Everyone knows running a business is hard. But no one talks about how it makes you feel.

The reality is that entrepreneurs are often stressed, or frustrated.

I’m Darren Moffat, your host. I’ve founded two companies, and as a director at Webbuzz the growth marketing agency I’ve worked with hundreds of business owners.

This podcast has a simple vision: to make entrepreneurs happier!

We do it by finding answers to the key challenges all businesses must overcome. Each episode is a piece in the puzzle to help you ‘crack the code’ to growth.

It’s an epic mission. I knew from the start we’d need help. But WHO could reveal the answers?

And then it came to me.

You can count on a nerd to solve the problem. So I went looking for nerds, and it turns out they’re everywhere!

Like this founder of a $250 mill internet business...

"“I always start with the marketing first. Even before I build the product. And a lot of people go, oh, we should think about marketing later. Before we build the product, we need to form this up. Amazon does this great. You want to build a new product, you have to write a press release - a one-page press release before you even begin. I was just at Amazon's office in New York.”

And this former venture capitalist who’s now the CEO of a public company...

“Well no, we got up well over a billion-dollar market cap, you know, through that education and storytelling. We got Australian investors to understand these type of technology businesses by looking at the growth of your top line rather than the profit and loss of your bottom line.”

I talk to experts who nerd out with technical solutions…

“The key thing for brand identity is fix and flex. Is that 'nerdy' thing? That's nerdy, that's very nerdy. We're into the 'brand nerd' territory here.”

And we have fun with segments like this...

"The 'Nerdometer'. A rating out of ten, how nerdy are you? I say I'm probably up there, maybe eleven. Eleven! Oh my god, you've broken the Nerdometer. There you go, you've some applause."

You’ll hear amazing insights. You’ll feel inspired. And you’ll learn actionable strategies to power the growth of your own business.

So join me, fortnightly on Tuesdays. Subscribe to Nerds of Business, FREE where ever you get your podcasts.

Season 1: 'The Branding Series' / Episode # 1

Building your brand all starts with the brand identity. Branding experts and top entrepreneurs reveal what it takes to get it right, why it's so important, and the key opportunities you're probably missing in your own brand identity.

“In the context of branding it’s really important to reflect on the fact that we didn’t set out to call this Vinomofo. We didn’t set out to say ‘hey, let’s be ‘wine motherf_____s’.” - Andre Eikmeier, co-founder of Vinomofo

Guest Bios:

Fred Schebesta (https://www.linkedin.com/in/fredschebesta/)is co-founder of $250 million comparison site Finder (Finder.com.au) He is listed #22 on AFR's young rich list.

Andre Eikmeier (https://twitter.com/andre_eikmeier) is cofounder of $100 million online wine retailer, Vinomofo (https://vinomofo.com.au) Also founder of The Good Empire and Year of the Planet.

Victoria Coster (https://www.linkedin.com/in/creditfixsolutionscreditrepair/) is a Telstra Business Person of the Year finalist 2019, & founder of Credit Fix Solutions (https://creditfixsolutions.com.au)

Ben Carew (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencarew/) is director of SEO & Analytics at Webbuzz- The Growth Marketing Agency (https://webbuzz.com.au)

Rachel Bevans (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelbevans/) is branding expert & director of The Healthy Brand Company (https://www.thehealthybrandcompany.com/)

Jon Michail (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonmichail-imageconsultant-personalbrandingcoach/)– brand expert and and image consultant, director at the Image Group (https://www.imagegroup.com.au/)       

What to listen out for:

3.01: ‘Sneak peek’ of feature story

4.04: the historical origin of branding

5.02: branding expert reveals what ‘brand’ really means today 

6.39: branding expert on why branding is so important

7.39: how branding complements ‘direct response’ marketing

9.47: Entrepreneur Fred Schebesta's journey from 'branding sceptic' to 'branding convert' at Finder.com.au

10.41: Fred Schebesta on branding as a ‘defensive moat’  

12.26: Branding expert reveals the four key theoretical elements to brand identity

14.21: Ben Carew on why logo design is so important for online marketing conversion of web traffic to lead or sale

19.28: Branding expert reveals the technical process for creating a brand identity

20.58: Branding expert explains what ‘category codes’ are 

23.45: Feature story - Andre Eikmeier of Vinomofo and how a one letter change in the brand name was a key inflection point to achieving a $100 million valuation

30.50: Fred Schebesta on being in a ‘constant state of beta’

31.10: Fred Schebesta on creating a 'phoenix company', not a 'unicorn'

31.59: Branding expert reveals the single most important aspect for a...

Season 1: 'The Branding Series' / Episode # 2

Feature Story: The CEO of a $1 BILLION company shares, Rob Newman of Nearmap, shares his story on how brand positioning helped them scale in the North American market.

“Actually, what you need to do is focus, focus, focus. Who is the one customer who you can win with, and be the world's best at for that one customer? Once you've got them, you'll get two and then you’ll get four and then eight. Then eventually you’re going to have market domination”. – Dr Rob Newman, CEO of Nearmap.

Guest Bios:

Fred Schebesta (https://www.linkedin.com/in/fredschebesta/)is co-founder of $250 million comparison site Finder (Finder.com.au) He is listed #22 on AFR's young rich list.

Dr Rob Newman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-newman-007757/) is CEO of ASX 200 online mapping technology provider, Nearmap. (https://nearmap.com.au).

Pic Picot (https://twitter.com/pics_uk) is the founder international food brand, Pic’s Peanut Butter (https://www.picspeanutbutter.com/)

Rachel Bevans (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelbevans/) is branding expert & director of The Healthy Brand Company (https://www.thehealthybrandcompany.com/)

Jon Michail (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonmichail-imageconsultant-personalbrandingcoach/)– brand expert and and image consultant, director at the Image Group (https://www.imagegroup.com.au/)      

What to listen out for:

0.45: Mystery brand recognition game for listeners

2.19: Brand positioning example using the (mystery) globally recognised brand

4.07: How does brand positing work from a technical perspective

7.06: The 4 to 7 P’s of branding

10.42: The importance of clarity in mission statements to define what you stand for

12.49: Rob Newman on the ‘weird schizophrenia’ required to be an effective CEO

17.16: Entrepreneur tip: ‘tell me the colour of the eyes of your first customer’

18.00: How to use exclusions and negatives to define your brand position

22.00: Why metaphors and irony don’t work in advertising

23.42: How Pic’s Peanut Butter came to ‘own their brand category’

26.44: The importance of delegation in scaling a business

31.10: What is brand alignment and why is it so important

33.58: How even marketing departments of big brands make mistakes with branding

35.57: NERD SUPERPOWER - recurring segment - featuring Fred Schebesta

39.07: NERD UNDER PRESSURE – recurring segment featuring Rob Newman

Resources & links:

Donald Trump speech transcription https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-phoenix-arizona-rally-transcript

‘The Wayback Machine’: https://archive.org/web/

Coca Cola brand fail https://www.marketing91.com/coca-cola-brand-failure/

*****

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