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Business Infrastructure - Curing Back Office Blues

Business & Economics Podcasts

Growth is not a bad thing. But too much growth, too fast presents a set of challenges often overlooked when discussing small businesses. The emphasis tends to center on the marketing and promotion necessary to grow your business, and not on the operations and business infrastructure needed to scale your business in a sustainable manner. These back office operations can make or break your business. The Business Infrastructure show provides solutions and real life stories to owners and operators of fast growing small businesses seeking practical tips for dealing with growth spurts.

Growth is not a bad thing. But too much growth, too fast presents a set of challenges often overlooked when discussing small businesses. The emphasis tends to center on the marketing and promotion necessary to grow your business, and not on the operations and business infrastructure needed to scale your business in a sustainable manner. These back office operations can make or break your business. The Business Infrastructure show provides solutions and real life stories to owners and operators of fast growing small businesses seeking practical tips for dealing with growth spurts.
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Location:

United States

Description:

Growth is not a bad thing. But too much growth, too fast presents a set of challenges often overlooked when discussing small businesses. The emphasis tends to center on the marketing and promotion necessary to grow your business, and not on the operations and business infrastructure needed to scale your business in a sustainable manner. These back office operations can make or break your business. The Business Infrastructure show provides solutions and real life stories to owners and operators of fast growing small businesses seeking practical tips for dealing with growth spurts.

Language:

English

Episodes

215: Scales Tales | New Zealand and Beyond - How Troy Trewin Scaled an Online Course for Distilleries

8/14/2022
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...

Duration:00:23:16

214: Scale Tales | Go-To-Market - How Michiko Wolcott Re-Engineered a Tech Company's Process and Boosted Revenue

8/7/2022
When Michiko Wolcott started her consultancy in 2015, it was rare to find someone like her who was interested in exploring the human side of data. Armed with a personal mission to “do data better,” she was determined to successfully blend her roles as a technologist and a humanist to understand why some companies fail to scale. In her quest to answer that question she taught herself the mechanics of process mapping and lean thinking. And that’s when she realized the reason why some...

Duration:00:28:57

213: Scale Tales | From the Ground Up - How Richard Blank Built Costa Rica's Call Center

7/31/2022
While his friends pursued careers in fields like law, medicine, and technology, Richard Blank went in a completely different direction – language. In fact, his love of language and communications led him to study abroad for one semester in Spain. That experience changed the trajectory of his life. A few years after graduating from university, he accepted an offer to conduct training at a call center in Costa Rica. At 27 years old he decided to call Costa Rica home. That was over 20 years...

Duration:00:31:12

212: Scale Tales | Ep. 212: Ripple Effect – Liz Bloomfield Explains the Power of Storytelling to Maximize Social Impact

7/24/2022
“Smoke from indoor cooking fires is the leading cause of death for women and children under age 5 in the developing world.” This episode’s scale tale takes us to Guatemala where a local organization resolves to prevent this tragedy. How? That’s where Ripple Effect Images comes into play. By leveraging their ecosystem of filmmakers, editors, photographers, donors, and fundraisers, they were able to show and tell a local Guatemalan community’s stories about unsafe indoor cooking to scale...

Duration:00:24:11

211: Scale Tales | Web 2.0 – How Darrell Evans and His Team Scaled an Auto Body Shop with Digital Marketing

7/17/2022
“Never take advice from someone who has nothing to lose by giving it.” That quote comes from investor, business coach, and digital marketing aficionado, Darrell Evans. It’s a credo that guides him in giving practical tips, tactics, and strategies that lead to profitable results. Over 20 years ago, a bright-eyed Darrell finished college with a degree in finance and an expectation to do big things on Wall Street. As fate would have it, his first job instead landed him in financial sales where...

Duration:00:24:35

210: Scale Tales | Uncharted Territory – How Marianne Rutz Grew a Retail Company’s Revenue Through Excellent Customer Support

7/10/2022
As Europe’s leading contact centre expert, Marianne Rutz knows all too well the roller coaster of entrepreneurship. Her career in customer support began in 1999, quite by accident when she accepted a project manager position with Hertz in their contact centre. Leveraging her background in travel and tourism and the interactions she had with people made her a natural fit for this position. Eventually, her determination to showcase more of her leadership skills found her at another company...

Duration:00:28:49

209: Scale Tales | From Fail to Scale to Sell - How Curt Anderson Grew and Sold an e-Commerce Floral Company

7/3/2022
Picture it – the year is 1990 and Curt Anderson is full of hopes and dreams. However, those dreams are deferred when he accepts his father’s request to take over their family-owned floral business. At the time the business was bankrupt and in desperate need of financial resuscitation. Curt spends the next several years grinding and doing everything he can to save the business from ruin. Just when it seems all hope is lost, he discovers a lifeline that will change the trajectory of both his...

