Today on the More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast we're talking with Fran from Suffolk in England. She is a designer who helps people with visual identities.

We had a really great conversation, because she has a really great philosophy around design, the importance of design, and the importance of putting your best face forward. All the impact that imagery and the choices you make for your logo, and every piece of communication you use in your company.

I believe that design really makes a difference. Just look at how we react to things that are beautiful. We want things. We want companies to be attractive, just like we want people to be attractive, and in this conversation, we talked about the idea of how we can identify and put a tangible element to design, a quantitative element. What is the return on great design?

We also talked about how, as a solopreneur, in a smaller community with a business she wants to maintain at just a certain level that keeps her busy, and allows her to have a great family life, we talked about some really great, simple strategies to execute to keep that flow of business coming.

All while we're having the big philosophical discussions about return on design.

Today on the More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast we're talking with Gianluca Trombetta. Gianluca currently lives in Spain, but is from Italy, and has friends in London, a real worldwide citizen.

He has an amazing educational course that helps people who have hearing aids make the transition, and have the best possible experience, both emotionally and technically. He has some really great skills that can help people dealing with hearing loss, having been a user of hearing aids himself.

We had a really great conversation about how he can hone in on who’s the actual market for the service he has, and we came upon a really great place for this kind of educational course. It’s the perfect fit in the transition from the during unit to the after unit, for someone helping a relative or friend get hearing aids.

You’ll like how this all comes together.

Today on the More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast we're talking with Johnny Hempen from Tacoma, Washington. I've known Johnny for several years, ever since he was a client of our real estate programs despite being a contractor, a painter. 

He’s been in business for a long time, and we had a great conversation today about how to really maximize his experience, how to turn it into something that’s unique in the marketplace.

He's really a student of direct marketing and the 8 Profit Activators, and he has a real love for the before unit, the lead generation and getting people to think new thoughts and raise their hand.

He loves the idea of narrowing his focus and we ended up having a conversation about turning what he does to generate painting leads, into a competitive advantage for car dealerships.

You'll love how the conversation evolves to that point and the thinking process of elevating what it is you do, into something that’s beyond a commodity. Helping people actually achieve the result they're hoping to get.

If you can attach your product or service onto something they're already seeking, and they look at you as an advantage to achieving that, that's the big lesson here.

There are many ways to find potential customers, but taking a moment to think through the most effective way can multiply your results.

Today on the More Cheese, Less Whiskers podcast we're talking with Cody Burch. I've met Cody a couple of times at Nick Kusmich’s events and he's what you would call, an expert funnel builder.

He has a really great process that I love the name of, called the ‘One Hour Funnel’ because it promises a big benefit and you know exactly what you're going to get at the end of it. We had a great conversation about this philosophy of making things as convenient as possible for people.

We talked about how he identifies leads right now, and how he uses webinars as a way to get in front of people in his own funnel process. We talked about the idea of using a book or gift card to turn people from invisible prospects to visible prospects as a multiplier for his webinar, always driving towards doing something for people as opposed to showing people how to do something.

This call went so fast and we really got into the depth and psychology of what's going on in the minds of people, and how to best use the different approaches to generating leads.

There is a lot of syndication, or leverage to be found when you start to look at the other relationships your ideal client already has, the people they are already working with.

Today on the MoreCheeseLessWhiskers podcast we're talking with Jerry Levinson, who runs a small family business, as he likes to say, in Arizona. He loves to joke about that because everyone in the family is under five foot six.

Jerry runs a great a carpet and flooring business, that he's driven by marketing. He loves marketing. He's a legitimate marketing lover, and I got to spend three days with him here in Orlando at our Breakthrough Blueprint event last week, and then today we're doing the podcast. It's usually the other way around. People come on the podcast and then come to a Breakthrough Blueprint, so it’s fun to do it the other way around, and have this conversation on the back of the event.

As you're listening, you'll hear how we really start to think about developing the program he's got, a program that focuses on a specific segment of the market, people who are selling their homes need to get new carpet but can't afford to do it right now. They'll help them get the carpet right now but pay for it from the proceeds of closing the sale.

We get the idea down to the core. We're looking for the scale-ready algorithm. How can we connect with people who Jerry’s perfect customers and in that situation through their relationship with the real estate agent?

We had a great conversation and I think you're going to see there's a lot of stuff that’s applicable to similar situations in other businesses, especially if you're looking to create something you can syndicate.

