Episode 057 – Jean Ginzburg

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Richard Matthews  

Hello, and welcome back to the HERO Show. 

 

My name is Richard Matthews. I am on the line 

 

With Jean Ginzburg. Jean, there?

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Yes. Thank you so much 

 

For having me on. I’m super excited to be here.

 

Richard Matthews  

Awesome. Glad to have you here. 

 

Let me introduce you for the folks 

 

Who’ve never heard of you before. 

 

Jean is a number one best-selling author; 

 

Award winning entrepreneur; 

 

And digital marketing expert with more than 

 

Twelve years of industry experience 

 

Helping companies, scale revenue, optimize sales,

 

And marketing processes improve productivity. 

 

You’re the CEO and founder 

 

Of https://www.jeanginzburg.com/ 

 

Which is a digital marketing education company, 

 

And Gimbal Digital Marketing 

 

And digital marketing agency. You’ve got clients 

 

Everywhere from Fortune 500 companies 

 

To startups. You’ve been featured on Inc Forbes 

 

And Huffington Post. And got a list of awards 

 

That is a mile long. Why don’t you tell me today, 

 

What you’re known for. What is it 

 

That people come to you for? Why do they 

 

Hire you? What’s the the typical thing 

 

That you help businesses do?

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Absolutely. I’ve been doing this for 12 years 

 

And I would say, now, typically, entrepreneurs.

 

I usually work with entrepreneurs. Small 

 

To medium sized businesses, and they usually 

 

Come to me a with help on: How do I grow 

 

My business using digital and social strategies. 

 

I would say that’s where I’m mostly known for. 

 

We do work quite a bit with info product creators 

 

Or digital course creators or entrepreneurs 

 

Who want to create or have a digital course 

 

Or support—want to basically productize 

 

Their knowledge in something that is beyond

 

Having clients or trading time for dollars 

 

Or something like that. We’ve worked 

 

With a lot of those kinds of entrepreneurs 

 

And help them grow and scale their 

 

Whatever that is. The info product. That piece 

 

Of digital course that they’re looking 

 

To productize their knowledge from.

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s awesome. That’s actually what I spend 

 

Most my time doing, is helping my clients 

 

Productize their knowledge. I call it 

 

Instructional design. Help them do 

 

Their instructional design and the marketing 

 

And sales and stuff. We’re in a similar space there. 

 

I want to talk about your origin story. 

 

We talked on the show, every hero’s 

 

Got their origin story. 

 

It’s where you started to realize 

 

That you were different. That maybe 

 

You had superpowers, and maybe you could 

 

Use them to help people. How did that happen 

 

For you? How did you get started 

 

On this entrepreneurial journey and get 

 

To the point where you’re building a business 

 

That’s recognized as—what some of these awards 

 

That I had pulled up. Women to Watch 

 

In July 2018. And Top 25 Ad Agencies in Denver. 

 

And a couple of bunch of other awards. 

 

Jean Ginzburg  

I think I’ll probably start with back in the day. 

 

My story starts with—I’m actually 

 

From the former Soviet Union. I was born 

 

In Russia. As you know, probably most people 

 

Know, Soviet Union: very non-entrepreneurial. 

 

Absolutely no entrepreneurship there, whatsoever. 

 

Grew up in communist era. And my family, 

 

We immigrated to the United States 

 

When I was 8 years old. Came here 

 

And I think just because I didn’t grow up 

 

With entrepreneurship at all, I think 

 

That was always in the back of my mind. 

 

I went to college. Got some jobs. And went up 

 

Through the ranks. But always 

 

In the back of my mind, I was kind of thinking, 

 

I’ve always wanted to start my own thing. 

 

I think there’s a better way. I think I could 

 

Do better with clients if I were 

 

To just start something on my own. That was, 

 

I think, always swimming in the back of my mind. 

 

Over the jobs that I had, like I said, 

 

I’ve been doing this for 12 years 

 

And digital marketing and social media. 

 

Everything that I’ve had in terms of positions 

 

That I’ve held have been all 

 

In the digital marketing space. I think that was how 

 

I started off in terms of my area of expertise. 

 

So, 6 years ago, almost 7 years ago now, 

 

I decided: I think that I’m going to take the plunge. 

 

It’s time for me to start something on my own. 

 

Just working for the company 

 

That I was with, and just in general, 

 

Companies that kind of seem very inefficient. 

 

There’s a lot of politics. I decided: I think 

 

That I can do much better with clients 

 

If I were to serve them directly. That’s really 

 

How I started my business, about 

 

Almost 7 years ago. I was already in digital marketing. 

 

It was pretty easy transition for me to go 

 

From working at a company to starting 

 

My own company. In terms of serving people 

 

And the kinds of companies or entrepreneurs

 

That I worked with. I think that came over time. 

 

Primarily, I started working with entrepreneurs 

 

When I first started my company. And I still do, 

 

But we’ve kind of grown a little bit in the sense

 

That we’ve taken on some bigger clients, of course. 

 

And we’ve taken on some bigger challenges 

 

With clients and bigger projects. Over time, 

 

That has changed, as well as evolve.

 

I know, we all evolve all the time 

 

As we’re entrepreneurs. Then, over time, 

 

It also has evolved in the sense that 

 

We try—we help entrepreneurs productize 

 

Their knowledge. In the beginning, we’ve worked 

 

With a lot of different companies, 

 

But now we’ve niched down just because 

 

We’ve had the experience, over time. We know 

 

What it’s like to create a digital course 

 

Or an info product. What it’s like market it. 

 

What it’s like to get your audiences. How to use 

 

Social media for all that. I think, become a specialization 

 

For us, if you will. I would say this, 

 

My entrepreneurial journey. That cover most of it. 

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s really interesting. Out of curiosity, 

 

Do you still speak Russian? 

 

Jean Ginzburg  

I do. Yes, fluently. I still speak Russian 

 

With my parents.

 

Richard Matthews  

I know 2 whole phrases in Russian 

 

And I’m going to test them out on you 

 

Because why not? I know the phrase: 

 

Novoye pokoleniye, which I believe 

 

Means new generation is that— 

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Yes. That’s correct. 

 

Richard Matthews  

I could say that. It’s very not useful, 

 

But I know how to say that in Russia.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

I was like, “Are you gonna give me 

 

Any swear words?” Because I don’t know.

 

Richard Matthews  

And the other one is Spokoynoy nochi,

 

Which I believe is good night. 

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Good night. Yes, absolutely. 

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s it. I can tell people good night 

 

And I can say new generation in Russian 

 

And that’s the only thing I got. 

 

Jean Ginzburg  

The new generation—

 

I understand the good night. But the new generation,

 

Where did that come from? 

 

Richard Matthews  

It was the name of a summer camp 

 

That I worked at in Russia in high school. 

 

They had, in Moscow, an organization 

 

In my hometown, in California, put together 

 

A summer camp in Moscow for the Russian kids. 

 

In the school systems in Russia. 

 

They taught English. But most of the teachers 

 

Were British, and most of the kids wanted to learn 

 

The American accent. They would bring kids over.

 

I was in high school at the time. They bring us over, 

 

And we would do an English camp with them 

 

Over the summer. We would do classes 

 

And whatnot during the day with the kids. 

 

I had a class of 2 second graders, I think. 

 

My friends had different classes or whatnot. 

 

We spent the day teaching and then we’d have 

 

Play fun and games, and do summer camp stuff 

 

In the afternoon. But the goal, basically, was 

 

They wanted to just hang out with Americans 

 

And learn how we spoke. It was a fun thing

 

We did in high school.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

That’s really cool. They probably started doing that 

 

After the wall fell, I’m assuming— 

 

Richard Matthews  

That would have been in early 2000s.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Got it. That’s probably after the wall fall 

 

Because when I was there and when my parents 

 

Were growing up there was very much 

 

The Iron Curtain. It was hard to get in and out 

 

Of Russia. If you were in it, it’s hard to get out. 

 

If you were not in it, it was hard to get in. 

 

They probably started doing that after the wall—

 

Richard Matthews  

It was really interesting being there 

 

Because America as a country.

 

Our oldest buildings are 200 years old. 

 

You walk around in the Red Square in Russia 

 

And I like this buildings 800 years old, 

 

And this building’s 1200 years old, and we’re like, 

 

“That buildings 5 times older 

 

Than our whole country.”

 

Jean Ginzburg  

That’s true. It’s like a Europe 

 

All over the place.

 

Richard Matthews  

You can see the hand of the communist regime 

 

All over the more modern architecture. 

 

When we went into the subway, the whole thing 

 

Is designed to make you feel small. 

 

It’s really fascinating how that happened. 

 

It’s really beautiful architecture, but you can see 

 

What they were trying to do with it. Even going 

 

In the airport and talking to the, what is it 

 

The person who takes your passport 

 

And stamps it? They’re way up there 

 

And you have to hand it up to them 

 

Because they’re looking down on you.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

That’s authority. That’s a big thing in Russia. 

 

Absolutely. Of course, I’m sure in the end—

 

This was when I was growing up. The Communist Bloc

 

Architecture, which is just concrete and windows. 

 

You probably saw a lot of that 

 

When you were there. The old 

 

Communist Bloc Architecture. They did that 

 

All across Eastern Europe and Russia 

 

Where it was just houses for people to live.

 

Make it simple and practical.

 

Richard Matthews  

Do you ever go back to visit

 

Jean Ginzburg  

I’ve actually never gone. 

 

My parents live in Chicago. 

 

Richard Matthews  

Your family’s all here?

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Yeah. My grandparents were there 

 

When we left but now they’re passed away 

 

A while back. My grandparents passed away 

 

Like 20 years ago. At this point, 

 

There’s really not too many people to see there. 

 

Richard Matthews  

Not many connections over there.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

No. 

 

Richard Matthews  

Makes sense. So, back to your business. 

 

After we detoured on Russia 

 

A little bit because that’s fun.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

It’s interesting. I’m sure people wanna hear 

 

That kind of stuff.

 

Richard Matthews  

Your superpowers. It’s what you specifically do, 

 

Or build, or bring to your business 

 

That helps solve problems for people. 

 

The things that you use to slay 

 

This world’s villain, so to speak. What would you say 

 

The superpower is that you bring to your organizations?

 

Jean Ginzburg  

I think there’s a couple of superpowers 

 

That I’ve, over time, gotten to realize 

 

And understand what am I good at 

 

Because I think as an entrepreneur, 

 

You have to realize what you’re good at. 

 

Then you have to realize what you’re not good at, 

 

So that you can outsource that or give that 

 

To a team member, something like that. 

 

I think for me, communication has been a big 

 

Superpower of mine. I think I’m very good 

 

At communicating. Breaking things down. 

 

Making sure that everybody is on the same page. 

 

Team members, clients, whatever it may be.

 

That’s been a big piece of what has helped me grow 

 

My business and just be an entrepreneur 

 

In general. Also, similar in that vein, is 

 

Chunking things down as much as possible 

 

In terms of goals and things like that. 

 

Because a lot of times I see that 

 

When entrepreneurs create goals, they’re like, 

 

“This is so overwhelming. This is so big.” 

 

But I think one of my superpowers has been:

 

How do I take a goal? Whether it’s my goal 

 

Or a client’s goal, or somebody I’m working with. 

 

And how do you make it into bite-size pieces, 

 

So it doesn’t seem as overwhelming.

 

So, you’re just taking one step at a time. 

 

Baby steps and— 

 

Richard Matthews  

Eating the elephant, so to speak.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Exactly one bite at a time. I would say communication 

 

And chunking things down. Or making goals 

 

More manageable, would be my superpowers. 

 

Richard Matthews  

When you work with clients, do you find 

 

That communication is something 

 

That you have to help them with 

 

In their businesses, regularly? Help them 

 

Establish better communication principles 

 

And things like that? Or is it just something 

 

That you’ve noticed has been really helpful 

 

In running your organization?

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Definitely both. A lot of times, I think internally, 

 

They might have. I feel like a lot of times 

 

They have … of communication issues, internally. 

 

Also, how they’re communicating 

 

To their external world. Since my area of expertise 

 

Is digital marketing and social media, it’s also: 

 

How do you communicate your message 

 

To the outside world so it could be internal 

 

And external. Communication, of course, 

 

Is a big piece of marketing.

 

Richard Matthews  

Absolutely. The other side of your superpower 

 

Is your fatal flaw. If you think your superpower 

 

Is that communication and chunking things down 

 

For people. The fatal flaw, like Superman 

 

Has his Kryptonite. Or Batman is not actually 

 

A superhero. He just has to work really hard. 

 

Has there been something that you’ve noticed 

 

Has held your business back. That if you 

 

Could have gotten rid of it, or work on it 

 

Sooner, you would have been further along 

 

Than you are now. Question basically is: 

 

What is that? More importantly, what have you done 

 

To help resolve it for people who might struggle 

 

With something similar?

 

Jean Ginzburg  

I’d say in the beginning, one of my fatal flaws, 

 

And I think that’s a fatal flaw that’s common 

 

To most entrepreneurs is trying 

 

To do everything yourself. And letting go 

 

Of the control and letting go of the reins. And 

 

I think, and I’m not trying to be like, “Let me find 

 

The easiest one.” But I think it’s the easiest flaw. 

 

But it’s also the one that I had trouble; 

 

That I had struggled with when I was 

 

In my early days of entrepreneurship. 

 

I still struggle with it a little bit, but I think 

 

I’ve gotten much better at understanding 

 

What I’m good at. Like I said earlier, what I’m good at,

 

And then what I’m not good at. And finding people 

 

On my team who are better at it than me. 

 

And not thinking that I’m good at everything 

 

Because I’m not. And handing those reins 

 

Over to them and being, “You’re capable.

 

I know that you are. So, run with it. 

 

Because I’m just standing in everybody’s way here, 

 

If I were to do this myself. It’s better if you were 

 

To take it,” and just move forward with it. 

 

Because you’re never going to—

 

And the company’s not going to move forward 

 

If I’m standing in the way. That’s something 

 

That I hear all the time. That’s definitely something 

 

That I’ve struggled with a lot in the beginning.

 

Of course, in the beginning you kind of do things 

 

Yourself because you’re all—

 

Because you don’t have the budget 

 

Or the bandwidth. You run the bandwidth, 

 

But you don’t have the budget to really hire people. 

 

For me it started off small. I hired 

 

A virtual assistant part time to help me 

 

With some of the administrative projects and

 

Day to day projects that I needed help with. 

 

Then, my team grew from there. I hired people 

 

Who do copywriting for me. Who do graphic design. 

 

And who do video editing. I also, now, have someone 

 

Who’s kind of what I call my right hand, 

 

Who basically project manages everything 

 

For the company and for me. Is a personal assistant 

 

And an administrative assistant. 

 

You start small, and taking that plunge. 

 

It was kind of difficult for me as well in the beginning 

 

Is like: How do I take that next step? 

 

How do I find the virtual assistant?

 

Richard Matthews  

I remember, specifically. Because for me, 

 

That happened just recently. In the last year, 

 

Where I was by myself and I did everything 

 

By myself and had for the last 9 years or so. 

 

Then I was like, “I’m holding myself back. And I mean 

 

To take that plunge.” I remember one of the things 

 

That I was thinking, I was like, “In order 

 

To hire someone, I have to allocate all this money 

 

To hiring that person.” I was like, “I could use 

 

That money in other ways. In better ways.”

