Go For Launch — Grow Your Business & Your Life: Recent Episodes
Brandon Uttley
Go For Launch features action-oriented tools, tips and techniques to help you grow your business, including interviews with successful company founders and business leaders.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for company leaders and their employees to accept the reality that hybrid work is not only possible but desirable for many reasons.
While no one is certain what the “new normal” ultimately looks like, hybrid work is clearly here to stay. But the big question is how will companies be able to design a powerful hybrid workplace culture, regardless of where people are working. Many traditional companies are still struggling with the idea of hybrid or remote work.
Gustavo Razzetti is the CEO and founder of Fearless Culture, a culture design consultancy that helps teams do the best work of their lives. For more than 20 years, Razzetti has helped leaders from Fortune 500s, startups, nonprofits, and everything in between on every continent but Antartica.
Gustavo is also the creator of the Culture Design Canvas, a framework used by thousands of teams and organizations across the world to map, assess and design their culture.
In addition to his consulting work with clients, Gustavo regularly speaks with leaders and teams about culture change, teamwork, and hybrid workplaces. His coaching and tools have helped countless executives and teams develop work environments where people collaborate to accelerate individual and collective performance.
Gustavo is a prolific writer and author of four books on culture change. His newest book is Remote, Not Distant: Design a Company Culture That Will Help You Thrive in a Hybrid Workplace. His insights also have been featured in The New York Times, Psychology Today, Forbes, Fortune, and other media outlets.
Why is it that every single person in the world has stories and can easily tell them to their friends and family, but in the business context many people are afraid of storytelling—or they think it is only for creatives…or that it is less effective than data and facts?
Jamie Dixon joined me on the Go For Launch podcast to talk about how to become a better storyteller. Jamie is a coach, trainer, and author who has worked with ambitious leaders in over 160 multinational companies over the last 10 years through his company, Shaping Paths. He coaches and trains in both English and Mandarin. He is also conversational in Japanese.
Jamie is an IAC-accredited coach and a certified Tiny Habits coach. He is also certified in Everything DISC.
In addition, Jamie is the author of several books, including his most recent title, The Story Habit: How Leaders Shape Stories That Drive Action. He also wrote the books Overcome and Get It Done and Shaping Paths.
Show Sponsor: Accessibe
Chances are your website has issues that not only frustrate many of your users, but could lead to significant fines.
For example, if your site is found to violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, your first violation could result in a penalty of $55,000 to $75,000. And additional violations can result in a $150,000 fine.
Go to Accessibe (affiliate link) to get a free site scan and to learn more about their compliance products.
One of the sweetest sounds in the world is a ringing cash register. And one of the best ways to hear it more often is to improve your word-of-mouth and personal referrals.
My guest in this episode of the Go For Launch podcast is Raúl Galera. He’s the Chief Advocate at ReferralCandy, an app that ecommerce brands use to set up and run customer referral programs.
Founded more than 10 years ago, ReferralCandy has helped over 30,000 brands leverage the power of word-of-mouth and turn their customer base into their marketing team.
Referral marketing is a blend of organic content, community marketing and influencer marketing. Word-of-mouth is a powerful channel for both successful global names as well as new, niche brands.
Referral marketing blends perfectly with brands that have a clear customer-centric approach, making it affordable for companies of any size to attract new customers while retaining existing ones.
Raúl has been leading ReferralCandy’s partnership efforts for the past five years, working alongside marketing agencies, media and tech companies.
Show Sponsor—Accessibe
Did you know that 98% of websites cannot be accessed properly by people with disabilities?
Chances are your site has issues that not only frustrate many of your users but could lead to significant fines. For example, if your site is found to violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, your first violation could result in a penalty of $55,000 to $75,000. And additional violations can result in a $150,000 fine.
The ADA applies to all businesses—and there are many other accessibility-related laws to consider—so it’s not something you should ignore. Several years ago, Target paid a $6 million settlement on a lawsuit brought by the National Federation of the Blind. Domino’s Pizza also lost a lengthy lawsuit by a blind man who sued the chain when he was unable to order pizza off Domino’s website or mobile app—even with screen reading technology.
The good news is that it’s easy to check your site for any compliance issues, fix them quickly and make your site user-friendly for everyone.
AccessiBe is the first and only AI-powered solution that makes it easy and affordable to add ADA, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Section 508 and other compliance legislation to your website. All you have to do is get your web developer to install a single line of JavaScript code to your site. Within 48 hours of installing AccessiBe, your site will be compliance. And their pricing starts at just $49/month.
Get Accessibe’s free site scan and learn more about their compliance products.
One of the sweetest sounds in the world is a ringing cash register. And one of the best ways to hear it more often is to improve your word-of-mouth and personal referrals.
My guest in this episode of the Go For Launch podcast is Raúl Galera. He’s the Chief Advocate at ReferralCandy, an app that ecommerce brands use to set up and run customer referral programs.
Founded more than 10 years ago, ReferralCandy has helped over 30,000 brands leverage the power of word-of-mouth and turn their customer base into their marketing team.
Referral marketing is a blend of organic content, community marketing and influencer marketing. Word-of-mouth is a powerful channel for both successful global names as well as new, niche brands.
Referral marketing blends perfectly with brands that have a clear customer-centric approach, making it affordable for companies of any size to attract new customers while retaining existing ones.
Raúl has been leading ReferralCandy’s partnership efforts for the past five years, working alongside marketing agencies, media and tech companies.
Show Sponsor—Accessibe
Did you know that 98% of websites cannot be accessed properly by people with disabilities?
Chances are your site has issues that not only frustrate many of your users but could lead to significant fines. For example, if your site is found to violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, your first violation could result in a penalty of $55,000 to $75,000. And additional violations can result in a $150,000 fine.
The ADA applies to all businesses—and there are many other accessibility-related laws to consider—so it’s not something you should ignore. Several years ago, Target paid a $6 million settlement on a lawsuit brought by the National Federation of the Blind. Domino’s Pizza also lost a lengthy lawsuit by a blind man who sued the chain when he was unable to order pizza off Domino’s website or mobile app—even with screen reading technology.
The good news is that it’s easy to check your site for any compliance issues, fix them quickly and make your site user-friendly for everyone.
AccessiBe is the first and only AI-powered solution that makes it easy and affordable to add ADA, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Section 508 and other compliance legislation to your website. All you have to do is get your web developer to install a single line of JavaScript code to your site. Within 48 hours of installing AccessiBe, your site will be compliance. And their pricing starts at just $49/month.
Get Accessibe’s free site scan and learn more about their compliance products.
Valerie Hayes is on a mission to help small businesses beat the odds and push through the roadblocks to become an industry leader. She helps overburdened entrepreneurs, small business owners, and CEOs run their companies like a high-performance sports car.
As a fractional COO, Valerie helps untangle everything that’s not working smoothly, sorts it all out, and puts it back together. Valerie’s background as a business owner, a human resources professional in Fortune 500 companies, and coach/mentor for high achievers enables her to bring a multi-faceted, collaborative approach to every aspect of business.
She’s passionate about sharing her actionable insights with audiences around the world. Valerie is convinced that fewer businesses would fail if people knew more about how to run their business well and how easy it can be. Her direct, down-to-earth approach takes the mystery out of running a business.
Show Sponsor: Accessibe
Did you know that 98% of websites cannot be accessed properly by people with disabilities?
Chances are your site has issues that not only frustrate many of your users, but could lead to significant fines. For example, if your site is found to violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, your first violation could result in a penalty of $55,000 to $75,000. And additional violations can result in a $150,000 fine.
The ADA applies to all businesses—and there are many other accessibility-related laws to consider—so it’s not something you should ignore. Several years ago, Target paid a $6 million settlement on a lawsuit brought by the National Federation of the Blind. Domino’s Pizza also lost a lengthy lawsuit by a blind man who sued the chain when he was unable to order pizza off the Domino’s website or mobile app—even with screen reading technology.
The good news is that it’s easy to check your site for any compliance issues, fix them quickly and make your site user friendly for everyone. AccessiBe is the first and only AI-powered solution that makes it easy and affordable to add ADA, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Section 508 and other compliance legislation to your website.
All you have to do is get your web developer to add install a single line of JavaScript code to your site. Within 48 hours of installing AccessiBe, your site will be compliance. And their pricing starts at just $49/month.
Just go to Accessibe for a free site scan and to learn more about their compliance products. That’s goforlaunch.io/accessibility.
Valerie Hayes is on a mission to help small businesses beat the odds and push through the roadblocks to become an industry leader. She helps overburdened entrepreneurs, small business owners, and CEOs run their companies like a high-performance sports car.
As a fractional COO, Valerie helps untangle everything that’s not working smoothly, sorts it all out, and puts it back together. Valerie’s background as a business owner, a human resources professional in Fortune 500 companies, and coach/mentor for high achievers enables her to bring a multi-faceted, collaborative approach to every aspect of business.
She’s passionate about sharing her actionable insights with audiences around the world. Valerie is convinced that fewer businesses would fail if people knew more about how to run their business well and how easy it can be. Her direct, down-to-earth approach takes the mystery out of running a business.
Show Sponsor: Accessibe
Did you know that 98% of websites cannot be accessed properly by people with disabilities?
Chances are your site has issues that not only frustrate many of your users, but could lead to significant fines. For example, if your site is found to violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, your first violation could result in a penalty of $55,000 to $75,000. And additional violations can result in a $150,000 fine.
The ADA applies to all businesses—and there are many other accessibility-related laws to consider—so it’s not something you should ignore. Several years ago, Target paid a $6 million settlement on a lawsuit brought by the National Federation of the Blind. Domino’s Pizza also lost a lengthy lawsuit by a blind man who sued the chain when he was unable to order pizza off the Domino’s website or mobile app—even with screen reading technology.
The good news is that it’s easy to check your site for any compliance issues, fix them quickly and make your site user friendly for everyone. AccessiBe is the first and only AI-powered solution that makes it easy and affordable to add ADA, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Section 508 and other compliance legislation to your website.
All you have to do is get your web developer to add install a single line of JavaScript code to your site. Within 48 hours of installing AccessiBe, your site will be compliance. And their pricing starts at just $49/month.
Just go to Accessibe for a free site scan and to learn more about their compliance products. That’s goforlaunch.io/accessibility.
In 2013, Luke Charlton decided to quit a comfortable 6-figure government job, move halfway around the world, and start an online business as a coach. Thinking he knew enough about marketing to survive in one of the most expensive cities in the world—London—he quickly realized it wasn’t as easy as it looked. But after years of struggling and nearly going bankrupt, Luke finally discovered the formula for online success that has helped more than 4,000 coaches grow their businesses online. Along the way, Luke has spent more than $16 million on advertising, earned $50M+ in sales for his clients, and been hired by top ad agencies to write copy for experts such as Bob Proctor, Mike Dillard, Neil Patel, Grace Lever, Ryan Moran and many more. He has been featured in 6-Figure Coach magazine. Now, Luke spends his days living somewhere near Byron Bay in Australia, teaching other coaches how to get a lot of clients by sending just one 15-minute email per day. Learn more about Luke by downloading a free copy of his . Show sponsor: Starting a podcast? Get up to two months free hosting with using promo code LAUNCH (for new hosting accounts only).
The pandemic upended a lot of norms, especially when it comes to traditional work models. Challenging the way work is done has accelerated to lightspeed, as people and companies are being forced to reckon with work “standards” in terms of hours per week vs. productivity and work-life balance. My guest on this episode of the Go For Launch podcast is Joe Sanok, author of the new book, Thursday is the New Friday: How to work fewer hours, make more money, and spend time doing what you want. The book examines how the 4-day work week boosts creativity and productivity. Joe doesn’t just write about a 4-day work week, he lives it. He went from working 60-hour weeks to traveling with his family full-time in an RV while being even more productive at work. Joe believes working for yourself in your own business shouldn’t have to feel like a job. And working smarter and limiting the time you spend on things that don’t matter can help. Joe is also the host of the popular The Practice of the Practice Podcast, which is recognized as one of the Top 50 Podcasts worldwide with over 100,000 downloads each month. Bestselling authors, experts, scholars, and business leaders and innovators are featured and interviewed in the 750 plus podcasts he has done over the last six years. Learn more about Joe Sanok and also get a free Internal Inclination Assessmen at http://www.internaltest.com with promo code titnf.
Most of the “best” salespeople are happy earning six figures. But the Top 1% of sellers consistently make 7-figures. If you’re ready to double or triple your sales and break past the comfort zone of 6-figures, you’ll need to learn ways to persuade your prospects that are more emotionally-based and less driven by logic-oriented sales models from the 1980s-early 2000s. Jeremy Miner, chairman of 7th Level, says that, “The single most effective way to sell anything to anyone in 2022, is to be a problem finder and a problem solver... NOT a product pusher.” 7th Level is a global sales training company that was ranked #1,232 of the fastest growing companies in the United States by Inc. magazine’s list of the top 5,000 companies in 2021. In addition to serving as company chairman, Jeremy is also a contributor for Inc. magazine and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Entrepreneur, and many more publications. Jeremy’s philosophy has made him one of the wealthiest sales professionals. During his 17-year sales career, Jeremy was recognized by the Direct Selling Association as the 45th highest earning producer out of more than 100 million salespeople—selling anything, worldwide! His earnings as a commission-only salesperson were in the multiple 7-figures every year. Jeremy’s unique brand of sales training pioneers the use of behavioral science and human psychology, reflective of his deep studies in the subject from Utah Valley University. Jeremy is the host of the podcast, Closers are Losers, and his new book, The New Model of Selling—Selling to an Unsellable Generation—co-authored by Jerry Acuff, CEO of Delta Point—is scheduled to be published in Fall 2022. Learn more by joining 7th Level’s Facebook Group, . Show sponsor: Starting a podcast? Get up to two months free at , using the promo code LAUNCH at checkout.
Most of the “best” salespeople are happy earning six figures. But the Top 1% of sellers consistently make 7-figures. If you’re ready to double or triple your sales and break past the comfort zone of 6-figures, you’ll need to learn ways to persuade your prospects that are more emotionally-based and less driven by logic-oriented sales models from the 1980s-early 2000s. Jeremy Miner, chairman of 7th Level, says that, “The single most effective way to sell anything to anyone in 2022, is to be a problem finder and a problem solver... NOT a product pusher.” 7th Level is a global sales training company that was ranked #1,232 of the fastest growing companies in the United States by Inc. magazine’s list of the top 5,000 companies in 2021. In addition to serving as company chairman, Jeremy is also a contributor for Inc. magazine and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Entrepreneur, and many more publications. Jeremy’s philosophy has made him one of the wealthiest sales professionals. During his 17-year sales career, Jeremy was recognized by the Direct Selling Association as the 45th highest earning producer out of more than 100 million salespeople—selling anything, worldwide! His earnings as a commission-only salesperson were in the multiple 7-figures every year. Jeremy’s unique brand of sales training pioneers the use of behavioral science and human psychology, reflective of his deep studies in the subject from Utah Valley University. Jeremy is the host of the podcast, Closers are Losers, and his new book, The New Model of Selling—Selling to an Unsellable Generation—co-authored by Jerry Acuff, CEO of Delta Point—is scheduled to be published in Fall 2022. Learn more by joining 7th Level’s Facebook Group, . Show sponsor: Starting a podcast? Get up to two months free at , using the promo code LAUNCH at checkout.
Joining me for this episode of the Go For Launch podcast is Dean Inniss, Managing Partner at Your Best Life Now, an organization that helps people elevate their finance, family, fitness and faith through coaching, community, and exclusive once-in-a-lifetime experiences. His unique background of business experience, law enforcement, martial arts training and economic analysis gives him a rare perspective that enables him to successfully guide entrepreneurs, CEOS, and other top executives to new heights. In 2019, Dean decided to leave corporate America, where he honed his leadership, partnership, and business skills on a national, regional and local level. Most recently, Dean was the president and COO of a large regional mortgage bank that doubled its size under his leadership.
Vertical Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms may seem like smaller markets because they are often measured by the size of the existing software market in the industry—for example, it is relatively small in youth sports. However, this ignores the many opportunities for vertical SaaS platforms to expand the addressable market—for example, to raise prices, upsell new features, own payments/banking relationships, and embed commerce. My guest today knows a lot about starting a vertical SaaS platform, attracting customers and gaining market share. Brian Litvack is the CEO and co-founder of LeagueApps, which he describes as the most comprehensive youth sports management platform available. LeagueApps is the operating system and community for youth and local sports leaders—providing them with the technology and professional network they need to succeed. The company is also building a movement behind its mission—creating amazing sports experiences for all. Through their FundPlay program, they donate a percentage of every dollar spent on the platform back to the communities and families that need it. Their goal is to impact 500,000 underserved kids by the end of 2022.
If you’re ready to host your own event and anxious to get started but feel overwhelmed by all the things you need to do—from negotiating with hotels to coordinating with A/V providers, managing a volunteer team and figuring out what you are going to say and do while you’re hosting—you’re not alone! My guest today helps companies, coaches and celebrities create Powerful and Profitable events. Shay Wheat is CEO of Grace & Ease Productions, Inc. Shay is a Certified Event Producer™ and the creator of popular programs such as “The Powerful Event Process” and “The Ultimate Event Planner Certification Program.” Grace & Ease Productions produces in-person and live virtual events ranging from 200 to 4,000+ attendees. They have collaborated with many well-known celebrities including Lisa Nichols, Dr. Claire Zammit, Bill Baren, Alison J. Prince, Josh Turner and many others. Shay’s clients have made over $24 million in revenue, gaining over 3,500 new clients and changing the lives of more than 16,000+ attendees.
This podcast episode is a little different than the rest. It’s a personal conversation with my good friend Jim Mitchem about some serious topics, ranging from battling cancer to remembering a dear mutual friend, Nathan Richie, who passed away June 16, 2018. Jim is a branding consultant and award-winning senior copywriter who has convinced people to think differently about things for more than two decades. Since 2002, Jim’s company Smash Communications has helped drive revenue for his clients via consistent messaging that elicits action across a range of media. As Jim says, “Copywriting is my superpower.” He’s the author of several fictional books, including Minor King and Mongoose, as well as a non-fiction tribute to man’s best friend, Gone Dogs: Tales of Dogs We've Loved. Jim is one of the most honest and kind people I know. I hope you’ll enjoy our conversation. Find out more about Jim at Quick Like Mongoose. RIP, Nathan Richie.
There’s a tendency to discount your price in order to get ‘quick wins, land more customers or keep existing customers happy. But there’s a better strategy to win more clients—using value-added incentives. Marco Torres believes that value-added incentives such as complimentary travel packages beat price discounts. He joined me on the latest episode of the Go For Launch podcast. Marco is the founder of Marketing Boost, which has helped thousands of business owners worldwide boost sales and scale their businesses by as much as 5-fold through the use of incentive-based marketing. And his Facebook group is home to more than 28,000 active business owners who are raking in sales with his advice and amazingly affordable subscription program. During our interview, my brain was spinning with effective ways to use Marketing Boost. I hope you’ll get a lot of value out of our conversation and check it out.
Today’s podcast is all about learning how to create meaningful and inspiring online events. My guests are Daniel Moss and Michelle Garrison, the Co-Founders of We & Goliath. We & Goliath helps companies host more meaningful and inspiring events online. Their full-service formula combines smart strategy, platform savvy and innovative video that captivates, awes and inspires. Whether you want just live stream production or full-service virtual event management including event planning, technology, and marketing strategy for a multi-day event ... they can help tackle your Goliath. Michelle Garrison is a serial entrepreneur, digital strategist, and creative director, who’s started companies and campaigns on the edge of sustainability and community-building trends for the last 20 years. She’s helped companies reach triple-digit growth, and her projects have been featured in The Boston Globe, Washington Post, HGTV, Dwell Magazine, ABC, NBC and CBS. Daniel Moss is a senior event strategist with more than 20 years of experience leading and training agency and nonprofit teams. He’s designed digital campaigns for large online and in-person events supported by lead nurturing automation, omnichannel retargeting and conversion rate optimization. His clients have experienced 7X attendance online vs. in-person, 5X monthly email signups, hundreds of #1 search engine rankings and 53% conversion rate boosts that increased revenue by $43,000/mo.
Most people think growing older and losing their edge is inevitable. But the truth is, the way in which you grow older is entirely malleable. Just because your chronological age is rising doesn't mean your biological age has to as well. It's time for a new paradigm. You can turn the clock back and stay at the top of your game at 40, 50, 60, and well beyond through precision performance longevity. My guest is Julian Hayes II, an executive health consultant & epigenetic atelier, and the host of Optimal Health for Busy Entrepreneurs. His journey began in his pursuit of becoming a doctor. However, he left school after one year to pursue a bigger dream. Now, he's the founder of The Art of Fitness & Life. This bespoke concierge health & performance advisory firm helps entrepreneurs, and executives live longer, richer, and healthier lives. This is accomplished through leveraging their unique DNA, data-driven health metrics, personalized bio-specific programming, a "performance team," and high-tech toys. On an organizational level, the firm helps companies elevate their bottom line through precision performance longevity. Julian has also written nearly 200 columns at Inc, along with frequently being published over at Entrepreneur, SUCCESS, Chief Executive, CEO World, Business Insider, Bodybuilding.com, and many more of the world's largest publications. He also is the author of the book Body Architect: A Real-World Guide to Ignite Your Fitness, Look Awesome Naked, Quiet the Inner Voices of Self-Doubt, & Design a Lifestyle on Your Own Terms.
If you ask many entrepreneurs how their life is going…and you’ll hear a lot of lies. “It’s great! I’m in control! I’m my own boss! I can do whatever I want, whenever I want!” The reality is, entrepreneurship is often miserable, as you become chained to endless days of working, tedious tasks and time away from family and friends. So how can you get control of your business, family and life as an entrepreneur? That’s a topic my guest is very familiar with. For more than 20 years, Fabienne Fredrickson has powerfully mentored thousands of women business owners to grow, then scale their businesses, earning them tens of millions collectively each year while increasing their time off to enjoy lives they love. Her Leveraged Business methodology is based on her nearly 15 years of experience in generating multiple 7 figures annually with three children at home, while taking 14 weeks of unplugged vacations each year. It is proven to work. Fabienne’s revolutionary book, The Leveraged Business: How You Can Go From Overwhelmed at 6-Figures to 7 Figures (and Get Your Life Back), is a definitive roadmap on how she’s done it with heart and how you can too, without sacrificing your life.
If you’re like many people, still trying to ‘e-blast’ your prospect manually without a great way to track the results—it’s time to make your inbox more sales focused. My latest guest on the Go For Launch podcast is Joel Stevenson, the CEO of Yesware. Yesware is a leader in sales productivity software. It helps both individuals and large companies scale their email marketing efforts, with templates and campaign tools; integrations with Salesforce and other software; phone tracking, a meeting scheduler; and more. Prior to joining Yesware, Joel was the general manager and founder of Wayfair’s B2B division, which he grew to several hundred million in revenue. Before joining Wayfair, he held a variety of sales and marketing roles at Ariba, Innovus and Verizon. He earned an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management, a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Illinois, and studied Chinese at Harvard-Beijing Academy. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife and their four children.
Julie Broad is the founder of self-publishing services firm Book Launchers and an Amazon Overall #1 Best Selling Author who knows what it takes to be a successful self-published author. Through Book Launchers and her popular YouTube channel, BookLaunchers.TV, she helps subject matter experts write, publish, and promote nonfiction books that will boost their business. Julie’s titles include More than Cashflow, which topped Amazon, and The New Brand You, winner of the Beverly Hills Book Award for Best Sales book. Her latest book, Self-Publish & Succeed, captures her leading tactics to write, publish and market a nonfiction book. An expert on writing a book with marketing in mind, Julie teaches the best approaches to write a book that builds your business and allows you to have more impact and influence with your brand. Her advice for authors and investors has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur.com, Yahoo! Business, CTV, the Toronto Sun, and many local and national TV shows. Born and raised in Canada, Julie currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband and son.
Webinars are one of the most powerful marketing and sales tools available. But many people avoid doing them due to the concerns over how much time and effort they take. Fortunately, there are ways to take full advantage of webinars while avoiding the hassles. The secret is to learn how to automate webinars the right way. Melissa Kwan is the Cofounder and CEO of eWebinar, an automated webinar solution that combines pre-recorded video with real-time interactions and live chat to deliver an engaging experience for attendees. She joined me on the Go For Launch podcast to discuss the journey of starting eWebinar, and their mission to make it the best software for automated webinars. Melissa has spent more than a dozen years in startups and has built three successful companies without venture capital backing. Her previous startup, a real estate tech company, was acquired in 2019. Melissa and her team at eWebinar believe that by automating the repetitive and tedious task of giving the same onboarding, training, and sales presentations over and over, they free people up to focus their time on something else they value more.
Making sales one-by-one is a noble undertaking. But to exponentially grow your business, affiliate sales can be a game-changer. To learn more about the ins-and-outs of affiliate sales, I asked Dominick Keenan to join me on the Go For Launch podcast. Dominick is VP of Sales at ClickBank, a global affiliate marketplace and e-commerce platform. He has had several roles within the ClickBank sales organization including affiliate manager and business development before taking the role of VP of Sales. He focuses on supporting ClickBank’s current vendors and affiliates as well as growing ClickBank’s business. Prior to joining ClickBank, Dominick worked in business aviation and commercial lending. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Aviation Management from Rocky Mountain College, and an MBA from the University of Montana. If you've ever thought about adding affiliate sales to boost sales of your company's products or services, you will get a lot of valuable tips from Dominick.
Ignition is revolutionizing product launches and go-to-market planning, strategy and project management. Joining me to discuss Ignition's recent beta launch and features is Derek Osgood, Ignition's founder and CEO. Ignition is a collaborative, go-to-market platform that assists product and marketing teams in bringing new goods to market quickly and efficiently. Prior to his current role, Derek spent over a decade leading and scaling marketing teams at brands like Playstation, BBVA and Rippling. He has launched over 100 products working as a Product Marketer that have collectively generated over $1B in revenue.
This episode of the Go For Launch podcast focuses on how to diagnose business gaps and create your business battle plan. My guest is Stuart Leo, the founder and CEO of Waymaker.io—an intelligent business management and strategy platform that helps leaders build a better business in 30 days. Stuart is a global thinker in strategy, systems, and leadership development. As the founder of Waymaker.io, he has led the creation of Waymaker’s Leadership Curve, a new way of building clarity, alignment and remarkable results in any organization.
Feeling overwhelmed at work? Amanda Hamilton can help you reclaim your time and delegate with intention. She joined me on the latest episode of the Go For Launch podcast. Amanda is the founder of Hamilton Raye—“Your Outsourced Admin®”— which brings professional remote administrative support to startup organizations and businesses. Prior to starting Hamilton Raye, she spent 10 years working in the corporate retail industry. She had a very successful career in production and sourcing where she had the opportunity to learn best practices for staying organized, managing constant changes in priorities, and finding process efficiencies to reduce workload. Loving the scope of her work and her team, but craving personal and professional growth, she longed to work remotely in order to live and work anywhere she pleased. Intrigued by the ‘digital nomads’ she would often read about, Amanda decided to take her fate into her own hands. As Amanda started to connect with founders, CEOs, and small business owners, she saw an opportunity where these individuals were wearing multiple hats and looking for more time in their days and weeks. She says the most necessary piece of being a business owner is to maintain maximum efficiency and productivity, by keeping your schedule moving and remaining highly organized.
Using traditional SEO tools and manual writing processes, it can be hard to scale quality content. But with artificial intelligence (AI), you can create a scalable strategy that will ensure all of your content is at the highest possible quality. My latest guest on the Go For Launch podcast is at the forefront of helping companies use AI to scale their content creation efforts. Pankil Shah is the CEO of Outranking.io, an AI platform for writers, editors and SEO professionals to create content that ranks. He is an entrepreneur, founder and content marketing expert with more than 10 years of experience in leading product and growth for tech companies. Before starting Outranking.io, Pankil led growth for an enterprise database company, scaling revenue using content marketing. He also co-founded Vclassrooming.com, a learning management system aimed at improving K12 learning outcomes. AI can help you improve the relevancy of your content, increase conversion rates and make sure that you are always on top of what people are looking for.
If you don’t have a clear message and image, you could be wasting as much as 80% of your marketing budget. Joining me to discuss this on the Go For Launch podcast is Orsolya Herbein, better known as Orshie. Orshie is a partner at Brand3, a virtual marketing and branding agency. On the podcast, she shared actionable tips to help business owners rethink marketing, stop wasting time and money, and accelerate their business growth.
It seems counterintuitive to many people: You must narrow your focus to Increase your chances of success as a professional services provider. The saying is true, "The riches are in the niches." My latest guest on the Go For Launch podcast is an expert on helping firms focus. Sean Campbell is founder and CEO of Cascade Insights. As a professional services firm owner for over 20 years, his work has spanned consulting engagements with the Fortune 50 to startups you’ve heard of; the sale of his first professional services company; and the growth of delivery, sales, marketing, and operational practices inside professional services firms. Sean has been training, mentoring, and educating all his life. An exceptionally well-regarded conference speaker and author, Sean has delivered talks for Fortune 50 companies and top-tier conferences. He has also been the author of several books on technical as well as business topics. Sean brings a wealth of knowledge when it comes to surviving and thriving as a service firm owner or the leader of a practice area inside a larger services firm.
Storytelling. We all learned and loved it as kids, but many of us forget about the power of storytelling in the context of promoting our businesses. In the latest episode of the Go For Launch podcast, I spoke to Ben Worthen about this topic. Ben is CEO of Message Lab, an award-winning agency that combines journalism, data and design to craft content and create experiences that get real results. Ben and his team help clients figure out how to tell stories that people actually want to hear. Ben developed his storytelling and investigative savvy working as a journalist for 13 years, winning many national awards for news and feature-writing. In 2007, he joined The Wall Street Journal, where he covered the tech industry and wrote more than 50 Page One stories. He also was editor-in-chief at Ready State and head of content at Sequoia Capital. Over the last two years, Message Lab has won seven Content Marketing Awards and has been a finalist for 16 more. Current and former clients include Facebook, Google, GoDaddy, ServiceNow, Elastic and Silicon Valley Bank.
Tracey Bissett is on a mission to redefine the world's economic future by increasing the financial literacy of entrepreneurs, also known as financial fitness. With over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, Tracey helps entrepreneurs across all industries. As Chief Financial Fitness Trainer of Bissett Financial Fitness Inc., Tracey educates and empowers entrepreneurs to take control of and live their financial lives with confidence. A former executive at TD Bank, one of Canada's Big 5 Banks, Tracey has worked with thousands of entrepreneurs to secure the financing they needed. This hands-on experience coupled with her formal financial education gives Tracey unique coaching skills about all things money-related. Tracey is also a professor at Centennial College’s School of Business and regularly leads speaking engagements to increase financial fitness awareness. Get a free monthly meeting template at https://cashcoach.biz.
Ron Carucci is co-founder and managing partner at Navalent, which works with CEOs and executives to enable transformational change for their organizations, leaders and industries. Ron’s newest book and passion, To Be Honest: Lead with the Power of Truth, Justice and Purpose, is based on 15 years of research and more than 200 interviews with leaders around the world. To Be Honest explains how four factors—Clear Identity, Accountability, Governance and Cross-Functional Relationships—affect honesty, justice and purpose within a company. When these factors are absent or ineffective, the organizational conditions compel employees to choose dishonesty and self-interest. But when done well, the organization is 16 times more likely to have people tell the truth, behave fairly and serve a greater good. For three decades, Ron has helped some of the world’s most influential executives tackle challenges of strategy, organization and leadership. In addition to being a regular contributor to HBR and Forbes, and is a 2-time TEDx speaker and has been featured in Fortune, CEO Magazine, BusinessInsider, MSNBC, Inc, and Business Week.
Tim Parkin of Parkin Consulting is a global consultant, advisor, and coach to marketing executives of many world-renowned brands. He specializes in helping marketing teams optimize people, process and performance to accelerate growth. By applying more than 20 years of experience merging behavioral psychology and technology seamlessly, Tim has unlocked rapid and dramatic growth for global brands and award-winning agencies alike. Tim is a speaker, author, and thought leader who has contributed to AdWeek, Forbes, MarTech, TechCrunch, and dozens of other marketing outlets. He is also a member of the American Marketing Association, the Society for the Advancement of Consulting, and was inducted into the Million Dollar Consulting Hall of Fame. For free resources from Tim, text Grow to 8443113200.
There are many “frameworks” purported to help companies achieve greater levels of growth. But many of them are challenging to understand and end up being underutilized. Tim Cakir is on a mission to develop a new growth framework based on Goals, Challenges and Opportunities. He joined me in this episode of the Go For Launch podcast. Tim is a growth consultant and founder of Squad One 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 reach 1.7 million euros in Horizon 2020 funding, increasing monthly recurring revenue (MRR) of one startup from $80k to $300k in less than 18 months and completing projects such as implementing Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), building company dashboards and launching new product launches. As part of Tim’s passion for helping people realize their potential, he also teaches Bachelor and Masters programs at two universities in Barcelona—ESEI International Business School Barcelona and Geneva Business School.
Andy Cagnetta is the CEO of Transworld Business Advisors (https://www.tworld.com), where they have bought and sold over 10,000 businesses. Today, they have more than 400 business brokers, with over 3,000 businesses for sale. Andy has become the go-to expert on helping entrepreneurs maximize their potential before, during and after their big exit. Other than his work, he is very proud of his signature event, "Andy's Family Pasta Dinner," which raised over $2,000,000 for LifeNet 4 Families. He shares tips on how to prepare your business for a successful sale, as well as key considerations buyers need to know.
Jonathan Goldhill is a business coach and personal strategist who specializes in guiding next-generation leaders of family businesses to scale up their business as they take control over the leadership and ownership of the family business. Jonathan left New York for California at age 20 after his family’s large, privately-held men’s apparel manufacturing company—started by his great-grandfather—sold to a conglomerate in its third generation of family ownership. Within 10 years, Jonathan had established himself as the go-to expert for entrepreneurs looking to find their freedom. Today, Jonathan brings 30 years of experience advising, coaching, consulting, training, and guiding entrepreneurial and family businesses to grow their revenues, profits and people’s leadership. Learn more at The Goldhill Group and get a copy of his book, Disruptive Successor. Links: (book) (company) (podcast)
In my last show (https://goforlaunch.io/show155), I went on a rant on how to piss off podcast hosts. For this episode, I decided to take a more positive take on the subject, and give some tips on how to be a great podcast guest. Be sure to refer to the blog post I reference, How to Be The Perfect Podcast Guest, for more details and links. Happy podcast guesting!
As a podcast host, nothing is more frustrating than having a guest not show up at the last minute...then not responding...and doing this several times in a row. After my latest guest left me in the lurch, I decided to record a quick episode on how to piss off podcast hosts. If you want to know what NOT to do when you're invited to be on someone's podcast, please give this a listen! In a future episode, I'll expand on the right things to do to ensure you are a perfect podcast guest.
If the words "shooting and sending videos" give you anxiety, have no fear. Today's guest on the GFL podcast will put you at ease and give you lots of tips to get started making videos not only easy, but a routine part of your day. Darin Dawson is co-founder and president of BombBomb, a human-centered communications platform that enables users to use simple personal video messages to leverage their best asset— themselves. He's on a mission to re-humanize the planet and he wants to start with your business communication. He believes that human beings have intrinsic value and that every person deserves to be seen heard and understood. That's why he cofounded BombBomb. Darin also talks about their new book, Human Centered Communication.
Have you ever wondered what goes into the web development process? Have you had an idea for new software but no clue how to make it happen? My guest today is an expert on these topics. Ryan Vice is the Co-founder and CEO of Vice Software, which provides cost-effective web development services. Ryan has a wealth of experience—including 20 years of experience in shipping software; six years in building high-velocity development teams; publishing two books; and being awarded Microsoft MVP award three times. After doing all that, Ryan decided to transfer his skills to an entrepreneurial space. Vice Software utilizes modern toolkits and a globally distributed team to bring clients impressive design at a reasonable price point. The unique structure of his team allows Ryan to remain very hands-on, helping to create processes and best practices that speed up project delivery and increase ROI. Over the past three years, Ryan has led Vice Software to 50% year-over-year growth as the team grew from 15 to 45.
It’s not a question of if but when your business will be hit with a cyber or ransomware attack. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to become aware and proactive in order to protect your business. Brian Fritton is the CEO and Founder of the cybersecurity firm Havoc Shield. He's also an alumnus of the 2020 TechStars program and a founding member of Forbes Technology Council. 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. He’s been the “guy in the hot seat” — responsible for defending a small business from cyberattacks — as a FinTech CTO at Patch of Land and the VP of Engineering for a critical political campaign and enterprise data science software maker. Brian brings the founder’s perspective to cybersecurity in an increasingly complicated and risk-filled environment.
