Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Leveraging Cash 0:00: Leveraging cash to improve business operations. Leveraging cash to make the business run more smoothly by investing in systems, advertising, and employee retention. 1:50: Managing cash flow in business. Mercer and Jeff discuss how to manage cash flow in a business, with Mercer emphasizing the importance of keeping cash for a rainy day and Jeff highlighting the benefits of hiring ahead of the...

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Getting Outside Investment. 0:00: Mercer defines getting outside investment in a business as receiving cash from external investors in exchange for equity. Jeff says outside investment can come in the form of equity or non-equity investments, such as debt financing or royalty deals. Mercer shares some strategies for getting outside investment including validation, partnership, and stability, depending on the...

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is When to Hire a Business Coach 0:00: Hiring a business coach and their role in entrepreneurship. Business coaches provide objective advice and frameworks from an outsider's perspective. Jeff shares his experience with hiring a business coach, explaining that they started by taking courses and reading books before investing in one-on-one coaching. Mercer agrees, noting that there's a hierarchy of coaching options,...

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Minimum Viable Resources. 0:00: Mercer defines "minimum viable resource" as the bare minimum needed to prove a business concept. Jeff suggests using less expensive resources, such as those found on Fiverr, to complete tasks that do not require senior expertise, while still charging the same amount to clients. Sauer advocates for leveraging processes and systems to generate profits in business while minimizing...

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is One or Multiple Revenue Streams 0:00: Revenue streams and financial stability. Jeff defines multiple revenue streams as having multiple ways of money hitting your bank account every month. For stability, it's important to have multiple income streams, especially in personal finance, to avoid reliance on a single source of income. 2:01: Diversifying income streams for business and personal finance. Mercer compares...

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is the Power of Saying No in Business. 0.00: Mercer and Jeff discuss the power of saying no in entrepreneurship, with Mercer sharing how it's an essential skill to prioritize resources and focus. Mercer discusses three dimensions of saying no: supply, demand, and strategic value. Saying no to opportunities to focus on what's truly important. 2:52: Jeff believes quitting something that's not working can be...

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Reinvesting In Your Business 0:00: Jeff defines reinvesting as putting profit back into the business, such as into new products or growth. 1:45: Investing and reinvesting in a business. Jeff and Mercer discuss the concept of reinvesting profits in a business. Mercer believes that reinvesting profits is not always the best option, and it's important to consider the timeline and potential return on investment. Jeff...

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Time Tracking and Team Management 0:00: Time tracking for teams, pros and cons. Mercer thinks time tracking for a team involves using tools like Time Doctor or Harvest to measure time spent on tasks. Jeff does not use time tracking for his team, preferring to trust his team members instead. Jeff prioritizes trust and productivity in his management style, but acknowledges the limitations of not tracking time....

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Managing and Motivating Top Performers 0:00: Mercer and Jeff Sauer define top performers as individuals who bring in significant results with less stress, providing an exponential return on investment. Both Mercer and Jeff have experience as top performers and have seen how managing and motivating them can go well or poorly, depending on the approach. Mercer felt restricted by new CEO's strategy, leading to...

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Employee Compensation Strategies 0:00: Mercer and Jeff discuss employee compensation strategies with a 360 view. 0:56: Compensation plans and their importance in business. Mercer shares stories of compensation plans gone wrong, highlighting the importance of careful planning to avoid unintended consequences. Jeff recounts his experience with a poorly structured comp plan as a minority owner in his agency,...

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Hiring Top Performers 0:00: Jeff defines hiring a top performer, a 10x employee, a top 1% employee, and three other hires who are a great investment for the business and make you proud. 1:58: Top performers are born or they are molded. Top performers are born. They are either a top performer or they are not. The organization or the role that supports and nurtures their top performance is how they mold it into a...

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Roles vs People 0.00: The biggest piece of advice is to separate person from role. A person is an individual talents, a role is what you want them to get done right, and a job description is the other thing. 3:15: What is the minimum viable resource? One person can do three or four different roles, but the org chart looks smaller when there are four people for four pieces. The minimum viable resource is the...

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is AI How are businesses using it?1:08: Using generative AI for research. AI is most likely using generative AI in order to come up with research ideas and write content to save time in the process. AI is another way to automate stuff, even if it is just automating words, like writing 300 word blog posts. Mercer uses chatbot for brainstorming and creating new ideas for the human side of the process. He also uses it...

