Omar Zenhom & Nicole Baldinu on Proving the Concept and Crafting the Solution: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation! JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire! Brought to you by the HubSpot. Podcast Network, the ideal destination for business professionals with great shows like Marketing Made Simple. Today, we're pulling a timeless EO Fire episode from the archives, and we'll be breaking down, proving the concept, and crafting the solution. To drop these value bonds, I brought Omar and Nicole Zenholm into EO Fire Studios. They both have over a decade of education experience. As university educators, they learn how to not only to teach, but how to create and deliver lessons that actually foster learning and ensure comprehension and retention.

0:38They are the team behind the$100 MBA podcast and community and co-founders of Webinar Ninja. And today we'll be talking about one way to find creativity. It's to change careers. We'll talk about having a great team means everything and that being a user of your own product makes you an advocate and so much more Fire Nation. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Omar Nicole and our sponsors. The Gold Digger Podcast, hosted by my good friend, Jenna Kuchar, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Gold Digger Podcast helps you discover your dream career with productivity tips, social strategies, business hacks, inspirational stories, and so much more.

1:20A must-listen episode is one of Jenna's recents on everything you need to know about affiliate marketing. Listen to Gold Digger wherever you get your podcasts. Ever thought of giving a TEDx talk? It's one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world. And four-time TEDx speaker, Taylor Conroy from Thought Leader can help you get there. Visit thought-leader.com to join Taylor's free training where he teaches you how to land a TEDx talk and spread your message to millions. Omar, Nicole, you guys are halfway around the world, but I feel like it was just yesterday. We were walking the streets of Sydney, visiting your favorite restaurants, hanging out at your favorite places, getting to hang out with some of our favorite people.

2:04And we miss you guys. We love you guys. We can't wait till the next time we get to hang out. And we also admire you guys like for what you've built over the years and you've built something real. And, you know, I look back at like what we've done with like Frankensteining different things together with entrepreneurs on fire. And you did the same thing. I mean, you went from Frankensteining webinars for the$100 MBA to launching this DIY webinar guide that you did that I, by the way, purchased and used. And then you decided to create Webinar Ninja, which is now doing amazing things and has been for years and years and years.

2:40So talk to us about this journey and the transition that you made. It's definitely been a journey. I think one of the things that stands out the most for me, at least, is how much both Nicole and I have had to change along the way, change who we are, change what we do every day, change our habits, change the way we run our businesses. As you know, the actions we take today get us the results that we see. So if we want to get different results, we have to do different things, which is, it's hard. It's hard to change. It's hard to also recognize I'm not good enough right now to be what I want to be in the future.

3:20And yeah, that journey has been an interesting journey. It's still going. We're still learning. We're still improving and adapting. And it's been great because I always say building a software company is very much like climbing a mountain as a metaphor, because as you go up the mountain, the things that you did before, you still can't, you know, you can't do them anymore. You have to do new things. So like in the beginning you're hiking up the mountain um you don't need much you know special equipment you feel okay you're not winded as you move closer you're starting to climb vertical oh no now i need like some grappling tools um you know i'm huffing and puffing now it's a i'm out of shape compared to what i was before you know and then as you move up you're like okay i'm gonna need a sherpa maybe i need a coach maybe i need a some guidance here maybe somebody's been there before up this mountain before to help them along the way, or that could even be hires.

4:13So it's just an interesting thing because you don't really realize that as you're moving along. And it's kind of a blessing because if you didn't know that, maybe you wouldn't have taken the chance or taken that leap of starting a software company. But it's definitely been fun. One thing that I mentioned in the introduction, Nicole, is that you were a university educator, which, of course, Omar was as well. and you went from that kind of environment, which is a confined environment, there's rules, there's regulations, to just kind of saying, you know what? Here we are in New York City, we're going to do our thing, we're going to drive across the country, we're going to move to San Diego and we're just going to kind of figure things out along the way with this$100 MBA thing and this DIY webinar thing and then, hey, let's just launch an entire SaaS company.

