Appitalize On Your Idea: The Podcast

Be an expert and find your niche Happy Thursday everyone. Today on the Appitalize On Your Idea podcast I have Jerry Zigmont and Sam Valencia, who are both Apple Consultants and 2 of the three members of the Command Control Power podcast. The CCP team was at ACEs Conference this year to both do a presentation on Managed services and also taped a live episode of their wildly famous podcast. Today we discuss why they started the podcast. In their mind there wasn't a niche filled for Apple consultants. They bring on other experts to not only share their experience but the hosts themselves even learn new things from their customers. Much like how ACEs allows me to bring experts in, the goal of the conference was really to learn how to run my own consulting business. We also discuss monetization. Many people believe that if they start a podcast, like CCP and the Appitalize On Your Idea podcast, that the money starts rolling in. Joe, Sam and Jerry actually figure out who would be a good fit for their show and target those sponsors specifically. They also, as they say in the interview, never allow a sponsor who they haven't used the product from in some way first. The team is supposed to be the expert, and hence they need to provide the most correct and truthful answers to the Apple community. Ok enough reading - start listening to the episode! If you like the content in this episode please do leave a review in iTunes. Links Mentioned During the Show: Command Control Power's home page The Live show - first Tuesday of every month at 8pm CCP on Twitter Mac Geek Gab

Empower your Customers Hey Hey everyone! It's time for another great episode of the Appitalize On Your Idea podcast. Today we have Mac Spa owner Amy McKnight on. Amy was an attendee of the 2015 ACEs Conference who then turned into a speaker for the 2016 conference. Amy has a great angle on empowering customers. Many of us would believe that teaching a customer how to do something would eliminate the need for us, but not with Amy. She believes (and rightfully so) that if you empower your customer the return is 100 fold. Not only will that customer keep coming back, but they will more than likely spread the word about you and bring you new customers. So many of us believe that we need to sell hard to get the sale done. "Get the product into the customers hands", as it were. But honestly that's the wrong philosophy. Listen to Amy discuss passive income for her active job, and also about empowering your customers. If you like the content in this episode please do leave a review in iTunes. Links Mentioned During the Show: Mac Spa's home page Free trial of Mac Spa MD

Visualize the Spoon Happy Tuesday everyone, and welcome to another episode of Appitalize On Your Idea: The Podcast. Today we have Randy Krum, author of Cool Infographics and owner of InfoNewt, a company dedicated to data visualization and infographics. Randy and I discuss the reason for using infographics. So many times an infographic is incorrectly listed, as many just thing if it has pictures it's an infographic. On Randy's blog Cool Infographics, he posts about different types of graphics that are the right kind. So why use an infographic to tell your story? You know the phrase "A picture tells a 1000 words"? Imagine telling 1,000,000,000 words with just some simple graphics. Now there is a caveat (when isn't there one?). The story must be 1 cohesive story articulating 1 particular set of data. But don't just take my word for it. Listen to todays interview with Randy Krum. If you like the content in this episode please do leave a review in iTunes. Links Mentioned During the Show: InfoNewt Randy's Blog Cool Infographics - Randy's Book

Know Thyself Happy Tuesday everyone, and welcome to another episode of Appitalize On Your Idea: The Podcast. Today we have Peter Shankman, most famously known for the founder of HARO (Help a Reporter Out), and now a public speaker. Peter has a great grasp on customer service, and even has written the book on it - Zombie Loyalists. Peter's golden rule is to "hire for people". Hire people who can deal with people first and then teach them the technical aspects of their job. Peter has a new podcast out Faster Than Normal, where he discusses how he deals with ADHD in business. What's great about this is Peter being a public figure is bringing ADHD to the foreground, and helps entrepreneurs deal with their mental issues. If you like the content in this episode please do leave a review in iTunes. Links Mentioned During the Show: Peter's home page Faster Than Normal Zombie Loyalists book Shankminds The Mortons Story

Season 2! Ok so it's been a year or so since my last episode, but its are back! It could be worse. I could have followed the Sherlock seasons on BBC (for those who don't get it, there are 3 episodes a season and they are like 2 years apart!). So here goes again. Welcome to the Appitalize On Your Idea Podcast. This short re-introduction episode is to just explain what's been happening in the last year. Why I haven't produced the show, and what's been happening to me personally. Now that it's all out on the table I feel like a weight has been lifted off and we can speak more freely. In the last year I was diagnosed with clinically depression. It took a toll on my work, my relationships, and my body. I'm happy to report that I have been receiving treatment, and I'm in a MUCH better place now. I'm sharing this information because I want us to be honest with each other. The only way you can succeed is if you are honest with yourself and everyone around you. I urge you to check in with yourself. Get help if you need it. Don't bottle it up. Believing that if you push those feelings down will not make anyone or anything you work on any good. I also touched on my conference, the ACEs Conference which I just did for the second year. Once I starting having a healthy lifestyle, I was able to clear my mind and put on what I think was the best work I could do for this conference. With great content, over 100 entrepreneurs will now be able to increase their IT businesses. Topics ranged from IT related, to marketing, legal and customer service. I couldn't have asked for a better turnout. Welcome back to the Appitalize On Your Idea podcast and enjoy the ride! Interested in being on the podcast? Contact me!

