I'm just excited to share our stories in the hopes that wherever you are and your your your business journey, your entrepreneurial journey into, you know, that point, whatever it is that you what kind of business you run, that hopefully our stories and our the good and bad will help you avoid some mistakes or maybe make a pivot sooner than you have to before you're forced to.

Or maybe just spark some curiosity for you or inspiration for you and excitement for you to to level up.

If that sounds at all like you any of those things, I think this is for you.

Welcome to Small Business bs, the podcast designed to ignite your entrepreneurial spirit through thought provoking ideas and actionable business strategies.

Each week, entrepreneurs Adam Whitmer and Jeff Gargas dive into creative marketing hacks, proven sales methods and clever growth strategies.

Get ready to unlock the full potential of your business with insights that are both fun and impactful.

And now, here are your hosts, Jeff Gargas and Adam Whitmer.

Welcome to episode two of the Small Business BS Podcast.

I'm Adam Whitmer and I'm here with my co host Jeff Gargas.

And in today's episode we wanted to answer the question of who is this podcast for now, after this episode and episode three and going on, we're going to start talking about strategic business best practices and strategies that you can use in your small business.

But we still want to set the stage here on who is this podcast for?

And for me, this podcast is for a few different types of people.

First of all, some of you are experts in your trade.

You have been doing your trade for years.

Maybe you started doing your trade working for somebody else and you knew that you could do your trade better than everybody else you're working with.

So you figured why not start your own business now, whether you're a painter, whether you're in martial arts and run a martial arts studio, whether you are in dry cleaning or any really any type of business, a restaurant, whatever it may be, you are somebody who understands your trade.

Maybe you installed windows for years and now you've gone out on your own.

You started your own window business, you understand your trade and you're an expert in your business.

However, you might not feel like a business guy.

So this podcast is designed to help you with the business side of business.

If that is you.

Now this podcast could also be for somebody else.

It could be a newbie who's trying to figure out how to start a business or to make a side hustle work into a full time business.

You're just trying to understand what does it take on this quote unquote business thing.

I understand how to knit or go to the farmer's market or.

Or to mow lawns, but what do I really need to do to market my business and to make sales and to actually make money?

So it could be for you who's trying to figure this out, how to make your business work, or finally, maybe you're a seasoned entrepreneur, you're somebody who's been doing your business for a long time, you've got a successful business, but if you're like me, you want to take it to the next level, you want to listen and find strategies that you can use to enhance what you're already doing.

So I see this podcast for these three types of people.

Now, Jeff, you've probably got a little bit different mindset on who this would be for.

What.

What are you thinking?

How would this podcast benefit our audience?

You know, I.

I'd like to say I disagree.

You know, in episode one, we talked about how we might disagree and whatever, but I also think we're going to agree a lot.

Like, I agree with that.

That's spot on.

I was thinking, you know, if I can dare say it, this podcast is for, like, the younger me.

Yeah, that was my first take, Adam.

Then actually, literally, as you were talking, I was thinking, yeah, but it's actually not necessarily for the younger me, like, age wise, but maybe just the less experienced me.

And then I thought, well, wait a minute, it's probably for the current me and for the future me, more experienced, too.

So I think it covers all of them.

And, you know, I think back to when I first got started was kind of following that, like, urge that I had this entrepreneurial buzz or bug or whatever you want to call it.

You know, I had no idea.

I didn't even know what, like, entrepreneur was.

It like, wasn't a word that was like, big at all.

Like, that didn't.

It was a long time before.

I don't remember when that actually became a thing.

I know it was always a thing, but before it became popular, it was just, you know, you started your thing and I didn't know how to do it.

You know, we spoke before how I, you know, for most of my career as an entrepreneur, not very analytic, not very structured, just kind of running through the walls and figuring out.

Figuring out how I got through the wall later.

So I think this podcast for me is for those of you who might be listening, who maybe have that tendency too, of just.

I love this thing.

That I do, or this idea I have, or this product I created or these people that I serve or whatever it might be.

And I'm just gonna figure it out as I go.

Maybe Adam and I can help you figure some of the things out and maybe we can let you know about or remind you about some of the things that maybe if you're like me, you might not think about until, you know, a tragedy happens or mistake happens and that reminds you, Think about it.

Maybe we can stop you from, from making that, that, that mistake and help you save a few of those on the way.

But also then I was thinking, wait, wait, wait a minute.

It's for the current me too, the person who's been in business and building businesses for 20 years and I've, I've got a successful business over the last 10 years.

But for me to think that I know what everything is crazy.

I'm excited to learn on this podcast just as much as I hope the listeners learn as well.

So it's for, to your point, maybe that seasoned entrepreneur that wants to grow as well.

And so like that's like the current me.

I'm trying to grow just like you, right?

We're trying to level up our businesses.

But then it's also like the future me, both age and experience, right?

The future me and age.

Like you might be older right now or think of yourself as older and maybe you're just wading into business and you're like, you know what?

I've put in 35, 40 years at a job and I'm feeling good, but I'm not done.

I might have retired, but I'm not done.

I want to start something new and unique.

This is for you as well.

Like let us help you learn the stuff that you maybe didn't learn while you were in your full time role for the last 20, 30, 40 years.

Like, this is for you as well because that's going to be me.

You know, Adam, I told you before, like Chad and I, my business partner or my, one of my business partner, my co founder, Chad and I talk about like the day we can retire and I'm like, yeah, like you're going to go just like sit on the couch all day or he'll just run marathons forever or something.