They say “leaders are readers”—and that definitely applies to my latest guest on the Go For Launch podcast, Brandon Hakim. Brandon is on a quest to give people the education they never got in school. When he was in college, he went into the dean’s office and said “I feel like we’re getting an outdated education.” The person replied that they were working on it. So Brandon walked out that day, and swore he’d teach himself the things he should have learned in school. He’s since read over 1,000 books and realized that everyone who has excelled in any area of life knew things were never taught in school. That led him to found InsiderSchool.com—which has helped over 300,000 people read more books, learn better—and download the wisdom from thousands of pages of books into their brains through short, actionable videos.
Michael Keplinger is a partner at SmashBrand, an agile brand strategy agency for consumer package goods that specializes in a complete approach to market research, product design and testing. After earning a degree in computer engineering and working in the industry, Michael soon found himself developing marketing strategies for his own consumer product business. He quickly found a talent for connecting seemingly unrelated thoughts to discover room for innovation and opportunity. Michael says the key to success is about seeing everything from the eyes of the consumer and anticipating how they will react to a message or product. Michael currently leads his research team in developing strategies for clients and optimizing various aspects of branding and packaging through testing. Over the past decade, he has developed an agile methodology and a proven platform for consumer testing.
As a kid, you probably played Capture the Flag. Adults in the business world play it too—albeit a different version that we can call Capture the Category. It’s no secret that companies that can best identify a problem, convince people they need to solve it—then create the optimal solution—often become the pre-eminent player, aka the Category King. But the path to category creation and dominance is neither quick nor easy, and it’s certainly not for the faint of heart. I had a fascinating conversation with Kevin Maney on the latest Go For Launch podcast. Kevin is the co-author of Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets, which has sold more than 100,000 copies globally. He’s a journalist who has been covering technology and society for 30 years. Kevin is a partner at Category Design Advisors, where he and his team have helped more than 50 companies discover, define and chart a course to dominate new markets. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the art and science of “playing bigger” by defining and dominating their category. In our conversation, Kevin lays out the highlights of what it will take to become a business icon in your own right.
At some point, everyone who is a customer has experienced the tremendous frustration of being passed around between a company’s sales, marketing and customer service departments—and you get that terrible feeling that the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. When companies have to ask you for the same information repeatedly, or when everyone does not have full visibility into your history of purchases and support requests, it not only frustrates and drives customers away, but it leads to poor productivity and lost business. These days, companies really don’t have an excuse for dropping the ball. There are many tools available for tracking customers throughout the buying journey, from marketing to sales and support. However, they can be complicated and expensive. My guest on the Go For Launch podcast is Nauren Batjargal. Nauren is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officers of Erxes, an open source growth marketing platform that is challenging conventional martech tools with their affordable, open source platform. Erxes has more than 1 million downloads in over 100 countries. Currently, Erxes is in the process of raising $3 million using an innovative offering. As an expert in her field, Nauren is an authoritative speaker on all things related to digital marketing, as well as start-up culture and lead generation.
If you're like most high-performing leaders, you're tired of being pulled in multiple directions with no time left for yourself. My latest guest on the Go For Launch podcast, Laura Noelle of Stretch Into Success, helps high performers live in powered, fulfilling lives— all while achieving their highest potential. As a certified Proctor Gallagher coach and former United States Air Force with 27 years of experience, Laura helps leaders focus on what really matters, so they can stop feeling out of control, become more effective and and spend more time discovering what they love.
Les McKeown of Predictable Success provides tough business startup advice to entrepreneurs. As a serial entrepreneur himself, Les has earned the right. In addition to being involved in the launch of more than 40 companies before he was 35, he was at the same time a founding elder in a fast-growing church, while serving on the board of a number of charities and non-for-profit organizations. He joined me on the latest Go For Launch podcast. Les first began to recognize recurring growth patterns early in his career as a serial entrepreneur. He uses the experience he gained during that time to co-found one of the first business incubators in the world, which he and his then business partner developed into a multi-national consulting company that advised on the creation and growth of hundreds of organizations worldwide. Less is a trusted advisor to fast-growth small to medium enterprises and thriving not-for-profit organizations as well as Fortune 500 companies and a number of the world’s largest government agencies.
Dan McGaw is an award-winning entrepreneur, speaker and the CEO of McGaw.io, an analytics and marketing technology consultancy and SaaS platform, UTM.io. Dan is a thought leader in the MarTech world and leading instructor on the topic. Having spoken at the leading marketing conferences and online events, including Traction Conf and Forget The Funnel, he helps 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 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 US government 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. Text the word Martech to 415-915-9011 to get a free copy of Dan’s book, Build Cool Shit: A Blueprint to Creating A Marketing Technology Stack.
David Wood, founder of Focus.ceo, has some unique bullet points on his bio: He built the world’s largest coaching business with 150,000 followers He was ranked #1 on google for “life coaching” out of 23 million results He’s the author of “Get Paid for Who You Are”with foreword by Jack Canfield of Chicken Soup fame He has taught laser focus to leaders at Facebook, Square, Warner Bros, Salesforce—as well as Colorado prison inmates He has appeared on CNN Headline News, Forbes and has done over 180+ podcast interviews! He's my latest guest on the Go For Launch podcast, where he shared his advice on how to stay focused, avoid "Shiny Object Syndrome," and accomplish bigger goals in your life. In addition to the above accomplishments, David was nominated to the exclusive Transformational Leadership Council alongside such thought leaders as Don Miguel Ruiz, John Gray, and Marianne Williamson.
Brian Kight doesn’t know your goals, but he knows how you can get there faster—through discipline. Discipline is the shortcut, and he’s sharing this shortcut every day with his 32,000+ Daily Discipline subscribers. Daily Discipline is a free daily email with a central mission to help people build the discipline they need to accomplish what they want, as fast and reliably as possible. Brian has worked with some of the most notable businesses and sports teams in implementing his simple systems for training leaders, building culture, and creating winning behavior. Whether he is delivering world-class keynotes or advising an organization’s leaders, Brian is making a difference for those ready to do the work. Brian’s competitive mindset grew from the influence of playing football to becoming an entrepreneur. He sits on the board of the Charlotte, NC, chapter of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) where he advises other entrepreneurs and small business owners on how to compete and win.
Jack Tompkins is the owner of Pineapple Consulting Firm based out of Charlotte, NC. He helps clients analyze and visualize their financial and marketing data in interactive charts, graphs, and dashboards so they don’t have to deal with the tedious processes of gathering and manipulating data. He shared his insights in this episode of the Go For Launch podcast. Jack’s goal is to help companies grow profitably and efficiently by helping them not just know their numbers through and through, but also visualize them to quickly get the full picture.
Most of us have worked for bosses who were assholes. But those of us who are lucky also have gotten to serve with leaders who were badasses. Michelle Reines knows what it takes to become the type of leader who inspires and empowers those around them. She shares her insights on this episode of the Go For Launch podcast. Michelle is a speaker, author, coach, entrepreneur, founder of MDR Coaching & Consulting and creator of the unconventional Badass Leader brand. Early in her leadership journey, Michelle admits she was a terrible boss (aka an ass), oblivious to the impact she was having on people. Like many people, she didn’t understand how to lead. She very quickly learned to appreciate the profound impact an unconscious leader has on people, teams, and organizational health and performance. The significance and value of a team became abundantly clear, as did the critical importance and necessity for her to immediately begin evolving as a leader. This painfully humbling experience set the course correction for what would become a lifelong hunger for leadership growth and contribution—a self- prescribed reparation in many ways, shared through her 12 Leadership Lessons.
Steve Young is an app marketing expert and founder of App Masters, which has helped companies 10x their downloads and revenue. Steve has worked with companies such as GoPro, Nextdoor, SpotHero and more. He also hosts the No. 1 app business podcast App Masters as well as a popular YouTube channel about app marketing.
Theresa Truong is the CEO of Loop Link. Loop Link helps creative consultants and strategists shift to sustainable growth. The company has helped over 120 business owners leverage the power of systems in their business, helping them reclaim their original vision and find fulfillment.
Dr. James Richardson knows how to grow consumer packaged goods companies. He is the founder of Premium Growth Solutions, a strategic planning consultancy for early-stage consumer packaged goods brands. As a professionally trained cultural anthropologist turned business strategist, James has helped nearly 100 consumer packaged goods with their strategic planning, including brands owned by Coca-Cola Venturing and Emerging Brands, The Hershey Company, General Mills and Frito-Lay, as well as other emerging brands such as Once Upon a Farm, Dr. Squatch Soap, Proven skincare, Rebel creamery and June Shine kombucha. James is the author of Ramping Your Brand: How to Ride the Killer CPG Growth Curve, a #1 Best-seller in Business Consulting on Amazon. He also hosts the Startup Confidential podcast.
Change happens every day. It can be positive or negative. It can be small scale or global, as we’ve all experienced over the past year during the COVID-19 pandemic. But approaching a personal or professional change as an opportunity requires a positive mindset. That’s exactly what my guest today did—using opportunity to create a positive change that is transcendent. Brett Harrell is a creative marketing, communications and strategic partnerships veteran with more than 20 years of agency, sports and startup experience. Brett has worked with many brands that you may know – such as Chevrolet, Coca-Cola, Hershey, Nabisco and Jack Daniel’s. He began his career in motorsports with NASCAR and then helped rebuild Richard Childress Racing’s marketing department following the death of industry icon Dale Earnhardt. He left racing to join a professional services startup, then held senior positions with marketing agencies in Charlotte and Philadelphia before founding Block Creative Agency in April 2020. And as the pandemic continued, he launched UREPZ in 2021. It’s a platform to empower the business capabilities of student-athletes and personal brand builders.
Master the Art of Storytelling to Build Your Business Storytelling is the original form of “going viral.” But it’s not just personal stories that get passed down through the ages. The best business leaders have learned to master the science and art of crafting stories to propel their vision and move people to take action. I was fortunate to speak with an expert in storytelling recently, Kurian Tharakan. Kurian is the founder of the sales and marketing strategy firm StrategyPeak Sales & Marketing Advisors and a 27-year veteran of the sales and marketing industry. He has consulted for companies in numerous sectors. Kurian is also the author of the Amazon Bestseller, “The 7 Essential Stories Charismatic Leaders Tell,” which details how anyone can move people and mountains with the power of story.
Despite popular belief to the contrary, entrepreneurship in the United States is dying. It has been since before the Great Recession of 2008, and the negative trend in American entrepreneurship has been accelerated by the Covid pandemic. New firms are being started at a slower rate, are employing fewer workers, and are being formed disproportionately in just a few major cities in the U.S. At the same time, large chains are opening more locations. Companies such as Amazon with their "deliver everything and anything" are rapidly displacing Main Street businesses. Elizabeth MacBride and Seth Levine know a lot about these trends and more. They are the authors of the new book,The New Builders - Face to Face with the True Future of Business. They joined me on the Go For Launch Podcast. In the book, they tell the stories of the next generation of entrepreneurs -- and argue for the future of American entrepreneurship. Elizabeth MacBride is an award-winning business journalist and the founder of Times of Entrepreneurship, a new publication covering entrepreneurs beyond Silicon Valley. Elizabeth has reported on business, economics and entrepreneurship around the world, from New York City to Gaza to Northern Idaho to Cambodia. A former managing editor of Crain’s New York Business, her work has appeared in Forbes, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Quartz, HBR.com and many others. She’s also been an entrepreneur herself as co-founder of RIABiz.com and 200kfreelancer.com, and she was part of the founding team of Wealthfront, the first online investment advisor. Seth Levine is a long-time venture capitalist who works with venture funds and companies around the globe. He is a partner at Foundry Group, a Boulder, Colorado-based venture capital firm he co-founded in 2006—which as of the end of 2020 had almost $3 billion in assets under management. Seth also co-founded Pledge 1%, a global network of companies who have pledged equity, time and product back to their local communities. He is on the board of StartupColorado, which promotes entrepreneurship in areas of Colorado outside of the front range. He also works with a number of funds and companies - especially in the Middle East and Africa - to help promote entrepreneurship and economic development.
Employee advocacy and social selling are two related concepts that can help promote your company organically. They are what I would call “win-wins” for both management and employees. The company wins because messages shared by individuals can be perceived as more authentic than ads and other forms of marketing. The employees win because it helps them enhance their own personal/professional branding. I dove into both of these topics on the latest episode of the Go For Launch podcast, when I interviewed Jonathan Baldock of SocialHP. With 10 years experience at LinkedIn, serving customers like Accenture, JP Morgan Chase, Johnson and Johnson, PepsiCo, Hershey's and IBM, Jonathan is highly skilled in social sharing best practices. Utilizing earned media as a results-focused evergreen channel, he is an expert in social media recruitment, sales and marketing strategies. Lots of companies either don’t understand the power of employee advocacy and social selling—or they drop the ball and don’t do either (or both) effectively. Jonathan shares best practices on both and tips on getting started
Creating a successful online community is not easy. It can take a lot of dedication and hard work. But what really sets the right course for sustainable online communities is starting with a solid intent and a strategy that is designed to support and achieve that intent. My friend Melissa Mosher is the person I turn to when it comes to building communities. She is the founder and CEO of Support Savvy, a company that specializes in small business and community operations. Melissa helps small businesses with their operational infrastructure set-up and support – everything from email set-up, invoicing, ATS platforms and more. However, she is best known for her skills around community building and community moderation. She has been managing, marketing and moderating online community forums, newsgroups and chat rooms for over 25 years. You'll get some valuable community-building tips in my conversation with Melissa on the Go For Launch podcast.
Are our brains ‘hard-wired’ to encourage us to be our own boss? If so, why do so many people succumb to the perceived predictability of “normal jobs?” Tra Williams, is a nationally recognized expert in entrepreneurship and business strategy. He has some fascinating theories about why so few people start their own businesses. The significant decline of entrepreneurship in America inspired Tra’s upcoming book, Boss Brain, and sparked his mission to rescue one million entrepreneurs from “traditional” employment. In the new book, Tra reveals a scientifically-proven system that unlocks readers’ true potential and unleashes their entrepreneurial instincts so they can leave traditional employment forever and embrace what he calls the real American Dream. I had a great conversation with Tra on the podcast. We talked about the highs and lows of entrepreneurship, and what the future holds for anyone thinking about starting their own business.
If you are interested in how to build thought leadership through podcasting, you will benefit from Jeremy Ryan Slate’s expertise. Jeremy is the founder of the Create Your Own Life Podcast, which studies the highest performers in the world. He studied literature at Oxford University, specializes in using podcasting and new media to create celebrity and was ranked he was ranked #1 in the business category and ranked #78 in the Top 100. He was named the #1 Podcast to Listen To by Inc. Magazine in 2019, as well as being named a Top Influencer by Forbes. After his success in podcasting, Jeremy and his wife, Brielle Slate, founded Command Your Brand to help entrepreneurs get their message out by appearing as guests on podcasts. Whether as a guest or the host of your own show, you can benefit from the power of podcasting. But like everything, it takes commitment and sweat equity to see results. If you’re willing to put in the work, you can stand out as an expert in your field and network with other thought leaders.
If you’re curious how to use Clubhouse for networking, check out the latest episode of the Go For Launch podcast. I literally met my guest, Marc Hayford, in a Clubhouse chat recently. I was checking out the hottest app and stumbled upon a room he was moderating. We hit it off, and I asked him to come on the show to talk about how to best use Clubhouse. It turns out Marc is an Air Force veteran and an Amazon 3-time best selling self help author. His books "Get Up," "365 Days Of Encouraging You To Attack Life," and most recently "Light Up The Darkness" have all hit #1 in Amazon's Self Help category as well as neurolinguistic programming and sports psychology. He is also a former radio personality for the Philadelphia-based talk show "The Get Up Power Hour" and a podcaster for his new "Get Up" podcast—which can be heard on all major podcast platforms. Perhaps the wildest personal story comes at the end of the episode—when Marc recounts how he became a professional wrestling referee for the WWE. I loved talking to Marc and meeting an interesting and engaging person who is now an acquaintance—all through the power of Clubhouse.
If you need to eliminate chaos in your business—and you're willing to admit things are out of control—you'll probably need a great coach to make it happen. Susan Fennema is the Chaos Eradicating Officer (CEO) of Beyond the Chaos, a consultancy that helps small business owners simplify their operations and manage their projects so they can grow their businesses and get their lives back. With more than 30 years of operations/project management experience in professional service industries, Susan is on a mission to improve American society exponentially. In this conversation on the Go For Launch podcast, Susan and I talk about the red flags of chaos that can impact your business. We spend a lot of time discussing the paradox of how creating more structure frees people up to be more creative, disciplined and effective. We also bust the myths of multi-tasking—the bane of many business owners and leaders.
In the latest Go For Launch podcast episode, you'll learn everything you need to know about press releases from one of the world's best authorities—Mickie Kennedy. Mickie is the founder and president of eReleases, the small business leader for press release distribution, now celebrating 23 years in business. He is an expert at helping small businesses increase their visibility and credibility through press releases, also known as media or news releases (for those of us who think 'press' sounds a bit print-centric and old-fashioned). eReleases distributes press releases to 550 news content systems, 3,000 newsrooms and more than 4,500 major news websites through PR Newswire’s network. Their media database exceeds 1.7 million contacts, including more than 700,000 bloggers and social media influencers. Mickie breaks down exactly what makes for a great press release and shares free resources to hone your release writing chops.
Chris Richards is a mindset mentor for 6-figure entrepreneurs who recognize that after focusing on their marketing, sales and business strategies, there are internal barriers to entrepreneurs’ success. These are often deep-seated fears, doubts and anxieties that can undermine and even cripple their progress. In addition to being a certified coach, Chris has a wealth of expertise and experience in psychology. He has developed a very special hypnosis method that combines the best of Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Hypnotherapy, Neurology and evidence-based Positive Reinforcement Conditioning. Chris’ clients regularly go from earning $10K-$20K per month to over $100K per month and beyond—but do it without fears, old money thinking patterns, anxiety or old habits getting in the way. In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, Chris reveals the main internal issues entrepreneurs face—and how to overcome them.
