Podcast

On Unemployable, we talk a lot about leveraging virtual teams and collaboration in order to achieve more. And we talk about building an audience that allows you build a bigger business than you could otherwise.

Today we’re talking to Rand Fishkin, founder and Wizard of Moz. Confident, successful, and the person you want to be like some day … right?

The other day I was listening to the “classic alternative channel on SiriusXM. Message of Love by the Pretenders was on.

Do you believe we were all born to do a certain type of work? More importantly, do you feel you’re doing what you were born to do?

Have you seen the film The Big Short? It’s about the investor bets made against the U.S. housing market due to negligence and fraud involving mortgage-backed securities, which ultimately led to the “Great Recession that began in December of 2007.

As we’ve discussed before on the show, everyone at every level usually has a side hustle going on. It’s the process by which we leverage what we’re doing now to do the next, bigger, and more gratifying thing.

It’s an amazing time to be a solopreneur. Affordable technology plus the reach of the Internet allows for outsized profits by a “company of one.

Video is the most popular form of online content. And YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine. That said, a lot of us are more comfortable with creating text and audio content. Producing great video is generally more intensive work, and let’s face it … we can be a little self-conscious in front of …

There’s no profession that I respect more than those who teach. And it’s a shame that those who educate our children can barely make a living.

I’m a big fan of partnering with others to create successful products and services. It’s what I’ve done in the majority of my successful businesses.

Online education is a $23 billion a year industry in the U.S. alone, and growing. And the demand is for people who have the expertise they teach, rather than for traditional institutions of higher learning.

Successful people present a conundrum to those seeking to achieve something similar. We try to learn from and emulate those who we see as ideal, but that’s not always effective.

It sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? All you need are your words and a laptop as your means of production when it comes to this digital business.

You constantly hear that listening and feedback are the keys to improving your marketing, your products, and your services. But are you listening selectively? I’ve always found constructive criticism to be much more useful than praise. And even angry complaints can contain valuable feedback. Tuning out everything but the nice stuff is clearly a bad …

The saying goes that there’s a thin line between genius and insanity. But do successful entrepreneurs actually parlay mental illness into innovation? They say that Steve Jobs was a narcissist, and that Bill Gates trends toward Aspergers on the autism spectrum. And yes, emerging research suggests that many entrepreneurs leverage what would otherwise be a …

It’s no mystery why I tend to feature a lot of “freelancer to wildly successful entrepreneur stories on Unemployable. It’s simply the way most of us progress to the point where we get recognition. Aaron Epstein is known as the guy who led Creative Market to acquisition by Autodesk in only 14 months. It was …

Hopefully you know that email remains, by far, the engine for online sales and lead generation of all types. And that means you need to offer exceptional value based on trust to be invited into someone’s primary inbox. Today, Joanna Wiebe of Copy Hackers and I geek out hard over email opt-in psychology. You’ll be …

We might not be fans of the term personal branding, but there’s definitely something there. Without a doubt, the combination of your personality and expertise can build a great business. In fact, it’s getting to the point that a “personality that connects with the crowd you want is required to gain traction online. But that …

The look and feel of the traditional company is evolving along with technology and the workforce. An enterprise that combines onsite, remote, and freelance resources is becoming the new normal. Other companies are dispensing with “onsite all together. Our friends at Buffer just announced that they’re eliminating their office space (the company has been largely …

Freedom is a primary theme of Unemployable. Not everyone wants to “disrupt and “dominate. Rather, they want to do the things they want to do, and live the life they want to live. I’ve enjoyed that type of freedom for the last 10 years. And so has today’s guest, Natalie Sisson. The difference being, Natalie …

The world of “online business (also known as digital commerce), has become a major facet of all business, especially among entrepreneurs. So why does it seem that everyone you come across is “teaching online business? There’s actually a really good reason for that. And on the flipside, there’s an even better reason why other digital …

Tim Ferris broke into popular consciousness nine years ago with the release of The 4-Hour Workweek. He’s gone on to create a series of books based on the “4-Hour concept. That’s in addition to a wildly popular blog, podcast, and even a TV show. But in economic terms, all of that pales in comparison to …

I’ve been a consistent critic of both the term and concept of “personal branding.” Provide value to people by creating something bigger than yourself, and your personal brand will work itself out just fine. A recent article in Fast Company, however, seems to go too far. The argument is that entrepreneurs shouldn’t waste their time …

We’re big on systems and processes at Unemployable. Naturally, that’s the topic of the first lesson in the free Profit Pillars course that members gain access to when they join the tribe at no charge. Early in my career, I had great marketing systems, but bad management processes. Some people have it the other way …