Michael Perry, owner of Kit, an online marketing software that lets people connect eCommerce sites to different social media platforms. Listen as Nathan and Michael talk about how they started their respective businesses, how they’re using Facebook to target clients today, and why Kit should be so attractive to entrepreneurs.
Famous 5
Favorite Book? – Search Inside Yourself
What CEO do you follow?— Mark Zuckerburg
What is your favorite online tool?— Clara
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?— Nothing f****** matters
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:15 – Nathan’s introduction
01:43 – Welcoming Michael to the show
01:47 – Defining small business survivalist
02:20 – How Michael currently makes money
02:23 – The idea for Kit
03:37 – How Kit started and how many clients currently working with it
04:32 – No one wants to invest in technology for SMB—But they should!
05:20 – “We didn’t want to be an agency, we wanted to become a software company and create a digital person that can work for SMB owners 24/7”
06:16 – Right now, Kit has about 2000 paying customers
08:22 – People have this misguided notion that everything on the internet should be free—this is simply not the case
09:03 – Acquisition cost per customer is at $21 via Facebook
11:26 – Kit is not a non-profit—it’s all about revenue
11:48 – What revenue number would you love to hit in 2016? -$150,000-$200,000 MRR
12:19 – Hitting those metrics is not an option
13:26 – 99% of the time it’s the people behind the business that make the business GREAT
13:34 – It’s better to have a good team than a good idea
15:05 – @MichaelPerry Michael@kitcrm.com
3 Key Points:
SMB business owners would be wise to invest in technology early—the long-term gains outweigh the upfront expense.
Just because something is on the internet, doesn’t mean that it should be free.
It’s your team—not your ideas, not your products—that make your business great.
Resources Mentioned:
Kit –an online marketing assistance
Host Gator - Powerful web hosting made easy and affordable.
The Top is FOR YOU if you are:
A STUDENT who wants to become the CEO of a $10m company in under 24 months (episode #4)
STUCK in the CORPORATE grind and looking to create a $10k/mo side business so you can quit (episode #7)
An influencer or BLOGGER who wants to make $27k/mo in monthly RECURRING revenue to have the life you want and full CONTROL (episode #1)
The Software as a Service (SaaS) entrepreneur who wants to grow to a $100m+ valuation (episode #14).
Your host, Nathan Latka is a 25 year old software entrepreneur who has driven over $4.5 million in revenue and built a 25 person team as he dropped out of school, raised $2.5million from a Forbes Billionaire, and attracted over 10,000 paying customers from 160+ different countries.
Oprah gets 60 minutes or more to make her guests comfortable to then ask tough questions. Nathan does it all in less than 15 minutes in this daily podcast that's like an audio version of Pat Flynn's monthly income report. Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop
Ray Edwards, a best-selling author and a copywriting coach. Listen as Nathan asks Ray about books, the mechanics of publishing, how he was able to sell a thousand copies before getting promoted, and how affiliation works.
Famous 5
Favorite Business Book? –The Biography of John Adams
What CEO do you follow?— Peter Diamandis
What is your favorite online tool?—Evernote
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?— Don’t do credit cards, invest your money, spend less than you earn, take better care of your body…most of the stuff you worry about in your 20s you won’t even remember so lighten up.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:17 – Nathan’s introduction
01:54 – Nathan welcomes Ray
02:07 – Writing Riches
02:42 – Ray’s revenue stream
03:00 – How to Write Copy that Sells
05:30 – It’s relatively easy to get published compared to how hard it is to write
06:03 – Mechanics of publishing Ray’s book with Morgan James
07:50 – Business books should be positioning pieces to win clients
08:27 – As a result of having written the book, I can attribute directly or indirectly at least $.5M in revenue
09:07 – The goal with this one (How to Write Copy that Sells) is to sell a lot more books
10:02 – We’re looking for list placement in the book list
10:36 – How did you get the first thousand sales? – Just from my email list
11:11 – How big is your email list? –It was about 37,000 people
11:28 – We went through this whole campaign, for about 2 weeks, basically driving people off the list. Now we are about 17 to 18,000
11:55 – Lining up affiliates for the book
12:45 – How did you do the $400,000 in one month? –We sold to our own list and we had affiliates to promote the course on their list
13:42 – I am the most expensive direct response copy writer in the internet
14:17 – Sometimes people forget that they need to pay you royalties and you start chasing them
14:45 – Making the Call to Action effective
15:08 – What would you headline this podcast to maximize downloads? –Magic Words that Make You Rich
15:25 – www.rayedwards.com
3 Key Points:
Writing something that people want to ready is a lot harder than getting published.
