Episode 119 “Burn The Boats”
2:00
We’re Live! John says his office still does not have furniture. John mention he is going to China. also his book is being translated. Derick says to only drink bottled water. John mentions that his book has exploded on Amazon Japan.
8:30
Josh says they’ve hijack John’s book.
10:30
Derick says he still want to punch Josh in the face. Derick shares his frustration for figuring out the marketing stuff, but instead writes code. “Holy Crap, I hate doing this…” Derick talks about may creating a teaser video for the new direction he is taking.
14:30
Josh says least he is learning more about marketing if anything. On the positive side, he has not made any sales or subscriptions. But the individual bundle sales are picking up. Derick says he is still trying to figure out why people have not gravitated to the annual subscription sales.
19:00
Josh show us a stack of transcriptions. Derick talks about how the project has already taken over 40 hours.
24:00
Josh talks about a Dan Martell project, and shares the details about his marketing strategy. But no real success. Josh mentions the list is everything are far as marketing to an audience. John mentions he has never seen an affiliate offer work.
30:00
John talks about sharing a marketing list for commission to Josh. Josh and John talks about the time it takes and types of tasks to run a successful affiliate offer. Josh says he is never doing another affiliate offer, unless they have specific details inline. John says that a white label strategy will work best.
40:00
Josh talks about doing an email blast with John. Josh talks about the story behind the email of the 5 learning mistakes. Josh, again realizes his email marketing super powers. John says gaining 1500 people to your list, and have the product sales pay for itself is a good strategy.
50:00
Josh talks able a one click video recorder Screencasstify . John share that he is pumping out tons of video. John says that subscribers are growing, 26,000 and growing.
55:00
Derick’s youtube channel is growing and subscribers are growing as well. As least one third the rate of John’s channel. Derick talks about repurposing some older video content. John talks about writing a new book, “The Complete Software Developer Career Guide.” Derick mentions considering writing several smaller books.
58:00
Derick talks about republishing a student’s content on his site, plus a screencast bundle for a “Getting Started Guide.” Derick thinks this will help him out tons.
1:00:00
Derick mentions a new RabbitMQ blog, coming out soon. Derick says he has several requests for an e-book and videos course. John talks about writing more, doing at least a thousand words a day. John says he is the f”irst draft king,” with very little editing. John talks about maybe self publishing his new book, plus a kindle and audio version.
1:08:00
Chuck talks about being a in a tight spot with paying people, because of sponsors being late on payment. Also maybe producing a webinar and a e-bok with videos. John talks about being “the squeaky wheel” and asking for payment from the sponsors. Chuck says his biggest expenses are paying Mandy and Hosting. Derick agrees that he should bug the the sponsors about the money.
1:17:00
John says Chuck has to change something or raise sponsorship prices in order to stay out trouble. John says the greatest thing to do is to get to the point to where we do not to care about whats in the check book. Expenses less then Income. Josh suggests doing the webinar before the book.
1:23:00
Derick talks about his past process for releasing a book with pre-sales of chapters. John talks about burning the boats completely to the ground, or not doing the whole process at all.
1:30:00
The EntreProgrammers give marketing advice to Chuck, and help plan a strategy for his webinars. John urges Chuck to put something on the schedule. “No revisions or edits”
1:39:00
Derick is just thinking poop…Derick has 320 people sign up for his webinar. EntreProgrammers talk about webinar technology and the “how tos" of conducting a webinar.
1:49:00
Chuck ask about a specific format for a webinar. Josh gives some feedback on what he should do. Chuck talks about getting hung up on the numbers of sales on spots of the webinar. The EntreProgrammers talk about ways to market the webinar.
1:57:00
John shares that last week he was gone because of a talk he had to do in D.C. Again, John mentions he loves doing talks without slides. July 11th, John was invite to speak again. John thinks he was under sold, he might have to raise his fees for talks. Maybe 10K on up? EntreProgrammer give feedback to John.
2:00:00
John and the EntreProgrammers talk about and agree on 10K pre talk, until people say that it is to high.
2:07:00
John gives an update and Diet and Exercise and possibly and new course. John has been run 7 miles and no rest days. This is a ‘willing to do whatever you can without steroids.’ John think this is going to be a good marketing point.
2:12:00
John goes deeper into the body fat percentage and different work outs to achieve it. John starts to whisper…? “Is my wiener hanging out of my shorts..” John thinks that hitting a certain body fat percentage maybe a solid selling point for a new diet and exercise program.
