It's Not Rocket Science! Five Questions Over Coffee

About It's Not Rocket Science! Five Questions Over Coffee

The mission of Five Questions Over Coffee is to bring a new ways to #stoptheleaks for building a business to growth-hungry business leaders and owners who want to do more with less time, thereby increasing their business and influence. We deliver actionable ideas using “five questions over coffee.” thecompleteapproach.substack.com (https://thecompleteapproach.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

The Complete Approach

Category

business · business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

26 Jan 2021

Latest episode

3 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

154 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   3 Sept 2026

   Five Questions Over Coffee with Janine Bolon (ep. 154)

   Who is Janine? Janine Bolon is a seasoned entrepreneur with a background in analytical biochemistry, having worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 15 years. A dynamic figure who combines her scientific acumen with a drive to teach, Janine has blended her interests in technology, business, and personal development to support others in achieving a balanced and successful life. She is the author of 20 books, a creator of 112 online courses, and hosts four podcast programs along with a radio show, all of which focus on helping people balance work, family, and creativity without succumbing to burnout. Episode Summary: In this enlightening episode of “Five Questions Over Coffee,” host Stuart Webb is joined by the multifaceted Janine Bolon. An entrepreneur, scientist, and educator, Janine shares her journey from the pharmaceutical industry to becoming a homeschooling advocate and business owner. Having authored numerous books and created multiple online courses, Janine reveals her secrets to maintaining a well-lived life without burning out. This episode dives deep into how established professionals can transition smoothly through major life changes using structured systems and creative insight. Janine Bolon, struck by lightning as a child and driven by a lifelong passion for understanding systems, discusses her methodologies aimed at helping people navigate the rapid advancements of technology and personal career transitions. Throughout the discussion, she highlights the importance of building systems that allow for creativity and freedom, noting that systems create the space for creativity to thrive. Additionally, Janine offers expert advice on how to leverage existing contacts, avoid common entrepreneurial pitfalls, and maintain clarity amid major life changes. Her strategies offer listeners the opportunity to explore unconventional yet highly effective paths to personal and professional success. Key Takeaways: * Systemize for Success: Janine stresses the importance of creating systems to enable both business scalability and freedom for creativity. * Clarity Over Chaos: Instead of seeking more clients, focus on clarity and effective systems to improve revenue streams and workflow. * Avoiding Activity Traps: Busy doesn’t always mean productive; it’s crucial to differentiate between meaningful progress and mere activity. * Perfection vs. Progress: Waiting for perfection can delay revenue generation—embrace progress instead. * Build Authentic Relationships: Genuine and helpful interactions can often lead to significant business opportunities over time. Notable Quotes: * “I help you with clarity because you’ve already accomplished a lot, but now you’re trying to move forward with this knowledge.” * “Systems create the freedom for your creativity. What kind of lifestyle are you wanting with this business?” * “Waiting for everything to be perfect is what’s delaying your ability to bring in revenue.” * “Every morning I wake up and I go, hot damn, I get another day.” * “If you don’t have your polestar in alignment, you will never make where you want to go.” Resources: * Five Questions Over Coffee Podcast (https://fivequestionsovercoffee.com) * Janine’s Article: Available soon at free stuff link (https://fivequestionsovercoffee.com/forward/free-stuff). * Master Contact Sheet training: Exact URL pending, available through Janine’s blog. * Contact Janine Bolon: Website (#) For those seeking inspiration or insights into managing transitions and cultivating creativity, this episode with Janine Bolon is a must-listen. Stay connected for more engaging and informative content from “Five Questions Over Coffee.” 👍 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and leave your comments and questions below—for Gwen or for future guests! And don’t forget: keep an eye out for next guest. To submit your own questions, subscribe to our newsletter and join the conversation! P.S. Loved this episode? Hit reply and let us know what resonated most _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to our newsletter and get details of when we are doing these interviews live at www.systemise.me/subscribe Find out more about being a guest at : link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/beaguest (http://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/beaguest) Subscribe to the podcast at https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/podcast (https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/podcast) Help us get this podcast in front of as many people as possible. Leave a nice five-star review at apple podcasts : https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/apple-podcasts (https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/apple-podcasts) and on YouTube : https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/Itsnotrocketscienceatyt! (https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/Itsnotrocketscienceatyt) Do You Need a P.A.T.H. to Scale? We help established business owners with small but growing teams: go from feeling stuck, sceptical, and tired of wasting time and money on false promises, to running a confident, purpose-driven business where their team delivers results, customers are happy, and they can finally enjoy more time with their family - with a results-based refund guarantee: if you follow the process and it doesn’t work, we refund what you paid. This is THE P.A.T.H. to scale your business. ————————————————————————————————————————————- Transcript Note, this was transcribed using transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast. SPEAKERS Janine Bolon, Stuart Webb 0:00:00 - (Janine Bolon): Foreign. 0:00:23 - (Stuart Webb): Hi and welcome back to five Questions over Coffee. I’m delighted. Today I’m joined by Janine Bolon. Janine, now this is a fascinating, a fascinating introduction and I’m going to just, I’m just going to have to sort of say if we get time to dive into this, I’d really love to. When Janine Boland was young, she was struck by lightning. Now that is a really interesting way to start anybody’s introduction, but she’s always loved figuring out how things work. 0:00:50 - (Stuart Webb): She was a scientist. She’s a scientist to a core. And she has dug into the mysteries of life and tried to understand why things are the way. I understand absolutely where she’s coming from with that. But after working in the pharmaceutical industry for 15 years, she’s dropped out, homeschooled her four children and. But she’s always had a side business in her life and she shares with others how to manage a well lived life of children, family, friends and clients while not suffering from burnout. 0:01:20 - (Stuart Webb): She’s now written 20 books, 112 online courses, four podcast programs and a radio show which all express her desire to share her systems and routines with others. And we’re going to get much more into Janine’s life as we talk about this. Janine, thank you for coming and spending a few minutes with us with so much going on. I appreciate how busy you are and therefore this must be a big stretch for you. So thank you so much for doing it. 0:01:44 - (Janine Bolon): You are so welcome. And I absolutely love being able to help other business owners not make my mistakes. I’m always like, I’ve made the mistakes, let me teach you my mistakes. And then you go make new ones. Don’t make the ones I made. 0:01:57 - (Stuart Webb): Yeah, I know that feeling so much. Let’s just dive in a little bit too some of that stuff. Now then, then you must have an ideal client, somebody you’re trying to sort of really reach out and help describe what the sort of problem it is they’ve got, what is it that they’re doing as a mistake that you look at, I can help you from, from getting the third degree burn that you’re about to get to turn that into just a bonus gold. 0:02:21 - (Janine Bolon): Right? Right. We’re going to try to keep you from getting burnt at all. Okay. We’re going to try to keep that flesh nice and nice and calm. Right? Very calm. I think the biggest one with people that I work with, they’re already very accomplished. Like my people, they aren’t beginners in the sense of they’re starting fresh. Like, never written a book or never started a business. They’ve actually started a business, and they’re in a massive transition. 0:02:48 - (Janine Bolon): You know, they’ve either built the business, they’ve written the book, they’ve raised their family, all right, They’ve already accomplished, like, a career, they’ve started a nonprofit. I mean, these are the type of people who come to me and they get stuck because what they accomplished in the past is not helping them move forward with the way tech is happening so fast and so quickly. They’re getting all kinds of information. 0:03:10 - (Janine Bolon): So the thing is, is they don’t need a new course. They don’t need another book. They don’t, they don’t need these things. They need somebody who can help them tweeze out. Okay, this is what I’ve got. How do I move forward? So I like to share with people. I help you with clarity because you’ve already accomplished a lot, but now you’re trying to take this stuff that you have, this knowledge that you know, and then you’re trying to build some sort of a revenue system or a revenue stream with it, and there’s so much conflicting information. 