Business Infrastructure - Curing Back Office Blues (Alicia Butler Pierre)

Making physical products can be prohibitively expensive and requires careful coordination of the right people, processes and tools.  No one knows this better than Eric Lange.  As an engineer in the toy industry, he’s taken more than sixty products from various stages of development to production for retail stores like Target and Walmart.  In this episode, Eric not only defines what a prototype is, but also tells us about the one thing we need to know for successful prototyping without wasting money. 

As your small business grows, it will eventually need a layer of middle management.  These front line leaders are the change agents who ensure the execution of your company’s growth strategy.  But they cannot live their proverbial best life unless you, as the top leader, help them realize their best work.  In this episode, leadership consulting expert Victoria Rodgers stresses the importance of putting “people   before business.” Discover the mindset shift required of both entrepreneurs-turned-executives and individual contributors-turned-supervisors-managing-others to cultivate operational excellence.  Victoria even makes the case for why business infrastructure is key to ensuring the right people are in the right roles and why even the best business processes aren’t always enough to keep good people around. This episode is jammed packed with information so you’ll definitely want to download it for ongoing reference!

“Know your workflows!” Sage advice from Susan Blais as she described her experience in choosing the best technologies to optimize her sales and client engagement processes. As a Long-Term Care Professional (LTCP) she knew her decisions must be rooted in data security and HIPPA compliance. Now, she has a strong foundation in place to handle surges in demand for LTCP insurance. Learn how Susan reached this point and expand your knowledge about LTCP along the way. Visit https://businessinfrastructure.tv/ for show notes.

Following her last corporate job Ai Ching Goh vowed, “No more Monday blues!” She knows the tedium of digesting reports filled with mounds of numerical data. There had to be a more impactful way to represent this data. This led to her co-founding Piktochart, a web-based visual storytelling app now used by over 8M people. In this episode, Ching gives a demo of Piktochart to show its use in visualizing data as infographics, presentations, and more! Watch the video at https://businessinfrastructure.tv/

Do you have a product, service or idea that the world needs to know about? Are you frustrated that you aren’t gaining traction in your promotional efforts? Nowadays, becoming an online influencer is more important than ever for capturing and converting attention into sales. In this episode, accomplished author and entrepreneur Heather Havenwood, a.k.a. “Chief Sexy Boss,” shares her tried and tested formula to help you transition from being the subject matter expert to an influencer that ignites action!  

“Life is like a bleep,” explains Karla Nelson.  When the market crashed in 2008, she sprang into action and shifted careers.  A year later her husband, and the CFO of their three businesses, was diagnosed with cancer.  Together, and undeterred, they continued running operations from his hospital room. In this first episode of Season 7, Karla details her courageous decision to scale despite losing her husband and while raising an infant and a toddler.  Learn her formula for staying the course and how it led to her WHO-DO productivity model being used in 25 of the Fortune 100 companies.

Sofía Benedicto is on a mission to make the world a better place. As the co-founder of Nodalab, a podcast production company, she’s providing a platform for independent creators in the Latin American (LATAM) market. She’s also our guide during our visit to Mexico as the next stop on our 12-country audio tour this season.

No topic is off the table! In this episode, Sofía shares what makes Mexico, particularly Mexico City, such an attractive hub for entrepreneurs, technologists, and expats. We also have a candid discussion about political corruption, drug cartels, and how important it is to speak Spanish if you are serious about doing business in Mexico.

Her professional niche lies at the intersection of politics and business. This enables Sofía to give an interesting, historical perspective not just on the small business climate in Mexico, but throughout LATAM.  

Discover all that Mexico has to offer to aspiring entrepreneurs and founders of emerging small businesses alike who are serious about building a business infrastructure that supports international operations.   

📝 Links to Sofía’s Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/229-international-business-doing-business-in-mexico-with-sofia-benedicto

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If you think that “conscious” and “capitalism” don’t go together, you might change your mind after listening to Corey Blake.  As a leading voice in the conscious leadership movement, he defines conscious capitalism as “an operating system for not harming the planet as we grow our businesses.”  In this episode, Corey explains how conscious capitalism can profoundly change the electricity of a company.  He also shares the unique people, processes, and tools he uses to inspire companies to bring about that change.   

Vandana Thiagarajan was the subject of the last story you heard in our Business Infrastructure audio masterclass. She’s desperately trying to make sure she and her co-founders can once again fulfill their promises to their customers. Their consultant introduces them to the Service Delivery Blueprint as a solution for quickly pinpointing the source of missing target deadlines.

A Service Delivery Blueprint is a visual control tool that documents the people, process, tools, and metrics necessary to provide your core product or service. It offers a holistic view that shows how everyone in your company gets involved or at least provides some level of support in providing goods and services to your customers. It’s one of the seven elements of the Kasennu framework for business infrastructure.

In this encore tutorial, host Alicia Butler Pierre guides you through an 8-step process to create a Service Delivery Blueprint for your organization. Discover how to succinctly document, track, and manage lifecycle processes like order-to-delivery, farm-to-table, procure-to-pay, intake-to-discharge, and more! The result is a one-page overview of what you do, how you do it, and the associated timeframe.

🔗 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/244-business-infrastructure-masterclass-how-to-create-a-service-delivery-blueprint-for-small-businesses-on-the-rise  

❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Mohammad Ali Ajlouni may not float like a butterfly or sting like a bee, like the famous boxer by the same name, but he is a champion – a champion of operations. And it might very well be the reason why his original episode made it to our list of the top 12 most downloaded.

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With over 37 years of combined experience as a high-ranking military official, chemical and industrial engineer, COO, and board member, he recognizes problem-solving as the cornerstone for continuous improvement. In fact, he worked on a team that started the first auto manufacturing company in Jordan.

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In this episode, Mohammad takes us on an A-to-Z tour of all things operations and explains why he believes, “If CEOs do not understand operations, they are bound to be replaced.”  

📝 Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/199-mohammad-ali-ajlouni-shares-everything-you-need-to-know-about-coos

❓ Got questions? Send them to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Ever wondered what it takes to put on a podcast show? The behind-the-scenes work is much more than what you might expect especially when producing an audio masterclass. But we pulled it off!

In our end of season wrap party, our team at Equilibria shares lessons we learned throughout the Growth Strategies Masterclass. We also discuss how we efficiently manage a remote podcast team that’s spread across four countries – India, Nigeria, Philippines, and the U.S.

Finally, we reveal things that surprised us about this season and some team members even ask producer Alicia Butler Pierre personal questions. You might find her answers interesting, but the only way you’ll know is if you listen!

Thank you to the Black Panda team: Leena Nair, Rujuta Jamgaokar, and Simmi.

The Equilibria, Inc. team: Clarence Levy III, Grant Revilla, Gladys Jimenez, and Erika Revilla. A special shout out to our audio editor, Olanrewaju Adeyemo, who was unable to attend.

As appealing as paperless offices are, there are still some industries that require meticulous physical recordkeeping. These types of records must comply with regulatory guidelines to legally operate. This is where a Paper Records Management system can be useful.

A Paper Records Management system links the processes, tools, and people needed to create, name, categorize, store, and purge physical data in an easily accessible, color-coded and organized manner. It also represents one of the seven elements of the Kasennu framework for business infrastructure.

The encore of this storytelling episode features twin sisters, Karen and Sharen Benoit. Their mental rehabilitation facility takes off following a natural disaster. But patients aren’t the only people drawn to them. Regulators are too. They can’t risk another failed audit. Help comes from a familiar, yet unexpected source who teaches them how to create a Paper Records Management system that’s compliant, audit-ready, and keeps the doors to their business open.

🔗 Behind the Façade Book: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/241-business-infrastructure-masterclass-troubled-waters-the-story-of-the-benoit-sisters-the-expanding-medical-office

❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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"We just made really good money while being on the beach!” exclaimed Phoebe Cornog, CEO and Co-Founder of the Pandr Design Co.  She recounted the day she and her business partner realized the impact of outsourcing.  Determined to not be starving artists, they cracked the code for cloning their murals without a loss in quality control.  In this episode, Phoebe explains how she and her business partner cast their fears of outsourcing aside to meet the growing demand for their services and scale sustainably.

Lily Allen-Dueñas is a modern Renaissance woman. Her work in marketing, the arts, and yoga has led her to teach and interact with women around the world. Now, as the Interim Executive Director of The State of Women Institute, she has a platform to amplify the voices of this under-represented and marginalized group. In this episode, Lily describes the organization’s technology platform that provides access to financial resources to educate and empower diverse women and girls. https://businessinfrastructure.tv/

Now that you’ve heard from another one of our keynote speakers, Dean Hamilton, we’re ready to resume the demo sessions at our AI audio conference is here! Similar to the video editing demo, this one also gives you a sneak peek into how AI is leveraged to produce this very show, specifically – Cloud Bounce. 

Here to tell us all about it is our show’s sound designer, Clarence Levy III. As the mastermind behind Sabor! Music Enterprises, he’s no stranger to music production and sound design, having worked on various popular TV and film projects. He even created a salsa band once and currently manages a brass band.

In this episode, Clarence explains what’s required to take audio from good to great and how even amateurs can use AI audio editing tools like Cloud Bounce to make that possible. He speaks candidly about the music production process from creation to mixing to mastering and the business infrastructure required to make audio sound “commercial ready.”

Specifically, he shares how AI audio editing tools can speed audio mastering, enhance sound quality, and level the playing field for creatives who don’t have the backing of larger music companies. He even talks about the darker side of using AI in music and its implications.

This episode also contains a demo of Cloud Bounce.

Listen now and learn how even you can use AI to take your audio projects to the next level and even compete with professionals.

🔗 Watch the Video Version of this Episode and Access Resources on BusinessInfrastructure.TV.

𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

© 2024. The Business Infrastructure podcast is sponsored by Equilibria, Inc. – a small business dedicated to providing resources to support fellow fast-growing small businesses in scaling back-office operations without pain and chaos. Sign up for the Smooth Operator Course to learn more about building business infrastructure.

Alicia is the founder of Equilibria, Inc. – the world’s largest repository on business infrastructure for small businesses.  And it happened quite by accident.  In this episode, she candidly shares the story of how this came to be by weaving together the messaging of each expert featured in Season 3 while acknowledging the mistakes she’s made along the way.  In doing so, Alicia candidly describes how she created a methodology for business infrastructure and how you can implement it to position your company for growth that is manageable, sustainable and profitable.  Also included are highlights from a conversation with fellow business infrastructure expert, Paul Nicholaides who confirms the benefits of business infrastructure.  Together, they are doing their part to eliminate the knowledge gap prevalent with this unseen, yet vital business area.  

Dr. Jeffrey K. Liker spent over 20 years studying the Toyota Way – the management system behind the world’s leading auto manufacturer. He’s since written several world-renowned books summarizing his research and explaining the Lean framework for waste reduction, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.

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Those books have collectively sold well over 1M copies and are considered a gold standard in teaching lean operation and management principles in many academic circles around the world. As many organizations continue grappling with the best way to operate post-pandemic, it’s no surprise that this episode is one of our most downloaded.

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This is less of an interview and more of a masterclass as Dr. Liker graciously spends time to not only share what The Toyota Way is but also the story of how became of the global authorities on this concept.

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In this episode, you’ll learn the 14 management principles of The Toyota Way, discover how to use perfection as a direction toward breakthrough results and not an end goal, and gain a better understanding of what operational excellence means and looks like. If you’re serious about operating efficiently and effectively and embracing process improvement as a part of your organization’s culture, then you don’t want to miss these pearls of wisdom!

📝 Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/206-the-top-12-the-toyota-way-for-achieving-operational-excellence-with-dr-jeffrey-k-liker

❓ Got questions? Send them to me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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TV Producers have more in common with COOs and Project Managers than you might think. As Emmy-nominated producer Janice Jensen explains, “We’re all responsible for putting together the pieces” to deliver a profitable product on time and within budget. In this episode, Janice draws from her experience in producing hit shows like Tiny House, Big Living to explain what goes on behind the scenes in coordinating the people, processes, and tools required from pre- to post-production. You’ll also hear be among the first to learn more about her revolutionary new video-based app.

In a world where fitting in is everything one woman is fighting to create safe spaces for everyone to just be themselves. But when tragic circumstances hit close to home, she realized that change is not just about being on the sidelines.

We’re proud to welcome Gayatri Chadwa, the founder of Sva Eternal, an educator, and a lifelong diversity and inclusion advocate. She specializes in creating safe spaces to bridge the gap as students advance from the classroom to the workplace.

Business infrastructure is critical to supporting diversity and inclusion. It comprises the appropriate people, processes, and tools to create an inclusive culture where employees feel they are an essential part of the team. By integrating employee voices, ideas, and concerns into decision-making, small businesses can lay a solid groundwork for an inclusive atmosphere. 

In this episode, Gayatri shatters the myth that incorporating diversity and inclusion is only for large businesses. After listening you’ll be able to:

• Show more appreciation for employees through low-cost actions, 
• Incorporate a sense of belonging in day-to-day operations,
• Foster a supportive environment where individual contributions are valued,
• Implement powerful techniques for commemorating employee achievements and more!

Join us as Gayatri takes us on her journey to discovering the transformative power of inclusivity in the workplace. Discover the shocking twist that changed everything. Are you ready to be part of the change? Tune in to find out.

🔗 Access Show Notes Here. Visit BusinessInfrastructure.TV.

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© 2023. The Business Infrastructure podcast is sponsored by Equilibria, Inc. – a small business dedicated to providing resources to support fellow fast-growing small businesses in scaling back-office operations without pain and chaos. Sign up for the Smooth Operator Course to learn more about building business infrastructure.

We’ve made it to the final destination of our 12-country audio tour this season. And this country is extra special to us here at the Business Infrastructure podcast. Why? Because it's home to two of our team members - Erika Ve Revilla and Jodie Maquiran. These ladies play an integral role in this show’s back-office operations.

After working fully remotely for almost two years, this is our first-time meeting and working together in person! This episode is a live recording from the beautiful Marco Polo Plaza hotel in Cebu City, Cebu in the Philippines.

The Philippines is the sixth most populated country in the world and with over 7,000 islands, this jewel in the Pacific is a destination for corporate offshoring and digital nomads alike. In this episode, Erika and Jodie each share how they came to work at Equilibria and the digital technologies they use to keep our own back-office operations flowing seamlessly despite inclement weather conditions and frequent power outages.

You’ll also discover some of the processes we use for internal training, managing invoices and payments, and more in a 100% remote working environment! If you’ve ever been curious about expanding your small business operations with a Filipino team, then this episode is for you!

📝 Links to Erika and Jodie’s Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/233-international-business-doing-business-in-philippines-with-erika-ve-revilla-and-jodie-maquiran

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What comes to mind when you think of an organizational chart? Do you have one for your small business? After listening to this episode, you’ll understand just how powerful this tool is.

An organizational chart visually communicates more than just your company’s chain of command, but also its maturity and growth opportunities. For these reasons, at Equilibria, we refer to it as a Business Design Blueprint. It represents one of the seven elements of the Kasennu framework for business infrastructure.

Next up in our encore of the Business Infrastructure Audio Masterclass is the story of Albert Andoh, the bright-eyed and ambitious founder of an emerging tech startup. His software company’s popularity is beginning to expand beyond its local market. Most people have no idea he’s a teenager, that is until he speaks publicly at a conference.

The extra attention means more business but can also expose his vulnerabilities as a leader. A consultant introduces him to the Business Design Blueprint as a way of proving capacity, capability, and scalability to investors.

🔗 Behind the Façade Book: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/237-business-infrastructure-masterclass-childs-play-story-albert-andoh-emerging-tech-startup

❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Our continued search through our podcasting vault has led us to the next episode to remaster. Who was selected? None other than Shellye Archambeau.

As a master planner and strategist, Shellye knows how to create roadmaps to accomplish just about anything she sets her mind to. This is what led her to attend a top-ranked university, moving up the ranks at IBM, and ultimately becoming a CEO by the time she turned 40.

In this remastered episode, we use her book, Unapologetically Ambitious, to anchor our conversation. Shellye shares her journey in becoming one of the first black women to lead a high-tech Silicon Valley company. Specifically, she reveals how she builds and empowers teams to build business infrastructure to support rapid, sustainable growth.

Along the way, she also shares her predictions for remote working, how to delegate effectively, and why falling in love with your market is essential for scaling your business.

Discover why she says you deserve to be ambitious and to do so unapologetically.

🔗 Access Show Notes at BusinessInfrastructure.TV.

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© 2023. The Business Infrastructure podcast is sponsored by Equilibria, Inc. – a small business dedicated to providing resources to support fellow fast-growing small businesses in scaling back-office operations without pain and chaos. Sign up for the Smooth Operator Course to learn more about building business infrastructure.

We’re getting close to the end of our season of remastered episodes. These are previous episodes that were popular. We’ve taken them off the shelf of our podcasting vault and revived them with the quality you’re used to hearing now on our show! 

Up next from our vault is our episode with Lynn Bonner. She’s working double duty as the CEO of her firm, Action Leadership Lab, as well as a VP at U.S. Bank.

How does she successfully manage this?

Well, as she says, it takes energy, leadership, and action to get things done. In this remastered episode, Lynn defines what it means for a company to be agile and shares how she applies both agile and digital transformation principles from her corporate experience to build the business infrastructure required to scale her clients’ companies. 

Discover why the key to building, scaling, and sustaining your company’s operations may lie in taking action in short, incremental steps.

🔗 Access Show Notes at BusinessInfrastructure.TV.

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© 2023. The Business Infrastructure podcast is sponsored by Equilibria, Inc. – a small business dedicated to providing resources to support fellow fast-growing small businesses in scaling back-office operations without pain and chaos. Sign up for the Smooth Operator Course to learn more about building business infrastructure.

Kymone Hinds is in the business of helping people get stuff done!  As an implementation strategist, he prides himself on bringing ideas to life.  Every solution to a problem and every business starts with an idea, so its important to jot them all down no matter how far-fetched they may seem.  In this episode, Kymone explains his 4-stage ideation process for vetting and focusing on which ideas will yield the best results.  Find out how ideas are like Now & Later candies and why you should start small with a big vision when executing.  You definitely don't want to miss this episode - you could be sitting on your million-dollar idea.

In this first episode of Season 4, Paul Nicholaides shares an example of how he used processes to help a fast growing company scale without compromising their culture.  He specifically explains how he helped shape his client’s business infrastructure based on their value chain and processes.  Processes are a valuable component of business infrastructure because as Paul says, “Without it, there is chaos and people will produce different results.”  He also debunks the popular belief that processes are only for large enterprises and stresses that, to be effective, processes must be purposeful, relevant and continuously improved.  Discover the important lesson Paul says he learned from this experience as well as the two fundamental things he says are needed to sustain processes. 

Len Samborowski moved up the ranks to become a Colonel in the U.S. Army. Realizing he would not become a General, he retired after 30 years. Transitioning to civilian life led him to an assistant football coach position and later a college professor, but it did not come without challenges. In this episode, Len shares why a veteran’s knowledge of the latest technologies, experience being around different people, and a mission-focused work ethic can serve businesses well. https://businessinfrastructure.tv/

We’re headed further east to Bali, Indonesia as the next stop on our 12-country tour this season. Our host here in this Pacific paradise is a chemical engineer turned “million-dollar sales guy,” Desmond Dixon.

When he made the decision to leave behind a lucrative STEM career and instead venture into the world of high-pitch sales, Desmond did not know where it would lead him. But one thing he knew for sure was that he wanted to be a part of it! Following a brief stint providing holistic services in the health and wellness industry, he stood up to the challenge of scaling a startup. This led to him working in Ukraine, an experience that opened a Pandora’s box of international work and travel.

In this episode, Desmond shares the details of how he set up his U.S.-based companies, CXO Republic and RemoteSalesManager.io, to provide sales staffing and training services to other businesses around the world. This includes a detailed conversation about applying for visas, his strategy for pricing services and receiving payments, and building a fully remote team.

One thing’s for sure – Desmond does not let dust collect on his shoes! So, buckle your seatbelts as he takes us on an international journey that spans Hawaii, Ukraine, Mexico, Greece, and more! Find out what it takes for an American entrepreneur to become a digital nomad. Even if this lifestyle isn’t feasible for you, you’re sure to learn some things that you can apply to digitize and streamline your company’s back-office operations!

📝 Links to Desmond’s Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/227-international-business-doing-business-in-indonesia-with-desmond-dixon

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As an Executive VP at HubSpot, Alison Elworthy witnessed the company’s diversity evolution up close. Now, she’s advocating for diversity among departments that receive investment priority. In this episode, Alison explains what a Revenue Operations (RevOps) business unit is. She also reveals how HubSpot’s new Operations Hub software can transform a small business's ability to connect and centralize workflows for cleaner data and a better customer experience. Resources at: https://businessinfrastructure.tv/

What started as a side job selling wireless modems eventually led to Tom Kulzer creating the world’s first email automation tool, AWeber. As demand grew, he assembled a team and they built a business infrastructure to support the fast growth. 20 years later, over 1 million small businesses have used AWeber. 100,000 of them are active customers. In this episode, Tom provides the processes that laid the foundation for this scaling success story. Visit https://businessinfrastructure.tv/, Ep. 115 for show notes.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a trend nowadays, especially for businesses. It is a great tool that will potentially streamline your business. But, some people negatively use AI and just lurking in the dark, waiting for their next victim.

This interesting episode will unveil the limitations of AI in decision-making. But be ready for an unexpected twist that might change your perception of automation. As we go deeper into the possibilities, you'll encounter potential risks that you are unaware of.

We were able to sit down and have a conversation with Dean Hamilton, the Chief Technology Officer at Wilson Perumal & Co. and has a broad knowledge and experience in the topic of AI and automation. Dean knows the challenges that small business owners face when it comes to implementing new technologies. Dean is very good at breaking down complex concepts into relatable terms, making it easier for small business owners to understand how AI can improve their back-office operations. Dean will tell us perceptions about AI and help small business owners decide whether AI is right for their business.

In this episode, Dean will help you:

• Understand how AI and automation can boost your back-office operations and improve efficiency,
• Learn how to train AI models using past data to copy human reasoning and decision-making, allowing your business to automate difficult tasks and make accurate predictions and,
• Identify the risks and challenges that come with the adoption of AI in your small business and gain awareness on how to reduce them for successful implementation.

We invite you to listen and discover more about what the future of AI holds in streamlining and automating your small business operations.

🔗 Watch the Video Version of this Episode and Access Resources on BusinessInfrastructure.TV.

𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

© 2024. The Business Infrastructure podcast is sponsored by Equilibria, Inc. – a small business dedicated to providing resources to support fellow fast-growing small businesses in scaling back-office operations without pain and chaos. Sign up for the Smooth Operator Course to learn more about building business infrastructure.

We’re excited to bring you a new season of the Business Infrastructure podcast and it’s going to be a game-changer! Kicking things off is Jay Jemal, a Sr. Technologist and the Founder of Blucidy - a revolutionary SaaS company that combines the power of Blockchain, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence.  

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If those tech terms sound scary, then you’re in luck because Jay breaks them down in a way that makes sense and is relevant to smaller businesses. Originally from Ethiopia, he’s used to translating complex ideas, concepts, and language.

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Over the past 20 years, he’s accumulated an impressive set of technology accomplishments and credentials across various industries, starting with telecommunications. Now, his focus is primarily on federal healthcare. This led to the creation of Blucidy as a social innovation platform designed to foster organizational transparency and accountability for the benefit of humanity.

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In this episode, Jay explains what blockchain technology is and debunks the myth that its only for large organizations. He also shares examples of how different industries can use it to collect, manage, and secure the data used to make critical operational and process improvement decisions. Discover how you can apply this game-changing technology to ensure a single source of truth when it comes to managing your company’s data.

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🔗 Links to Resources Jay recommends:  https://businessinfrastructure.tv/2021/10/03/169-jay-jemals-tips-for-improving-operations-with-blockchain-technology

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“Know Thyself.” Thousands of years later, this ancient adage still rings true. In this episode, Keith Finger opens up about how globetrotting solo across 10 countries in a four-month period led to a period of self-discovery and not only made him rethink the way he operated his current business but also gave way to a new business altogether. Specifically, he talks about the people, processes, and tools he sought in preparation for, during and after this journey. This helped him identify a common thread across the work he’s done over his corporate and entrepreneurial career. Learn how what he describes as his “epiphany” served as a catalyst for shedding the parental and societal expectations and instead step into his own power, making him a more effective and intentional consultant to his clients.

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Over the next 13 episodes, you’ll hear the alternating stories of entrepreneurs faced with the challenges of unfilled customer demand and the specific tactics used to calm the chaos. Discover how they each rise to the challenge through lessons taught by Alicia Butler Pierre – lessons that you can immediately apply to your small business.

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First up is the story of Emily Miller, the founder and Executive Director of a fast-growing non-profit. An appearance on a daytime talk show puts her non-profit on the map but also exposes her leadership weakness. When she learns the board is threatening to replace her, she springs into action by hiring a consultant who introduces her to the Business Parts Analysis – the first element of building business infrastructure. This helps secure her future and reputation.

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🔗 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/182-identity-crisis-the-story-of-emily-miller-the-fast-growing-non-profit

❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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What would you do if someone dared you to join the military? That happened to Dr. Cynthia “Cindy” Young when she was a senior in high school. Not one to shy away from a challenge, she enlisted in the U.S. Navy where she spent the next 23 years of her life.

By the time she retired, she had multiple degrees along with a breadth and depth of experience that some leaders can only dream of. So, when her first job outside the military presented her with an opportunity to work in knowledge management, she accepted that challenge too picking up a doctorate and more certifications along the way.

During the pandemic, she joined a new type of rank – entrepreneur. Cindy started a consulting business leveraging her military strategy prowess and her process improvement, operational excellence, and knowledge management skills.

Now she needed to land clients. But how?

That’s where Cindy became the embodiment of leveraging her own knowledge through a killer digital content management strategy. That strategy involves writing books, speaking at conferences, and contributing articles to well-known publications.

In fact, she’s since been quoted in U.S. News & World Report and contributed over 30 articles specializing in human-centric knowledge management and business to publications like HBR Ascend and Lean Mag. But it was her TEDx Talk that served as a tipping point – she’s become a sought-after recognized expert in the field of knowledge management. In this episode, she describes the business infrastructure she strategized and deployed to put her expertise on the map and effectively grow and scale her business.

📝 Access Cindy’s Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/216-scale-tales-tipping-point-how-dr-cindy-young-spreads-the-message-of-knowledge-management  

❓ Got questions? Ask them here on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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As the world becomes noisier, gaining recognition as being at the top of your game is no small feat. Yet some people figure out the formula for showcasing their talents despite the noise. That’s why it’s no surprise that our original episode featuring Dorie Clark, a master of self-reinvention, made it to our list of the top 12 most downloaded.

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As a consultant or service-based professional, scaling your unique skills and subject matter expertise may seem impossible. However, Dorie is proof that it is in fact possible. She went from growing up in a small town with limited resources to become the world’s #1 communication coach as well as a prolific author, Harvard Business Review contributor, influential speaker, and renowned professor. How did she do it?

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In this episode, Dorie shares her proven organic marketing strategies to leverage your core competency, reinvent your personal brand, and increase your visibility. Become a highly sought-after recognized expert and watch the money pour in!  

📝 Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/201-the-top-12-how-to-scale-your-personal-brand-become-a-recognized-expert-tips-from-dorie-clark  

❓ Got questions? Send them to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Making decisions is risky business.  As a small business owner, you might not have the deep pockets of a larger enterprise, so making the right decision the first time around can be critical.  Decision science gives you the ability to compare multiple ways of solving a problem with the opportunity to add value while minimizing risk and bias.  This is what Rob Brown specializes in.  In this episode, Rob shares a four-step process to follow that will help you make decisions based on logic and not emotion.  Through specific examples, he describes how to use this four-step process to yield the best outcome.  Tune in to learn the difference between a decision and an outcome and why, as Rob says, “risk is always in season.”  

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The Business Design Blueprint is the second element in building business infrastructure. It takes the departments and roles identified in the Business Parts Analysis and spatially arranges them according to your chain of command. It’s also like a vision board for your business that allows you to measure and track your success in achieving team expansion goals.  

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In this episode, host Alicia Butler Pierre gives a guided tour on the Business Design Blueprint – what it is, how to make one for your company, and why it differs from a traditional organizational chart. If you apply the lessons, then you’ll walk away with a visual illustration of your company’s growth goals as well as a clear promotional path for each role. If there’s any business infrastructure tool that shows how you plan to grow your company, it’s this one! Listen now!

🔗 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/185-how-to-create-a-business-design-blueprint-for-emerging-small-businesses

❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Welcome to Season 19 featuring an encore of our business infrastructure audio masterclass. That's right. The original season was so well received by our listeners, that we are sharing it again in case you missed it the first time.

Over the next 13 episodes, you’ll hear the fictional stories of entrepreneurs faced with the challenges of fast-growing customer demand and the specific tactics different consultants use to calm the chaos as well as tutorials. Although the stories are fictional, they are based on real businesses that our show's host, Alicia Butler Pierre, has worked with over the past 17 years.

Each story episode is followed by a tutorial episode where you can discover exactly how each entrepreneur rises to the challenge of unmanageable fast growth through lessons taught by Alicia Butler Pierre – lessons that you can immediately apply to your small business.

First up is the story of Emily Miller, the founder and Executive Director of a fast-growing non-profit. An appearance on a daytime talk show puts her non-profit on the map but also exposes her leadership weakness. When she learns the board is threatening to replace her, she springs into action by hiring a consultant who introduces her to the Business Parts Analysis – the first element of building business infrastructure. This helps secure her future and reputation.

Listen. Take notes. And be inspired to start 2023 with improved operations!

📝 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/235-business-infrastructure-masterclass-identity-crisis-the-story-of-emily-miller-the-fast-growing-non-profit  

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Lynda Martin is on a mission to “…repair the world, one small business at a time.” One way she does that is through the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). When originally interviewed, Lynda’s enthusiasm for this transformative framework was apparent and its likely the reason her episode landed on our list of the Top 12 most downloaded to date.

Her entrepreneurial journey began in her childhood. She grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, so it was only natural she’d become one herself. But when she started her first venture, her co-founders didn’t think women belonged in leadership. She left, started a consulting firm called Goodwin Growth Works, and never looked back.

In this episode, Lynda describes what EOS is and shares a case study of a company that applied it and grew sales by 32% each year for two years in a row. Discover the EOS formula for setting your vision and gaining traction towards effective leadership, sustainable growth, and operational excellence!

 Visionaries, whether executives or entrepreneurs, are great at developing and articulating strategy but may find difficulty in execution.  This is where Kim Farmer comes in.   As a certified project management professional with 30+ years in corporate business experience, she knows how to get stuff done!  In this episode, Kim graciously gives us an excellent primer on project management to help you take specific actions to achieve your company’s growth strategy. No fluff, no B.S., ...this is where the rubber meets the road and this episode is one of the most important to-date because it’s all about action!  Learn the 5 major questions to answer prior to beginning any project as well as the triple constraints you'll have to balance throughout a project.  You’ll also learn how to identify, assemble and coordinate the people, processes and tools you’ll need to ensure your project’s success as Kim explains the Waterfall and Agile approaches to project management.  Be sure to check out the show notes at BusinessInfrastructure.TV to access the resources you’ll need to plan and organize your next project. 

Kimanzi Constable sums up his entrepreneurial journey as “I used to deliver bread for a living, now I write.” Of course, there’s more to his story than this. A lot more. Through his relentless pursuit for building a profitable six-figure online business, he’s now the author of four books, has appeared on over 250 podcasts, and has written articles for over 80 publications including Forbes and Business Insider.

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Yes, at one time he did deliver bread. In fact, he started a vacation relief service for commercial drivers when he was 19 years old and primarily took on routes for Sara Lee Bakery. Although it was financially successful, Kimanzi admits that operational oversights and mismanagement led to him to eventually shut it down.

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Shortly afterward, through introspection, he decided he wanted a better lifestyle for himself. One where he could spend more quality time with his family without the fear of burnout constantly looming. That search led him to study those who successfully built online businesses free from geographical boundaries. Soon, he co-founded Results Global Impact Consulting (RGIC). Together, he and his wife and co-founder, Cindy, teach others how to capitalize on their expertise and showcase it through content marketing strategy and implementation.

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In this episode, Kimanzi reveals how they use ActiveCampaign, an email marketing software, to share lessons on how to leverage large media publications to increase visibility, build brand authority, and grow revenue. He also explains why, despite all the emerging digital marketing technologies, email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to communicate with your customers and network. Discover how to take your personal or business brand from obscure to visible or from unknown to mainstream and watch your profitability soar!

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🔗 Links to Resources Kimanzi recommends: https://businessinfrastructure.tv/2021/12/05/178-kimanzi-constable-shares-tips-for-using-active-campaign-to-manage-content-marketing-boost-visibility-and-establish-credibility  

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There are several ways you can scale your company, one being a Merger & Acquisition (M&A). But be careful. As Jeffrey Musgrove warns, “M&As always make sense on paper. The difficulty is the people part.” With a career that spans wealth management, operations, and private equity, he knew what to look for when he merged his consultancy with Think Systems. In this episode, Jeff details how to execute an M&A starting with an analysis of each company’s operating model. https://businessinfrastructure.tv/ Ep. 136.

In the last story of our Business Infrastructure audio masterclass, you met Clenard Smith. He’s determined to take his flourishing food distribution company public. But there’s one problem. He needs more physical space! Or at least that’s what he’s convinced himself. His consultant manages to convince him otherwise while also getting him to contend with the root cause of his company’s space constraints.

A Work Space Logistics plan organizes, consolidates, and segments your space into work zones according to your organization’s departments. It considers the proper placement of all team members, furniture, and equipment to ensure seamless work and information flow. It’s also one of the seven elements of the Kasennu framework for business infrastructure.

From tidying up to sprucing up, in this encore episode host, Alicia Butler Pierre guides you through an 8-step process to create a Work Space Logistics plan for your organization. Discover how to declutter your space, take an asset inventory, and sketch the optimal layout of your workspace. The result is an intelligent workspace design that maximizes floor space and stimulates productivity and communication.

🔗 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/246-business-infrastructure-masterclass-how-to-create-a-work-space-logistics-plan-for-flourishing-small-businesses   

❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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When Punam Saxena’s family relocated to a small town in Georgia, her neighbors asked what tribe they belonged to. They mistakenly thought her family was Native American, not Indians from India. Growing up ostracized, she knows the impact of social isolation and vowed to do something about it. In this episode, Punam shares her process for coaching parents to become active partners with their children’s teachers through open communication that leverages new technologies. 

Process maps are more than just boxes connected with arrows.  When done correctly, they can help you understand where bottlenecks exist, how long it takes to make your product or deliver a service, and where opportunities to streamline, automate, and/or outsource may exist.  In this Season 6 finale, host Alicia Butler Pierre describes how she used process mapping to increase her company’s cash flow.  She also shares the people who can help in your mapping efforts as well as recommended tools.

Thalia Toha has cracked the code for setting and achieving your BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal).  As a long-time trusted advisor to high earners and achievers, she knows what it takes to focus on the things that matter in creating the life and business you desire.  In this episode, Thalia describes her visual “reversing the timeline” process for identifying overarching goals and the specific tactics, people, and tools necessary to achieve them. 

Strategy represents the vision, purpose and long-term position of a company, but it does you no good to develop one unless you “plan your work and work your plan.”  So says strategy expert Mark Pegues.  In this episode, Mark compares the relationship between strategy and execution to a camera – zoom in to execute and zoom out to strategically plan.  However, he warns, like business processes, a strategic plan is not meant to be shelved once developed but must be consistently leveraged to accomplish your company’s mission.  Learn Mark’s 12-point guide to developing and defining your business strategy and why you should never change it unless your business’ fundamental values change.  

What does an orchestra have in common with your company?  Plenty, according to Maestro Roger Nierenberg.  As CEO, you are the conductor charged with listening and leading to ensure harmonious results.  By seating your team within a live professional orchestra, Roger teaches you how to look at it “as a mirror reflecting how you want to be and how you actually are.”  In this episode, Roger not only defines what organizational agility is, but also shares the one thing we need to know about it in order to identify root causes of problems, adapt quickly, and perform with less chaos.  Listen as he explains how you can use your voice as an instrument to facilitate teamwork.

It’s hard to believe, but we’re already at the midway point of our Growth Strategies Masterclass! As a recap, we’ve covered how to:

• Vet and validate your business growth ideas,
• Create a strategic plan that includes validated ideas, and
• Develop project plans to implement youur company’s growth strategy.

Growth comes in many shapes, forms, and scales of magnitude, and one viable way to grow is through partnerships or teaming agreements.

Have you heard the expression, “Two heads are better than one?” It’s true! Forming partnerships with the right people or companies can accelerate your business’s growth in ways you didn’t imagine. The legal aspects of forming partnerships correctly can be overwhelming.

But you’re in luck!

Our next guest is Karen Mills, a founding member of Mills Law, LLC. She has 25 years of experience practicing law with a specialty in contracts law and mediation services. Her expertise in teaming agreements is invaluable, making her the go-to authority for entrepreneurs and business owners seeking clear and fair strategies for growth.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• The various types of teaming arrangements so that you set your business up for success,
• How to navigate the fine print of contracts to safeguard your business's future,
• The questions you should ask yourself before entering a partnership,
• Why you should always figure out an exit plan at the start of a partnership, and much more!

Stop relying on verbal agreements or handshakes to conduct business deals that make you and your business susceptible to unexpected and costly pitfalls. Instead, protect your business and its assets through clearly written contracts as you transition from the honeymoon phase of forming a new partnership. It can be one of the best investments you make! 

𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

© 2024. The Business Infrastructure podcast is sponsored by Equilibria, Inc. – a small business dedicated to providing resources to support fellow fast-growing small businesses in scaling back-office operations without pain and chaos. Sign up for the Smooth Operator Course to learn more about building business infrastructure.

It’s hard to believe, but we’re at the last topic of our Growth Strategies Masterclass. At this point, we’ve had guests share their expertise on the following:

1. Vetting and validating growth ideas,
2. Creating a strategic growth plan that includes validated ideas,
3. Developing project plans to implement your company’s growth strategy,
4. Growing your business through strategic partnerships, and
5. Building your business to sell it for maximum value.

With all the planning tools we’ve learned for strategically growing our businesses, there’s still the possibility that our plans may not unfold the way we envisioned. Our ability to handle unforeseen events or challenges that can halt our plans determines whether we’ll stay in the entrepreneurial race.

The real question to ask yourself is, “Are you comfortable with potentially having to pivot?”

This is what our next guest, Christina Barsi, is here to talk to us about. As a former actor turned entrepreneur and owner of a successful podcast production company, she’s a shining example of what can happen when you intentionally integrate decision-making and fulfillment into your  entrepreneurial endeavors.

Barsi’s career transition experiences as a compelling example for entrepreneurs seeking to establish a personal infrastructure that resonates with their passions.

In part 1 of this two-part episode, Barsi explains why:

• Creating a personal infrastructure that aligns with your company’s business infrastructure is critical for achieving self-fulfillment,
• Distinguishing between internal data and external data is key to establishing a foundation for business growth strategies, and
• Calibrating your mindset is necessary for assessing the work that brings you joy and will ultimately enable you to create action plans to bring growth plans to fruition.

Navigating business pivots and transitions effectively requires intentional decision-making and introspection. Join us on this journey of self-discovery as a pathway to lasting business success!

𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

© 2024. The Business Infrastructure podcast is sponsored by Equilibria, Inc. – a small business dedicated to providing resources to support fellow fast-growing small businesses in scaling back-office operations without pain and chaos. Sign up for the Smooth Operator Course to learn more about building business infrastructure.

Buy or build?  One way to quickly scale a company and dramatically increase market share is via a Merger & Acquisition (M&A) with/of another company.  However, improper alignment and conflicting objectives can turn that M&A into an M&D (Merge & Destroy), warns Karen Walker, a proven M&A strategic advisor.  Having led one of the fastest growing American companies to $1 billion in revenue, Karen shares how she leads successful integrations using an example of a tech company.  In this episode, you’ll learn: 1) why an M&A is a process and not an event, 2) the role business infrastructure plays in leveraging the strengths of another company to diversify your company’s portfolio, and 3) the differences between an M&A, strategic alliance and joint venture.  