5:00Let's just launch Webinar Ninja and that must have been a little bit of a transition. And so just like Omar kind of did, like, what was your transition like? Yeah, it's crazy to think about it, I suppose. I distinctly remember when I decided to quit teaching that I was looking for something creative. Teachers, you know, they have a lot of creativity in the confines of that classroom, of the curriculum that they're teaching. But like you said, there's so many restrictions. There's timetables, there's schedules, there's the yearly calendar. So I was really searching for something creative. And I think what, you know, what better way to find creativity than just changing careers?

5:38I started, you know, in film, joined up, teamed up with Omar. We started a podcast, started the$100 MBA. And then, you know, here we are years later with the software as well. So, I mean, in a nutshell, it's really hard to describe, you know, what that transition has been. It's been fun. It's been an adventure. I think, you know, I've always looked back at, you know, gosh, I'm just thinking. So many things. There's just so many things. You know, I wanted to kind of, you know, discount that career in teaching. But it's no wonder that Oma and I find ourselves right now, you know, producing a podcast that teaches business lessons and so in love with the idea of webinars because, you know, they really are a form of teaching.

6:27teaching people about your products and services. So in a way, it's been a very almost, you know, crazy transition, but in a way it almost feels really quite natural as well. Yeah. Well, Nicole, let's stick with you for this one, because one thing that I admire that you've done, you know, over the course of your career, but you know, specifically with Webinar Ninja is you prove the concept and then you crafted the solution. You prove the concept, then you crafted the solution. And most people do that backwards. So talk to us about the significance of first proving the concept before you go ahead and craft this massive solution.

7:05Yeah, for sure. I think the way it all started was, you know, we had the$100 MBA and we wanted to get more customers, more members into the community. And Omar's like, you know, his natural passion, his love for teaching, trying to get, you know, build that audience, you know, he gravitated to webinars. So we were just doing that ourselves. It was something that we just felt like, okay, we need to find new audience members. We need to reach more people. We want to reach more people because we have something that we want to share. How are we going to do this? Right. Let's, you know, let's do a webinar.

7:37And so it just felt like, okay, this is clearly something that we're doing ourselves. It's working. People are attending. People are enjoying the interaction. You know what it's like, you know, when you're on a webinar and you've got that interactivity with an audience and this is working and, you know, and you're just doing your thing because you're trying to solve that problem for yourself. And then when, as soon as you realize, oh, actually, you know, this could actually help other people. And that's, you know, when obviously people started asking like, oh, what software are you using? Can we buy it?

8:10Then we realized, okay, there is actually a need for this tool, this piece of software for other people. So I think in that experience, we learned that, okay, we are solving something for ourselves. This is clearly, there's validation there. We're listening. We've got our ears to the ground as to what people are telling us, the feedback they're giving us. And I think that's constantly, you know, inspired and fed the journey of Webinar Ninja to continuously listen to our, excuse me, to continuously listen to our customers and our members so that we can continue to improve and solve that that pain point that problem that they have yeah it's a whole lot easier too to run a business where you have like a pull product rather than a push product where like people are they want this they they're asking for it you don't have to convince or cajole anybody into it you don't have to like really push it and I feel like when you have that product market fit it makes the whole business so much easier it makes it a lot easier for you to focus on just improving it and serving your customers rather than, you know, how can I just convince every single person, including like all my friends and family that they need this?

9:19Like, if you need to convince people they need it, then maybe you don't have that product work fit. Yeah. And then it becomes a part of a matter of refining actually all the feedback that you are getting. So that you, you know, because you want to serve, you know, you're so passionate about serving everyone and giving everybody what they want because everyone's got their needs in there, you know, oh, it would be great if it did this because my business does this. And you do want to serve everyone to those particular needs. But it's then a matter of like filtering out and going, okay, this is really going to solve a problem for the majority of customers.

9:49This is really going to enhance the experience for a majority of customers. And making those choices are really hard, but you know, you have to do that to be sustainable. I love that mentality of the pull, not push. And sometimes Fire Nation, it's okay. Like it's okay to go on that path of least resistance. Because to the point that you made, Omar, I mean, it's kind of like a reality that if people really have a pain point, they're going to actually want that solution. And if they're not asking for, they're not screaming for the top of their lungs, like that just may not be a path to go down. Because if you are going to spend your time to craft a solution, there really better be not just a pain point, but like a pain point that people are willing to pay for.