If you’re working on a royalties payment scheme find a way to automate it so you’re not chasing down payments.
Life is short—lighten up.
Resources Mentioned:
Writing Riches – book authored by Ray
How to Write Copy that Sells –the updated version of Writing Riches
Morgan James –the publisher that published Ray’s two books
Host Gator - Powerful web hosting made easy and affordable.
The Top is FOR YOU if you are:
A STUDENT who wants to become the CEO of a $10m company in under 24 months (episode #4)
STUCK in the CORPORATE grind and looking to create a $10k/mo side business so you can quit (episode #7)
An influencer or BLOGGER who wants to make $27k/mo in monthly RECURRING revenue to have the life you want and full CONTROL (episode #1)
The Software as a Service (SaaS) entrepreneur who wants to grow to a $100m+ valuation (episode #14).
Your host, Nathan Latka is a 25 year old software entrepreneur who has driven over $4.5 million in revenue and built a 25 person team as he dropped out of school, raised $2.5million from a Forbes Billionaire, and attracted over 10,000 paying customers from 160+ different countries.
Oprah gets 60 minutes or more to make her guests comfortable to then ask tough questions. Nathan does it all in less than 15 minutes in this daily podcast that's like an audio version of Pat Flynn's monthly income report. Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop
Jason van den Brand, owner of Lenda, to the podcast. Lenda is a financial services company that lets people refinance their mortgages with greater ease. Listen as Jason shares his company’s astounding start and explains how Lenda is removing the financial middlemen to give their clients more value.
Famous 5
Favorite Book? – Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business
What CEO do you follow?— Elon Musk
What is your favorite online tool?—Slack
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —At the end of the day, it’s all about the network so don’t worry so much about your GPA. Go and meet more people.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:20 – Nathan’s introduction
01:30 – Nathan welcomes Jason van den Brand
02:20 – Jason’s take on the Quicken Loans Controversy
03:34 – About Lenda
03:45 – If you go online today, your mortgage is going to end up looking like a big giant stack of paperwork
05:10 – “We are an automated underwriting process so we’re predicting what kind of documentation you’re going to need to qualify for the home loan.”
06:28 – Loan servicers
07:04 – Wells Fargo
07:34 – Loans split up after they transmit it
09:27 – We are moving toward servicing our own loans
10:28 – Currently raised about $3.8M
11:02 – Warehouse Line of Credit
11:20 – We hold our loans for 6-7 days before they get sold off to the final investor who will actually service the loan
11:56 – $25M pipeline
13:36 – Almost $70M loans passed from October 2013 to January 2016
13:50 – How much money Lenda made in 2015 and how did you do it? -$500,000 – we make a margin on the loan amount
15:39 – Because we’re building technology, we don’t have loan officers in our model
16:50 – Continuously practice vertical integration
19:50 – This business model is going to work because it eliminates middle men, and when you do that, you eliminate costs
21:05 –@vandenTweet
3 Key Points:
The mortgage industry as it exists today is a dinosaur.
When you use technology to replace middlemen or redundant people you cut costs dramatically—that savings can be passed back the consumer.
We can make this business model and completely remove all the middle men in the transaction
Resources Mentioned:
Lenda – Jason’s company
Wells Fargo – a loan servicer Jason mentioned
Warehouse Line of Credit – the credit line Lenda is using
Host Gator - Powerful web hosting made easy and affordable.
Credits
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
The Top is FOR YOU if you are:
A STUDENT who wants to become the CEO of a $10m company in under 24 months (episode #4)
STUCK in the CORPORATE grind and looking to create a $10k/mo side business so you can quit (episode #7)
An influencer or BLOGGER who wants to make $27k/mo in monthly RECURRING revenue to have the life you want and full CONTROL (episode #1)
The Software as a Service (SaaS) entrepreneur who wants to grow to a $100m+ valuation (episode #14).
Your host, Nathan Latka is a 25 year old software entrepreneur who has driven over $4.5 million in revenue and built a 25 person team as he dropped out of school, raised $2.5million from a Forbes Billionaire, and attracted over 10,000 paying customers from 160+ different countries.
Oprah gets 60 minutes or more to make her guests comfortable to then ask tough questions. Nathan does it all in less than 15 minutes in this daily podcast that's like an audio version of Pat Flynn's monthly income report. Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop
Fehzan Ali, Co-Founder & CEO at Adscend Media LLC, home of award-winning offer walls, and advertising solutions for mobile app and web publishers. Listen as Nathan quizzes Fehzan on the Adscend revenue model, and inquires about the future of the adwall business.
Famous 5
Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things
What CEO do you follow?— No
What is your favorite online tool?— Google Docs
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?—Sales is critical and I wish I knew more about it early on
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:06 – Nathan’s introduction
01:35 – Welcoming Fehzan to the show
02:12 – Focusing on the user increases profitability
02:25 – Measuring interest from publishers and advertisers
02:45 – Doing $100K a month in advert spend
03:12 – Only paid for app installs or actions
04:05 – How Adscend makes money?—Take 30% of the spend received
04:52 – Breaking down the spend
07:20 – Founded company in 2009, been in rewarding space for 10 years
07:39 – Fehzan is ONLY 26!
09:50 – Keeping 30% of $13M
10:25 – User engagement with the offer wall
11:18 – 95% of revenue is mobile
11:31 – Based in Austin, TX
12:25 – bootstrapped with $10K
12:35 – Most profits have been reinvested
13:08 – Fehzan@AdscendMedia.com
13:30 – Ashu’s Twitter Handle
3 Key Points:
Reinvest your profits if you want to grow.
Practice and refine your sales pitch.
Don’t balk at bootstrapping a business just because you don’t have a lot startup capital.
Resources Mentioned:
Edgar – Nathan uses Edgar instead of other scheduling tools for Twitter because Edgar cycles through content over and over (buffer/others you have to re-input content over and over – time consuming). In the last several months, Edgar has driven Nathan over 3728 clicks that he didn’t have to work or pay for.
Host Gator - Powerful web hosting made easy and affordable.
The Top is FOR YOU if you are:
A STUDENT who wants to become the CEO of a $10m company in under 24 months (episode #4)
STUCK in the CORPORATE grind and looking to create a $10k/mo side business so you can quit (episode #7)
An influencer or BLOGGER who wants to make $27k/mo in monthly RECURRING revenue to have the life you want and full CONTROL (episode #1)
The Software as a Service (SaaS) entrepreneur who wants to grow to a $100m+ valuation (episode #14).
Your host, Nathan Latka is a 25 year old software entrepreneur who has driven over $4.5 million in revenue and built a 25 person team as he dropped out of school, raised $2.5million from a Forbes Billionaire, and attracted over 10,000 paying customers from 160+ different countries.
Oprah gets 60 minutes or more to make her guests comfortable to then ask tough questions. Nathan does it all in less than 15 minutes in this daily podcast that's like an audio version of Pat Flynn's monthly income report. Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop
Listen as Lane Campbell shares his insight on the importance of partnerships for rapid growth, the challenges of finding quality technical talent, and his plans for the future.
Famous 5
Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things
What CEO do you follow?— Mark Zuckerberg
What is your favorite online tool?— Slack
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?—Leave college early.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:06 – Nathan’s introduction
01:28 – Welcoming Lane to the show
01:33 – The 5 companies Lane sold before he was 30
02:20 – Lifetime value of exits was south of $10M
02:45 – Lane’s current projects
03:51 – His #1 focus right now is TBD
04:44 – Lane’s #1 income stream is Create.ly
05:39 -- $20-$40K is Lane’s consulting fee
07:25 – Use partnerships and incentives to grow rapidly
08:18 – Even if you’re a name brand you can still decline in revenue year of year
09:05 – Create.ly did roughly $500K in 2015
09:52 – The challenge of attracting top technical talent
11:26 – The cost of hiring an $80K salaried employee in the U.S. is $26K
13:43 – www.LaneCambell.com
3 Key Points:
Take advantage of partnerships and incentivize your offerings to grow quickly.
Just because you’re a household name/brand doesn’t mean you’re infallible.
Top technical talent is hard to find and harder to lock up—if you find it put a vice on it.
Resources Mentioned:
Edgar – Nathan uses Edgar instead of other scheduling tools for Twitter because Edgar cycles through content over and over (buffer/others you have to re-input content over and over – time consuming). In the last several months, Edgar has driven Nathan over 3728 clicks that he didn’t have to work or pay for.
Host Gator - Powerful web hosting made easy and affordable.
Create.Ly – Lane’s current income generator
The Top is FOR YOU if you are:
A STUDENT who wants to become the CEO of a $10m company in under 24 months (episode #4)
STUCK in the CORPORATE grind and looking to create a $10k/mo side business so you can quit (episode #7)
An influencer or BLOGGER who wants to make $27k/mo in monthly RECURRING revenue to have the life you want and full CONTROL (episode #1)
The Software as a Service (SaaS) entrepreneur who wants to grow to a $100m+ valuation (episode #14).
Your host, Nathan Latka is a 25 year old software entrepreneur who has driven over $4.5 million in revenue and built a 25 person team as he dropped out of school, raised $2.5million from a Forbes Billionaire, and attracted over 10,000 paying customers from 160+ different countries.
Oprah gets 60 minutes or more to make her guests comfortable to then ask tough questions. Nathan does it all in less than 15 minutes in this daily podcast that's like an audio version of Pat Flynn's monthly income report. Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop
Fritz Heffinger, President at OutCold, an action media company that specializes in creating unforgettable brand experiences in the most unexpected ways. Listen as Fritz outlines the origins of his company’s unique name, and why action media exposure is changing how businesses approach branding and outreach.
Famous 5
Favorite Book? – None
What CEO do you follow?— Steve Dime
What is your favorite online tool?— Asana
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?—Don’t take life so seriously.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:11 – Nathan’s introduction
01:27 – Welcoming Fritz to the show
01:36 – Named after the movie “OutCold”
02:12 – How OutCold makes money
04:18 – Dive right into unique forms of marketing and communication
05:29 – Depending on the variety of experience, they charge between $300-600K
06:35 – Revenue in 2015 was $2.5M
07:34 – 11 Full-time and 400 Part-time employees
08:03 – Take advantage of local people and resources
09:14 – Nathan talks about future plans—Public or Bust!
10:05 – The technical aspects of converting a shipping container into livable spaces
11:03 – Making the leap from $2M a year to $10M a year
11:30 – Media space isn’t a personal connection—the tide is turning
12:19 – Fritz@OutCold.com
3 Key Points:
Employ local resources—people, businesses, etc.
Start building real relationships with your customers.
Life is for living, not sweating—stop taking it so seriously.
Resources Mentioned:
Edgar – Nathan uses Edgar instead of other scheduling tools for Twitter because Edgar cycles through content over and over (buffer/others you have to re-input content over and over – time consuming). In the last several months, Edgar has driven Nathan over 3728 clicks that he didn’t have to work or pay for.
Host Gator - Powerful web hosting made easy and affordable.
OutCold – The 2001 movie Fritz named his company after
The Top is FOR YOU if you are:
A STUDENT who wants to become the CEO of a $10m company in under 24 months (episode #4)
STUCK in the CORPORATE grind and looking to create a $10k/mo side business so you can quit (episode #7)
An influencer or BLOGGER who wants to make $27k/mo in monthly RECURRING revenue to have the life you want and full CONTROL (episode #1)
The Software as a Service (SaaS) entrepreneur who wants to grow to a $100m+ valuation (episode #14).
Your host, Nathan Latka is a 25 year old software entrepreneur who has driven over $4.5 million in revenue and built a 25 person team as he dropped out of school, raised $2.5million from a Forbes Billionaire, and attracted over 10,000 paying customers from 160+ different countries.
Oprah gets 60 minutes or more to make her guests comfortable to then ask tough questions. Nathan does it all in less than 15 minutes in this daily podcast that's like an audio version of Pat Flynn's monthly income report. Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop
Vincenzo Villamena, the founder of OnlineTaxman.com, the best resources for U.S. Expats looking to stay on the good side of the IRS. Listen as Nathan and Vincenzo discuss Private Equity in-depth, moving to South America, and starting OnlineTaxman from scratch.
Bio:
No Bio Available
Famous 5
Favorite Book? – The 4-Hour Work Week
What CEO do you follow?— Elon Musk
What is your favorite online tool?— Solve 360
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?—Don’t get a job, just pursue your dreams and ideas
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:06 – Nathan’s introduction
01:52 – Welcoming Vincenzo to the show
02:00 – Making money selling candy
03:30 – Talking PwC and the Big 4 in general
04:45 – Got into Private Equity for the money
05:28 – Getting paid in Private Equity
06:00 – Bonuses were highly discretionary
06:30 – Talking about “Carry”
08:15 – It’s all about networking
09:00 – Describing a private equity deck
09:43 – The balance between hardcore numbers and noise
11:00 – Describing IRR (investment rate of return)
11:28 – Generally in Private Equity you can expect to lock up your money for 5 years
13:55 – Moving to South America
14:39 – Living in Argentina and discovering the tax opportunity for Ex-Pats
16:05 – Clients around the world
16:24 – In January 2016, did $40K in revenue and close to $1M for the year
17:00 – 7 employees, all virtual
17:25 – Vincenzo@OnlineTaxMan.com
3 Key Points:
Go for your dreams—not a “job”—from day 1.
