A semester-length, actionable curriculum for founders and nonprofits—mindset, product validation, traffic, nurture, and sales. Build momentum with 15 minutes a day.

Practical Business Curriculum for Founders & Nonprofits

How to Study Business Without Business School: a Practical Curriculum for Small Businesses and Nonprofits

Today, I’m giving you the full business curriculum I wish someone handed me when I was 21, terrified, and Googling ‘how do I start a business? what's step 1? what should I learn???’

🪐 MENTIONED RESOURCES:
1. I was scared to start my business till I read this book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTKe2YT_T7Y
2. how to validate your business idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSUJcXNE3t0
3. best & worst businesses for 2026: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5zVIvsAKLM
4. daily checklist to get to $100K/yr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cFmOZG-LfU

👉 MY NEW & FREE SERIES:
How I Turned My Love of Planning into a 6-Figure Freelance Career: https://dbmbootcamp.com/free-series/

📱SAY HI:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mynameisdeya
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mynameisdeya_ 

🎞️ IN THIS VIDEO:
[00:00] intro
[00:30] class #1 
[05:05] class #2 
[08:45] case study
[09:52] class #3 
[10:42] pick your electives!
[10:50] elective #1
[15:26] case study
[17:05] elective #2
[21:00] elective #3
[24:05] campus life
[24:45] bonus cozy entrepreneurship workshop hehe

💕 and as alwayssssss, thanks for hanging out with me today.

---

Music by Citrus Avenue - Girl from Manu Bay - https://thmatc.co/?l=D5FC7C6F

how to study business WITHOUT business school

Turn strategy into action: Porter-inspired questions and frameworks to prioritize projects, sharpen positioning, and make every initiative count.

Align Projects with Strategy: Porter’s Practical Frameworks for Small Businesses & Nonprofits

Michael Porter: Aligning Strategy & Project Management

Harvard Professor Michael Porter discusses how to align strategy and project management within an organization. For more information, visit www.sternstrategy.com/michael-e-porter.

A practical guide for small businesses and nonprofits on making strategic choices—define target customers, differentiate your offering, focus resources, and apply Porter’s Five Forces to boost margins and impact.

Practical Strategy for Small Businesses & Nonprofits — Focus, Differentiate, Win

ICCC | Michael Porter — A Practical Guide to Strategy for Small Businesses and Nonprofits

ICCC | Michael Porter | The Busch School of Business & Economics

A pragmatic BPM training for small businesses and nonprofits — learn to map as‑is/to‑be processes, prioritize improvements, use process mining, and start with a lightweight checklist.

Practical BPM for Small Businesses & Nonprofits

Introduction to Business Process Management: The Complete Training Course

Business process management is one of the most critical components of any digital or business transformation. However, often times it can be difficult to understand what exactly process management is and how it aligns with our overall digital transformation.

That's what we will explore in today's training course, ensuring you have all the knowledge needed to make your process improvement efforts successful.

#businessprocessimprovement #digitaltransformation #erpsoftware 

I have broken out each section I will be covering for easy reference:

00:02:17 What is Business Process Management?
00:20:49 Business Process Terms & Definitions
00:31:27 What Is Business Process Mining?
00:41:00 Business Process Mining Example
01:10:22 How To Define Current State Vs. Future State
01:19:36 Defining Future State
01:30:06 Target Operating Model
01:49:37 Most Common Business Process Improvements
01:59:47 Most Important Business Processes To Document 
02:12:22 When And How To Conduct Business Process Mapping
02:27:07 Business Process Mapping Example
02:51:52 More Resources


ORDER MY NEW BOOK: The Final Countdown: https://a.co/d/50cqrCB
CONTACT MY TEAM & I: https://www.thirdstage-consulting.com/contact-us/
FOR SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES: contact@majortom-productions.com

🔗 Explore Our Latest Resources:
2024 Digital Enterprise Operations Report: https://resource.thirdstage-consulting.com/2024digitalentopreport 
TSC Resource Center: https://www.thirdstage-consulting.com/thought-leadership/ 
Software Buyer's Guide: https://resource.thirdstage-consulting.com/softwarebuyersguide 
Supply Chain Management Playbook: https://thirdstage-consulting.com/reports/mastering-the-chain-a-comprehensive-guide-to-supply-chain-management/ 
Digital Strategy Framework: https://resource.thirdstage-consulting.com/digitalstrategyframework 
Guide to Organizational Change Management: https://resource.thirdstage-consulting.com/the-definitive-guide-to-erp-hcm-organizational-change-management 
20 Lessons from 1,000 Digital Transformations: https://www.thirdstage-consulting.com/reports/ebook-20-lessons-from-1000-erp-implementations/ 

