On this episode of The Small Business Radio Show…

We first talk about all the F words that come up every day when running a small business. No you don’t have to cover your ears; these are words like Fear, Failure, and Fatigue. Our first guest talks about not preventing these words from coming up, but redefining them so you can be successful.

Then, we talk with a successful business owner about how he has dealt with addiction in his life. We discuss how to take ownership of addictions – alcohol, drugs, food, gambling, working too many hours, just to name a few – and move on, while managing addiction triggers.

Finally, we talk with one of the pioneers of email marketing about the evolution of his email marketing company over the past 20 years, what he’s learned along the way, and best practices for small businesses who are sending marketing emails.

Listen to The Small Business Radio Show

Segment 1: Fabi Preslar is the owner and president of SPARK Publications, a national, award-winning, custom design firm specializing in niche magazines and independently published books. She was named 2017 Woman Business Owner of the Year by the National Association of Women Business Owners – Charlotte Chapter, and the firm was honored as the 2018 First-Generation Family Business of the Year by the Charlotte Business Journal. She is the author of the new book The Fabulous F Words of Business Ownership: Redefining Choice Words to Fuel Your Small Business.

2:15 – The F words that can hold small business owners back (no, you don’t need to cover your ears).

3:45 – Redefining Fear for small business owners.

5:30 – What losing a business can do to a family and way of life; Fabi has seen it first-hand.

7:45 – How should small business owners communicate hard times with family?

9:15 – What does it mean to face your ego in small business?

10:45 – Redefining Failure for small business owners.

13:00 – Redefining Fatigue for small business owners.

14:15 – What does it mean to Focus in small business?

Segment 2: John Collopy, author of the book The Reward of Knowing, is the owner and broker of RE/MAX Results and its 38 offices across Minnesota and Wisconsin.  With annual sales of more than $5.3 billion, RE/MAX Results is now one of the largest RE/MAX franchises in the world.

20:30 – Why do people struggle with addictions? What purpose do they serve in our lives?

22:00 – What was your “moment of truth” where you decided you needed help?

23:30 – How did you build up your successful RE/MAX business after your sobriety?

25:00 – What was the biggest encouragement for you in your recovery?

28:00 – Advice for small business owners who are going through a hard time and leaning on addictions to get them through.

33:30 – What do you do when you find yourself sliding back into an addiction?

Segment 3: Tom Kulzer is the founder and Chief Executive Officer at AWeber, the leading small business email marketing software, where he is actively involved in the company’s strategic direction, growth and evolution. Since the company’s start in 1998, Tom has nurtured it from a small start-up to a robust organization serving over 100,000 customers, all without public or venture funding. Tom laid the foundation for AWeber while working at a computer hardware firm in the mid-1990s, where he realized sales prospects were falling through the cracks due to lack of proper follow up.

38:00 – What was the inspiration to create the AWeber email marketing software in the 90s?

39:30 – What did the first version of AWeber email marketing software look like?

40:15 – What have you learned along your 20 year journey with email marketing technology?

41:00 – What is different about email marketing now than 5 years ago?

43:30 – Tips for small business owners who want to be effective with email marketing.

45:15 – What is the right frequency to be sending marketing emails?

47:15 – How should you handle unsubsribers from your email list?

48:30 – How can you troubleshoot email marketing spam complaints?

51:00 – Why do your customers choose AWeber over other email marketing software?

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