Bigger Business Book Club: 02

There's nothing quite like opening up an inspirational book to get your creative business minds cranking. Here's our second roundup of business management books we recommend taking a peak at that will benefit you and your business:

• The Lean Start Up by Eric Ries - "Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs - in companies of all sizes - a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it’s too late. Ries provides a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups in a age when companies need to innovate more than ever."

• From Idea to Exit by Jeffrey Weber - "From Idea to Exit takes a more comprehensive approach, tackling the entire entrepreneurial journey from the initial seed idea through a well-planned exit strategy. Through a persuasive narrative, the author draws from his own success a practical call to action for those who dream of taking that first big step."

• The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki - "Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, small-business owner, intrapreneur, or not-for-profit leader, there's no shortage of advice on topics such as innovating, recruiting, fund raising, and branding. In fact, there are so many books, articles, websites, blogs, webinars, and conferences that many startups get paralyzed, or they focus on the wrong priorities and go broke before they succeed. "

How I Started a Dog Walking Business Turned Tech Company

Nobody understands what it’s like to have your hands so full of dogs, that you don’t even have time to change your pants after a dog lifted his leg on you at the dog park. Or what it’s like to spend time with so many happy dogs all day, but to come home exhausted and covered in dog hair and slobber. It’s a labor of love and it can be the hardest and the best job ever.

You might have fallen into dog walking like I did. I have always loved dogs and I’ve always loved people too. When I was at UCSD, I missed my dogs back home so much that I decided to help out my neighbors with their dogs. Before I knew it, I was walking dogs on almost every street in La Jolla. By the time I graduated, I was walking 30 dogs per day and that’s when I decided to turn DogZenergy into a professional business.

My goal:

To create the best and biggest dog walking agency in San Diego so that I could spread my love to hundreds of dogs.

My biggest hurdle:

Fear and burnout.

In the first few years of running my business, I was happy, but tired. After walking all day from 7am-8pm without any breaks, it was exhausting to come home and do the busy work. The last thing I wanted to do was work on the schedule, create invoices, and get back to customer requests. I felt like I was stuck on a hamster wheel of the daily grind.

One day, one of my favorite clients was extremely upset when I handed her a late invoice. She said to me, “Brittany, you are not a businesswoman, you are a dog walker.” These words really stung. I put my whole life into being the best dog walker that I could be, but it was true. I was not running a streamlined business. I was behind on invoicing, I had no systems in place, and I had no help. I felt like I was drowning. A friend of mine told me to read The E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber and this book really changed my life. In the book, Gerber explains that you have to work “on” your business and not just “in” it. You can’t just be a dog walker, you have to be a mindful business owner too. You need systems and processes so that you can hire a team and bring on more customers without compromising your quality of service.  

It sounded easy enough, I needed to build a team. But how do I trust them? How do I know that every dog got walked and no mistakes were made? How do I not get cut out? That’s when I started searching for the perfect software, but couldn’t find it. When Uber and other on-demand apps came out, I really wanted to get my hands on the same technology for my business. So I decided to pack the last ten years of trying to make my life easier into one easy, simple to use mobile business platform called Handlr.

With the Handlr business dashboard and connected team app and customer app, you can seamlessly handle the following:

• Automate scheduling and dispatching of your dog walkers

• Keep track of your client list. See revenue and satisfaction ratings per client.

• Keep track of your dog walkers’ performance ratings

• Receive check in and check out alerts and GPS track your walkers

• Three-way chat between you, your dog walker and your client so that phone numbers are not shared.

• You and your clients can see photos and updates about their dog’s day and share them on social media.

• Easy client registration and safe, encrypted, credit card payment

• No more invoicing. Get paid right away.

• Always know how your business is performing with revenue reports.

• See new customers magically drop themselves into your schedule.

Now my business is running completely on auto-pilot and we have 15 dog walkers and hundreds of clients using the Handlr app. Our clients are booking our services on the app 20% more than they did before and we are growing faster than we can hire. We’re on track to do a million dollars in sales this year. And now you can gain control over your business by using Handlr too.

If you’re interested in applying to join Handlr click here.

We look forward to handling business with you!

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Britt Alwerud lives in Los Angeles, CA with her menagerie of animals - two goldens, Daisy and Taj, two cats, Tiger and Monkey, and two horses named Gracie and Moo. Britt owns DogZenergy in San Diego, CA. Now she is the full-time Founder and CEO of Handlr. Learn more at myhandlr.com/petprofessionals or email her at britt@myhandlr.com.

Ch. 12 of the Comprehensive Checklist for Growing Your Business: Creating the Sizzle

Creating content for your business’ social media channels is a fun way to get creative while engaging your customers. My colleagues: content is all around us. It is everything you do for your business. Every conversation you have with your clients, every email sent, in every customer complaint we take -  there’s a story and a lesson to be learned within all of those small details we tend to overlook.

There are a few key pointers to touch base on while we’re sourcing content.

Offer a variety of rich content for your audience.

• Rich content is really the focus here. We want the information we share with others to be saturated with unique things that they may not have known before. Offering a variety of information, whether it’s a compilation of quotes, infographics, surveys or interviews, makes it a pot of gold for your customers to hit that, “share” button.

Make it look professional.

• It’s pretty awkward visiting a business’ page only to find dark, grainy photos with harsh filters. Photography isn’t everyone’s forte and that’s quite okay. Just keep in mind to consider the composition, clarity, and color of the image. If those words already have you spinning, consider using an app to enhance your photos! Some of our favorite photo editing apps that make it easy to create beautiful images are VSCO, Photo Editor by Aviary, and the good old photo editing options on your iPhone.

• If you’re looking for something more involved like making a video for your business, hiring a local videographer might just be the solution. A videographer can help wonders in terms of figuring out frames, angles, and a smooth storyboard to better tell your story.

• Check out some of Handlr’s videos from our YouTube Channel:

Ballin’ on a Budget?

• Get creative with your iPhone and capture moments yourself! If you need inspiration, see some of the greatest photography shot with the iPhone that Apple compiled here.

Be persistent!

It's easy to throw in the towel when your content isn't picking up traction - but that's expected. Marketing Ninja, Mike Linville of BlackDogMarketing assures us that it takes about 12-18 months before the traffic begins to pick up. He suggests a couple things to help speed up the process:

• Strategize on how to share your content. (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Stumbleupon)
• The 5 Day Strategy - promoting your content for 5 days for maximum exposure on different channels.
• Sell the sizzle, then the steak. Give your customers what they want, then reel in the traffic with the information they need.

Just remember to inform and/or inspire your audience and make it relevant to your them.  After all, if you’re spending all this time creating posts and writing articles that no one pays attention to, it’s absolutely a waste of time. Be genuine, and try not to overthink about the process. Social media is creative, fun and a great growing process for your business. Ready, Set, Create!

Business Spotlight: Tranquil Home

This week's Business Spotlight is Tranquil Home based out of San Diego, California! Nicola is co-partner of this home cleaning service that has been using the Handlr mobile business management platform for 5 strong months. We asked her a few questions on her journey of starting this business.

1. How did you start your business? Bootstrapping, I started literally with zero resources and used only what I could obtain through either trade, or doing the work myself to get started. Seven months in, I asked my childhood friend Erin if she would like to partner with me. Erin and I then bootstrapped together, and slowly but surely established a solid business.

2. What was your biggest struggle in the process? Finding the appropriate business model for Tranquil Home, and just learning dozens and dozens of tiny lessons that all were road blocks but now we use that knowledge to grow faster and more efficiently.

3. What’s your favorite inspirational quote? "Forget past mistakes and forget failures. Forget everything except what you are going to do now and do it." -- William Durant

4. Which historical person do you most look up to?  The one that sticks out in my mind is Joan of Arc. The film, "The Messenger" about her is one of my favorites! I admire people that have enormous amounts of conviction like that. Granted she was leading people to war, which I don't condone - but you kind of have to stand back in awe at that level of passion. Plus the fact that it was 1492 and managed to get a man, let alone hundreds of them to follow her into war is pretty amazing.

5. If you could be an animal, what would you be and why? Definitely a bird, preferably one that doesn't get prayed on much so I would say maybe an Eagle. I love the thought of flying around free, it sounds so liberating and non-stressful.

6. What does your typical weekday look like? It varies day to day, however usually a minimum of 5 hours work starting at around 9am. I try to get in a work out at least 3 x a week.

7. How many hours do you spend on marketing, sales, scheduling, employee/contractor management, customer communication, accounting, business development, other? 25-40 hours a week on a combo of all the above. However, my business partner Erin focuses more on the accounting side, and I try to work day-to-day on at least hiring, and or marketing/tweaking our website in addition to editing our calendar, customer service, answering phones, following up with clients, etc.

8. What’s your favorite business hack? Working when I’m in the mood. I really do well with late night working. My brain has slowed down by the end of the day so I can focus easier.

9. What does your morning routine look like? Well, I would like to say its a morning jog, followed by a healthy smoothie but honestly it's not. Most days, it involves rushing out the door.

10. Where do you see your business in 5 years? I see it becoming easier and much more profitable. We learn so much every month. In 5 years, I think we will really have our act together. We are aiming for 1MM in sales this year, so to have a sales revenue of over 2-3 MM in 5 years would be a great goal.  

11. If you could do anything right now, what would it be and why? Vacation for sure, maybe a drive up the coast. I love the feeling of returning home after a vacation, refreshed and ready to work.

12. If you could go back and change anything when you first started your business, what would it be and why? I would take advice from other successful people but maybe not as seriously. No one knows your business better than you, and while, yes, other successful people can, and do have great advice I wish I didn't take  it as gospel. I would have joined an, "association" related to my business earlier. I also would not have let fear of breaking every tiny rule be the main motivator behind hasty decisions. I would have also read the E Myth earlier!

Are you a fearless entrepreneur? Here's 3 tactics for overcoming fear.

Britt Alwerud

A few weeks ago I sat in an audience of 40 other business CEOs and founders and listened to Mike Jones of Science, Inc. say the words, “Are you doing something right now that makes you money?”. This quote ended up on my whiteboard as a constant reminder to stay on track and work on tasks that make me money instead of make me busy. Which is ironic, because right now I’m writing a blog post instead of calling a hundred small businesses to spread the word about Handlr. The truth is, starting a business is completely overwhelming. It’s like staring up at a massive mountain and thinking, “How the hell am I going to scale this thing?”. The answer? One step at a time. Mike shared with us that success rides on two basic principles: sales and an unfaltering belief in your business’ potential for growth.

The bottom line is that fear is the enemy when it comes to sales and believing in your success. It’s scary as all hell to cold call people or to walk up to strangers with your card in hand. It's nerve-wracking to put your idea out into the world. It’s scary to hear the truth and the truth is, not everyone is going to love your idea. It’s scary to put your whole life savings (and wedding fund if you're like me) into a new crazy idea and it’s scary to think that there’s a possibility that not a single soul will want to sign up for your new app. Fear is a bitch. It can paralyze you and make you want to crawl up into a ball.

Owning my own business for the last 9 years and starting a new one, has been quite the roller coaster. It’s the best feeling in the world to be financially independent and to grow something from nothing, but it’s also scary to see your bank account near zero and to have so many employees relying on you to pay their living wages. It’s sometimes terrifying to shoulder so much responsibility for your business, your employees, your business’ reputation and your own living expenses. But it’s so worth it and the last 9 years have taught me so many lessons in bitch slapping fear in the face. I’m not going to lie, I have moments of panic, every entrepreneur does, but I now know how to stand up to my fear and most importantly, I know how to change my mindset.

The only thing that we have control over in life is our own mind. We have the power to choose the way we want to think about things. Dog training has taught me to train my own brain. I can train myself to approach difficult matters confidently, objectively, logically and without fear (ok, most of the time). Today we aren’t running from saber tooth tigers or wolves to survive, but we are still experiencing varying degrees of stress to make it in the modern world. You can think about stress as something negative, or you can change your mind about it and think of it as a motivator to keep you moving forward. Some stress is good, it keeps you going. It’s just important to keep it in check and not become paralyzed by it. I’ve found that 1) perspective, 2) progress, and 3) balance, keeps stress in check and fear at bay.

#1 Perspective in life is everything. It’s really the only thing that we truly have control over in life.  You can choose to think about things any way that you want. You choose to be scared, unknowledgeable, ungrateful, panicked, or clueless, or you can choose to be confident, knowledgeable, grateful, poised and clued in. You can be these things by taking action and taking control of your thoughts. To do this you must be self-aware and reflective in order to make a conscious effort to cancel out the negative and change it to a positive. Being scared or panicked is caused by a stressful response based on something that happened to you in the past or because of staring at the unknown future. Being in the present moment and taking one tiny step at a time toward your goal is really all that you can do and is completely do-able. You can look at a giant mountain that needs to be climbed, or you can look at your own two feet and put one ahead of the other. This perspective will propel you forward instead of become stuck in a quagmire of fear. Being grateful for being on your own two feet and being thankful to be on your personal journey of learning and growing will keep your perspective healthy and manageable. Like the old saying goes, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” Where you think you’re going to end up isn’t always the case and worrying about the future just slows progress.