As the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of PSS Gary Nickol aptly describes his role as, “…the glue between staff, customers, and the community.” PSS is a visual aid and communication tools company for educators. Their growth was once stagnated by a top-down leadership model.

That is until new owners came on board.

Gary championed a bottom-up model, one that empowers employees to own their work and the results. This recommendation was rooted in his former experiences leading his own company as well as managing people and overseeing customer support at Best Buy.

In this episode, Gary shares how, in just 16 months, PSS nearly doubled its employee size despite the pandemic. He also describes his guideposts for operational excellence and the role it plays in enabling them to keep up with fast growth without sacrificing quality. Discover how you can apply these concepts to grow and scale your business too!

🔗 Links to Resources Gary recommends:  https://businessinfrastructure.tv/2021/09/18/167-how-an-operational-excellence-culture-catalyzes-scale-featuring-gary-nickol

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Here we are again with another episode of our first-ever AI audio conference. Last time, you learned about Momento FM and how it can automatically generate short video content. Now you will discover how you can use AI tools to edit videos in record time!

Does the endless cycle of watching, editing, and rewatching your raw video footage sound all too familiar? You've probably been told to just power through it, but the pain of spending countless hours in front of the screen only to still end up with subpar results is all too real. It's time to break free from this frustrating loop and discover a better way to streamline your video editing process.

Gladys Jimenez is our next speaker. She is an Emmy nominated TV editor and the owner of Gladiola Films. With a career spanning over two decades, she has extensive experience in the video editing industry. She’s worked with companies like MTV, Buzzfeed, and Red Table Talk – The Estefans.

In this episode, Gladys tells us how she:

• Utilizes AI tools to streamline video editing processes,
• Embraces the collaborative nature of video editing for unique storytelling,
• Master the art of conveying emotion while editing videos, and
•  Creates captivating content using tools like CapCut, Gling, Murf.AI.

 This episode also contains a demo.

Listen now and take notes from this expert on how to leverage AI to streamline your video editing as well as craft storytelling that is visually captivating.

🔗 Watch the Video Version of this Episode and Access Resources on BusinessInfrastructure.TV.

𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

© 2024. The Business Infrastructure podcast is sponsored by Equilibria, Inc. – a small business dedicated to providing resources to support fellow fast-growing small businesses in scaling back-office operations without pain and chaos. Sign up for the Smooth Operator Course to learn more about building business infrastructure.

Meredith Moore isn’t afraid to pivot.  As the CEO of Artisan Financial Strategies, she realized she’d have to break free of the traditional financial planning model if she was to realize her dream of scaling and hiring a junior associate.  Undeterred by naysayers, she assembled a team of various experts, conducted primary research with academia, and even changed the name of her company.  In this episode, Meredith describes the process she underwent to carve out a niche for her business and its positive implications.

Finally! We are at the end of another successful and exciting season of the Business Infrastructure Podcast!

This Season 22 of the Business Infrastructure Podcast is focused about the use of AI technology and how to take advantage of it. The guests lined up for this specific season are guests that has success on using AI for their businesses, and we also have some guests that we had a fireside chat with about the pros and cons of using AI.

It was such an amazing experience for all of us as we have learned a lot of ways to leverage AI and how it can optimize businesses. With all their different insights and approach in using AI, we were able to discover how AI can really make our work a lot easier and how it can sometimes be dangerous if to be wrongly used.

But you know what made it exciting? The demos! Yes, the demos! The demos that they showed us and how they walked us through to each AI tools. That experience itself is amazing because it’s not just educational, but it also serves as a free tutorial from these professionals.

So, in this final episode for this season, Alicia Butler Pierre, our producer and host will give a very short and brief recap in all of the episodes. But wait, there’s MORE! Alicia will give you an idea on what to expect for the next season of the Business Infrastructure Podcast. So keep on tuning with us and learn how to manage fast growth and build a business infrastructure that supports scale, sustainability, and profitability.

🔗 Watch the Video Version of this Episode and Access Resources on BusinessInfrastructure.TV.

𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

© 2024. The Business Infrastructure podcast is sponsored by Equilibria, Inc. – a small business dedicated to providing resources to support fellow fast-growing small businesses in scaling back-office operations without pain and chaos. Sign up for the Smooth Operator Course to learn more about building business infrastructure.

What’s next as we continue searching through our podcasting vault?

None other than Jennifer Wang.  

Her original interview took place during the pandemic and resulted in an outpouring of love not only from our listeners but also from many of Jennifer’s clients who saw the episode promoted across different platforms. So, it’s no surprise that this is our next episode selected for remastering.  

Jennifer began her career with a major advantage. Being Chinese American, speaking fluent Japanese, and having lived in multiple countries as a child afforded her an appreciation for cultural differences. Now, as an entrepreneur, she imbues this with every project.

In this episode, Jennifer speaks openly about how she became a preeminent event designer and event planner and explains the difference between the two roles. She also gives us a peek behind the curtain of her processes for creating film and television events that offer a seamless experience for clients.

A huge part of her success is in the business infrastructure she’s built over the past 20 years, which includes an all-star team. Take note of how her relentless work ethic and attention to detail help her company land clients like Netflix and NBCUniversal.

🔗 Access Show Notes Here or visit BusinessInfrastructure.TV.

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© 2023. The Business Infrastructure podcast is sponsored by Equilibria, Inc. – a small business dedicated to providing resources to support fellow fast-growing small businesses in scaling back-office operations without pain and chaos. Sign up for the Smooth Operator Course to learn more about building business infrastructure.

São Paulo is one of the most populated cities in the world and it’s located in Brazil, the next country on our audio tour this season. We have the pleasure of being joined by Paula Palermo, the co-founder of Impacta Finance - a blockchain company specializing in scaling solutions that have a social impact.

As a fluent speaker of six different languages, Paula’s insights on becoming immersed in the language, culture, and social norms of Brazil will resonate with you if you are interested in tapping into the Latin American market of 600 million people.

In this episode, Paula lays the foundation for sound business practices that not only apply to operating a business in Brazil but anywhere. Specifically, she explains the importance of planting seeds of value to grow a network of resources and giving first to cultivate those relationships.

This interview is packed with useful information for building business infrastructure and even includes a crash course on blockchain technology and how you can leverage it to scale your operations. You don’t want to miss it!  

📝 Links to Paula’s Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/230-international-business-doing-business-in-brazil-with-paula-palermo

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Positioning your company for hyper-growth requires “leveling up” people as well as processes and tools.  Many leaders (and investors) interpret leveling up as replacing existing personnel with more qualified people.  But the onus is on these leaders to create a culture of continuous education rather than blaming people when things go wrong.  In this episode, Anne Sugar, an executive coach for Harvard Business School’s Executive Program, provides an in-depth case study of a hiring process she coached an H.R. executive through as she set out to answer four key questions in preparation for expansion.

EVERY business exists to make money.  Without it, they will surely fail.   This #1 need kickstarts the sales process and it’s the reason we’re kicking off Season 6 (Profitable Processes) with the topic.  In this episode, sales guru Jason Smith shares his sales synergistics process for aligning all business units of a company to maximize revenue potential.  Learn about his 5-ring framework for achieving this alignment and how to implement it in your business to prevent sales and operations silos as your company grows.

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A Service Delivery Blueprint is a visual control tool that documents the people, process, tools, and metrics necessary to provide your core product or service. It offers a holistic view that shows how everyone in your company gets involved or at least provides some level of support in providing goods and services to your customers. It’s one of the seven elements of the Kasennu framework for business infrastructure.

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In this episode, host Alicia Butler Pierre guides you through an 8-step process to create a Service Delivery Blueprint for your organization. Discover how to succinctly document, track, and manage lifecycle processes like order-to-delivery, farm-to-table, procure-to-pay, intake-to-discharge, and more! The result is a one-page overview of what you do, how you do it, and the associated timeframe.

🔗 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/191-how-to-create-a-service-delivery-blueprint-for-small-businesses-on-the-rise

❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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And don’t forget to leave a review! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

We’re continuing our encore of the masterclass edition of the Business Infrastructure podcast. In the last episode, you heard the story of Sarah and Steve Reuben - siblings whose rivalry and siloed leadership enabled a virus attack on their family-owned business’s network. A consultant taught them how to design an Electronic Records Management system to organize, store, and secure their digital files while also protecting their operations from future digital disasters.

Electronic Records Management is the third element in building business infrastructure. It involves organizing all your digital files based on the departments you identified in the Business Parts Analysis. It also includes assigning proper access rights according to the roles identified in your Business Design Blueprint. It’s the perfect complement to disaster recovery and business continuity planning.

Now you can discover how to create one for your organization! In this episode, host Alicia Butler Pierre offers a 9-step tutorial on creating an Electronic Records Management system. You’ll not only end up with an organized, disaster-proof system, but you’ll also have peace of mind knowing that your digital assets are accounted for and protected. With remote back-office operations and small business cybersecurity attacks on the rise, you don’t want to miss this lesson!

🔗 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/240-business-infrastructure-masterclass-how-to-create-an-electronic-digital-records-management-system-for-small-businesses-in-high-demand

❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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In this Season 10 finale, host Alicia Butler Pierre unpacks the importance of converting “why” into “how” when facing business challenges. She uses this conversion as a backdrop to give updates on all guests and their respective workflows and technologies. Alicia also shares four lessons she’s learned about operating a business in 2020. A special thank you to all guests, sponsors, and subscribers who made this season a smashing success!

What comes to mind when you think of an organizational chart? Do you have one for your small business? After listening to this episode, you’ll understand just how powerful this tool is.

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An organizational chart visually communicates more than just your company’s chain of command, but also its maturity and growth opportunities. For these reasons, at Equilibria, we refer to it as a Business Design Blueprint. It represents one of the seven elements of the Kasennu framework for business infrastructure.

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This episode features the story of Albert Andoh, the bright-eyed and ambitious founder of an emerging tech startup. His software company’s popularity is beginning to expand beyond its local market. Most people have no idea he’s a teenager, that is until he speaks publicly at a conference. The extra attention means more business but can also expose his vulnerabilities as a leader. A consultant introduces him to the Business Design Blueprint as a way of proving capacity, capability, and scalability to investors.