📱 Connect With Me:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erickimberling/  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erickimberling/ 
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@erickimberling0 
X: https://twitter.com/erickimberling 

📩 Got Questions? 
Contact me to brainstorm ideas for your digital transformation: eric.kimberling@thirdstage-consulting.com

A practical 4-part storytelling formula that positions your organization as the guide and your audience as the hero. Templates, examples, and tips for small businesses and nonprofits.

Turn Your Origin into a Compelling Story — Simple Formula for Small Businesses & Nonprofits

How to Tell the Story of Your Business (A Simple, Repeatable Formula for Small Businesses and Nonprofits)

Every business owner has a story behind how they got where they are today, but here's the problem: when you make your story about yourself, you lose a golden opportunity to deepen your connection with your customers. In this video, marketing expert Donald Miller shares tips and a formula to make a lackluster "About Us" page actually help your bottom line.

Get exclusive marketing videos from Donald Miller every week (for free) at:  http://WeeklySoundbite.com/


Subscribe for more content here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/@storybrand


Connect with Donald Miller on social media:
https://www.instagram.com/donaldmiller/
https://www.facebook.com/donaldmillerwords
http://StoryBrand.com


If you learned something from this video, you should buy the NYT bestselling "Building a StoryBrand 2.0": 
https://buildingastorybrand.com/utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=&utm_term=cb&utm_content=SB_Framework

How to Tell the Story of Your Business

Practical AEO guide to get ChatGPT, Gemini and other LLMs to recommend your product. A low-cost, 7-step playbook for small businesses and nonprofits focused on citations, head vs tail, and quick wins.

Win LLM Recommendations: Practical AEO Strategies for Small Teams

The ultimate guide to AEO: How to get ChatGPT to recommend your product

Ethan Smith is the CEO of Graphite—the leading SEO growth agency—and my go-to expert on SEO. After 18 years of mastering traditional SEO, Ethan has been at the forefront of what is called AEO: answer engine optimization, or, more simply, getting your product to show up in ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini/Perplexity answers. He’s discovered that ChatGPT traffic converts six times better than Google search—and most companies are completely missing this opportunity.

*In our conversation, we discuss:*
1. His 7-step playbook to rank #1 in ChatGPT
2. Why ChatGPT traffic converts 6x better than Google
3. How early-stage startups can win at AEO immediately (unlike with SEO, which takes years)
4. The three tactics that actually work: landing pages, YouTube videos, and Reddit comments
5. Why help-center content can suddenly be your highest-ROI investment
6. The specific Reddit strategy that works (spoiler: be authentic)
7. Why AI-generated content doesn’t work

*Brought to you by:*
Orkes—The enterprise platform for reliable applications and agentic workflows: https://www.orkes.io/
Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lenny
Great Question—Empower everyone to run great research: https://www.greatquestion.com/lenny

*Transcript:* https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-aeo-ethan-smith

*My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers):* https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/172703231/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation

*Where to find Ethan Smith:*
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ethan_l_s
• LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ethans-linkedin
• Graphite: https://graphite.io/
• Graphite Research Papers: https://bit.ly/graphite-five-percent

*Where to find Lenny:*
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

*In this episode, we cover:*
(00:00) Welcome back, Ethan
(04:34) The changing landscape of SEO
(06:19) AEO (answer engine optimization) vs. GEO (generative engine optimization)
(08:13) The impact of AEO
(11:51) How early-stage startups can win at AEO
(14:34) The quality of AEO leads
(15:35) On-site vs. off-site traffic
(16:32) Reddit’s role in AEO and avoiding spam
(20:11) How AI models use citations (RAG)
(21:41) Key principles for winning at AEO
(25:00) Avoiding hyper-SEOed content, and the importance of originality
(28:55) Actionable AEO playbook: steps and experiments
(33:35) Tracking, measuring, and share of voice
(38:34) Adapting AEO for B2B, commerce, and early-stage companies
(41:11) Is letting AI index your content good?
(43:06) Experimentation, control groups, and measuring results
(46:15) The future of AEO, SEO, and search channels
(51:35) AI-generated content: what works and what doesn’t
(55:25) The dangers of infinite AI derivatives
(58:44) The future: convergence of LLMs and search
(01:00:40) Help-center optimization and the long tail
(01:03:18) Lightning round and final thoughts

