Inside Marketing with MarketSurge

Reed: Hello and welcome
again to The Inside Marketing

With Market Search Podcast.

I'm Reed Hansen, and I'm here
with my guest, Andrew Frazier.

Welcome, Andrew.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: Hey Reed.

Thanks for having me.

Good

Reed: I, yeah, it's, it's a
real delight and a real treat.

I, um, had the opportunity to
participate in, uh, Andrew's live

podcast, uh, recently, and, uh,
just really wanted to hear his, uh,

perspective and, um, let, but let me
just start with an introduction here.

So Andrew Frazier, an M-B-A-A-C-F-A,
a master and founder of Small

Business Pro University.

Is revolutionizing how
business owners scale.

Through his groundbreaking master
preneur playbook framework,

Andrew helps entrepreneurs unlock
their leadership potential and

drive rapid sustainable growth.

With over 15 years of experience as a
business coach, consultant and trainer,

Andrew has worked one-on-one with over
a thousand business owners, identifying

key challenges that prevent them from
reaching their goals, his master preneur.

Playbook framework addresses critical
knowledge gaps and skill deficiencies,

offering a proven methodology that
empowers business owners in any

industry to lead confidently and
achieve extraordinary results.

His unique holistic approach
combines business strategy,

financial expertise, and leadership
coaching to help entrepreneurs make

data-driven decisions, optimize
profits and fuel sustainable growth.

As an author of three influential
business books, host of the

Leadership Live at 8 0 5.

Talking small business
livestream and podcast.

With over 200 episodes an organizer of
high impact business networking events.

Over 12 years, Andrew's influence
reaches tens of thousands of business

owners delivering actionable insights
and multimillion dollar results.

Andrew Frazier's journey from a paper
route in the fourth grade to a renowned

business leader is a testament to his
relentless drive and unmatched expertise.

Andrew has developed a unique ability
to guide business owners through

complex challenges by combining his
MIT engineering, N-Y-U-M-B-A and

Charter Chartered financial analyst
education with real world experience

as a naval officer at Fortune 500
executive and serial entrepreneur.

His diverse background allows him to
bring a multifaceted perspective to

every client, empowering them to achieve
breakthrough results by evolving as

leaders and transforming their businesses.

So again, I am just delighted to
have somebody with your expertise and

knowledge and, um, you know, and I
hope, I hope our audience can benefit

today from, from, uh, your experience.

And, and, uh, of course we'll
talk about how they can connect

with you, uh, at the end.

So let's start with your journey.

Can you tell us what first inspired
you to get into entrepreneurship

and small business growth, and
how did that evolve into creating

small business pro university?

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: Okay.

Like anybody else, you have a
journey and mine was probably more,

um, windy and diverse than many.

Um, but my experience in fourth grade,

Reed: I.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: having a paper
route for five years with my brother, um,

seven days a week, um, really introduced
me to entrepreneurship in a great way.

Um, got a taste for, you know, it's
nice to have a little bit of money

in your pocket when you're that age.

Um, and not only that, we
got to know people and, um.

As a result in Pittsburgh, it snows a lot.

So we build a snow shoveling
business on top of it.

'cause we know everybody and
um, we would hire our friends.

So, you know, we had a great
entrepreneurship, you know, experience,

you know, before I even got to
high school, which was amazing.

Reed: That, that's fantastic.

Um, you know, I, I had a paper route
when I was a kid, but I did not turn

that into a, a follow up business.

I, I got bit by one dog and I was done.

How so obviously like that, that
was a very formative experience.

Um, and then you've, you've had other
stops along your career, like obviously

both in military and in, uh, business.

And, uh, you know, you've got a CFA.

What, what were those other stops
like, and how did that kind of enrich

your, uh, knowledge and experience?

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: Okay.

Well, I mean, both of my
parents were teachers, so as a

Reed: Uh.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: did well in
school and that's how I ended up going to

MIT and studying mechanical engineering.

I.

I got the Navy to pay for it
through a Navy ROTC scholarship.

Um, so that's sort of what
led me to, um, the Navy.

But even while I was in college, I
had, my brother and I had a creative

media business where we would sell
custom, pre-printed and pre-printed

shirts and other materials.

And, um, we actually work with our
friends at different colleges as well.

So, you know, entrepreneurship,
know, continued with me.

Um, in the Navy I served as a,
uh, Navy Supply Corps officer, so

really we did the logistics and
business side, um, for the ship.

So I ran food service.

I, ran the retail and, you know, I paid
everybody and paid all the ship's bill.

So that was a great business experience
on, on top of that, and that kept

me in the management direction.

Um, when I finished up, I worked as a
general manager for a private company in,

um, private distribution in the warehouse.

And my department, we'd
ship 8,000 orders a day.

So really understanding that,
you know, operations side, um, I.

And distribution was great.

um, got my MBA in finance at
NYU and um, really wanted to go

the finance investment route.

So I got an opportunity to do
that for, um, New York Life

Insurance in their investments
and financial management areas.

And that's where I got my CFA
and, you know, sort of like

a CPA for investment manager.

So on the finance side and, um.

I took that had an opportunity to be
chief operating officer of a nonprofit.

You know, realized I'm not really
a nonprofit type of guy, and,

um, left to buy a business.

And while I was working on buying a
business, I also was doing coaching

consulting for other small businesses.

And, um, buying a business proved way
more difficult than I expected because.

You know, it is really easy for deals
to fall apart, whether it's pricing,

whether it's financing, whether it's,
um, the owner changing their mind.

Um, so after two years I realized,
hey, I'm doing this coaching,

consulting, and training.

I'm enjoying, I'm doing well.

Why am I spending all this extra
energy trying to buy a business?

So that's where, where I really focused
on the coaching, consulting, and training.

'cause I, you know, I enjoyed it.

I helped a lot of people and, um,
you know, uh, I like a challenge and

every business is its own challenge
and I get a chance to learn a lot.

Reed: That's really interesting.

You have had a lot of interesting stops
and you know, I, I heard a key thing.

You were, your parents were both
teachers and, um, I, I can't help but

think that that had something to do
with your desire to teach and coach and.

Um, you know, that, that, um, that
is really, really, uh, I think some

people are born with that knack
and that's, um, that's great when,

when people can find that match.

Um, so let's, let's
talk a little bit about.

You know, uh, uh, obviously
entrepreneurship is a, is a big topic,

but, um, we're, we're pretty marketing
focused here, and, um, that aspect of

that, I'd like to drill into a little bit.

You are, uh, you, you have a, a wide
coverage in your coaching and, um,

but I want to ask you about marketing.

Now, you have worked with
different vis businesses, even a

nonprofit, you know, and, and can
you tell me a little bit about.

Early in your career, what were some
of the first marketing strategies

you tried and what lessons did
you learn from those experiences?

I mean, we could even just, you know,
it sounds like right off the gate you

were able to get a bunch of, uh, snow
shoveling clients based on relationships.

But you know what, what, what
have you learned early on?

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: Well, of
course everything's about relationships,

you know, everything in business and,
and really the purpose of marketing

is to develop a relationship with
your current and future clients.

Um, so one big thing I learned
with the paper route I.

It's really customer service makes
all the difference in the world.

Um, you know, you see on tv, most paper
boys were like throwing their papers.

We, we would put the paper in people's
door or wherever they wanted it,

whether it was on the door, whether
it was, you know, on the patio

furniture or the porch furniture.

Um, but by doing that, um, it's
amazing just doing that, friendly.

You even today my parents still
live in the neighborhood and

they're like, your kids were like
the best paper boys we ever had.

So, uh, so, you know, definitely,
um, you know, customer service and

being friendly is hugely important
to build that relationship.

Um, you know what I've found?

Is working with so many businesses.

Um, and, you know,
businesses have challenges.

say of the challenges of most businesses
are they're not selling enough.

So it's so important to
learn how to market and sell.

So even though, you know, I focus on
financial management and strategy,

90% of the problems I'm addressing.

Is the fact they're not selling enough.

Reed: Yeah.

Yeah.

That I, I would agree with, with that.

You know, both in my personal
experience and what I've seen with

our agency clients is, um, you know,
it, it, you have to start there.

You have to start with a, a repeatable, I.

Sales and marketing process and flow
in, um, before you start worrying

about some of the, the higher level
questions, um, you, so you worked

in, uh, you know, pro promotional
design, you know, with, um, early on

you mentioned and, and, uh, you know.

It, the world of marketing has changed
so much just in the last couple decades.

Um, what marketing channels have you
seen, uh, to be most effective for you

and maybe how has that evolved over
the, over the time of your career?

I.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: Okay.

No, I mean, things have changed a lot.

It, it's amazing when I.

Was when I was at MIT, they had a
project, Athena, and it was the internet

and I didn't even appreciate it.

Like they, the internet while I
was there and I, I didn't even,

know, realize it till later.

You know, they're like,
this is great thing.

But, um, know, so definitely
the internet has changed a lot,

I'd say best practices or best
practices, so, know, whether or not.

You know, you have the things that
you, tools that you have now, um,

many of the best practices are
still the best way to approach it.

You may just approach it with different,
so it's, it's important to keep in

mind, um, what marketing is about.

And I think a lot of people don't
understand what marketing is.

So as a result, they
don't really do it well.

Um, and you know, the biggest thing
is building relationships having a

strategy behind it before you pick
what tools that you're going to use.

And, you know, all the things that have
changed over time are more the tools.

So just developing your strategy
and figuring out, you know,

who is your target market.

What's the message you want to get to
your target market and then the tools

that you're gonna use to get there.

Um, and even today, um, you know, it
should be a combination of digital

and non-digital, because it's
still about relationships depending

on your business, especially in.

A service business, business services,
um, you have to build that relationship

so it's not just gonna come the internet.

Reed: Yeah, I lo I like that a lot.

I think I'm gonna, uh, I, I,
if that's okay, I think I'm

gonna kind of adopt that.

I like that relationship
first and tool second.

You know, I, I tend to get
bogged down in the tools.

I think, you know, I just loved
playing with the new toys and the

shiny things and, um, but you know, if.

I think that's something I could put
on a sticky note here on my monitor.

Just like relationships first,
you know, like, no, I, I love it.

Um, now this probably goes along
with that, but what mistakes as

you're, as you're working with small
business owners, what mistakes do

you see as it per, particularly, as
it pertains to marketing and sales?

What mistakes do you see them generally
making frequently, or, you know,

repeatedly, what are some common threads?

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: Well, I think
the most important thing is most business

owners don't realize that when they
have a business, their real job is.

sell and market.

understanding that that's
their most important job.

That's actually the second
chapter in my first book.

What's your most important job?

And it's focused on sales and marketing.

And the better you market,
the easier it is to sell.

if you get good enough at marketing,
you don't have to sell anymore.

So, you know, marketing is really the key
if you can get it right, um, many times.

They may not know that there is a
difference between sales and marketing,

and even if they do, they, their
definition or understanding of what

marketing is, is really marketing
tools as opposed to strategy.

And you know, the tools work much
better when you have a strategy

behind how you're gonna use them.

So I think that's, you know, that's key.

Um, so, you know, understanding and then,
you know, building their knowledge base.

You know, a lot of times, you know, I,
I always ask them, you know, on a scale

of one to 10, what's your, um, how would
you rate yourself in terms of sales?

And then the same thing for
marketing, usually it's around a five.

So, and I'm like, well, what
are you doing to improve that?

They're like, what do you mean?

So basically they're out there winging
it so, you know, having a focused

effort building your knowledge and
experience in marketing and selling,

because you know, even the best
marketing and sales people continue

to focus on learning and do training.

So, you know, that's what you need to
do if that's your most important job.

Reed: That's, that's great.

Um, well, let's pivot a little bit.

I want to talk about, as a coach
and the, you know, the business of

being a, a coach running this small
business pro university now, um, I.

You've been around for, was it 15
years that you've been doing this?

And now the um, uh, you know,
and the conditions 15 years ago,

obviously a little bit different.

Um, but if you had to build it all
over today, uh, acquiring clients,

uh, with potentially no email list.

No, no, uh, brand recognition,
what would be the marketing

sales moves that you'd make?

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: Um, I think I
would have, um, focused more on marketing.

Reed: Mm.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: You
know, I have a financial and a

quantitative background, so I.

You know, I naturally drift towards
that and, um, you know, I'm sort

of have a reserved personality.

so, you know, over time I've developed an
ability to, um, market more effectively.

But sometimes you, you
know, you have when you're,

when you come from that
background, you know, it's hard

to adjust, you know, because.

You know, engineering math is an answer.

You know, there, there's, you
know, and, and, and you're

really looking at the facts.

in marketing the facts are
important, many times I.

Not stretching the facts
is where you need to be.

it was kind of difficult to
do that, but what they do.

You know, they're like, you know, there's
probably a thousand businesses in in the

country that say best hamburgers, but
they don't all have the best hammers,

Reed: Right.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: it way.

you know, you have to be more
flexible and able to, um.

communicate what you're

Reed: Yeah.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: and, um,
you know, that that's, that's more

difficult for some people than others.

So that was, that was
probably my biggest challenge.

I.

Reed: That's, that's good to know.

Um, do you, um, you know, early on or
now, did you invest much in just curious,

in, in some of these channels, like, um.

Advertising of, of, uh, you know,
the online or print variety, or

did, or have you mostly grown
through your, uh, relationships?

Um, what'd you say?

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: I would say
I've grown through my relationships.

I always have an online presence.

you know, just dabbled slightly in
online paid, but I don't think business

services are necessarily the best.

Industry for that.

You know, more products seem to
be better for digital marketing,

paid digital marketing.

so, you know, I focus, you know,
my social media, other things

on building relationships.

Um, so it's still about that.

But, For you to have a coach, you gotta
meet them, you gotta talk to them.

You gotta feel that
they're, you're compatible.

And then every coach is different.

Um, I don't really even quite
consider myself a coach.

I would say it's more a coach Salton,
because, you know, a lot of coaches

aren't gonna tell you what to do

or tell you that what
you're doing is wrong.

Um, but you know.

A big piece of my, what I do is
knowledge transfer and help people

to become better business people,
um, based on building the knowledge.

So, know, not only is it coaching, it's
consulting and actually, um, you know,

actually help people while, you know,
during a coaching session, they might be

like, oh, my bookkeeping's all messed up.

So I'm like, all right, open
your QuickBooks, let's fix it.

or.

Whatever, you know, hands on, being
able to bring the expertise to them

in whatever the way they need it.

Reed: So, um, this reminds me of a,
a question, uh, that I, that I had

coming out of, um, our conversation
a couple weeks ago where, um, so

we, we did a live, uh, broadcast
to your, to your group that, um.

Live.

Live at 8 0 5.

Love that.

Love that.

Um, but, uh, I was, uh, just in
that and other subsequent posts

that I've followed, you have a
remarkably engaged community like.

They, um, I have other coaching
clients and my wife has done,

uh, business coaching as well,
and it's been a real struggle.

Even when she does a broadcast or
something like that, it's been a real

struggle to get, for instance, a lot
of interaction on those live events.

Um, people that ask question or prompts
and, um, how, how have you done that?

Well, and I think that'd be interesting
for those coaches in our audience.

H how, how have you.

Mastered getting in real
engagement with that community.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: Well, well,
I think a big piece of everything

is consistency and discipline.

You know, I've been doing it for
four and a half years now every week.

Reed: Mm-hmm.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: um, you
know, and, and that was after also

over 10 years of being in the business.

So having worked with, you know,
a thousand business owners, so,

know, my network, my relationships,
um, you know, help to build that.

You know, like you mentioned, you
know, I've been doing networking events

for business owners for 12 years.

so.

Really that consistency.

You know, when I started the live stream
it was just, um, because, you know, I

was a little bit nervous 'cause I'm not
really a talker and he was a talker.

So, you know, we'd get on and chat
and then, you know, we realized

that, you know, Juan, everything
we talked about was leadership.

So we, we added leader, you know,
it was originally live at 8 0

5 'cause we'd come on at 8 0 5

Reed: Love it.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA:
and we were live.

Um, so, and then it evolved
to where we were having guests

and at first it was him and I.

With the guests.

But you know, as I got more
comfortable, he was like, ah, you

may as well, you, you've got it.

And so, you know, for about four
years now, a little over four years,

I've been, you know, doing it myself.

Um, but you, you just consistently do
it whether people are there or not.

And, um, you know, over time
you start to build the audience.

You know, as long as you're.

You know, providing good content.

You know, a big piece of what we do is
we have great guests like you come on

and talk about important business topics.

And I think, you know, the good
thing is that as a host, you know,

I understand a lot about what we

More effective questions than many host.

Due to just the knowledge
and experience and business.

And, and also, you know, I've tried a
lot of things, so I'm like, I, I wanna

learn from you, so I'll ask you the
questions that I wanna learn about.

So,

Reed: Yeah.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: you know, I
think that that's why a lot of people

really like it and continue to come back.

Reed: That.

Well, you know, that's, that's great and
definitely something I'd like to emulate.

You know, this is for, for me, this is
a podcast I've been doing for, uh, about

a month now, and, um, you know, really
delighted to have people like you and.

And, um, you know, and, and I hope
that there could be some, some, uh,

overlap between our communities.

I'd love to send people your way.

You, you know, you obviously do tremendous
work and I, I'd recommend people at, uh,

tune into Live at 8 0 5, um, each week.

The, um.

So when we were talking, we
talked, uh, a bit about ai.

We covered and, and, um, in, in marketing
and in in business, there's always the

next big thing, the next revolution.

And you know, you mentioned early on
it was the internet and, you know,

that changed so many businesses and,
and functions within businesses.

Um.

And, you know, and AI seems to be
kind of the, the latest, but within

that, are there aspects of, uh, this
technology or others that you're seeing

are massively changing business or
something you're excited about that

from a marketing technology standpoint?

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: I mean, I, I
think it, I think it's great and terrible.

Um,

Reed: Yeah.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: think that.

people who, you know, have knowledge
and expertise if you use it do things

that you're already doing better.

Um, or you know, if there's
things that you wish you could

do, it can make it possible.

for me, that's been great, you know,
because, you know, with my livestream,

since I started livestream,
that really, it.

Became viable to have
AI do your video editing

someone to do it, which was
pretty cost prohibitive.

And um, you know, now in 20 minutes
I've got 40 shorts my stream.

Uh.

Reed: Yeah.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: You

Reed: Right.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: um, you know,
images like in Canva and other platforms,

you know, I think using AI within
tools you already use to do it better

Reed: Mm-hmm.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: Um, AI by
itself, without you understanding

or knowing what you're getting
from AI and that it's right,

you know, can be damn because.

Ability of, you know, if you're
just taking things that AI says, you

know, AI draws from different things
and some of it may not be accurate.

Um, and then you need
to have your own voice.

You know, if, if you don't have your own
voice, why should anyone listen to you?

They, they could go to AI
and get the same exact thing.

So, you know, you gotta bring your
own voice and your own knowledge

to the table with it as well.

Reed: That's, that I think
that's really, uh, apt, um,

advice in, in this landscape and.

Um, I mean, I, I concur completely.

It's, um, you know, it's great what AI
can do, but, uh, you do need to, you know,

you do need to work on the applications.

It's, it's not just constantly being
impressed at how high quality the graphics

are, how long the responses can be.

It's, it's how does, how does that,
where does the rubber meet the road?

And, and, uh, you know, that's, um.

Uh, you know, that,
that's tremendous advice.

So on the, on the tone of advice,
um, you know, we've covered a lot,

but if you could give one piece of,
of advice to small business owners

about marketing and sales, you know,
something that maybe we haven't touched

on late, we, based on your experience,
what would you, what would you say?

Just, um, at a high level, is there
something simple you could do to

save them some trial and error?

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA:
Well, I, I sort of

Reed: I.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: something.

It's sort like three things.

Reed: Okay.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: consider it
marketing 1 0 1 and because there's

three reasons to market like a drug
dealer, um, because it simplifies it

for everybody to sort of understand,
you know, because the first thing

is they don't sell to everybody.

You know, they sell to specific
people and they don't sell drugs.

They offer drugs.

Nobody's been like, oh, a drug dealer
tried to make me buy drugs from him.

You know, they offer 'em and if you
take 'em up on it, but they don't try

to make you buy drugs and you know,
as a business owner, you shouldn't be

trying to make people buy your products.

You need to be communicating your products
to the right people and offering them

and a solution that they already want,
or can see that they want it and need it.

So it's really customer driven.

So.

Number one, you don't sell to everybody.

Number two, you don't pay a lot.

You don't overpay.

It's really easy to overpay and buy, but
you know, you have to do a lot of it.

In gorilla marketing, there's so many
things you can do for free or such low

cost that you know you really don't
have pay a lot, especially starting out.

And then the third one
is they make friends.

You know, it's about relationships, so.

You know those three things, if you
follow those three things, that's really

marketing 1 0 1, and you can get pretty
far by just following those three.

Reed: Well, you know, if anything,
that is one of the most memorable.

Bull business anecdotes I've ever heard.

But that, uh, I, that
makes a lot of sense.

You know, the, the offer and that's
what we could do a whole podcast on

just getting the right offer out.

And, uh, um, you know, I, I love it.

That's, that's, that is, that
is really, uh, um, memorable.

And so, so Andrew, as we wrap up, can you
tell us, um, how our listeners could find

you, um, in small business pro university?

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: Okay.

Definitely, um, to find me on LinkedIn.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.

You can access a lot of my content.

A lot of the things we do, we
actually do the live stream over.

LinkedIn is, um, the university
website is www sb pro u.com,

so SB for small business
pro u for university.com.

And my email's andrew@mysbpro.com.

So any of these work well.

Reed: Alright, well I will include all
of those links in the show notes and,

um, and then Andrew, of course, um, you
know, we will, we will, uh, be in touch

and I, I am going to join the 8 0 5,
the live at 8 0 5, uh, every time I can.

I, um, love that community and, you know,
you, you do such a good job with it.

So, um, it's been really great to meet
you and, and have this conversation.

And, uh, looking forward to, to continuing
to, uh, you know, build our relationship

and, you know, you've, you, uh, have,
have so much great knowledge, so,

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: Okay.

No thanks.

I mean, definitely it's
a pleasure being on here.

Um, it was great having you on my
show as well, and, um, you know,

I encourage you to continue to,
you know, build your business, um,

develop, and, um, yeah, look forward
to checking out your podcast as well.

And, um, I.

Keep going,

Reed: alright.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: that's the
key, you know, continuing to do it.

And um, you know, you do that, you'll
learn a lot and you'll build an audience

that's gonna continue to learn with you.

Reed: Well, thank you so much.

Andrew Frazier, MBA, CFA: Okay, thanks.

Want to stay ahead of what's actually
working in marketing right now.

Head over to Market surge.io

and see how we're helping businesses
grow smarter, faster, and louder.

That's market surge.io

because your next breakthrough
shouldn't be a guess.