Today on the More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast we're talking with Jay Wong and Jay is a really interesting guy. I met him in Toronto at a Nick Kusmich event I was speaking at and we got talking about his model of helping people set up, and building brands around their podcasts.

We had a really good conversation today about the purpose of a podcast and the place it has in your 8 Profit Activators, and if you've been listening to the way we do this podcast, it will be an interesting look into the psychology of how I use a podcast in our marketing.

It's nice to have that conversation with somebody who you know is going to take action on the things we talked about, including generating an audience for the show before you actually start the podcast, rather than doing the podcast first and hoping you can build an audience from there.​​​​​​​ 

On the More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast today, we're talking with Matt Mueller from Bergen County, New Jersey, and Matt works with a franchise operation called School of Rock, a music-based after school program for kids.

I love the concept, and Matt is an enthusiastic student of marketing and wants to really do the best thing for their operation to grow, expand, and to get new students.

Their real goal is to get to 200 people who are recurring monthly members of the School of Rock program and will stay forever, and what we found in talking about it, is this is a business that's very 'After Unit' oriented. So we talked about some bootstrap marketing opportunities, including offering a way for the existing students to refer new students, before talking about some longevity ideas and how to really expand their offerings.

If you have a business that's very 'After Unit' oriented, sometimes the best way to continue to grow is to really tap into the existing people you have, to make and create a culture of referrals so it grows organically.

Often people are interested in 'how do we go out and create a Before Unit strategy' here, but sometimes an After Unit strategy is the way to go.

Today on the More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast we're talking with Jordan Todorovski, a web and App developer in Amsterdam via Bulgaria.

We had a really great conversation. His firm helps people as a provider of development services for websites and Apps, and a lot of the work they do is white label sort of work, so our conversation started out about the difference between being a provider of service and a deliverer of results. It's an important distinction because when you can get yourself aligned with what the actual result is you're providing for someone, it creates lots of opportunities for collaboration.

Toward the end of the podcast we come around to that point and the realization of the big theme here... You have a choice to be a provider of services or a vendor of services or to be a collaborator in delivering a result for somebody.

If you have a unique capability, organizationally, or you have a unique perspective on how to actually accomplish something and you can collaborate with someone who wants to get that result, that creates a really great opportunity for both of you.

As you're listening, I want you to think about the services or the products or the capabilities you have, and see whether you're primarily offering them as a vendor of a service or a commodity (with many people offering similar 'things') and start thinking about how whatever it is you do, could be approached with a collaborative mindset, focused on the result.

You're going to see that theme playing out here, and I think we'll have more of that coming up in future episodes. It's really where my mind is going a lot lately.

Today on the More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast we're talking with Jerry Sievers and there are a couple of really great lessons in today's episode.

Here's a successful business, built over several years, that is self-managing and allows Jerry to be removed from any actual operating part of the business. He calls it a wedge. A little opening service that every business needs, every business wants to have done, and he's been able to build a very successful business around delivering that. This is a business that is built on the recurring relationship with clients that have built up a trust over time with Jerry.

Now, the opportunity he has is to syndicate this business. To take the business that he's already learned, that he's already developed a system for, and duplicate it in other areas of the country with people who want to have a business with recurring revenue, that's predictable and can get to a point where it can support them without having to actually work day to day in the business.

That sounds like a pretty good deal and I think you're really gonna enjoy this episode.

An after unit business is one of my favorite topics to talk about, with a recurring revenue and a model that can take you out of the equation, so it works without you having to work in it.

It can be difficult to get your message out if people don't yet know you, or know how valuable you could be to them.

On this week's More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast we're talking with Craig Melby.

Craig is a real estate specialist helping people in Stuart, Florida release retail space, office space, really any commercial space, and save lots of money. He has a very specialized knowledge that's useful for people. The challenge is, most people don't know about him or that he can help them.

So we talked a lot about how to go upstream, and find people that once they find out about him, would love to be able to avail themselves of his services. We talked about taking a model that we've already developed in the residential real estate business and applying it to commercial real estate, before looking at the difference between scaling and syndicating.

He has an opportunity that is certainly ripe for syndication and I think you'll enjoy a how we evolve this conversation.

Today on the More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast we're going to be talking with Matty & Stacey Turner from Australia, via Amsterdam, while I'm in Toronto. It's quite an international connection!

The Turners are nutritionists who work with people, helping them build custom nutrition plans, and we talked a lot about the whole of their business, about the different ways they end up helping people, the ways they end up finding people to help.

We really had a great discussion about both the front end of finding new people using the Profit Activator 2 mindset to get people to raise their hands, then we ended by talking about referrals and how to orchestrate referrals from the people that already know them, like them, trust them, and are getting great results with them.

There's a lot here for you, whether you're looking to attract more people, or help the people you work with, make the connection to you at the right time.

Today on the More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast, we're talking with Trevor Shirk from Denver.

Now Trevor has a unique situation. He's a former military IED hunter, clearing the way for everybody going out on the frontline, actually identifying a disarming IED's. That's a very special thing, but now back safely in the United States and working on a building his own scale ready algorithm.

He has a unique market position in tattoo removal and a really great system for helping tattoo removal practitioner in finding and growing their practice.

We talked about this idea of creating a scale ready Algorithm, and how we could take this budding hyperlocal business, and create a division that finds all of the tattoo removal practitioners from all over the country and scales and expands to serve that entire market.

Now, this is one of my favorite things. I like to call it syndication, where you take a local idea, something that you can crack the code once, and then build the scale ready algorithm to scale it out all over the country. Licensing the same system to many, many, many different people.

It's a wonderful model

So, if you have something you have, that could be a scale ready algorithm like, then I think you're really going to enjoy this episode.

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.