In this episode of the Struggling Entrepreneur, we interview Tim Sullivan, who has a full-time day-job in a corporate environment–but who is also a part-time entrepreneur with his own small business venture.

Working in Corporate America, Tim is with the firm SPI (Sales Performance International), which provides organizations with the training of how to sell their products and services using a methodology called Solution Selling. However, Tim has married his corporate job with the value proposition of his own entrepreneurial venture called The Selling Geek–a firm that helps the sales professional become more competitive by knowing and applying the latest tech in the form of gadets, devices, software and services that assist in making the sales rep more productive.

You may remember that we actually included episode 9 of the podcast, The Selling Geek, and published it in the Struggling Entrepreneur, episode 45. It dealt with the topic of how to increase your productivity by using the product Phone Tag.

As you will hear in the podcast audio episode, Tim has prepared the way for himself to launch into his new business as a full-time venture — when the appropriate time appears. He currently loves what he is doing at SPI and the firm is aware of his side-business. What is interesting is that Tim is bringing more value to the corporate day-job by using what he knows, acquiring more skills in helping sales professionals become more competitive and increasing the reach and knowledge-base of assisting the sales reps taking the training modules from SPI.

What is also of interest is that every entrepreneur or small business owner is –by definition– a sales professional. The numbers bring this out, as the majority of the audience in Tim’s Selling Geek podcast are small business owners.

Also, Tim’s future success is evident, because without even trying, he is realizing a revenue stream when others have come to him for sponsorship. Monetization without trying seems to be his windfall.

So, at this point, he is preparing himself to launch into the Selling Geek venture into a full-time status (at the appropriate moment). However, I think we will see Tim as the successful part-time entrepreneur who will derive satisfaction from delivering value both to his podcast audience and his corporate employer.

Copyright (c) 2008, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode of The Struggling Entrepreneur, we had a candid chat and interview with Leesa Barnes, a New Media content creator, podcaster, telesummit hostess and published author of the book, Podcasting for Profit: A Proven 7-Step Plan to Help Individuals and Businesses Generate Income Through Audio and Video Podcasting.

We capture several themes in the discussion:

- her decision to become a full-time entrepreneur in Podcasting after a corporate layoff;

- the new wave of video production that is rampant in New Media today and how this actually helped her as an Entrepreneur in her business;

- the ability to “ask for what you want” in promoting your Brand (especially if that brand is yourself) and your business;

- her perspectives of the New Media Expo and its new venue in Las Vegas–especially the shift in audience interest from the “hobbyists” to the business-oriented content creators and providers.

Whether an attendee of the Podcast Secrets Reunion event, or as a conference speaker at the 4th annual New Media Expo, or as the published author of a business book in the Podcasting and New Media Space, Leesa Barnes shows the determination to succeed as a full-time entrepreneur in the world of New Media and Social Media.

Copyright (c) 2008, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode of The Struggling Entrepreneur, we were fortunate enough to get a few moments in an interview with Brett Wilson, the Co-Founder and CEO of TubeMogul, which is a video “syndication engine” on the web, where the tag line is “empowering online video.”

Brett has had several prior ventures as an entrepreneur, but this is his current business, and it seems to be growing in a big way…

- Big because he has landed large traditional media companies and advertising agencies as key clients;

- Big because he has a vision of his firm becoming a “billion-dollar” company;

- Big because his motto for success is “Go Big…or Go Home.”

As you will hear in the audio episode, Brett has struggled in the past with the problems of financing and development in the high-tech world. However, he attests his success to the ability of himself and his team to focus on solving the customer’s problems–and in this case, the customers are the video content providers and the problems deal with both video deployment or syndication, as well as gathering and providing analytics.

Brett is a positive and forward-looking entrepreneur with the “billion-dollar” dream.

Copyright (c) 2008, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode of The Struggling Entrepreneur, we deliver a “birds-eye view” from the show floor of the Exhibit Hall of the New Media Expo. We summarize for you the announcements and the products and services that caught our attention.

We will also deliver to you Our Top 5 Picks from the Expo this year.

(1) The PremiumCast system.

Although the booth was manned by Paul Colligan most of the time when he was there, others got to join in and promote their podcasts, as well as PremiumCast (Yours truly was one of them who spent 6.5 hours on Thursday promoting the 2nd place winner of the Podcast Secrets Challenge, Gain Control of Your Day).

However, the announcement of the alliance with Kunaki.com allows entrepreneurs that utilize either the Pro Account or the Viral account of PremiumCast to have CDs and/or DVDs created and fulfilled on-demand for their customers when they order from the PremiumCast system.

For this feature that new media content providers needed so badly in order to gain a competitive advantage and help them toward their success, we give them the top pick of the Expo.
(2) The Media Player from Libsyn and Wizzard Media.

This new player allows content creators the ability to creatae channels for video. The user interface and the selections for creating and maintaining the channels provide the ability for maneuvering around the system and deploying the content.

Particularly of importance is the alliance and connection with TubeMogul. Once the video has been deployed, the player can then send the video directly to TubeMogul for further syndication to each of the user’s TubeMogul video directory accounts. This gives the ease of use of the selling point of “one-click syndication.”

(3) TubeMogul.

This syndication application allows the content provider to take the video (or videos, if using the announced “batch” capability) and syndicate the content to any or all of the selected video directories–e.g., YouTube or Metacafe or Google Video, etc.

The free account can be good for the upcoming and new entrepreneur, while the various levels of fee services allow for choices from the established enterprises or medium-to-large businesses that have an aggressive media marketing plan.

 (4) The new MXL009 microphone.

This mic provides the ability to have the selections of 24-bit and 96K built into the hardware within the microphone. With its 3 key buttons on the front, as well as the headphone jack attachment, the capability to catch any possible latency — and prevent it — this mic delivers a quality for both the serious audio podcaster, as well as an entrance into the professional quality for excellent video soundtrack.

