Bootstrapped Web | For Entrepreneurs Bootstrapping Web Startups | Interviews & Business Case Studies

Well the launch for our new products are getting nearer. Today we give a general update on things and we talk about where we are on the new products. Brian is in the beginning of this process and Jordan is coming to the end of the process. Planning a new product is stressful. We discuss that stress and how we have personally dealt with it. There are tons of decisions that have to be made and there is the danger of getting caught up in the “what-ifs.” During today’s episode we talk about these roadblocks and how we plan to get pass them. There is the factor that I am self-funding this and the need to budget. I need to do things in a smart way. – Brian Powered By the Tweet This Plugin Tweet This The points we covered today: Jordan’s upcoming vacation plans. Brian’s mini- vacation. When it is time to let go of the service side of your business to a team. How a mind shift can help a project’s issues. How an outsider’s perspective can help project disputes. The importance of getting feedback from potential customers. Brian’s new product process. The benefits of having an “inner circle” of customers. The stress of project decision making. When to ask for a credit card. How to on-board new customers the right way. Why you should “launch ugly” instead of “ready.” I didn’t know how to push a tech team, nor have the experience & the knowledge. I’m not a product manager. – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This Plugin Tweet This Resources Mentioned Today: Audience Ops Carthook Productize As always, thanks for tuning in. H

We welcome Ian Landsman back to the show to discuss the topic of deciding pricing. Pricing is an important tool for any founder. It can make or break your success. During today’s episode we talk about our pricing strategies and Ian tells us how he reached his price point. Jordan has also just returned from MicroConf Europe. He shares how the conference was and we discuss the value of conferences in general. This is almost the nature of MicroConf, you go in not looking for ROI. -Jordan Powered By the Tweet This Plugin Tweet This The topics we covered today: Jordan’s MicroConf experience The value of conferences How to decide a pricing strategy Why so much of pricing is based in market reaction Brian’s 3 factors of pricing Why lower isn’t always better The role trust plays in pricing Ian’s successes and missteps in pricing How to decide if to price per user or not Yearly pricing vs. Monthly pricing The benefits of quarterly pricing How to use pricing to your advantage My rule for myself at conferences, if I can learn just one thing, my only goal really is to get one thing. – Ian Powered By the Tweet This Plugin Tweet This Resources Mentioned Today: Audience Ops Carthook Helpspot MicroConf Europe As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a  review in iTunes.

On today’s episode we give an update on our businesses and how we move forward in our businesses. MicroConf. Is coming up over in Europe. Jordan will be leaving for the event soon and will be the first to speak. Today we talk about looking back on the year and measuring how far we got in our goals.This episode is all about planning for the future and executing those plans. As you’re going through it, you feel like you’re moving so slow. – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This Plugin Tweet This The topics we covered today: Jordan’s talk at MicroConf Learning from the past. Having realistic goals based on those past lessons. Audience Ops Update Carthook Update Why on-boarding should affect app design. When to hire contractors. Are you fighting the right battle? A new sales approach online If you look back on what has been accomplished in the last year, it’s incredible how many things happen.  – Brian Powered By the Tweet This Plugin Tweet This Resources Mentioned Today: Audience Ops Carthook As

Today’s episode is about the various tools we use in our business and everyday lives. We will cover 9 areas of tools. Personal Tools Communication/Productivity Payments/Accounting/HR Customer Support Marketing Sales Production Design Podcasting Some of these tools we have used and switched. Some of these tools were love at first sight.  Skype is like Paypal, the only reason people still use it is because the whole world uses it. – Brian Powered By the Tweet This Plugin Tweet This Resources Mentioned Today: Appear Appointlet Audience Ops Balsamiq Bellum Bench Blubrry Calendly Carthook Colorsnapper Color Picker Day 1 DigitalOcean Drip Dropbox Droplr Every Time Zone Flow Freshbooks

Today’s episode we give an update on our businesses and the on-going projects we have coming up. There is some travel on the horizon for Jordan and Brian both. Jordan is going for business and Brian for personal. Audience Ops has really honed in on sales and improving the sales process. The training product is on hold and Brian is focusing on using webinars to bring in sales. The webinars are basically live demos of the service. He has one under his belt and has one planned for July 26th. Carthook is also using webinars to sell their product. Jordan has hired some top notch team members to make the best quality webinars they can. Jordan also has an invitation to speak at conference in Barcelona. The conference is for people working with affiliates and are part of the emerging ecommerce wave. A lot of people who have figured out a methodology to use a combination of drop shipping and facebook ads. – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This Plugin Tweet This On today’s episode we share our webinar experiences and what is going on in our businesses. We also talk about how an entrepreneur/founder can find passion in his business and not be a slave to the bottom line. The points we covered today are: Brian’s summer and future travel plans Jordan’s trip to Berlin Jordan’s invite to Barcelona and the conference where he will be speaking Audience Ops changing sales approach Winning the Long Game webinar Carthook’s first webinar Where is the “passion” in ecommerce? It’s a little frustrating to do all this work and then have to wait. – Brian Powered By the Tweet This Plugin

We kick off our new format with Ian Landsman. Ian is the founder of Userscape and Helpspot. He has been working in the bootstrapped world since 2004. On today’s episode we discuss what it means to “play the long game.” We share our plans for Carthook and Audience Ops. Ian offers his personal view on the long game and what it means to him. We discuss all the aspects of making decisions for the long term in business. You can’t go head to head with the big funded players. It’s really hard. – Ian Powered By the Tweet This Plugin Tweet This The topics we covered today are below: How to find “long game” ideas How money can force a commitment How to hire the right people Brian’s long term plan for Audience Ops Brian on Zero to Scale What the term “scaling” means Selling a one time product vs. selling a recurring service Jordan’s long term plan for Carthook Venture capital vs. bootstrapping JD Graffam’s business approach The “long game” from an investment perspective You don’t know every detail the market wants till you start interacting. – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This Plugin Tweet This

Our episode today is just a basic update episode. A lot is going on in Audience Ops and Carthook and we are both just trying to keep up. We talk about the challenges we’re facing and how we plan to deal with them. Jordan is focusing more on the checkout product on Carthook. The market just seems to be pushing towards that. Brian is learning how to cope with his new role in Audience Ops. After growing the team he is now more of a coach and has to deal with letting go of some aspects of the business. We talk about these things and other things that are just on our minds. You have to get to a point where your business is closing leads and not relying on you to close the leads. Brian Powered By the Tweet This Plugin Tweet This The points we discussed today are below: Introducing guests to the show. “Bootstrapped Parties” Creating processes for the PPC add on service for Audience Ops The future of Carthook’s checkout service The pros and cons of shifting product focus The delay of Audience Ops’ training product Hiring writers vs. hiring managers Brian’s change to coach Retooling Audience Ops’ processes The reality of running a SaaS business The most leverage on the entire marketing site is your pricing grid. Anything you put there will be read. Jordan Powered By the Tweet This Plugin

On today’s Bootstrapped Web we answer some listeners/readers questions. We also give you some updates on what’s going on in Carthook and AudienceOps. The mode I am in right now is, laugh at myself mode.  Jordan Powered By the Tweet This Plugin Tweet This We discussed these topics today and answer these questions below: Updates on the personal front AudienceOps’ 12 month road map Carthooks’ webinar prep Jordan’s influences this week: Lazy Leadership, by: Andrew Wilkinson Is anybody still using Twitter? The shift in Facebook and the rise of Snapchat Listener question: Should I show pricing on my marketing site? Listener question: How to handle customer requests. Listener question: Should you charge a percentage? Listener question: Why do we still do a podcast? The longer you stay with AudienceOps, the more value, and the more benefits you get. Brian Powered By the Tweet This Plugin Tweet This Resources Mentioned Today: Lazy Leadership, by: Andrew Wilkinson AudienceOps

We have an update episode today. We start with the general updates about settling into a new house and keeping up with our newborn kids. We also touch on a subject that any entrepreneur can relate too, how your interests and hobbies get neglected when you run a business. The rest of this episode is a discussion about our adjustments in both AudienceOps and Carthook. You gain one type of freedom and you give up another.  Jordan Powered By the Tweet This Plugin Tweet This The topics we cover today are: Why Jordan had to pull a previous episode Brian’s attempts to establish a routine Jordan’s impressions of a podcast from The Art of Manliness AudienceOps’ growing team Encouraging more open discussions between team members Carthook’s job opening Meeting the requests and demands of the customer base The process Brian is using to develop a new training program What I need to work on is being better at leading these calls and not letting them drag on. Brian Powered By the Tweet This Plugin Tweet This Resources Mentioned Today: AudienceOps Carthook Art of Manliness Ep. 208

On today’s Bootstrapped Web we welcome UI and UX Consultant Jane Portman to the podcast. Jane helps founders look at their business applications and optimize them for the best customer experience. She has recently written a book called UI Audit. Today Jane shares with us what her experience with founders has taught her about creating … Continue reading [111] How to Audit Your Design, UI & UX w/ Jane Portman

Most people have an issue with managing others. On today’s episode we talk about the process of moving into a managing position. We also give you the listeners an update on our projects and life in general. We explain how the process of hiring full time positions can be a challenge, and we share our … Continue reading [110] Learning to Manage a Team / Launching a New Sales Strategy

When we last checked in with Jordan and Carthook, the company was building up to a big product launch. Then things happened and we stopped for a bit. Now we’re back and on today’s episode, Jordan is going to tell us about this product launch and the lessons learned from the process. The points of … Continue reading [109] Behind Jordan’s Rollercoaster New Product Launch

We are back in the saddle! We’ve taken some time for family, moving, and we’ve both tried to keep up with the juggling of work and home life. We come back on today’s episode and catch you all up on what’s going on in life and business. Brian has welcomed his second child and has … Continue reading [108] Growing Families And Growing Businesses

We discuss our time at MicroConf 2016 on today’s episode. Both of us attended the event and had a great time. The community surrounding MicroConf is loyal and helpful for networking. The conference was at the Palms in Las Vegas this year. It was beautiful accommodations and just a really informative time for us. Speakers … Continue reading [107] Our Recap of MicroConf 2016

Today is an update episode. We are both expecting additions to our families and we are both launching new products for our businesses. It is an exciting and stressful time, but hopefully all the hard work will pay off. Carthook is gearing up for a big launch that Jordan hopes will draw the attention of … Continue reading [106] Launch Updates, Goals for a New Hire & Optimal Work Environments