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🔗 Behind the Façade Book: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/184-childs-play-the-story-of-albert-andoh-the-emerging-tech-startup  

❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Welcome back to our Growth Strategies Masterclass! Our first two episodes featured how to vet and validate ideas for growing your business. Now it’s time to develop a strategic plan around those ideas that made the cut.

Are you ready to take your business to the next level and achieve breakthrough growth? If you're feeling like strategic growth planning is just too “corporate” and is something that only large enterprises do, then think again. In this next class, Kenya A. Moses, an operations executive at NSI Industries, talks about the X-matrix and how you can use this tool to revolutionize your approach to growth and scale your business.

With a keen focus on linking strategy with execution, Kenya's insights are invaluable for both small business owners and executives seeking the business infrastructure required for repeatable, profitable, and scalable growth. His practical approach and 25+ years of experience make him a trusted authority in the strategic growth planning process known as Hoshin Kanri.

In this episode, Kenya explains how to:

• Implement the 7-step Hoshin Kanri strategic planning process based on your growth ideas,

• Use the X-matrix as a simple yet highly effective tool for defining, linking, and aligning long-term strategic goals with tactical projects for achieving those goals, and

• Develop action plans and continuous check-in points to ensure your strategic growth goals are met.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from a seasoned corporate executive with years of experience in operations, finance, and strategy as he provides a blueprint for small business growth.

Uncover the art of crafting innovative and effective growth strategies that can revolutionize your business's operations and lead to profits you didn’t think were possible!

𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

© 2024. The Business Infrastructure podcast is sponsored by Equilibria Inc. – a small business dedicated to providing resources to support fellow fast-growing small businesses in scaling back-office operations without pain and chaos. Sign up for the Smooth Operator Course to learn more about building business infrastructure.

Calvin Williams, Jr. is on a mission.  He believes wealth management services should be accessible to all people, not just the uber-rich.  As such, he started Freeman Capital – an award-winning FinTech company with rapid expansion goals and high visibility.  In this episode, Calvin details the service delivery process he implements to maintain a positive customer experience while managing a 100% remote team.  He also shares the different technologies he leverages to keep it all together.

Jon Reid’s exposure to operations, auditing, and finance began during his tenure at General Electric. That experience serves as the cornerstone of his longevity as a C-suite executive and advisor. In this episode, Jon draws from his experience working with various Fortune 500 companies to give small business owners an operational model to aspire to. He explains why introverts make great COOs, why you should surround yourself with people smarter than you, and why small businesses must be creative when expanding since they can’t always access lines of credit the way enterprises can.

Tonia Morris noticed shifts in team makeup as she climbed the corporate ladder. Teams were composed of diverse generations which led to challenges and opportunities. After she became an Executive VP of H.R., she resigned and founded SimplyHR. Now, she’s known as the “Generational Connector.” In this episode, Tonia provides a blueprint for navigating communication hurdles caused by multiple generations and offers a process for leveraging technology to overcome them. https://businessinfrastructure.tv/

“Operations is the most important part of doing your business,” says Joseph Powell. As the founder of TenDollarTutors.com and the creator of the ThinkSmart Whiteboard app, he knows firsthand the importance of operational excellence. In this episode, Joseph candidly shares the story of his roller-coaster tech journey and why he decided to step down as CEO of his company and serve as the COO instead. He also provides insights on the business infrastructure necessary to brace for change and stay the course.

Trello. Asana. Monday.com. ClickUp. These are all amazing tools. And we’ve tried them all here at the Business Infrastructure podcast, but in the end, we landed on Notion as the tool to organize our back-office operations.

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Notion is an all-in-one digital workspace that brings together once disparate and hidden documentation into a single platform. Information once buried in nested folders on a network, the cloud, or hard drives is now visible and easy to search. The level of transparency it affords teams is perhaps one of its greatest features. It even integrates with dozens of other tools like Slack, Figma, Google Sheets, and YouTube.

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In this episode, host Alicia Butler Pierre gives a guided audio (and visual) tour of how we use Notion to manage all aspects of our production scheduling. This is the final episode of Season 14 – Game-Changing Technologies. Discover how you can create a CRM complete with pictures and audio files as well as project management boards and editorial and content calendars, all in Notion.

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🔗 Links to Resources Alicia recommends: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/181-alicia-butler-pierre-reveals-how-the-business-infrastructure-podcast-uses-notion-for-production-scheduling

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There’s no escaping the reality of having a strong online presence.  In this Season 4 finale, Alicia Butler Pierre, business infrastructure expert and host of the Business Infrastructure show, shares the two-pronged approach she uses to design a content management process that is practical, sustainable and rooted in data science.  Listen as she candidly shares the series of events that led her to change her once negative views about online content creation and distribution.  You too can create your own “web” of content that sticks and converts through the right selection of people, processes and tools.

According to professional speechwriter and speech coach Dez Thornton, “A high stakes conversation is anytime you have to communicate and your reputation is on the line.”  The successful outcome of your communication depends on your delivery.  In the most quotable episode to-date, Dez shares the most important thing you need to know about having high stakes conversations and the people, processes and tools you should leverage to close the interpretation gap (what you say vs. what your audience hears).

“The fortune is in the follow-up,” proclaims Corey Moore as he kicks off the first show of the Business Infrastructure podcast’s second season. Corey, a serial entrepreneur, is the owner of Atlanta’s largest resource center for business and networking events. He’s also a professional networker and in this episode, he shares his tried and tested process to network your way to success. Like any process, Corey warns that it takes commitment and a genuine desire to build relationships to attain desired results consistently over an extended period of time. Once you listen to this episode, it won’t take you long to discover why he is known as the “NetworKING” in the Atlanta, GA metro area.

Jesse Torres is the American-born son of Mexican immigrant parents. Growing up in multi-cultural Los Angeles, he’s not uncomfortable being around people who looked different from him. So, as he grew his consultancy, ArroyoWest, building a diverse team came naturally. He’s also no stranger to technology. In this episode, Jesse shares how leaders can prepare for the future of work by leveraging government programs to digitize operations and diversify their workforce. https://businessinfrastructure.tv/ Ep. 143.

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With a background in software engineering, Lloyed was already familiar with technology companies and enjoyed a successful career leading sales and marketing teams as well as being a serial entrepreneur. One venture was Boast Capital – a consulting firm focused on securing R&D tax credits for businesses. That’s when the answer to the unclaimed tax credit question became clear – the reason more than $200 billion USD goes unclaimed globally each year to fund innovation is because of the slow, archaic application-to-funding process. This led to the development of Boast.AI, a software designed to automate the tax credit application process so companies can get more money faster and with reduced audit risk.

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In this episode, Lloyed not only shares how you can use Boast.AI to fund your small business’ innovation, but he also gives insights on how he and his team built this successful tech startup. Discover the business infrastructure they designed to support rapid growth not only in their customer base but also in their employee base - an increase from 30 to 100 in just five months! As a bonus, you’ll also learn Lloyed’s four stages for building a startup as well as the ingredients for his scale recipe: customer-centricity, community, and relentless prioritization.

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If you want to know how you can claim R&D tax credits to fund your company’s growth and how to scale that growth sustainably, then you don’t want to miss this episode!

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🔗 Links to Resources Lloyed recommends: https://businessinfrastructure.tv/2021/11/28/177-lloyd-lobo-reveals-how-to-quickly-secure-rd-tax-credits-for-funding-business-innovation-with-boast-ai

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We kicked off this season of international business in Nigeria. Our next stop is in Ireland – a small, but powerful nation considering its gateway position to the European Union. 

Martina Goss, a certified lean startup coach, is our guide. She’s brilliantly transformed her career from a certified accountant crunching numbers for existing businesses to a trusted advisor for startups. Her mission is to save startups from the pains of wasting time, effort, and money on businesses doomed to fail. She does this through a rigorous idea validation process.

In this episode, Martina shares what happens next with businesses that have successfully passed the idea validation “sniff test.” This includes her specific process for helping these startups establish the foundation for profitability and manageable growth using elements of business infrastructure and the LEANSTACK model.

She also explains why Ireland is a hotspot for establishing a European headquarters location, how you can start a business in Ireland, and where you can find Irish businesses to establish an import/export strategic partnership.

There’s so much more to Ireland than shamrocks, pubs, and leprechauns. Discover how relationships you build can give access to the entire European Union population of 447M people!

📝 Links to Martina’s Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/223-international-business-doing-business-in-ireland-with-martina-goss

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Let’s be honest, talking about data (and business infrastructure) might not seem like the most exciting thing. Too often we associate these topics with machinery and not humans! That’s why Michiko Wolcott says we need to “De-tech the tech.” It’s the foundation for her success as a strategic consultant.

Michiko grew up in Japan. Although she was fluent in music and math, she knew little English when she and her family relocated to a small town in Alabama. She eventually learned the language, pursued advanced degrees in music and statistics, and discovered a new love - data. Now, she leverages data and analytics to achieve profitable breakthroughs for her clients.

That’s impressive considering 70% of data initiatives fail.

You might be surprised to hear a high-tech expert advocate focusing on people first, then process, then technology. In this episode, Michiko shares how her refreshing approach enabled a company plagued with an overrun budget to complete 80% of its project goals in record time. Be inspired and ready to take action as you learn how to unlock the potential data and analytics can also have on your company’s operations.

🔗 Links to Resources Michiko recommends: https://businessinfrastructure.tv/2021/08/01/160-leveraging-data-and-analytics-for-operational-excellence-with-michiko-wolcott   

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Hi! I'm Alicia, host and producer of the Business Infrastructure podcast, and I have a confession to make.

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When I analyzed the show’s most downloaded episodes, I was shocked to learn that a monologue I recorded back in 2018 about my experiences in Cuba made the list.

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I was shocked because this was a recording I did while I was still very new to the podcasting industry and honestly didn’t know what I was doing. But one thing I did know was my passion for business infrastructure and operational excellence. It’s what led me to share my observations and experiences during a visit to Cuba and how they apply to the way we operate our small businesses.

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For example, I was intrigued by the continuous preservation of cars, culture, and cuisine but the lack of maintenance of many homes and buildings. In this episode, I share the role that various economic factors play in our ability to maintain and preserve the businesses we build. I also discuss the role that dashboards play in keeping the score of our daily operations. I hope you enjoy listening to this “oldie but goodie” episode. If nothing more, may these lessons serve as a cautionary tale of the importance of developing processes to monitor all aspects of your business to minimize both risk and…ruin.

