The Smart Passive Income Online Business And Blogging Podcast

#540 I've been hogging the mic here on the SPI Podcast. Yeah, I've shared some airspace with some amazing guests in the 500+ episodes we've published. But there are still so many talented, amazing teachers and storytellers in our community. I wanted to see what would happen if we had some of them join us on Fridays to share what they know with all of us. So today, we have the pleasure of bringing in SPI Pro community member Mike Lander, who you might remember from an earlier episode of AskPat. Mike helps people become better negotiators. He packs a ton of great insight into this short episode, including his simple, step-by-step guide to negotiate anything and get a better outcome every single time. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session540.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#539 I can't believe we got here so quickly, but I'm fired up for 2022, because we have a great lineup for you this year on the Smart Passive Income Podcast—starting with today's guest, Roberto Blake. Roberto's been on the show before, and he's just a wealth of knowledge and inspiration! Today we're talking about the creator economy and how to approach it this year. With so many people creating content on all these different platforms, how do we stand out from the crowd? How do we approach the work in a way that makes sense for not just the platforms we're on, but who we are and where we want to go in our lives? If you're thinking about being a better creator in 2022, then you're in the right place. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session539.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#538 Happy new year! 2021 went fast, didn't it? A lot of great things happened this year, especially right here on the podcast. (Check out episode 534, where I share my standout episodes.) Today, I wanted to talk about a hobby I picked up at the tail end of the year. I don't remember exactly how it happened, but I ended up in a deep YouTube rabbit hole—a good rabbit hole—of Bob Ross videos. I went right back to season one of his show and found a really helpful video with Bob and his son answering questions. In the video, they made the idea of painting with oil on canvas seem a lot easier than I'd previously thought. Oftentimes, things we're unfamiliar with can seem very difficult. It almost looks like magic when we see them in action. But once you find someone who can show you the basic techniques and start to break down some of that magic, everything starts to change. So here's to learning something new in 2022! Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session538.See Privacy Policy at https://art19

#537 Whether or not you're already an entrepreneur, how do you position yourself for success? Not just with money, or your goals, but how do you wake up every morning excited to do something that sparks you, that lights you up? Jonathan Fields is here today to help us answer that question. Jonathan's work is all about helping people understand what truly excites them, and the Sparketype—a combination of “spark” and “archetype”—is his framework for doing that. In my opinion, of all the self-assessment tests out there, this one is the most interesting, and the one that I feel gives you answers that can push you forward. This is the exact right time for an episode like this as we roll into the new year. Here's to finding your spark in 2022! Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session537.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Control. We all want it, but very little is actually in our control. So what's in your control? The ability to wake up every day and be consistent with whatever it is you're trying to achieve. Perhaps 2021 didn't go the way you wanted it to, or you fell short on some goals. As you're looking toward 2022, I want to share an excerpt from a book called Great by Choice by Jim Colllins, which contains a wonderful concept called the “twenty-mile march” that might give you some direction for approaching your goals in the new year. It provides a tangible point of focus to keep you and your team moving forward, despite confusion, uncertainty, and even chaos. As we round out 2021, I hope this gives you a boost of inspiration that no matter the conditions, you've got to keep going and march that 20 miles each day. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session536.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#535 Our vision at SPI most years is to bring our team together in the fall to think about the following year, source ideas, have conversations, and arrive at a strategic plan for the next year. We lost out on the opportunity to do that last year in the height of COVID, but 2021 provided an opportunity to “reboot” our in-person team summit. In today's episode, I take you behind the scenes to understand exactly what we did in Denver, and how it's guiding the direction of SPI in 2022. To help with that, I invited my co-CEO and chief operating and financial officer, Matt Gartland, back on the show. Matt rallied us and developed this retreat in a way that was so helpful and so valuable for our company, and I wanted to bring him on to share how we ran the summit and what it means for SPI and our audience. If you have a remote team and are hoping to get together soon—it will hopefully provide some structure, motivation, and inspiration for what you can create and achieve in your next in-person team meeting. Show no