#2 Progress is another key to keeping fear in check. Checking off little goals and tasks gets you one step further on your hike to the top. Everyone starts somewhere and overnight success is a rarity, not the norm. I have a tendency to look at the big picture and end goal way too often and fear sets in. Changing my perspective to what I can do today, keeps the fear in check. I have to remind myself that DogZenergy started as Wagz n’ Wigglz on my street with just a handful of dogs and that it took a few years to walk a dog on every single street in all of La Jolla and greater San Diego. We all start somewhere and progress is made when we keep on moving.

#3 Keeping life in balance is an art form and is the key to staying calm, brave and laser focused. Even though I can’t juggle, I have an imaginary Brittany in my head who is a fantastic juggler. She juggles a lot of balls. There’s one for my family, friends, Handlr, DogZenergy, pets, fitness, fun, health, mindfulness and learning. I am happiest and most brave when all of these balls are up in the air. If I drop one, a few others start dropping and then I’ve lost all my balls and marbles. Luckily I have ball obsessed golden retrievers who help me pick up my metaphorical balls. This is sounding weird and somewhat dirty. Getting back on track here… it’s tricky to keep your life in balance, but especially as an entrepreneur, it’s essential to take care of yourself to be the best version of yourself. You are your business and your business needs you. You don’t have time to be worrying and fretting about the future or whether or not things are going to turn out the way that you want them to. You just need to keep it all in perspective, make progress and stay balanced.

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“Fear can only grow in darkness. Once you face fear with light, you win.” -Steve Maraboli”

Business Handlr Spotlight: Mrs. Owl's Tutors

Meet Vanessa. She's our Business Spotlight of the week and one of the many, new business owners that just on-boarded her business onto Handlr. Vanessa operates a tutoring business in North County San Diego, and we are so excited to watch her business grow with us. We asked her a couple questions about her journey of starting her business and what inspires her to keep growing.

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Q. How did you start your business?

A. I started my business by saying “Yes” to opportunities. I was a newly credentialed substitute teacher struggling to get a job in a poor job market for San Diego teachers. I had begun tutoring to supplement my income and made the big decision to stop substitute teaching and focus on tutoring. After 3 years, my schedule was packed and I was still getting new student requests so I decided to start Mrs. Owl’s Tutors and bring on like-minded tutors to help me out. Three years later, we continue to grow and I now have a part time office manager and part time office assistant! We have over 50 students now!

Q. What was your biggest struggle in the process?

A. My biggest struggle in the process was and still is balancing the number of tutors and the number of students. At this point I am constantly looking for qualified new tutors to keep up with the student requests. 

Q. What’s one product/business tool you can’t live without?

A. One thing I can’t live without is my office space. I joined a co-working space that is only for female entrepreneurs and business owners, called Hera Hub. It’s an amazing community of strong, intelligent, brave women who support each other. 

Q. What’s your favorite inspirational quote?

A. My favorite inspirational quote for my business is: We “bring an attitude of acceptance and interest.” from Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore. My favorite inspirational quote for myself is: “A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others” 
  — L. Frank Baum,  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Q. Which historical person do you most look up to?

A. My historical person that I most look up to is Maya Angelou. She is a strong woman who isn’t afraid of being honest. Her words are beautiful and deep reaching. She is the Phenomenal Woman.

Q. If you could be an animal, what would you be and why?

A. If I could be an animal, I would be a tiger. I know, don’t I want to be an owl? That’s my business animal! Frankly, I just would want to be an animal that is at the top of the food chain, I don’t relish the idea of being eaten by a predator.

Q. What does your typical weekday look like?

A. My typical weekday looks like a whirlwind. I am a Stay At Home Mom/ Small Business Owner. I have a 3 month old, Lucas, who (so far) allows me to cram a few hours of work in. So, my day tends to be spent bouncing between taking care of Lucas and taking care of my business. It’s too exhausting to get into specifics. 

Q. How many hours do you spend on marketing, sales, scheduling, employee/contractor management, customer communication, accounting, business development, other?