I'm like, I'm just going to go figure out what the next thing I'm going to start is and then I need this podcast there too.

So if I can say it, it's for like all of the me.

It's very selfish.

I think Adam, I'm very selfish person here.

I think this, I think that sums it up well.

Honestly, I'm just excited to share our stories in the hopes that wherever you are and your, your, your business journey, your entrepreneurial journey into, you know, that point, whatever it is that you, what kind of business you run, that hopefully our stories and our, the good and bad will help you avoid some mistakes or maybe make a pivot sooner than you have to before you're forced to, or maybe just spark some curiosity for you or inspiration for you and excitement for you to, to level up.

If that sounds at all like you, any of those things, I think this is for you.

Yeah, I think that sums it up really well.

And you know, there's, there's really no right way to do business.

You know, there are a lot of people who are a shoot first, aim later type of entrepreneur, and that's what I would call more the classic or serial entrepreneur.

Not to confused with Kellogg's Jeff, but that, that's really how some people are, is they shoot first and figure out the rest later.

Where I've been the complete opposite.

I, I've been completely calculated in what I've done and I probably could have used to start things a little bit sooner.

And so there, there really is no right or wrong way to do this.

So really this podcast is for anybody who wants to learn and for, for, for me as well.

Like you, Jeff.

I think that, you know, doing this podcast is helpful for me because it's the way I work, is I learn and grow by preparing.

And so as I prepare for this podcast each week, it helps me to focus on that area as it relates to my business as well.

So that's, that's my goal is maybe we can do this together.

Maybe we're thinking through the topics that we cover.

Like, for example, next week on, on the podcast, we're going to be talking about websites.

And so as I'm preparing for that, I'm thinking through where are the deficiencies in my website?

I don't have it all figured out.

I know I don't.

My website's not perfect or the websites I manage are not perfect.

They're doing some things very well, and those are the things we can focus in on.

But there's always areas we can enhance.

Whether it's an area that we're already doing well, we can enhance it or an area that we have not focused on and we've kind of left to the back burner.

And so that's my goal with this podcast and I.

I think that.

That you're on the.

You're on the same page with that, too, Jeff.

Yeah.

You know, it's interesting.

You talk about, like, preparing, so obviously, you know, I know this is only episode two, but I think everyone's already figuring out that clearly we have show notes that are prepared ahead of time by Adam, because that's how we do it.

And you actually wrote down one of the.

And we're not.

We're not falling.

I love that we're going off the cuff, which is because I think you really shine there more than you realize.

But like, you wrote, like, in this section, actually, this podcast is for you if you were looking for ideas to grow your business.

And, like, that's such a simple but absolutely clear statement of what we're trying to do.

Like, it doesn't.

It's for you.

Like, it doesn't matter.

There's no qualifications of what you have to be other than looking for ideas to grow your business, period.

I think that's.

That's it right there, man.

I think you hit it before you even realized it.

Well, you might not realize how much I work on that, so.

No, you're right.

It is.

It's.

That's perfect.

So, as a listener, I hope you join us each week.

This is, again, just kind of a broad overview of why this applies to you.

I think think it's important to frame things.

And so we wanted to take these first two episodes to really help you understand what our goal is in this podcast.

So starting next week, we're going to dive into a specific topic of.

Of business strategy to uncover and just figure out how we can do business better as it relates to small businesses.

So we really hope that you'll join us.

Now, typically in our podcast episodes, we are going to have a recap.

Now, this is something we really can't recap very well, except for the bottom line is this.

This is the podcast if you're looking for ideas to grow your business.

Now, at the end of each podcast, we also want to be able to share anything that's on our mind.

We're going to call this our BS Minute, where it may or may not relate to the topic we just talked about.

Just kind of give a shameless plug or whatever we need to do at the end.

Jeff, do you have anything you want to share for us in our BS Minute?

Maybe talk about your business and what's going on with your business and how people can follow you?

Yeah.

So, yeah, I'll do this really quick, which I don't do well.

But you know, 10 years ago founded a company called Teach Better.

We work with school districts and teachers all over the United States and the world, helping them with pedagogical changes and instructional practices.

We do a lot of professional development and consultant and strategic plan and stuff and all that's over@teachbetter.com but I, a couple years ago kind of got to like organically fall into this role of working with educators who also have side hustles and, or full time hustles or creating things outside their classroom.

And I get to, I help run a community that we have and I lead a mastermind and a higher level mastermind stuff and it's really, really cool to do.

I do some coaching one on one and stuff.

And we call those these folks educators so edu creators.

And that's for anyone who's an educator that creates out something outside of the classroom.

One of the pieces that I get to do, Adam, is as I get to write a newsletter weekly newsletter called the Educator Club Newsletter, free newsletter every Thursday comes out.

And it's similar when you were talking about this podcast.

Like I'm sharing stories, I'm pulling out ideas and every time I do that, I'm, I'm, I'm educating myself and I'm growing myself because I'm reminding myself to look into our business, to look at our websites, to look at all these different things.

And so I'd love if you're listening, I don't think it's our niche is really down to the educator who creates.

But what I'm talking about in those newsletters and what we're sharing, you don't have to be an educator.

You just have to be someone who's trying to create something of value.

So I'd love it if anybody listening wants to, if that sounds interesting to you, you can join that newsletter for free over@teachbetter.com educreatornewsletter so edu creator newsletter and again that comes out every week and I encourage.