2:19:00
Derick wants to pitch Josh over the boat, and Chuck wants to do the same to Derick.
Thoughts for the Week
Derick - “Don’t look at the elephant just keep chewing”
Josh - “Taste the elephant first…”
Chuck - “Figure stuff out and get rest…”
John - “Small decision equal huge gains…”
Episode 118 “Crapalytics”
2:00
And we’re live! Josh apparently is cracking the whip on Derick. Derick is doing the brunt work on researching for marketing and he i working on the persona or avatar for the course he is building.
6:40
Derick mentions he has 254 plus people signed up the webinar launch. Derick hope to gain customers from the webinar. Derick is looking for a guess speaker for the webinar, so he can focus on the marketing.
10:00
Derick says he wants to tie in the Watch Me Code projects into the webinar and continue the questions in for the products in the Slack channel. Derick mentions the webinar will be available on YouTube.
16:00
Chuck talks about how to understand an avatar for marketing purposes. Josh explains the demographics of an avatar and how to marketing to this particular type of person.
22:00
Derick talks about how working on the marketing material such as emails are sharpening his marketing skills other areas. Like marketing for his new bundle.
26:00
Josh talks about how getting into ‘the work’ will trigger something for you to understand the actual experiences and pain points of your audience or customers. EntreProgrammers talk about the Myers Briggs Test. Derick talks about how this help you understand your preferences and should not to be taken to seriously.
30:00
Derick share a book he is reading by Alex Harms at: leanpub.com/littleguide. Derick shares that this will help understand empathy on a technical level.
35:00
Josh helps Derick with the analytics for projected sales of the annual passes to Watch Me Code. Josh talks about maybe speaking with people who bought the all access pass and those who were on the fence about buying. Josh says that this would give Derick huge insight to the customers ideas about the product.
46:00
Derick says he has to much to work on for the business and does not know where to start. Chuck talks about gaining more clarity on the project. Derick talks about working his ass off to get the marketing email right after a years worth of understanding the market.
54:00
Derick talks about picking the right story to tell for a marketing strategy, but and things just don't fall together easily for him. Derick mentions having a difficult time figuring out what to do with the emails and creating marketing material. Derick says he has no time to create the marketing material.
1:02:00
Derick asks how he could find the balance to find customers in the next few weeks and also do research. Josh shares what he thinks the process Derick should take for the Watch Me Code. Josh thinks that doing a webinar once a month could increase sales on the full access subscription.
1:08:00
Chuck talks about the frustrations he has with creating his Rails Clips material, and getting overdue projects out of the way. Josh shares that Simple Programmers sales have finally picked up.
1:12:00
Josh shares that he is doing a marketing project for Dan Martel. Josh talks about interviewing John, as he talks about failed attempts an an entrepreneur.
1:17:00
Josh talks about doing an email via Java Code Geeks. Josh says that LeadPages has fail him again. Josh talks about writing over an thousand word email for the competition.
1:24:00
Derick ask about the live chat system. Josh mentions FreshDesk and Olark. EntreProgrammers discuss the types of chat system they could integrate on their sites.
1:30:00
Josh talks about where the fall off was on the Simple Programmers Site. Derick shares that he might have to reverify that the registration page is working correctly.
1:35:00
Chuck asks for some advice on paid traffic, and maybe using Facebook for the traffic. Josh talks a how paid traffic works and that you have to spend a lot over time for an ROI. Josh does not think it is time worry about this project.
1:45:00
Josh says Chuck should focus on emails and growth instead.
Thoughts of the Week
Chuck - Keep your head above water!
Episode 117 “Its Just Atoms!”
2:00
We’re Live! John talks about trying to write a thousand words a day. Josh shares his daily writing strategy to get content or emails logged. Josh shares that he uses the Strides app to help him track his daily habits. John talks about going to back to the KabanFlow for daily tasks.
9:00
Josh shares how he has reached 2 to 3 thousand words a day. Josh talks about experimenting with creating video, and how he has to plan the video ahead of time rather than creating it “on the fly.” John talks about editing verses getting comfortable with creating on the fly. Josh shows new his selfie stick for video production.
16:00
Chuck shares his A/V gear and ideas on how he records video. Josh and John disagree with the quality of bluetooth, in regards to Apple getting rid of headphone jack.
19:00
Chuck talks about his experience with bluetooth headsets. John and Derick talk about offending people intentional and unintentional. Chuck mentions we need to have common sense about these situations.
27:00
John says that mental energy expenditure is somewhat equal to physical energy expenditure. So stay off Facebook first thing in the morning. Chuck talks about feeling like crap about not meeting a goal and how that had a huge mental tax on him.
33:00
Derick shows off is Star Trek Data t-shirt. Josh talks about making another attempt with Google AdWords. Josh talks about how Google is getting beat up by Facebook as far as marketing strategies. Josh talks about being flagged by Google again. Josh talks about how someone reaffirmed the usage of emails contact lists and pop-ups.
42:00
John and Josh discuss their opt-in form and formula to get their audience to buy. John talks about the bounce rate from the home page, and those who ‘stick around’ the website.
50:00
Here is more talk on metrics on the websites and conversion rates. John talks about trying different strategies with changing the pop-ups and using retargeting pixels. Josh talks about how Google and Facebook could ban you with the use one pop-up in this kind of situation. Josh talks about his idea on how to use retargeting pixels.
1:00:00
Josh talks more about crossing the lines and getting banned from Google. Derick talks about changing to a standard pop-up and not talking about hating ad blockers. John talks about his dislike for display ads.
1:09:00
Josh says display ads are the tail end of the 80/20 curve. Josh talks about how they need a particular feature in Thrive. John talks about when they could maximize on the pop-ups. John talks about the low traffic from Hacker News and Reddit.
1:19:00
Josh mentions their business was on fire or how sales are tanking. Josh has been doing reviews of everything trying to find a solution. Josh talks about how a perfect storm hit with five different issues happening a once. But they fixed it and turn things around, but only for a day or two. Josh is still puzzled. Chuck talks about how he is getting and influx of traffic at Dev Chat TV.
1:28:00
Chuck talks about failing on delivering products on several projects. Chuck shares that he may have to reimburse 2k for an undelivered project. EntreProgrammers talk about how Chuck should repay the money on move on.
1:32:00
John talks about how he is still waiting on the decorator to detail his home. John talks about ordering a new stand up desk with AI.
1:38:00
Derick talks about getting 3 subscribers at full price, one bundle sale, and nothing sense then. So a bit of a downturn. Derick is not exactly sure what pieces he needs to work on the turn things around. Derick says he needs one subscriber a month to make is monthly income.
1:42:00
John suggest that Derick should go to Twitter. Derick is not sure where his sales are coming from. Josh says that foot or cold traffic is a possibility. Derick has just hired Josh to help fix the sales funnel or some issues on the sales page. Josh says he may just need a ‘guarantee’ on the check-out page.
1:51:00
On a positive note Derick’s YouTube channel is growing.
Thoughts of the Week
John - It’s just atoms!
Josh - The ups and downs do not go away…its apart of the game.
Derick - Understand yourself and take care of yourself.
Chuck - No matter how deep in the well your are, you can still find your way out.
Episode 116 “Lets Fight for Bacon!”
2:00
Derick says his business is burning to the ground. Chuck mentions he has lost one of his helpers. Chuck is cancelling React Remote Conf. and shuffling the schedules around to make things work. Chuck talks about a bunch of challenges he is facing for the week and is very tried. Chuck shares that his son is facing some issues at school.
10:00
John talks about how this situation looks like a quadrant 2 for Chuck. John shares how he could regain bandwidth to get things taken care for his business and home. Chuck thinks that part of the issues with his flaky help, might be because of timezones.
15:00
Chuck says he wants to do a Founders Retreat, base off of Sherry Walling’s book. On the up side, Chuck did a meet up using an app to coordinate the meet up. John thinks that Chuck need to simplify, and focus on the main things such as the podcasts and the remote conferences.
24:00
The EntreProgrammers discuss the things that Chuck needs to focus on and simplify. Derick mentions that he needs to take care of himself before he can talk care of important things.
28:00
John mentions the talk he did an Evolve. John shares the core points of his talk. John mentions that he is now going to do talks without slides. John talks about his experience at the Xamarin Evolve 2016.
30:00
John mentions that Trump has taught them to polarize his followers. John mentions that his YouTube subscribers has reached 24,000 plus. John talks about being authentic and unfiltered to his audience.
40:00
Derick thinks this is a dangerous path because its getting away from the main message. John talks about how you have to have an enemy of sorts, or those who tell your you can’t achieve. John shares more about the message of Simple Programmer.
55:00
Derick makes good point about introducing nuance as you are arguing. Chuck talks about understanding the shared vision and knowing what they are fighting for. Beating the horse to dead…
1:04:00
Chuck makes a comparison to the diversity in the forums of his company or projects. John says screw it, I’m doing what I want to do.