(5) Mogulus - the Live Video creation platform.

This live video platform provides the ability to create video content, as well as continue to use the interface for live webinars. This system allows screencast capability or demonstration of your system or charts or slides, while at the same time delivering a chat area where you can get immediate feedback and onversations from your audience. The ability to record the session into a webcast or webinar that can be repurposed later is also a big plus.

Congratulations to those selected in our second annual top 5 picks of the New Media Expo for 2008.

Copyright (c) 2008, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode of the Struggling Entrepreneur, we again are at the exhibit hall of the New Media Expo during this event in Las Vegas, California.

We speak to Rainer Cvillink of Mogulus. This firm is one of those highlighted during the Podcast Secrets Reunion as one to watch in the area of Live Video Broadcast.

This platform is now in Beta and it is free to use the services offered. At one time, they will have a PRO account, which will be fee-based, but Rainier assured me that there will always be an entry-level free account with some level of function available.

Our next update will be created and published at the close of the event on midday, Saturday. We will give you the update and summary from the exhibits on the show floor, and our top 5 picks for this New Media Expo.

Copyright (c) 2008, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode of the Struggling Entrepreneur, we are still in the exhibit hall of the New Media Expo, and we meet up with Jamie Davis, the podcaster for the Medicast Network. This is a series of podcasts dedicated to help the Health Care professionals with training and education. As a matter of fact, this network is what earned Jamie Davis the top-rated award as winner of the 2008 Podcast Secrets Challenge contest as a veteran podcaster.

In addition to discovering the wealth of training materials and CDs available from this site, we also explore Jamie’s perspectives about the difference in this year’s Expo from the previous three years in Ontario, California.

As you will hear in this podcast episode, Jamie loves the work that he does as a part-time nurse and Paramedic, but he is looking forward to huge success as a podcaster and deliverer of valuable content to the Health Care professionals like himself.

Copyright (c) 2008, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode of The Struggling Entrepreneur, we hear from both Evo Terra and Tee Morris — these are the co-authors of both Podcasting for Dummies and Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies (the books from Wiley Publishing).

While on the exhibit hall show floor of the New Media Expo, we speak separately to Evo Terra with Sheila Dee and also to Tee Morris about their perspectives of the New Media Expo now in Las Vegas–but more, about the sense of Community for this fourth annual Expo and the differences in the evolution of this event.

Copyright (c) 2008, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode of The Struggling Entrepreneur, we review one major announcement from Wednesday’s Podcast Secrets Reunion (which was also announced in the Exhibit Hall’s booth of the PremiumCast system)–the ability to have Kunaki.com be able to copy, ship and fulfill CDs and/or DVDs on demand (quantity of even 1) as part of the PremiumCast system.

During the first day of the Expo, we ran into some of the older podcasters and asked them to chat with us for a minute or so.

Also, we we get the perspectives of both Victor Cajiao (of the Podcast series Typical Mac User) and Rob Walch of Wizzard Media (podcaster with the podcast411.com podcast series and the Today in iPhone series). Their views on the community of this Expo in comparison to the prior 3 Expos are quite interesting–especially since a lot of dialogue and buzz of this question grew as the Expo dates drew near.

This is the first part of this dialogue. We will post the next episode with the perspectives of the co-authors of the books from Wiley Publishing, Podcasting for Dummies (now in the second edition) and Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies.

Copyright (c) 2008, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode of The Struggling Entrepreneur, we are live at the New Media Expo site in Las Vegas, Nevada. On Wednesday, 13 August 2008, I attended the Podcast Secrets 2008 Reunion (usually the day before the NME event).

There were some other personalities that attended the event, even in part– Leesa Barnes and Jason Van Orden, for example.  During that event, Paul Colligan and Alex Mandossian delivered a first class seminar for those who want to take their podcasts to the next level.

One announcement from the meeting was that the PremiumCast system now has the partnership with Kunaki.com. This means that a podcaster can have premium content and have Kunaki.com fulfill any orders via Paypal to create and send CDs (up to 6 in a SKU) as part of the product they can deliver to their customers.

Also, during the event, I met Layla Tusco, whom I interviewed during the lunch break of the event. She has several domains (as you will hear in the audio podcast episode), but her 2 key businesses that she started (one for fee and one for free) are:

- Mad Moms in Mini Vans (sanity for the present mother that deals with the day-to-day tasks with their children);

- 1WealthCreation.com (for those who want to learn and succeed in the Real Estate sales market).

Layla Tusco has plans to enlarge her business and start other educational ventures. You will hear her biggest obstacles and how she overcame them–education and training with good mentors are the keys.

We will produce and publish tomorrow the next podcast episode (wifi permitting) from the New Media Expo, in which we will bring you a day-by-day update of the events, announcements, personalities and interviews of this event.

Copyright (c) 2008, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode of The Struggling Entrepreneur, we begin our day-by-day updates and summaries of this week’s big events in Las Vegas — the New Media Expo and the Podcast Secrets 2008 Reunion.

In addition, we will be providing a day-by-day summary of the announcements, the happenings, the latest updates and our impressions of the exhibits and speakers and presenters during these events.

This episode just gives the prelude to these events with a summary of the schedule for the Podcast Secrets Reunion conference, as well as my own schedule on the social media tool at the PathableNew Media Expo web site. We will also be doing interviews with industry pundits, subject matter experts, luminaries and other celebrated personalities on the exhibit hall show floor, as well as other spots in the conference locations.
Our next episode will review the Podcast Secrets Reunion event and what was presented, as well as what the attendees can take forward with them for the next three days at the New Media Expo.

Copyright (C) 2008, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All Rights Reserved.