Michael Solomon “wrote the book” on understanding consumers. Hundreds of thousands of business students have learned about marketing from his books including Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being—the most widely used book on the subject in the world. Michael’s mantra is: We don’t buy products because of what they do. We buy them because of what they mean. He advises global clients on marketing strategies to make them more consumer-centric, and he is currently directing Nielsen’s revamp of its global Brand Health Model. Michael is a contributor at Forbes, where he writes about issues related to consumer behavior, marketing and retailing. His articles have been cited over 30,000 times, and he is frequently quoted in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, USA Today and Adweek. His newest book, The New Chameleons: Connecting with Consumers Who Defy Categorization, was published in February 2021. As a Professor of Marketing (in the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia), a sought-after keynote speaker, and an industry consultant, Michael combines cutting-edge academic theory with actionable real-world strategies. He helps managers get inside the heads of their customers so they can anticipate and satisfy their deepest and most pressing needs – today and tomorrow. An executive at Subaru said it best: “The man is a scholar who is current and street-wise.” In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, he talks about why people buy—and what both B2C and B2B businesses need to know. Learn what the “new normal” of consumer buying behavior will look like after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Trevor Blattner is the podcast host of Redefining The Top 1% and a leading thinker on Shepherd Leadership—a modern approach to leadership designed to encourage leadership that guides, supports and uplifts. With over 20 years of research, coaching, and expertise, Trevor has developed a model of leadership that breaks free of the antiquated and regressive notions of what it means to lead. His enlightened approach to leadership is based on behavioral science, personal experience building and managing a seven-figure business, and a strong commitment to personal values. Trevor is also the author of the forthcoming book, Redefining the Top 1%—7 Behaviors that Drive Shepherd Leadership. He shares his leadership philosophy and discusses the concept of Shepherd Leadership in this episode of the Go For Launch podcast.
Does Growth Hacking really impact revenue? Expert growth hacker and marketer Chris Out says yes. Chris is the author of the forthcoming book: Structuring for Extreme Revenue Growth: How to Quickly Monetize Your Biggest Business Opportunity. He co-founded, built and exited the largest growth marketing agency in The Netherlands, RockBoost, and has consulted hundreds of entrepreneurs on strategy, growth levers and the right next steps to profitably take their company to the next level. In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, Chris gives some solid advice on how to use growth hacking effectively to promote your products and services. Visit the show notes page for a free Growth Hacking cheatsheet from Chris: https://www.goforlaunch.io/show124
Want to get massive ROI from Facebook ads? Former software engineer Gustavo “Gus” Muñoz Castro has some great advice. Gus went from being a respected Microsoft Senior Engineer to being a top real estate agent who now helps other real estate agents through inside sales support. He runs one of the largest inside sales teams for real estate in North America (PowerISA), with 65 agents strong making about 50,000 outbound calls per day. They also set about 100 appointments with buyers and sellers every day, mostly from Facebook leads. Gus’ business earns 7-figures annually and has over 600+ active clients. In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, he shared some of his top tips on how to use Facebook ads to generate business leads—regardless of which industry you are in.
Dr. David Phelps owned and managed a private practice dental office for more than 21 years. While still in dental school, he began his investment in real estate by joint-venturing with his father on their first rental property in 1980. Three years later, they sold the property and David took his $25,000 capital gain share and leveraged it into 31 properties that later produced $15,000 monthly net cash flow. Life was good, the sky was the limit –until the dark day that David’s daughter, Jenna, was diagnosed with leukemia. In the midst of cancer treatments, epilepsy and ultimately a liver transplant for Jenna, David made the crucial decision to leave his clinical practice so that he could spend every moment with his daughter. David’s “Plan B” (a portfolio of cash-flow producing real estate assets) gave him the freedom to focus 100% on what mattered most to him. Jenna won the battle with disease, and David still enjoys the freedom to cherish every moment with her that he can. Today, David is a nationally recognized speaker on creating freedom, building real businesses and investing in real estate. He also combines his professional and personal experiences to illustrate how the tactical and aspirational work together. David’s new book is called What’s Your Next: The Blueprint for Creating Your Freedom Lifestyle, chronicles his story, and provides guidance and a call to action to others who are yearning to experience the Freedom Lifestyle.
Jeannie Sullivan is a business coach and course designer who teaches her clients how to create profitable online courses. Many of her clients refer to her as the “idea fairy!” But my career didn’t start out with “fairy” in the title. Right after graduate school, she fell in love with the field of instructional design. Working with Fortune 500 companies, Jeannie had the chance to solve problems, launch big ideas, and inspire adults to take action—all under the guise of building training programs. A few years later, she became a professional certified coach. Since leaving corporate America in 2010, Jeannie coached more than 200 professionals on how to become better leaders, leave their corporate jobs for solopreneurship, and design profitable learning-based revenue streams. She has also created training programs for many Fortune 100 companies on topics like customer service, sales performance and women in leadership. In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, she provides great insights and tips on how to launch a course quickly—without wasting time paying for and learning complicated course software.
Krishna Mohan knows how small businesses can survive in a big business world. As president of Genius Visionary, Inc. Krishna has a deep grasp on the understanding of business through his extensive experience working in many industries including manufacturing, consumer durables, and information technology. Over the last 20 years, he has worked with three Fortune 500 companies and several start-up organizations focusing on sales, business development and finance. His management style has been described as decisive and motivational where success comes from a focused commitment to developing new business, cultivating relationships, training salespeople and creating growth strategies. He also has comprehensive involvement with start-up operations and C-level negotiations and is the author of the best-selling book Elite Real Estate Professionals. In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, Krishna shares valuable lessons on how small businesses can learn the motivations of large companies—and strategies to work with them. He discusses uncommon tactics such as becoming a Tier 2 vendor as well as developing creative mergers and partnerships.
Devin Miller is the founder and CEO of Miller IP Law. In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, he discusses legal essentials for small businesses. Prior to starting his own firm, he was working for a large law firm helping Fortune 100 clients like Amazon.com, Intel, Redhat and Ford with their intellectual property. But Devin quickly realized that there weren’t many good intellectual property legal resources out there for start-ups and small businesses. As an entrepreneur, he wanted to help other small business owners learn about patents, trademarks, and copyrights so they can build value into their businesses and protect their assets. In addition to founding and running his own patent and trademark law firm, he is also the co-founder of several startups including a multi-million dollar startup for wearable glucose monitoring. He also runs a product development company that helps startups and small businesses with developing their ideas and products.
For 20 plus years, award-winning chiropractor Dr. Kelly Henry helped patients achieve and live healthier lives. Now he is helping other companies learn how to provide exceptional customer service. With the foundation of exceptional customer service and streamlined business procedures, Dr. Henry grew his business into one of the top producing chiropractic clinics in the nation with multiple locations and doctors. After retiring from private practice in 2018, Dr. Henry has dedicated himself to consulting and coaching business owners on how to create incredible growth and profits using the processes and procedures he used to create phenomenal success in his offices. In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, Dr. Henry shares a wealth of customer service tips from his new book, Define and Deliver Exceptional Customer Service.
Jennifer Lehner is one of my favorite digital marketing experts. She is adept at showing entrepreneurs how to build an audience and monetize their expertise online using social media and digital tools. She also creates online courses and trainings, and her favorite place to hang out is in her private mastermind, The Front Row VIP. I was honored to have her join the Go For Launch podcast to talk about how to build a strong online community—which she has done extremely well with the Front Row group on Facebook, with over 6,500 members!
Have you wondered how to optimize your website for Google? Do you find search engine optimization (SEO) to be overwhelming or confusing? SEO was all the rage about in the early 2000s, before Google made some very sweeping changes to how sites are ranked—and before paid ads got so cheap and effective. But in case you thought SEO faded away, it's still a major factor in online marketing. I spoke at length about the topic with Brandon Leibowitz, the founder of SEO Optimizers in Los Angeles, on this episode of the Go For Launch podcast. He talks about the state of SEO today and what matters most such as gaining quality backlinks. He also discusses newer opportunities such as featured snippets and Local SEO—along with his favorite tools.
When leadership meets crisis for the first time, you find out a lot. What people are made of. How they respond under pressure. Whether they succeed or fail. Claire Chandler and Ben Baker are the co-authors of a new book, Leading Beyond A Crisis: A Conversation About What’s Next. I had the pleasure of speaking with them in this episode of the Go For Launch podcast. Chandler helps complex, growing businesses build sustainable, profitable organizations. As president and founder of Talent Boost, she leverages over 25 years of experience in business leadership, human resources and communications to boost leadership alignment and effectiveness. Baker is the founder of Your Brand Marketing Ben helps clients understand what makes them special, unique and engaging. For the past 25 years, he has been helping companies communicate internally and developing the next generation of leaders. Through his work, brands tell engaging and meaningful brand stories that elevate and engage employees and compel customers to take action. As Chandler says of the global pandemic in 2020, "We have been coming off of a very prosperous economy, and some companies were truly unprepared and had not done the hard work during the good times of shoring up what worked so well." Baker added, "Many Millennials have worked for the past 10 years, and some are now in management roles—and they have never known crisis." The conversation focuses on how to embrace any crisis and turn it to your advantage.
Entrepreneur Peter Shankman talks about how he has harnessed the power of ADHD to achieve faster than normal entrepreneurial success in this episode of the Go For Launch podcast. If you want to peer into the mind of someone who has harnessed what some would consider a “weakness”—and instead flip the script to achieve faster than normal entrepreneurial success—I can’t think of a better person to talk to than Peter Shankman. Peter is a media entrepreneur who runs several businesses, gives keynote speeches around the world, hosts a popular podcast, runs marathons and Iron Mans, is a licensed skydiver and dabbles in angel investing. He’s founded and sold several successful companies, most notably Help A Reporter Out (HARO), which was acquired by Vocus in 2010. He’s also written five books, including the most recent Faster Than Normal: Turbocharge Your Focus, Productivity, and Success with the Secrets of the ADHD Brain. Peter spoke to me for this episode of the Go For Launch podcast. He’s candid about being diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) at the age of 30, and how he has learned to self-impose constraints to accomplish more in his life. As someone who also was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) late in life, I appreciate Peter’s perspective and what he’s been able to accomplish—by embracing his neurodiversity.
Sarah St. John is an entrepreneur, podcaster, author, animal lover and world traveler. She has created several startups throughout her entrepreneurial career of over a decade. Through her books, blog, and podcast, her goal is to show people how to launch and manage an online business on a budget. In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, Sarah shares tips on how to start low-cost online businesses as well as free and affordable tools.
Marcel Petitpas helps high growth creative agencies, consultancies and service businesses track the right metrics and maximize their profitability. Marcel is the CEO and founder of Parakeeto, a consultancy turned software company that helps service businesses increase profitability and close more deals by generating accurate, data-driven estimates in seconds using their existing time-tracking data. He’s also the fractional COO at Gold Front, an award-winning creative agency that works with top Silicon Valley brands like Uber, Slack, Google, Keap, Robinhood and more. Marcel is considered an expert on agency profitability optimization and is the host of the Agency Profit Podcast that is focused on the agency space. Visit the show notes page to download Parakeet's free Agency Profit Toolkit.
Todd Palmer of Extraordinary Advisors joins this episode of the Go For Launch podcast. to the podcast. Todd is an executive coach, keynote speaker, thought leader, author and CEO who is committed to helping business owners tackle their obstacles and clear their path to success. As an entrepreneur, Todd knows the struggles that business owners face regarding people, cash, strategy and execution. He took his company from being $600,000 in debt, to making the Inc. 5000 as one of America’s fastest-growing companies—six times! He specializes in helping leaders fuse the mission statement of the organization with their personal core values, while addressing fears, self-doubts and the ever-present imposter syndrome. He shares some of the lessons he’s learned along the way, along with a proven framework for helping business owners achieve success.
With all the noise online today, you might think the last things you could do to build an audience would be starting a blog or a podcast. But you’d be wrong! Both are still incredibly viable—and valuable—tactics if you approach them the right way. I was fortunate to speak with Alex Sanfilippo, the host of Creating a Brand—a top 20 entrepreneurship podcast where he interviews successful leaders and experts on topics that matter to entrepreneurs who want to grow faster both personally and professionally while saving time and money in the process. Alex is also the founder of PodMatch.com, a new site that matches podcast guests (subject matter experts) with podcast hosts. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Alex worked in the aerospace industry where he learned first-hand the rigors of applying a process to achieve success. Along the way, he also started and sold a successful blog that continues to rank highly in a specific niche. Between his blogging experience and now podcasting, Alex offered a ton of great advice on how to utilize both in order to build your audience.
Michael Hernandez is the Founder of Capture Happy, a media consultancy built to inspire people and brands to truly embrace their purpose. On this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, he talks at length about whether he thinks the traditional model for those types of agencies is dying. We also discuss the major shift—from when creativity ruled—and how that is rapidly changing due to the shift to digital media. The Agile philosophy is also impacting the marketing landscape. Gone are the days when agencies and their clients can hole up for months before rolling out campaigns...now the expectation is that things must move much faster and be more iterative along the way. Michael also shares his philosophy of “good dissenters”—who they are and why they are vital to innovative thinking. Finally, he discusses the benefits of working with generalists vs. specialists inside and outside of the new advertising model.
Annelise Worn is a CEO, business strategist, marketing mentor, speaker and mother of three. She joins the Go For Launch podcast to talk about marketing and building your business through personal branding and relationships. Several years ago, Annelise found herself getting asked for business and marketing advice from women who wanted more freedom in business and life, but didn’t know how to translate that into a viable business model, and take it to the world. Determined to provide a way for small business owners to get affordable access to expert marketers, she founded the Marketing Mentor Program in 2019. Annelise has a unique spectrum of experience that informs and filters through her work with clients. Annelise supports women to transform their business to discover the profit and freedom they started it to achieve. Her true passion lies in developing and implementing efficient, effective, high converting marketing strategies that actually move the needle. A featured expert across multiple forms of media and events both in Australia and internationally, Annelise shares her insight via a live weekly video show, 'The Social Marketing Method', as well as on the Mumstyle Business podcast.
John Peters is the CEO and co-founder of TrustedRentr, a web platform that simplifies the rental application process for both tenants and landlords. He joins the Go For Launch podcast to talk about the challenges and opportunities of starting a SaaS company. John graduated from the University of Maine in 2016 with a degree in Philosophy and Economics and had a passion for entrepreneurship. In 2018, he started TrustedRentr with his co-founder Steve Doman. They are working to create a new standard in renting. TrustedRentr creates trust between tenants and landlords with a new way to apply and screen applicants. This enables TrustedRentr amazing benefits to tenants such as increasing their credit score and lowering the initial costs of acquiring an apartment—and to landlords by lowering the risks of evictions, missed payments, and property damage.
The challenges of family-based businesses can be extreme. Fortunately, there are many who have “been there and done that” who have wisdom to share on warning signs to avoid along the way. Joining the Go For Launch podcast is Joe Pardo—also known as “Super” Joe Pardo—a New Jersey-based business coach. Joe focuses on designing individual solutions to accelerate growth with each of clients. He says it’s a team effort and not a templated approach that has allowed his journey to help a wide range of businesses at all levels. In 2014, Joe decided to leave his family’s $100 million business and pursue his dream of owning his own business by helping others pursue their dreams. He gives a lot of very candid background information that should serve as a cautionary tale for anyone thinking about (or already in!) a family business. By 2018, Joe was an award-winning podcaster and host of The Super Joe Pardo Show, along with being a business owner and a best selling author. Calling himself a Business Optimization Strategist, Super Joe brings a series of strategy, application, and execution planning to every entrepreneur, team and business that he works with. Founder of the Independent Podcast Conference, Joe focuses on putting the right methods into the best practices in order to bring about personalized solutions for each client.
Jeroen Corthout is co-founder and CEO of Salesflare, an intelligent CRM built for small-to-medium businesses selling B2B, mostly popular with agencies and SaaS companies. Salesflare itself was founded when Jeroen and his co-founder Lieven wanted to manage the leads for their software company in an easier way. They didn't like to keep track of them manually and built Salesflare, which pulls customer data together automatically. It's now the most popular CRM on Product Hunt and is also top-rated on review platforms like G2 for its ease of use and automation features. On the show, Jeroen talks about the benefits of Salesflare and his experiences building a SaaS company. He also describes the pros and cons of doing an AppSumo deal as well, which is insightful for anyone considering that as a way to gain awareness and users.
John Fuhrman is the Chief Rub Master of Bub n' Mutha's, a veteran-owned gourmet dry rub company with a Maine attitude. Their flavors can be used on just about anything from pork to beef, avocado toast, fried zucchini and more. Proudly made in Winter Harbor, Maine, the company ships across the United States. In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, he tells the origin story of starting the company, along with the ups-and-downs of launching a consumer product, dealing with retailers and more. A native of Maine, Fuhrman also discusses how he convinced “Mainers” (whose No. 1 choice of meat is of course lobsters!) to pick his product over larger competitors—and learn to prepare and cook other meats in the oven during the harsh Maine winters. As he said, “It had to be more than just a dry rub. Mainers like to have things with multiple uses. That’s the tradition and the common sense that makes everyone so resilient.” Fuhrman served in the U.S. Navy and takes pride in hiring veterans. For every 10,000 units sold, Bub 'n Mutha's hires an area veteran full-time for a year.
Barbara Turley’s mission is to eradicate “small business overwhelm” by simplifying the offshore outsourcing process and facilitating cost-effective business scalability. She is founder and CEO of The Virtual Hub, a virtual assistant recruitment and management agency that is disrupting a stale industry. Rather than doing business “the usual way,” The Virtual Hub creates their own virtual assistant successes through deep training programs including software like Hubspot and Ontraport, as well as ongoing career development and customized coaching to best serve each of their clients.
Cara Macklin is an award-winning businesswoman, entrepreneur and success coach specializing in innovative thinking, developing a powerful mindset and creating meaningful change. She joins the Go For Launch podcast to talk about developing entrepreneurial leaders. Both an entrepreneur and coach, Cara’s journey began at five years old, growing up in her family business where her education started around the kitchen table. She started her first business at age 15 and spent more than 15 years as a Director in the family business—an award-winning healthcare and hospitality group that grew from three businesses with 250 employees to seven businesses and 600 employees. In 2018, Cara disrupted the elderly healthcare industry in Ireland by creating the first ‘Lifestyle Care Home’ cited by the Institute of Directors’ (IoD) chairman as a ‘world-class concept.’ With a burning desire to help dynamic entrepreneurs, Cara now runs her own business called Caram. She helps entrepreneurs grow and create even greater success, with a unique blend of her business acumen and mindset coaching to think innovatively, act courageously, develop a powerful mindset and create meaningful change. Cara has been recognized for many achievements including Women in Business Outstanding Innovation, IoD finalist Director of the Year for Innovation, Women in Business Young Business Woman of the Year and NI Top 40 under 40 and has been featured on BBC, TedX, UTV, Business Eye, Business First Online, Q radio and is being featured on FOX TV.
Mauro F. Guillén, Ph.D. is the author of the new book, . It is already being widely praised; Cal Newport, author of Deep Work, calls it “Convincing and Compelling.” And Angela Duckworth, bestselling author of Grit, says the book is “a brilliant exploration of trends that will change the way we live, work and play.” Dr. Guillén is one of the most original thinkers at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he holds the Zandman Professorship in International Management and teaches in its flagship Advanced Management Program and many other courses for executives, MBAs and undergraduates. An expert on global market trends, he is a sought-after speaker and consultant. He combines his training as a sociologist at Yale and as a business economist in his native Spain to methodically identify and quantify the most promising opportunities at the intersection of demographic, economic and technological developments. His previous books include The Architecture of Collapse, Global Turning Points, and Emerging Markets Rule.
