VBL028 - Utilizing Technology to Grow a Small Business, with Phil Simon!

VBL028 – Utilizing Technology to Grow a Small Business, with Phil Simon!

As any small business owner will know, especially when starting out, there is a lot to consider when it comes to starting up a new business idea, and then focusing on that ‘idea’ to turn it into a full-blown business, with clients and prospects and strategies and costs, etc., involved.

Nowadays, technology plays such a huge part in the way that businesses, especially smaller business (both online and off, for that matter, too!) can position themselves in their market space, and most importantly utilize it to enjoy growth. Phil Simon is no stranger to this side of the entrepreneurial world, and as a expert speaker and author on the subject of small business, particularly with a tech slant on the whole thing, I figured cornering Phil for a chat on this subject would do us all a world of good. I wasn’t wrong…

Throughout the course of our chat, we discuss among other things:

How social media plays a massive role in customer service.
The reasons behind why small business owners shy away from technology.
Why, as new-age entrepreneurs we must embrace a more tech-savvy mindset.
The main game changers when it comes to utilizing online technology for customer service.
Lots more awesome content!

Play or download the audio of this VBL Podcast (below) to listen to it on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad and be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:50 — 33.1MB)

One of the things that I really enjoyed about this podcast episode was that Phil generally tells it as it is. There is no bullshit here. No fluff. And in todays online marketing world of so-called ‘experts’, REAL experts, like Phil really do stand out..!

Be sure to dig into Phil’s new book, too. Entitled ‘The New Small‘ it goes very deep into the subject of utilizing technology and social media, amongst other topics to enable the ‘small acorn’ that your business begins as, to turn into a ‘mighty oak’ of a company!

Comments

Phil Simon says:

March 24, 2011 at 1:59 am Phil Simon(Quote)

Which one am I again?

- Chris C. Ducker says:
  
  March 24, 2011 at 2:15 am Chris C. Ducker(Quote)
  
  Hahaha…
  
  The good looking one…!
  
  Thanks again for the time, buddy.
  
  C
  
Mike Stankavich says:

March 24, 2011 at 7:24 am Mike Stankavich(Quote)

Hey Chris, great that you got to interview Phil. I haven’t had time to listen to the audio yet, but I’ve been reading Phil’s book “Why IT Projects Fail”. He definitely has a wealth of real world IT knowledge, undoubtedly learned the hard way. I’ll have to check out the new book too.

Phil Simon says:

March 24, 2011 at 8:05 am Phil Simon(Quote)

Thanks, Mike. FYI, it’s called “Why New Systems Fail: An Insider’s Guide to Successful IT Projects.”

- Mike Stankavich says:
  
  March 24, 2011 at 9:00 am Mike Stankavich(Quote)
  
  Phil, so sorry about that! I knew that I should open up Kindle and confirm rather than rely on my aging and faulty memory. The funny thing is that just the day before I was noting to a colleague that ubiquitous portable computing is causing the human brain to evolve away from being effective as a storage mechanism for routine facts such as phone numbers. Apparently I just made myself into my own case study.
  
  In any case, I think that your book should be required reading for any executive considering a major IT project. There are so many things that can go wrong with IT projects, and a great many of them are in fact preventable.
  
John Colley says:

April 6, 2011 at 1:37 pm John Colley(Quote)

Hey Chris

Thanks for a great podcast. I really enjoyed listening to Phil and have just bought the book on Amazon UK. I have not come across Phil’s work before (yes I know ignorance is no excuse!) and I am really looking forward to reading the book and learning from Phil.

Thanks again – the power of social media!

John

- Chris C. Ducker says:
  
  April 6, 2011 at 4:54 pm Chris C. Ducker(Quote)
  
  Hi John
  
  Thanks for the comment, and kind words.
  
  Glad to have played the role in introducing you to Phil. He’s a great business mind, thats for sure. We’ve had some great conversations!
  
  All the best,
  
  C
  
Brendon Livingstone says:

April 10, 2011 at 5:38 pm Brendon Livingstone(Quote)

Thanks Chris

Coincidently I am reading Phil’s ‘The New Small’ at the mo, so timely to hear Phil talk about this topic further. Interesting case study’s in the book. Particularly liked the case study of DODOcase, which seems like a simple business idea in an unoriginal category, but extremely well executed.

Will be interesting to see how DODOcase respond to the iPad 2 which comes with its own cover (hmmm?)

Brendon