Brittany Alwerud from Handlr Business Management – Small Business Show Episode 130

Could you make the leap from dog walker / poop-picker-upper to creating a software platform for service related Small Businesses? Well, Britt Alwerud did just that, creating the Handlr Business Management suite of tools to help manage your employees or contractors, communicate with customers, generate reports and perhaps most importantly, get paid on time! Join Dave and Shannon for episode 130 of the Small Business Show and our awesome interview with Britt from Handlr. During our talk, you’ll hear about how Britt had to hit rock bottom and be told by a client that she was “…not a businesswoman, you’re a dog walker” before she realized she needed to create a software platform to help manage her company so she could become the businesswoman she knew she could be. We jump into a discussion about marketing (cold calling!) and we hear about mistakes (lessons learned) made along the way during the creation of Handlr. We explore what it takes to find and hire a reputable software developer and what methods Britt and her team are using to expand Handlr to create a complete ecosystem of businesses and customers that can benefit from using the platform. Wrapping up the interview, we discuss using Asana and SCRUM to keep your tasks moving forward and on time and the importance of advisors and mentors to help bring a product to market. Join us for all this and more before jumping over to the Small Business Facebook Support Group to comment and ask your own questions! Chapters/Timestamps: 00:00:00 Small Business Show #130 August 2, 2017 00:00:47 Next week: Shannon’s eBay conference experience 00:01:02 Brittany Alwerud from Handlr Business Management 00:01:58 From dog poop scooper to business owner “You’re not a businesswoman, you’re a dog walker” 00:05:06 Britt hit a wall… and needed a system DogZenergy 00:07:27 Uber for running your business on demand 00:09:02 Freemium… for businesses! 00:09:43 Find an ecosystem and then build it 00:11:47 Cold calling and SEO 00:13:27 $10MM/year from Dog Walking! 00:13:59 Make money by judging people’s appearances 00:14:41 Launch quickly, but not too quickly 00:16:26 Finding a reputable and reliable developer 00:18:37 Expanding the platform 00:21:38 Cross-promotion as a growth path 00:22:44 Letting your customers be your advisors Asana SCRUM Management 00:26:49 Steer clear of technology and invent a poop-eliminating spray! 00:28:26 Finding Handlr 00:28:58 SBS Outtro The post Brittany Alwerud from Handlr Business Management – Small Business Show Episode 130 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.