Tell The Story Happy Monday everyone, and welcome to another episode of Appitalize On Your Idea: The Podcast. Today we have on Victor Agreda Jr, of Angry Dad Gamer and SuperPixel studios. Victor has done a lot of things in his life that has brought him to where he is now. Having started as just a commenter on a blog, turned him into the Editor-in-chief (yes I'm skipping a lot of that story here) and when that blog shut down he continued on telling stories with his comedy, his magic and now his new gaming web series. Victor mentions a great thing I want to share with everyone: Test, observe, and course correct. So often in business we think we know the path of least resistance. We know our product, we believe there is one clear way to get to the end goal, and go with blinders. That's usually never the case. Many times we have to be able to pivot. Pivoting is all part of the story though. Remember the last time you saw a horror movie? There was for sure a pivotal turn in the movie flipping your thoughts of what was going to happen on its head. That's telling the story! My thanks to Victor for not only being on the show but for letting me be a part of the The Unofficial Apple Weblog while it lasted. If you like the content in this episode please do leave a review in iTunes. Links Mentioned During the Show:Angry Dad GamerSuper Pixel StudiosTwitch.TVConnor Franta's You Tube Channel

Be a part of the process and give value up front. Welcome back Appitalizers. Now that the ACEs Conference is over, I'm back to bring you some great content and podcast episodes. We kick off the return with my good friend Tony Ubertaccio. Tony is a business strategist and consultant. He helps businesses by figuring out how to add value to the business. This could be anything from showing them how to capture emails, to social media strategy to brand positioning. Tony's goal is to help you as a business owner and entrepreneur keep your company fun and easy. He specifically targets people who love what they do. If you don't love what you do, you are in the wrong line of business. I like Tony's story because he talks about how he took his skills as a salesperson and was able to convert that into selling his knowledge. Tony read a lot of business books, and finally when the opportunity arose to use that knowledge he inadvertently sold himself on his first client. Tony talks about how companies need to share their story - and I believe this episode is a great way for Tony to share his story. You can see just how Tony add's value to his clients. Listen all the way to end as Tony gives away some goodies to the Appitalize listeners. Tony's Giveaway If you like the content in this episode please do leave a review in iTunes. Links Mentioned During the Show:Tony's homepageTony's Twitter pageTony's Giveaway

Alto's Adventure Today we have Ryan Cash from Snowman software on the podcast. Ryan and his team built an amazing game for iOS called Alto's Adventure. Ryan and I discuss how the game came to fruition, and the marketing strategy. I know a lot of you have been asking about how to go about building a game, so here's the episode for you! As in previous episodes, we discussed treating the app like a movie — releasing tidbits of the game in teasers and trailers, and then showing some behind the scenes such as how the game was built. Ryan learned how to build his audience using this method. Having posted a few things on the website, he was able to build up the anticipation for the game, much like a producer would for a big Hollywood blockbuster. My thanks to Ryan and the entire team at Snowman for releasing Alto's Adventure. Go play it today! If you like the content in this episode please do leave a review in iTunes. Links Mentioned During the Show: Snowman - Ryan's company Alto's Adventure - game site. Check out the easter egg with the bird flying around. Ryan's personal home page Ryan's Twitter page

Help advance your idea With today's episode, I have brought on Doug Fluckiger from Silver Creek Studio. Doug happens to be my outsourced graphic designer, but I didn't have him on to talk about us. I brought Doug on today to talk about how to find a graphic designer. With some great tidbits, Doug talks about finding someone who will not just do the graphics and be done, but will help you advance your idea. When you are outsourcing anything, you want someone who will be a partner on the project not just a "yes" man/woman. You want someone to ask questions about how the system is being constructed, or why do this instead of that. Doug isn't just a graphic designer — he's an idea man. As with choosing any outsourcing personal, look at things like feedback, ratings, and the portfolio. Doug happens to have a 4.92 rating with over 1000 job hours logged on oDesk so it was pretty easy for me to want to use his services when he bid on the project. I have to apologize in advance, we had to use a conference call system to have the interview, so it's not as sharp as previous episodes. If you like the content in this episode please do leave a review in iTunes. Links Mentioned During the Show: Silver Creek Studio - Doug's company Doug's oDesk Profile - you have to log into oDesk to see it.

