Unscripted Small Business

Kimberly Fischer was working twelve to sixteen hour days at her restaurant and crying on the couch when a ruptured disc forced her to learn how to be an owner instead of an employee of her own company. Kimberly Fischer now teaches small business owners how to do the same at kimberlyfischer.com, and she tells Jeremy Rivera how the energy money matrix, AI and what she calls motipulation got her there. Kimberly started her first business in 1999 and owns Main Event Grill & Catering in Alaska. "I was sort of dabbling in being self-employed more than being an owner." Her book, The Motipulation Method, is coming soon, and you can reserve a free copy now. The full episode recap walks through each lesson. In this episode The energy money matrix - line up everything you do in a day by whether it gives you energy and whether it makes you money. Kimberly says 80% of her day should sit in the box that does both. Protect what gives you energy - those tasks get given up first. She has gone to the gym every day for about 550 days. "It can never be sacrificed." Stop letting AI be your boss - "A lot of people utilize AI to help them, but actually they turn it into their boss." Her question for it: "I don't say, how do I do this? I say, how can you do this without me?" Speed to lead - Jeremy raises Ignitvio's lead response study: 68% of 1,824 local businesses never responded within 24 hours. A missed-call text back beats a voicemail and no reply. What an hour really costs - Kimberly tells the story of a house flipper who spent three hours on a water heater and, by his account, missed a call on a deal worth a hundred grand. "We don't realize what that hour is actually costing us." A quick AI win - she took her leadership team through a shared second brain and asked for one problem in the company they could automate. Jeremy adds what he took from Gleb Tsipursky on getting a team's buy-in. Shared context - Jeremy's point, from a conversation with the team at Oleno: shared workspaces and shared SOPs give everyone the same context to work from. Communication is the number one skill - for your staff and your AI, a point Jeremy connects to Delina Yasmeh on context and prompts. "Just because you said it doesn't mean they understand it." More in Kimberly's post on telling an employee ten times. Motipulation - three parts: "It is my words, my actions, and what motivates other people." Her BETTER model stands for build, encourage, train, trust, empower and reproduce. Audit your time - her one takeaway, plus a favorite book, Dan Martell's Buy Back Your Time. Chapters (00:00) Meet Kimberly Fischer: from self-employed to owner(03:09) The energy money matrix(06:28) When AI turns into your boss(11:37) What an hour really costs(13:42) A quick AI win: the shared second brain(19:39) Communication is the number one skill(28:10) What is motipulation?(34:29) The one takeaway: audit your time Notable quotes "Communication is not about what you said. It's about what they rec...

After more than a thousand consultations with business owners, business and tax attorney Delina Yasmeh says AI has made good lawyers more necessary, not less - she has yet to see an AI-drafted contract that was any good. Delina Yasmeh, founder and principal attorney of DELINA.ESQ, a business and tax law firm in Los Angeles, tells Jeremy Rivera how small business owners can prepare before they start or scale. Delina has an accounting degree, a law degree and a master's in taxation, and worked on M&A deals at Deloitte and PwC. "My heart is really truly in helping business owners from the startup phase to the M&A phase." Her business law library turns the questions she hears most into general answers, the same answer-first approach Matthew Fornaro built for a law firm website. The full episode recap walks through each lesson. In this episode Prepare before you scale - Delina's view: "Most small business owners are simply not doing enough to prepare when they are starting or scaling a business." A website without proper terms of service, a privacy policy and ADA terms is one example. "One lawsuit on your hands can make the business go down the drain." One real consultation - "We are in the wild, wild west of information online." Her approach: research first, then take thoughtful questions to one consultation with a business attorney. Budget and risk - her rule of thumb for early founders: "I don't need you doing a tax strategy until you actually have money coming in the door." Taxes heading into 2027 - Delina says the IRS is implementing AI in its tax return reviews. On write-offs other people brag about: "Just because somebody has been doing something and has not gotten caught by the IRS and has not been audited does not make it okay." Know it in and out - Delina puts data and privacy first, then knowing your field well enough to catch AI's mistakes. On a contract opposing counsel changed after five rounds: "I caught it in two seconds." Shared context for AI - Jeremy shares a point from a guest who works with Oleno: set up a teammate's AI with the right prompts and the right shared SOP, or expect different results from each person. AI made her more necessary - "If anything, it's made it so that I am more necessary." More in her post on whether you need a lawyer to draft contracts. Proof of concept first - for anyone leaving a 9-to-5, Delina's advice can be: "It might even be don't start an LLC quite yet." Then comes entity structuring. It pairs well with Brandon Moon on knowing your end game. Chapters (00:00) Meet Delina Yasmeh, business and tax attorney(07:22) Her read on taxes heading into 2027(11:24) Where AI creates legal risk for a business(21:34) Why AI made her more necessary(34:28) Legacy companies and handshake deals(36:31) Leaving a 9-to-5: proof of concept first Notable quotes "I would rather you have a handshake and nothing on paper than what this is saying." - Delina Yasmeh "You need to understand...

