001. Neil Patel (Kissmetrics Founder) On How To Make Better Decisions Around Client Selection, Branding and Investing - a podcast by Ash Roy

Neil Patel - Kissmetrics (Founder) On Entrepreneurship, Branding and A Whole Lot More(Scroll down for a full transcript of the interview)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfWQh1W3Rrw&feature=youtu.be
I recently had the opportunity to speak to speak with the founder of Kissmetrics - Neil Patel. Neil and I discuss several interesting topics including:

* A day in the life of Neil Patel (productivity hacks)
* How to decide on which customers to work with
* Branding
* Investing in stocks
* Warren Buffett
* Apple

A full transcript of our conversation is below:
John Lee Dumas:      Hey, this is John Lee Dumas from Entrepreneur On Fire. You're listening to my friend Ash Roy.

Ash Roy: Welcome to the Productive Insights podcast for entrepreneurs and professionals where we discuss how to leverage your business online, and how to maximize your profitability. In this podcast, I interview Neil Patel, the founder of KISSmetrics. Neil and I chat about a range of topics, including branding, investing in stocks, productivity at work, and a whole lot more. I hope you enjoy listening to this as much as I enjoyed recording it. The sound quality isn't great in some parts because we had a pretty poor internet connection, and I apologize for that, but that doesn't take away from the spectacular content. Enjoy.

Hi, Neil. Thank you very much for agreeing to this interview. It's a pleasure to have you on Productive Insights' podcast. You're the founder of Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics and Quicksprout, which is your blog. You also consult to major organizations such as Buffer, MailChimp, CampaignMonitor and LiveChat, just to name a few. You've been endorsed by Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch. All these achievements make for a spectacular resume for a very young entrepreneur like yourself. As a manager in the corporate world of over 15 years, I can say that you've achieved a lot in a very short space of time. Let me start by asking, what does your typical day look like? How do you manage to be so productive?

Neil Patel: My typical workday, I spend most of my time actually in my email inbox. When it's not in my email inbox, it's on phone calls. When it's not on phone calls, it's in meetings. The majority of my day goes to communication.

Ash: I know from our previous interactions, you mentioned that you have a specific way of handling emails. That is, you read it once and respond straight away, so you avoid double-handling.

Neil: That's correct. It makes you much more efficient. I have filters set up as well. I have an assistant who does all the scheduling, so I don't have to deal with that. I have canned responses for the generic type of emails I get, like I get a lot of emails from people saying give me money, or teach me how to make money. I have quite a few generic canned responses for emails like that as well.

Ash: The next question is, you have some very high profile clients that are vying for your limited time. How do you decide which client to work with? I'm sure money is a factor, but are there any other criteria that you use to decide on which particular projects to take on?

Neil: Other than budget, because that is important, if it's not worth it financially to me, we never do it. I don't really do much consulting at all. There's two things, one can I help the customer, and can I really help them and provide results? Not like, oh maybe I can, but am I really confident that I can help them. I don't want to end up working with someone and not providing results, because that's just going to ruin my brand name. Two it's a disservice. You don't want to be unethical.

The second variable is, is the customer fun? Do I think I'm going to enjoy working with them? Are they going to implement my suggestions, or are they going to take them for granted? Will they be happy with the results? Will I enjoy working with their team members? Those are the two main factors for me, the third being financial.

Further episodes of Productive Insights Podcast — Actionable Business Growth Ideas — with Ash Roy

Further podcasts by Ash Roy

Website of Ash Roy