What makes success happen?
A lot! But today we’re going behind the scenes with someone who embodies success and is bringing phenomenal content to help you create success in your own business.
An Interview with Jon Dwoskin: Host of the Think Business Podcast with Stephanie Scheller
Stephanie:
Small business owners who are doing more than one thing have a unique challenge. I’ve become a firm believer in Jeff Hoffman’s Gold Medal philosophy, because it truly makes sense! It’s better to do one thing than 10 things half assed. But! It is possible to do multiple things successfully, which is where this interview comes into play.
Jon is an author, a speaker, and a business coach all in one. His podcast, Think Business, is all about creating the Think Big movement and Jon is all about getting people unstuck. But I’ll let him explain what it means to get somebody “unstuck.”
Jon:
Getting somebody unstuck is actually a simple concept.
I work with C-Level Execs and business leaders, managers, and salespeople. Typically, they get to a certain level and can’t figure out how to get to the next step. Often, they fall into the level of consciousness that got them to where they are, but can’t figure out how to get to the next level of success.
What I do is go in, assess their situation, and find the small changes that will help them get over that blockade and get unstuck from that level of business. I give them tools to move forward that they can’t see because of being stuck in that level of consciousness, but that are easy to implement and right in front of their noses.
Ultimately, I help people see and implement the obvious and simple ways to continue reaching an even higher level of potential.
Stephanie:
Awesome! How did you get started on this particular niche? Because it wasn’t where you necessarily started at the very beginning of your business life, and getting people unstuck is a very specific niche! There are people like me who come alongside already growing businesses, but working with people who have been bumping against a glass ceiling for years and taking them through it is unusual.
So how did you land on this kind of coaching and how did you find this niche?
Jon:
Funnily enough, it feels like it’s always been a part of me, y’know?
I started an internet company when I got out of college, where we successfully kept things going for a while. Then I ended up in commercial real estate and was a broker for six years, where I grew my office and became a manager for the next six years. And ultimately I ended up restructuring a 50 year old company. But it’s always been a part of me.
Wherever I’ve been, I felt the gift to be able to get into the nuance of things and work in the cracks that everybody else seemed to be missing. Wherever I was, I would always see and hear things that were different from everyone else.
In a sense, I’m just doing what I’ve always felt like I was gifted to do. At 18 I wanted to write books, coach people, do keynotes, and now I’m pursuing those things with the part of me that has always been there. It’s always been my end goal somehow, and I intuitively learned what it was I wanted to do and then went after it.
Stephanie:
Let’s dig into the podcast aspect of this. Because you run a successful podcast and a successful coaching business, and a lot of people have the idea that they’re ancillary. To an extent they are, because they’re both about training businesses, but they are really two distinct business models. Did you always have the goal to run a podcast? How did you land on doing that?
Jon:
I’ve always loved podcasts, but I didn’t start on this one until I started the Think Big business.
When I started getting into business, I started really loving podcasts. I’d always loved books, and listening to books on tape which transitioned into podcasts. And one of my favorite podcasts of the time was by Ryan Lee. He had this podcast where every episode was 10 minutes and I loved it so much that I wanted to do my own podcast. Initially I was kind of nervous, but my first podcast was with one of my good friends, Scott Fishman. We did a sales podcast called The Seven Minute Sales Minute. We ran that for about 5 years, and created about 133 episodes which is what got me into podcasting.
Then I created a podcast to compliment my book (The Think Big Movement, which you can get on Jon’s website for free). So again, I was fulfilling something I’d always wanted to do.
From there, I systematized it. I ritualize pretty much everything I do to keep it consistent, so I created a system for this too. I do it at 12:00 PM every day through streamyard, and have a team that takes care of all of the behind the scenes stuff.
Stephanie:
So you’ve gotten to the point that everything is systematized. Which is something a lot of people struggle with: it’s daunting! Because sometimes it turns into this “everything has to be perfect so nothing gets done” situation, when they plan everything in advance. So how did you handle that?
Jon:
I think the way to do this is to just leave your ego at the door. You just gotta do it and figure it out as you go along. You’ll have bumps, but just do it and find good technology for it. There’s tons of good technology out there to help! (like Streamyard: you can go live to multiple places like Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, Twitter, Twitch, etc. It’s amazing!)
With the sales podcast that we did, I was really appreciative of my buddy because I have no kind of technical skills. So he would upload it and do all of that stuff. For this one, I hired a virtual team to help me from the beginning.
And today I podcast often enough that I help other people launch their first podcast as well.
Stephanie:
Oh fabulous! Can you walk us through how you help people get their podcast off the ground for anybody out there who is looking to launch their own podcast?
Jon:
We actually have a full workbook that works them through it. We spend about five hours with them getting them ready to launch, and then they work themselves through the workbook. It takes them from the concept through all of the execution of putting the podcast out there (even down to editing if you want to edit by yourself).
Stephanie:
That is awesome! Because that’s the biggest thing I see: people saying “I want to start a podcast!” but they get stuck in a constant “it’ll never be good enough” spot. Which is why I remind people that done is better than perfect.
A great podcast idea is great, but not if it never gets off the ground. It’ll never go big if you don’t get it going in the first place. But I love what you’re doing because you’re basically taking a weekend and getting a whole podcast off the ground.
Jon:
Yeah, it’s all about taking it in manageable chunks. Sometimes we do it over the course of 30 or 60 days, whatever works for the client. But it’s all about getting it going and ironing the bumps in the road as you hit them.
Struggling and feeling stuck, or wanting to start your own podcast? Contact John by calling him at (248) 535-7796 or visiting his website.