Podcast

31: A Strategic Approach to Debt
Sometimes you need to leverage other people's money to grow or accomplish strategic objectives. In this episode, we cover the basics of business borrowing and the things you need to consider before you start looking for a business loan, whether that money is to… 1) buy property, 2) finance equipment, 3) obtain working capital, 4) or buy a business outright.

30: Pitfalls of Strategic Planning
It’s that time of year when businesses start making the final push for year end numbers. And it is also when we start to turn our focus to the upcoming year. Whether you have experience doing business and strategic planning, or whether you just know it’s something you should be doing, this episode covers some of the common pitfalls you want to avoid.

29: Delivering Blue Collar Value
Pricing and selling value are common topics among white collar professionals like CPA's and attorneys. But do roofers and AC repair companies need any help in this area? A couple of recent conversations show blue collar service industries deal with exactly the same issues with pricing and selling value to customers. In this episode, Joey goes in depth to give real life examples of how things go wrong and what to do to fix them.

28: Rewarding Professionals
Professionals are those who take their work to the next level. It has little to do with the color of your collar and everything to do with how much you care about the value you deliver. In this episode, Joey talks about how you reward this innovative and pivotal group in your organization.

27: THINK! The Six Questions a Business Owner Should be Able to Answer
For most business owners, the starting gun goes off early every morning, and the finish tape is nowhere in sight. Asking (and answering!) these six questions will give priority and perspective to your day and week.

26: Show Me the Money - Cash Strategies
Businesses spend lots of time working on strategies for operations, customer service, sales...you name it. But how often do they have explicit strategies for CASH? Without cash, your mission is put on hold. In this episode, Axiom founder Joey Brannon talks about the handful of cash strategies that can improve your overall business.

25: Time Management Boundaries for Bosses
When it comes to time management, the boss sets the tone. Even the best time manager can become frustrated and unproductive under a boss that doesn't respect boundaries and can't understand the role he or she should be playing in the organization.

24: People-Process-Product
People-Process-Product is a mantra hitting prime time on CNBC's show The Profit. But how do the 3 P's fit into business strategy?

23: Vertical Integration in Small Business
Vertical integration is most often associated with Fortune 500 companies than with small businesses. But there are cases where vertical integration is a viable part of a small business growth strategy. In this episode Joey outlines the situations that might green light a vertical integration strategy and provides some real life examples.

22: The Different Roles of Owner and Operator
Understanding the difference between owner and operator roles and the necessity of switching hats is key to business growth.

21: Note Taking Workflow, Etc.
The Axiom podcast is back after taking a few months off. In this episode, Joey talks about what has been happening in the time since our last episode, and what to expect over the next month. He also shares part of his note taking workflow and why it is so important to what he does every day.

20: Make A Decision (Any Decision)
strategic plan provides the security that allows them to make more decisions, knowing that even a bad decision will be detected and corrected before it can do too much damage.

19: Highest and Best Use
The six stages of leadership growth, and how a business owner's highest and best use changes at each stage.

18: The Ten Worst Things About Family Business
The common mistakes and missteps when family and business intersect and how to overcome them.

17: The Ten Best Things About Family Business
They can be the best and the worst places to work. This week, we focus on the 10 best things about family businesses. This list takes on the topic from both perspectives. You may be the founder bringing children into the business, or you might be thinking about accepting an offer from "Pop" to run the show. Either way, this episode covers the things you don't want to miss about running and being a part of the family biz.

16: Marketing Demystified
Marketing is one of those words that conjures up images of Madison Avenue wizards capable of coming up with the perfect copy with a cigarette in one hand and a martini in the other. Marketing strategy is considered beyond the reach of the average small business owner. In this episode, we strip away all the BS and get to the nuts and bolts of effective marketing inside small companies.

15: How to Prune Your Way to Business Growth
Pruning is a necessary part of growth. It is true in life and it is true in business. But very few businesses build a pruning cycle into their growth plans. In this episode, we talk about what to prune and how to do it. It's not just customers, although that is a big part of the pruning process. Pruning needs to be applied to every part of the business for it to remain thriving and healthy.

14: Finding and Hiring “A Players”
You need "A Players" to grow year over year and you must have them in order to accomplish extraordinary things.

13: Candor and Culture
Top-performing companies are often described as candid places to work. Team members share open and honest discussion with little posturing or hidden agendas. Building candid conversations into the culture of your organization is necessary if your team is to accomplish anything larger than the individual efforts of one superstar. In this podcast, we talk about what this conversations look like, the situations where you can expect them to show up spontaneously, and how to leverage those situations into a long standing culture shift.

12: Evangelical Receptionist
Your receptionist is the most important employee in the company. Building internal and external culture around the customer experience.