Excellence Expected: Small Business Action - Define, Challenge & Conquer Your Biggest Issues!

Working on a new product or service and coming up against physical, mental or developmental obstacles at every turn? Unsure when to launch? Afraid of negative feedback? Worried your software or app isn’t good enough? Adriano Ferrari from Gingko shares his wildly inspirational experiences with you to allow you to overcome these obstacles and get your product or service to market quickly and effectively. Adriano talks us through how the idea for Gingko formed as he went through his PhD, the challenges in raising a young family whilst bringing a product to market and delivers 3 exceptional pieces of advice that you can implement into your workflow to ensure your product reaches market readiness, confidently. Episode Links: * @AdrianoFerrari * Gingko – The better, faster word processor * John Cleese on Creativity * “The Rules for Customer Interviews” * “Conducting Customer Discovery Interviews” * “Techniques for Getting Customer Stories” A powerful, powerful episode for anyone developing new products or services! Don’t forget: the more you expect from yourself, the more you will excel.

This weeks episode is all about finding the confidence to go ahead and start your own podcast. Following setting up Excellence Expected many business owners, entrepreneurs and friends have asked me for tips, guidance and advice on the right podcasting equipment for a new podcast. Based on the research I’ve undertaken myself in setting up Excellence Expected technically, along with the experience of setting up the show on a personal level I found that the biggest issue is making sense of the wide array of equipment on the market which leads to progress paralysis and never really getting started. In this episode I share my own equipment choices but more importantly, the reasons why I chose each piece of equipment. I also share my top 3 pieces of advice for anyone looking at investing in their own podcasting setup. By the end of the show you will have the confidence and the know how to decide upon the best equipment for your needs and you will overcome that progress paralysis that stymies us all at times. Links to Equipment Mentioned in this Episode: Microphones * Blue Snowball Condenser Microphone * Blue Yeti Condenser Microphone * Rode Procaster Dynamic Microphone (the microphone used at Excellence Expected) * Heil PR40 Dynamic Microphone * Rode Podcaster Dynamic Microphone Mixing Desk * Behringer Xenyx 1204 USB Mixing Desk for Podcasting Headphones * Sony MDR 7506 Closed Headphones Accessories * Van Damme XLR cables * Triton Fethead Software * ECAMM Call Recorder for Skype * Adobe Audition * Apple Garageband * Audacity What equipment do you use? Let me know in the comments and let’s learn, share & grow, together. The more you expect from yourself, the more you will excel.

Seeking to empower ourselves is what drives us, right? We all want to be better on our chosen path and that journey of continual self improvement often leads us to events intended to open our minds to methods, mid sets and techniques that we otherwise may not have found. I had the pleasure of attending and delivering a digital masterclass at the 2014 “Connected Business” conference held in the North of England at The Civic, Barnsley. Featuring a keynote from Rory Cellan-Jones of the BBC, the event was fantastic as not only a networking opportunity, but as a means of furthering knowledge in very specific areas – I’d like to share my takeaways with you. My actionable takeaways from the event came from: * Greg Williams, Executive Editor of Wired * Linda Cheung, founder of Cube Social * Simon Biltcliffe, CEO of Webmart And you can find more about the event over on the Enterprising Barnsley website: * The Connected Business Conference The episode is short, sweet and POWERFUL – grab a coffee and your headphones, you’ll like this. No matter what you do, the more you expect from yourself, the more you will excel.

Google is vital to your business. You know that of course, but do you know how to maximise its impact and integrate its effects in to your wider marketing strategy? This week I chat to Tom Parling, founder of Ocere, a specialist online marketing business based near London. Tom has made a career out of conquering Google and ensuring that the tactics he uses for his own businesses, as well as his clients’, remain cutting edge and most importantly: effective. With actionable takeaways that you can implement into your search engine strategy today, this episode is a must listen for you as a business owner. Links mentioned in this episode: * Search Metrics Ranking Factors * MajesticSEO.com * Google Webmaster Tools * Ocere * Tom Parling on Twitter Have you been affected by anything Tom mentioned during the episode? Sound off in the comments! Don’t forget, the more you expect from yourself, the more you will excel.

Making your business attractive to the finest talent is one of the most difficult challenges facing you as a business owner. Compounded by the lifestyle driven, passionate millennial generation becoming more and more influential in todays recruitment marketplace, we business owners are facing difficult decisions when choosing the right team members to introduce to our organisation. Louisa Harrison-Walker successfully recruits some of the UK’s finest talent into the most prestigious organisations in the country. Louisa shares her experiences navigating the Generation Y recruitment process, and shares her 3 way roadmap to successfully creating a culture that millenials flock to. Links mentioned in this episode: * Benchmark Survey Monkey Results * Louisa Harrison-Walker on Twitter * Benchmark on Twitter * Heineken Recruitment Video You can’t miss this one guys, it’s some of the most valuable advice you’ll ever hear. The more you expect from yourself, the more you will excel.

Facebook arguably holds the biggest collection of personal data on the planet. As a business owner, marketer or sales team, are you REALLY leveraging that power to your advantage? Are you mystified by Facebook’s role in the marketing mix, or concerned that only ‘kids’ use it? Andrew Medlam is a Facebook marketing expert who this week, shares his insights into generating real, tangible return on investment from the world’s biggest social media network. The stark truth is: no matter your business, your audience and importantly, your customers are on Facebook whether you are or not. This is an unmissable episode for anyone who is serious about generating more revenue, starting today! Links mentioned in this show: * Andrew Medlam’s OnlineAccelerator.com Ready to tap into the power of Facebook? Let me know how you get on guys, we’re all here to share, learn and grow together – let’s start right now! As ever, the more you expect from yourself, the more you will excel.

This week I talk to Duncan Michael-MacGregor, a digital entrepreneur who owns and operates Duck on Water, a web design and development studio based in the south of the United Kingdom. Duncan is currently overcoming the challenges associated with recruiting his first full-time employee, the risks associated with that and hunt for the ‘right person’. This episode focusses on actionable tips from Duncan to ensure that finding the right employee, at the right time is as secure and measured as it can be. Throughout the episode we talk about conquering the mysterious “Superhero Syndrome” that all business owners face, zero hour contracts and Duncan shares his top 3 pieces of advice that you can implement when deciding to become an employer for the first time. Don’t forget guys, the more you expect from yourself, the more you will excel.

Welcome to Excellence Expected. Episode 1 is my opportunity to thank you for picking up the show and beginning this journey with me. During the episode I talk about how I bounced back from a business catastrophe to become founder of a rapidly growing design & digital agency, whilst also discussing how that rapid growth and the challenges it brought, caused me to burn out only two years ago. I take this opportunity to talk about what you can expect from each episode of Excellence Expected and the value that you, as a business owner or entrepreneur, can draw from the podcast. I also introduce my free eBook “The Essential 14 Day Guide to Cutting Your Working Hours and Increasing Your Impact”, which is my blueprint and work-through template that will show you how to create more time every single day, become instantly more effective in your business and create the time to enjoy the things that matter to you. Excellence Expected is a podcast for business owners, by business owners, with each and every episode adding value to your busy business life. Let’s learn, share and grow together; don’t forget: the more you expect from yourself, the more you will excel.