Podcast

Episode 182 – Entrepreneurship: Give Value First And Help People Change Their World

small-is-the-new-big
A terrific collection of some of Godin’s best posts

Small Is The New Big

Five years ago I was winding down a 35 plus year career spent in retailing. Becky McCray, a small town entrepreneur maven, mentioned a terrific blog post. I wasn’t terribly familiar with Becky at the time, much less the fella who wrote the post, Jon Swanson. The post dealt with Jon’s role in helping a retail cooperative during some training exercises. He provided the consumer’s perspective. He ended his post – dated March 14, 2008 – like this…

Big is about consumers. Small is about artists. Big is about changing people to your world. Small is about preparing people to change their world.

I began to trust Becky from then on because she bestowed “best small business blog post ever” on Jon’s post.

I’m not sure why, but the other day I remembered the post. I hadn’t read it in years, but I went back and read it over again. I had to visit Becky’s site to find it, but there it was…as powerful as I had remembered it.

When the post came out I was part of a major merchandising and marketing group that represented billions (BILLIONS) of buying power. Retailing was in my blood and had been since I was 16. So, it resonated with me as I suspect it might anybody involved in independently owned retail. I was leading a small business, but it was a big, small business with revenues under $20 million. The whole “big box vs. small retail” was one very familiar to me.

Today, I’m no longer involved in retailing, but I’m still an advocate of small business devoted to helping small business owners successfully face their challenges.

I began my business career as a teenager selling hi-fi gear in a local stereo shop. Instinctively, I engaged people because I shared their passion for music and the gear we all needed to play our favorite records. It was easy because I wanted them to hear their favorite music like they had never heard it before. I was excited to sit down with a shopper, put their favorite record in a turntable and have them enjoy the record on a system unlike anything they had ever owned before. But mostly, I enjoyed helping them build a system that wouldn’t break their budget, but would still be far superior to anything they had. I was an audiophile, but I was an audiophile salesperson with a purpose – give the customer so much value that they’d have to spend a lot more to get something better!

Shoppers appreciated it, but I suspect they first appreciated how into it I was. That passion lasted for a long time as I spent my entire life involved in the consumer electronics industry. But it wasn’t about retailing, or stereo gear, or the consumer electronics business.

It was and still is, about helping people get something valuable.

When I was a kid I was confident enough in my knowledge of what I was selling to know I could help shoppers better than anybody. It didn’t hurt that I was so competitive either.

Today, with a lifetime of business building experience behind me and a lot of energy and passion still in the tank, I’m even more confident in my abilities to help provide value. For me, small is about being more discriminating in who I help. But as I re-read Jon’s post I was taken back to the days of my youth and I remember specific encounters with shoppers I tried to help who we called “the magazine readers.” These were the people who didn’t really know stereo gear, but they were so fearful of being duped they spent time learning just enough about the specs involved in various gear to be dangerous (i.e. the sound pressure level rating of a loudspeaker which indicated how efficient it might be – translation, how much power it might need to play loudly). Sometimes they could be difficult, if not cantankerous. In the first few months of selling, I tried to sell everybody. I stopped doing that – not because anybody trained me, but because I figured it was a waste of time for all of us. The shopper and me!

There is no point in selling if you can’t provide value.

Well, okay. That’s not entirely true. There’s a point in making money, but that’s not my primary point. I hope it’s not yours.

How are your customers benefited by what you do, or what you provide?

What value do you provide that they can’t get elsewhere?

Why should they choose you over somebody else?

These are all questions that too few business owners wrestle to the mat. It’s a grind. I’ll warn you up front, if you’ve not spent time duking it out with these questions (and many others like them), then you’re not putting in the necessary work to build a sustainable business with predictable success.