Duration:00:23:33

208: The Top 12 | How to Streamline Repetitive Tasks with Robotic Process Automation (RPA) featuring Dean Hamilton

6/26/2022
Does hearing about robots or robotic technology trigger doomsday images of nonhuman entities taking over with unbridled power? That fear is often rooted in the unknown. And that’s why technologists like Dean Hamilton are so important. Part debunking and part educational, it also explains why this episode is one of our most downloaded. Dean is a Partner and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Wilson & Perumal. With over 30 years of experience, he has a firsthand account of the evolution of...

Duration:00:48:52

207: The Top 12 | What is EOS and How Does it Lead to Operational Excellence? Lynda Martin Explains

6/19/2022
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....

Duration:00:52:06

206: The Top 12 | The Toyota Way for Achieving Operational Excellence with Dr. Jeffrey K. Liker

6/12/2022
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. * 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...

Duration:01:27:53

205: The Top 12 | How Amal Hassan Scaled Outsource Global into Africa's Top BPO Provider

6/5/2022
Nigeria produces over 1M graduates annually. But many of them leave the country because there aren’t enough local jobs to hire them. Amal Hassan wanted to change that. She set out to start a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) contact center that would employ some of these graduates. She started it three different times only to be forced to shut down and relocate. The fourth time was the charm! * In fact, Amal’s living proof of the tenacity required to build, grow, and scale a business....

Duration:00:59:08

204: The Top 12 | How to Uncover Root Causes of Chaotic Growth with Lauren Hisey

5/29/2022
Lauren Hisey thought she wanted to be a lawyer until she took some law classes and realized she didn’t have a passion for it. A chance encounter working at a call center while in college helped her discover that her true love was in operations. This love is evident as she recounts her operational journey and likely explains why her original interview made it to our list of the Top 12 most downloaded episodes. * Eventually, Lauren went on to have a successful career working at AT&T and...

Duration:00:53:24

203: The Top 12 | Business Infrastructure Lessons I Learned in Cuba with Alicia Butler Pierre

5/22/2022
Hi! I'm Alicia, host and producer of the Business Infrastructure podcast, and I have a confession to make. * 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. * 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...

Duration:00:18:06

202: The Top 12 How to Create an Operational Excellence Culture in a Tech Startup with Hassan Dantata

5/15/2022
Hassan Dantata is a promising young entrepreneur who made a lasting impression on us here at the Business Infrastructure podcast. Considering his tenacious spirit, high energy, and warm personality, it’s no surprise that his original interview also made it to our list of the top 12 most downloaded. * Ten years ago, Hassan found himself alone in a hospital room. He’d just had a bone marrow transplant that required isolation for two months with a 50/50 chance of survival. With nothing but...

Duration:00:51:57

201: The Top 12 | How to Scale Your Personal Brand & Become a Recognized Expert - Tips from Dorie Clark

5/8/2022
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. * As a consultant or service-based professional, scaling your unique skills and subject matter expertise may seem impossible. However, Dorie is...

Duration:00:46:45

200th Episode! Meet the Business Infrastructure Podcast Team + Special Guest, Jared Easley

5/1/2022
For the past four years, this show has consistently aired every week, not missing a beat. This consistency is only a part of our success formula. Other factors include amazing guests, subscribers and listeners like you, and an all-star team! * 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...

Duration:00:34:12

199: The Top 12 | Mohammad Ali Ajlouni Shares Everything You Need to Know About COOs

4/24/2022
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. * 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...

Duration:01:07:53

198: The Top 12 | My Business is Small...Why Does It Need Business Infrastructure? Alicia Butler Pierre Explains.

4/17/2022
This was the second episode to ever air on the Business Infrastructure podcast in 2018! It’s one of our Top 12 most downloaded episodes to date… * Being insane isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially when it comes to managing fast growth in your small business. Find out why in this episode as Alicia Butler Pierre makes the case for insanity in your business operations and why business infrastructure is vital to not just talking about taking your business to the next level, but actually...

Duration:00:19:47

197: The Top 12 | What is Six Sigma Operational Excellence Dr. Frank Barsi

4/10/2022
It’s no surprise that Dr. Frank Barsi’s interview made our list of the Top 12 most downloaded episodes. The covid-19 pandemic and the associated supply chain disruptions offered a wellspring of interest in Lean and Six Sigma quality frameworks. Discussions around operations, once confined to the back office, have now earned their rightful place in the forefront of critical decisions made by technicians, front-line managers, and executives alike. * Back in the early 1970s, Dr. Barsi escaped...

Duration:01:09:38

196: The Top 12 | What is a COO? Maria Jones Explains

4/3/2022
It’s a brand new season on the Business Infrastructure podcast – Season 16! In nearly four years, there’s so much to celebrate especially as we approach our 200 episode. That’s why this season we’re reflecting on our success factors starting with you, our loyal listeners and subscribers, as well as our top-notch guests. In that spirit, we’ve compiled a list of the top 12 most downloaded episodes to date and will re-air them this season (in no particular order). * First up is the episode...

Duration:00:35:37

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