1. Introduction
1.1. About Us / AMSB
1.1.1. Brandon and Matt host a podcast called Automate My Small Business, where they comb the globe in search of technologies and business practices that help get businesses to run themselves
1.2. Growth = Be Better, Faster, and/or Cheaper than competition
1.3. Abstract: You build Web 2.0 sites, but is your business model still version 1.0? Start leveraging new business techniques to make your business BETTER, FASTER, and CHEAPER than your competitors. Learn how to boost sales by marketing yourself BETTER. Build virtual teams by outsourcing repetitive work to deliver your projects FASTER, and use automation techniques to reduce time spent on each project so you can focus on growing the business.
2. Better
2.1. Better Product
2.1.1. What does it mean to be a better designer, programmer, etc?
2.1.2. Define "Better"
2.1.2.1. Customer's Goals
2.1.2.1.1. Sales?
2.1.2.1.2. Leads?
2.1.2.1.3. Branding?
2.1.2.1.4. SEO ranking?
2.1.2.1.5. Social
2.1.3. Measure
2.1.3.1. Analytics
2.1.3.1.1. Google Analytics
2.1.3.1.2. Each Page has a Purpose
2.1.3.1.3. Examples
2.1.3.2. Surveys
2.1.3.3. Split-Testing
2.1.3.3.1. Which Design/Copy/Logo is better?
2.1.3.3.2. Google Website Optimizer
2.1.3.3.3. Adwords
2.1.3.3.4. Provides evidence! Test vs the status quo
2.2. Better Marketing
2.2.1. Social
2.2.1.1. The new "Word of Mouth"
2.2.1.1.1. Viral (why?)
2.2.1.2. Facebook for Business
2.2.1.2.1. Connect one-to-one
2.2.1.2.2. Facebook Pages
2.2.2. SEO
2.2.2.1. Differentiate your services by using SEO for your own niche markets.
2.2.2.1.1. Build content
2.2.2.2. Become the Expert in something
2.2.2.3. Has been about credible/relevant links, but is going to be about social credibility
2.2.2.3.1. "Your friend shared this" in google
2.2.3. Advertising
2.2.3.1. Advertise for extremely narrow keywords to target markets
2.2.3.2. Use demographics/location
2.3. Better Operations
2.3.1. Focus on core competencies
2.3.2. Outsource the rest
2.3.2.1. Promotes Specialization and Experts
2.3.2.2. Common Uses
2.3.2.2.1. Bookkeeping
2.3.2.2.2. Collections
2.3.2.2.3. Marketing, adwords, SEO, content creation, etc.
3. Faster
3.1. Leverage Timezones
3.1.1. 24 hour operations
3.2. Outsource
3.2.1. Outsource to add more people when you need to scale up temporarily
3.2.2. break down tasks so things can be done in parallel
3.2.2.1. Photoshop backgrounds out of Photos
3.2.3. Make your operations repeatable and replaceable
3.2.3.1. Repeatable steps should be outsourced
3.2.3.2. Jing
3.3. Customer Service
3.3.1. Response times
3.4. Project Management
3.4.1. Add enough time for multiple days of work.
3.4.2. Communication
3.4.2.1. One day costs two if you give bad instructions
3.4.2.2. Video Instructions
3.4.2.2.1. Jing
3.4.2.2.2. Camtasia
3.4.2.2.3. SnagIt
3.4.3. Tools
3.4.3.1. Basecamp
3.4.3.2. Nozbe
3.5. Communication
3.5.1. Asynchronous Communication
3.5.1.1. Don't wait to communicate
3.6. Faster Service Delivery
3.7. Get Out of the Way So You're not the bottleneck
4. Cheaper
4.1. Eliminate
4.1.1. What are you wasting
4.1.1.1. Time
4.1.1.2. Money
4.1.1.3. Inventory
4.1.2. Be Lean
4.2. Automate
4.2.1. Billing
4.2.1.1. Freshbooks
4.3. Outsource
4.3.1. Offshore vs Outsource
4.3.2. Sources
4.3.2.1. oDesk
4.3.2.2. Elance
4.3.2.3. Guru.com
4.3.2.4. Craigslist
4.3.2.5. Local Job Sites
4.3.2.6. LiveWork
4.3.2.7. Freelancer
4.3.3. Access to foreign markets
4.3.4. Offshore: Competition?
4.4. Crowdsourcing
4.4.1. Amazon Mechanical Turk
4.5. Competing on Price?
4.5.1. Do you pass savings on to your customers? Or just pocket the savings
4.5.2. Unless its your business model to be the cheapest in town, never compete on price.
5. Value Proposition
5.1. What differentiates you from your competition?
5.2. Identify the Competition
5.2.1. Find The Competition
5.2.1.1. G.T.S.
5.2.1.1.1. "Google That Shit"
5.2.2. Types
5.2.2.1. Yourself?
5.2.2.1.1. Windows XP vs Windows Vista
5.2.2.2. Direct Competitors
5.2.2.3. Indirect Competitors
5.2.3. Compare yourself with others
5.2.3.1. Compete.com
5.2.3.2. "If I was the ideal customer, what makes me want to chose you over the competition?"