Sometimes I encounter a business owner who wants to know a short-cut to the winning the fight. They’re looking for some knockout punch they can use to end the fight early. There is no such punch. This is a grappling match, not a fist fight. It’s down and dirty with lots of twisting on the ground trying to find the right hold. There’s a tremendous amount of straining and sometimes it’s exhausting. And it’s a mental fight where your head is telling you to just tap out and quit. Rest and relaxation are just seconds away if you’ll give up. That voice in your head can grow to a loud scream. And we find that we’ve got two opponents, not one. We’ve got the business challenge and we’ve got ourselves to overcome.

It’s not about you, but it’s all about you — and what you can do for your prospects.

Who are these prospects?

Who are your ideal customers? The people you most want to serve?

Can you define them in very specific terms?

• How old are they?
• Are they men or women?
• Do they reside in a specific geographical location?
• How educated are they?
• What’s their income?
• Are they married? With children?
• What do they do in their spare time?
• What kind of car do they drive?
• What books do they read?
• What TV shows do they watch?
• Are they Mac or Windows’ users?
• and many other questions (as many as you can think of and as many as you can quantify)!!

How can you provide value if you don’t know who you’re serving? How can you make sure you’re providing the best value for them until you first know who they are and what other options are available to them?

Love-Is-The-Killer-App
Published in 2002, it’s hard to believe it’s 11 years old

Tim Sanders‘ book, Love Is The Killer App, deserves a mention here. It’s a terrific book all about being valuable to everybody around you. It’s an ancient principle of giving to others without an expectation. It’s about being nice for the sake of being nice. As Sanders says, “Nice guys don’t finish last. They rule.”

It’s a more modern take on Carnegie’s “How To Win Friends And Influence People,” a book that holds up remarkably well.

It’s a time tested formula for improving yourself and your business. Help others get what they want and need. In return, they’ll help you get what you want and need. The key is to put their needs above your own.

And that ain’t easy!

But I have good news. Actually, great news! Because putting the needs of others before your own needs is so difficult – most people don’t do it. For many, it just doesn’t seem right. It doesn’t make sense to them. They don’t get it.

For others, they suspect it may be true, but they’re fearful it may not be true. Besides, look at all the evidence of pompous, self-serving Kardashian types who earn millions a year. They’re not providing value, we think. But they are providing value…to somebody. No, not me. I could care less about them, but when TMZ and all the other moronic shows report every Kardashian move, the value is in entertainment. People clamor to watch these people just like millions of people clamor to see the most popular YouTube vlogs of people who don’t provide me with much value. But, I’m not their ideal customer. That doesn’t mean somebody else doesn’t find value because the numbers don’t lie. At the time of this podcast, Kim Kardashian has over 18.3 MILLION Twitter followers. A lot of people are getting value.

Never assume that what’s invaluable to you is invaluable to everybody. This is the genius that is business. You can find your focus and seek likeminded people who will love what you do. Others will hate it. That’s okay. I don’t much think Kim cares about anybody but the millions who love her.

Is it easy to be a Kardashian? Man, I don’t know. We all may envy the money, but I sure don’t envy the lifestyle. Or the fame. Or the celebrity. Or the superficiality. But that’s just me. I’m weird.

What about YOU and YOUR business?

Can you put others ahead of yourself? If you can, you will begin to find yourself rising above the throng. It’s an enormous competitive edge, but you can’t fake it. It requires complete dedication. It demands you take it seriously every single day. Once you set out on that course, you can’t go back. Or you’ll fail. Miserably.

You can’t do the right thing by putting others ahead of yourself only when you know it’s not going to cost you much. You’ve got to do it even if you know you’ll be making some short-term sacrifices. I’m not talking about laying down to every scoundrel who would take advantage of you, but I am talking about doing the right thing even when it hurts. Because it’s the right thing to do. And you know it.

I’m also talking about that Kim Kardashian focus where you ignore the haters and naysayers. You’ve got people to serve. You’ve got people who need what you have. You’ve got customers who will have to settle for something of lesser value if you don’t serve them. Get busy doing the right thing by them so they can change their world.

Randy

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Episode 181 – Our Son Was Born In The Hottest Summer On Record

Randy-Kids
Yes, that’s me…a proud, but clueless young dad.

August, 1980. It was a record setting summer. 42 straight days of triple digit heat in Dallas, Texas. No matter that we lived in Oklahoma at the time. It was no cooler “up north.” Records were set all across this part of America in the summer of my son’s birth.

Rhonda and I were married on January 2, 1978. Young and very much in love. Almost 2 years later we found out we were pregnant. I was completely unprepared.

The fear of unpreparedness is a special kind of fear. Steve Farber calls it, OSM! There’s a reason he was the first person I followed when I jumped on Twitter years ago.

Steve described OSM as the feeling the ski jumper gets as he attempts his very first jump. I’ve never done that, but I was once a first time dad and I can’t imagine anything scarier.

Like Red Forman, chastising his son Eric for flirting with his cousin, I feared a  web-footed child or some other freakish thing. I was honestly worried about the physical well-being of the baby  and my wife. I don’t remember being fearful of much else, although I’m sure I was worried about money. Who isn’t?

Every doctor visit made me a bit more easy that things were progressing well. During the rest of the winter and into Spring Rhonda did well.

Then summer hit.

The heat came rolling in stronger than normal. And around here, normal summer heat is HOT. When people back east or up north say, “Man, it’s hot today. We’re in the 90’s” – in Texas and Oklahoma, we laugh. That’s a cold front in the summer for us. We commonly say it because it’s true, “It’s 105 in the shade.” And in West Texas, there is no shade. I pity those poor folks.

In the summer of 1980 the heat was unbearable even in the shade. Nothing was green except our envy of cooler climes.

Rhonda was entering the 9th month of her pregnancy. Miserable doesn’t quite properly describe it. Swollen ankles and feet. I even had to get wire cutters and cut her wedding ring off her swollen fingers after we were unsuccessful in prying it off.

Then the pains began. On a Saturday in August, 1980. We drove to the hospital and my web-footed fear amped up. Now, I’d have been thankful for just a web-footed oddity. I was worried about much more. Don’t ask why. There was no logical reason for it other than I was a novice dad without a clue. I feared for my wife’s life. I feared for the new born baby’s life. Shoot, I feared for my own life! As far as I could tell, none of us were going to make it out alive.

The pain and vomiting began. I never saw it, but back in high school I remember kids describing Linda Blair’s performance in The Exorcist. At any point I fully expected Rhonda might sit up in bed, turn her head completely around and kill me with fire that would shoot from her eyeballs.

I had played football and seen (and heard) knees torn. But I had never seen this level of pain before. And I had never felt this level of helplessness either.

Like a dutiful klutz I kept a cold wash cloth on her forehead. Boy, that’s quite a remedy for inscrutable pain, huh? A cold wash rag! Well, it was the best I could do. That and hold that stupid little hospital blue plastic barf container that is shaped to curve around the side of your face. It’s not the color or the shape that fails so much. It’s the capacity of the stupid thing. That, and the fact that it’s open exposing the bile that comes from an exorcism, or birthing a child.

The hours went on. Rhonda refused pain medicine, a decision we were both regretting with every passing hour. The hours clicked by with the pace of those larger vehicles that transported the Apollo missions to the launch pad…moving inches every half hour or so. “How long can this go on?” was the question on my mind. By now Rhonda was completely out of her mind.

Guys, if you’re not yet a father, let me explain something to you. When you’re wife exhorts you to enter the delivery room with her, refuse. I did. Of course, my wife had enough sense to not care – or even want me in there. She didn’t want me holding a cold wash rag on her forehead at this point. She likely just wanted me out of the room and her life at this point.

So when IT was time. They rushed her back to the delivery room. We were into hour 17 of labor. Hard labor. I went to the waiting room to chew what little was left of my finger nails. I was now working on the cuticles. Next stop, bone!

Hoyt Axton may have sung about working your fingers to the bone, but I was gonna chew mine to the bone!

Early Sunday morning, August 17, 1980 around 6am (I may be off, but that’s the best I can remember given my state of prettification) we were no longer a couple. We were now three. We had a son!

I just thought I was out of the woods until I saw him for the first time. A nurse or somebody strolled by and showed him to me. He was red as a beet, but that wasn’t the surprising thing.

I was the father of a Conehead. A beet red Conehead.

I had no idea a human could survive in such a state, but there he was – my son. The Red Conehead. No, I wasn’t ashamed. I was too astonished to feel anything, but relief that this nightmare was over. Months of tortuous weather including Spring tornado season in Tornado Alley, followed by weeks of “will-this-ever-end” summer heat and now, my child will never be able to play football or hockey or any sport requiring a helmet because he’s a Conehead.

I didn’t know his head would take on a normal shape. Nor did I know how long that would take. Amazing. Both his skull’s ability to morph and my ability to be clueless.

I said it then and I’ve said it since, but it bears repeating. I had never loved my wife more than at that very moment. And I can’t fully explain that. Maybe other dads out there can understand it. I suspect you can.

The pain. The suffering. The sacrifice. The months of travail followed by hours of pain strong enough to make you puke – it all humbled me like nothing ever had. Nothing had even come close.

I was reduced to a small, insignificant puddle of muddy water in the floor.

We named him Ryan.

After a few hours I went home, cleaned up and dressed for Sunday morning worship. At church I’m sure folks congratulated me, but I confess I don’t remember anything about it other than going. I was mentally and emotionally spent. And feeling more helpless with each passing moment. Feeling totally unprepared to begin a journey as a father. Feeling not yet grown up enough myself to make this trek.

But there he was. A son. Born to a 23 year old version of me. And a 23 year old version of my wife.

Here we are 33 years later standing tall as proof that idiots can raise wise children. He’s a middle school assistant principal with street smarts, ambitions, skills I can’t imagine possessing and a family of his own. Thirty three years ago I thought we were all going straight to Remulak.

Instead, we wound up in Dallas/Ft. Worth. All of us.

That was just the beginning of the story, but for now – that’s all you need to know even though there’s so much more to tell.

• Like how bad his temper was (is) when he loses at sports. We like to focus on how competitive he is.
• Like how badly I felt (still do) when I popped him with a rolled up towel during horseplay, but it really hurt him ’cause it worked better than expected.
• Like how sad I was to sit with him on the front entry to our house in Oklahoma as we closed the door and headed to Dallas.
• Like how I love to watch him skate (still). Ice or roller hockey, it doesn’t matter to me.
• Like how we spent years together involved in hockey, including a 4-year stink at UTA.
• Like how amazed Rhonda and I were to get him out of college, successfully…with a degree.
• Like how my heart almost broke when he told me he was leaving to move to Missouri.
• Like how my heart mended when he told me he was moving back home.
• Like how we felt to see him get a Master’s Degree.
• Like how proud we are to see him excel in a career that suits him perfectly.
• Like how it feels to hold his children like I once held him (and his sister).
• Like how it feels to know he’s a phone call, text or 2-mile ride away.
• Like how it feels to worship at the same congregation then, and now.
• Like how proud I am to be his dad.

Happy birthday to my son, Ryan.

I love him very much!

Randy

• You can find Ryan’s blog (but he’s not there much) at RyanCantrell.net
• He’s also on Linkedin.
• Scroll down and watch the video slide show at the bottom of the post. I’m one lucky man!

Ryan-Cantrell-33

The song is “How Lucky” by John Prine. No, I’ve not lit a cigarette, but I have considered the question, “How lucky can one man get?”

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Special Episode – The Only Thing That Matters In Building Your Business

taking-aim
What are you aiming at? Who are you aiming at?

Business is tough all over.

I’m not talking about the economy. I’m talking about the work necessary for business success.

But if you think success is tough, try failure!

Today’s especial episode has one goal – to help you achieve success, or a greater degree of success in your business. It’s about forward focus.

Some people think business success hinges on a great idea. No, it doesn’t.

Some people think business success hinges on being smarter. No, that’s not it either.

Some people think business success depends on having the best systems. Those are nice, but they’re not the most important thing.

Empathy is central to your business success. Empathy with prospects and customers will determine your success in business.

Every successful business is good (and some of them are great) at just one thing, which is actually two things all rolled up into one – customers!

Customer acquisition is all about getting customers
Customer retention is all about keeping customers

Nothing else matters!

Let’s talk about the critical practical realities of business success.

Randy

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Episode 180 – Avoid Embarrassment. Do Nothing!

embarrassment
Avoid embarrassment. Don’t do anything.

I heard a new phrase the other day.

Social Embarrassment

I had never heard that before. I’m supposing it needs capitalization, but I’m not sure.

Lately, I’ve been chasing people to get things done. To take action. Yes, it’s a common problem, but when I stumbled onto the notion that people sometimes don’t take action for fear of “social embarrassment” I just had to sit down inside The Yellow Studio and fire up the Aphex 230’s and the microphones. Okay, they’re always fired up. I never turn them off.

I’m sure there’s a lesson there somewhere.

Mentioned in today’s show:

Dan Moran founded Sound Warehouse
Mark Sanchez, New York Jets, is butt-tackled
Presidential gaffes
A guy left me a not-so-kind review at iTunes, but I wasn’t embarrassed by it
• ABC’s Extreme Weight Loss with Chris Powell
• Alyssa was the 22-year old girl who weighed in at 414 pounds on last night’s show
Mormon missionaries dominate a basketball game
• I love Matchbox cars. Always have.
• I’ll be your free accountability partner. Just email me.

Now, go do something!

Randy

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Episode 179 – Self-Sacrifice: Maybe There Is More To Life Than Chasing Your Passion

despicable-me
Gru knows what he wants.

The Despicable Me franchise is more than imaginative. And cute.

It’s real.

In the original story, Gru epitomizes lots of people. The minions aren’t the only ones he views as  existing only for his purposes. He owns them.

He’s the consummate autocrat.

Despicable?

Hardly. He’s doing what countless people exhort us all to do – fulfill yourself by doing what YOU want. Make your life all about YOU. Find out what YOU want to do. Find out what YOU are best at. Stop doing what YOU don’t want to do. Start doing only the things YOU want to do.

I’ve been a Christian for 45 years now. I’m still learning and admittedly, a long way to go in many respects. However, I can’t get past what the Bible teaches. I can’t buy into the popular notions about happiness, pursuing passion and success.

I confess it’s a mindset. Well, partially. But it’s much more really. It’s a faith thing. It’s a belief thing. It’s a truth thing.

We love to consider anomalies and outliers as average, but they’re not. We want to read stories of people who went from homeless to millionaire in 90 days. You’ve heard people say of their own success, “If I can do it, anybody can do it.” Perhaps that ex-homeless millionaire said it. And we instantly think, “You know, he’s right.”

No, he’s not.

Jason Whitlock wrote a story about Tiger Woods, who came in 6th at the British Open this weekend. Whitlock talks about Tiger’s curse. Bad karma for his past sins. Yet, there’s really nothing to prove that such things exist. Bad behavior has consequences. Bad behavior is often found out. See Aaron Hernandez, Bernie Madoff and scores of other people who behave badly.

But this isn’t about scoundrels. It’s about us. Ordinary people chasing dreams. Average people struggling to rise above average.

Also mentioned in today’s show:

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
• Jeffrey Gitomer – “give value first”
• Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson
James Dalman – friend, web design coach, consultant, stud designer & more
Douglas T. Hawkins – a financial planner and attorney friend (I now voice his blog)
• This is the blog post on Doug’s site that I refer to, Wealthy Is As Wealthy Feels
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook)
• NBC TV show, The Voice
• The other day I made this post on Facebook (my personal page). I would appreciate your “liking” my BulaNetwork page.

FB-Easton
Easton Cantrell, my grandson, is about 6 months old.

Thank you for listening!

Randy

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Episode 178 – How I’m Preparing To Launch A New Podcast, ChasingDFWCool (Part 2)

chasing dfw cool
I’m not just going to chase DFW cool. I’m gonna catch it, too.

I probably should have sub-titled these episodes, “How You Can Launch Your Own Podcast…Or Anything Else!”

Did you miss Part 1? Click here. It’s much shorter than this one. The next episode will absolutely, positively be shorter! I had a lot of ground to cover in today’s show, but I didn’t want to drag this out into a third part. But no matter, it’s a podcast…that means you can listen to it in chunks suitable to your schedule.

I decided to record today’s entire episode on video, too. I’ll upload that to YouTube very soon. It’s part of my current fascination with YouTube. 😉

Let’s dive into the actual preparation stuff now. Part 1 dealt with the stuff that prompted the idea and other “soft” stuff. Now we’re going to discuss the actual things that must be done to successfully launch a podcast.

Here’s a list:

• The subject of the show
• The name of the show
• The domain for the show
• The format of the show
• The technology required to produce the show
• How to get podcast cover art
• How to do podcast show notes
• How to find guests
• How to line up guests
• How to interview guests
• When to release shows (including frequency)
• Submission to Apple iTunes and other podcast directories
• How to market the podcast
• Sustaining the effort

There’s a lot to it. But it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. And there are plenty of podcasting experts who have lots of great advice. Free.

Podcast Coaches And Experts

Cliff Ravenscraft aka Podcast Answerman has a series of 8 video tutorials that are completely free. You don’t even have to opt in with your email address. Additionally, Cliff has hundreds of podcast episodes and accompanying show notes filled with useful information to help people launch a podcast, or improve an existing podcast.

In addition, Cliff offers a comprehensive in-depth training course called Podcasting From A To Z. It’s an intensive 4-week course designed to take people from no podcast to launching their podcast. This is group coaching that usually consists of 30 people or so. Just yesterday he posted this video which can give you a glimpse of the kind of help he can offer you.

The crown jewel of Cliff’s enterprise is Podcast Mastermind. That group is intended for people who approach podcasting with a more professional approach. It is a paid membership requiring a minimum commitment of 1 year.

As you can see, Cliff has a wide variety of resources. You’re bound to find something useful.

Dave Jackson runs the School of Podcasting. He does some podcasting coaching, consulting and has a membership area, too. His podcasts and show notes offer lots of free information worth checking out.

Daniel J. Lewis‘ site is The Audacity to Podcast. Like Cliff and Dave, Daniel also does podcast coaching and consulting. He also offers podcast cover art design work.

Ray Ortega is a podcast producer. That’s his day job, but it’s also his passion pursuit. He operates a site, The Podcaster’s Studio.

There are others, but that gives you a great idea of the talent out there ready to teach you a thing or two about podcasting. Each of them have their own style and focus. You’re bound to find a connection with one or more of them. Check them out. Listen to 3 or more episodes of each one and that should give you a better idea of how they approach their work.

Also mentioned in today’s show:

Entrepreneur On Fire with John Lee Dumas
Mixergy with Andrew Warner
Jian Ghomeshi with Studio Q
Fiverr.com
Audacity recording software
Audio Technica ATR2100 hi-quality, low cost microphone
• iVideoHero is an online course that teaches you how to create great videos using your Apple iPhone. The iPhone can record shockingly good audio, too.
Music Radio Creative with Mike and Izabela Russell, one of my favorite podcasts – just needs to be longer and more Izabela 😉

I hope this inspires you to give podcasting a go. Don’t be bashful. Jump right in and figure it out along with the rest of us.

Randy

 

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