on us here at the Business Infrastructure podcast. Considering his tenacious spirit, high energy, and warm personality, it's no surprise that his original interview also made it to our list of the top 12 most downloaded. * Ten years ago, Hassan found himself alone in a hospital room. He'd just had a bone marrow transplant that required isolation for two months with a 50/50 chance of survival. With nothing but his "imagination and a dream" along with a burning desire for a smartphone, his resourcefulness led him to become an eBay vendor. * Eventually, his entrepreneurial career evolved from being an e-commerce vendor to starting a full-service digital solutions agency for the optical industry, Raven & Macaw, Ltd. His youth advocacy work has earned him coverage in GQ and British Vogue magazines and the World Economic Forum. * In this episode, Hassan describes how he came to carve a niche and the specific actions he's taking to build a SaaS company rooted in operational excellence. You'll also discover how he's navigating the challenges of recruiting top tech talent. If you're looking for inspiration to start or grow your business following a personal setback, then Hassan's story of resilience, tenacity, and consistency may be just what the doctor ordered! 📝 Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/202-the-top-12-how-to-create-an-operational-excellence-culture-in-a-tech-startup-with-hassan-dantata ❓ Got questions? Send them to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

As the world becomes noisier, gaining recognition as being at the top of your game is no small feat. Yet some people figure out the formula for showcasing their talents despite the noise. That's why it's no surprise that our original episode featuring Dorie Clark, a master of self-reinvention, made it to our list of the top 12 most downloaded. * As a consultant or service-based professional, scaling your unique skills and subject matter expertise may seem impossible. However, Dorie is proof that it is in fact possible. She went from growing up in a small town with limited resources to become the world's #1 communication coach as well as a prolific author, Harvard Business Review contributor, influential speaker, and renowned professor. How did she do it? * In this episode, Dorie shares her proven organic marketing strategies to leverage your core competency, reinvent your personal brand, and increase your visibility. Become a highly sought-after recognized expert and watch the money pour in! 📝 Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/201-the-top-12-how-to-scale-your-personal-brand-become-a-recognized-expert-tips-from-dorie-clark ❓ Got questions? Send them to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn. 🎧 Like What You Heard? Don't Keep it to Yourself. Subscribe and Share! And don't forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