Help advance your idea With today’s episode, I have brought on Doug Fluckiger from Silver Creek Studio. Doug happens to be my outsourced graphic designer, but I didn’t have him on to talk about us. I brought Doug on today to talk about how to find a graphic designer. With some great tidbits, Doug talks about finding someone who will not just do the graphics and be done, but will help you advance your idea. When you are outsourcing anything, you want someone who will be a partner on the...

Lawyers across the world! Today is a special episode of Appitalize On Your Idea the Podcast. We have on first time returning guest David Postolski, and his partner Susanne Somersalo on to talk about The Global Intellectual Properties Law Symposium The GIPLS is the first of it's kind. A three day event taking place March 30th-April 1st. The Symposium, being put on by Gearhart Law will bring nine lawyers from around the world together to answer questions about IP protection from around the world. Thinking about building a product? Think you want it to go global? You need to protect yourself. You need to make sure no one can steal your idea, or your design and sell it themselves. That's what patents are for, but you need a patent in every country. Lucinda Longcroft from the World Intellectual Property Organization will be on the panel - which I think is absolutely amazing. This is your opportunity to go and ask questions to these global lawyers for FREE! What can be better? Oh there will be food of course. Register today to sign up for the event. You do not want to miss it. If you like the content in this episode please do leave a review in iTunes. Links Mentioned During the Show: Global IP Law Symposium Registration page. For more information check out Appitalize On Your Idea.

Zen of Consulting Bruce Zutler of Venn Products Group joins us today on the Appitalize On Your Idea Podcast. Bruce is a mastermind when it comes to manufacturing, marketing, intellectual property and financing. Essentially if you want to start a business building a product, Bruce is the person to speak to. Bruce and I discuss the challenges of manufacturing. Using sites like Alibaba are great but there's so much more than just posting your idea and hoping someone across the world will make it. There are issues like materials, tooling, anticipated market and quantities. Bruce goes into the three elements of any new product. They are: If you were ever interested in manufacturing a product, this is the episode for you to listen to. If you like the content in this episode please do leave a review in iTunes. Links Mentioned During the Show: Bruces' Company - Venn ProductsInventors Association of Manhattan Meetup Page For more information check out Appitalize On Your Idea.

Ideas are not cheap On todays episode we have the wonderfully talented Michelle Tripp on to talk about how to market your product. Michelle's number one rule? Have a plan! A great line from the movie One Crazy Summer — "Without plan there is no attack, without attack there's no victory!" Michelle comes on today to talk about having a plan and the three tiers of them: • Objectives • Strategies • Tactics Michelle goes on to talk about how to tailor your message for the appropriate platform, and to not be cheap on social media. You need to share high value content. It's not about just spewing garbage (where have we heard that before? Oh right! Martin Waxman from episode 22 said the exact same thing. Two professionals are now telling the audience the same thing. It can't be a coincidence. It's true - share good, quality content. Michelle brings a lot of knowledge to the game, and I'm very excited to see her presentation at the SXSW V2V event this coming summer. Links Mentioned During the Show: Michelle's Twitter Page Michelle's LinkedIn Page Reyes Global For more information check out Appitalize On Your Idea.

Ideas are not cheap It's episode 30! Today we have on special guest Claudia Azula Altucher. Claudia is a two time best seller, and her latest book Become An Idea Machine has just been published. Claudia talks to us today about how to come up with ideas. "The Idea muscle is like any other muscle, it must be worked out." Claudia, and her husband James Altucher, make it a point to say that you need to come up with 10 ideas a day. It seems like a lot of work but it's not really. Claudia says, get it out of the way early in the morning, like going to the gym and be done. If you keep it up, you will not only have a list of ideas to work from, but you will be able to come up with new ideas at any time. Want some help with coming up with ideas? Claudia is giving away her book Become An Idea Machine. How much easier can it be to come up with a new idea? I've always said, the idea section of Appitalize On Your Idea is both the shortest and hardest chapter. Thanks to Claudia, it doesn't have to be! My thanks to Claudia for being on the show! Links Mentioned During the Show: Claudias Home Page Claudias Twitter Page Become An Idea Machine - Claudias book - free for you to download. For more information check out Appitalize On Your Idea.

The 22 year old Serial Entrepreneur Today I bring on Jeet Banerjee. Jeet, at 22 years old, has started multiple successful business, wrote a book, and has even spoke at TEDx! It amazes me how Jeet even has time to sleep! Jeet and I discuss how he gets through his days. Jeet talks about prioritizing your tasks. Figure out your day. What important things MUST get done first? Then he delves into something I think a lot of struggle with - figuring out your strengths and weaknesses. It's ok to be weak at something - but the goal would be to figure out how to find someone to fill in those weaknesses. I usually outsource, but Jeet doesn't always do that. Sometimes he actually hires someone temporarily. Jeet has some great experience even at his young age. I'm super glad to have had him on the podcast. Links Mentioned During the Show: Jeet's Home Page For more information check out Appitalize On Your Idea.