 

What I didn’t realize was that by hiring someone, 

 

The amount of time that you get back, and the leverage

 

That you get from having someone do work for you 

 

More than makes up for their cost. It’s a weird thing 

 

To think about in your head. But you’re thinking, 

 

Just for easy math, it cost me $1,000 a month 

 

To hire this person. I could use $1,000 to put it 

 

Into marketing and put in other things, 

 

But that thousand dollars a month gets you 40 hours 

 

A week. I’m just using easy math stuff. 

 

But the 40 hours a week and someone else’s time 

 

Help you leverage things really. It changes the equation 

 

In your business because now I can give someone 

 

An hour’s worth instructions and get 10 or 15 hours 

 

Of work done. And that changes the game, 

 

Completely, in terms of how much you can deliver, 

 

And how quickly you can deliver. And the quality 

 

Of your deliverables for your clients that it’s easy 

 

To scale or easier to scale, and take on 

 

More clients and replace the costs 

 

That it takes to hire someone.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Absolutely. I think the other challenge 

 

Which came along with this challenge was

 

processes and standard operating procedure. 

 

I think that’s another piece. I know that 

 

I had a challenge like that in the beginning 

 

And I started to document everything 

 

That I was doing so that I can hand it off 

 

To someone. I think that’s another—

 

It’s the challenge is to progue 

 

For an entrepreneur. I have to hire someone. 

 

I have to find someone to hire. I have 

 

To spend budget and money on person to hire.

 

And I also have to give them instructions 

 

And teach them and train them and create 

 

A process for what they actually need to do. 

 

It’s almost like a double edged sword in a way, 

 

It’s something that we all need to overcome.

 

As we decide that we’re going to—

 

You can’t just be solo. We need to, in order 

 

To scale. We also need to scale our team 

 

Because without scaling our team;

 

We can’t scale the business. 

 

That’s pretty much impossible.

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s a really great point too, 

 

About the standard operating procedures too. 

 

Because before you have someone else, 

 

You can have all the procedures in your head 

 

And you’re fine. Soon as you bring someone else, 

 

Then you have to have: “This is the thing 

 

That we’re doing. You have 

 

To download it.” But what it does, 

 

It makes your operation more efficient, 

 

Because now you’re like, “This is exactly 

 

What needs to happen.” And it forces you 

 

To think through your processes, probably 

 

Better than you had before. It’ll immediately 

 

Rear its head when you have a poor process. 

 

Because someone else will come through 

 

And try to do your process and be like, 

 

“I don’t know what to do here.” And you’re like, 

 

“I had decisions I was making 

 

That I didn’t even realize I was making.

 

Now you have to process those 

 

And get them out there. And you going 

 

To put a lot stronger business.”

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Absolutely. When I had real jobs 

 

Before I started my, what I call my real jobs. 

 

Before I started my entrepreneurship, 

 

None of the companies I ever worked with 

 

Actually had a standard operating procedure. 

 

Some of them were big companies.

 

Some of them were hundreds of employees. 

 

It was like all of it was dependent 

 

On someone training you. 

 

So, if that person who was supposed 

 

To be training you left, or went on vacation, 

 

Or went on maternity leave or whatever.

 

Or there was no overlap

 

Between the person who left and the new person. 

 

It was like, everything was just inside their head. 

 

Things were, at least the companies that I worked at, 

 

Were very inefficient. I was like, “How do I make 

 

This efficient when I have my own company?” 

 

Making changes for myself. Making changes 

 

That I thought were inefficient when I worked 

 

At other companies was like, “How do you do that 

 

For yourself?” I was having a …

 

Every procedure has really allowed me 

 

To scale my business because, primarily, 

 

The thing is I’ve been able to hand off most 

 

Of the client work. Most of the day to day stuff 

 

To my team. Then, I have time 

 

To actually think and create and come up 

 

With new ideas and new products 

 

And work on these things and launch them. 

 

I actually have the time 

 

To take the next steps. To take the risks 

 

And move forward with the business. 

 

Otherwise, I would just be stuck doing client work, 

 

Which is fine, but it’s not a scalable business …

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s one of the things that I’ve run into 

 

That I think is really powerful, 

 

Is thinking through your processes, 

 

In terms of doing what only you can do. 

 

The same thing with your employees and your staff 

 

Is you want to think through your processes 

 

In such a way that’s: I’ve got my staff doing work 

 

That requires them to do it. When possible, 

 

We automate things.If a robot can do it, great. 

 

Then we need a human to do it. It’s like, 

 

“How do you free up your staff’s time?” 

 

“How do you free up your time?” So, that each person, 

 

Everyone’s work is leveraged. 

 

Everyone’s doing things that are their highest 

 

And best use. It makes for a much more efficient company.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

It does. It’s interesting how you talked 

 

About a robot because I think very much near 

 

In the future, I think we’re going 

 

To be having robots do our work versus

 

Actually having employees do it. 

 

Richard Matthews  

Ten years from now, 

 

It’s probably going to be one of two things. 

 

You’re either going to tell robots what to do, 

 

Or you’re going to be told by robots what to do.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

That is very true. I’m hoping that 

 

I’m gonna be the one 

 

Telling the robots what to do. 

 

But I guess you never know. I hope the robots 

 

Are not telling me what to do. But I remember 

 

I’m part of a mastermind group 

 

And one of the things that they talked about, 

 

One of the sessions was like, “What will happen? “

 

Because, since we didn’t do my area of expertise, 

 

Digital marketing, this is a digital marketing mastermind 

 

That I’m talking about. And they were talking about, 

 

“What would happen in the next 5 to 10 years 

 

When it comes to all the digital marketing 

 

That we do? Right now, it’s all very manual. 

 

Doing your Facebook ads manually. 

 

Writing copy is manual, and putting offers 

 

In front of your audiences is very manual. 

 

It’s very much one-sided. But in the future, 

 

You’re thinking that all of this is gonna be optimized 

 

By robots. Your Facebook ads can be optimized 

 

By robots. Your copy is going to be written 

 

By robots. The offers that you put out there 

 

Will be personalized to the people 

 

Who are looking at them. So it’s

 

Basically, what you—

 

Richard Matthews  

I’m actually working with a client 

 

That is building AI for copywriting. 

 

It is ridiculously cool. I’ve had a lot of my agencies. 

 

The sales letters, and copy and whatnot, put 

 

Through the robot. Now, you can fill out a profile 

 

And hit a button, and have it generate 

 

A sales letter that says almost as good 

 

As I would have written it by hand. 

 

95% – 99% of the way there, you might go through 

 

And make a couple of adjustments. 

 

And have it done in 2 seconds instead of 2 weeks. 

 

Jean Ginzburg  

I want to know the name of that company so 

 

That I can work with. 

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s CopyPro.Ai 

 

They’re currently launching. You’re welcome 

 

To check them out there. They’re fantastic. 

 

https://copypro.ai/ 

 

They’re currently looking for investors 

 

And partners and whatnot. Definitely, 

 

If you’re in that space, check them out. 

 

Jean Ginzburg  

My team does write a lot of copy 

 

For my clients, and for my business, too. 

 

Richard Matthews  

Their 2.0 launches just around the corner. 

 

One of the things that they’re adding is 

 

They’re adding the ability for you to put 

 

Your copy frameworks into the robot so that 

 

The robot can generate copy for you 

 

From the profiles. Using your things, there’s a lot 

 

Of good stuff in there from a core publishing

 

For myself and from other big marketers. 

 

You can use their copy but you if you have 

 

Your own copy framework that you use 

 

On a regular basis, you’ll be able to put them in 

 

And have it spit out copy. I was like, 

 

“This is just like money falling from the sky.” 

 

Because if I can take the same thing 

 

That takes me 2 weeks, and get it done 

 

In an hour. Now I can do 15 of them.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Absolutely. Actually, it’s already happening. 