A. Hours spent on different tasks per week are:

• Marketing – 1-2 hours, word of mouth works best, but we do have a Facebook page, a Yelp page, and a website (www.mrsowlstutors.com).
• Scheduling – Many hours - depending on new students and changes in existing students schedules.
• Tutor Management – 4 hours – I help tutors when they need support, offer materials for them to borrow, and deal with any issues that come up.
• Customer Communication – 3 hours – I check in with new families after their first session, talk with parents about any questions or concerns and take care of any payment questions.
• Accounting – 3 hours – we cross check tutoring sessions to try to avoid incorrect invoices, process payments, etc.
• Business Development – 3 hours

Q. What’s your favorite business hack?

A. My favorite business hack is having other people do the work!

Q. What does your morning routine look like?

A. My morning routine is: Wake up and feed Lucas, put him back to sleep, eat, work for about 2 hours, then feed Lucas again. 

Q. Where do you see your business in 5 years?

A. In five years, I hope to be offering tutoring to families all over San Diego County, if not more!

Q. If you could do anything right now, what would it be and why?

A. If I could do anything right now, I would sleep!

Q. If you could go back and change anything when you first started your business, what would it be and why?

A. I don’t have anything I would go back and change at the start of my business. Starting my own business was scary, but I did it anyway. I appreciate what I’ve learned along the way and I don’t regret those lessons. 

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Thanks Vanessa for a great interview! If you're in the North County San Diego area, book a tutoring session with Mrs. Owl's Tutors on Handlr today! For more information on Mrs. Owl's Tutors, click here.

Handlr Business Spotlight: Hypnotherapy & Wellness with Andrea Squibb

Here at Handlr Headquarters, we're all about networking and making connections between people that will serve beneficially to them. We’re turning the spotlight onto Andrea Squibb with her business practice: Hypnotherapy & Wellness. Hypnotherapy has been a powerful resource for many when it comes to overcoming stress, anxiety, specific disorders, unwanted behaviors and bad habits.

Always up for a new #neverhaveieveradventures, Elaine our Creative Director, and Britt our Founder, both tried personal hypnotherapy sessions with Andrea. Britt described it as one of the most relaxing activities that she has ever tried:

“I was under a lot of pressure with deadlines and couldn’t tap into my creative self, so I told Andrea how I wanted to let go of stressful, negative thoughts. I thought that I was going to be really out of it and that she would make me do strange things, but instead it was much more like guided meditation. It was amazing how Andrea’s calming voice could guide your mind towards visualizing peaceful and self-empowering images. Afterwards I felt light as a feather and was ready to tackle everything.”

We’ve interviewed Andrea to get the low down on how she got started with her business, her tribulations in the process, and what her hopes and dreams are for the future.

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Q: What do you specialize in?

A: I am a Certified Hypnotherapist. I specialize in helping people with anxiety, fears, phobias, insomnia, emotional eating, confidence building and sports performance. I have also helped many people lose weight and quit smoking. In addition, I provide group guided imagery journeys to local corporations and facilities for stress reduction and relaxation purposes.

Q: How long have you been in business?

A: I opened my practice in early 2010.

Q: What areas are you currently servicing and hoping to service in the future?

A: I have offices in Santa Monica and Woodland Hills and also conduct sessions over the phone or internet as needed to clients across the globe.

Q: What makes you different from the competition?

A: I have extensive training and client hours compared to many of my competitors. My sessions are always individually tailored to my client's needs. I also provide individualized recordings for use between sessions. I have a diverse background which allows me to relate to many different types of people. As a singer/songwriter, who also has experience in voice-over work, my clients benefit from my vocal skills, creativity and compassion.

Q: What is your biggest headache when it comes to growing your business?

A: My biggest headache is finding time and worthwhile avenues to market my business to new clients. Luckily many of my client's send referrals but I often get caught up working hard for my current clients and guided imagery groups and run short on time to market my services to clients who have yet to find me. I get bombarded by companies trying to lure me into marketing with them but often find it is not an effective use of funds.

Q:  What is it about Handlr that caught your attention?

A: I was drawn to the personalized attention and customer service I received from the people at Handlr. I also liked the clean, sleek look of the app and site.

Q:  Where do you see your business in 5 years?

A: I can see more people using the online platform in the future for counseling services or stress reduction which will be wonderful for my business. I can also imagine a world where insurance companies begin to allocate funds toward Hypnotherapy as they have done over time with Chiropractic and Acupuncture Services especially for smoking cessation, weight loss or exam anxiety. Helping people in need receive these services seems like a win-win for everyone in my mind.

Live in LA? Book Andrea on Handlr or for more information on Hypnotherapy & Wellness, visit: http://www.hypnotherapyandwellness.com.