*Referenced:*
• AEO Tools: https://bit.ly/graphite-aeo-tool
• The ultimate guide to SEO | Ethan Smith (Graphite): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-seo-ethan-smith
• Inside ChatGPT: The fastest-growing product in history | Nick Turley (Head of ChatGPT at OpenAI): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-chatgpt-nick-turley
• Webflow: https://webflow.com/
• YouTube: https://youtube.com/
• Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/
• Quora: https://www.quora.com/
• An inside look at Deel’s unprecedented growth | Meltem Kuran Berkowitz (Head of Growth): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/an-inside-look-at-deels-unprecedented
• Dotdash Meredith: https://www.people.inc/
• Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/
• Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/
• Perplexity: https://www.perplexity.ai/
• Gemini: https://gemini.google.com/
• ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/
• Claude: https://claude.ai/
• TechRadar: https://www.techradar.com/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com
• Tripadvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/
• Why ChatGPT will be the next big growth channel (and how to capitalize on it) | Brian Balfour (Reforge): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/why-chatgpt-will-be-the-next-big-growth-channel-brian-balfour
• AI SEO: Latest Market Intelligence & Landscape Analysis—Summer Sessions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm589PmhIOY
• AI Content Study: https://bit.ly/ai-content-white-paper
• Free AI detector: https://surferseo.com/ai-content-detector/
• Common Crawl: https://commoncrawl.org/
• AI models collapse when trained on recursively generated data: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07566-y
• Looker: https://cloud.google.com/looker/
...References continued at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-aeo-ethan-smith

_Production and marketing by https://penname.co/._
_For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com._

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

The ultimate guide to AEO: How to get ChatGPT to recommend your product | Ethan Smith (Graphite)

Practical product-management frameworks for small teams and nonprofits: pre-mortems, the LNO prioritization model, three levels of product work, opportunity-cost thinking, and high agency.

Product Frameworks That Move the Needle for Small Teams

The art of product management: Five frameworks that actually move the needle (for small businesses and nonprofits)

Shreyas Doshi is a treasure trove of wisdom and tactical insights on product, strategy, psychology, leadership, and life. Over the course of his career, he’s PM’d at Google, Twitter, Yahoo, and Stripe—where he joined as its fourth product manager, later becoming Stripe’s first PM manager and helping define and grow its product management function from ~5 to more than 50 people. Since leaving Stripe, Shreyas has amassed a huge Twitter following in large part thanks to consistent sharing of high-quality insights on the art of product management.

Where to find Shreyas Doshi:
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/shreyas
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreyasdoshi/

Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

Referenced:
• Coda template: https://coda.io/@shreyas/pre-mortems-how-a-stripe-product-manager-predicts-prevents-probl
• Pre-mortems: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1221257568510603264
• LNO framework: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1492345184171945984
• Three levels of product work: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1370248637842812936
• Execution problems: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1427116991274307588
• Opportunity-cost thinking: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1409726218438549514
• High agency: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1276956836856393728

Episode transcripts: 
https://www.lennyspodcast.com/shreyas-doshi-on-pre-mortems-the-lno-framework-the-three-levels-of-product-work-why-most-execution-problems-are-strategy-problems-and-roi-vs-opportunity-cost-thinking/#transcription 

In this episode, we cover:
[00:00] Shreyas’ upbringing and path into product management
[14:22] Lessons from working at Stripe, Twitter, Google, and Yahoo
[27:12] How pre-mortem meetings impacted the culture at Stripe
[33:23] What are the best practices in running a pre-mortem meeting?
[39:27] The LNO framework: What is it and how did it change the way Shreyas went about his day?
[48:06] The two-step tactic you can apply to overcome procrastination on important tasks
[53:19] The three levels of product work and which level should you optimize for
[56:46] How might these product work levels cause conflict or influence your company culture?
[1:03:43] Common types of problems hiding behind the execution label
[1:05:14] Two traits you need to identify a fake execution problem
[1:13:10] The pitfall of ROI thinking
[1:21:03] What is opportunity-cost thinking and how can you apply it?

Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:
• Coda: https://coda.io/lenny
• Productboard: https://www.productboard.com/
• Sprig: https://sprig.com/lenny

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquires about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

The art of product management | Shreyas Doshi (Stripe, Twitter, Google, Yahoo)

Discover why AI assistants prefer named brands and how to create feature-level money pages and diverse offsite signals to get cited and convert in ChatGPT, Google AI, and more.

Get ChatGPT to Recommend Your Brand in 2026 — Build Money Pages

How to Get Mentioned in ChatGPT in 2026: Make Money Pages!

Get your brand mentioned more in ChatGPT by optimizing the revenue-driving money pages on your website!

According to recent studies, shoppers complete purchases 47% faster when assisted by AI. So, If your brand isn't mentioned in ChatGPT, Claude, or Google AI Mode for relevant searches, you're likely missing out on a ton of traffic and revenue.

But it's frustrating, because you feel like you're doing everything right -- you have a website you're proud of, you've optimized it for search, you're even producing regular content. Still, all your competitors are showing up in ChatGPT, and you're not.

The truth is, the way you're prioritizing your SEO efforts may be sabotaging your AI visibility -- and we want to help you fix it with this video.

______________________________

🎓 Get access to FREE AI Search Optimization Masterclass & learn everything about AI Search Optimization: https://surferseo.com/academy/ai-search-optimization-masterclass

🎓 Watch this next:
- How to Dominate AI Search Results (ChatGPT, AI Overviews & More): https://youtu.be/bhTo8fDmr5I

🔗 Check out Surfer: surferseo.com 
👉 Subscribe to Matt's channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mattkenyonSEO

Have questions or feedback? Drop a comment-we'd love to hear from you!

______________________________

⏱ Timestamps:
00:00 What You'll Learn in This Video
1:19 SEOs are Divided
02:38 SEO Marketing Funnel (Reversed)
06:34 The Snowball Method
07:22 Brand Mentions Beat Raw Traffic
11:00 What's a Good Money Page?
14:35 Why Does it Work?

#aiseo #seotutorial #seo #seotactics #aeo #geo #chatgpt #aisearch #llmseo #llms #googlesearch #googlegemini #seostrategy

Learn a practical five-part operating system—value creation, marketing, sales, delivery, finance—to design and scale a $1M business without overwork.

Build a $1M Business with a Simple 5‑Part Framework

Entrepreneurship Expert: How To Build A $1m Business Without Hard Work

This episode will teach you everything you would learn in a business degree, saving you $200,000 and 10,000 hours

Josh Kaufman is a renowned business expert and the author of the international best-selling book, ‘The Personal MBA’ which has sold over 900,000 copies worldwide. He is also the author of books such as, ‘The First 20 Hours’, and ‘How to Fight a Hydra’.

00:00 Intro
02:00 Why Did You Write The Personal MBA 
04:32 What Is An MBA? 
10:30 Should You Do A MBA?
14:19 How Difficult Is Starting And Running A Business? 
16:57 First Steps To Setting Up A Business 
19:29 Loads Of Business Are Finding Problems To Solve 
27:49 How To Give Value To The End Consumer 
35:47 How Do You Find Out If Your Idea Is Good? 
39:11 This Is The Wrong Approach When Starting A Business 
40:49 Why Should You Start With Value? 
42:35 How To Market 
44:04 Psychology & Marketing 
46:06 Creating A Drive In The Marketing Strategy 
48:23 Think Different 
50:52 Be Brave To Do Something Completely Different 
58:39 How To Become A Good Marketer 
01:00:31 The Sales Piece In Any Business 
01:04:38 Customer Service Matters 
01:06:09 The Sales Framework 
01:13:06 How Important Is Hiring? 
01:14:50 What Role Does Competition Play? 
01:19:09 Let's Talk Money 
01:24:17 What Numbers Should I Pay Attention To? 
01:26:35 Experimenting 
01:34:55 Every Complex System Starts In A Simple Way 
01:39:06 Mastering A Job 
01:43:54 Ten Major Principles To Learn Anything 
01:55:24 Removing Any Friction In The Process 
02:01:38 Last Guest Question

Are you ready to think like a CEO? Gain access to the 100 CEOs newsletter here: ⁠https://bit.ly/100-ceos-newsletter

You can purchase Josh’s book, ‘How to Fight a Hydra’, here: https://amzn.to/4f1qJa4 

Follow Josh: 
Twitter - https://g2ul0.app.link/SznbYyhi9Kb 

Follow me:
https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb 

Microphone shock mount sign up link:
https://manage.kmail-lists.com/subscriptions/subscribe?a=QSijwy&g=UzaR3h

You can purchase the The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards: Second Edition, here: https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb 

Sponsors: 
Shopify: http://shopify.com/bartlett

Entrepreneurship Expert: How To Build A $1m Business Without Hard Work!