After generating $1 billion in sales - while remaining true to himself - Mohammed Elkhamissy—better known as MK—is on a mission to teach people about the real meaning of success and freedom and how they can obtain them. He is an angel investor with who’s always on the lookout for worthy businesses to support and for partners to work with. In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, he shares his personal story to inspire others to persevere despite obstacles. He also shares the tools that can help you reach his same level of success and beyond while maintaining a sense of freedom.
Anand Kansal is Marketing Lead at Outgrow, an interactive content platform designed for marketers. In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, he talks about how to create compelling, interactive content to convert more of your website visitors into leads and customers. Previously, Anand worked at several noteworthy SaaS companies including VWO and ReferralCandy. He has considerable experience in scaling up marketing and growth channels when it comes to SaaS products. If you'd like to check out Outgrow.co at a discount, use promo code outgrow+gfl (good through Sept. 2020).
Stacey Simms is the host of the award-winning podcast, Diabetes Connections, and the author of "The World's Worst Diabetes Mom." Stacey's son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2006, one month before he turned two, and Stacey started blogging about her family's experience with T1D a few weeks later. For more than a decade, she hosted Charlotte's Morning News on WBT-AM, the city's top-rated morning radio news show. Stacey's been named to Diabetes Forecast Magazine's "12 People to Know" as well the Charlotte Business Journal's "Forty under 40" and as one of the "50 Most Influential Women in Mecklenburg County" by the Mecklenburg Times. The Diabetes Connections podcast was won numerous awards, including: Diabetes Forecast Magazine: Top Diabetes Podcasts And The Podcast Awards - People's Choice - Top Ten Health. Stacey lives near Charlotte, NC, with her husband, two children and their dog, Freckles.
Aleric Heck is a YouTube ads expert and founder of AdOutreach. Aleric started out on YouTube 10 years ago by building the largest app review channel on the platform, called AdFind, with over 400,000 subscribers. He discovered the power of YouTube ads five years ago and ran highly profitable campaigns for dozens of companies around the world. Now, his company AdOutreach has helped thousands of entrepreneurs and marketers harness the power of YouTube ads to generate a collective 8-figures in revenue. He talks to Go For Launch podcast host Brandon Uttley about how to grow your business with YouTube ads.
A.C. Evans is the Co-Founder and CEO of Drips, the first conversational texting company of its kind. Drips helps businesses increase lead conversions by communicating through automated, humanized conversations at scale. Clients include Liberty Mutual Insurance and 3 Day Blinds, and CreditRepair.com. A.C. is a serial entrepreneur who overcame tough challenges as a kid, nearing failing high school and dropping out of college. He is passionate about “scaling the unscalable” in all his business ventures.
This episode of the Go For Launch podcast features Chad Sanderson, on the topic of how to exceed your sales quota. Chad an award-winning sales, marketing and business strategy consultant with more than 20 years of proven results in driving revenue growth, facilitating market expansions and building high-performance teams. Chad is Managing Partner of , where he is a sought-after and trusted advisor who helps global companies optimize sales across markets and verticals, and drive predictable revenue growth. Before joining ValueSelling Associates, Chad spent 11 years as an executive in the digital agency space. He has consulted with and enabled major brands, including Adobe, Verizon Wireless, eBay, Microsoft, Chrysler, and the Minnesota Vikings, just to name a few. Chad credits the ValueSelling Framework methodology for his ability to consistently exceed quota. Within four months of applying the formula, he closed his first $1 million deal. Since then, he has trained his sales and marketing teams in the ValueSelling Framework, resulting in their ability to deliver record-setting results quarter over quarter. Chad also hosts The B2B Revenue Executive Experience podcast.
Want to know how to succeed in affiliate marketing? The best person I know to ask is Matt McWilliams. Matt is the President of Matt McWilliams Consulting, which provides marketing consulting to small and medium sized businesses ranging from retail clothing to music instruction. He joined me on the podcast to talk about affiliate marketing—how to get started and how to partner with companies and individuals who sell high-ticket products and services. Entrepreneurs and companies such as Michael Hyatt, Ray Edwards, Brian Tracy, Lewis Howes, Shutterfly, Peter Voogd, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, Ziglar, Inc., and Jeff Goins have trusted Matt to run their affiliate launches. Get the links mentioned at .
Marketing at its heart is starting a conversation with someone who could be an ideal customer. Tom Schwab knows this very well, as he helps thought leaders get featured on leading podcasts that their ideal prospects are already listening to—like Go For Launch! Get his best advice in this episode of the Go For Launch podcast. Schwab is founder and Chief Evangelist Officer of Interview Valet, a leader in the practice of Podcast Interview Marketing. Now what exactly is podcast interview marketing? It’s where Interview Valet helps people like coaches, authors, entrepreneurs, franchisors and emerging brands get interviewed on top podcasts in the niche that serves their customers. Schwab is the author of Podcast Guest Profits: Grow Your Business With A Targeted Interview Strategy. Before starting Interview Valet, Tom honed his chops as an inbound marketing engineer. He also served in the U.S. Navy as an engineer on nuclear power plants.
Today's podcast features Rob Walch, VP of Podcaster Relations for Libsyn. Walch was inducted into the Podcasting Hall of Fame in 2016 and is the VP of Podcaster Relations for Libsyn. He is co-author of “Tricks of the Podcasting Masters,” an editors pick as a Top 10 Reference book for 2006 by Amazon. Walch started podcasting in 2004 as host of the award-winning podCast411 podcast, where he interviewed guests such as Quincy Jones, Walt Mossberg & Larry Kudlow. He has consulted on podcasting for Jack Welch, Tim Ferriss, and eBay to name just a few. Libsyn pioneered the system to host and publish podcasts in 2004 and since then has grown to become the largest leading podcast network worldwide. Learn more at . Use promo code Launch to get 1+ months for free (new accounts only); please note that this is an affiliate code from Go For Launch.
In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, I talk to entrepreneur Judd Armstrong. A native of Australia, Judd is perhaps best known for starting a wireless resolution in 2006, when he founded and bootstrapped Jaybird, which became the third premium headphone brand in the US alongside Beats and Bose. He sold the company to Logitech in 2016. But life was not always so rosy, and in fact early on Judd left Australia to pursue a woman who would ultimately become his wife. He sold his possessions including a prized car and started in a retail job making $10 an hour—which didn’t help pay off tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt. But selling Jaybird, he could finally relax a bit and take a few years off to farm in Australia. In the meantime, he developed a lifestyle-friendly method of trading Bitcoin which grows money by 100x within just a few years. He has now made this method available for the first time with his Unlisted app which is designed from the ground up to cater to the needs of first-timers, with performance that delights experienced traders as well. He’s also launching a new app this summer called Jump, which was born from his intensive study of the power of positive thought and how our subconscious plays into our relationships with happiness health and wealth. Learn more at , and .
Traffic Secrets is the latest book from Russell Brunson. Listen to my review of this outstanding completion to his trilogy, following DotCom Secrets and Expert Secrets. You can order a free copy (just pay shipping) at .
How would you like to create and sell digital products? You might be surprised how relatively easy it is to do this and start earning extra income. In today’s podcast, I share information about why digital products are so effective. I also talk about the process of creating them—speaking from personal experience. Over the past week, I created a multi-part digital product offering just to demonstrate I could (and to create a passive revenue source!). Then I did a webinar about it and launched the product, How to Create and Sell Digital Products. The opportunity to share your knowledge by selling it online is vast and continues to grow. There are virtually endless possibilities of packaging your expertise in a variety of digital ways. Listen to the end when I give a discount code for the new course I created on this topic.
Want to know how to write a best-selling book? Believe it or not, there’s a service for that now. It’s called Book In A Box, and it is a game changer for professionals who want to write a book but don’t know how—or who can’t commit the time that is typical involved. I had the pleasure of speaking with Tucker Max, the co-founder and CEO of Book In A Box, that has turned book writing and publishing into a service. Tucker himself has written three #1 New York Times Best Sellers, which have sold over three million copies worldwide. He is only the third writer (after Malcolm Gladwell and Michael Lewis) to have three books on the New York Times Nonfiction Best Seller List at one time. Tucker admittedly has a colorful past, which is well documented. He says he tends to “slow play that” when he meets new people. “Not because I’m embarrassed or ashamed of anything, but it actually works the other way around for me,” he says. “Most people try and tell you how great they are. If you don’t do that but someone finds out on their own that you’ve done great things or cool things…it’s a better way.” He does say there are periods of his life when “almost everything I did was stupid…but the things people think I’m supposed to regret, I don’t regret at all—in fact I’m proud of them. I did the things that everyone did, but I have the courage and the honesty to say them out loud.” Now at the age of 40—married with a young son—Tucker has embarked on a new entrepreneurial path. He told me the story of being challenged by a successful businesswoman into figuring out the concept for Book In A Box, which literally helps people write a book without actually doing the writing itself. Their process is proving to be highly successful, with a string of best-selling book launches. Tucker even claims he was inspired by Socrates to create the process. Visit the show link to download a free copy of their own book that explains their methodology in detail.
Some of the most promising startups happen when their founders discover how to disrupt an industry. They see opportunities to radically change or improve “business as usual.” That is what Mike Devlin and his cofounders are doing with LureBoats, an online marketplace that enables customers to book boat charters across the country right from their computer or mobile device—it’s like an OpenTable or Airbnb for fishing charters.  Mike is cofounder and CBO of LureBoats. He graduated in 2014 from the University of South Carolina, Darla Moore School of Business. Prior to LureBoats, he worked for a boutique consultancy in Boston specializing in working with medical device startups.  Mike's passion for the outdoors and creating user friendly services drove him to start LureBoats and seek to disrupt the charter boat industry. Learn how Mike and his team are navigating the sometimes murky and deep waters of the fishing charter industry to make it easier for customers to find and book their trips. They are also expanding to serve people who want to book other types of boat charters such as sunset cruises, dinner tours, sightseeing tours and party barges.
Many people have this idea that they can start a business by helping others. But few act on their instincts. Kathryn Jones is one of those who decided to turn her passion for improving others' lives into a business that is helping children who are facing medical treatment get the emotional support they need. Kathryn is co-founder and head of product development for SuperHealos, a company dedicated to helping children facing medical treatment feel like superheroes. Before living life as an entrepreneur, Kathryn was in fashion and event coordination, organizing events all over Manhattan including the famed Mercedes Benz fashion shows. Although the fast paced environment was exciting, her love of helping others prompted her to start a second career as an Occupational Therapist. Through physical rehab, she helps people of all ages live their lives as independently and meaningfully as possible. Working at the hospital bedsides of children and families, Kathryn realized that fear of the unknown was the worst thing for someone trying to recover from illness and injury. When approached by a good friend and asked to start SuperHealos, a company focused on using superheroes and education to reduce fear for children facing medical treatment, she jumped at the chance. As well as enjoying the opportunity to merge her passions for design and health care, Kathryn is loving her new title as a “superhero of health!” Listen to the story of how Kathryn and her partner dove right in when the idea struck them for SuperHealos. They did not rely on extensive market research—instead, they started with nothing more than their passion and basic materials to create their first prototype products (superhero capes) for children. “I think being naive helps us quite a bit, because [starting a business] can be very paralyzing,” Kathryn says. She talks about running a successful Kickstarter campaign, along with getting a lot of support through the InnoLoft, an accelerator program sponsored by Constant Contact in Boston.
How would you like to make money with affiliate marketing? There’s no better person to learn from than Matt McWilliams. Matt is the president of Matt McWilliams Consulting, where he helps online business owners and brands, small and large, leverage the power of partners to grow their businesses. Specifically, he teaches people how to make money as an affiliate and how to work better with affiliates. Matt has worked with companies and entrepreneurs like Shutterfly, Ray Edwards, Brian Tracy, Lewis Howes, Jeff Goins and more. Affiliate marketing is a lot more challenging than most people realize—whether you are simply trying to make extra money marketing products from others, or seeking others to promote your products and services. “There is an art to knowing what you should promote as an affiliate,” Matt says. He offers a free checklist and scoring system to determine if something you want to sell is worthy of promoting. If you are just starting out and have a small list, Matt offers some great advice on how to solicit feedback. (And it’s not the cliche “What are you struggling with” email.) Matt is a big proponent of hustling, and he shares several stories of how long it took him to get on the radar of some of his biggest clients. What’s more, he dives into how to charge for your time and go beyond typical hourly rates.
I recently talked to two experts about what entrepreneurs need to know about HR (human resources). Shannon Cook is a SHRM Senior Certified Professional with over 17 years’ experience in Human Resources. She received her Professional Certification in Human Resources Management from UCLA, and is the proud wife of a business owner. She works with Insperity, a trusted advisor to America's best businesses for more than 30 years that provides an array of human resources and business solutions designed to help improve business performance. Shannon has served her clients as an HR Specialist and as a Client Liaison. Shannon also developed national level trainings and resources for her colleagues in the field to support client satisfaction and efficiencies for the service teams. Earlier this year, she transitioned to a Business Performance Advisor role within Insperity and support’s Insperity’s mission to Help Businesses Succeed So Communities Prosper. Having the unique combination of business owner perspective and a HR background, she is able to empathize with the challenges a business owner faces and offer solutions that fit their long and short term strategies. Also joining us on the podcast is Luke Williams. Luke is the head of sales and operations for Zenworkforce. An entrepreneur nearly his entire life, he has founded multiple companies and has a great deal of experience helping start-ups and emerging companies start and grow their sales and organization functions. Luke joined Zenworkforce in 2015 to assist the company with entering the B2B market. His company, Grab A Cloud, specializes in consulting pre-revenue companies acquire their first customers and develop strategies for scaling operations. Zenworkforce is an employee performance documentation software that allows managers to document activities in real-time to encourage positive reinforcement and ensure accurate documentation of areas of opportunity. Zen workforce allows managers to operate more efficiently, it helps facilitates employee engagement, and provides risk mitigation assistance to the executive team.
How does a high school kid who speaks no English immigrate to America, overcome racial tensions, graduate from college and go on to earn millions with WordPress (among other things)? That is just part of the amazing story of Syed Balkhi. I had the honor of meeting Syed two different times in 2015. He joins me on today's podcast to talk about his impressive entrepreneurial journey. Syed is a 25- year-old, award-winning entrepreneur with several 7-figure online businesses. He was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by the United Nations. Today, Syed is a partner in numerous companies, including WPBeginner, OptinMonster, ThemeLab, SoliloquyWP, Envira Gallery and WPForms.
Dan Waldschmidt helps billion-dollar companies and high performers develop a winning edge. His bestselling book, EDGY Conversations: How Ordinary People Can Achieve Outrageous Success, is a blueprint that goes beyond typical self-help advice. Dan is a popular speaker, business strategist and an ultra-runner who since birth has been refusing to accept business as usual. Like many kids, he had a lawn mowing business, but he turned his into a money-making machine (though he opted not to tell his mom about his increased profits). He ran track like plenty of other kids, but he pushed himself to break his high school’s mile record. He got the usual entry-level job right of college, but then he changed the sales process, earned millions of dollars for the company, and became CEO by the time he was 25. These days, Dan is a people strategist and a conversation changer, serving as president and chief antagonist at Waldschmidt Partners International. Dan and his team help people arrive at business-changing breakthrough ideas by moving past outdated conventional wisdom, social peer pressure and the selfish behaviors that stop them from being high performers. Using his experience as a technology CEO and his fascination with neuroscience, he helps companies use extreme behavior and radical conversations to blow away the competition and dominate their industry. The Wall Street Journal calls his blog, Edgy Conversations, one of the top seven blogs sales blogs anywhere on the Internet, and hundreds of his articles on unconventional sales tactics have been published.
Are you just running a business merely for the sake of making money—or have you discovered how to work on purpose, with a clear mission? Scott Beebe has many missions in life, among them helping small business owners and organizational leaders uncover what they cannot see. As the founder and head coach of , a business coaching, training, and strategy group, he does this in three primary ways: Through the development and implementation of organizational Vision, Mission and Values By systematizing and automating business systems so owners can work ON their business and less time IN their business By leading virtual Business On Purpose Mastermind groups Scott is also the host of The Business On Purpose podcast, a weekly podcast where Scott interviews small business owners to get their insights on how they are living out their business on purpose.
When it comes to starting and running your own business, Joshua Latimer has a great saying: "Everybody sees the wine, but no one sees crushing of the grapes." Josh knows firsthand how challenging it is to start your own venture—and how much grape-crushing is needed. He left his job as a banker for JP Morgan Chase to start a cleaning business in Michigan that he eventually grew and sold to a California based cleaning conglomerate in 2015. Now, he is living and working from Costa Rica with his wife and their four kids, where he helps small business owners all over the world understand the power of business systems and automation, and the freedom they can bring. Josh is the founder of Automate Grow Sell, an online training platform for small local service businesses as well as Send Jim, a follow up automation tool for busy professionals. Josh's story of overcoming many difficulties as an entrepreneur will inspire you to get going and keep going!
Learn how to invent products and bring them to market in this interview with Louis Foreman. Louis is founder and Chief Executive of Enventys, an integrated product design and engineering firm. He is also CEO of Edison Nation, and Edison Nation Medical.
Discover how to monetize your expertise and work anywhere with Caitlin Pyle. Caitlin is a 29-year-old former desk zombie turned business transformation consultant. She’s the creator of ProofreadAnywhere.com, home of the online course Transcript Proofreading: Theory and Practice™, the first-ever online course on how to work from anywhere by proofreading transcripts for court reporters. She teamed up with a colleague to expand the brand by launching Transcribe Anywhere in January 2016. An authentic and effective content marketer, Caitlin turned ProofreadAnywhere into a six-figure+ blog and business within three months, and total business revenue reached $1 million within 15 months. To teach others her unique method of building platforms, carving out authority in a niche, and monetizing digital products, Caitlin developed TheWorkAnywhereLife.com blog and the Monetize Your Genius™ course.
Most people and companies have a goal to "drive more traffic" to their website. But a more crucial goal is to increase your website conversions, or the number of visitors you capture into your sales funnel. You want to make every website click count. My guest on today's podcast is an expert on the subject of turning browsers into buyers. Justin Christianson is a 14-year digital marketing veteran and #1 Bestselling author of Conversion Fanatic: How to double your customers, sales and profits with A/B testing. He is also the co-founder and president of Conversion Fanatics, a full service conversion rate optimization company that helps companies get more out of their digital traffic efforts. Justin talks about why conversions are so important and what some of the most effective tactics are for attracting and converting website traffic, including Ebooks, coupon codes, training programs, videos, free products and discounts.
Get ready to learn about the power of direct response copywriting from one of the masters of the craft, Scott Martin, founder of Scott Martin Copywriting. He joins me on today's Go For Launch podcast. Scott has been a professional copywriter for his entire career. He was born in America, spent his formative years in England, then moved back to America where he lived in Charlotte, North Carolina for 27 years. He now lives in Aspen, Colorado. He has taken detours into corporate communications, magazine publishing, and writing books but he has always written copy. Today, he’s a direct response copywriter. His clients include direct marketing giants like Agora, The Motley Fool, and Ryan Deiss’s Digital Marketer. But he also writes for much smaller businesses including a local pub. He has helped this small establishment build an opt-in email database of 2,500 people. Scott is a member of the Titans marketing group run by former boardroom executive Brian Kurtz. He conservatively estimates that his copy has generated over $50 million in revenue in the last four years. One of his clients was named the fastest growing business in the Charlotte area by The Charlotte Business Journal. He’s written 17 books, including a book about Caddyshack, published by Taylor Trade. Right now, he’s focusing on direct response copy—plus he just launched two websites with resources for direct marketers and direct response copywriters. Topics we discuss include: How Scott was spurred to become an entrepreneur after being laid off as a corporate copywriter How he decided to write the book and what it was like to track down some of the people who made the movie The basics of the craft of copywriting Specifics of Scott’s specialty, direct response copywriting Why direct response copywriting is critical to selling products and services Scott’s process for engaging with his direct response clients Why testimonials are so vital (“like snow at a ski resort”) and how to improve them Why Scott does not write branding ads and branding copy (and how these differ from direct response copy) The origins of direct response copywriting (in the 13th century!) Some of the reasons why it has remained powerful and effective for thousands of years A timeless example from the Gary Bencivenga, considered the greatest living direct response copywriter Other masters of neurolinguistic programming How to measure the ROI of direct response copy A great exercise to hone your direct response copywriting skills
Learn to tell your business story with infographics, one of the most powerful and effective digital communications tools. Brian Wallace of NowSourcing joins me in this episode of the Go For Launch podcast. Brian is the president of NowSourcing, an industry leading infographic design agency based in Louisville, KY. The agency works with companies that range from small businesses to Fortune 500 firms. Brian also runs a local event to make Louisville a more competitive city (#ThinkBig) and he has been named a 2016 Google Small Business Advisor. Brian began his career in technology, and at one point became chief technology officer at a firm outside New York City. But he wanted more flexibility. He was fortunate to convince the company to allow him to leave and retain them as his first client. While he was good at the IT work, he found he liked marketing more than tech support. So in 2005, he switched his agency's focus and got into social media consulting early. However, the space started getting crowded and in 2008-2008, he decided to specialize in designing and promoting infographics for clients. See below for a great example of their work. NowSourcing has become the top choice for companies who need to tell a compelling story visually. Brian and he team spend weeks, not hours, doing a “deep dive” to understand their client’s message and objectives, design the actual graphic and perhaps most importantly drive traffic through their extensive network of media partners. The company recently launched the first “virtual reality” infographic at South by Southwest.
Have you been thinking about starting your own business for awhile? Progress from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur with advice from Brian Lofrumento, my guest on this week's Go For Launch podcast. Brian is the creator of The Ultimate Profit Model and author of the book Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur. Brian’s businesses have reached over 3.5 million people in over 200 countries. Brian built a six-figure SEO agency at the age of 24 and has helped over 50 clients from around the US and over 3,000 students from around the world grow and automate their businesses by implementing high-converting sales and marketing funnels. Brian started early as an entrepreneur. While many of his college classmates were playing video games in their spare time, he was starting a website in 2009 about soccer that he grew to a profitable audience of over 3.5 million worldwide. Soon, people started asking him how he built the webiste traffic so effectively--which led him and a friend to start an SEO agency in 2012. What started as a side hustle became a full-time venture. But in recent years, Brian started moving away from what he calls the "old way" of doing business which essentially takes a long time to convince people to buy from you. While he still values "long game" activities like SEO and participating in social media, he has developed faster, more scalable ways of attracting and converting customers. During our conversation, we talking about his "go to" source for marketing his own business. We also discuss his book and his course, which he says is aimed directly at "action takers" only. He freely gives discounts to those who sign up for his course but are not serious on following through. Brian is currently giving away 1,000 free copies of his book (you just pay shipping).
Have you ever encountered a problem and said to yourself, "There should be a solution for this!" That is what happened to Anne Brewer, who decided to turn frustration into business inspiration. Anne is the inventor and owner of Pocket Palz® and Potti Pocket®. As the product names imply, these products literally started with a lightbulb moment in a bathroom. Picture this: you are enjoying an outdoor concert and go to use a portable toilet, only to have your cell phone fall in! That is almost what happened to Anne in the summer of 2014 when she used a portable toilet at a concert and her smartphone fell out of her back pocket and onto the floor. She was lucky it didn’t fall in! But she thought there has to be a better way, and she immediately began researching smartphone holders in concert venues, stadiums, ballparks, restaurants and movie theaters… and there were none! So she invented Pocket Palz®, the safe, secure, sanitary and convenient place to put your smartphone so you can be hands free. I recently had the pleasure of meeting Anne at one of the Network for Entrepreneurs events in Wilmington, NC. She was kind enough to join me on the podcast to share more of her entrepreneurial journey.
Are you a trainer or a coach? How would you like to make the leap from physical to virtual training? Jeff McMahon is doing that, with about one third of his personal training business now being conducted virtually with some marquee clients in the online business/marketing space, including Pat Flynn Chris Ducker, Jeff Wenberg and Lindsey Anderson. Jeff is owner and founder of Total Body Construction, and he has been a personal trainer for almost a decade now. He has degrees in Pre-Med/Pre-Pharm and is dual certified in exercise science and sports medicine. Jeff’s training style is different than most due to his diverse background and expertise. With a blackbelt in Tae Kwon Do, a certification in lifestyle and wellness, and experience doing massage therapy for three years, he has helped everyone with issues ranging from: Weight loss to weight gain Cancer to diabetes Injury rehab to celiac disease Back issues to sports specific training With over 6,000 different exercises in his playbook, we says you will never repeat a workout and you will never be bored! Virtual training allows people to enjoy exercise in the comfort of their own home, save time by not having to travel and sit in traffic, and use whatever equipment they have or want to order. There is an accountability factor that is the key ingredient to results and progress. Jeff calls Total Body Construction a “one stop shop” for transforming your life into what you want it to be. In our interview on the Go For Launch podcast, Jeff talks about wanting to become a surgeon but being unable to when he learned he was color blind. So he switched from medical school to training. His mom also had a massive stroke when he was in college. That spurred him on in his training, and he spent three years studying massage therapy. One day when he was helping his mom, she mentioned she wished she didn’t have to leave the house for therapy sessions, and Jeff started to think about how he could help her and other through virtual training. When a gym he was working with closed, he rented a facility and kept training his clients. Nearly a decade later, he now trains about two thirds of his clients in person and one third virtually. However, he has been growing the virtual side quickly since starting it about two years ago. Jeff’s clients receive different communications during his virtual training, ranging from weekly emails to a program where they see Jeff for 1-3 hours (using online technologies such as FaceTime, Skype and Zoom) and do workouts together. Jeff has had his share of entrepreneurial ups and downs. He started a 5k race company to raise money for charity, until to lose $15,000 in the process. It taught him to really focus on what he is best at and loves doing.
What happens when jobs are we know them are gone? Are you ready for the coming end of the 9-5? Taylor Pearson is on a quest to delve into the current and future trends behind tremendous shifts taking place in traditional global workforces. Taylor is an entrepreneur and author of The End of Jobs: Money, Meaning and Freedom Without the 9-to-5. Inc.com rated The End of Jobs one of the Top Three ‘Start Your Own Business’ Books and a Top 25 Business Book of 2015. He joins me on today’s podcast. Taylor’s book is full of anecdotes about the sweeping changes in what constitutes “work” for most people. For example, he talks about a child being born in 1870, when 80 percent of the population worked in agricultural jobs. Yet over the next hundred years, that figure would flip to 80% of people working in offices vs. just four percent in agriculture. He asserts that what used to be “safe” (having a 9-5 type of job) is now risky…whereas the opposite is true for entrepreneurship, with fewer barriers to entry and a bigger potential upside. He talks about several big trends, including globalization; the massive increase in the number of college degrees and the rise of ubiquitous of software and technology. For entrepreneurs, he cites several pluses including ready access to a large pool of capable talent and inexpensive software for communications and other key functions.
Do you have a business that is largely dependent on your providing services? How would you like to transition to sell products instead. That is what my guest today has done, transitioning from services provider to custom software developer. Greg Forehand is the founder and CEO of Ekos. Since starting the company in 2002, Greg has designed and developed software for some of the largest companies in the world. More recently, he has moved the business away from custom software development and is now focused on writing software used by craft beverage manufacturers such as breweries and distilleries. Since launching Ekos Brewmaster in the summer of 2014, the Ekos team has seen a very positive response from the craft beverage industry. With more than 500 craft brewery customers, Ekos Brewmaster has quickly become the most widely used brewery management software in the world. Greg lives in the thriving craft brewery community of Charlotte, NC, with his wife Kate, and daughters Maddi and Lilly. In our interview, Greg recalls the challenges of being mainly a services provider and how they made the conscious decision to focus on being a product company. Over time, they kept looking for the right opportunity to serve a small, underserved market. Early on, they explored building software to track raw materials in various agricultural areas. In the process of doing research, he reached out to talk to a few breweries about what raw materials they use and learned they had needs that were not being fulfilled. After lining up several initial breweries to advise him as industry experts, they began to build Ekos Brewmaster in an iterative fashion. Now in a mature state, the cloud-based software handles everything from purchasing of raw materials, planning of recipes in batches all the way through production processes, plus packaging, invoicing and accounting (with QuickBooks integration). Due to many industry regulations, the system also tracks a lot of information for tax purposes and compliance. Greg talks about different ways to bring an idea for software to fruition, especially if you do not have technical skills. These include hiring a developer outright or partnering with someone and co-owning the intellectual property. He also goes into detail about “pacing yourself” when going into a niche direction, in order to prove the business model works—as well as ensure you have the cash flow to support it in the early stages. One final note—let me give a special shoutout to Wicked Weed Brewing in Asheville, NC, for the Black Angel beverages we enjoyed when we taped the show!
What’s ailing you? What if you could solve your pain and start a business at the same time? That is what my guest on today’s podcast did with a revolutionary new health product. Jerry Collins is CEO and cofounder of Treadwell Corporation based in Wilmington, NC. After graduating from the University of Maine with a degree in finance and and an MBA, he spent 10 years as a commercial bank manager and lender. This was followed by three successful entrepreneurial ventures in the retail grocery business, financial consulting and a medical services organization. Jerry also served for 20 years as executive in the C-Suite (CEO & CFO) for Rural Health Clinic and Federally Qualified Health Center organizations. In 2009, he joined Treadwell after the system they invented helped him personally treat symptoms of Restless Leg Syndrome (cramping of feet and legs at night) that had been previously unsuccessfully treated for the prior five years. In our discussion, Jerry shares a very cautionary tale about how he bought his first business, a grocery store in a growing community. The aging owners painted a rosy picture of profitability when in fact they were fabricating the numbers to boost the sales prices. Despite Jerry’s banking acumen and access to a lot of industry and financial information that told him everything looked great, on paper, the owners fooled him. Within six months, he found the business failing—despite customers who raved about it. He had to tap into this savings until he nearly went out of business. This was followed by months of legal pursuit. Fortunately, he did receive some remuneration, yet tragically the original owner took his own life when the full extent of the damages were revealed. In the end, Jerry sold the business for a profit after three years. On a brighter note, Jerry talks about how he a childhood friend and physical therapist, Richard Hand, discovered how to solve Jerry’s restless leg pain with a device Richard was developing to help elderly patients improve their circulation. Interestingly, the device was fashioned after an old treadle (foot pedal) used on a sewing machine, which was sitting in the home of one of the elderly patients he worked with. The device, known as the TREDLR™, increases circulation significantly throughout the body with minimal user effort. They are making inroads into long-term care, assisted living, primary care. independent living and adult daycare facilities. Additional markets they are pursing include workplace wellness, athletic recovery and performance, the consumer in-home market and medical diagnostics.
What drives you to become a successful entrepreneur? Have you truly discovered your "why?" Austin Hulsey is someone who has spent years discovering where his skills and passions intersect as an entrepreneur. Austin is the CEO and Founder of , a Nashville-based startup specializing in high performance natural supplements and nutritional education. His mission is to inspire people to find their true-life why, take insane action, and never settle until their dreams become a reality. Austin has an Associates degree in Health Sciences and is currently finishing his Bachelors degree in foods, nutrition and dietetics at Tennessee State University. In 2010, he founded Avera Skincare, a company specializing in local handmade cosmetics. In 2015, he founded Precision Pressure Washing & Sealing which provides residential and commercial maintenance services. He is also co-author of the children's book Nanook. In our discussion on the podcast, Austin and I talk about the following topics: • How he started young as an entrepreneur • Whether we think entrepreneurs are born or made • When Austin starting participating in mastermind groups—and the power they bring to entrepreneurs • His first business (in the skincare industry)—how it did well initially but ultimately failed • The key to success (discovering your “why”) • How he learned to let failure mold vs. break him • Why doing everything by himself was a mistake • How he started his current nutritional supplement business (NutriFitt) • How the business is different (such as having a registered sports dietician on staff) • Ways he is dealing with the hype and competition in the supplement industry • Austin's Top 5 tips to entrepreneurs: ◦ Find a mentor ◦ Network, network, network ◦ Join a mastermind group. Have a laser focus. Great quote: “If you have six great ideas, eliminate five of them.” — Jeff Hoffman ◦ Combine crazy action with insane faith
How would you like a proven system to get more business referrals? Stacey Brown Randall has perfected the art of dramatically increasing the referrals for her own business and her clients' businesses. It is a major focus of her consulting practice, which is to help business owners avoid business failure. She knows – she’s been there, done that and got the t-shirt! What Stacey learned when her first business failed is now what is making all the difference with her current ’ success. And she is sharing all of her secrets. Her online programs and live coaching sessions provide a blueprint to follow to take control of your business by increasing sales through “sticky” clients and creating a strategy to unleash a referral explosion in your business. Stacey calls herself a business growth accelerator…with a focus on helping solopreneurs, micro/small business owners and people on commission make more money and find more time. Stacey is a three-time entrepreneur and a certified productivity and time efficiency coach. She also has a background in sales and marketing, is an adjunct professor, and an aspiring author. Stacey received her Master’s degree in Organizational Communication and is married with two young children. She and her husband also just welcomed the newest member to their family as they have the privilege of raising their 8-year-old nephew. We cover a lot of ground in our discussion, with topics that include: Stacey's first entrepreneurial venture (in HR generational consulting) How she got her first big client Why the business ultimately failed The three secrets she learned from the experience (i.e., work on new business development every day; have the right mindset; and pay attention to how to scale the business when the time is right to do so) Why just building her own brand and reputation was not enough from a business standpoint How she developed a “bulletproof mindset” (and what it means for her) The advice someone gave her about building a “lifestyle business” that was totally counterproductive to success What happened when she did not pay attention to shifts in the market Her experience in having to go back to a corporate job (in the financial services industry) for 15 months How she launched her second business as a productivity coach How she developed her referral strategy (which ironically came from her original business failure) What is making the difference in results with her current business (which has a primary emphasis on helping clients develop a referral and client retention strategy) The first mistake most people make with referrals (and if you are having to ask, you’re doing it all wrong!) Other mistakes she saw from the financial services model Details about Stacey’s online course, Who will benefit most from the course (anyone in “human to human sales,” such as residential and commercial Realtors, mortgage brokers, financial advisors, CPAs, attorneys, home builders, interior designers, acupuncturists, business coaches, marketing consultants and others) Why referability is not a short-term fix Why Stacey thinks paying for referrals is dead wrong (and better ways to “pay back” people who send you referrals) The true reason people give referrals (and it’s not about you)
Learn how to launch and scale your business with the , an amazing new visual tool and methodology created by Ja-Naé Duane and her husband, Steven Fisher. For over 20 years, Ja-Naé has focused on one mission: to make life better for as many people as possible. With that goal in mind, she founded or co-founded five different organizations, including Wild Women Entrepreneurs, The Leaders, the National Artistic Effort and the Massachusetts Artist Leaders Coalition. She currently leads the Revolution Institute while also teaching at Emerson College and Northeastern University. At Clark University, she holds the position of Entrepreneur-in-Residence. The author of and , Ja-Naé excels at advising startups because she understands from personal experience what it means to be an social entrepreneur. Over the years, her work has caught the attention of The Associated Press, NPR, Classical Singer Magazine, The Boston Globe and Business Week. In 2007, she was nominated as one of New England’s Most Innovative Leaders. Topics we discussed: How she studied opera and began her career as an opera singer and sang around the world, including at the White House How she changed course in 2008 when the economy collapsed, including running social media for a site for networking events called Rise.com What that led to—starting Wild Woman Entrepreneurs with three other women and $100 - that quickly grew to 55 chapters in seven countries in less than nine months Exactly how they invested that first $100 (and why bartering for certain services was essential to their growth) Other tips to leverage the resources you have and growth hack your products or services How she allocates time today to help other entrepreneurs who are just starting out (and her advice for those who are seeking “free” advice) How she and her husband came up with their book, The Startup Equation — and what the “equation” looks like depending on what kind of business you want to start How the equation changes as your business grows What their Startup Periodic Table of Elements is about How you can use it to pivot your business (and why it’s like a “choose your own adventure” type of book with over 140 infographics and 40 interviews with entrepreneurs from different industries around the world)
How would you like to 10x your business success? That is one of the goals of Scott Hansen in working with his clients. Scott is a high performance coach, sought after speaker, podcast host and published author. He joins me on today's Go For Launch podcast. Along with working with Fortune 500 companies, Scott has trained and coached entrepreneurs and executives on how to live a life of purpose and significance. Scott is the creator of Success Blueprint On Demand, an exclusive, high performance program teaching entrepreneurs how to 10x their business, get more clients and build multiple income streams online. In addition, Scott is a contributing writer at biznews.com and Entrepreneur.com. He is also a web-show TV host, and creator of Success Hackers, one of the most popular business podcasts on iTunes. Topics Scott and I discuss include: • How he worked in corporate sales and marketing before he had a "calling" to jump into entrepreneurship • Why he advises new entrepreneurs to build a bridge from their corporate paycheck—and not to get too aggressive and quit their day job before the time is right • Why being an entrepreneur is not for everyone • How he met an early mentor who was instrumental to his success (and who still advises him today) • How his mentor convinced him to get into podcasting • The most common themes that have emerged in his conversations with successful entrepreneurs, including: - Don’t just chase the money…either have a passion and a purpose or identify a specific gap or need in the marketplace - Hire a mentor — someone who is doing what you want to do (and don’t wait until you’ve “made it” to pay for their advice!) - Surround yourself with people who play bigger than you • Tips from Scott's 10x mantra to help entrepreneurs multiple their success by a factor of 10, such as: - It starts with your mindset (80%) vs. your skill set (20%) - Why you have to get out of your comfort zone and take your blinders off - Ways to stand out in your marketplace • His new book, Success Hackers, that launched in February 2016 (visit his website below to get a free copy)
Do you know how to network like a boss? If not, pull up a chair and learn some strategies from one of the masters of networking, Dave Delaney. He joins me on today's podcast. Dave is best recognized for his work in the digital marketing, social media strategy and business networking spaces. He is the author of the acclaimed book, New Business Networking, and he has a bi-monthly column in The Tennessean newspaper. He also writes regularly on Futureforth (his company's blog) and on his personal blog. Dave has been featured in Billboard Magazine as a digital marketing expert to follow on Twitter. In 2015, Forbes featured him as a professional networking expert to watch. He has also appeared in articles in USA Today, Entrepreneur, Mashable, Venture Beat, The Tennessean, Nashville Business Journal and Toronto Globe and Mail. The Nashville Business Journal calls him a "power leader of technology in Nashville." He is the recipient of the prestigious Digital Media Champion AIM Award by the American Marketing Association in Nashville.
Do you know what to look for in a web developer? (Hint: The answer is not the cheapest price). Hiring a credible web designer and/or developer is critically important to any business and should not be taken lightly. If you think a free or cheap website will serve you well, then you should not be wasting a legitimate web developer?s time. Today on the podcast, I talk with David Somerfleck about how to hire a web developer. David owns and operates Sudden Impact Web Design and DenverWeb.us. He is a branding expert, social media strategist, developer, entrepreneur, and trainer focused on business development and internet marketing. David has more than 20 years of marketing, branding and PR experience. He is a former teacher, professor, and journalist with a strong background in positioning, project management, integrated marketing, new product launch, website development and online community management. David's goal is to inspire and encourage business owners and entrepreneurs while giving them the tools needed to successfully build their overall ventures both online and offline through workshops, mentorship, online courses and one-on-one consultations. He enjoys learning new languages, practicing aikido, and hiking in his spare time.
David Taylor is on a mission to change how people fuel up in the mornings. His company, , has launched what I like to call the "breakfast of entrepreneurial champions." It's a breakfast shake that is extremely nutritious and convenient for entrepreneurs and anyone else with a busy lifestyle who needs a great kick-start to their morning with minimal effort. (Check the for a discount code to try Mobius Breakfast.) David is the founder and president of Mobius Nutrition. Born in Alberta, Canada, he attended Missouri University of Science and Technology, where he earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering. It was while he was in school that he found a passion for health and fitness and began leading workouts with his fellow students. After graduating in May 2013, David began work as a consulting engineer in the food and beverage industry, where he saw first-hand how modern processed food is made. He soon after realized his true passion lay in helping people maintain a healthy and optimal lifestyle. During the fall of 2013 he reached out to his college friend Michael, and along with his wife, Megan, the three of them founded Mobius. David and I cover a lot of topics about his journey to launch Mobius Nutrition and Mobius Breakfast, including: • How they initially tried to launch another pre-workout product using a crowdfunding campaign (which failed) • How the regrouped, focused on research and reformulated the concept into a breakfast blend • What they did on the second, successful crowdfunding campaign (via Indiegogo) • What regulatory challenges they faced in entering the supplemental products/food category • How they partnered with a company that specializes in supplement formulations • How they sourced a U.S.-based manufacturer and filed for a provisional patent • What is working best for Mobius Nutrition to attract new customers and increase their sales
If you want to know how to become an "infopreneur," Bailey Richert is an excellent person to teach you. In fact, that is what infopreneurs do—they package their knowledge around a specific subject and sell it to others in a variety of ways. Bailey joined me on this week's Go For Launch podcast. She is a business coach who helps individuals launch profitable online enterprises as infopreneurs—or respected experts in their fields who create value and profit by sharing their passions with others in a manner that supports their ideal lifestyles. After working the 9-5 grind as a consultant in California until 2014, she quit my job and enrolled at MIT to study entrepreneurship. She then launched a successful online travel education company, DontDieAbroad.com, and has expanded into teaching "infopreneurship" to other people (e.g., how to create and sell digital informational products online). Her new book, , is available on Amazon, and she offers a free video training course that outlines her 6-step process to launching an infopreneur business. Topics we discuss include: • Why you should give away 90% of your content for free • How to grow your email list then keep it warm by communicating regularly (at least once a week) • How to build your community (and gain their trust) • What are the best information products to create (based on your desires and skills) • Where the real money is for infopreneurs • What the “job” of the successful infopreneur entails (and why it’s valuable) • Why infopreneurship provides great flexibility for entrepreneurs • How Bailey gets a lot done as a solopreneur • Her “can’t live without” tool () • The first infopreneur who really inspired Bailey (Natalie Sisson of ) • Her revenue streams that include speaking, online course and coaching
There is no one better to appreciate the power of business checklists than an entrepreneur who has actually flown planes! Pilots literally live or die by their ability to follow checklists religiously. / / That's something I discussed at length with Matt Miller on the latest episode of the Go For Launch podcast. Matt is president and founder of , a concept he developed in July 2007. / / Matt graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1989 and was an Air Force pilot for nine years. After his military service, Matt worked in both the medical and advertising fields. / / As a father of three, with years of expertise in both print media and vending, Matt was able to see school fundraising from a unique, outsider's perspective. One day, after a child in his neighborhood came by the house selling items for his school's fundraiser, Matt decided to create a business that would help schools and their clubs or organizations raise money more simply. Year-round, hassle-free fundraising with School Spirit Vending was born. / / The School Spirit Vending concept and its simplicity has caught on so quickly that schools all over the country are already benefitting from the program with great results. School Spirit Vending allows children to purchase inexpensive stickers during the school year. It is a revenue-sharing model that ultimately raises money for each school. The company has raised over $3,000,000 for community schools, and this is increasing every day. To date, they are more than 2,000 schools around the United Stated and growing rapidly with a recently franchised model and plans for international expansion. / / Matt talks about his previous experience running a vending company selling candy and gumballs mainly to restaurants in the Houston, Texas area. However, when the market downturn of 2007-2008 occurred, his business took a massive hit, to the point that he was forced to deliver pizzas for Pizza Hut, in addition to running a full-time business and keeping up with his parenting duties and church activities. / / As a former pilot, Matt learned invaluable lessons about the power of checklists and systems. We talk about the tragedies that befall both pilots and entrepreneurs who "fly by the seat of their pants" and fail to develop and take processes seriously. / / Matt shares a special free resource, an ebook called Live Your Dreams: T.
There are far too many candy-ass 20-somethings with virtually no real-world experience, touting themselves as "lifestyle entrepreneurs," business and life coaches. However, if you want real wisdom you can apply to your life as an entrepreneur, you need to talk to someone who has truly lived and actually built companies, someone like Dean Roberts. When Dean approached me to be a guest on the Go For Launch podcast, I was struck by how rambling and crazy his entrepreneurial journey seemed. At 77, he has enjoyed a wild ride through life so far. Born in 1939, he was expelled from school in 1956...joined the Navy in 1957...and spent the next 40 years having two kids, three wives and building and operating his business called Greenleaf Dollhouses, the world's oldest and largest dollhouse manufacturer (now run by his children, Lisa and Dean Jr.). Dean is the author of I'll Fix My Head Before I'm Dead, an autobiography that reads more like the back of a Dr. Bronner Magic Soap bottle. Join Dean and me as we talk about some of his wilder adventures as an entrepreneur, and his essential philosophies for leading a better life. The four most dog-eared books on his nightstand include: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius Master Game by Robert S. De Ropp Insight Meditation by Joseph Goldstein Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill Two other favorite books of mine that I mention are: The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday The Success Principles by Jack Canfield
Staying fit, for business and life, should be a mantra for every entrepreneur. Sadly though, many times we let too many things take precedence over our health.I was encouraged after speaking with Jay Scott, a personal trainer who battled food addiction, obesity and a binge-eating disorder — and overcame all of it. He has helped hundreds of people do the same with his information and training. Jay is the founder of and the host of the . He has written for sites like The Good Men Project and Mind Body Green and has had over 30 TV appearances including spots on ABC, NBC and CBS.Jay went from living in his parents' basement at age 30 to starting the most successful in home personal training business in Lexington, KY, by the time he was 32. In our conversation, learn more about how Jay: • Grew up in poor area in Kentucky • Became a bodybuilder in his late teens • Got into the personal training industry (and moved from mostly in-person training to primarily virtual training) • Started blogging from his perspective and expertise • Developed a certification process for new trainers • Focused on the science of fitness • Began helping people alleviate entrepreneurial stress and overwhelm with proper fitness and nutrition Jay says he "puts honor above fame." He recognizes that building his business and reputation is a long game. He also shared this powerful quote from Kimanzi Constable, alluding to the power of persistence and patience: "It takes time. Sometimes years. My first blog post went live in July of 2011. After four years and over 150 podcast interviews, over 70 guest posts, over 200 articles in large publications, over 250 speaking proposals sent, and a ton of tears, the opportunities are manifesting like crazy this year. After the struggle and hustle. I know it's frustrating and feels impossible. It's not, and you CAN make your dream a reality."
It is often called a "best kept secret" for entrepreneurs. In fact, you may be amazed at how the helps entrepreneurs — whether you are simply in the planning stages, have started a business as a solopreneur or own a fifth-generation firm with up to 500 employees. Although I had personally interacted with the SBA as an entrepreneur—particularly in seeking a mentor through their free Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) program when I started my first business—frankly I was not aware of the depth and breadth of services the SBA offers. So I was very excited when Christopher Hatch, the regional communications director for the U.S. Small Business Administration's Mid-Atlantic Region, reached out to me recently about doing an interview. I was honored to get the chance to speak with , a decorated administrator as well as a highly successful entrepreneur herself. This is one of the best interviews I have had on the Go For Launch podcast, and I hope many entrepreneurs will get value from our conversation! Natalia Olson-Urtecho is the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator, one of 10 Regions of the SBA in the U.S. Appointed in 2012 by President Obama, she is responsible for delivery and management of small business programs, financial assistance and business development initiatives for a population of nearly 30 million people in seven district offices throughout Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and Washington, D.C. She oversees more than 180 SBA offices, SCORE chapters, Business Development Centers and other resources while managing a field staff of more than 100 loan, business, community outreach and support personnel. She works with local lenders and successful firms across the region, overseeing more than $34.2 billion in federal government contracts for goods and services purchased from local entrepreneurs. Prior to joining the SBA, Natalia was founder, president and CEO of EG, a company dedicated to helping public and private entities become more profitable through environmentally friendly and socially responsible planning and strategies. Before founding EG, Olson-Urtecho was a transportation and land use planner at the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission and was director of global initiatives at H2L2, an architectural and planning firm with projects in 42 countries. She has more than 18 years of experience working with international, regional and local entities in the mid-Atlantic region and abroad in Latin America, Central Europe and Asia. While at the U.S. Department of State, Natalia worked in Budapest, Hungary, on NATO accession, economic and political policies, environmental issues, science and technology property rights, infrastructure development and served as chief of protocol. She was recently recognized as a “Latina Powerhouse” by the Maryland Hispanic Business Conference, was named one of Delaware Valley's Most Influential Latinos in 2014, and received the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 2010 Minority Business Leader Award. She has lived in seven countries and speaks Spanish, French and Portuguese. Topics We Discuss About the SBA
In our discussion, I learned that many SBA leaders were successful entrepreneurs before the joined the Administration There are more than 28 million small businesses and counting in the United States These represent 50% of all U.S. businesses Two out of three people work for a small business in the United States There has been huge entrepreneurial growth in the past few years (since the Great Recession) The SBA has enjoyed five years of record lending to small businesses — the most in their 60+ years in existence; in fact, Congress passed a bill in just two days to raise the amount of money available through SBA loans Lots of large businesses and even entire industries/regions (e.g., Silicon Valley) get help from the SBA in their early stages In the U.S., small businesses are classified as under 500 employees and under $30 million in revenue The SBA is the largest backer or guarantor of financing/loans to small businesses in the United States Loans range from $50,000 or less (through their Microlender program) up to $5 million, all backed by the government Among their many programs for entrepreneurs are the following programs and services:
Business guidance and business planning — You can take advantage of this even if you just have a business idea and need their advice (and all information is kept 100% confidential) Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) — Get from mentoring from retired executive around the country Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) — These research centers, typically housed in universities or in regional department of economic development, offer a range of consulting and advisories services, like MBA students who can help businesses with free marketing studies or data analysis U.S. Centers for Export Assistance — According to Natalia, 95% of consumers live outside the U.S. and there are amazing opportunities for many entrepreneurs to export their products overseas Women Business Centers — as the name implies, these are aimed at helping female entrepreneurs, but Natalia told me the secret that you don't have to be a woman to get help there! Veterans programs — The SBA is very actively involved in helping military veterans start and grow businesses
You might be driving traffic to your website—but what are you doing to make every website click count? I got some killer advice on improving website conversions in my interview with Lindsey Anderson, also known as "One Click Lindsey." Lindsey is a Web strategy expert who works with small business owners to help them use the web to produce more website traffic and leads. She is the founder and CEO of TrafficAndLeads.com, which specializes in driving traffic, getting leads and nurturing those leads to become lifelong clients. Lindsey is an expert in landing pages, email sequences, search engine ranking, newsletters, analytics, social media, pay-per-click ads, websites, blogging...the list goes on. She knows how to utilize the latest online marketing options to generate more traffic and leads and ultimately more paying clients. On the show, we talk about what people really want with their websites—which is traffic and leads. Lindsey talks at length about why our main focus should be on creating high-quality content. Other topics we discuss include: • Her thoughts on social media and what works best for her clients (Facebook marketing, along with some Twitter and Pinterest) • Why she is always running search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns in the background—and how long it can take to get results from SEO • How to get "quick wins" with your content • The top tools she uses with her clients: WordPress, Google Analytics, Jetpack, Yoast (SEO plugin), Buzzsumo (for keyword research), SumoMe (to capture email addresses) and Mailchimp (to send email campaigns) • Why continual testing is key to website conversions • The biggest website mistakes she sees • Why free reports and ebooks are not working as well these days—and why free email courses work much better (I mentioned my favorite tools for easily creating these, ConvertKit)
I have used dozens of process management applications—from Asana and Basecamp to Trello and beyond. But the best business process management software application in my experience is . So I was excited to speak with Vinay Patankar, cofounder and CEO of Process Street, on the Go For Launch podcast. Process Street is the simplest way to manage your team’s recurring processes and workflows. You can use Process Street to do things like easily setting up new clients, onboarding employees and managing content publishing (or podcast production and promotions workflows!). Process Street is a venture backed SaaS company and AngelPad alumnus with numerous Fortune 500 clients. When not running Process Street, Vinay loves to travel and spent four years as a digital nomad roaming the globe and running different Internet businesses. Vinay and I had a wide-ranging conversation about the benefits of process management and why Process Street is helping everyone from entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 companies 10x their business results with more effective, repeatable processes. Check out the many features and benefits of using Process Street to automate your business processes.
As an entrepreneur, it's up to you to expand your business investment options as you grow and become more profitable. But with all the investment choices available, how do you know what's best? That was a key question I asked Joshua Belanger, my guest on the podcast today. Joshua is one of the world’s top options trading specialists who has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, New York Times, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg and Business Week. He is author of the book Fearless Investing With Options and the founder of , where he publishes free daily investing and trading tips and teaches struggling self-directed investors how to become more profitable trading options while reducing risk, creating higher chances of success and generating better returns in any type of financial market. Josh has a great story as an entrepreneur, starting early on when he had to battle a huge competitor (and won).
How can improve your personal and business performance? That is a question Brad Raney has studied for many years. He now coaches people on how to reach their peak performance from both a personal and professional standpoint. Brad is an author, motivational speaker and a sales, leadership and management trainer. He is the CEO and Founder of Personal Performance Partnership (P3) and has almost 30 years experience in creating and developing high performance teams in a variety of industries. Brad’s first book, Improve Your VOWELS, Improve Your Career! The A,E,I,O,U’s of Finding Your Perfect Job! has now sold on three continents. His new book, Reach YOUR Peak! Become CEO of Your Success! was recently released in traditional and eBook formats. Brad has spoken to over 50,000 people across the United States and was part of the highly successful “Pink Slip Tour presented by Virgin Mobile” that made stops in Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Detroit. Brad and his wife Dawn have been married over 25 years, live in St. John’s County, Florida and have two teenaged children.