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Working With a Bookkeeper 0:00: What does it mean to work with a bookkeeper? Mercer shares the way he has approached it over the years, the different phases of his business, and how he has learned a little bit about it. A bookkeeper is someone who keeps track of your financials, the accounting of your business. The bookkeeper's job is to organize everything so it's in the right slot. He had been freelancing for a...

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Contracts How and Where Do You Use Them 0:00: What is a contract and why is it important? Jeff defines a contract as a formal agreement between two entities, people, companies or whatever you want to call it. 1:56: Using contracts as a sales tool. A contract is useful in the beginning, because when things go poorly, emotions creep in and the contract is written at a different time when everybody is in a...

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Pricing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them 0:00: Mercer defines what comes to mind for him when he hears a pricing mistake. Jeff talks about pricing mistakes, including not putting the pricing on the buy button, and how that can lead to communication issues. Pricing for services is based on an estimate of effort and the team trying to get a margin in there, and also trying to maximize the profit. When providing a...

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is Managing for Profit. 0:00: How do you think about managing for profit? The whole purpose is to exchange value with the marketplace, and at the end of the day, it should cost us less than what they gave us so that we can have that extra for profit. The team has a lot of say in the finances of the business right now. 3:54: Managing for profit by setting expectations. One way to manage expectations is through KPIs...

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is the idea of working with an executive assistant. 0:00: What is an executive assistant? Mercer shares his thoughts on having an assistant and what it can do for you and the value you get out of it. Jeff talks about the misconceptions around having an an assistant. The difference between a virtual assistant and an executive assistant, and how they are different. How hiring an assistant is a life hack and exponential...

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered, today's topic is Project Management. 2:32 : Project Management Learnings. The story of how they started working together. The idea of the ideal workday. Why a task should never be completed. A hack to change the language process. 6:22: How to create a virtual desk. The second half of the story. A productivity reporting system for the team. Using project management terms to have a better conversation. Creating an evergreen, evergreen environment....

Welcome back to Business Unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer today's topic is planning out an ideal work day. 1:48 : How do you plan your ideal day? How to plan the day. Evaluate yourself and how to be productive. Balancing time and energy to end the day with energy and accomplishment. The importance of time blocking and having control of your time. 7:04 : Planning for the end of the day. The importance of planning for the end of the day. The biggest challenge is planning for more than just...

Welcome to the Business Unfiltered Podcast 0:00: How do you define social media strategies? How Jeff defines social media strategies. Focus on one social media platform. The shiny object syndrome and how to overcome it. 3:41: How to choose a channel. How to choose a YouTube channel. The importance of research before choosing a channel 6:22: The value exchange of value on You Tube. Tribal marketing and co-producing content with other brands. The importance of consistent brand content and an...

Welcome to business unfiltered with Mercer and Jeff Sauer. 0:00: What does it mean to buy your time back? The idea of buying time back. 2:23: Strategies for buying your time back. Categorize the strategy by category at a time. Hiring a generalist to balance you and your business. Finishing out day-to-day activities. 6:06: A perfect use case for this technique. Invoicing for high-ticket clients. The mental energy that comes from sending invoices. Half of people are still sending their own...

0:24: What is an sop? SOP, the operating manual of the business. Why sops need to be updated. 2:59: The difference between a sop and project plan. The difference between an sop and a project plan. Keeping an SOP up to date. 5:25: Do you attach sops to every task on a project? The distinction between assigning sops and trust. Putting more trust in the individual. The broken windows theory with subway cars. Taking out the trash everywhere. 10:01: How often do you keep your sop up to date?...

Welcome back to business unfiltered. 0:02: When you should generate leads using cold outreach. 1:33: The difference between spam and cold outreach. The definition of spam and cold outreach. Cold outreach is not a bad thing. Strategies to get over the lumpiness of revenue. How cold outreach could be used. 4:46: Cold Outreach as a way to bring in new people. Using cold outreach as a way to create relationships. Relationships are more important than just sending messages. Spam is a numbers...

0:00: How do you define your team? How to determine the size of a team. The importance of team size. 2:05: How to shorten the runway for your business? The two ways to get out of your comfort zone. Hiring outside of comfort zones. 4:56: The good news is that you have money coming in. In business, there is money coming in. You have to have faith. 8:30: The first level of decisions are about the founder. The timeline element of the decision-making process. How the timeline affects the...