I had the privilege of talking with some of the brightest and best entrepreneurs, experts and all-around business badasses on my podcast in 2015. I am filled with gratitude for the time and energy that these, and the rest of my guests, brought to the show.
Last year I created a list of the most popular podcast episodes from the previous twelve months and people seemed to like it so I sifted through the data again this year.
Without further ado, here are the Top 10 podcast episodes from 2015 (ranked in order of downloads by listeners).
Top 10 Podcast Episodes of 2015
- Do What Scares You with Dr. Aziz Gazipura (TSS 64)
- Waking Up To Your Calling with Sarah Kaler (TSS 62)
- Finding Sanity In An Insane World with Jeffrey Slayter (TSS 76)
- How To Become a Fealess Entrepreneur with Michael Hellerslien (TSS 83)
- The 6 Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs with Amy Wilkinson (TSS 67)
- The Art of Conscious Business Design with Racheal Cook (TSS 74)
- Telling the Truth and Refusing To Quit with Anna Kunnecke (TSS 95)
- Living Your Legacy with Shannon Graham (TSS 85)
- Choosing Greatness with Lewis Howes (TSS 94)
- Community Is Everything with Pam Slim (TSS 100)
Note: This list was based on downloads per episode as reported from Libsyn (my podcast hosting service).
The Other Stuff
Besides the podcast, last year was largely spent simplifying my biz. And by simplify, I stopped trying to do 267 things at once and focused on the things I’m best at and the things that pay the bills. This meant more time spent creating and serving my coaching clients and not much else.
One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn as a business builder is that I can’t do it all – at least not all at once. As much fun as it is to try everything that tickles my curiosity, it’s devastating to my sustainability as a solo entrepreneur.
And since I’m already in the mood for lists, here’s another one.
Here are the Top 5 things I did last year that made me more successful, happier and more profitable than the year before.
- I hired a team to produce my weekly podcast. This would not be possible without the income I generate from my coaching clients. Hiring a team to help me feels like a complete luxury. It’s so nice to focus on interviewing great people and leave the rest to the experts. This saves me around 6 hours per week.
- I focused on delivering a higher level of service to fewer people. Instead of playing the “I want to serve anyone and everyone game”, I decided to coach a few committed entrepreneurs and help them grow their businesses. I coached them for a minimum of 6 months each. This one decision has allowed me to have predictable revenue all year. Boom!
- I raised my rates. My coach challenged me to raise my rates. Heck, I even had a client say she wouldn’t work with me unless I valued my services at a higher rate. And here’s the big take-away. Are you ready? Since my clients are paying me more, they take our coaching relationship more seriously! They show up on time and they do the work. Remember this phrase; “price implies value.”
- I hired a high performance coach. It was not easy for me to make a significant investment in myself and my business at a time when I felt like a couple of bad months could derail me. Then again, I don’t think this was supposed to be an easy decision. I value having someone to look at my actions and call me out when I try to take yet another detour. And I value someone that sees and holds a bigger vision for me, stretches me beyond my comfort zone, holds me accountable, and isn’t afraid to kick my ass when needed. As a result, I’ve stepped up my game big time. I’m all in. Thank you Dana Corey!
- I doubled down on making health a priority. You need me at 9:30 AM on Wednesday mornings? Too bad. That’s when I ride with my crew at Burncycle. You want to pick my brain over coffee? Fine! As long as you’re good with running with trail running and drinking coffee at the same time. The easiest things for me to overlook when I’m overwhelmed with work are exercise, healthy eating, and getting enough sleep. Unfortunately, those aren’t things I can easily give up if I want to keep functioning at my best. And when my workload is high it’s even more important that I’m performing well.
There you have it. It’s officially a wrap for 2015.
Thanks for being part of my world this year. I realize there’s a lot of information out there and I do my very best to offer content that is highly actionable, helpful and will inspire you to go make a bigger difference.
Live bravely!
Michael