0:03:40 - (Janine Bolon): I say, look, okay, all I’ve got that I can offer you is that I’ve been running businesses since I was 10 years of age. I’ve written, I’ve had 18 different businesses. I’ve had these type of careers. Do you want some help from that perspective? And they’re like, absolutely. And so those are my people that I’m. That I’m working with. 0:04:00 - (Stuart Webb): You’ve got such a wide range of helping them. What, I mean, we could get into sort of some of the ways in which you help, because I know you’ve got a scientist career, you’ve got, you’ve got alternative therapist career. But, but what are some of the mistakes you’ve seen them do? What are the things you watch them do and think, oh, not like that. 0:04:19 - (Janine Bolon): Right. Well, I really took that question of yours to heart and I, and I sat down and I was like, what are, what are the mistakes that people are making? Because I usually focus on what they’ve done. Right? 0:04:30 - (Stuart Webb): Yep. 0:04:30 - (Janine Bolon): And it’s, it’s what you’ve done, right, is what. Where we drive forward. But here are some of the mistakes that they have. And, and I won’t go through all eight of them. I thought what I would do for your people is I’ll create an article where I list out all my notes and they can go get the article later, blah, blah, blah. But for now, I’m just going to give the top four instead of all eight because I’ve been doing this for a while and I have a different group. But there’s three challenges that they’re all working with. 0:04:58 - (Stuart Webb): I want to, I’m just going to break in. I’m just going to break in at this moment. Jenny, before you start this and say when that article that Janine has just mentioned, we will have it. If you’re now looking at this going, I want that article, I want that article. We will have this at five questions over coffee.com forward/free stuff. I will make sure that Janine’s article is there. You can go get it. Because I can feel people already saying, can I get that? Can I get that now, Janine, don’t keep that promise for long. 0:05:26 - (Janine Bolon): I, I, I won’t keep you dangling too long, but I will need 24 hours because I’m still writing it. Okay, but I, I will send the link. But yeah, there is an article coming out on my blog. And the, the thing is, is there are three challenges that most of them are working with. Like, there’s the surface problem. The surface problem is I need more clients. I need more clients. I need more clients. Right. 0:05:47 - (Janine Bolon): I hear that so many times. And so that’s the surface problem. And I like to get a little deeper because you don’t need clients, you need a system, because you don’t have a system to handle how people are working with you. The real problem is, what is that repeatable system that you have for dealing with people as they’re coming into your life? And then the last one, this one’s very emotional because usually the people I’m talking with have had some sort of major life transition, a disruption. They’ve had a divorce, all the children have left home, they’ve sold their business, they’ve written the book. They don’t know what to do beyond the book. And that’s where things can get really muddled so quickly. 0:06:26 - (Janine Bolon): And so I like to say they’re afraid at the emotional level. There’s a fear there that they will have to work as hard the next 10 years as the 10 years previous. And I like to share with them, nope, we’re going to make it super easy, super simple, so that every day you wake up and you know exactly what you’re going to be doing that day, no matter if something horrible happens in your life. Because we’ve all had it. 0:06:53 - (Janine Bolon): I like the Buddhists. You know when the Buddhists say life is pain, pain is expected. And then they go, but suffering is optional. So what we try to do is help keep you focused on keeping that suffering as an option, not as a requirement. So that’s kind of the. The areas that they’re primarily challenged by. I wanted to kind of talk to you about that, but. All right, to your question and to your point, what is. 0:07:17 - (Janine Bolon): What is it that they do that doesn’t help them move it forward? The first one is they create something new. They constantly are creating new. The problem that a lot of them have is that when they come to me, they. Their creative side has been so sequestered and so highly structured, and they weren’t able to really express their creative side. They go into this massive creative Mode for, like, 10 years. They’re creating a course, they’re creating a new book, they’re creating, creating, creating. I even myself saw myself doing that, but I was only creating as my clients wanted, the next piece. 0:07:51 - (Janine Bolon): That’s the difference. You don’t create without an audience there. You create with your audience. And so that’s kind of where the challenge is. The second one is they try every marketing tactic they’ve heard at once. So they’re on social media, podcasts, YouTube, they’re speaking. They’re doing email newsletters, they’re networking, and they may do paid ads if they have enough money in the bank. And I’ve watched people go bankrupt doing that. And so we don’t want that to happen to you. 0:08:18 - (Janine Bolon): The third one is they mistake activity for progress. And I know we’ve heard this before, and this is something that I suffered from, and I know what an easy rabbit hole that one is to fall into. Alice, I get you. I understand why that may have happened, but really, it’s like your calendar is full and you’re doing all these things, but are you actually having conversations with people on the phone or Zoom or, you know, pick your messaging? But texting is not a conversation. 0:08:54 - (Janine Bolon): I know a lot of people think that is, but believe it or not, people are craving to have people talk to them. So texting is just setting up the conversation. Just want to let you know that. So, and the last one, and this one is my favorite, because this is, I’d say 20% of my clients. They’re waiting for everything to be perfect. The website needs work. They want a better headshot. They want to finish their book first. 0:09:18 - (Janine Bolon): And perfection is actually what is delaying their ability to bring in revenue. So those are the top four. 0:09:24 - (Stuart Webb): Do you know, Jenny, we could have four podcast episodes just on those four points. So I will not dive into every single one of them. But there are two which really struck with me as you were saying it. And you know, the two that I’m just going to highlight here and just sort of expand upon a little bit. The activity, which is busyness. You know, the thing which I hate about people who are busy is you can be a busy fool. You are, are chasing the wrong thing. I am so concerned with. 0:09:53 - (Stuart Webb): But you know, my business is a lot about sort of helping people realize that businesses don’t fail to scale in the way that they expect. What they do is they fail to create the value as fast as they leak value from the business. You know, they’re pouring new leads into the top of the funnel. They’re chasing, as you said, that new customer. And what they’ve recogn, what they don’t recognize is the fact that old customers have leaked away because you haven’t kept in touch with them, you haven’t spoken to them, you haven’t done the simple stuff. 0:10:24 - (Stuart Webb): And you can be so busy forgetting to do that that you are, you are effectively leaking great value. And, and I see a lot of people who are doing exactly what you said, they’re very busy with activity, not recognizing that a lot of that activity, one possibly should be systemized into some sort of automated system to do that for them to sort of create the, the same level of activity but with no effort from them. But, but also they’re doing the wrong thing because it doesn’t actually help them move the, the value chain any further up because they’re, they’re working on the wrong thing. They’re working and being a bottleneck. So, you know, all the decisions come through them. They’re very busy making decisions, but natural. The rest of the team is sitting there waiting for somebody to make a decision so they can move on. 0:11:09 - (Stuart Webb): It isn’t the same as being an effective organization. And an efficient efficiency is, is under misunderstood so often. 0:11:17 - (Janine Bolon): Right? And I like to talk about KPIs and a lot of people like roll their eyeballs. You can see them like, oh my God, don’t talk to me about key performance indicators. And I’m like, but I don’t know how to run a business without them. I, I don’t know how to monitor and take a temperature check of my business. And it’s not just revenue. Revenue comes at the end. All right? Revenue is at the end of the system chain. It’s not the beginning. 0:11:45 - (Janine Bolon): And so one of the things I like to share with people is like how many people have you spoken to on the phone this week or zoom? Both are fine. Right. And did you invite them to the next step? And that’s what I like. Those are the two questions I ask. And you can just see people’s face kind of go, what? I’m like, that’s what we’re asking. What. What kind of opportunities have you presented for yourself? So when they say, I, I need more clients, I need more clients, I’m like, have you gone to your master contact sheet? And I’ll make sure, Stuart, that you have this. This is a free training that I have on my blog on the master contact sheet. 0:12:21 - (Janine Bolon): And when I talk to people, they’re like, well, I don’t know that many people. I said, you don’t know. You don’t need a lot of people. But when I downloaded everybody out of my phone and I downloaded everybody out of Facebook and Everybody out of LinkedIn, because you can do that. And I downloaded all those people, and I have a team member that has started setting up conversations. And I’m like, oh, and by the way, make sure you put some sort of note down there, because I’m not going to remember them. 0:12:48 - (Janine Bolon): I have currently 3,828 people in my master contact sheet. These are people who have reached out to me. It’s not me going out to them. And so they’re not cold leads, they’re warm. They’re people who already know you. Now, I have had a few people. Now, going to be honest here, I’ve had a few people where I reached out and they’re like, how do I know you? And I’m like, great question. We connected back in 2019. 0:13:13 - (Janine Bolon): A few things have happened since then. Do you want to catch up or is this, like, not something you want to do? Like, I am always inviting. I’m giving them an out. Why? I don’t want to deal with people who are hesitant around me. They either make the decision yes or no. But if they’re like, oh, I don’t know if this is a good foot, tell me more. I’m like, not my people. My people are like, yes, let’s move to the next step. Let’s. Let’s get to know each other. Like, those are my people. 0:13:39 - (Janine Bolon): Maybe you want to work with the hesitant people, that’s fine. But that’s not my. That’s not my purpose. 0:13:45 - (Stuart Webb): And I do think that sometimes with that sort of strategy and once again, just sort of expanding a little bit on that, people sort of say, well, we’ve got to, you know. And I Get so frustrated with this. Well, the next step has to be the same. No, it doesn’t. The next step has to be to have another meeting or the next call. Have another call. Well, the next step can be, hey, we’ve had a great time. Let’s do this again in six months. I mean, it doesn’t have to be the sale every single time. And I do get somewhat frustrated with people who think that, you know, reach out on LinkedIn, get a sale, move on to the next one. That, you know, we’re human beings, we sometimes we need time to just build the trust, build the communication, and then go, yeah, you know, that, that was a good time. I’m, I’m happy to do that again in a few months time. Or, you know, the next step would be for us to explore that solution. Let’s go. Let’s go do that. Let’s. Let’s actually put a time in the D for that. But it doesn’t have to be that every single time. 0:14:38 - (Janine Bolon): And I will let people know I’m a relationship marketer, and I have a very long window before somebody will fork over cash. But when people fork over money, they’re forking over anywhere from 9,000 to $50,000 for me. So to me, I am not going to rush that process. Enough people have been rushed, and I don’t, I don’t rush them. And so that’s why the whole process and the whole program is called revenue without rush. If you’re looking for a quick fix, I am not your person. 0:15:06 - (Janine Bolon): If you’re looking for something that because you’re desperate, I am not your person. However, if you’re desperate but you’re willing to put in a little time, and a little time is six months, then we can help get you out of that situation. But, yeah, it’s one of those situations where you’re like, look, the best kind of businesses build their systems. And that’s why one of my icons is a turtle, because the turtle’s carrying his whole thing like he’s got his whole, you know, the tortoise and the hare is a wonderful mythos, especially for sales. All right. And the whole purpose is you’re going to make sure you make it. And the other thing I like about turtles is they live a long time. 0:15:47 - (Janine Bolon): They’re not going to burn out. They’re moving at their pace. Thank you. 0:15:52 - (Stuart Webb): And they do well on it. Janina, I. I’m fairly sure that this next question, I mean, you’ve already delivered huge amounts of value in the last couple of minutes. But is there one, one piece of, a two piece of advice that you would leave with people? You know, I’ve already referenced that. We will have your stuff at the, at the link with the free stuff link. But. And that’s back on state on the, on the, on the, on the screen now, which is the five questions ever. Coffee.com 0:16:21 - (Stuart Webb): forward/free stuff. But is there a one or two pieces of advice that you’d like to, you know, past do you, what you pass without, without question to people? 0:16:33 - (Janine Bolon): There’s two. And I was looking over, I was looking over my notes because I had like five or six and I thought, what are the most important here? 0:16:40 - (Stuart Webb): Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:16:43 - (Janine Bolon): And I think the first one is if you’re a highly creative person and you want to start making revenue for yourself and you really want to build that side hack or what have you, if you’re highly creative, build a system. Systems create the freedom for your creativity, the challenges. A lot of creatives have been so controlled for so long. They bust out and they’re like, screw it, I’m going to do it my own way. I’m not listening to anybody. It’s all about me and I’m going to do it my own way. And then they wonder why they’ve taken a year and they still don’t have a style, still don’t have a marketing campaign. They still don’t have a system for handling new people. They’re not getting the consignments that they want. They’re not getting people coming in and saying, hey, can you do this for me? 0:17:26 - (Janine Bolon): And that’s where I want you to be in six months. Not flailing, still flailing around after a year. So highly creative people see structure and systems as loss of freedom. They don’t really because they’ve had external control of that. However, if you’re the one building a business, you’re the one wanting to build this creative business, then what you do is you make sure you have your time for creativity and then you build out your systems for the lifestyle you want. And that’s where it becomes very personal, very private. 0:17:57 - (Janine Bolon): But it helps to have somebody like myself or Stuart. I don’t care who you pick. Pick somebody. Pick somebody who can say, okay, now let’s make sure we walk you through so you can get you revenue by the end of it. So I highly recommend that you definitely start talking to Stuart because he knows what he’s talking about. If he attracted somebody like me to get on his freaking show, he obviously has systems in place. 0:18:18 - (Janine Bolon): Because my Team only operates in systems. And the system has to fit your life so you don’t burn out. 0:18:24 - (Stuart Webb): Yeah, yeah. 0:18:24 - (Janine Bolon): It’s not imposing a system. It’s like, what kind of lifestyle are you wanting with this business? What are your current engagements? Some people have children, some don’t. Some have a 9 to 5. You know, it just depends on what’s happening to you. And so talk to Stuart about it so he can get you in the right direction. Yeah, 0:18:44 - (Stuart Webb): you’ve got another one. I can feel it. 0:18:46 - (Janine Bolon): We got a second one. Yeah, yeah. What is your version of success? And people hate this question, but it’s like, literally, is it revenue? If you totally make your success based on the money, you’re in for a long haul. You are in for a side hack that is going to burn hot and you’re always going to be selling. And you will have it on your breath. It will come out on your breath. Or is your measure of success how many people you help? 0:19:19 - (Janine Bolon): Is your measure of success how many people you actually contact this week? For me, it’s how many people can I help in a week? And if I keep in that mode, I’m making my five phone calls a day. I’m hitting my marks, I’m hitting my thing, and then something happens like a kid has to go to college and all of a sudden they don’t have an apartment and we’re scrambling. I may not get all five people in that day, but I got one phone call in as I’m making phone calls, helping my kids out with whatever’s happening at uni. Right. 0:19:50 - (Janine Bolon): So, you know, life happens. But if you have that system in place, it can adjust to what level of success you are guiding yourself in. 0:20:00 - (Stuart Webb): Can I just throw one other into that? Because I think it’s another great measure of success, which is don’t hear enough people talking about. And they, they. We talked a little bit about it just now. People will turn around and say, I need more sales. But actually, one of the great measures of success is whether or not you’ve got the right number. Because, you know, if you doubled your business tomorrow, if you. If you’ve got 10 clients and you threw in another 10, you could break your business. And a lot of people chase after those 10 thinking it’s. 0:20:28 - (Stuart Webb): But in actual fact, that could break your business because you just cannot cope, particularly if you don’t have a good system or even if you’ve got a system that’s scaled to 10 and it’s not scaled for 20. So you can actually chase after the number and that number can be the bat, could, could break your business because it’s, you’re just not ready for it. So I think too many people don’t think about what’s my number, what is the number of customers I really need, and what have I built in terms of a system in order to be able to accommodate a doubling or a trebling of my, my number. 0:20:58 - (Stuart Webb): You, you’re chasing five contacts a day, which is so easily scalable. You know, you are, you are just keeping things ticking on because those five, you know, yes, not all will result in a new contact, but if you were chasing revenue, you could easily break because you could. Your team at the moment is set up for X amount, Y, a man could easily break. 0:21:20 - (Janine Bolon): So a good point. And one of those things that I constantly am working with people of, don’t worry about scaling. Make sure that you’re getting the numbers you need right now. And then when you get ready to scale, call Stuart. 0:21:34 - (Stuart Webb): Number situation. Let’s move on to what brought you to here, Janine, because you’re somebody with such an interest. As I said at the beginning, you’re a scientist, you’re a book author, you’re a podcast guest, podcast host. You have 112 online programs. What gate, what started that path? How did you get from where you were to where you are? What was it, a book? A course? Being struck by lightning? What was the thing that got you from where you were to where you are now? 0:22:11 - (Janine Bolon): Well, it started with me going back to college as an adult after 20 years. So I had gone to uni and gotten my baccalaureate in science and analytical biochemistry. So I’ve always been very much steeped in technology. And for those of you who may or may not know about biochemistry, it’s the study of cells at the molecular level. So pretty tiny stuff. And it required you to have the same education as engineers because you were working with many of the same instrumentation. So kind of a hardware junkie at the same time. 0:22:49 - (Janine Bolon): And so I was going back to college and I was getting the degree that I thought I was getting as an analytical biochemist, which was, I wanted to know how to live well because I thought college was going to help me live well. And my family did a beautiful job in raising me. I lived to 18, you know, but at age 18, you were kicked out of the house. They were done. Like it, there was no, there was no going back as far as they were concerned. It’s like, figure it out, kid. You’re on your own. You know, you were booted out the door. 0:23:21 - (Janine Bolon): And, and so I wanted to know how to live well. And I’ve always had a side hack, I’ve always had a side business because I just never felt like one job could encapsulate everything that I wanted to learn and do and experience and have. So when I went back to my master’s, I started coaching everybody on money. And when I say everybody, I was helping freshman students, I was helping faculty members. I ended up going before the board of the college that I was in and I gave the principles of the 60:40 rule. 0:23:53 - (Janine Bolon): And then back in 2005, if you can go back that far, far, I ended up taking my master’s thesis and creating it into a book. And I was called Vain. Because you were so vain. You were self publishing. Now it’s all the rage. I feel like, oh, finally everybody’s caught up to my party. But back then, Amazon only sold books. And I got on Amazon after jumping through all their hoops and spending $225, I got onto Amazon and people thought I was a big name. So that’s how it started. It was my master’s thesis, which was called Money. 0:24:30 - (Janine Bolon): It’s Not Just for Rich People. And that was the beginning. 0:24:34 - (Stuart Webb): Wow. Wow. That’s a more interesting origin story than anybody else has had, I’m fairly sure. And I say that as one biochemist to another, so. 0:24:46 - (Janine Bolon): Right. Which is one of the reasons Stuart, I’m like, oh, this is going to be great. 0:24:53 - (Stuart Webb): Look, Janine, I, I think that’s, that’s an incredible story. And you know, that led you into understanding things about business and, and book publishing, but you’ve obviously just not stopped. You just, you just keep reinventing yourself, don’t you? What, what is, what’s next for you? And you, you’re now helping people out with, with systems and building their business. You’ve got an. If you’ve got an eye on the future that you’re thinking about, you know, or are you just happy to live today? 0:25:20 - (Janine Bolon): I always have an eye on the future. And that is because I know how precious this life is. When you have a life altering event like getting struck by lightning, you don’t take anything for granted. You don’t take the fact that every morning, and you’ll forgive me, but every morning I wake up and I go, hot damn, I get another day. I mean, seriously, you don’t come through certain aspects and certain experiences without having an attitude. And so that keeps me going. 0:25:51 - (Janine Bolon): And the reason I have an eye on the future is my last child. I have four My last child is wrapping up their final semester in college, so my business is going to change again, right? Because now more time is going to be opening up. I don’t know. I paid the last tuition payment two weeks ago, and so I. Responsibilities are falling off, but new responsibilities are coming. What does that mean? I choose. 0:26:19 - (Janine Bolon): I just don’t accept new responsibilities. I’m making very discreet choices on what am I going to do, and I cannot encourage you enough to make choices based on what you want to do. 0:26:31 - (Stuart Webb): Yeah, brilliant. Absolutely fantastic. Now, that leads me to my last question, which is, well, probably you’re thinking to yourself, the one killer question he hasn’t yet asked me, and I can’t wait for him to do it. But I don’t know what that killer question is. And so therefore, Janine, what is the killer question that I should have asked you, which I haven’t yet. And obviously, as you know the question, you better answer it for us as well. 0:26:54 - (Janine Bolon): The question that I would love for you to have asked me is what drives me to keep moving forward. 0:27:04 - (Stuart Webb): I have a funny feeling you have a really great answer for this one. 0:27:08 - (Janine Bolon): I do. My father was in the Navy, and I remember as a very young child, he always said, if you don’t have your polestar in alignment, you will never make where you want to go. Now, for those of you who may not understand nautical terms, because there are a few. A polestar was the old way they used to navigate the masted ships. And it is very daunting as a young child when you’re taken up into a ship, whether metal or wooden, and you get to go into the crow’s nest, whatever that may look like, and you get to see that. And then you’re told, now where are you gonna go? And all you see, 360 degrees is water. 0:27:53 - (Janine Bolon): There’s no land mass. There’s nothing. What do you say? What do you do? And that’s what I turned to my dad, and I’m like, I don’t know where. I don’t even know where land is. You know, I’m eight. I. I don’t even know where land is. I just let him drive the boat, right? That’s what I said, Drive the boat. And that’s when he taught me, oh, you’re going to need a sextant. And he goes, and in life, that’s your moral compass. 0:28:17 - (Janine Bolon): Yeah, have your sextant figure out where the sun is, figure out, blah, blah, blah. And then when it turned night, he was teaching me how to navigate by the stars. So A pole star is how you navigate at night when nothing is around you but water. And I’m sure if you were listening to this, you’ve had something happen in your life where everything was burned to ash, where you felt like there was nothing left, and you had 30 days to get your act together. 0:28:42 - (Janine Bolon): It’s like, I’ve lived this once or twice. You have 30 days to get your act together and figure out what you’re going to do for you and your family. So make sure you know, you have your sextant, you have your mobile compass, and you have a pole star. And that’s what drives me forward. 0:28:57 - (Stuart Webb): Janine, I. I am speechless. I love that. And I think it’s probably the most important thing that you, despite the fact you’ve said everything’s important, having I. Having. Having that star, having something which you focus on and keep you going. You know, so many people, I think, fail to understand the importance of having that, to keep them centered, to keep them going towards something. Now, that can be. 0:29:24 - (Stuart Webb): That can be a measure that you put into your business. It can be something where you turn around and say, I know that if I help. And I. I’ve said this to so many people who come to me and say, I don’t like sales, don’t sell, then in that case, start helping people. So maybe you just reach out and you say, I’m going to help a few people today. Some of those people might pay you, some of them might not. I don’t know that it. 0:29:46 - (Stuart Webb): That it matters. Go help somebody. And if that’s your North Star, if that’s your polestar, then use that as your compass to say, how many people have I helped today? How many people have I reached out today? How many people today have said thank you to me because I did something for them, Whatever it is, go do that, Janine. That’s been inspiring for me. I really appreciate it. And I know you do. You do all sorts of things. You have. 0:30:09 - (Stuart Webb): You have coffee, coffee mornings where people could join you on this sort of thing, don’t they? So we’re going to put some of those links into our free stuff. We’re going to point you towards where Janine does some of this stuff, because I think she’s one of the most helpful people we’ve come across. And I love the fact that she’s come and spent a few minutes with us today. Thank you so much for doing that. Janine. I’m just going to ask one question. 0:30:30 - (Stuart Webb): Would you. If you’re listening to this and you think I’d like to hear more from people like Janine. We get people, few of them as inspiring as this, but go to fivequestionsovercoffee.com you can use that to subscribe to the to the to the RSS feed that will give you this podcast on a regular basis and you will get to hear about people like Janine coming up and talking about some really important stuff like this. Janine, thank you so much for spending a few minutes with us. 0:30:54 - (Stuart Webb): Really appreciate it. And thank you for being such a generous guest. 0:30:59 - (Janine Bolon): My pleasure. Take care of yourself. 0:31:01 - (Stuart Webb): Thank you. Get full access to The Leak at thecompleteapproach.substack.com/subscribe (https://thecompleteapproach.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

2. 

   13 Aug 2026

   Five Questions Over Coffee with Allen Kopelman (ep. 153)

   Who is Allen? Allen Kopelman is the seasoned founder of a forward-thinking payments company, with an impressive professional career spanning over 25 years in the payments industry. Previously involved in the hospitality sector as a restaurant owner and chef, Allen transitioned to the payments industry with a resolve to help business owners optimize their transaction processes. His deep understanding of both sides of the payment equation empowers him to create client-centric solutions that enhance business growth and efficiency. Allen is a problem solver at heart and a respected voice in the industry, also contributing as a writer for the Green Sheet magazine. Episode Summary: Welcome to It’s Not Rocket Science: Five Questions Over Coffee, where Stuart Webb engages with Allen Kopelman, the innovative founder of a successful payments company. In this enlightening episode, Allen delves into the intricacies of payment solutions, outlining how tailored payment software can significantly reduce costs for business owners. Through sharing his rich experience, Allen illustrates the transformation from traditional payment setups to today’s software-centric approaches. The conversation touches upon key elements that businesses need to consider when scaling their payment operations, with insights into common challenges faced by startups and how his company provides resolute solutions. The discussion highlights practical advice on leveraging payment technologies to maintain cash flow, avoiding the pitfall of becoming a financial buffer for clients. Allen underscores the importance of invoice automation and understanding interchange in order to enhance business operations. His valuable insights and real-world anecdotes underscore the critical role of payment strategies in ensuring business viability. Business owners and payment professionals alike will find this conversation both informative and inspirational, offering actionable strategies for optimizing payment processes and fortifying cash flow. Key Takeaways: * Understanding your payment system is crucial to effective business operations, especially when considering scalability and customer service. * Automated billing systems can significantly improve cash flow and free up resources for core business functions. * Business owners should avoid negotiating long-term payment terms, thereby mitigating cash flow issues by effectively utilizing credit options for customers. * The importance of understanding interchange rates in optimizing payment transactions, particularly as businesses expand. * Transitioning from traditional business approaches to embracing software solutions can improve operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. Notable Quotes: * “Payments is all about software...using the proper technology based on whatever business it is that you have.” * “Your customer already has a bank. You shouldn’t really be doing that as a business owner.” * “Cash flow is king...you shouldn’t really be doing that as a business owner.” * “You have to make decisions, you can’t just wallow around.” * “Don’t be the bank. Your customer already has a bank.” Resources: * Allen Kopelman: LinkedIn Profile [Not explicitly mentioned but relevant] * The Green Sheet: Industry magazine where Allen contributes. * Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, a recommended book. * The Five Second Rule by Mel Robbins, another highly recommended book. * Visit It’s Not Rocket Science: Five Questions Over Coffee (https://www.fivequestionsovercoffee.com/freestuff) for free resources and more insights from the episode. Dive into the full episode to grasp the depth of Allen’s expertise and stay tuned for more discussions that demystify complex topics with simplicity and p 👍 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and leave your comments and questions below—for Gwen or for future guests! And don’t forget: keep an eye out for next guest. To submit your own questions, subscribe to our newsletter and join the conversation! P.S. Loved this episode? Hit reply and let us know what resonated most _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to our newsletter and get details of when we are doing these interviews live at www.systemise.me/subscribe Find out more about being a guest at : link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/beaguest (http://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/beaguest) Subscribe to the podcast at https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/podcast (https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/podcast) Help us get this podcast in front of as many people as possible. Leave a nice five-star review at apple podcasts : https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/apple-podcasts (https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/apple-podcasts) and on YouTube : https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/Itsnotrocketscienceatyt! (https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/Itsnotrocketscienceatyt) Do You Need a P.A.T.H. to Scale? We help established business owners with small but growing teams: go from feeling stuck, sceptical, and tired of wasting time and money on false promises, to running a confident, purpose-driven business where their team delivers results, customers are happy, and they can finally enjoy more time with their family - with a results-based refund guarantee: if you follow the process and it doesn’t work, we refund what you paid. This is THE P.A.T.H. to scale your business. ————————————————————————————————————————————- Transcript Note, this was transcribed using transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast. SPEAKERS Allen Kopelman, Stuart Webb 0:00:00 - (Stuart Webb): Foreign. Hi, and welcome back to It’s Not Rocket Science. Five questions over coffee. I am here with my, my lizard mug, which is where I get my coffee for these things. And there’s Alan. I can see Alan has got his drink in front of him. So welcome to you, Alan. Alan Koppelman is our guest today. Alan is the founder of a payments company. So I guess we’re going to get in some really interesting discussions about how payments can help business owner grow their business with reduced costs. So welcome to five questions over coffee, Alan. 0:00:59 - (Allen Kopelman): Well, thank you for having me today, Stuart. 0:01:02 - (Stuart Webb): Absolutely no problem. So, Alan, let’s start with sort of trying to understand from, from the sort of business owners that you speak to, who is it that you’re trying to help with the solution that you’ve got? 0:01:15 - (Allen Kopelman): Well, we always talk to the business owner. I mean, in a larger company, we might be talking to the CFO or talking to someone in their IT department because, you know, today, you know, payments used to be, you know, a bunch of little machines around. And you know, now today, today payments, you know, been doing this for 25 years. Payments is all about software. So we always have to make sure, you know, how are we doing these payments, how are we connecting everything? 0:01:46 - (Allen Kopelman): How is that all put together? And you know, so, you know, doing payments is not just a commodity. It’s all about, you know, using the proper technology based on whatever business it is that you have. 0:02:02 - (Stuart Webb): And, and tell me, what solutions have business owners tried before they come across somebody like you? What, what is it they’re trying to do? What is it they’re trying to do without perhaps sort of seeking help from the sort of solutions that you’ve got? 0:02:18 - (Allen Kopelman): Well, a lot of times people are starting a business and they run to Stripe, but you know, sometimes they run into problems over there scaling because Stripe doesn’t really do underwriting of the merchant. They kind of underwrite the transactions and it’s kind of a little bit different of a setup. And then they could run into issues based on their business type and things like that. A lot of people today, you know, I probably come across one person a week that’s starting a business that virtually there aren’t, they’re either the first one or there’s maybe only a few of those around. 0:03:05 - (Allen Kopelman): And a lot of times they don’t understand, like, oh, well, I’m going to the, like, we had a guy recently had a cost recovery company and I was like, well, what is that? Explain it to me. So he explained, he goes, oh, it’s for Medical, Medical billing, recovery. Let’s say you’re a doctor and you did an operation and the bills, you know, you sent the bill to the insurance company for 10,000 and they agreed to pay 10,000. 0:03:33 - (Allen Kopelman): But in the end they re reviewed it and they only sent the doctor 6000. So what it doctor do they get with this medical recovery company? And they, they go after the other $4,000 and they get a percentage of it. And you know, so is that really a collections company? No, it’s cost recovery. They’re not recover. They’re not collecting money from a consumer or a business in essence, right? They’re, they’re recovering, they’re collecting money from an insurance company. 0:04:09 - (Allen Kopelman): So it’s not really, they’re not really a collections company. So we had to explain it to a few banks. Finally one of them got it and they were like, oh, okay, this isn’t really a collections company. It’s closer to medical billing than collections. So, you know, this is the things that like, we can help people with. You know, there’s so many companies out there today that are fintech companies or SaaS companies or AI companies. 0:04:37 - (Allen Kopelman): And then these companies have no phone numbers. You can only email them or do some kind of online chat with them. And you know, if you’re a business owner and you need to have that, you know, I don’t say we need to hold your hand the whole time, but you want to be, you want to have that assurance that when you have an issue in your business, you’re able to call somebody and get your issue taken care of. 0:05:02 - (Allen Kopelman): You know, then you should work with a company like mine. 0:05:06 - (Stuart Webb): And, and how long have you been in business? I think you said just then you’ve been doing this for 25 years. What, what, what, what was the sort of starting point for this? 0:05:16 - (Allen Kopelman): So the starting point was I owned a restaurant and I was, you know, in a chef and I was in the hospitality industry. I worked in hotels, country clubs. I worked for a consulting company where we would go to hotels, mostly country clubs, not, not very many like individual restaurants. And then we would do, you know, help them with menu engineering, costing, hiring, you know, staffing, recipes, all kinds of, you know, all kinds of different things. 0:05:49 - (Allen Kopelman): And, you know, and I decided, okay, I’m going to make a change in life and look for something else to do. And I got into this business and I kind of knew what it was to be on the other side, to be the, the business accepting credit cards. And one of the things that I, you know, there was things that I hated about it and you know, and I wanted to make sure, like if I was going to get into this business that I was going to be able to help business owners, you know, navigate like what’s going on, how to read the statement, how to make sure, like I’m working with a good company that has an easy to read statement that people are going to understand and make sure that there’s customer service for our customers, make sure that we’re able to take, keep them in business by, you know, making sure that they have equipment that’s reliable and if it breaks, you know, we’re going to be able to replace it quickly and things like that in the, in the very beginning because that’s what the business required. And over time, you know, that’s changed to the point where, you know, today people are looking at software and not necessarily looking at just getting a credit card machine. 0:07:08 - (Stuart Webb): And so what’s the valuable piece of advice that you could give to a business owner from somebody like you who’s been on the side of collecting money, but now helps them to sort of collect that money quicker and make it flow through their business? Because we all know it’s cash flow that kills businesses. The business may have great ideas, may have great customers, may have great products, but unless you can collect the money quickly and turn that into operating cash, it becomes difficult to keep that business running. 0:07:40 - (Allen Kopelman): Yeah, one thing is, and today a lot of businesses are not like they don’t, it’s not like a credit card machine on the counter thing. It’s more like, oh, I’m sending steward an invoice, right. And then getting you to pay the invoice. So you know, you have to really start to think about, you know, I have a saying, don’t be the bank. 0:08:00 - (Stuart Webb): Right? 0:08:00 - (Allen Kopelman): Your customer already has a bank. So you know, you don’t need to go, you know, the days of negotiating terms like 30, 60 day terms with people, you shouldn’t really be doing that as a business owner. As a business owner, you should be, you should be saying, okay, I need to collect my money up front, send the customer an invoice, let them pay by credit card or ach. So I can collect my funds up front and let their bank be their financer of, of it is, let the bank, let their bank finance their, the, the purchase. 0:08:42 - (Allen Kopelman): Because today when you, you know, and this hasn’t probably, I mean, I would say maybe, you know, 25 years ago, maybe money, I don’t think money was much cheaper than it is now. But you know, when you look at if you had to access a line of credit, you could be spending 7 to 10% or you’re using your capital that you could be using to buy more cups or more microphones or whatever it is that you sell and you’re depleting your ready cash that you have to purchase inventory. 0:09:16 - (Allen Kopelman): Right. So, you know, don’t float, you don’t need to float. Customers have a way to float money now by using their credit card. They can put the purchase on their credit card and, and it’s only costing you, let’s say, two and a half to 3%. And you don’t have to let go of your cash because you need your cash to, you know, pay your employees, pay your bills, pay your rent. And believe me, I’ve helped businesses turn this like whole thing around, you know, over, over 25 years. 0:09:50 - (Allen Kopelman): You know, I, I always tell the story. I had this client that he was a CPA and he decided to expand his business. He was going to get into bookkeeping. So he bought a book, a small bookkeeping company with more than 100 clients. And they grew it to like 300 clients. But the problem was the clients weren’t paying on time. And I had met him and I said, hey, let me show you our billing system. And once I showed him the billing system, within 90 days they got everybody, all new customers signed up for automatic billing. 0:10:24 - (Allen Kopelman): And all the old customers, they got them all signed up too. And then that freed up their staff from chasing money. Yeah, you know, they were all sitting around making phone calls, hey, when can you pay your bill? When can you pay your bill? They’re waiting for checks in the mail now. There’s no check in the mail. And they’ve literally like in two years, they ended up doubling the size of the company. 0:10:49 - (Stuart Webb): Yeah, brilliant, brilliant story, brilliant story. And rightly so. Because you need that cash to, as you say, to pay inventory or bring in new inventory or pay cust your, your employees bills. You can’t afford to have it sitting around in customers wallets waiting for them to, to pay your invoice, can you? 0:11:06 - (Allen Kopelman): No, you can’t afford to do that. You, you know, today in any business, cash flow is king. When you, whenever you read stories online about this place or that place, when they go bankrupt, they just don’t have any cash flow and that’s the main problem that they’re having. 0:11:22 - (Stuart Webb): Yeah, brilliant. Alan, what brought you, you mentioned, you mentioned being a chef, but what was the origin story? Was there a, was there a, a final moment of being a chef when you went, no, I can’t take this anymore. I’ve just got to get into being a. A business owner. Or was there a cash flow problem? What was it that brought you to what you do now? 0:11:41 - (Allen Kopelman): No, Well, I didn’t. I had a very. I had a. I had my own restaurant at the time, and it was. It was. It was successful. And I wanted to add liquor because liquor is a lot more profitable than food. 0:11:55 - (Stuart Webb): Yeah. 0:11:56 - (Allen Kopelman): And I was like, I need to add liquor. So I was going through the process of getting the liquor license, which I obtained, and then I was expanding the business because you have to have a certain amount of seats in order to have an liquor license. When you’re serving food, there’s a consumption license. They call it in Florida, cop consumption on premises. So I was going through the process, and then all of a sudden, I went down to the city, and the city’s like, oh, the landlord said, you weren’t gonna. 0:12:29 - (Allen Kopelman): You weren’t gonna open the other side of the store? And I’m like, what? I was in the middle of the construction. I went down there to pick up the. The next. You know, go. Go down there to find out when they coming over to inspect so we could finish the project. And then we got into a lawsuit and this and that and whatever. I ended up recovering all my money, and then I was just like, I’m done. And for a few months, I was looking for other. 0:12:56 - (Allen Kopelman): Other locations, but I kept running into the same problem where I needed to have X amount of seats to have this liquor license. And at the time, in the area where I was in Boca Raton, Delray, these cities were not allowing for outside seating, so you couldn’t get liquor. A liquor license. And I was like, you know what? Not gonna open another restaurant unless I can get a liquor license. And it doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen. 0:13:24 - (Allen Kopelman): And I was still doing, like, catering and stuff because I had another kitchen in a warehouse, and I was doing that. And then one of my friends said, hey, you should try this credit card business. And I. I worked for somebody. Yeah, I worked for somebody for about a year. And then I said, you know what? I kept that. People were asking me about, like, technology solutions, and they were like, no, no, just sell them a machine. 0:13:48 - (Allen Kopelman): And I was like, you know, there’s more to this business. And then some. I met somebody, and they told me. They said, hey, read this magazine called the Green Sheet, in which I write for that magazine. I’ve been writing for that magazine for a while, for two years. I wrote a column in there and so I ended up opening my own company. 0:14:10 - (Stuart Webb): Brilliant. I love the story. The frustration led you to be the person that solves the problem. That’s brilliant. 0:14:19 - (Allen Kopelman): It’s important, you know, you want to solve the problem. And you know, if anybody wants to look at like our, we have like a cash flow calculator on our website and it’s on the solutions page. We have a bunch of different calculators that can show you, you know, how much money you can save. But we have one under B2B cash flow and it has a whole calculator talking about, you know, you tell it how much business you do and, and then it will explain how much money you can save by taking credit cards versus waiting for a check in the mail. 0:14:54 - (Stuart Webb): And if you go to our vault, which is five questions over coffee.com freestuff you will get a direct link straight to what Alan has just des there, which is a, a, the, the, the calculator where you can see exactly how much you could save by doing that calculation. And believe me, the number of businesses I point towards things like that in order to get them to understand how cash flow can kill them is absolutely critical. 0:15:23 - (Stuart Webb): So yeah, brilliant. Thank you very much for that, Alan. Uh, Alan, just as a final question now that we uh, as we’re reaching into the, into the, to the final point that we’re getting to on this, is there a question that I should have asked you? Is there something that I should have asked but I’ve not yet been able to sort of get that from you? Is there something that you’re thinking, you know, there’s a killer question in here and he just hasn’t spotted it. What, what is the killer question that I should have, I should have asked you by now? 0:15:56 - (Allen Kopelman): Well, I don’t give out all the secrets, but you know, one, one of the, one of the things that we do do tell people is there when you’re on, when you’re using, when you’re doing at least 25,000 or $50,000 a month, you don’t. Businesses need to start to learn about Interchange and how Interchange works and why those flat rate companies who are charging 2.9 to, let’s say 4% are charging people, you know, why you shouldn’t be on that program anymore and why you should be on Interchange. Pass through and you can contact me and I will explain the secret to you about how the, how, how credit card interchange works and how that can impact your business. 0:16:44 - (Allen Kopelman): And a lot of businesses just don’t realize that you know these flat rate companies, while they can help you get started, we can help you optimize what you’re, what you’re doing so that you can spend less on credit processing. 0:17:00 - (Stuart Webb): So let me just suggest, and I’ve just. 0:17:01 - (Allen Kopelman): That’s the screen. 0:17:02 - (Stuart Webb): If you, yeah, if you would like to get that, that from Alan, if you drop a message into the chat, it, if he doesn’t see it and answer it, I will and I will point anything that I see people dropping into the chat beneath this video on LinkedIn or wherever. If you see that question, if you’ve got that question and you haven’t, you drop it into the chat, Alan will get to answer it and he will be able to guide you through the next stages. 0:17:30 - (Stuart Webb): And if you’ve listening to us now on Spotify or Apple podcasts or anywhere like that, once again there’s a chat function, you could drop it into the chat function and you can ask that question. We will get Alan to answer those questions for you. Alan, thank you so much for spending a few minutes with us and talking us through that. I know you’re a busy guy. You were busy just before we came on air. So I’m not going to sort of make you stay and try and keep going for, for many hours. So I’m just going to give you, 0:17:57 - (Allen Kopelman): I’ll give you like two, I’ll drop you two tidbits because you gave me the question about, about books. So I would tell anybody, business owner, two books that I really like in my life. Who moved the cheese? Somebody gave me that book when I first started my business. I think it’s a really important book that can really change your mindset. And the other one was Mel Robbins, the Five Second Rule. 0:18:26 - (Stuart Webb): That’s a brilliant, that’s another really brilliant suggestion because the one thing I love about the Mel Robbins book, it’s so easy to implement everywhere you go, isn’t it? I mean, from getting out of bed to making a decision. It really is. And I think that the thing about the Mel Robbins and the thing I’m always very conscious of, so many business owners believe that a decision they’re taking is, is final and one way and most of the decisions we’re taking as business owners, we can reverse them. If you sort of do it and then you say, hang on a minute, that was a mistake. It’s so easy to step back. We, it’s our pride that stops us from stepping back rather than anything else. 0:19:03 - (Stuart Webb): You can so easily turn around and say, no, I made a Mistake there. I did it. I did it the other day with something. I went, no, no, I’ve made a mistake. Let’s just go back. I apologize to people. And I just go, look, we’ve got to go back. Too often. We think, I’ve made a decision, I’ve got to keep going. That’s the wrong way to do it. 0:19:19 - (Allen Kopelman): Yeah, but the thing is, you know, you gotta. You have to make decisions. You can’t just wallow around, oh, should I do this? Should I not do that? You know, have a, have a limit. Like, oh, can I waste. Can I spend a thousand bucks and I won’t be mad? 0:19:32 - (Stuart Webb): Yeah, yeah, that’s your limit. 0:19:34 - (Allen Kopelman): Then that’s, Then that’s your limit. And you go, okay, well, this only costs 500. Let’s try it. It’s worth it. 0:19:40 - (Stuart Webb): And if it, if it doesn’t work out, hey, you know, you tried. It doesn’t work out. So that’s the. That’s it. And that’s a great piece of advice. I’m glad we finished on that one. I think that’s a great way to finish this. Get people to make a decision. Thank you so much for coming and spending a few minutes with us. Really appreciate that. And I look forward to sort of seeing how people comment and thank us for, for bringing some of that wisdom here. 0:20:05 - (Stuart Webb): If you’d like to be informed of what’s going on, I send out notes every week about who’s coming on and who’s going to be available. Just go to this link, which is five questions over coffee.com. if you click on that link, you can subscribe. You will get access to the podcast, you’ll get access to notes about who’s coming up. And also remember, if you go to the five questions over coffee.com forward/freestuff, you will get access to the brilliant free advice that not only Alan’s been giving here, transcripts and things like that, but also from other guests. So, Allan, thank you so much for spending some time with us. Really appreciate it. 0:20:45 - (Stuart Webb): You’re a busy guy and you’ve got lots of other people that you got to talk to, so I’m going to let you go and we’ll talk again very soon. 0:20:51 - (Allen Kopelman): Well, thank you for having me on today. I really appreciate it. It was fun. 0:20:56 - (Stuart Webb): No problem. Thank. Get full access to The Leak at thecompleteapproach.substack.com/subscribe (https://thecompleteapproach.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

3. 

   30 Jul 2026

   Five Questions Over Coffee with Arba Cooper (ep. 152)

   Who is Arba? Arba Cooper is a distinguished marketeer with a longstanding expertise in technology, dating back to the 80s. Specializing as a digital marketing trainer, Arba dedicates her efforts toward solopreneurs, particularly baby boomers, who are facing challenges with technological advancements. Her passion is fueled by personal experience and a strong desire to help others navigate the complexities of digital marketing, particularly video marketing. Arba is celebrated for her patience and ability to distill complex technological concepts into approachable, relatable lessons. Key Takeaways In this episode of “Five Questions Over Coffee,” hosted by Stuart Webb, we dive into a lively and informative discussion with Arba Cooper, an expert in digital marketing and technology. Arbor shares her longstanding experience in technology, having witnessed its evolution since the 80s, and her passion for helping solopreneurs, particularly those within the baby boomer demographic, accustom themselves to the digital age. This episode unveils Arba’s insights on the potency of video as an essential marketing tool, especially in the age of AI. Arba discusses her role in assisting solopreneurs who struggle with integrating new technologies into their business strategies. She describes how she supports clients by reducing their apprehension towards technology and introducing them to video marketing, a crucial aspect in today’s digital commerce landscape. With attention spans diminishing, she notes that video content can significantly elevate engagement and lead generation. This episode is packed with Arba’s personal anecdotes, expert advice, and effective methodologies in leveraging modern marketing tools. Key Takeaways: * Solopreneurs, especially baby boomers, often face challenges with technology that Arba Cooper helps them overcome with patience and expertise. * In the realm of digital marketing, video content particularly holds increasing value in engaging audiences and generating leads. * Arbor emphasizes that effectively using AI tools can aid those uncomfortable with appearing on camera to still create compelling video content. * Arba’s commitment is deeply personal, rooted in her own experiences of entrepreneurial struggles when she faced marketing challenges without adequate guidance. * Engaging with a community of learners can enhance one’s skills in video marketing, benefiting from both novice insights and professional expertise. Notable Quotes: * “The person I am exactly trying to talk to is the solopreneur who is struggling particularly with their marketing.” * “Attention span has become shorter... but you can use technology, what’s called faceless videos, or insert yourself in different parts of your video.” * “If a person’s afraid to be on camera, my job is not to make them comfortable, it’s to show them there are other ways.” * “We would miss out on a lot of the services and products of the solopreneurs.” * “If they have time, I’ll give my talent.” Resources: * Five Questions Over Coffee - Free Stuff Vault: fivequestionsovercoffee.com/freestuff (http://fivequestionsovercoffee.com/freestuff) Tune into this past episode to hear insightful discussions and practical advice on how 👍 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and leave your comments and questions below—for Gwen or for future guests! And don’t forget: keep an eye out for next guest. To submit your own questions, subscribe to our newsletter and join the conversation! P.S. Loved this episode? Hit reply and let us know what resonated most _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to our newsletter and get details of when we are doing these interviews live at www.systemise.me/subscribe Find out more about being a guest at : link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/beaguest (http://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/beaguest) Subscribe to the podcast at https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/podcast (https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/podcast) Help us get this podcast in front of as many people as possible. Leave a nice five-star review at apple podcasts : https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/apple-podcasts (https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/apple-podcasts) and on YouTube : https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/Itsnotrocketscienceatyt! (https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/Itsnotrocketscienceatyt) Do You Need a P.A.T.H. to Scale? We help established business owners with small but growing teams: go from feeling stuck, sceptical, and tired of wasting time and money on false promises, to running a confident, purpose-driven business where their team delivers results, customers are happy, and they can finally enjoy more time with their family - with a results-based refund guarantee: if you follow the process and it doesn’t work, we refund what you paid. This is THE P.A.T.H. to scale your business. ————————————————————————————————————————————- Transcript Note, this was transcribed using transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast. SPEAKERS Arba Cooper, Stuart Webb 0:00:01 - (Stuart Webb): Fabulous. The countdown didn’t happen. I have no idea what’s going on today. It’s all going wrong here in the studio. It doesn’t happen. It doesn’t matter. Hi, I’m Stuart Webb and welcome back to Five Questions Over Coffee. I’m here today with the wonderful Arbor Cooper. Arbor is a well arbor. We’re going to introduce you in a moment. You are a marketeer, aren’t you? You are, you are. Now, we are just, we’re just talking about the fact that you are never going to be anybody other than Arma Cooper. So, Arbor, welcome to It’s Not Rockets. 0:00:29 - (Stuart Webb): That’s Five Questions over Coffee. I really appreciate you giving up a few minutes to be with us today. Thank you for being here. I look forward to the conversation. 0:00:39 - (Arbor Cooper): Thank you, Stuart. Thank you for having me. 0:00:42 - (Stuart Webb): Now, let’s start with the first question that I always, I always ask, who is the person that you’re trying to help? What is their problem? And please use this as a way to really sort of pinpoint exactly who it is you’re trying to talk to today. 0:01:03 - (Arbor Cooper): Yes, the person that I am exactly trying to talk to is the solopreneur who is struggling particularly with their marketing. And they need more, more guidance, more hand holding. And that’s what I do as a trainer. So you could be at any stage as a solopreneur and just getting started or maybe couple years into your business. 0:01:29 - (Stuart Webb): So, I mean, there are, there must be a lot of people out there that they’ve tried a lot of the traditional, I mean, how would you describe the problems they’ve had? What are the problems that they are that you’re trying to help them solve that they probably, they, they’ve seen podcasts, they’ve been to training courses, they probably read the book, they’ve probably written half the books. What is that? What is the specific problems you see with people like that that you, you help them to, to address? 0:01:58 - (Arbor Cooper): Well, Stuart, specifically narrowing down my niche even more is that I’ve been in technology all my life, ever since the 80s, 70s, so I’m not intimidated or overwhelmed with technology. But I’ve noticed that other baby boomers, so I’m giving a little hint as to my age. I don’t mind. My birthday, by the way, is tomorrow. 0:02:24 - (Stuart Webb): Anyway, happy birthday, Abba. Thank you for spending the eve of the birthday here. 0:02:29 - (Arbor Cooper): Yes. So particularly my niche is baby boomers and beyond who are very good in their jobs, you know, their nine to five jobs or their regular jobs, but they have either been misplaced or displaced from their jobs or have left their jobs to start their own business. And they’re behind in technology so they’re intimidated with it, they’re overwhelmed. And so yes, there’s a lot of videos you can watch, books you can read, all of that, but they really need someone like me who has the patience and will train them and bridge that gap for them with technology. 0:03:16 - (Stuart Webb): And we’ve already got, well, Perennial Life TV and we’ve also got, got another one of your friends here, Gladys, who is. Hi Gladys, we’re pleased to see you. So, so, so give us, give us a bit more of the sort of. They’re good at what they do. They’re the sort of people who are, who are, who are, who understand their market. What is it you’re actually focusing them to do? 0:03:45 - (Arbor Cooper): Well, there’s a lot of things I focus on when it comes to digital marketing, but particularly today’s talk, I’m focusing on videos and the fact that now with AI, there’s so much more you can do with videos and so much more than I can teach because it used to be that you would have to be degree, not so much degree trained in IT to be able to use the technology, but now with having someone like me who is patient and, and works with people and there’s a lot of low cost AI tools, then all you need to do is just have the time. 0:04:28 - (Arbor Cooper): And you know, I have free training classes that people can attend and then if they want a little more hand holding then they can come to book a private session with me. 0:04:40 - (Stuart Webb): So tell me, what are the impacts that you, you will. That a business owner will find by using video? Because video is, is, is becoming very important. It is highly ranked by Google. If you’ve got video on your website, it is something which is, I think, something that pretty much every business owner needs to understand. But what is the impact that you’ve seen in some of the clients you’ve helped? 0:05:01 - (Arbor Cooper): Well, what I’ve seen because I always, any, anything that I teach means that I’ve used it myself. So people’s attention span is, is becoming shorter and shorter and shorter. 0:05:15 - (Stuart Webb): I’m sorry, I’ve done what you said. 0:05:17 - (Arbor Cooper): What did you say exactly? That’s my point. So attention span has become shorter and not everybody is comfortable on camera. So you have the people that will say, you know, that you need to be on camera, people need to see you and so forth. But that’s not necessarily true because, because there are some products and services that you don’t need to see the actual person who’s providing it. You know, when you think about commercials that have been around for, for ages, you know, it’s the, the people that are doing the commercials are not necessarily the creator or the inventor of the product, but they’re helping to promote it. 0:05:59 - (Arbor Cooper): So what I have seen for myself is I’m not afraid to be on camera, but I show clients both ways, is that you can use technology, what’s called faceless videos, or you can just insert yourself in different parts of your video. So what I have seen is it has allowed me to reach other people, new clients, and get leads because they are engaged in my videos. And then even if they like it, this is something I teach in my social media training. 0:06:34 - (Arbor Cooper): If they like whatever I post, then I engage by asking. I reach out and say, what particularly did you like about that post, that video? Whatever. So that’s how I’ve seen it increase my leads and increase like the, the couple of people that are on the call today by me doing videos and posting. So. 0:06:59 - (Stuart Webb): And, and you’ve got Premier Life tv. Is. Am I saying that her name is Pam. 0:07:05 - (Arbor Cooper): Her. 0:07:06 - (Stuart Webb): Hi, Pam. What Pam says video imagery is an essential part of the messaging toolkit. Arbor does a great job of sharing these tools. So there’s a great endorsement for you there. And, and thank you, Pam, from. For saying. 0:07:18 - (Arbor Cooper): Yes, thank you. 0:07:19 - (Stuart Webb): So, so, so, so, so an essential part of the toolkit. Absolutely critical that somebody masters it. Let’s, let’s take an example of somebody who is shy to get on front of, in front of camera, which I clearly am, because you can just, you can tell what is it you’re going to do to help me overcome some of that initial fear of doing and seeing and hearing yourself, which is such actually frightening thing to do when you watch back after you’ve completed one of these things. 0:07:52 - (Arbor Cooper): Well, first of all, I don’t. My job is not to make people feel comfortable on camera because clearly one of the biggest fears of people, especially when they become an adult, is getting on camera. So as I said, it’s not necessarily that you. When, when I say video, that does not necessarily mean that you need to get on. Okay. 0:08:19 - (Stuart Webb): You can help create a video which you’re not even part of. 0:08:22 - (Arbor Cooper): Correct? Correct. And now with AI, you can, especially with women. When it comes to women. Now, I’m not one that does a lot of makeup and so forth, but you saw me playing with my hair earlier. But when it comes to women, you can get a good shot, a good day, a good hair day or whatever, and then Create an avatar now with AI of yourself. And then you can inject that into your videos if you so choose. 0:08:50 - (Arbor Cooper): But again, I’m not one that’s really pushing people to say you, you gotta get on camera because not everybody is gonna get in front of the camera or really should be in front of the camera. I know that that’s probably. There’s people that feel differently, but I’m just like, do video. That’s all I’m saying is that you need to learn how to create videos. Whether you’re in it or not is a, is a whole nother discussion. 0:09:22 - (Stuart Webb): So Arbor, we have got some, some, some landing page and things like that from into our vault. And you can go to our vault. It’s called free stuff. It’s absolutely free. You just go here. Do you just go to five questions over coffee.com forward/freestuff. You log on everything that our guests have ever given us this year. But tell us what you have put in here because it’s a great landing page and, and it’s, it’s a great offer. So tell us a little bit more about what you’ve done for, for our listeners and viewers today. 0:09:51 - (Arbor Cooper): Yes, what, what I have is actually the link to my website, which is so simple. Arbacooper.com and on there I list there’s a lot of different things that I offer. But since we’re talking about video training, then I have on there a link to join my video training. I do monthly. I have a community actually of other people who are either learning how to do videos, they’ve been doing videos. Some are professionals and help people to learn whatever stage you’re at with video. 0:10:31 - (Arbor Cooper): So what’s in there is a link to join my free monthly community and just learn more about videos. 0:10:39 - (Stuart Webb): And I’m going to make it dead easy. I’m now going to adjust what’s in our vote. If you go to five questions over coffee.com freestuff at the top under Arbor’s name, you will see that link directly. You won’t have to hunt for it on a website. It will take you straight to that free training. And thank you for that, Arbor, because I think that’s a really useful offer. But it brings me to how did you learn so much about video? How did you. You’re obviously, you like marketing, but how did you learn that video was such an important part? Was there a, a course you took, a, a book you read? Was it just a discovery that you came across that made you think, I’ve got to help people get this video thing nailed. 0:11:20 - (Arbor Cooper): Well, I mean, first of all, I’ve loved technology ever since middle school, and I’ve already confessed that was like in the 70s, 80s. So, so I, I’ve always kept my pulse on technology and I learned how to do videos, you know, like I said a couple of years ago, but as a. I started to become more prevalent and even the AI tools that I have used has become more advanced and more fun. So it’s been that I actually attend other gurus, you know, that teach video. 0:11:57 - (Arbor Cooper): And so I take what they teach and then I break it down and simplify it and teach it to the people that follow me or that come to my training. So it’s really been. I’m a lifelong learner and you have to be when you’re in technology. So it’s, it’s a combination and just trying it, I, I make the mistakes, you know, the way you can learn the best is from people that have made the mistakes and tell you what not to do, how not to eat up your AI credits. 0:12:29 - (Stuart Webb): What a great, what a great, what a great thing. Arba. As we’re coming towards the end of our time together, there must be. And I’ve just seen that Pam has let me know that obviously we haven’t got that link properly sorted out yet because we only discussed it just before we came on air. So I should be putting that link on as soon as I leave the studio. Just, just finally. Is there a question I haven’t asked you? Because we’ve talked about the wonders of video, but there must be a question. You’re thinking, well, he’s going to ask me that killer question which really nails the subject any moment now. 0:13:06 - (Stuart Webb): But I’m gonna have to be honest. I don’t know what that question is. So I’m gonna ask you to tell us what is the question I should ask you and then obviously you have to answer it for us. 0:13:13 - (Arbor Cooper): Okay. The question that I get all the time is why do I have such a passion and focus on solopreneurs that that’s not where the money is? That’s the question. 0:13:29 - (Stuart Webb): Now you want, why is it that you have such a passion for solopreneurs? Cause you’re right, they’re. They are largely very, very hard strapped for cash. And every penny counts. 0:13:41 - (Arbor Cooper): But if somebody doesn’t, then how will we get a lot of the. We would miss out on a lot of the services and products of the solopreneurs because. Just because someone might be a little cash strapped right now. Doesn’t mean that they’re not worthy of the support. Support. And personally, that’s my story, is that back in the 90s when I had a lot of money, I had a lot of money as an engineer, left my full time job, wanted to start my own business or did start my own business, but I did not understand marketing. And as you probably know, Stuart, marketing is a very predatory business and you can end up spending a lot of money turning your wheels, trying to figure out things. 0:14:33 - (Arbor Cooper): And that’s what happened to me. To the tune of house getting foreclosed, car repossessed and I lost my marriage. And so my passion is that if a entrepreneur solopreneur, if they have time, then I’ll give my talent and that’s my passion, is that just giving some of my time, some of my talent. And if they just give their time and they can do it theirself, teach a man how to fish instead of giving them a fish. 0:15:06 - (Stuart Webb): Oh, but what a wonderful message and what a wonderful way to finish. Listen, I think that’s wonderful. I think that’s truly fantastic. I’m so, I’m so grateful that you’ve spent a few minutes telling us that today. I would just like to say one thing as we come to an end and it almost, it almost goes without saying, you go find Arbor online, go and find her and, and, and take the advantage of listening to somebody who’s so passionate about this stuff. 0:15:35 - (Stuart Webb): But if you would like to talk to and, and and be available to, to come and speak to and ask questions, we have Pam today asking questions. If you go to 5questionsover Coffee.com you will find a link there to subscribe to this feed and you will find other great entrepreneurs who are coming up. I post out to people who are subscribing who’s coming up in the next in the next episode of this so that you will get a notification that tells you that somebody is coming onto the, onto the podcast and you can come and join like Pam today and ask questions. So Arpa, thank you so much for spending a few minutes with us. 0:16:11 - (Stuart Webb): I really appreciate what you’ve come on and set and I do hope you continue to help as many of those entrepreneurs discover, because you’re right, video is so important in today’s marketing mix and it is badly done by most of us and you’re clearly somebody who knows how to write, how to make it happen. So thank you so much for coming on and telling us. 0:16:30 - (Arbor Cooper): Thank you, Stuart. And there was someone else too that was on today. I want to thank. It was Candace. 0:16:36 - (Stuart Webb): There was. There was. We had. We had. We had Pam and we had Gladys. 0:16:43 - (Arbor Cooper): Gladys, yes. 0:16:45 - (Stuart Webb): Yeah. You know, Gladys as well. 0:16:46 - (Arbor Cooper): Yes, yes. Yeah. That’s one thing. I knew there was two, so. Thank you. 0:16:50 - (Stuart Webb): Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Pam. Thank you, Gladys. Really appreciate you being here. And listen, Alba, Pam, Gladys, you know where Arbor is, but everybody else, go check out Arbor, get it. Get a link from the, from the vault, from the free stuff and. And have a look at some of Arbor’s great stuff. It’s really great. Thank you very much indeed. 0:17:15 - (Arbor Cooper): Thank you. All right. Bye. 0:17:18 - (Stuart Webb): Bye. Bye. Get full access to The Leak at thecompleteapproach.substack.com/subscribe (https://thecompleteapproach.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

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