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“We're doing the unsexy things that you need to do in order to grow the business.”
John Corcoran calls himself a recovering attorney. We first heard from him in the episode “Former White House Aide Teaches People to Make Friends.” In this Throwback Thursday update, he told us where the story went next. He lives in San Francisco, and his company is Rise25.com. It helps B2B businesses create podcasts and do content marketing.
It started with his own show. John launched a podcast while he was still practicing law, and for a while it was a hustle in name only. It made no money. But he loved it, and the show brought him clients and referrals. A few years ago, he and his business partner Jeremy got tired of telling everyone to start a podcast and hearing why they couldn't. So they began lending out their team. Their first client wanted a podcast, so they said, what if we do it for you? They agreed on a price and figured out the rest along the way, hopping on Zoom calls between tasks.
That made John nervous at first. He realized he didn't need every answer. The client needed strategy, and the team could handle the mechanics. One client became two, then three, then four. A team of 40 now serves clients around the globe, including a Berkshire Hathaway company, law firms, and consulting firms. John is candid that it isn't a business he can leave for three months. As he puts it, “We're doing the unsexy things that you need to do in order to grow the business.” That means documenting processes and hiring backups so someone can step in when a team member is out.
His advice: look for a market shift and ride it. Twenty-five years ago, a handful of networks controlled the media. Now any company can be a media company, and content marketing is the way in. Riding a wave that's rising is easier than swimming against one that's shrinking. For John, the best part is the meaning behind the work. A family member once wrote to thank his partner for recording an episode with a guest who had since passed away. Find more from John at SmartBusinessRevolution.com.