A practical five-stage blueprint to productize your consulting services—positioning, systemized delivery, DWY products, marketing and sales—to scale toward $1M/year with predictable revenue.

5-Stage Roadmap to Productize Your Service and Scale to $1M/Year

How to Productized Your Consulting Services to $1M Per Year

Work With Me To Productize Your Business: https://altagency.com/pgs/?video=sj0S8c2roh4

Get my FREE AI Positioning GPT: https://get.altagency.com/positioning-sherpa?video=sj0S8c2roh4

📚 Grab my book, Fewer Clients. More Profit for $7: https://altagency.com/guide?video=sj0S8c2roh4

How I Productized My Service to $1M Per Year (Copy me)

Discover the three systems—Growth Engine, Cash Flow Waterfall, Scalable Operating System—to create leveraged sales, bankable profit, and transferable value in a 90-day plan. From Ryan Deiss

Scale to $20M: 3 Systems for Predictable Growth, Profit & Transferability

The 3 Systems You Need to Scale to $20 Million

I’ve personally taken 8 different companies from zero to 8-figures.

I've also seen 100s of businesses stall out at $500k to $5 million because they failed to build the 3 systems I'm about to show you.
————————————
🚨 Here's a 120-minute training on how we build "operating systems" in our businesses: https://youtu.be/nSJL_q5PSE0
————————————
📞 Want to work together? Let us install our $200M Scalable Operating System™️ in your business for you: https://scalable.co/sos-free-training/
————————————

00:00 - Intro
00:34 - Scale & Exit Framework
03:37 - The Problem at $2 Million
04:37 - 1. Growth Engine
09:50 - 2. Cashflow Waterfall
14:17 - 3. Scalable Operating System
16:08 - Systemize Execution
19:19 - Systemize Optimization
22:29 - Systemize Decision Making

Follow Me On:
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ryandeiss
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryandeiss/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/
————————————
#ryandeiss #thescalablecompany #scalableoperatingsystem

Turn your customer journey into a measurable growth engine. Use simple visuals and a six-question inventory to align marketing, sales, and operations for predictable growth.

Design a Practical Growth Engine to Align Strategy and Operations

How to Build a Growth Engine for Strategy and Operations Alignment

Today, I'm going to show you how to create your own Value Engine. This is probably the single most important thing you can do for your business. It's a visualisation of how you acquire customers in your business. As a result, you'll have more clarity around bottlenecks, opportunities and optimisations. It takes 1-2 hours to make one, but I promise you won't regret it.

Ps. I always get asked which software I use. The tool you use doesn't really matter. My advice is to keep it simple with sticky notes and a whiteboard.

🌟 If you liked this video, check out: How to Grow Your Business from $10M to $200M (Scalable Operating System): https://youtu.be/nSJL_q5PSE0
————————————
📞 Want to work together? Let us install our $200M Scalable Operating System™️ in your business for you: https://scalable.co/sos-free-training/
————————————
Follow Me On:
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ryandeiss
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryandeiss/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryandeiss/
————————————
⌚️ Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:33 - What's a Growth Engine?
04:00 - The Tools You Need 
04:53 - The Symbols You Need
07:02 - Step 1: Inventory Your Growth Assets
11:22 - Step 2: Select Growth Engine To Be Mapped
12:09 - Step 3: Define The Start and End
13:34 - Step 4: Brainstorm Tasks and Activities Between the Start and Finish
17:55 - Example 1
21:36 - Example 2
24:25 - Step 5: Stakeholder Review
26:38 - My Growth Engine Cheat Sheet
27:25 - Key Takeaways
————————————
#ryandeiss #thescalablecompany #scalableoperatingsystem

How to Make Your Business Growth Engine (Step-by-Step)

Where small nonprofits and grassroots organizations can learn practical strategies to increase impact while strengthening resilience.

Small Nonprofits

#15212a

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Where small businesses can learn practical strategies to grow and scale while strengthening resilience.

Small Organizations

Small Business