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📝 Resources & Show Notes:  https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/203-the-top-12-business-infrastructure-lessons-i-learned-in-cuba-with-alicia-butler-pierre

❓ Got questions? Send them to me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Are you tired of pouring time and money into marketing efforts that just don't connect with your audience? Have you been told to simply “tell a good story” but still aren't seeing the sales boost you were hoping for? It's time to discover the power of strategic storytelling. 

Our next featured small business advisor is Michael de Groot, the Chief Storyteller at Staying Alive UK. As Dutchman born living in the UK and born to an Anglo-Indian mother, he has quite the story to tell himself as he starts off by revealing his journey from the textile industry to video production.

In this episode, Michael shares tips to:

• Uncover the vital role of an enthralling business story in attracting and retaining customers,
• Tap into emotional connections for authentic, captivating stories that audiences will love, and
• Create impactful marketing videos that zero in on customer concerns and drive engagement.

He also walks us through his 13-step process for crafting a perfect business story. It involves several essential elements such as understanding your clients’ needs, identifying emotional drivers, and selecting an appropriate narrative structure. The process enables you to create a customized, memorable, and impactful story that resonates with existing customers and converts leads into new customers.

Discover the art of storytelling and why you should avoid advertisements if you want to make meaningful connections with your customers!

🔗 Click Here to Access Resources Michael Recommends.  

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© 2023. The Business Infrastructure podcast is sponsored by Equilibria, Inc. – a small business dedicated to providing resources to support fellow fast-growing small businesses in scaling back-office operations without pain and chaos. Sign up for the Smooth Operator Course to learn more about building business infrastructure.

Have you ever put your business on hiatus so that you could recalibrate?  That’s what Don Sevcik, CEO of MathCelebrity.com, did and it paid off handsomely.  After five years in business, his company reached a plateau of 250k visitors per month.  Although things were going well, there were certain math problems that his site could not solve.  In this episode, Don explains how the decision to take that hiatus led him to not only reach 3.75 million unique visitors but also to solve any math problem in 1/3 of 1 second!   

We’re kicking off Season 20 on the Business Infrastructure podcast! This season will feature 12 guests all of whom are small business advisors with specialized expertise they can’t wait to share with you. Expect to hear, learn, and discover specific strategies, tactics, and tips that you can begin applying right away to transform your back-office operations.

With small businesses being the backbone of many of the world’s economies, they are central to the vitality of local communities and must be protected at all costs. And one way to do that is to give entrepreneurs like you access to the information necessary to not just grow but scale your operations in a sustainable, repeatable, and profitable way.  

Our first guest this season is Shawn Palmer. He’s a small business advisor and pricing expert with OneRedmond, an organization that works in concert with the Washington Small Business Development Center (SBDC). In this episode, Shawn shares five main pricing strategies to consider as you work to increase sales, revenue, and profitability in your growing small business.

He also gives a tutorial on the Law of Supply and Demand and why understanding the type of supply and demand curve your business has is critical for repeatable and sustainable growth. As a military veteran and former small business owner himself, Shawn offers a unique yet easy-to-understand perspective on how the right pricing strategy can make all the difference in keeping the doors to your business open!

🔗 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/248-small-business-advisors-shawn-palmer-talks-pricing-strategies  248-small-business-advisors-shawn-palmer-talks-pricing-strategies 248-small-business-advisors-shawn-palmer-talks-pricing-strategies

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The Business Infrastructure podcast started as a scrappy idea of host and producer, Alicia Butler Pierre. What she originally thought would simply be another means of sharing operational resources with small businesses has now evolved into a global movement with listeners in over 60 countries.

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But this did not happen by osmosis. As the podcast grew in popularity, so did Equilibria, the company behind the podcast, and its need to scale up back-office operations.   

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In this episode, you get to hear directly from some of the people behind the scenes who each possess a superpower that they contribute to the mosaic that is the Business Infrastructure podcast. Joining us in the celebration is Jared Easley, the co-founder of Podcast Movement – home to the world’s largest community of podcasters. If you’ve wondered what it takes to produce and promote this show, then here’s your chance to find out! Listen and be inspired!

📝 Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/200th-episode-meet-the-business-infrastructure-podcast-team-with-special-guest-jared-easley 

❓ Got questions? Send them to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Although the barrier to entry into the fashion industry is low, it’s also fickle and highly competitive. Yet, when Kevin Afuwah and two childhood friends started Royal Kulture, their unique spin on dashikis took off! Soon, they found themselves relocating from NYC to L.A. for cost-efficient production. In this episode, Kevin reminisces on how they scaled their brand, attracting celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker and Beyonce, only to shut it down. Find out why. https://businessinfrastructure.tv/ Ep. 140.

Did you know that joy has financial value? Specifically, happy employees have 31% higher productivity, their sales are 37% higher and they’re three times more creative. Marguerite Orane leverages these stats as part of making her case for joy in the workplace.

As an executive leadership coach, facilitator, and public speaker, she empowers executives and their teams to imbue joy in their work so that they can scale their organizations without sacrificing themselves and their families in the process.

Healthy family relationships are particularly important to Marguerite. Her first leadership role at the tender age of 23 found her as her father’s boss in their family-owned manufacturing business. The experience of leading a 70-employee all-male group, navigating unions and erratic business cycles during a time of unrest in Jamaica, and ultimately selling the business to ensure her parents retired financially secure, left her feeling depleted, traumatized, and…free!

In this episode, Marguerite describes her journey from running a family-owned business to working in other businesses, and ultimately starting her own coaching business - a business that allows her the freedom and flexibility to lead with ease, grace, and joy. She also shares why her experience as an MBA student at Harvard Business School was the therapy she needed to release the pain and make room for profit.

Discover the business infrastructure she’s put in place to ensure she has a team aligned to her company’s joy-based mission with proven processes that generate the results required to take already successful organizations to even higher heights.

📝 Access Marguerite’s Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/218-scale-tales-ease-grace-joy-how-marguerite-orane-coaches-executive-leaders-for-sustainable-growth

❓ Got questions? Ask them here on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Good things come to those who wait…and persistently work toward their goal.  Damon Burton knows this all too well.  As the founder of SEO National, he made a conscious decision to scale and increase his company’s capacity to work with large clients.  It worked!  SEO National now works with Inc. 5000 companies as well as various NBA teams.  In this episode, Damon shares the realistic time commitment as well as the daily operational processes, people, and a robust list of tools he leverages to make it all possible.

Back in the early ‘70s, Dr. Frank Barsi escaped communist Hungary in the cover of night. He swam his way to Austria and eventually arrived in America with literally just the clothes on his back. Determined to start a new life, he quickly joined the U.S. Army. He would later go on to earn multiple engineering degrees. It was at his first job out of college that he was introduced to Six Sigma. At that time, the quality framework was well received in Asia, but not in America.

In this episode, Dr. Barsi reflects on his 40-year career in the aerospace industry. It’s a fascinating account of his journey in applying Six Sigma to improve a variety of production processes. That work spans developing flight controls for fighter jets and revolutionizing the casting industry.

Not sure what Six Sigma is or how you can apply it to your small business? Get ready to take notes as Dr. Barsi explains the framework, its key principles, and how you can apply some of its tools to dramatically increase profitability.

🔗 Links to Resources Dr. Barsi recommends: https://businessinfrastructure.tv/2021/08/08/161-what-is-six-sigma-and-how-does-it-lead-to-operational-excellence-a-masterclass-with-dr-frank-barsi    

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Lynda Martin grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, so it was only natural she’d become one herself. But when she started her first venture, her co-founders didn’t think women belonged in leadership. So she left, started Goodwin Growth Works, and never looked back.

Also armed with a strong background in staffing and H.R., she’s on a mission to “…repair the world, one small business at a time.” One way she does that is through the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS).

In this episode, Lynda describes what EOS is and shares a case study of a company that applied it and grew sales by 32% each year for two years in a row. Discover the EOS formula for setting your vision and gaining traction towards effective leadership, sustainable growth, and operational excellence!

🔗 Links to Resources Lynda recommends:  https://businessinfrastructure.tv/2021/08/29/164-what-is-eos-and-how-does-it-lead-to-operational-excellence-with-lynda-martin

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Welcome back to our Encore of the masterclass edition of the Business Infrastructure podcast! In the first episode of this series, you heard the story of Emily Miller. She’s the founder of a fast-growing non-profit. She met a consultant who introduced her to a Business Parts Analysis as a means of sustaining the growth.

As Emily discovered, fast growth is exciting but requires adding more people to your team to make sure important tasks don’t get overlooked. Sometimes you may have to re-allocate roles and responsibilities and, through introspection, objectively evaluate your own role as a leader.

The Business Parts Analysis is the first element in building business infrastructure. It sets the foundation upon which all other back-office activities are organized and managed.

In this tutorial episode, you’ll learn more about what a Business Parts Analysis is and how to create one in your growing organization through a series of exercises. The results include task, role, and department identification along with a prioritized hiring strategy and succinct job descriptions to attract the right talent. No, this isn’t just for NGOs and non-profit organizations. It’s for entrepreneurs and owners of any small business serious about establishing a foundation to scale back-office operations to the next level.  

🔗 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/236-business-infrastructure-masterclass-how-to-create-a-business-parts-analysis-for-fast-growing-small-businesses   

❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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We did it – this is our 100th episode!  And joining us to celebrate this milestone is Jared Easley, the co-founder of Podcast Movement.  In this episode, Jared reveals how his military experiences and background in project management served him in helping to build the world’s largest community of podcasters. He not only shares the behind-the-scenes operations of their annual conference, but we also talk about the history of podcasting, current trends, and what it all means for the future. Meanwhile, Alicia gives a heartfelt tribute to listeners and supporters.

Can you keep a secret?  Your answer to this question can determine your ability to capitalize on your company's intellectual property (I.P.).  In this episode, seasoned patent attorney Steve Wigmore breaks down the different types of I.P. using examples of well-known brands.  There is both monetary and intrinsic value in your ideas and Steve offers guidance on how to choose among trademarks, trade secrets, patents and copyrights to protect your ideas.  In fact, your I.P. is part of your small business' asset portfolio.  Even intangible assets, like business processes, can be protected, especially if tied to technology.  If you own a service-based business, you'll definitely want to hear what Steve has to say!