10:30People are willing to vote with their wallet. And speaking of that, when we get back from thanking our sponsors, we're going to do a deep dive into early birds. Stay with us. Artificial intelligence is at the top of everyone's newsfeed. So we all know there are plenty of business pros out there benefiting from AI. AI can help you save time, brainstorm ideas and tackle your to-do list. But knowing about it and putting it into practice are two different things. So what's the first step? If you find yourself spending hours each day on content creation, then meet HubSpot's new AI-powered campaign assistant, a totally free-to-use AI tool tailor-made for marketers and business builders who spend hours each day on content creation.

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12:18Join Taylor to learn exactly what TEDx organizers are looking for in their speakers, how to write a talk that goes viral once it goes online, and more. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire. Join Taylor for his free training. and get your message out of your head, out of your heart, and out into the world where it belongs. That's thought-leader.com slash fire. I want to shift into the early bird status. You know, for me, looking back at Podcasters Paradise, man, the best thing we did was bring in those early birds for a lot of reasons. I mean, you know, they helped craft a direction, their feedback was critical, all this different stuff.

12:54You guys had a very similar experience with the early birds and Webinar Ninja. So Omar, why don't you maybe start with this and kind of talk about the importance of your early bird and how you implemented and utilized them to make Webinar Ninja as good as it could be. They're incredibly important. They have shaped the company in so many ways, even till today. Those first 250 members we had are vital to who we've become. And a lot of people ask us, like, how did you get those first 250 members? They're literally people we know by name, people we met in conferences, people like you, John, people like that we became friends with, people that literally just bought it to support us and give us feedback and to be part of that journey with us.

13:38Now, that is great and all, but with that responsibility is maintaining that relationship, asking them questions, making sure that they didn't make a mistake by betting on you, that they made the right investment, that they made the right call. So that was a great kind of experienced those first six months to a year to learn what we can do better, what we can do differently, how we can improve the software and just get feedback from real people that I can just get on the phone and talk to or shoot a quick email to, all that kind of stuff. Also, it gave us a chance to understand what kind of company we want to become.

14:17Sometimes we get so busy as entrepreneurs of creating an awesome business that makes money and fame and glory and all that kind of stuff that you forget that, hey, you're going to inherit whatever you build, like whatever you build, the type of customers you attract, the kind of things you're going to have to do every day, depending on the product you build, all that kind of stuff. It really makes you reevaluate when you're talking to these people on a daily basis in a small group is, wait a minute, like, do I want to do this for the rest of my life or for the next foreseeable future? If not, I need to change, pivot my product to suit the way I want to run my business.

14:50So I think that kind of small incubator of customers before you blow up is a blessing in disguise. So you can craft it before it grows, kind of raise that child before it goes out in the real world. Nicole, anything you want to add to your experience with the early bird members that Omar didn't get to? There's just a special connection with those people. I feel in the early days, you almost feel like there's less to lose. So there's this honesty, there's these conversations, I'm not saying that that changes necessarily, but there's a different kind of connection that you have with the people that, you know, in the beginning really want to support you and you feel like you have their trust just because they know you or, you know, they've come to you, you know, showing their support.

15:37So I think those conversations are really special. I think, you know, you need to be super grateful for those people that have entered that stage of your life in at that stage of your business um yeah it's just nothing great people for sure well once again thank you both for your amazing contribution to the chapter in the book the step in the roadmap of proving the concepts and implementing the solution as you can tell fire nation i found the right people for this contribution i mean they've been doing this for years and years and years now, you know, running a great business, serving a lot of people, you know, running a great company, making things happen.

16:23And how I want to end our conversation here today is I pulled a quote from your contribution. I'm going to read that quote and then I'm going to hand it over to you. And Nicole, I'll start with you this time to really bring this home for us. So your quote in the book is, your product solution is only as good as your team. And one of the best things that we've done is really understand the customer we are serving and being a part of the community by being a user as well. Be an ambassador to your community. Nicole, bring home that last part. Be an ambassador to your community. What do you mean by that?