The Jigsaw Puzzle of Marketing Happy Monday! Today I'm glad to have on Annie Scranton of Pace Public Relations in NYC. Annie, whose name you heard back in episode 26, has graced us by bringing her PR knowledge to the Appitalize On Your Idea Podcast. Annie and I discuss the need for a Public Relations firm. While Annie's firm only works with media relations (which in my opinion in the most important type), there are firms out there that do everything from corporate communications to crisis control to social media. Annie's years of experience in TV has allowed for her to not only make a great network of connections, which can benefit each entrepreneur, but also the skills to pitch her network to get you on the shows you need to be on. While anyone can attempt to email their favorite bloggers, there's a point where those emails look less like pitches and more like begging. Annie's skills have allowed her clients to be on shows such as Good Morning America, The Today Show, Dr. Drew and be interviewed by famed Tech blogger David Pogue. Think you don't need a PR person? Think again! And when you are thinking about it - think about Pace Public Relations. Links Mentioned During the Show: Pace Public Relations Home Page Pace Public Relations Twitter page Annie Scrantons Twitter page For more information check out Appitalize On Your Idea.

Light Your Money on Fire! I'm so excited to bring on my mentor, Micah Baldwin on today's episode of Appitalize On Your Idea podcast. I wanted to bring Micah on to discuss something I have been asked a lot about. "How do I raise money for my company?" As someone who has only bootstrapped my ideas, I have never been able to give the right advice about it. Micah, who is a multi-successful entrepreneur who has raised money on many occasions. Micah talks about the things investors look for. This includes understanding the market, making sure the team is smart and operate inside the market. The last item is the product. Note how the product is the last thing an investor looks at. Knowing and understanding the market and the team are more important for investors. My thanks to Micah for taking the time to talk about this topic. Links Mentioned During the Show: Micah's About Me page Hackers and Hustlers - Micah's blog post about building a team Happiness is Not a 9 Letter Word - Micah's SXSW V2V presentation from 2013 Learn to Duck - Micah's Blog For more information check out Appitalize On Your Idea.

A secret Appitalizer Happy New Year everyone, and welcome back to the Appitalize Podcast. Today I have on my friend Mike Sorrentino. Mike is a secret Appitalizer. By this I mean, he followed all the ways to Appitalize on his idea without even knowing it. Mike is the inventor of the eyePatch case, a physical case for your mobile device with a slider to cover the camera. Mike came up with the idea while listening to the radio one night. He got a patent, and then outsourced the design and manufacturing and is in the works to outsource the sale and storage of the case. Can you be more of an Appitalizer?! Links Mentioned During the Show: eyePatch case Headfunder - Crowdfunding platform Mike used How Alibaba Works - making 280 pairs of pants For more information check out Appitalize On Your Idea.

Happy Holidays Everyone! Just a quick note from me to all of you, happy holidays and have a safe new year. This weeks podcast is a special one because I was able to get some of the past guests on to wish everyone a merry christmas, happy hanukah, happy kwanza and happy new year. Thanks to: Jason Womack Elizabeth and Richard Gearhart Martin Waxman David Postolski Jason Frasca Allen Hancock Michael Sorrentino Eyal Amir Warren Whitlock Matthew Hintz For more information check out Appitalize On Your Idea.

An entrepreneurial law firm for entrepreneurs Welcome back to another episode of Appitalize On Your Idea: The Podcast. Today I have on Richard and Elizabeth Gearhart of Gearhart law. I know we've had on a lot of lawyers lately, but the reason I wanted to bring these two on is to talk about how Gearhart law in and of itself an entrepreneurial venture. Gearhart law was born on the internet. After a move from Georgia, Richard (with the help of Elizabeth), opened the practice and took to the internet to find clients. Opening his doors to allow anyone to contact him regarding patents and protection questions. From there Richard, and Gearhart law took off. The practice has established itself as the leader for entrepreneurs in New Jersey. Elizabeth brings her knowledge of patents to the firm to help strength and convey not only the idea in question, but other ways to protect it. During the interview you will hear her talk about adding Wifi to a skateboard!!! I'm very excited to bring you todays episode with Richard and Elizabeth Gearhart. Links Mentioned During the Show:Gearhart Law WebsiteThe Patent Puzzle - The Gearhart Law IP blog For more information check out Appitalize On Your Idea.