Troy Trewin always knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur when he grew up. Having witnessed the successes as well as the struggles of his family’s business, he had a leg up on what it took to grow and scale a company. So, after three years of working for one of the world’s accounting firms, he started two internet companies.

And he learned a lot! Namely, he grew weary of running service-based businesses. That’s when Troy decided to shift into managing product-based businesses.

The product of choice? Whisky!

It was 2011 and over the next decade, his involvement in the distillery business included everything from helping a friend start a distillery from the ground up to functioning as CEO over distilleries to serving on the boards of many other distilleries. When a friend mentioned having trouble scaling a Whisky Academy business in 2019, Troy suggested she change the business model from in-person to online.

The timing could not have been more perfect – he along with two others joined forces with his friend in a partnership that started The Distillers Institute. In this episode, he describes the business infrastructure put into place that enabled them to legalize their partnership, build an online course, and launch it in only 9 months…during a pandemic!

Discover how they scaled from 60 students to 400 in less than two years, the people, processes, and tools they leveraged to achieve this scale and their plans for expanding across the world.

📝 Access Troy’s Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/215-scale-tales-new-zealand-and-beyond-how-troy-trewin-scaled-an-online-course-for-distilleries  

❓ Got questions? Ask them here on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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In this episode, Alicia shares things she observed during a recent trip to Cuba and how those observations apply to how we run our small businesses. A notable observation was the admirable and continuous preservation of cars, culture, and cuisine. However, many buildings have succumbed to the lack of maintenance primarily due to economic factors. She makes the argument that it’s possible to save these buildings (and parts of our business) through ongoing proactive and preventive maintenance. If nothing more, may these lessons Alicia shares serve as a cautionary tale of the importance to develop processes to monitor all aspects of your business to minimize both risk and...ruin.

Incorporating technology into your workflows can significantly streamline operations. However, not all technologies integrate with each other. This leads to disparate data and worse, inaccurate analysis. Vertify solves this issue. In this episode, Wayne Lopez, the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Vertify, gives a live demo to show how it connects data and unifies teams in making better-informed decisions from a single source of truth. Watch the video at https://businessinfrastructure.tv/ Ep. 126.

In the last episode of our Business Infrastructure audio masterclass, you heard the story of twin co-founders, Karen and Sharen Benoit. They’ve been given a second chance to pass an audit of their mental health clinic’s records. Their consultant friend comes to the rescue by teaching them how to design a compliant Paper Records Management system that consolidates, organizes, stores, and protects their physical files.

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You might be wondering, “Why are we talking about organizing paperwork in the digital age?” Some industries are heavily regulated and require the maintenance of physical files for certain periods. Paper Records Management is the fourth element in building business infrastructure. Think of it as the paper-based version of your Digital Records Management system. 

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Now you can experience the satisfaction of decluttering and organizing your company’s paper records! In this episode, host Alicia Butler Pierre offers a 10-step tutorial. The result is an audit-ready paper management system that standardizes best practices for recordkeeping.

🔗 Links to Resources: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/189-how-to-create-a-paper-records-management-system-for-expanding-small-businesses  

❓ Send your questions to Alicia on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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After listening to Jesse Torres you’ll never underestimate the power of networking ever again. He has a knack for meeting people and connecting them to each other to broker partnerships and alliances.

Jesse owns ArroyoWest, an economic and workforce development agency, and Small Business Front, a consultancy targeted at providing small businesses with resources to start, grow, and scale. But his career didn’t start with entrepreneurship.  

It started with what was supposed to be his first job at a local Los Angeles newspaper. When that job fell through due to a merger, it set Jesse on a career ladder that included rungs in academia, government, private practice, publicly-traded companies, and even non-profits.

As he continued climbing that ladder to his latest role as an entrepreneur, his vast network and experience in disaster relief aligned when the pandemic happened. In this episode, Jesse shares how he leveraged his network to connect some of his local government clients to form a new organization that provided personal protective equipment (PPE) to tens of thousands of small businesses in California.

Pay close attention as he describes the business infrastructure quickly deployed to bring together the right people, processes, and tools that made this mass distribution of PPE possible.

📝 Access Jesse’s Resources & Show Notes: https://www.eqbsystems.com/podcast/219-scale-tales-the-connector-how-jesse-torres-leveraged-his-network-for-mass-distribution-of-ppe

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We’re back with another episode of our first ever AI audio conference. In the last episode, you heard about using Perplexity AI as a research assistant. Now, you will discover another AI tool to take ideas to implementation through writing.

You know the importance of promoting your business. In the age where content is king, consistently writing and posting about your products or services is necessary for your business’s survival. 

But carefully planning and writing that content takes time. A lot of time. This is what our next speaker, Neha Naik, discovered as she grew her two tech-based recruiting businesses – RecruitGyan and The Profitable Recruiters Blueprint.

Neha even hired a content writer, hoping that would lead to increased efficiency and productivity in developing, writing, and publishing content. Instead, they both found themselves still drowning in the administrative burden of these tasks. This inefficiency led Neha to Jasper AI – a digital writing technology that has transformed her company’s content marketing processes, streamlined the work of her content writer, and supercharged the productivity of her team of 40 people.  

In this episode, Neha explains she uses Jasper as a digital writing assistant to:

• Enhance customer engagement through catchy phrases, witty questions, and attention-grabbing headlines,
• Translate industry jargon and complex ideas and concepts into words that even a child can understand, 
• Jumpstart social media polls and email campaigns, and much more!

Not a recruiter? Don’t dismiss this episode! We promise you will learn things about Jasper that you can immediately apply to revolutionize your digital marketing processes. So, be prepared to take notes and your writing to the next level with words that will not only captivate but convert your online viewers and visitors alike into paid customers! 

This episode also contains a demo of Jasper AI.

🔗 Watch the Video Version of this Episode and Access Resources on BusinessInfrastructure.TV.

𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

© 2024. The Business Infrastructure podcast is sponsored by Equilibria, Inc. – a small business dedicated to providing resources to support fellow fast-growing small businesses in scaling back-office operations without pain and chaos. Sign up for the Smooth Operator Course to learn more about building business infrastructure.

In our last episode, you heard from our team at Equilibria, Inc. on what it took to produce and promote the episodes for our Season 23: Growth Strategies Masterclass. We also shared important lessons we learned from the guests who participated in this masterclass.

There’s also an important lesson, or conclusion, that producer Alicia Butler Pierre reached as a result. As you and other listeners went along this growth strategies journey, you may recall her hinting at a big revelation. Something that, once revealed, will change everything!

In this episode, Alicia reveals that important discovery.

𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

© 2024. The Business Infrastructure Podcast is sponsored by Equilibria, Inc. – a small business dedicated to providing resources to support fellow fast-growing small businesses in scaling back-office operations without pain and chaos. Listen to all twelve episodes of the Season 23: Growth Strategies Masterclass.

Dr. Terica Pearson spent her first year in business learning the ropes and getting key processes in place.  By year four, she had a full staff of people to help scale her insurance agency.  But after tracking their performance, she realized that productivity had actually declined and was negatively impacting the bottom line.  In this episode, Terica details her decision to scale back the team she built and instead focus on more hands-on mentoring and training one agent at a time.  She also shares her business growth revelations as her mindset shifted from employee to business owner.

Hi, I’m Alicia and for many years, pricing was admittedly my Achilles heel in my business. With so many pricing models and strategies to choose from, I always found it easier to price products than services. Eventually, I began to seek counsel from pricing experts as well as a variety of renowned books backed by research.

As I consumed this information and put it into practice, I noticed it did not yield the same favorable results as some of my colleagues. Not one to give up easily, I’d experiment with another model and strategy combination, but often to no avail.

It wasn’t until I started sharing my frustrations with others, that I began to accept an ugly, harsh reality. A reality missing from the experts and books in their discourse about the psychology of pricing services – racial and gender bias and discrimination.

In this Season 12 finale, I share a personal experience of being forced into low-balling, underbidding, and undervaluing my services just to “keep the lights on.” It’s difficult to scale operations when you’ve been told you’re excellent at what you do and the services you provide, yet cannot charge prices that reflect that value.

I talk about the domino effect of consistently not being able to implement value-based pricing has on a company’s inability to attract capital and invest in people and the latest technologies. I also share four recommendations that could lead to solutions.

Thank you in advance for listening! Please connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter if you’ve had similar experiences!

🔗 Link to sponsors and resources I recommend at: https://businessinfrastructure.tv/2021/06/27/155-diversity-digital-transformation-pricing-while-black-with-alicia-butler-pierre  

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Henry Kaminski started his marketing agency, Unique Designz, on a high. The clients and money flowed in. But all of that changed after Hurricane Sandy. Suddenly his bank account had a negative $2,500 balance. Down but not out, he invested in a course that gave him the tools to rebound. Then he had a different problem – more business than he could handle! In this episode, Henry describes how he recruited and hired a remote team and took his business to new heights. https://businessinfrastructure.tv/ Ep. 135.

When Dr. Jeffrey K. Liker began working at the University of Michigan, he was asked to be part of a research team to study American and Asian car manufacturers. One company stood out – Toyota. He then spent the next 20 years studying the Toyota Way – the management system responsible for them becoming the world’s leading manufacturer.

His first book, 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘯, summarized his research and introduced the Lean framework for waste reduction, operational excellence, and continuous improvement. That was in 1997 and it sold 40k copies in the first six months. Fast forward 24 years and the second edition of his 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘰𝘺𝘰𝘵𝘢 𝘞𝘢𝘺 book sells over 1M copies in the first six months!

This is less of an interview and more of a masterclass. Lessons include:

1) A summary of the 14 management principles of The Toyota Way,

2) Using perfection as a direction toward breakthrough results and not an end goal, and

3) What operational excellence means and looks like, and much more!

Find out why Dr. Liker says operations leaders should prioritize the underlying philosophy and scientific thinking of Lean over which tools to use. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from the author of the definitive guide on Lean production!

🔗 Links to Resources Dr. Liker recommends: https://businessinfrastructure.tv/2021/07/25/159-the-toyota-way-for-achieving-operational-excellence-a-masterclass-with-jeffrey-liker-ph-d  

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