Jeff Hall never had a choice but to become an entrepreneur.
At the age of 7, he sold candy
because money meant escaping his life of poverty and neglect. At the age of 13, he acquired a
reputation as a computer nerd at school quite by accident and began working on his school’s
computers. At 15, he began his company, Overflow Cafe, in order to keep from being evicted
from his home, and at 17 was lying about his age to get the commercial lease for his first office.
Remarkably, he is still helping new and small businesses become popular online at
Overflow Cafe 23 years later along with another 4 successful startups under his belt.
[2:57] You have quite the extraordinary story, tell us about one of your failures- I’m sure it wasn’t easy!
The one that keep him up at night are losing the relationships
Extremely aggressive trying to grow a business
If you ever want to grow your business you need to deal with people
Everyone has their own agenda
[7:18] What’s the difference between running a business with money and running it
with no money?
Starting with no money makes you take your time to do your due diligence, you innovate and make less mistakes
Throwing money at things are easy, when you get more money it’s easy to throw money at problems, but it’s not the best way.
[10:47] What advice would you give to someone starting out in business?
It’s good to be cautious, know your numbers!
Know everything there is to know about your business
[13:4] What are some of the other startups you have?
High Tech Computer Systems – bring in PC to be upgraded
Prepaid gift card company
Kickstarter- over 200 participated in
[15:4] For bloggers: What are some of the metrics that search engines use to rank websites?
Don’t aim for 100,000 blog posts that nobody will ready
Rather have higher quality posts
People delete tons of posts to rank higher
[17:4] For people with online businesses: How can a website convert a visitors to paying customer?
Tons of companies charge a figure to figure it out
Have tons of photos of the product, ask yourself what people want to know.
[20:40] 30 second elevator pitch for Overflow Cafe
Founded when Jeff was 15- they make websites popular.
Sponsor
[21:7] Value Link – Check out Audible for awesome audio books!
Value Link Round
[21:48] What is your saving or retirement plan?
Started thinking about retirement a couple of years ago
Move over investments into stocks and real estate
Mutual fund is doing horribly
[23:44] Do you have any other books or podcasts you can recommend?
Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger
[25:19] Favorite Quote?
You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take
[25:34] Parting piece of advice?
Surround yourself with experts
