John Lee Dumas:  Alright, Fire Nation! We are kicking off another Weekend Jam Session. I am so glad you’re joining us today. Let’s get right into these great questions that we have.

“Hi, John. Thanks for the great content. I look forward to it each morning. Question for the next Weekend Jam Session: As a blogger and podcaster, should I consider business liability insurance? Thanks. Matt [Benlinger] from [Benlinger] New Media LLC.”

Matt, this is a great question because as entrepreneurs, when we get that passion and idea, we just want to charge forward, charge straight ahead, and throw all caution to the wind. There are certain areas where that’s really great to do because you don’t want anything holding you back as an entrepreneur. Don’t let any excuse get in your way. However, business liability and insurance is something you really do need to take the time to get. I personally have it myself. This is how I went about getting it. I just googled local insurance companies in my area, called up one, told them exactly what I was doing. They came back at me with exactly what I should be having for insurance to cover me to include E&O Insurance, which is Errors and Omissions Insurance and some form of slander insurance. It was not cheap. It’s probably going to cost around $50 to $100 a month for any decent size of insurance policy. However, the sad truth is we live in a very litigious society. People truly take the opportunity to – let’s be honest – sue. We’ve all seen Judge Judy. We know how people can be sometimes when it comes down to the wire.

So Matt, that is my honest advice. You need to take the time to get business liability insurance. It will make you feel much better when that email comes through that may kind of make the hair on the back of your neck raise a little bit in concern because you know that you have that liability insurance covering you. Great question though. Dot your i’s, cross your t’s, entrepreneurs, but don’t let that stop you from charging forward.

This next question is from Daniela. “Hi, John. First of all, I love your podcast!!! Thanks so much for bringing me inspiration every day of the week. Now, for my question. So many of your entrepreneurs focus on fixing someone’s pain. I totally see why that’s important. But is it absolutely essential for building a business? My blog, CraftYourTravelStory.com, is more about connecting to the juiciness of travel and life than about fixing pain. Do you think a blog like that needs a different marketing strategy? Thanks, Daniela.”

Great question, Daniela. You’re right. You’re not necessarily fixing someone’s everyday pain, but the word “pain” is more of just a descriptive word and you need to look at that a little bit differently. People do have issues that they encounter about traveling. For instance, there are a lot of people out there that want to go on awesome trips, but they don’t even know where to start. So what your focus needs to be is bringing in as many people – your avatar – as possible, your ideal client, and then just talking to them and asking them, what are things that stop you from traveling? What would cause you to travel more? Ask them these questions. Really encourage feedback in an open forum. Always ask open-ended questions. Really get them to talk because it’s by hearing them talk, that is how you are truly going to craft your blog and maximize its potential with your ideal clients.

Alright. This next question is a long one, so bear with me Fire Nation. Steven Vass writes, “The Seth Godin podcast was off the hook. Best podcast yet. My question for possible inclusion in the weekend podcast, I know that you and many others are big fans of WordPress for creating websites. However, you also mentioned in an October weekend podcast that mastering WordPress does take no small amount of time, and then it should be outsourced if that time cannot be found. Knowing this, do you have any thoughts on the new generation of WYSIWYG website builders like Webs.com or Weebly?” And I’ll cut in here real quick. The acronym “WYSIWYG” stands for “What You See Is What You Get.”

“Well, I know that in the past, these website builders were clunky and just not very good. I recently used one, Webs.com, to make what is actually a good-looking, feature-rich, well-functioning website. It has Clicky Analytics built in, surprisingly robust SEO tools, is built with HTML5, and overall was surprisingly flexible, and most important, pretty easy to use. From what I’ve read, the architecture of these platforms is now quite good too. So one does not need to worry about being penalized by Google for bad codes, slow load times or most of the other things that used to be a large part of the problems with these WYSIWYG tools.”

“I know there’s a dominant school of thought that pros wouldn’t use such tools, but considering the substantial evolution of these tools, is it possibly time to reconsider that? Is it a case of you really must use a WordPress site or do you think there’s a possibility that these new easier to use platforms might actually be legitimate alternatives in at least some cases? Sorry for the long-winded question, but I’d really like to know if you have a point of view here. Steven.”

Steven, listen, this is my honest point of view. The WordPress platform is phenomenal, but by no means should have a monopoly in anybody’s mind. I think these WYSIWYG website builders like Webs.com and Weebly are awesome, and they are really cutting edge in a lot of different areas. A lot of the “pros” are such big fans of coding and such because it’s kind of a secret language that only they know, and of course, they’re not looking forward to the day when people like you and me and others who really don’t know much about coding and don’t have the desire to learn and never will, can just whip up a website that looks pretty darn awesome without using any code. So believe me, that is where the evolution of website building is going. That is where WordPress is going. That is where these WYSIWYG website builders are going. It’s where everything is going. There will be a time in the not too distant future where coding just won’t really be that necessary. I really believe that. So if you like the results that you’re getting, keep going forward with that. Like I said, WordPress is going the exact same direction in a lot of different areas. So Steven, hope that helps you out. Continue to drive on. Don’t let anything slow you down.

This next question is from Mike of MyJobsIt.com. “John, first, the Corkboard tip is a great find. Thanks.” And just to cut in here, Fire Nation, Corkboard.me was an Internet resource tip from one of our recent interviewees. “As you know, I’m a huge fan of what you’re doing. There’s such a huge need for entrepreneurs. I believe it was in your interview with Pat Flynn that he offered advice saying, ‘be everywhere.’ And last night, I was in the city for a Grub With Us dinner hosted by Shane Snow of Contently, and he had just said he was talking to you. He’s a brilliant guy and a great host. Entrepreneurs are loving what you’re doing. I do have a question. After having 44 live interviews, and I’m assuming over 50 interviews by now, all with amazing entrepreneurs, what would you say are a few common traits you are seeing in their success? Anyway, thanks again, and fire extinguishers out because of all the igniting, your show is blazing. Great success, Mike.”

Well, first off, Mike, thank you so much for your kind words. Yes, I did just have a nice interview with Shane Snow of Contently. I would recommend anybody, especially writers, check out Contently.com. He’s doing some incredible things over there, and man, he is just a brilliant and awesome guy.

Alright. I’m just going to launch into your question. I’m just going to hit the answers hard and fast. I might ramble a little bit, but I’ll try to keep it tight. A few common traits that every entrepreneur seems to have is one, they all had to overcome failures. You guys as listeners know that they have failures on so many levels. They continue to have them to this day. But the trait that is so common is that they’re able to move forward and above these failures. They are never giving up. Never giving up. They are just driving forward. They are not letting themselves be dragged back down by those who are doubting them all around them. They remain deaf to the doubters, focused on their vision and remain driving forward. They’re always driving forward. They’re never stopping.

On that note, while they’re always driving forward, they’re also willing to turn the wheel left or right slightly to pivot as they need to, as the feedback is coming in from the people who matter,  and that’s the customers, the avatars that they are trying to connect with. Especially the younger entrepreneurs are really embracing Eric Ries’s The Lean Startup and just releasing this minimally viable product. Getting it out there into the universe, getting feedback, and then improving, improving, improving.

Another trait that I find is they are willing to invest in themselves. Especially when they start, they’re just like most entrepreneurs, they did not have a lot of money. But the money that they had, they invested in educating themselves, reinvesting it in their business, hiring virtual assistants, and just really focusing all of their monetary possibilities into what they believe in. That leads perfectly into the next trait, is just a sense of overwhelming belief in what they are doing. They are passionate. They really believe that what they’re going to do is going to resonate at some point. And they know there’s going to be a dip and they get through that dip, and they see it to the other side.

And the last trait that I’ll share in this segment is hard workers. All of these entrepreneurs to a tee are hardworking individuals. They wouldn’t necessarily classify themselves as hardworking because they love what they’re doing and they’re passionate about it so it doesn’t necessarily feel like work. But man, these guys put in the time, they put in the effort, and believe me, that’s what pays the dividends in the long run. These people that now claim that they work 4-hour workweeks or 15-hour workweeks or what have you could very well do so, but believe me, they didn’t start out that way. They reached that level, and now they can put it into cruise control. But every entrepreneur that I deal with that talks about their early days, man, they worked hard. Man, they busted their butt.

Alright, Fire Nation. This takes us to our last question from Selma. “Hi, John. My son who is 17 has been wanting to do a podcast for a couple of years. This year, he finally got inspired and would really like to create a podcast for young people about young people – teens and kids in their early twenties who are out in the world doing projects and awesome things in their community for science, entertainment, technology or simply exploring their creativity in fun and exciting ways. He would like to interview them as a way to inspire other kids to come out of their shells and shine. I mentioned your podcast to him, which I just discovered a few weeks ago, and told him I was very impressed with your amazing ability to organize, to inspire and to create wonderful shows, and a really super website on that of that. I was wondering if you could offer some advice to young people just starting out in the world about how to start a podcast and related website. The pitfalls, places to go for inspiration and information, and a little bit about how you started and how you do it. Let me know if you address this question. I would love to forward him that show in particular. Keep up the great work, John. You are truly an inspiration. I love your enthusiasm mixed with your stellar organizational skills and dedication to your audience. All the best, Selma.”

Selma, thank you so much for these kind words. I truly do feel dedicated to my audience, so it means so much to me when people like yourself thank me for being dedicated because it is truly something that I strive to do. Your question is quite timely for a number of reasons. I have been getting so much great feedback from so many Fire Nation listeners about the power they feel from podcasting and how they would really like the opportunity to start one on their own. Podcasting is an incredible opportunity, Selma, and I would so highly encourage your son to just get out there and start creating a podcast because man, the results that he will see so quickly will really blow him away. It’s because of feedback like yours, Selma and from so many other Fire Nation listeners that my team here at EntrepreneurOnFire has created something very special. For anybody who has ever thought that they wanted to create a podcast, but just didn’t have the time, knowledge or skills to get it from production to the world, I’ve created “PodPlatform.com.” It removes all the barriers of creating a podcast. All you need to do is record any audio from your computer, send my team the MP3, and we do the rest, literally. We host the MP3 on our server, we format the MP3 so it has all of the artwork, title, show description, copyright material. We submit it to the three major directories – Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google. We send you a direct link and show you how to put it on your website, and we give you some incredible training videos to make sure that you are maximizing your podcast.

So that’s it in a nutshell. That’s PodPlatform. We literally give you an easy button to create a podcast. You just send us the audio. We do the rest. Period. Check out more details at www.podplatform.com. The contact form is right on that page. Shoot me an email. Get on the waiting list. This product will be going live by December 1, 2012, but our team can only handle a certain number of counts so it is going to be on a first come, first served basis. Send back any feedback you have on this. I’m trying to improve this product in any way possible, and if you can help me do that, just like the minimally viable product I always talk about of Eric Ries, help Fire Nation improve PodPlatform for you. On that note, guys, John Lee Dumas signing off. Have an amazing day, and I truly hope that you have started or soon to be starting your entrepreneurial journey.

Killer Resources!

1) The Common Path to Uncommon Success: JLD’s 1st traditionally published book! Over 3000 interviews with the world’s most successful Entrepreneurs compiled into a 17-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment!

2) Free Podcast Course: Learn from JLD how to create and launch your podcast!

3) Podcasters’ Paradise: The #1 podcasting community in the world!

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