Are you ready to unleash your business potential? To do that as a business owner, you're going to need to have a positive mindset. We can often get bogged down as business owners when the network is down or a customer is complaining. In this deep dive about having a positive mindset, Cole reminds us that in order to overcome any negativity, we need to appreciate that we are problem solvers as business owners. We also create lots of benefits for those around us. Overcoming setbacks and turning those failures into success are all possible with a positive growth mindset. Are you creating self-belief so that you can incorporate a culture of positive mindset into your business? From practicing gratitude and setting realistic goals to taking care of your mental and physical health, Cole is on the money with this advice from the heart that will leave you feeling positive after giving it a good listen. Please join us!"Business owners are problem solvers. We're not just in business to make money. We're in business to solve problems." ~ Coleman SmithIn This Episode:- How do you get out of your own way to create a positive mindset? - Understanding the territory of running your own business- What gets you up in the morning? Focusing on your passion- What are the benefits of running your own business? For you and others- What is the difference between a positive mindset and a positive growth mindset?- Setting bite-sized goals- Having self-confidence and self-belief- Appreciating the power of resilience- What is your 12-month vision?- Practicing gratitude and challenging your negative thought patternsAnd so much more!Connect with Cole Smith:- Email - [email protected] Website - www.gz6g.com- Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/GreenZebra/- LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/company/greenzebra- YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/c/GreenzebraNetgzm/featured

How do you feel when you put your car keys in the ignition and your car won't start? It's frustrating, right? Your IT business setup – from your WiFi network settings to your office printer, and from your email passwords to your cloud-based accounting packages –  all needs to work seamlessly so that you can get on and do your job. And your job as a business owner is to drive the car. You want to focus on the things that you love doing, like growing the business. But in a world with increased cyber security risks, and lots of moving parts when it comes to your IT infrastructure, consideration needs to be given to the right IT-managed approach.Do you have someone in-house do it? Do you outsource it to professionals, known as MSPs (Managed Service Providers)? When did you last backup your data, and do you understand your cloud solutions? Coleman is breaking down the IT-managed benefits and the costs, as we consider an IT strategy that will ultimately save us time and money. As always, Coleman’s advice is on the money. Meaning that, with Dollars & Data, he's got your pocket and potential as a small business owner in mind. Please join us. "Everyone should put an IT strategy in place." ~ Coleman SmithIn This Episode:- What does IT networking/MSP involve?- What are the benefits of managed IT services?- What common IT issues are you dealing with as a business owner?- Where are your IT threats most likely to come from? - When did you last backup your data? - Unpacking some of Coleman's cost-saving recommendations- What IT strategy should you consider? - Understanding cyber security and a global futureAnd so much more!Connect with Cole Smith:- Email - [email protected] Website - www.gz6g.com- Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/GreenZebra/- LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/company/greenzebra- YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/c/GreenzebraNetgzm/featured

What expectations are you setting for yourself as a business owner and your staff who are working remotely? What are the pros and cons of working from home versus coming into the office every day? How are you setting KPIs and getting everyone's buy-in for your business plan?Cole is asking some super important business questions for us as business owners (or even just worker bees looking to conduct ourselves appropriately) as we consider a future work environment that will most likely involve a hybrid of home and office environments. From working on his family farm (an old school version of 'remote' work), to then using bulky cell phones and BlackBerrys while growing his media business around the world, Cole brings a wealth of experience to this conversation. Looking back on how we used to do things to see that in many ways we've always worked remotely allows us to envisage a future where we embrace modern communication tools and create a hybrid home/work environment that brings out the best in us as modern-day business entrepreneurs. "The future of work is gonna become a hybrid." ~ Coleman SmithIn This Episode:- How Cole set up hybrid teams, including work-from-home and work-from-office- How to manage work/life balance with the right tools - Creating expectation lists and tasks for your remote workers- Investing in the right communication tools: cameras, phones, printers, microphones!- Does your 'work from home' solution offer privacy? - How to create the perfect 'work from home' environment to convince your bosses it's a good ideaAnd so much more!Connect with Cole Smith:- Website - www.gz6g.com- Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/GreenZebra/- LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/company/greenzebra- YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/c/GreenzebraNetgzm/featured

If you're a small business owner, I'm certain you've tried to handle your digital marketing on your own at some stage. Depending on the size of your business, it's hard to keep up with the learning curve. Things are changing all the time, and there is always a new social media platform to market your product on.Is it worth getting in an agency? Will they ask the right questions to get the right results? Do you have the right data to set the right KPIs? In this episode, I'm sharing my experience as we explore Small Business Challenges with Digital Marketing. Let's take a look at what's out there, from Facebook ads to Instagram, and from Google ads to Pinterest, let's consider what will work best for you and your company. Then let's consider the pros and cons of managing your own digital marketing, or whether it's worth hiring somebody else – or even an agency. Digital marketing – when you get it right – has a lot of upside. It can help you grow your brand, which will in turn increase your business revenue. Getting it right is the tricky part, though. And it sure can be time-consuming! I hope I can shed some light in this regard. Let's dive into the show…"I highly suggest just take a deep breath when you start your campaigns, and take 30 to 60 days. And I've seen it: you just change, modify things – every week, you look at your data." ~ Coleman SmithIn This Episode:- Appreciating Digital Marketing as a way to build your brand and increase sales- Understanding the digital marketing landscape: which platforms work best?- What are the pros and cons of managing your digital marketing yourself?- What to consider when it comes to hiring the right digital marketing person or agency- Why the future of digital marketing (with AI) looks bright for small business ownersAnd so much more!Connect with Cole Smith:Website - www.gz6g.com Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/GreenZebra/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/greenzebra YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiVJ0wUhy1NNcJuluTV-Slw/

Artificial Intelligence! How can you use it in your business? This is a great topic for me because, for the past twenty years, I've been building companies. And to do that, you have to have a vision for the future. I'm Cole Smith, and I have thought about tools and technologies that haven't been created yet, based on the speed of internet connectivity. The vision of the future with AI is here now. Like the revolution of the computer, or the internet itself, AI is a game-changer set to redefine how we do things. How we can automate tasks, teach AI to become our personal assistant and learn our preferences, and how we can integrate it successfully into our business are some of the things I'm talking about today. I'm addressing some of the big-picture stuff here – we can look at the specifics of things like ChatGPT in a future episode. But for today, I'd like to address an outlook or appreciation of how you can use AI in your business and in your life. Thank you for joining me.  It's always been on our mind,  in the back of our mind, of business owners, entrepreneurs, and visionaries, looking at Artificial Intelligence as a way to improve life." ~ Coleman SmithIn This Episode:- What are the benefits of using AI in your business?- Using AI as a personal assistant that will remember your in- What are some of the challenges we are likely to face with the advent of AI?- How can we integrate AI into our business?- How is AI changing business in general? - The four different types of Artificial Intelligence- How can we use AI to check for plagiarism? - Using AI to automate costs and increase efficiency- Smart prompts for ChatGPT and chatbots - How Cole has used AI to screen potential work candidates- Does Cole believe there will be time travel? - How does Cole plan to start implementing AI in his business?And so much more!Connect with Cole Smith:Website - www.gz6g.com Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/GreenZebra/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/greenzebra YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiVJ0wUhy1NNcJuluTV-Slw/