BBF176: Starting and growing a multiple seven figure business with Tom Kulzer

We’ve got a real winner on the show this week, so listen up! Tom Kulzer shares with us some great insight on how to build, grow and maintain a large business. Tom is the founder and CEO of AWeber: one of the leading small-business email marketing packages. Originally founded in 1998, AWeber now has over 100,000 customers around the world and a team of 120 people. Another remarkable part of the story is that Tom built up the business entirely from his own funding. Not one dollar of investment has come from an external source.

Read on for Tom’s top tips for business longevity:

**  Really understand the problems your customers have. You may have many different types of customers, so take the time to understand as many different groups as you can.

**  If you’re going to raise funds, make absolutely sure you have a focus on how to spend it.

**  Take away the things that keep people up at night. Look after your team!

**  The majority of AWeber’s money is spent on R & D. It’s a constant battle to stay relevant with your products.

**  If your company is growing, don’t assume you can do it all yourself. Hiring people might seem difficult, but it won’t be as difficult as running an entire business day-to-day.

**  Hire people who are smarter than you. Put your ego aside… you need these people to grow!

In this episode of Business Brain Food you will learn:

**  Tom’s amazing story

**  How to build a business without external funding

**  The business growth stool

**  Hiring the perfect management team

**  How Tom kept his tech company relevant

**  What Tom likes about being an entrepreneur

Resources mentioned in this episode:

**  We’re looking for franchise partners. Do you have what it takes to become one of our Business Excelerators? Go to: http://www.maxmyprofit.com.au/about

**  Go to http://www.aweber.com for a free trial. This software comes highly recommended from us!

**  Go to http://www.aweber.com/connect for free email marketing bundles.

**  The Business Brain Food Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessbrainfood

**  All previous BBF episodes & show notes can be found at http://www.businessbrainfood.com.au

**  Twitter: https://twitter.com/bfewtrell

 

Call to action:

As Tom says, “if you’re not trying, you’re not growing!”. Don’t get complacent!

Also, if you are enjoying these Business Brain Food podcasts, then make sure to share them via social media sites or email the links to family and friends. A lot/ of time and effort goes into producing each of these podcasts with the goal in mind of the more people we can inspire about business the better. You can help us do just that!

Until next time, have a profitable day!

Cheers,
Ben Fewtrell
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