A little over a year ago, John Lee Dumas was an unknown podcaster, hustling to get good guests for his new podcast. He barely even knew how to start a podcast, much less run a good one.

Today, he has a thriving business based off that same podcast, Entrepreneur on Fire, and he’s interviewed an incredible array of guests, from Tim Ferriss to Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran to Seth Godin.

He even interviewed my own client, Carl Mattiola, who started a software business on the side that allowed him to quit his job at Tesla within 6 months. Check out that interview.

s learned so much, in fact, that he recently launched a new podcaster’s training program called Podcaster’s Paradise, which walks budding podcasters through how to start a podcast, including everything from what equipment to buy to getting good guests.

I know some people who are members of?Podcaster’s Paradise and they have said good things about the community.

So if you are curious about how to start a podcast, I’d recommend you check it out. (Note: that link is not an affiliate link – I’m just recommending based on others’ recommendations and because I’ve met John and he’s a good guy.)

Personally, I can say that launching my own podcast was a huge undertaking with a lot of technical hurdles to overcome. So I recommend having a community who can help you through the process.

John has some great, practical advice in this interview about entrepreneurship in general, including some tips on how to be productive (spoiler alert: it involves getting up really early). Enjoy!

LinkedIn is one of the most powerful social networks available today. But a lot of people find it very confusing. Many people sign up, set up a profile, and then don't know what to do next. They end up abandoning it or wasting a lot of time because they don't know how to use LinkedIn and to make it work for them. That's where my guests Lori Ruff and Mike O'Neil come in. Lori and Mike are known as the "LinkedIn Rock Stars" and they shown hundreds of people how to use LinkedIn for business. I've been privileged to be a guest on their podcast, Rock the World with LinkedIn, where they combine their passion for music with their passion for LinkedIn (yes, really!). What I love about them is they are willing to express some of their individual personalities, which is so rare in the often-stuffy world of business. So definitely check out their podcast. In this episode, Lori and Mike share some great tips on how to maximize your LinkedIn profile, how to use LinkedIn effectively, and how to develop and nurture relationships using LinkedIn. Enjoy!

Imagine starting a new professional sports team... from scratch.

That's what my latest guest did. Mike Shapiro is the founding partner and current managing partner of the San Rafael Pacifics, an independent league professional baseball team in San Rafael, California.

Many years ago, Mike had the idea for starting a professional baseball team to play at a local ballpark where his kids played baseball. Only unlike most people who come up with a crazy, hare-brained idea like that, he followed through.

Mike shares how his new team ran into every barrier you can think of as they tried to get the new endeavor off the ground:

• raising the money to fund the initial startup costs (about $1 million)
• legal challenges - neighbors who filed a lawsuit to challenge required environmental impact reports prepared by the team
• a local community that had never heard of the new baseball team before
• the challenge of getting attention for an unknown, untested baseball team right in the backyard of the World Champion San Francisco Giants (who had won the World Series the year before the Pacifics began playing)

Mike has a fascinating story to tell, and I think it illustrates the importance of nurturing strong relationships in business. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to start up a professional sports team, you're going to love this interview!

When I first went to work for myself a couple of years ago, one of the first books I read was Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port.

I don’t think I could have picked a better book to read upon embarking on the journey of entrepreneurship.

Out of all the various business books presenting different coaching models available on the market today, Michael’s book was perfect. It covers how service professionals can develop their own personal brand, talk about what it is they do in the right way, build trust and credibility, price their services, and promote themselves without sounding like Donald Trump.

It’s one of the few books that I have read where I felt like I had to read it at the kitchen table with a notepad next to me, because I was taking so many notes.

I didn’t think Michael could improve on that book, but it happened. Enter Book Yourself Solid Illustrated.? Working with my guest in this episode of the podcast, Jocelyn Wallace, the pair tore up the original version and distilled it to its essence.

I loved the new version as much, if not more, than the original version.

Like so many in his generation, Srinivas "Srini" Rao graduated into a horrible job market. Except unlike many, he did it twice.

The first time was after college. Rao graduated from UC Berkeley, finishing up school in 2000 just as the dot-com-fueled Bay Area economy was crumbling.

