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Erica Douglass, a techie-turned-marketer who\u2019s started Austin\u2019s top-rated chain of phone repair stores. Erica\u2019s business is entirely bootstrapped and profitable - they\u2019re currently in 7-figure revenue and planning to double their store count in the next year. Listen in to hear how Erica tripled revenue in just one year, why small businesses need to leverage Yelp, and how to tell if your phone repair shop is lying to you.

Famous 5:

Favorite Book? \u2013 The Seth Books
What CEO do you follow? \u2014 Elon Musk
Favourite online tool? \u2014 Light Speed
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?\u2014 Yes
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? \u2014 That she had even more self-confidence than she did

Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:15 \u2013 Nathan\u2019s introduction
01:38 \u2013 Welcoming Erica to the show
02:02 \u2013 Austin\u2019s top independent repair shop
03:05 \u2013 7 employees at 2 locations - currently making 7 figures in revenue
03:55 \u2013 Erika\u2019s computer crashed during a conference - her friend repaired it
05:25 \u2013 Erica bought into his repair business for $17k in 2014
05:27 \u2013 Total revenue in 2014 was $62k
05:36 \u2013 Total revenue in 2015 was $380k
05:47 \u2013 Erica drove growth by opening a new location targeted at college students
06:05 \u2013 On track to make over $1 million in revenue this year
06:31 \u2013 Make around 25% gross margin
06:45 \u2013 Planning to open two more locations this year
07:16 \u2013 Highest margin is on services like data recovery
07:40 \u2013 Around 700 jobs per month, at around $100 per job
08:22 \u2013 Apple doesn\u2019t sell repair parts - there\u2019s a whole market linked to China that repairs and recycles parts
09:30 \u2013 Erica has the highest Yelp reviews of any store in Austin
09:50 \u2013 It\u2019s not possible to buy parts from Apple
10:29 \u2013 How do you value a business like this?
10:58 \u2013 What are the triggers that Erica looks at now she\u2019s trying to buy a business?
11:46 \u2013 Yelp tries to monitor reviews to stop people gaming the system
13:18 \u2013 How do you differentiate a business somewhere that there\u2019s not much brand loyalty?
14:22 \u2013 Yelp is the main tool that differentiates 1Up from their competitors
15:21 \u2013 Connect with Erica on Facebook
17:02 \u2013 The Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Yelp is a crucial tool for small businesses. Go the extra mile to make sure you\u2019re getting those 5-star reviews.
Have confidence in your skills and your abilities. Start your company sooner.
You can drive incredible growth by tapping into the right location and market. 1Up took off after Erica found a location to target college students
Resources Mentioned:
Host Gator \u2013 The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Leadpages \u2013 The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible \u2013 Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

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