 

Besides CopyPro, I remember reading an article. 

 

Maybe 6 months ago or a year ago that said 

 

That most publications like news, what used 

 

To be newspapers, I guess, now are called 

 

Media companies. Like the New York Times 

 

Or something like that. They have 

 

For their sports section. Most of that 

 

Is now written by a robot. It’s not written by him 

 

Because it’s like template. When you talk 

 

About sports: this happened and that happened 

 

And that was the score. For something like that. 

 

It’s actually already being written by a non-human. 

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s already being done by robots. 

 

I use that on a micro-level for my business.

 

As an example, when this show is done, 

 

When we’re done recording this episode, 

 

I hit the stop record button. That stop record button

 

Does a bunch of things. It’s a trigger. 

 

I like to think about automations

 

In terms of triggers and actions. My trigger 

 

Is that I’ve stopped the recording and it gets 

 

Uploaded to Zoom’s cloud. The Zoom cloud 

 

Takes and sticks my Google Drive folder, 

 

And the Google Drive folder is being watched 

 

By a Zapier thing that’s creating Trello cards 

 

And assigning it to staff. Then, it moves 

 

Through a whole process. There’s a whole bunch 

 

Of automation on that. Then, when it comes 

 

To building your procedures—when I first started, 

 

Most of those things were being done by hand—

 

By me or by some of my staff—and we’re 

 

Looking through. It’s like, “Where are we doing things 

 

On a repetitive basis where we can have 

 

A single trigger that sets everything else off?”

 

It allows us to think through our operating procedures 

 

In terms of our automation first. So, when a human being 

 

Has to come in to do something. Someone has 

 

To listen to it and come up with the title 

 

For the show. At this point, robots aren’t good enough 

 

For that. That’s when I can bring staff in. 

 

You have to listen to it and pull out 

 

The good pieces and stuff like that. 

 

That’s the thing that only a human being can do. 

 

I’m always trying to think through 

 

My processes in terms of doing only you can do.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Right now, only a human being can do.

 

Richard Matthews  

Right now. It’ll change. Then we’ll see.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Five years ago, you weren’t even able 

 

To make this automation. Where you click stop, 

 

And then it goes to a Trello card to Zapier and line. 

 

Now, these people get added to it automatically. 

 

You probably weren’t able to do that 5 years ago, 

 

But now you can.

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s crazy. We weren’t even able to do calls 

 

Like this five years ago. Our world is changing so fast.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

So rapidly. In 5 years, probably a bot 

 

Will be naming your stuff and then doing 

 

All the editing. Then posting into your social media. 

 

Without you having to deal with you have anything.

 

Richard Matthews  

Which really brings up a good point.

 

That you need to, as a business owner, as a solopreneur, 

 

Or as a someone else, you need to be keeping track 

 

Of what kind of automations are available. 

 

And how you can use them in your business. 

 

Because for a number of reasons. If your competitors 

 

Are using them, and you’re not, they’re going 

 

To be more efficient companies. They’re going 

 

To be able to spend more money on advertising 

 

And customer acquisition than you are

 

Bcause they’ve got the extra resources of bandwidth 

 

To do it. I think it behooves every one of us, 

 

As solopreneurs and small entrepreneurs, 

 

To really learn how to do the standard 

 

Operating procedures and how to build robots. 

 

Use the tools that are available to you. Like I said, 

 

You’re going to either be the one who’s telling 

 

The robots what to do, or you’re going 

 

To be told by the robots what to do.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

We’re all looking forward to that future. 

 

But what happens at that point? What do we do 

 

With our time when all of the robots 

 

Are taking over, and taking over everything that we do?

 

Richard Matthews  

Your business will be running on its own. 

 

Just putting money into your pocket. Then, you’ll just 

 

Get to choose what to spend it on. It’s an 

 

Ideal lifestyle. I have no idea what’s going 

 

To happen but I imagine just like everything else, 

 

We’ll figure out new ways to grow and improve lives 

 

Of people around us. My next question for you 

 

Has to do with your clients. In terms of things 

 

That you help them with. I like to talk about 

 

Your common enemy. When you bring someone on, 

 

And I assume this happens pretty regularly, 

 

Where you have mindsets, or roadblocks 

 

That are holding your clients back 

 

From getting really good results. It’s something 

 

That you constantly have to fight against regularly 

 

Or things that they’re doing. Or things that they 

 

With your clients. Things that they’re thinking.

 

Should be doing that they’re not. That you could just 

 

Wave your magic wand and every time 

 

You brought on a client that was just taken care of 

 

And you knew you could just get them faster results. 

 

What would that be for you? What would be their mindset? 

 

That is the common enemy that you’re 

 

Fighting against on a regular basis.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Something that I’ve been thinking about quite a bit. 

 

Thinking about all of my clients that I’ve had 

 

Or currently have, and where are the roadblocks. 

 

The thing that if I were to distill it down 

 

To one thing, it would be clients who believe 

 

In themselves and clients who don’t believe 

 

In themselves. I know that it sounds very easy 

 

And very simple, but it’s actually what I have seen 

 

To be the difference between successful clients 

 

And clients who are not successful. Or, in general, 

 

Successful entrepreneurs and non-successful 

 

Entrepreneurs. My clients are mostly entrepreneurs. 

 

The clients that I see that are successful are really 

 

The ones that believe in themselves. 

 

Believe in their abilities. Believe in their message. 

 

Believe that they can help their community,

 

Whoever their community is. Then it’s the clients, 

 

Or the people, or the entrepreneurs 

 

That I interact with who I can see 

 

That they don’t believe in themselves. I can see 

 

That they’re not sure. They’re not clear on things.

 

They’re not clear on their message. 

 

They’re not clear on what they want to do. 

 

They’re not clear on: are they able to do it? 

 

Are they able to be a part of a challenge?

 

Then, still get up and and move forward. 

 

That, I think, is really the mindset that I’m seeing, 

 

In general, whether it’s clients or anybody 

 

That I’m interacting with who started 

 

Their own company. Do they believe in themselves?

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s such a big deal too, because I’ve noticed 

 

That in my business, too. The clients 

 

Who believe in themselves are more ready 

 

To take managed risks that have big payoffs. 

 

Than clients who don’t, and the ones 

 

Who are willing to take those risks are, generally,

 

The ones who also see the rewards 

 

From taking those risks. Even if it’s just a smaller risk 

 

Is like, “I’m going to put $1,000 in the Ad spend 

 

This month.” They’re willing to do that, and test it out. 

 

And test their messages because they believe in it. 

 

Clients who struggle with that belief are, generally, 

 

They’ll still struggle, generally, end up stopping them 

 

From shipping. From getting their message 

 

To the market. Whether that’s Ads or getting up 

 

On the stage or whatever it is that they’re doing. 

 

It’s that belief that stops them from taking 

 

Whatever the perceived risk is.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

I think that’s really the main key. If I were to distill it 

 

All down, that would be it. Because if you 

 

Believe in yourself. Or if you believe in your message. 

 

Or what you’re trying to do. You are more confident.

 

You are more willing to take risks. You’re willing 

 

To move forward. But if you’re like, “I don’t know. 

 

I’m not sure.” Then, it transcends across 

 

All of the things that you’re doing.

 

Richard Matthews  

I’m curious how you deal with that 

 

In your business. Do you take the route 

 

Where you actually coach clients until they get 

 

To the point where they got the belief 

 

To do the right things? Or do you just say, 

 

“I’m sorry, you’re not a fit for my business. 

 

You might want to go somewhere else.”

 

How do you handle that in your business?

