Welcome to episode 100, the “Benjamin Franklin” episode. Today’s show is taken over by Pat Flynn, who helps us reflect on the last year of this journey. Pat starts out interviewing us and asking listener questions. Take it away Pat.

Pat Interviews Greg and Justin:

  • It’s been about a year since you started this journey, what is the biggest lesson you have learned?
    • Greg – I started with Mobile Marketing Engine, but around episode 32, I started exploring what is now Systemly. I fell in love with the problem, rather than the solution. I found out offering a product that helps with a known pain point works better than just offering solutions that may not match a pain point.
    • Justin – With the podcast, I discovered a certain level of transparency and accountability. Talking about what does and doesn’t get done holds me accountable, and this method would help other businesses too.
  • What is the challenge you’ve been thinking about the most with the growth of your business?
    • Justin – You either have a product problem or a marketing problem. Up until this point, I felt we had a product problem. Now we are transitioning from the product to marketing. Every Friday, we pick one marketing task to implement.
    • Greg – Hiring a team of A players. Thinking two or three steps ahead and organizing the teams. Becoming the largest InfusionSoft support agency in North America.
  • As you grow, how are you going to manage to keep touch points with your clients? What are your big picture goals?
    • Greg –  By growing a team that doesn’t have to depend just on me. My clients know there is a team behind me. We create the right documentation and have a system in place.
    • Justin – I want to be at 100k MRR at the end of the year with the software product. I want to reach a wider audience with the podcast. I’d like to see our downloads per episode double.

Listener Questions:

  • What’s one piece of advice you would tell someone who wants to start a software startup business?
    • Greg – Start with a productized service. Validate before you start investing time and money.
    • Justin – Agrees. It can take months and 60k to build a product that may not work. Wrapping software in a productized service helps you build things exactly how they need to be built.
  • What one or two things have attributed to you being able to publish two episodes a week of your podcast while still building a business?
    • Greg – Total alignment as to why we are doing this, and we make time for it.
    • Justin – Accountability to each other. We both put importance on it.
  • What are your biggest worries in your businesses?
    • Justin – My biggest worry is when our software goes down. That’s the absolute worst.
    • Greg – Growing too fast and worrying about being able to continue a good service. Working too much impacts health and life in general.
  • Does the podcast help you feel more accountable with results?
    • Greg – Yes, this is almost like an extension of my mastermind group where I share goals. I try not to have to say I have a fail.
    • Justin – The accountability to the audience and Greg makes sure I’m doing things worthy of mentioning.
  • Greg, I’m assuming in your switch from Mobile Marketing Engine to Systemly, you found that clients are more open to taking on help for their marketing needs than doing mobile?
    • Greg- I think there are two things there. One the reason for switching is that I always wanted to work with the type of people who are in the online marketing space. Two, my solution better aligns with the pain these people feel.
    • Justin – With automation, you are working with clients already doing it who realize they need help.
  • How did you go about finding a pain point and creating a solution for it?
    • Justin – Trying to scale my agency, lead generation was always the number one thing. I spent a ton of time on it, and wanted to find something to streamline the process. From personal experience, I had a pretty good idea that this was needed and that people would sign up.
    • Greg – Justin challenged me to find people to pay me. I knew who I wanted to work with, so I had honest conversations with them about me taking on the work.

Anyone who submitted one of the questions we used today is getting a copy of Pat’s new book, “Will It Fly?”

Will It Fly: How To Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don’t Waste Your Time and Money, walks you through the steps of finding pain points and then validating them. Sometimes what people will pay for and what they want are completely different.

You want to make sure that the thing you are working on is going to work out for you in the end. It’s a great book with a lot of great examples and exercises. They are all available at WillItFlyBook.com.

  • What uncomfortable did you make in yourself to get where you are today?
    • Greg – This is my favorite and most uncomfortable question. The mental strength and self-awareness to be able to become comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. This is the biggest emotional roller coaster ride I have ever been on.
    • Justin – I became an entrepreneur in 2008. I started an agency and ran out of money, but I had blind belief and felt like I was on to something. I persevered and learned that when my back is against the wall, I can accomplish pretty much anything.
  • What has been the most effective means of getting new customers for your businesses, and what has been the toughest moment, and how did you overcome it?
    • Greg – Referral and word of mouth has been super effective, but I know that is not scalable. Having more work than we can chew is tough.
    • Justin – Cold email for LeadFuze. Toughest challenge was bringing someone on to offload service management, and I made a bad hire. I had to scramble to pick up the pieces.
  • Any tips and suggestions for using automation for past client interaction?
    • Greg – Start mapping out what you want that engagement to look like. Create a newsletter or a re-engagement campaign. If they fired you, a survey you can learn from.
    • Justin – Having a re-activation campaign with an update and staying in contact. Consistently stay in contact.
  • What two personality traits helped you get where you are at today, and what two personality traits are holding you back?
    • Justin – Never give up attitude and not being afraid to put in the work has helped. Not letting go and being the bottleneck in the business could hold me back, along with lack of work culture from being part of a remote team.
    • Greg – Knack for building deep relationships with people has helped a lot. I really care about people. I tend to overthink things, even though I have gotten better. I also don’t take enough breaks and time to reflect.

Resources Mentioned:

Stay Connected:

  • If you’d like to take your entrepreneurial journey to a whole new level, join fellow “scalers” on the inside by joining the Zero to Scale Insiders program. For just $19/mo you get access to Justin and Greg and several other like-minded entrepreneurs who want to help you succeed in your journey!
  • Be sure to join our free Facebook group for continuous discussion and let us know your thoughts on today’s podcast.  
  • We’d love to get a 5 star rating on iTunes from you. We don’t plan on asking for this in the episodes themselves since most people are doing other things when they’re listening, but we’d love if you left one for us. :)