MicroConf On Air

Staying sane as an entrepreneur is not always easy. In this episode, Rob talks with Sherry Walling to chat about the habits of successful entrepreneurs.   This episode is sponsored by our Alternative Financing Partner, Pipe. Do you need growth capital to scale, ramp up your marketing, and acquire new customers? Pipe turns your recurring revenue into up-front growth capital within as little as 24 hours of being connected. Pipe is a two-sided trading platform for recurring revenue that connects you directly to the capital markets. Simply sign up for free, securely connect your billing, banking, and accounting software with a couple of clicks, and Pipe will provide you with a trading limit in as little as 24hrs. Select the amount of capital you need, click trade, and get cash in your bank instantly. No 30 page business plans or founder due diligence - just growth capital based on the health of your business - perfect for time-strapped bootstrappers. You can use your Piped revenue to grow your sales team, boost ad spend, and scale however you see fit. Pipe is growth on your terms. And right now, MicroConf listeners get trading fees waived for 12 months which could save you tens of thousands of dollars depending on the size of your business and the volume you trade. Sign up at http://www.pipe.com/MicroConf to start trading today.   Topics covered: [3:45] Habit #1: Have a sense of intentionality in how you work [6:45] Habit #2: Focus- avoid Shiny Object Syndrome [7:45] Challenge with focus is the shadow side of a great entrepreneurial strength [10:15] Habit #3: Invest in relationships [13:45] Habit #4: Have something else to care about [15:45] Getting better sleep & ‘turning off’ after a day of work [16:45] Habit #5: Be willing ...

SEO is a numbers game. High value keywords can be identified and pages can be optimized to grow in the ranks, but once you have a gold standard asset set for a keyword, you may be able to take that work you put into that optimization and multiply the effects by using programmatic SEO.   Nico will cover how he has built an SEO machine using no-code, how to hone in on a replicable keyword, and what mechanics you need to rank for as many variations under that keyword to own its multiplying effect. Get the Slides   Join the State of Independent SaaS Live Stream where we present the results of the 2022 report. We'll be broadcast live from MicroConf Growth in Minneapolis on Monday, April 4th at 10:15 AM! Register at stateofindiesaas.com and use the promo code: SOIS2022 to register for free!   ...

If you are looking to start selling to customers and earning money on the internet - building a SaaS is rarely going to be the best way to get started. The Stair step Approach to Bootstrapping (microconf.com/stairstep) is a method that Rob Walling charted out in 2015 and it has helped thousands of entrepreneurs slowly build their chops online, find a way to buy back their time from an employer, and build a business that creates financial independence.   In today’s episode of MicroConf On Air, we’re going to take a look a prime example of the Stairstep Approach in Action by talking to Corey Haines (@CoreyHainesco https://twitter.com/coreyhainesco), who is currently leading Swipefiles (https://www.swipefiles.com/), a community focused on growth marketing strategies.   We’ll chat about Corey’s journey up the stair step method, from his two courses, content marketing as a funnel, community building to find his audience, and finally, his focus on SaaS marketing and increasing his prices to get to a position that has him Default Alive and building on the success of SwipeFiles.   Learn more about the stairstep approach straight from the source. https://microconf.com/latest/the-stairstep-approach-to-bootstrapping   In this episode, you'll hear the following: Corey's First Step: (9:20) What SaaS ideas Cory would avoid (13:00) How Corey acquired his marketing skills (16:45) Advice for marketing to customers who aren't that active online (21:50) Corey's Next Steps (29:05) Advice for absolute SaaS beginners (40:00) Leapfrogging early stair steps (41:30) Advice to consultancy owner on starting the stairsteps (44:40) Advice on translating websites (49:00)   Book mentioned in the show: The Ultimate Sales Machine (https://www.amazon.com/The-Ultimate-Sales-Machine-audiobook/dp/B000VRA0ZW/) by Chet Holmes ...

No-code is the word of the year, but the tools, processes, and ideas behind the movement have been around for years. As SaaS founders, we’ve been using no-code without calling it no-code for years. In this talk, we’ll cover some of the history of automations and linking tools, how it has evolved into the no code movement it is today, and where we see it going in the years to come. This recording is from MicroConf Remote 3.0. To see other past events and to get a copy of the slides, visit: https://microconf.com/remote Want to come to our next MicroConf Growth in Minneapolis? Tickets will sell out soon: https://microconf.com/growth Don't want to miss the next MicroConf Remote? Sign up for our mailing list: https://microconf.com/events ...

The Updated Survival Guide for Bootstrapping SaaS A few years ago, Omar Zenhom shared the story of how it went from being broke with fewer than 300 people on his email list to having 14,000 paying customers and 1 million attendees for WebinarNinja in 5 years.  We recently caught up with him to hear what he's been up to with WebinarNinja since then.  In this podcast, you'll hear about the following: Setting goals and managing growth projections (6:11) How WebinarNinja fared in the spring of summer of 2020 (6:57) The specific adjustments he made to the company structure when the pandemic first started back in 2020 (13:40) How his team structure has evolved since 2019 (26:55) Where he sees the webinar landscape heading in ...

How did Omar Zenhom go from being broke with fewer than 300 people on his email list to 14,000 paying customers and 1 million attendees in 5 years? Omar speaks about his journey from 0 to 14,000 customers, launching his podcast The $100 MBA, which won several prestigious awards from iTunes, Forbes, and Fast Company) and the journey of bootstrapping WebinarNinja The not-so-secret to his success was treating relationships as his biggest asset. In this podcast, you'll hear about the following: His early background when he had no traffic or audience Why he pivoted and launched a 2nd podcast, The $100 MBA How pain points he experienced with The S100 MBA led to the early idea behind WebinarNinja Creating the initial MVP for WebinarMBA as a first-time SaaS founder who wasn't a professional developer The compound effect of building and managing relationships at scale  ...