In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews John Nemo, an online course creator and best‑selling author who teaches how to use LinkedIn and webinars to sell products and services. Nemo shares a pivotal personal story of being fired during the 2008 recession, highlighting that performance alone doesn’t protect you in corporate environments and emphasizing the importance of understanding office politics—he recommends Jeffrey Pfeffer’s Power for this. He explains how his personal brand on LinkedIn immediately generated two higher‑pay job offers, illustrating the platform’s power for career pivots and business development. Nemo positions LinkedIn as the premier global prospecting tool, likening it to a search engine for sales leads, and stresses that “the riches are in the niches,” urging entrepreneurs to focus on a few target audiences. He discusses happiness as doing work you love and monetizing it, and shares his favorite business book, Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, extracting the core lesson that customers care only about themselves, which drives his client‑centric approach. The episode closes with Nemo’s online contact points—LinkedIn profile and the website linkedinriches.com.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode. Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have John Nemo with us. He's an online course creator and best-selling author. He teaches people how to use LinkedIn and webinars to sell their products and services. So welcome to the show, John.
Thanks for having me, Tyler.
Of course, thanks for joining us. We'll dive in. The first question I have is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Yeah, I think it's, you know, I thought about this and I'll go with when I got fired at the height of the recession in 2008 from my day job. I got fired because I was arguing with people over email about this new trend called social media. I lost the battle, I lost the battle and I ended up, you know, committing the mortal sin of corporate life where I wrote that angry email, you know, and ended up getting fired a day later at the height of the recession. And so, I remember sitting on my kitchen floor sobbing with my wife was at home with our 3 young kids and wondering, "What am I going to do?" And what I really learned was 2 valuable lessons. One is in the corporate world, performance will never save you because at that particular job, I had won tons of awards and I had gotten us on national TV and I was a PR director at the time, and I wanted to push this into social media. But performance didn't save me because I wasn't well-versed in the office politics. And the second thing was, the great ending to the story was within a few days, even though it was the height of the recession in the US, I had two new job offers. And that's because I was using LinkedIn at the time to really build a brand personally, to build a platform. And so when I was going to apply for other jobs, you know, having that personal brand established, having a LinkedIn profile that was appealing, that immediately got me 2 new job offers. And the great ending to the story was I got fired, I think it was on a Friday. I took a new job the following Thursday and actually had a $25,000 pay raise. So I got more money after getting fired. And those were valuable lessons for me because for anyone listening, you're never safe. Like, you know, performance is not going to save you. The resource I'll recommend if you are in a corporate job, corporate life, read the book Power by Jeffrey Pfeiffer. Power, incredible book. I should have read it before I got fired. But that's the best book I've ever read on office dynamics. And the other lesson is to build a personal brand, to always look out for yourself and be ready so that if that does happen, you can pivot quickly to the next opportunity.
Yes, man, that's an awesome story. I'm glad you got the pay raise. And what's the most valuable piece of information that we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
I would say, you know, LinkedIn is really my sweet spot. And I mentioned it in the previous answer, but really understanding that LinkedIn from a business perspective, not a job seeker perspective, from a business perspective, LinkedIn is the single best place on planet Earth right now to find your ideal prospects, clients, customers, sales leads. It has 550 million members, 200 different countries, 2 new members are joining every single second. And this is where I have built my entire business the last 6 years, is finding my ideal clients on LinkedIn, engaging them, basically using the LinkedIn platform like Google for sales leads. That's really— there's much more I can say about it, but But that's the big tip is really understanding the opportunity that is available on LinkedIn.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice and not necessarily industry specific?
The riches are in the niches. That really is my best piece of advice that I got when I left my day job in 2012 and went out on my own to start a marketing agency is don't try to be everything to everybody. Get hyper-focused on, you know, 1 or 2 or 3 target audiences and be all about them, be all about their world, what they do, and really be the expert for them. That's really what will set you apart today in the marketplace.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Read the book Power before you get fired, you knucklehead. So really, you know, the advice I would give myself was if you are in a corporate job in a business environment, you're not self-employed, you really, really have to understand workplace dynamics and office politics. And it's not about performance. I was always a high achiever, a high performer, and, you know, got through that, but I did not play politics well. I did not do a good job. And that ultimately, you know, cost me at different times in my career. And that would be the advice I would give is read the book Power, understand the political side of being in a corporation or a company or an office environment. And know that role and play it.
And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
I think honestly it's doing something that you love. There is literally no excuse right now if you're listening to my voice why you shouldn't be doing something you love and monetizing it for a living. Period. End of story. There are no more gatekeepers. There are no more excuses. If you have an internet connection and a phone, you You can create any type of content you want. You can sell that if you have expertise and you have a brain. You can monetize that knowledge and sell it as an online course, sell it as a consulting service, a coach. You can create products, you can get funding. You've got to do what you love. And the reason is simple, is when things get hard, when obstacles and challenges come up, the only way you're gonna plow through those and overcome them is not because you're chasing money on the other end, it's because you love what you're doing. It doesn't feel like work. And so really, ultimately, that's what'll make you happy is doing work you love and getting paid for it. And no matter what that amount is, you're gonna enjoy it because you're doing something you're passionate about.
And what's the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Yeah, How to Win Friends and Influence People written by Dale Carnegie, 1936. The number one book I've ever read that shaped how I really ran my business And the big line from that that I still to this day repeat all the time is that your customers don't care about you, they care about themselves. Morning, noon, and after dinner, that's what Carnegie wrote. Your customers care about themselves. So everything I do, whether it's my approach on LinkedIn, my marketing copy, my emails, everything I sell, I make it about my customer. I make it what I call client-facing. What's in it for them? How does what I'm putting out as content, how is that going to help you as my client achieve a goal that you want to reach or solve a problem? It's never about me, it's never about my resume, it's never about how great I am. It's about the customer and what they want and need to achieve.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
Hmm, that's a good one. I would say, you know, The quote that I come back to is really one from that book. It's that your customers don't care about you, they care about themselves. That is the guiding philosophy of my business. That's what's kept my kids fed for the last 6 years being on my own, is it's gotta be about the customer. It's gotta be about the client, how you can help them achieve what they want. And as long as I keep that quote in front of me, whenever I'm creating content, creating, you know, a new product or service. It really has served me well.
I agree, man. Thank you so much for coming on, John. A lot of value. Last question I have for you is, where's the best place for people to find you online?
Yeah, you can find Nemo— see what I did there? You can find me in a lot of different places. I'm on LinkedIn as John Nemo. Also, my website is linkedinriches.com. LinkedIn, and then the word Riches, R-I-C-H-E-S, LinkedInRiches.com, you'll find me. Perfect.
Thanks again, John. We really appreciate it.
Thanks for having me. The podcast you just heard was recorded with Anchor. If you want to make your own, download the Android or iOS app completely free from anchor.fm/podcast. That's anchor.fm/podcast.