 

Jean Ginzburg  

I think in the beginning, actually, it was more like 

 

Trying to coach them. To some varying degrees 

 

Of success. But I think, lately, in the last 

 

Couple of years that I’ve had my business, 

 

I’ve turned away clients that I feel 

 

Are not in the right headspace. Don’t have 

 

The right mindset, because I don’t feel like 

 

I am the coach for that. Because this is not 

 

My area of expertise. I can see the successes 

 

And I can see the mindset, but I don’t know 

 

If I’m really the person to—

 

Richard Matthews  

To help you fix it. 

 

Jean Ginzburg  

I think a whole other can of worms 

 

That is designed for coaches 

 

That specifically work on mindsets.

 

I’ll be honest, we all have our areas 

 

Of expertise and that is not mine. I have turned down 

 

A lot of clients in the past. In the last couple 

 

Of years since I’ve kind of grown my business. 

 

Since I’ve known what I wanted. What kind of clients 

 

I want to work with. And if they’re not really 

 

In the right mindset; I just don’t like taking 

 

Those clients on. Because it’s a mismatch …

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s hard to deliver the result you want to deliver. 

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Exactly. They also, typically, have very high 

 

Expectations for what they want, 

 

Because their mindset is all kind of screwy. 

 

They think that, “I’m going to do Facebook Ads,

 

And tomorrow I’m going to become a millionaire.” 

 

It’s usually the ones that have the right mindset 

 

Are usually the more patient ones. The more like, 

 

“I know this is going to take time. I know that 

 

This is going to be a long road. We’re in this together. 

 

But I know I’m not going to be a millionaire tomorrow. 

 

But I will be a millionaire. It’s just going to take some time.”

 

Richard Matthews  

One of the the defining characteristics I’ve got 

 

For my client avatar is, I’ve noticed, and I think 

 

It has to do with the belief thing. But is whether 

 

Or not they need whatever their online business. 

 

If they need their online business to pay the bills, 

 

Then they struggle with belief. If they are trying 

 

To get their online business as an additional stream 

 

Of revenue into an existing successful business, 

 

Then they don’t struggle with the belief as much.

 

They’re far more ready to do the work that’s required.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Same thing with the clients that I’ve interacted. 

 

The ones that have the right mindset, 

 

Typically, have a business 

 

That they’re running that I’m not involved in. 

 

Then, they are like, “I need this isn’t gonna be 

 

My other revenue stream. I want to get 

 

This online business off the ground.” It’s going 

 

To take time and they know it. Basically, there are 

 

Other business venture capitals, and this new 

 

“That’s totally cool. I get it. It’s going to take time, 

 

Online business. They realize it and they’re like, 

 

But I’m working towards it.” And also they’re, typically, 

 

The high achievers, because if they already 

 

Have a business that’s successful, 

 

And they’re looking to create a second business 

 

That is an online business. Then when they have 

 

The time, the resources, the energy, and the bandwidth 

 

To put it into the second business, 

 

Then they’re typically also high achievers.

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s either a second business or they’re trying 

 

To add an online revenue stream 

 

To their existing business. Starting a new business 

 

Means that business is probably going to starve 

 

For the first 6 to 12 months. 

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Sometimes, even longer.

 

Richard Matthews  

Depending on how long it takes 

 

To develop your message. Develop your products. 

 

Get all the things together, and find 

 

The right audience for it. There’s all the things 

 

That go into making it successful. But if you’re willing 

 

To put in that time and that work, then you can recoup 

 

Those investments and have an ROI on it. They tend 

 

To think in terms of ROI instead of in terms of cost.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Absolutely. Exact thoughts that I always have. 

 

I have had in the past couple of years having met 

 

Those kinds of clients. It totally resonates 

 

With me as well, because it sounds like 

 

You have the exact same experience.

 

Richard Matthews  

And it’s really interesting. I’m not sure how we 

 

Turn that into a useful tidbit for our audience, 

 

But just to think of in your business in terms of:

 

If you do need your business

 

To pay the bills. You need to still be able 

 

To take on the mindset of someone who’s willing 

 

To take the risks. Willing to have the time 

 

And patience to go into it. Because that’s what it takes 

 

To really make your business successful.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

I think that a lot of times people go into 

 

This entrepreneurship thing too quickly. 

 

Maybe, sometimes they need to hold on 

 

To their current job. It might suck,

 

And I’ve had to do that as well. But then at least 

 

You have a revenue stream that’s paying the bills. 

 

Then you can test out and fund this new business 

 

With your regular job. Eventually, you’ll probably quit 

 

Your job if things are successful. But it takes time, 

 

Effort, energy, and patience. 

 

Richard Matthews  

I kept my corporate job for a long time. 

 

When I finally quit, I took a major pay cut, 

 

Because I had the corporate job and the business coming in. 

 

Then, you quit the corporate job and you’re like, 

 

“It’s a lot of money to say goodbye to.”

 

But same equation. You get all your time back.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Absolutely. But you’re not worried 

 

About paying the bills. You’re not worried about:

 

“Am I gonna be able to pay my mortgage next month? 

 

Or my rent?” Because you have the revenue stream 

 

Coming in from your regular job. Entrepreneurship 

 

Is so big lately that it’s like, “Everybody should be 

 

An entrepreneur.” But we all need to have 

 

Calculated risks and think about 

 

What’s that going to look like for us and our families.

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s an interesting message. I actually wonder 

 

If it’s doing entrepreneurship a disservice 

 

To say that everyone should be an entrepreneur

 

And you should do it now. I get where it’s coming from. 

 

It’s coming from that good place where everyone 

 

Could be an entrepreneur if they wanted to be.

 

You have that Disney movie: Ratatouille. 

 

Anyone can be a cook. It’s not that anyone 

 

Can be a cook. It’s that great cooks can come 

 

From anywhere. It’s the same kind of thing. 

 

A great entrepreneur can come from anywhere. 

 

Doesn’t matter what you’re doing now. You could 

 

Turn that into a great entrepreneurial business 

 

At some point. But it doesn’t mean everyone should. 

 

Or that you should do it now. Sometimes it means 

 

You have to get some product development. 

 

Test the market, and find that it’s ready to go. 

 

Keep the job going or keep whatever it is. 

 

There’s just a certain risk tolerance profile. 

 

You have to be entrepreneur. And willingness 

 

To, I say, eat dirt.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Unless you’re funded heavily by some BC 

 

Or something like that. Then, it’s all going to be 

 

A lot of testing, eating dirt, figuring things out. 

 

It’s not all glamorous. It’s not all fantastic. 

 

And what they show on social media, they’re like, 

 

“I have my Lamborghini, and I have my jet behind me.”

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s funny, I actually get that a lot 

 

Because I travel full time with my family. We have 

 

An RV and we travel the country. We live 

 

The Nomad lifestyle that a lot of entrepreneurs 

 

Are looking for. People like, “You’re so lucky 

 

That you got there.” I’m like, “Yeah, but it also 

 

Took 15 years of working my ass off to get 

 

To the point where I could it.”  It’s not magic. 

 

It’s not a magical thing.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

All of a sudden, I have it all. I think that

 

People who, “I think I’m all for entrepreneurship.” 

 

I think if you have a great idea. 

 

If you’re willing to do the hard work, then absolutely. 

 

But think about the risks and think about—

 

One of the things I always say is: Have at least 

 

Six months of your minimum. 

 

Make sure that you have whatever it is your mortgage, 

 

Your rent, your food, your clothes. Whatever you need. 

 

Whatever is. Your monthly, make sure 

 

You have 6 months of that when you 

 

Start being an entrepreneur. Because you want 

 

To make sure that you have enough 

 

To get you through the tough times 

 

Until you’re seeing your business grow.

 

Richard Matthews  

What’s really interesting too, is I think 

 

A lot of people, they look at businesses 

 

That are doing really well. They’re like, 

 

“I could get a business to that point in a year.” 

