Welcome back to the Small Business Summary… 

In this week’s episode:

• Sales Room: What is the state of AI sales agents?

• Level Up: What KPIs should I track?

• Fiverr CEO is freaking about AI taking his job

• Podcasters: Win a Golden Globe for your podcast in 2026!

• Final Say Survey: How is 2025 going for your business?

Time is Running Out On YOUR Business…

You’ve heard the saying “the days are long, but the years are short,” right? That phrase is most commonly used when talking about parenting. But, I think its just as applicable for your small business dream.

Think back to last Thursday. Last week you did ALL THE STUFF and already this week you’ve been buried in THINGS. You can’t believe you’ve done all this work and it’s still only Tuesday morning. Ahhhh.

Now, think back to one year ago today. That doesn’t feel quite as long ago.
In fact, how in the world did my sweet little puppy already turn one year old?

Moments like these remind us that even though we’re slogging through the day-to-day junk in our small business, the bigger picture if whizzing by at light speed.

So, I ask you: Before another year goes by will you finally dial in on exactly what you want to be doing?

I know there’s a product or service you currently offer that you’re tired of providing.
And there’s a version or higher level of your offer that you are dreaming of doing “someday.”

That someday is now. 

Are you waiting for permission? For the time to be right? For a sign from above that you should take the risk, raise your rates, specialize your product and stand out from everyone else in your space?

This is your sign. Here’s how to do it:

• Draw out the most exciting product or service you wish you could provide every day. Dream Big. Dream of having 1/3 the clients but 3 times the revenue.

• List 3 to 5 descriptions of the transformation your customer would receive from the service

• List 5 customers/network members you ALREADY KNOW might want it

• Ask them if they want the 3 to 5 transformations

• When they say yes, tell them what you’ll do to achieve the transformation and ASK FOR THE SALE.

• If you need to, offer a discount to get started in exchange for a testimonial when you achieve their goal

• Document everything and use client #1 as your case study for the specialized business of your dreams that unlock your full potential

You can’t have a business that does exactly what you dream of until you start doing what you’ve dreamed of.

This is your sign. This is your moment. Time is running out.

(Woof.) Ivy says good luck.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Greg Isenberg is a must follow on twitter. He shared a screenshot of an email from Fiverr CEO Micha Kaufman talking about AI Agents and their threat to business. Make no mistake, later this year we will ALL be rallying to defend our businesses against AI Agents that effortlessly perform some of the work we currently sell. Digest this now, but get ready to revamp your business with me, SOONER THAN YOU THINK.

BUILD YOUR RECORD YEAR AT #SBOC25
September 16-19, 2025
Brookfield, WI

The 5th Annual Small Business Owners Community Conference presented by Horicon Bank is leaning into the moment by focusing on what matters: Revenue. This year, we’re addressing all of the inputs that make you money: mindset, rates, sales technique, time, meaning, business development and more. The economy is a little bumpy at the moment and below you’ll see one economist predicting a 90% chances of a recession.

If the economy went south, are you just going to roll over and take it?
Or, are you going to fight for your dream? I thought so.

With that theme in mind, check out our unbelievable faculty this year:

• Jesse Cole - Founder Savannah Bananas - Putting Your Customer First

• Carl Gould - Back by Popular Demand! - BizDev Done Right

• Sahil Bloom - NYT Bestselling Author - Meaning, Purpose and Money

• Pat Miller - (yeah, me!) - Quit Charging Too Little, a Workshop to Raise Rates

• Precious L. Williams - Returning to Host the 2nd Annual SBOC Awards

• And much more…

All of our VIP tickets are gone (we started a waiting list in case a second session opens) and our general tickets are already 50% sold out!

See the full lineup and get your ticket here: https://event.smallbusinesscommunity.com/25conference

A HUGE thank you to our major sponsors: Horicon Bank, Money Masters, Athena Legal Solutions, Magnolia Tax, and Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative

The Small Business Summary is sponsored by:

NEW: I’m SO excited to release our custom GPT specifically for Small Business Owners! Get all the features of the new ChatGPT 4.1 customized just for Small Business Owners like you with the Small Business GPT. I’ve been working on this product for months and our latest upgrades are just incredible:

• All of the SBOC Content and my podcasts uploaded and indexed for quick search

• Custom onboarding sequence for SBGPT to quickly learn about you and your business for optimal answers

• Privacy: Your data stays your data

• Top notch Image Generation

• And, it’s only $15/month (vs. $20 for Chat GPT) during our beta test launch.

Final Say Survey:

Thank you for reading this week’s Summary newsletter. We’ll be back with a new episode on Tuesday, May 27.

Pat