Startup Stories - Mixergy

Today I’ve got an author which may seem a little different but it’s really not. I used to think that authors don’t actually make money from their books. I thought they built up a reputation and make money selling consulting services but that the books are kind of a loss. And then I met today’s guest. Mark Dawson is an author who’s written 25 books. In addition to writing books he’s also teaching people how to self-publish through courses at Self Publishing Formula. Even if you’re not selling books, the marketing tactics that he uses to sell his books will work in other areas outside the publishing world. Mark Dawson ia a best selling author of over 25 fiction books. He also runs Self Publishing Formula, which offers courses for aspiring authors who want to self-publish. Sponsored byToptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. ActiveCampaign – Improve your marketing & sales processes by upgrading to an automated platform. Start sending follow-up that adapts to your customers’ behavior so you are sending the perfect message at the perfect time. You’ll have happier customers and higher conversions. See why over 150,000 marketers use ActiveCampaign to create intelligent marketing that gets better results. If you’re with one of their confusing competitors and you want something new, you owe it to your business to check out ActiveCampaign. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

A few weeks ago I interviewed a founder and I couldn’t figure out why his company was so successful. His software was the same as his competition. The founder told me his company was using influence techniques in the way they create their content. I said, “Wow, that reminds me of this book by Robert Cialdini called Influence.” Turns out, that’s the book he’s been using to teach the people on his team. So that’s why he was doing so well. It wasn’t just his software—it was his persuasion skills. Well, Robert Cialdini has noticed something interesting. He noticed that what happens before people persuade you impacts how receptive you are to their persuasion. I invited him here to talk about that. Robert Cialdini is the author of Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade Sponsored byHostGator is your one-stop shop for all things web hosting. From design and marketing services to easy-to-use website builders, they are with you every step of the way. Thanks to their 24/7 – 365 days a year live support – which you can get via chat, phone and email – any and all questions you have can be answered in no time at all. HostGator offers unlimited disk space and bandwidth, an easy to use control panel, one click WordPress installs and more. Pipedrive is a sales management tool for small teams with big ambitions. It visualizes one’s sales pipeline and helps to make sure important activities and conversations won’t get dropped. Salespeople really like it because it’s easy to use and intuitive. Managers like it because they don’t need to nag their team to use their CRM. It also sports built-in forecasting, integrations with other software such as Google Apps, MailChimp and Zapier and a powerful API. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

A few weeks ago I talked to a guy who sold his company to one of my sponsors. The company was Skillbridge and he sold it to Toptal. I wanted to get a sense of how Toptal was growing. While I was on the phone with Skillbridge’s founder I couldn’t believe how interesting his story was. I had to invite him to come share it with my audience. I want to hear how he had a killer idea before and missed out on it because of a stupid mistake! But he built his company to the point where it was acquired. Raj Jeyakumar is the founder of Skillbridge, an online platform to help you find and hire the world’s best consultants on demand. Raj Jeyakumar is the founder of Skillbridge, an online platform to help you find and hire the world’s best consultants on demand. Sponsored byNoah Kagan Presents – If you’re listening to me, I think you’ll enjoy a new podcast by Noah Kagan. It’s called Inflection Point because unlike Mixergy, Noah will interview people who are just getting started—people who are at that moment in their lives when things start to turn. He’s with giving people challenges because he wants them to take action like finding their first customers and getting out of their comfort zone. But get this, if you subscribe to Noah Kagan Presents Noah’s also going to give you $1. Just email him at mixergy at okdork dot com to ask for your dollar. Acuity Scheduling – Acuity Scheduling helps businesses offer and manage their appointments online. With this tool, you’ll be able to automate your client bookings, cancellations, reminders & even payments without sacrificing you soul. Plus, automated reminders and follow-ups eliminate your no-shows, and incentivize repeat bookings. Get an exclusive 45-day trial at AcuityScheduling.com/mixergy More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

I got an email from a listener in the audience who said she had a yoga studio and wanted to know how she could grow it. She wanted to know how to use online ads, and social media like Instagram. My response to her was that maybe those platforms are hard to use for a reason. I thought her market was more limited to local advertising. I thought of her before recording this interview and here’s why. Today’s guest built a company that took fitness online. And his cofounder started with a yoga studio! So anyone in my audience who has a business in a fixed location can learn how to go online and grow beyond local. Andy Fossett is the cofounder of GMB Fitness, which teaches people how to use their bodies better. Sponsored byWith Bench, you get a professional bookkeeping team to do your books for you and our simple, elegant software to review your finances. It’s everything you need to forget about your bookkeeping, without actually forgetting about your bookkeeping. Sign up at Bench and get 20% off for your first 6 months. Noah Kagan Presents – If you’re listening to me, I think you’ll enjoy a new podcast by Noah Kagan. It’s called Noah Kagan Presents and unlike Mixergy, Noah will interview people who are just getting started—people who are at that moment in their lives when things start to turn. He’s with giving people challenges because he wants them to take action like finding their first customers and getting out of their comfort zone. But get this, if you subscribe to Noah Kagan Presents Noah’s also going to give you $1. Just email him at mixergy at okdork dot com to ask for your dollar. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Today’s guest says that at one point in his life, he was a real ass. He says he was pushy and insistent on his approach until he discovered a better way. I initially invited him here just to talk about his business but I had no idea he’d be open to talking about that and the issues he had with his  cofounder. To me, the emotional intelligence part of his story is the most interesting and what I want to get into here. R. Michael Anderson is the founder of Radiant Technologies, which was an ERP reseller. R. Michael Anderson is the founder of Radiant Technologies, which was an ERP reseller. Sponsored byToptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. Pipedrive is a sales management tool for small teams with big ambitions. It visualizes one’s sales pipeline and helps to make sure important activities and conversations won’t get dropped. Salespeople really like it because it’s easy to use and intuitive. Managers like it because they don’t need to nag their team to use their CRM. It also sports built-in forecasting, integrations with other software such as Google Apps, MailChimp and Zapier and a powerful API. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Today’s guest is Justin Cooke, the founder of a marketplace where people go and buy and sell websites. I spent 25 minutes talking to people in his industry to make sure that he wasn’t just a nice guy who happens to have been a long-term Mixergy listener who is going to take advantage of me. And I got some stuff. I have some things I want to talk to him about, nothing especially shocking, but I want to make sure there isn’t anything underneath that would mean he shouldn’t really be on Mixergy. This interview is going to be about how his company, Empire Flippers, came to be. I also want to know what Justin and his cofounder were doing before, how they failed, and closed up a company. Justin Cooke is the founder of Empire Flippers, a marketplace where people go and buy and sell websites. Sponsored byToptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. Pipedrive is a sales management tool for small teams with big ambitions. It visualizes one’s sales pipeline and helps to make sure important activities and conversations won’t get dropped. Salespeople really like it because it’s easy to use and intuitive. Managers like it because they don’t need to nag their team to use their CRM. It also sports built-in forecasting, integrations with other software such as Google Apps, MailChimp and Zapier and a powerful API. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

A few weeks ago today’s guest sold his company but one of the fascinating things to me is that it was a dating company. Andrew Chen wrote an article about why investors don’t fund dating sites. They have built in churn because once you match someone they no longer need the site, dating has a short shelf-life, paid acquisition is expensive, and it’s a hard company to exit. Dating sites are tough to build, grow and make successful but today’s guest did all that. I want to find out how. Ludovic Huraux is the founder of Attractive World, a french dating site that was acquired by Affinitas. Ludovic Huraux is the founder of Attractive World, a french dating site that was acquired by Affinitas. Sponsored byToptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. With Bench, you get a professional bookkeeping team to do your books for you and our simple, elegant software to review your finances. It’s everything you need to forget about your bookkeeping, without actually forgetting about your bookkeeping. Sign up at Bench and get 20% off for your first 6 months. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Back in 2010, I interviewed a guy who was a Mixergy fan who had a good idea for a business that was doing well but wasn’t going to do great. So he did the gutsy thing and he scrapped that idea and he started a new company. I invited him to talk about how he did it and the guts involved in shutting down something that was doing okay to try to get something big. The new company was called SeatGeek. In the years since then, I keep hearing SeatGeek’s name mentioned in just about any conversation around sports and ticketing. They just keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger. So now I’ve got the cofounder here to talk about what’s happened since then and how they got this far. Today’s guest is Jack Groetzinger. He is the cofounder of SeatGeek, a marketplace for live entertainment. Jack Groetzinger is the cofounder of SeatGeek, a marketplace for live entertainment. Sponsored byToptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. Pipedrive is a sales management tool for small teams with big ambitions. It visualizes one’s sales pipeline and helps to make sure important activities and conversations won’t get dropped. Salespeople really like it because it’s easy to use and intuitive. Managers like it because they don’t need to nag their team to use their CRM. It also sports built-in forecasting, integrations with other software such as Google Apps, MailChimp and Zapier and a powerful API. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

I was a jerk to today’s guest years ago. Here’s what happened. About six years ago, Clark Benson came on to do an interview with me and was really excited about this company he had just launched. It was called Ranker, but I didn’t want to talk to you about it. What I wanted to talk about was this company I knew about that he had built, grew into this huge success, and sold. It was called eCrush. He had already moved past it, but all I want to do on Mixergy is talk about successful companies and dissect them. Well, in the years since then, Ranker has shot up dramatically in traffic, and now I’m coming hat in hand to Clark Benson saying, “Dude, what happened to Ranker?” I have a lot of researching skills and a lot of tools for doing research and I still can’t fully figure out how Ranker shot up in traffic as much as it did. I can’t even figure out exactly where the revenues are coming from. So I want to do this interview to figure out how that happened, how he built it up, and what all of us can learn about growing traffic. Clark Benson is the founder of Ranker, crowdsource ranking for everything on the planet. Sponsored byToptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. With Bench, you get a professional bookkeeping team to do your books for you and our simple, elegant software to review your finances. It’s everything you need to forget about your bookkeeping, without actually forgetting about your bookkeeping. Sign up at Bench and get 20% off for your first 6 months. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Today’s guest does not do a lot of interviews like this. This might be the first one he’s ever done, and I’m proud to have him on here to talk about how he built up his company. How did he do it? It started with blogging about his journey and talking about his company and how it was growing. And the blog actually helped him grow his software. Alex is the founder of Groove, a simple helpdesk software. Alex is the founder of Groove, a simple helpdesk software. Sponsored byToptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. With Bench, you get a professional bookkeeping team to do your books for you and our simple, elegant software to review your finances. It’s everything you need to forget about your bookkeeping, without actually forgetting about your bookkeeping. Sign up at Bench and get 20% off for your first 6 months. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

What today’s guest does is say to companies, Look, you hate handling all these email systems, landing page platforms, right? His company handles it all for them. I know everyone like me who uses marketing automation has a different goal and different set of software. Well, the company that today’s guest created works with all of them. Carl Taylor is the founder of Automation Agency, a done-for-you marketing automation concierge service. We’re going to find out how he did it and how he’s not going nuts running this company. Carl Taylor is the founder of Automation Agency, a done-for-you marketing automation concierge service. Sponsored byPipedrive is a sales management tool for small teams with big ambitions. It visualizes one’s sales pipeline and helps to make sure important activities and conversations won’t get dropped. Salespeople really like it because it’s easy to use and intuitive. Managers like it because they don’t need to nag their team to use their CRM. It also sports built-in forecasting, integrations with other software such as Google Apps, MailChimp and Zapier and a powerful API. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

How does a former lawyer build a multi-million dollar company that teaches social skills. Jordan Harbinger is the co-founder of The Art of Charm, a company that teaches confidence and emotional intelligence. Jordan Harbinger is the co-founder of The Art of Charm, a company that teaches confidence and emotional intelligence, and the host of The Jordan Harbinger Show, which interviews top performers, from legendary musicians to intelligence operatives.   Sponsored byLead Pages – Lead Pages took my most successful page and turned it into a product that you can use—which magically converts strangers into leads. So if you want to use the page that I use to collect email addresses, check out AndrewsWelcomeGate.com. It will work on your site no matter what your site is built on. Even if you have no site, you can use this URL to collect email addresses for your business. It’s AndrewsWelcomeGate.com. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

On August 4, 2008, I posted a video up on Mixergy where I looked up into the web cam on my computer and I said “I failed.” And I said that I was going to shut down my invitation business and start doing interviews with entrepreneurs and people in general who I admire so I can learn from them and take back what I’ve learned from them to build a more successful company in the future. And I said that along the way you’d get to watch and learn as I learned directly from my heroes. We did it. A thousand interviews later here I am today bringing back some of the most memorable and most influential interviewees. People who helped me both on camera here with you and off. I invited them on to a Google Hangout to talk about the old days, to ask them some new questions and to do short interviews with them all for you. That’s what this is all about. My goal when I started out was to build a successful company. I think Mixergy is that company. But I wanted to be even more successful. My goal is that I started to talk in interviews afterwards evolved into saying that I would like someone who is watching these interviews to learn from them, to use what they’ve learned and then build a successful company so they can come back and do an interview themselves. I am the founder of Mixergy, home of the ambitious upstart. And this is my 1,000th interview. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

A few weeks ago, Andrew was interviewed about his inner doubt by Samantha Alford of WomeninBusinesspodcast.com. I (Arie Saint) thought it was too good not to share with our audience, so I’m publishing it on Mixergy. Check it out and let’s talk about it in the comments. Samantha Alford, the founder of the Women in Business Podcast.   Sponsored byWalker Corporate Law – Scott Edward Walker is the lawyer entrepreneurs turn to when they want to raise money or sell their companies, but if you’re just getting started, his firm will help you launch properly. Watch this video to learn about him. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Update: based on the comments we’re getting, Jermaine sent this PDF about Automation. How does a high school senior from the inner city turn $70 into a multimillion dollar instruction web site? Jermaine Griggs is the founder of HearAndPlay.com, which trains musicians to play by ear, trains them to play by ear with online music lessons and piano video tutorials. Jermaine Griggs is the founder of HearAndPlay.com, which trains musicians to play by ear, trains them to play by ear with online music lessons and piano video tutorials.   Sponsored byWalker Corporate Law – Scott Edward Walker is the lawyer entrepreneurs turn to when they want to raise money or sell their companies, but if you’re just getting started, his firm will help you launch properly. Watch this video to learn about him. Grasshopper – Don’t make the mistake of comparing Grasshopper with other phone services. Check out their features and you’ll see why Grasshopper isn’t just a phone number, it’s the virtual phone system that entrepreneurs (like me) love. Revolution Productions – Do you have a great product, but people aren’t trying it? You might have too much text on your site. Video, more than text, helps people understand what you’ve created and convinces them to buy it. I recommend you go to Revolution-Productions.com. When you do, talk directly to the founder, Anish Patel, and tell him I sent you. He’ll make sure you have a great video that convinces people to buy your product. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint