← How I Built My Small Business
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Foreign hi everyone, we made it to the end of season one and my well is full. As mentioned in my host introduction, which was the 22nd episode, season one wraps up mid November and that is because I want to be able to focus on family over the holiday season. For 13 years I owner operated a holiday lighting business with an insane peak of work during the holidays. So when I started this podcast I made a conscious decision to take a break between Thanksgiving week and the New Year. I'm really proud of myself. I pushed myself outside of my comfort zone repeatedly this year and it it has been an incredible season. To my guests, thank you for trusting me and for sharing your time, knowledge and stories. And to our listeners, thank you for listening in, for emailing, commenting and sharing your own stories with me and making this process so rewarding. My heart is literally bursting. So a million thank yous. Starting a podcast was more meaningful than I expected it would be. For anyone who's curious about the back end of how I produce my show. My show is hosted on buzzsprout, I record on zencastr, and I use Adobe Audition to do the sound editing. The season has had many mistakes and breakthroughs and I just wanted to share some of those. So my second episode with Max Skinner of two Rock Amplifiers one I still want to re record because his recording experienced a latency delay with less than ideal results in the audio quality. I learned what the mistake was, which was two computers in the same location on the same WI fi network using an online recording studio that just didn't work. It makes much more sense to just record directly onto my computer. Another breakthrough, Jason Pfeiffer, the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine, doesn't do any pre planning of questions when he interviews and that is an aspiration. Something else I notice is that for the highest consumption I think I need to keep my episodes to 30 minutes, but I see value in the longer episodes. So I may try to go for a happy medium and reduce interviews to say 45 minutes. And offering bite sized episodes featuring key takeaways between full length episodes is a possibility for the future. I'd like to highlight a few listeners that I've heard from. I spoke on the phone with a teacher on the east coast who started and is running a nonprofit snack shop with his students as a learning tool. And he was very appreciative of the style of the show with the introduction interview and then key takeaways, which he said is like taking notes in a class. A woman who started a bookkeeping business a few years ago reached out and said, I find it very interesting and inspiring. Thank you for doing this. Another who helps passive investors create wealth through real estate wrote in I love your podcast, so well done. And a message from another podcaster said, been listening to your podcast and it's friggin f r I g G I n awesome. Really great tone and a nice listen. The board. You should be very proud if you've listened in. You know a few guests have said to surround yourself with positive people. I can tell you that these moments of support that I've received from listeners really do give a boost. So thank you again for the support. How I Built My Small Business is an indie show and the North Star has been and continues to be to simplify business, know how, share expertise, give ideas for making money, and to impart life wisdom all through storytelling. The show is educational for the curious, the innovative, and the listeners who learn through anecdotes and stories. I told someone the other day that I feel like the podcast kind of happened to me. The decision to start one was a split moment at the dinner table one night in August last year and a few days later I bought microphones and started figuring out the how. I didn't start this for external validation. I did it for me, my kids and to live my life in the legacy of my dad who passed away. And that just means with more heart and to help people. I Entrepreneurship and investing were the two biggest tools that led me to early financial freedom. And so I also started this show for anyone who is an entrepreneur, aspires to be one. And for listeners who want to take control of their income in time, you see they're calling a silver tsunami. More than 50% of small business owners in America are expected to retire and want to exit their businesses within the next 10 years. And this is a major opportunity for anyone who doesn't feel they are making enough in their corporate jobs and want to maybe consider a pivot into entrepreneurship. Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy because they drive economic growth, innovation, and create jobs. So let's support small businesses also. With stagnant wages, rising costs, and fewer opportunities for upward movement, the American middle class has been shrinking over the past five decades. This is a domino that collectively we should be aiming to address. The middle class is a major driver of consumer spending, accounting for all about 70% of the US economy. A robust middle class not only fuels growth, but also sustains local businesses and services. This creates a cycle we should all be mindful of if we want to see vibrant boutiques mom and pop shops and thriving small businesses in our communities rather than a landscape dominated solely by big box stores and corporations. The entrepreneurs I've interviewed have shared their stories, which have lessons and anecdotes, straightforward advice and their best selected life wisdom. Some of the guests are public speakers and they get paid 3000-0500-0010-0000 to speak on stage for an hour, and as a listener, you're getting a free ticket to attend. There's so much value for both you and me. Here are some of the key takeaways and unforgettable moments from Season one that I'm just going to let out in a popcorn style. So here we go. If you don't know what to do, spend time learning new skills. Be adaptable because the business you think you're going to start may not be the business you end up running. If you're going to partner with someone, do your own due diligence, verify their information and make sure your values align. People don't buy your why, they buy their own why. If you're in a creative field, consider offering your services for free to an organization that is meaningful to you to start building a portfolio and reputation. As you're developing skills, who you work for is more important than your job title Disconnection is the greatest epidemic of our time. Connection over transaction. Collaboration over competition. Break down your goals into tiny steps. The smallest steps possible. For example, I wanted to get my show in more listeners ears so I thought being mentioned in the media as an expert would help drive traffic to the show. So I set up a profile on quoted that's Q woted and my tiny step was to pitch one reporter every two months. Tiny steps work. There's a lot of noise in the world and what you think is your competition is most likely noise. You can start a business in just about any niche and turn it into a million dollar business in America. Focus on branding and the customer experience and doing it better than all of the noise out there. The key to being a good salesperson is getting to know the person you're selling to and building relationship and connection. Seek mentors if there's someone living a life you want to be living or running a team or business the way you'd like to. Invite them out for coffee and ask them how. The world is full of problems and businesses are solutions to those problems. So start paying attention to all the problems you see in the world. Align your head, your heart and your gut. Traditional success is outdated if you're a parent. We need to get our kids to focus on personal development, executive function and financial literacy. Your business is only as successful as your team, so focus on your team. We're still at the beginning of AI. Think the early days of the Internet, when people questioned if businesses really needed websites. Don't get left behind and make sure you're experimenting with AI. It's not what comes from external validation that matters, and you may chase that for a while. But when you get that external validation, it's empty and you'll have to get it all over again on the inside. I could go on and on and on, but I'll stop for now. I've had several people ask me why I think my show has become so popular, and I shared a mental map on Instagram nmcintyhost to show you how I approached getting my show in more listeners ears. It's been about taking micro steps and I think if you look at my diagram you'll understand. Putting my work out there into the world and in front of people that I don't know and that I do is intimidating and scary because you have to be vulnerable and won't know what the response will be. But what I've leaned into is that if I'm making my best effort to create an educational show, then all that really matters is that I'm proud of my own work. That doesn't remove the jitters. So thank you for your kindness, for your support, and for listening. Podcasting has been a powerful tool for personal growth and has been deeply fulfilling. After every single interview, I feel like I've just made it to the top of a mountain, and I'm pretty sure my body releases a bit of dopamine. And because I feel uplifted, inspired, and emotionally connected after interviews, I suspect that oxytocin, the bonding hormone, may also come into play. And I recently learned that oxytocin can counteract the effects of cortisol and help mitigate stress. So when I say my well is full, that is the part of podcasting that I didn't expect. I've gotten more than I hoped for from this process. So why is season one ending mid November? My time with my three kids, my husband and my family is the most important to me. And so the holiday season for me now is about slowing down, enjoying cooking, being together, and relaxing. So that is my main reason. The other reason is that I want ample time to get my overall plan for season two ironed out. And so while episodes won't be dropping over the holidays, I've already started recording season two interviews and am actively thinking about who I want to bring on as guests and why. Working far out in advance keeps this whole process stress free and allows me to focus on keeping it creative and rewarding. Season two will drop the week of January 25th. Once again in honor of my dad, my season two opener is the world's number one hiring expert and New York Times bestseller Jeff Smart. And if I had known what he teaches in that one episode, I think I could have grown my previous business from 20 employees to 40 to 60 and on. But I didn't know what I didn't know until I spoke with him. Other upcoming guests include a hypnotherapist that works with Academy Award winning actors and CEOs Andy Hunter, the founder of Bookshop, an incredibly innovative business model that supports indie bookstores, a woman who started and exited five businesses totaling over nine figures by the time she was 30 and is going to provide insights on growing from six to seven figures or seven to eight and the founder of Moondance, an Outward Bound program that sends thousands of kids on life changing experiences every year. There are so many fascinating topics in businesses. I would like to do a series on unique but scientifically based longevity and wellness concepts and continue with special episodes featuring no college. No problem. If there are any topics that you think listeners could really benefit from, please reach out to me through my website www.annmcintee.com. it's a n n e m c g I-N-T y.com and if listening to full episodes is a challenge with time, you can sign up for my newsletter that gives a quick overview of the episode of the week. You can find a link to that on my website. Also, just so that you know, in the last three minutes of every episode I outline the key takeaways. So if you're ever in a pinch and want the nuggets of gold, you can go there. I do think the learning sticks deeper if you hear the stories that accompany the takeaways, but I also understand when listening time is an issue, time is our greatest asset, so I get it. Please continue to reach out with feedback, stories or suggestions for season two. As always, thanks for being here. Have a great day.