17:02Team is everything. I feel blessed in what I get to do every day because I get to work with a great team, the people that, you know, we talk to every single day who are actually, you know, serving our customers by being users ourselves. We were users ourselves of Webinar Ninja. We see just everyone on the entire team, whether it's a support agent to an engineer, they're constantly inside the software so that they can be advocates, they can actually feel what it's like to be on the other end, opening up this app and going, okay, clicking around, I've got things to do. I've got, you know, my webinar to get on with.

17:46What does that experience feel like? So, constantly being immersed in the app with our team, you know, bringing the voice of the customer to them every single day, whether it's through a conversation from our support, whether it's sharing an email that they've sent. It's that constant reminder to everyone that we're doing this because there's a customer out there. There's a member out there who's using our software. And we never want to lose sight of that. We always want to stay close to them so that we're always feeling what they're feeling every time that they're experiencing our app. Take this home for us, Omar.

18:23Any final words you want to add about being that ambassador to your community? I think sometimes we forget that people buy products because of the people behind the product. Tesla would not be a company, the company it is today if it wasn't for Elon Musk. Same thing with Steve Jobs. Some might say the same thing about Sarah Blakely and Spanx, being that kind of inspiration. People want leadership. They want people to say, hey, show me the way. Show me what's the best way to do this. What's the best practices in delivering these webinars? What's the best way to utilize this app so I can grow my business?

19:03And if you are not willing to get in front of your audience and really work with them and try to improve your software, but also improve how they use it and how they can get the most out of it through your content, through your webinars themselves. You really need to question, are you in the right business? Because I was in a wrong business in my past. Eight, nine years ago, I had my own clothing line and my customers were more passionate about my product than I was. And I realized I'm in the wrong business here, man. These people really care about this. They're more ambassadors than I am. So you need to really check yourself if you're in the right business, if you feel like you can't be that ambassador, if you can't get excited and passionate about what you do and motivate and inspire people to use your product, that's a big part of it.

19:49Some people don't use the product just because they just need a little push or maybe they don't understand the value and you need to convey that. So that's all part about being the ambassador and leading that community forward. Chapter 11, step 11 in that 17-step process, the roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment. proving the concepts and crafting the solution. Fire Nation, you're only getting a glimpse of what this chapter is. Of course, how I describe exactly what this means, how I share my story, and then Omar and Nicole going into their contribution, their journey, their story, in much more depth than we got to today.

20:25So if you're hearing our voices before March 23rd, there's still time to pre-order this book and get all five pre-order bonuses, which disappear on March 23rd. No pre-order bonuses anymore on March 23rd. You just get the book, which is fantastic. But the bonuses you need to take action on right now. Five bonuses. One of the bonuses, all three of my journals, Freedom Mastering Podcast journals, shipped to your door, Fire Nation. $150 worth of journal value shipped to your door for a pre-order of The Common Path to Uncommon Success. So if I've given you value over the years, If Omar and Nicole are giving you value today, show your support, make that pre-order happen, get one for your friends, family, loved ones, make that happen.

21:13We're going to be impacting so many people by getting them to their version of uncommon success. Omar, Nicole, it's awesome to call you guys friends. It's awesome to see you living your version of uncommon success day in and day out. I'm proud of you. I'm excited for you. And we'll catch you on the flip side. The Gold Digger Podcast, hosted by my good friend, Jenna Kuchar, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Gold Digger Podcast helps you discover your dream career with productivity tips, social strategies, business hacks, inspirational stories, and so much more.

21:50A must-listen episode is one of Jenna's recents on everything you need to know about affiliate marketing. Listen to Gold Digger wherever you get your podcasts. Ever thought of giving a TEDx talk? It's one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world. And four-time TEDx speaker, Taylor Conroy from Thought Leader can help you get there. Visit thought-leader.com to join Taylor's free training where he teaches you how to land a TEDx talk and spread your message to millions.