Have you always wanted to learn more about some of the things we do here or at any of the portfolio companies? Or maybe you are looking to develop your skill set for another company while working on your own project? 

Now is your opportunity with the growth of MotionInvest and BrandBuilders and a refocus on other projects we are needing to bring on additional help! 

If you are interested in fulfilling one of the jobs below to join our team, we would love to hear from you.

We are currently hiring for 2 positions to help us carry some of the load as we grow.

Internet Marketing Content Writer Job Description

Job Description: We are looking for someone who is good with words and can create in depth posts specifically around digital marketing. 

You need to live and breath this space working on your own sites, follow the usual blogs and play with lots of the tools! 

You need to love data, spreadsheets and dedicated to creating useful content.

The approximate weekly output we are looking for is around 2,000 words with times where that will go up. 

Required:

• Have deep knowledge in the industry with experience (websites built, blogs in the space)
• Examples of content you have taken from concept to publishing in this space
• Capable of producing image concepts to go with the posts

Perks:

• Get access to tool data to execute the work (20k/yr worth)
• Get access to training courses
• Opportunity to be included in the team pages of the sites you work on with a link back to your project(s)
• Opportunity to collaborate with us and have us help you with whatever your projects are

Ideal Candidate:

• Running your own portfolio or SEO/internet marketing/website building blog and looking to take it to the next levels! 

Compensation:

• Although you will receive more in terms of value than most internet marketing internships or “coaching” this will be a paid position! Apply Here – https://forms.gle/ssnpqWhogYDdWp627

Affiliate Manager Job Description

Job Description: We are looking for someone who is able to make connections in the online marketing / make money online space and line up affiliates for a few different projects. 

Skills Needed:

• Have experience with affiliate management
• Build and maintain positive relationships with affiliates
• Line up promotions by working with us and the affiliate
• Develop strategies to improve affiliate outreach

Ideal Candidate:

• Existing rolodex of people who have an audience that would benefit from the services within our portfolio. 

Compensation:

• Flexible based on your experience with a large component attached to performance – apply here – https://forms.gle/bTRZc3sFxP6bKMkP9

Over the years I have had a lot of partnerships, some have worked out extremely well building friendships and achieving success for everyone… others have ended in failure and disappointment. 

Many people say they like to avoid partnerships because they are always messy! This would be much less fulfilling for me since much of the satisfaction I get from the companies we run is winning together. 

It is true partnerships are often messy, but here are some of the lessons that I have learned and structures that have seemed to work for me and some of my business partnerships. Hopefully if you’re putting a partnership together or adjusting one you already have- this might help you avoid these mistakes. 

Most Importantly – There is no ONE system that is best for everyone. The key is to understand the motivations of people involved and find a solution that has everyone’s incentives aligned. 

I have had my share of painful discussions, but fortunately- I haven’t had any disagreements that I haven’t been able to solve with people. 

In the news in just the past 2 weeks and just in Canada there have been a couple examples of partnerships going off the rails publicly impacting in some cases thousands of people!

• Roxodus Music Fest Cancelled – Life long friends no longer on speaking terms – https://barrie.ctvnews.ca/i-was-shocked-like-everyone-else-roxodus-co-creator-breaks-silence-1.4499510
• Lawsuit Between Dining Empires and Partners – https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/cactus-club-earls-joey-restaurant-war-1.5210465

Here are 5 of the most common mistakes I have either made myself or seen others in the online world make…

• Mistake – Not separating capital and management. This is one I see often! Two people come together and say to each other Person 1 “I have an idea” Person 2 “I have money”… boom a business is born. Person 1 is going to run the business and person 2 is going to provide the capital they each get approximately 50% of the business. The result is if the business is successful Person 1 without a management agreement and compensation structure in place will struggle to justify why he will continue working on the business he only has a partial ownership of vs deploying his efforts and now his money into another project. The solution is the person “managing” should be compensated primarily based on results.
• Mistake – Misalignment on goals – Most commonly this shows up as a cashflow vs growth discussion. If one partner has cashflow from another venture while another is relying on that cashflow to pay the bills this can create a lot of stress. Similarly if the goals for the exit of the business are not aligned it can cause problems. 
• Mistake – Simple Structure Everyone Understands – Over-relying on lawyers to layout the plan and then no-one except the lawyers fully understands is too common. Rarely does it come down to the words on the agreement as often things get sorted out from everyone’s understanding. The best way I have found is the partners layout the partnership structure (typically in a spreadsheet) and then get the lawyers to make it official. 
• Mistake – Not updating the agreement as the years move on. Things change in people’s lives and there is always a need to check in on some frequency and make sure the incentives are correctly aligned. 

• Mistake – Communication and Stewardship Execution Not Disciplined – This is one that is easy to slip! There needs to be a consistent execution discipline to managing partnerships involving communication and stewardship. 

Below are 3 of the structures that have worked most consistently for me.

Structures That have Worked:

1. Base Salary with Revenue Share & No Equity
   1. This one is the simplest and the one I have often started with. If there is a business idea that a manager/partner needs to run with this structure is clean. Typically a below market base salary followed by a solid % of revenue. The benefit is it is simple, has one number to focus on and the emphasis is on fast growth early on. The downside is that the long term enterprise value is not the priority due to neither profit or equity being tied into the compensation. 
2. Profit Share + Vesting Equity
   1. This has been a fit when I want incentives to be aligned with a longer (ie 5yr+) time horizon and the business is already validated. Profit sharing without any understanding on the expected profit can be tough as people may end up disappointed so this has been a better fit for either acquired businesses or growing internal ones. The benefit is this optimizes for value creation, the downside is it adds significant complexity. 
3. Base Salary below market to Validate Idea with Equity Attached to KPIs
   1. When there is no initial revenue and it will be a number of months to build the business before potential revenue shows up how do you align incentives with a partner? The solution that has seemed to work in a couple cases has been a below market salary building up a “sweat debt” to bring salary in line with market and then an equity kicker attached to KPIs that will be triggered once the business hits break even. The up side is it has incentives nicely aligned if the business hits its goals… the downsides are it is both complex and the $ risk is squarely on the capital partners shoulders. The decision to reinvest/continue etc can be a challenge. 

Stewardship / Structure

No matter how good the partnership is setup there is a need for ongoing stewardship and management. The way this has worked well for me is the following…

• Weekly meeting with the manager/partner to review business KPIs
• Monthly – PnL done monthly and reviewed in detail Monthly and then discussed at the weekly
• Quarterly – review laying out the major tasks for the next 3 months
• Annual strategic review 

This is a work in process and I try to follow the guidance from the book Traction.

Standardized Business Stack

Having some standardization across the different businesses when it comes to the business systems has been helpful 

• Quickbooks Online 
• Same bookkeeper, lawyer, accountant, bank/banker
• Google Suite (gmail, google docs etc) 
• Not 100% Consistent but Software – Jira, GitHub, Trello, Slack, MailShake, Grashopper, ActiveCampaign, WordPress, ThriveThemes Suite of tools, Zaxaa or Chargify, Stripe/PayPal

I have occasionally had posts on here over the years that reflect my evolving thinking on business and business strategy.

Today’s post I want to reflect on what I have learned over the last 2 years, as I shifted much of my focus to adbank and blade – then came back to do a deep assessment on the health of the other businesses.

This was a unique opportunity for me because I got to come back to some parts of the business with what felt like cold eyes- and really review what was working and what was not working. What businesses stood the test of time, what businesses improved and which ones got their asses kicked!

What businesses Struggled, which were Stable & which Thrived?

Struggled

• Portfolio of sites – minimal/no management and most struggled
• My personal site (AuthorityWebsiteIncome) – Not posting for 6 months doesn’t help!
• FBA Business without a manager

Stable

• Boring SAAS business – LE has continued to be stable with 0 effort in years
• Some very evergreen hyper niche content sites were stable
• Evergreen ecommerce business with minimal management
• LightningRank.com – Kelley was able to keep this business stable

Thrived

• Content Refined – With Madeleine as the manager in place and properly incentivized -Content Refined continued to thrive
• BrandBuilders – Manager in place properly incentivized to grow the business
• FBA Business with a Manager

What is the key Takeaway – Boring is Sexy!

The only projects that survived/thrived were ones that had a manager in place or were boring/evergreen businesses (either SAAS or content).

What does this mean for the future of my online businesses. Here is how this review impacts my plans moving forward by business type…

• Content Sites – Boring evergreen niches or divest other sites that require more active management
• SAAS Portfolio – Focus area for growth with proper management in place from the start
• Productized Services – If the manager is well aligned and the customer acquisition channels are diversified this model can be very stable.
• AuthorityWebsiteIncome – There is a need for my increased involvement – which is great as I really enjoy it!

The key takeaway is that boring is sexy when it comes to long term stable success!

This is not a unique insight and one that is supported by the most successful conglomerates for many decades.

For example…

Berkshire Hathaway

Berkshire Hathaway does not need a lot of introduction. Many people know the basics of how Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger applying a relatively unchanged set of investing principales from Omaha have outperformed pretty much everyone over the last 50+ years and grown it into a monster with them becoming 2 of the wealthiest people alive.

I have long been a fan of everything Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffet, I highly recommend reading The Snowball, Warren Buffet and the Interpretation of Financial Statements and Berkshire Beyond Buffet along with his annual shareholder letters.

The key takeaways we can apply to online businesses is a focus on

• Decentralized great management with minimal overhead at main office
• Focus on the very long term
• Don’t be afraid to go against the crowd

Constellation Software

Constellation Software is a relatively unknown Canadian company that doesn’t make a lot of noise but has achieved phenomenal results (over 1 decade of stable 30% annualized return on invested capital). They focus on boring low churn B2B SAAS businesses.  To get a real sense of the business I recommend the 10 years of president letters (here). The CEO and CFO did a deep dive looking at the high performing conglomerates and shared the insights in the 2016 and 2017 letters which were very telling.

Key Traits:

• Decentralized management
• Focus on cost and a few key metrics for operating units (CEO is 6’4” and flies coach)
• Capital allocation rigor bordering on fanaticism – not being afraid to walk away from deals that don’t meet their hurdles and not bending those hurdles for years!

3G Capital

The 3G Way, Dream Big and True Power (tougher to get through) all provide a great insight into the management system and culture behind 3G Capital.

Key Traits:

• Fanatical focus on costs (CEO is on the road 200+ days a year and flies coach)
• More centralized than constellation or Berkshire
• Meritocracy with A LOT of responsibility placed on managers

Another similar company to these above many haven’t heard of is ESW Capital (great story in Forbes here) who share many of the same traits but is arguably the most centralized out of the list.

What do all these high performing companies have in common…

• Fanatical focus on controlling/cutting costs but with above market compensation to top performers
• Disciplined focus on a set of key metrics, the metrics are not always the same
• Mostly decentralized with much responsibility to the business managers

Hopefully this honest assessment of what businesses struggled, which were able to stay stable and which ones thrived is useful. The similarity of the traits the businesses that thrived shared with the example companies is very telling.

I look forward to continued sharing on what is working and not working across all my projects.

My content’s predictable summer crash and how I’m overcoming it this year.

Takeaways from some research on content audits. Looking at your website and your competition’s content to assess what articles you need to be building out for your niche.