Do NOT make a decision purely for the money.
You can have a company that is completely virtual.
Resources Mentioned:
Edgar – Nathan uses Edgar instead of other scheduling tools for Twitter because Edgar cycles through content over and over (buffer/others you have to re-input content over and over – time consuming). In the last several months, Edgar has driven Nathan over 3728 clicks that he didn’t have to work or pay for.
Host Gator - Powerful web hosting made easy and affordable.
Carry – Share of profits paid to investment manager
PwC – Pricewaterhouse Coopers
The Top is FOR YOU if you are:
A STUDENT who wants to become the CEO of a $10m company in under 24 months (episode #4)
STUCK in the CORPORATE grind and looking to create a $10k/mo side business so you can quit (episode #7)
An influencer or BLOGGER who wants to make $27k/mo in monthly RECURRING revenue to have the life you want and full CONTROL (episode #1)
The Software as a Service (SaaS) entrepreneur who wants to grow to a $100m+ valuation (episode #14).
Your host, Nathan Latka is a 25 year old software entrepreneur who has driven over $4.5 million in revenue and built a 25 person team as he dropped out of school, raised $2.5million from a Forbes Billionaire, and attracted over 10,000 paying customers from 160+ different countries.
Oprah gets 60 minutes or more to make her guests comfortable to then ask tough questions. Nathan does it all in less than 15 minutes in this daily podcast that's like an audio version of Pat Flynn's monthly income report. Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop
Ashish Patel, the VP of Social Media at NowThis & Executive-in-Residence at Lerer Hippeau Ventures. Listen as Nathan and Ashish discuss entrepreneurial life within the media space, and how NowThis is changing the way people approach mobile video.
Famous 5
Favorite Book? – Art of War
What CEO do you follow?— Richard Branson
What is your favorite online tool?— TweetDeck
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?—Know that life is a marathon, not a sprint—take your time and stop stressing
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:12 – Nathan’s introduction
01:36 – Welcoming Ashish to the show
02:55 – Working with Shell Oil
04:12 – Like to produce content that’s about 4 Mins long
05:08 – Lots of businesses are trying to find a way to make content for Snapchat and Instagram
08:00 – Working with Joe Biden
08:19 – Custom pricing for working with Shell Oil—a campaign based model, generally more than $100K
09:18 – How do you transform 10 minutes of footage into dozens of different assets?
09:53 – You have to know the KPIs of your business
11:05 – Most videography is happening on mobile today
11:33 – Text on screen is to make the videos “Agnostic”
12:53 – Facebook film is where the platform is getting the most traction
13:23 – Trying to optimize for retention
14:03 – Hook users with compelling visuals EARLY
15:40 – Around 1 billion views a month across all channels
16:18 – Connect via any of the NowThis social channels
3 Key Points:
Know your KPIs.
Hook your site visitors EARLY with compelling visuals.
Life is a marathon, not a sprit—slow down and smell the flowers people!
Resources Mentioned:
Edgar – Nathan uses Edgar instead of other scheduling tools for Twitter because Edgar cycles through content over and over (buffer/others you have to re-input content over and over – time consuming). In the last several months, Edgar has driven Nathan over 3728 clicks that he didn’t have to work or pay for.
Host Gator - Powerful web hosting made easy and affordable.
Sidekick – The online tool Ashu can’t live without
Pitch Anything – Ashu’s favorite business book
Jack Dorsey – The CEO Ashu follows
The Top is FOR YOU if you are:
A STUDENT who wants to become the CEO of a $10m company in under 24 months (episode #4)
STUCK in the CORPORATE grind and looking to create a $10k/mo side business so you can quit (episode #7)
An influencer or BLOGGER who wants to make $27k/mo in monthly RECURRING revenue to have the life you want and full CONTROL (episode #1)
The Software as a Service (SaaS) entrepreneur who wants to grow to a $100m+ valuation (episode #14).
Your host, Nathan Latka is a 25 year old software entrepreneur who has driven over $4.5 million in revenue and built a 25 person team as he dropped out of school, raised $2.5million from a Forbes Billionaire, and attracted over 10,000 paying customers from 160+ different countries.
Oprah gets 60 minutes or more to make her guests comfortable to then ask tough questions. Nathan does it all in less than 15 minutes in this daily podcast that's like an audio version of Pat Flynn's monthly income report. Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop