499: Tom Kulzer | 0 to 1 Million SaaS Subscribers

Creating a network is more than just who you know, but who you connect to who. Our guest today,Tom Kulzer, is a master at cultivating relationships. Tom founded the award winning https://www.aweber.com (AWeber Communications) to help small businesses around the world better communicate and build relationships with customers and prospects using permission based email marketing. Tom's focus is strategic planning, market strategy, business development, and team building, and believes in creating a unique workplace lifestyle with a culture driven by core values all while in pursuit of growing millions of small businesses around the world. I can’t wait to dive right in and learn how Tom brought his business from zero to one million SaaS subscribers by connecting people and generating relationships.  Things you will learn in this episode: [00:01 - 08:53] Opening Segment I introduce today’s guest, Tom Kulzer Activities and Success Announcements  https://travischappell.typeform.com/to/kmf5p4 (travischapel.com/makemypodcast) Tom gives some background on his story Always doing odd jobs  Parents owned a garment factory  Entrepreneurship taught or caught? Tom’s examples  Family business dynamic Factors that go into it  Tom talks about growing up learning entrepreneurship Growing up around small businesses Used to working all kind of jobs  Started a software company  Developed AWeber over time  [08:54 - 16:44] The Benefits and Struggles of Software  Tom talks about the value of his hard work  Building up over time  Evolving over the years Benefits and struggles of building a software company  A constantly evolving market  Increased competition  Engineering capacity used on stopping abuse  Recurring and predictable  Customer solutions operations Pitfalls of software  The things you don’t see  Examples  [16:45 - 18:28] Do What You’re Passionate About Tom talks about the beginning of his hiring period  First hire in customer solutions  Loving what you do  Work doesn’t feel like work  [18:29 - 28:24] Closing Segment Who you or What you know?  What you know can open the doors to who you know  Being the resource for others  What then who Important relationships that made you what you are today? Tom’s friend that pushed him  Relationship started from a newsletter  Tom’s advice to his mentees  Leadership strategies to build better relationships with customers and employees  Be yourself  Cultivate a genuine culture  The RaNdoM RoUnd Remember to upload and tag us on instagram! Final words  Tweetable Quotes:  “At the end of the day software is something where… it’s a recurring base, so it’s very predictable, it’s very measurable in many ways. It has a lot of upsides, and it definitely can scale…” - Tom Kulzer “I don’t look at work as necessarily work… Do something that you’re passionate about.” - Tom Kulzer “The ‘who you know’ is for other people; being beneficial to them and connecting them to other people and helping them out with whatever struggle that they have.” - Tom Kulzer Resources Mentioned:  https://www.omnigroup.com/omnifocus/ (Omnifocus) You can connect with Tom on https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomkulzer/ (LinkedIn), and https://twitter.com/tkulzer (Twitter). Visit https://go.tomkulzer.com/home to learn more about his space.  Did you love the value that we are putting out in the show? LEAVE A REVIEW and tell us what you think about the episode so we can continue putting out great content just for you! Share this episode and help someone who wants to connect with world-class people.  Jump on over to https://travischappell.typeform.com/to/kmf5p4 (travischapel.com/makemypodcast) and let my team make you your very own show! If you want to learn how to Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy