Podcasts by Category
The REACH OR MISS podcast is about the customer focused entrepreneur. Hayut Yogev chats with Guy Kawasaki, John Lee Dumas, Michael Stelzner, Kate Erickson, Chris Brogan, Mark Schaefer, Joe Pulizzi, Marcus Sheridan and more successful entrepreneurs and opinion leaders about their Customers Approach and Focus. The goal is to help entrepreneurs and startup founders to reach business success with the right strategy, marketing and sales approach.
- 267 - Ep. 266 – From the biggest failure to the biggest success – the successful entrepreneurs that reached new success records
Toccara Karizma is a digital marketing consultant and business growth strategist. She is the CEO of Karizma Marketing, a full-service digital marketing agency dedicated to growing elite eCommerce brands online through email marketing, social media marketing, PPC, SEO, website conversion optimization, and more.
Having built her own successful eCommerce business back in 2007, Toccara is now considered one of the world's top eCommerce marketing experts. Her out-of-the-box approach to digital marketing and expertise in the online business growth space is why I've asked her to join me today.
The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I have a two-fold failure. The biggest failures are taking on clients without the bandwidth, without the support system that I need. We are in demand and are blessed to be in demand. At some points, we want to take on clients when we just don't have the right support team in place. And that's not a fair thing for us to do because when we do that, we don't give them the best results or the best client experience with us. We want to be the Four Seasons of ad agencies. The second failure would be taking any client, especially when you’re newer. That was when we failed because we weren't working with a partner that had everything in place. It was kind of like putting a Ferrari engine in a VW Bug.
Biggest success with customers
I stand for full reporting. When we talk to our customers, it's almost like we're flipping all the ways in which they were mishandled and mismanaged by other agencies and saying, “You deserve this.” We do full transparency. We'll tell you when we're wrong and when we've done something wrong. We want to meet with you regularly and build a long-term relationship. We're always on camera with them. So, it's doing business with people. My son was working on a project at school. (He’s in high school now.) He was using a video editing software. I looked up that video editing software’s ads because I ran ads, and I realized that they were struggling. They just did not have great customer feedback. I went directly to this company, it's a SAS company, and said, “Can I get connected with your director of digital marketing?” I got the client, and I think it's funny because I had just interviewed someone for my own YouTube.Michael Cannavo started his career on social media. He was able to infuse his own understanding of viral content, social platforms, and demographic interests into Super73, causing it to accelerate the growth and visibility of the company.
As the company grew, so did his social media presence. With 500,000 followers online, Michael has been able to pull back the curtain on what life is like within Super73, how the company has succeeded, and where it is going next.
The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I think it’s a matter of really understanding what they want. Early on, we had this idea of what we wanted to do, and we kept trying to insist to our customers, “Hey, this is what you want. This is the product for you.” We were missing a few key features. We heard that directly from the customers and I think it has really changed the way that we view our products, from designing to prototyping to testing it. We really engage with the customers now.Biggest success with customers
We recently released a bike called the ZX. It's not necessarily too remarkable of a product, but it is a perfect product for a demographic that was asking for it for a long time. We really took into account what customers were saying in the comment sections, what they were saying on reviews. That really created something so magical because it was exactly what our customer was looking for. When we released that bike, it was positivity across the board. Everybody was so happy. The customers were happy. Our design team was happy.Khaled Maziad is a marketing consultant who specializes in the Psychology of persuasion and high-ticket sales.
He helps coaches transform their uncharged-non-monetary offer into a high-ticket one without having Tony Robbins like Brand.
He shares his story on struggling to give away his stuff for free to charging high-ticket offers and helping his clients from all around the world do the same.
The biggest, most critical failure with customers
One of them was not testing offers before validating them. I worked on a product once that I was perfecting and I didn't show it to anyone. I didn't get any feedback. I didn't ask anyone if they wanted it or not. I worked for about a month on it. When I put it out there, no one even cared about it. The tool was a really big failure.Biggest success with customers
We had a product that helped people by working on their messaging. We did a beta test first at a lower price, just to test how it worked. When we took a small group for the beta test, we were surprised that the people got value from the test. When we published the course and pushed the program, some of the beta testers asked to pay full price.I’d love to hear what are your favorite episode?
Mon, 09 May 2022 - 24min - 266 - Ep. 265 – Rick Elmore: “Build the best relationships you can with your first clients. Those are your lighthouse customers.”
Rick Elmore is an entrepreneur, sales and marketing expert, and former college and professional football athlete. As the Founder and CEO of Simply Noted, Rick developed a proprietary technology that puts real pen and ink to paper to scale handwritten communication, helping businesses of all industries scale this unique marketing platform to stand out from their competition and build meaningful relationships with clients, customers, and employees.
Founded in 2018 and based in Tempe, Arizona, Simply Noted has grown into a thriving company with clients of various sizes across the country including in hospitality, real estate, insurance, nonprofit, franchise, B2B, and others. Rick has served as the company’s CEO since its founding, for more than three years, and has over a decade of sales and marketing industry experience.
most passionate about
My background is in athletics. I played college and professional American football. When I got done, I made the transition into sales and marketing. I started with medical companies in the United States, Stryker and Straumann, and in orthopedics and dental. I had a pretty good career. I'm currently doing Simply Noted. We help companies send and automate real, genuine handwritten notes with technology and have been doing that for the last three and a half years. We have developed technology – a handwriting robot that puts real pen to paper and helps businesses connect on a more personal level, building relationships with their clients.Rick’s career and story
During my MBA, we had to start a project. When I was recruited in college, the coaches who always stood out the most to me were the coaches who sent handwritten notes. One year, in 2016, my wife and I had 400 clients. We tried sending out 400 printed holiday cards. All we did was hand-write the envelope and it took us over two weeks. I was like, “There has to be a better way.” So, I started researching. I looked up some technologies that were available. It wasn't until 2017 that I dove into it for a school project, but, really, I’d researched the technology for about a year.Best advice for entrepreneurs
A lot of people want to become entrepreneurs or start a business, but they have analysis paralysis, overthink They think, 'I can't do it.' They think they have to have all the answers, but really, it's just taking that first step and getting started. Absolutely build the best relationships you can with those first clients. Those are your lighthouse customers. Those are the risk-takers. Those are the ones who are going to give you an opportunity. You have to make sure everything goes through.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I would say scaling a company is really hard. I'm struggling with figuring out how to scale a service like this when you're selling a $2 and $3 item. We want to help every client out, and we need to figure out an effective, efficient, really personal way of doing that.Biggest success with customers
Something that I'm really good at is perseverance, relentless competition. That’s just baked into who I am. Being patient is important. When you're an entrepreneur and starting a business, it's really hard to be patient because you have bills to pay.Rick’s recommendation of a tool
Zapier it's a platform that allows you to automate tasks between software.
Rick’s one key success factor
The first thing you need is a really good support system. I have a wife and two kids and my parents live in Arizona. I absolutely couldn't do this if it wasn't for them. It takes time to get a business off the ground. One other thing that’s important is to remember that you fail only when you give up or quit.Rick’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I'm an avid outdoorsman. Being in the mountains is where I love to go. I've climbed Mount Whitney in the United States and I climb Humphreys, here in Arizona, pretty regularly or a few times a year. I think entrepreneurship can be broken down to what it's like to climb a mountain. Every step gets a little bit harder and challenges you a little bit more. You're going to be a little bit tired, but you need that inner fire to keep pushing. There will be a lot of times in your journey as an entrepreneur when you feel like you're getting there and you're going to make it. Then, you get there and something happens that knocks you back down. You're like, “Oh my gosh, I thought this was going to make everything easier.” I think, as an entrepreneur, it's false summit after false summit, but there are a lot of great views along the way and you have to appreciate that. You have to enjoy the journey.
[caption id="attachment_7732" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Mount Whitney[/caption]The best ways to connect with Rick
My Website Social Media Profiles: LinkedIn
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The 7 initial marketing essentials
for entrepreneursWant to learn how to choose the best Name and Logo? Not sure which customers to focus on right now and where they are? Want to build your website, or trying to figure out how and what content to share on social media?
Yes, take me thereMon, 02 May 2022 - 21min - 265 - Ep. 264 – Rhonda Petit advise entrepreneurs: Learn what the true value of your business is!
Rhonda Petit is a Sales and Business Peak Performance Coach with 35 years of Sales and Sales Management experience in Corporate America in the life sciences and diagnostic markets. She has experience working with Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies.
Today she works enthusiastically with Corporations and Individuals with champion mindsets, who know school is never out, who want to continually grow to unleash and activate more of their true potential and power.
She helps people discover their deepest desires, leverage the untapped potential in their hearts, activate their potential and achieve their personal and professional goals so they can create the life they want and realize true fulfillment.
Rhonda is a seasoned Sales Professional, a certified coach, leader, in-demand speaker, and author of “The Spirit of Selling.”
Most passionate about
I am most passionate today about helping people realize the potential that lies within them, especially given the fast-paced changes that are occurring in the world today. I'm passionate about selling. I wrote a book about selling and how you can tap into the subconscious mind and your potential by understanding it and understanding more about the divinity within you.Rhonda’s career and story
I intended to be a chemist, but I got a double major in business because I was always fascinated, especially living in the United States, with free enterprise, being an entrepreneur, and building my own business. I was working as a chemist for chemical company and called the representative for J.T.Baker. The chemical company had been promoted and, there, the sales position was open. My lab manager knew I liked the business end of things. My position was eliminated in 2019 and I had been going to coaching school because I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I had my own business when they informed me of the news. I looked up at the sky and said, “Okay, I guess it's time for me to do this now, as opposed to later.” That's when I started my coaching business.Best advice for entrepreneurs
Recognize that your business is serving people and what the value of your business is. Know your worth and the impact you can make on other people with your services. Don't be timid or scared to step out and do what you love.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
In the beginning, I was caught up in a lot of the mechanics and the details. Because I was not aware of, and really conscious of, the value of my service, I would let people off the hook. If they came up with an objection, I would be timid, stand back, and listen to what they were saying.Biggest success with customers
The greatest success is when you deliver a service and feel the energy from the people who got something from it. You see they've had an alteration and a shift that has put more life into them. They're excited that they've had a breakthrough. They recognize something that was holding them back and now they see why it was holding them back and how they're going to proceed. They're lifted, like virtual chains are coming off.Rhonda’s recommendation of a tool
Zoom Having a Zoom meeting is much more impactful than when you had meetings on the phone.
Rhonda’s one key success factor
I find that my biggest strength is when I really get present and honest with myself. I lean back into myself and say, “You can do anything you set your mind to.” I think about my successes as opposed to the failures. That allows me to keep going and make the results happen, to go with the punches. It's always served me.Rhonda’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I love being out in nature, as an avid gardener, and to have climbed mountains. For me, the mountain analogy is that while I like being one with nature, there’s also the analogy of persistence. When we go on these entrepreneurial journeys, we must be persistent. We can never lose sight of our goal. We have to know that, with every step forward we're taking, we take one step at a time. Enjoy the journey and the scenery as you climb, and just keep climbing.
[caption id="attachment_6832" align="aligncenter" width="700"] illustration[/caption]The best ways to connect with Rhonda
My Website My book’s site Social Media Profiles: LinkedIn
Want to learn how to start your Entrepreneurship?
Download for FreeHOW TO START ?
The 7 initial marketing essentials
for entrepreneursWant to learn how to choose the best Name and Logo? Not sure which customers to focus on right now and where they are? Want to build your website, or trying to figure out how and what content to share on social media?
Yes, take me thereMon, 25 Apr 2022 - 17min - 264 - Ep. 263 – Jake Jorgovan: “It helps to launch a business in a rising tide, like in a rising wave. That’s what we are doing with podcasting right now.”
Jake Jorgovan is a Serial Entrepreneur, Podcast Producer and Business Advisor.
He is the Founder of Content Allies and Lead Cookie. Through these companies he has generated $40M+ in sales for his clients. Jake is the host of the Working Without Pants Podcast, and Leaders of B2B Podcast. He also shares the raw lessons of his entrepreneurial journey at Jake-Jorgovan.com.
Jake is the producer behind podcasts for brands such as Facebook, Siemens Energy, Stampli, and more.
Jake’s professional focus is to build companies that enable freedom of time and financial profitability. He does that by being an active entrepreneur in the trenches and through training others on entrepreneurship, leadership, sales & marketing.
Jake has degree in entrepreneurship from Belmont University and has been awarded Nashville’s Youth Entrepreneur of the Year. He has spoken at conferences such as SXSW and has been featured in publications such as Inc & Forbes.
Jake lives a nomadic life and has traveled the world while running multiple companies.
Current location: Barcelona, Spain
Most passionate about
I currently run Content Allies, which is a podcast agency. I'm really passionate about building this business up. Then, personally, on the side, I'm really passionate about playing with synthesizers. We produce revenue-generating B2B podcasts. That means we work primarily with businesses. These would be companies that are looking to launch a podcast. They tend to be of a decent size.Jake’s career and story
I have been in entrepreneurship for about 12 or 13 years now and have been in a video agency for a while. I got really into the event, industry, and music industry early in my career. Then I went off and did freelance digital marketing—various iterations of digital marketing agencies. Eventually, I decided: Okay, I want to focus at the agency on content. My previous agency wasn't lead generation and got heavily disrupted; it kept changing the game. I started Content Allies. We did a bunch of different iterations of content offerings and eventually landed on podcasting as our core service, with a full suite of content marketing. We found that podcasts are growing. There are tons of stats out there, saying that every year podcasts are growing and that more people are listening to them. What is really interesting for B2B companies is that podcasts can become the epicenter of their content strategy. Out of a podcast, we'll create videos, we'll create articles, we'll create social posts, we'll create quote blocks, we'll create short, social videos, and YouTube videos. We'll also often lead that into collaborations with the guests to post content on their site.Best advice for entrepreneurs
It helps to launch a business in a rising tide, like in a rising wave. We're doing the same thing with podcasting right now. It's like podcasting is a wave and we're riding that. At some point, that will plateau or stabilize and commoditize as any industry does.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
One of the things that's hard about being an entrepreneur is that you have to learn every facet of the business. People deny this early on. I'm not a finance guy; that's how I started. So, I tried to hire out the job of keeping my books to the cheapest person I could, but that meant I didn't have visibility into finances. Not knowing at least the basics led to really bad failures for me in the past.Biggest success with customers
It came down to being intentional about the niche we were going to pick with Content Allies. The biggest success comes from testing different offers and then trying to really think through things like, ‘This is going to become my core business.’Jake’s recommendation of a tool
Process Street It replaced very expensive project managers on our team. It’s great if you have a team of people and are trying to organize the work or are in the process of building SLPs and trying to streamline your business.
fm We record all of our podcasts on it. It records a local file on each person's computer and then uploads those.
Jake’s one key success factor
One of the big things for any entrepreneur is to have a high level of self-awareness about where you're good and where you're not. I think that helps each person succeed. It’s just a tactical recommendation.Jake’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I live in Denver, Colorado, so I love mountains. I'm a mountain person over an ocean person. I always look at business as, like, you're moving toward this milestone. And by the time you get to that next milestone, you're like: Oh, well, there are new problems here. We've grown pretty drastically over the past couple of years. I have to learn how to build a hiring system. I think you could say this is the peak. Then there's always a higher peak because you get somewhere and you're like, I thought I got really good at this and now I'm hitting another level of having to grow and learn. The mountain analogy is great.
[caption id="attachment_7720" align="aligncenter" width="700"] illustration[/caption]The best ways to connect with Jake
My Website Content Allies - Helping B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts Leaders of B2B Podcast - Weekly Interviews with experts in B2B Tech Social Media Profiles: LinkedIn
Want to learn how to start your Entrepreneurship?
Download for FreeHOW TO START ?
The 7 initial marketing essentials
for entrepreneursWant to learn how to choose the best Name and Logo? Not sure which customers to focus on right now and where they are? Want to build your website, or trying to figure out how and what content to share on social media?
Yes, take me thereMon, 18 Apr 2022 - 24min - 263 - Ep. 262 – Dan Zavorotny: “You just gotta go and try to sell to someone to see who wants your product. The goal is to get them to put their credit card in”
Dan Zavorotny is the co-founder of NutriSense – a metabolic health company that utilizes Continuous Glucose Monitoring (GCM) technology to provide real-time data to clients.
He launched 3 months before Covid, and he has grown the company from an idea to over $150 million valuation in just 26 months and 120 employees. Previously, he worked as a management consultant for KPMG where he consulted for 3 out of top 5 hospitals in the world.
When Dan’s not working, he loves to travel, and he has been to over 100 countries before the age of 30.
Most passionate about
I was working in healthcare consulting and saw a trend over and over. We saw people, hospitals, and insurance companies spend more money every single year on healthcare. I ran into one of my friends who was wearing a device called a continuous glucose monitor. It tracks your glucose in real-time, 24/7. I put on a device and it completely changed the way I looked at health. We said, “Let's start a company around it.” We basically launched in two weeks. I quit my job and then we just started going, going, going. Since then, we've gotten to an over $150 million value.Dan’s career and story
We immigrated from Ukraine. My parents didn't have much money. So, I picked jobs in corporate finance that let me live in France for a year. Then I focused on my career. I said, “How do I become the best employee possible?” I was doing healthcare consulting. I quickly realized that there are fundamental shifts in the industry of healthcare that need to happen, and there's not enough drive or change inside. So, that has to happen from external forces. I started looking at, like, “What can I start? How can I help this industry?” This was when I ran into my friend, Alex, whom I started a company with and who was an acknowledged expert. We brought in a third person, Kara, who's our head of nutrition. We can focus on the business, the software, and the human capital in this area to change behavior. That's been guiding us. It's been very effective by focusing on hiring the best people.Best advice for entrepreneurs
The first one is, in every business, there are always two things that are most important. It's either build the product or service and offering or sell that product or service and offering. You must always say who's doing the first and who’s doing the second. Remember, no matter what you're doing, always focus on those two functions at the beginning. Number two is, you just gotta go and try to sell this to someone to see who wants it. The goal here is to get them to put their credit card in. Always focus on credit. Until someone's putting a credit card down, they're not actually your customer. To me, the signifier is, did you collect their cash? If you did, your product has value.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
It's that we listened to the customers who are the loudest customers, but they might not be our main customers. It’s important to remember that just because someone is very loud as a customer, that does not mean this is the person you should be billing for it. I think that's a mistake we made. It doesn't sound that bad, but if you actually think about it, we're a software company. We're telling our engineers to build something and retain all that money on salaries, product development, and a user experience for this one individual, while the other 99% of people might be less vocal. Oftentimes, they're the silent majority. We're basically neglecting them because every time we're building for this one individual, we're not building for those other ones.Biggest success with customers
When we first started, we had about 12 customers sign up. One of the packages got lost by the United States post office. We emailed the customer and said, “Hey, it looks like your package got lost in Arizona. Do you want us to ship you another one?” The person said, “No, it's okay.” In a desperate move, I basically got on a flight to Paris from Chicago to deliver this package to them in Paris, in an effort to get this person to try the product because we needed customers. So, I handed the product to the person in person, in France. They put it on and they loved it. They became one of our biggest advocates, which meant they referred a lot of other customers.Dan’s recommendation of a tool
If you are a brand new company, the first thing you have to do is establish trust.Dan’s one key success factor
I am an obsessive learner, which has given me the opportunity to succeed. I came from healthcare consulting and finance. It started with a simple Google search, a couple of conversations, and understanding all the possible way we saw online. There were hundreds and hundreds of ways, so it was about slowly using deduction of, “Well, which ones take a long time to build and sell versus which ones are shorter?”Dan’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
Sometimes people ask me, “Why did you start this company?” I say, “Because there was an issue that we needed to solve, which is that we are getting less healthy.” It makes no sense to me that we are the richest country in the world, yet we are also one of the least healthy countries in the world. Before, it was so prestigious to climb mountains. It was an endeavor and there was a risk of death. Now, things have changed so much. You can almost buy your way to the mountain. If you have enough money, you can have professionals come with you and set up camp for you. They give you high-quality food and carry your equipment for you, or you’re just jogging next to them. It's still not an easy task. You still have to, to some extent, be prepared for this. I look at mountains, unfortunately, as less romantic than they used to be. Nevertheless, I do want to climb mountains. I think the ocean is really the next facet that we need to explore. To me, what’s really fascinating is getting into the depth of the ocean.
[caption id="attachment_4932" align="aligncenter" width="700"] I think the ocean is really the next facet that we need to explore[/caption]The best ways to connect with Dan
My Website Social Media Profiles: LinkedIn Twitter
Want to learn how to start your Entrepreneurship?
Download for FreeHOW TO START ?
The 7 initial marketing essentials
for entrepreneursWant to learn how to choose the best Name and Logo? Not sure which customers to focus on right now and where they are? Want to build your website, or trying to figure out how and what content to share on social media?
Yes, take me thereMon, 11 Apr 2022 - 32min - 262 - Ep. 261 – The three thought leaders that changed my entrepreneurial journey
Five years ago, I started my podcast REACH OR MISS for entrepreneurs. Two hundred sixty episodes to date and counting. I took something from any episode, and, of course, many taught me something new.
However, three past episodes are the core of entrepreneurial marketing.
In today’s episode, I invite you to listen to these three thought-leaders and find the difference between what you do and what they talk about. Choose one thing that you will do differently from today.
I think that will help you become a better entrepreneurial marketer. And every entrepreneur should also become their own marketer.
John Lee Dumas
John Lee Dumas: John is the host of EOFire, an award winning podcast where he interviews today’s most successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders. JLD has grown EOFire into a multi-million dollar a year business. with over 2000 interviews. He’s the author of The Freedom Journal and The Mastery Journal, two of the most funded publishing campaigns of all time on Kickstarter. All the magic happens at EOFire.com!
John’s best advice about approaching the customer
Number one, you need to know who your perfect customer is, the ideal customer, your avatar. Once you know who that person is, you can start creating free valuable, and consisting content for that person. Then you want to make sure you are getting it in front of them, so you have to find them and put that content in front of them. And, of course, they will be attracted to that content because you are creating it for them specifically. Then, once you have the opportunity to get in front of them, ask them a question, send them an email, newsletter, or a social media message, you have to ask: What are you struggling with? Then you can start to understand your ideal customers, what their pain points, obstacles, challenges, and struggles are, so then you – the person that, by the way, has been delivering them free value and assisting content, can provide the solution in the form of a product, a service or a community. You are not just somebody pitching them something; you are somebody that already provided them value, who they are growing to know, like, and trust, who asked them what they are struggling with, who listened to them when they were telling their pain point, and who now says: ‘Hi, you told me you are struggling with this, here is the solution, and I’d love to offer it.’ That’s the way to approach your customer.Biggest failure with customers
This is a big mistake that I made, and it was a big waste of time, energy, effort, and money. It goes back to 2013. Many people said they love my podcast and love to create their podcasts. I wanted to create an entire platform where I would create other people's podcasts for them. I’ll host their shows; I’ll edit their podcast. I’ll make their show notes; I’ll do it all. I called it PodPlatform. Everybody that heard the idea said it’s a great product. I made all the arrangements and invested so luckily it was the perfect number…which quickly let me realize I don’t want to be in this business; I don’t want to edit other people's shows, upload their outro and intro, and host that for them. And I went back to this one person, here is your money back, but this isn’t the kind of business I want. But I wasted so much time, so much energy, and money. And actually, I could say if anybody telling me they want this before I’ll go and creates this and invest so much time and money, let’s have people put money where their mouth is and invest in this product before it exists. And I did that a few months later with Podcaster Paradise, and I had 50 people signed up before we launched, which made me realize that this is something that can actually work. Fast-forward to today, Podcaster’s Paradise has over 3000 members and over 4 Million Dollars in revenue.Biggest success due to the right customer approach
Podcaster’s Paradise was a huge success, but I did share it briefly; another one that’s was very successful is “The Freedom Journal” I had it at the back of my mind for a while because my audience kept asking me, “John, how do we set and accomplish goals?” Because this is something, I talk a lot about at EOFire. So I started to create a resource and a guide that will walk people through the setting and accomplish their number one goal in hundred days. I turned that into a Physical full lather golden bust journal and called it “The Freedom Journal.” I wanted to have a proof of concept, so I approached a hand full of people and asked if this were something they would actually want to use, and when people said yes, I offered them to pay ahead 20 Dollars for the product that would be sold for 40 Dollars later. And people wanted to pay for it, and it made me realize this is something that can succeed. So I created the journal, and I launched it through Kickstarter, and we sold it for 453000 Dollars in just 33 days.John’s Key success factor
That would be my investment in myself through mentors through masterminds because I didn’t know what I didn’t know, and I didn’t know a lot about podcasting. Still, I knew that if I were willing to invest in myself with the right mentor and surround myself with the right people via mastermind, I would give myself the best opportunity to succeed. People that are not willing to invest both financially and time-wise are going to have a lot of more challenging roads than the people who are. For me investing in myself with the mentors, with the masterminds, with the communities, and with the conferences has been everything.Chris Brogan
Chris Brogan provides strategy and skills for the modern business. He is CEO of Owner Media Group, a sought after public speaker, and the New York Times bestselling author of nine books and working on his tenth.
Chris best advice about approaching the customer
The best advice that I can have for a startup or entrepreneurial person is always designed forward from the customer. To ask what the customer wants at this moment and how can we give them that? How can we deliver something that will be great for a customer? I would take a big piece of paper, real-life paper, and an actual pen or pencil; I would start with a circle in the middle and say this is my customer; how do I get them what they want? And what is my role in it? A business should really look to be helpful first, and they should think in terms of is this simple? Is this smart? And is this sharable?Biggest failure with customers
I fail every day! My biggest ones are that every time I try to design from my idea or my arrogance or my ego, I usually fail because I believe that I know best. My biggest specific failure was that I started a bunch of tiny private online communities that I thought everyone would love – healthcare, nonprofits, real-estate end more, and I failed horribly. Every entrepreneur is so intelligent; the experience I have had many times with those people is that they developed a product they know how to create, but they haven’t necessarily set a product that anyone asked for.Biggest success due to the right customer approach
I don’t know if I have had my greatest success yet... My most tremendous success will be when thousands of people say, “you’ve changed my business and my life, and I feel like I can do better because I followed what you gave me as advice,” That hasn’t happened in a significant volume yet. I guess I’m still waiting for my parade...Mark Schaefer
Mark W. Schaefer is a globally recognized author, speaker, podcaster, and business consultant who blogs at {grow} — one of the top five marketing blogs of the world.
Mark’s best advice about approaching customers
I asked a young marketer that wanted my advice on whether he talked with the company’s customers or joined their salespeople? He was already six months in that position and never spoke with a single customer! You should talk with your customers and ask them: What do you love about your business? What do you hate about your business? What keeps you awake at night? How can we serve you better?
Biggest failure with a customer
It wasn’t necessarily a failure with my customers; it was a failure with me. I don’t enjoy selling and self-promotion. The sales jobs I have had in my career were enterprise sales. It was relationship development, and that’s something I’m good at. The B2B sales process wore me down. There were so many things in my life that were interesting and fun; I couldn’t do it! The lesson is I need help on the sales side. The failure was my own because I didn’t listen to my head and be self-aware like I should have been.Biggest success due to the right customer approach
I had a very long career and a lot of stories, but I like to reflect on a more recent one. I have a place on my website where people can sign up for an hour of my time at a very reasonable price. I do that because a lot of people ask to get my advice (for free), and, although I love helping people, if I’ll do that for everyone that asks, it would be the only thing I’d be doing and the only thing I have to sell is my time... The idea was that those serious about their business would be willing to pay this basic payment. And surprisingly, a lot of people signed up. So I get to talk to people from all over the world and all kinds of businesses and help them with their problems. I specifically remember a very successful woman who was handling practice insurance for physicians. A regulatory change has destroyed her business. And she was looking for what to do. She told me she was very sick as a child, and when she grew up, she decided she wanted to help doctors be doctors by assisting them to reduce the time they spend on paperwork. And I advised her to base her unique place on working with doctors and go to her clients, listen to them, and find out how best she can serve them. Within a month, she wrote me an email saying she had rebuilt her business. All this woman needed to do was find an under-served need and find a way to serve them better than everybody else. You have to get out there and ask questions.Mark’s key success factor
A key success factor stands from a beautiful piece of advice I got in graduate school, where I had a life-changing opportunity to study under Peter Drucker. He is probably the greatest author and business consultant in history. He said, ‘the key to leadership is not having the right answers; it has the right questions.’ That is such great insight about being successful in business today. To be humble and lead the company to success by listening and helping them find what they are missing. By asking those questions, you can find the opportunity. That’s what I’m good at, and I can see where all the dots connect; I can see how trends come together.I’d love to hear what are your favorite episode?
Mon, 04 Apr 2022 - 42min - 261 - Ep. 260 – Lucas Root “The biggest reason that businesses fail is that the founder didn’t have enough money to pay their own bills”
For over 17 years, Lucas Root led numerous teams on Wall Street. After establishing a consistent track record of success, Lucas started his own consulting business.
Lucas works with strong brands with a well-funded great idea, who doesn’t quite know how to execute.
Since early 2019, Lucas has had the wonderful opportunity to speak to numerous audiences in North America, Australia, and Europe, as well as partner with both businesses and VCs for mentoring.
Most passionate about
I launched my consulting company and was really focused on the thing that I got paid for on Wall Street. On Wall Street I was hired to execute the strategies they would come up with and to give them constructive feedback. I've partnered with the NCN university, which has one of the largest MBA programs in the world. They strongly encourage their MBA students to start a business while they're going through the MBA program so that they can test out the things they're learning in the program real-time, live, in their own business. They support them with this program called The Launchpad. Three years ago, I decided, for better or worse, “I'm doing good things here.” So, I started focusing on women entrepreneurs. I found that there are significant barriers to success for women. I wasn't happy with that.Lucas’s career and story
I was on Wall Street for 17 years doing mergers and acquisitions. I always had a side project. My first two side hustles were real estate businesses and they were great. My third side hustle was a food blog where I wrote about recipes and food. I shared my passion with the world and it was wildly successful. Once I was satisfied that I knew how to create a marketplace and have people get excited to show up and have that conversation with me, I decided it was time for the next thing, not a side hustle. So, I left Wall Street.Best advice for entrepreneurs
To be a successful business owner, you must be able to create a conversation with a marketplace and have people excited to show up and have that conversation with you at its very core. That's what it is to be a business. Get started. Go out, start your idea, bring it to the market. Find a team that believes in you and supports you, and just start doing something. Don't get stuck trying to create some version of perfection just to get started. The biggest reason that businesses fail is not the thing you see in the newspapers. The newspapers are lying to you. The magazines are lying to you. The entrepreneurship books that you're buying from Barnes & Noble are lying to you. The biggest reason that businesses fail is that the founder didn't have enough money to pay their own bills, their rent, their food, their cell phone. The founder didn't have enough money to pay their own bills for at least two years when they started. What can be done about that? Make sure, number one, that you have a plan in place to have your bills paid. Let's be honest: Your business is probably not going to be ready to pay your bills for you in the first two years.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
One of my first businesses was a real estate business, as I mentioned. It was amazing. I had a really cool idea. I was a really smart analyst. I found a market where I could invest a certain amount of money and that money would turn into a profitable opportunity very quickly. This doesn't always exist. However, I made two big mistakes with that business. Number one, I went in from an analyst perspective and didn't learn my lesson from this business. I went in because of the profit potential, not because of my passion for the business, not because it was something I loved. Number two, since it was a business that I didn't love, I didn't want to be in it. I didn't want to be in the details. I didn't want to be elbow deep in everything going on in that business. So, I hired a manager early because I just didn't want to be involved in the details. That manager understood what I was doing. He recognized it and saw an opportunity. His opportunity was: “If I'm not paying close attention, he can steal from me.” And he did. He stole from me and it didn't matter.Biggest success with customers
Landing the Pokémon company as my client is my greatest success. They're still my largest client. They've been with me the longest. I was re-engineering myself to understand what is valuable, what brings value to the world, and what things I was just carrying along that are not valuable, that are maybe even negative. I was having honest conversations with myself about that. It wasn't just about my job or my passion or my skills; it was also about my entrepreneurship, the businesses that I had built, and the way that I had built. That’s what I bring to entrepreneurs when I work with them as a mentor.Lucas’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
In a very real and physical sense, my wife and I have an internal dialogue every two or three months. We've been together for 15 years, so we know each other very well. It's not about her; it's 100 percent about me. She'll say, “You know what? It's been three months. It's time for you to go climb a mountain.” And this is true. This is what I need. I need to go out into nature. I need to climb a mountain. I need to find someplace where I can be 100 percent alone, the only human for miles, and do it for days—just be with nature and return to the ground, return to the mountain, return to the elements. This is part of how I keep myself connected to the earth, connected to where we come from and what makes it possible for us to be us.
[caption id="attachment_5672" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Connecting to the earth - illustration[/caption]The best ways to connect with Lucas
Lucas Root's Website Social Media Profiles: Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Twitter
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Yes, take me thereMon, 28 Mar 2022 - 41min - 260 - Ep. 259 – The biggest most critical failure with customers
One of the most popular questions on my REACH OR MISS podcast for entrepreneurs is the question about the biggest, most critical failure with customers.
I often think about my biggest failure with customers. It was when I promoted my online course. Five years ago, a short while after I started my podcast for entrepreneurs, I decided to create an online course for entrepreneurs and teach them the secrets of entrepreneurial marketing.
I invested in a rather expensive online course to study how to create my successful course. I learned every aspect of creating the course, and I studied four different ways to promote my course. The expert I learned from about creating an online course had a very clear recommendation about promoting the online course: he warmly recommended not using webinars to promote and sell my course. Webinars are too complicated, he said, and you should use a better, easier way to sell your course. But I didn’t listen.
I listened to another mentor who was a great believer in webinars.
On my first webinar, I had 25 participants and not one sale. I had 12 participants and not one deal on the second webinar, and on the third and last webinar, I had 4 participants and not even one sale.
You got it right; my webinars were a total failure, and although I tried again two years later, I didn’t manage to use webinars to sell my course.
The reason for my failure: I didn’t focus on the one most important challenge of selling my course. Instead, I wasted a lot of energy and time learning how to make webinars.
It took me a while, and I found a different successful way to sell my courses. But this was a fundamental lesson for me.
In today’s episode, I chose to focus on the stories of six successful entrepreneurs who shared with me the stories of their biggest failures and what they learned from them. Failures are an excellent opportunity to learn. Don’t be afraid to fail; dare to win!!
Khaled Maziad is a marketing consultant who specializes in the Psychology of persuasion and high-ticket sales.
He helps coaches transform their uncharged-non-monetary offer into a high-ticket one without having Tony Robbins like Brand.
He shares his story on struggling to give away his stuff for free to charging high-ticket offers and helping his clients from all around the world do the same.
He is known as the Copy & Messaging Alchemist. He has been featured in FOX as one of 21 Entrepreneurs You Need to Know About in 2021.
He has also been featured in ANLP, Fox, CBS & NBC. Khaled is a professional member of ANLP International CIC, a certified Master of NLP, and holds a degree in Civil Engineering.
Before becoming marketing, Khaled worked with traders and professional fund managers, helping them master their mental edge in trading and life. He also had over 15 years of experience as a Project manager, where he managed multi-million dollar projects on 3 continents.
Khaled lives with his wife and two kids in Sydney, Australia.
Khaled’s biggest, most critical failure with customers
One of them was not testing offers before validating them. I worked on a product once that I was perfecting and I didn’t show it to anyone. I didn’t get any feedback. I didn’t ask anyone if they wanted it or not. I worked for about a month on it. When I put it out there, no one even cared about it. The tool was a really big failure.Toccara Karizma is a digital marketing consultant and business growth strategist. She is the CEO of Karizma Marketing, a full-service digital marketing agency dedicated to growing elite eCommerce brands online through email marketing, social media marketing, PPC, SEO, website conversion optimization, and more.
Having built her own successful eCommerce business back in 2007, Toccara is now considered one of the world’s top eCommerce marketing experts. Her out-of-the-box approach to digital marketing and expertise in the online business growth space is why I’ve asked her to join me today.
Toccara’s biggest, most critical failure with customers
I have a two-fold failure. The biggest failures are taking on clients without the bandwidth, without the support system that I need. We are in demand and are blessed to be in demand. At some points, we want to take on clients when we just don’t have the right support team in place. And that’s not a fair thing for us to do because when we do that, we don’t give them the best results or the best client experience with us. We want to be the Four Seasons of ad agencies. The second failure would be taking any client, especially when you’re newer. That was when we failed because we weren’t working with a partner that had everything in place. It was kind of like putting a Ferrari engine in a VW Bug
My name is Parham Albadvi. I’m a copywriter and brand strategist serving conscious businesses.
I spent my formative years in Iran and moved to Canada eager to work for purpose-driven tech and B2B companies, but soon became disillusioned…
I love working with conscious entrepreneurs – people who share my values and vision for the world. Clients that I feel energetically aligned with, and who believe in making profit and impact.
That’s why together with my partner, I founded Mocho and Co, the first full-service digital agency exclusively for conscious businesses and disruptors.
I’m committed to helping businesses of all sizes realize Fred Kofman’s vision of businesses “conscious of inner and outer worlds… taking into account body, mind and spirit in self, culture, and nature.”
But we can’t do it alone. We need a vibrant community of conscious, aligned entrepreneurs – people like you, who know their skills are better served somewhere else… somewhere they haven’t found yet.
The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I don’t personally view it as a failure, but I do think at the time it was easy to label it as a failure. One that comes to my mind was when I was working at Vidyard. I was doing business development at the time and I noticed that, for a lot of our prospects whom I was reaching out to, I was not getting a high conversion on the outreach. What I noticed was the power of personalization and your approaches—not approaching customers to sell anything, but just approaching them to add value. Value itself will play a big role in your relationship with a potential customer. You need to develop that relationship and build that trust rather than always looking at it as a transactional relationship.Mark Lachance is a serial entrepreneur, strategic thinker, and investor. He possesses a deep understanding of blitzscaling companies. Having owned and operated several businesses that have experienced hypergrowth through creative business development and lead generation, he is a master of sales and marketing and continues to apply and grow his expertise through current projects.
Mark is currently the CEO and lead investor of Maxy Media Inc., one of the largest TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, and Google Display Network performance marketing agencies in the world. Currently, Maxy Media is the number one advertiser in terms of monthly spend on the TikTok platform in Canada and top ten in North America.
In 2016, Mark successfully sold EVO Payments International Canada, an end-to-end payment solutions provider and merchant acquirer which he founded in 2009. He guided the company from its inception with one employee to over 200 employees across Canada.
Prior to founding EVO, Mark was one of the founding members and president of VersaPay Inc, a payments solutions provider, which was taken public in 2010. Before joining VersaPay, Mark was a founding member of Pivotal Payments, which is now a multi-billion-dollar public company. He helped set the foundation and drive the company’s sales and revenues before his successful exit from the company in 2006.
Mark has made several other highly successful investments in various industries such as payments, cryptocurrencies, marketing, nutrition, fitness, and sports. Over the past twenty-five years, he has invested in and consulted for dozens of other ventures, which have resulted in highly positive returns.
Mark speaks and travels the world with his wife, Sonya, and their two boys.
The biggest, most critical failure with customers
Back in 2006, I was fresh off an exit from one of the companies that I was a founder of and that I was able to sell. I was able to sit on millions of dollars. I mistakenly took those millions and plowed them into real estate. I remember exactly where I was in 2008, with the financial collapse. You remember the real estate marketplace. I intelligently, at that time, rolled all of my money. I basically put all my chips on red. It went into a real estate venture in 2007, at the height of the market. The great financial crisis was upon us in 2008. Everything I had was basically out the door. I was on the verge of bankruptcy. I had a colossal failure and depression, anxiety, all that.Brian Fritton is the founder of Havoc Shield, which is a cybersecurity program as a service where he brings the founder’s perspective to cy-bersecurity in an increasingly complicated and risk-filled environment. Brian has built products and led engineering, design, and IT teams at companies with credentials such as Fortune’s 500 Fastest Growing Companies, the Inc. 5000 List, and Entrepreneur’s 100 Most Brilliant Companies.
The biggest, most critical failure with customers
In businesses in the past, I’ve certainly spent less time than I should have on listening to people whom I want to solve a problem for—understanding how painful the problem that I think I’m solving is for them and what problems they have that are related to it and that may actually be more top of mind for them. Without listening carefully, without interviewing people whom you’re trying to serve, it’s very difficult to build the right thing. And that is how companies die.Tim Cakiris a growth consultant who helps companies, entrepreneurs and students achieve fast and consistent growth.
Working with 17 startups to date, some of his best achievements include helping two startups receiving 1.7 million euros in Horizon 2020 funding, increasing MRR of one startup from $80k to $300k in less than 18 months and completing projects such as implementation of OKRs, building company dashboards, rebranding and product launches.
In addition to that, Tim’s passion for helping people realize their potential to bring their ideas to life means that he also teaches Bachelor and Masters programs at two universities in Barcelona, ESEI International Business School Barcelona and Geneva Business School.
The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I’m going to look at the perspective of when we targeted the wrong customers. In one of the businesses, which was the B2B SAS, we had a technology for e-commerce businesses and targeted the wrong segment. We targeted big e-commerce shops. We were closing deals, but it was very slow. I think the biggest mistake that I’ve made was not thinking about different customer segments or testing or experimenting with the messaging to different people.The best ways to connect with Khaled Maziad
Khaled's WebsiteThe best ways to connect with Toccara Karizma
Karizma Marketing– ad agency Toccara Karizma– free marketing resources, marketing blog, consulting, digital courses and more Social Media Profiles:
Instagram Facebook Youtube LinkedIn Twitter
Resource Links:
Klaviyo – my preferred email marketing platform for eCommerce Privy – my preferred conversion rate optimization and list building tool for eCommerce
The best ways to connect with Parham Albadvi
Parham's Website Social Media Profiles:
Instagram
The best ways to connect with Mark Lachance
Mark's Website Book Website The Lucky Quiz Website Social Media Profiles:
Instagram
The best ways to connect with Brian Fritton
Brian's WebsiteThe best ways to connect with Tim Cakir
Tim's Website Social Media Profiles:
LinkedIn
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The 7 initial marketing essentials
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Yes, take me thereMon, 21 Mar 2022 - 33min - 259 - Ep. 258 – Robbie Samuels’s best advice: “Don’t create solutions in a vacuum; invite input from your most likely prospects.”
Robbie Samuels is an author, speaker, and business growth strategy coach recognized as a networking expert by Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Lifehacker, and Inc. He is also a virtual event design consultant and executive Zoom producer recognized as an industry expert in the field of digital event design by JDC Events.
Robbie is the author of "Croissants vs. Bagels: Strategic, Effective, and Inclusive Networking at Conferences" and "Small List, Big Results: Launch a Successful Offer No Matter the Size of Your Email List." He is a Harvard Business Review contributor.
His clients include thought leaders, entrepreneurial women, associations, national, and statewide advocacy organizations, women’s leadership summits, including Feeding America, California WIC Association, and AmeriCorps.
Robbie is the host of the On the Schmooze podcast and #NoMoreBadZoom Virtual Happy Hours.
Most passionate about
I have multiple tracks in my business. I do one-on-one coaching, group programs, all about helping people build an audience before they try to launch an offer. I also work with my virtual event clients on bringing their events online with less stress and greater participant engagement. What had been somewhat dormant, but is just starting to come back, is working with organizations around their in-person events to help them become more engaging and to really support their participants through what, for many, is their first experience at an in-person event.Robbie’s career and story
I spent 15 years organizing fundraising events and doing major gift work. On the side, I started speaking and showing people how to network. I was working with boards of directors and foundations. I did both of those things for about five years. Eventually, I realized that there was a possible career in doing this full-time. In 2015, I left my comfortable and safe career to really see if this thing I'd been doing for five years was going to turn into something. That's when I decided to launch a podcast, which came out a year later. I launched my first book, which today has 191 reviews on Amazon. I then got a chance to do a TEDx. Every year, I had different opportunities. I was well on my way to being an overnight success, 10 years in the making, when everything got upended in March 2020.Best advice for entrepreneurs
My second book is called Small List, Big Results: Launch a Successful Offer No Matter the Size of Your Email List. That subtitle belies the fact that, a lot of times, as entrepreneurs, as experts, we get really excited about some kind of solution, some kind of offer. We get some kind of program offer—an online course app, whatever the modality is. And we rush out to market to tell people about it. The marketplace basically responds with “Who are you? What is this? Nope, I don't need this.” And we're just shocked. I think the better approach would be to not create solutions in a vacuum, but to invite input from your most likely prospects.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I mentioned this in my latest book. When my first book came out, I didn't have a very clear plan for what kind of offer would come from it. But I had a pilot in mind, and I did run a successful pilot. I got great feedback. When I went to sell the next iteration, I created a landing page and took video testimonials and written testimonials from the few people who'd gone through the initial pilot. I had 250 people view the landing page. But they did not contact me to learn more about the program. So, the problem wasn't my ability to get the word out. But in that same span of time, several people reached out to me, asking for other types of services and other types of support. That was when I really started to understand that the packaging wasn't matching. People were seeing me as a resource, but they didn't see the program as a solution.Biggest success with customers
In March 2020, when the world hit this big shift, I had been focused solely on in-person, so I really didn't have a way to show up and add value. But I had a skill of bringing people together and I had a desire to do so. The first thing I did was write “Nine Ways to Network in a Pandemic,” and I shared it on the market. It got a pretty good response. One of those ways was to host a Virtual Happy Hour. March 13, 2020 was the first day I hosted a Virtual Happy Hour—which, by the way, I'm still hosting 23 months later. I never charged for that event, but it led to lots of people reaching out to me, asking to pick my brain, to have a coffee chat, to help them with their event, or to do training for them. At that time, I created a pilot of a four-week training program for how to use Zoom effectively online facilitation, virtual event design, and 15 people within a few days, signed up for this $5000 four-week training. After this first session, I announced that the second month was happening. By the third month in a row, I was able to turn it into a certification program.Robbie’s recommendation of a tool
Loom It records short videos and is a crown plugin that integrates with Gmail. I've used it to do outreach to prospects who I think are very interested in my programs.
Robbie’s one key success factor
I was fortunate to get a chance to meet someone who's had a disproportionate impact on my business. That's Dorie Clark. She has been in my corner and had my back as a mentor, as a coach, and as a friend.Robbie’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I actually have a funny story about a mountain. My friend and her dad ran off ahead of me and I just sweated my way up after them. It was a memorable day, I will say, given the full experience of it—being outside on this beautiful day, a hundred-degrees-in-the-shade kind of day. It was very out of character for me, back then in particular, but I think about it for me in business. One mountain and business that I think I'm still really working on is how to carve out time, that's not work, because I love what I do. So, my word of the year is “hobby” because I want to find hobbies that I could be passionate about. That will make it easier to shift my attention from my work to things outside of work.
[caption id="attachment_7684" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Illustration[/caption]The best ways to connect with Robbie
My Website GIFT Download bonus content at SmallListBigResults.com and CroissantsvsBagels.com Social Media Profiles: LinkedIn Twitter Facebook (my business page)
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Yes, take me thereMon, 14 Mar 2022 - 19min - 258 - Ep. 257 – Chris Beall “The number one mistake entrepreneurs make is not trying to sell their product before building it.”
For 30 years Chris Beall has led software start-ups as a founder or early-stage developer. He believes the most powerful part of a software system is the human being, and that the value key is to let the computer do what it does well — go fast without getting bored — in order to free up human potential. Chris is currently CEO of ConnectAndSell, Inc., based in Silicon Valley, and hosts a podcast at MarketDominanceGuys.
Most passionate about
What I'm doing now, and I’ve been doing for quite a while, is running a company called It helps companies dominate their markets by leading with the human voice. I've been passionate for a long time about having computers and humans work together in a way that unleashes the strengths of each.Chris’s career and story
I was raised out in the desert in Arizona, pretty far away from most people. I was raised by animals—by horses and dogs and cats and goats and all manner of creatures like that. I think that's how I learned how to sell. My first sale ever, where I was successful, was getting a bridle on a horse when I was seven years old. I was very interested in mathematics and the physical sciences. Kerry Wilcox took me aside and said, “I want to let you know something that might change your mind about teaching.” Here I was with this dream of being a teacher. She said to me, “You are an entrepreneur by nature.” “I invest in my former students' companies.” This was all a revelation to me, that she was an angel investor. She said, “You can teach if you want to, but I don't want you to go off into industry, get a job in some field where there's a lot of opportunity.” I reluctantly followed her instructions when I got a job at an NCR computer company in 1979. Sure enough, I was dissatisfied. That led me down a path where, within four years, I was starting my first company.Best advice for entrepreneurs
One thing I find that's the number one mistake that entrepreneurs make is that they build the product before they sell the product. I think you should do it the other way around. I highly recommend that any entrepreneur who wants to be a product entrepreneur, especially in B2B, start by having conversations—sales conversations, not survey conversations. If you're not doing it under pressure, you're probably not really doing it. So, try to sell your product before you build it and be serious about it.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I can go back to 1984. The company was called Unison software. Unison was an ERP system before there were ERP systems. So, it was called an MRP II system. It was intended to help primarily manufacturers with their processes around Bilson material and so forth, but it had a complete accounting system in it. The biggest failure was that we could go after two kinds of markets. We had discrete manufacturing folks who put parts together in order to make up a product. And then there was what's called continuous or flow manufacturing. So, there are no parts; there are inputs and outputs and then control conditions and all that kind of stuff. What we failed to do, rather dramatically, was focus on one or the other. We could have done very well. We had impatient investors who drove us down a path that was impossible. It ended up shrinking the software.Biggest success with customers
It was in 1998 and I was at a company called Requisite Technology. Requisite had the world's most advanced (at that time) electronic cataloging technology for business to build. First, we had to invent a whole new cataloging technology from scratch, which we managed to do in six weeks. We did it by simplifying and accepting something that everybody said was true, which was that it was impossible to build this kind of technology on top of a convention. The big triumph, the big success, was in focusing on only four customers for the entire year and having only one salesperson.Chris’s recommendation of a tool
I'm such a huge believer in the human voice that I think the trick to technology is that it needs to be effective. It needs to help you make human connections and build trust. LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a fabulous technology, but you need to have conversations. The data from ZoomInfo, Cognizant, and Apollo is fabulous.Chris’sone key success factor
I am a very, very internally driven person. I'm dissatisfied internally with almost everything. It's kind of driven my career as, I would say, an innovation-oriented entrepreneur. If you're going to innovate, you must have patience because other people are not going to see your innovation as being particularly valuable.Chris’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
You get tons of stories, but I have two that come to mind. It's the story that shaped me. I fell down a mountain when I was 14 years old. I fell on ice and snow and cliffs and stuff for about 800 feet. It took me about three days to walk out and I was fairly damaged. It taught me something, though, which is: You really do have to take only one step at a time. My world changed from seeing things in the distance or summits as something you look at and think about being there and instead saying, “Okay, that's where I want to go. Here's the general idea. Now, what's the next step?” And even if the step hurts or is inconvenient or whatever, go ahead and take that step and then look at the world again from that position.The best way to connect with Chris
Chris’s podcast Website Social Media Profiles: LinkedIn
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Yes, take me thereMon, 07 Mar 2022 - 33min - 257 - Ep. 256 – Lisa & Deevo: everybody genuinely has at least one superpower that they can share
Lisa Staff is a master photographer, former fashion model, and expert interior & exterior designer. She has had success at every turn in her entrepreneurial career due to her ability to connect and understand people on all levels. She embodies the metaphor of meeting people where they are and turning their lemons into lemonade.
Deevo is a thought leader, photographer, videographer, blogger, serial entrepreneur, ex-college athlete, former corporate executive, a single father of two promising young ladies, and now an emerging strategy consultant and paid speaker, who is fast making his way as an expert in creating digital architecture to help small businesses and entrepreneurs’ brand and market.
In 2018, Lisa & Deevo founded Sprout Connectors, a full service creative agency with a focus on social media management and content storytelling. They mix an efficient blend of content savvy with a relentless creative lavishness and depth of imagination to serve up an inspiring brand community.
Most passionate about
Business-wise, I am running my photography agency, which I've been doing since 2003. About a year and a half ago, Lisa and I partnered and formed a new business called Sprout Connectors. It’s a branding and marketing acceleration agency for small businesses and entrepreneurs. We are also launching some training workshops, working on a TED Talk proposal, and traveling the planet as much as we can, given the closures all over the place. We’re just trying to live our life.Best advice for entrepreneurs
First and foremost, as it pertains to your customer perspective, you must develop, if you haven't already, the ability to listen. There’s a fine line between adding your own unique twist and approach to things and melding that metaphorically with what your client wants out of the situation, being able to look at that intuitively and intraoperatively and clearly understanding what their vision is, what their business objective is. At the core of that, you need to be able to read the room and understand that everyone you engage with is uniquely qualified and uniquely different in their own sense.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
For me, it's the ego piece. As a business owner. If you can't tell, I'm very firm on my approach to everything. I have very specific ideas about how things should function. And because I've had a decent amount of success in my businesses, I come to the table sometimes thinking that I know the way to do things. That's really just my ego talking.Biggest success with customers
The accomplishment is the fact that we've been in business collectively for over 20 years and we've launched a new brand together. In our first year of business, we were already profitable. Being able to pivot into a new business model, adjust that, and have an impact right away with our clients was a big success for me. Still having the understanding and humility that we have a lot of room to grow and being able to do that has been monumental in my business.Lisa & Deevo’s recommendation of a tool
I use HoneyBook for my photography business. We use it for onboarding as well. It's CRM and workflow software that you integrate with your back-of-the-house procedures. Contact information, databases, email systems—any way that you communicate with your clients, not only does it enable you to track it and keep an inventory log of your conversations, history, contracts, all that sort of stuff, but it can also integrate with your email system.
Lisa & Deevo’s one key success factor
My one success factor has been connecting with people everywhere I go. I connect with people whether it's someone delivering food to my door or somebody I've met in a grocery store—just the most random occasions. For me, it’s being curious about people, understanding what makes people think, connecting with people and understanding that everybody comes at something from their own unique perspective. I believe that everybody genuinely has at least one superpower that they can share. It’s about connecting and uncovering that with people. Probably the greatest key to my success is that I know people all over the planet. I have made brilliant connections with people and business enterprises and projects that I've worked on with people just from listening and meeting people genuinely and authentically.Lisa & Deevo’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I've climbed quite a few mountains, not huge mountains, but one of the last ones that I did climb was with my boys in Wales. There were a couple of different ways to get to the top of it. We ended up separating; I went with my one son, while my other son went in a different direction that was a grueling and arduous climb - more dangerous. We brought biscuits and treats and stopped on the way, enjoying the view and having conversations. When we reached the top, we still had plenty of time to spare, and it turned out there was a cafe at the top. So a mountain, for me, in relation to this conversation, is a metaphor for our lives, for our businesses. As you climb the mountain, there are times when you're with people or when you're hiking by yourself. You need to be able to appreciate both of those moments and understand that each one brings some sort of unique delivery to you. It's about being able to appreciate all of those different subtleties and nuances of a mountain. In relation to your business, you have failures, ups and downs, peaks and valleys, all that sort of stuff. How you respond to those peaks and valleys is going to make a difference in how you run your business.
[caption id="attachment_7672" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Wales Mountains[/caption]The best ways to connect with Lisa & Deevo
Websites Sprout Connectors Lisa Staff Photo Fusion Photography Studio
Social Media Profiles: Instagram - Fusion Photog Instagram - Lisa Staff Photo
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Yes, take me thereMon, 28 Feb 2022 - 22min - 256 - Ep. 255 – Patrick Parker’s one key success factor is Focus. “Because there’s so much noise going on in the world about what works and what doesn’t work.”
Patrick B. Parker is an accomplished Tech Executive turned Founder with domestic and international experience in operations, custom software development, multichannel product distribution, and marketing involving both start-up and growth operations. He has bootstrapped companies he founded to millions ($MM) in ARR and has raised venture capital to build out teams, to refine product features and user experiences, and to execute go-to-market (GTM) strategies.
Today, his company works with amazing entrepreneurs that are looking to make a major impact within their industry. Thoroughbred Solutions helps clients with everything from business ideation to product/service development to building scalable marketing strategies and everything in between.
Most passionate about
I'm extremely, deeply involved in Software As A Service. I love technology and Those are definitely my passions, but my purpose is really helping young entrepreneurs and brain builders with building out their businesses—helping to make them successful and to de-risk the process.Patrick’s career and story
I was a software architect before launching my own business. Then I started building out entreprise software, web apps, mobile apps, things of that nature. From there, I got into branding business building as well, being involved on the software side. We've gone above and beyond to bring in experts and all of the various functional domains so that we have that expertise in-house.Best advice for entrepreneurs
The biggest thing is to just start now. Start having those conversations with people in your target audience. Start understanding what challenges they're facing and then what possible solutions might look like.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
We've had one customer, out of several hundred, that has opted to leave and go work somewhere else. The struggles I've had have not been with customers as much as with market conditions. As a serial entrepreneur, starting businesses from a young age, I've failed a lot. It’s been more about being able to bring on capital or manage cashflow—things of that nature.Biggest success with customers
I've launched a ton of different ventures. The first one, I launched as a side hustle was a staffing company. I grew it to a million in revenue within the first year. That allowed me to have the seed capital to start my next venture, which was a software development company. That has probably been my greatest success story. My greatest personal success, or the greatest reward, that I see is being able to help my clients and customers realize their dreams.Patrick’s recommendation of a tool
CRM HubSpot It helps you track that customer. It helps you create touchpoints around that customer's experience and journey.
Patrick’s one key success factor
The biggest thing, especially when we're working with clients, is that there's so much noise going on in the world about what works and what doesn't work. We stress to clients that they need to understand that no two entrepreneurial journeys are the same. It's the same for your backstory as it is for your roadmap of where you're going. At SAS Partners, we use proven frameworks to help entrepreneurs focus on the activities that are actually going to add value to their business, especially in the early stages, so they don't waste time on activities or tasks that aren't going to move.Patrick’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
We make a habit of going once or twice a year, hiking and climbing and reaching the summits. It's a great sense of accomplishment when you stare at the wondrous beauty of the great expanse below. It's the same with entrepreneurship. Sometimes the journey looks very different from what you pictured in your mind. And no two entrepreneurs' journeys are the same. Sometimes you reach what you thought was the summit only for it to be a false summit. You have to then go down in order to find the best route forward so that you can continue climbing and ascending and reaching a higher point. It's challenging. It's not for the weak at heart. It’s for people who are voracious and determined, people who have the right mindset to conquer those obstacles to pursue their dreams of reaching the top.
[caption id="attachment_5825" align="aligncenter" width="700"] illustration[/caption]The best ways to connect with Patrick
My Website Social Media Profiles: LinkedIn
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Yes, take me thereMon, 21 Feb 2022 - 21min - 255 - Ep. 254 – Mark Colgan: “It’s one thing to market and sell to people. It’s another thing to actually deliver on the promise that was sold.”
Mark Colgan is an entrepreneur and revenue leader responsible for increasing revenue across a small portfolio of companies where he leverages his 13 years experience of B2B Sales, Marketing and Recruitment.
Mark currently splits his time as Co-founder of Speak On Podcasts, mentoring B2B Startups via GrowthMentor and ScaleWise, The Product Onboarders and coaching 100’s of SDR’s through his Outbound Prospecting and Cold Email Bootcamp course via The Sales Impact Academy.
He’s a Techstars 18′ Alumni and a regular speaker within the B2B SaaS industry, his work has been published by SaaStock, Mailshake, Pipedrive, LeadSift, Lemlist, SugarCRM and Baremetrics to name a few.
Mark currently lives and works from Lisbon, is addicted to travelling and exploring new cultures and places. You’ll often hear him saying “por que no?” (why not?) to anything that sounds fun or gets the heart racing like wingwalking, skydiving and paramotoring.
Most passionate about
We are building an agency, which is completely remote. And we're in the podcasting world. We help people secure interviews on relevant podcasts so they can get their brand message out there and build awareness about that.Mark’s career and story
I studied marketing at university, but as part of my degree, we had to work for one year in a company. I actually got a job in recruitment and I did so well in that year that I was invited back to the company once I graduated. I spent the first two to three years of my career in recruitment, working for some of the largest recruitment companies. I started to teach myself digital marketing because it was all very new back then. I managed to get a role in a separate company as the first digital marketing person. So, I got very good at implementing CRMs and marketing automation, as well as a lot of the technology and putting that all together. I realized, once I was traveling, that I didn't really want to go back to a nine-to-five job. I enjoyed the freedom. And I enjoyed the ability to be able to travel and work from wherever I wanted. So, I set up my own consultancy, focusing on HubSpot CRM and marketing automation, all of the things I love building together – building things and putting them together. I managed to be invited to work for a company as their chief revenue officer, which meant essentially that I was looking after marketing sales, customer success, and product. In this case, the product was the service. I did that for just over a year which brings us up to June 2020, when I left that company to start speaking on podcasts. This is the agency that I currently focus and spend most of my time on now.Best advice for entrepreneurs
I’ll split my answer into two parts, but it's pretty much the same answer: Focus on the customer. What I mean by that is to really understand who it is that you are going to be working with. What are their problems and their challenges, and can you build a solution to help them overcome some of those challenges and problems? The second part is to then think about distribution. What I mean by distribution is how you can get in front of as many of those ideal customers, whom you’ve defined, as possible.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
My most critical failure would be not focusing on the client delivery part of the business. It's one thing to market and sell to people. It's another thing to actually deliver on the promise that was sold. I've been in situations where I wasn't focusing on that because it wasn't really supposed to be part of my job, but then I noticed that a lot of customers were becoming unhappy after they started working with the company I was working for.Biggest success with customers
At the company that I was working for at the time, we provided data for customers to use in their own sales process, so their outbound sales process, but they had very poor messaging or they didn't have a strategy. Then they would turn around to us and say that they didn't want to work with us anymore because the data wasn’t working – but, really, it wasn't the data. It was their strategies and what they were doing with the data. So, my biggest success was closing that.Mark’s recommendation of a tool
Zapier We use Zapier a lot behind the scenes here, whether it's to keep customers updated automatically based on activity or something else that we did recently. We created a tool for customers to use, which is completely made by Zapier. After one of our customers speaks on a podcast, they can go to a form on our website and put in the host name, the podcast name, and one or two topics that they spoke about. They can hit “submit.” Then, within five minutes, they get a Word document or Google document with 36 different messages that they can share on social media, in their email newsletter, or as private messages.
Mark’s one key success factor
Something I've realized recently is that everything that you want in life is on the other side of fear. And one thing that I have to be very appreciative of to my family is that while I was growing up, they gave me an environment where it was safe to fail. And if things did fail, they provided the support and would be there.Mark’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I've always wanted to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Africa is an incredible continent. In terms of the metaphorical mountain, for me, at the moment it's introducing and sticking to habits on a consistent basis. I feel like if I can improve the habits that I live by, I can improve many other areas of my life. So, perhaps the next peak is to consistently live in a very healthy and productive way, which will then unlock my energy to get to the next peak.
[caption id="attachment_4501" align="aligncenter" width="700"] The full moon rises over Mount Kilimanjaro[/caption]The best ways to connect with Mark
Websites Personal Website Speak On Podcasts Yellow O The Product Onboarders
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Yes, take me thereMon, 14 Feb 2022 - 16min - 254 - Ep. 253 – Michael Unbroken: “You have to be able to separate who you are as a human being, to an extent, from who it is that you are as a business owner.”
From homeless to hero, Michael Unbroken, is the Founder of Think Unbroken, best-selling author, award-winning speaker, podcast host, coach, and advocate for adult survivors of childhood.
Since 2016, Michael has empowered over 100,000 trauma survivors to get out of The Vortex, learn to love themselves, and become the hero of their own story. Michael has written multiple books including the best seller Think Unbroken: Understanding and Overcoming Childhood Trauma, spoken in over 80 countries, won investments from Undercover Billionaire Grant Cardone, and is on a mission to end Generational Trauma in his lifetime.
About Think Unbroken: Our mission is to empower trauma survivors with the tools and curriculum of Think Unbroken to get unstuck, learn to love themselves, get "Out of The Vortex" and reclaim their power. We believe that by creating palatable and practical tools that Trauma Warriors around the world can overcome their past, heal from trauma, and BECOME THE HERO OF THEIR OWN STORY!
Most passionate about
One of the two biggest things that I'm moving toward right now is having the number one mental health and personal development podcast on the planet. The other biggest goal is to be in the best physical, mental, and emotional shape of my life this year.Michael’s career and story
I spent the majority of my childhood being homeless and deeply in poverty. I started doing drugs when I was 12 years old. I was expelled from school when I was 15 years old and I spent a lot. As I headed into my later teen years, I thought about life from the perspective of “What is the solution for poverty? What is the solution for abuse?” “How does somebody really get out of this?” I decided it must be money. So, I made a decision that I would chase money, but do it legally. I started learning skills. I started learning leadership. I started learning how to be productive with my time. I started learning how to manage cash flow and P&Ls and inventories. And I worked for a fast-food restaurant. At 18 and a half, almost 19 years old, I had 52 employees underneath me. So, I started learning about legit business. In a couple of years, I was working for a Fortune 10 company here in America. No high school diploma, no college education. I started making six figures. That just destroyed my life because money is not the solution to your problems. And, in that, one of the most beautiful things happened. I remember I was lying in bed the next day, eating chocolate cake and watching the CrossFit games. And I'm like, “Hold on, something here is not right. There's something really wrong with everything in my life.” I went into the bathroom, looked at myself in the mirror, and asked myself, “What are you willing to do to have the life that you want to have?” And the answer was “no excuses, just results.” It started me on this beautiful journey where now, 11 years later, I am talking to you. That has been a process of healing, of discovery, of therapy and coaching, and education and investing in myself, investing in my community and my businesses.Best advice for entrepreneurs
If I were an entrepreneur at the beginning of this, if I rewound my life 15 years, the first thing that I would tell myself is, “You need to learn to be okay asking for money. You need to put yourself in a position where you move through the discomfort of not valuing yourself for what you are. Charge what you are worth.” In that, because it is a trade-off, you have to bring massive value to your customer. You have to take care of them. You have to be their best friend. You have to follow through. You have to do what you say that you're going to do.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
When you are dealing with other people, in the beginning, until you understand how to not make business personal, you take everything personally. That's one of the hard parts about the dichotomy of entrepreneurship. You have to be able to separate who you are as a human being, to an extent, from who it is that you are as a business owner.Biggest success with customers
I think it's looking at the relationships that you build. I don't look at success from a money standpoint anymore. I think people will often go to that, but I've had money. I've made money. I've lost money. I honestly don't care about money. It matters. Of course, it's a driving factor, but it's not why I do what I do. Success, to me, is the client who comes to me on the very last day of our process together and says, “I have the ability now to go and live my life.” Literally, my greatest success is, every week, with the one-on-one coaching especially, whenever one of my clients comes up to me and we have our last call together and they go, “I got this.” That's what it's about. That's what power is. That's what compassion and success and empathy bring.Michael’s recommendation of a tool
CRM You absolutely have to have a customer management tool. It could be a Google spreadsheet. It literally doesn't matter, but you need to know where your customers are coming from.
I use an ambassador program called BrandChamp for one of my companies. Probably the most powerful tool in my arsenal is a forms sheet, a sheet in which you can get responses from your customer. You can get their input on your product, where they will give you feedback.
Michael’s one key success factor
I am not going to stop. Ever, ever. What I mean by that is, when I sit down, I look at my goals. I write my goals down. My mission is very simple with Think Unbroken, with my company, with what I do in the world. That is to end generational trauma in my lifetime through education and information.Michael’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I think about the people who climb mountains, who push themselves, who find a way to accomplish the things that feel seemingly impossible. And the truth is life. Life is very much like a mountain. It feels impassable and it feels unlikely that you could make it to the top, but when you have the right team, the right equipment, the right training, the right mindset, and the right ambition, you will always make it.
[caption id="attachment_2801" align="aligncenter" width="624"] illustration[/caption]The best ways to connect with Michael
Think Unbroken. #1 On Amazon My Website Social Media Profiles: Instagram @MichaelUnbroken Instagram @ThinkUnbroken
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Yes, take me thereMon, 07 Feb 2022 - 24min - 253 - Ep. 252 – Robyn Johnson’s best advice: When you’re looking at customer approach, make sure that you’re offering what your customers really want.
Robyn Johnson has been heralded as one of the country's foremost leaders on the topic of selling and marketing products on Amazon.com. Robyn has been a guest on shows like Entrepreneur on Fire, Confessions of A Marketer, and is a SEMrush Academy professor.
Robyn is the co-founder of Marketplace Blueprint, a digital agency that specializes in listing optimization and advertising on Amazon. She has over a decade of experience of selling online on Amazon, eBay, and other eCommerce venues.
Most passionate about
I get to help people who have physical products market those products on Amazon. We have an agency that helps run the ads and does the listings for people. I'm also really passionate about Disney, Star Wars, and my kids. We try to squeeze in as much travel and adventures and board games as we can.Robyn’s career and story
I had no intention of doing this. I had no marketing experience about 11-plus years ago. I was working in a church but you don't get paid a lot and my son got sick. There was a moment when they were testing him and I knew that the test was going to cost a certain amount. I took a hundred dollars out of our emergency fund. I can still remember the five twenties in my hand. It felt like a million dollars. We started buying things at garage sales and then reselling them on Craigslist. From that hundred dollars, we built a million-dollar business selling physical products on Amazon. We moved from buying used items to buying things in retail stores to wholesale. I started coaching other high-volume Amazon sellers and we realized what a big problem Amazon was for brands. About five years ago, we started our agency. Now we get to work with brands that are “Shark Tank”-size companies and some publicly traded companies.Best advice for entrepreneurs
When you're looking at customer approach, make sure that you're offering what your customers really want. Make sure you're really keyed in to what's going on in your buyer's mind. Don't try to skip steps. Enjoy each moment.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
The thing that set us back the most was related to cash flow. I hired somebody who was supposed to manage our cash flow but I wasn't monitoring it well enough and it got us in some trouble. Then it took us quite a long time to get out of it. And it added a lot of stress. It made the business very much not fun for a long period of time.Biggest success with customers
The biggest success is when we've gone out of our way to provide off-Amazon connections or use the resources in our network to help other sellers. There was a publicly-traded company that had worked with an agency previously. They're a large company, so they had significant sales on Amazon. By communicating what changes we needed to make and reassessing and changing their approach to their ads on Amazon, we were able to grow their year-over-year sales by 118%. That extra revenue helped them get another round of investment that netted $40 million for the company.Robyn’s recommendation of a tool
If you have a physical product, go to your product on Amazon and your competitors' products on Amazon. Look at your website, then review their website and reviews. Copy and paste all of them in Google Word Cloud.Robyn’s one key success factor
My key success factor is that I want to always learn more. We set a goal as a company and then we break things down backward, assuming we hit that goal in the future. We work backward to identify what needs to happen today, tomorrow, and next week in order to make that goal predictable and not just a hope or a wish. That has made a big difference in our being able to consistently generate miracles.Robyn’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I love all of the mountains at Disney: Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and all of that. When it comes to our entrepreneurial mountain, when I was young, I was like … you know, you see those 18-year-olds who go to a mountain and want to run up and run back as fast as they can. It's about the accomplishment. As I've gotten older and know, honestly, I physically can't run up that mountain quite that way, it has forced me to look at: Where can we take a break? Where am I going to plateau for a moment? But for a moment so that we can regroup, regain our strength, make sure our resources are ready for the next climb? Also, there’s the pacing that I set for my team when I was running up and down that mountain. I was exhausting my team, and it wasn't really fair. When I look back to some of the employees I had at that time period, I feel like I could have done better by them because we did run so fast and so hard for so long. I'm doing the mountain. I'm enjoying the climb more. There are times when we say, “It's rainy, we don't need to climb today. We can stay here for a day, or for six months, to look and make sure we're going up the right path.”
[caption id="attachment_5825" align="aligncenter" width="700"] illustration[/caption]The best ways to connect with Robyn
My Website Social Media Profiles: Twitter
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Yes, take me thereMon, 31 Jan 2022 - 21min - 252 - Ep. 251 – Nothing happens until you sell something
Among all the challenges entrepreneurs are facing getting more clients is the challenge that is mentioned most.
Customers are the oxygen of any business. And yet, we often think about getting customers and sales as a given.
Surprisingly, in most cases, focus on getting more customers to grow your business is much easier than most entrepreneurs think. But often, they prefer to focus on finding a cheaper manufacturer or making changes in the product, or replacing the team rather than increase their leads and customer base.
Why?
Probably because customers’ marketing and sales are something most business owners are not certain of.
They are not aware of the speed and volume of growth they can get through focus on the right customers to generate more leads, and sales
In today’s episode, I chose to focus on the stories of three successful entrepreneurs who realized that focusing on the customer is the easiest and fastest way to win.
Karl Maier: “The customer is critical. One of my mentors said, many years ago, that nothing happens until you sell something. So, obviously, that starts with the customer.”
Karl Maier has been part of the leadership team in six established companies which have at least doubled sales in two years. Leveraging his successes, Karl developed the Abunden Framework© and led the development of the practical management tools in the Abunden Tools App. These online SaaS (Software as a Service) tools build the management structure for companies to grow and succeed.
Karl’s best advice for entrepreneurs
The customer is critical. One of my mentors said, many years ago, that nothing happens until you sell something. So, obviously, that starts with the customer. I think the principal is to talk to a number of different potential customers and really understand what their problem is. Can you solve it in a way that they're willing to pay for? That's the most fundamental part of starting a business, in my mind. Then you have the option to be Hands-on all the pieces of the company, but that limits your growth, or are you willing to transform and delegate it to other people to grow the company? I think that’s a very fundamental choice, one that I would encourage people to reflect on and decide which way they really want to go.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
My first software startup was during the dot-com boom. Everybody said, “Technology is going to solve all the problems.” I think I got sucked into that and I really didn't understand my customers. I was ignoring how the products were actually bought and sold. In the end, the company failed because of that. So that's a lesson. We remember failures better than our wins, I think.Biggest success with customers
We had a service company in the health safety industry. I was part of the C-suite management team. And we really did build a team. There was great communication and connection. People respected each other. They worked hard and were able to really understand what our customer's problem was. High-value people were getting malaria and getting sick. We were able to come in and cut their malaria rate in half the first year and then half again the second year. So we clearly were solving their problem. We were able to come in and solve a problem, do it effectively. We were able to grow the company. We grew it in four years by a factor of seven.Dan McGaw Best Advice: “Focus on generating revenue. Sometimes it's much easier to sell and get your customers, not only to raise money.” Dan McGaw is an award-winning entrepreneur, speaker and the CEO of McGaw-dot-io, an analytics and marketing technology consultancy and SaaS platform, UTM.io.
In addition, Dan also finds time to be a 500 Startups Mentor, and has previously started the first business accelerator in Orlando.
He’s also a thought leader in the MarTech world and CXL instructor on the topic. Having spoken at the leading Marketing conferences and online events, including Traction Conf and Forget The Funnel, his expertise lies in helping businesses extract and interpret the right data to grow their revenue exponentially.
Dan’s best advice for entrepreneurs
Focus on generating revenue. To do sales, you have to talk to customers, you have to talk to prospects, you have to get out there and sell your product better to generate revenue. That's the fastest way to grow. I'm a big believer in bootstrapping. Sometimes it's much easier to sell and get your customers, and not only to raise money.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
In consulting, I have experienced some fascinating ways that we can fail companies. We just had a client that we worked with and, unfortunately, my team member who was leading the project was not capable of doing the work. So, failure happens.Biggest success with customers
One thing that I would say was a super big success for us—I don't know if it was luck or if I'm just smart—but for the first year and a half or two years, we didn't really have a niche. We were just taking clients for digital marketing and marketing and technology. We were flailing about to whoever would give us money. There were agencies that did analytics, there were agencies that did marketing automation, there were agencies that did CRM, all these specialty shops. We said, “Nobody is focusing on building you a tech stack. Nobody is focusing on all the tools and how to integrate them.” So we bit that off and it has been wildly successful for us.Warren Coughlin best advice to entrepreneurs is to serve: “My definition of sales is professionally helping people solve problems” Warren Coughlin helps principled entrepreneurs build a Business That Matters. He was the top Coach in Canada with the world’s largest business coaching company before going out to focus on Businesses That Matter.
His clients have experienced everything from 8 figure exits, to 7 figure salaries, from rapid expansion to minimized operational work because of the development of great leaders and high performance values-driven cultures.
Warren’s best advice for entrepreneurs
I always think it's “to serve.” My definition of sales is professionally helping people solve problems, which makes it a kind of honorable activity. If you have a service focus for your customers, like always wanting to help them, you're going to have long client and customer relationships.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I had a client, a really nice guy. I guess where it went wrong was that he and I had very different thinking styles. I didn't understand that distinction in our thinking styles well enough. I let him guide the direction because he was in a bit of a crisis. We were doing things reactively instead of by a plan. I was encouraging him to move faster and I didn't realize early enough that he wasn't grasping what we were talking about. He actually wound up feeling more insecure rather than more confident. As a coach, I want people to feel more confident. He was selling lots, but by lowering the prices, because he just gave the guy commission on sales, not on margins and the guy was dropping prices. The business was growing, but he was actually losing money.Biggest success with customers
A guy came to me and was really unmotivated. He was in tax debt, his team wasn't performing, and he was generating some profits and had a decent niche but no real growth plan. He was really stuck. Because of where he was emotionally, we started with a vision for him of the impact he wanted to have, not just in business but in life, and showed how, with certain revenue targets, all that was going to be possible. We worked on his culture. His sales team were sort of cowboys, so we put some accountability structures in place, as well as sales training. With those three things together, his revenues and profits started to grow. His business became way easier to run and his team became way more engaged.Warren’s one key success factor
It’s probably a combination. It’s important to develop deep relationships with clients based on caring for them as people. That’s one part of it, but it has to be combined with really solid business, discipline tools, and frameworks.I hope these stories encourage you to look for your biggest market opportunities, find the right customers you should focus on, and create the most attractive and accurate sales offer.
The best ways to connect with Karl Maier
Karl's Website Abunden Quiz Social Media Profiles: Karl's LinkedIn Abunden's LinkedIn
The best ways to connect with Warren Coughlin
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Yes, take me thereMon, 24 Jan 2022 - 33min - 251 - Ep. 250 – Only those who quit fail. never, ever give up. You just have to keep going
There are a few reasons why so many entrepreneurs fail, and around 90% of the entrepreneurships fail. However, many of the most successful entrepreneurs I interviewed for my podcast told me the same thing; Keep going. Only those who quit fail.
In today’s episode, I chose to focus on the stories of three successful entrepreneurs. The main reason for their success was their state of mind; no matter what happened and how big the failures they experienced were, they never ever gave up until they succeeded.
I think you will find those stories very inspiring.
Brian Roland: “A lot of failures look like trial and error. It's an iterative process. It kind of hits the failure category but we learned so much through the process that it's hard to see it as a failure.”
Brian Roland is a Social Entrepreneur and Founder of Abenity, the 6x Inc. 5000 Company that’s powering corporate perks for top brands including U.S. Bank and MasterCard.
And while Abenity provides millions of subscribers with private discounts, the company’s social mission is fighting extreme poverty with every program they deliver.
Abenity recently exceeded a million dollars of total giving and hired a CEO to accelerate growth with their fully remote team.
Brian lives in Scottsdale with his wife and 3 daughters and is investing his time in efforts that help like-minded entrepreneurs establish a social mission of their own.
Most passionate about
In 2006, my brother and I built a SAS company (software as a service) that helps large corporations offer employee perks and benefits to their people. We've negotiated discounts on everything from pizza and the zoo to movie tickets, oil changes, car rentals, and hotels. We put it all in one spot for our clients and brand it to look like the company and the employees saved coupons all over the United States and travel offers across the world where they can enjoy special corporate perks. When we founded our business, we really wanted to stand for something outside of our industry. So, we built our business with a social mission. There was an output to our cause for every input into the business. That is what gives me the most passion and mission at this point in my career.Brian’s career and story
As a third-grader, I was making laminated folders because my folders would tear apart. I started playing the trumpet when I was young. It teaches you to be the entrepreneurial solo artist, where you're running the show and everybody's looking at you. It teaches you to be a team player, where you're sitting in the symphony and blending in so that nobody notices your contribution, but they hear it, they see everything. That led to teaching trumpet lessons, which led to making a CD and moving to Nashville to go to school, which led me to sell cell phones—having the a-ha moment that the music industry is actually not that entrepreneurial. In that role, I discovered this gap: Companies would love to offer perks and benefits to their people but they had a hard time finding the perks to offer and vetting the purchase to make sure they were good. That's how we built Abenity. We've probably built five or six businesses inside of it. This is what led me, two years ago, to realize that the business had grown to a certain level of maturity where the number of businesses that I could launch within Abenity reached its peak in terms of what the team could have accomplished in a healthy way. There was this moment when it was like our business didn’t need an entrepreneur anymore. It needed people to help execute and set standards and focus on growth. Those are areas that fell outside of my passion areas. So, there was time to put the right people in place to take the business to the next level. And that's what we did. Today I'm kind of the chief evangelist for the brand, which allows me to be available here talking to you.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
A lot of failures looks like trial and error. It's an iterative process. That's like, “We spent a lot of time and money trying that, and it didn't really work out as well as we thought.” It kind of hits the failure category but we learned so much through the process that it's hard to see it as a failure.Biggest success with customers
I started the business with a social mission. Within five years in the professional world, I realized that no matter how successful you are in work, you hit a point where making more money just doesn't hit the box of “meaningful.” Money is a tool that helps you accomplish your goals and helps you fuel your mind. But it's not nourishing. It's not enriching. It doesn't make you healthy. And so money in itself, if you're looking for money as your nourishment, is never going to be enough. We're very focused on helping eradicate extreme poverty by the year 2030. To date since we started that mission, we've been able to give over $1.2 million toward these efforts through a group called World Vision. Now we have schools built. We have healthcare facilities built. We have microfinance loans that have fueled our entrepreneurs in starting and sustaining their own businesses so that World Vision is not needed here anymore.Brian’s one key success factor
I believe the biggest success factor is just showing up. It's being willing to take small chances, go out on a limb a little bit, trust that the limb will bend but won't break, and know that you're not so far off the ground that if it does break, you won’t be in very bad shape. It’s just having a healthy perspective as you go out and take some simple risks. My best advice for people out there is to just show up—show up at work, see what you see, pay attention to what's going on.Serioja Glorie - Sergei’s best advice for entrepreneurs: “There’s just one simple rule and it's never, ever give up. You just have to keep going.”
Serioja Glorie is an enthusiastic Serial entrepreneur. He has a wealth of knowledge on e-commerce that can be quite beneficial to every business owner.
His automation service journey started because of his personal success & demands by others to tread similar paths that yield positive results. He broke a lot of barriers and utilized an ever-evolving landscape that has helped to grow and establish a new formula.
Serioja has launched the first Multi-Market Automation Service and thereby proferring solutions to problems that are encountered by entrepreneurs.
Most passionate about
I'm basically trying to provide the freedom of financial independence. It's financial freedom, which we try to provide through e-commerce. E-commerce automation means you can own your own e-commerce store on Amazon or Walmart without having to manage it or handle it.Sergei’s career and story
I've been a salesperson my whole life. Really, I was a door-to-door salesman. I was an insurance salesman. I was a car salesman. I had tens of companies, if not a hundred companies, little startups that I was always trying. I sold LED screens. I was in construction, myself, working in construction. I tried real estate. I didn't want to think about money or success anymore. I wanted to think about filling my emptiness inside. So, I packed my stuff and moved to Thailand. I started a kebab business. I started wine distribution. I mean, I had my own club. There were so many things I tried. And so many things still didn't work for me. I tried the MLM thing too, which obviously didn't work. It brought me to Forex trading. Finally, I started to take a break from Forex trading and opened my very first personal Amazon store. That was basically when my e-commerce journey started. I had a team of five running my store, doing $50,000 a month, making $10,000 in profit—which I paid them a share from, of course. I started posting that on Facebook. Before I knew it, someone was asking me, “Hey, can you manage my store too?” I told them, “Why not? Let's just do 50/50 and give me a thousand bucks.”Best advice for entrepreneurs
There’s just one simple rule and it's never, ever give up. You just have to keep going. If you have that kind of mentality, that kind of mindset, that no matter how many times you fail, you will learn from it, you will not get discouraged. You will just keep moving or try something else.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I had already approved 50 clients and was making money for them. But for me, personally, it took 10 months. So, people complained to me: “I’m not getting approved in two weeks or one month.” Well, like I said, they basically gave up before they even started. These are some of the challenges that I face for customers.Sergei’s one key success factor
It really comes down to the fact that I didn't ever give up on anything. If I have a passion for something, I just go for it. That's the same thing I did with the e-commerce and it’s the same thing for which I will always have that flame burning in my heart. It's having the courage—or having the balls, as they say—to do something and do whatever it takes until you get there.Scott Turman’s key success factor is tenacity; never give up. Failure was never an option!
Scott Turman is an IT expert and entrepreneur that has been writing code and cryptographic systems for the last 25 years for the likes of NASA, the Department of Defense, Disney, and other Fortune 500s. He is the founder and CEO of BrightRay Publishing, an all-in-one writing and publishing service for busy entrepreneurs like himself. He lives in Florida with his wife and son.
Most passionate about
About a year ago, we started a company called BrightRay Publishing. We're the writing partners for CEOs, founders, and anybody trying to build their brand. Typically, the book can be a vector onto podcasts, interviews, and the news. We've been doing this for about a year now. We've hired our ninth employee and things are going swimmingly.Scott’s career and story
Twenty-five years ago, I started my career at NASA, as a software engineer. I have a history at NASA. My father was an engineer during Project Mercury, which was America's first foray into space. I started my consulting company. We grew to 25 consultants and that was great. Then, about a year ago, I realized I was sick to death of technology. I was absolutely done with it. I wanted to start something more interesting. I was writing a book on negotiating for nerds – “A Nerd’s Guide to Negotiating.” I'd been trying to write it for 10 years but I just could not get it done. My daughter’s friend was a writer, so we started working together during the pandemic, via Zoom. We got the book done pretty quickly. When I published it, friends asked, “How the heck did you get a book published with how busy you are?” Then someone said, “Hey, would you write my book?” We took the same process. And then we did another one, and another one. And here we are, a year later.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
In the last 10 years, I started a consulting company called BrightRay Consulting. We would have these projects involving two or three engineers. If you're not trying to please the C-level executives at a company, you're going to fail no matter how happy the senior management. It's just a matter of time. In the past, I really can't tell you who, but there was a fortune 500 top company, where everybody was just thrilled with us, except the C-level managers. The problem was not reporting correctly. We were not sharing our successes correctly with them. And as a result, we shuttled out of there.Biggest success with customers
It was the birth of BrightRay Publishing. We started with one client and then two and then five and then 10. I handled new customers correctly. As a result, we've exploded in growth.Scott’s one key success factor
Tenacity. Failure was never an option! Never give up. I know that's such a cliche, but maybe you're a day away from success, or a month away from success. Giving up is a great way to never find out.I hope you found these stories inspiring. Whatever you are going through, I wish you always find your way to win.
The best ways to connect with Brian Roland
Brian's Website Company’s website LinkedInThe best ways to connect with Sergei
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The best ways to connect with Scott Turman
Scott's Website Social Media Profiles: LinkedIn
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Yes, take me thereMon, 17 Jan 2022 - 50min - 250 - Ep. 249 – Miriam Schulman: “You need to make sure you’re building customers and creating customer experience rather than just focusing on sales.”
Miriam Schulman is an artist, author and founder of The Inspiration Place and The Artists Incubator Coaching Program where she helps artists (from amateurs to professionals) develop their skills, tap into their creativity, and grow thriving art businesses. Her podcast, The Inspiration Place, is on the top 1% of all podcasts globally and is listened to in over 40 countries.
Miriam has been featured in Forbes and has been a guest on numerous podcasts. Her art has been featured in The New York Times, Art of Man, and Art Journaling magazine by Stampington, as well as seen on NBC’s “Parenthood” and the Amazon series “Hunters'' with Al Pacino.
Her forthcoming book on how to “make it” as an artist is scheduled to be published with HarperCollins Leadership in February 2023.
Most passionate about
I have been working on a book for Harper Collins. It's a traditionally published book. I've been writing a book called Artprenuer to help artists learn how to earn a sustainable living from their creativity.Miriam’s career and story
I wanted to be an artist when I was young. When I left college, I figured, “Well, if I have to make money from what I'm doing, where can I make the most money?” So, I went to work on Wall Street instead. It took me a while, even after I had that awakening, to realize that, yes, I could turn my art, my painting, into a sustainable living. It was about 20 years ago that I started down this path, truly learning how to apply those marketing skills. It was about not just becoming good at my craft and becoming good at art, but also becoming good at being an entrepreneur. I got involved online. First, I was selling my artwork online. Then, in 2012, I started teaching online art classes.Best advice for entrepreneurs
What I've taken from that time when I was on Wall Street and that I still use now, which I feel is critical in everything I do and for every business, is focusing on customer experience. I think of every touchpoint that happens along the customer experience and pay attention to that. You need to make sure you're building customers rather than just focusing on sales.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
There are two that I'm going to offer. The first one is not building an email list from the very beginning. I had so many sales and I couldn't imagine a time when I wouldn't have that stream of customers coming to me, so I didn't build an email list.
Another thing is something that a lot of us have to work on overtime, and that is understanding how to price your offerings with an abundance mindset, not a scarcity mindset. It’s about understanding that customers are not always looking for the cheapest price. There are many times when not only will customers be suspicious if the price is too low, but they also prefer to pay more money.
Biggest success with customers
I would love to tell you a story about one of my clients. I took her through this process. When my client Fay came to me in 2020, in the last year she had lost her job during the pandemic and was going through a divorce. She was a painter and had two children. She could turn her creativity into a full-time job. But the problem was that she was pricing her art at $50 per painting—and, in fact, sometimes less. We had to work together to build her mindset and teach her that it was okay. I took her from charging $50 for her artwork to $1,400 for her artwork. She found that when she stepped into this confidence, she was able to make $5,300 in a month. Then, a few months later, it was $8,400 in a month. Not only was she able to claim this power, but now she's on her way to a sustainable living.Miriam’s recommendation of a tool
I think the best tool that we have is using physical mail. Sending physical pieces to prospects and customers.
Miriam’s one key success factor
I don't take a lot of time making decisions. Instead of spending a lot of time trying to decide on the perfect place, the perfect thing, the perfect choice, I put that energy into making the right decision out of whatever decision I’ve made. I have the attitude that whatever decision I make will be the right one.Miriam’s Mountain
I started this podcast by talking about my book. Completely independent of your question, I had been calling it my mountain.
When you climb a physical mountain, your muscles develop by doing the work that's involved. It's the same thing with our minds, our brains. Doing the heavy lifting of taking the metaphorical journey does change us and develop different kinds of muscles in ourselves, of courage and resilience. I know they are going to serve me the next time I have a mountain to climb.
[caption id="attachment_5672" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Climbing mountains peek after peek - illustration[/caption]The best ways to connect with Miriam
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Yes, take me thereMon, 10 Jan 2022 - 27min - 249 - Ep. 248 – Khaled Maziad: “You can’t go against the market. You need to clearly know what they want and then give it to them.”
Khaled Maziad is a marketing consultant who specializes in the Psychology of persuasion and high-ticket sales.
He helps coaches transform their uncharged-non-monetary offer into a high-ticket one without having Tony Robbins like Brand.
He shares his story on struggling to give away his stuff for free to charging high-ticket offers and helping his clients from all around the world do the same.
He is known as the Copy & Messaging Alchemist. He has been featured in FOX as one of 21 Entrepreneurs You Need to Know About in 2021.
He has also been featured in ANLP, Fox, CBS & NBC. Khaled is a professional member of ANLP International CIC, a certified Master of NLP, and holds a degree in Civil Engineering.
Before becoming marketing, Khaled worked with traders and professional fund managers, helping them master their mental edge in trading and life. He also had over 15 years of experience as a Project manager, where he managed multi-million dollar projects on 3 continents.
Khaled lives with his wife and two kids in Sydney, Australia.
Most passionate about
We focus on what we call transformation – transformational entrepreneurs or transformational cultures. We specialize in helping people make their email entertaining and persuasive, in a way that helps them feel their products.Khaled’s career and story
I started as a civil engineer many years ago. It had nothing to do with marketing or anything like that. I was working as a site engineer and had a project manager who was very influential and charismatic. He knew how to manage people. When they chose someone to manage the project, they didn't go with someone who was just an expert. They chose someone who was a leader, someone who could manage. This is something that helped me when I started. When I became an entrepreneur, I was doing something called trading psychology. I was helping people trade in the stock market.Best advice for entrepreneurs
The biggest advices I have for entrepreneurs is about one of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs often make. You can't go against the market. You can't fight against it. You need to clearly know what they want and then give it to them.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
One of them was not testing offers before validating them. I worked on a product once that I was perfecting and I didn't show it to anyone. I didn't get any feedback. I didn't ask anyone if they wanted it or not. I worked for about a month on it. When I put it out there, no one even cared about it. The tool was a really big failure.Biggest success with customers
We had a product that helped people by working on their messaging. We did a beta test first at a lower price, just to test how it worked. When we took a small group for the beta test, we were surprised that the people got value from the test. When we published the course and pushed the program, some of the beta testers asked to pay full price.Khaled’s recommendation of a tool
The best tool is more about how to do market research. There are many forums out there.Khaled’s one key success factor
You need to believe in what you're doing. You need to believe that you will succeed.Khaled’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
Our entrepreneurial journey is going to close a sale. You're going to find yourself sometimes climbing this mountain, thinking, ‘We’re going to make a lot of money. Are we going to do this? Are you going to do that?’ Eventually, you will get there, but in the middle, your whole body will be full of pains and scars. But this is what makes success valuable. Once you reach it, when you know, it becomes easier. It becomes easier for you to know that eventually you’ll get there. You look at your progress and don’t forget how far you went.
[caption id="attachment_4625" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Illustration[/caption]The best ways to connect with Khaled
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Yes, take me thereMon, 03 Jan 2022 - 30min - 248 - Ep. 247 – Mark Lachance best advice: “If you want to scale your business, “don’t fall into the trap.” You don’t need to be the smartest person in everything and everywhere.
Mark Lachance is a serial entrepreneur, strategic thinker, and investor. He possesses a deep understanding of blitzscaling companies. Having owned and operated several businesses that have experienced hypergrowth through creative business development and lead generation, he is a master of sales and marketing and continues to apply and grow his expertise through current projects.
Mark is currently the CEO and lead investor of Maxy Media Inc., one of the largest TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, and Google Display Network performance marketing agencies in the world. Currently, Maxy Media is the number one advertiser in terms of monthly spend on the TikTok platform in Canada and top ten in North America.
In 2016, Mark successfully sold EVO Payments International Canada, an end-to-end payment solutions provider and merchant acquirer which he founded in 2009. He guided the company from its inception with one employee to over 200 employees across Canada.
Prior to founding EVO, Mark was one of the founding members and president of VersaPay Inc, a payments solutions provider, which was taken public in 2010. Before joining VersaPay, Mark was a founding member of Pivotal Payments, which is now a multi-billion-dollar public company. He helped set the foundation and drive the company's sales and revenues before his successful exit from the company in 2006.
Mark has made several other highly successful investments in various industries such as payments, cryptocurrencies, marketing, nutrition, fitness, and sports. Over the past twenty-five years, he has invested in and consulted for dozens of other ventures, which have resulted in highly positive returns.
Mark speaks and travels the world with his wife, Sonya, and their two boys.
Most passionate about
I've just launched a book called The Lucky Formula. I also run a digital media agency.Mark’s career and story
I went to a university in Boston. Right after school, there weren't a lot of great opportunities. So, I had to go to work with my father in construction. I absolutely hated that. I got into sports and was a sports agent for about seven or eight years. It was a lot of fun. I represented professional ice hockey players. I started a company in Boston. Then, I was able to get clientele all across Canada. I had four successful exits in the payment space. Sandwiched in between there was an unsuccessful venture in real estate, a colossal failure. From there, I got into the digital media space. We've grown from two employees – myself and my business partner – to over 350. We're going to hit this year. We're targeting 50 million in revenue. We want to grow this to a billion-dollar valuation in the next two to three years.Best advice for entrepreneurs
If you want to scale your business, my biggest advice is, and I learned this myself the hard way, is “don't fall into the trap.” You don't need to be the smartest person in every department and everywhere. You should hire the smartest people to do what you're not the best at. Stay in your lane.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
Back in 2006, I was fresh off an exit from one of the companies that I was a founder of and that I was able to sell. I was able to sit on millions of dollars. I mistakenly took those millions and plowed them into real estate. I remember exactly where I was in 2008, with the financial collapse. You remember the real estate marketplace. I intelligently, at that time, rolled all of my money. I basically put all my chips on red. It went into a real estate venture in 2007, at the height of the market. The great financial crisis was upon us in 2008. Everything I had was basically out the door. I was on the verge of bankruptcy. I had a colossal failure and depression, anxiety, all that.Biggest success with customers
We had a mega issue with Facebook. In the summer of 2019, Facebook literally shut our business down. We weren't able to market on the platform. That forced us to (1) diversify traffic sources and (2) figure out the TikTok platform. Talk about perfect timing. TikTok ad platform had just been released. We were one of the first to advertise there, we were actually in their beta. We've been able to build a pretty mega team wrapped around TikTok. Right now, we're the number one advertiser in terms of spend on a monthly basis in Canada and in the top 10 in the US right now.Mark’s recommendation of a tool
Slack and Monday. Slack has allowed us to communicate. Monday is a tool that's been tremendous for us, and Slack, from a communication standpoint and centralizing all conversation.
Mark’s one key success factor
Being fearless: Making mistakes and learning Meditation has been my, I'll call it secret weapon. It has been the thing that's helped me focus, helped me get rid of that voice, and helped me really stay laser-focused.Mark’s Mountain
If you have a skill, you either teach that skill or you continue to grow upon that skill so that you can give it out to the world. If your skill is making money, don't shy away from it. Make money and give it away. Do good with it rather than not using your skillset.
I think, with climbing a mountain, there's always a bigger one to climb and you continue until your day is done.
[caption id="attachment_5825" align="aligncenter" width="700"] illustration[/caption]The best ways to connect with Mark
Website Book Website The Lucky Quiz Website Social Media Profiles: Instagram
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Yes, take me thereMon, 27 Dec 2021 - 23min - 247 - Ep. 246 – Parham Albadvi: “You need to develop relationships and build trust rather than always looking for a transactional relationship.”
My name is Parham Albadvi. I’m a copywriter and brand strategist serving conscious businesses.
I spent my formative years in Iran and moved to Canada eager to work for purpose-driven tech and B2B companies, but soon became disillusioned…
I love working with conscious entrepreneurs - people who share my values and vision for the world. Clients that I feel energetically aligned with, and who believe in making profit and impact.
That’s why together with my partner, I founded Mocho and Co, the first full-service digital agency exclusively for conscious businesses and disruptors.
I’m committed to helping businesses of all sizes realize Fred Kofman’s vision of businesses “conscious of inner and outer worlds… taking into account body, mind and spirit in self, culture, and nature.”
But we can't do it alone. We need a vibrant community of conscious, aligned entrepreneurs - people like you, who know their skills are better served somewhere else... somewhere they haven't found yet.
Most passionate about
I'm leading Mocho and Co, which is an integrative digital agency serving conscious businesses—businesses that truly see business as a force for good. At this point in our journey, we are taking a reflective break for December to think about how we've served our customers so far and how we'd like to serve them moving forward. We're at the stage of reflecting and taking more conscious action forward rather than taking many steps forward in December.Parham’s career and story
I was a lost 20-year-old boy who had just graduated university and had a lot of passion. I wanted to work for technology companies, and in my university years, I had been in the sales and marketing world. Initially, I wanted to be more independent in my own business. I wanted to determine my own schedule. I wanted to visit my family that I had back home and in Europe. From there, I noticed that working in corporate was not a long-term solution for me. So, I initially had that itch of going completely freelance and starting my own business and building from scratch. I started with freelancing, taking on clients that were in the conscious space and that were using business as a force for good. After seeing them coming back to us with stories about how they'd been able to grow their business from 10K to 40K per month, and above and beyond, we were really motivated to serve as an extension of their marketing team to be growth partners. That's what shifted into me starting Mocho and Co.Best advice for entrepreneurs
I think it comes down to taking conscious steps forward as an entrepreneur and realizing that you can't do everything—rather, really putting out the most minimum viable product that can make the maximum impact.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I don’t personally view it as a failure, but I do think at the time it was easy to label it as a failure. One that comes to my mind was when I was working at Vidyard. I was doing business development at the time and I noticed that, for a lot of our prospects whom I was reaching out to, I was not getting a high conversion on the outreach. What I noticed was the power of personalization and your approaches—not approaching customers to sell anything, but just approaching them to add value. Value itself will play a big role in your relationship with a potential customer. You need to develop that relationship and build that trust rather than always looking at it as a transactional relationship.Biggest success with customers
I started working with a client back in the summer. This was the first time that I was approached by a client who really, from the get-go, trusted the process and wanted us to tell her exactly what had to be done in her business. She was a yoga teacher for 20 years and had led many different experiences before. She was really well known in her space, in her community. However, with the pandemic that happened in March of 2020, she noticed that a necessary shift needed to take place in her business. Initially, we updated her website. We developed a seven-day spiritual reset and, after inputting all of this, we noticed a big jump—not only in her profit, but in the number of people who were reaching out to her worldwide. It was not just in Canada, but in America and Europe. So it took her business and shifted it from a local business to something global. Seeing her income jump to $40,000 a month and the transformation that has created in her personal life has been really rewarding.Parham’s recommendation of a tool
Trello - Trello helps teams move work forward. Collaborate, manage projects, and reach new productivity peaks. From high rises to the home office, the way your team works is unique—accomplish it all with Trello.Parham’s one key success factor
I have to say collaboration because I truly believe that to make a big impact, we need to collaborate, around an intention, around a mission. For us, that has been serving conscious disrupters into space. I can't say that I've done that alone. I have a great partner who helps me and the team behind me.Parham’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
There was one summer when I had a new roommate back in university. This person was in his 30s. He was older. He had just come to this place for three months and he was in love with climbing. He would go to Squamish, which is a mountainous area in British Columbia. He would hike almost every day and sometimes he would actually stay and tent up there. Once, I told them, “Hey, I really want to hike a big mountain with you.” Going on that journey with him, I noticed that I constantly wanted to reach the viewpoint that was higher. Then, halfway through that journey, I noticed, “Okay, if I'm always looking forward to the next peak, I'm never enjoying the viewpoints of each of these peaks. I'm never taking the time to appreciate how far I've come.” That was really a moment when I noticed that this idea is very applicable to entrepreneurship. There, rest and recovery go hand in hand with growth. We can't always be pushing and pushing and pushing and not reflecting and restoring ourselves. After that, I would take more time to pause and reflect at each of these viewpoints. I would pause to take some deep breaths, and that shifted my perspective.
[caption id="attachment_7612" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Squamish, British Columbia[/caption]The best ways to connect with Parham
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Yes, take me thereMon, 20 Dec 2021 - 23min - 246 - Ep. 245 – Tim Cakir best advice: Be obsessed with the problem not the solution; if you obsess about the problem, the solution will change over time, getting better and better.
Tim Cakir is a growth consultant who helps companies, entrepreneurs and students achieve fast and consistent growth.
Working with 17 startups to date, some of his best achievements include helping two startups receiving 1.7 million euros in Horizon 2020 funding, increasing MRR of one startup from $80k to $300k in less than 18 months and completing projects such as implementation of OKRs, building company dashboards, rebranding and product launches.
In addition to that, Tim’s passion for helping people realize their potential to bring their ideas to life means that he also teaches Bachelor and Masters programs at two universities in Barcelona, ESEI International Business School Barcelona and Geneva Business School.
Most passionate about
I'm very passionate about education at the moment. About 30% of my professional time, I dedicate to teaching. I teach in two master's programs in two different universities. I usually teach around digital marketing, online growth, and some business intelligence. I really love any kind of high-tech, deep-tech startup, trying to solve some of the problems that must be solved by technology. That's where my passion lies.Tim’s career and story
When I was about 17 or 18, in California, I sold Turkish and Persian-made carpets. It was a bit of telesales, a bit of door-to-door sales, trying to book appointments with people who visited Turkey before. In California, I would visit them and try to sell them carpets. This was, I think, my first business venture. When I moved to London, I really got into creative marketing, media marketing. I helped a few publishing companies digitalize their magazine offerings from the offline world to the digital world. That's where I switched myself, big time, to digital marketing. I was lucky enough, about five or six years ago, to move to Barcelona, Spain, where I'm residing right now. I became a sound engineer. I studied media production, concentrating on audio technologies, and found myself in the music world, which was always a passion.Best advice for entrepreneurs
My biggest tip would be to focus on the problem. Why does that customer have a problem? What is the problem? Don't be obsessed about the problem, because if you obsess about the problem, the solution will change over time. The solution will get better and better, what you're building. But if you focus a lot on the solution, that's where you're not innovating anymore. You get stuck on the solution that you've already come up with.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I'm going to look at the perspective of when we targeted the wrong customers. In one of the businesses, which was the B2B SAS, we had a technology for e-commerce businesses and targeted the wrong segment. We targeted big e-commerce shops. We were closing deals, but it was very slow. I think the biggest mistake that I've made was not thinking about different customer segments or testing or experimenting with the messaging to different people.Biggest success with customers
One of the greatest successes that I was involved with in a company was when some drama happened in the world – actually a major problem around the world. We had an e-commerce and we were setting products in America. There was a bigger movement of Black Lives Matter, as you're aware. We donated some money to certain charities or projects that we believed in. A percentage of our client base suddenly turned a bit racist and we started getting hate messages, hate reviews. That really scared us. We blocked these customers, these racist comments, and we said no to certain revenue. That helped us grow even better. We didn't just focus on the money. We focused on the good people whom we had. We got rid of the bad people, and this helped us grow. People started talking about it and protecting us on Reddit. We got amazing loyalty on Reddit.Tim’s recommendation of a tool
I'm going to look at this from more of an internal perspective. If you give a great employee experience, and if the knowledge is there and everything is at hand, they're going to give a better customer experience. Notion They really focus on growth, marketing, or marketing to grow. Collective intelligence, into one platform.
Tim’s one key success factor
I was able to find platforms and tools that other people in my company weren't aware of. By showing that knowledge very quickly, I was able to evolve in my career from a marketing assistant to a marketing manager in eight months' time. So, I guess it's not just the technology, but it's the curiosity. You have to keep being curious. That really helped me a lot.Tim’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I love mountains because I snowboard, but let's talk a bit more on the business side of the mountain. My mountain was education. I'm going to make my mountain educational technology, and I'm going to try to climb that mountain by delivering multiple projects today. It starts from music but in the near future, I would also love to look more on the business education side of things. I'm gaining better skills quicker for people. This is becoming a personal mission as well.The best ways to connect with Tim
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Yes, take me thereMon, 13 Dec 2021 - 32min - 245 - Ep. 244 – Brian Fritton best advice: “Don’t be afraid to narrow. The fastest and highest-quality way is by focusing first on a smaller group of people who will love your and represent your product”
Brian Fritton is the founder of Havoc Shield, which is a cybersecurity program as a service where he brings the founder’s perspective to cybersecurity in an increasingly complicated and risk-filled environment.
Brian has built products and led engineering, design, and IT teams at companies with credentials such as Fortune’s 500 Fastest Growing Companies, the Inc. 5000 List, and Entrepreneur’s 100 Most Brilliant Companies.
Most passionate about
I built Havoc Shield, which is a cybersecurity program as a service. It helps you holistically protect your business from attacks as well as win new business with security-conscious customers like government organizations or larger enterprise businesses. At the beginning of 2020, we went through an accelerator called Techstars and, about this time last year, raised a $1.5 million round. Right now, we are selling primarily into financial services but really our goal is to protect other founders and small business owners.Brian’s career and story
I've always been a little bit of a nerd, I guess. I taught myself how to program. I was very fortunate to have a computer pretty early as a child and taught myself how to design websites and to program. I was always very interested in the security side of things. I had a website design and development firm that was doing other websites for small businesses. Through that, I learned how to manage clients, price my products, manage my time, and all of that sort of stuff. Most recently, I started a startup with my brother called Patch of Land, which was a real estate crowdfunding investment business. We took the Kickstarter model of investing fractions, little small amounts and larger projects, and applied that to giving normal people the ability to invest in real estate. We recently sold that business and I moved back to Chicago from Los Angeles, where I was at the time. I took a job with a data science software maker in Chicago. They work very heavily in the political space. When I came on as the VP of engineering, I quickly inherited it and got put in charge of cybersecurity in front of the midterm elections in the States in 2018. Trying to put together a professional cybersecurity program that would protect us and help us win new customers was a really difficult thing to do. I left that job and started Havoc Shield.Best advice for entrepreneurs
For a while, we were trying to sell to what I would call Main Street businesses—less technical companies. We explored very technical startups, but more broadly than any one industry and a couple of other things. Don't be afraid to narrow. You want your business to grow and do more. I think the fastest and highest-quality way is by focusing first on a smaller group of people who will love your product and represent your product, whom you can speak very clearly to.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
In businesses in the past, I've certainly spent less time than I should have on listening to people whom I want to solve a problem for—understanding how painful the problem that I think I'm solving is for them and what problems they have that are related to it and that may actually be more top of mind for them. Without listening carefully, without interviewing people whom you're trying to serve, it's very difficult to build the right thing. And that is how companies die.Biggest success with customers
The managed plan is driven by our internal client success team, which uses a very well-oiled, well-designed playbook for how to use our tools inside other people's businesses to reduce their risk of an attack or, if one happens, the impacts of it, and help those customers who don't have time to do a lot of those activities. We built a plan through which, in a couple of meetings, every few months, we can take those actions for them using our existing tool and take security as a responsibility, more or less, completely off their hands. This is a big win for us because our customers said, “Absolutely, this is something that keeps me up at night.”Brian’s recommendation of a tool
Email sequences inside HubSpot Our CRM Other CRM that has a similar functionalityBrian’s one key success factor
I have to say writing. As businesses realize the benefits of hiring people in other locations and having more remote teams, the importance of being clear in your goals and in your communication is really, really high.Brian’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
My story would be in the balance of work and as an entrepreneur, to really climb that peak. I could absolutely predict that if we hadn't taken some of that time to be in nature, to give ourselves time away from the computer to take a drive and see this, the next week would have been so much less productive. We would have been much more at risk of burning out, of not being able to go on any longer. In that analogy of having to climb down to go up to the peak, it's so important that entrepreneurs take the time to maintain their balance in life and treat their bodies right, treat their minds right.
[caption id="attachment_5825" align="aligncenter" width="700"] illustration[/caption]The best ways to connect with Brian
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Yes, take me thereMon, 06 Dec 2021 - 28min - 244 - Ep. 243 – Scott Turman’s key success factor is tenacity; never give up. Failure was never an option!
Scott Turman is an IT expert and entrepreneur that has been writing code and cryptographic systems for the last 25 years for the likes of NASA, the Department of Defense, Disney, and other Fortune 500s. He is the founder and CEO of BrightRay Publishing, an all-in-one writing and publishing service for busy entrepreneurs like himself. He lives in Florida with his wife and son.
Most passionate about
About a year ago, we started a company called BrightRay Publishing. We're the writing partners for CEOs, founders, and anybody trying to build their brand. Typically, the book can be a vector onto podcasts, interviews, and the news. We've been doing this for about a year now. We've hired our ninth employee and things are going swimmingly.Scott’s career and story
Twenty-five years ago, I started my career at NASA, as a software engineer. I have a history at NASA. My father was an engineer during Project Mercury, which was America's first foray into space. I started my consulting company. We grew to 25 consultants and that was great. Then, about a year ago, I realized I was sick to death of technology. I was absolutely done with it. I wanted to start something more interesting. I was writing a book on negotiating for nerds – “A Nerd’s Guide to Negotiating.” I'd been trying to write it for 10 years but I just could not get it done. My daughter’s friend was a writer, so we started working together during the pandemic, via Zoom. We got the book done pretty quickly. When I published it, friends asked, “How the heck did you get a book published with how busy you are?” Then someone said, “Hey, would you write my book?” We took the same process. And then we did another one, and another one. And here we are, a year later.Best advice for entrepreneurs
At every point in your journey, make sure the customer is first. Entrepreneurially speaking, my advice would be to start now, fail quick. The quicker you get to it, the quicker you understand the challenge. Start all those things that it takes to run a business as quick as possible. Having great ideas and not executing is like not having ideas at all. You have to just start.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
In the last 10 years, I started a consulting company called BrightRay Consulting. We would have these projects involving two or three engineers. If you're not trying to please the C-level executives at a company, you're going to fail no matter how happy the senior management is. It's just a matter of time. In the past, I really can't tell you who, but there was a fortune 500 top company, where everybody was just thrilled with us, except the C-level managers. The problem was not reporting correctly. We were not sharing our successes correctly with them. And as a result, we shuttled out of there.Biggest success with customers
It was the birth of BrightRay Publishing. We started with one client and then two and then five and then 10. I handled new customers correctly. As a result, we've exploded in growth.Scott’s recommendation of a tool
HubSpot It allows you to send emails and have the right people in your house. It's definitely changed my life. I'm able to sleep at night because I know that we're following up. Everybody is notified, and everybody knows where we are at a given moment.
Scott’s one key success factor
Tenacity Failure was never an option! Never give up. I know that's such a cliché, but maybe you're a day away from success, or a month away from success. Giving up is a great way to never find out.The best ways to connect with Scott
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Yes, take me thereMon, 29 Nov 2021 - 14min - 243 - Ep. 242 - Brian Roland: “As an entrepreneur wherever you are, you're looking for gaps and thinking, ‘How can I fill that gap? How can I bridge that gap?’”
Brian Roland is a Social Entrepreneur and Founder of Abenity, the 6x Inc. 5000 Company that’s powering corporate perks for top brands including U.S. Bank and MasterCard.
And while Abenity provides millions of subscribers with private discounts, the company’s social mission is fighting extreme poverty with every program they deliver.
Abenity recently exceeded a million dollars of total giving and hired a CEO to accelerate growth with their fully remote team.
Brian lives in Scottsdale with his wife and 3 daughters and is investing his time in efforts that help like-minded entrepreneurs establish a social mission of their own.
Most passionate about
In 2006, my brother and I built a SAS company (software as a service) that helps large corporations offer employee perks and benefits to their people. We've negotiated discounts on everything from pizza and the zoo to movie tickets, oil changes, car rentals, and hotels. We put it all in one spot for our clients and brand it to look like the company and the employees saved coupons all over the United States and travel offers across the world where they can enjoy special corporate perks. When we founded our business, we really wanted to stand for something outside of our industry. So, we built our business with a social mission. There was an output to our cause for every input into the business. That is what gives me the most passion and mission at this point in my career.Brian’s career and story
As a third-grader, I was making laminated folders because my folders would tear apart. I started playing the trumpet when I was young. It teaches you to be the entrepreneurial solo artist, where you're running the show and everybody's looking at you. It teaches you to be a team player, where you're sitting in the symphony and blending in so that nobody notices your contribution, but they hear it, they see everything. That led to teaching trumpet lessons, which led to making a CD and moving to Nashville to go to school, which led me to sell cell phones—having the a-ha moment that the music industry is actually not that entrepreneurial. In that role, I discovered this gap: Companies would love to offer perks and benefits to their people but they had a hard time finding the perks to offer and vetting the purchase to make sure they were good. That's how we built Abenity. We've probably built five or six businesses inside of it. This is what led me, two years ago, to realize that the business had grown to a certain level of maturity where the number of businesses that I could launch within Abenity reached its peak in terms of what the team could have accomplished in a healthy way. There was this moment when it was like our business didn’t need an entrepreneur anymore. It needed people to help execute and set standards and focus on growth. Those are areas that fell outside of my passion areas. So, there was time to put the right people in place to take the business to the next level. And that's what we did. Today I'm kind of the chief evangelist for the brand, which allows me to be available here talking to you.Best advice for entrepreneurs
As an entrepreneur, you're really in a testing experimental process all the time. This means you have to be really sensitive to what is, and isn't, working. You have to be really present to what people's needs are. Part of the discovery process of becoming an entrepreneur is looking for gaps and thinking, ‘How can I fill that gap? How can I bridge that gap?’ Wherever you are, you're looking for gaps. That's the makings of entrepreneurship. When you see a gap, how do you fill it? Think about how to fill it and if you're equipped to fill it. That's really step one for entrepreneurship. From there, it's being willing to take the risk, to take that first step and go for it.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
A lot of failures looks like trial and error. It's an iterative process. That's like, “We spent a lot of time and money trying that, and it didn't really work out as well as we thought.” It kind of hits the failure category but we learned so much through the process that it's hard to see it as a failure.Biggest success with customers
I started the business with a social mission. Within five years in the professional world, I realized that no matter how successful you are in work, you hit a point where making more money just doesn't hit the box of “meaningful.” Money is a tool that helps you accomplish your goals and helps you fuel your mind. But it's not nourishing. It's not enriching. It doesn't make you healthy. And so money in itself, if you're looking for money as your nourishment, is never going to be enough. We're very focused on helping eradicate extreme poverty by the year 2030. To date since we started that mission, we've been able to give over $1.2 million toward these efforts through a group called World Vision. Now we have schools built. We have healthcare facilities built. We have microfinance loans that have fueled our entrepreneurs in starting and sustaining their own businesses so that World Vision is not needed here anymore.Brian’s recommendation of a tool
What you do is a tool that tells your story. When your customer understands your story and connects with it and understands why you're doing what you're doing, and that’s the reason why you're in business to meet their needs and then addresses a greater need at the same time—that's very authentic. That builds a really long-term customer. For me, that tool is Google Slides. It's a simple web-based PowerPoint presentation that allows us to give a short, meaningful sales presentation. That's what I've used to put together our impact reports. It's what I've used to put together our perks reports.
Brian’s one key success factor
I believe the biggest success factor is just showing up. It's being willing to take small chances, go out on a limb a little bit, trust that the limb will bend but won't break, and know that you're not so far off the ground that if it does break, you won’t be in very bad shape. It’s just having a healthy perspective as you go out and take some simple risks. My best advice for people out there is to just show up—show up at work, see what you see, pay attention to what's going on.Brian’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I love visiting the mountains. I love the opportunity to feel small. It's a great reminder of how small we all are. Everything doesn't just fit into a simple formula or box. It's complex. From an entrepreneurial standpoint, there have been so many peak moments where we got the customer whom we were hoping to win, where we registered our new millionth member to be a part of our program. We're celebrating on top of that peak and we're kind of doing that slow turn. Then, after we've gone almost all the way around, we find out that we're not all the way up the mountain yet, and that there's more to climb. Like you said, you don't just keep going up from that peak. You have to go down to go back and keep going. So, you put in the work and you do it again. I'm not sure, as an entrepreneur, that you ever reach the top. There is no “summit” moment until maybe you're exiting your business and handing off the baton. It's your own personal summit, but the business continues to climb the mountain. It's a humbling experience to be an entrepreneur because new levels are unlocked at every stage.
[caption id="attachment_4141" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Illustration[/caption]The best ways to connect with Brian
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Yes, take me thereMon, 22 Nov 2021 - 36min - 242 - Ep. 241 – The Most Important Law of Marketing
There are a few reasons why so many entrepreneurs fail. I believe that lack of marketing is the biggest one. And that’s also what entrepreneurs think. According to CBInsight Post-Mortem research, 42% of the entrepreneurs who failed said the number one reason for their failure was ‘No market need.’
Finding the market need is, as I see it, the first and most important role of marketing. It always starts there. It’s all about where is the biggest market opportunity at the current stage of the company. Any company. Otherwise, you might try to go in the wrong direction.
OK. Let’s admit it. What would you say if I asked you what is marketing? You would probably tell me it’s lead generation, social media, building a brand, or the like.
And you are right.
Marketing is everything you need to do to get customers and build your brand. In order to succeed in doing so, you need two things. First, you need to understand who your target audience - your potential customers are... Second, comes the most important law of marketing; The law of Focus.
There is an old legend about a farmer that went to the market and bought a golden hoe. This hoe has the power of digging 100 holes in the ground. So the farmer took the hoe and drilled one hundred small holes all over his farm. Instead, he could use the golden hoe to dig in one place, and then he would have a deep excavation where he could build a swimming pool or another room to his house.
The same is with marketing activities; you can try and do hundred different activities to different audiences with different messages, and you will get zero effect. But you can do a few larger activities for your most potential customers with the correct message and create a most successful company and brand.
In our episode today, I chose to focus on three entrepreneurs that chose to focus on one direction and won the game.
Michael Nemeroff saved the financial future of the family and says: “We do one thing—quickly. That’s our success.” It called focus!
Michael Nemeroff is the CEO and co-founder of RushOrderTees, a fast growing eCommerce custom t-shirt printing and apparel company. Founded in 2002 when Michael was only 17 with his brother and sister, RushOrderTees specializes in screen printing and embroidering services for everyone from teams to small businesses to Fortune 500 companies.
Over the past 18 years, the company has focused on the customer experience by streamlining the entire process with its innovative design studio, incredible service, and the quickest deliveries in the industry.
Michael’s career and story
This is probably the third business that I started. It was like a combination of being on the computer, being a fast typer, and getting lucky that my brother took the first design course, didn’t want to do his homework, and gave it to me. I turned it into affiliate marketing. I had a need to make money because that’s what we needed to survive. My dad was kind of done, shutting down his business with my mom and Ben, his friend said to him, “You’re a great sales guy. Come on the road with me door to door. We’ll sell shirts to pizza shops and restaurants. I’ll show you exactly how it works, where to get the shirts, where to get them printed, and you can be making money this week.” Initially, my dad didn’t have the mindset to do it but then my brother pushed him to do it. And he actually got in the car with them. In the first two days, they sold three different places. I think it was like making about $1,500. I launched a website and a marketing campaign on yellowpages.com. The website just said, “Russia disease needs t-shirts, click” and there was a blinking phone number. That was the entry into taking custom t-shirts online. It was usually a localized business where you would go to a t-shirt shop and meet with the guy. He would tell you when you get them and you’d work out the design with him. So, the online t-shirt idea was a hit.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
When we were growing the business, the problem was that we over-promised. We told too many customers that we would be able to hit their deadline. We actually didn’t know that we weren’t able to, because we just didn’t have the production capacity. We were really young. Over-promising and under-delivering is a real issue because you don’t have to do that. You don’t have to say you can do something you can’t do. But I also think it’s a part of growing.Biggest success with customers
We do one thing—which is custom t-shirts and apparel—quickly. That’s our success. We didn’t really innovate, but in terms of the industry itself, like making something new, but we brought something to the industry that it didn’t have because so we just deliver the exact shirt you want when you need it.Ross Kimbarovsky: “We focus really hard on the customer and the customer-experience throughout every touchpoint.”
Ross founded and is the CEO at crowdspring, where since 2008, 220,000+ experienced freelancers help small businesses, entrepreneurs, agencies, and non-profits with high-quality custom logo design, web design, graphic design, product design, and company naming services.
Crowdspring has worked with the world’s best brands, many of the world’s best agencies, and tens of thousands of entrepreneurs and startups.
Before founding crowdspring, Ross practiced law for 13 years as a successful trial attorney. There's a rumor that Ross left his law practice in 2007 to found crowdspring so that he could wear shorts to work. That rumor is true.
Most passionate about
Crowdspring focuses really hard on the customer. I've been running this business since I started it, for the past 12 years. While we all read a lot about how important it is to focus on customers and how products need to be well-built, as well as that the full experience is important, it takes some time operating a business before you really understand what it’s important. Today, we focus really hard on the customer experience throughout every touchpoint with our product, from the time we meet the customer to the time we finish with them. That includes focusing really hard on improving every aspect of our online marketplace for creative services. We make sure that we have very high-quality designers and providers in our marketplace. We also make sure that our product is easy to use because we have customers from other countries.About the product
Crowdspring is a global marketplace for services. Over the past 12 years, we have built up a base of more than 220,000 designers and service providers helping entrepreneurs, businesses, agencies, and nonprofits with logo design, graphic design, web design, packaging design, even product design and business names for every stage of their growing business. Unlike traditional marketplaces where you pick from bids and proposals, on Crowdspring, you post your requirements and pick from actual designs built to your specifications. So, in a logo project, you get 100 logo designs for your business and you pick the one you love. The designer gets paid and you get the intellectual property rights to that design. Crowdspring is all custom design work. So, it takes the custom design work that agencies may ultimately create for you when they build a brand identity, for example. The other insight we had was that people buy based on portfolios and on people's education. This is what would be done in a traditional marketplace. If you hire a freelancer, you normally look at their resume and portfolio, and see what they went to school for, because you're paying them, anticipating that they're going to create good work for you in a few weeks or months. What mattered is: Were you talented or good at your skill? That's the only thing that matters on Crowdspring because you compete based on your actual work, not pricing. The client sets the price, the designers submit actual designs, and the client picks their favorites.Best advice for entrepreneurs
Stay connected with customer support. Your customer support team is on the front lines. Have dedicated teams that support your clients. Sometimes, you'll outsource it. Ross first became customer support when he built the company due to the following reasons: He wanted to understand “the pain our customers were feeling working with our product. I felt that I could not understand this unless I felt that pain with them.” He wanted to do the job himself first. “I think it's really important. There are things I may not be able to do. I'm not an engineer, so I couldn’t.”
Dan McGaw Best Advice: “Focus on generating revenue. Sometimes it’s much easier to sell and get your customers, not only to raise money.”
Dan McGaw is an award-winning entrepreneur, speaker and the CEO of McGawdotio, an analytics and marketing technology consultancy and SaaS platform, UTM.io.
In addition, Dan also finds time to be a 500 Startups Mentor, and has previously started the first business accelerator in Orlando.
He’s also a thought leader in the MarTech world and CXL instructor on the topic. Having spoken at the leading Marketing conferences and online events, including Traction Conf and Forget The Funnel, his expertise lies in helping businesses extract and interpret the right data to grow their revenue exponentially.
Dan previously served as the Head of Marketing at Kissmetrics and in the past he’s worked as a CMO consultant for a number of high-growth companies, implementing tools, offering support, and analyzing data.
In 2015, Dan was selected to be a United States Ambassador of Entrepreneurship by the United States Department of State, where he had the privilege to advise the government, universities, and private corporations on how to build entrepreneur ecosystems. He even flew out to Mexico to be an entrepreneur ambassador for Tijuana and Mexicali!
Dan lives in Orlando, Florida with his wife, 3 sons and two French Bulldogs. He’s a keen runner and a self made millionaire who grew up in the ghetto, fought his way out, and is very grateful for the hardships he had in life as it taught him the persistence and grit required to succeed today.
Most passionate about
What I’m most passionate about today, of course, is marketing technology and marketing analytics. This is a big area where I spend a lot of my time. I love building marketing technology and sales technology stacks with our clients and with a lot of different people.Best advice for entrepreneurs
Focus on generating revenue. To do sales, you have to talk to customers, you have to talk to prospects, you have to get out there and sell your product better to generate revenue. That’s the fastest way to grow. I’m a big believer in bootstrapping. Sometimes it’s much easier to sell and get your customers, and not only to raise money.Want to learn how to start your Entrepreneurship?
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Yes, take me thereMon, 15 Nov 2021 - 40min - 241 - Ep. 240 – Michael Cannavo – Super73: One of the biggest tools that have worked for us has been our organic engagement on social media.
Michael Cannavo started his career on social media. He was able to infuse his own understanding of viral content, social platforms, and demographic interests into Super73, causing it to accelerate the growth and visibility of the company.
As the company grew, so did his social media presence. With 500,000 followers online, Michael has been able to pull back the curtain on what life is like within Super73, how the company has succeeded, and where it is going next.
Most passionate about
My passion comes from creating things that haven't been created. Whether that's through marketing or products, it's all about bringing something new to the table and looking at it with a fresh set of eyes.Michael’s career and story
We founded Super73 back in 2016. It was built on the ashes of a couple of failed businesses. It was about finding the right product for the right time. Here we are five years later. We just crossed over a hundred employees. Over the last year, we've been working to release new products that fit more parents and grandparents—kind of expand that range. Right now we're seeing anyone from 14 years old up to 94 years old. It's been a blast.Best advice for entrepreneurs
I think our connection to the customer has helped us. We sell directly to the consumer. We don't go through dealerships or retail stores too much. One of the biggest things that have benefited our company is that we actually hire from the community. So, we hire customers all the time.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I think it’s a matter of really understanding what they want. Early on, we had this idea of what we wanted to do, and we kept trying to insist to our customers, “Hey, this is what you want. This is the product for you.” We were missing a few key features. We heard that directly from the customers and I think it has really changed the way that we view our products, from designing to prototyping to testing it. We really engage with the customers now.Biggest success with customers
We recently released a bike called the ZX. It's not necessarily too remarkable of a product, but it is a perfect product for a demographic that was asking for it for a long time. We really took into account what customers were saying in the comment sections, what they were saying on reviews. That really created something so magical because it was exactly what our customer was looking for. When we released that bike, it was positivity across the board. Everybody was so happy. The customers were happy. Our design team was happy.Michael’s recommendation of a tool
One of the biggest tools that have worked for us has been our engagement on social media, downloading all of the apps. I wanted to grow our TikTok presence. TikTok is an app that is primarily for Gen Z. It's about 94-95% Gen Z.Michael’s one key success factor
I would say it is our ability to understand where we've misstepped. It's our ability to go back to the drawing board and say, “Hey, we could have done this better.” What I love about this company is that there are no egos here. It's this constant evolution of growth. And I think that has been a massive success factor in our company. Anybody can come in with any idea. And it's a valid idea that we're willing to listen to.Michael’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
When I do anything, whether it's going on a hike or climbing or walking or doing a project, all I want to do is finish it. I want to do everything in one day. I want to hike to the top in one day. Super73 has taught me that this is the quickest way to destruction. It is the quickest way to exhaustion. It's the quickest way to missing very important things. You can be hiking up a mountain and, because of your eagerness to finish, sometimes you miss the greatest views and the most important moments. I think in regard to Super73, we've been very slow to climb the mountain. We've taken our time.
[caption id="attachment_5825" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Enjoying the View - illustration[/caption]The best ways to connect with Michael
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Yes, take me thereMon, 08 Nov 2021 - 18min - 240 - Ep. 239 – Yaro Starak: “You have to actually meet your customers where they are… Then present an alternative pattern or way to solve their problems.”
Yaro Starak is the co-founder of InboxDone dot com, an email management company with a team of 25+ serving clients including restaurant owners, venture capitalists, accountants, doctors, lawyers, real estate agents, car retailers, online coaches and more.
Yaro has made 30+ angel investments in tech startups including Steezy, LeadIQ, Fluent Forever, FitBod and Nutrisense, has property investments in Canada and Ukraine, and in partnership built a 3.6MW solar farm.
During the mid-2000s Yaro sold his first company, BetterEdit.com, then built an online education business, Blog Mastermind, selling over $2 Million of his books and online courses, as he traveled the world, living in 26 different cities.
Yaro has been featured in SkyNews, Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Huffington Post, Business Insider, Foundr and hundreds of media outlets and events.
Most passionate about
I'm passionate about my own company right now, InboxDone. I'm also passionate about angel investing, which is something I've done more of recently. It's exposure to great ideas and great people. I have a podcast as well. I love doing podcast interviews with exciting and interesting people.Yaro’s career and story
When I was 18 years old, I entered university. It was the dot-com boom. I already knew I don’t want to have a job, a boss, an alarm clock that would force me to wake up at a certain time, a cap on my income potential. I just wasn't sure how to make enough money to survive given that I didn't want those things. So, I knew that entrepreneurship was the likely path. With the dot-com boom happening and me entering university, I was given access to the internet. I was constantly exposed to ideas on digital space. So, I started a website. It was more of a hobby about a card game I played called Magic: The Gathering. I made some money from advertising. Eventually, I had a little e-commerce store selling the cards and learned a lot. After graduation, I started what I call my first real business. It was called Better Edit and it was an academic editing service that grew into a full-time income for me. Most importantly, it was a digital business that I could travel with. Basically, I could do what I had always dreamed about—not have a boss, live where I wanted, and be independent.Best advice for entrepreneurs
Even today, with our current business, it’s about the customer and figuring out not just what they want, but the psychology behind how they're dealing with that problem. You have to actually meet your customers where they are, then present information that gets their attention. Secondarily, you have to present an alternative pattern or way of doing something to solve their problems.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I had a company that I didn't mention in the story because it was a failure. It was an advertising management company that I started as a proper startup. I got two co-founders and we were attempting to essentially build a platform that would help us. We started building a software platform but I didn't really realize and understand what the customer base needed. They were just so far away from being capable of doing that. Ultimately, we couldn't help them solve the problems and we didn't have a workable business.Biggest success with customers
To me, meeting the need of helping the customer break free and delegating is the biggest customer success. Talking about the business too. It's not always the nuts and bolts. It's the idea that, by delegating, you get to focus on your creative genius or your family, or you get to focus on exercise and health where these things may have been neglected because you were too busy doing all the everyday routine tasks, including email and your calendar.Yaro’s recommendation of a tool
It's more about my team managing our customers than me because I'm on the marketing side and my team is on the customer service side. We use Process Street. It's kind of like a task management tool or more like a to-do list manager. That’s what I like to call it.
Yaro’s one key success factor
I've always loved the connection between consistency and If you are consistent, you allow compounding to occur. I've seen it over and over again in every single business, and not just business.Yaro’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I've spent some time in Vancouver, which is a city surrounded by mountains. There's always that sense of “What is up there? What does it look like? What does it feel like?” I know it's probably beautiful and, like with every mountain, you see an amazing view, but there's something more than that. It's that sense of the achievement of the experience. There's a bit of a treadmill for entrepreneurs where you have this goal in the future that you want to reach. You feel a momentary high, and then you realize that it isn't as fulfilling as you expected it to be while you were trying to get there. So, you have to set a new goal, another higher mountain to climb, and do it again. It's the climbing of the mountain rather than being at the top. But I do feel that they go hand in hand. Enjoy every day, but celebrate when you do reach the top. I have to keep adjusting what the top of the mountain might be for me given the conditions I'm working within, and then just enjoy each day—have that consistent compounding that I'm doing.The best ways to connect with Yaro
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Yes, take me thereMon, 01 Nov 2021 - 29min - 239 - Ep. 238 – Serioja Glorie – Sergei’s best advice for entrepreneurs: “There’s just one simple rule and it’s never, ever give up. You just have to keep going.”
Serioja Glorie is an enthusiastic Serial entrepreneur. He has a wealth of knowledge on e-commerce that can be quite beneficial to every business owner.
His automation service journey started because of his personal success & demands by others to tread similar paths that yield positive results. He broke a lot of barriers and utilized an ever-evolving landscape that has helped to grow and establish a new formula.
Serioja has launched the first Multi-Market Automation Service and thereby proffering solutions to problems that are encountered by entrepreneurs.
Most passionate about
I'm basically trying to provide the freedom of financial independence. It's financial freedom, which we try to provide through e-commerce. E-commerce automation means you can own your own e-commerce store on Amazon or Walmart without having to manage it or handle it.Sergei’s career and story
I've been a salesperson my whole life. Really, I was a door-to-door salesman. I was an insurance salesman. I was a car salesman. I had tens of companies, if not a hundred companies, little startups that I was always trying. I sold LED screens. I was in construction, myself, working in construction. I tried real estate. I didn't want to think about money or success anymore. I wanted to think about filling my emptiness inside. So, I packed my stuff and moved to Thailand. I started a kebab business. I started wine distribution. I mean, I had my own club. There were so many things I tried. And so many things still didn't work for me. I tried the MLM thing too, which obviously didn't work. It brought me to Forex trading. Finally, I started to take a break from Forex trading and opened my very first personal Amazon store. That was basically when my e-commerce journey started. I had a team of five running my store, doing $50,000 a month, making $10,000 in profit—which I paid them a share from, of course. I started posting that on Facebook. Before I knew it, someone was asking me, “Hey, can you manage my store too?” I told them, “Why not? Let's just do 50/50 and give me a thousand bucks.”Best advice for entrepreneurs
There’s just one simple rule and it's never, ever give up. You just have to keep going. If you have that kind of mentality, that kind of mindset, that no matter how many times you fail, you will learn from it, you will not get discouraged. You will just keep moving or try something else.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I had already approved 50 clients and was making money for them. But for me, personally, it took 10 months. So, people complained to me: “I’m not getting approved in two weeks or one month.” Well, like I said, they basically gave up before they even started. These are some of the challenges that I face for customers.Biggest success with customers
There's a client I had, I just posted something. This client made $29,000 in a single month. Obviously, that is a very big achievement for us. We did over $250,000 in sales in one month. But what people don't realize is that this client needed more than $150,000 to be able to process all these sales—basically, to make that money. So, there's a challenge to that, but I would say that this kind of success is incredible.Sergei’s recommendation of a tool
I don't micromanage because I have a pretty big organization already. I just use FaceTime, Skype, WhatsApp, or Messenger.Sergei’s one key success factor
It really comes down to the fact that I didn't ever give up on anything. If I have a passion for something, I just go for it. That's the same thing I did with the e-commerce and it’s the same thing for which I will always have that flame burning in my heart. It's having the courage—or having the balls, as they say—to do something and do whatever it takes until you get there.Sergei’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I'm a mountain man. I love the nature of the mountain. I love the fresh air and we are basically in the winter. I can ski there in the summer. I can hike. So, yeah, I literally live in the mountains. I love the mountains, and it really reflects entrepreneurship. It's like always running up to the mountain and maybe, when you fall down, you'll roll back a little bit. Then you'll get back up and get farther. The target is always the peak. Why you want to be on the top, why you want to be on the peak, is because you have the view and the overview and the clarity of mind when you reach there.The best ways to connect with Sergei
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Yes, take me thereMon, 25 Oct 2021 - 31min - 238 - Ep. 237 – Toccara Karizma’s key success factor: “For me, it’s mindset. I don’t ever believe in chasing money. I chase joy, and money naturally follows.”
Toccara Karizma is a digital marketing consultant and business growth strategist. She is the CEO of Karizma Marketing, a full-service digital marketing agency dedicated to growing elite eCommerce brands online through email marketing, social media marketing, PPC, SEO, website conversion optimization, and more.
Having built her own successful eCommerce business back in 2007, Toccara is now considered one of the world's top eCommerce marketing experts. Her out-of-the-box approach to digital marketing and expertise in the online business growth space is why I've asked her to join me today.
Most passionate about
I own a seven-figure digital marketing agency with a heavy focus on e-commerce clients. I had grown that business to be an international company and it was quite successful. I have a background in business economics, so I knew that my place was in scaling brands and that I could do it very well. That is where I got my start. What I'm most passionate about is building e-commerce brands. I love figuring out how to scale them.Toccara’s career and story
I'm the daughter of two entrepreneur doctors who worked very hard and taught me that I could do anything I wanted. I realized that I didn’t want to work for anyone else. I just don't like fluorescent lights and being in a cubicle. And I knew there was more for me out there. I got pregnant with my son and decided, like many other entrepreneurs listening today, that I wanted to solve a problem: I couldn't find cute clothing for my son. So, I had to create it myself. There was so much when it came to the inventory, the output of money in advance of sales, and those types of difficult decisions that every entrepreneur has to make. I realized that there was a different business model here that I knew really well, which was a very low fixed-cost business model: I spend money only after I've received it versus prepaying for things. Four years later, officially being an ad agency, as a single mom and with an excellent team behind me, here we are at seven figures. So, that was the journey.Best advice for entrepreneurs
My best advice about what has worked really well for me is getting on those one-on-one calls with your potential clients, especially if you're selling a high-ticket service, because they need to hear from you. Really listen to them and their problems. Be fully transparent and honest. Tell them whether or not you think it would be a good fit. They so appreciate it when you give them free advice and tell them, “I think this would be a better option for you.”The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I have a two-fold failure. The biggest failures are taking on clients without the bandwidth, without the support system that I need. We are in demand and are blessed to be in demand. At some points, we want to take on clients when we just don't have the right support team in place. And that's not a fair thing for us to do because when we do that, we don't give them the best results or the best client experience with us. We want to be the Four Seasons of ad agencies. The second failure would be taking any client, especially when you’re newer. That was when we failed because we weren't working with a partner that had everything in place. It was kind of like putting a Ferrari engine in a VW Bug.
Biggest success with customers
I stand for full reporting. When we talk to our customers, it's almost like we're flipping all the ways in which they were mishandled and mismanaged by other agencies and saying, “You deserve this.” We do full transparency. We'll tell you when we're wrong and when we've done something wrong. We want to meet with you regularly and build a long-term relationship. We're always on camera with them. So, it's doing business with people. My son was working on a project at school. (He’s in high school now.) He was using a video editing software. I looked up that video editing software’s ads because I ran ads, and I realized that they were struggling. They just did not have great customer feedback. I went directly to this company, it's a SAS company, and said, “Can I get connected with your director of digital marketing?” I got the client, and I think it's funny because I had just interviewed someone for my own YouTube.Toccara’s recommendation of a tool
Organization is key and automation is really key because as soon as you get those in place, it's tripling your staff. There are other project management tools, but Asana has eliminated at least 90% of our emails. It has served us well in terms of accountability, breakdown, workflow, client approvals, and so much more. We work heavily out of Google Drive. It is everything because it allows for endless (as of right now) storage. As an ad agency, we have very large files that we're constantly transferring. Using Drive with our clients helps keep everything very organized. And then from a marketing approach, of course, we're in Google Analytics every day. Shopify is one of the leading e-commerce platforms. We believe heavily in them. If you are an e-commerce brand, I cannot stress Klaviyo enough. It truly is the gorilla in the room when it comes to email marketing specifically for e-commerce.Toccara’s one key success factor
I think, for me, it's mindset. It really is. I've dove very deeply into mindset and never chasing money. I don't ever believe in chasing money. I chase joy, and money naturally follows. So, for me, it's positive affirmations, its visualizations, it's a visualization board in front of me.Toccara’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I have this hike in Hawaii, where I'm located. We have a lot of hikes. This hike has a beautiful Hawaiian name; it's the Captain Cook hike, and it is maintained by the public. This hike has not been maintained for a while and we have something called elephant grass here. As you can imagine, elephant grass is grass on steroids. It's gigantic and it hurts. It will actually cut you everywhere. I go alone when I want to do some self-reflection and thinking. So, I went on that hike alone and started going down it. The grass got thicker and thicker, and I couldn't see where I was going. I was by myself. In my mind, I was going through Friday the 13thbecause I couldn't see more than two inches in front of me. It was just full forest grass. Eventually, a couple came and spooked me. They spoke to me, came right out of the grass into my face, and I got very scared. My heartbeat was racing a million miles a minute. What I learned that day, metaphorically, is that when the path is too difficult to continue going down, it's okay to turn around and take an easier path, a different path. Metaphorically, every time I go on that hike, I get a new life lesson. That day was a life lesson. When there were challenges, I tried so hard and it became so difficult that it was a losing battle. I had to give myself grace and permission to say, “It's okay to stop, to turn around and take a different path.” That is one of my favorite hiking and climbing stories.
[caption id="attachment_7507" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Captain Cook Hike | Hawaii[/caption]The best ways to connect with Toccara
Karizma Marketing - ad agency Toccara Karizma - free marketing resources, marketing blog, consulting, digital courses and more Social Media Profiles: Instagram Facebook Youtube LinkedIn Twitter
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Yes, take me thereMon, 18 Oct 2021 - 27min - 237 - Ep. 236 – John Thalheimer: “I believed everyone in the world needed my products, and it wasn’t true. that’s the biggest challenge entrepreneurs have.”
John Thalheimer is an award-winning management consultant, speaker, and author who has helped hundreds of businesses and thousands of entrepreneurs and small business owners transform their potential into extraordinary performance. The secret is in learning the ability to make the right behavioral decision in the moment to reach the desired outcomes. It’s simple. It just ain’t easy. John teaches small business owners and entrepreneurs how to make the right decisions about their company to take it to the next level.
In his new book, The Truth About Selling, John teaches us how to influences others to invest in our ideas, products, or services.
Most passionate about
My real passion is focusing on the human side of work My main focus has been on the employee. How does that employee achieve what they want to achieve at work? How do they perform well and all that kind of stuff? But it's also about that customer and client and how we get them to make that decision.John’s career and story
My first career was in theater. I was a production manager, lighting designer, set designer. At the time, I was in my early 30s. I’d been doing it for 12, 15 years, and it was time for me to do something different. I went into what I call my lost years. I did manufacturing for a while. I did hospitality. I did retail. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I had an opportunity to work in corporate America at a company called QVC, which is a television network. One of the things QVC did well for us, when we were working there, was expose us to the whole business, and not only the production side. I was in operations at first, but then I got into the human resources side and the talent side. I got laid off. I wanted to be an executive coach, to help executives get better. So, I started that journey, but I realized that my main focus was on the small business owner, the middle-tier management team.Best advice for entrepreneurs
I believed everyone in the world needed my products, and it wasn’t true. There are three levels that I look at. At the first level, people out there see value in your product or service. Then there are people who have the resources to embed. The third category is people who have the problem you solve.
When we think of three circles, our market is in that overlapping section. I think that's the biggest thing I see when I'm talking to entrepreneurs. They're like, “Oh, my product is great, everybody wants it.” And they don't narrow that market down to a set of people who are actually going to buy and invest in it.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
One of the things I did was go out and get warm leads. I would do a free workshop or a presentation. The failure was that I would give great information and people would like it, but I was never able to get them to take that next step and invest in me. So, I struggled with that for a long time. I would just keep going.Biggest success with customers
I got my wife a biscuit-making class. She could go to this class to learn how to make Southern biscuits. I go to this class thinking, ‘Here I am, I'm going to be learning about biscuits.’ However, as I sat in this class, I started realizing the effectiveness of the facilitator. I said, “Here’s the thing that we all have to do as sales professionals. When we're working with our customers, we have to create a repeatable experience that gets us to where we want to go.” It's selling products, selling information, selling whatever we're trying to do—we have to create something that's repeatable. And so my wife and I created a recipe that we use.John’s recommendation of a tool
My biggest turning point was when I hired a virtual assistant.John’s one key success factor
For me, it's constantly innovating and seeing things from different perspectives. And, I guess, really, it’s being able to take in information from many different sources and allowing it to change the way I look at the world. I have this saying; it's called the advantage point.John’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I think the same way. I love that whole visual of entrepreneurs climbing mountains. When I think about that, climbing that mountain, a lot of us as entrepreneurs, we know what we want to do. We know what we want to build. We see that there, but as a coach and somebody who works with entrepreneurs, I am more interested in “where are you?” Because here's the thing: When we want directions, when we want to get someplace, not only do we need to know where we're going, but we also need to know where we are, because between those two points, we have to make the right behavioral decisions. There are going to be hard things on the trail. There are going to be things that come up. Maybe there will be wind. When we get near the top, something might try to push us back. Maybe there will be fog. Maybe there will be rain. Maybe there will be a bear. All these things come up that we have to work around so we can get to that time.
[caption id="attachment_5160" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Illustration[/caption]The best ways to connect with John
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Yes, take me thereMon, 11 Oct 2021 - 27min - 236 - Ep. 235 – Steven Hoffman: You can’t generate demand. Demand is either out there or not. In that case, you should kill the product and move on.
Steve Hoffman (Captain Hoff) has had more careers than cats have lives, from Hollywood TV exec and game designer to manga rewriter, voice actor, animator, electrical engineer, studio head, and video game designer.
Today, he’s the Captain & CEO of Founders Space, one of the world’s leading startup accelerators. Founders Space was ranked the #1 incubator for overseas startups by Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazines.
Hoffman is also a venture investor, founder of three venture-backed and two bootstrapped startups, and author of several award-winning books. These include “Make Elephants Fly” (published by Hachette), “Surviving a Startup” (published by HarperCollins), and “The Five Forces” (published by BenBella).
Most passionate about
I am most passionate about helping entrepreneurs, not just financially but also in reaching their personal goals, helping them do something meaningful with their lives and actually make an impact on the world.I see myself less as a business person and more as a creator.Steve’s career and story
When I was a child, I began making movies. By the time I graduated high school, I had made over 50 movies.I made lots of games—board games, role-playing games. I even programmed computer games. So, I was always creating and I wanted to be a creator.I went to college in electrical, computer engineering, but after I graduated, I felt like my creative side was lacking. So I applied to graduate school at the two top films: NYU in New York and USC in Los Angeles.I got my graduate degree in film and television, then went off to work in Hollywood. I quickly rose to the position of television development executive at a major TV production company.I jumped from Hollywood to the largest game company in the world at the time, which was Sega in Japan. A I began working with them, creating interactive entertainment.I launched my career as an entrepreneur. I came back to Silicon Valley, my home, and launched my first gaming startup.Best advice for entrepreneurs
A lot of entrepreneurs think they have to have an epiphany, a big idea, or they shouldn't jump in and be an entrepreneur. But my experience has shown me that the idea you begin with doesn't really matter because being an entrepreneur is a journey. And usually, the idea you begin with is wrong. Many entrepreneurs fail because they stick to their original idea. Those who succeed tend to change ideas all the time.I tell entrepreneurs: Don’t go out there with one idea; pick a direction and go out there with many ideas. Then, engage with the customers until you figure out who your customers are and what they need.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I have had a profound failure and that was when I came up with an idea to create character avatars on the internet that people could control and that could walk and talk on any website.This idea was so compelling that we had, yes, Disney, and all these entertainment companies, all these singers and entertainment people, flocking to us saying, “This is an amazing idea. We want to work with you.”We raised a lot of capital and put this idea out there into the world.Then, all of a sudden, we discovered that people would use our application for a while and then leave.We had to find that magic key that got people to come back and stay and engage long-term because unless we had them long-term, we couldn't make enough money to acquire more customers. We were battling against this new social network: Facebook.Biggest success with customers
One of my biggest successes came very early in my career. It was my first product. The game was called Gazillionaire.The role was, ironically, what I do today: teaching people to become entrepreneurs. So, teaching them how to become gazillionaires. I put all my personal savings into this.Steve’s recommendation of a tool
Startup incubators and accelerators.WeChatIt allows you to communicate with friends, do business deals, engage your customers.Steve’s one key success factor
The key success factor that helps me win is building great teams.If you're building a company and it requires more than you, which is almost every business in the world, and especially if you're building big companies, like the type that I invest in, i.e., big scalable companies, you cannot do it alone.Steve’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I have been climbing mountains my whole life. If there is no mountain, I will make an imaginary mountain. I think human beings need challenges. We want to feel a sense of accomplishment.Sometimes we make mountains, positive mountains. Other times, these mountains become barriers.When I've had projects that didn't work out—like my virtual world project that didn't work out. After that project, I actually went into a depression and created a mountain for myself, saying, “It's just too hard.”Sometimes when you've been beaten down, when you've failed, when you’ve fallen off a cliff, it’s really hard to pick yourself back up.But that's what creates great entrepreneurs—the people who recognize, “Well, that path wasn't the right one. I made a mistake there.” But then you get back up and say, “There are other paths.” There are always other paths to the top.The best ways to connect with Steve
My WebsiteSteve’s bookSocial Media Profiles:FacebookLinkedInWant to learn how to start your Entrepreneurship?
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Mon, 04 Oct 2021 - 36min - 235 - Ep. 234 – Vikrant Shaurya’s best advice: “start small, think big.” in my first business, I was doing the complete opposite and ran out of money in six months…”
Vikrant Shaurya is the CEO and Founder of BestsellingBook.com. He’s also the author of two #1 bestsellers: P.O.W.E.R: The Success Mantra, and How to Write a Bestseller: Become a Bestselling Author, Attract High-Value Clients, and Skyrocket Your Authority.
Vikrant is the most-viewed author for “eBook Publishing” on Quora and is recognized by the National Academy of Bestselling Authors.
Most passionate about
I'm in the book publishing industry, where I help entrepreneurs publish their books.We help them turn their ideas into best-selling books through “done for you” book writing, publishing, and marketing services.Vikrant’s career and story
Eleven to 12 years ago, I had just graduated from high school and my dad asked me, “What do you want to become in your life?” At that point, I had no idea, no clue. I was 16 or 17 and I had no vision at all for myself. I was just trying to enjoy my life.I told him that I wanted to be an engineer. I come from India and there is a kind of mentality that if you're not a doctor or engineer, people think that you are a failure.My dad thought that I was serious about my career and in my life. He sold his land so that I could be admitted to an engineering college.One day, I found this book by Robert Kiyosaki called “Rich Dad Poor Dad.” I decided to do something of my own. The very same day, I dropped out of college. I started looking for a business idea and within a few months, I got one.I got some loans from my relatives, my seniors, my friends, and started a business that hired a bunch of employees. I made so many mistakes and within six months I had completely run out of money. I was 18 at the time.Then I discovered self-publishing. This was my introduction to self-publishing or book writing or publishing. I discovered that I could write books, publish books, and make some money out of it.I started writing books. The first book took just 21 days to write. I published that book and in the first month I made $27 in royalties.I wrote another book in just three days and published it. I also did some marketing and that month I made around $440.I started offering a coaching program through Facebook. I also added coaching fees, so I started making some money from that as well. Within one year, I had launched dozens of courses and eBooks and also helped thousands of students with my courses and coaching programs.Best advice for entrepreneurs
My simple advice would be, “start small, think big.”One of the mistakes I made when I started with my first business was doing the complete opposite. I was starting big and thinking small.With my current business, I started very, very small. It was a one-person company, and only when I began to see the opportunity, I hire employees one by one. Now we have more than 40 people in the company and more than a thousand freelance partners.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
We help our clients become bestsellers but one client had this expectation that he would be selling billions of copies of his book.We take care of the launch for one or two months—like, we start, we do the marketing, we do the promotion, and we do the sales. There was a communication gap as well, which I had, where we mentioned something and he interpreted it as something else.I had to make a tough decision. We had helped him write the book, publish the book, but because we had some negative reviews, I had to refund him the money. But the thing is, I learned with the process. That's why, whenever a new client comes, we send them a proposal.Biggest success with customers
A client came to us three or four years ago. He offered a physical product. By this point, [we had been] helping people who were in the information industries, like people who were speakers or coaches, experts, people who had some kind of a messaging story to share. But this entrepreneur came to us with a physical product, like a physical store where he offered a natural solution for curing diabetes.So, we wrote the book for him and published the book. It became a bestseller and all these things. After six months, when I got connected to that client, he mentioned that he was able to use that book to get on hundreds of podcasts and many television shows. I also was able to double his business within six months, just using his best-selling book.Vikrant’s recommendation of a tool
LinkedInOne of the best ways to regenerate most of our clients is by LinkedIn sales numbers.warmer.aiJust copy and paste the LinkedIn profile link of any person into warmer.ai and hit enter and vision. Usually, within four to five seconds, it creates maybe dozens of personalized outreach.Vikrant’s one key success factor
One of the key factors that have helped me keep moving is persistence.Don't worry about what will happen, whether it is going to be good or bad. Just keep on moving.Vikrant’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I'm not a mountain person. I'm a beach guy. However, three years ago, I moved to a new city after my wedding. It's a really beautiful place. We are surrounded by mountains and rivers. There’s beautiful weather over here, throughout the year.I enjoy mountains as well. Of course, whenever you reach the destination, when you see the view, it is a really great feeling, talking about the journey, the entrepreneurial journey.First of all, whether you are going on a mountain or an entrepreneurial agility journey, you have to prepare yourself. Second, whenever you go over there, you have to understand that you are going into that path, knowing that the journey could be good, the journey could be bad. But the thing is, you have to enjoy it.Sometimes rains could come, right? You have to be prepared for that. The thing is, you have to prepare for anything.So, understand that anything could happen, but you have to keep going, keep on moving in the entrepreneurial journey as well. Anything could come. Maybe you will go bankrupt. You will have no money left. Maybe some of your really great employees will leave. Maybe your relationships could suffer. You have to get yourself mentally prepared for that.[caption id="attachment_4932" align="aligncenter" width="700"] illustration[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Vibrant
My WebsiteSocial Media Profiles:Vikrant’s LinkedInFree resource for REACH OR MISS audience:Bestseller Blueprint Checklist
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Mon, 27 Sep 2021 - 35min - 234 - Ep. 233 – Anthony Blatner: “You’re not going to be able to do everything by yourself. You’ll need to surround yourself with other people that will push you and whom you’re going to learn from.”
Anthony Blatner is a tech founder, ex-IBMer, and the founder of Speedwork Social: a top LinkedIn advertising agency. After watching a lot of companies with great products or services fail because of ineffective marketing, Anthony started Speedwork Social to help those businesses unlock their B2B marketing potential and achieve explosive growth.
By blending his experience in marketing and software, Anthony helps businesses reach high-level decision makers at scale using LinkedIn Ads and technology. Having managed millions in ad spend and generated over 100,000 new sales opportunities, it is safe to say Anthony is one of the top leading LinkedIn ads experts in the industry and in a way, is only getting started.
Most passionate about
I'm one of those people who spends more time on LinkedIn than any other platform.My specialty is helping people with LinkedIn ads. That's what I do day in and day out. We specialize in helping create and manage LinkedIn ads and campaigns for different types of B2B organizations.Best advice for entrepreneurs
The thing that I end up talking about the most is, if you're an entrepreneur and you're starting a business, talking about the sales and marketing funnel or how you're going to market your business.If you're a new business and you're starting your marketing, and if you're not seeing a direct “contact us” or “free consultation” working out, you'll probably need to lower the barrier to entry and think about focusing your content more on your customer.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
Before I started Speedwork, which is a marketing agency and my current businesses, I had a mobile app development agency. Here in Austin, Texas, we built a whole lot of different mobile apps for a variety of companies.We would build software for them. What we noticed was, after you build an app, you have to put it on the App Store. Then you worry about getting downloads. We saw, in the early days of the iPhone, it was possible to put an app on the App Store, go viral, get a lot of downloads, and be successful in that way.I'd say the biggest challenge was seeing startups spend so much time and money and effort on a new app, but then not think about the distribution and the go-to-market strategy. They’d put it on the App Store and just see it flop.Biggest success with customers
I'd say, for my own journey, it is focusing on LinkedIn ads.When I first started my marketing career, I tried out a lot of different areas. At the time, I never would have guessed that I would be focusing on LinkedIn.Anthony’s recommendation of a tool
Google Data StudioIt's going to tell you something about the stats that can help you optimize campaigns.Google Data Studio itself is free.We're able to blend data from various sources. I can compare, LinkedIn numbers versus CRM numbers and sales numbers.Anthony’s one key success factor
It is my technical background as I approached the marketing world. I appreciate the technical skills that I have.I'd say my differentiator is being able to be comfortable with the tech side.Anthony’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I do have a relationship with a mountain. I've gotten really into running over the last few years. I've done a bunch of random marathons and I’m part of a run club. I like to do a lot of running.Maybe entrepreneurship or startups, you know—you can go at something by yourself and it's going to take a lot of work and training by yourself to hone your skills and learn things. But there are also the times when you're going to need to rely on other people.You’ll need to surround yourself with other people who are going to push you and whom you're going to learn from. You're not going to be able to do everything by yourself. So, surrounding yourself with the right people is important.[caption id="attachment_2801" align="aligncenter" width="624"] illustration[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Anthony
My WebsiteLinkedInRead The Modern Guide To Lead Gen
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Mon, 20 Sep 2021 - 28min - 233 - Ep. 232 – Dan McGaw Best Advice: “Focus on generating revenue. Sometimes it’s much easier to sell and get your customers, not only to raise money.”
Dan McGaw is an award-winning entrepreneur, speaker and the CEO of McGawdotio, an analytics and marketing technology consultancy and SaaS platform, UTM.io.
In addition, Dan also finds time to be a 500 Startups Mentor, and has previously started the first business accelerator in Orlando.
He’s also a thought leader in the MarTech world and CXL instructor on the topic. Having spoken at the leading Marketing conferences and online events, including Traction Conf and Forget The Funnel, his expertise lies in helping businesses extract and interpret the right data to grow their revenue exponentially.
Dan previously served as the Head of Marketing at Kissmetrics and in the past he’s worked as a CMO consultant for a number of high-growth companies, implementing tools, offering support, and analyzing data.
In 2015, Dan was selected to be a United States Ambassador of Entrepreneurship by the United States Department of State, where he had the privilege to advise the government, universities, and private corporations on how to build entrepreneur ecosystems. He even flew out to Mexico to be an entrepreneur ambassador for Tijuana and Mexicali!
Dan lives in Orlando, Florida with his wife, 3 sons and two French Bulldogs. He’s a keen runner and a self made millionaire who grew up in the ghetto, fought his way out, and is very grateful for the hardships he had in life as it taught him the persistence and grit required to succeed today.
Most passionate about
What I'm most passionate about today, of course, is marketing technology and marketing analytics. This is a big area where I spend a lot of my time.I love building marketing technology and sales technology stacks with our clients and with a lot of different people.Best advice for entrepreneurs
Focus on generating revenue.To do sales, you have to talk to customers, you have to talk to prospects, you have to get out there and sell your product better to generate revenue. That's the fastest way to grow.I'm a big believer in bootstrapping.Sometimes it's much easier to sell and get your customers, and not only to raise money.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
In consulting, I have experienced some fascinating ways that we can fail companies. We just had a client that we worked with and, unfortunately, my team member who was leading the project was not capable of doing the work. So, failure happens.Seven years ago, a team member here stole company intellectual property.Basically, we came up with a business idea. I'm in a meeting. We could build this, but we're not going to build it right now because we have a client that it’s conflicting with. Two months later, all of a sudden, in a meeting, the guy’s doing a demo and accidentally shares his screen. On his screen, he shows a Trello board, which has this product on it.We decided to terminate that employee. Unfortunately, the employee also had access to all of our customers and databases. This team member thought it was appropriate to steal one of our customer's email lists and then promote their product, which is competitive to that customer, to their email list. That was a huge data breach for us. Obviously, we and our client attacked this person with lawyers and all that stuff. But it really changed my perspective on, like, “Hey, listen. People are going to do really, really shitty things and you've got to cover your ass.”Biggest success with customers
One thing that I would say was a super big success for us—I don't know if it was luck or if I'm just smart—but for the first year and a half or two years, we didn't really have a niche. We were just taking clients for digital marketing and marketing and technology. We were flailing about to whoever would give us money.There were agencies that did analytics, there were agencies that did marketing automation, there were agencies that did CRM, all these specialty shops. We said, “Nobody is focusing on building you a tech stack. Nobody is focusing on all the tools and how to integrate them.” So we bit that off and it has been wildly successful for us.Dan’s recommendation of a tool
My favorite tool of all time, which has helped me a lot in my business and has helped a lot of our clients, is a product called Autopilot.It’s a marketing automation platform that helps you send emails, text messages, all that stuff.Dan’s one key success factor
Don't quit. That’s the biggest thing that I would say. Just don't quit. You have to keep trying, you have to keep working, and you have to keep getting better. Don’t quit. There's always an opportunity to move on to a better opportunity. But to me, moving on to a better opportunity is not quitting.The best ways to connect with Dan
WebsiteSocial Media Profiles:LinkedInTwitterWant to learn how to start your Entrepreneurship?
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Mon, 13 Sep 2021 - 22min - 232 - Ep. 231 – Mark Firth: “You need to be in control of your audience. You should have your own audiences like an email list, podcast listeners, or phone numbers”.
Mark Firth spent a large portion of his life working a corporate job in London, but he was left feeling unfulfilled and in need of creating an impact. He decided to take an extended break and visit Colombia, not knowing it would be one of the best decisions of his life.
Mark met, fell in love and quickly started a family in Columbia, but he didn't have a job. To support his new family, he wanted to start an online business and remembered that when he worked for corporate companies, like IBM and Siemens, he used LinkedIn to prospect and book qualified sales calls through a personalized approach based on human-to-human connection. In 2017, he founded Linkedpreneurs where he combined traditional B2B sales and online marketing to generate leads.
He has helped thousands of business owners and solopreneurs to consistently book qualified calls that become clients through LinkedIn using their personal connection system called Emotional Brand Intelligence. In return, his clients have more time, money and freedom to make an impact and change their life.
Most passionate about
We help people grow their businesses. We help them see situations and environmental stimuli and friends and conversations differently from how they did in the past. Ultimately, growing a business is not about just implementing a load of tactics and strategy. It's also about being in alignment, doing things that you want to do, and starting to see things in different ways.Mark’s career and story
I started in corporate life.I was at IBM, Siemens, and then at a series of startups.I was trained by Tony Robbins coaches and I've been on a big personal development journey myself. It's my fundamental belief that you cannot lead where you have not been and, as I said, you cannot teach what you do not know.So, I've also been through the frameworks. I can’t force people to change, but I can create an environment.Best advice for entrepreneurs
The best advice I can give to any entrepreneur is to just keep on testing.I believe in helping people create the desire to test stuff and try new stuff, as that is when success really comes. When people start being themselves and start doing things their own way, they find this groove and flow that really suit them.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I deleted an entire email list of 10,000 people in error and the backup failed.You need to be in control of your audience. You should have your own target audience. Many people will get a benefit from having a podcast, even though they're not necessarily paying customers. And my email list was that version of it. And I deleted it by mistake. That was a complete failure for me. It was awful.Biggest success with customers
This comes down to innovation. It really does. It’s about finding new ways of doing things, discovering new things, improving our products, improving our service. That's something we've always done. We started with automated messaging, and as soon as that became effective, we had already innovated a new process.Mark’s recommendation of a tool
I recommend anything that gives you multichannel and allows you to own your audience.I always concentrate on having emails, SMS, phone numbers.Don't trust something you don't control. That's a recipe for disaster anywhere in life.Mark’s one key success factor
Just getting up, even when I get knocked down, has helped me become successful.Mark’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I think people forget to look in the rearview mirror of life at how many skills they've learned, how many experiences they've had, how many people they've helped. Mothers who brought up kids, fathers who've done the same. After we lose perspective, we're already at the top of a mountain, but if you want to climb more, don't start by looking at the bottom. Look at the top. That's the best way to do it.[caption id="attachment_5672" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Illustration[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Mark
My WebsiteSocial Media Profiles:LinkedIn - LinkedInWant to learn how to start your Entrepreneurship?
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Mon, 06 Sep 2021 - 23min - 231 - Ep. 230 – Karl Maier: “The team is how you make the work. Any one player can only go solar, but as a team you can go much further.”
Karl Maier founded Abunden to help internal and external business advisors be even more effective in helping their clients to grow and succeed. Abunden is the third software company Karl has co-founded.
In his various roles over the past three decades, he has been part of the leadership team in six established companies which have at least doubled sales in two years. Leveraging his successes, Karl developed the Abunden Framework© and led the development of the practical management tools in the Abunden Tools App. These online SaaS (Software as a Service) tools build the management structure for companies to grow and succeed.
Karl received both his MBA and BA from Rice University in Houston. has been the chairperson for the Rice University Business Network and the Houston District Export Council as well as a board member for TiE Houston.
Most passionate about
I'm working to help make coaching better and using technology tools to do that.I’m working on tools to help coaches and business advisors be even better. I see the path forward as adding even more tools and technology to improve coaching and make it more of a 24/7 type of experience for people.Karl’s career and story
I started reading The Wall Street Journal and The Economics. I went to university and studied economics, got my MBA, and went into consulting. Over the years, I've been involved with information systems, computer systems. I've done finance, accounting, processes, many different things. Over the decades, I've put together what I’ve seen, the keys to growing companies. To me, it’s the most fundamental.Early in my career, I was part of a large consulting organization. I was part of a team doing projects. We grew from 23 people to over 350 people in about 30 months.Best advice for entrepreneurs
The customer is critical. One of my mentors said, many years ago, that nothing happens until you sell something. So, obviously, that starts with the customer.I think the principal is to talk to a number of different potential customers and really understand what their problem is. Can you solve it in a way that they're willing to pay for? That's the most fundamental part of starting a business, in my mind.Then you have the option to be Hands-on all the pieces of the company, but that limits your growth, or are you willing to transform and delegate it to other people to grow the company? I think that’s a very fundamental choice, one that I would encourage people to reflect on and decide which way they really want to go.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
My first software startup was during the dot-com boom. Everybody said, “Technology is going to solve all the problems.” I think I got sucked into that and I really didn't understand my customers.I was ignoring how the products were actually bought and sold. In the end, the company failed because of that. So that's a lesson. We remember failures better than our wins, I think.Biggest success with customers
We had a service company in the health safety industry. I was part of the C-suite management team. And we really did build a team. There was great communication and connection. People respected each other. They worked hard and were able to really understand what our customer's problem was.High-value people were getting malaria and getting sick. We were able to come in and cut their malaria rate in half the first year and then half again the second year. So we clearly were solving their problem. We were able to come in and solve a problem, do it effectively.We were able to grow the company. We grew it in four years by a factor of seven.Karl’s recommendation of a tool
LinkedInThis has been a great tool for identifying people whom we can begin to build relationships with and get to know.LinkedIn is a fantastic tool and a bit underestimated place where people are free to buy things. It's okay to sell them through LinkedIn.People are coming together to do business. The approach is totally different.Karl’s one key success factor
If I had to pick one thing, I would say it's just not quit.It's not how many times you get knocked down, it's how many times you get up.I'm not the world's best programmer or CPA, but I have a wide breadth of skills, a broad perspective. I think that is what serves me very well in the work that I've been doing.Karl’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I really do enjoy mountains. If you said, “Do you want to go to the beach or do you want to go to the mountains?”, I would definitely pick the mountains.But more metaphorically, I feel like I've been up a few mountains and down a few as well. Hopefully, I've got a few more to climb.At this point, my current company is trying to climb one small mountain right now to get this first technology in place. We see some other mountains beyond that to implement our further technologies even further.The best ways to connect with Karl
WebsiteAbunden - QuizSocial Media Profiles:LinkedIn - Karl MaierLinkedIn - AbundenWant to learn how to start your Entrepreneurship?
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Mon, 30 Aug 2021 - 24min - 230 - Ep. 229 – Jess Chan’s best advice: “just get started and figure it out along the way… entrepreneurs fail when they try to have it all figured out.”
Jess Chan is the Founder & CEO at Longplay, a full-service email marketing agency for DTC e-commerce brands. Within 6 months of launching Longplay, Jess helped brands increase email revenue by 639% within 90 days and increase average order value by over 67%.
Prior to Longplay, Jess was the Chief Marketing Officer at DTC brand Best Self Co where she saw the unique opportunities and challenges e-commerce brands faced in nurturing, converting & retaining customers that fueled her to launch Longplay.
Jess has spoken at events such as DX3 and Digital Growth Summit, and has been featured in Entrepreneur, Influencer Hustle & Thought Catalog.
Most passionate about
Most of my time is spent building up Longplay, which is our full-service email marketing agency for e-commerce brands.Now that our business is more established and we have our foundations down, we are doing a little bit more exploring of new business initiatives, whether it’s launching courses or having exploring partnerships to bring the business to the next level. Also, we are exploring starting an e-commerce business as well.Jess’s career and story
I work in marketing now, and obviously in entrepreneurship, but my background is in actuarial science and economics.That’s pretty much as far away from marketing as possible. With actuarial science obviously, the focus was on statistics and working in insurance companies and risk modeling.In my last year of college, I found a job posting for a marketing assistant and e-commerce company. At that point, I had zero experience in marketing. So, I started off as a marketing assistant and learned a lot in the first few months. I dove right in.When I graduated, I think it was nine or 10 months later, they promoted me to chief marketing officer. That was how I got my start in marketing and digital marketing.Best advice for entrepreneurs
My best advice would be to just get started and figure it out along the way. I think the biggest reason entrepreneurs fail is that they try to have that perfect plan, they try to have it all figured out.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I'd say the biggest failure with customers has been not setting expectations and not having boundaries for my team or myself.We got off to a strong start, but we had to slow down and build those foundations. I think that was a good reminder: If you grow fast, then you slow down and fix the foundations.Biggest success with customers
My biggest success is the fact that like Longplay, as a business, exists and is somehow working and profitable and growing. I really had so little experience and it all moved very quickly.The big success was about building an amazing product, an amazing service that had a market fit and really solved a pain point for customers.Jess’s recommendation of a tool
Shopify and Klaviyo if you're on e-commerce.Sauna and SlackGoogle DriveJess’s one key success factor
My one key success factor is figuring it out as you go and trusting in that. When you trust in your ability to figure things out, it removes all of those barriers to getting started or kicking things off.Jess’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I haven’t climbed any actual mountains but the bounce that I'm wishing to climb next is starting to build a portfolio of different businesses. I've gotten the first one off the ground and it's still growing. We have a really great vision and trajectory for it. Building out that empire, I guess, of e-commerce brands, agencies, services, even physical locations. Seeing where the journey of entrepreneurship takes me and what the next business will be.The best ways to connect with Jess
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Mon, 23 Aug 2021 - 22min - 229 - Ep. 228 – Roger Hardy built a NASDAQ-listed public company with his sister and sold it for almost half a billion dollars. Today he found a new opportunity in the eye care business.
Roger Hardy is a serial entrepreneur with over 15 years’ experience building several technology businesses to successful exits. Hardy founded Coastal Contacts Inc. in 2000, instantly re-writing the business model for contact lens sales and delivery. Drawing from his previous logistics expertise and industry knowledge, Roger seized the newly emerging e-commerce revolution. Roger led Coastal to become the largest online retailer of eyewear and vision related products until it was acquired by Essilor International in what was the largest e-commerce transaction in Canadian history at the time.
In 2018 Roger co-founded KITS Eyewear Ltd. alongside Joseph Thompson and Sabrina Liak. As CEO, Hardy has led KITS through unprecedented growth with a 47% year over year revenue increase.
Most passionate about
We built Coastal Contacts, my sister and I, from startup to a NASDAQ-listed public company and then sold it in 2014, for almost half a billion dollars.Since then, we've been doing investments in real estate and technology.We kept coming back to the optical category. We were excited about the opportunity in optical. It has always gotten us interested in trying to serve customers in a way that exceeded their expectations.We've been working on KITS Eyecare here out of Vancouver, Canada, mostly focused on the eye care business for North America.Roger’s career and story
I worked in the vision category, and while I was working there, I was struck by the fact that I felt that customers were underserved. I think part of it was the timing. The internet was just getting going. And so, like I said, my sister and I built a website and started selling contact lenses.The first day, we had 16 orders. In the first month we had 70,000 in sales, and in the first year we had two and a half million in sales. In the second year, we had 10 million in sales. So, we really knew there was an unmet need in terms of savings and convenience for customers. At that time, the technology innovation was just a website—just putting it online.Today, I think the real technology innovation, like I said, that eye exam just makes it easier for customers to do it online from home or the office, anytime, 24/7, day or night. They can really step into that.The first thing we worked on was growing our subscription business for contact lenses. Today, that's about 25% of our company. The second thing we worked on is vertical integration. We made sure that we had the most technologically advanced optical lab in North America.Best advice for entrepreneurs
Build businesses that serve customers. I think NPS is a great measure to use.What we find is that the more we can focus on and listen to customers and remove any challenges in our business, it takes the experience up for customers. That ultimately is a driver of financial results. It's our opinion that the company with the highest NPS in every category ultimately has the highest value in that category.I would put it as: You want to be getting direct feedback from your customers. You want to be removing all the choke points, anything that's friction, anything that they tell you is even a slight displeasure. You want every customer to be wowed by the experience of being served by you.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I don't want to name names, but we used a payments company that we thought of as being very innovative.We did the due diligence on the company. We thought, ‘These guys are really cutting edge and customers are gonna love this.’ It was a different way of making payments and it was on the front. But that company kind of overstated what they could do. Ultimately, it was a significant cost for us.They had problems processing transactions and their technology didn't keep up with their promises or commitments. We want to be innovative, but with innovation comes some bumps. So, I think you're going to see some challenges when you test things.Biggest success with customers
One of the most successful transitions came from listening to customers.We had a large group of vision-corrected customers and we kept hearing from them, “We love what you've done for us in the contact lens business but can you do something in eyeglasses? We know intuitively that our eyeglasses should not be, you know, $150 or $250. This is a small piece of plastic and two tiny pieces of glass. How can this be $250?” After listening to customers say that over and over and over again, we got to thinking about the category.That's what drove that innovation, that decision to go from just contact lenses into eyeglasses into, now, vision testing and an online vision tool.Roger’s recommendation of a tool
Net promoter score (NPS)This is a system of receiving feedback from the customer’s measure. Who are your promoters? Those people who are out there, telling friends and family, who are the neutrals. And then who are the detractors? The people who said, “Well, it was too slow.”Roger’s one key success factor
I'm persistent by nature—I would say that I can be determined persistent. Also, I think it’s that I can receive feedback and change my approach.That's what I think is key for entrepreneurs. We need to know what the end goal is. What are we trying to achieve? We need to go aggressively in that direction. And then, as we receive feedback from the market from customers, we need to be savvy enough to hear that feedback and alter our approach, to improve.Roger’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
We can see the mountains here in Vancouver. There's a mountain called Grouse Mountain. There’s a hike up it that’s somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half. It’s not particularly strenuous; it's one that everybody can do. When people visit Vancouver, I'd encourage them to do it.It's a great way for us, as a culture, to connect and climb that metaphorical mountain, and the actual mountain, as a team. For me, it'd be no fun to climb the mountain on my own. I love climbing it with people from my team. It gives them access to chat with me and allows me to chat with them in casual circumstances, outside the office. I get to know them personally.I'm always impressed at how fast some of the young folks can go up the mountain. They have to wait for me. And I have to hop in there and get it. I've learned that the trick is to ask them questions and then let them do the talking as I try to do the hiking.All that is to say that, with my mountain climbing, I like doing it with the team. It’s the same with entrepreneurship.[caption id="attachment_7440" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Grouse Mountain[/caption]
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Mon, 16 Aug 2021 - 22min - 228 - Ep. 227 – Andrea Owen: “Success doesn’t happen in a vacuum! You have to ask for help, whether that is with a therapist, your best friend, or your partner.”
Andrea Owen is an author, global speaker, and professional certified life coach who helps high-achieving women maximize unshakeable confidence, and master resilience. She has taught hundreds of thousands of women tools and strategies to be able to empower themselves to live their most kick-ass life through speaking, her books, coaching, and her wildly popular podcast with over 3 million downloads.
Andrea is creating a global impact in women’s empowerment with her books being translated into 18 languages and available in 22 countries.
When she’s not juggling her full coaching practice or writing books, Andrea is busy riding her Peloton bike, chasing her two school-aged children or making out with her husband, Jason. She is also a retired roller derby player having skated under the name “Veronica Vain”.
Most passionate about
After about 10 years as an entrepreneur, I am focused mostly on speaking on stages and writing books.Andrea’s career and story
I Have an interesting story that’s that involves my personal life ae well.I was previously in the fitness industry. I was in my late 20s and was in my first marriage, to someone different from whom I'm married to now.I had heard about life coaching. This was back in about 2002, 2003—very early in the infancy of life coaching as an industry. I was telling my then husband about it, and he was saying, “I think you would be great at this. ,However you need more life experience”.A couple of years later, my husband had a love affair with our neighbor and got her pregnant. So I got my life experience.My life experience got worse before it got better. I got into another terrible, abusive relationship. By the time I was 31, I’d had my rock bottom experience and decided to change my life. I took responsibility for my life.That's how the life coaching portion started. A couple of years into that, I decided to write a book. The university opened the doors for me. I got a traditional book deal with a small publisher, which got my foot in the door. Now I'm on my third book. It has all just fallen into place from there.Best advice for entrepreneurs
You have to ask for help, whether that is with a therapist, your best friend, or your partner. Success doesn't happen in a vacuum. There have to be people who come to support you. That's what I would tell people to work on: Start there if they're having problems with something.This is probably something you've talked about on your show: You have to get very clear on who it is whom you serve and what it is that you do in your work. Don't be afraid to tweak and change this over time.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
There have been several of them and they're all connected in my industry, in online life coaching.It's very scalable to offer group coaching. It's the one-to-many model versus one-to-one and it's the best way to scale your business. So, I started doing that and had some success, but for the most part, it wasn't that lucrative.I would say that facilitating group programs was probably my zone of competence. People would say that I was pretty great at it, but I really didn't like it all that much. I didn't look forward to it. It wasn't where I could really shine. For years I tried, and again, it was profitable enough, but not worth the energy I was putting out there.A few years ago, I decided, “I don't want to do this anymore.” It didn't make any sense because, from a marketing standpoint, it’s kind of the only way to scale. I just decided, “You know what? I'm not going to do it anymore.”Biggest success with customers
My last book, which came out in 2018, was sold to Hachette Books, a division there. It’s a major publisher and the book ended up selling extremely well.It has been translated into 18 languages now and has sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Here's why I think it was successful. First, because I wrote that book and insisted on the title, because that is how I talk to my customers.My biggest successes have been when my intuition taps me on the shoulder and says, “Go that way.”Andrea’s recommendation of a tool
GoogleWe use Google for everything. We use G Suite and I’m very much attached to my Google Calendar. I use Gmail. I use Google Drive. I use Google Tasks. I love that it connects everywhere. A lot of technology does that, but I can use it on any device.A great teamI am incredibly lucky that I have had a woman named Emily who started as my virtual assistant almost 10 years ago and whose position has grown into online business manager.She's excellent at implementing. She's also excellent at following through, which I am not. It's about finding people who can handle things that might be your weaknesses, so that you can keep things running smoothly.Andrea’s one key success factor
It's probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but I don't overwhelm myself by reading books on entrepreneurship or following people, especially on social media. I do listen to some podcasts on the topic, but I know some people who are constantly inundated with books and podcasts and social media.I focus on the one thing that I know will make me money. Right now, it's speaking. That's all I'm focused on.I'm not taking a class on how to grow my Instagram. I'm also not taking a class on, you know, how to grow my podcast. It's too overwhelming for me to do too many things at once.Andrea’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I love this question and I often use that same metaphor of climbing Mount Everest. You can't do it in one day.I was dealt a heavy blow in my personal life. Everything that I knew to be true and safe was suddenly turned upside down. I had never been alone. I had been in a relationship since I was 15 years old.I was at the point where I very much wanted to start a family and settle down, and that got turned on its head as well. I didn't know what the future was going to hold for me.There's a particular part of the coastline in a place called Carlsbad, California, where there are cliffs and people who fly these … I guess they're kind of like drones, but back then they were sort of like remote control airplanes. Small hang gliders. It was like a hobby thing that people were doing, and I stopped to watch them—and I rarely ever stopped on a run. I always just ran and ran and ran, but I stopped because it was interesting. Also, the view was incredible. I was overcome by a feeling of peace and serenity. I can't explain it other than that.At that moment, I just knew everything was going to be okay. My circumstances told me otherwise—yeah, otherwise everything was a mess. Everything was upside down. I had so much drama in my life. I did not know what the next day was going to hold for me. But as I stood there on these cliffs, more or less at the top of this mountain, I was just overcome.You have to stop and take breaks, etc.[caption id="attachment_2589" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Mount Everest[/caption]
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Mon, 09 Aug 2021 - 26min - 227 - Ep. 226 – Chris Mercer “What I am obsessed with is figuring out how to perfect systems as it relates to measurement, entrepreneurship and listening to customer journeys.”
Chris “Mercer” Mercer, co-founder of MeasurementMarketing, is a sought after measurement marketing expert. Mercer (as he’s known) and his team have been helping marketers, marketing teams, and agencies measure their marketing so they know what’s working and what’s not.
First by planning out what’s important to measure in their marketing, then how to actually measure it (using tools like Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics), creating dashboards that are actually useful, and pulling actionable insights from what’s being measured to begin forecasting and optimizing future results.
Mercer spends countless hours reading, practicing, adjusting and innovating to improve his skill set. He has a knack for teaching, and is known for his ability to simplify even the most complex ideas for his audience.
He can be found speaking at conferences and events, such as Traffic & Conversion, Social Media Marketing World, Content Jam, TravelCon, Digital Elite Camp, Baby Bathwater Institute, and others.
Most passionate about
I'm very passionate about the art of systems as it relates to measurement, but also as it relates to entrepreneurship and building brands that are very customer-centric and listening to customer journeys. I think that is absolutely what I am obsessed with right now—figuring out how to perfect those things.Mercer’s career and story
My main background is sales management. I come from everything managing sort of a pipeline by nature.When we moved online, I created a WordPress site to show people how to do WordPress sites, essentially. It was like a membership site. That led very quickly to people saying, “This is a lot of work. Can you build our sites for us?” We created an agency and that's where we sort of grew, digital marketing-wise.We said, “Okay, we're going to build the site and we will also help you optimize the site”—something called “conversion rate optimization.” In order to optimize, and in order to improve, like, an opt-in rate or a conversion rate for a purchase, you have to know what that rate is.We set up Google Analytics for our clients. We would deliver the site with their Google Analytics and say, “Here’s how you can tell any leads you got from Facebook.”Almost overnight, when we made that shift, we started getting a lot of referrals from clients, but they weren't referrals for sites. They were people coming to us saying, “We already have a way but we need help with our Google Analytics.”We wanted to eventually diversify the business because that was a great business. It's still a great channel of revenue for us, but we wanted to be able to diversify.Best advice for entrepreneurs
I think the keyword is going to be deceptively simple, but it's listening to your customer.If you take a second to listen, they will tell you, “Yeah, you're kind of on the right track, but maybe do this instead, or do it in this particular way.” All of a sudden, it becomes a lot easier to grow a business when we listen to our market.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
It was when I did the exact opposite of what we just talked about—when I wasn't listening. I was telling the customer, “Here's how this thing works.” The thing that comes to mind for us is that we have a certification program where we will work with agencies.I think sometimes, too, ‘If it's our idea, it's a good idea,’ but it doesn't necessarily mean it's a good idea. It's just our idea.Biggest success with customers
We were making some changes to one of our offers. Our do-it-yourself training program is called the Measurement Marketing Academy and it's a just-in-time learning platform to learn all this stuff.We noticed way too many people going to the cart, but we weren’t creating more sales. We saw this immediately in our dashboard, and it was weird. It was an odd behavior. So, we went back to our page. We had forgotten to put the price. So, they were going to the cart but not to purchase. They were going to find out how much. Then they were going back to the page to figure it out.Our customers were confused as to what we were, why they had to go to the cart to lower the price. So, we changed that, and all of a sudden, the conversation went the way we wanted.Mercer’s recommendation of a tool
Google AnalyticsGoogle Analytics tells you what's happening, and this is the key for a lot of people. They jump into analytics and can't quite figure out what it's trying to tell them. They have a belief that it's trying to tell them something, but they just aren't sure what.It's an incredibly powerful platform.Mercer’s one key success factor
In my particular case, it is my maniacal belief that any results that we are achieving in our business should not be the result of a person who's working in the middle. They should be a result of the system that that person is using.When I started as an entrepreneur, it was just myself. I filled all the roles of the organization. I'm the janitor, the bookkeeper, the content person. But as I was building the business, I was creating systems that I could then hand over to my future team members.Mercer’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I haven't climbed a mountain in the terms of what I think about in the movies, where it's a rock climber going up the face of a mountain. But I do enjoy hiking through the mountains.We were climbing on the top of Mount Hood and went to a particular part of this mountain. It was just me and a friend of mine. Then we just stopped. It was, like, 10 seconds or 30 seconds. The quietness and the stillness, I have never, ever experienced in life again, because it was so quiet up there. There were no cars, there was no noise. There were no birds. There was no us stomping through the mountain. It was just that quiet.[caption id="attachment_7426" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Mount Hood[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Mercer
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Mon, 02 Aug 2021 - 26min - 226 - Ep. 225 – Aidan Sowa is aiming to reach nine figures in nine years
Aidan Sowa is an entrepreneur who got into the digital marketing space in 2016 due to working with the MIT Enterprise Forum Cambridge.
Aidan is now the founder and CEO of Sowa Marketing Agency. Sowa Marketing Agency specializes in helping luxury realtor get featured in the media, guaranteed.
Aidan believes all entrepreneurs have the choice to differentiate themselves from their competition or die as a commodity.
Most passionate about
I'm the CEO and founder of Sowa Marketing Agency. Essentially, we specialize in helping luxury realtors become the authority in the industry by getting featured on major media sites, like Yahoo, Forbes, and the like worked.Within the next nine years, we’ll try to reach nine figures.Aidan’s career and story
I originally worked with the MIT Enterprise Forum Cambridge.Learned a bit about digital marketing. Eventually, I decided to start my own company around digital marketing, to help entrepreneurs. I wanted to see how that would work. And it did work. I would just have to experiment a lot.Best advice for entrepreneurs
My best advice for any entrepreneur who's starting out is to set their goals; to focus on monthly, yearly, 10-year goals and be able to play it down. So many people start at the beginning of the year and have all these big goals in mind and then they eventually give up.I highly recommend that people really nail down their goals so they know exactly what needs to be done.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I would probably say that my biggest failure as a business owner was taking on every single customer. That was a big mistake because when people came in with really high expectations, I would take them on anyway. And then we've them frustrated with me.When I first started my company, that led to chargeback and almost ruined my business. It was a painful experience. I was fortunate enough that this didn't happen, but it was definitely a pretty devastating blow.Biggest success with customers
One of the biggest things we did is start utilizing our own marketing methods for ourselves. So, being able to not just be seen like any other business, but being able to generate positive media presence and being able to build out our social media services.I feel like that has really impacted the way our customers have seen us, especially all these luxury realtors. They can see for themselves that we truly believe in what we're selling. We're not just trying to sell them on something. It's something of real value.Aidan’s recommendation of a tool
For us, social media is the easiest way to reach customers.We still get a huge number of clients just by sending out messages on Instagram.We're also doing the traditional kinds of social media stories.LinkedInWe have the entire profile built out, and things of that nature, and we've actually automated our invitations. That way, we’re reaching out to clients every single day.Aidan’s one key success factor
One of my key success factors is believing in myself and being able to follow through on what I want to do.It's one thing to write something down, and it’s another thing to take action and really make your goals all day. So, being able to take action is probably the key thing.Aidan’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I've definitely climbed a couple of mountains. I mean, entrepreneurship is sort of like that—just trying to reach new peaks. Once you get to the top, you realize you're not that high at all. There's so much more out there. I feel like that's one of the really cool things about entrepreneurship, as it really opens up your worldview.[caption id="attachment_5825" align="aligncenter" width="700"] illustration[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Aidan
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Mon, 26 Jul 2021 - 16min - 225 - Ep. 224 – Is there a formula for reaching Entrepreneurial Business Success?
The 3 shared traits behind successful entrepreneurships
It took me fourteen years of research that included following 120 entrepreneurs from their first stages, Interviewing more than 200 successful entrepreneurs, and listening to thousands of them. Here are the three factors of the Formula for Entrepreneurial Business Success.
1. New / Non- existing thing - that’s needed
Jon Lee Dumas invented a daily podcast, Jeff bullas started to write about social media when the first innovators seeked for information, Mike Stelzner started to share content for free, Douglas Burdett started to interview authors of new marketing books, John Nemo cracked the code for selling through LinkedIn, Pam Wasley established the interim executive model, Mike Allton built websites for clients and shared content about social media to find more customers when he realized that what his customers really wanted was to learn about how they can use social media. So, he became a blogger and social media educator. and the list goes on.
You don’t need to be the first, and you don’t need to be the only one in the world that offers that product or service, you do need to be the first or unique among your target audience.
The story I heard in my interview with Mike Allton is a great example not only for choosing a new needed service (or in that case, information) but what it takes to find it.
Mike Allton
Mike Allton is a Content Marketing Practitioner, award-winning Blogger, and Author in St. Louis, and the Chief Marketing Officer at SiteSell. He has been working with websites and the Internet since the early ’90s and is active on all of the major social networks.
Mike teaches a holistic approach to content marketing that leverages blog content, social media and SEO to drive traffic, generate leads, and convert those leads into sales.
Mike’s entrepreneurship
I started the Social Media Hat back in 2012. At that time, I had been building websites, and as part of that website business, I was blogging about social media marketing in order to give my prospects and customers helpful information. It didn’t attract people who needed websites, it attracted people that already had a website and wanted to learn about their social media opportunity.So, as a result, I wasn’t growing my online business, but I discovered that I like to write and I like to teach people how to use social media blogging.I realized that the content doesn’t help to sell websites, however, I decided to create a site about social media blogging and that what I did.I’ve used my site as a testing ground for anything related to online marketing. I execute the test and write about it and I found out my audience really appreciates those kinds of insights.And in the meantime, I was experiencing making money through the website and I tested that as well. Affiliate relationships, Google AdWords, Display ads, and many other monetization techniques. The most successful way to make money is to have a product that can you sell a lot of, so it can scale.2. Technology is a success factor
Andres Pira started to use VR systems that allow his real estate clients to walk through and see what they are buying, without actually being there, and sold an extensive amount of units just with this technology. Dorothéa Bozicolona-Volpe uses technological listening tools to focus on understanding customers’ needs to help her clients make their digital transformation. Paul Bratby got some geeks that turned his trading strategy that hasn’t lost a quote for 15 years, into a software. Mellissah Smith worked with a development team that developed the technology for developing automatic marketing strategies without a human.
You don’t necessarily need to develop a new technological tool (although sometimes that’s what leaded entrepreneurs towards a billion-dollar company market cap). However, you must find the technology that will allow you to boost your entrepreneurship to a meaningful level.
I loved the stories of Andres Pira and Paul Bratby about the impact of technology on their success.
Andres Pira
16 years ago, Andres was homeless, sleeping on the beaches of Thailand, starving, frustrated, and angry at his situation. When he reached out to the last of his friends he hadn’t already begged for money from, his friend responded by giving him something that would prove to be much more valuable -a book called The Secret.
Though it did not happen overnight, today he runs over 19 companies, employs over 200 people, and is one of the largest real estate developer in Thailand. He has only just begun his journey and continues to apply the lessons he learned in The Secret, only to see more prominent and significant results.
Andres has narrowed down the 18 principles he uses to achieve success, which is now laid out in his book, Homeless to Billionaire.
Andres’s most recommended tool
A big success for us is we started to use VR systems and walkthroughs with our clients. People can sit in China, Australia, or America and feel like they are actually in that room, unit, or house. They can walk around feel like they are already there and with this technology that we have now and we even have them in offices and shopping malls. Our clients can see what they are buying with a VR system and we’ve sold an extensive amount of units just with this technology.Paul Bratby
Paul Bratby is the founder of Trade The Fifth, an Elliott Wave program designed to educate traders and investors on the financial markets so they can take responsibility for their own portfolios and trading accounts by learning how to ride the profitable Fifth Wave setup.
Paul started in the business over 14 years ago, and combined his career as an Engineer along with his Military Mindset to develop a repeatable trading and investing strategy that he has used to manage 8-figure accounts.
Most passionate about
I retired as a money manager five years ago. But I got bored, so I started a hobby. This hobby was revolving what I was most successful at, which was trading, investing in stocks and shares, and future contracts, these sorts of things. It started to keep me occupied to help people realize their dream.I had a dream to move to Spain, live in a villa by the sea with a beautiful sea view, have a pool, and live a nice and comfortable life. I’ve got all of that.Everybody has their different dreams. What I wanted to do was to share my story and help people in this industry. A lot of people want to take control of their own future, their pensions, their savings, or even by creating more income by trading and investing in stocks and shares and future contracts, so I just wanted to help.It was doing great as a hobby project, helping traders become more successful. I built a great strategy; I’ve never had a losing quote for 15 years by now. So, what I did was getting some geeks that turned this strategy into a software. And it was doing great.Paul’s entrepreneurship development
In May last year (2018), I was in Chicago doing a small training event as part of this hobby project, and an entrepreneur from Silicon Valley came to me and said: “ I just got on a flight because I needed to see you; I think you’ve got a great product. I’ve got a great experience with digital growth, and with startups. I’d like to go into business with you.” So, it was a bit of a shock, but we did it!We started the company in July 2008. We launched the website in November 2018, so we’re coming up to one year. And in that first year, we are one of those strange statistics that one in 10000 tech startups are in profit in the first year. And we are profitable in our first year.We’ve got a cloud-based system, and we’ve gone through hyper-growth because of me having that foundation, that hobby, and that experience, coupled together with my partner that got an eye for growth, hacking, and tech and we had a great first year. I fly to the US four or five times a year, hold live training events that are sold out.3. Strong Social Media Presence is key
Angela Maiers completely changed her professional direction when she realized how she could impact many people worldwide and used social media (140K Followers on Twitter) to spread her message. Smita Nair Jain manages to impact hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs, youth and women through social media; “I’m always there whether it’s LinkedIn or Facebook or Twitter or Instagram. I’m completely hooked on it. I only use the social aspects of social media, so people on social networks are very reactive to me. I’ve got an impressive number of followers on all my platforms, and I’m deeply grateful to all of them”. Mike Allton is award-winning social media blogger that turned his successful website into a testing ground where he executes online marketing tests and writes about it for his audience (Mike has 52K followers on Twitter).
A solid, meaningful social media presence is a must for entrepreneurial business success. You don’t need hundreds of thousands of followers, not even tens of thousands (unless you are a social media expert) however, you need to build your presence on the social media channels that your audiences are using.
Angela Maiers is one of the tens of thousands of successful entrepreneurs that a meaningful presence on social media paved their way to success.
Angela Maiers
Angela Maiers has been listed as one of IBM’s Top 20 Global Influencers, named by Forbes as one of the Top 5 Education Leaders to Watch, in 2017 and 2018, and is among Huffington Post’s Top 100 Social Media Influencers!
Angela founded the global movement, Choose2Matter, in 2014. The non-profit organization grew out of the impassioned response to a TEDTalk she gave on the power of two simple words, that went viral. YOU MATTER!
She is the author of nine books, including the highly-acclaimed Genius Matters and Classroom Habitudes.
Futurist. Innovator. Educator. Entrepreneur. Change Maker. Angela Maiers is on a mission to disrupt the status quo and to empower every individual to change their own world, if not the world around them for the better. It is fair to say she leaves no room unchanged. Please join me in welcoming – Angela Maiers!
Angela’s recommendation of a tool for customer focus, marketing, or sales
I think we all suffer from the “shiny new tools” syndrome. If I look at my journey in social media, my journey as an entrepreneur, I have basically used the same five tools since the beginning. Each serves a purpose and I think that understanding the function of what you want to do has to lead. The purpose has to lead.Twitter. If I really want to know what people are saying, I need to be masterful at learning how to search. The conversations and hashtags are absolutely revolutionary because they allow you to get into the community, the real conversation. You can also do this through Twitter lists and other things.Video. For a different objective, I think the best way to connect with your customers, for them to get to know you as an entrepreneur and as a brand, is through video. Nothing is more disruptive than video. I can do more in a half-hour or hour of video than I can in a thousand blog posts because people can see through you. You can’t fake authenticity, and that is what allows you to reach above. I think it is absolutely essential for every entrepreneur to have a video presence.I hope you enjoyed listening to these four entrepreneurs that each of them is an example for an entrepreneurial Business Success.
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HOW TO START ?
The 7 initial marketing essentials
for entrepreneurs
Want to learn how to choose the best Name and Logo? Not sure which customers to focus on right now and where they are? Want to build your website, or trying to figure out how and what content to share on social media?
Mon, 19 Jul 2021 - 28min - 224 - Ep. 223 – Kevin Urrutia made it super easy for his customers to connect with the company. That what led to his biggest success
Kevin Urrutia is the co-founder of New York based Voy Media who specialise in creating for clients Facebook and Instagram ads that are sophisticated and super creative. Kevin's team are usually half on site and half around the world. During lockdown they have all.
been working remotely. Kevin also has his own podcast - Digital Marketing Fastlane which helps you to build. launch, grow and scale a successful online business.
Kevin is a travel and nature enthusiast. In his spare time, you can find him hiking through Mount Fuji or booking his next adventure.
Most passionate about
For me, the most passionate route is marketing.We do a lot of online marketing here at my current company, which is Voy Media, but it's not just online marketing for other brands.I still do my online marketing for my own companies. I have my own e-commerce brands that I'm working on. What I'm most passionate about is doing marketing for other brands, but using those skills to make my own businesses in my own companies.Kevin’s career and story
We started marketing. A marketing agency wasn't something I wanted to start.When I was running my other companies, I wanted to connect with other founders and entrepreneurs to help them with their stuff. Initially, I thought that Voy Media was going to be a great way to invest in startups.It was a way for me to meet entrepreneurs, but then that turned into, “Hey! We need help with advertising. We need help with marketing.” That led us to turn into a traditional business model. That's how we came up.Best advice for entrepreneurs
My best advice is, for approaching the customer, consider: If you were that customer, how would you want to market your product? How would you want to sell the product? How would you want to handle complaints or returns? I always think about it like that.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
At one point, like any business, you over-promise stuff that you can do. As a new entrepreneur, you always want to over-promise. You want to promise and over-deliver, but sometimes you make the mistake of saying, “Yep, I could do that.” And then you get overwhelmed because you don't know how to solve the problem. You know how to solve their issue. Then the customer does get upset.That’s something I think about. It really affects your journey. When you're working with your new company, you want to minimize those moments. A lot of times, they're just not fun to deal with. And they stick with you for a few days or months.Biggest success with customers
It was when I was doing the cleaning company. We really focused on making it super easy for customers to book and tell us what they wanted for their cleaning.I liked that because it made them trust us to book a service. Cleaning is a very personal thing. You're literally letting a stranger into your home. By having a great, simple price, by answering phone calls, by answering customers’ text messages to us about their apartments, we made customers feel comfortable booking with us.It’s being very customer-focused and customer-centric and trying to figure out what they want.Kevin’s recommendation of a tool
Ebook/BookThe book that's really helping me think about marketing, think about sales and business, is DotCom Secrets by Russell Brunson.It talks about how to run a business and how to make money running a business. It teaches you the core fundamentals of marketing and sales.Kevin’s one key success factor
I think my key success factor is that I believe in myself.Anything is really about just believing in yourself. We tell people, “Just buckle down, turn off the TV, and start learning.” Then you can literally do whatever you want and change your life.Problem-solving techniquesTry to be a great problem-solver and see an issue.Kevin’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
One thing that I thought was going to be a hurdle or a mountain for me was making your company successful and then selling it.In the beginning, you're like, “Oh my God, I can't wait to build a company and sell it.” But when you're actually there, you're selling it, you're kind of like, “Okay, I'm relieved that I sold it because I don't want to do it anymore.”That’s kind of like a mountain that I want to climb: I was excited at the time, but now I'm thinking about new stuff. For me, climbing a mountain means seeing if you can grow a company until you sell it.[caption id="attachment_5672" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Illustration[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Kevin
WebsiteSocial Media Profiles:TwitterLinkedinFacebook - Kevin UrrutiaFacebook - Voy Media AgencyInstagramYoutubeWant to learn how to start your Entrepreneurship?
Download for Free
HOW TO START ?
The 7 initial marketing essentials
for entrepreneurs
Want to learn how to choose the best Name and Logo? Not sure which customers to focus on right now and where they are? Want to build your website, or trying to figure out how and what content to share on social media?
Mon, 12 Jul 2021 - 18min - 223 - Ep. 222 – Imran built a successful digital business through creating meaningful connections on Twitter
Imran, the founder & CEO of BIZBoost and BTweeps. Creating Meaningful and Personalized Digital Media Experiences, Globally, Human to Human, Since 2009.
Most passionate about
I run a company called BIZBoost. I started in 2010 as a brand.Initially, I focused on building a diverse and global network, both leaders and influencers, on the 9th of March, 2014.I passionately believe in doing what you love and loving what you do. So, here I am, creating meaningful and personalized digital media experiences globally.Imran’s career and story
I started everything on Twitter.In 2009, I came onto the digital media space.I started analyzing and observing what people were doing.I created my network of influencers and leaders.The first thing I did was analyze and connect.During that journey, I gained a lot of knowledge and exposure.I hustled to different and diverse networks of people.It has been almost 11 years, and it's a really creative and intentional journey. I'm living my dream. So, it's a life of my own choices, a life of my own decisions. Being a creator is kind of a responsibility, so it's not about me.Best advice for entrepreneurs
Businesses must believe in knowing their customer first, even before pitching their services and approaches, because without knowing who you are dealing with, the possibilities of building a healthy connection become in vain.You have to connect with your customers and consumers, human to human. This is a really important approach. It takes a lot of patience, but it goes a long way and has benefits.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
It was trying to look into the wrong places and connecting with the wrong people. It took a few years for me to figure out the right direction and the right kind of people who are our ideal consumers and customers, so we weren’t hitting the wrong places and connecting with the wrong people.Biggest success with customers
Referrals are one of the biggest successes that we have gotten so far.We get forward into a business relationship. We connect deeper, we sell better, we share values.They tend to refer their network to BIZBoost. They tell them that BIZBoost is reliable and is one of the best companies around.Imran’s recommendation of a tool
Instagram and TwitterThey are the best tools for connecting with people and serving them and communicating with them and/or marketing and selling our service.Businesses that aim to go global, that aim to connect with diverse people with diverse perceptions, should check out Twitter to build their presence. It's a completely different platform of perceptions within a limited character of creative writing; you can connect with great people.Imran’s one key success factor
The one key success factor is consistency and patience.It's a dilemma for creators and entrepreneurs that they have a huge list of things to do. They have to connect with their teams, their partners, their clients. So, it's all about how to consistently and efficiently optimize your flow, be an executive, and execute the flow in the most disciplined manner.Imran’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
When you talk about mountains, I think about the vision, the comfort zone. For me, climbing a mountain equals working for the vision, being a visionary, and coming out of your own comfort zone because it's at each level.When you try to climb a mountain, there's another barrier. There is another limitation. One of them is coming out of your comfort zone. So, if an entrepreneur or businessman takes on that limitation and comes out of the comfort zone, that person learns a lot through climbing another mountain or climbing up the level.[caption id="attachment_5538" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Mountain as a challenge[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Imran
My WebsiteMy LinksBTweepsBiz BoostSocial Media Profiles:TwitterWant to learn how to start your Entrepreneurship?
Download for Free
HOW TO START ?
The 7 initial marketing essentials
for entrepreneurs
Want to learn how to choose the best Name and Logo? Not sure which customers to focus on right now and where they are? Want to build your website, or trying to figure out how and what content to share on social media?
Mon, 05 Jul 2021 - 20min - 222 - Ep. 221 – Those who know how to serve their customer – win the sale!
My first executive marketing role wasn’t about marketing! At the age of 27, I was chosen to become the first Customer Service Manager and a board member.
No one in that water systems company understood what I was going to do—and who needed a customer service manager when professional technicians went to fix whatever was needed when a customer complained?
To tell you the truth, I didn’t know exactly what this job meant, either. All I knew was that it was a strategic decision; the sales department said that the reason for not meeting their sales goals was a lack of good customer service.
I started by following one rule: to never leave a customer unsatisfied. I talked with each customer who needed a service. Mainly, I listened to them very carefully. The next step was to build a team of service providers who listened to customers and found the solution that would make them happy.
The next step was to build a new team of technicians that love to give good service. I did something else, too. I decided that I didn’t want to earn money from customer service itself, so all the payments went directly to the technicians.
Within 6 months, customer service went from being the biggest obstacle for closing a sale to the biggest driver for selling. Our customers' satisfaction skyrocketed…and so did the sales.
It was probably the most effective marketing campaign that I ran in my more than 30 years as a marketing director.
When I asked Warren Coughlin, one of my recent guests on the REACH OR MISS Podcast, for his best advice for entrepreneurs, he said, “I always think it's ‘to serve’! My definition of sales is professionally helping people solve problems, making it a kind of an honorable activity.
“If you have a service focus for your customers, like always wanting to help them, you're going to have long client and customer relationships.”
This wasn’t the first time we heard successful entrepreneurs talking about 'serving your customers.'
Josh Elledge from Up My Influence and SavingAngel told his story about it:
“When I started as an owner of a small-town newspaper, I was so uncomfortable to sell; I was so scared, so I ended up failing miserably. And after that, for the next five years, I did sales and marketing for a network of law firms and had to sell every day for a commission-based salary. I was very miserable, and then, I suddenly realized that it’s not about convincing people to buy; it’s about listening to people's needs and finding how I can help them. The minute I understood that, I started to enjoy my connection with my clients and started to succeed dramatically. I found the win-win formula.”
Bob Burg, author of the “Go-Giver,” said that “shifting your business context from getting – to give, is the most financially profitable.”
In today’s podcast episode, I share some of the most inspiring and educational stories of successful entrepreneurs who won their success by serving their customers best.
The first story is about Jeremy Parker from Swag.com, who told me, “I’m never satisfied in terms of customer success. We should go above and beyond to make our customers’ experience great.”
Jeremy Parker is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and serial entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Swag.com, the best place for companies to buy quality promotional products that they’ll actually want to keep.
They work with 5,000+ companies including Facebook, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, and TikTok. They are #218 on the 2020 Inc 500 (fastest-growing companies in the US). Also, CrainsNY named Jeremy one of the 40 Under 40.
Jeremy’s career and story
I’m actually a filmmaker. I even won the Audience Award at the 2006 Vail Film Festival for a documentary I made with my brother. After we won this award, I realized my passion wasn’t to become a filmmaker.After college, I started my first business. I had no experience in businesses and I thought that starting a T-shirt company would be easy and focused and a good opportunity to learn how to run a business. It sounds simple but you need to learn manufacturing, and how to run a website, and how to do marketing and PR and customer service. I started this T-shirt company and became better and better. It helped me find out what I’m good at. I became good at user experience design and branding. That’s what I fell in love with.After the T-shirt company, I worked for MV Sport, one of the largest players in the promotional product space.I was introduced to the promotional products market at the age of 22 and everything in this space was done very manually. It was all about catalogs and presentation decks and phone calls to close the sale.From my experience showing [that sales] was always focused online, I didn’t want to speak with people while I purchased something. Over 10 years, I watched the promotional products space very closely and realized that the market got bigger and bigger but the buyer changed. The buyer now is a millennial and the platforms were not built for today’s buyers.That was kind of an a-ha moment for me: to build a platform with a great user experience that will answer the needs of today’s buyers. And that was the initial idea for Swag.In the first year, we didn’t build any platform. We focused on learning from our customers about what they need and want. The knowledge we got at the beginning gave us a shining light on what kind of platform we should build.Biggest failure with customers
I’m never satisfied in terms of customer success. This is the most important thing. We should go above and beyond to make our customers’ experience great. So even if there is a delay or some crisis, the customer is still happy and wants to work with us next time, because they know we did everything possible to make them happy.This is the most important part for us. On our site, we call it customer-obsessed because we wouldn’t be what we are without our customers.We had a customer that had a big event in New York City. It was very early in the journey, four months after we started the business. We had a $5000 order but our provider completely failed us. We had to collect the product ourselves and print it somewhere else and then send the products by Uber. We lost money on this deal but the customer had a great experience and knew nothing about what was happening behind the curtains.Biggest success due to the right customer approach
I was in Chicago with my co-founder in a program called TechStars—an incubator program in Chicago. We were doing an event for the Governor of New York. He was supposed to wear a unique “I Love NY” hat on the morning news broadcast.Unfortunately, instead of upstate New York, where the event took place, the box with the hat arrived at our old office in New York City—a nine-hour drive from upstate New York. It was very challenging. I wrote on all my social media pages and groups looking for someone who could drive nine hours on a Sunday night. In the end, we found someone to make this delivery and the hat arrived in the morning without anyone noticing the crisis behind the scenes.The second story that shows how good customer service wins the sale is that of Devin Miller, who said, “Responding to customers right away has grown our business better than anything else.”
Devin is an entrepreneur, patent and trademark attorney, and intellectual property expert.
He specializes in protecting startup and entrepreneurial companies with IP legal advice, setting them up for success in their business. In addition to founding and running Miller IP Law, he is the co-founder of several startups including a multi-million-dollar startup for wearable glucose monitoring.
Devin has worked with the likes of Amazon, Intel, Red Hat, and Ford. He is passionate about helping businesses and has a drive to educate and entertain listeners with years of experience as a calm speaker and veteran podcaster.
Biggest success with customers
Responding to customers right away has been one of the biggest impacts. It has grown our business and had a better customer impact than anything else.We set up a system; 90% of the time we respond right away, and 95% of the time we respond within 30 minutes. We have a strict drop-dead rule: 100% of the time you respond by the end of the day.I can’t count the number of times a client has reached out and said, “Hey, thank you for your quick response,” or “Hey, it’s great to get a quick answer; you guys are so much more responsive.” That’s probably helped us grow our business.Last but not least is the story of Warren Coughlin, whose best advice to entrepreneurs is to serve: “My definition of sales is professionally helping people solve problems.”
Warren helps principled entrepreneurs build a Business That Matters—that is, one that delivers to you, the owner, attractive profits and a fulfilling lifestyle while also creating positive impacts on customers, the team, and the larger community. In other words, it is a business that helps make the world—or just your corner of it—a better place.
He has been helping entrepreneurs do this since 2002. Warren was the top coach in Canada, with the world’s largest business coaching company, before going out to focus on Businesses That Matter.
His clients have experienced everything from 8-figure exits to 7-figure salaries, from rapid expansion to minimized operational work because of the development of great leaders and high-performance, values-driven cultures.
Warren’s also a recovering lawyer, a serial entrepreneur, a college professor, an actor, a theater director and dad to a wonderful daughter who constantly challenges him to be a better person.
Warren’s career and story
I was supposed to die at birth. I was given a zero percent chance of survival. I was the second person in history to live through this weird congenital defect. When I found out about that, it spurred in me a desire to do something.I was a lawyer. I’ve been an actor and theater director. I was a college professor. I’ve been an entrepreneur. All of those things were because I was trying to find that place where I could make an impact with this unexpected gift that I wasn’t supposed to have.I believe passionately that entrepreneurship is one of the most powerful forces for positive social change.A family friend was doing business coaching. This was back in 2002. I’d never even heard of it. I started looking into it and just fell in love with it.That’s what I’ve been doing ever since – trying to take the lessons I’ve learned over my own professional career and helping entrepreneurs use them in their own businesses and start to succeed.Best advice for entrepreneurs
I always think it’s “to serve.”My definition of sales is professionally helping people solve problems, which makes it a kind of honorable activity.If you have a service focus for your customers, like always wanting to help them, you’re going to have long client and customer relationships.Warren’s one key success factor
It’s important to develop deep relationships with clients based on caring for them as people.Are you serving customers or are you mainly selling to them? If the second answer is more relevant to you, you have a magic key you haven’t used yet: Stop selling and start serving your target audience. Find out what they need and then give it to them.
You can’t imagine how your business will grow!
I’d like to invite you to a free masterclass about “7 practical free ways to get more customers”
Mon, 28 Jun 2021 - 28min - 221 - Ep. 220 – Ronny Leber created entrepreneurship around what he loves doing and tells entrepre-neurs: “the only limit is your own imagination.”
Ronny Leber has been able to contribute to countless award winning events for over a decade. He has been on stage in front of more than 5 million people all over the world while working with some of the biggest brands in the world. Ronny loves to transform others by making them shine on stage and helping them to shape their own legacy. Besides working as a legacy coach Ronny is a multilingual tv & event-host and a keynote speaker.
Most passionate about
I have the opportunity and the privilege, to be a host, commentator, and moderator on TV, and I love it. I'm absolutely enjoying it and I'm very passionate about it.Ronny’s career and story
I want to work at events that bring the whole world together.It was back in 2008 when I had those thoughts. At the same time—as a coincidence, in a way—a professional soccer team from Vienna was looking for somebody to host the youth teams’ games, like, once a month on a Saturday afternoon. Through some friends who were working there, they asked me. I said, “Well, okay. Yeah, sure.” For me, that was not a job; it was like a hobby. I remember I got 70 euros—I got paid seven euros per game. Back in the day, I thought, ‘Wow I really got a good deal out of that.’One year later—on the 25th of June, 2009, which was the day Michael Jackson died—I was at a party for my former sports university. I was working there and was a DJ. At 5:15 in the morning, I left. It was a long party. At the same time, a colleague of mine who worked for a professional ice hockey team in Vienna left as well.Funny enough, the first-ever hockey game for that team that I saw live was in the stadium where I was the announcer. Then, suddenly, it was not just 100 or 150 people. I got the kids’ soccer games. It was like 1000 people there. That was the first time ever, back in 2009, when I thought, ‘Hey, this could be a career.’I started taking classes in that direction. For over a year, I took classes in voice education, speakers’ education. I started to take singing lessons and acting lessons. I danced competitively. I did all kinds of things that I could do in terms of expanding my field and getting better at what I do.I did the ice hockey for nine years. I quit because it was just so much time for me.Best advice for entrepreneurs
I believe that every entrepreneur has something unique about them. Many entrepreneurs started because they love what they do and wanted to create a business out of it.In the beginning, I was focused just on my craft. I was focused on loving what I do and doing it, and not on building the business.You need to be able to measure the important things because what you cannot measure, you cannot manage.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
The biggest failure that you can have with customers is not being prepared.At the end of the day, you need to know their needs, wants, and desires.Biggest success with customers
The biggest success for me was when I was able to host 120,000 people, which was, for me, one of the most incredible events that I've ever been a part of. That event was in 2019, and it was “INEOS 1:59 CHALLENGE.”I feel really blessed that I work in a field where I feel that I have had many successes. I believe it's also a mindset. You need to set yourself up for success. Basically, I think it's believing in yourself and following the journey, always having a next step, knowing where you want to go and then just being hungry.Ronny’s recommendation of a tool
Slack - which is a fantastic way to communicate with your teamTrello - A planning app where you can go from Idea to action in secondsRonny’s one key success factor
As I mentioned before, I think there is one single factor that is going to determine your success, and that is hunger.It is also your responsibility to have all the fuel you need to have the hunger, to have the why. If you don't have it, dig deeper.Ronny’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
First of all, I love mountains and I also love hiking. Thinking about the big wave metaphor, a mountain can be something really, really hard or it can be something a lot of fun. It's about how to utilize it because every challenge in front of you, every mountain that you need to climb—it's all about the way you look at it.That's the beautiful thing about being an entrepreneur; you can choose the mountain that you want to climb. Every step of the way, you're going to have a different view. Sometimes it's going to be stormy, sometimes it's going to be rainy, sometimes it's going to be icy or snowy, and sometimes it's going to be sunny and beautiful. It's just about appreciating every step and every part of the journey.[caption id="attachment_5825" align="aligncenter" width="900"] illustration[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Ronny
WebsiteBlogSocial Media ProfilesLinkedInInstagramFacebookI’d like to invite you to a free masterclass about “7 practical free ways to get more customers”
Mon, 21 Jun 2021 - 40min - 220 - Ep. 219 – Jason Zilberbrand, who has the largest aircraft appraisal firm in the world, shows success starts with finding what you’re really good at…
Jason Zilberbrand is the President of VREF Aircraft Value Reference & Appraisal Services. He is an Accredited Senior Aircraft Appraiser with the American Society of Appraisers (ASA), and an Accredited Member of the Appraisers National Association (ANA), and he is also an Accredited Member of the International Society of Appraisers (ISA), Expert Witness, broker, inventorying dealer, acquisition agent, aircraft owner, aircraft operator, contract negotiator, consultant, teacher, conference speaker, and author.
Jason spent over 15 years as an inventory aircraft dealer with a $300-million-dollar credit facility, and over $4.5 billion in completed aircraft transactions.
Most passionate about
I help buyers and sellers of airplanes, ranging from small little piston aircraft like Cessnas to commercial aircraft, like you would fly on an airline.Most of my clients are either financial institutions that provide loans for this type of equipment or individual buyers of these aircraft who are looking to deal with some sort of estate planning or refinancing.My firm is the largest aircraft appraisal firm in the world. We do a couple thousand desktop appraisals a year. If you're familiar with Kelley Blue Book for cars, we manage a similar software platform for aircraft values.Jason’s career and story
I started off in a family business: an aviation insurance company. So, right out of college, I worked for the family business. I did that for a decade. It was all business jets.I cut my teeth in the industry, working with what are today considered the classic business jets. These were airplanes that were used by Fortune 500 companies and high-net-worth individuals. They were flying them globally. My father's company provided coverage for maintenance.I started getting requests from clients to assist them in buying airplanes. That was really when the light bulb started to go off that there were things that I could do in aviation that weren't necessarily tied to the family's business.I left the insurance company and started an inventory dealership—like a car dealership, except we had planes and cars. I did that full-time through 2013. When the recession hit in 2008, I started to appraise more airplanes. I think it just was a natural progression of my career.Best advice for entrepreneurs
Some of the tricks that I use are to try and create obtainable goals and set those goals every day so that eventually I hit the big goal, but I’m not taking on such a massive project.One of the ways to do that is to look inward and see what your strengths are, then try and bring in other people who can bridge the gap of your weaknesses.You have to trust those whom you delegate work to, which is another big challenge for entrepreneurs. So, you have to trust the people whom you hire; otherwise, don't hire them.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I think that one of the biggest failures that anybody can have is assuming that the other person or the customer sees things from your perspective.When you're young, or at least when I was young, I tended to explode on people who were looking for help and who might not have done it in such a respectful way.So, my biggest failure, unfortunately, was burning bridges with some potentially really important customers because I didn't care to engage with them the way that they wanted to engage with me.Biggest success with customers
My base success, I think, comes with the new business, and that is trusting the fact that the customer base would be able to adapt to change.My biggest success today is asking permission before I go down a path, including when it’s personal, with my wife. I talk about things instead of making decisions in my own little world. I think that is really demonstrated not only to the industry but to our client base, that we're dedicated to them and that we're here to assist them with complex problems and be somebody they can trust to solve those problems.Jason’s recommendation of a tool
GrasshopperIt's a virtual receptionist.It allows me to have numerous dedicated phone lines to all divisions in my business, and have them feed into a central location, such as my phone. Maybe I'm on the road, or after hours, and I want to forward everything from my office.It also allows me to have a written transcript of everything that occurs.When somebody leaves a voicemail message, it's in writing and it's there forever in a file cabinet. I can always go back to it and I never have to worry about it getting deleted.Chat feature built into my websiteIt allows me to be an effective communicator with customers.Jason’s one key success factor
My one key success factor is having mentors, having the ability to go to people who are not related to me, who don't owe me anything, who wouldn't have to tell me what I want to hear, but more importantly, would tell me what I need to hear, tell me how things are, maybe answer difficult questions or give me guidance.When I had just turned 21, I was very fortunate to have not one but two or three really great mentors who took time out of their lives to coach me, to give me guidance and steer me in positive directions.Jason’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
One of my biggest accomplishments is riding Mount Everest. Elevation-wise like, in the past three years, I've done almost 400,000 feet.The torture is just beginning because you're not even halfway there. So, once you get to the top, another mountain peak exists. I think it's very representative of life.Every time you have accomplished a big goal or completed something that you've tried to do, there's another big task waiting. You have to keep pushing yourself if you want to grow and be successful.It's funny; there are a lot of entrepreneurs whom I get to talk to who are extreme fitness fanatics. I don't know if it's because we're all so competitive and this is just another way to release the competitiveness or if it helps us stay structured.[caption id="attachment_4411" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Mount Everest[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Jason
WebsiteEmailI’d like to invite you to a free masterclass about “7 practical free ways to get more customers”
Mon, 14 Jun 2021 - 24min - 219 - Ep. 218 – Jenn T Grace pivoted from a consultant to a successful book publisher, bringing voice to the invisible stories that free people from their isolation
Jenn T. Grace, M.S., Founder & CEO of Publish Your Purpose.
Jenn T. Grace is a nationally recognized business strategist, speaker, and award-winning author. She has been featured in Forbes, The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and CNBC.
Jenn passionately believes the more raw and real we can be—the deeper the connections we can experience. This drives her fierce commitment to bring voice to the invisible stories that free people from their isolation.
She is committed to giving underrepresented voices power and a stage to share their stories, speak their truth, and impact their communities. She is the Founder of Publish Your Purpose and In addition to publishing 70+ books that share the stories of others, Jenn has written six, including her memoir, House on Fire.
A marathon runner, animal lover, and novice birder. She lives in Connecticut with her family.
Most passionate about
I feel like my passion always lies in helping people tell their stories. And how I do that is by helping people publish their books—primarily nonfiction books and memories.What I'm really passionate about, as of late, is making a difference within the larger publishing space and context surrounding the predatory practices of many publishers out there, who are essentially taking advantage of first-time authors.Jenn’s career and story
I was a consultant. My background is in marketing, so that's certainly a unique angle that we bring to the publishing process. We really have a strong focus on the marketing side.I wrote my first book in 2013. I started it probably at the end of 2011, beginning of 2012. I self-published it, and I made every possible mistake. It was not a good-quality product.I wrote a second book, and I learned from all of my mistakes on the first one. And then I wrote a third book.By the time I was in between my second and third books, everyone I knew kept asking me, “How did you know how to hire an editor? How did you know how to lay out the book?” I kept getting all of these questions: “How did you do this? How did you do that?” The process of having one-on-one conversations with people and then teaching people in smaller groups how to get their books published eventually led me to found a full-blown publishing company in 2015.Best advice for entrepreneurs
The best thing that I would recommend is to track your data. The only way that we can really scale and increase that impact is if we really truly know the very core of whom we're serving.The more clear you can be on whom you're serving, and the more you track that, the more robust it becomes, and the easier it makes your marketing for purposes of finding more of that same person.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I think, in a lot of ways, it’s ego.I had this kind of ego that was telling me, “You can't switch focuses, you can't switch your business, you're known for doing this consulting work, and you've worked for a decade to build your reputation in that specific consulting area.”I think if I had listened to my intuition, listened to my gut and my instincts, I would have started the publishing business even faster, or perhaps more confidently, rather than fighting it like an internal battle with myself that no one actually saw on the surface.Biggest success with customers
One of the things that I was completely hell-bent on achieving was to get national recognition for our chamber of commerce. I had such laser focus.This is a really good example of how I do this in my business. I had laser focus on winning the Chamber of the Year award on a national level in the U.S.Jenn’s recommendation of a tool
Google Suite.Boomerang.It helps you remember who you were supposed to be following up with.Jenn’s one key success factor
I would say, if I had to define it for myself (and probably everybody around me would say), it’s my level of organization. A default function for me is just being exceptionally organized.Jenn’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
What's interesting is that I have been hustling and busting my hump for 15 years in my business. I have been on what I feel like is a straight-up mountain cliff where I have constantly tried to get to that next peak.Now we're trying to pull the right levers that are going to help scale things in the way that we're hoping. You would imagine that, in the scaling, we'd be on that kind of very steep mountain face again. But the reality is that I feel like I am standing on—I don't want to say a plateau, because I feel like there's a negative connotation to “plateau”—but I feel like I'm standing very firmly in a nice, level piece on a mountain right now.I'm just looking down, and I'm also looking up before I start to climb that next very steep cliff, because I want to make sure that I'm really intentional as we start to scale. And so, we're very much focused on profitability, and our profit margins, our cost of goods sold, and all of those types of things.It feels good to kind of slow down before really scaling that next mountain.[caption id="attachment_7309" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Standing on a mountain | illustration[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Jenn
WebsiteSocial Media Links:Twitter: Jenn T. Grace Twitter & Publish Purpose TwitterFacebook: Jenn T. Grace Facebook & Publish Your Purpose Press FacebookInstagram: Jenn T. Grace Instagram & Publish Your Purpose Press InstagramLinkedIn: Jenn T. Grace LinkedIn & Publish Your Purpose LinkedInBooks:House on Fire: Finding Resilience, Hope, and Purpose in the AshesBeyond The Rainbow: Personal Stories and Practical Strategies to Help your Business & Workplace Connect with the LGBTQ MarketTherapy Notes for Families: Staying organized with your child's needsSpecial Offer:
Join the Publish Your Purpose Author Lab. This workshop will cover a wide range of topics with the ultimate goal of getting your draft manuscript completed. We will cover topics such as writing techniques to make the process faster, how to move past emotional hurdles, and even how to bypass your procrastination. At the end of the workshop, you will have an actionable plan for how (and when) you are going to complete your first draft.
If you'd like to join, please visit https://publishyourpurposepress.com/authorlab and join the Publish Your Purpose Author Lab, today. And, please keep me posted on your progress!
I’d like to invite you to a free masterclass about “7 practical free ways to get more customers”
Mon, 07 Jun 2021 - 28min - 218 - Ep. 217 – Dan Morris is on a mission to help 1000 businesses by 2025 by using the “4 R’s” any business needs To Maximize its Sales Process
Dan Morris is an investor, advisor, and B2B growth expert with a mission to leverage his experience to impact 1000 businesses positively by 2025.
Helping companies to succeed in volatile markets, increasing profitability from existing strategies, and helping CEOs take positive steps forward to grow their business is where Dan’s expertise is focused.
Before turning 30, Dan left a finance career to join a digital agency that showed him what a fast-growing services business could be – it went on to sell for £100m. He then launched a digital signage network publishing content to thousands of screens, and helped a content marketing agency reach #61 on the INC. list.
Most passionate about
We are working with businesses that need some help with growth. We help B2B, SaaS, and services businesses that are stuck in that six- to seven-figure revenue range and that need to break through to the next level.We help them identify and break down that barrier.Dan’s career and story
I started my career at a very large bank. They taught me to negotiate to understand numbers very quickly, but I realized that my calling was really with smaller businesses that were moving much faster—a lot less red tape and a lot more entrepreneurial energy.I found myself working with a group of entrepreneurs who had several different businesses. When the global financial crisis hit in 2008, we were working on a very exciting project, selling to a group of banks, but all of a sudden, they ran out of money. The opportunity arose for me to go with that group of investors from the UK out to the United States and help them build a business that became 61 on the Inc. list in the next four years.When I left working with those businesses, I trained as a product manager, then worked with technology businesses and SAS companies. My training as a product manager helped me to focus even more on what the customer really wants, how to really get the customer to understand the value of the technology, how to build technology that really works for the customer, how to communicate that in sales and marketing, and how to talk with the technology teams.I really wanted to give away some time and understand technology businesses that were out there and that I could potentially be a part of. As I worked with lots of those early-stage customers, I recognized that there was a big opportunity in helping them build those initial building blocks.Best advice for entrepreneurs
Aligned with exactly what we do today I advice entrepreneurs to take the time to review. Have a look at who you're actually working with. Talk to them and understand what they're actually using your product or service for.If you review, you can build that information into a refinement. You can focus more on delivering more for what people are already getting from you. Then, once you've developed that refinement, you can roll it out.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I think the biggest fail for me was not realizing earlier how many people we could help if we just kept it simple and delivered on this four-Rs framework, rather than being tempted to get in and try to fix everything within a business.Biggest success with customers
We were onboarding in January 2020. This is a company that had been around for nine years and they'd grown to hundreds of thousands of revenue, even around a million dollars in revenue.They'd been in a heavy services business they've been a heavy into the software side of their business. And they'd struggled a little bit with who that core customer was. Over the years, they’d had a lot of successes. Then they'd come back down to a point where they just said, “You know what? We really need some help focusing.”So, we got involved with that team. Great people. We went in and reviewed who their ideal customer was, where their leads were coming from, what was happening as a result of that marketing. We worked with their existing team to refine who they were focused on and where they were spending their time. We rolled out new processes, a new CRM, a new layout, new messaging, new coaching to help the salespeople stick to their focus. Over the next four quarters, that business five X their revenue.Dan’s recommendation of a tool
HubSpotIt has an extremely effective Partner Network. They've got a very easy-to-understand tool itself and an excellent knowledge hub that's free for CRM people.CRMFor entrepreneurs, there really is an excellent combination of value, where you'll be able to use the CRM platform for free, use their knowledge base for free. And then, when you're ready, you can grow into their marketing tools or their sales tools as well.CRM is the core of a lot of what we do.Dan’s one key success factor
It's always setting a goal that requires urgent work. You know, just being busy is a state of thrive. Me, personally, I don't do well with spare time or idle time. I just don't really know what to do with it. So, if I've got a day that is packed with things that we're working on, and adding value in that way, that really gives me a great sense of fulfillment.I think, in my early career, it was definitely curiosity. I was always curious about how we could bring the most value to a business. And so, I would always research that business more than any other person in sales. Then I inspired my sales teams to do the same because it got them better resultsDan’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I grew up in a family that was very much focused on hiking and climbing mountains in the UK. When I got into my career, I definitely had an aspiration to become a CEO one way or another. So, I worked my way up the career track to become a CEO. When I become CEO of a company that I built for a group of investors, I stepped off the top of that mountain—not directly, but, you know, I sort of walked down and then had a period of time when I was like, “Okay, well, what's the next mountain to climb? I'm not really sure what it's going to be.”Setting the goal of making sure that we help 1000 companies before the end of 2025 is the current professional mountain for me, and the team that we're building all the time. A personal mountain for me this year is that we're training to ride 980 miles, which is the length of the United Kingdom. There's certainly a lot of preparation for this climb so, yeah, I'm definitely about mountains. That's how I see the challenges to be prepared for the climb.[caption id="attachment_7293" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Illustration[/caption]
The best way to contact Dan:
WebsiteLinkedInI’d like to invite you to a free masterclass about “7 practical free ways to get more customers”
Mon, 31 May 2021 - 29min - 217 - Ep. 216 - David Wood best advice: We're all digging for gold… Don't fall into the trap of going a mile wide and an inch deep… go an inch wide and a mile deepMon, 24 May 2021 - 21min
- 216 - Ep. 215 – David Wachs wanted to send handwritten notes to his employees and customers when he sold his first company – so he invented Handwrytten.com
David Wachs's latest venture, Handwrytten, provides scalable, robotic solutions that write your notes in pen. Used by businesses in all industries, Handwrytten changes the way brands and people connect.
Prior to Handwrytten, David founded Cellit, a leading mobile marketing platform. With clients including Abercrombie and Fitch, Walmart and more, Cellit was sold in January of 2012.
David is a speaker on marketing technology, has been featured in the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, and is a contributor to Inc. Magazine.
Most passionate about
My new company, Handwrytten. It's not so new at this point; we've been around for seven years. Our goal is to reignite the lost art of Handwrytten communications.Specifically, we focus on communication from business to business or business to consumer in this day and age of electronic communication—whether that's email or text or Slack, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, all these other forms of electronic communication or old-fashioned junk mail, preprinted stuff that gets thrown directly in the trash bin.About seven years ago, we started this company with the idea of making and sending Handwrytten.We have a website, an iPhone app, and Android app plugins for major systems called Zapier and API, stuff like that, that allow people to get their notes to us very quickly in electronic form.On the other side of the technology, we have robots that we build in our facility in Arizona. They hold real pens and write these notes out at scale. The robots can write out about 750 notes a day each.David’s career and story
I grew up very middle class in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Always, even from the youngest days, I wanted to be an entrepreneur.When I went off to university, I specifically took a double major in business and engineering. I chose computer science engineering.I was in this program at the University of Pennsylvania called the Management Technology Program. I got a degree in engineering and a degree in business from Wharton. Then I went on and worked in consulting.In 2000, which was at the height of the dot-com bubble, I went to work for a consulting firm that was helping large companies start dot-coms inside of them. It was just standard management consulting, but it was a good experience nonetheless, and they worked me to the bone.I then wanted to get into venture capital. I worked in equity analysis for a large investment bank, Credit Suisse, first in Boston, and then I was moved over to a venture capital firm in San Diego, where I was abruptly fired without cause.When I moved out to San Diego to work at this venture capital firm, I had no savings left. I was relatively debt-free, but I had no savings. So, when I got fired, I moved home. My family had relocated. My parents had moved to Arizona, so I moved home to Arizona with my head between my legs. I didn't know what to do next.I started a text messaging company called Cellit. This was in 2004. Back then, we didn't have the iPhone or anything like that. When you drive by a house that was for sale, you'd want to collect information on that house, get the price, and all that, but oftentimes there was no way to get information about that house. So I started this company called Cellit. Our first product was called House for Sell.I quickly pivoted away from Realtors to more large brands. Within a few years, we were sending millions of text messages for brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, which is a large clothing brand, toys, Walmart—some very, very large brands. I ended up selling that company in 2012.I started Handwrytten because what I realized, when I sold that company, was that I wanted to send Handwrytten notes to all my employees and my customers, thanking them for staying with me during this journey of building up and selling.Best advice for entrepreneurs
Always get in over your head.If you don't get in over your head, you can't grow. You have to extend yourself. You have to try reaching outside of your comfort zone to do things that you wouldn't otherwise do. When you start a business as an entrepreneur, typically nobody's going to throw a lot of money at you.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
There have been several. I mean, every business has failures, including my old company, Cellit.We had a large chain of spas nationwide in the United States and our account manager, who was in charge of that, told the spas the wrong information to print on the signs on our campaign. They spent all this money to get all these signs. They put up the signs but nothing happened; nobody could text them. When I found out about it, we immediately apologized, and set up a new campaign.Biggest success with customers
This goes back to the last company, Cellit. The company was just me at that point. I had just been fired from the old venture capital firm.It was also starting the other texting for brands and stuff like that—a service called Coupons App. I was approached by Marie Claire, which is a very large magazine in the United States and around the world.They said that they wanted people to text in to the magazine to see products—makeup and shoes, and get more information back on that product.We pivoted House for Sale for much larger clients like Marie Claire magazine, French magazines, and some other magazines in the United States. That was a huge customer success because, out of the box, we had a solution that worked perfectly well for them.David’s recommendation of a tool
Zapier - Easy automation for busy people. Zapier moves info between your web apps automatically, so you can focus on your most important work.David’s one key success factor
“Stick with it!”; Things take time and you have to have the confidence in yourself to stick with it.David’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I'm fortunate to look out my window and see Camelback Mountain. It’s a nice mountain to climb on a weekend, particularly in the winter before it gets too hot here.But for my business, the biggest mountain I've climbed with Handwrytten was building our own custom robot.I have a software background. I'm not a hardware guy. About three years into the business, I realized the only way I was going to make this company work would be to get off our existing robot platform—which was not realistic-looking and had a lot of problems, a lot of management problems—and build our own better robot. It opened up a ton of options for us that we wouldn't otherwise have had. It was a hard mountain to climb and something I didn't know I could do because I just don't have that background.[caption id="attachment_7280" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Camelback Mountain[/caption]
The best ways to connect with David
WebsiteSocial Media Profiles:FacebookTwitterI’d like to invite you to a free masterclass about “7 practical free ways to get more customers”
Mon, 17 May 2021 - 35min - 215 - Ep. 214 – …“It’s just a billionaire from America who has no idea about building cars.” Did Simon Severino predict Tesla’s success?
Simon Severino helps business owners in SaaS and services discover how to be able to run their company more efficiently which results in sales that soar. He created the Strategy Sprints® Method that doubles revenue in 90 days by getting owners out of the weeds.
Simon is the CEO and founder of Strategy Sprints which is a global team of certified Strategy Sprints® Coaches which has offers a customized strategy to help clients gain market share and work in weekly sprints which results in fast execution.
He is also a Forbes Business Council Member, a contributor to Entrepreneur Magazine, and a member of Duke Corporate Education.
Most passionate about
We are helping entrepreneurs navigate these funky times. The two things that they need most are time and cash. We help them improve the volume of their work to get them down to a healthy level of work per day, versus working too much. And we help them improve sales.We are growing like crazy right now. I haired five new coaches to my team and I have onboarded a new head of sales and he will be recruiting salespeople in the next month. We are growing because we have a digital plug-and-play offer to help business owners. Since nobody can fly right now, because of COVID, companies need our help in generating sales.Simon’s career and story
I have been doing strategy consultancy for 17 years now.I've done market entry strategy in New York, management system optimization in Beijing, and everything in between.The first thing that I started doing was having my own little private practice as a coach. Then I went to a big consultancy, where I really learned the craft.I was a junior consultant, senior consultant, then a junior project manager, senior project manager, principal, the whole ladder.I was a young psychotherapist. It was not very impactful and was not the place where I was meant to be. My second try was as a leadership coach and leadership trainer. That was where I found my place.Best advice for entrepreneurs
I would say, make a list of everything that you're doing. Cut the list in half. Then take this list, cut it in half again, and execute.When you cut what you are currently doing, you will automatically ask yourself “What is the most important thing to do?” and “Now what will pop up as the most important thing?” The first thing will be your family, but then comes your customer. What is really helping your customers succeed? This is the most important question for a business owner: which of my activities are really helping my customer succeed? That should be one block of the things that you do every day.The second one is “Which activities are really helping my company grow?” These are joint venture partnerships, working on the forms, the function of your sales and marketing system and the like.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
The biggest failure was in 2013, when I was a strategy advisor of the BMW group.We had a project of around one year to become number one in the world and to stay number one in the world. We started creating the Factbook and analyzing who are the competitors. They picked some competitors and we picked some competitors. One of these competitors was Tesla.The CEO said, “No, we don't need to take them so seriously. It's just a billionaire from America who has no idea about building cars.”At that time, his assumption was “this is not relevant.” Many years later, the I8 and I3 models are now on the streets. The strategy has been born electric in the history of the company.The direction was fine, but my failure was not to validate assumptions.What I learned from this failure and what I'm doing differently now in the strategy sprints method—you still get data every seven days, but whatever our assumption is, we will test it in three days.Biggest success with customers
It's the same thing that I learned there. I then execute it every day. In 2013, I created the strategy sprint method, which really helps you to collect your data and test everything.Simon’s recommendation of a tool
CRM system and whatever app you use for CRMThat means mapping out how many people are slightly interested today.HubSpotEqualizerIt's a simple spreadsheet, but it's a Google spreadsheet. You can download it.You can find out where to cut your costs by 20% every month, where to invest more, how to swim away from your competition, and how to make yourself immune to competition in half an hour.Simon’s one key success factor
I have three habits and they help me survive.Daily habitWrite down how I use my time. Every evening, I ask myself two questions to learn from that.Weekly habitI get all my marketing numbers, sales numbers, and operations numbers and report them in one simple spreadsheet every seven days. That's the weekly habit.Monthly habitOnce a month, I check from a higher level.I do the equalizer from a higher level.Are we still comparable to the competition? Who is our competition? What else can the clients do? What and where do we cut costs? Where do we invest in more?Simon’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
My picture is like Tuscany. You have these small hills and every day I climb one hill.Every day, I put myself into a situation where I have to get out of my comfort zone and stretch. From what I can deliver today, I stretch myself into the learning zone which I don't yet know how to do. It's bigger than what I can do. It's a little bit uncomfortable and even a little bit painful, but I will go through it. I will not give up. And in the evening, I will be proud of myself.[caption id="attachment_7275" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Tuscany[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Simon
My WebsiteSocial Media Profiles:FacebookInstagramI’d like to invite you to a free masterclass about “7 practical free ways to get more customers”
Mon, 10 May 2021 - 24min - 214 - Ep. 213 – Warren Coughlin best advice to entrepreneurs is to serve: “My definition of sales is professionally helping people solve problems”
Warren helps principled entrepreneurs build a Business That Matters. That is one that delivers to you, the owner, attractive profits and a fulfilling lifestyle while also creating positive impacts on customers, team and the larger community. In other words, it is one that helps make the world - or just your corner of it - a better place.
He’s been helping entrepreneurs do this since 2002. He was the top Coach in Canada with the world’s largest business coaching company before going out to focus on Businesses That Matter.
His clients have experienced everything from 8 figure exits, to 7 figure salaries, from rapid expansion to minimized operational work because of the development of great leaders and high-performance values-driven cultures.
Warren’s also a recovering lawyer, a serial entrepreneur, college professor, actor, theater director and Dad to a wonderful daughter who constantly challenges him to be a better person.
Most passionate about
I'm really getting passionate about helping people lift their heads and say, “Okay, there are some really interesting opportunities.”I've been really passionate about ringing the bell, starting to build your strategy, starting to build your plans, not just for the next two months, but for the next 10 months.Warren’s career and story
I was supposed to die at birth. I was given a zero percent chance of survival. I was the second person in history to live through this weird congenital defect. When I found out about that, it spurred in me a desire to do something.I was a lawyer. I've been an actor and theater director. I was a college professor. I've been an entrepreneur. All of those things were because I was trying to find that place where I could make an impact with this unexpected gift that I wasn't supposed to have.I believe passionately that entrepreneurship is one of the most powerful forces for positive social change.A family friend was doing business coaching. This was back in 2002. I'd never even heard of it. I started looking into it and just fell in love with it.That’s what I've been doing ever since – trying to take the lessons I've learned over my own professional career and helping entrepreneurs use them in their own businesses and start to succeed.Best advice for entrepreneurs
I always think it's “to serve.”My definition of sales is professionally helping people solve problems, which makes it a kind of honorable activity.If you have a service focus for your customers, like always wanting to help them, you're going to have long client and customer relationships.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I had a client, a really nice guy. I guess where it went wrong was that he and I had very different thinking styles.I didn't understand that distinction in our thinking styles well enough. I let him guide the direction because he was in a bit of a crisis.We were doing things reactively instead of by a plan. I was encouraging him to move faster and I didn't realize early enough that he wasn't grasping what we were talking about. He actually wound up feeling more insecure rather than more confident. As a coach, I want people to feel more confident.He was selling lots, but by lowering the prices, because he just gave the guy commission on sales, not on margins and the guy was dropping prices. The business was growing, but he was actually losing money.Biggest success with customers
A guy came to me and was really unmotivated. He was in tax debt, his team wasn't performing, and he was generating some profits and had a decent niche but no real growth plan.He was really stuck. Because of where he was emotionally, we started with a vision for him of the impact he wanted to have, not just in business but in life, and showed how, with certain revenue targets, all that was going to be possible.We worked on his culture. His sales team were sort of cowboys, so we put some accountability structures in place, as well as sales training.With those three things together, his revenues and profits started to grow. His business became way easier to run and his team became way more engaged.Warren’s recommendation of a technological tool
Zoom!Any kind of CRMSoftwares that help you build landing pages and sales pages quickly.My company’s tools.Warren’s one key success factor
It’s probably a combination. It’s important to develop deep relationships with clients based on caring for them as people.That’s one part of it, but it has to be combined with really solid business, discipline tools, and frameworks.Warren’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I grew up in a place called Alberta in Canada, which has the Rocky Mountains nearby. So, I spent a lot of my youth skiing and going out to the mountains, things like that.And then, of course, there are metaphorical mountains. I love watching others climb mountains. I love watching entrepreneurs reach that peak. Seeing businesses get there is really exciting.The best ways to connect with Warren
My WebsiteSocial Media Profiles:FacebookLinkedInInstagramI’d like to invite you to a free masterclass about “7 practical free ways to get more customers”
Mon, 03 May 2021 - 23min - 213 - Ep. 212 – Amy Rose Herrick best advice for entrepreneurs “I really believe in starting any business with a vision of how you are going to sell it!”
Amy Rose Herrick, ChFC is America’s Profit Building Specialist. Business owners implement her “Secret Profits™” systems to increase profitability $10k-$100k or more by eliminating their hidden “profit eating black holes”.
Clients have turned to Amy since 1991 accelerating profits, increasing bottom lines, de-mystifying root causes of business losses and MAKING MORE MONEY without requiring adding costly inventory, changing locations, or adding more staff.
Amy Rose has several books for sale on Amazon too. Her most recent release is a #1 Amazon Best Seller entitled ”Pack Faith First, Suitcases Second: A Decade of Miracles After 50” that tells the story of her complete “life-do-over” moving from the midwestern United States to a small Caribbean island with her spouse, four school aged kids, the family dog, a few pallets of possessions with no jobs, family, or friends to go to.
Most passionate about
I am most passionate about helping small business owners make more money.I help business owners increase their profits this year and every year. It doesn't matter where your business operates. The concepts and formulas and things I work with apply regardless of currency.Amy’s career and story
One of my life goals is to change the awful statistics that I see. In the U.S., at least 60% of businesses were failing before COVID ever hit.I started in the corporate world, where I did inventory control and cost accounting.I ended up moving into employee benefits. Then I worked in some mode of the tax aspect. I also dealt with office management.Over time, in addition to working in this career, I have bought and sold businesses. I have closed a second-generation family business. It was very painful. I've seen all aspects of it.I've taught classes on contract for Inner Eyes SBDC. And then I do classes here in the U.S. for AARP, which is a large organization. I do those in the Virgin Islands.I developed many courses for small businesses that are very narrowly focused so that we can work on an area.I give small businesses the formulas and the workbooks they need. That's how I ended up building the platform, taking over three decades of hands-on experience.Best advice for entrepreneurs
I really believe in starting any business with a vision of how you are going to sell the business.You should always have a business be sellable from day one so that when you need to let go of it, or you want to let go of it, you have got it.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
There were two things.The first thing, in one of the industries I mentioned that I was in, securities practice and insurance, they did not allow you to post any type of testimonial. The mistake I made was not collecting testimonials anyway and just holding them back for when I would want them on another day.I didn't start out with testimonials that could have been transferable if I had the foresight to collect them. So, that would be one thing: As you're looking at your journey, even if you don't use the testimonials now, get those testimonials. Put them in a file because you may need them later as you're starting another endeavor, just to show your trustworthiness and value.The other failure I would say is that there was a very short period of time when I had an unqualified staff person working for me and it was difficult to replace them because of things that I was juggling. That hurt me because trying to undo the damage and trying to catch back up and then fix things was difficult.Biggest success with customers
I had a client who had Alzheimer's and their dementia was onset. It was very, very quick with the way things happened.Before that happened, I encouraged and strongly recommended, and then helped put in place, a life insurance contract for this couple that had a provision in it that if there was a chronic illness or terminal illness, it would advance death benefits tax-free in order to take care of that.We were able to trigger that benefit and it took the weight off of the spouse at home because all of the long-term care bills, now there was money to pay for them.I said, “You are vulnerable here because we could lose the business, we could have medical bills,” things will happen because this person was the business. And we knew that.I would say that is one of my life successes because she was able to continue on, he was able to get all of the care that he needed, and they were not bankrupted.Amy’s recommendation of a tool
Advisor's AssistantI originally used it for managing my investment, clients, and data, and it ended up being my CRM for absolutely everything.It’s specifically for investment advisors or people in the insurance industry.Amy’s one key success factor
I would say that I am teachable.I never stopped learning in order to maintain the designations that I have.I think, as entrepreneurs, we have to be willing to be taught what we don't know and then take those opportunities and apply them either to what will further us on a personal financial basis or to help ourselves grow our business.Amy’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
My mountain story means you always know somebody is watching, even when you're not aware of it. As you go up, when you're trying to get your footing in certain places, you're going to slip back a little bit.At some point, I had to ask for my husband's hand to help pull me up just a little bit farther. So, I think you need help going up the mountain.When we got to the top, we have an amazing vista up there, where we can see all around a huge part of the island.Sometimes things are obsolete and times change, but the nice thing about being up there is that you cannot appreciate that particular view from anywhere else on the island unless you're willing to climb that mountain.[caption id="attachment_5160" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Illustration[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Amy
www.TheSecretProfits.com/courses for course librarywww.TheSecretProfits.com to download a free eBook entitled “7 Solutions to Add $10k-$100k to Your Bottom Line This Year” and to book a free 30-minute discovery call.Email: Success@TheSecretProfits.comSocial Media Profiles:FacebookInstagramClubhouseLinkedInBooks:
#1 Amazon Best Seller: “Pack Faith First, Suitcases Second: A Decade of Miracles After 50” All books currently available on AmazonI’d like to invite you to a free masterclass about “7 practical free ways to get more customers”
Mon, 26 Apr 2021 - 28min - 212 - Ep. 211 – Climbing mountains and entrepreneurial success – The 8th and newest mountain episode – Some of the most amazing mountains’ stories you heard
Hi, my Reachers.
This is the eighth ‘Mountain Episode’. It seems like you really love this amazing series of the Reach Or Miss mountains project; Today, I want to share with you the 8th and newest episode where successful entrepreneurs share their mountains stories.
Listen to these incredible mountain stories I heard from the successful entrepreneurs I recently interviewed on my podcast.
You can then listen to the full interview with each of them and hear about their visions, struggles, and how these entrepreneurs reached their success.
From the entrepreneur that booked a trip to Machu Picchu without knowing it’s a mountain. And found himself lying on the floor, gasping for breath…”
To the entrepreneur who had never been mountaineering but found himself climbing one of the highest mountains in Mexico…
To the entrepreneur who said: “I love mountains, but I love taking people up mountains with me… As a founder, as a leader, there are always other people who will come and support you.”
And the entrepreneur who said that what people miss—about mountain climbing specifically, and also in life—that you have to know when to go down. You're not always moving up. You have to be able to get to a certain level, to find a base…”
I hope these mountain stories will encourage you to find out what should you – as an entrepreneur looking for your breakthrough to success – take from their stories to help you find the necessary steps to reach your peak.
Many entrepreneurs climb mountains, while others use mountains as a metaphor to describe what is necessary to conquer the peak – including the fatiguing yet rewarding journey to the top. Still other entrepreneurs use mountains as an analogy for a significant goal they wish to achieve – such as becoming a billion-dollar-market-cap company.
For many years, I’ve compared entrepreneurship to climbing the highest mountains.
You climb step by step to the peak, reach your position as a market leader and a leading brand, and then start climbing a new mountain with a new product line or another brand.
The idea of mountains as representations of a strong position in the market is mentioned by Al Ries and Jack Trout in the excellent book, Marketing Warfare.
“In military warfare, mountains and higher altitude areas represent strong positions and often are used to present a strong defense. In marketing warfare, the question is one of who holds the mountains in the consumer's mind.”
So, at some point after the launch of my podcast for entrepreneurs, I started to ask the successful entrepreneurs I interviewed about their habits or dreams of climbing one of the highest mountains in the world.
Listen to these new inspiring mountains’ stories, find which entrepreneurs and stories you identify with most, and review your entrepreneurial objectives, market overview, and plan. By making your business as strong as possible, you will be able to quickly and easily achieve entrepreneurial success.
Matt Barnett – Papa Bear@Bonjoro “As a founder, as a leader, there are always other people who will come and support you and make the journey to the top much more enjoyable.
It’s about a journey, it's not about the destination, and without people, it's a lonely walk.”
A British designer by trade, Bonjoro is Matts second company, founded out of Sydney Australia. What started as a sales hack for an Agency he was running, Bonjoro went from hack to side hustle to global business in 18months, and now has team across 5 continents.
Matts love of building great products is only surpassed by that of building great culture, and his goal is to be the next Zappos, to be most loved brand in the world.
Matt’s Mountain
“I love mountains, but I love taking people up mountains with me. So, last winter, we climbed the highest mountain in Tasmania, in Australia, but I did it with my wife and one-year-old daughter.
In terms of the metaphor, the metaphor is: Don't struggle with mountains on your own.
As a founder, as a leader, there are always other people who will come and support you and make the journey to the top much more enjoyable.
It’s about a journey, it's not about the destination, and without people, it's a lonely walk.”
[You can listen to the full episode with Matt here…]
Ari Rastegar: “I think people miss—about mountain climbing specifically, and also in life—that you have to know when to go down.”
Ari Rastegar, Founder and CEO of Rastegar Property Company, has earned a reputation as a thought leader in real estate with his innovative, technology-driven investment strategies. He specializes in recession-resilient real assets and multifamily real estate developments, building portfolios designed to reduce risk and maximize capital appreciation potential.
Rastegar Property Company has acquired over 20 properties across the Sun Belt over the past year and a half.
Ari’s Mountain
I have a mountain. I have a very, very, very tall, steep, snowy, slippery, sharp, dangerous mountain that I'm climbing.
I think people miss—about mountain climbing specifically, and also in life—that you have to know when to go down. You're not always moving up. You have to be able to get to a certain level, to find a base. You have to stay there for a while. You have to hit a plateau, you need to rest. You might've moved a couple of steps too quickly and you reached it.
But no matter what, you keep climbing and you keep moving. Sometimes moving and progress mean being still and being calm. That's part of the process.
I try to remind myself of the advice that I'm giving.
[You can listen to the full episode with Ari here…]
Scott Prisco: “My daily journey is, you know, you climb a little bit and then you fall. You keep climbing and then you fall down the mountain a little bit… I think it's so important to just keep going and put one foot in front of the other.”
Scott Prisco is a nutritionist and entrepreneur with a passion for helping others. He founded Priscotty Pure, a wellness company that assists people in reaching their optimum state of well-being through unique supplement blends and an electrifying health movement.
Scott is also a mover and shaker in the CBD space. He founded Inception Industries Extracts, a manufacturing company that specializes in the production of high-quality, water-soluble powders and liquids, made from hemp-derived cannabinoids. The company uses a proprietary nanomolecular encapsulation technology to drastically increase the bioavailability and effectiveness of its outputs. Inception Industries Extracts formulates ingredients for clients in the nutraceutical, nutricosmetic, and functional foods industries, both domestically and internationally.
Scott’s Mountain
I like this metaphor a lot. It's probably my favorite question that you've asked so far.
My daily journey is, you know, you climb a little bit and then you fall. You keep climbing and then you fall down the mountain a little bit.
So many times, so many different entrepreneurs just say, “All right, well, I'm packing up and going home for the day,” or whatever time period you use. Then, on a different day, they climb a different mountain. They never quite get to the top of the mountain because they just gave up and stopped climbing.
I think it's so important to just keep going and put one foot in front of the other. It's like you said, to climb that mountain.
So, I think there will always be a bigger mountain to climb next. And I definitely think that the next one will be a bigger challenge, whatever I decide to do. I want to help people in a big way and I want to prove to myself that I can go outside the wellness space and do something completely different, in a completely different industry.
[You can listen to the full episode with Scott here…]
Derick Van Ness: “I think the comparison between a mountain and a business is very profound because both of them are way harder than you think they're going to be, and they take way longer than you think. You're tested.”
Derick Van Ness is a Wealth Strategist who is passionate about helping people reach their full potential. His company, Big Life Financial is focused on removing the mystery and misinformation surrounding money and financial strategy so people can live their BIGGEST LIFE!
Derick believes that each person has something unique and valuable to contribute to the world, but that most people are never able to express that gift due to fear, doubt, or worry related to money. His mission is to eradicate that fear and fundamentally change the way that people think about and utilize money within the next generation.
Derick’s Mountain
I grew up and live in Salt Lake City and we live right next to big, beautiful mountains. So, my entire life, I’ve spent time in the mountains. I love your comparison.
I think most people think, when they start a business or when they get out of college, that they're at the top of the mountain. The truth is, I feel like that's base camp.
I think the comparison between a mountain and a business is very profound because both of them are way harder than you think they're going to be, and they take way longer than you think. You're tested.
I often refer to what I call the spiritual journey of entrepreneurship, because when you own a business, it comes down to you. You have to show up, and if you have a team, you have to lead. You have to be better than you thought you could be. You have to dig deeper than you ever thought you would be when something goes wrong.
When you're out there and you're all alone or with only a couple of people, nature doesn't care.
If you're tired, if you're hungry, if you're cold, it's not going to warm up in the middle of the night for you. And the world is that way with business.
[You can listen to the full episode with Derick here…]
Joe Paranteau: “I don't really believe in work-life balance. I think your life is either balanced or it's not. It’s the same as on a mountain: Either you look at it as work or you see the beauty and take it all in. That's the way I like to see it.”
Joe Paranteau is a leading expert on sales, generating more than $1B in just five years, an uncommon accomplishment. He has led nearly 30K sales meetings in his 28-year career with Fortune 500, SMBs, and startup businesses.
In his first book, Billion Dollar Sales Secrets, he shares fifteen secrets to help inspire salespeople to rise to meet today’s challenges, ignite their dreams and success.
Joe’s Mountain
I love mountains. One of my favorite hobbies is hiking. I woke up early one morning and decided that I was going to climb a mountain. No one else wanted to come with me. So, I had to go it alone. It was a hike, and it was a fairly challenging hike that would take me from no snow up into the snowpack. The only thing that I had to worry about was animals and snow in different things. But I had my hiking gear and I went at it.
The thing that I like, and that I think people miss about life and the journeys that we take, is that it's very much like a mountain. You can start off enjoying the beauty while you're doing your job.
I don't really believe in work-life balance. I think your life is either balanced or it's not. It’s the same as on a mountain: Either you look at it as work or you see the beauty and take it all in. That's the way I like to see it.
[You can listen to the full episode with Joe here…]
Bryan Clayton: “I started to understand some things as it relates to climbing a mountain and, really, even the journey of starting a business. I noticed that this guy, my guide, was fanatical…. I realized, “Wow, that's leadership. This guy is fanatical about the goal of getting to the pinnacle.” His fanaticism enthused me and got me through it.”
Bryan Clayton is CEO and cofounder of GreenPal an online marketplace that connects homeowners with Local lawn care professionals. GreenPal has been called the “Uber for lawn care” by Entrepreneur magazine and has over 200,000 active users completing thousands of transactions per day.
Before starting GreenPal Bryan Clayton founded Peachtree Inc. one of the largest landscaping companies in the state of Tennessee growing it to over $10 million a year in annual revenue before it was acquired by Lusa holdings in 2013.
Bryan’s Mountain
I was on a trip to Mexico, just exploring the country this summer, and I booked a tour to go on a hike. I had no intentions of climbing a mountain. I thought this was a hike. The guy picks me up and says, “So, how long have you been mountaineering?” I said, “I've never been mountaineering.” He goes, “What do you mean?” I said, “I've never climbed a mountain in my life.”
Long story short, we get up there and it's about a seven-hour drive outside of Mexico City. We get there and it's about four hours in an off-road vehicle to the starting point. The air is very thin. I could barely breathe. We stayed the night in this little hut and at about 1 o'clock in the morning, we begin climbing this mountain.
I started to understand some things as it relates to climbing a mountain and, really, even the journey of starting a business. I noticed that this guy, my guide, was fanatical. He looked back at me and said, “Brother, thank you so much for booking this tour because it was only when you booked this tour that I got to be on the mountain. And it's only when I'm on the mountain that I feel alive.”
I realized, “Wow, that's leadership. This guy is fanatical about the goal of getting to the pinnacle.” His fanaticism enthused me and got me through it.
[You can listen to the full episode with Bryan here…]
James Layfield: ”When you push yourself beyond your physical limits and mental limits, be that business or, as in this case, in climbing the actual landscape, it just shows you what is possible.”
James Layfield is an entrepreneur and investor creating positive change through innovation in sectors ranging from property to financial technology.
Most recently, James co-founded Clearfind, an easy-to-use, unbiased artificial intelligence platform that is changing the way companies manage and optimize software with data.
James is a general partner in a fintech investment fund Treasury with the cofounders of Acorns, Betterment, and a board member of Paypal, and has angel investments across a host of technology ventures.
James has founded and led multiple successful companies including Rise, the world’s largest fintech innovation platform, with Barclays; Never Ever Limited, an innovation catalyst and consulting agency; and Central Working, a shared workspace hub for business professionals.
James is currently an ambassador for CognitionX the AI event, London and Partners, and the ScaleUp Institute. He also serves as the New York Tech Ambassador for the Mayor of London.
James’s Mountain
A couple of years ago, a friend rang me and said, “Hey, James, how do you fancy going to Machu Picchu?” And I was like, “Sign me up.”
I did not have any idea why I signed up for the four-day hike. The level of intensity of that height for me was off the charts. At one time, I was just lying on the floor, gasping for breath. I thought I was wearing a very tight hat, but it was basically just altitude sickness plus exertion. It was ridiculous.
I don't think I've ever worked so hard in my life. I don't think I've ever had more fun being outside in nature. I don't think I've ever felt more physically challenged than I did on that trip. It was so beautiful and so inspirational. Getting closer to the two friends I went on that trip with is something that I'll remember forever. It really inspired me to want to do more of it.
When you push yourself beyond your physical limits and mental limits, be that business or, as in this case, in climbing the actual landscape, it just shows you what is possible.
I think we hold ourselves back so often that we limit ourselves. We don't even realize that we're doing it to ourselves. If you said to me, “Did you train for that?”, I’d answer, “Not really.” No, but did I really push myself? And did I get the most out of it? Absolutely. Yes. And I'm always surprised at what I accomplished, looking back.
[You can listen to the full episode with James here…]
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
As I always write after a ‘Mountain Episode’:
Now you can choose whether and what you would like to do next...
Mon, 19 Apr 2021 - 38min - 211 - Ep. 210 – James Layfield lost Microsoft as a client for being too arrogant and then won the contract for partnering to establish Google Campus in London…
James Layfield is an entrepreneur and investor creating positive change through innovation in sectors ranging from property to financial technology.
Most recently, James co-founded Clearfind, an easy-to-use, unbiased artificial intelligence platform that is changing the way companies manage and optimize software with data.
James is a general partner in a fintech investment fund Treasury with the cofounders of Acorns, Betterment, and a board member of Paypal, and has angel investments across a host of technology ventures.
James has founded and led multiple successful companies including Rise, the world’s largest fintech innovation platform, with Barclays; Never Ever Limited, an innovation catalyst and consulting agency; and Central Working, a shared workspace hub for business professionals.
James is currently an ambassador for CognitionX the AI event, London and Partners, and the ScaleUp Institute. He also serves as the New York Tech Ambassador for the Mayor of London.
Most passionate about
The thing that I'm working on right now is something that I've been exploring for the last four years, in a really interesting area of the world: software.I'm working on a company called Clearfind. We’re here to help people bring software into their company as effectively as possible and manage and reduce the cost of the software.James’s career and story
I think of myself as a serial entrepreneur. I've always been driven by an absolute passion to try and solve problems that I have faced in my life.I basically created the idea of co-working in the UK, even before the work came around, which is quite exciting, through financial technology. I've been working in financial technology for the last 10 years with some of the biggest banks in the world.The number of available options in the market has increased exponentially and yet the tools with which to navigate it are the same. That's why there is this beautiful, cool area for tool like clarified.We're bringing that together with AI so that we can augment people in their jobs to make consistently smarter decisions. We think we've excelled at that.The first three years of our journey were spent working out how to do the software and then gathering that data. We only launched it in October of last year.We’re a four-year-old company that has been selling since October of last year. The reason is that it's really hard to do the thing that we've managed to do. Once we went to market, we found that this resonates with that audience of companies spending between three and 10 million a year and also with consultants.We have a couple of the world's largest consultancy firms working with us and are already getting some great results. On top of that, we have companies from many different sectors, from finance and banking to biotech and high-tech. Among all of these organizations, the commonality is the amount of money they're spending annually on software and the complexity of the ecosystem.Best advice for entrepreneurs
I think basically to listen. I have to constantly remind myself of that.What we're doing is going back through the real insights that we have in our business from our real customers and opening our ears to listen to what they're telling us. You then start to adapt and change your messaging and product in a way that's going to resonate with them.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
Many years ago, one of my first ever ventures was an experiential creative agency. We had just gotten to the final stages of hopefully about to win Microsoft.We were meeting the people whom you never want to meet when you're trying to sell someone, which is the procurement team.We want us both to come away really happy with this deal. That's where my little ego became a nightmare. I said, “I think the pricing is really fair right now, but are you sure you want me to look at what a fair price would be?” Absolutely. I got off the phone and like the absolute maniac that I was, I went away and worked out what the fair price would be.Now, the fair price for this job was three times as expensive as what we'd quoted them because we'd already massively discounted it in order to get them the business.I think everybody knew what he meant. He didn't want to pay a fair price. He just wanted a discount. I mean, he didn't say that. And I knew that's what he wanted and I was arrogant and made a fool of myself. Instead of winning Microsoft and losing a bit of margin, we didn't ever work with Microsoft in that company.Biggest success with customers
A reasonable time ago, when I was pioneering this thing that became known as co-working in the UK, we had just opened up our first location and were getting incredible feedback.And then somebody messaged me that Google is launching a co-working space, and instead of just ignoring them, which is what I wanted to do, I reached out into my network and said, “Hey, has anyone else heard about the fact that Google is trying to do this workspace?”At the time, I was close to one of the original European kind-of founders of LinkedIn. This guy, Kevin, not surprisingly knew everyone. I said to Kevin, “Can you reach out to some of your friends at Google and get me in touch with whoever's heading up this project? They're doing something that's in our space.”Kevin was a rockstar and got on the phone with this lady called Anastasia. I said, “Anastasia, you work at Google. You probably haven't heard of my company, which is called Central Working, but you have to make the time, if you have any interest at all in doing this workspace thing, to come and see me.”When she came to see this thing we'd created, she was blown away. I didn't realize they had been running a process for nearly six months, working out how and who they were going to partner with on this new, exciting project that became something called a Google campus.That was one of my finest moments because we took something that should have been a threat and made it into an opportunity.James’s recommendation of a tool
Pipedrive - This is a really lovely CRM tool for sales. It's so simple, so powerful.James’s one key success factor
I think it's mental clarity.The business world today is extremely hectic. You've got to understand the noise in your mind, how busy your head is, where’s your head's at, and you've got to take that into consideration. Try to reduce how busy your mind is so that you can think more clearly, so that you're not so anxious. When you do that, when you're more settled down, you will hear and see more of the world and be able to make smarter decisions.James’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
A couple of years ago, a friend rang me and said, “Hey, James, how do you fancy going to Machu Picchu?” And I was like, “Sign me up.”I did not have any idea why I signed up for the four-day hike. The level of intensity of that height for me was off the charts. At one time, I was just lying on the floor, gasping for breath. I thought I was wearing a very tight hat, but it was basically just altitude sickness plus exertion. It was ridiculous.I don't think I've ever worked so hard in my life. I don't think I've ever had more fun being outside in nature. I don't think I've ever felt more physically challenged than I did on that trip. It was so beautiful and so inspirational. Getting closer to the two friends I went on that trip with is something that I'll remember forever. It really inspired me to want to do more of it.When you push yourself beyond your physical limits and mental limits, be that business or, as in this case, in climbing the actual landscape, it just shows you what is possible.I think we hold ourselves back so often that we limit ourselves. We don't even realize that we're doing it to ourselves. If you said to me, “Did you train for that?”, I’d answer, “Not really.” No, but did I really push myself? And did I get the most out of it? Absolutely. Yes. And I'm always surprised at what I accomplished, looking back.[caption id="attachment_7239" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Machu Picchu | Peru[/caption]
The best way to connect with James:
Here is my Clearfind.com siteHere is my LinkedInMon, 12 Apr 2021 - 33min - 210 - Ep. 209 – Derick Van Ness goal is to help people create financial certainty so that they can stop worrying so much about money
Derick Van Ness is a Wealth Strategist who is passionate about helping people reach their full potential. His company, Big Life Financial is focused on removing the mystery and misinformation surrounding money and financial strategy so people can live their BIGGEST LIFE!
Derick believes that each person has something unique and valuable to contribute to the world, but that most people are never able to express that gift due to fear, doubt, or worry related to money. His mission is to eradicate that fear and fundamentally change the way that people think about and utilize money within the next generation.
Most passionate about
I am most passionate today about getting back out and re-engaging with the world after the pandemic.I've really been feeling the excitement of getting close to being able to go out and meet with friends, to go dancing and sailing and do a lot of the things that I like to do in my personal life.On the business level, I'm really passionate about a lot of the changes that are happening in the way people are engaging with the world. I love how technology is being used in many ways to bring people together.Derick’s career and story
I wanted to own my own business. I wasn't sure what it was going to be, but my father was a business owner and I saw the flexibility that it offered him.So, I knew that I needed to learn how to sell. I took a sales job right out of college.At first, it was just knocking doors, door to door. I was scared to death of that. Then, after doing that for six months, I took a phone sales job where we would cold-call people and build relationships from nothing. That was as hard as could be.My first three years out of school, I probably did 50,000 cold calls.At that point, I felt like I had the skill set to start my business because I'd worked with so many business owners and seen financial statements, and I knew how to sell. Then I had to decide what I wanted to do. I chose to become a real estate investor and start flipping houses.I really learned a lot just by being fortunate enough to have made a lot of money when I was young.Today, we do financial strategy and tax strategy for business owners.Our goal is to help people create financial certainty so that they can stop worrying so much about money and focus on doing the work or being the person that they're here to be. The company's called Big Life Financial, and the idea is that we get money out of the way so that you can live the big life you're here to live.Best advice for entrepreneurs
I think the most important thing that gets overlooked in sales is asking good questions and listening to salespeople practice their sales pitch. They practice overcoming objections, they practice how to present, they practice all these things, but it's not what communication is not about, what you’re saying, it's about what the customer is hearing.If you don't know their needs, you can't speak in terms of their needs when you present.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I would say my biggest failure with clients is that sometimes, when my business has grown in big spurts, my follow-through of continuing to stay in touch with clients and continuing to stay engaged and active with them, has not been as good as it could have been.Relationships have come naturally to me, so I've relied on that. At times in my business growth, by not having cadences, and not having routines, and not having systems to support me, I've dropped the ball.Biggest success with customers
I think the best thing that I've ever done, and I kind of learned this in the real estate business, was when my greed glands turn on.My greatest success has been learning how to view every single person—whether a big or small client—as a human being, to treat them as a human being and work with them.As a human being, I'm so much more effective, just letting the money take its own course and doing the right thing for the client. I’m focused on their needs and what's most important to them. I guide them and help them with that and don’t worry so much about the commission or the money that I'm going to make.Derick’s recommendation of a tool
Learning how to connect with people through video is super, super important.At the beginning of 2020, we were doing a lot of Facebook marketing and we were getting a ton of leads, like seven to 10 new leads a day even with the follow-up sequence and email.So, we shifted to video and now I consistently get comments from clients.Derick’s one key success factor
First and foremost is, and I said this earlier, that I just love people.I see the good in everybody. That doesn't mean there aren't some people whom I meet and am like, “Ooh, I don't necessarily love that person,” but for the most part, when I get on the phone with people, I really like them.When I love people, they can feel it. I think that's a real competitive advantage. It’s definitely a key success factor.Derick’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I grew up and live in Salt Lake City and we live right next to big, beautiful mountains. So, my entire life, I’ve spent time in the mountains. I love your comparison.I think most people think, when they start a business or when they get out of college, that they're at the top of the mountain. The truth is, I feel like that's base camp.I think the comparison between a mountain and a business is very profound because both of them are way harder than you think they're going to be, and they take way longer than you think. You're tested.I often refer to what I call the spiritual journey of entrepreneurship, because when you own a business, it comes down to you. You have to show up, and if you have a team, you have to lead. You have to be better than you thought you could be. You have to dig deeper than you ever thought you would be when something goes wrong.When you're out there and you're all alone or with only a couple of people, nature doesn't care.If you're tired, if you're hungry, if you're cold, it's not going to warm up in the middle of the night for you. And the world is that way with business.[caption id="attachment_7227" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Salt Lake City Mountains[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Derick
My Website - BigLifeFinancialSocial Media Profiles:YouTube: Check Out My Latest Videos HereMon, 05 Apr 2021 - 32min - 209 - Ep. 208 – Bryan Clayton: From mowing grass to co-founding what Entrepreneur magazine called the “Uber for lawn care”, doing $20 million a year
Bryan Clayton is CEO and cofounder of GreenPal an online marketplace that connects homeowners with Local lawn care professionals. GreenPal has been called the “Uber for lawn care” by Entrepreneur magazine and has over 200,000 active users completing thousands of transactions per day.
Before starting GreenPal Bryan Clayton founded Peachtree Inc. one of the largest landscaping companies in the state of Tennessee growing it to over $10 million a year in annual revenue before it was acquired by Lusa holdings in 2013.
Bryan’s interest and expertise are related to entrepreneurialism, small business growth, marketing and bootstrapping businesses from zero revenue to profitability and exit.
Most passionate about
I am the co-founder and CEO of a company called GreenPal, which, in one sentence, is kind of like the Uber of lawn mowing.We have over 300,000 people using the app and we’re doing $20 million a year in revenue. So, we're kind of an eight-year overnight success.Our business has doubled year over year for the past six years. That's the cadence we want to continue until the numbers just get too big.Bryan’s career and story
I started mowing grass as a way to make extra cash, to put myself through college. When I graduated college, I had to make a decision. Was I going to stick with this little lawn mowing business, or go into the job market? Luckily, I decided to stay with the lawn mowing business. I didn't really want to be a grass-cutting guy my whole life, but I was making good money. I was earning a good living and I kind of liked it.In 2013, that business was acquired by one of the largest landscaping companies in the United States. By growing that business, with just me and a push mower to 150 people, I learned a lot through trial and error about how to grow a business, how to get a business to profitability, and how to get a business sold.I realized that about myself and I thought, ‘Okay, well, it's time to start the next thing.’The idea for GreenPal was a straightforward one for me. I addressed the things I saw over the previous 15 years of growing a landscaping business. I thought, ‘Okay, an app needs to exist to make this easier, kind of like Airbnb and Uber and Lyft.’I recruited two co-founders and we went to work. We really didn't know the first thing about any of that stuff. We just didn't give up. We stuck with it. We focused on little goals and got those done, then kept making the app better and better.One thing that got us through those early hard years was that we would make it extremely easy for anybody to talk to us. We would always talk to our users and our customers to get their feedback, to understand what it was we needed to work on. We stuck at it and kept applying that feedback and improving the app. Here we are, eight years later, and we have a profitable business that's growing.Best advice for entrepreneurs
If you're just getting started, my best advice is to get as many loyal customers as you can, whether it be six, a dozen, twenty, a hundred.Don't focus on big goals and big revenue goals. Just focus on little goals, making those people's lives better.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
We thought that the value proposition was going to be to deliver the cheapest way to get your grass cut. We thought, ‘If we can just be $5 or $10 cheaper than the other way, people will use the app.’ That was a mistake.Also, in talking to people on both sides of the transaction for a long time, we kind of ignored the supplier side, the vendor side. That came at a cost because we didn't really understand that if these guys and gals weren't really happy with the product, they weren't going to use it.Biggest success with customers
So, once we started to understand our value proposition and really understand, “This is how we compete in the marketplace and this is how we deliver a solution,” that's 10 times better than the status quo.We began to acquire a lot of homeowners and consumers using the app. We began to understand that we offer a nice convenience to homeowners.Bryan’s recommendation of a tool
Semrush - Online Visibility Management PlatformIf you're going to bet the company on SEO, you have to measure what you're doing.It's not cheap. We spent a lot of money on it but it's something that helped us put our company on the map and get it to multiple eight figures in revenue.Bryan’s one key success factor
It has been managing my own psychology and understanding that you're always going to be working on your best idea. That's it.There's no going backward, there's no giving up, there's no switching to something else. You’re always going to be working on your best idea.Bryan’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I was on a trip to Mexico, just exploring the country this summer, and I booked a tour to go on a hike. I had no intentions of climbing a mountain. I thought this was a hike. The guy picks me up and says, “So, how long have you been mountaineering?” I said, “I've never been mountaineering.” He goes, “What do you mean?” I said, “I've never climbed a mountain in my life.”Long story short, we get up there and it's about a seven-hour drive outside of Mexico City. We get there and it's about four hours in an off-road vehicle to the starting point. The air is very thin. I could barely breathe. We stayed the night in this little hut and at about 1 o'clock in the morning, we begin climbing this mountain.I started to understand some things as it relates to climbing a mountain and, really, even the journey of starting a business. I noticed that this guy, my guide, was fanatical. He looked back at me and said, “Brother, thank you so much for booking this tour because it was only when you booked this tour that I got to be on the mountain. And it's only when I'm on the mountain that I feel alive.”I realized, “Wow, that's leadership. This guy is fanatical about the goal of getting to the pinnacle.” His fanaticism enthused me and got me through it.[caption id="attachment_7216" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Illustration[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Bryan
My WebsiteSocial Media Profiles:LinkedInTwitterInstagramMon, 29 Mar 2021 - 29min - 208 - Ep. 207 – Joe Paranteau is a leading expert on sales, gener-ating more than $1B in just five years: “I don’t see a sale that could be unwinnable.”
Joe Paranteau is a leading expert on sales, generating more than $1B in just five years, an uncommon accomplishment. He has led nearly 30K sales meetings in his 28-year career with Fortune 500, SMBs, and startup businesses. In his first book, Billion Dollar Sales Secrets, he shares fifteen secrets to help inspire salespeople to rise to meet today’s challenges, ignite their dreams and success.
Most passionate about
My book is coming out. That has been three years in the making.I've also completed my MBA. I went back to school during this time, something that I wanted to do, and I'm so happy that I did.I'm most passionate about helping everyone increase their sales IQ and really execute so that they can provide the things they need for their families and their companies.Our company motto is to help people and businesses throughout the world achieve their full potential. It says nothing about technology but that's what I love to do: help people.Joe’s career and story
I'm the first generation in my family to grow up off the Indian reservation. So, I'm a member of a tribe.I was the first one to grow up in suburbia. I have these two worlds that I grew up in. I grew up poor and didn't have a lot.To help the family, my brother, sister, and I would paint rocks and go door to door to sell them. So, I guess my career really started when I was eight years old.I served in the military as a way to do something to better my life.I went to college, graduated, and then I had an opportunity to get into sales. I thought I wanted to go into politics. That was my thinking at the time. Then I met someone who said, “Joe, you have a technical background and a background in communication. Very interesting. Why don't you want to go into sales?”She explained to me what I just shared with you earlier: That selling is all about helping people get what they want or need. If you can look yourself in the mirror every day and say to yourself, “Today, I helped somebody,” then you're doing all right.The company that I worked for was a technology company that was a Microsoft partner, 28 years ago. So, I started there and worked through a series of startups. Some of them were super successful, some of them were not. Many of them got merged and acquired by other companies, but my path at Microsoft has been interesting.I've been here 16 years, and this is the sixth role and fourth startup that I've been in inside the company. I've helped start different businesses inside the company. The basis for my book was a startup in our health industry team that I was able to help grow to a billion dollars in five years.Best advice for entrepreneurs
A pretty good one is to focus. Be comfortable and openly search for ways to fail. Don't be afraid of failure. I've come to a place in my sales and business career where I don't see obstacles. I don't see a sale that could be unwinnable.Be open to shifting and being honest with yourself. The only thing that's going against us is time. If we can change the way we approach things, that's really what has to change. If we learn something new, we can approach the situation differently. Then we're one step closer.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
The biggest failure that I've had in sales is not listening well and not aligning myself with what the customer wanted. When I've looked at it from a selfish ambition standpoint, that's a surefire way to fail.I had a customer with a very specific set of criteria. At first, it sounded like I knew exactly what they needed, so I rushed that. I went directly into, “Okay, this will be easy to sell.” I missed the mark completely. The customer felt awkward. They told me, “We like you as a person, Joe, but we're going to go with this other company because they met our needs more completely.” It was a tough loss.Biggest success with customers
One of the companies that I got to work with was American Airlines. At the time, they were starting to develop a .com, which is their flagship. They saw potential in it, but it hadn't been that strong of a revenue generator. They wanted to put a lot of effort and energy into making it exceptional.It was the same sort of story as before. They approached us and said, “Hey, we really like this part of what you can offer to help us on the creative design and information architecture.” So, as a salesperson, I said, “Okay, what are you comfortable with at this time?” They said, “We're really comfortable with March 1.”They also said, “We'd like you to do the creative design and work with March 1 to make it happen.” So, I went back and talked to all of our partners. We invited our competitor to collaborate with us on the deal. We agreed to go forward as competitors, teaming together on this one project. And we won the business. Everyone won. American Airlines won.Joe’s recommendation of a tool
OneNoteA note-taking application.I take all my notes in OneNote. I recently got a Rocketbook. They have a special pen. You can write on them and then you can take a picture. It will scan and go up into the cloud, into your OneNote.It helps me remember things I've committed to.I put my goals, objectives, and dreams in there. A lot of the book that I wrote, I framed my thoughts in there.Joe’s one key success factor
That’s easy:I never give up.One thing that's somewhat motivating for me is when people bet against me or doubt that I can do something. That gives me an extra source of motivation.Joe’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I love mountains. One of my favorite hobbies is hiking. I woke up early one morning and decided that I was going to climb a mountain. No one else wanted to come with me. So, I had to go it alone. It was a hike, and it was a fairly challenging hike that would take me from no snow up into the snowpack. The only thing that I had to worry about was animals and snow and different things. But I had my hiking gear and I went at it.The thing that I like, and that I think people miss about life and the journeys that we take, is that it's very much like a mountain. You can start off enjoying the beauty while you're doing your job.I don't really believe in work-life balance. I think your life is either balanced or it's not. It’s the same as on a mountain: Either you look at it as work or you see the beauty and take it all in. That's the way I like to see it.The best ways to connect with Joe
My WebsiteAll listeners can download chapter 1 of my bookA sales stimulus package Social Media Profiles:LinkedInTwitterFacebookInstagramMon, 22 Mar 2021 - 34min - 207 - Ep. 206 – David Jay best advice – When I was 16 my dad told me: “David, if you do your business about helping people, you always have plenty of work.”
David is the founder and CEO of Warm Welcome and was recently named a Top 100 Tech Innovator and Influencer.
In today’s market most businesses struggle to stand out in crowded markets. Warm Welcome helps businesses upgrade from boring text to personal video so they can build meaningful relationships that drive real revenue.
David has bootstrapped several startups into multi-million ARR. Revenues from Warm Welcome, along with his other four companies, exceed $6 million in 2020.
Over the previous years the pursuit of efficiency and automation has created a lonely world that is actually disconnected from what we need the most – people!
Most passionate about
First is my family; we just moved to Florida, and I have two young boys, two and four. So that's an exciting, exciting time of life.My business babies and the startup guide; I have a few tech startups, and we're working on selling one of those and working on building one of those. The newest one is called Warm Welcome.it's a way to personalize your business and build trust quickly through video.it's a way to stand out in your market.It is a way to make things more personal, more human by moving beyond kind of boring old texts, emails, or text on your website and putting a face behind it, putting a smile behind it.David’s career and story
I remember back in sixth grade, I went down to the store and started buying up candy bars on sale, Reese's peanut butter cups and everyone loves them. And I started selling those, and the school shut me down...I saw problems back then and enjoyed solving them and enjoyed coming up with a better way of doing something or at least something that I thought was better.So, then I went on to college and actually ended up dropping out of college and starting a service business of photography and love doing that for about 10 years; it hits all the typical scale problems that everyone has in the service business, whether you're a photographer or contractor.So, I started to build communities around the software. One of my mentors, Tim Sanders, said, your network is your net worth. And I thought about that, and I thought I need to build a network: I need to build a community of people that knows me and trust me. Through the community, I started to hear other people's problems and try and come up with solutions for those. And so that's been what pulled me into tech.Best advice for entrepreneurs
When I was 16 years old, my dad sat me down and said, David, if you do your business about helping other people, you always have plenty of work.I think that's probably the best advice out there and something that we often miss when we're building a business or building a product; we tend to think a lot about our business and our product. Still, really we need to be thinking about the customer and thinking about the problem that the customer has and how we are going to help them solve their problem.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
One thing that I've had a tendency to do is to take too much time building what I want to build, a product that I think is the right thing for the market instead of building an MVP or building a beta prototype that I can then take to the market and get their feedback on it earlier.With green.com, I spent about a million dollars more than I needed to spend building that. It cost me a couple of million bucks to get that product going. Because we spent our whole first year building, building, building, building, building, and so what we were essentially doing was baking the product. And then by the time, we presented it to the customer and they gave us feedback on it, we couldn't re-bake it. And so, it almost cost me the entire business because, uh, we were running out of money.Biggest success with customers
I'd probably say that the biggest success I've had has been in the photo industry, creating a new business model for the photography industry.We created shoot and share, and this business model around sharing the photos instead of just selling prints.Today we have a 50,000 person community of photographers who are all going about their business, that way, serving their clients, putting food on the table for their families.David’s recommendation of a tool
complete NPS net promoter score process: The best ways and strategies to keep yourself focused on the customer.People answer 0 to 10, which creates an overall benchmark score for your business and how loyal your customers are. But then it asks a question just to open-ended question.Best ways to build relationships with your customers because you're inviting them into your story and into your journey and into a kind of creating something together.David’s one key success factor.
I'm a connector; I'm a creative connector. And so, coming up with creative solutions to problems is what I really enjoy doing.David’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
The toughest mountains to climb like Mount Everest, when you climb that you have a guide with you. And I think that is a really important piece of the puzzle.When you're building a business, who's your guide. And if you're building a business that serves other businesses, then positioning yourself as the guide.So the purpose of our business is not to be a successful business. The purpose of our businesses is to be a guide to help other businesses be.[caption id="attachment_5825" align="aligncenter" width="700"] illustration[/caption]
The best ways to connect with David
My WebsiteChat with DavidMon, 15 Mar 2021 - 29min - 206 - Ep. 205 – Isaac Kuhlman teaches everything about having an Amazon business and say – “People are so afraid of rejection or failure, that they don’t even get started.”
Isaac Kuhlman has been an Amazon Brand Developer since 2013, responsible for more than $12 Million in revenue. He is the co- founder of REAL Coaching with Kirsty Verity where they have helped over 1,000 Amazon Sellers grow their businesses with the right strategies to achieve their freedom goals. They specialize in taking sellers who are stuck or plateaued in their business and break through to reach the real success they desire.
Now he gets to enjoy real freedom and pursue his lifelong passion for Rock music-- having produced and recorded an album, bicycling 11 miles a day, writing a poetry book and traveling the world.
Most passionate about
I'm an Amazon seller and have two brands on Amazon. Then we provide coaching through Real Coaching, which is a company I started with my business partner, Kirsty.We help entrepreneurs establish sustainable long-term businesses on Amazon—not just selling products, but actually getting businesses set up and built, finding products that can be sustainable and that are not just fad-products.I've always wanted to be somebody who educates but also leads other people to build an opportunity for themselves.Isaac’s career and story
I grew up pretty poor. I graduated from high school and took a couple of scholarships and a grant to go to school. I still had to pay a bunch of student loans. Actually, last year I finally paid off my student loans from 2004, when I graduated from college.I got a history degree with a pre-law or political science minor. My school didn’t have a pre-law major, but they had a pathway. I was happy that it didn't work out in the end because it kind of built a fire inside of me.I met a guy who was working in an Amazon business. I didn't know that much about Amazon. I had shopped on it a couple of times. I knew some stuff about online and Facebook, but it wasn't like I was savvy about e-commerce selling.We worked together for about two-and-a-half years, selling a lot of stuff. Then we branched off and went our separate ways. It changed the situation.I didn't have any plan. I had limited funds in the bank. Then I went out and started my own brands and the coaching business and all that stuff.Best advice for entrepreneurs
I think Robert Kiyosaki has a quote similar to this: People who fail quit easily. Winners always try to fail as fast as possible.People are so afraid of rejection or failure, of something not working out one time, that they don't even get started.In my opinion, you only fail if you give up. You want to keep finding these things that you can do better.The only way you can do things better is to make mistakes along the way. Mistakes are the best learning tools in the world. Put your hand on a hot stove. You’ll remember never to do that again.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
This was very early on in my Amazon business. There was a person who said they got a defective product and they were going to sue us.My response wasn't overly negative, but it was kind of skeptical—pushing off the blame, but at the same time it wasn't helpful because it kind of made it seem like it was all their fault.We eventually got him to calm down. He wanted to write every Amazon customer and tell them, like, all this stuff about how it was a bad product.He was writing a bad review. It became a huge issue when it could have been resolved just by checking the tone of the email.Biggest success with customers
This was back around 2014, and a customer had received a product. They bought it from the Amazon listing that we created, but that didn’t necessarily mean that they were going to get the product from us because other sellers could jump on there and sell a fake version. That's actually what ended up happening, but we didn't know that at first.The customer came out and said, “I used to use your product and it blew up. Essentially burnt out my Bose stereo, which are pretty expensive.” We were like, “Oh no, that's not good.”She took a picture and it looked like our product, except it didn't come in our packaging. It just came in a Ziploc bag. That's when we knew something was wrong. So we were like, “Okay, check your order because there's probably a different seller on there.” Sure enough, it was a different seller trying to sell on our listing.We told her, “We're going to call Amazon customer support on your behalf and we'll try to get them to call you. We'll get on a three-way call.” I explained the situation.Isaac’s recommendation of a tool
This is a bad answer because it's not going to be a tool. What I find is that tools take the human brain and common sense out of everything that you want to do.Jungle ScoutIf you want to know how to find, say, estimated sales data and all that good stuff, that's a very good tool.Isaac’s one key success factor
I would probably always come back to the fact that I'm never willing to let a problem go unsolved.Everything that people try is like the scientific method. The difference is that they don't think about it because you don't have to. It kind of is common sense.Isaac’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I was born in Montana, which is Spanish for “mountain.” I live in a valley and here in Las Vegas in between the Rocky Mountains.I’m very fond of the mountains in general. However, before I ever became an entrepreneur, I read a book that has a very good perception of what I feel the journey of life is like.The book is called Shifting Sands by Steve Donahue. In that book, he says that achieving goals is not so much like a mountain. It's more like a desert, where the path shifts. So, you see sand dunes and you're like, “I’ve got to get over that dune.” But then, when you get to that dune, you’re like, “Okay, well, where am I now? Which dune do I need to get over?”Instead of constantly climbing up, you actually go side to side a lot. You go up and down as well. So, you’re trying to figure out your path in a desert.I don't necessarily see my journey as going up all the time. Sometimes it's like, “Hey, I’ve got to go this way a little bit, and now I've got to go this way a little bit.” And I'm still maybe going up a little bit, but at the same time, I might have to go down for a little while and then go back up.We know, as entrepreneurs, that everything doesn't always go up. Things do go down and then you have doubt. Creeping-in confidence is lacking. You're not sure if you can make this thing work again, whatever it is.The best ways to connect with Isaac
WebsiteSocial Media Profiles:Facebook groupInstagramMon, 08 Mar 2021 - 40min - 205 - Ep. 204 – Josh Little founded four tech companies. With two successful exits and third pending, he’s currently trying to save the world from “death by meetings.”
Josh Little is the founder of four tech companies–Maestro, Bloomfire, Qzzr, and Volley–that have collectively been used by hundreds of millions of people. With two successful exits and third pending, he’s currently on a mission to save the working world from death-by-meetings with his fourth creation, Volley.
Most passionate about
I am trying to save the world from “death by meetings,” as we all have gone remote with the recent pandemic and realized that we still need to talk to move work forward.We are aiming to fill the gap between Slack and Zoom. Most people would say, “Well, I don't see a gap there. I'm either Slacking my team or I'm Zooming with my team back to back all day.”There's this whole spectrum in between that Volley is aiming to solve. With Volley, you share asynchronous video messages. Imagine video texting. If you could text someone with a video, that's kind of what Volley is like.Volley allows teams to move work forward faster by replacing their meetings with asynchronous video conversations. The ultimate goal is to have productive conversations that don't interrupt each other's productivity because meetings are quite interrupted.Josh’s career and story
I started as a teacher. I was a preschool teacher, a social studies teacher. I actually was four years into a music education degree. The only reason I wanted to be a teacher was to be a music teacher, but I did realize that the same skills that made me a good teacher also made me good at sales.I left teaching to go into sales. I went to three Fortune 500 companies and did really well at each of them. I'd usually become the number one rep in the division the first year I was there. They would invite me to be the sales trainer and show everyone what I was doing.I left Stryker, which was my last corporate job, and started my first company, which was Maestro.From Maestro, we built Bloomfire. Then, after Bloomfire, I built QZZr. After kind of a long break and pondering what I wanted to build, the next idea, Volley, came.Best advice for entrepreneurs
Be remarkable because the definition of the word “remarkable” is “worthy of remark.”To truly be remarkable is to have people talk about the way that you engage with customers, the way that you show up in a conversation.I aim for every interaction with a customer to be in some way remarkable, where they walk away from that conversation and say, “Wow, he really cared,” or “He really understood my problem,” or “I love how he was vulnerable there at that moment,” or “That was really funny what he did.”The biggest, most critical failure with customers
With customers, my biggest failure has been withholding truth or withholding reality from a customer because you want to make customers happy and you don't want to initiate conflict.Biggest success with customers
I believe that I'm doing the best work of my life right now. I've had great success.With two of my companies, I've had successful exits. I really think what we're doing for teams and communication right now with Volley is extremely important work.The reason I say that what we're doing is a success—and this is very recent feedback we've been receiving from users—is that Volley has helped increase team connectedness and brought back the fun and the spontaneity that we once had as a team but that we then lost when we went remote. I think that's really powerful.Josh’s recommendation of a tool
Volley: That’s a tool that I'm using right now for reaching out to my customers. We're using our product as our support tool.LinkedIn and Zoom: LinkedIn is a great way to connect, but then, when you want to have a deeper, more meaningful conversation, text is just a very thin medium. So, you need to move to either Volley or Zoom.Josh’s one key success factor
I think it's changing. It used to be “Do what you say you're going to do.” That's kind of a personal mantra. Having no gap between your words and your actions is really important.Small changes each day really do add up over time.Josh’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I'm climbing several mountains simultaneously in my life right now and will continue to do so. The interesting thing about peaks is that what you thought was the peak when you started climbing the mountain often isn't actually the peak because when you get there, as you said, you realize, “Oh no, the peak’s over there and it's much higher than where I am right now.”We need to keep climbing. For other mountains that I've climbed, like learning to code and learning to program, I spent time doing that and realized that I could climb this mountain. It is quite a journey, but I also realize that the peak moves every day. It moves somewhere else. So, even if you achieve what you think is the peak, you can't stop climbing.You also need to think about, if you're starting this journey, is it something that you really want to continue for the rest of your life? Like learning to be a software programmer? Because some mountain peaks do stay fixed, while others move.[caption id="attachment_5538" align="aligncenter" width="1080"] Metaphorical Mountain[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Josh
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Mon, 01 Mar 2021 - 24min - 204 - Ep. 203 – Scott Prisco thought CBD was going to sell like hotcakes. The slow start led him to establish a successful wellbeing company.
Scott Prisco is a nutritionist and entrepreneur with a passion for helping others. He founded Priscotty Pure, a wellness company that assists people in reaching their optimum state of well-being through unique supplement blends and an electrifying health movement.
Scott is also a mover and shaker in the CBD space. He founded Inception Industries Extracts, a manufacturing company that specializes in the production of high-quality, water-soluble powders and liquids, made from hemp-derived cannabinoids. The company uses a proprietary nanomolecular encapsulation technology to drastically increase the bioavailability and effectiveness of its outputs. Inception Industries Extracts formulates ingredients for clients in the nutraceutical, nutricosmetic, and functional foods industries, both domestically and internationally.
Most passionate about
Right now, I'm most passionate about helping people. We are a wellness supplement company. We make supplements and blends—from beauty products to CBD, sleep, digestion and everything in between.I am also passionate about my other company, Inception Industries Extracts, which is a CBD manufacturing company.We manufacture water-soluble ingredients for beverage companies and functional food companies, both domestically and internationally.Scott’s career and story
About three-and-a-half years ago, I suffered from depression and anxiety. I started using CBD when it first came on the market and became popular.I found a little bit of relief from the anxiety. It helped my mood.I have a nutrition background and I've always been into science. I read a ton of journals and scientific studies, and I really love chemistry as well.I linked up with a guy who had been making water-soluble ingredients for a world-renowned beverage company for the last 25 years.I took that and we applied it to the CBD. I started Priscotty Pure, which began with one product: a water-soluble CBD powder.We started selling that and then we got a lot of interest from other companies. We ranked pretty high on Google and got a lot of interest internationally and domestically, from beverage companies, functional foods, and nutraceuticals.I think that the CBD market really got played out a little bit. There were a lot of people getting involved in it and putting out products that weren't very good.So, it started as a CBD company, but then we pivoted and ended up selling other things.Best advice for entrepreneurs
Be open, be malleable, be ready to pivot because you really don't know who your customer is.A lot of times, the best way to decide who your customer is, the proper customer you should be targeting, is to put out the product and see who interacts best with it.Don't think you know everything. Just be open.A lot of times, you’ll see that who you think you're going to be targeting and who you think is going to be buying your product will be different when the sales start rolling in. That’s what we’ve seen. Analytics help us on the backend.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I’d say it was when we first started Priscotty Pure with that one water-soluble CBD product.We anticipated a higher volume of sales.We didn't really plan.It was such a slow start.We thought it was going to sell like hotcakes.Luckily, we got a lot of wholesale interest. We focused on that for a little bit, as we were building up the Priscotty Pure wellness business.We just fell into that and it really helped hold us over. It allowed us to eventually re-reinvest that money into Priscotty Pure.Biggest success with customers
My greatest success would definitely be knowing that my products are helping people. That's really what I love.Scott’s recommendation of a tool
Google:The first thing we do is Google it and read what other people are saying. Then we come to our own conclusions.A lot of stuff starts on Google. Then we fine-tune those ideas. We come up with a lot of our own creative stuff.Google AnalyticsAds platformKeyword plannerScott’s one key success factor
I'd say having a good support system.A lot of times, it's very easy to get down on yourself.I have my girlfriend, Faith, my parents, and a lot of great friends around me.They help me keep my head above water and remind me to just keep going.A lot of good ideas come from the people around me and their knowledge and their success—seeing what they've done and their life experiences.Scott’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I like this metaphor a lot. It's probably my favorite question that you've asked so far.My daily journey is, you know, you climb a little bit and then you fall. You keep climbing and then you fall down the mountain a little bit.So many times, so many different entrepreneurs just say, “All right, well, I'm packing up and going home for the day,” or whatever time period you use. Then, on a different day, they climb a different mountain. They never quite get to the top of the mountain because they just gave up and stopped climbing.I think it's so important to just keep going and put one foot in front of the other. It's like you said, to climb that mountain.So, I think there will always be a bigger mountain to climb next. And I definitely think that the next one will be a bigger challenge, whatever I decide to do. I want to help people in a big way and I want to prove to myself that I can go outside the wellness space and do something completely different, in a completely different industry.[caption id="attachment_5538" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Metaphorical Mountain[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Scott
Priscotty Pure WebsiteInception Industries Extracts WebsiteSocial Media Profiles:Priscotty Pure InstagramScott Prisco LinkedInMon, 22 Feb 2021 - 25min - 203 - Ep. 202 – Why the law of focus is the most important law for your entrepreneurship today, And what does it mean in a practical sense?
Unfortunately, you won’t find my room on Clubhouse. Not because I’m not on Clubhouse. I am. There are some fantastic rooms there, and I’ve heard some meaningful discussions. I actually thought about opening a room, and I even decided what it would be called and who my partner coordinators would be.
But then I realized that I had totally forgotten the law of FOCUS. This law has a few meanings. I first read about it 25 years ago in what I consider to be the best marketing book I’ve ever read: “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing” by Al Ries and Jack Trout.
The law of focus says, “The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect’s mind.” We must create a clear identity in the minds of our target audience. The best way to get ahead of the competition is to be very clear and focused about what word we own.
But it starts much earlier. There are two decisions you should make regarding the basis of your market strategy: Who are your target customers and how should you define your product or service so that your potential customers understand its value?
As an entrepreneur today, you are probably confused. There are so many options, so many people who might need your product, and so many ways you can present your product to your customers.
Because there are so many options out there, you must find the customers who feel that they must have your product, that it solves their problem or best fulfills their need.
The problem is that to focus and be the best solution for one or two specific target audiences, you have to give up on so many potential buyers. Here comes the law of SACRIFICE—you have to give up something in order to get something. There are three things to sacrifice: product line, target market, and constant change.
So many opinions are out there. Everyone knows what you should do, who your target market is, and what marketing activities you should run.
But here is the truth: NOBODY KNOWS. You can’t know until you search the market from the point of view of your potential target audience.
Searching the market is not complicated today. In most cases, you don’t need an expensive research company. You can learn more about how to do it from my short guide, The three free, practical steps to researching and finding your market.
Here are two examples of entrepreneurs who managed to build a successful brand by focusing on and owning a single phrase in the minds of their target market.
How did they manage to do this? They focused on the right things and sacrificed other options.
The first entrepreneur is Mike Stelzner, who created the leading social media blog “Social Media Examiner” and the Social Media Marketing World global conference.
Stelzner managed to own the phrase “Social Media” in the minds of his target audience.
Michael Stelzner is the founder of Social Media Examiner, the author of the booksLaunchandWriting White Papers, and the man behind Social Media Marketing World, the industry’s largest conference. He’s also the host of the Social Media Marketing podcast, the founder of the Social Media Marketing Society, and the host of the weekly Social Media Marketing Talk Show. Michael’s Career
“I started as a writer. Then in 2009, I did what I call ‘my great experiment’ when I was able to secure the website, SocialMediaExaminer.com for $10. I connected with some of my friends who were writers and encouraged them to write for this movement that I was starting, called Social Media Examiner. In 2009, not a lot of websites were giving out a lot of free information, and this thing just took off. In months, all of a sudden I had a crazy successful blog on my hands!And then the rest is history … right? From that blog, we were able to launch an online conference, and then a physical conference, and then a podcast and live show—all these things that we are doing today, over eight years later.”Michael’s customers
“Anyone who understands the importance of doing marketing with social media. It’s typically somebody who is either a self-employed person who has a business and doesn’t have a lot of money, and who wants to figure out how to use Social Media to grow the business, or it’s somebody who works for a business, and their job is to do marketing for that business. I classify all these people as the label marketers.Social Media changes every week. This is what gives us longevity. Unlike other industries, like science for example, where once you discover something that’s true, you can kind of rely on that forever, in the world of social media marketing, things change constantly. As a result, marketers need to keep up with it all. That’s where we come in.”Biggest success due to the right customer approach
“I think that the greatest success that I’ve ever achieved was deciding to teach people not just online but in person, too. The year was 2013 and I launched Social Media Marketing World; 1100 people showed up and many of them told me that it was the best experience they’d ever had in their life. For me, that was a really big deal because I didn’t know if it would work. And now we are coming up on our sixth year here and I know that it’s the best thing that we do. I had to be willing to try. I’m glad I did because there is no looking back now.The reason I started the conference was that when I launched my website, the Social Media Examiner, I went to two conferences and made contacts with a lot of the speakers while I was there—contacts that became very instrumental to the growth of my company. I began to realize that going to conferences and trade shows is really the secret source of success for so many of us.I saw how poorly many of these conferences were done, and I wanted one for my audience … I wanted such a conference for me … So, I tried to make an event that was done right and would work.”The second example is the amazing Melinda Emerson, who managed to own the phrase “Small Biz Lady” and build her brand around this focus.
Melinda F. Emerson, “SmallBizLady” is America’s #1 Small Business Expert. She is an international expert on small business development and social media marketing.
Melinda is also the president of the Quintessence Group, a marketing consulting firm based in Philadelphia, PA serving Fortune 500 clients who target small businesses.
She has published over 5000 articles on small business on her blog. Her advice is widely read, reaching more than 3 million entrepreneurs each week online. She is a former columnist for The New York Times and Entrepreneur. She is the bestselling author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months, 2nd Edition, and her latest book is Fix Your Business.
Most passionate about
The thing that I’m most passionate about is to stop small businesses failures. That what keeps me up at night and keeps me going every day.I love entrepreneurs; we are the bravest, strongest, most committed people in the world. But a lot of us struggle to run a business. So my mission, my magical power, is fixing businesses. That’s what I do. It’s my special gift, and everything I do is about that mission.What I’m most passionate about at the moment: For ten years, I’ve been running The Small Business Twitter Chat, every week. On this September we are launching The Small Business Chat Podcast.How do I fix businesses? One business at a time.Melinda’s 12 Ps of running a successful business
12 P’s of Running a Successful Business: Preparation, Purpose, People, Profit, Processes, Productivity, Performance, Product, Promotion, Prospects, Planning, and Perseverance.On my website, I lay out some of the tools that I like. To help any small business owner to find some help while implementing the 12 Ps.Biggest failure with a customer
I had so many...My first business about 15 years ago was a video production company. I worked there with who was then my husband. We use to do a ton of work in the pharmaceutical and healthcare space. One of our biggest clients then was GSK; they hired us to do a video in a very important health fair with a well-known speaker. We shot the video, they didn’t want any editing, and we gave it to them.Six months later, they were looking to consolidate their entire video production projects, and they invited us among the three agencies they considered. We were very excited, but once we got in, I felt something was wrong. They head of video started the meeting by showing the video that we shoot six months earlier at that health fair – and it was all blue. So not only that we had to do another video for them for free, we never got any order from them again.Biggest success due to the right customer approach
I have a lot of amazing customers. One of my favorite projects was when I worked with Wells Fargo Bank (prior to the huge scandal of course). They hired me to show up basically unannounced, and they had a special project at one of their small business customers. We had to do a surprising ambush makeover, and at the end of the project, they surprised them and gave them a 10 thousand dollars makeover to the retail store of their business.It was so awesome I got to be somebody’s fairy godmother. It was a pet grooming business, and they had no idea why I was there. I showed up with this camera crew, and we had told them a story about they were going to be featured on Wells Fargo website. We interviewed them about how they started their business and their money management.It was a husband and wife business with a unique story, and they created a great business. It was so awesome to surprise them at the end of these two days with this fantastic gift. It was absolutely fabulous. To this day I don’t know if I ever had such a fun couching an entrepreneur.Melinda’s key success factor
I think that my key success factor is consistency. When I made the decision that I want to be Americas number one small business expert; I also had to make a decision that there are many other things I’m going to do to reach that goal. Like doing a Twitter Chat every Wednesday evening for ten years, like going to write one or two blog post every week, 5000 posts, not to mention the articles I wrote for The New York Times, Entrepreneurs and Inc.That what it took to become known as the small biz lady and as the international small business expert and I don’t think most people are willing to work that hard.For me, once I made that decision, I executed, and I never didn’t deliver. I think that to deliver quality content for ten years you need to be very consistent.Being focused is what allows both brands to stand out from the competition.
For me, with the REACH OR MISS podcast, the more focused and clear we are, the more familiar we become.
The words we focus on are Entrepreneurial Marketing, This is my expertise and what I’ve been known for. To stand out, I also need to choose the right channels for building my brand. Although some of my target audience is already on Clubhouse, most of them are still on LinkedIn and Facebook.
So, for now, you won’t find my room on Clubhouse because I realized that I should keep focusing on other channels. And as I said, most of the time, the more focused you are, the more you will stand out from the crowd.
I’d like to invite you to a free masterclass about “7 practical free ways to get more customers”
Mon, 15 Feb 2021 - 27min - 202 - Ep. 201 - How to become more profitable and have more “take-home” money - with Annette FergusonMon, 08 Feb 2021 - 23min
- 201 - Ep. 200 – The secrets behind entrepreneurial marketing success
My podcast, REACH OR MISS for entrepreneurs, reached its 200th episode, and - as part of the celebration - I decided to change its title to REACH OR MISS - Entrepreneurial Marketing Success.
The 1st secret - your “big idea” or what you are “one of a kind of?”
As I see it, the power and beauty of entrepreneurship is that it allows you to share or create what you are “one of a kind of” (the best at). That’s what entrepreneurs should focus on.
I’m aware that many people choose to enter the entrepreneurial world to leave their 9 to 5 jobs or to make more money, and these are good reasons; not every entrepreneur wants to change the world or make an impact. However, once you decided to become an entrepreneur, your chances to make an impact on more people and move the needle is significantly higher if you focus on your unique, powerful abilities.
I believe entrepreneurship is changing the world, not only because it can create technological or behavioral revolutions, but also because it enables entrepreneurs to choose to do what they are the best at and that means less mediocrity and much more greatness in our world.
What any entrepreneur should look for while deciding about his/her professional direction isn’t only where they can make a living, make more money or determine the leading trends today (although these are good and important parameters as part of this decision). Entrepreneurs should start to look for their professional direction after answering the question, What am I “one of a kind of”?Meaning, what will I be outstanding in doing?
The answer to this question lies in the meeting point between what you are best at doing and what you most like to do.
That will also be the direction where you have the best chances to achieve significant success
Once you’ve found what you are “one of a kind of,” you should find what product or service you should create or offer - one that answers a true need and brings value to a significant number of people or businesses.
Blake Jamieson is a fantastic example of an entrepreneur that is one of a kind at what he does, and he literally created a new market category that fit his talent.
Blake Jamieson is a pop portrait artist in Manhattan, NY. He paints pop art portraits for professional athletes and celebrities, including Howie Mandel, Drew Brees, Joe Montana, Gary Vaynerchuk, and over 250 other professional athletes in the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, and PLL.
Blake’s path to becoming a full-time artist was far from traditional. Despite his passion for art at a young age, Blake decided to forgo art school for a more “practical” degree, studying Economics at UC Davis. After graduating, Blake began his career in digital marketing at Zynga. He worked in digital marketing for nearly a decade, working for small tech startups to publicly traded companies.
On his 30th birthday, Blake decided it was time to stop building someone else’s dream, and start to following his own passions. He began painting full-time nearly five years ago, and has carved out a niche that allows him to paint every day.
Most passionate about
I’m a portrait artist located in NYC. I’ve had an interesting rollercoaster of a journey up until this point, but what I do now is paint portraits of professional athletes.Primarily, I have worked in the NFL, although I do work with other athletes who play soccer, lacrosse, hockey, and more.I created this niche for myself where an athlete, or the spouse or girlfriend of an athlete, is looking for a painting that will capture special sports moments for them. I’m often the person they turn to and I’m very fortunate to work with awesome people and get to paint every single day.Blake’s story
I grew up in a very creative household. I was always encouraged to paint, or draw, or do photography – all the things I do today. However, I convinced myself, from a young age, that art was about being a starving artist and that it was not a career path.Instead of doing what my parents encouraged me to do, which was to study art in college, I decided to study economics and tech. I thought this was the safe path at the time, and I aimed to have a career in marketing.When I graduated from college, social marketing was just starting to become an actual, respected career. I was able to get into very grounded levels for some reputable companies and work my way through several different companies. Then I spun off and started working for myself as a freelancer.Ultimately, on my 30th birthday, I decided that I was tired of working for someone else’s dream. I wanted to follow my own dreams and I realized that maybe my parents had been right all along...I’m very grateful. Due to my background in marketing – especially digital marketing – and my experience in marketing a wide range of products, I understand how social selling works and how it is really a relationship-building business. I built up a moderate following of friends, family, colleagues, and people I met along the way.When I first decided to start painting, I knew that I had to specialize and come out with a specific niche. I decided that I would paint a specific painting for a specific subset of people.Because of my networking at the time, I decided to paint for offices, especially for tech companies. I met with the people on my contact list and told them that I was an artist and that I painted office art for tech companies.At first, I painted many paintings of Steve Jobs, Gary Vaynerchuk, and different iconic tech founders. Those tech companies aspired to be like them and wanted to put a picture of Steve Jobs, or motivational quotes, in their offices.I did that for two years and it was going well. I had my niece called out and I was gaining a reputation as one of the leaders in the space of Portrait Painting for Professional Athletes.There was a really lucky coincidence that when I delivered art in Las Vegas, I met a guy who played in the NFL and who was now a manager of existing players. He really loved my art and asked me to paint a few of his clients as a gift that they would post about and promote to their followers. It might create new opportunities.I did some paintings of a few of his NFL players. In the process, I learned that NFL players are very competitive. If one guy has a painting, the other player wants a bigger painting. They also have the income to pay for that, as well as a lot of followers.I pivoted my business three years ago. Today, I paint more professional athletes than any other painter in my space.Blake’s best advice about approaching customers
I’ll go back to the story about when I thought I was taking the safe path by working in marketing instead of doing something I really cared about. I know that it’s kind of cliché to say “follow your passions,” but I will say that if you do something you really enjoy, it doesn’t feel like work.As an entrepreneur trying to solve problems, try to scratch your own itch. Try to solve a problem that was your own problem. Don’t try to solve a problem that someone told you offers a lot of money. It should be something that you want to use and that you want to do every single day.Another piece of advice: I worked for free so many times because I wanted the exposure and I wanted to do what I love to do. So, don’t be afraid to work for free. To this day, I do a third of my work for free as a way to promote myself and my paintings.Biggest success due to the right customer approach
I’ll share two. They’re both very meaningful turning points in my career. I told you about how supportive and amazing my parents were throughout my journey and my art career. When I started with art as my career, my first studio was in their house (today I have my own studio in NYC) and they were really happy for me. I was painting icons they didn’t recognize for tech companies they had never heard of.I was painting a comedian named Howie Mandel from “America’s Got Talent,” who has a pretty deep resume. A lot of people know who Harry Mandel is, including my parents. When I told my parents that I was going to paint him, they were excited and texted all their friends: “You know, Blake is going to paint Harry Mandel...” I painted him at his studio in LA and I shared this story about how excited my parents were when they heard I was going to paint him. He recorded a video especially for them, with me, saying how proud he was of me for following my passions and my heart. Being able to send it to my parents was so meaningful for me!The second one was: I left the studio in California, which was in their house, and moved to a studio in NYC. I was so afraid that I wouldn’t be able to afford it and that I would become the starving artist I was so afraid of. But it worked and I felt that I was no longer the guy who worked from his parents’ house. I actually live in one of the most expensive cities in the country and have not only an apartment but also my own studio. That was huge!The challenge of entrepreneurial marketing
According to entrepreneurs whose business failed, the number 1 reason for their failure (42%) is not finding the market need.
There are two reasons for not finding the market need: either you didn’t focus on the right customers or your product definition wasn’t correct.
Once you decide on your “big idea,” you need to attract the customers that will buy your product or service and drive sales - that’s marketing.
In order to do so, there are two stages: first, you need to locate the right customers, and second, you should define your product or service in such a way that those potential customers will understand how it solves their problem.
The 2nd secret - locating the right customers
While seeking potential customers - the first stage - you should search the market to find where is the biggest market opportunity for your product or service and who are the customers that need it most.
Among them, you should find those that are currently most concerned about the problem your product or service solves; who are those that are actively looking for a solution to this problem and who are ready for it.
The 3rd secret - Defining your product or service
Once you find your customers, you should define your product so that theywill understand it solves their problem.
After that, you should start using sets of activities aimed at creating awareness and attracting the customers to you.
John Lee Dumas – JLD - Focused from the first day of his entrepreneurship on the right target audience - his avatar (ideal client)!
John Lee Dumas is the host of EOFire, an award-winning podcast where he interviews today’s most successful entrepreneurs 7-days a week. JLD has grown EOFire into a multi-million dollar a year business with over 1500 interviews and 1.5 million monthly listens. He’s the author of The Freedom Journal and The Mastery Journal, two of the most funded publishing campaigns of all time on Kickstarter. All the magic happens at EOFire.com!
Your best advice about approaching the customer
For the right customer’s approach
Number one, you need to know who your perfect customer is, the ideal customer, your avatar.Once you know who that person is you can start creating free valuable and consisting content for that person.Then you want to make sure you are getting that content in front of them so you have to find them and make sure you are putting that content in front of them. And of course, they will be attracted to that content because you are creating it for them specifically.Then, once you have the opportunity to get in front of them, asking them a question, sending them an email, newsletter or a social media message, you have to ask the question: What are you struggling with?Then you can start to understand your ideal customers, what their pain point, obstacles, challenges and struggles are, so then you – the person that by the way is been delivering them free value and assisting content, can provide the solution in the form of a product, a service or a community.You are not just somebody pitching them something, you are somebody that already provided them value, who they are growing to know, like and trust, who asked them what they are struggling with, who listened to them as they were telling their pain point.And who now say: ‘Hi, you told me you are struggling with this, here is the solution, and I’d love to offer it to you’.That’s the way to approach your customer.
Biggest failure with customers
This is a large mistake that I made and it was a big waste of time energy, efforts and money. It goes back to 2013. A lot of people said they love my podcast and love to create their own podcasts. I wanted to create an entire platform in which I will create other people podcasts for them. I’ll host their shows, I’ll edit their podcast, I’ll create their show notes, I’ll do it all. I called it PodPlatform. Everybody that heard the idea said it’s a great product.I made all the arrangement and invested and only 1 person signed up for it.Luckily it was the perfect number…which quickly let me to realize I don’t want to be in this business, I don’t want to edit other people shows, and upload their outro and intro for them, and hosting that for them. And I went back to this one person, here is your money back but this is not a kind of business I want to have.But I wasted so much time so much energy and money. And actually, I could of say if anybody telling me they want this, before I’ll go and creates this and invest so much time and money, let’s have people put money where their mouth is and invest in this product before it exists.And I did that a few months later with Podcaster Paradise and I had 50 people signed up before we launched, which made me realize that this is something that can actually work. Fast-forward to today Podcaster’s Paradise has over 3000 members, over 4 Million Dollars revenue.Angela Maiers has the most amazing story about how she figured out what’s her product and service. Angela managed to define what she does most accurately…
Angela Maiers has been listed as one of IBM’s Top 20 Global Influencers, named by Forbes as one of the Top 5 Education Leaders to Watch, in 2017 and 2018, and is among Huffington Post’s Top 100 Social Media Influencers!
Angela founded the global movement, Choose2Matter in 2014.
The non-profit organization grew out of the impassioned response to a TEDTalk she gave on the power of two simple words, that went viral. YOU MATTER!
She is the author of nine books, including the highly-acclaimed Genius Matters and Classroom Habitudes.
Futurist. Innovator. Educator. Entrepreneur. Change Maker. Angela Maiers is on a mission to disrupt the status quo and to empower every individual to change their own world, if not the world around them for the better. It is fair to say she leaves no room unchanged. Please join me in welcoming – Angela Maiers!
Angela’s career and entrepreneurial development
For as long as I can remember, I have loved learning. I was really good at it and very passionate about everything I could get my hands on. That had to do with how we learn, how the brain learns. I actually put myself through medical school and studied neuroscience.My entrepreneurial side; I worked to put myself through university and all my jobs had something to do with special communities and special needs students, from severe and profoundly autistic to emotionally disturbed to drug-addicted. I worked with them and their mothers to get them back on a pathway of purpose.It’s what made me feel alive, and it’s what taught me what true passion is. As I said before, it’s not what you’re good at. I was good at school, but it’s not what I love to do, which is learning. I love learning about the brain. I love every single part of neuroscience. But it wasn’t what I was meant to do.My entrepreneurial spirit led me to become an educator. I quit medical school, went back to college, and became a teacher.No one I knew supported me because, at the time I was going to school, it was – and still is – a really big deal to be in medical school. I was the first woman in my family to go to college, the first woman in my family to pursue the pathway of medicine.There’s prestige in that. Unfortunately, there’s not as much prestige in being a teacher. So, when I went back home and announced to everybody that I had found my passion, that I was going to quit medical school and be a teacher, I was met with a lot of resistance.I think that’s how you know that something is a true passion. No matter what, no matter how much resistance I got and no matter how challenging the act of educating is, the act of not being a teacher was akin to not breathing.Angela’s TED talk
Then I did this TED talk. With TED, you get 17 minutes to tell the world how you’re going to change the world. I had this beautiful talk about social media all ready to go.The night before the talk, I watched my six favorite TED talks. They were all from profound people. I started doubting myself. I started thinking, ‘Who am I? I can’t do this. I don’t have anything worthy to say.’ And then I thought, ‘You know what? That is the problem with the world.’ The reason we don’t contribute our fullest, fiercest genius to the world is that we don’t think we’re enough. We don’t think we matter.So, the name of my talk was “You Matter.” The simple thesis focused on whether people understood how much they mattered, how much they were needed, how much they were counted on.Angela’s best advice for approaching customers
As an entrepreneur, I think the question you need to ask yourself is, “How do I wish to matter?” Or, another way to put it is, “How will I add value?” Because mattering isn’t all about wanting to feel worthwhile.We get to the deepest level of worthiness by understanding not only that we are essential but how we can be essential. That’s...Mon, 01 Feb 2021 - 52min - 200 - Ep. 199 – The 5 recommended tools for entrepreneurs that will help you win in business
On my weekly podcast, I ask my interviewees about the digital or technological tools that they recommend using. However, I tell them that I’m not looking for the shiniest tool in the endless list of them. I’m looking for the tool that they use most and that helps them succeed.
Five tools help me as an entrepreneur who has worked with thousands of entrepreneurs on their marketing success.
My first tool is Canva. Canva is also one of the tools that Guy Kawasaki recommended in his interview.
Canva helps me get much more traction with attractive, powerful visuals. With a huge free photo stock, and very easy and intuitive design options, Canva is here to stay.
My second recommended tool is LinkedIn. You probably want to tell me “LinkedIn is a social media platform, not a tool.” That’s right, LinkedIn is defined as a social media platform. However, for me and many of the successful entrepreneurs I interview on my show, LinkedIn is a tool that we use daily to find and engage with potential customers, close deals, and turn them into loyal customers and fans.
Guy Kawasaki was the chief evangelist of Apple and a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation. Today, among his other positions, Guy is the chief evangelist of Canva, an online graphic design tool.
When I asked Guy what he is most passionate about today, he talked about Canva. “Professionally, I’m most passionate about Canva. Canva is democratizing design, trying to enable everyone to make great designs very easily.”
When I asked about the tool he uses most, Kawasaki answered:
“In general, social media is a gift to entrepreneurs, but within social media it’s Facebook! Facebook is so fantastic that you can target a specific age group, gender, in a specific geography with a specific interest. It’s the best marketing thing that exists.
“The second social media platform I would highly recommend is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is for your personal branding, for your personal awareness, and for your personal professional development. As a person, if you don’t participate in LinkedIn, you don’t exist in the world.LinkedIn and Facebook, that’s about 80% of my social media activity.”
My next tool is Feedly. Feedly is a content curation tool that provides me with endless updated content topics.
Using a content curation tool not only helps you to build a constant presence in social media but also allows you to build yourself as a leader in a specific market by providing current information and relevant analysis in a specific field.
I learned about using content curation tools from Richard Chowning.
Chowning is the founder and director of Africa Mentor, whose mission is to help businesses put their best foot forward in Africa. Chowning is located in Texas. Africa Mentor has official representatives in the Ivory Coast and Ethiopia and has relationships with governments and private sector businesses throughout Africa.
“I want to recommend UpContent, which is a curation tool,” Richard told me. “My dream was, when I decided to establish Africa Mentor, to help the economy of Africa, help people and companies that want to establish their businesses in Africa get into the continent, succeed, and create more jobs and lift the standard of living…
“…I’ve chosen to use a lot of social media to become known. I have more than 16,000 followers on Twitter, 4,000 on LinkedIn and Facebook, and I need to be knowledgeable about Africa and about entrepreneurship. I need to publish content beyond what I write. UpContent enables me to find a lot of relevant content to publish on social media.”
The fourth tool I’d like to recommend to you is Buffer. I talked about using content curation tools to build my presence on social networks with endless updated relevant topics. Buffer allows me to manage the distribution of this content to all my social media networks without having to post all day on five different platforms.
Among the successful entrepreneurs who recommended Buffer on my show was Dr. Nancy Richmond.
Richmond is a professor and leading speaker on social media, innovation, and marketing.
Her passion is to empower and train leaders in effectively leveraging social media for their target markets. She teaches social media and marketing classes for the College of Business at Florida International University.
LinkedIn was the first tool that Nancy recommended. Buffer and other social media managing tools were the second.
“LinkedIn is such a powerful tool and I think that people underestimate the ability to find connections for building their business on there.
“The second tool is Hootsuite, Buffer, and the like. It’s a very important tool, especially when it comes to time. That’s really going to make sure that you are number one. You’re targeting your audience, but then, at the same time, you’re targeting your audience at that time when you know that they’re looking at social media.”
The last of the five tools that help me most on my entrepreneurial journey is using Facebook groups, which are the best way to engage with my audience and attract clients.
I used Facebook groups for quite a long time, but the woman who changed everything I knew about using Facebook groups as my most important social media tool is Christina Rowe. She is the woman behind Facebook’s 450,000 Women Helping Women Entrepreneurs group.
Rowe is a marketing expert, a speaker, an author, and the founder of Women Helping Women Entrepreneurs, a global online community of more than 450,000 female entrepreneurs.
She is also the founder of Stand Out! Media Group, as well as the creator of the Stand Out Online Membership program, which is the first “All in One” membership program designed to enable participants to eliminate the overwhelm, frustration, and confusion inherent in the online marketing process while getting massive exposure for their businesses through influencer marketing (www.standoutonlinesystem.com/get-featured).
“Right now,” Christina told me, “I’m leading the Women Helping Women Entrepreneurs community as a group on Facebook. We have 316,000 members around the globe. We have a lot of local and country groups as well. It has been an incredible movement. My main focus has been on expanding it and having more wonderful women join. My ultimate goal is to reach more than one million members and to be a movement—women helping women entrepreneurs in business, in life, in motivation.”
When I asked Christina about her biggest success, she answered:
“I would say it’s the growth of the Women Helping Women Entrepreneurs group. Also, being recognized by Facebook and being invited to the Facebook F8 2018 conference in San Jose, where they paired us for a Hackathon as group leaders with the Techie Guys. At first, no one wanted us … but then we found a nice team and, within 24 hours, we built an app. When we needed to present it to Facebook, I jumped to do it because that was my strength. The geeks knew how to build the app but they didn’t know how to sell it. We won third place and $1,000 each. That was an amazing experience for me.
We are living in the biggest technology revolution ever. Using the right tools for you allows you to succeed much faster and much bigger than you ever could before. However, with that in mind, I want to remind you that the best and only way to win in the business world is by focusing on the people: our potential customers. The technological tools simply help us do it better and faster...
Mon, 25 Jan 2021 - 26min - 199 - Ep. 198 – Matthew Januszek talks about being a successful entrepreneur in the fitness world and what all of us can learn from it
Since co-founding Escape Fitness, taking it to a $33 million-dollar global business chosen by big brands and independent fitness professionals, such as the UFC, Equinox, 1Rebel, Sanctuary Fitness and more, Matthew has continued to be a powerful advocate for functional training.
Their goal is to motivate and inspire people to get started and create exercise habits that last. Matthew travels the world, helping studios and gyms to turn their visions into world-class fitness destinations and awesome training experiences. During the pandemic, Matthew has become an advocate for at-home training and maintaining physical and mental health to persevere in the face of life's challenges.
In addition to being a father, he has started five companies and sits on the board of three companies across three continents
Most passionate about
I'm very passionate about the health and fitness space.We have a company that I founded with my father 21 years ago. We started making basic equipment for fitness studios and gyms.We are very much into helping and motivating people to get fit.I predominantly work with a lot of the business community.We have a number of different channels within the business that we supply.Probably the biggest channel is the gyms, personal training studios, and fitness studios.We also do quite a bit of corporate wellness.It’s important to think about your model and how to adapt it and evolve it so that you can deal with things like the pandemic that is going on at the moment.It’s also important to realize that the people who are at the end of the website or email or social media app are humans. What do humans need?As we said at the beginning, there are two things. Look at the stuff that's constant. You mentioned marketing where it's people to people. If it's not business to business or business to consumer, it's people to people.If you go too much down the technical route and lose that human connection, then you're not going to get that engagement and that same experience.Best advice for entrepreneurs
You’ve got to look at the new technologies and how your business evolves, but you've almost got to say, “Well, look, what is an important thing for human beings and for people and how can you do that in a way for social media?”I suppose my advice is, it depends on who we're talking to. Don't forget that we're all human and don't let technology confuse you.Try and understand how you can use that technology to create deep and meaningful personal relationships.Nowadays, in order to be successful, you've got to really narrow down on that audience.Humanization and personalization are probably two things that are key today.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
One of the most difficult things for me to get over is when we have a customer who’s not happy with us. For us, the customers or clients, whatever you call them, are almost like family.Maybe someone buys a product and we let them down, or we messed up the delivery or they have a product and it has an issue.We had a client whom we started to work with and they were a long way from where we're located—the other side of the world almost.A big percentage of the product that we shipped them was wrong.The quality control wasn't what it should have been.They brought the containers into the country and then they started to distribute them to gyms. We'd read that they'd realized it had this same problem.So, it wasn't just a case of giving them a refund. They had a huge issue to go out and get these back. It was a total mess.Biggest success with customers
One day, we went to a trade show and met one of the biggest customers in the fitness industry. We had one of the smallest booths out of all the people who were in there.This lady came up and asked for a catalog. She told us to give them a call. We managed to meet with this company and do a number of presentations. Eventually, they agreed to give us a try.We managed to take that business from a very small operation in England to the place where we are today. We work with them all over the world and we've had a relationship for over 20 years.Matthew’s recommendation of a tool
TelephoneLinkedInYouTubeJust focus on quality and consistency.Matthew’s one key success factor
I'm a very hard worker, I'm consistent, and I've got a lot of energy to be able to outwork people.I'm fairly good at trying to understand information and being able to apply that.One of the most important things that you can invest in is yourself.You've got to put fitness before everything else.You got to put it before your family.You got to put it before your business because if you don't, you won't do it.If you put fitness first, then your relationship with your wife or your husband, your relationship with your customers, your success in your business, your finances, your relationship with your children—all of it is going to improve.Matthew’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I've got an eight- and a 10-year-old. We’re fairly close to a place called Palm Springs. It's a big desert and there are big mountains with snow on the top, as well as smaller, medium-sized ones.Just as a bit of exercise, we tried to climb up it and see how high we got. It was very interesting because, as a family, it really brought us together. It was as though we were tackling this big challenge together.My children love it now because it's always a bit of an adventure. One of them will fall down and scrape their knee and start crying, and we will get together and bring each other up, or it's extremely hot and we have to motivate each other. In business, sometimes you've got to be able to step back and see. Although it's difficult when you're there, when you've grazed your knee or had a failure, if you can set yourself back and look at it as a bit of a book within your life and a journey, if you can laugh at some of those things and separate yourself from that moment, you can enjoy it because it's very difficult as an entrepreneur.If you're not able to step away, see the fun and the journey and the humor in it, then you'll probably won't continue on to the stage where you need to win eventually.The best ways to connect with Matthew
WebsiteSocial Media:Twitter 11.3K FollowersFacebook 63K+ FollowersInstagram 18.1K FollowersYouTube 23.7K SubscribersMon, 18 Jan 2021 - 43min - 198 - Ep. 197 - 3 priceless tips about sales for entrepreneurs - From 3 Sales wizardsMon, 11 Jan 2021 - 51min
- 197 - Ep. 196 – Ari Rastegar “It’s about coming to the right answer for the consumer and taking your ego out of it.., taking yourself out of the equation…”
Ari Rastegar, Founder and CEO of Rastegar Property Company, has earned a reputation as a thought leader in real estate with his innovative, technology-driven investment strategies. He specializes in recession-resilient real assets and multifamily real estate developments, building portfolios designed to reduce risk and maximize capital appreciation potential.
Rastegar Property Company has acquired over 20 properties across the Sun Belt over the past year and a half.
Most passionate about
Reinvigorating buildings and renovating them, bringing them up to class. Being able to bring a superior product to our tenants—that's really our main focus at the moment.We have things going on with building a thousand homes south of Austin. We're building multi-family, we're building industrial near Tesla's new plant.Ari’s career and story
I was born in Austin, Texas, where our company is headquartered.We're a real estate, private equity firm, and we've done business in 38 cities in 12 states.Right now, we're very focused on vintage multifamily, which is basically older apartment complexes—30-, 40-year-old apartment complexes in very good locations.My grandfather and my father are both Iranian immigrants to America.I was a literature major in undergrad. While I was in law school, I had an inkling, around 2005 or 2006, to start building single-family homes.I partnered with a local developer and borrowed $3,000 from the father of one of my friends from college. Shortly after that, the financial crisis happened.I got kicked in the teeth pretty hard but was fortunate enough to get an introduction to a very, very wealthy person that was on Wall Street and moved me into New York.I worked in various businesses as an entrepreneur under this kind of umbrella of wealthy people.I worked directly in real estate for several years and then decided to start my own company. Now it has been almost six years.Best advice for entrepreneurs
We're very much data-driven.As a company, we follow the math, we follow the trends. We track data from the light bulbs to the water heaters to make more effective investment decisions.It’s about coming to the right answer for the consumer and taking your ego out of it—collaborating, having a great team, but really understanding what they truly need and taking yourself out of the equation, delivering that in a win-win environment in which they're getting some sort of value. My hope is that it would be an extraordinary value.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I was running an entertainment company in 2011 for some very, very wealthy real estate people whom I had become close within the real estate world. There was a lot of trouble during those years, as people know.We did everything right by our standards. We sold the tables. We booked big sponsors. We had Sports Illustrated. We had the Black Eyed Peas and Puff Daddy and all the big performers.And then the biggest ice storm in the history of Dallas, Texas hits the Super Bowl two days before and all the flights get canceled.It was a failure in the sense that financially, at the time, with all the chargebacks and returning the money to the customers and things of that nature, it wasn't profitable. We lost money as a business. So the failure from a monetary standpoint comes from that vantage point, which I took very hard.Biggest success with customers
One specifically was during COVID.When the world really shut down, we became extremely active. We started buying like crazy and we were able to procure financing.We partnered with a huge insurance company. I was able to explain to them the opportunity and they got it.We bought several apartment complexes.I think we bought about nine properties within the first three months of COVID, which was basically unheard of.When there is a crisis of some sort and people become fearful, they lose logic in the herd mentality to our being a contrarian and really understanding the math, understanding the future. With a long-term focus, you can really buy things, whether it's real estate or stock or any type of commodity.Ari’s recommendation of a tool
SalesforceIt tracks everything about prospects and customers: When have we communicated? When did we do maintenance calls? And the like.It’s an unbelievable tool for staying organized and all of those modalities, although it's difficult to implement in some regards. It takes a while to really understand the full power of what that technology can do.Pipedrive is fantastic.Ari’s one key success factor
I think continuing to learn.Always treating every day as an opportunity to learn, reading voraciously, different books, different ideas, listening to podcasts, listening to people like you.Accepting the fact with humility that I don't have all the answers.Ari’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I have a mountain. I have a very, very, very tall, steep, snowy, slippery, sharp, dangerous mountain that I'm climbing.I think people miss—about mountain climbing specifically, and also in life—that you have to know when to go down. You're not always moving up. You have to be able to get to a certain level, to find a base. You have to stay there for a while. You have to hit a plateau, you need to rest. You might've moved a couple of steps too quickly and you reached it.But no matter what, you keep climbing and you keep moving. Sometimes moving and progress mean being still and being calm. That's part of the process.I try to remind myself of the advice that I'm giving.The best ways to connect with Ari
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The 7 initial marketing essentials
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Mon, 04 Jan 2021 - 34min - 196 - Ep. 195 - Especially for Christmas - Three entrepreneurial marketing miracles that can happen to you.Mon, 28 Dec 2020 - 42min
- 195 - Ep. 194 – Matt Barnett developed his company from sales hack to side hustle to global business in 18 months, and now has a team across 5 continents.
A British designer by trade, Bonjoro is Matts second company, founded out of Sydney Australia. What started as a sales hack for an Agency he was running, Bonjoro went from hack to side hustle to global business in 18 months, and now has team across 5 continents.
Matts love of building great products is only surpassed by that of building great culture, and his goal is to be the next Zappos, to be most loved brand in the world.
When not heads down in product, Matt spends his time rescuing wildlife, teaching his daughter about beekeeping and running one of Sydney’s largest tech founder networks.
Most passionate about
I love building great products.The second thing I love most is people. I'm very much an extrovert. So, I love the idea of building great products and then using them to help people connect with other people better.Matt’s career and story
I’m from the UK originally, and I came to Australia eleven years ago. I was originally an industrial designer. I earned an MBA and fell into running an agency.We found that by sending videos to individuals, we get much more engagement. A few agencies wanted to use that technique, and their customers used it, so in 2017, we launched a technology company developing personal videos called Bonjoro.It's all about connecting with customers at key points on the customer journey. What we find is that they're investing a little bit of time checking in personally with leads. Using videos and media is incredibly powerful in terms of engagement.Today, I run that company full-time. The product team is here, in Australia. Then, most of the rest of our team is outside Australia because our customer base is located around the world.Right now, it's really about taking the business to the next stage. So we kind of three years behind in Australia, it is definitely not Israel or the West Coast of the States.Best advice for entrepreneurs
I think you have to stay connected to the front line.I don't pick and choose. We just send to anyone a personal video and ask them to respond to me personally, to give me feedback. Every single day, I ensure that I talk to a couple of customers on the front line.I have a handle on how well the product is performing and how well our funnel is performing overall, qualitatively.That gives me a better ability to work with my managers across marketing, across customer success, and across products.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
The first business that I mentioned we tried to start, we actually built the product and raised lots of money. Then it failed quite spectacularly and we made a critical error.A lot of people loved the idea and loved what we were doing. We had a lot of paying customers. Then none of those activated. There wasn't a sense of urgency within what we were trying to do.Call that a failure of research, or call that making assumptions that were wrong, but ultimately, we couldn't keep that business going.Biggest success with customers
I think it was deciding to go full-time into the Bonjoro product when we already had another business running.It wasn't ever meant to be a business but it looked like we should invest some more time, in this project and it became bigger and bigger so we decided to focus on it as our main business.Matt’s recommendation of a tool
Amplitude or Metabase.We use both to track data, measure it, and help inform decisions.It is absolutely crucial to helping marketing improve their funnel.Matt’s one key success factor
I think it's the love of customers.We talk to them a lot. We hang out with them. We always treat them as friends and it has helped us on every level. It has helped us get amazing marketing opportunities and co-partnerships.It has helped us build integrations and partnerships with much larger companies than us.Matt’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I love mountains, but I love taking people up mountains with me. So, last winter, we climbed the highest mountain in Tasmania, in Australia, but I did it with my wife and one-year-old daughter.In terms of the metaphor, the metaphor is: Don't struggle with mountains on your own.As a founder, as a leader, there are always other people who will come and support you and make the journey to the top much more enjoyable.It’s about a journey, it's not about the destination, and without people, it's a lonely walk.[caption id="attachment_7010" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Mount Ossa (Tasmania)[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Matt
WebsiteLinkedInWant to learn how to start your Entrepreneurship?
Download for Free
HOW TO START ?
The 7 initial marketing essentials
for entrepreneurs
Want to learn how to choose the best Name and Logo? Not sure which customers to focus on right now and where they are? Want to build your website, or trying to figure out how and what content to share on social media?
Mon, 21 Dec 2020 - 20min - 194 - Ep. 193 – Kristin Zhivago: “It isn’t how we sell to our customers that matters. It’s about how they buy. Our job is to make it easy for them to buy from us.”
Kristin Zhivago is the president of Zhivago Partners, a digital marketing management company. She and her team build lead-generation campaigns for small and mid-sized companies, including websites, SEO, online advertising, social media, and video.
Zhivago has built a solid team of professionals in the various digital channels; writers, designers, and developers; project managers, and client success managers.
She is an expert on the customer’s buying process and the author of Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy.
Most passionate about
I started a digital marketing management company in 2017.I was a revenue coach, mostly for tech companies. Basically, I helped people grow their companies, work better with customers, and do a better job of selling and marketing their products.Before that, my husband and I had an agency in Silicon Valley back in the early days. We helped introduce pretty much everything that we use today; The semi-connectors, computers, email, voice mail, and the like.Kristin’s career and story
When I was a revenue coach, I often did rent-a-VP services. I would turn around a marketing or sales department.We specialize in digital marketing, content marketing, search engine optimization, online advertising, social media, and so on.We work mostly with small to midsize companies. There's less politics in companies of that size.We want the client to be as smart as possible about what's going on. It's their marketing and we work together to improve what needs to be improved.We're growing our company steadily. We bring on clients as we can absorb them because we're a service-based business.Best advice for entrepreneurs
The first thing is: Don't be afraid to interview your customers after they buy from you.If you interview people after they have bought from you, they are no longer playing poker. They're no longer negotiating. They won't tell you what they're really thinking when you're selling to them. However, after you start working together, they will tell you what they were thinking.After they buy, they have a vested interest in your success. They want to make sure that you stay in business and can help them. So, they'll tell you what they were thinking.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
When I was 17, Pratt & Whitney gave me a catalog and said, “Here. Go out and sell.”I finally met one old guy who came out and said, “Okay, all right, well then, tell me how your drill bit is better than the one I'm using now.” And of course, I had no training. I just had a catalog. I couldn't answer the question.I was so embarrassed, so I walked out. I thought to myself, ‘I'm going to learn everything I can about technology and sales.’ And that has been my path.Biggest success with customers
This was way before anybody was talking about the buying journey. I was one of the first people to identify that it isn’t how we sell that matters. It’s about how they buy. Our job is to make it easy for them to buy from us.We have a client who sells luxury yacht cruises.She was really in trouble at the beginning of last year.There were two words—and I can't tell you what they are, unfortunately, because, you know, it's our thing—but we put those two words in the ads. It was a huge success, bigger than what she hoped for.I love business-to-business, so we keep working on it. It has proved to me that there is such a thing as immediate recognition.Kristin’s recommendation of a tool
SpyFuSpyFu used for judging the popularity of various terms on Google.Besides selling to your customers you need to sell to Google. You have to go through them, they are the gatekeeper, they have 200,000 algorithm criteria you need to go through.If you're doing search engine marketing, you need to get through them. SpyFu will help you do that.Google analyticsKristin’s one key success factor
My husband came up with this phrase a while back: Find it, face it, fix it. This is my key success factor.The truth is the truth. If we've made a mistake, we immediately find it, face it, and fix it. And we work and work and work to fix it.There are times when you have to say, “Okay, that's not working. I have to go to plan B and figure out a different way to solve this problem,” but finding it is really important.Kristin’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I think entrepreneurship is the idea that you're climbing a mountain every minute of every day.It’s all about action. You have to take action from the minute you get up in the morning until you go to bed. You're finding it, facing it, fixing it, and you're not letting yourself slide. But I had a very special mountain. My husband recovered three times from cancer. He is doing very well now. One day he told me we are going to sail for two months from South Africa.Although I had been sailing in the bay with him for all those years, that was my first ocean voyage.Leaving South Africa and 35 mile-an-hour or 40 mile-an-hour winds on our new boat was just the beginning of an adventure for me. It was a life-changing experience.[caption id="attachment_4932" align="aligncenter" width="700"] illustration[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Kristin
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Mon, 14 Dec 2020 - 28min - 193 - Ep. 192 – Climbing mountains and entrepreneurial success – The 7th and newest mountain episode – Some of the most amazing mountains’ stories you heard
Hi, my Reachers.
This is the seventh ‘Mountain Episode’. It seems like you really love this amazing series of the Reach Or Miss mountains project; Today, I want to share with you the 7th and newest episode where successful entrepreneurs share their mountains stories.
Listen to these incredible mountain stories I heard from the successful entrepreneurs I recently interviewed on my podcast.
You can then listen to the full interview with each of them and hear about their visions, struggles, and how these entrepreneurs reached their success.
From the entrepreneur that climbed with her client on “the hike of the gods” in Italy, and was amazed,
To the one who decided to climb the highest peak in Utah; Kings Peak, but found out they climbed the wrong peak…”
To the entrepreneur whose mountain was to save the financial future of his family,
To the only entrepreneur that said: “To be honest, I don’t feel like I’m climbing a mountain today. I feel like my mountain climbing journeys ebb and flow.”
And the entrepreneur that moved to the mountains in Asheville, North Carolina and said “It’s pretty impressive, and it’s just incredible to be so rooted in nature here. Being in the mountains is a blessing that I had never thought I would experience like this.”
I hope these mountain stories will encourage you to find out what should you – as an entrepreneur looking for your breakthrough to success – take from their stories to help you find the necessary steps to reach your peak.
Many entrepreneurs climb mountains, while others use mountains as a metaphor to describe what is necessary to conquer the peak – including the fatiguing yet rewarding journey to the top. Still other entrepreneurs use mountains as an analogy for a significant goal they wish to achieve – such as becoming a billion-dollar-market-cap company.
For many years, I’ve compared the act of marketing; taking possession of your potential customers’ minds and of building awareness, likability, and trust of a leading brand, to the act of climbing the highest mountains.
You climb step by step to the peak, reach your position as a market leader and a leading brand, and then start climbing a new mountain with a new product line or another brand.
The idea of mountains as representations of a strong position in the market is mentioned by Al Ries and Jack Trout in the excellent book, Marketing Warfare.
“In military warfare, mountains and higher altitude areas represent strong positions and often are used to present a strong defense. In marketing warfare, the question is one of who holds the mountains in the consumer's mind.”
So, at some point after the launch of my podcast for entrepreneurs, I started to ask the successful entrepreneurs I interviewed about their habits or dreams of climbing one of the highest mountains in the world.
Listen to these new inspiring mountains’ stories, find which entrepreneurs and stories you identify with most, and review your entrepreneurial objectives, market overview, and plan. By making your business as strong as possible, you will be able to quickly and easily achieve entrepreneurial success.
Lisa McLeod:“When we reached the top, I remember thinking that people are just a dot on this earth, so you’d better do something with your time that matters.…!”
Lisa McLeod
Lisa McLeod is the global expert on purpose-driven business and the bestselling author of Selling with Noble Purpose: How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud.
Lisa has spent two decades helping leaders increase competitive differentiation and emotional engagement. Her work debunks the myth that money is the primary motivation for most employees. She developed the Noble Purpose philosophy after her research revealed, salespeople who sell with Noble Purpose, who truly want to make a difference to their customers, outsell salespeople who focus on their own targets and quotas
Lisa’s Mountain
“I was on a trip to Italy with one of my clients, G Advanture, the leader in adventure traveling. There was this hike they called “the hike of the gods.” You were on top of this mountain, above some of the clouds. I was probably the least fit among the group, so I was super happy when we reached the top.I looked down on the land, on this earth that has been here for ages, and it was so beautiful. I remember thinking that people are just a dot on this earth, so you’d better do something with your time that matters. The only thing that really matters is how I affected people around me. It’s the only thing that’s going to last.”[You can listen to the full episode with Lisa here…]
Ross Kimbarovsky: “We focus really hard on the customer and the customer-experience throughout every touchpoint.”
Ross Kimbarovsky
Ross founded and is the CEO at crowdspring, where since 2008, 220,000+ experienced freelancers help small businesses, entrepreneurs, agencies, and non-profits with high-quality custom logo design, web design, graphic design, product design, and company naming services.
Crowdspring has worked with the world’s best brands, many of the world’s best agencies, and tens of thousands of entrepreneurs and startups.
Before founding crowdspring, Ross practiced law for 13 years as a successful trial attorney. There’s a rumor that Ross left his law practice in 2007 to found crowdspring so that he could wear shorts to work. That rumor is true.
Ross’s Mountain
First of all, I love Maui. It’s the bounce in areas of the United States are some of my favorite areas. Also, I love the ocean. So, in years when I can do it, I spend half my vacation on the ocean and half in the mountains. However, if I had to choose, it would be the mountains.Part of the reason I love mountains is, first of all, they’re majestic and beautiful. Also, I love them because they’re complex, with different weather patterns. They’re challenging. I haven’t climbed mountains normally as a climber, but I’ve certainly, tackle, you know, some reasonably climb where you can walk up a mountain.The reason I find them is because the ones that I’ve done, which get increasingly more complex, teach you that it’s important to, as you said, take it one step at a time. This is a lesson that I brought into my personal life and into running a business.We are absolutely overwhelmed by the things we need to do, to the point we’re paralyzed. We just can’t make a decision because there are too many decisions to make and too many things to do. The way I think about it, and it’s a good analogy to climbing mountains, is that you can’t get to the top by jumping there.You can get to the top by taking one step. If you take a step, you’re closer to the top, and if you take a second step, you’re that much closer. And so, in my personal life and in running my business, when I’m presented with this dilemma of overwhelming choices and too many problems, I literally focus on the first thing. I don’t obsess about the others.I don’t let stress get to me. I focus on the next step. That’s the step that I need to solve. And when I’ve solved that, I focus on the one after that. I think that’s really important for us, both in managing how we are in our personal lives, and in our lives as entrepreneurs. We have so many decisions to deal with and can easily become distracted or enter decision paralysis. Just take one step at a time, like you would climb a mountain.[You can listen to the full episode with Ross Kimbarovsky here…]
Devin Miller: “MORAL LESSON - If you don’t know where you’re going, stop, take an extra few minutes. Don’t just think you know where you’re headed!”
Devin Miller
Devin is an entrepreneur, patent and trademark attorney, and an Intellectual Property expert.
He specializes in protecting startup and entrepreneurial companies with IP Legal Advice, setting them up for success in their business!
In addition to founding and running Miller IP Law, he is the co-founder of several startups including a multi-million dollar startup for wearable glucose monitoring.
Devin has worked with the likes of Amazon, Intel, Red hat and Ford. He is passionate about helping businesses and has a drive to educate and entertain listeners with years of experience as a calm speaker, and veteran podcaster.
Davin’s Mountain
For the first few years of our marriage, before we started having kids, we decided we wanted to climb the highest peak in Utah, which is called Kings Peak. There were two peaks that looked the same and there wasn’t any sign. So, we chose the peak that we thought was the highest. When we reached it, we found out it was the wrong peak—and we couldn’t make it to the second peak at that time.So, for the first year, our goal had been to climb the biggest peak and we failed.We came back the next year and did the same kind of expedition. We climbed the highest peak and it was a fun experience. MORAL LESSON:If you don’t know where you’re going, stop, take an extra few minutes, and verify where you’re going. Don’t just think you know where you’re headed. It makes a big difference, including in business.That has always been reflected back to me; in business, I want to make sure I don’t pick the wrong mountain.Sometimes you have to say, “Hey, we made a mistake. We thought we knew where we were going, but we didn’t. But rather than give up, let’s come back and try it again. And we’ll correct it.” So, it was a good lesson learned.[You can listen to the full episode with Devin Miller here…]
Curt Mercadante shut down his 7 figures agency: “My wife and I, sold our home and we’re just traveling around with our four kids.”
Curt Mercadante
Curt Mercadante helps businesses and entrepreneurs increase their authority brand exposure to the right clients so they can make more money.
For 25 years, he has counseled small business, entrepreneurs, as well as some of the largest corporations and associations in the country.
He’s built three profitable businesses, including a 7-figure Public Relations and Advertising agency.
Curt is Gallup-Certified Strengths Trainer, host of the Freedom Mindset Radio podcast, and author of the bestselling book, “Five Pillars of the Freedom Lifestyle.
Curt and his wife sold their home and most of their possessions. Now they are just traveling around with their four kids.
Curt’s Mountain
There are a few things to do when you’re going up that mountain. Number one is to define the peak and where you want to go. Then you should reverse-engineer it down to base camp.So, one key is defining that vision, defining that peak, and then reverse engineering.When you do that, it prevents you from just throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. You have a clear vision of where you want to go.You and I might be going up separate mountains and we each have our own strengths.All we have are what I call untapped superpowers, which are your talents. Those are naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior. When you invest in them, you turn them into strengths.Once you use your innate strengths and superpowers and amplify them, instead of worrying about your weaknesses, you’ll find that they help and propel you.Those are the climbing tools that help you get up that mountain toward that clearly identified peak.[You can listen to the full episode with Curt Mercadante here…]
Kimberly Maska – From Wall Street to helping spiritual entrepreneur to become successful spiritual coaches and help shift this planet.
Kimberly Maska
Kimberly uses her business and marketing expertise to show spiritual coaches how to create financial success while shifting consciousness on this planet.
She brings nearly 20 years of business development experience to the table, including 8 years on Wall Street. Five of those Wall Street years were as a managing partner at a broker dealer, valued at $165m, that she founded with 8 colleagues.
With recognized efforts in changing people’s lives, Kimberly Maska is gifted with the ability to intuitively see a client’s business and craft a strategy for success.
Kimberly’s Mountain
Mountains are such incredible things.To me, mountains are magnificent. When we think about how old they are and how they are such a part of the earth, and yet they’re apart from it…they’re so unique. They really are beautiful.In the past two years, we ended up moving to the mountains, which is something I had never thought of. We’re in Asheville, North Carolina.It’s pretty impressive, and it’s just incredible to be so rooted in nature here. Being in the mountains is a blessing that I had never thought I would experience like this.[You can listen to the full episode with Kimberly Maska here…]
Michael Nemeroff saved the financial future of the family and says: “We do one thing—quickly. That’s our success.” It called focus!
Michael Nemeroff
Michael Nemeroff is the CEO and co-founder of RushOrderTees, a fast growing eCommerce custom t-shirt printing and apparel company. Founded in 2002 when Michael was only 17 with his brother and sister, RushOrderTees specializes in screen printing and embroidering services for everyone from teams to small businesses to Fortune 500 companies.
Over the past 18 years, the company has focused on the customer experience by streamlining the entire process with its innovative design studio, incredible service, and the quickest deliveries in the industry.
Michael’s Mountain
We had this mountain to climb and, in our case, the mountain was to save the financial future of the family.We didn’t have a lot of money at that time.I said that what happened to the family really sucks.And I said, “But we’re going to work really hard because, you know, I don’t want to settle.”So that mission, I guess would make it, climbing a mountain because once we, made the pack to basically work really hard and try to save the family, you can see that after five years we were in a much better place. And now, after 18 years it’s a great success[You can listen to the full episode with Michael Nemeroff here…]
Joe Karlsson ”It took me years to get there, but right now I have my dream job!”Can you say the same??”
Joe Karlsson
Joe Karlsson is a software engineer turned Developer Advocate at MongoDB. He comes from the frozen tundra of Minneapolis, Minnesota (and yes, it does get really cold here, and no, not everyone here has the accent from the movie, Fargo).
Joe has been primarily a Node and JavaScript engineer. He has been writing, teaching, and talking about code his entire career. Sharing what he knows and continuing to learn about programming is truly the thing he loves doing the most.
Joe’s Mountain
I live in the Midwest of the United States, which is very flat—the opposite of mountainous. But we’ve had, of course, the metaphorical mountains.To be honest, I don’t feel like I’m climbing a mountain today. I feel like my mountain climbing journeys ebb and flow.For example, especially if I’m fighting to get something I really want, I feel like right now I have my dream job. This has been the job I’ve been shooting for forever. It’s a job in which I get to make things I like, hang out with my friends, and share things I’m excited about. But it was pretty hard to get a job like this.[You can listen to the full episode with Joe Karlsson here…]
If you didn’t listen to the previous “Mountain Episodes” you can find them here:
Climbing mountains and entrepreneurial success – The 6th and newest part – Some of the most amazing mountains’ stories you heardMon, 07 Dec 2020 - 30min - 192 - Ep. 191 – Curt Mercadante shut down his 7 figures agency: “My wife and I, sold our home and we’re just traveling around with our four kids.”
Curt Mercadante helps businesses and entrepreneurs increase their authority brand exposure to the right clients so they can make more money.
For 25 years, he has counseled small business, entrepreneurs, as well as some of the largest corporations and associations in the country.
He’s built three profitable businesses, including a 7-figure Public Relations and Advertising agency.
Curt is Gallup-Certified Strengths Trainer, host of the Freedom Mindset Radio podcast, and author of the bestselling book, “Five Pillars of the Freedom
Lifestyle.
Curt and his wife sold their home and most of their possessions. Now they are just traveling around with their four kids.
Most passionate about
There's business, which is important, but to me, the key is aligning your business with your family, your relationships, and your self-care.The most important thing in our life, my wife and I, is that we sold our home and most of our possessions. Now we're just traveling around with our four kids.The reason we're able to do that is because I've built what I consider a freedom business. It allows me to work virtually and serve my clients by doing what I love, what I feel like I was meant to do.Best advice for entrepreneurs
The biggest thing is that we often think, when it comes to entrepreneurship or sales or branding or dealing with customers, that our biggest tool, our biggest weapon, is our mouths.People love to be asked about themselves. People love to talk about themselves. And so when you ask the question and then just kind of shut your mouth and sit back and listen—you learn, right?That learning mindset helps you to grow. It helps you to serve the client and what they want. We often think that we know what the client needs, whether it’s a potential client or an existing client. In either case, you have to use those ears. And then you’ve got success.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I built a successful seven-figure public relations and ad agency over 14 years. It grew and grew and grew. The problem was, I built a company around the definition of success that other people had.I took money from clients who maybe didn't value me. I took money from clients whom I didn't really like working with, who didn't fit my vision. I built that up over time and I became obsessed with growing the company, to the detriment of my health and my family. I wasn't the husband and father that I knew I could be.From a revenue standpoint, I woke up on a Tuesday morning and I shut it down. I said, “I've had enough.” I had been having anxiety attacks for years.Biggest success with customers
When I shut down my agency, I started my new company, coaching and consulting and doing workshops and boot camps with entrepreneurs.I had built my company off of rock-solid sales principles, having conversations with people, and not relying on “I'm just going to run a bunch of ads and hope I get clients.”Impact story: That one sentence that clearly communicates the positive impact your clients get from working with you. If you don't know those things, I don't care how many ads you run, how much money you throw at it. It's going to be garbage in, garbage out.Time-honored principles of communication: Know your customer, know your impact story, and then together, a process that used the tools available to you at that time.Curt’s recommendation of a tool
From an authority branding standpoint, and depending on what industry you're in, it’s such a valuable tool because people are there to do business.People put information about their work on LinkedIn. And so, LinkedIn has those tools to find people and get clients. I help people get clients by putting out content on LinkedIn and creating that community.LinkedIn is vital. I think it should be the primary authority branding network in your arsenal.Curt’s one key success factor
I think it's a sense of detachment—when you focus on the process and become a little less attached to the results because there are things you can control and things you can't control.Don't listen to your friends. Go on and start that company.But take advice from some people who have done something. Take advice from some big thinkers. Don't listen to the limiting beliefs of some people around you. I call them the scarcity pimps.Curt’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
There are a few things to do when you're going up that mountain. Number one is to define the peak and where you want to go. Then you should reverse-engineer it down to base camp.So, one key is defining that vision, defining that peak, and then reverse engineering.When you do that, it prevents you from just throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. You have a clear vision of where you want to go.You and I might be going up separate mountains and we each have our own strengths.All we have are what I call untapped superpowers, which are your talents. Those are naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior. When you invest in them, you turn them into strengths.Once you use your innate strengths and superpowers and amplify them, instead of worrying about your weaknesses, you’ll find that they help and propel you.Those are the climbing tools that help you get up that mountain toward that clearly identified peak.[caption id="attachment_5672" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Illustration[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Curt
Curt's WebsiteSocial Media Profiles:TwitterFacebookLinkedInMon, 30 Nov 2020 - 24min - 191 - Ep. 190 – Michael Nemeroff saved the financial future of the family and says: “We do one thing—quickly. That’s our success.” It called focus!
Michael Nemeroff is the CEO and co-founder of RushOrderTees, a fast growing eCommerce custom t-shirt printing and apparel company. Founded in 2002 when Michael was only 17 with his brother and sister, RushOrderTees specializes in screen printing and embroidering services for everyone from teams to small businesses to Fortune 500 companies.
Over the past 18 years, the company has focused on the customer experience by streamlining the entire process with its innovative design studio, incredible service, and the quickest deliveries in the industry.
Most passionate about
Being in this pandemic, probably what I'm most passionate about is getting the business back in shape after the huge decline we saw. Essentially, when the NBA shut down, we lost 80% of our revenue.We want to be the most trusted place where you can get custom t-shirts and custom-printed apparel.Right now, we're trying to do blocking and tackling better.Michael’s career and story
This is probably the third business that I started.It was like a combination of being on the computer, being a fast typer, and getting lucky that my brother took the first design course, didn't want to do his homework, and gave it to me.I turned it into affiliate marketing. I had a need to make money because that's what we needed to survive.My dad was kind of done, shutting down his business with my mom and Ben, his friend said to him, “You’re a great sales guy. Come on the road with me door to door. We'll sell shirts to pizza shops and restaurants. I'll show you exactly how it works, where to get the shirts, where to get them printed, and you can be making money this week.”Initially, my dad didn’t have the mindset to do it but then my brother pushed him to do it. And he actually got in the car with them. In the first two days, they sold three different places. I think it was like making about $1,500.I launched a website and a marketing campaign on yellowpages.com. The website just said, “Russia disease needs t-shirts, click” and there was a blinking phone number.That was the entry into taking custom t-shirts online.It was usually a localized business where you would go to a t-shirt shop and meet with the guy. He would tell you when you get them and you'd work out the design with him. So, the online t-shirt idea was a hit.Best advice for entrepreneurs
First,I would tell you about how we feel about the customer. I mean, they are the business. Without them, there is no business. We’ve had to take a very customer-centric approach from the beginning. Otherwise, anything we delivered would have consequences where the customer would be upset.Second, I would say is to sell something cheap and quick, or have a proof of concept. Otherwise, you could waste years and hundreds of thousands of dollars on something that might have been just an idea and not worth spending time or money on.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
When we were growing the business, the problem was that we over-promised.We told too many customers that we would be able to hit their deadline. We actually didn't know that we weren't able to, because we just didn't have the production capacity. We were really young.Over-promising and under-delivering is a real issue because you don’t have to do that. You don’t have to say you can do something you can’t do. But I also think it's a part of growing.Biggest success with customers
We do one thing—which is custom t-shirts and apparel—quickly. That’s our success.We didn't really innovate, but in terms of the industry itself, like making something new, but we brought something to the industry that it didn't have because so we just deliver the exact shirt you want when you need it.Michael’s recommendation of a tool
We use the Salesforce CRM tool.Salesforce really changed everything—a lot of the things we do on the sales and service side.Through it, you can email back and forth with your customers.It keeps track of every single call you make.Every email you make, it can automate processes.It can integrate with other tools. We have an email tool that it integrates with that tells us when an email was sent from an automated email system.Michael’s one key success factor
I've known this for a while because my biggest key factor to success is also my biggest weakness.My ability to really focus on a problem and try to solve it is my strongest attribute.Michael’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
We had this mountain to climb and, in our case, the mountain was to save the financial future of the family.We didn't have a lot of money at that time.I said that what happened to the family really sucks.And I said, “But we're going to work really hard because, you know, I don't want to settle.”So that mission, I guess would make it, climbing a mountain because once we, made the pack to basically work really hard and try to save the family, you can see that after five years we were in a much better place. And now, after 18 years it’s a great success![caption id="attachment_5825" align="aligncenter" width="700"] illustration[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Michael
My WebsiteEmailSocial Media Profiles:InstagramFacebookMon, 23 Nov 2020 - 29min - 190 - Ep. 189 – Mike Zeller: First get your money story and find your zone of genius, then create your irresistible offer
Known as a top Entrepreneur Mentor and Business Architect, Mike has had a hand in starting or owning 15+ businesses across multiple industries including technology, real estate, fashion, digital marketing, and high-level entrepreneur masterminds and coaching. His businesses have generated more than 9 figures in total sales. He’s also the author of the forthcoming book, Twice born: How a Crisis Can Remake You.
His love for travel takes him and his wife to an average of 5 countries per year and one month in one of the world’s most beautiful cities to stimulate creativity, to create renewal, and to enjoy a life of adventure.
Mike primarily mentors and coaches 2 types of entrepreneurs: the e-commerce entrepreneur with the mastermind he co-leads with Colin Wayne who has a 9 figure Ecommerce brand and the Entrepreneur with Expert knowledge (coaches, authors, speakers, consultants, podcasters) with his Symposia Mastermind.
He’s been featured on Business Insider, Forbes, Fox Radio 16 times, spent 1447 hours with Tony Robbins.
Mon, 16 Nov 2020 - 24min - 189 - Ep. 188 – Nancy Richmond: “LinkedIn is such a powerful tool! People underestimate the ability to building their business on there.”
Dr Nancy Richmond is a professor and leading speaker in social media, innovation and marketing. Her passion is to empower and train leaders in effectively leveraging social media for their target market. She teaches social media and marketing classes for the College of Business at Florida International University.
Mon, 09 Nov 2020 - 22min - 188 - Ep. 187 – Kimberly Maska – From Wall Street to helping spiritual entrepreneur to become success-ful spiritual coaches and help shift this planet.
Kimberly uses her business and marketing expertise to show spiritual coaches how to create financial success while shifting consciousness on this planet. She brings nearly 20 years of business development experience to the table, including 8 years on Wall Street. Five of those Wall Street years were as a managing partner at a broker dealer, valued at $165m, that she founded with 8 colleagues.
With recognized efforts in changing people’s lives, Kimberly Maska is gifted with the ability to intuitively see a client's business and craft a strategy for success.
Most passionate about
My big passion right now is the spiritual coaching certification program that I created.It is about really understanding how to approach your clients.My clients are what I call “spiritual entrepreneurs.” Really, they’re anyone who wants to help shift consciousness on the planet, who wants to help people awaken, take that red pill, and get through it.I show them how to coach and how to use the spiritual laws and spiritual rules that we all know to bring that into the coaching.It's much different from what I would call life coaching and. My clients not only bring in these spiritual laws but also get to use their own modalities.I'm in the middle of writing a book about it as well. So, that's my big focus today.What is a spiritual entrepreneur?
The spiritual entrepreneur is someone who wants to help shift this planet. They want to help people find their joy or connect you to God.They want to help people find their connection to whatever they call it—God source, infinite intelligence, the universe—so that they're living their purpose on this planet and not being in the stressful, upset, low-vibration place that most people sit in.Best advice for entrepreneurs
The best advice is to really know who your client is.This is something that I see when people come to me, probably about 99% of the time. The reason why they can't get it to work is that they don't actually know who their client is.When there's no connection and someone doesn't really know their client, it falters. It doesn't really work. And even when someone joins my program, I do what I call a kickoff call with them. On this call, I help them get very clear on who their tribe is.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I would say my biggest failure came in a roundabout way. It came because I didn’t fully step into my role as CEO with my team, as the team that I had in place was creating the problems with the clients.I think I had turned over the reins a bit too early, and I turned them over to people who were not in full alignment with what I was teaching and how I was speaking and connecting with my clients.You can call it failure because I had the wrong people in the wrong place but it was also my greatest lesson.Biggest success with customers
I have a unique way of looking at clients—of our responsibility to clients and their responsibility to us.I like to say “the customer isn't always right” because there's the idea of responsibility. I take full responsibility for what we did, but the customer also has to take responsibility for themselves.That's what I teach my clients as spiritual entrepreneurs. I'm really showing them how to be spiritual leaders.And as a leader on this planet, coming from that level of alignment with our higher selves, we have to be 100 percent responsible for ourselves. So, when I'm talking with the client, if there's an issue, I always make sure that we have done what we need to do, and if we haven't, I make sure it gets done.My program is three months and then after three months they expect to be making six grand, this is my success.I once had a client who was very upset. I got her on the phone and we had a conversation. I explained to her the idea of responsibility. We worked through where she was and the responsibility she hadn't taken.I was able to show all of that information to this client. I was able to get her to completely flip around and change her perspective. She is one of my biggest true leaders today.Kimberly’s recommendation of a tool
We use something called Nutshell. I think it's fairly new.I've been able to adapt it for team communication. We also do all of our client calls through there. Everything's recorded and it's a CRM, but it feels so much more friendly than a lot of them out there.Kimberly’s one key success factor
My biggest success factor is being able to just be. To not stress so much about all the things to do. I meditate every morning.In my meditation, that's where I get my ideas.That, for me, has been a game-changer. I’ve been meditating for years.Kimberly’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
Mountains are such incredible things.To me, mountains are magnificent. When we think about how old they are and how they are such a part of the earth, and yet they're apart from it…they're so unique. They really are beautiful.In the past two years, we ended up moving to the mountains, which is something I had never thought of. We're in Asheville, North Carolina.It's pretty impressive, and it's just incredible to be so rooted in nature here. Being in the mountains is a blessing that I had never thought I would experience like this.Books:
CHAOS: A Wake-Up Call For Lightworkers
Are You a Spiritual Entrepreneur?
The best ways to connect with Kimberly
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Mon, 02 Nov 2020 - 23min - 187 - Ep. 186 – Devin Miller: “Responding to customers right away has grown our business better than any-thing else.”
Devin is an entrepreneur, patent and trademark attorney, and an Intellectual Property expert.
He specializes in protecting startup and entrepreneurial companies with IP Legal Advice, setting them up for success in their business! In addition to founding and running Miller IP Law, he is the co-founder of several startups including a multi-million dollar startup for wearable glucose monitoring.
Devin has worked with the likes of Amazon, Intel, Red hat and Ford. He is passionate about helping businesses and has a drive to educate and entertain listeners with years of experience as a calm speaker, and veteran podcaster.
Most passionate about
My main focus is on what's called Miller IP Law. It's a patent and trademark law firm that helps startups and small businesses.Another focus is on startups I founded: one in the wearable space, another that is a software as a service startup, and a couple of others that are getting ready to launch.Best advice for entrepreneurs
The first thing to do is define who your customers are—not broadly saying, “We want to sell our product to everybody who will buy it,” but saying, “This is who we want to really serve.” This is your best first step.For our company, startups and small businesses are where we want to focus because that's who we enjoy working with. You get to have a lot more impact. They are a lot more fun to work with.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
We built our system so that it would automatically generate invoices based on some of the information we provided. Then it would send the invoice to the client or do automatic follow-ups.We didn't understand, or we didn't account, for every possibility. We had one customer who received the wrong invoice. It was the wrong amount and it wasn't in the right name. It was just a flaw in the system that we've since corrected, but back then the customer said, “Hey, this isn't the right amount.”LESSON LEARNED: It's finding that sweet spot: “Hey, we're automating what we can but it doesn't impact the customer touch, that customer-centric focus.” Today, we make sure that we can maintain those human touches where they're needed.Biggest success with customers
Responding to customers right away has been one of the biggest impacts. It has grown our business and had a better customer impact than anything else.We set up a system; 90% of the time we respond right away, and 95% of the time we respond within 30 minutes. We have a strict drop-dead rule: 100% of the time you respond by the end of the day.I can't count the number of times a client has reached out and said, “Hey, thank you for your quick response,” or “Hey, it's great to get a quick answer; you guys are so much more responsive.” That's probably helped us grow our business.Devin’s recommendation of a tool
We use HubSpot a lot. It's how we track the customer experience.HubSpot has been our customer relations management tool since our first year. It's a bit more expensive, but it accomplishes what we need.It provides a wide variety of ways to track the customer journey, making sure we take care of them. We can automate the things we need to and make sure we're not automating things we shouldn’t.Devin’s one key success factor
The one factor for me, personally, is the ability to press forward. There are going to be good times, bad times, easy times, hard times, and everything in between.What has driven our success, or made the difference throughout everything, is the ability to say, when everything is hard, “It's not easy but I'm going to continue to press forward. We're going to figure this out. We're going to make it work. We're going to push through those difficult times to make it through.”Devin’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
For the first few years of our marriage, before we started having kids, we decided we wanted to climb the highest peak in Utah, which is called Kings Peak. There were two peaks that looked the same and there wasn’t any sign. So, we chose the peak that we thought was the highest. When we reached it, we found out it was the wrong peak—and we couldn’t make it to the second peak at that time.So, for the first year, our goal had been to climb the biggest peak and we failed.We came back the next year and did the same kind of expedition. We climbed the highest peak and it was a fun experience. MORAL LESSON:If you don't know where you're going, stop, take an extra few minutes, and verify where you're going. Don’t just think you know where you’re headed. It makes a big difference, including in business.That has always been reflected back to me; in business, I want to make sure I don't pick the wrong mountain.Sometimes you have to say, “Hey, we made a mistake. We thought we knew where we were going, but we didn't. But rather than give up, let's come back and try it again. And we'll correct it.” So, it was a good lesson learned.[caption id="attachment_6657" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Kings Peak | Utah[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Devin
WebsitesMiller IP LawFree Strategy MeetingMeet DevinSocial Media ProfilesLinkedInWant to learn how to start your Entrepreneurship?
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The 7 initial marketing essentials
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Want to learn how to choose the best Name and Logo? Not sure which customers to focus on right now and where they are? Want to build your website, or trying to figure out how and what content to share on social media?
Mon, 26 Oct 2020 - 23min - 186 - Ep. 185 – Ross Kimbarovsky: “We focus really hard on the customer and the customer-experience throughout every touchpoint.”Mon, 19 Oct 2020 - 28min
- 185 - Ep. 184 – Three things good businesses do well – With Bill Flynn
With more than thirty years of experience working for and advising hundreds of companies, including ten startups, Bill Flynn has had a long track record of success; five successful outcomes, two IPOs, and seven acquisitions, including a turnaround during the 2008 financial crisis.
He has been a VP/Sales eight times, twice a CMO, and once the GM of a division of a $100MM+ IT services company until he pivoted to becoming a business growth coach.
As a coach, Bill has earned certifications and cultivated partnerships from organizations such as ScalingUp, Metronome United, Predictive Index, MassMEP, Small Giants, and The Neuroleadership Institute.
He is also an author and international speaker. Bill’s best-selling book - Further, Faster - The Vital Few Steps that Take the Guesswork out of Growthcontinues to garner a 5-Star rating.
Most passionate about
I help leadership teams take the guesswork out of growth.I'm probably most passionate about my daughter.On the professional side, I think it's a shame that really good ideas, really good people, and really good businesses either go out of business or struggle for completely preventable reasons.Bill’s career and story
My goal over the next 20 years is to share, with as many people as possible, that there’s a lot of predictability in business. Most people don't know that. I've been studying it for about 30 years, and I found that there are a few things that good companies do well.We never really teach people how to be good team leaders. It's a skill that can be taught and you can get better and better at it, but we don't teach it.The second thing: Strategy and execution are two really important pieces of the business. They are two sides of the same coin and those who do it well, create a system.The last one is cash. That should be your primary growth metric. Once you are no longer a startup, once you're a scale-up or a real business, cash should be your primary growth metric. It takes cash to grow and you typically have to invest in front of growth.I want to invite you to the free live training about 7 practical ways to get more customers:www.getmorecustomersregistration.com
Best advice for entrepreneurs
I have a particular set of things that I recommend. One is to solve a problem that's worth solving for yourself and your target customer.It has to be interesting to you. It has to be something worthy of the other person. There may be a lot of problems out there to solve, but if the target customer you're going after doesn't have it high enough on their priority list, then it doesn't matter to them.Don't run out of money!Then you get to the entrepreneur who now has a business that's growing. There’s some predictability and scalability to that business.At a high level, a few things truly matter in business—and, really, in life. As a leader, you need to focus and figure out those few things that matter to you.You really need to focus on the demand side of the equation.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I was a sales-guy at one point, in my 20s. I started off on an inside sales team for a company. We sort of competed with Novell at the time, in the 80s. And I was really, really bad at it.The failure was in trying to tell them why they should buy from me, instead of understanding what caused them to buy.Biggest success with customers
My greatest success is the reason I'm a coach now.The reason I do what I do today and why I say this is my biggest success is that two of the managers who were the least experienced said almost the exact same thing to me when I left. That was: “Bill, I just want you to know what you made me do. I hated it. It was really, really hard, but I'm so glad you made me do it because now I know what to do.”Bill’s one key success factor
My greatest success is the reason I'm a coach now.Bill’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
Actually, for people who want to scale their business, it's basically like climbing a mountain. I like to use the Everest example. If you're going to scale Everest, you don't just decide one day and then start climbing. You have to prepare!Deduce before you produce. And then, you don’t go to the top right away. You go to the base camp and work from there.You acclimate to the environment and then you take the next step. Sometimes you have to go back down because the weather is terrible where you are. You have to move back down the mountain.You can't really see the top at the bottom. You might have a vague understanding, but you really don't get it until you're there.I've been up Mount Mansfield, which is in Vermont.I've also driven up Pike's Peak in Colorado, which is one of the largest in the United States.The best one I went up, which was just fun, was above the clouds and it was beautiful. That was in Hawaii, in Maui. It's called Haleakala.Bill’s book (with a special free option):
FURTHER, FASTER BOOK RESOURCES (FREE BOOK PDF )
The best ways to connect with Bill
Bill’s WebsiteSocial Media Profiles:LinkedInTwitterI want to invite you to the free live training about 7 practical ways to get more customers:www.getmorecustomersregistration.com
I look forward to seeing you in the live training.
Mon, 12 Oct 2020 - 39min - 184 - Ep. 183 – The secret of winning your customers: The What, The Who, And the How.
Getting customers is what entrepreneurs say they struggle with most.
When we talk about entrepreneurship success, we still talk about very low success rates (The last formal numbers are still between 5%-10%. Of course, it depends on how success is defined).
The first reason (42%) entrepreneurs say what they fail for is “No market need”. There are usually two reasons for not finding the market need:
Either you didn’t focus on the right customers, Or your product definition wasn’t correct.
The What
A product or service definition contains 3-5 words;
your answer to the question, “What do you offer?” Based on the answer to the question “What problem do you solve”
Why is defining your product or service critical?
⌘ That’s how customers will find you⌘ It differentiates you from your competitors⌘ It attracts clients⌘ It’s the basis for leading your market categoryThe one rule of defining your product: In defining your product, you should focus on your customers’ point of view:
You need to learn what your customers are looking for; How customers, people who are seeking solutions, and providers talk about the problem and solutions within your space
We look for what they need or want: What words do they use to look for the solution?
Remember, it’s always about them! The customer always looks to find ‘WIIFM’ - What’s In It For Me?!
There is one story I like most as an example for the “what” part, finding what solution and product (or service) you should provide.
The story of Mike Allton who provided one product and found out his customers want something else…
Mike Allton - The award-winning social media blogger and author turned his successful website business into a social media blog and guidance source. Mike Allton is a Content Marketing Practitioner, award-winning Blogger and Author in St. Louis, and the Chief Marketing Officer at SiteSell. He has been working with websites and the Internet since the early ’90’s, and is active on all of the major social networks.
Mike teaches a holistic approach to content marketing that leverages blog content, social media and SEO to drive traffic, generate leads, and convert those leads into sales.
Mike’s story
I started the Social Media Hat back in 2012. At that time, I had been building websites, and as part of that website business, I was blogging about social media marketing in order to give my prospects and customers helpful information. It didn’t attract people who needed websites, it attracted people that already had website and wanted to learn about their social media opportunity.So, as a result, I wasn’t growing my online business, but I discovered that I like to write and I like to teach people how to use social media blogging.I realized that the content doesn’t help to sell websites, however I decided to create a site about social media blogging and that what I did.I’ve used my site as a testing ground for anything related to online marketing. I execute the test and write about it and I found out my audience really appreciates those kinds of insights.And in the meantime, I was experiencing making money through the website and I tested that as well. Affiliate relationships, Google AdWords, Display ads, and many other monetization techniques. The most successful way to make money is to have a product that can you sell a lot of, so it can scale.What is your one key success factor?
One thing that comes to mind: to have specific online relationships with people that can help you and show you the way to achieve your goals.The Who
Most entrepreneurs have a very clear picture in mind as to who their customers are.
Unfortunately, most of the time, they are wrong.
If you don’t know who your customers are, you won’t reach them.
Let’s learn one of the best-kept secrets to business success
The secret to finding more paying customers is not to convince as many people as possible to buy your product or service.
It’s to find those people who need your product or service right now and who will be the first to buy it.
I love the story of Black Jamieson. First because Black is a unique entrepreneur, and this is a beautiful story.
And second because it shows exactly how crucial finding the right customers is.
Blake Jamieson studied economics and today is a Portrait Artist for Professional Athletes Blake Jamieson is a pop portrait artist in Manhattan, NY. He paints pop art portraits for professional athletes and celebrities, including Howie Mandel, Drew Brees, Joe Montana, Gary Vaynerchuk, and over 250 other professional athletes in the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, and PLL.
Blake’s path to becoming a full-time artist was far from traditional. Despite his passion for art at a young age, Blake decided to forgo art school for a more “practical” degree, studying Economics at UC Davis. After graduating, Blake began his career in digital marketing at Zynga. He worked in digital marketing for nearly a decade, working for small tech startups to publicly traded companies.
On his 30th birthday, Blake decided it was time to stop building someone else’s dream, and start to following his own passions. He began painting full-time nearly five years ago, and has carved out a niche that allows him to paint every day.
What Blake is most passionate about today
I’m a portrait artist located in NYC. I’ve had an interesting rollercoaster of a journey up until this point, but what I do now is paint portraits of professional athletes.Primarily, I have worked in the NFL, although I do work with other athletes who play soccer, lacrosse, hockey, and more.I created this niche for myself where an athlete, or the spouse or girlfriend of an athlete, is looking for a painting that will capture special sports moments for them. I’m often the person they turn to and I’m very fortunate to work with awesome people and get to paint every single day.Blake’s story
I grew up in a very creative household. I was always encouraged to paint, or draw, or do photography – all the things I do today. However, I convinced myself, from a young age, that art was about being a starving artist and that it was not a career path.Instead of doing what my parents encouraged me to do, which was to study art in college, I decided to study economics and tech. I thought this was the safe path at the time, and I aimed to have a career in marketing.When I graduated from college, social marketing was just starting to become an actual, respected career. I was able to get into very grounded levels for some reputable companies and work my way through several different companies. Then I spun off and started working for myself as a freelancer.Ultimately, on my 30th birthday, I decided that I was tired of working for someone else’s dream. I wanted to follow my own dreams and I realized that maybe my parents had been right all along…I’m very grateful. Due to my background in marketing – especially digital marketing – and my experience in marketing a wide range of products, I understand how social selling works and how it is really a relationship-building business. I built up a moderate following of friends, family, colleagues, and people I met along the way.When I first decided to start painting, I knew that I had to specialize and come out with a specific niche. I decided that I would paint a specific painting for a specific subset of people.Because of my networking at the time, I decided to paint for offices, especially for tech companies. I met with the people on my contact list and told them that I was an artist and that I painted office art for tech companies.At first, I painted many paintings of Steve Jobs, Gary Vaynerchuk, and different iconic tech founders. Those tech companies aspired to be like them and wanted to put a picture of Steve Jobs, or motivational quotes, in their offices.I did that for two years and it was going well. I had my niece called out and I was gaining a reputation as one of the leaders in the space of Portrait Painting for Professional Athletes.There was a really lucky coincidence that when I delivered art in Las Vegas, I met a guy who played in the NFL and who was now a manager of existing players. He really loved my art and asked me to paint a few of his clients as a gift that they would post about and promote to their followers. It might create new opportunities.I did some paintings of a few of his NFL players. In the process, I learned that NFL players are very competitive. If one guy has a painting, the other player wants a bigger painting. They also have the income to pay for that, as well as a lot of followers.I pivoted my business three years ago. Today, I paint more professional athletes than any other painter in my spaceJoe Karlsson chose his customers first, and only then he developed his service. ”It took me years to get there, but right now I have my dream job!”
Joe Karlsson is a software engineer turned Developer Advocate at MongoDB. He comes from the frozen tundra of Minneapolis, Minnesota (and yes, it does get really cold here, and no, not everyone here has the accent from the movie, Fargo).
Joe has been primarily a Node and JavaScript engineer. He has been writing, teaching, and talking about code his entire career. Sharing what he knows and continuing to learn about programming is truly the thing he loves doing the most.
Most passionate about
I’m most passionate about Developers Advocate. I work for a database software tech company called MongoDB. As part of my job, I get to hang out with developers all the time. I make cool tools for them, or documentation, I speak at tech conferences and I make videos at Twitch stream.Whatever developers need, I make that for them.I still consider myself a software engineer, but I’m just better at engaging with developers.Joe’s career and story
I first started learning how to program. I started learning it out of fear of not making money when I was a professional.I actually was an art history minor, and then I switched over to computer science for fear of being poor.I went to school during one of the last financial collapses. Then I worked as an engineer and programmer for years. I hated it. I was so bad at it.I was ready to quit programming, and I moved to Hawaii to become a surf bum. Then I met some hacker punks down there, who were making fun stuff, making art. It got me very excited about making stuff just for fun.That changed the way I looked at programming. I’ve been trying to share the joy that I felt ever since.Joe’s one key success factor
I feel like my one success factor is resiliency or net durability while allowing my target audience (and my company) to keep going over a long period of time, remaining focused on a goal and continuing to attack it.Developer relations is tricky because I’m trying to influence a massive community of developers. The results are not immediate.I think my key success factor is resilience, and the best entrepreneurs are the ones who can remain focused on a singular goal over a long period of time. And I’m not saying you don’t quit if it doesn’t work.The How
This is probably the most important part that often has been neglected.
Zig Ziglar, a very famous American author, salesman, and motivational speaker said "You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want,”
Today, most known marketing leaders talk about being human - Mark Schafer wrote in his last book Marketing Rebellion that “The most human company wins”.
David Meerman Scott wrote with Reiko Scott the book ‘Fanocracy’ - Turning fans into customers and customers into fans’.
I think the story that represents more than any other story the shift in your mindset that will allow you to get many customers is the success story of Josh Elledge.
Josh Elledge hated to sell until one day he found the win-win formula of selling. Josh Elledge is the Founder & CEO of UpendPR and is about to change an entire industry with the mission to help entrepreneurs attract the perfect audiences through PR.
Josh is Chief Executive Angel at SavingsAngel.com and helps consumers get discounts and upgrades on everything through his syndicated newspaper column with 1.1 million readers and on TV in 75 cities. He’s been in the media more than 1500 times.
Through his new model of PR Josh now turns digital entrepreneurs into media celebrities at upendPR.com
Josh best advice about approaching the customer
Most entrepreneurial business owners struggling because they keep trying sell so hard, and it may cover the bills; however, I believe that in 2017 and beyond, the only way to really succeed is to invest in relationships and spend any minute in serving and giving and create value for your customers through building your sought leadership. Then the customers will come to you.Biggest failure with customers
When I started as an owner of a small-town newspaper, I was so uncomfortable to sell; I was so scared that I failed miserably. And after that, I did sales and marketing for a law firm network for the next five years and had to sell every day for a commission-based salary. I was very miserable, and then, one day, I suddenly realized that it’s not about convincing people to buy; it’s about listening to people's needs and finding how I can help them. In the minute, I understood that, I started to enjoy my connection with my clients and started to succeed dramatically. I found the win-win formula.Biggest success due to the right customer approach
I was featured in the local newspaper with Savings Angel, but one day I got a phone call from a reporter. It was from the Grand Rapids, Michigan, that I wanted to interview me about savings angel, and that was the first day we earn 800$ in one day, “my first good money day” from that day forward, my wife and I never had to worry about money again.If you are an entrepreneur listening to this conversation and you are not yet there, trust me, you will get there.We covered today the first, main part of getting more customers. This is the foundation.
Soon I will share with you the practical ways to get more customers.
However, If you won’t make the shift in mindset that my guests talked about today, I’m not sure you will succeed in implementing the practical ways to get more customers.
I want you to feel like Josh Elledge, that you found the win-win formula of selling.
I’ll meet you here next week.
In the meantime, I hope you and your beloved ones stay healthy and safe.
Always yours,
Hayut.
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Mon, 05 Oct 2020 - 43min - 183 - Ep. 182 – Joe Karlsson ”It took me years to get there, but right now I have my dream job!” Can you say the same??
Joe Karlsson is a software engineer turned Developer Advocate at MongoDB. He comes from the frozen tundra of Minneapolis, Minnesota (and yes, it does get really cold here, and no, not everyone here has the accent from the movie, Fargo).
Joe has been primarily a Node and JavaScript engineer. He has been writing, teaching, and talking about code his entire career. Sharing what he knows and continuing to learn about programming is truly the thing he loves doing the most.
Most passionate about
I’m most passionate about Developers Advocate. I work for a database software tech company called MongoDB. As part of my job, I get to hang out with developers all the time. I make cool tools for them, or documentation, I speak at tech conferences and I make videos at Twitch stream.Whatever developers need, I make that for them.I still consider myself a software engineer, but I'm just better at engaging with developers.Joe’s career and story
I first started learning how to program. I started learning it out of fear of not making money when I was a professional.I actually was an art history minor, and then I switched over to computer science for fear of being poor.I went to school during one of the last financial collapses. Then I worked as an engineer and programmer for years. I hated it. I was so bad at it.I was ready to quit programming, and I moved to Hawaii to become a surf bum. Then I met some hacker punks down there, who were making fun stuff, making art. It got me very excited about making stuff just for fun.That changed the way I looked at programming. I've been trying to share the joy that I felt ever since.Best advice for entrepreneurs
I feel like it would be best if I spoke about how to engage the developer's perspective. That’s the primary customer of many businesses, and I feel like even if your direct customer isn't the developer, most entrepreneurs are now engaging developers as either employees or contractors or building out a product.I get calls from business people and entrepreneurs all the time, asking if I would be willing to join them for their startup. It basically ends with them just calling me and giving me a 15-minute pitch without allowing me to talk at all about the product. That leaves me completely unimpressed and uninterested in their thing.Developers are more interested in learning and growing and playing, I think.Entrepreneurs need to figure out what developers are interested in and know that that's going to be something different from what another customer is going to be interested in.How you managed to speak with developers
My primary development market is JavaScript and Node. It's like the language of the web.I'm trying to provide lots of interesting content for developers, like career advice, learning stuff, tips and tricks, that sort of thing. I sprinkle product information in there, too.Authenticity is super important. That's what doesn't work with business people. Sometimes it feels inauthentic. It feels sales-y. It feels like a pitch. It feels like a commercial.I try to be an authentic human being with feelings and fears and anxieties, while also talking about a product.The biggest, most critical failure with customers
I've been a technical lead at several large tech companies. I feel like a couple of them didn't quite understand my need to teach and grow, to help out the developer communities. That caused friction with them.Today, speaking at conferences or streaming and engaging with developers is my full-time job. However, in the past, I was doing that on nights and weekends. Sometimes I'd miss work to do it. I caused some friction with the companies I've worked for in the past.I've also worked for small companies where I was in charge of the technical lead and crashed production, which means customers wanted to double use the site. That is never a great feeling. At one job, I had crashed it, and it was down for about four hours.I got fired from the job after crashing the site for so long. That still hurts today. It's something I talk about a lot because I want to normalize making mistakes and messing up, as well as growing from those experiences.Biggest success with customers
I don't know if people get this, but TikTok has been incredible this year for my career.I spoke at my first keynote conference a couple of weeks ago (PennApps). That was amazing, but it's because of my work on Twitter and TikTok that I've been getting invitations to speak.Joe’s one key success factor
I feel like my one success factor is resiliency or net durability while allowing my target audience (and my company) to keep going over a long period of time, remaining focused on a goal and continuing to attack it.Developer relations is tricky because I'm trying to influence a massive community of developers. The results are not immediate.I think my key success factor is resilience, and the best entrepreneurs are the ones who can remain focused on a singular goal over a long period of time. And I'm not saying you don't quit if it doesn't work.Joe’s Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I live in the Midwest of the United States, which is very flat—the opposite of mountainous. But we've had, of course, the metaphorical mountains.To be honest, I don't feel like I'm climbing a mountain today. I feel like my mountain climbing journeys ebb and flow.For example, especially if I'm fighting to get something I really want, I feel like right now I have my dream job. This has been the job I've been shooting for forever. It's a job in which I get to make things I like, hang out with my friends, and share things I'm excited about. But it was pretty hard to get a job like this.[caption id="attachment_5825" align="aligncenter" width="700"] illustration[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Joe
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- Don’t Miss – Customer Focus Strategy & Execution: Market Analysis for FundraisingHayut Yogev’s Latest post: Is the magic that helped entrepreneurs like Jeff Bullas (570K Twitter followers) or Douglas Burdett become leading successful influencers happening again?Former interview: Lisa McLeod: “The money always follows the meaning”. How to find your entrepreneurship’s Noble Purpose?
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Mon, 28 Sep 2020 - 28min - 182 - Ep. 181 – Lisa McLeod: “The money always follows the meaning”. How to find your entrepreneurship’s Noble Purpose?
Lisa McLeod is the global expert on purpose-driven business and the bestselling author of Selling with Noble Purpose: How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud.
Lisa has spent two decades helping leaders increase competitive differentiation and emotional engagement. Her work debunks the myth that money is the primary motivation for most employees. She developed the Noble Purpose philosophy after her research revealed, salespeople who sell with Noble Purpose, who truly want to make a difference to their customers, outsell salespeople who focus on their own targets and quotas.
Most passionate about
The thing I am passionate about today is thinking about people waking up excited to go to work. But, as the years go on, and especially today, it’s hard to wake up feeling like you have that sense of purpose.And if you’re not waking up feeling like that, your employees are definitely not waking up feeling that way.To create a successful business, you need two things: You need competitive differentiation, a way to stand out, and you need emotional engagement. You need people who care passionately about your business as employees because that’s the way to create passionate customers.The thing that will help you acquire both of those is clarity about your noble purpose. Why are you in business? How do you improve the lives of your customers (beyond just making money)? What is the true north star of your business?Lisa’s customers
We work with organizations and a lot of startups. We want to identify the answers to three questions: How do you make a difference to your customers? How do you do it differently from your competition? And on your best day, what do you love about your job?How are you going to move the middle for your customers?It goes beyond a standard value proposition.Lisa’s career and story
I started my business because I was a VP of sales for a large consulting firm, and I had a baby. I couldn’t work 70 hours a week and travel four days a week anymore. And I thought, ‘How can I still work in this field of helping organizations with sales but work differently than I did before?’I got into the world of noble purpose when I did a big project for a big biotech firm. They wanted us to identify what separated the top performers in terms of sales and revenue.We found that all the top performers had that sense of purpose. They didn’t want to just hit the numbers. They wanted to make a difference.Lisa’s best advice for entrepreneurs
Find where you are already living your purpose. If you are a business and you have customers paying you, any customer with any amount of money, you’re doing something for them. They chose you for a reason.My advice to entrepreneurs is: Go talk with your customers. Don’t just ask them “What did we do well?” Go deeper and ask, “How did our work impact your life or your business? How did it make a difference to you?”You’ll start to see the basis for your noble purpose. You need to name it and blame it and then start activating it in the hearts and minds of your employees.That’s when you create one of those organizations that can’t be beat. Two tips for activating your noble purpose among your customers: The first is to tell many stories about how you helped your customers. How did you do what the customers needed next? The second tip is to ask your employees how you can contribute to that.Biggest failure with customers
This is an easy answer. It was more than just a failure with a customer, it was a failure of a business. Our entire company failed. It was during the recession. I’d had my sales consulting business for some time and my husband, who was a manufacturing executive, left his job before the recession. We bought a small manufacturing company.I was in charge of sales and training, and I was just starting down this noble purpose journey. The company was a blue-color company doing signage for businesses. During the recession, it started to fail. It took me some time before I found our noble purpose, and we were doing a bit better, but it wasn’t enough. It was too little, too late and the company failed.However, it eventually helped me because I learned that you can’t know what’s in somebody’s heart unless they tell you. Today, I know for a fact and we have hard data about it, that this emotional connection drives behavior, and this behavior drives how people interact with customers—and that drives the money.Biggest success due to the right customer approach
We worked with a bank for which we helped to find their noble purpose. Two years ago, they decided they wanted to improve their culture and create more differentiation. They wanted their people to be more emotionally engaged.So, we started working with them on this noble purpose journey—and to be clear, they were a good organization to begin with.We decided that they were no longer just a bank; they are a noble purpose organization, and their noble purpose was ‘we fuel prosperity’. This changed the way that the bank made decisions, it changed the way they interacted with customers, and it changed the way leaders interacted with people.The reason why it was such a big win is that, at the end of a period of 18 months, they had increased their earnings by 40%! The money always follows the meaning. They increased their earnings also because their CEO was on the cover of American Banker, as a top 20 banker of America, and this was a mid-sized bank.They were also voted the best place to work by their employees.When COVID hit, they were able to pivot within less than a week. That’s because they knew why they were there and what they were supposed to be doing. They didn’t freak out.Lisa’s books -We just launched the book Selling with Noble Purpose. It’s the second edition of the book. I first wrote it eight years ago. In these eight years, we implemented it with more than two dozen firms and we learned what works and what doesn’t.We worked with major companies like Rosh, Salesforce, Google, and more. A lot of entrepreneurs can’t hire someone like us, so they can find the information in the book and implement it immediately. Also, we are going to launch an app that entrepreneurs will be able to use for their teams.Most recommended technological tool
One thing I want to recommend is Evernote, to very easily take notes on any device and share your notes with your team.The other thing I recommend is that you get some sort of CRM system. Use it if you have more than three or four people in your organization.Lisa's key success factor
For me, the key thing is that I can’t stand it when people don’t like their jobs.Lisa's Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I was on a trip to Italy with one of my clients, G Advanture, the leader in adventure traveling. There was this hike they called “the hike of the gods.” You were on top of this mountain, above some of the clouds. I was probably the least fit among the group, so I was super happy when we reached the top.I looked down on the land, on this earth that has been here for ages, and it was so beautiful. I remember thinking that people are just a dot on this earth, so you’d better do something with your time that matters. The only thing that really matters is how I affected people around me. It’s the only thing that’s going to last.[caption id="attachment_6613" align="aligncenter" width="700"] The Hike of the Gods[/caption]
Lisa’s book: Selling with noble purpose
Recommended tools
Evernote - Our note taking app helps you capture and prioritize ideas, projects and to-do lists, so nothing falls through the cracks. Start your free trial today!The best ways to connect with Lisa
WebsiteSocial Media Profiles:LinkedInTwitterFacebookYouTubeJoin our Facebook Groups
Entrepreneurial Marketing SuccessWomen Entrepreneurs Starting OutMore resources for Entrepreneurs
- Don’t Miss – Customer Focus Strategy & Execution: Market Analysis for FundraisingHayut Yogev’s Latest post: Is the magic that helped entrepreneurs like Jeff Bullas (570K Twitter followers) or Douglas Burdett become leading successful influencers happening again?Former interview: Entrepreneurial Marketing Success – The 3 successful entrepreneurs that affected you most
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The 7 initial marketing essentials
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Mon, 21 Sep 2020 - 29min - 181 - Ep. 180 – Entrepreneurial Marketing Success – The 3 successful entrepreneurs that affected you most
Guy Kawasaki, David Beebe and Kate Erickson talk about three revolutions you must implement in your Business today:
✓ The ‘customers who are fans’ revolution✓ The social media revolution, and✓ The broadcast revolutionHi, entrepreneurs reachers.
How are you? We are at the end of the summer. Probably the strangest summer most of us ever went through; the world has changed. Dramatically. The scary thing is that we don't know what the new world is going to look like. Everything is still shifting; what I do know that this is the best opportunity for entrepreneurs to take the time and make their entrepreneurship the business they want to have.
And I want to help you at this uncertain time. So I went to look for the entrepreneurs that affected you most by analyzing which entrepreneurs you chose to listen to most and what they stand for.
These are the results:
The first entrepreneur that most of you chose to listen to is Guy Kawasaki.
Guy Kawasaki was Apple's Chief Evangelist, and today is the Chief evangelist of Canva. Guy's approach to customers represents the biggest marketing revolution: The 'customers who are fans' revolution. That’s what marketing gurus like Mark Schaefer and David Meerman Scott (both were the firsts to understand the huge effect of the social media and content revolution) write about today:
Mark Schaefer wrote in his last book Marketing Rebellion about "The most human company wins," and David Meerman Scott and Reiko Scott wrote in their excellent book Fanocracy - about turning fans into customers and customers into fans.
Let's listen to the main parts of my interview with Guy Kawasaki:
The ‘customers who are fans’ revolution
Guy Kawasaki
Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist of Canva, an online graphic design tool. He is a brand ambassador for Mercedes-Benz and an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley). He was the chief evangelist of Apple and a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation. He is also the author of The Art of the Start 2.0, The Art of Social Media, Enchantment, and nine other books. Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.
Guy’s Career
My career really started in the jewelry business, not tech. I started a part-time job when I had my MBA at UCLA. I worked for a jewelry manufacture in downtown LA. It was a small manufacturing company owned by a Jewish family, and that’s where I learned sales and marketing. I worked there for about six years. I have a deep understanding and love for many Jewish things.I was in the jewelry business, and then I got an Apple 2, and I fell in love with computers.I worked for 6 months for a small software company that was acquired, and my roommate eventually hired me into Apple. I went to work for Apple as an evangelist, I left to start a company, and later returned to apple as Apple chief evangelist, and yet again left to start a company… Basically; I’ve been in Apple twice, and I’ve been an entrepreneur, speaker, and author since then.Customers
My target audience for Canva is anyone who wants to make a design, so this means anybody in the world… We try to democratize design so anybody can create beautiful designs. That’s a few billion people… I hope people realize how necessary it is to use design as an element of your communications because it helps you stand out.From the very start, the goal was to empower people.Just like when I went to work for Apple, the goal for Apple was not to make a business computer but to make a computer that anyone could use. The same thing is true for Canva; it’s not a tool that we make only for graphic professionals. It’s for anyone who wants to create graphics.Biggest failure with customers
With Apple when we introduced Macintosh it went through a very rough period for many reasons. So you could also look at this as a failure.Very few companies get it exactly right at the start. It’s less important where you start as much as how fast you can change from where you start.The best case is a pretty good prototype that you can change fast.Biggest success due to the right customer approach
I started at Canva when they were two years old. I think that from the get-go, they had a very good prototype. They truly understood the need of people, and Canva was growing like a rocket. I’m not taking credit for that; the credit belongs to the founders of Canva: Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht.This is called Guy’s golden touch. So Guy’s golden touch is not whatever I touch turns to gold, but whatever is gold, Guy touches…I’ve learned in my career that it’s better to be lucky than smart.A person who impact Guy’s “customer focus” success the most
I learned how to sell and market in the jewelry business, not in the tech business. That came before tech to me.At the end of the day, there are only two real functions in business: somebody has to make it, and somebody has to sell it. Suppose you are not an engineer, you better learn how to sell. And if you can’t sell, you better be engineering because everything else is bullshit.I learned to sell. I’m not an engineer; I learned to sell in the jewelry business. I learned about trust. In the jewelry business, it’s all about trust.Guy’s last piece of guidance
You should never ask people to do something that you would not do. It applies to your customers, employees, vendors, to everybody.The second entrepreneur you listened to most is David Beebe, who represents the broadcast revolution and talks about “From Hollywood to Brands Marketing it’s the same rule today: Be customer-centric”
The broadcast revolution
David Beebe
Emmy-winning Branded Content Producer, Keynote Speaker, Co-Founder and Content Decoded
Declared by AdWeek as a “Branded Content Master Who Makes it OK to Love Marketing,” and named by Ad Age as a Top 40 “forward thinker, risk-taker, and rainmaker in marketing,” Emmy-award and Cannes Lions winner David Beebe, who founded and led the Disney/ABC Television Group Content Studio and Marriott Content Studio, and produced branded content for Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, LOST, Scrubs and original series for Showtime, DIRECTV, Yahoo, and PBS is one of the entertainment and marketing industries most influential producers, brand storytellers, marketers, advisors, and keynote speakers with real world experience.
David’s career and what he is most passionate about today
I spent my career in Hollywood storytelling and brand marketing, and I’m passionate about working with brands and helping them really transform marketing into an organization and a strategy that helps win the hearts, minds, and wallets of next-generation consumers with content marketing, branded content or premium story-like content.That’s what consumers really want today. They don’t engage with interactive marketing anymore, and marketers really need to provide value. That’s what I’m in right now. It’s fun to work with brands to create stories and create platforms that engaged consumers globally.Storytelling has been a part of my life from the beginning. Working with corporations with marketing or with the content creation units in there, and working in TV for 15 years producing television shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty, LOST, producing all the derivative content, webisodes, and behind the scenes, that’s storytelling, and that’s what consumers are watching. You go to the brand side, and you apply that thinking of ‘think like a publisher,’ ‘think and act like a media company’ because consumers want content. They don’t care where it comes from; they don’t care who produces it, as long as it is entertaining and informative, and it’s valuable, it’s totally fine if it is from a brand. In fact, they understand that brands need to advertise and need to market, but they appreciate when the content provides value to them first versus pitching them features and benefits.Traditional marketing is pitching features and benefits, but it’s interruptive in nature. It interrupts what the consumers are doing. It comes in the form of TV commercials, banner ads, or interruptive emails. It’s not delivered at the right time and in the right place. You can still deliver content but deliver content that provides value first and entertains and informs the consumer versus interrupting them.Content marketing and brand storytelling should be connected to all the other types of marketing. It’s not the only type of marketing, but it should be a big piece of it, and it all works together.David’s best advice about approaching the customer
We live in a world today where the customer is king. Your customers, your consumers, now control where, when, and how they are going to interact with your brand. They also control what they think about your brand.Brands and companies are not in charge of the message anymore, and it goes back to that experience you provide customers. That is essentially the brand, and that’s what people are going to talk about.When we talk about customer experience and customers’ focus, all brands and companies need to think consumers first! How is it benefiting the customers? To make sure it’s not centered on the brand itself, but actually providing value.My advice for brands, for companies, for entrepreneurs is you have to shift the thinking to think ‘consumer-first’ in everything you are doing.It’s hard for entrepreneurs and business leaders to have the consumers’ perspective, even when they think they do have it. They are designing things from the inside out versus designing from the outside in.Biggest failure with customers
There are so many… even with all the success… but that’s how you learn, right? I worked at Disney ABC TV group, and we were preparing to launch original content online. That was the year that YouTube came out, and at that time, and the video was very basic. Although we saw the content there as something that takes away views from our content, we looked at the creators there like ‘they are just kids in their basement, right, what do they really know about creating content? We are the professional producers of content. There is a way to do it, a system.’ So we produced, we ignored them, that’s an example of being very self-centered from a brand perspective and not thinking of what the consumer wants. Looking back, those YouTubers who created content and their channels are very successful. They have mass audiences; some of them have 70 and 80 million subscribers a day, numbers that any network can only dream of. They become content creators, and they have launched businesses of millions of dollars, creating content and merchandise from it, so they became the new media companies. And we ignored them!!!! That’s totally a failure from a customers’ experience.The failure is missing out on the opportunity to be involved in YouTube. Look what happened to Blockbuster with the revolution of services like Netflix. Every brand can be in this place today.Biggest success due to the right customer approach or focus
I would probably talk about real-time marketing and the content studios, which are Brand Newsrooms. 15-20 people sitting in a big glass box in front of screens, and they are identifying opportunities to engage with the consumer in real-time. The idea is very customer-focused. Marketing is no longer ‘8 to 5, Monday to Friday’… It is always on, consumers are always on, and I think that brands must be there, not only to respond but to create marketing opportunities and to be connected to the conversation in real-time.We built five Brand Newsrooms like that around the world with content creators [working] 24 hours a day. Everything is happening at the moment. That’s customer-centric.Recommendation of a person, like a mentor, or other service provider that impacts you or your customers.
My favorite book and author and speaker are Simon Sinek, who wrote Start with the WHY.That is going back to the consumer first. As a brand, often, everyone knows what you do, but very few would know why you do it. Start with the why; what your purpose and people will connect with your purpose.The second book is The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk.The idea of it is about giving value to the consumer first. “Give, give, give,”... and eventually, you will get back and create a value exchange.And the third and last guest you were affected by most is Kate Erickson. Kate talks about the social media revolution and about How to use social media to find your Perfect Customer. It seems that the issue of social media is one of the main issues you were concern about. And although this interview was first published three years ago, it’s still one of three questions you ask most.
The social media revolution
Kate Erickson
The social media revolution and about How to use social media to find your perfect Customer
Kate Erickson is a creator, engager and implementer, over at EOFire, a podcast hosted by John Lee Dumas (JLD) that interviews today's most inspiring and successful entrepreneurs.
She is also the host of Kate's Take, the EOFire audio blog, and the Author of the FirePath, Beginners' guide to growing your online business.
Kate is passionate about helping entrepreneurs in creating freedom in their business and life through developing systems and processes that can help their business scale and grow
EOFire’s customers
EOFire’s perfect customer (avatar) is a mid-age male at a corporate job spending most of his time doing things he doesn’t really love to doKate’s best advice about approaching the customer
You need to do things that DO NOT SCALE. Mainly speaking with a lot of your customers. That’s the only way to understand who your perfect customer isKate’s biggest failure with a customer
Kate takes us back to her days as an account manager in a marketing and advertising agency, standing between the agency and a very angry customer. This case actually helped her understand this wasn’t the place she wanted to be in, and therefore joined John Lee Dumas at EOFire.One big success due to the right customer approach
The Freedom Journal’s community. John Lee Dumas and Kate had a great success launching The Freedom Journal – a guide to help people accomplish their number one goal in 100 days. The Freedom Journal community is a platform for likeminded people that come together, help support one another, provide feedback to one another, and help each other accomplish their goal.Kate talks about the importance of listening to your customers. This community, for her, is the place to get a clear picture of what the customers need and wantThe Freedom Journal is a stunning, hardcover Journal that will guide you in the accomplishment of your #1 goal in 100 days.This is the end of our special episode. I hope you enjoyed it and can't wait to read your feedback and responses, so please, leave us your comments. We love hearing your thoughts.
Next week, we will have a new guest.
I'll meet you there.
In the meantime, I wish you and all your beloved ones to stay healthy and safe.
Bye...
Best way to connect with our guests:
Guy KawasakiLinkedinDavid BeebeDavidBeebe WebsiteLinkedInKate EricksonTo reach Kate, Go to EOFire.com and contact Team Fire!More resources for Entrepreneurs
- Don’t Miss – Customer Focus Strategy & Execution: Market Analysis for FundraisingHayut Yogev’s Latest post: Is the magic that helped entrepreneurs like Jeff Bullas (570K Twitter followers) or Douglas Burdett become leading successful influencers happening again?Former interview: Climbing mountains and entrepreneurial success – The 6th and newest part – Some of the most amazing mountains’ stories you heard
Mon, 14 Sep 2020 - 53min - 180 - Ep. 179 – Climbing mountains and entrepreneurial success – The 6th and newest part – Some of the most amazing mountains’ stories you heard
Hi, my Reachers.
This is the third ‘Mountain Episode’ in 2020, and I think you would love this amazing series of the Reach Or Miss mountains project; Today, I want to share with you the 6th and newest episode where successful entrepreneurs share their mountains stories.
Listen to these incredible mountain stories I heard from the successful entrepreneurs I recently interviewed on my podcast.
You can then listen to the full interview with each of them and hear about their visions, struggles, and how these entrepreneurs reached their success.
From the entrepreneur that climbed the Kilimanjaro
To the entrepreneur that quoted, “We don’t climb mountains because they are there; we climb mountains because others won’t.” And said it’s the same with entrepreneurship - “I do what I do because others won’t.”
To the entrepreneur whose company’s name is Stone Pick “because, as entrepreneurs, we see our goal at the top of the mountain.”
The one who said that with the acquisition option for entrepreneurs, “it’s like having a helicopter drop me off at the top of the summit instead of climbing by foot.”
And the entrepreneur that went up to the base camp of Mount Everest, and plan to go to Peru for his next mountain.
I hope these mountain stories will encourage you to find out what should you – as an entrepreneur looking for your breakthrough to success – take from their stories to help find the necessary steps to reach your peak?
Many entrepreneurs climb mountains, while others use mountains as a metaphor to describe what is necessary to conquer the peak – including the fatiguing yet rewarding journey to the top. Still other entrepreneurs use mountains as an analogy for a significant goal they wish to achieve – such as becoming a billion-dollar-market-cap company.
For many years, I’ve compared the act of taking possession of your potential customers’ minds and of building awareness, likability, and trust of a leading brand to the act of climbing the highest mountains.
You climb step by step to the peak, reach your position as a market leader and a leading brand, and then start climbing a new mountain with a new product line or another brand.
The idea of mountains as representations of a strong position in the market is mentioned by Al Ries and Jack Trout in the excellent book, Marketing Warfare.
“In military warfare, mountains and higher altitude areas represent strong positions and often are used to present a strong defense. In marketing warfare, the question is one of who holds the mountains in the consumer's mind.”
So, at some point after the launch of my podcast for entrepreneurs, I started to ask the successful entrepreneurs I interviewed about their habits or dreams of climbing one of the highest mountains in the world.
Listen to these new inspiring mountains’ stories, find which entrepreneurs and stories you identify with most, and review your entrepreneurial objectives, market overview, and plan. By making your business as strong as possible, you will be able to quickly and easily achieve entrepreneurial success.
John Jonas: “After a month of working with Philippine Virtual Assistant I realized that there are two of me… I replaced myself in my business…!”
John Jonas has helped thousands of entrepreneurs succeed in their business by doing outsourcing differently. He created and runs OnlineJobs.ph, the largest website for finding Filipino virtual workers, with over 1,000,000 Filipino resumes and over 300,000 employers from around the world using it.
He works about 17 hours per week, choosing to spend his time with his family rather than working.
John’s Mountain
I love this question because I have a love affair with mountains. My office is at home, and in front of me there is a big window which I stare out at De Long Peak, I climb mountains probably at least twice a week, up to a peak of some source, I mountain bike and love it, and I ski in the backcountry. I’ve seen a quote says: “We don’t climb mountains because they are there; we climb mountains because others won’t.” To me, this is what climbing mountains is, and I think it relates to entrepreneurship as well. For me, there is nothing more exhilarating than standing on top of a peak in the winter, looking down the other side, and knowing that I did it on my own. And it’s the same with entrepreneurship - I do what I do because others won’t.”I’ve climbed this difficult mountain of building a business because other people won’t. And I get the reward of it too.[You can listen to the full episode with John Jonas here…]
Jason Keath key success factor “Having a network even before we needed it has been a huge driver of our success.”
Jason is a social media analyst and speaker and the founder and CEO of Social Fresh that offers insights, training, and education resources to companies that range from the Fortune 50 to small businesses. Jason’s Mountain
I visited some mountains in the past, though there isn’t necessarily a physical mountain on my goal list. However, it makes me think of the metaphor of business…One thing I’ve always wanted to do is build some type of software business. Building a software business is really being able to make money while you’re asleep … A tool that serves your customers without your needing to be there most of the time.I think that is a very big challenge, which is similar to the challenge of climbing a mountain, with all the planning you need to do for a new challenge and all the help you need along the way.[You can listen to the full episode with Jason Keath here…]
Dr. Travis Zigler: “To become an overnight success, you need to be persistent for years and years...”
Dr. Travis Zigler is a recovering optometrist turned e-commerce entrepreneur. He is the founder of Eye Love, whose mission is to heal one million dry eye sufferers naturally.
Due to the success of Eye Love, others have asked if Dr. Travis would help them grow their business online—more specifically with Amazon, which is one of his superpowers. As a specialist in Amazon PPC, Dr. Travis blogs about Amazon PPC and selling on Amazon.
Travis’s Mountain
I climbed a lot of mountains. I think Mount Kilimanjaro was the highest, but I have a hill in my back yard… I live in the hills of Texas (Yes…, Texas has hills…) and we live on the side of a hill, which is the highest point of our county; It’s a 1.7-mile straight up front, and I climb it at least twice a week.And metaphorically, our mission is to heal one million dry-eyes suffers, We haven’t reached that number yet, so I wake up every morning and ask, how can I reach another dry-eye suffer today?[caption id="attachment_4478" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Mount Kilimanjaro[/caption]
[You can listen to the full episode with Dr. Travis Zigler here…]
Sarah Evans: “I didn’t realize that I had an entrepreneurial spirit. However, I took the risk 11 years ago and haven’t looked back.”
Sarah Evans, founder of Sevans Strategy and Sevans Digital PR, is a digital PR strategist, consultant, global brand correspondent and keynote speaker.
Additionally, Sarah has been a digital correspondent for several companies including Paypal, Cox Communications, MGM International, Cisco, SAP, Wal Mart, Shorty Awards and more...
Sarah’s Mountain
I would definitely take it metaphorically. That started with my neighbor, who is an athlete and who has climbed three out of seven peaks. I decided that I wanted to become fit, not only for myself but to increase my longevity—to become a healthy mother and, someday, a grandmother.So, I started creating little goals for myself. One was to do a headstand, and I can do this now. Currently, I’m working on flexibility and strength training. So, I keep setting those goals. The very strange thing is that every time I accomplish these fitness goals, other things fall into place in my life. I think that’s because I’ve become so focused and motivated—it runs the gamut of every aspect.[You can listen to the full episode with Sarah Evans here…]
Bart Rupert talks about how entrepreneurs can buy their competitors as part of their growth strategy, without investing their own money!
Bart Rupert has a strong Mergers & Acquisitions background across Fortune 500’s and startups within industries such as technology, software, energy (oil, gas, and solar), healthcare, real estate, managed services, and construction.
He founded nearly 30 companies, negotiated over $500M in contracts & business deals, grew a corporate start-up from inception to $10M, grew a healthcare company from $8M to $75M, and grew an energy company from $22M to $115M+.
Bart’s Mountain
Mountains have a very personal meaning for me both metaphorically and physically. They represent a challenge and they represent a success as well. I live in Colorado, and we go hiking and climb mountains regularly. From another angle, the name of our M&A company is Stone Pick because, as entrepreneurs, we see our goal at the top of the mountain.When I started my entrepreneurial journey, it really felt like climbing a mountain. I’m the guy who just keeps going. There is something so glorious about it.But what I would say now is that, with the acquisition option, it’s like having a helicopter drop me off at the top of the summit. So, growing organically is like climbing to the top of the mountain. If you go and buy a company, it’s like having a helicopter drop you off at the top.And some people have to feel that’s it has to be a struggle or it doesn't worthwhile, and it’s OK. But for those of us who are thinking maybe there is a better way, we consider the option of buying a business.[You can listen to the full episode with Bart Rupert here…]
Ryan Coon “We made the classic mistake that most entrepreneurs make. We built a beautiful product and assumed the customers would find us.”
Ryan Coon is an entrepreneur, co-founder & CEO of Avail, an all-in-one software solution designed for do-it-yourself (DIY) landlords that is used by more than 600,000 landlords and tenants across the United States.
Ryan has a hardworking spirit and together with his co-founder, Laurence Jankelow, they developed the idea for their company Avail on a napkin that now solves the needs of thousands of landlords and renters.
Ryan’s Mountain
We are in Chicago, which is about as flat as it can get, but I’ve spent a lot of time in Colorado. I’ve climbed numerous 14,000-foot mountains in Colorado.The story that I love to share is that in 2011 I had a chance to go up to the base camp of Mount Everest. That was an incredible journey because I was very outside my comfort zone.We were on this 14-day incredible journey up to the base camp of the highest mountain in the world. For the next mountain, I plan to go to Peru.[caption id="attachment_3241" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Mount Everest Base Camp[/caption]
[You can listen to the full episode with Ryan Coon here…]
Jeremy Parker swag.com “I’m never satisfied in terms of customer success. We should go above and beyond to make our customers’ experience great.”
Jeremy Parker is an award winning documentary filmmaker and serial entrepreneur. He is the Co-founder and CEO of Swag.com, the best place for companies to buy quality promotional products that you'll actually want to keep.
They work with 5,000+ companies including Facebook, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Spotify and Tik Tok. They are #218 on the 2020 Inc 500 (fastest growing companies in the US). Jeremy was also named by CrainsNY as one of the 40Under40 .
Jeremy’s Mountain
My mountain is definitely a physical mountain. I love climbing, I love being outdoors in nature. We are going to Bear Mountain. When you’re outside, you are focusing on your muscles and not on your brain.When you climb a mountain and reach the top, you always want to get to a higher top. This the same as entrepreneurship for me; I am never satisfied.[You can listen to the full episode with Jeremy Parker here…]
If you didn’t listen to the previous “Mountain Episodes” you can find them here
Climbing mountains and entrepreneurial success – The 5th and newest part – Some of the most amazing mountains’ stories you heardClimbing mountains and entrepreneurial success – The 4th and newest part – Some of the most amazing mountains’ stories you heardClimbing mountains and entrepreneurial success – The 3rd and last part – Some of the most amazing mountains’ stories you heardClimbing mountains and entrepreneurial success – The 2nd part – Listen to a few more of the most amazing mountains’ stories you heardClimbing mountains and entrepreneurial success – A few of the most amazing mountains’ stories you heardI hope you enjoyed this episode.
As I always write after a ‘Mountain Episode’:
Now you can choose whether and what you would like to do next as a reaction to this episode.
As I see it you have 4 options.
First, you can of course do nothing that has to do with this show, go to do whatever you want or planned or just switch to the next podcast.
Second, you can enjoy the stories, be inspired and take the courage and massive strength needed to take your entrepreneurship to a much higher level than you did in the last few months.
Third, you can choose one or more of the inspiring successful interviewees, their stories you love best, or choose me, to connect, ask questions, find what else you can learn from them (they all have plenty of free very professional content on their sites) or even find out if they can be your mentor if they give that service.
And last, but not least, you can download my free guide for the 7 elements of Entrepreneurial Business Success that will help you make the best plan for the coming months and reach your goals of 2020.
I’ll meet you on the next mountain.....
Hayut.
Mon, 07 Sep 2020 - 26min - 179 - Ep. 178 – Jeremy Parker swag.com “I’m never satisfied in terms of customer success. We should go above and beyond to make our customers’ experience great.”
Jeremy Parker is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and serial entrepreneur. He is the Co-founder and CEO of Swag.com, the best place for companies to buy quality promotional products that you'll actually want to keep.
They work with 5,000+ companies including Facebook, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Spotify and Tik Tok. They are #218 on the 2020 Inc 500 (fastest growing companies in the US). Jeremy was also named by CrainsNY as one of the 40Under40.
Most passionate about
I’m working on com. We provide custom promo products that people actually want to keep. We launched the company in early 2016 and we are the fastest growing promotional products company in the country. We were just named among the 500 fast-growing companies in the US—the “number 218” fastest-growing company in the States.Our main passion at this point is taking the easy and streamlined buying experience that we developed, not only to buy swag but also to distribute swag and send swag to all remote addresses. Especially now with the pandemic, people feel so disconnected.The difference with our swag platform is that, from the first day, we’ve focused on the millennial customers who expect everything to be fully automated and very easy to work with. With time, our customers asked us to not only hold the process of buying and delivering their product but also store it for them and shift it to each of their customers directly, as well as monitor their inventory. That’s what we’ve worked on in the last two years.Right now, when most companies are working from home and everybody is disconnected, our feeling is that our distribution platform will be very useful.Today many leading brands are working with our platform, from Facebook and Google and Amazon to Netflix and Spotify and TikTok to smaller startups. Our platform scales with the businesses as they grow.Jeremy’s career and story
I’m actually a filmmaker. I even won the Audience Award at the 2006 Vail Film Festival for a documentary I made with my brother. After we won this award, I realized my passion wasn’t to become a filmmaker.After college, I started my first business. I had no experience in businesses and I thought that starting a T-shirt company would be easy and focused and a good opportunity to learn how to run a business. It sounds simple but you need to learn manufacturing, and how to run a website, and how to do marketing and PR and customer service. I started this T-shirt company and became better and better. It helped me find out what I’m good at. I became good at user experience design and branding. That’s what I fell in love with.After the T-shirt company, I worked for MV Sport, one of the largest players in the promotional product space.I was introduced to the promotional products market at the age of 22 and everything in this space was done very manually. It was all about catalogs and presentation decks and phone calls to close the sale.From my experience showing was always focused online, I didn’t want to speak with people while I purchased something. Over the 10 ten years, I watched the promotional products space very closely and realized that the market got bigger and bigger but the buyer changed. The buyer now is a millennial and the platforms were not built for today's buyers.That was kind of an a-ha moment for me: to build a platform with a great user experience that will answer the needs of today’s buyers. And that was the initial idea for Swag.In the first year, we didn’t build any platform. We focused on learning from our customers about what they need and want. The knowledge we got at the beginning gave us a shining light on what kind of platform we should build.Jeremy’s best advice for entrepreneurs
For entrepreneurs, I think consistency is key. Entrepreneurship takes every single day working very hard for a specific goal. You should stay in the game and constantly learn from your customers to build the right platform. Don’t always think you have all the right answers.I tell my friends who ask me how to build a business: Just start. Start the process, start to learn from your customers, and adopt.Biggest failure with customers
I’m never satisfied in terms of customer success. This is the most important thing. We should go above and beyond to make our customers’ experience great. So even if there is a delay or some crisis, the customer is still happy and wants to work with us next time, because they know we did everything possible to make them happy.This is the most important part for us. On our site, we call it customer-obsessed because we wouldn’t be what we are without our customers.We had a customer that had a big event in New York City. It was very early in the journey of com, four months after we started the business. We had a $5000 order but our provider completely failed us. We had to collect the product ourselves and print it somewhere else and then send the products by Uber. We lost money on this deal but the customer had a great experience and knew nothing about what was happening behind the curtains.Biggest success due to the right customer approach
I was in Chicago with my co-founder in a program called TechStars-an incubator program in Chicago. We were doing an event for the Governor of New York. He was supposed to wear a unique “I Love NY” hat on the morning news broadcast.Unfortunately, instead of upstate New York, where the event took place, the box with the hat arrived at our old office in New York City-a nine-hour drive from upstate New York. It was very challenging. I wrote on all my social media pages and groups looking for someone who could drive nine hours on a Sunday night. In the end, we found someone to make this delivery and the hat arrived in the morning without anyone noticing the crisis behind the scenes.Most recommended technological tool
Intercom - As an e-commerce platform, we use Intercom, which is a kind of live chat tool.Hob spot - Automating, managing, and converting leads into customers.Jeremy's key success factor
As a student, I always had to work harder than my friends to get the same results. Nothing was easy for me, so I was OK with failures. As an entrepreneur, you have to be so OK with failure ... because you are failing every single day—whether it’s a big failure, like you don’t close the funding run, or you don’t close your customer, or your site is not working as it should. Being OK with failure is kind of a superpower; I never fear anything.Entrepreneurship is hard. It’s not an overnight thing. It’s about consistency.Jeremy's Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
My mountain is definitely a physical mountain. I love climbing, I love being outdoors in nature. We are going to Bear Mountain. When you’re outside, you are focusing on your muscles and not on your brain.When you climb a mountain and reach the top, you always want to get to a higher top. This the same as entrepreneurship for me; I am never satisfied.Recommended tools
Intercom - Build better customer relationships through conversational, messenger-based experiences with Intercom. (Conversational Relationship Platform)HubSpot - HubSpot offers a full platform of marketing, sales, customer service, and CRM software — plus the methodology, resources, and support — to help businesses grow better. Get started with free tools, and upgrade as you grow. (a full platform of marketing, sales, customer service, and CRM software)The best ways to connect with Jeremy
WebsiteSocial Media Profiles:LinkedInJoin our Facebook Groups
Entrepreneurial Marketing SuccessWomen Entrepreneurs Starting OutMore resources for Entrepreneurs
- Don’t Miss – Customer Focus Strategy & Execution: Market Analysis for FundraisingHayut Yogev’s Latest post: Is the magic that helped entrepreneurs like Jeff Bullas (570K Twitter followers) or Douglas Burdett become leading successful influencers happening again?Former interview: Dr. Travis Zigler: “To become an overnight success, you need to be persistent for years and years…”
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Mon, 31 Aug 2020 - 32min - 178 - Ep. 177 – Dr. Travis Zigler: “To become an overnight success, you need to be persistent for years and years…”
Dr. Travis Zigler is a recovering optometrist turned e-commerce entrepreneur. He is the founder of Eye Love, whose mission is to heal one million dry eye sufferers naturally.
Dr. Travis and his wife, Dr. Jenna Zigler, use the profits from Eye Love to fund free clinics in Jamaica and the US through their charity, the Eye Love Cares Foundation.
Previously, Dr. Travis and Dr. Jenna owned two optometry practices, which they sold in 2017 to focus on their online efforts. Dr. Travis enjoys reading to his son, Jude, traveling to Jamaica, and playing the ukulele while he drinks his morning coffee.
Due to the success of Eye Love, others have asked if Dr. Travis would help them grow their business online—more specifically with Amazon, which is one of his superpowers. As a specialist in Amazon PPC, Dr. Travis blogs about Amazon PPC and selling on Amazon.
Travis's favorite quote: Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. - Gandhi
Most passionate about
Today I’m 36 years old and a millennial and my career has taken a crazy turn. I was originally an optometrist, so I’m most passionate about eyes—and specifically dry eyes. I’m on a mission to help one million people heal their dry eye problems naturally. That’s the basis of my main business, called EyeLove.My second passion is helping brands and brand owners scale their sales on Amazon. We saw a lot of success using Amazon to sell our products.We also have a foundation which is all about helping to end preventable blindness. Most people don’t know that there are around one billion people who are blind due to a lack of glasses. We work kind of exclusively in the Caribbean.Travis’s career and story
My wife and I are both optometrists. We were working for my uncle but something was missing. Then I got the entrepreneurial bug, so we moved across the country from Chicago to North Carolina. We opened two practices and then came across a course about selling on Amazon. We started to sell on Amazon as a sunglasses company.Then we started to realize how big of a problem dry eye is. It affects 40 million Americans—over 10%. The existing products were very expensive, so somebody came to us and asked us if we could develop one.That’s how our first product for dry eyes was born—from listening to our customer. Since then, we have been on a mission to come up with organic, natural eye health products.The key takeaway I have for this podcast is: Listen to your customers. They are the ones who pay for your service or product.Today my wife and I work together; I’m the CEO and she is my COO. We always joke that I try to ten-X the business and she tries to prevent us from going bankrupt.Travis’s best advice for entrepreneurs
One of my favorite pieces of advice is that to become an overnight success, you need to be persistent for years and years.The reason we are successful and somebody else isn’t is that we wake up every single day knowing exactly what we need to do that day in order to move our business forward.We found what we like to do and we just do that every single day. When you are persistent long enough, everything pays off. Your business will grow; you’ll hit a tipping point.Each of us knows exactly what their one thing is. I know that my one thing is podcast interviews and content creation. I try to get on at least one podcast a week.Getting in front of other people’s audiences is my one thing. Hopefully, one of your listeners will resonate with what we are saying and they will follow us, either from the business side or from the healthcare side.We focus on two main things to attract customers. First, we have our YouTube channel, The Dry Eye Show, with 41,000 subscribers. The second is podcast interviews.Biggest failure with customers
That was in 2019. We were two years into the dry eye journey and our main focus was our dry eye community on Facebook. We have a very active Facebook group with around 12,000 members.Our goal for the group is to grow our audience and provide value, doing everything for the customer. We get fantastic testimonials just from serving them and teaching them different ways to treat their dry eye.In 2019 we decided to try direct response marketing, so we hired a team that would do it for us. We spent $30,000 per month on Facebook Ads and it just didn’t work. It didn’t feel like us. We did it for eight long months; we lost over $250,000 and we had a huge loss last year. As a direct response, at the end of the year we let our whole team go.This year, 2020, we went back to our roots, which is providing value and being ourselves, which means serving our audience.So, we went from the service mentality that we used to have to the selling mentality that we had in 2019. We lost half of the profits we had made the year before.This year, we went back to our service mentality. It’s mid-August and we have already gotten almost more revenue than we did in all of 2019. Our profits are five times what we made last year.So, we went back to service mode because the more people you can serve, the more money you’re going to make.“You Can Have Everything in Life You Want, if You Will Just Help Enough Other People Get What They” (Zig Ziglar)Biggest success due to the right customer approach
In 2017 one of my patients came up to me and said, “They changed the price of this eye product from $30 to $300. Can you make one better or one that is more affordable?” And that is our star product. If I didn’t listen to them, I wouldn’t be here talking with you about entrepreneurial success.The second success is focusing on that service. That’s all we do. We made our business so simple this year by just focusing on serving.Most recommended technological tool
We don’t use many tools because we are trying to simplify our business, but the tool that has made the biggest difference in our business is our Facebook group. I believe they are here to stay; it just depends on your business.I can even take it a step further and say that your audience is your biggest tool!The Facebook group has led to huge differences in everything we do.Travis's key success factor
The one key success factor that I have, and I think this is true for many other entrepreneurs, is my mind. You have to keep your mind right; otherwise, your business will flow wherever your mind goes.So, I have a coach and a mastermind group which are at my level or higher than me, and I also coach others. That helps me stay grounded. I also meditate a lot and eat right. When my mind isn’t right, my business isn’t right.I’m very careful with who I’m hanging around with, I don’t listen to the news, I watch very little TV, and I love watching movies. That’s a pleasure of mine.Travis's Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I climbed a lot of mountains. I think mount Kilimanjaro was the highest, but I have a hill in my back yard… I live in the hills of Texas (Yes..., Texas has hills...) and we live on the side of a hill, which is the highest point of our county; It’s a 1.7-mile straight up front, and I climb it at least twice a week.And metaphorically, our mission is to heal one million dry-eyes suffers, naturally. We haven’t reached that number yet, so I wake up every morning and ask, how can I reach another dry-eye suffer today?[caption id="attachment_4478" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Mount Kilimanjaro[/caption]
The best ways to connect with Travis
Website EyeLoveTheSunThe Eye Love Cares Foundation EyeLoveCaresFor businesses that need help selling products online Amazon PPC ProfessionalsA free Amazon PPC Masterclass, which you can check out here: Amazon PPC MasterclassIf you’re interested in seeing whether Dr. Zigler can help your brand succeed on Amazon, fill out the application here: Amazon PPC Professionals Free Heyedrate Lid and Lash Cleanser; just pay shipping: FreeHeyedrate or EyeLoveTheSun - FreeHeyedrateSocial Media ProfilesFacebookLinkedInJoin our Facebook Groups
Entrepreneurial Marketing SuccessWomen Entrepreneurs Starting OutMore resources for Entrepreneurs
- Don’t Miss – Customer Focus Strategy & Execution: Market Analysis for FundraisingHayut Yogev’s Latest post: Is the magic that helped entrepreneurs like Jeff Bullas (570K Twitter followers) or Douglas Burdett become leading successful influencers happening again?Former interview: Bart Rupert talks about how entrepreneurs can buy their competitors as part of their growth strategy, without investing their own money!
Want to learn how to start your Entrepreneurship?
Download for Free
HOW TO START ?
The 7 initial marketing essentials
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Want to learn how to choose the best Name and Logo? Not sure which customers to focus on right now and where they are? Want to build your website, or trying to figure out how and what content to share on social media?
Mon, 24 Aug 2020 - 36min - 177 - Ep. 176 – Bart Rupert talks about how entrepreneurs can buy their competitors as part of their growth strategy, without investing their own money!
Bart Rupert has a strong Mergers & Acquisitions background across Fortune 500’s and startups within industries such as technology, software, energy (oil, gas, and solar), healthcare, real estate, managed services, and construction.
He founded nearly 30 companies, negotiated over $500M in contracts & business deals, grew a corporate start-up from inception to $10M, grew a healthcare company from $8M to $75M, and grew an energy company from $22M to $115M+.
He has made a career buying & selling companies for a living, facilitated the sale of luxury, premium real estate, and taken ownership of companies across three different countries using none of his own money.