Three agencies ran Keith Perhac's ads for about eight years. None of them noticed $1,500 going to mobile ads inside a Mahjong game in the Philippines. Claude found it when Keith asked why the numbers looked too good. Keith, founder of SegMetrics, tells Jeremy Rivera how he audits his ad spend with AI now, and what every small business owner should know about attribution. The clue was a report showing about 300,000 retargeting clicks in a week, far more people than Keith's business could ever retarget. Claude traced it to settings buried below the main ad that overrode everything above them. "It's no one's fault, but it's just marketing is so complicated right now that it is impossible to see." The full episode recap walks through how he runs the audit three times a week and pushes back on Claude's advice before anything changes. In this episode Attribution is two questions - "it's not a panopticon." Ask where people first found you and what they did right before they bought. The messy middle only matters when you have a decision to make. Your website is the end of the funnel - awareness now happens in ads, social, Reddit and AI answers. "It's the end of the funnel. It's that conversion play is your website." AI hides your referrers - clicks from AI tools land as direct traffic, so your reports undercount where customers really found you. Reviews feed the AI answer - when someone asks if your business is any good, AI reads Trustpilot, social media and Reddit, and one bad review can follow you. Chat is the new interface - Keith asks Claude about his numbers instead of logging in, with "trust, but verify" and a warning about confirm fatigue. Let AI do the grunt work - 30 ads in 50 to 60 sizes each, built and published in about 20 minutes. "AI is an average machine," so the new ideas still have to come from you. Japan vs America on AI - Keith compares companies that keep everyone and add AI with the push to cut staff. Dr. Gleb Tsipursky covers why employees resist it. Chapters (00:00) Meet Keith Perhac of SegMetrics(04:01) Attribution is not a panopticon(09:28) Chat is the new user interface(12:46) Trust, but verify(15:24) Japan vs America on AI(25:08) AI hides where visitors came from(27:21) Your website is the end of the funnel(33:55) Why your business needs an API(35:15) The $1,500 Mahjong ad leak(38:35) 30 ads in 20 minutes(44:30) SegMetrics.ai, the doing layer Notable quotes "You can't do the same thing as everyone else and succeed in marketing. You have to do something different." - Keith Perhac "And I was like, we did who with the what now?" - Keith Perhac Keith is launching SegMetrics.ai, built so "your marketing becomes proactive, not reactive." This conversation first aired on Unscripted SEO. This episode is supported by uSERP, a GEO agency; Oleno, marketing governance for B2B teams; ClearLead Digital, property management marketing; and Blawgy, white label SEO content for agencies. Sponsor disclosure: uSERP, Oleno, ClearLead Digital and Blawgy are paid sponso...

Barry Moline spent years as a CEO hiring for skills - until one bad hire made him switch to hiring for get-along ability first, and it turned his organization around. Barry, President of BJM Solutions, tells Jeremy Rivera what he learned about building teams, taking responsibility and leading people through AI. Barry speaks on leadership, teamwork, influence and persuasion, and AI and the future of leadership. His one-sentence offer: "I broaden people's knowledge in leadership, teamwork, and influence to accelerate their leadership journey." His 2019 book, Connect! How to Quickly Collaborate for Success in Business and Life, changed how he thinks about teams. He gives away short guides on building teams and influence on his free resources page, and the full episode recap walks through each lesson. In this episode Hire for get-along ability - Barry found that "the most skilled people were not always the best teammates." After one hire who was "a lovely, lovely person" but always wanted her way, he changed the rule: "We're no longer hiring for skills, we're hiring number one for get-along ability." His teams trained the skills instead. "We became a learning organization." Complementary skills - Barry's wife connects to emotions while he sees facts, so now he asks her, "What are you feeling here?" It's the same idea Rich Thomas of CHAOS Moto raised about hiring someone different from yourself. Be the host, not the hero - when the facilitator-hero leaves the room, the group stalls. "Better to be more like a host." Introduce people first: "When you focus on helping people get to know each other faster, then they'll get the work done." Responsibility is the leadership trait - Barry counts something like 53,000 leadership books on Amazon with one trait in common. "To be a leader, you have to step forward consistently and regularly." "Take the reins. And that doesn't mean do it yourself." Accountability - Barry ties it to a growth mindset and recalls Steve Jobs telling his leadership team, "I don't know what you do. That's why I hired you." Run an AI show-and-tell - Jeremy brings up Daniel Hebert of Oleno and how a team needs shared skills and SOPs to use AI together. Barry's fix: get cross-departmental teams together twice a month to show how they use it. "It's an elephant." Ask AI what stays human - update each job description with the employee, then ask your AI: "What tasks can AI help with? And what tasks should remain human?" For a group of industrial laundry operators, that meant safety courses in Spanish and machine manuals searchable from a phone. Interview your experts - Jeremy shares Jeremy Moser's advice from uSERP: feed AI real sales calls and interviews with the people who do the work. Chapters (00:00) Meet Barry Moline of BJM Solutions(09:09) Hiring for skills vs. get-along ability(16:52) Connect!: be the host, not the hero(21:13) 53,000 leadership books, one common trait(27:41) Teams that use AI differently(34:01) Ask AI what stays human in each job(39:3...

Anil Gupta has a rule you already follow for your right shoulder - you'd never hand it over just because someone asked - and he wants you to apply it to your happiness. Anil is a relationship coach who goes by The Love Doctor (LinkedIn). He tells Jeremy Rivera why he defines love as acceptance, why forgiveness is something you do for yourself, and the happiness formula he teaches: give, grow, gratitude. The full episode recap has the whole conversation, or you can watch it on YouTube. In this episode The house between your ears - you'd never let a guest who trashed your house stay. "The most expensive real estate in the world is between your ears." Anil says forgiving doesn't mean forgetting. "It doesn't mean that you're letting them get away with it, it's just that you're not giving them your power." The right shoulder rule - "What if you had the same rule for your happiness? Under no circumstances will I give my happiness away." Someone cuts you up, you miss the train, someone says something to you. He wants you to be a nonstick frying pan. If you run a business, that rule works at the counter too. Intent - Anil tells a story about throwing his wife to the ground, and then why: a poisonous snake was about to bite her. "It's all about intent." Languaging - he coaches students to swap labels for "I had an experience" and to "look at things as they are, not what they mean." Anil's views on language and labels are his coaching views, not medical advice. If you're dealing with trauma or PTSD, work with a qualified professional. Couples - the question he'd have Jeremy ask his wife: "Honey, what can I do to make you feel even more loved?" Plus a repair script for when you hurt your partner, and why your partner, not the kids, comes first. The three-foot rule - anyone within three feet of Anil gets a compliment or a joke. "We never know what other people are going through." Anil's story Anil says he was born in Kenya, moved to London in 1966 and practiced as an optometrist for 20 years before moving to America. He says he lost everything in the stock market and real estate in 2008 and was suicidal, and that's when he started helping people. "My identity was money. Now my identity is love." If you're struggling, call or text 988 (US) to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Chapters (00:00) What is love? Love is acceptance(01:14) Forgiveness is the express pathway to freedom(03:09) The most expensive real estate is between your ears(04:09) Don't give your power away: the right shoulder rule(08:09) The snake story: it's all about intent(10:16) The happiness formula: give, grow, gratitude(11:03) Anil's story: from money to love(13:03) Languaging is everything(18:22) How couples adjust as they change(20:14) Healing hurt: the repair conversation(27:00) Be so amazing that you cannot be ignored(27:49) The three-foot rule(30:22) How to reach Anil Notable quotes "Forgiveness is the express pathway to freedom." - Anil Gupta "Be so amazing that you cannot be ignored." - Anil Gupta David Levine talked about old school service on the show, and Francie Jain about burnout and group coaching. Find Anil at <...