 

And it happens. Sometimes you have people 

 

Who rocket to success. But the reality is 

 

Most of your entrepreneur stories, 

 

Especially the successful businesses, are 5, 10, 

 

And 15 years in the making. Everything 

 

From developing and collecting skills. 

 

To getting the marketplace. To lining things up. 

 

We vastly overestimate what we can accomplish 

 

In a year. And vastly underestimate how powerful 

 

Your business can be if you have consistent 

 

Small successes every day for 10 years.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Absolutely. It’s funny you say 10 years 

 

Because I was actually just talking to 

 

One of my clients. She’s an expert in her field. 

 

She’s an attorney. We started working together 

 

About a year and a half ago when she wanted 

 

To productize her knowledge. She feels like 

 

We’re moving things along and things 

 

Are getting bigger. I’m getting more well known. 

 

I was like, “Absolutely.” She’s been doing this 

 

For a couple of years now. But then we were like, 

 

“How long does it usually take to get 

 

To the maximum level.” Or level, where we’re 

 

More mainstream, as you call it. 

 

We’re thinking we’re like, “All of the people. 

 

All of the Gurus that we know are like: 

 

It took 10 years to get to that point. It just 

 

Takes some time. You just have to have patience.” 

 

Even all the people that we see.  

 

The Gary Vaynerchuk of the world—

 

Richard Matthews  

The Gary Vaynerchuk envy.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

They took them 10 years to get to 

 

Where they are now. They are mainstream now. 

 

They make a lot of money. They are 

 

On social media. They get speaking engagements. 

 

But Gary Vaynerchuk, and none of these people 

 

Got that in the beginning. They all had to 

 

Work for it. I remember I was listening 

 

To Gary speak at one point. 

 

He’s like, “In the beginning before I got 

 

All my paid speaking engagements 

 

That I have now. I had to take on 3

 

Speaking engagements, where I didn’t get paid.” 

 

It all starts from the beginning. The thing is that 

 

The mainstream don’t really see 

 

We don’t see the struggles. We don’t see 

 

What happened in the last 9 years of 

 

This person’s journey. We always just assume that, 

 

“Gary Vee, he’s famous now. So he was famous 

 

His whole life.” No, none of these people famous 

 

Their whole life. It took him a long time,

 

Struggle, and 10 years to get to where 

 

They are now. But we all think that everybody 

 

Knows who he is now. So he’s always been like that.

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s interesting because Gary Vee talks about

 

Using social media. He talks about what he did. 

 

A lot of people are like, “I can do that.” 

 

I’m like, “You could. You could actually do that.” 

 

But they’re saying: “I want to do what Gary Vee 

 

Is doing.” And you’re like: Gary Vee, he’s got 25 people 

 

On staff producing content for him. He’s got 

 

A couple of full time photographers 

 

That follow him around. Video everything he does. 

 

Everything he says. His staff and people 

 

That follow him around is probably bigger 

 

Than your business. 

 

Jean Ginzburg  

He says he started on his own. 

 

He did on his own for many years. 

 

Up until a few years ago when he got a staff 

 

Of 25 or 35 people who are doing that all now. 

 

But, again, he had to work up to that point as well. 

 

It wasn’t like he came out of the womb, 

 

And he had 35 people working …

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s interesting to think. For those of us 

 

Who are in the digital marketing space,

 

Our clients are looking at: what are the best 

 

Examples of digital marketing. Names 

 

Like Gary Vaynerchuk pop-up. And names like

 

Grant Cardone pop-up all the time. They’re like, 

 

“I want to be like that.” I’m like, “That’s great. 

 

But that’s going to take 10 to 15 years to get to. 

 

So, what do we do in the meantime? How do we take 

 

The little steps and what do those little steps look like? 

 

To creating that type of a brand in your space.”

 

Jean Ginzburg  

And a lot of people don’t have the patience for that.

 

Richard Matthews  

The other thing that I find interesting is that

 

Your big names like Gary Vaynerchuk 

 

Is in a generalized space. He’s not in 

 

A specific space for the stuff he does 

 

On social media. You don’t need 

 

To be world famous. You just need to be,

 

If you’re in the top 10 of people who come up 

 

When they’re looking for your thing; you’re golden. 

 

You don’t need to have people in Paraguay 

 

To be able to look you up and watch 

 

Your inspirational things on social media 

 

Because it’s not relevant to your business.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Absolutely. Even Gary Vaynerchuk. He’s known 

 

In our space, but he’s not known, across the world 

 

By everybody. There’s a lot—even entrepreneurs 

 

They’re like, “Who’s Gary Vaynerchuk?” 

 

I’m like, “I guess you don’t know who he is. 

 

But that’s fine.” Not everybody knows 

 

Who he is. He’s not an Oprah.

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s really interesting discussion too. 

 

It’s the thing that we have to fight against 

 

All the time. Those expectations and the risks 

 

That go into running a successful business. I want 

 

To flip that and talk about the other side. 

 

If that’s the thing you fight against, constantly. 

 

The driving force is the thing that you fight for. 

 

Spider Man fights to save New York. Batman fights 

 

To save Gotham. Google fights to index 

 

All the world’s information. What is it that 

 

You guys fight for in your digital agency?

 

Jean Ginzburg  

In terms for our clients? 

 

Richard Matthews  

What is it? What is it that you’re looking 

 

To accomplish? Why do you guys do what you do?

 

Jean Ginzburg  

We really are looking to serve entrepreneurs.

 

To help them with digital marketing 

 

And social media. But there’s so much opportunity 

 

That I see with digital marketing and social media 

 

That companies and entrepreneurs don’t really 

 

Take advantage of. There is so much 

 

Power in that. In the sense that 

 

It’s so powerful to use 

 

These strategies that most businesses do not. 

 

Every time I engage with a new business, 

 

Whether it’s a client, or someone 

 

I’m working with, or an entrepreneur. It’s like 

 

I can see all the holes in their digital marketing 

 

And social media. I’m like, I really want 

 

To help. I really want you to guys to utilize it 

 

To the best of your ability so that 

 

You’re actually able to grow and be successful 

 

In your business. That’s really what we’re striving towards.

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s very similar to what I’m trying to do. 

 

For whatever reason, I find it endlessly fascinating 

 

That if you say and do certain things 

 

In the right order. In different places online or off 

 

That you can have a lot of success. And 

 

You can impact people’s lives with your products,

 

And services. And you can get paid well for it 

 

And all sorts of things. It’s this really 

 

Fascinating ripple effect of: I help you 

 

With your digital marketing. Your life gets better 

 

Because you make more money. You’re helping 

 

More people. You’re living your life’s purpose 

 

But then all the people that you’re helping with 

 

Whatever you do, their lives get better. 

 

It’s a really cool—

 

Jean Ginzburg  

It’s a really cool MLM marketing scheme. 

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s like an influence. 

 

Jean Ginzburg  

I guess down a pyramid. 

 

Like a waterfall where it’s downstream people 

 

Are also getting help. Getting the support 

 

That they need. That’s another reason 

 

Why we work with a lot of influencers, 

 

And people who want to productize their knowledge. 

 

It’s not just helping their business and that’s it. 

 

We’re also helping their audiences 

 

Of their audiences and their audiences.

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s really cool. I want to move on 

 

To something that’s a little more practical

 

And talk about your heroes tool belt. 

 

I like to talk about this. Maybe you have 

 

A magical hammer like Thor. Or a bulletproof vest, 

 

Like your neighborhood police officer. Maybe, 

 

You guys really rely on Evernote in your business 

 

To keep track of everything. 

 

What are some of the tools you guys make use of 

 

On a regular basis that you think really 

 

Make a leveraged impact on the work that you do? 

 

Whether that’s Zoom calls, like we’re 

 

Talking on now. Or your calendar. Or whatever. 

 

What are some of your big movers. You’re like, 

 

“I don’t know what our business would do without this.”

 

Jean Ginzburg  

I actually created a course around that. 

 

It’s called Tech Up Your Business. It’s all the tools 

 

That we use in our business to have 

 

A successful business. I’m trying to remember 

 

All the tools. I’m not going to go through 

 

All of them but simple things like Calendly.

 

Before Calendly came about 

 

You had to spend 5 emails being: 

 

“I’m available to talk tomorrow between 3 and 5 

 

And Wednesday between 9 and 10. Then Thursday.”

 

It’s just like it was back and forth; and back and forth. 

 

But with a platform like Calendly, 

 

You can just schedule a time 

 

When you’re available. It’s a one and done deal. 

 

That’s just one tool. We use a lot of Google: 

 

Google Sheets, Google Docs, Google Slides, 

 

For collaborative writing, copy, or things like that 

 

Where the copywriter would write, copy, and then 

 

They would share it with me and my team. 

 

Then, we would all review it and the client 

 

Would review it. It’s collaborative. Easy ways. 

 

Instead of having a Word document 

 

Where you’re passing it all around. 

 

People are making changes to it. Then 

 

The changes get lost because too many people 

 

Have had their hands in one document 

 

And it wasn’t recorded. Dropbox, of course, 

 

Is a big one. Where we all have our files 

 

In the cloud. These are not revolutionary, although, 

 

I guess 10 years ago, they didn’t exist. They are 

 

Very efficient and practical for running a small business. 

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s amazing to me what you can do 

 

With some of these tools nowadays. 

 

Like Google Drive. Because I remember 

 

Early in my business, if you wanted 

 

To share a file with someone, like a Word document. 

 

It’s like, I email that word document to you 

 

And to another person on your team. 

 

And another person on your team and others 

 

To four different versions of the document.

 

The one I have, and the one each of your people have, 

 

We all make a change to it. Then we email it 

 

Back and forth to a few different people 

 

In two days later, there’s 400 versions 

 

Of the document. Nowadays, a Google document, 

 

You’re like, “Here’s the link for the document. 

 

You can all hop into it and make changes to it.” 

 

It makes the whole process seamless, 

 

Which is accepted. It didn’t happen 10 years ago.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

None of this was available. Calendly, Google Docs, 

 

Google Drive, Dropbox, none of these 

 

Were around 10 years ago. From a bigger perspective, 

 

Going back to entrepreneurship. It was much harder 

 

To become an entrepreneur because all of these 

 

Types of tools were either unavailable 

 

Or very expensive. Now, all of these tools 

 

Are available for small business to have 

 

Without spending enterprise level budgets

 

For tools like that. Before, 15-20 years ago, 

 

Entrepreneurship was so much more difficult 

 

Because of all the tools.

 

Richard Matthews  

It was farther away. You had to have 

 

A bigger nut to be able to afford to do it.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Absolutely. That’s why all of these bigger companies 

 

Were able to afford those kinds of tools. 

 

But like the smaller guys couldn’t afford them 

 

And forced them out of the game.

 

Richard Matthews  

If you go back 12 years, the iPhone was released. 

 

Before the iPhone, I had a smartphone. It was 

 

One of the Motorola ones that Steve Jobs was like, 

 

“These ones they suck because they have 

 

A keyboard on the bottom half.” I was like, 

 

“I’m holding that phone in my hand. As he saying that.”

 

I was one of those geeks. Things like the contact book 

 

On your phon. The contact and the calendar 

 

That’s on your phone that everyone has. 

 

Those things cost me $50 per app. 

 

$50 for the contact book. $50 for the 

 

For the calendar app. And $50 for the other thing. 

 

$150 in software to have what we would consider 

 

Your basic contract. All those things. 

 

We’re not exaggerating, saying 10 years ago, 

 

This stuff didn’t exist. It wasn’t easy 

 

To keep track of all of your clients in a CRM. 

 

It wasn’t easy to get on the phone 

 

And talk to someone halfway 

 

Across the country on the video.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Absolutely. We use a lot of tools 

 

In order to make our business smooth,

 

Flow, and be efficient. I think those 

 

Are just so critical. Tools are very important 

 

In your business. If you’re not using them, 

 

Then it’s a manual process and things 

 

Are taking much longer. I’m very excited about that.

 

Richard Matthews  

I’m curious about where you guys are hosting 

 

And how you manage your standard 

 

Operating procedures. Like your documentation, 

 

Because I’m currently struggling with that. 

 

I’m curious what you’re using for your process 

 

Documentation. And how your staff accesses it, 

 

Uses it for training, and that kind of stuff.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

It’s nothing grandiose. It’s actually Trello. 

 

Do you use Trello? 

 

Richard Matthews  

We do use Trello. 

 

Jean Ginzburg  

I have a board that is called 

 

SOP: Standard Operating Procedure. We have 

 

Standard operating procedures and cards for our business 

 

And for our clients businesses. We have https://www.jeanginzburg.com/

 

 As a client of myself, we have all of that. 

 

We have cards that say: This is how you post on

 

Social media. This is how you create a blog post. 

 

This is how you do this. It’s how you do that. 

 

We have cards for everything. Underneath each card 

 

Is a checklist. You go here. You click 

 

On this button. You log into this account. 

 

You put this thing here. That thing there. 

 

It’s just an entire checklist. It’s a very easy process. 

 

We use Trello. Now, there are other platforms 

 

Like SweetProcess. Then, Process Street. 

 

They’re a little bit more advanced. 

 

Where you can create a checklist. 

 

Then you can check everything off. 

 

Then, repurpose the checklist again, so that 

 

The next person can check things off. Ours is 

 

A little bit less advanced. But it has 

 

All of the processes in it, in each of the cards 

 

And checklist. I would recommend Trello it’s free. 

 

That’s another tool that we use project management.

 

Richard Matthews  

On that, one of the things that 

 

I’ve been working on is with our Trello stuff. 

 

We just upgraded to the business class for Trello 

 

To get access to their automation abilities. 

 

You can set it so that processes get assigned 

 

To cards when you move them. When the show’s 

 

Done recording, it’ll go into the

 

Done recording pile. It’ll assign the next staff. 

 

Add the process document to that card for it. 

 

The card can live all the way through the life 

 

Of this episode. Then it goes to the prep. 

 

Then it’s going to go 

 

To the editing and then it’s going to go 

 

To publishing or scheduling. Then publishing 

 

And whatnot. Each time it moves into 

 

One of those lists, it removes the people 

 

That were on the previous one. Adds on 

 

The new people and adds the right processes to it. 

 

We use Trello for process management. 

 

We actually have a document site, I’m using right now. 

 

We just add links to the cards for the processes.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Absolutely. If you want it to be a little bit more complex, 

 

I would maybe look into Process Street or SweetProcess. 

 

But like I said, for us, we just use Trello. 

 

We have a board called Standard Operating Procedure.

 

Richard Matthews  

Nice.

 

Speaker  

Music is by Purple Planet Music. Visit https://www.purple-planet.com/

 

Richard Matthews  

Let’s talk a little bit about your own personal heroes.

 

Frodo had Gandalf. Luke had Obi Wan. Robert Kiyosaki 

 

Had his Rich Dad. Who were some of your heroes? 

 

Were they real life mentors, speakers, or authors, 

 

Peers who were just a couple years 

 

Ahead of you? And how important are they 

 

To what you’ve accomplished so far in your business 

 

Over the last 12 years?

 

Jean Ginzburg  

I would say Gary Vee is definitely a big person 

 

That I follow. He was just on my podcast 

 

About a week ago. It was challenging 

 

To get him on my podcast. But it happened. 

 

I was so excited about that, because 

 

I’ve been following him for about 3 years. 

 

It’s like having your hero in your podcast. You’re like, 

 

“I can’t believe that actually happened.”

 

I’ve been following him for 3-4 years now. 

 

We have a similar background 

 

Because he also is someone from the former 

 

Soviet Union. Came here as an immigrant. 

 

Him and his family had $100 in their pocket. 

 

I can definitely relate to that piece you. 

 

It’s basically what happens when you 

 

Come to a new country and you start 

 

From nothing but overall his message.

 

He’s making sure that you’re striving 

 

Towards happiness is really his message 

 

And all the social media stuff that he does 

 

Is very helpful for me because I’m in 

 

That space as well. He’s obviously not my mentor, 

 

Like directly but someone that I would say,

 

You’re awesome. I look up to—for bringing 

 

His own message to his audiences.

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s really cool. I’ve got a couple of people 

 

Like that as well. I follow all their stuff 

 

And keep up with them. It’d be cool to have 

 

Some of my heroes on my podcast at some point.

 

I’m working that direction. 

 

Eventually have an audience 

 

Worthy of getting attention.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

You mean, it’s not me. You’re telling me I’m not your hero. 

 

Richard Matthews  

I hadn’t heard of you until we got you booked 

 

On the show. Unfortunately, not yet. 

 

Eventually, I expect that you will at some point 

 

Be one of the big names of digital marketing space 

 

And everyone’ll look up to.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

I interviewed her before she was a big deal.

 

Richard Matthews  

Before she was cool. I knew her. Your word list is 

 

Way longer than mine. I’m impressed.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Thank you very much. I would say Gary Vee. 

 

There’s a few other ones but I feel like he’s really 

 

The one that I resonate. His message resonates 

 

The most with me. There’s a few other ones, but I feel 

 

Some part of their message is not exactly 

 

What I’m looking for. You probably have heard 

 

Of Dr. Joe Dispenza. Have you heard of him?

 

Richard Matthews  

I have.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

I like his message. He talks a lot about mindset, 

 

As well. He also talks a lot about healing your body, 

 

Which it makes sense for other people, but I just 

 

Don’t have that issue. That part doesn’t really 

 

Resonate with me as much. There’s a few people 

 

Out there who I think have a good message 

 

But a little too salesy and a little, I don’t want to say 

 

Douche baggy, but a little bit in that sense. 

 

I like part of their message, but not other 

 

Parts of their personality.

 

Richard Matthews  

That makes sense. You got to find the people 

 

That really resonate with what you’re doing 

 

So you can use your mind well. Let’s go ahead 

 

And bring it home for our listeners. And talk 

 

About your guiding principles. What are 

 

The top 1 or 2 principles or actions you use regularly 

 

That you think contribute to the success 

 

Of your business? Maybe stuff that you wish 

 

You had been doing or had known about 

 

When you first started?

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Going back to believing in yourself. 

 

Believing in the mission. Believing in your message. 

 

That’s one of my guiding principles. If I feel like 

 

I’m not believing in what I’m doing then I feel 

 

Like everything kind of falls apart. That’s definitely 

 

One of my guiding principles. I would say, 

 

Making sure that you’re believing in yourself 

 

And believing in what you do. That’s been the—

 

It hasn’t always come easy. It hasn’t always been,

 

“Yes, I always believe in myself.” 

 

Sometimes, you have doubts. Sometimes, you’re like, 

 

“Am I really doing the right thing? Am I really 

 

Going down the right path?” You have those 

 

Inkling moments, but eventually you’re like, 

 

“No, I’m still doing this. I need to be doing this. 

 

I believe in this. I need to be moving forward.”

 

Richard Matthews  

You gotta just convince yourself. It’s like standing 

 

On that precipice where you jump off 

 

Of a cliff into the water. You’re like, 

 

“Am I doing this? Do I float? Do I know 

 

How to swim?” “I do know how to swim. 

 

I can jump off here.” One of the last things 

 

We do on this show is something I call 

 

The Hero Challenge. Simple challenge. Basically, 

 

It’s this: Do you have someone in your life 

 

Or in your network that you think has a cool 

 

Entrepreneurial story, who are they? First names are fine. 

 

And why do you think they should come 

 

On our show and share their story?

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Sure. I can share one of my client’s stories.

 

Richard Matthews  

What’s their name? Why do you think 

 

They should come share their story?

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Her name’s Ali. We’ve been working together 

 

For about a year and a half. I know her really well 

 

By now, after a year and a half. 

 

Her story was: she’s an attorney. 

 

She was running her law practice. She decided 

 

To move to Cabo because she wanted 

 

That lifestyle. She was 7 months pregnant. 

 

She was in Seattle, where she used to live there 

 

Before she moved to Cabo. Her house was destroyed 

 

By a hurricane in Cabo. Everything that she 

 

Had in Cabo where she was living was 

 

Completely destroyed. She was 7 months pregnant 

 

And had to figure out what she was to do. 

 

How to run her law firm. Where she was going 

 

To live. I just find that story to be interesting 

 

And resonates—

 

Richard Matthews  

Definitely fascinating.

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Having nothing. Then, now she has a 7 figure business, 

 

A 7 figure law firm. I’ve been helping her 

 

With her digital side of her things and

 

Productizing her knowledge. She works 

 

With other women attorneys and teaches them 

 

How to run their law practice, because 

 

Most attorneys don’t really know how to run 

 

A business. They just know how to be 

 

An attorney, which I think is common. I think 

 

A lot of people out there who run a business, 

 

You might not always know how to do that. 

 

It’s just her. She’s just someone who 

 

Believes in herself, and who believes in her message. 

 

Who wants to help her community. 

 

Richard Matthews  

We’ll definitely reach out later and see 

 

If we can connect about getting her on the show. 

 

At this point, thank you so much 

 

For coming on the show. My last question for you 

 

Is where can people find you? And more importantly, 

 

What are the ideal type of people to reach out 

 

If they’re in your audience looking to work 

 

With someone like you guys?

 

Jean Ginzburg  

You can find me on social media. Pretty much 

 

Anywhere. Look for Jean Ginzburg, or go 

 

To Google and put in Jean Ginzburg. In terms of 

 

The types of entrepreneurs we work with, 

 

We have worked a lot with people who 

 

Like entrepreneurs want to productize their knowledge. 

 

They are an expert in a specific field. They realized 

 

That they can’t scale their business 

 

If they’re constantly trading time for dollars, 

 

And they have clients, and clients are great. 

 

I think that’s a great way to get started 

 

With your business. But if you want to scale that, 

 

It’s not possible to do that. We work with a lot 

 

Of entrepreneurs who want to 

 

Take that knowledge and somehow put it 

 

Into some sort of—if there’s a membership 

 

Or a digital course, or an information product, 

 

Or something where they can scale it 

 

But too much more where it’s some sort of topic 

 

That can be pushed out to many people 

 

Instead of working one on one. If you’re someone 

 

Who’s interested in that, we would help you 

 

With marketing and selling your course. Since our 

 

Area of expertise in digital marketing and social media.

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s really awesome. I can speak from experience 

 

You can make a lot of money if you 

 

Productize your knowledge. If you haven’t done that, 

 

And you’re thinking about it, definitely 

 

Take the chance to reach out to Jean and her team. 

 

Thank you so much for coming on the show, Jean. 

 

Do you have any final words of wisdom 

 

Before we hit the stop record button?

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Any words of wisdom. Going back 

 

To believing in yourself. I think that’s still 

 

Something that’s been resonating with me 

 

A lot lately. If you believe in what you’re doing 

 

And what your message is and who you want to help.

 

Then all of it will fall into place. 

 

I think that’s my last final words. 

 

Richard Matthews  

Awesome. You heard her. Believe in yourself. 

 

Thank you so much for coming on, 

 

Really appreciate it. 

 

Jean Ginzburg  

Thank you.