I have been very impressed with Podango and the progress the company has made over the last several months.  I met Lee and Doug several months ago and I was instantly impressed with their ideas about podcasting and where they’ve been taking the business.  This last weekend, they unveiled their podcasting station model at the TechCrunch meet up and the response was overwhelming. Today they got a great writeup on Mike Arrington’s TechCruch blog. The Company will be launching the beta this coming week and will go live at the end of September.  I think this is a model that podcasting has needed for sometime and it great to see it come to life.

I also have it on good authority that they have hired some great talent right here in Utah. More to come on that. Stay tuned…

I just started teaching again at Westminster. It looks like I have another great class this semester.

Are you guys reading my blog? Tell me so in the comments.

Here in Utah we are typically polite and play nice with each other. However, like the rest of the world, there are plenty of personal rifts around here. So, here’s how we politely express our dislike:

Some Utah dude: “Hey, do you know So and So?”

Other Utah dude: “Ya, he’s an interesting guy.”

Some Utah dude: “Duuuude”

Needless to say, being an “interesting” guy in most Utahan’s minds is a very bad thing.

I started to notice this as I went around asking people I know outside of Provo Labs and 10Speed Media about a person who was “consulting” for Provo Labs.  Not only did I learn that he was a very “interesting” guy but some even said he was “quite the guy”.  That was usually followed up by an eye role of epic proportions.  Oh, please don’t tell me that being “Quite the Guy” is now a bad thing too. That’s one of my lines I use to describe people I truly and genuinely like!

It saddens me that we have lowered ourselves to calling everyone “interesting”. I’m going back to the old politically incorrect way - I’m going to say it like it is. Yes, that’s right, for the sake of saving the word “interesting” please follow my lead. 

PS, Antibiotics Rock. My strep is quickly being defeated by modern science.

Over the last three days I have discovered a new illness that redefines pain: strep throat.  Last night I wanted to just get it over with and die but the antibiotics are starting to take effect and things are looking up.  That said, I don’t think I can make Mountainpalozza tomorrow.

Don’t bail on it because of me. Carry on the tradition! Take your bikes and have a kick butt time. I’ll be thinking of you as I catch up on my work and other things.

I’m still planning on September. I hope to see you then.

I had the opportunity to briefly attend a sales training meeting at Griffin-Hill this morning.  I was very impressed with the training.  There were no earth shattering concepts. There really wasn’t anything presented there that I hadn’t heard before (except for the 12 word thing). The thing that was great about the training is that they taught you how to take much of what you already know about sales and they systemize it.  What does that mean?

Why are franchises so successful? Its the system. Once you install systems in your business you begin to create processes that you can refine and make more efficient. It makes training easier as well. It becomes duplicatable in other locations and start up costs drop dramatically. This is all illustrated in Michael Gerber’s brilliant book, The E-Myth. I highly recommend you read this book and if you have already read it, you ought to read it again.

Griffin-Hill shows you how to create a simple but very effective systematic sales system. Once you get the system in place you get more efficient in the sales process and sales naturally increase. There is no rocket science here - its a simple concept. One company in the training claimed that they had increased sales by 300% just by implementing the Griffin-Hill system.  Don’t you think that’s worth checking out?

Here are two must see videos from the Affiliate Summit. I am so glad I just found these on Google Video!

First, See Dave Taylor’s session on Business Blogging Strategies. Dave is an amazing guy. He wrote The Complete Idiots Guide to Growing your Business with Google and his blog gets hundreds of thousands of unique visitors per month.

Next check out Wil Reynolds of Seer Interactive speak on SEO and common SEO myths.  This is by far the best presentation I have ever seen on SEO. Its brilliant. Wil knows his crap - take heed. Mercedes, Disney and Barnes & Noble do.

Enjoy…

My first lesson in the importance of sales came in college. We had a visiting VC who asked our class what the most important activity in business is. I quickly raised my hand and said “sales”. I got a bunch of strange looks from the class until the VC said: “You are absolutely right.” 

When I worked at Dynix the CEO made a comment that always resonated with me: We all work in sales. What does that mean? Do we all - every employee - really work in sales? Does the accountant work in sales? Does the purchasing manager work in sales? Does the HR specialist work in sales? YES.

I was in a conversation this morning with our rock star director of sales, Ron Hartley about our rock star director of marketing, Ryan Ewer. Ryan came to 10Speed from Myfamily.com where he ran their affiliate program. Ryan has great contacts in the state and in the industry. In that discussion, I made this point: we all work in sales. Ryan may be in marketing but in reality he works in sales along with all the other employees at 10Speed. I would never sit back and wonder if we should tap Ryan’s contacts or have him make an introduction because he technically works in a “non-sales” position. That’s crazy. I believe so strongly in sales that I think a person should never be considered for the CEO post unless he/she has a strong proven track record in sales.

I think titles on business cards should read like this: Sales/Accounting Manager or Purchasing/Sales or Human Resources Manager/Sales and especially Sales/CEO. We all work in sales and until that is ingrained into your staffs minds you will never reach your full potential as a business.

When you have that mentality driven into all your staff’s minds - that everyone works in sales - the culture of your business changes and becomes focused on this most important of business activities. That’s what enables your organization to reach the next level.

Thanks to Ryan for inviting me to Fight Club on Tuesday. It was great to meet and mingle with some new people. It was great meeting Bob at Vacation Rentals Online. He and I have worked in the same building on the same floor for most of the last 8 months. We’d never met before? Weird. 

It was good to catch up with Blake as well.  At any rate, I look forward to seeing the group again in September.

I’m planning on Friday August 25th for this months Mountainpalooza.  If you don’t know what Mountainpalooza is click here to learn more.

If you’d like to join us, be at Sundance by 2 pm.  RSVP in the comments or email me at ctknud “at” gmail.com to let me know if you are in.  July was an amazing ride!

I hope to see the guys who were with us in June and July back out for this months ride.  Its going to ROCK!!!

Please join me this semester at Westminster College where I will be teaching Mgmt 474 - Principles of Entrepreneurship.  I will be teaching out of Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki and The E-Myth by Michael Gerber.  The class is every Monday and Wednesday night from 5:30 to 7:20 in Foster 101.  If you have any questions, please contact me at ctknud “at” gmail.com.

Hope to see you there.