Today on the MoreCheeseLessWhiskers.com podcast we're talking with Brian Kiernan from Connecticut, and Brian is an idea man. He's a real student of direct response, marketing, and has a real passion for it. 

He's also a custom remodeler. That's his day job, the thing that pays the bills, so he uses that as the vehicle to explore and build his marketing knowledge. He applies it to his own business first, and is aspiring to help other remodelers, either by doing lead generation, or their marketing for them. 

We identified where Brian gets off track, and what keeps him from getting to that point, and had a really great, philosophical, strategic and tactical conversation about how to make that dream a reality.

I think there are a lot of people who, once they fall in love with marketing, realize it can be applied to their own business. But they also realize the magic it can do in other people's businesses, and they fall in love with making a business of doing marketing for other people.

On the surface it seems like a great way to do the thing you love without having to do the things you don't love, which is actually run the business. But you'll hear in the conversation how to really think about it, and what progressive plan you could put in place to do the thing you really love, and still sustain yourself through the transition.

If you’ve ever considered taking your knowledge and helping others, you're really going to enjoy this episode.

In a business where everyone is offering the same service, it’s not so much about what you say, but more about the way you say it.

Today on the MoreCheeseLessWhiskers.com podcast we're talking with Arnold Barzak from up in Ohio, where they have a property management company. They work with condos associations, homeowner’s associations and they take care of all of the property management needs of those units. It's a very interesting business.

We had a great conversation about how to differentiate in a world where everyone is basically offering the same thing, and nobody's happy. It’s a business where there's a lot of resistance to switching management companies, because it's a whole ordeal. So Arnold was really wondering how to breakthrough? What kind of marketing is going to get people to pay attention?

I think you're going to be interested to see where we actually took the conversation, and how much of a difference just one shift in the way you communicate can make.

One shift in a word you use to describe what it is you offer or who it is you're trying to attract can change your whole approach.

I had a lot of fun on this call and I think this is going to be the beginning of a really transformational time for Arnold.

Success sometimes comes at a cost and you may find yourself with a successful business, but days full of work you’re not excited to do or feeling trapped trading hours for dollars.

Today on the MoreCheeseLessWhiskers.com podcast we're talking with Bogna Wanda, an architect in the New York Area.

Bogna has a successful practice, always busy for over 30 years, and we had a really great conversation about how to transition from being a busy architect, which you could translate to any billable hours professional like, an accountant, a lawyer, a massage therapist, to becoming a business owner where you create something that can generate business, without it being all about your billable hours. Taking more of a proactive approach to the work you do, rather than passively accepting any business that comes your way.

We talked a lot about the philosophy of that transition and we really came on a great plan to actually make it happen.

I love how excited Bogna is when we start outlining a viable plan that she's excited about executing, and I excited for you to listen in and think about how you can apply the same principles to your business.

Many people talk about creating a ‘lifestyle business’ but few set out to find a business that meets that goal.

Today on the podcast we're talking with Alexander Tsymarkin from St. Petersburg in Russia.

We had a great conversation. Alex has a very simple business teaching ladies, mothers, who have children how to swim, and it's a really great story because of the way that he intentionally chose the business. How he started by going through the process from a lifestyle perspective, what would be the perfect business for him, and finding the model that met his criteria.

We had a great conversation about the choices he made, and then we came up with some really elegant, simple, repeatable ways to grow his business.

This is a really interesting episode because he really did start with his end in mind.

Welcome to the More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast, and wow, what a conversation we've had today! You guys are in for a treat.

Today we’re talking with Mark Flagg. Mark has a tire and auto service company in New York, and this guy is a star. I'm so amazed by his enthusiasm and just raw hustle. That's really what it is, raw hustle and grinding to get it done.

So, we had a really great conversation about, how do you get in front of people who are hoping to go their whole week without ever having to talk to you? If they have to meet you, it's a bad day.

If someone needs to get their tires done or needs to get something done on their car, nobody's looking forward to that. But when you hear Mark, you hear some of the ways he's talking and the things he's doing to embrace this idea of building a lifetime, value-based business with people, really building relationships with people, it's amazing to see what he’s been able to do so far.

We hatched a wonderful scheme for him to test. He's going to go out and test it today and report back and let us know what happens.

You're really going to enjoy this episode. We covered a lot of stuff.