Thinking about raising money through crowdfunding? Then you need the wisdom of crowdfunding expert Clay Herbert. Clay is a marketing strategist and the founder of Crowdfunding Hacks, where he helps entrepreneurs and creatives fund their dreams. As one of the world’s leading crowdfunding experts, Clay has helped more than 150 entrepreneurs raise over $50 million on popular crowdfunding platforms Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Clay is a frequent keynote speaker and engages audiences around the world on topics ranging from innovation to creativity, crowdfunding, marketing, entrepreneurship and the future of work. Clay has trained senior leaders at Fortune 500 organizations, and his corporate speaking clients have included Accenture, Pfizer, Zappos and some of the top universities and nonprofits in the world. He has written for The Washington Post, Forbes and The Next Web, and his work has been featured in The New York Times, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Lifehacker and The Financial Post. He is a regular guest on FOX Business. After a decade solving complex problems for global clients at Accenture, the world’s largest consulting firm, Clay left corporate America and attended the most selective and unique MBA program in the country, a 6-month journey working with Seth Godin and eight other amazing people. He now teaches crowdfunding at and writes about marketing, innovation and the future of work on his own blog at . The show is packed with crowdfunding wisdom from Clay. Important tips include: * The four main types of crowdfunding (and key distinctions of each) The critical steps you must take before you launch a crowdfunding campaign Why you should not hire an agency to promote your Kickstarter or Indiegogo project The “ice cream sundae” problem (what it is and how to avoid it) The basic psychology of reward levels Examples of some of the most successful crowdfunding campaigns and lessons learned (including Coolest Cooler and Kittyo) When campaigns really get funded Why crowdfunding is like a party (and what you need to bring) Why stealth is b.s. (and no one is going to steal your idea) Advanced signals that indicate whether your crowdfunding campaign will succeed or fail Why media coverage may not bring a flood of backers to your campaign (but how you can leverage placements regardless)
Can you make your business sexy? Heather Ann Havenwood says, "Yes, you can!" She often equates success in business with success in dating—and she's an expert at advising people in both camps. She joins me on today's podcast to talk about adding sex appeal to yourself and your company. Heather Ann is CEO of and Chief Sexy Boss. She is a serial entrepreneur and is regarded as a top authority on internet marketing, business strategies and marketing. Since marketing her first online business in 1999, bringing together clients and personal coaches, she has played an active role in the online marketing world since before most even had a home computer. In 2006, Heather Ann started, developed and grew an online information marketing publishing company from ground zero to over $1 million in sales in less than 12 months. Starting without a list, a product, a name or an offer, she molded her client into a successful guru who is now known as an expert in his field. Heather Ann has been named as an ‘Icon Creator’ and a ‘Wizard Behind the Curtain.’ She has instructed, coached and promoted hundreds of entrepreneurs, leading them down the path to success. She has produced and managed over 350 seminars and events and hosted tele-seminars with many top online thought leaders such as Richard Flint, John Alanis, Susan Bratton, Alicia Lyttle, Tom Antion, Alex Mandossian, Joe Sugarman, Anthony Blake, David Lakhani, Robert Shemin and many others. Heather Ann is the author of and , a rule book for divorced men stepping back into the game. Now, Heather Ann is stepping out from behind the curtain to educate, enlighten and empower women entrepreneurs to grow or start an online business and live a fearless and fulfilled life.
Are you interested in building an online business empire? If so, Jim Palmer is a great person to talk to about this. He joins me on today's podcast. Jim is a marketing and business building expert and host of Newsletter Guru TV and Stick Like Glue Radio. He is known internationally as ‘The Newsletter Guru” — the go-to resource for maximizing the profitability of customer relationships. Jim is the author of several books, including The Magic of Newsletter Marketing – The Secret to More Profits and Customers for Life and Stop Waiting For It To Get Easier! Create Your Dream Business Now! Jim Palmer is a sought-after speaker on such topics as newsletter marketing, client retention, how to build a profitable business and how to achieve success. Jim is a cancer survivor, has been married for 35 years, has four grown children and two grandchildren. He lives in Chester County, Pennsylvania with his wife, Stephanie, and their cat Serendipity. Jim and Stephanie love to kayak, travel, and spend time with their family. Learn more at .
It's a fact of the Information Age: personal branding is crucial to your business success. How you conduct yourself and come across to others (i.e., what your personal brand says about you) matters more than ever. In today’s episode of the Go For Launch podcast, I have the pleasure of speaking with personal branding consultant Nicole Lundy. Nicole is founder of Profitable Personal Brand, which works with leaders who want to stand out in their respective industries. After leaving a demanding career in corporate finance on Wall Street, Nicole launched a beauty consulting company and used her branding skills to get featured in a HarperCollins published book, work backstage at New York Fashion Week with top designers such as Jason Wu and CZAR by Cesar Galindo, and get featured on MSNBC, eHow.com and Huffington Post Style. Nicole now owns a brand consulting boutique and is a noted speaker and bestselling author. She helps high-performing CEOs and entrepreneurs who don’t know how to be distinctive in their marketplace to become extraordinary and dominate their market. Her simple money-making brand packages help her clients to get noticed so that people hire them, their impact is greater and they can get paid their worth. She is also the host of the top 10 rated podcast on iTunes, The Pretty & Profiting Show, which focuses on branding, beauty, business and how to build your empire. I hope Nicole's advice helps inspire you to focus on your personal brand and the impact it has on your business!
Want to generate buzz and a winning publicity strategy for your business? In today's episode of the Go For Launch podcast, public relations expert Jill Lublin talks about how to get your business covered by media and influential bloggers. Jill is an international speaker on the topics of Radical Influence, Publicity, Networking and referrals. She is the author of three bestselling books, including Get Noticed...Get Referrals and co-author of the books Guerrilla Publicity and Networking Magic. Jill is a master strategist on how to position your business for more profitability and more visibility in the marketplace. She is CEO of a strategic consulting firm and has over 20 years experience working with over 100,000 people plus national and international media. Jill teaches Publicity Crash Course as both live events and live webinars and consults and speaks all over the world.
Blind blogger Maxwell Ivey's life reads like a Hollywood script. Born with perfect vision to a family in the carnival business in Texas, he developed a disease called retinitis pigmentosa, which slowly robbed him of his eyesight. He became totally blind in his 20s and now has to depend on speech-based technology to run his business and use the Internet. His father died of lung cancer when Maxwell was 37, and he and some relatives managed to keep the business going for about six years. Ultimately, it became difficult to sustain the business which focused on carnival rides and games. Maxwell turned to helping people sell their amusement equipment through his company, The Midway Marketplace. He started blogging to promote the company and met a lot of wonderful people in the blogosphere. They told him he had an amazing story and many commented on how much he inspired them. They finally convinced him that he had a bigger purpose. So, he started a second blog, The Blind Blogger, where he shares more of my personal journey, struggles and triumphs. He has written a book, Leading You Out Of The Darkness Into The Light, and coaches others how to take steps to reach their ultimate goals. I know you will find his story motivational and inspiring. As Maxwell writes on his blog, "Stop making excuses. Start taking action. If a blind person can do it, then why can’t you?" Maxwell talks about how he succeeds with his business despite his blindness (he is even a big fan of Pinterest!), and how sighted people can become more cognizant of how to communicate effectively with those who are visually impaired online. (No. 1 tip: Use Alt tags on all images!)
How would you like to build wealth through real estate investing? It's possible for even the smallest investors to benefit from what Jason Hartman prefers to call "income property." Jason is president of Platinum Properties Investor Network, and he joins me today on the Go For Launch podcast to talk about the merits and opportunities of real estate investing (i.e., generating income from owning commercial and residential real estate properties). Jason is also founder of Hartman Media Company, a network of 24 different shows. Jason embarked on his career in real estate in the 1980s and promoted his unique personal brand at every opportunity. Through creativity, persistence and hard work, he joined the ranks of the top 1% of realtors in the United States and in quick succession earned a number of prestigious sales awards. In 1997, Jason Hartman realized his entrepreneurial dream and purchased an Irvine, California real estate brokerage firm. In addition to managing his real estate brokerage, Jason Hartman speaks to audiences around the world, explaining how personal branding and relationship marketing can bring businesses and careers to a high level of success while maintaining balance in one's life. Jason believes that giving back to the community plays an important role in building strong personal brands. He has been involved with his local Rotary Club, sponsored a Little League team, served on the board of directors of the Young Executives of America and worked with a number of other public service organizations. Jason says that aside from the good feeling derived from involvement in such activities, secondary benefits include making valuable contacts and greatly enhancing one's personal brand. Through personal coaching and public speaking engagements, Jason Hartman shares his success-building techniques.
How would you like to hack your business network — and have new prospects and connections lining up to hear what you have to say? That is exactly what entrepreneur Eric Rashe is doing. He joins me on the podcast today to reveal the secrets behind his unusual and fresh approach to expanding his business network. It was the most eye-catching approach I have seen in awhile, which is exactly why I agreed to meet him virtually to learn more! Eric has built a number of small businesses, including a 7-figure metal roofing business (Metal Roofs of Michigan). Some of the others are in the seed stage and some are "producing fruit." Eric started his entrepreneurial journey at a young age and says he has been fortunate to surround himself with quality people who share their wisdom with him.
Iman Aghay went from almost homeless to becoming a successful entrepreneur. He has an inspiring story for all who dream about starting their own business but think they do not have what it takes. As someone who started his business with no money, no connections and no experience, Iman has demonstrated the effectiveness of his systems by building the largest information marketing academy in Canada with over 15,000 students — and the largest business meet-up group in Canada and one of the top 10 in the world. His company, Success Road Academy, provides world-class training and mentorship for entrepreneurs. Iman has taught his systems and strategies to tens of thousands of people, and he is a sought-after marketing and business expert on podcasts, radio shows and in print media.
Have you ever asked yourself, "What would Walt do?" (Walt being Walt Disney, of course!). If so, you will love learning from Vance Morris, who helps companies create "Disney-Style" service in their businesses with his firm, Deliver Service Now Institute (DSNI). Vance spent 10 years working for the mouse at Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida. He started his career at Disney on the Opening Team of the Yacht & Beach Club Resorts, and progressed through the management ranks as a Night Club Manager at Pleasure Island, Service Trainer aboard the Empress Lily, and on the revitalization team of the Contemporary Resort in the mid-90s. It was at the Contemporary that Vance experienced his crowning achievement—by designing, opening and operating Chef Mickey’s, Disney’s flag-ship Character Dining Experience. After leaving Disney, Vance utilized his skills to rescue or improve many of America’s companies and government agencies. His clients included Tyson, NASA, Rain Forest Café, Compass Group, The Executive Office of the President of the United States, The Smithsonian and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Tiring of corporate life, Vance opened his own bricks & mortar Business in 2007. After meteoric growth of his service business, other entrepreneurs began to seek him out for advice and counsel. This spawned his next business, Deliver Service Now!, where he consults and coaches other companies on how to create and implement Disney style service and then apply Direct Response Marketing to profit from it. Vance Morris has shared the stage with many top marketers and service professionals in the world, including Dan Kennedy, Lou Ferrigno, Jack Canfield and Charles Henning.
Question: What's a good way to fund a new business?Answer: Win the lottery, buy a Harley, sell it and use the proceeds Thats one way to do it! Craig Dailey joins me on the podcast today to talk about how we went from speed to seed, turning a winning lottery ticket into a Harley then cash to start one of his companies. Craig has had a distinguished 30-year career in business, management and turnaround projects for hotels and distressed businesses. He managed, renovated and assisted developers in numerous operations. Most recently, for 10 years he served as founder and CEO of Comfort Medical Supply, a nationally-accredited home medical equipment company that was a three-time recipient of the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Privately-Held Companies in America award.After a successful acquisition of Comfort by a private equity group in 2010, he continued his tenure with the company as Chairman and CEO until resigning in early 2013. Now "semi-retired," he pursues fundraising and financial and business consulting services for all types of businesses on a global basis. He possesses a reputation of successfully helping startups growth as well as restructuring distressed businesses for success.
What's the secret to being profitable? Hint: It's not to jack up your rates (although that might help!) It's to pre-sell your products and services. That is sage advice I got from Hawk Mikado, a leading expert in online to offline marketing and sales systems. He created a powerful 3-step process to engage, inspire and magnetize people to buy. Since 1999, he has co-founded seven profitable businesses. Hawk is also an adventurer and family man who loves to travel the world with his wife, Caitlin. Listen to our interview on today's Go For Launch podcast.
Maura Sweeney is in the business of being happy. Named by the United Nations as the "Ambassador of Happiness," she helps helps people discover their own happiness and success in their life and career, from the inside out.
Learn how to make a great business impression from entrepreneur Shaun Caldwell. He started his own printing company, , with no prior experience in the industry. In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, he shares how he stands out in a crowded, "traditional" industry and helps his customers make great impressions as well.
After author Ken Dunn lost $80,000 on his first book through a bad publishing deal, he knew there must be a better way for authors to maintain control and reduce their risk. He set about building a business of books, starting not one but two fast-growing entities that are challenging long-establishing players in the publishing industry. Learn about his story and the two companies he founded, Next Century Publishing and Readers Legacy, in this episode of the Go For Launch podcast.
Raise your hand if you are an entrepreneur and feel like your life is not as balanced as it could be. (I'm guilty!) Maintaining a balance as an entrepreneur can be a huge challenge. But it's doable, with the right mentors and others who can support you. Dhylles Davis is my guest on this episode of the Go For Launch podcast. Dhylles is known as the "The Coaching Cupid" who helps people fall in love with their lives again. She is a lifestyle coach, motivator, speaker and author. In addition to her coaching business, she founded the Sip & Chat Movement in New York, for members who are ready to celebrate life and be inspired and motivated in living. Dhylles' coaching style is based on helping others independently practice healing, closure, forgiveness, love and acceptance. She puts a unique spin on life coaching by focusing on lifestyle coaching to help her clients heal themselves with group interaction in a fun environment. One of her goals is to work with celebrities who live hectic lifestyles and help them maintain emotional peace and prosperity.
Is it possible to really read minds? Mentalist and communication professor Carl Christman believes it is. Carl is a teacher, author and speaker. He plays with language, psychology and non-verbal communication to educate and entertain audiences. His new book, , looks at the science of nonverbal communication and everyday persuasion. In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, he talks about various techniques to "read people" better and improve your sales, human resources and more.
Mark Mawhinney is an expert at coaching others on how to effectively position themselves as an expert, in order to get paid top dollar for their knowledge. He joins me for an in-depth conversation on the Go For Launch podcast.
Learn about the magic of entrepreneurship, with top professional magician and entrepreneur Michael Grandinetti.
Can you really blog from the beach and make a living? Ryan Biddulph went from being a security guard to blogging full-time in exotic places worldwide. Listen to his fascinating and inspiring entrepreneurial journey in this episode of the Go For Launch podcast.
Are you stuck in your entrepreneurial journey? Learn how adventures lead to business breakthroughs in my conversation with Tom Crawshaw, who is known as the Adventure-preneur.
What if you could sell everything you will ever create in your future—today?
That is exactly what Jason Zook is doing, with a bold new concept he is calling Buy My Future. I'm calling it Back To The Future of Sales! Time to fire up the DeLorean and enjoy the ride!
Jason has pulled off some of the most creative online businesses ever created, including IWearYourShirt. He discusses his business successes and failures and his newest concept in today's episode of the Go For Launch podcast.
Learn four key considerations to help determine the best web hosting company for your business, in this episode of the Go For Launch podcast.
One of the best ways to rock your business is with content marketing. Here are 10 key steps to take in order to rock your own content marketing efforts.
Learn what entrepreneurs need to know about venture capital in this interview with Sammy Abdullah of venture capital firm DAN Fund LLC.
Set up your business for success with content and analytics tips from digital marketing expert Zach Cardais, founder of Zeffective.
Learn the steps to quit a job that sucks the life out of you and do what you love as your own boss. Featuring entrepreneur Jeff Steinmann, author of How to Quit Working: A Simple Plan to Leave Your Job for a Life of Freedom.
What can the world's oldest companies teach young entrepreneurs? Learn four key principles in this episode of the Go For Launch podcast.
This episode of the Go For Launch podcast features 10 ways to stay motivated as an entrepreneur.
Learn how to brand and name your company properly with tips from branding expert Phil Tungsten, president of Tungsten Branding.
Looking for ways to increase your website leads and sales? Get tips from online conversion expert Alex Harris in this episode of the Go For Launch podcast.
Want to build your business? Inbound marketing is gaining as a reliable technique, compared to intrusive, costly and ineffective techniques of the past.
Inbound marketing expert Tom Schwab joins us in this episode of the Go For Launch podcast.
Get tips on how to write a killer press release from Brandon Uttley. In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, Uttley shares his expertise from nearly 30 years in public relations. In addition to writing hundreds of press releases, Uttley served as president of the Charlotte chapter of PRSA.
Have you accomplished all the goals you had in working for someone else? Do you dream of becoming your own boss and starting you own business to create an entrepreneurial lifestyle you love?
Daniel J. Lewis has experienced all this. After seven years in his "dream job," he discovered another dream—of becoming an entrepreneur. He started a graphic design business and became a top podcaster who now helps others launch and improve their own podcasts for sharing their passions and finding success.
He shares his entrepreneurial journey in this episode of the Go For Launch podcast.
Get secrets of LinkedIn super sellers from LinkedIn sales authority Josh Turner, founder of Linked Selling and Linked University.
Finding a niche—defined as a distinct segment of the market you are in and become "known" for—is essential to business success. Too many entrepreneurs fail with offerings that are broad and undefined.
In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, business coach Jason Treu talks about why niches are vital and how to identify yours as you evolve.
Aaron Walker of View From The Top talks about how entrepreneurs can transition their focus from business success to significance.
Persistence is critical to any entrepreneur's success. In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, Brandon Uttley discusses 10 ways to be more persistent in building your business.
In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, Diane Gardner talks about important business tax issues. Known as Your Tax Coach, Diane specializes in saving small business owners between $5,000 and $50,000 per year in 60 minutes or less through proactive tax planning. She has saved her clients over $417,000 in taxes to date.
In this episode, Brandon Uttley, who has founded several digital marketing firms including serving as cofounder and president of carbonhouse from 1999-2008, talks shop with Mike Sallander, cofounder of Chicago Digital.
Roger Whitney, a partner in the firm WWK Wealth Advisors, shares some key retirement strategies for entrepreneurs in this episode of the Go For Launch podcast.
In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, Nationwide Insurance agency owner Kris Byus of the Kris Byus Insurance Agency talks to Brandon Uttley about important things entrepreneurs need to do to protect their personal and business assets.
In this episode of the Go For Launch podcast, attorney David Lizerbram of David Lizerbram & Associates shares key steps for entrepreneurs to consider when they are ready to start or incorporate a business.
There are lots of "-preneurs" today — so which kind of entrepreneur are you?
In episode number seven of the Go For Launch podcast, Brandon Uttley discusses popular "-preneur" types.
In episode 6 of the Go For Launch podcast, Brandon Uttley discusses the topic, "You Can Be An Entrepreneur."
Learn some of the key things you need and don't need to start your own business.
In episode five of the Go For Launch podcast, Brandon Uttley talks to Tripp Guin, founder and managing partner of TRIPP Commercial, LLC. We discuss starting businesses from home, working out of coffee shops, bartering from cheap space as well as other leasing and purchasing options to consider as your business grows.
In this episode, Brandon Uttley interviews two special guests, John Lee Dumas and Kate Erickson of Entrepreneur On Fire and Kate's Take. Brandon speaks with John and Kate from the deck of the USS Midway in San Diego, California, during the opening night party at Social Media Marketing World 2015.
In episode three of the Go For Launch podcast, Brandon Uttley discusses strategies and tactics to get media coverage for your startup.
In this show, Brandon Uttley discusses seven critical steps to launching a business. Download these steps for free, along with more details and resources, at www.goforlaunch.io/book.
Introducing the Go For Launch podcast! In this first episode, host Brandon Uttley talks about what to expect in the show. He also announces a special first guest in a few weeks, along with tools used to produce the show.