The second time Rao graduated into a recession was after business school, which he graduated from in 2009. Not surprisingly, he suffered his way through a few years of working for various dot-com and startups that either failed or were acquired, leaving him out of a job.

Rao’s experiences led him to believe — quite understandably — that the corporate world would never be as secure and reliable as being an entrepreneur and finding a way to support himself based on his own skills and resources.

Today, Rao is the founder of BlogcastFM, a podcast and site which started out focused on blogging, and branched out into focusing on other areas such as entrepreneurship, personal development, public speaking, surfing (Rao’s personal passion) and writing.

This side project quickly turned into a major source of business for Rao and it has allowed him to avoid working any of the dreaded “corporate jobs” he vowed to avoid.

I’ve been listening to BlogcastFM since the early days (around 2010), and so when I saw Srini Rao was coming out with a new book (The Small Army Strategy), I thought it was a great opportunity to engage him in a longer discussion on the podcast.

Five years ago, Sean Malarkey was working in real estate in Columbus, Ohio.

Today, he presides over a 7-figure online marketing training company and spends his days playing with his kids, surfing, and hanging out around Santa Barbara, California.

Not a bad life, eh?

In between was a lot of hard work, some ups and some downs, and a lot of success.

In this interview, Sean shares it all: what he learned from surviving the real estate market meltdown (including how he saw the handwriting on the wall), the “lightbulb moment” of discovering Twitter, and why he believes in pricing his company’s products much lower than their competition.

Sean is currently the President of Inspired Marketing, a company he started with former professional athlete and LinkedIn guru Lewis Howes. Together, they provide online trainings for small business owners and professionals on how to use various social media tools.

Sean is also the host of a relatively new podcast, The Money Pillow, which you can check out on iTunes.

Enjoy!

When you look up the word "innovation" in the dictionary, there should be a picture of this week's guest.

Brian Goodell went from a career in commercial real estate to founding a very successful invention business. That's right - he was an inventor. How often do you meet someone who's business card says "inventor"?

And I thought my career history had a lot of variety.

Brian actually invented numerous different types of products, many of which ended up on the stores of some of the nation's largest retailers. His inventions included a keychain breathalizer and the DipTop, a plastic "top" that goes on the top of a soda can so that people who use chewing tobacco do not get spit all over the place.

In the interview, we discuss the innovations process: from coming up with a concept, creating a working prototype, and selling the product to retailers who have limited shelf space.

After moving on from his invention business, the next step in Brian's innovation journey was to create a new type of company that could not have even existed a few years ago.

Today, he runs a company called University of Social Commerce which is like a "Groupon Broker." This is a very simplified explanation, but basically they broker deals between companies that would like to strike a deal with one of the "daily deal" types of websites (like Groupon, or Living Social). They make sure the terms are fair to both sides.

In the interview, we also talk about how he came up with the idea for that business.

Caleb Wojcik is one of the three co-founders of Fizzle (along with Corbett Barr and Chase Reeves), an online business training program that I’ve participated in and talked about a little bit on this blog and on Twitter.

Before working on Fizzle and embracing a life of entrepreneurship, Caleb lived amongst the cubicles… working for a large aerospace company. During that time, he actually had the difficult job of creating spreadsheets with names of people to be laid off.

(Now he actually helps teach people how to quit your job, which is ironic.)

Disenchanted with corporate work, Caleb founded the blog PocketChanged.com (recently re-branded as CalebWojcik.com), which led to working with Corbett Barr, the creator of ThinkTraffic.net. Think Traffic was kind enough to publish my guest post 5 Ways Copying Politicians Can Grow Your Blog earlier this year)

In this episode, Caleb and I discuss:

• how he went from a corporate career to cubicle renegade
• why Caleb became an entrepreneur instead of continuing to work in the corporate world
• how you can quit your job to become an entrepreneur even if you have large amounts of debt
• the importance of connecting with other people online
• how Caleb was able to turn a side blog into a new job which made him much happier

"By the way, it’s pronounced “WAH-JICK," rhymes with “LOGIC.”

If you have a services-based business, you probably know the challenges of running a small business. On the one hand, you have to bring in business. At the same time, you need to serve those existing clients or customers. And while you're doing that, you have to be thinking about bringing in new business. It's a difficult juggling act. Darlene Hildebrandt is a working photographer, teacher and trainer, based out of Edmonton, Canada and I asked her to come on the podcast because she has done a tremendous job of building a successful photography business.

Rather than relying on just one area (such as shooting weddings or portraits), she has learned to diversify her photography business by:

• creating in-person trainings and workshops
• writing content for Digital Photography School, one of the largest photography education sites on the web.
• leading travel photography groups to interesting destinations such as Cuba.

In this episode, Darlene shares some of the strategies she has used to keep her business going and thriving. Even if you are not a photographer, I think you will get some good ideas from this interview. Enjoy!

Andy Drish had his dream job in his early 20s, working for a Fortune 250 company in marketing. Then a midlife crisis hit, and he threw it all away. He quit his job, broke up with his girlfriend... and even abandoned his puppy (don't worry; the girlfriend took the puppy). Andy then embarked on an entrepreneurial journey, eventually founding Referral Squirrel, a website designed to help Realtors get more referrals. In the process, he became passionate about writing copy that is effective and grows your business.

In this episode, he shares some very practical tips for how to writing great copy can be used to increase your revenues. These are lessons he learned from the masters of copywriting. Today, Andy is the co-founder of The Foundation, a fast-growing online training course he leads with Dane Maxwell. The Foundation borrows ideas from Agile software development and Lean Startup methodology to train entrepreneurs how to develop new business ideas, without committing vast sums of money and time to an idea before it has been validated. The Foundation is the real deal. It is a 6-month-long, intensive training program that requires a substantial commitment from its students. However, those who commit have a chance to be really successful. I have clients who are graduates of The Foundation, and I can say they are doing really well, thanks to Andy and Dane's trainings. By the way, The Foundation starts a new class this fall. Hop on their email list so you know when it opens, if you are interested. Enjoy!

How do you create customers who will rave about your business -- and tell all their friends to check you out? Most small business owners will say it's easier said than done. While there's no secret formula, Marie Forleo comes as close as any entrepreneur to having a magic recipe for creating passionate and engaged fans. Seriously, if she could bottle and sell a potion that creates raving customers who will buy up anything you do, she'd make a mint.

The creator of the massive popular B-School, an online based training program aimed at female online entrepreneurs, Marie has a fan base that stretches into the thousands. I have a few friends who have done her B-School training, and to a person, they all rave about how smart, savvy, engaging, fun and funny Marie is. Having interviewed her, I now know why. Marie was incredibly down-to-earth and generous with her time, in spite of her success. You can tell this is someone who has been so successful, in part, because she is so accessible and relatable. It's no wonder Marie has been interviewed by none other than Oprah Winfrey and Tony Robbins, and she has even done work with Sir Richard Branson and michael sobota. In this episode, I asked Marie about what it takes to create a customer base that will not only love what you do - but will turn around and tell all their friends.

How do you create customers who will rave about your business -- and tell all their friends to check you out? Most small business owners will say it's easier said than done. While there's no secret formula, Marie Forleo comes as close as any entrepreneur to having a magic recipe for creating passionate and engaged fans. Seriously, if she could bottle and sell a potion that creates raving customers who will buy up anything you do, she'd make a mint.

The creator of the massive popular B-School, an online based training program aimed at female online entrepreneurs, Marie has a fan base that stretches into the thousands. I have a few friends who have done her B-School training, and to a person, they all rave about how smart, savvy, engaging, fun and funny Marie is. Having interviewed her, I now know why. Marie was incredibly down-to-earth and generous with her time, in spite of her success. You can tell this is someone who has been so successful, in part, because she is so accessible and relatable. It's no wonder Marie has been interviewed by none other than Oprah Winfrey and Tony Robbins, and she has even done work with Sir Richard Branson and michael sobota. In this episode, I asked Marie about what it takes to create a customer base that will not only love what you do - but will turn around and tell all their friends.

There are some great nuggets of wisdom in this interview. Marie is also speaking at BehaviorCon in a few weeks, which is a great new conference focused on the psychology of consumer behavior. It's being co-organized by Michael Fishman (who I interviewed in episode 26) and Ramit Sethi, the New York Times Bestselling author of the book I Will Teach You to be Rich (afffiliate link) and the blog of the same name. You can check out more about BehaviorCon here. Enjoy!