Most passionate about
Today I help entrepreneurs learn how to buy and sell companies for a living. The reason we do that is because, statistically, 88% of all new wealth in the world is created by selling small medium-size businesses and real estate.I started off extremely poor. We couldn’t make rent or pay bills. I figured out that I should become an executive to achieve a true level of financial freedom. I stepped into that role and had some degree of success.However, I then met a guy who was paying himself $365,000 so that he could tell everyone he was making more than a thousand dollars a day. At that moment, I discovered that I should be an entrepreneur and not an executive, to achieve the level of wealth I dreamt of. I looked at this guy and thought, ‘I need to start some businesses.’The organization I was working in asked me to work on a special deal and I found out that this entrepreneur was looking to sell the company. I was a major part of these negotiations. We made the deal and I really loved it.This entrepreneur ended up making $20 million on that one transaction. Then I realized that selling businesses was what could enable me to reach the wealth I wanted.Bart’s career and story
I’m the classic immigrant type of achiever. Money is very important. However, what I really love is the achievement. When you help someone sell their business and you can help them change their lives in a way that most people can’t, that feels fantastic.Everybody says that when you make your first million dollars, it feels phenomenal, and it does. But a lot of people also say you’ll never feel better than that and I would disagree; I think you can recapture that feeling each and every time you achieve an accomplishment, but it’s got to be something you really love.For me, doing that for myself is great and I like that, but I really have fun being able to do it for other people.Bart’s best advice for entrepreneurs
Almost all the entrepreneurs I talk with are focused on growth. And that’s the right thing to focus on. The issue is that 99% of them focus on organic growth. What we are offering is taking the elevator to reach the same goals instead of using the stairs. Entrepreneurs should consider inorganic growth as part of their strategy.You can buy your competitor, their products, their customers, and find a way to merge them into your organization. Through that strategy, you can double or triple your revenue instantly - just by going through the path of an acquisition instead of trying for five or ten years to double or triple your revenue organically.Today, it’s much easier for entrepreneurs to buy their competitors as part of their growth strategy. The best part is that they can do it without their own money.Biggest failure with customers
The biggest failure I had with customers over the course of time is communication. And it’s a big lesson learned. If you are not open and transparent with your customers and if you don’t communicate with them regularly, you will lose them.You should set up a call every six months with your key customers to thank them for the business they are doing with you and to ask them how they are doing and what you can do better for them.We’ve got a large portfolio; I’m not leading all those companies; I’m a co-owner. We have an individual who runs each of these companies. Some of those companies go bankrupt and some are doing fine. Sometimes they are in the same industry and you want to understand the difference between those two companies.There is a wealth mindset that allows you to either achieve success or stay stacked where you are.Biggest success due to the right customer approach
There was a company that I took over when it was worth only $8 million. We ended up selling it for over $75 million after six years.The problem with the company when we had just taken over was that they had operational issues, they didn’t have a sales strategy, and they didn’t know how to close deals. We had to fix the operational issues. Then I took the company through very aggressive growth; we called it a movement up market. Rather than focusing on this little tiny deal, we started to focus on multi-million-dollar deals.We partnered with a group to bid on a deal with the U.S. Department of Labor. They thought we should go for $5 million but I decided to bid for $30 million. The people at the Department of Labor freaked out but I knew the money wasn’t a deal-breaker because our solution was by far the best in the market. It took us four years and I had to come back with a different price eight times but we ended up at a price of $23 million.Most recommended technological tool
It’s an easy answer for us: a tool called www.valuationexe.co. It’s a tool to determine the valuation of an organization either before you buy it or before you sell it.If my team needs to evaluate a company, it would take them around three weeks. With this tool, we get it in 10 - 15 minutes.Bart's key success factor
I never give up. If you are in a situation in life in which you’re struggling, you have two options. You can either give up and let the world run over you, and you will be a victim. Or you can choose to overcome. And if you have this mindset, no matter what you do, you will succeed.Bart's Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
Mountains have a very personal meaning for me both metaphorically and physically. They represent a challenge and they represent a success as well. I live in Colorado, and we go hiking and climb mountains regularly. From another angle, the name of our M&A company is Stone Pick because, as entrepreneurs, we see our goal at the top of the mountain.When I started my entrepreneurial journey, it really felt like climbing a mountain. I’m the guy who just keeps going. There is something so glorious about it.But what I would say now is that, with the acquisition option, it’s like having a helicopter drop me off at the top of the summit. So, growing organically is like climbing to the top of the mountain. If you go and buy a company, it’s like having a helicopter drop you off at the top.And some people have to feel that’s it has to be a struggle or it doesn't worthwhile, and it’s OK. But for those of us who are thinking maybe there is a better way, we consider the option of buying a business.Recommended tools
valuationexe.coThe best ways to connect with Shane
WebsiteWebsite (for selling companies)EmailSocial Media Profiles:FacebookLinkedInJoin our Facebook Groups
Entrepreneurial Marketing SuccessWomen Entrepreneurs Starting OutMore resources for Entrepreneurs
- Don’t Miss – Customer Focus Strategy & Execution: Market Analysis for FundraisingHayut Yogev’s Latest post: Is the magic that helped entrepreneurs like Jeff Bullas (570K Twitter followers) or Douglas Burdett become leading successful influencers happening again?Former interview: Shane Barker: “People ask me, ‘What can I do to become successful?’ and I say, ‘Fail fast and fail hard.’”
Want to learn how to start your Entrepreneurship?
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The 7 initial marketing essentials
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Want to learn how to choose the best Name and Logo? Not sure which customers to focus on right now and where they are? Want to build your website, or trying to figure out how and what content to share on social media?
Mon, 17 Aug 2020 - 45min - 176 - Ep. 175 – Shane Barker: “People ask me, ‘What can I do to become successful?’ and I say, ‘Fail fast and fail hard.’”
Shane Barker is an instructor for a Personal Branding -Influencer Marketing at UCLA. He has been in the influencer space for over 8 years and has been a keynote speaker at the Influencer Marketing Days Conference, Influencer Marketing Hub, and Influencer Marketing Summit Mexico.
Shane was recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Influencer Marketing alongside Kim Kardashian, Gary Vaynerchuk, and legendary PR leaders like the CEO of Edelman.
He does 2-day Influencer Marketing Workshops for brands and agencies all over the nation and is a top contributor at INC, Huffington Post, Forbes, and Salesforce.
Most passionate about
I help businesses grow offline and online. That’s what I’ve done for over 25 years and what I’m most passionate about.Shane’s career and story
I started working for a restaurant chain store, where I was in charge of opening up new restaurants. It was mainly taking care of the POS (Point of Sale) system. I did that for several years all over the US. That was my first part, what I call my Shane 1.0 version.Then I started the Shane 2.0 period, which is everything about the digital space. We build websites, my team is extremely good at SEO, we do influence marketing. I teach at UCLA about how to become an influencer.It has been a long journey. I used to own a bar in California. I built, with two partners, a company from a zero to $25 million valuation in two years. And I had plenty of businesses that failed in the meantime.You have to fail. It’s part of the business. People ask me, “What can I do to become successful?” and I say, “Fail fast and fail hard. Fail as quickly as you can and keep doing that over and over because those lessons are invaluable.”The main similarity between the restaurant world and the digital world is the concept of really “wowing” people with your service and product offering. In any business, you should treat your customers beyond their expectations. This is something I did with the restaurants and it’s relevant to any customer.If you treat people right and you treat people well, they will come back for the business and good things will happen.Shane’s best advice for entrepreneurs
One of the things that I didn’t do and that today any entrepreneur can and should do is to take a mentor. My advice to any entrepreneur is to find a mentor or a consultant and ask them the questions that might otherwise take the entrepreneur six months to figure out.I was more of a ‘go-getter’; I was sure I could figure it out, I could do it on my own, no one was as good as me, and the like. I had great people around me but I needed great people who were smarter than me.I wasn’t asking for help. I felt like, as an entrepreneur, I should figure out everything by myself. That this was part of the journey.Shane’s customers
Today I have a team of 36 awesome people. We focus mainly on SAS companies—helping them with their marketing and doing a lot of SEO. We have become very good at it over the years and we help our customers’ sites get to number one as a result of leading many keywords.My current website has 160,000 visitors each month thanks to the knowledge we have gained over the years.We focus on inbound marketing. People find us through many points of contact. We use speaking events and podcasts, I write posts for the media, and much more.So, we are a good fit for SAS companies and anyone looking to get more exposure in the digital space.Biggest failure with customers
One of my biggest failures was in the company we brought from zero to $25 million in two years. And one of the things we had issues with was customer service. Although I was trying to wow the customers with our service, there was a time when my business was growing so fast, I didn’t pay enough attention to customer service.As a result, our customers started getting mad at us. There was a point where customer service wasn’t our strong point and that was something I really prided myself on.We were in the real estate business and a lot of emotions were tied to houses. I think the biggest mistake was not setting the expectations as we should. We managed to fix it and turn the ship around but it did take a while.Today, I look at it differently to make sure I never let it happen again. And it never happened with the companies I established after that company.Biggest success due to the right customer approach
We are very transparent about what we do and how we do it. If a customer walks away after six months because they think they can now do it themselves, that’s fine with me. I’m an educator by nature.I tell my customers: The monthly money you pay me is nothing compared to your recommending me to a friend.If I get those referrals, then I know we are doing the right thing. If people are willing to put their name on the line for my company, that’s the biggest gift I can get.The point where Shane stopped chasing customers
That point happened about eight or nine years ago. It was when we started investing heavily in content marketing and SEO—when we decided that we wanted many more inbound people coming in.In the last five or six years, we’ve been very lucky in that we can be very picky with our customers and make sure that we are taking only those that are a good fit for us in terms of their budget and expectations.Today, instead of focusing on 26 things that I can do, I really focus on these four things that we are doing very well.Most recommended technological tool
I use around 25 tools, but the tools I almost can’t live without are SEMrush, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and ahrefs.com, which is similar to HMRush. We use both.Shane's key success factor
My strongest key success factor is having people who are smarter than I am around me and on my team.The second is building processes. You should be in a situation in which your business can run without you, like in my business. If I want to take a month off of my business, would my business still run? If you can’t say that your business will still run without you, then you don’t have a business.Shane's Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I have climbed mountains and I’m an avid hiker. I do enjoy physical challenges and I ran marathons in the past.I enjoy the digital space and helping businesses because I enjoy looking at their mountains and being able to help them get up this mountain, while also being a bit more intelligent about how they get up this mountain faster.The reason I jumped onto being a consultant is that I enjoy teaching and educating people and being able to teach them what I’ve learned so that they can get up this mountain faster than I did the first time.[caption id="attachment_5825" align="aligncenter" width="700"] illustration[/caption]
Recommended tools
SEMRush - SEMrush offers solutions for SEO, PPC, content, social media and competitive research. Trusted by over 6000000 marketers worldwide.Ahrefs - You don't have to be an SEO pro to rank higher and get more traffic. Join Ahrefs – we're a powerful but easy to learn SEO toolset with a passionate community.The best ways to connect with Shane
WebsiteEmailSocial Media Profiles:TwitterFacebook:InstagramLinkedinYoutubeJoin our Facebook Groups
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- Don’t Miss – Customer Focus Strategy & Execution: Market Analysis for FundraisingHayut Yogev’s Latest post: Is the magic that helped entrepreneurs like Jeff Bullas (570K Twitter followers) or Douglas Burdett become leading successful influencers happening again?Former interview: Ryan Coon “We made the classic mistake that most entrepreneurs make. We built a beautiful product and assumed the customers would find us.”
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Mon, 10 Aug 2020 - 29min - 175 - Ep. 174 - Ryan Coon “We made the classic mistake that most entrepreneurs make. We built a beautiful product and assumed the customers would find us.”Mon, 03 Aug 2020 - 26min
- 174 - Ep. 173 – Jason Keath Key success factor “Having a network even before we needed it has been a huge driver of our success.”
Jason Keath is Founder and CEO of Social Fresh, a social media education company. He is a social media analyst and speaker.
He graduated from the UNC Charlotte in 2004 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design and Photography. He has worked in leadership consulting and as a creative lead for various advertising and digital agencies before becoming an independent consultant in 2008.
Since then Jason has worked full time on building Social Fresh, a company that offers insights, training, and education resources to companies that range from the Fortune 50 to small businesses.
Most passionate about
Obviously, there have been changes in the world today, but at the root of our business, we are an advent company in many ways. We teach people social media marketing, we teach them how to improve their businesses using social media, we produce in-person conferences, we train some of the big companies, and we do consulting.Recently, obviously, we have been doing much more consulting with medium to large businesses because we can’t do physical events. We pivoted to helping people virtually the best we can. We’ve done virtual events and we’re having a lot of fun with our customers. We’re also doing much more virtual consulting.We help people improve their social media at the highest level. We’ve been doing social media conferences since 2008, and we’ve done more than 25 of them in the US. We are now doing them annually, usually in Florida.Jason’s career and story
I was working in agencies as a creative lead—I was an artist-designer and photographer. I was always writing as well; however, I’ve loved most of the creative parts of marketing. I enjoyed working with the agencies, and when social media came on board I was very interested. I experimented a lot with social media, so I started to be more of a strategist in that field.When social media started, people had a ‘trust gap’. Many companies were really interested in social media and started to ask their agencies, “How should it work for us?”, “What should we do?”, and “Where should we be present on social media?”Eventually, I started my own small social agency. Then I sold it and started consulting because I noticed a need for an advent that focused on results for businesses. So, I decided to do it. Originally, the events were meant to drive more business and to help me find more customers for social media consulting. However, that first event ended up more successful and more rewarding than consulting, so I ended up focusing on the events.I’ve done events my whole life. I’ve always helped to produce events, so I felt very comfortable with the medium. I wanted to create an event that I would want to attend, something intimate and practical. I would bring the smartest people I knew from all over the social media industry to get very practical and hands-on, on one stage, one track, having community discussions.This year, we’ve done our first virtual event - Social Fresh X. We focused on how to understand, to adopt, to pivot in response to the pandemic. We had great response there. We had four or five times the number of people who used to attend our in-person conferences, from 90 countries and states. It’s a great way for us to get to more people and we’ll be doing another one at the end of the year.John’s best advice for entrepreneurs
Talking to your customers in many ways and getting to the root of their problem. That’s what was the ‘pre success’ of many successful entrepreneurs, and it was ‘pre successful’ for me early on. It has been the main way that we adjust and adapt our product.You need to talk with a few potential customers. Even talking with five people will allow you to see and understand patterns.Biggest failure with customers
I think that, in the beginning, we focused too broadly. There are many people who are interested in social media but not as many who are spending money business-wise on making sure social media is a large part of their marketing and a large part of their revenue innovation, and that it generally has an impact on their business.During the first event that we did, we focused on studying social media and how to use it for your business. However, we didn’t target companies that spend money on social media. We didn’t target a specific type of company. That confused our feedback from the event.Only over the years did we recognize the audience that we should focus on, which consists of mid to large companies that have decided to invest in more than one person. However, it took us time before we focused on the right audience.Biggest success due to the right customer approach
With time, we realized that we weren’t and didn’t want to be an agency but we were very good at consulting and being the analyst of the industry. We started doing presentations as a product that analyzes the industry of social media. We are going to very specific kinds of companies that want to adjust their results and are looking to do their best. It became our high-level product.We established this product so that our conference wasn’t our most expensive product anymore, but it became the top of our funnel. People attended our events to learn more about how they could work with us and we were able to help our customers more.We work with many finance companies. Usually, their social media content is very technical, drier, or even boring content, so we can help them more and faster. One of our customers is a very well-known finance company in the US. We started working with them three years ago and they have seen a 300% increase in their engagement and performance metrics.Most recommended technological tool
I have two quite new tools. One is Substack, which is a free newsletter tool that allows you to focus on your content and on building an audience, allowing commenting and shares. It’s simple and very easy to use.The second tool is Hopin, which we used for our first virtual conference. I think any company should consider some type of virtual event to connect with their audience and find the tool that would able them to do it. We even started to guide customers in how to do virtual events.Jason's key success factor
I think what helps us most is the network I have built since my first days in the business. That network is very valuable when we need advice on a new topic, or are looking to find an audience for a new service, or need an answer to a question from our customers.Having a network even before we needed it has been a huge driver of our success.Jason's Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I visited some mountains in the past, though there isn’t necessarily a physical mountain on my goal list. However, it makes me think of the metaphor of business...One thing I’ve always wanted to do is build some type of software business. Building a software business is really being able to make money while you’re asleep ... A tool that serves your customers without your needing to be there most of the time.I think that is a very big challenge, which is similar to the challenge of climbing a mountain, with all the planning you need to do for a new challenge and all the help you need along the way.[caption id="attachment_5825" align="aligncenter" width="900"] illustration[/caption]
Link to Jason’s post that was mentioned on the show
Lessons Learned From Hosting A Virtual ConferenceThe best ways to connect with Jason
Social Fresh websiteTwitterEmailRecommended tools
Substack - Substack makes it simple for a writer to start an email newsletter that makes money from subscriptions. (a free newsletter tool)Hopin - Hopin is an online events platform where you can create engaging virtual events that connect people around the globe. (a virtual conference tool)Join our Facebook Groups
Entrepreneurial Marketing SuccessWomen Entrepreneurs Starting OutMore resources for Entrepreneurs
- Don’t Miss – Customer Focus Strategy & Execution: Market Analysis for FundraisingHayut Yogev’s Latest post: Is the magic that helped entrepreneurs like Jeff Bullas (570K Twitter followers) or Douglas Burdett become leading successful influencers happening again?Former interview: John Jonas: “After a month of working with Philippine Virtual Assistant I realized that there are two of me… I replaced myself in my business…!”
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Mon, 27 Jul 2020 - 26min - 173 - Ep. 172 – John Jonas: “After a month of working with Philippine Virtual Assistant I realized that there are two of me… I replaced myself in my business…!”
John Jonas has helped thousands of entrepreneurs succeed in their business by doing outsourcing differently. He created and runs OnlineJobs.ph, the largest website for finding Filipino virtual workers, with over 1,000,000 Filipino resumes and over 300,000 employers from around the world using it.
He works about 17 hours per week, choosing to spend his time with his family rather than working.
Most passionate about
The thing I’m always working on is helping people to outsource their businesses. I love it; I see so many people succeed with it. I see so much good in it, from both sides, the employer and the virtual assistant.John’s career and story
I’m a terrible employee. Out of college in 2003, I had a job for eight months, and my only goal was to quit my job. Because I hated it, and it took me eight months to make a little money online, and then I had an opportunity, and I took it, and I’ve been making money online ever since.In 2004 when I was making money, I didn’t get rich, but I saw how things are working. And I was good with websites; we were ranked on Google, and we were having ads on our websites and were getting money when people clicked the links and so on.I realized that there is a business online. Still, the business models of AdWords wouldn’t work for long, so I started learning other things regarding online - like copywriting, marketing, SEO, and the like.I started my online business, and very quickly, I got overwhelmed, I was overworked; there were so many things to do. I thought it’s going to be easy and obviously I was wrong.I tried different outsourcing solutions; I Tried to hire people locally and to hire someone from India, then I tried Elance, which today is UpWork - and all that didn’t work for me.Then I had a conversation with someone very successful in Internet business, and he said to me, ‘when you ready to hire outsourcing, make sure to go to the Philippines’. And he gave me a reference so I can hire someone full time, and I didn’t do it, but it gave me some hope.But after a while, I realized I couldn’t keep working 60 hours a week without getting enough done. And I hired someone through the agency he gave me, and it was the single most liberating experience of my life!This employee was doing whatever I taught him to do, and after like a month, I realized that there is like two of me… I replaced myself in my business.That guy is still working for me today. Since 2005…! What I didn’t know about the Philippines is that they are loyal almost to a fault.That changed my life, and since then, I’ve helped hundreds of thousands of people do that, and it changed their lives as well.In 2008 I directly recruited a programmer to build a simple Job Board for direct interaction between companies to job seekers. In the first month, we passed a couple of hundreds of profiles, last month we passed a million profiles.The VA sets the terms, and we don’t take a cut of their salary, so they get all the money you pay them. We get paid $70 by employers for access to the database.John’s best advice for entrepreneurs
I have two pieces of advice. The first one is to make sales! That’s where entrepreneurs fail. Many of them think that ‘if I build this, or if I have just one more feature - than it’s all going to work. No. It’s not. You need to make sales.The second piece of advice is to make sure you add value; meaningful value to your customers.Biggest failure with customers
My biggest failure is entering a market where I don’t understand the marketing plan. If I don’t understand what they are looking for and what the offer should be, then I usually fail.Six or seven years ago, I paid a realtor for creating training for other realtors for giving to their VAs. And I didn’t understand how to get this offer in front of other realtors.Biggest success due to the right customer approach
My best success is my platform, onlinejobs.ph, but within onlinejobs.ph, the best success happens as an employer hires a VA in the Philippines and that employer sees a change in their business.Most recommended technological tool
I want to recommend something that really changed my business, and it's something everybody can do; on the 'Thank you page' for people that just bought something from me, there is a message that says: "Hi, congratulation on buying, my name is John, I own this, and I'm wondering what almost prevented you from buying? Was there something you almost hung up on?"Below that, there is a message box, and that's email directly to me. And that message, this question has changed our business so much! I started to feature out every sticking point that my customers had.And also, I responded to every one of them, so I had an interaction with my new customers.John's key success factor
I think learning copywriting was that one thing, learning sales' copywriting. I don't write sales' copy, but understanding how copy works, how telling people a good story, and making a good offer to people can affect the sale. That's probably one of the biggest things that influence my success.John's Mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
I love this question because I have a love affair with mountains. My office is at home, and in front of me there is a big window which I stare out at De Long Peak, I climb mountains probably at least twice a week, up to a peak of some source, I mountain bike and love it, and I ski in the backcountry. I’ve seen a quote says: “We don’t climb mountains because they are there; we climb mountains because others won’t.” To me, this is what climbing mountains is, and I think it relates to entrepreneurship as well. For me, there is nothing more exhilarating than standing on top of a peak in the winter, looking down the other side, and knowing that I did it on my own. And it’s the same with entrepreneurship - I do what I do because others won’t.”I’ve climbed this difficult mountain of building a business because other people won’t. And I get the reward of it too.The best ways to connect with John
www.OnlineJobs.phwww.OneVAAway.comwww.Outsourcinglever.comYou can leave a message on the contact page of any site above and write: 'For John.' John will respond to you directly.Join our Facebook Groups
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- Don’t Miss – Customer Focus Strategy & Execution: Market Analysis for FundraisingHayut Yogev’s Latest post: Is the magic that helped entrepreneurs like Jeff Bullas (570K Twitter followers) or Douglas Burdett become leading successful influencers happening again?Former interview: Climbing mountains and entrepreneurial success – The 5th and newest part – Some of the most amazing mountains’ stories you heard
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Mon, 20 Jul 2020 - 29min - 172 - Ep. 171 – Climbing mountains and entrepreneurial success – The 5th and newest part – Some of the most amazing mountains’ stories you heard
Hi, my Reachers.
Last year we started a new amazing series of the Reach Or Miss mountains project; Today I want to share with you the 5th and last (for the coming mounts) episode where successful entrepreneurs share their mountains stories.
Listen to these incredible mountain stories I heard from the successful entrepreneurs I interviewed on my podcast.
You can then listen to the full interview with each of them and hear about the visions, the struggles, and how these entrepreneurs reached their success.
From the entrepreneur that climbed Big Bend National Park, the tallest mountain in Texas, when they realized they lost the way back and there was literally nothing below them.
To the entrepreneur that went for three weeks of backpacking and climbing the Sierra Nevada mountains at the age of 16,
To the entrepreneur who isn’t a big mountain climber, but loves Miley Cyrus song “The Climb” or ‘There will always be another mountain. And it says, “There’s always gonna be another mountain. I’m always gonna wanna make it move.”
To the entrepreneur who lives in Portland, Oregon and climbed the mountain around it: “I have never done a hike where there wasn’t at least one step that I thought, ‘What the hell am I doing? Why am I doing this?’
To the entrepreneur that keep setting new goals and climbing the mountains of life on the metaphorical level, because he believes that we’ve been programmed by our creator to want to make a difference and to want to have something bigger than ourselves to live for.
I hope these mountain stories will encourage you to find out what should you – as an entrepreneur looking for your breakthrough to success – take from their stories to help find the necessary steps to reach your peak?
Many successful entrepreneurs climb mountains, while others use mountains as a metaphor to describe what is necessary to conquer the peak – including the fatiguing yet rewarding journey to the top. Still other entrepreneurs use mountains as an analogy for a significant goal they wish to achieve – such as becoming a billion-dollar-market-cap company. (See Mellissah Smith’s mountain story.)
For many years, I’ve compared the act of taking possession of your potential customers’ minds and of building awareness, likability, and trust of a leading brand to the act of climbing the highest mountains.
You climb step by step to the peak, reach your position as a market leader and a leading brand, and then start climbing a new mountain with a new product line or another brand.
The idea of mountains as representations of a strong position in the market is mentioned by Al Ries and Jack Trout in the excellent book, Marketing Warfare.
“In military warfare, mountains and higher altitude areas represent strong positions and often are used to present a strong defense. In marketing warfare, the question is one of who holds the mountains in the consumer's mind.”
So, at some point after the launch of my podcast for entrepreneurs, I started to ask the successful entrepreneurs I interviewed about their habits or dreams of climbing one of the highest mountains in the world.
Listen to these new inspiring mountains’ stories, find which entrepreneurs and stories you identify with most, and review your entrepreneurial objectives, market overview, and plan. By making your business as strong as possible, you will be able to quickly and easily achieve entrepreneurial success.
Amy Vernon: “Listen to your customers and talk to them, though that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do everything they say”
Amy Vernon was Internationally recognized as an influential voice in the realm of community, audience, and content, she has worked in media, cybersecurity, blockchain, and marketing technology.
Craigslist founder Craig Newmark named her as one of 5 women bloggers to follow, and PeerIndex named her the 15th most influential woman in tech on Twitter.
Amy’s Mountain
I might have the most unique mountain story for you. When I was much younger, my now-husband and I were moving out of Florida to outside of Phoenix. We took a couple of weeks to drive around the country and hike. We camped at Big Bend National Park in Texas. The tallest mountain in Texas is in Big Bend and we decided to climb it. It’s a high mountain but the road was nice. When we got to the top, we realized that it was not the final top—there was a huge boulder in front of us. But we could see a path, and we saw a few people going down, so we climbed it. And it was totally worth it. The top was amazing. It was all rock but with small flowers growing out of it. The thing I will never forget was all these butterflies. It was incredibly surreal. We sat there for a while.We started to go down and suddenly we realized that it wasn’t the side we had climbed up and there was literally nothing below us. Nothing. To this day, all I can tell you is that we made it back down but I don’t remember anything from the moment we realized there was nothing below us to when we were back at the car.That definitely was the most serene and calm experience of my life—and then, 10 minutes later, it was the most terrifying experience of my life as well.[caption id="attachment_6085" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Emory Peak – Big Bend National Park[/caption]
You can listen to the full episode with Amy Vernon here:
Bob Burg – “shifting your business context from getting – to giving, is the most financially profitable”
Bob is the author of a number of books on sales, marketing and influence, with total book sales of well over a million copies. His book, The Go-Giver, coauthored with John David Mann, itself has sold over 925,000 copies and it has been translated into 28 languages.
Bob’s Mountain
On the physical level, I can genuinely tell you that I have never climbed a mountain, and I can just as genuinely tell you that I don’t plan to climb a mountain.On the metaphorical level, I can tell you that I have climbed many mountains, as I’m sure many of us have. I guess I will climb more mountains because I think that’s part of life. I think we are continually climbing mountains; we are setting new goals and we have desires that we continue to have because I believe that we’ve been programmed by our creator to want to make a difference and to want to have something bigger than ourselves to live for.So, I see life as a series of hills and some mountains along the way.You can listen to the full episode with Bob Burg here:
Shama Hyder: “It’s lonely at the top only if you were also lonely at the bottom”
Shama Hyder is a trailblazing, award-winning entrepreneur who has built a global audience and is known for helping brands succeed in the digital age.
Shama is a visionary strategist for the digital age, a web and TV personality, a bestselling author, and the award-winning CEO of Zen Media – a global marketing and digital PR firm. She has been named the “Zen Master of Marketing” by Entrepreneur Magazine and the “Millennial Master of the Universe” by FastCompany.com.
Shama has also been honored at both the White House and The United Nations as one of the top 100 young entrepreneurs in the country.
Shama’s Mountain
I don’t think that I’m a big mountain climber, but one of my favorite songs has to do with mountains. It’s called “The Climb” or ‘There will always be another mountain by Miley Cyrus. And it says, “There’s always gonna be another mountain. I’m always gonna wanna make it move.” And that’s so true. As an entrepreneur, whatever you do, I think it’s so important to enjoy the journey.If you feel like that when you’ll get more, you’ll be happier you’re not kidding yourself.You know, there is an adage – It’s lonely at the top, I think that’s true but only if you were also lonely at the bottom.I’m constantly looking for what my next goal, my next challenge.For me, it’s always about realizing that the bar is going to keep moving and asking myself if I am also fully enjoying the journey.[caption id="attachment_5238" align="aligncenter" width="700"] The Climb by Miley Cyrus (Official Music Video)[/caption]
You can listen to the full episode with Shama Hyder here:
Shama Hyder: “It’s lonely at the top only if you were also lonely at the bottom”
Jesse Krieger sits squarely at the intersection of publishing and promotion – having signed two publishing deals on two different continents and navigated the world of becoming a best-selling author twice.
Jesse was featured on over 50 media outlets for his best-selling book Lifestyle Entrepreneur.
Jesse’s Mountain
When I was 16, I went on a special program that included three weeks of backpacking and hiking to the Sierra Nevada mountains. After the first 10 days, we were pretty deep into the mountains. Then we started summiting these 14,000-foot peaks.It’s amazing to climb such a high mountain and get to the top. You see the perspective change from looking down at the world. It’s a totally different feeling from looking at the mountain from the ground. There is something very empowering in reaching the top of such a high mountain. I never forgot the feelings of that summer of living in nature and summiting.[caption id="attachment_6419" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Mount Whitney at the Sierra Nevada Mountains[/caption]
You can listen to the full episode with Jesse Krieger here:
Kasey Jones key success factor: “one of my biggest advantages is that I have zero professional training or education in marketing.
Kasey is the founder of A Better Jones and a passionate advocate for underrepresented sales professionals, Kasey also cofounded The Other Side of Sales, a podcast and resource committed to evolving the culture of B2B sales.
Sales Hacker has named her one of the 35 Most Influential Women in Sales and a Sales Influencer to watch for 2019.”
Kasey’s Mountain
I live in Portland, Oregon and we are surrounded by mountains. I love this question because I think about it a lot, particularly as it relates to being an entrepreneur.When I was in my mid-20s, I dated a guy who was super into hiking and mountain climbing. He got me very into it. I have never done a hike where there wasn’t at least one step that I thought, ‘What the hell am I doing? Why am I doing this?’But I just kept going. And sometimes it’s miserable and it’s so hard, and you’re exhausted and your eyes are burning, but you just keep putting one foot in front of the other. And you keep doing it and all of a sudden, you get to the top, and you see something that not many people have ever seen. Almost no one is going to see it on that day and in that week. It’s one of the most beautiful and rewarding experiences there is.That, to me, is the entrepreneurial journey. There are going to be so many moments when you think, ‘What the hell am I doing? Why did I do that? Why don’t I quit and find a job like a sane person?’But you just keep putting one foot in front of the other. It’s the staying committed to it that is the biggest difference between the people who make it and those who don’t.[caption id="attachment_6107" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Mount Hood – Portland, Oregon[/caption]
You can listen to the full episode with Kasey Jones here:
A born entrepreneur and self-starter, Lance Tyson is an authority in the sales world with a passion for developing strong business leaders.
After a fifteen-year run, Lance sold his interest in Dale Carnegie in order to form a new company, Tyson Group. The focus of Tyson Group is to diagnose your sales team and propose solutions that deliver results that make sense for your organization and needs. We aren’t just a company that provides training—we are a partner that provides solutions
Lance’s Mountain
Currently, my sons are at home, which is a good thing, and we have a lot of discussions. We’ve been talking about what life looks like, what’s the difference you can make, where do you want to be—conversations like that. I shared with them that, before they were born, my father had two families. He had seven kids with his first wife and then he married a very young woman. I’m the oldest of three kids from his second wife.When he passed, I was asked to give a eulogy. And on my desk, there is a picture of a man standing next to a tree, looking at a mountain. It reminds me of the quote I shared in my eulogy. My dad reminded me that there is always another mountain. It’s the essence of achievement.“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena… who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” (Theodore Roosevelt)You can listen to the full episode with Lance Tyson here:
Jeremy Goldman “You can’t get your whole satisfaction from getting to the top – the satisfaction needs to be the whole journey”
Futurist Jeremy Goldman has been working with companies looking to take their operations online and inject “social” into their processes for over a decade.
Under Jeremy’s leadership, companies like Kiehl’s, TEMPTU or the luxury division he helped Unilever to found, have had tremendous success and won the highest Awards and publications’ mentions.
Jeremy’s Mountain
My brain takes me back to yesterday. I was walking through a very hilly part of Atlanta when I got a call from my creative director, who is now the CEO of the company I sold. He was hearing my heavy breath and I realized, I’m so bad with the hill. But then I thought that there was an analogy there: It’s the discomfort and the passing through it that really make the journey worthwhile.In short, I haven’t gotten up the mountain. I would be a big ball of sweat if I ever did. Even a hill makes me breathe like I’m 30 years older than I am, but I think that building a startup is really the same process of fighting through the discomfort. You can’t really get your whole satisfaction from getting to the top of the mountain, the satisfaction needs to be the whole journey.You can listen to the full episode with Jeremy Goldman here:
Jonathan Slain a financial expert, had to borrow a quarter of a million from his mother-in-law. Today he owns the site RECESSION.COM.
Jonathan Slain’s book, “Rock the Recession: How Successful Leaders Prepare For, Thrive During, and Create Wealth After Downturns” came out in September 2019 and is a #1 Amazon Best Seller.
Jonathan was Valedictorian of his graduating class and had the highest GPA ever in the history of Shaker Heights High School, where...
Mon, 13 Jul 2020 - 29min - 171 - Ep. 170 – Climbing mountains and entrepreneurial success – The 4th and newest part – Some of the most amazing mountains’ stories you heard
My dear Reachers.
Last year we started a new amazing series of the Reach Or Miss mountains project;
Listen to these incredible mountain stories I heard from the successful entrepreneurs I interviewed on my podcast.
You can then listen to the full interview with each of them and hear about the visions, the struggles, and how these entrepreneurs reached their success.
From the entrepreneur that climb the Everest base camp, but the toughest mountain for me was Mount Kilimanjaro
To the entrepreneur that reminds us that the sweeter fruits, the animals, the trees, the water - are all down in the valley. Not on the top.
To climbing the Pyrenees, and thinking that mountains are like their vision: “it’s my North Star. I know I will never reach it but it will always guide me. The vision is the top of the mountain.”
To the fantastic entrepreneur that one of her favorite songs has to do with mountains. It’s called “The Climb” or ‘There will always be another mountain by Miley Cyrus,
To laying in a frizzing lake on top of the glacier, and feel: “It’s moments like this that you believe that God exists.” It’s the happiest, purest, and most rejuvenating moment in the world.
Many successful entrepreneurs climb mountains, while others use mountains as a metaphor to describe what is necessary to conquer the peak – including the fatiguing yet rewarding journey to the top. Still other entrepreneurs use mountains as an analogy for a significant goal they wish to achieve – such as becoming a billion-dollar-market-cap company. (See Mellissah Smith’s mountain story.)
For many years, I’ve compared the act of taking possession of your potential customers’ minds and of building awareness, likeability, and trust of a leading brand to the act of climbing the highest mountains.
You climb step by step to the peak, reach your position as a market leader and a leading brand, and then start climbing a new mountain with a new product line or another brand.
The idea of mountains as representations of a strong position in the market is mentioned by Al Ries and Jack Trout in the excellent book, Marketing Warfare.
“In military warfare, mountains and higher altitude areas represent strong positions and often are used to present a strong defense. In marketing warfare, the question is one of who holds the mountains in the consumer's mind.”
So, at some point after the launch of my podcast for entrepreneurs, I started to ask the successful entrepreneurs I interviewed about their habits or dreams of climbing one of the highest mountains in the world.
Listen to these new inspiring mountains’ stories, find which entrepreneurs and stories you identify with most, and review your entrepreneurial objectives, market overview, and plan. By making your business as strong as possible, you will be able to quickly and easily achieve entrepreneurial success.
Bill Cates: “For me, success means abundance in my life. Money is OK, as long as it doesn’t own you – as long as you own it!”
Bill, is an internationally recognized client-acquisition expert, author, and speaker who motivates others to take action with proven strategies.
Bill’s Mountain
I’ve been to the Everest base camp, but the toughest mountain for me was Mount Kilimanjaro. It’s 19,200 feet. It’s not a technical climb; it’s just a really hard walk. It took me six-and-a-half days to get to the top and one-and-a-half days to get down. It was a great experience, a very tough experience, but I loved it and I would do it again.[caption id="attachment_6065" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Bill Cates mount Kilimanjaro W-Summit[/caption]
You can listen to the full episode with Bill Cates here:
Christina Rowe the founder and manager behind Facebook’s 390,000 women entrepreneurs’ group.
Christina is also the founder of Stand Out Media Group, as well as the creator of the Stand Out Online Membership program; the first "All in One" membership program designed to getting massive exposure for women entrepreneurs and their businesses through Influencer Marketing.
Christina’s Mountain
That’s interesting because almost a year ago, I moved to Scottsdale, Arizona and we have mountains here. I have a lot of mountains around me. I’m not a huge mountain climber, though I did climb Bell Rock in Sedona. I believe you can call that a mountain.[caption id="attachment_6056" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Christina at bell rock[/caption]
However, I love the metaphor of a mountain. One of my favorite songs is by Miley Cyrus: “The Climb.” And for a business, that makes so much sense. I think the biggest problem most entrepreneurs have is wanting things very fast, and then being disappointed when it doesn’t happen right away.It is a climb! It is like a mountain. I was working on this journey in 2006, but I kept climbing. I didn’t go back down the mountain; I just figured out a new road. It can take years to get there and I see the misconceptions out there.So, prepare to climb the mountain and just keep going until things click. They will, if you stay on the mountain. If you get off, game over! But you will get there![caption id="attachment_5238" align="aligncenter" width="700"] The Climb by Miley Cyrus (Official Music Video)[/caption]
You can listen to the full episode with Christina Rowe here:
Christina Rowe The women behind Facebook’s 322,000 women entrepreneurs’ group
David Meerman Scott “I think I’m successful because I have the ability to see patterns in the universe before other people see them.“
David spotted the real-time marketing revolution in its infancy and wrote five books about it including The New Rules of Marketing and PR, with more than 400,000 copies sold in English and available in 29 languages from Albanian to Vietnamese.
Now David says the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of superficial online communications. Tech-weary and bot-wary people are hungry for true human connection. Organizations have learned to win by developing what David calls a “Fanocracy” — tapping into the mindset that relationships with customers are more important than the products they sell to them.
He is a massive live music fan, having been to 790 live shows since he was 15 years old, is passionate about the Apollo lunar program, and he loves to surf but isn’t very good at it.
David’s Mountain
I have a very important relationship with some mountains. I’m part-owner of a 12,000-acre nature preserve in one of the most important areas of ecology in the world.It’s at the narrowest point between North and South America, and at the narrowest point between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Because of that, it’s important for animal migration and bird migration.This particular area of Panama was in danger of being taken over by cattle ranching. I got together with some friends and we bought 12,000 acres. It’s also important to offset the carbon footprint.[caption id="attachment_5722" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Isthmus of Panama[/caption]
You can listen to the full episode with David Meerman Scott here:
Katherine Parker Magyar is a travel writer entrepreneur who traveled to 6 continents, 63 countries, and all 50 states in pursuit of a good story.
Katherine is a travel columnist for Forbes, and TripSavvy; and her work has appeared in many publications like Architectural Digest, The Week, The Daily Beast, and Business Insider, and more.
Katherine’s Mountain
Growing up, we used to go camping in the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. On top of the glacier, there was a frizzing lake that was zero degrees. My mom just took off her clothes, went into the water with her swimming suit, and then called me. She said, “Kathi, come to the water. You don’t want to be the girl who doesn’t get into the water.” (I keep thinking about this sentence every time I need to overcome some physical challenges.)My mom and I lay in the lake, with the mountains above us, and my mom said, “It’s moments like this that you believe that God exists.” And I have never forgotten that—that sense of childlike wonder and joy. I think it’s the happiest, purest, and most rejuvenating moment in the world.[caption id="attachment_6463" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Nepal - Himalayas[/caption] [caption id="attachment_6464" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Peru - Ausangate Trek[/caption] [caption id="attachment_6461" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Jackson Hole - Horseback Riding with parents[/caption]
You can listen to the full episode with Katherine Parker Magyar here:
Justin Goodbread: I had so many people tell me ‘No… But whenever I hear the word NO it fuels my success!
The owner of FinanciallySimple.com, Justin is a nationally recognized financial planner, financial educator, wealth manager, the author of The Ultimate Sale, speaker, and entrepreneur.
Justin’s Mountain
We live in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, on top of a mountain that overlooks the Tennessee River. I can see a mountain range outside of my house. It’s beautiful. And blessed.Two years ago, I went to do some hunting with friends and a guide in the Rocky Mountains in Idaho. We rode horses while climbing the mountains. It was amazing to see the creation out there. Then the guide said that we had to reach the TOP. It seemed like a not-very-high 600-foot elevation. It took us eight hours. We were exhausted and sweating, all our muscles hurt, but we reached the top and stayed there for a week.We reached the top at sunset and it was amazing. But! I have to tell you, there was not much up there. There weren’t trees or rocks or water; most of that stuff was down in the valley. It’s beautiful to be on the mountain top, but the mountain top is so narrow and small. And it’s very lonely up there.So, its fun climbing mountains and I have plans to do it again, but the sweeter fruits—the animals, the trees, the water—are all down in the valley.[caption id="attachment_4614" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Rocky Mountains[/caption]
You can listen to the full episode with Justin Goodbread here:
Deborah Levine: “I try to feel at home with history as well as be part of the future, of making a difference.”
Deborah Levine is the award-winning author of 14 books and the founder/editor of the American Diversity Report.
Deborah’s Mountain
As a child I lived in Bermuda, where we have only the ocean, not mountains. I remember that when I first saw a mountain, I was terrified. I didn’t believe that mountains actually existed outside of movies.And up we went, up we went to the mountain, and there was something so amazing about it.Today, my husband and I climb the mountains around us. There is a sense of timelessness and of being a part of history, a sense of the role of nature, as well as being a part of times when there were many conflicts. For me, that works very well because that hasn’t changed much.I try to feel at home with history as well as be part of the future, of making a difference.[caption id="attachment_5220" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Smoky Mountains[/caption]
You can listen to the full episode with Deborah Levine here:
Nicolas Babin: “I have a daily mantra (from Japanese) : Fall down 7 times but stand up 8 – this is the key for all success in entrepreneurship” Nicolas’s Mountain
I have a very strong relationship with mountains in both senses: real mountains and also mountains in the spiritual sense. I climb mountains in the Pyrenees between France and Spain. I love these mountains. They are special places for me.Another mountain that has always fascinated me is Kilimanjaro because it’s the highest mountain in Africa. You have snow in the land of desert and heat and sand. And this mountain, you know, it’s reachable. You need to train, obviously, but it’s reachable.I think that in terms of spirituality, Kilimanjaro is something special because Africa is the place from which humanity originated. And, apparently, the view from Kilimanjaro is just superb.With people I work with, my vision is the top of the mountain. This is what I like about my vision: it’s my North Star. I know I will never reach it but it will always guide me. The vision is the top of the mountain.[caption id="attachment_5814" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Pyrenees Mountains[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2609" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Mount Kilimanjaro[/caption]
You can listen to the full episode with Nicolas Babin here:
Nick Loper helps people earn money outside of their day job. He’s an author, online entrepreneur, and host of the award winning Side Hustle Show podcast Nick’s mountain
I did climb a few mountains, especially back in the Pacific Northwest. I climbed Washington volcanos and Mount Hood in Oregon. So, I’ve done a little bit of climbing in the literal sense.[caption id="attachment_5556" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Nick Loper and his brother mountain pic; at the top of Mt. Baker in Washington state, a 10,700 ft peak[/caption] [caption id="attachment_5555" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Mt. Baker in...
Mon, 06 Jul 2020 - 34min - 170 - Ep. 169 – The entrepreneurs that choose to make this world a better place – Avi Yaron
Avi Yaron Invented a 3D solution for brain surgeons;
“If you ask me what is my greatest achievement, it’s being able to save lives worldwide.”
Hi, Reachers.
This week I continue to dedicating this podcast to the entrepreneurs that choose to make this world a better place and to bring (for the 2nd time) the story of Avi Yaron.
Avi Yaron is a visionary entrepreneur, Executive Chairman, and strategic adviser with extensive knowledge of medical / Neuro technology arenas.
Passionate about disrupting medicine, for enhancing life quality, and utilizing advanced technologies.
Invented, founded, and led disruptive companies targeting un-met needs. Envisioned “emotion based personalized predictive preventative solutions” (see TEDxAmsterdam talk), set strategy and led Joy Ventures, to pioneer and cultivate a Neuro-Wellness consumer product ecosystem.
Most passionate about
I prefer to help them to stay healthy and happy, or even delay the onset of disease Instead of helping people after they already developed the disease. As a technologist, this is what I’m focusing on.I would like to develop global, sustainable companies and services that can help mankind. After my TedTalk, I founded, with a team, joint ventures, which basically bank on the neural wellness products for individuals. This is not medical, but to enhance their resilience, reduce stress levels, improve moods, should be a gigantic market and joint ventures. I left them, but they are still continuing and are developing an ecosystem, both among the entrepreneurs and among academia, meaning funding long term start-ups and providing grants to academia to research the field.Avi’s best advice about customer focus, marketing, and sales
Everyone is my customer. My employees are my customers, the physicians are my customers, the CFO in the hospital is my customer, and I’m here to serve. Meaning, they are always right, and I’m always thankful for whoever tells me that I’m wrong because I would like to improve all the time, continuous improvements. I would say that generally I don’t give advice and I don’t believe in teaching; I believe in learning.Biggest failure with a customer
The difference between success and failure is very thin, and each of my companies, before eventually succeeding, failed miserably. Only because I had a phenomenal team and only because we were mentally flexible, and only because I gave a hug to whoever told me that I’m wrong, that we made it.There is a case study that I taught in Stanford MIT about my biggest failure. We were in the process of raising $20 million with one of the best banks, called Piper Jaffray for the go to market phase in 2001, when the big crash happened. My friend in Piper Jaffray called me one day and told me, ‘I’m so sorry, it’s not personal, everything is crashing. We can’t raise the money.’ I set an immediate board meeting. Before this point, they told me, ‘Avi, the company is great, you’re great, we’re always behind you,’ because I always manage risks, and then they told me, ‘Avi, we’re sorry, things have changed. We will not support you. You need to close the company.’ The company was a phenomenal success before then. We managed to get a FDA clearance in 18 months and here we were, in early sales globally, with a burn rate of $450,000, and then we learned that we had no more money and I had $1 million in the bank. That weekend, instead of closing the company, two board members and myself instituted a completely different plan and I had to let go a majority of the employees, buy back all the product that we sold, give back most offices that we had, and reduce the burn rate to $80,000, delay all payments, etc. Keep the company alive, and all of this over a weekend. Then, on Sunday, I called my board and I told them what we did, and I called in all the employees and shared everything with them. Some of them, instead of leaving the company, decided to stay with no pay. My biggest failure was that I know that I need to keep the company lean, but my board told me, if you want to raise $20 million; you need to enhance the burn rate. A startup should always stay as lean as possible and break even in profit as soon as they can.Biggest success due to the right customer approach
My team consists of 20 employees, mostly PhDs, that were able to overcome the various technological, physiological, packaging, and pricing barriers that before then were considered impossible. They made the impossible happen. I just gave them a hug and served them good espresso. If you ask me what is my greatest achievement, it’s being able to orchestrate all this and to save lives worldwide.Avi’s key success factor
I think its mental flexibility. It’s putting my ego to the side, and doing the best for our cause and targets. It’s always extremely unpleasant when you think that you’re smart and someone tells you that you are wrong. Listen to them very carefully, whether they are right or not because A: I want to promote such behavior and B: because they are probably much smarter than me, they are probably right. Only because I kept mental flexibility, I can tell you that visions have changes, strategies, markets, products, locations, you name it. Until, eventually, we were lucky. After the movie Avatar showed, 3D became extremely popular, and 3D displays became common. So, it was not because of us, we were just there with the right product at the right time.Avi’s mountain
Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get a fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, or conquering the mountain; I want to ask you if there is a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed.
My life was never easy, and in my Army service, I climbed many mountains. I learned that my limit is only the limit of my belief. As long as I have belief, I will make it.I help a lot of people with brain tumors, and unlike other diseases, people learn overnight that they could die. There’s no warning. They enter a state of shock, and they often just say Yes Doctor, to the first surgeon and in many cases, it’s not the right move.What I try to do is to inspire them to take more responsibility over their health and life knowing that everything is like climbing a mountain and I actually give this example: Life is a journey, and in a journey, sometimes you fall and sometimes you get hurt, but if you’re inspired to reach something that is extremely important, whether it’s to stay alive or to help other people’s lives, you will pick yourself up, you will pick up the pieces and you will continue the journey.The best way to connect with Avi
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Mon, 29 Jun 2020 - 37min - 169 - Ep. 168 – Katherine Parker Magyar is a travel writer entrepreneur who traveled to 6 continents, 63 countries, and all 50 states in pursuit of a good story.
Katherine is a travel columnist for Forbes, and TripSavvy; and her work has appeared in many publications like Architectural Digest, The Week, The Daily Beast, and Business Insider, and more.
Katherine Parker Magyar is a New York-based writer with a focus on travel, culture, and adventure—and a preference for far-flung-locales.
Katherine is a travel columnist for Forbes, as well as the Caribbean expert for TripSavvy; her work has also appeared in Architectural Digest, The Week, The Daily Beast, and Business Insider,among other publications. She has traveled to 6 continents, 63 countries, and all 50 states in pursuit of a good story.
Most passionate about
Today, I’m in lockdown. However, I’ve had amazing experiences while I’ve been traveling pretty much non-stop over the past two years. I visited 41 countries in 23 months, and I saw so much and moved so quickly, it almost felt normal. Being forced to slow down and take stock of everything I’ve seen, what I took away from everything ... it has been a fortune to be forced inside and reflect.I tracked every single travel experience that I had. It helps give me a broader, nuanced perspective on the places I’ve been and the people I’ve met.I think that traveling is automatically like a force for good. There is a quote by Mark Twain: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness…” He said: “Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”When I was traveling, I felt like I was constantly getting affirmation of the goodness of society and people. I started scrapbooking. I took all the photos, the letters people wrote to me, the stories I’ve been written, and started compiling them and reliving those experiences.I think now more than ever, people need stories about the good that is happening in the world. It’s easy to be pessimistic and fall into desperation about everything that is happening now.So, what I started to do, and what I’m most passionate about today, is compiling all the stories of the last two years into a book.I had such amazing experiences. I felt history come alive for me and I felt so inspired by it. I like to explore.Other travel writers told me, “You need to focus. You can’t go for only one morning, or only for a week to Kenya. You need two weeks, or you need at least 10 days to go to China. You can’t go to China for only five days.” But I disagree.At the end of the day, you have only one life. If you keep waiting to have the perfect time, and the perfect amount of money, and the perfect schedule, you’ll never go.Katherine’s career and story
I hope my story inspires people who think, ‘Maybe it’s too late for me.’ I had always wanted to be a writer. I just love writing. I feel it comes naturally to me.Travel is another passion of mine. I always wanted to share my travel experiences with people.I’ll tell the story of how I started my entrepreneurial journey. In college, I was an English major and I loved it. After college, I wanted to become a teacher and a professor. I wanted to become a poetry professor, an American Poetry professor.I didn’t want to start teaching right away after college, so I got a job in advertising. It was 2009, at the end of the recession, and it wasn’t easy to find a job. That was the first step, and I think that every step along the way makes sense ultimately.There were advantages to working in “corporate America” and to making money, but I wasn’t passionate about my job. I guess that’s why I wasn’t so good at it. I was afraid that I wouldn’t reach my dream of becoming a writer. After a year, I was fired because, as I said, I wasn’t passionate about it and wasn’t good at doing it.I applied to my master's degree in English Literature. Of course, everyone told me, “This is so ‘down.’ Why should you do it?” But I knew that this was the right thing for me. I started to study at The New School in New York City.When I graduated, I was writing a book and I got a job at Audible. However, I felt that I had to leave my job and try to concentrate on writing. Otherwise, for my whole life, I would regret not giving it a chance.I left my apartment in New York and moved back home to live with my parents. I applied for different jobs as a writer or editor. I didn’t get the jobs but they were telling me - “You can write for us.”I started to write for different publications, and It was so right for me because I made a name for myself by my own hustle and motivation which was driven by passion. Every time I had my story published, I felt immense satisfaction. So, two years later, I’m traveling around the world as a travel and culture writer and editor. I’ve been published in Architectural Digest, The Week, Forbes, The Daily Beast, Business Insider, TripSavvy, and many more.Katherine’s best advice for entrepreneurs
My first piece of advice:Some people think they have to fake it until they make it and that part of faking it is to act like they have to be someone else or like they are very important already.I respond to every pitch email that a publicist writes to me, to this day. I respond to every one, and I’m open and excited and polite. That goes so far in terms of making people want to work with you.You want to be someone whose work people like—which is, of course, a huge part of it—but also someone whom people feel comfortable connecting with.People can tell if you care, and that starts with doing your job properly. Seventy percent of that is being someone whom people like to be around. Be excited by the opportunities that are given to you.My second piece of advice: if you want to be a writer (or anything else), don’t let anyone else decides if you’ll be a writer or not. And nothing is too small; don’t be discouraged if you are writing for a blog that only 25 people read. Maybe one of them will be a publicist who will open a huge opportunity for you.That’s what happened to me. I was discovered by the travel world because a travel magazine editor read an article I wrote about break-up messages. She went to my site and saw 70 stories I had written about traveling (and I was writing most of them for something like $10), and then she asked to meet with me. I mean, don’t wait to start only when The New York Times knocks on your door.And my third piece of advice: If you are going to become an entrepreneur, make sure it’s a space you love. There is a risk and maybe some sacrifice, to give up your comfortable nine-to-five work.Biggest failure with customers
That’s easy. My failure was not taking the first step. I wanted to become a writer. I was such a cliché; I was a writer who denied it. I was working in advertising and I thought, ‘This job is for me. Writing is less glamorous and without the big ad fees.’I couldn’t imagine myself being a writer, even though on some level I knew that I was good at it. I had a feeling that no one would read it. In the past, I wrote about poetry; in college, I wrote like a poetry major and not everyone wants to read about poetry.I think that people get embarrassed by their dreams because they are afraid that they will never achieve them. At least that’s what I felt. But I also thought it was embarrassing to not be doing what I wanted to do.Biggest success due to the right customer approach
I just started travel writing. I went to Hawaii and Mexico, I went on a couple of trips. I would take any trip. When you are an entrepreneur starting your business, I recommend that you take anything to build your name and reputation.I already knew that travel writing was what I wanted to do. I talked to a woman who works in travel—she is a mentor of mine—about our dream trips. I said, “I’m dying to go to Kenya.” She said, “Oh my God, I work with Kenya Airways and we are just about to take journalists and bloggers on a trip from New York to Nairobi.”I had just started and I wasn’t sure how I could join this trip. Then I got the trip invitation and was so excited. I went to Kenya and it was the most spectacular trip of my entire life. When I came back, it was very important to me to use this Kenya opportunity to lift up my entire business as a travel writer.My piece about Kenya was very successful and got a lot of feedback. Then I started to get emails from people who work in travel. I cried when I received these emails.Most recommended technological tool
Squarespace is great.However, I think that for every and any entrepreneur, building your own website is a must. Your website is you. It’s a footprint to your life. Having a professional or enthusiastic website will open doors for you.Another thing I would like to recommend is to color-code every email from a new sender according to its connection—like a color for clients, a color for providers, another color for your family stuff, for your personal life, etc.My last recommendation is Grammarly—a grammar app that edits and corrects your writing. It’s a God-gift.Katherine’s key success factor
My key success now was my key lack of success earlier in my career. The career I’m in now is a place where my natural personality is appreciated. The corporate world wasn’t natural for me. That’s why it didn’t work for me like being a travel writer does.Katherine's Mountain
Because we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, or conquering a mountain, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
Growing up, we used to go camping in the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. On top of the glacier, there was a frizzing lake that was zero degrees. My mom just took off her clothes, went into the water with her swimming suit, and then called me. She said, “Kathi, come to the water. You don’t want to be the girl who doesn’t get into the water.” (I keep thinking about this sentence every time I need to overcome some physical challenges.) My mom and I lay in the lake, with the mountains above us, and my mom said, “It’s moments like this that you believe that God exists.” And I have never forgotten that—that sense of childlike wonder and joy. I think it’s the happiest, purest, and most rejuvenating moment in the world.[caption id="attachment_6464" align="aligncenter" width="240"] Peru- Ausangate Trek[/caption] [caption id="attachment_6463" align="aligncenter" width="240"] Nepal - Himalayas[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_6461" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Jackson Hole - Horseback Riding with parents[/caption]
Katherine’s recommended travel articles:
The Pride of Africa: Why Now Is The Time to “Come Home” to Kenya - Brit + Co (my favorite trip and the most meaningful story I referenced on our call)2020 Travel Goals: Ten Bucket List Trips For The Next Decade - Forbes (this article is cool because these are some of the best trips I've done & recommend)The best way to connect with Katherine:
WebsiteInstagramTwitterJoin our Facebook Groups
Entrepreneurial Marketing SuccessWomen Entrepreneurs Starting outMore resources for Entrepreneurs
- Don’t Miss – Customer Focus Strategy & Execution: Market Analysis for FundraisingHayut Yogev’s Latest post: Is the magic that helped entrepreneurs like Jeff Bullas (570K Twitter followers) or Douglas Burdett become leading successful influencers happening again?Former interview: The entrepreneurs that choose to make this world a better place
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Mon, 22 Jun 2020 - 49min - 168 - Ep. 167 – The entrepreneurs that choose to make this world a better place - Deborah Levine
Deborah Levine:
“My passion today reflects my work for a decade, making a difference in the world by looking at prejudice, religious diversity, and hate, including how to deal with it”
Hi, Reachers.
We are going through very important times in the last two weeks, in America and all over the world.
I chose to dedicate this podcast to the entrepreneurs that choose to make this world a better place and to bring (for the 2nd time) the story of Deborah Levine, the founder and editor of the American Diversity Report.
Deborah Levine is the award-winning author of 14 books and the founder/editor of the American Diversity Report.
Deborah was born in Brooklyn and raised in Bermuda. Her background includes advanced degrees in cultural anthropology, religion, and urban planning. Inspired by her father, a US military intelligence officer assigned to interrogate Nazi prisoners of war during World War II, she is a former executive director of Jewish Federations.
Named by Forbes Magazine as one of the top 10 Diversity & Inclusion Trailblazers, Deborah is the inventor of cognitive technology for addressing unconscious bias.
Her work as an entrepreneur includes creating the Women’s Council on Diversity, the DuPage/Chicago Interfaith Resource Network, the Youth Multicultural Video Contest, and the Southeast Global Leadership Academy.
Most passionate about
My passion today reflects my work for a decade, making a difference in the world by looking at prejudice, religious diversity, and hate, including how to deal with it.I started this journey almost by accident many years ago. I was living in Chicago; my daughter was just a little one and I needed a job. My parents were both working in the Jewish community. My mother was dying of cancer and I thought it would be a gift to her if I worked for the Jewish community while she was still alive so that she could see how much she had influenced me.I started engaging in an interface dialog with international organizations. Then I looked for an executive position. Because I’d never been an executive director of a non-profit organization, no one would hire me. So, here, I started my entrepreneurial journey. I created my own nonprofit and made myself an executive director.My mother was so proud, so pleased. So was my father.Deborah’s entrepreneurship development
I started my company with the mission of addressing the problems that communities were having as they became more international. I also created what I called the Do-page Interface Resource Network, which is still in existence today.Across the nation, when communities became more international, they had to face prejudice toward newcomers, especially those of a different faith.This affected the entire city, the county, the state. It was ongoing and affected people from India, people from Muslim countries, and Jews. It caused tremendous friction. My mission was to fix that.Eventually, I was approached by different groups, like the county law enforcement department, which wanted to prepare materials that would help their people understand the communities that they were trying to assist. Other examples included public schools (for their educators), hospitals (for their chaplains), and many more.So, I started to document everything and write books so that if I couldn’t be everywhere, at least I had a voice.The need for this kind of education grew quickly, especially among enterprises and the organization. That’s how my business grew and how I started to publish the online American Diversity Report.There were times when I decided to take what my friends call a “real job.” I was hired by a Jewish federation in Tulsa, Oklahoma to be its executive director. After that, I took another job as an executive director because I felt that I had to be in control after being an entrepreneur. That decision led me to what happened with my company later.I got very ill during a mission in Uzbekistan. I couldn’t stay at that job and I decided to go back to my entrepreneurial self. Though it was very difficult to come back, it had been the most creative, innovative, and amazing period of my life. The ability to invent and impact across the entire planet, to give other people a voice, to be able to change the entire culture of a workplace or a school – these have all been amazing experiences that I’m so grateful for. And I think the best is yet to come.The Diversity Report was launched about 14 years ago. At the beginning, I thought it was going to be only a simple newsletter. However, the idea was attractive to people, so mentors came to help me create it, launch it, and put it out there in a way that would be international, and not just as a PDF file. I’m very grateful for that.Deborah’s best advice about approaching customers
Recently, I mentored a young entrepreneur in Cameroon. I shared with him lessons of planning which are key to success regardless of where you are in the world. These lessons are to follow the vision to the mission, and then to the goals and objectives, mapping it out with the timeline and budget. All this helps to put together your brain in such a way that you’re ready to move forward because you know where you’re going to go.Biggest failure with a customer
The first thing that comes to mind is something that women, in particular, have to deal with: Asking for what we’re worth. So many times, I haven’t done that and I’ve regretted it.I do a lot of speaking. For many years, when clients would ask for my fee, I would simply give them a dollar amount. When they said “OK” so quickly, I knew it was too low. I realized that I hadn’t asked enough questions about all the details that should affect the price.It’s amazing to me how embracing this will make your presentation so much better because you understand what your customers are looking for.Deborah’s biggest success due to the right customer approach
I’d like to talk about my most recent project, which I did with a colleague: “When hate groups marched down the main street.”There is a cashier at Walmart who loves to read my newspaper. One day, I asked her, “What would you like me to write about?” She answered, “I would like you to write about ‘how are we going to survive this incredibly divisive time we live in?’” I was inspired by this customer, this reader, and wrote what I think is my best column ever.Now the book is about to be published and I already have commitments for book signings. I have been asked to come and speak about it in Hollywood and Beverly Hills. I even had a request to write a movie script about my life.I know that there are entrepreneurs who are thinking about writing books to brand themselves, and I absolutely encourage that.Deborah’s recommendation for a digital tool that helps customers’ focus
The American Diversity Report is a website, and I think that a website today is absolutely necessary for any entrepreneur. However, I would add that I’m the manager of this website; I know the technology of it, I use it, I deploy it. While I don’t claim to be an online guru, I urge any entrepreneur to know how your website works without the need to work with a professional every time you want to add or change something.Deborah’s key success factor
When I go to bed at night, I give thanks for the gifts and talents and experiences that I’ve been given. It has truly been a treasure. I think that it comes from a divine source that has something in mind for me.Deborah’s Mountain
Because we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to achieve fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and because the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, or conquering the mountain, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?
As a child I lived in Bermuda, where we have only the ocean, not mountains. I remember that when I first saw a mountain, I was terrified. I didn’t believe that mountains actually existed outside of movies.And up we went, up we went to the mountain, and there was something so amazing about it.Today, my husband and I climb the mountains around us. There is a sense of timelessness and of being a part of history, a sense of the role of nature, as well as being a part of times when there were many conflicts. For me, that works very well because that hasn’t changed much.I try to feel at home with history as well as be part of the future, of making a difference.[caption id="attachment_5220" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Smoky Mountains[/caption]
The best way to contact Deborah:
Deborah’s Email for the general publicTwitterFacebookLinkedInDeborah Levine, PresidentAmerican Diversity ReportDeborah Levine Enterprises, LLCJoin our Facebook Groups
Entrepreneurial Marketing SuccessWomen Entrepreneurs Starting outMore resources for Entrepreneurs
- Don’t Miss – Customer Focus Strategy & Execution: Market Analysis for FundraisingHayut Yogev’s Latest post: Is the magic that helped entrepreneurs like Jeff Bullas (570K Twitter followers) or Douglas Burdett become leading successful influencers happening again?Former interview: Riggs Eckelberry “If you want to transform an industry, find the people who don’t have access to it—like Uber or Airbnb.”
Want to learn how to start your Entrepreneurship?
Download for Free
HOW TO START ?
The 7 initial marketing essentials
for entrepreneurs
Want to learn how to choose the best Name and Logo? Not sure which customers to focus on right now and where they are? Want to build your website, or trying to figure out how and what content to share on social media?
Mon, 15 Jun 2020 - 47min
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