#534 Today I'm digging back into the archives of the SPI Podcast to reveal my favorite episodes we've put out this year. I'll be sharing some of the most memorable moments from the show in 2021, and expressing my gratitude for the year that was in podcast land here at SPI. We've got a ton of great podcast content coming at you in 2022, and I can't wait for all of it. But for now, thanks for being here for the ride that was 2021. I appreciate you! Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session534.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#533 Brenda Petrella is an ex-scientist who helps people get outside in nature through her online business, Outdoor Photography School. She's here to share what she's learned about niching down and building her online business in a way that works for her. You'll learn how Brenda found her niche and started her YouTube channel and podcast. We chat about the differences between online video and podcasting, and how the cohort-based podcasting course Brenda took earlier this year gave her the boost she needed to get the ball rolling. We also talk about how Brenda plans to deal with her first YouTube trolls (if and when they show up!), and how she manages the burnout of the "content treadmill." And stick around for an announcement about something new Team SPI is doing in January 2022 that could be a game-changer for a lot of people! Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session533.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#532 I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't taken a brave step forward to discover what was out there. It's almost like a boat parked in a harbor, and the world of online business is a giant ocean. As we approach the end of 2021, how are you going to get your boat out of the marina and into the ocean, so you can lose sight of the shore—knowing that there's something better out there? Something a little scary, something that makes you nervous, but something very much worth doing? Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session532.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#531 Some of my all-time favorite episodes here on the podcast are ones where we interview somebody who is not just a successful business owner, but a member of the SPI community too. Today's guest, Eevi Jones, is a member of SPI Pro, our premium entrepreneurial community here at SPI. And she helps people write children's books. How awesome is that? If that's a field you want to get into, this episode is a must-listen. Eevi is such a joy. She's so knowledgeable, and has some amazing tips for anybody who's starting anything, really. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session531.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#530 As you learned if you listened to this Wednesday's episode, our team spent a week together in Denver for our first in-person retreat since COVID. Check out episode 529 with Jillian and Tony, two members of my team who were there in Denver who help run our membership community and events and have a ton of experience and insight in community building. In that episode, I talked about the importance of meeting your team in person. Our team is fully remote—we're located all over the United States, and we don't have an in-person office anywhere. So it's really important for us to meet in person because there's just no replacement for real, human connection. That's why today I wanted to talk a little more about the retreat. Specifically, I want to talk about the dos and don'ts of running a retreat, in case it's something you're thinking of doing for your own remote team. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session530.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at http

#529 During our team's recent retreat in Denver, I huddled with two of my team members, Jillian Benbow and Tony Bacigalupo, to record the episode you're about to hear. Jillian is our SPI Pro community manager, and Tony is our community program manager—and they're also the cohosts of our Community Experience podcast. Tony and Jill are absolute rockstars when it comes to community, and I'm so excited for you to dive into this conversation with us. Because community—and I cannot stress this enough—is the future of business. Bringing a niche community together to feel welcome with each other, to inspire, motivate, educate, and entertain, is where long-term business success is going to come from. We talk about all sorts of things community today, from how to manage trolls and haters, to accessibility and inclusion and making sure the community feels welcoming for everybody. We talk about how to get people motivated and comfortable stepping up and having conversations. So whether you have your own free Facebook gro

#528 This might sound weird, but I've learned too much. There are a lot of things I picked up in school and in college, and even as an entrepreneur, that are just superfluous. Why am I talking about this? Because it has everything to do with the new book I'm writing, tentatively called The Lean Learner. I've talked about the book a little bit on social media, in SPI Pro, and with a few people, but I wanted to take time in this episode to go into more depth. The Lean Learner is about how to learn the things that matter to us most and can help us get to the next level, while excluding the things we don't need to learn right now. It's about understanding how to learn what we need to learn so we can get results faster. The Lean Learner is definitely not ready for the world yet—I'm still in the middle of writing it—but I think there's nothing better than working in public and sharing things as they're coming along. I'll share a little bit about the struggles and decision points I've had with this book already, in

#527 I'm so excited for this episode. We are speaking with one of my favorite people in the world: Michael Bungay Stanier. Michael is an author who's written a bunch of amazing books. He's also the founder of a training and development company, Box of Crayons, that has taught coaching skills to hundreds of thousands of people. In fact, one of Michael's books has been hugely impactful on my own business, and it's called The Coaching Habit. The Coaching Habit has guided the exact process I use when I coach my students—you can hear it in action when I'm coaching people on AskPat 2.0. Speaking of coaching, Michael also wrote another game-changing book called The Advice Trap, about how we default to offering advice to people before we know the full circumstances, and how to change our behavior to be more helpful to them. But the big focus of today's conversation is Michael's new book, How to Begin: Start Doing Something That Matters. And this book is incredible because it gets to the heart of why we do what we do.

#526 If you listened to this Wednesday's episode, 525, we spoke with Derrick Reimer from SavvyCal, which is a tool that competes with Calendly, a very popular calendar/scheduler. In that episode, Derrick and I talked about competition. We talked about standing out. We talked about how to get started and grow your business in a crowded space. Now, Derrick's in the software business. But there are strategies and principles to help you stand out that apply no matter what type of business you're in. Whether you're an app developer, or a content creator, or serving an audience in some other way, you need to find ways to set yourself apart from everyone else out there. That's why today I want to give you four ideas to help you frame how you can stand out from the competition. Those four things actually have an acronym: P-A-S-T. Why P-A-S-T? Well, that's what you'll find out when you listen in to this follow-up Friday episode. Let's do this! Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session526.See

#525 How do you compete in a space where there are already established players? Whether it's software, or information products, or physical products, it's not always possible to create something entirely original. There are likely others who have already built something and started cultivating an audience or customer base in your space. Today we're talking with Derrick Reimer, who created SavvyCal, a competing tool to popular schedulers like Calendly. As a competitor to an established option, Derrick had to go about things thoughtfully to make sure there would be a market for what he wanted to create. We talk a little bit about SavvyCal itself (and it's a really cool scheduler!). But the big focus of our conversation is how to get started in a crowded space and create something better than what exists. Because it is definitely possible—you just have to go about things smartly. You're going to learn a lot—because I learned a lot—and I hope you'll take what you learn and apply it to the market and niche you're

#524 In Wednesday's episode with Los Silva from eCom Powerhouse, we talked about some of the big mistakes entrepreneurs make. That conversation is a great one, so check it out if you haven't already. And it got me thinking about the mistakes I've made along the way. And I've made a ton of them. In fact, we could talk for seven to eight hours about all the mistakes I've made in my business. But this is a follow-up Friday episode, so I want to talk about just the five biggest mistakes I've made since embarking on my entrepreneurial career in 2008. I'm not going to talk about the little stumbling blocks, like using the wrong software tool. No, today is about the big, juicy mistakes. The ones that can create forks in the road, and really teach you something valuable. So if you're the kind of entrepreneur who's afraid of making mistakes as you build your business, this might be the perfect episode for you! Here's to the mistakes we all make, and what we can learn from them. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncom

#523 We all make mistakes in business. I have made several, and this topic is one of the centerpieces of my conversation today with Los Silva of EcomPowerhouse. Los is somebody I recently met and have become fascinated by. Why? Because in getting to know Los, I've begun to realize that his secret to success goes against the grain of what a lot of people talk about. Because sometimes the best way to grow is to actually slow down and go smaller. It's to try lots of different things at the start until you find what clicks. And it's even—yes—to fail, because failure is an opportunity to learn. You'll hear about Los's origin story in the eBay world, and the failures he went through, until landing on something he could lean into. He shares a ton of insights he's learned along the way, including how to hire and delegate the right way, and why he doesn't like to compete or compare himself or his business to anyone else's. He even shares a little thought experiment for those of you out there who are thinking abou

#522 I'm going to let you in on a little secret. It's something I've learned over time that I know I even have to embrace even more now, and it's something that we should all embrace and do more of. Have you ever had trouble selling a thing you made, perhaps because you're just afraid of failing, or you don't want to feel icky about it, or you don't want to let people down or sell out? Perhaps you're afraid of selling because just you don't even know how to? Beyond those questions, there's a chicken-and-egg dilemma that many creators face: how do you sell something with confidence if people haven't actually tried it yet and found great results? Well, what I'm about to share with you in today's episode will help you solve these problems. I'm going to tell you how to find the people who can help you test and sell your next product or service, and who can help tell the story of the transformation they experienced as a result of what you've created for them. Because selling shouldn't be scary—and, as I like to sa

#521 It's one thing to create an online course. But it's a whole other thing to figure out how to get people interested in it. How do you get people to find your course? How do you launch it? Do you do a fireworks launch, or a fireplace launch? What do those two terms even mean? Well, we're going to talk about all of that and more today with one of my favorite people in the world: Jess Catorc. Jess was actually on the podcast before, over five and a half years ago, in session 229. Back then, she was a blogger, writer, and brand strategist who helped people with their websites. Now she's become one of the top people over at Teachable, where she co-leads creator launch initiatives. She was head of partnerships for a while, and she's one of the smartest people I know. Jess and I talk about all things online courses, like how the landscape has changed in the past five years, how to launch a course successfully today, how to know if your course content is actually working, and wh