1:15:00
Derick mentions that he really likes the material on Failure at Micro Conf. Success is build on failure. The EntreProgrammers continue to discuss growth upon failure. Derick is running through the ideas he is working to get to his ultimate goal.
1:24:00
Derick knows that even while he is scared, he is going to be able to raise the bar to a new standard for his business.
1:27:00
Chuck leaves. Josh talks about how he may have something no one else is doing, as far as email courses. Josh says this could build a revenue machine. Josh talks about his course plans.
1:34:00
Josh talks about doing the email for Derick’s business as a practice and test. Derick is now a certified spammer according to Drip. Derick talks about how a company that maybe joining the Watch Me Code subscription at the annual price.
1:41:00
Derick is excited to rework the email with Josh’s help. Derick mention a possible June launch for the new project.
1:48:00
Josh talks about modeling Dan Martell’s ideas for an email. Josh talks about his VA has disappeared on him, so he is posting a new job on UpWork. Josh says he is going to adopted the “Hire slow and fire fast,” practice.
2:00:00
John mentions how hiring from different parts of the world, that people have a particular type of work ethic. Josh shares some analytics form Simple Programmers sales page.
2:15:00
Josh talks about how Simple Programmers’ pop-ups change peoples lives.
Thoughts of the Week
John - Focus on Growth
Derick - Find the thing that you are fight for…
Josh - When stuck on something….You’re missing something you need.
Episode 115 “Pike or Pipe?”
2:00
No John today!
4:00
Chuck mentions that he has been doing WordPress development allweek. Chuck talks about plans for sponsorships and logisticaltasks. He is going to ignore all the advice from his mastermindgroups. Chuck talks about the decision he has made with Mandymanaging the podcasts.
13:30
Josh thinks Chuck should have Mandy document steps just in case.Chuck says he wants to outline expectations for social media andgrowing the audience. Josh asks how he is defining his role. Chucksays has change his title to CEO and handling businessrelationships.
19:00
Chuck says he is going to do a kickstarter in June. Chuckmentions that he is the public face of Dev Chat TV, and that is thevalue he brings to sourcing business to Mandy. Chuck is thevitamins!
27:00
Chuck ask if he should get permission to monetize on the videosfrom the conferences he holds. Josh mentions how some people chargethe same prices on videos as the price to hold theconference.
31:00
Chuck talks about doing a Slack channel for the conferencescoming up. Derick says to do a private channel for each remoteconference. Chuck ask if he should use the free Slack for allthese remote conferences? The EntreProgrammers talk about the tiersthat Slack offers, and how the public uses it. Chuck talks aboutprivate add-ons.
40:00
EntreProgrammers talk about doing taxes and paying estimatequarterly taxes. EntreProgrammers discuss finances since they havea firm footing in entrepreneurship.
53:00
Derick is about to flip the switch to annual subscriptions for$350 and drop the monthly subscription. Derick says he isvery nervous. Derick talks about the climbing views on his Watch MeCode videos.
1:04:00
Josh mentions that getting Youtube coaching on lead magnets.Josh ask how to get an OPML file for podcasts. Josh talksabout the traffic to the Simple Programmer sales pages, and emailconversations. Josh says he might rewrite the emailpitch.
1:15:00
Josh is going to do an Ultimate Podcast List, but wants somedirection. Chuck says he should give specifics on how to do it onthe iTunes app and other players. Josh says he has decided to mergehis Sublime content with Simple Programmer. He is going to givepeople a chance to opt out if they don’t want the content. Joshdoesn’t know what to do with his Sublime twitter account. Dericksays to pin it to the new location.
1:22:00
Josh has decided to make a product about email courses. Hemay do a kickstarter for the project, not sure yet. Josh says hewill use it as a list building tool and sell in for 97 bucks. Joshmentions the people he can interview for bonus material. This isgoing to be a pitch similar to the work he done for “The 10 Step ofHow to Market Yourself” course. Josh realize that a project likethis is a great way to grow his email list.
1:45:00
Josh talks about being invited to a webinar with Perry M. Joshtalks about the questions for the webinar audience.
1:50:00
Derick mentions working on Watch Me Code stuff as they wererecording the podcast. Derick talks more about the new Watch MeCode changes. Josh suggests a joint venture idea to Derick.
Thoughts ofthe Week!
Derick - Raise your prices.
Josh - You need a unique sellingproposition
Chuck - Simplify, and what you can’t simplify,automate!