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Today’s episode is all about breaking barriers—paving a path when no one has gone before you.

We address:

• What it was like growing up as the “token female” in hockey games
• Traits of the most successful coaches in sports
• How women can strive for success in an arena without a role model to follow
• Kelsey’s coaching philosophy and the legacy she wants to leave
• The progress of gender equality in collegiate and professional sports so far

Today, Karen speaks with Kelsey Koelzer, the first black and the first female coach of an NCAA hockey team. She will be starting the inaugural season in the Fall of 2021 at Arcadia University.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• The number one trait of a successful sports coach is their ability to communicate. Whether they are a man or a woman, the best coaches are those who can forge the best bonds with their players, and this starts with their communication skills.
• If you don’t have a role model to follow, have an ideal level of skill to strive for. Kelsey had no female role model to look to when she began her career in ice hockey. However, what helped her stay on track and motivated to move forward was that she knew the type of athlete she wanted to be. She knew what it took to stand out in her sport, and she trained the specific skills that it would take for her to do just that.
• When looking to leave a lasting legacy, focus on the small steps. There is a lot of work left to do when it comes to gender equality in collegiate and professional sports, and it is right to acknowledge that. However, the best thing that anybody can do to make progress is to take every win that comes—big and small—and soldier on with the little things they can do to create even more change. For Kelsey, her sole focus today is to create a great program and be the best NCAA hockey coach she can be.

RESOURCES

• Kelsey Koelzer on Instagram
• Kelsey Koelzer on Twitter

Kelsey Koelzer is an American ice hockey defender, currently serving as head coach of the Arcadia University women's ice hockey program, the first black female head coach in NCAA ice hockey history, as well as the Advisor to the Commissioner on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the NWHL.

She was drafted 1st overall by the Metropolitan Riveters in the 2016 NWHL Draft, the first black player to be the first overall pick in a professional North American hockey league draft. She played two seasons in the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) with the Riveters before joining the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) in 2019.

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion atMarketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More aboutKaren
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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The power of an outsourced team makes possible the ability to work together and create a culture of understanding, even if you and your team are not within the walls of the same office.

We address:

• Why doubt or nervousness about making the next hire is only a matter of mindset
• How to become more confident about outsourcing business processes overseas
• How to decide which tasks are best suited for your virtual assistant
• What makes a great manager and how to lead your VA and help them improve
• How to stay productive while working from home
• The future of work

Today, Karen speaks with Linh Podetti, Director at Outsourcing Angel, an Australian based offshore recruitment agency that specialises in providing premium Virtual Assistants from the Philippines to companies around the world like Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, UK, Europe and Dubai.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• No matter where you outsource, you need to know what you’re doing, i.e. have experience and/or knowledge in the area you’re outsourcing to. “Otherwise,” says Linh, “it’s very easy to get ripped off.” After discovering the “magic” of outsourcing, it’s very tempting for business owners to go for cheap providers who promise the moon. Like anything, you have to do your research when going through your options.
• Newer business owners should begin by outsourcing tasks that are chargeable to the client. For example, if you’re building a website for your client, find specialists that you can relegate different elements to, such as content writers, front-end and back-end developers, the SysAdmin, etc. Once you have a system in place and have increased profitability, start delegating administrative and other repetitive tasks.
• Don’t blame the person. Blame the process. As an employer, particularly to a virtual assistant, understand that there will most likely be mistakes and/or miscommunications made throughout your partnership, especially at the beginning. To maintain a great relationship with your VA as well as to encourage them to improve and stay loyal, never assume right away that it’s an issue of character, but of process. Work together to find solutions and establish better systems going forward.

RESOURCES

• Outsourcing Angel

Linh started her first business in 2009, and built multiple successful businesses using the outsourcing model. With nearly a decade experience in outsourcing, she saw an opportunity in the market to provide offshore staff directly to companies and hence started Outsourcing Angel in 2015.

Linh grew up in Vietnam and moved to Australia when she was 9 years old. With first-hand experience living in a developing country, she is on a mission to help reduce poverty in developing countries like the Philippines. Since the inception, Outsourcing Angel has always reinvested its profits to charitable projects because Linh believes in a business with purpose not just profit.

• Connect with Linh on LinkedIn

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion atMarketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More aboutKaren
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
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Consumer expectations. It’s the one factor that stands in the way of having a marketing campaign that will work.

We address:

• What every business needs to know about customer experience
• How to retain customers and ask the right questions early on to set expectations
• Differences between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty
• The three rules of customer success

Today, Karen speaks with Erica Newell, a client success leader, entrepreneur, and product/marketing strategist who has worked for years developing leadership, mentorship, and retention strategies at Wells Fargo. Today, she consults, writes copy, and leads the Client Strategy Team at Instructure.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Customer experience/success is all about understanding what your clients’ desired outcomes are and helping them achieve it alongside your business. Putting their needs over yours or yours over theirs are never sustainable strategies in the long run. The key to great customer experience is carving a path that brings both them and your business to success.
• Every business should be asking not only, “Why are we losing customers?” but also “How are we keeping customers?”. Always keep the customer journey in mind so that it becomes easy to optimize or troubleshoot their experience at any point in the entire experience. Customer success and retention is an initiative for the whole organization.
• Set expectations with your customer by asking the tough questions early on. Put the customer at the center and have systems and processes in place to make sure you are keeping track of their wants and needs while at the same time establishing a personal, human relationship with them. That includes asking them the uncomfortable questions early on to ensure that you’re meeting their expectations every step of the way.

RESOURCES

• Erica Newell

Erica Newell is a client success leader, entrepreneur, and product/marketing strategist. She has worked for years developing leadership, mentorship, and retention strategies at Wells Fargo. She has also grown her own small businesses. Now she consults, writes copy, and leads the Client Strategy Team at Instructure.

• Connect with Erica on LinkedIn

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion atMarketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More aboutKaren
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
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Are you a business owner who feels stuck? Are you thinking twice about your next step because your business isn’t growing the way you want it to? Fear not: You’re not alone.

We address:

• Why softening in the face of hardship is the key to breaking through
• How to keep a clear and level head in times of conflict and uncertainty
• Ways to become more confident in your next steps for any goal you have

In this episode, we unlock the number one secret that drives growth in marketing. Even if you don’t own your own business, this is a rule that you can apply to your personal life as well. If there’s a big change that you want to make, and you’re not sure how, this is the episode for you!

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• When the hardness comes, you need to soften. Whenever we find ourselves in scary or agonizing situations, our first instinct is to fight back, to push, to tense up. In actuality, the only thing to do in that moment is to trust, to be confident that better can come, but you need to let it.
• A constant mindset of hustle will cloud your ability to determine the next step. As much as hustle culture is promoted nowadays, many times brands and businesses are putting themselves on a path to burnout. Pushing, up to a point, won’t get you there any faster. On the other hand, stopping, relaxing, and letting go does.
• Get really clear about where you want to go and how you’ll make it possible. A lot of times, people get so overwhelmed in their minds about everything that they think is necessary for change. The truth is, some of the best strategies and most effective ways forward are simple.

RESOURCES

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion atMarketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More aboutKaren
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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How do I get over the fear of getting started on social media?

We address:

• How to deal with social anxiety
• A healthier approach to using social media
• The power of being vulnerable on social media
• How to build your brand on TikTok
• How to get started on using social media for your business today

Karen speaks with Jera Foster-Fell, also known as Jera Bean. She talks about her journey to becoming an influencer and coach on all things social media and how anybody with a dream can take the leap and do the same, in good times or bad.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Social media is at its most powerful when you’re being totally authentic. Most people use social media as a highlight reel; but don’t be afraid to share your ups and downs while you go about your journey so that your followers see you—your brand—as being relatable (i.e. an actual human being) and worth following for the long haul.
• The definition of “vulnerability” is different for everyone. Don’t think that, because we’re all told to “be vulnerable” on social media, we always have to be posting what’s on our heart or happening around us all the time. Do what is comfortable for you. With regard to business, also consider if what you’re posting is on-brand.
• It’s better to just start instead of constantly thinking about starting. The more you think about using social media to build your brand, and the more articles and videos you watch on how to do it, the more hesitant you’ll become when it comes to actually getting started. You don’t have to be perfect, and very few people will even see your first few pieces of content. Just take the leap, stay consistent, learn from experience, and everything will eventually fall into place.

RESOURCES

Jera Bean

Jera Bean on TikTok

Jera Bean on Instagram

Jera Bean on Twitter

Jera went from drowning in a soul-sucking job with no defined purpose while suffering from social anxiety, to dominating the lifestyle sector of social media and owning a multiple six-figure social media coaching business. She has crowned herself the queen of pivoting: from graphic design, to SoulCycle instructor, to content creator, to social media coach.

She has built her community to more than 170k on Instagram and 1 million on TikTok (in less than a year!) and now Jera's current passion is teaching all that she's learned to others with her signature course The Social Media Saloon and with her one-on-one clients.

Jera coaches on the ins and outs of creating your own personal brand online, the secrets to building a loyal and engaged community, and all the steps that it takes to use social media as a power + positive tool for your business.

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion atMarketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More aboutKaren
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Today, we do a deep dive into the whys and hows of video content and best practices for making full use of YouTube.

We address:

• Why YouTube is potentially one of your most powerful marketing platforms
• Common mistakes that people make with YouTube
• Common hurdles to starting on YouTube (ex. lack of time, lack of confidence on camera, etc.)
• How to create content that converts
• How often you need to upload a video to maximize your reach on YouTube

Karen speaks with YouTube strategist Trena Little on how she helps her clients grow their brands and scale their businesses with the power of video content.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• The biggest benefit of YouTube is that it is owned by Google. When you upload a video onto YouTube, not only does it show up on the largest search engine in the world, but on the second-largest search engine as well—YouTube. Trena says, “You need to be on video if you want to compete in the business world these days.”
• YouTube has surpassed Facebook as the number one platform for buyer decisions. More people than ever are making final buying decisions on YouTube over other social media channels. Additionally, the lifecycle of a piece of content (i.e. a post) lasts six hours on Facebook, 48 hours on Instagram, and about 20 days on YouTube.
• YouTube is a long-term strategy. Don’t expect to see exponential growth in your business in 30 days. Nobody can give you a timeline for success on YouTube. You will see a return on the investment of your time and effort only through consistency, quality over quantity, and a cohesive content strategy on the platform.

RESOURCES

Trena Little

Trena Little on YouTube

Trena Little on LinkedIn

YouTube Strategist by day; mom by morning… and night… and day, actually; MBA grad turned unlikely entrepreneur because I thought there had to be a better way than dreading work every Sunday and living for the weekend.

MY CORPORATE JOB WAS EXACTLY THE ONE AN MBA GRAD LIKE ME WAS SUPPOSED TO LOVE AND THRIVE IN.

But, when I was pregnant with my first little human, I realized...

I didn’t feel fulfilled.

I didn’t feel challenged.

I DIDN’T FEEL LIKE I WAS LIVING UP TO MY FULL POTENTIAL.

HECK, I WAS CONSTANTLY DAYDREAMING ABOUT MORE…

…more potential for community in the midst of success.

…more (devoted) time with my family.

…more FREEDOM.

I saw other women on YouTube, and I knew the community they were creating with those channels was exactly what I craved at the time.

So, YouTube… it can’t really be THAT hard, right? Well, I started my video journey creating videos all about #momlife, productivity, and I eventually found my biz background creeping into my videos and I finally started to find my stride.

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion atMarketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More aboutKaren
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
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Happiness. What does it mean to you? How do you find it? How do you get it back when it’s lost? Today’s guest visited all 50 states speaking with folks of different walks of life to answer these questions.

We address:

• Why it’s never worth living a life and career that you’d only regard as “fine”
• How a non-filmmaker was inspired to create The American Happiness Project
• Common “happiness” trends among Michelle’s interviewees across the U.S.
• What you should not do if you want to live a happy existence
• How the pandemic impacted Michelle’s research on happiness

Karen speaks with Michelle Wax, Founder of The American Happiness Project, a 50-state movement that grew out of the documentary of the same name, to create more joy, energy, and connection in the everyday.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Beware the “fine” life. Not to be confused with enjoying the “finer” things in life, a “fine” life is one where you live every day doing little more than go through the motions. It’s one where you settle for average instead of visualizing and working toward the lifestyle and career of your dreams.
• Happiness is a choice. The journey toward your personal happiness is a completely internal one. No outside circumstance or person is going to be able to keep you happy for the long-term—and no outside force can take it away from you.
• Do a “happiness” audit every so often. At times, it may help to take stock of the different aspects of your life and single out those things that are draining your happiness, whether it’s a person, the media you’re consuming, or even a destructive pattern of thinking. We tend not to notice things that we live with every day. Becoming aware of these “happiness vampires” is the first step to eliminating them.

RESOURCES

The American Happiness Project

American Happiness: The Documentary

Michelle Wax on LinkedIn

Michelle Wax is the founder of American Happiness Project, a movement across 50 states focused on creating more joy in the everyday—in every area of life.

Wax works with top companies and schools across the USA to help teams thrive in uncertainty, use stress to their advantage, and create positive mindsets through workshops + accountability programs to build community and connection.

She produced the American Happiness Documentary, set to release in early 2021 and also works privately with individuals through private coaching.

Prior to founding American Happiness Project, Wax founded two companies in the food industry, which she sold in 2019.

She takes an energized and spirited approach to everything she does, and has been praised to be "incredibly knowledgeable, relate-able, and approachable" and she "brings great energy that very few are able to bring to the online world".

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion atMarketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More aboutKaren
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In today’s episode, SEO specialist Danielle Gagnon of Elevate Virtual Marketing Solutions explains how your brand or business can be discovered by more people in 2021.

We address:

• The importance of SEO to any brand or business
• How SEO has changed in the past decade
• Knowing how to optimize keywords on your different web pages
• Using Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track your SEO efforts
• What anyone can do to improve their SEO today, step-by-step

If we’ve learned nothing else from 2020, it is that consumers expect to be able to interact with you virtually. From our groceries to our classes to our bicycle bootcamps, everything is now available to us at home, anytime, via our devices. While this makes customers’ lives easier, it also means that brands and businesses now have to fight even harder for attention.

Listen in as Danielle offers her best tips and tricks to add more oomph to your website and cut through the noise.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• SEO is nowhere near as hard as it may seem. SEO is made up of the strategies you can use to connect with your ideal customers through your website. At the end of the day, it all comes down to figuring out what people are already searching for online related to your specialty and creating content that serves those wants and needs.
• Anyone with a website needs to utilize Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Analytics will show you where traffic is coming from (ex. organic/paid search, social media links, etc.) and what visitors are doing on your website (ex. pages/links clicked, time spent on different pages, etc.). Search Console specifically shows you how your website is performing on search engines. That is, it shows which keywords your website is ranking for and which positions they are ranking for.
• Start by getting clear on who exactly you’re trying to reach. Before even doing your keyword research, you need to be crystal clear on who your ideal client or audience is. This is the foundation for everything else. For example, if you work specifically with local business owners, creating content on driving hundreds of thousands of views to your service is an SEO strategy; but it’s just not the right one for you.

RESOURCES

Elevate Virtual Marketing

The Content Cash Machine Bootcamp

Danielle Gagnon on Instagram

Danielle Gagnon is an experienced digital marketer and SEO specialist. Through her company, Elevate Virtual Marketing Solutions, she works with busy entrepreneurs to get them back to the work they truly love by elevating their brand and taking on the marketing tasks that take up their time. Her services include copywriting, blogging and content marketing, graphic design, branding, email marketing, and social media management.

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion atMarketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More aboutKaren
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
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In today’s brief episode, Karen discusses her top marketing tips for 2021.

We address:

• What to do to prepare your business for potential economic growth or contraction
• How to find opportunities for transformation or innovation amid times of crisis
• Why your brand’s messaging and actions need to align
• How to improve your sales in 2021
• Why slow and steady is the best path to win the race

Consumer sentiment has changed dramatically since the beginning of 2020. Having now entered 2021, Karen shares how to adapt these changes to your business through four key steps.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• The overarching theme regarding consumer sentiment in 2020 is fear. In 2021, it is exhaustion. Every consumer in 2020 asked, “What do I do next?” To many at the time, it was all about survival. In 2021, however, that sentiment changed to one of fatigue. Today, consumers are asking, “When can we get back to normal?”
• Crisis always breeds transformation. Chaos is often the catalyst for innovation. Some of the biggest brands in the world expanded dramatically during the Recession. There is always a chance to be successful even when economic conditions wane. Over the past year, many businesses thrived, from Zoom to food delivery services.
• No market condition precludes your growth. Every single challenge in your business or brand can be improved. You always have one of three problems: you have a brand challenge; you have a sales challenge; or you have an optimization opportunity. Tackle these challenges one by one consistently and reap huge growth.

RESOURCES

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion atMarketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More aboutKaren
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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Today, we talk about the infamous COVID pivot. Over the next few months, we will be bringing in entrepreneurs who have used the pandemic to pivot their business and solidify a new vision for their brand.

We address:

• What Cara was doing on March 12, 2020 and how she turned crisis into opportunity
• How Cara turned a local initiative into a global social movement
• Turning powerful insights into powerful new ideas
• The elements of timeless photography
• Cara’s best gift out of a year of quarantine

Today, Karen sits down with photographer Cara Soulia, co-founder of The Front Steps Project, a global social movement that has raised $3.5 million dollars by photographing families in isolation during COVID-19 on their front steps in exchange for donations to local organizations and nonprofits.

Listen in as Cara shares how she turned a curveball into an amazing opportunity for both herself, her community, and beyond.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• The power of a good idea starts with a universal truth and a powerful insight. The insight that drove The Front Steps Project was the idea that, since the pandemic forced everybody to stay home, an opportunity existed to capture slices of life and bring them together to create connection in a new normal that isolated us.
• When huge opportunities strike, don’t sweat the small stuff. Interview requests from dozens of major networks and talk shows was a totally new and unexpected experience for the introverted photographer. Looking back, Cara would have liked to have relaxed more by reminding herself that the limelight was really on her initiative.
• When you hire a photographer, make sure they know what they’re doing. It may seem obvious, but you get what you pay for. If you’re capturing a once-in-a-lifetime moment such as a wedding or baby shower, you’ll never get a second chance. Find a photographer that is both technically proficient and can capture the authenticity of the moment.

RESOURCES

• Cara Soulia
• Cara Soulia on Instagram
• The Front Steps Project Book

Cara Soulia is a newborn & family photographer based outside Boston, Massachusetts. Cara's journey to photographer was a winding one, through years in the finance industry, starting a photography business as a side hustle, and finally making the leap to follow her heart and launch a full-time career as a professional photographer. For the last decade, she has been capturing life's most beautiful and important moments for families with babies and young children. Cara's images are most well known for being colorful, emotional, and unique in composition.

Cara has bachelor's degrees in Math and Economics from Connecticut College and is primarily a self-taught photographer. Cara is the co-founder of The Front Steps Project, a global social movement that has raised $3.5 million dollars by photographing families in isolation during COVID-19 on their front steps in exchange for donations to local organizations and non-profits.

Cara lives in Needham, Massachusetts with her husband and three children and is currently living the newborn days all over again with a rescue puppy.

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion atMarketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More aboutKaren
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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What makes a powerful brand? What are the most important things to do and watch out for when you’re building your brand in 2021?

We address:

• What makes a sexy brand?
• The elements of an authentic brand
• Design trends to pay attention to in 2021
• Design trends to say goodbye to in 2021
• The vital importance of photography in your website

Today, Karen sits down with graphic designer and brand strategist Erin Fucigna to talk about all things branding. She discusses the different elements that go into bringing your brand to life online, from color palettes to photography to the importance of a website.

Listen in as Erin gives her tips and tricks on what you should do, and avoid doing, when building your brand online in 2021.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Authenticity is key to a powerful brand in 2021. Especially after 2020, people are craving connection and groundedness. The only way to build that connection, to resonate emotionally with your customer, is to be authentic. This is why strategy is so important to defining who you are as a brand. How do you behave? What is your personality? What are your values? What is your tone of voice? It’s so much more than your color palette and logo. It’s the sum of all these parts.
• 2021 is a year of color. 2020 was very neutral, which may have been reflective of the vibe throughout the year. While there is nothing wrong with neutrals, this year has seen more colors that pop, probably to reflect the hope and optimism people have in 2021. At the same time, more colors have to do with the celebration of diversity that truly exploded in the middle of last year. Today’s designs are also much simpler in appearance. Be intentional and strategic. Avoid design for the sake of design.
• Every element counts toward a great website. While everything on your website is important, if you had to pick one thing to absolutely nail, it should be your photography. A beautiful brand can be ruined by bad photography. When done well and combined with other design elements like typography and graphics, it can really transform a user’s experience. We are humans first and consumers second, and we naturally react to photography. Hence the massive success of Instagram.

RESOURCES

• Erin Fucigna
• Erin Fucigna on Instagram

Erin started her career working as an Account Executive at an advertising agency in Boston.She fell in love with developing brand strategies for her clients but always felt frustrated that her role wasn’t as involved in the creative process as she wanted it to be. Her search for more creativity brought her to New York City where she worked as a Marketing Manager at a fashion start-up. In each role, she was surrounded by innovation and artistic thinkers, but constantly uninspired—always more interested in the projects that the designers and art directors were executing than she was with her own responsibilities.

So, She decided to lean into her creativity and enrolled in the Shillington School of Graphic Design and haven’t looked back since. Now, She is back in Boston with her dream job combining her strategic expertise as a brand strategist with her creative skills as a designer.

When she's not strategizing or creating for her clients, you can find her at SoulCycle, where she is also a full time indoor cycling instructor. Erin is a New Englander through and through—skiing with her family in New Hampshire in the winter and spending as much time as possible at the beach on the Cape during the summer.

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion atMarketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More aboutKaren
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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In this episode, we do a deep dive on building a profitable brand using TikTok.

We address:

• Distinguishing TikTok from other platforms
• Taking advantage of TikTok’s unique features to bolster your brand
• Producing “edutainment” to turn TikTok into your business’s marketing channel
• Advertising on TikTok versus other social media platforms
• What any business or marketer can do to start creating content on TikTok today

Today, Karen sits down with accomplished business executive, teacher and inspirational speaker, Keenya Kelly. She is the CEO of If You Brand It, a branding and consulting firm that guides business owners from the conceptualization to the development of million dollar brands.

Listen in as Keenya explains how she built her own brand and how she counsels other coaches and businesses to make money using TikTok. She also shares her best practices for creating content specifically for the platform.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• When creating content for TikTok as a business, “edutainment” is key. TikTok is similar to Facebook or Instagram where people come on to be entertained. However, TikTok gives users the opportunity to produce “edutainment”. You get a 15-second window to grab somebody’s attention with the language of entertainment unique to TikTok while educating them on your product or service.
• Your ads need to get to the point right away. TikTok is slowly adopting Facebook and Instagram’s advertising model. While at first, the only ad you would see on TikTok appears when you log onto the platform, now ads appear as you scroll the feed. You have five seconds to capture someone’s attention on YouTube with a preroll ad. On today’s TikTok, however, if a business wants to compete with other brands advertising on the platform, they need to know how to capture attention in a second.
• Before creating any content on TikTok… First, start scrolling through the For You Page. Interact with content that you like. If you don’t like a piece of content, hold your finger down and select “Not Interested” to start filtering your feed. Next, click on the Discover tab and search what you do (ex. banking, real estate, etc.) and start binge-watching the content of people doing exactly the same thing. Once you see how others in your industry are finding success on TikTok, content ideas will pop up. Then start creating. You don’t have to be perfect. Everybody starts somewhere.

RESOURCES

• Keenya Kelly
• If You Brand It
• Keenya Kelly on Instagram
• keenya@keenyakelly.com

As an accomplished business executive, teacher and inspirational speaker, Keenya Kelly found her voice by writing & speaking about understanding your God-given purpose and living up to your fullest potential. She captures her audiences by conveying powerful lessons of overcoming fear, self-doubt, & divorce to creating successful six-figure businesses utilizing her gifts and corporate background.

Keenya is the CEO of If You brand It, a branding and consulting firm in Redding, CA where she strategically helps business owners go from the formulation stage of a Business to developing million dollar brands.

She believes that branding is what people say about you, when you are not around, so we need to tell them what to say.

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion atMarketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More aboutKaren
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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In our season finale, Karen shares her greatest takeaways gleaned over the past 30 episodes of Momentum Magnet. Listen in and learn four actionable tips you can apply today to put more momentum in your life and business.

We address:

• Overcoming barriers by embracing the pain cave with Julia Becker Collins
• Asking yourself the right questions to return to better momentum with Maria Terol
• The power of servant leadership with Michelle Mercier
• Knowing when to scale by focusing on unit economics by Brian Greenfield

4 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Be ready to enter the pain cave at any time. In athletics, business, and life as a whole, you’ll be faced over and over again with what Julia Becker Collins calls “the pain cave”. There’s no escaping it; it’s all a matter, then, of how you prepare for when it arrives. But entering the pain cave is always better than not finishing the race.
• Always ask what is preventing you from moving forward. Get clear on your outcome from the get-go. What is the ideal vision for your life and business? Then break up that long-term dream into weekly or daily goals, which include deciding how you want to feel. Whatever stops you from feeling positive is always a fear-based hesitation.
• Leadership is not about you. Servant leadership is the best kind of leadership. It’s not about you, but the vision-mission that you and your team are striving to fulfill. It’s not about blame, but about solving the problem. Be a better leader today by asking your team what motivates them. Collectively, you have a rising tide that lifts all boats.
• Focus on unit economics. Take note of what your product or service sells for and the costs that go into that price. Find the gross margin of that product, then find out the lifetime value of an average customer. If you’re getting a positive return on your investment, your unit economics are working, and you may consider scaling.

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion atMarketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More aboutKaren
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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Today’s topic is something that every business owner, or those who are looking to build a personal brand, constantly worry about: social media.

We address:

• Overcoming your fear of using social media or becoming the face of your brand
• Basic tips that anyone can use to see better engagement on social media
• Best practices in creating Reels and Stories
• Appearing more relatable and approachable to your audience
• Planning ahead and batching content

Today, Karen sits down with nationally-recognized social media strategist Mary Pendleton. A self-proclaimed “chillpreneur”, she has a total passion for purpose-driven businesses. Mary’s expertise lies in Instagram growth and grounds her coaching on the idea that social media is the personification of your business.

Listen in as Mary lists five actionable tips that you can put to work for your social media growth strategy in 2021, which include the latest hashtag strategies, how to take advantage of Reels and Stories, and a process to batch content.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Tap into the secret of outbound engagement. Seek out your ideal customers on Instagram and just start chatting with them. Think of Instagram as a party. You’re hosting your own party on your feed; but you ought to attend other people’s parties as well. Show up, bring a couple snacks, and just be a good guest. Find these people by searching relevant hashtags and commenting on the posts that show up.
• Your authenticity is an asset. Your natural personality, quirks and all, is the backbone of your brand. “That’s what people are going to relate to,” says Mary, “more than eyeliner, that day.” In fact, for videos in particular, some of what you consider “boring” may actually be the most effective, because watching someone talk spontaneously about what’s on their heart is relatable. Looking and sounding perfect—not so much.
• Incorporate Mary’s top five tips for greater engagement on Instagram. 1) Have your first name in your Instagram profile with a descriptor of what you do; 2) Find the top 30 hashtags in your category that your audience engage with and segment them into small, medium, and large hashtags; 3) Make your reels with a video editing software; 4) Plan ahead and batch content; 5) Proactively engage, even only 20 minutes a day.

RESOURCES

• Mary Pendleton Social
• Hashtag Hero
• Mary Pendleton on Instagram
• Mary Pendleton on LinkedIn

Mary Pendleton is a nationally recognized social media strategist and self-proclaimed chillpreneur.

Her expertise lies in Instagram growth with a passion for purpose-driven businesses! With services from full management and strategic planning to DIY memberships and courses, she has services for all budgets.

Mary is a California native and lives in San Francisco with her husband and three young kids.

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion atMarketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More aboutKaren
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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The more authentic you are when relaying your message, the more you connect with your audience, and the more resonant your message becomes. Today, we discuss how to incorporate masterful storytelling in your talks.

We address:

• Increasing your confidence as a speaker, even if you’re an introvert
• Becoming unafraid to embrace and be bold with your speaking style and message
• Keeping your brand the anchor for all your professional endeavors
• Focusing your talks on the one core message that defines your brand identity

Today, Karen sits down with “Moxie Maven” Alexia Vernon, a Las Vegas-based keynote speaker and sought-after speaking, sales, leadership, and executive coach and trainer to executives, teams, entrepreneurs, and emerging leaders. Alexia has supported thousands of leaders and speakers through her Step into Your Moxie® corporate offerings, online training, live events, The Spotlight Speaker Accelerator coaching program, and her masterminds.

Listen in as Alexia discusses how focusing 100% on your message and speaking as if to just one person in the crowd automatically eliminates your self-defeating self-talk. She then explains that you should keep your core message on-brand; that is, to have your signature talk embody your message as a thought leader. These, Alexia explains, are the most important elements that make up a one-of-a-kind, in-demand speaker.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Your “why” has to be greater than your fear. Even as a natural introvert who never, ever imagined that she would one day become a sought-after speaker, Alexia won America’s Junior Miss at 19-years-old simply because she was motivated to do just about anything for scholarship money. “In those moments where you feel deeply uncomfortable,” says Alexia, “a piece of it is certainly learning how to be in your body and not try to escape that discomfort.” To do that, desire must override reluctance.
• Embrace your unique speaking style and message. All speakers, at some point, have to overcome the temptation to sanitize or “dumb down” their message to appeal to everyone in the audience. This is especially tough for many women, who have a tendency to hold back or be apologetic when speaking in front of crowds. Both Karen and Alexia make the case that, to become the best and most respected speaker you can be, you have to embrace and be bold with your message, warts and all.
• Embody your message as a thought leader. In the TED world, this is called an “idea worth spreading”. What is the core idea you want to be known for? Then—once you’ve defined that message—how can you make sure that your signature talk forwards that idea? Is that signature talk moving people into individual or group programs that support that idea? As hard as it will be at times, keep it focused; otherwise, you’ll exhaust yourself from going in too many different directions.

RESOURCES

• Alexia Vernon
• 9 Mistakes
• Alexia Vernon on LinkedIn
• Step Into Your Moxie by Alexia Vernon

Alexia Vernon is a keynote speaker and sought-after speaking, sales, leadership, and executive coach and trainer to executives, corporate teams, entrepreneurs, and emerging leaders who want to speak with unshakeable presence, sell their ideas, grow their businesses, navigate daring conversations, develop high performing teams, and advance their thought leadership (as Alexia calls it, possess the ability to Step into Your Moxie®).

Dubbed a “Moxie Maven” by President Obama’s White House Office of Public Engagement for her unique approach to communication and leadership development, Alexia has supported thousands of leaders and speakers through her Step into Your Moxie® corporate offerings, online training, live events, The Spotlight Speaker Accelerator coaching program, and her masterminds.

A renowned speaker, women's leadership, gender equity, and professional development expert, since winning the Miss Junior America competition, Alexia has delivered transformational keynotes and training for Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, educational institutions, professional associations, the United Nations, and she is a TEDxWomen speaker. Alexia has contributed to media such as CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, Forbes.com, Inc.com, European Business Review, and Women’s Health Magazine.

Alexia is the author of multiple books including Step into Your Moxie: Amplify Your Voice, Visibility, and Influence in the World (New World Library and Penguin Random House Audio). She is also the creator/instructor of the LinkedIn Learning course, Communicating to Drive People to Take Action.

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion atMarketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More aboutKaren
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
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Healing is a journey. If you’ve ever had a frantic call or a hard diagnosis, you know what it feels like to not know what your next step should be. For a process so personal, so unique to each and every person, how do we see this journey to its end?

We address:

• Unlocking and sharpening your psychic abilities
• Removing invisible blocks and barriers of belief
• Getting in touch with stillness and silence to hear your inner voice—your compass
• Accepting the current moment as the first step toward healing

Today, Karen sits down with published author and spiritual intuitive Shara Ogin. She is an intuitive coach who helps women remove those invisible blocks and patterns standing in the way of their addressing their highest potential. Shara is the author of a new book Unlocking the Body’s Wisdom: Accessing Your Healing Powers From Within.

Listen in as Shara discusses how her 25 years of working in the medical field, along with her coaching, and even clairvoyance helped her to write her book. She also reflects back on how she first discovered her aptitude for intuitive healing. Shara then goes into how anybody can reconnect body and mind, listen to their inner voice, and begin to let go of those invisible barriers of belief.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• We are all born psychic. We all have the information we need inside. Our body is an amazing temple of information. We can learn to read these messages that are already inside of us. It’s just a matter of “aligning our upper and lower body” by unlearning all our blocks and limiting beliefs and becoming more aware of our physiology. This allows us to be our fullest and true selves.
• Listening to our inner voice helps us to let go of our limiting belief. Oftentimes, a single session won’t be enough to shed a limiting belief in its entirety. It always goes back to your current state of mind, and whether you are able to get out of your head into your heart or your higher self. “A great deal of wealth and information about what we’re supposed to be doing on this planet lies in our shadow side,” says Shara.
• What matters is the current moment. Accept the now. Being in the moment gets you much, much closer “to the truth that matters.” This is true even—and perhaps especially—if the current moment is one of hardship and adversity. Shara names Coronavirus as “the perfect transition point for us to open our hearts, feel more connected, and step more into that purpose that we were put on this planet for.”

RESOURCES

• Shara Ogin
• sharaogin@gmail.com
• Unlocking the Body's Wisdom Workbook: Accessing Your Healing Powers from Within by Shara Ogin

Shara Ogin is an Intuitive Coach & Energy Healer.

She has spent most of her adult career working in the medical field helping people become pain-free, yet over the past several years, she has veered her focus more towards helping people to clear the emotional and energetic blocks that stand in the way of manifesting that which they truly want in life.

She incorporates her background in the medical field for physical ailments, as well as modalities such as Reiki, Clairvoyance, NLP, Coaching, and Feldenkrais into her sessions.

The results of her sessions are immediate and profound. Everything from your posture, your perspective, and all that you attract your way will shift.

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion atMarketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More aboutKaren
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“There are few things on the planet more powerful than somebody with absolutely nothing to lose.”

We address:

● Keys to getting your message heard onstage

● Recognizing symptoms of suicidal behavior

● Creating a daily self-care plan for your mental health

● How to prepare and apply to become a TEDx speaker

Today, Karen sits down with five-time TEDx speaker Frank King. Aside from his prestigious speaking appearances, Frank was a former writer for the Tonight Show for over 20 years. He had also fought a lifelong battle with depression and had thoughts of suicide, and has since turned that long, hard journey into five TEDx talks, reaching all types of corporate, association, and college audiences. He uses his life lessons of all of the above as well as the lessons learned crisscrossing the country in the late 80s and 90s doing shows on the road.

Listen in as Frank explains why he uses humor to drive home his thoughts on suicide and mental health, and why he regards suicide as the secret to his success. He also discusses how to identify suicidal behavior in another person and how you can help them. Finally, Frank shares his personal self-care plan to nurture his mental health day-by-day.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

● People love to hear your messes and stresses before your successes. TED Talks (and Got Talent too, as Frank points out) has a very specific formula in place for everyone who goes onstage: they give their backstory first, along with their struggles, before moving onto the lesson or impact they want to make with the audience. If you can combine a message you’re passionate about with relatability and humility, you’ll make a deep impact, even if you’re a comedian speaking on suicide.

● Vulnerability is a superpower. “Even though one person dies by suicide in the U.S. every nine minutes, hardly anybody talks about it—unless you bring it up. Everybody’s got a story.” Understandably, it’s incredibly difficult for individuals struggling with depression to openly share their struggles. People often just need an example to follow, as Frank illustrates. But everybody has a story they need to share.

● To those struggling with depression, a self-care plan is a must. For Frank, there are five parts to his plan that he abides by every single day: a great diet , regular exercise , medication , the gamification of his most important daily tasks, and a routine . Especially in today’s uncertain times, everyone needs to create a structure for themselves to live by every day, if only to give purpose to each and every day.

RESOURCES

● Talk Like TED by Carmine Gallo

● YourTEDxCoach.com

● The Mental Health Comedian

● Frank King on LinkedIn

● Reach Frank at (858) 405-5653

Frank King is a Five Time TEDx Talker, TEDx and Speaker Coach, Former writer for The Tonight Show for 20 Years

He’s fought a lifetime battle with depression, and thoughts of suicide, turning that long dark journey of the soul into 5 TEDx Talks, and sharing his insights on Suicide Prevention and Post- vention with corporation, association, and college audiences.

He uses the life lessons from all of the above, as well as lessons learned crisscrossing the country in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, doing 2,629 nights in a row on the comedy club circuit, to show how funeral directors, their staffs, and vendor partners, how they can collaborate successfully as they strive for excellence in funeral service.

He’s had two aortic valve replacements, a double bypass, a massive heart attack, and three stents, and lived to joke about it all, so he is truly funny at heart.

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion at Marketing Magnet .

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

● More about Karen

● Find us on Facebook

● Visit our website

● Find us on Instagram

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How do you get credible talent in your business for a second opinion? What are the right questions you should be asking so you’re never afraid that you’ve made the wrong hire?

We address:

• The key to successful business relationships • Ascribing value to your time • Common questions and challenges faced by female business owners • Reframing your perception of sales • Fostering a productive relationship with the right consultant

More and more, big companies and even startups are looking to employ experts to help them in their business, but hold off because of buyer’s remorse from previous relationships. They wonder about the actual credentials of the people that they might hire as consultants, or small agencies, or one-off thought leaders.

To help answer these common concerns, Karen welcomes innovator and serial entrepreneur Kathryn Rose. She is the Founder and CEO of wiseHer, a global knowledge marketplace that helps women business owners and professionals overcome unique challenges to access one-on-one, on-demand service from executives, coaches, mentors, and other educational resources that can accelerate either their business or their own career growth.

Listen in as Kathryn discusses how wiseHer helps female entrepreneurs and professionals get practical and tactical advice to get unstuck and succeed in their careers.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

“Free” is not a strategy. One big mistake that a lot of consultants make is to give free advice. There is, quite literally, no value if it’s free. The value one ascribes to their time is directly proportional to their marketability. As Kathryn says: “It’s easier to get from any number to your real number than zero to any number.”

Selling isn’t about selling, but about buying. Selling isn’t about you or even your product. Selling is about solving your buyer’s challenges. When people struggle with sales, it’s usually because they’re so focused on selling someone on the features of a product, instead of actually asking the potential customer what they value and then, if there is indeed a need, demonstrating the benefits of the product.

Relationships are built around expectations. When working with a consultant, it almost doesn’t matter what your growth strategy is. A good consultant will meet you at the level you’re currently at, and move at the pace that you both agree is most comfortable, even if it means taking baby steps. By having expectations set, you “deliver value on both sides” of the relationship.

RESOURCES

wiseHer

Kathryn Rose on LinkedIn

Kathryn Rose is the Founder and CEO of wiseHer, a global knowledge marketplace that helps women business owners and professionals overcome unique challenges to access one-on-one, on-demand service from executives, coaches, mentors, and other educational resources that can accelerate either their business or their own career growth.

Kathryn is a former Wall Street Executive Sales Leader and the author of nine books. She has been featured in Forbes Inc., CBS, Marketwatch, Fox News, and more.

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion at Marketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

More about Karen

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It’s a new year, and we’re here to give you a little inspiration, a dose of reality, and a few tips and tricks from our 2020 to help you plan your 2021!

We address:

• How 2020 has demonstrated that profitability must be prioritized in any business
• Our moral obligation to help others
• Writing down your wins and losses in your personal and professional life in 2020
• The future of communications in a world where more people are working from home
• Why we must all accept that progress and conflict will simultaneously expand in 2021

Karen Morales shares some of the things that have helped her transform her life and the lives of the businesses she has supported over the last three years. She also brings on her beloved sound engineer, Doug Newsom, who shares his thoughts concerning what to expect in 2021 and beyond.

Karen shares why, at the beginning of any new year, the first thing she does is look backwards in order to define the big goal she wants to accomplish going forward. She reflects on how, even though the pandemic has separated us all physically, our collective challenges further unveiled and illustrated the shared humanity allows us to stay resilient. In fact, many companies have grown, and countless opportunities arose out of the chaos and the many uncertainties 2020 presented. Such is the lifecycle of crisis, after all.

In today’s episode, Karen discusses the power of writing down your wins and losses from last year to inform what you need to work on in 2021. She then introduces Doug, who shares his incredibly unique background leading up to his current partnership with Karen. Finally, in spite of the increasing divisiveness that Doug believes is inevitable, he dives deep into his optimism regarding humanity’s ability to make a comeback no matter what happens.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• We have a moral obligation to give back. Obviously, this has always been true. But the events of 2020 have made outreach a must, especially if you are a business owner who has fortunately been able to ride the turbulent waves of the previous year. With inequality increasing in many aspects of society, it is imperative to lend a helping hand to the negatively impacted, if only because the health of the economy depends on it.
• Write down your wins and your losses. There’s no better way to evaluate the previous year and glean lessons from your many experiences than to write down the good and the bad. Categorize your wins and losses between those in your personal life, and those in your professional or business life.
• The future will only bring more of what is already here. Doug speaks on how the dynamic of “more” has always characterized the evolution of civilization. The year following 2020 will progress in much the same way the year following 2019 did; and the same will be so for the year following 2021. That is, the new year will bring more darkness. But it will also bring more light. We need to make peace with this reality first before anything else.

RESOURCES

• BBS Radio
• Doug Newsom on LinkedIn

Doug is the Co-Founder of BBS Network, Inc. (known widely as BBS Radio), a worldwide, live, interactive, premier, internet-based talk radio network. His passion for the radio industry ignited from a Spontaneous Kundalini event in August 2004. Now, he works daily at being an energetic catalyst for the empowerment of others.

Working to provide the best platform for others endeavoring to bring awareness, hope, information, love, and entertainment to the masses, Doug believes that we live in most interesting times. To him, if we aren't actively changing something, we're more than likely lacking meaning and purpose in our life.

Doug has 24 years experience in corporate business development from inception through profitability and/or fully operational status. He has a creative, operations, and entrepreneurial background. Doug has been responsible for the successful creation, startup, management and development of a veritable dozen companies over the course of his career, and has raised in excess of $25 million in private equity on behalf of start-ups.

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion at Marketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More about Karen
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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Today’s episode is all about something that so many of us have sorely missed this year: travel. With a vaccine finally being rolled out, it seems our days in quarantine are numbered. With better days on the horizon, now is a great time to start planning for our next travel season.

We address:

• Why it pays to hire a travel expert
• A forecast of the hospitality industry in 2021
• Countries open to travel for U.S. citizens right now
• Top places to visit in the U.S.
• Mimi’s favorite safari destination
• The best castles in the British Isles to spend the night in
• Local and international romantic getaways
• Finding the right travel advisor for you
• Sourcing vacation rentals

Karen Morales welcomes Mimi Lichtenstein, owner and Custom Travel Advisor at Truvay Travel Design. She helps professionals, lawyers, entrepreneurs and hardworking parents “plan immersive vacations and one-month family sabbaticals that refresh their personal and professional lives.”

In today’s episode, Mimi discusses how she came to start her own travel company, things to keep in mind when planning a trip in 2021, her favorite destinations locally and abroad, and how to look for a travel advisor that can help you create the trip of your dreams.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• With travel being more in vogue today than ever before, it’s beyond worth it to work with an expert when putting together your trip instead of you trying to solve for all the variables involved in it all by yourself. Someone with on-the-ground, cutting edge knowledge of the industry is a huge weight off your shoulders because they free you from all the complexities of planning the itinerary, booking transportation and accommodation, and sorting out potential hiccups such as delayed flights.
• Places that thrive on tourism have obviously been hit particularly hard in 2020. Don’t expect firesales galore as the world slowly opens up again, because many of those people whose livelihoods depend on tourism are likely extremely eager to recoup their losses come 2021. When you do get the opportunity to travel to these places, consider being extra generous and let your money contribute to revitalizing the economy.
• Finding the right travel advisor for you depends entirely on the experience that you’re looking for. Different individuals and agencies cater to different budgets and preferences. Is money no object? Are you going for something itinerary-dependent and planned down to the hour, or something more spontaneous? Once you have your ideal trip in mind, find an advisor that fits those wants and needs.

RESOURCES

• Truvay Travel
• Mimi Lichtenstein on LinkedIn

Mimi Lichtenstein is the owner and Custom Travel Advisor at Truvay Travel Design, where she helps professionals, lawyers, entrepreneurs and hardworking parents “plan immersive vacations and one-month family sabbaticals that refresh their personal and professional lives.”

She is also an Independent Consultant at Brownell Travel. As an affiliate, Mimi calls “on my relationships with the GMs of the top hotels (ex: Four Seasons, 6 Senses, Aman, Ritz Carlton), tour companies (ex: A&K, NatGeo, IC Bellagio) and cruise lines (ex: Seabourn, Lindblad, Crystal, Quark) to elevate your vacation in a way you never imagined.”

Mimi is also a Co-Host for Travel Brain Trust alongside Martha Rhodes. Through a bi-weekly live program, Travel Brain Trust features experts around the world who share insider information, local experiences, and trusted recommendations for the discerning traveler.

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion at Marketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More about Karen
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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Today, we answer a question asked by business owners and influencers of all sizes: How do you expand the reach of your message through PR? It’s really important to have multiple avenues to reach your audience when you’re not able to see them in-person.

We address:

• Why it pays to hire a professional PR person
• Getting on Shark Tank and other mainstream platforms
• Positioning yourself as a thought leader via personal branding alone
• Reaching your audience in 2020
• How PR has changed with the influx of nontraditional media (ex. podcasts, blogs, etc.)
• Earned versus paid media
• Using a PR person to handle crisis communications

Karen Morales welcomes Lauren Gill, who has been working in public relations for over two decades now. Prior to co-founding her own agency, Mooring Advisory Group, Lauren supported the #1 tech media company in the world, and gained corporate experience in PR, event planning and business development.

Lauren shares how business owners can create a foolproof strategy to more efficiently and effectively get their message out to the world, and explains why it seems easy for some to get coverage while others find themselves pushing a boulder up a hill.

In today’s episode, Lauren discusses what makes a “newsworthy” story, the power of being “pleasantly persistent”, the benefits of hiring a professional PR person, how startups should incorporate PR, how to be perceived as a thought leader in the media, how to know whether to utilize more conventional or unconventional media strategies (i.e. commercials versus podcasts or FB Lives), and when to hire a PR person for crisis communications.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Your story can become “newsworthy” based on how you tell it and knowing who to reach out to so that your story spreads. Thousands of people write for The New York Times, but if you pitch to an individual reporter who happens to not care for what you have to say, your story will never see the light of day. Lay out your target audience, hone in on who will want to hear your message among different publications, and get ready to be persistent with follow-up—which is more important than ever these days.
• PR is more important than ever in 2020 because people aren’t able to get in front of their clients as easily. Third-party validation can tip the scales of success for you if you know how to get it during these turbulent and uncertain times. Having the right strategy when it comes to social media activities can be a game changer because everyone is hungry for content and interaction.
• Get started with a PR campaign for your business today by tapping into your network and trying to get referred to an agency that can address your specific needs. You can also do your own research simply using Google. The point is to evaluate a fair number of agencies because different companies have different styles. Of course, it will also greatly help to know your why, core values, key message, and marketing goals so that you can have a more productive conversation with your future agency.

RESOURCES

• Mooring Advisory Group
• Lauren Gill on LinkedIn
• lauren@mooringadvisorygroup.com

As Co-Founder of MAG PR, Lauren wakes up every morning with one goal in mind: PR driven by passion and purpose.

Whether it’s helping executives gain more visibility and evolve as thought leaders, or strategizing with emerging brands to leverage exposure for growth, Lauren’s primary deliverable is to ensure that her clients feel supported and on track to become household names.

Prior to MAG PR, Lauren supported the #1 tech media company in the world, and gained corporate experience in PR, event planning and business development. Her professional background, paired with her enthusiasm for increasing client brand awareness and revenue, make her a publicist powerhouse.

Lauren has been working hand-in-hand with Fortune 500 executives for much of her career, and has landed coverage for clients in renowned publications such as Forbes, WSJ, CNBC, Huffington Post, Moneyish, Fitness Magazine, CIO.com, Informationweek, and more.

Outside of the office, she’s hanging with family, or attending a fun, local fitness class!

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion at Marketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More about Karen
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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Today, we talk about one of the core elements that make us up, and that is our personality. We dive deep into one of the most popular tools to help us explore and better understand our particular personality type: the Enneagram.

We address:

• How the Enneagram is different from other personality tests
• The nine Enneagram types
• Determining your type
• Avoiding traps in your personality
• Applying learnings from your Enneagram type to your relationships and business

Karen Morales welcomes Callie Ammons, a certified Enneagram life coach and highly sought-after speaker. She has been coaching entrepreneurs and businesspeople for almost ten years on this subject. Callie is building a movement around the Enneagram and intentionality.

“Enneagram” simply translates from Greek to nine points on a graph. It is a nine-type personality assessment. It differentiates itself from other, perhaps more mainstream personality assessments by the focus it stresses on one’s internal world. More than simply putting individuals into either the “introvert” or “extrovert” box, Callie describes the Enneagram as uncovering the deep-seated motivations behind your behaviors and actions.

In today’s episode, Callie gives the differences between the Enneagram and other personality tests such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the DISC assessment, a primer on the nine types and wings, and how understanding the types of the people around you can help you nurture even better relationships among your family, friends, and co-workers.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• The Enneagram is more than just a test. Simply taking an online assessment and being told which type you are is only scratching the surface of what the Enneagram can really tell you about your motivations. Callie says that the beauty of the Enneagram is that it helps you uncover your internal world, which obviously goes much deeper than the surface-level quirks that make up your personality. Callie recommends reading books, listening to podcasts, and working with a coach to peel back the many layers of wisdom that you can potentially unearth through discovering your Enneagram type.
• When you learn the types of the people around you, you develop compassion for them and accept that not everyone needs to think or feel like you do. Likewise, you don’t have to think or feel like they do. Focus on understanding yourself, especially your weaknesses, so that you can become a master in communicating with others. Your relationships will improve—guaranteed. We’re all unique, and when we learn how to empower each other’s strengths and unique gifts that we all bring to the world, a beautiful harmony takes place. “Seek to be a student of other people,” says Callie.
• The Enneagram invites you on a continuous journey that will probably never end for as long as you’re alive. As you continue to discover more of your motivations through uncovering your inner world, you will always be thinking about how to apply new wisdom to your life, day-by-day. Apply these lessons without judgement. Oftentimes, learnings will be small, but they add up over time to fulfill your potential as a human being.

RESOURCES

• Callie Ammons
• The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery by Ian Morgan Cron

Callie Ammons is a type 3 Enneagram life coach who seeks to help women live with intention every single day.

Callie went on her own journey to understand who she was at her core and who God made her to be. She realized she often felt stuck and didn’t know how to move forward but it was due to a lack of awareness and mindset gaps.

Living in Colorado Springs, she is now building a movement around the Enneagram and intentionality. Callie’s mission is to help women be proud of the life they are living every day by taking control of themselves.

She challenges the normal thought patterns of the world and has created a massive community around helping women live intentionally through God’s Word and Enneagram wisdom.

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion at Marketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More about Karen
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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Today’s topic is something we can all relate to: What is the future of working from home? What does it mean if your company is considering or has called a permanent end to the office space and a return to telecommuting or working directly from your living room?

We address:

• Working whenever, wherever while having time with your family whenever, wherever
• Leading a productive virtual workforce
• Maintaining a drama-free workplace
• The future of the workplace in a post-COVID world
• Creating an effective culture in the remote work environment in 2021 and beyond

Karen Morales welcomes Bob Krinsky, CEO of The Kriskey Company, a healthcare strategy consultancy that he has always run from home alongside a remote team. Bob has worked in dozens of companies around the world. He has led over 100 strategy engagements for Philips Healthcare worldwide; co-lead a 3-yr. marketing transformation for IDEXX Labs; and delivered over a dozen growth strategy engagements for Quest Diagnostics.

Over the past few years, Bob has partnered with Bain & Company to deliver a growth strategy engagement initiated by Intuit CEO Scott Cook. Bob began his consulting career with IdeaScope in 1987. Based in Boston and San Francisco, he focused its practice on growth strategy and corporate innovation.

In today’s episode, we pick Bob’s brain to discover best practices on how to make working from home an efficient arrangement for all of us, both during times of lockdown and in the new normal. We help professionals of every background understand how they can thrive at work, grow a business, and be a happy and engaged worker no matter where they sit.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Bob’s number one vital sign for living a life of freedom and purpose is that rare feeling of simultaneously living life to the fullest while working toward something worth accomplishing. He calls this “coexisting”, where one is engaged in work that they are passionate about while having the time flexibility to work from wherever they prefer to work and be with family at the same time.
• Even if you have the opportunity to work from anywhere, make it a point to separate the place where you do your work from the place you do not engage in work. Additionally, understand the circumstances during which you are the most productive. If you are a morning person, do work at your designated place only in the morning. Same goes for if you are a night person. With a little organization and a set of boundaries, you can take the power of working from anywhere even further than you ever thought possible.
• Remote work is here to stay. The key to thriving in the new normal is to become purposeful and optimistic about the new way of doing work. Just because you may no longer be spending regular face-to-face time with your team members does not mean that productivity, accountability, or communication needs to suffer. Create a system and stick to it.

RESOURCES

• The Krinsky Company
• The Krinsky Company on LinkedIn

Bob Krinsky is the CEO of The Kriskey Company, a healthcare strategy consultancy that he has always run from home alongside a remote team. Bob has worked in dozens of companies around the world. He has led over 100 strategy engagements for Philips Healthcare worldwide; co-lead a 3-yr. marketing transformation for IDEXX Labs; and delivered over a dozen growth strategy engagements for Quest Diagnostics.

Over the past few years, Bob has partnered with Bain & Company to deliver a growth strategy engagement initiated by Intuit CEO Scott Cook. Bob began his consulting career with IdeaScope in 1987. Based in Boston and San Francisco, he focused its practice on growth strategy and corporate innovation.

• (415) 310-3776
• bob@thekrinskyco.com

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion at Marketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More about Karen
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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Today, we do a deep dive into all things leadership. What exactly is leadership? What does it take to be able to guide the people in your place of work, community, and country? To inspire them to change and grow? What are those qualities that make up a resilient leader?

We address:

• Influencing your team as opposed to controlling them
• Why work/life integration is a better goal than work/life balance
• Becoming more resilient during tough times
• The future of the workplace in a post-COVID world
• Creating boundaries for yourself to minimize stress and anxiety

Karen Morales welcomes business strategy coach Michelle Mercier. She is the founder of the Surviving Entrepreneurship community and the host of The Resilient Entrepreneur podcast, which debuted on iTunes at number 15 on the Entrepreneur category and cracked the top 100 in other countries around the globe. She has 20 years of corporate and professional experience on a wide range of businesses, from nationally acclaimed nonprofits to major corporations like PayPal.

2020 has presented an avalanche of challenges for everyone around the world. How can we continue to stay resilient and effectively lead our people as we march into the new normal? Listen in as Michelle shares the importance of controlling only what you can, practicing self-care, and putting your best self forward in every interaction you have with your tribe.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Leadership is not about you. It’s about serving the greater good. It’s not about managing. It’s about guiding. It’s not about blame. It’s about solving problems. Leaders are those who cast their vision onto their team with the full understanding that the vision means nothing if the team doesn’t buy into it. Find out what motivates your team, not by simply assuming their motivation, but by actually speaking to them as human beings and finding out what makes them tick.
• Focus on what you can control, which is almost always just yourself. If you try to steer the chaos around you, you’ll never be able to anchor yourself and make decisions to remedy your given situation. At the most fundamental level, as a leader, you can control what you say, but you cannot control how the other person will react.
• Building your resilience requires you to give yourself permission to make mistakes. Resilience is like a muscle: the more you work it, the stronger it gets. Allowing yourself the grace to undergo tough times will be made easier once you understand the concept of yin and yang. In short, light and darkness coexist by default. You wouldn’t know a good day if you don’t have bad ones to compare it to. No matter how hard your current trial is, realize that it will eventually end and you’ll end up stronger for it.

RESOURCES

• Create Honesty
• The Resilient Entrepreneur Podcast

Michelle Mercier is a business strategy coach, the founder of the Surviving Entrepreneurship community, the host of The Resilient Entrepreneur podcast, and the Managing Director of the Worcester Area Chapter of Polka Dot Powerhouse—a women's connection company.

As a sought-after speaker and consultant, Michelle taps into her 15-year experience in the corporate world, as well as her expertise in work/life integration, leadership, resilience in business, operational excellence, and so much more to help other female entrepreneurs thrive on their journeys!

• Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn
• Connect with Michelle on Instagram
• Connect with Michelle on Twitter

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion at Marketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More about Karen
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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Today, we tackle one of the most common questions asked by many an entrepreneur: How the heck do you write a book?

We address:

• Honing in on a viable idea for a book
• Building an audience while developing your idea
• Creating a book proposal that sets you apart
• Landing an agent
• Having the courage to tell the story you feel most passionate about

Karen Morales welcomes published author and book coach Jennie Nash. She is the author of Read Books All Day and Get Paid For It: The Business of Book Coaching (2019). The Author Accelerator that she founded has trained more than 50 coaches to support writers through the entire creative process. Her own coaching clients have landed New York agents and six-figure book deals with Big 5 publishers like Penguin and Simon & Schuster.

“What makes a book good is when you get down to that authentic, raw thing that’s driving you.” You have to get to that core. That core is the thing which ties all your ideas in the book together and serves as the foundation that answers the first question every potential reader of your book has: Why is this book worth reading? In short, the heart and soul of your book is what the reader is ultimately buying.

Writing a book doesn’t guarantee a fast lane to wealth and success. It’s a tough process, but it can be the first step in a beautiful journey. Listen in as Jennie illuminates the often confusing and even scary, winding path that every aspiring writer has to walk.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• When coming up with a good idea for your book, what you’re really looking for is proof of concept. Just as entrepreneurs have to test the market viability of their product, aspiring book writers need to strategize for the big picture, because “an idea itself is totally worthless” according to Jennie. Execution is what really counts, and it starts with the specific outcome you’re looking for by publishing this book. Are you trying to establish yourself as a thought leader? Or do you want to write for the sheer experience of it and don’t care about the sales or having a wide reach? Each goal requires a fundamentally different approach to evaluating the worthiness of your book idea.
• Develop the idea for your book in tandem with building your audience, as both activities feed the growth of one another. Establish your brand and message by interacting with your audience regularly and publishing content for free. At the same time, the spark that inspired you to start building your brand and spreading your message in the first place will evolve as your tribe gets bigger.
• Define your burning desire before putting pen to paper. People buy your story and your voice. The book that you will feel totally confident writing is the one containing the core message you feel most passionate about. At the same time, this message should be the one which most resonates with your audience.

RESOURCES

• Jennie Nash
• Author Accelerator
• All About Book Coaching: The Video Series

Jennie Nash is the founder of Author Accelerator, a book coach training and certification company that has trained more than 50 book coaches to help writers write books worth reading.

For ten years, writers serious about reaching readers have trusted Jennie to coach their projects from inspiration to publication, landing top New York agents and book deals with houses such as Scribner, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette. Jennie is the author of 9 books in 3 genres.

• Connect with Jennie on LinkedIn

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion at Marketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More about Karen
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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“You can start with nothing–no presence at all. You don’t have to have millions of followers to start to move the pin on your business quickly.” Today, we’re tackling one of the social media fan favorites–LinkedIn–and how you should be optimizing LinkedIn to get ahead in your business.

We address:

• How business owners can maximize their exposure on LinkedIn
• Optimizing your LinkedIn profile
• Approaching content creation for LinkedIn
• Using LinkedIn as a prospecting tool
• Turning LinkedIn into a sales generating engine for your business

Karen Morales welcomes Carly Martin. She is a LinkedIn Strategist and Manager at Hawthorne House Media, an agency which focuses on helping brands supercharge their social media presence using organic strategies.

Carly explains that LinkedIn is the last frontier out of all the biggest social media platforms today. This is because LinkedIn continues to allow any business owner, salesperson, or recruiter to reach an enormous number of professionals from around the world using purely organic strategies.

Listen in as Carly shares how she helps service providers build their brands, generate leads, and be positioned as experts in their industries on the world’s largest social media network for professionals.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• It is much easier to expand your professional network and build a name for yourself on LinkedIn compared to other social media platforms. At present, LinkedIn is the best place to get widespread organic reach in much the same way Facebook was several years ago. Every post you make on LinkedIn will circulate throughout your network for days, if not weeks. Everyone has an opportunity to leverage this platform to build their brand simply by becoming deliberate about putting out content regularly.
• Of the 700 million monthly active users on LinkedIn, less than 1% are producing content. This gives the floor to anyone who intends to prioritize LinkedIn in order to build their brand or business. Alongside having a well-designed profile and messaging strategy, when you have “content that touches on a full spectrum of you as a person and as a professional”, you position yourself as a thought leader in front of your entire network.
• As with every other social media platform, no matter how much exposure your content is getting and how much regular engagement you have, you still don’t own that traffic. You do, however, own your email list, website, and phone book. If you’re using LinkedIn for prospecting or sales, you need to have a strategy to direct your contacts to one (or all) of these platforms. This takes patience, since you need to carefully build trust before your prospect will be willing to take the next step.

RESOURCES

• Hawthorne House Media

Carly Martin is an experienced social media and digital marketer with Hawthorne House Media (going all the way back when Facebook still had organic reach!). With a special place in her heart for LinkedIn, she helps service providers build their brands, generate leads, and be positioned as experts in their industries using the world’s largest social network for professionals.

Carly lives on an Island (home of Anne of Green Gables; no relation) in Atlantic Canada with her husband and three kids.

• Connect with Carly on LinkedIn
• hello@hawthornehousemedia.com
• 902-314-6748

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion at Marketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More about Karen
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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“It’s not about the idea. It’s about how well you execute that idea.” Today, we’re going to dive deep into the sometimes-secretive world of venture capital.

We address:

• Which companies were able to successfully adapt to the new normal?
• COVID-19’s impact on the ability of VC firms around the world to invest
• Gender and racial equality in the VC world
• Common mistakes that founders make when pitching to a VC
• Red flags that VCs look out for when deciding which startups to back
• What separates a good founder from a great founder?

Karen Morales welcomes Parul Singh, a Principal at Founder Collective. She has spearheaded investments in well-known companies such as Embark Veterinary, AdHawk, Smalls, and Elektra Labs. Parul is a developer-turned-product manager for many venture-backed startups and media companies like The New York Times. She was also a founder herself: Before joining Founder Collective, Parul started a learning analytics company out of the MIT Media Lab.

Karen and Parul answer a variety of questions to help demystify the world of venture capital for those in the startup space: What does the future of venture capital look like in 2020 and beyond? What are some of the top tips that VCs want from every founder looking for money? What are some of the biggest mistakes that you should be avoiding in your pitch presentations? And what is that one thing that you can do as a founder to stand out above the rest?

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Working remotely can be a double-edged sword with its own host of challenges. One of the ironic effects of telecommuting or a work-from-home setup is that it becomes harder in many cases to separate work from your personal life, simply because you’re living in the same space. In the same vein, keeping up professional appearances isn’t always possible, especially if there are kids running around the house. There is a silver lining, however: An intimate, less formal approach to conducting meetings via virtual platforms has now become widely accepted, including meetings between investors and VCs.
• The solution you have to a problem, in the form of a product, is the heart of your pitch. But describing your product alone isn’t sufficient. “It’s not about the idea,” says Parul. “It’s about how well you execute that idea.” When pitching to a VC, discuss your startup according to where it currently is in the business lifecycle. “You’re either pitching based on your team or your traction.” The younger your company is, the more you should lean on talking about your team and why they are qualified to help bring your product to market. The more mature your company is, the more you should share regarding the traction you’ve been making up to that point.
• It’s not enough to know your product inside and out. VCs are looking to partner with founders who have their eyes set on the long-term. Parul appreciates founders who are well aware of their competition and are ready to pivot or adjust, as opposed to being dismissive or overconfident. Similarly, VCs are comfortable working with a founder who embraces the fact that success in the business world, especially for startups, is an enormous challenge. It’s completely fine to not have an answer to every question; but the founder should at least acknowledge this and be ready to offer potential solutions to possible issues without becoming defensive.

RESOURCES

• Founder Collective

Parul Singh is a principal at Founder Collective, one of the first seed-stage VC firms in the country. There she focuses on early-stage investments across a wide range of industries, including enterprise SaaS, analytics, and digital health. She spearheaded Founder Collective’s

investments in Embark Veterinary, AdHawk, Smalls, Elektra Labs, among others.

Parul is a former developer turned product manager for venture-backed startups and media companies like the NY Times, where she helped launch the video and podcasting verticals and managed the video player on the homepage. Before joining Founder Collective, she founded a

learning analytics company out of the MIT Media Lab.

Parul is deeply involved in the startup ecosystem in Boston and in building support networks for entrepreneurs at every level. She is an avid spin and yoga devotee and bakes in her free time. She grew up in the Boston area and has an undergraduate degree from Harvard College and an

MBA from MIT. Parul lives in Lincoln, MA with her husband and two young children.

• Connect with Parul on Twitter
• contact@foundercollective.com

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion at Marketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More about Karen
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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“It’s not selfish to give yourself permission to take care of yourself.” Today, we’re going to dive deep into the world of functional medicine, with a focus on holistic practices you can adopt today to improve your health and wellness.

We address:

• How Direct Primary Care’s direct-to-consumer model works
• Steven’s recommendations to help boost your immune system
• Dealing with COVID-imposed weight gain
• Steven’s nutrition and exercise advice for those who want to lose fat
• Stress management and best practices to improve mental health during the lockdown

Karen Morales welcomes family medicine doctor Steven Zivich, M.D. He is the founder of Boston Direct Health, which prides itself on being “part of trailblazing movement–supported by the American Academy of Family Physicians–called ‘Direct Primary Care.’” By putting the focus back on patients, Direct Primary Care allows doctors to bypass the insurance system and work directly with patients, giving them more autonomy and control in practicing medicine.

After trying every fad diet out there and still struggling with his weight well into his 20s, Steven became a nutritional advocate. As a medical practitioner, he believes that it is his obligation when working with his patients’ health to provide proper education and guidance with nutrition. He has a strong interest in building nutritional plans that lead to long-lasting results.

Dr. Steve has a refreshing philosophy and interesting strategies for getting in peak shape—even during quarantine. Listen in as he shares his recommendations for staying physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy amid uncertain times.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Before setting a weight loss goal, the first thing to do is to get it clear in your mind why that goal is important to you. You can jump right into a diet and exercise regimen to lose weight, but unless you have a long-term intention in mind and embrace the reality of delayed gratification, you won’t reach your goal. And even if you do manage to shed those pounds, there is a high likelihood that you’ll resume old habits and eventually return to your old weight. If you want to maintain your goal weight for the long haul, don’t set a diet—set a lifestyle.
• Be diet-agnostic. Every single human being responds differently to different foods. The best way to optimize your own particular nutritional lifestyle is by knowing what your body can best absorb and utilize, and then to look at common threads between which of these foods have benefitted the most people on the diet you intend to follow. But the most important thing to remember is that losing fat is ultimately a matter of staying in a caloric deficit until you hit your weight goal.
• Self-care is more important than ever before now that most of us are stuck at home. Steven personally finds it therapeutic to work out while on a break. “It’s not selfish to put yourself first sometimes,” he says. In fact, simply taking the time to close your eyes for a minute or two to focus on your breathing will clear your mind from the clutter that will undoubtedly pile up throughout the day, particularly now when you’re dealing with both personal and professional challenges in the same space.

RESOURCES

• Boston Direct Health

Steven Zivich, M.D. is the founder of Boston Direct Health. He is a family medicine physician who delivers full scope care and practices evidence-based medicine, which includes treatment of chronic illnesses and HIV medicine. Steven also offers a variety of services to the LGBTQ community, of which he is a proud member.

Steven completed his undergraduate degree in Biology with a minor in Music at the James Madison University in Virginia. Then, he attended the Virginia Commonwealth University School

of Medicine, completed a Surgical Internship at Boston Medical Center and a Residency in Family Medicine in 2015 at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA.

• Connect with Steven on LinkedIn
• info@bostondirecthealth.com
• (617) 304-1965

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion at Marketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More about Karen
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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“Living with muscular dystrophy feels like you’re founding a startup. You know exactly what you want to create, and yet you can’t find one existing model on how to get there.” Today, we’re going to dive into the world of scary diagnoses and how to push your path forward.

We address:

• How do I navigate the status quo and bureaucratic considerations when starting a nonprofit?
• What realities should an aspiring entrepreneur accept before taking the leap?
• How do I stay focused on my mission as an entrepreneur in a fast-paced world filled with distractions?
• How do I effectively pivot my business amid the various effects of the pandemic?
• How can I build my brand through collaboration with others?

Karen Morales welcomes Rich Horgan, Founder and President of Cure Rare Disease. A couple of months ago, we spoke about his journey to create the first nonprofit to cure muscular dystrophy with CRISPR technology. This week, Rich announced that Cure Rare Disease formally met with the FDA for the pre-IND meeting—the meeting that comes before drug approval. CRD received positive comments regarding their studies and their proposed plan to move forward ultimately into the clinic for the first customized therapeutic.

Karen herself recalls the daily challenges of living with Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2B. When she was diagnosed with the disease at age 20, she remembers receiving very little support beyond non-committal words of “encouragement” such as, “We’ll figure this out someday,” or “The science isn’t there yet.”

The medical community has made leaps and bounds in dissecting the ins-and-outs of muscular dystrophy, and yet to Karen, things are almost no different from 1998. 22 years later and there is still no cure, no drug to halt or ease symptoms, no approved lifestyle changes, exercise programs, or even any agreed upon supplements. At last, a breakthrough may be on the horizon.

Rich discusses how living with a younger brother with a super-rare and fatal form of muscular dystrophy inspired him to create his nonprofit, and how his path led him to announce that a cure for muscular dystrophy is finally in our sights.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• The choice between entrepreneurship and a traditional career comes down to a few very specific moments. Consider the contract that comes your way, dictating the “reliable” salary you’re to receive week after week as long as the business continues to operate. With entrepreneurship, the salary that you get (or don’t get) is a function of your own performance—and for most people, this is a scary prospect. Entrepreneurship demands very high risk-tolerance. If you’re able to accept and prepare for that fact that episodes of failure will become the norm, and that you’ll be faced with a year’s worth of runway at the beginning of your journey, it becomes easier to take the dive.
• There’s nothing like the feeling you get once you see your vision turned to reality, when your plan is successfully executed, when your idea becomes applied. You may experience more “lows” in your career as an entrepreneur compared to a traditional employee, but on the other hand, the “highs” are likewise on a completely different level.
• Collaboration is COVID-proof. It’s hard enough in normal times to maintain our focus on our goals as an entrepreneur, much less when we go on the journey alone. As much as we want to treasure our big idea and possibly even want to keep it under wraps until we’re ready to execute, the fact of the matter is that collaboration with and support from other like-minded people always pushes our agenda forward. With Coronavirus disrupting literally every aspect of our lives, going at our entrepreneurial ventures alone simply won’t get us anywhere in the long-term. Reach out to those you can make a difference to and receive support from in return. You never know what doors they can open for you and your business.

RESOURCES

• Cure Rare Disease

Rich Horgan is the Founder and President of Cure Rare Disease. He is an entrepreneur with a particular passion for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and other rare diseases, motivated by a younger brother impacted by the disease.

Rich holds a BS from Cornell University where he graduated summa cum laude and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was awarded the Blavatnik Fellowship for Life Science Entrepreneurship.

• Connect with Rich on LinkedIn
• Follow him on Twitter

Karen Morales is founder and brand champion at Marketing Magnet.

Marketing Magnet was founded by Karen and her lean team of Fortune 500 marketing and advertising talent. We’re a world-class marketing department that has decided to take our big brand experience and direct it at the clients we want to serve: purpose-driven enterprises. Our secret sauce is our ability to focus companies on three marketing pillars to create great impact.

If you are looking for a solution to a marketing challenge, a specific project to be completed or a team to drive marketing on your behalf, we can help.

• More about Karen
• Find us on Facebook
• Visit our website
• Find us on Instagram

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You may be experiencing blocks that are keeping you stagnant in your health, finances, career, or relationships. What needs to be done to release and clear these blocks is usually simple! Oftentimes, you must do the action that you’re fearful of. Whether it’s growing your business, elevating a relationship, or making a financial investment, take the jump! What more can you create?

We address:

· What do I do when the methods of trauma healing I have used aren’t working?

· Why can’t I generate a large income stream for myself?

· How do energetic blocks show up in people’s finances?

· How do I get rid of energetic blocks and unhealthy patterns in order to feel free and abundant?

· How do I determine what my first action step is to make my dreams my reality?

Karen Morales welcomes Guerda Victor, who is a Money Coach with a Masters in Mental Health and Counseling, with over 20 years of experience with Mind, Body, and Energy Therapy. Today, Guerda is here to help us look at the energetic patterns in our lives that are keeping us stuck. In this episode, you’ll come to understand how trauma can affect patterns in our lives, how love, health, and financial success are driven by releasing these unconscious patterns, and how you can start achieving higher income months by doing the internal work to get there.

Guerda will guide you to cultivate the awareness around where your energy is being disturbed or blocked and to recognize that this current moment is where you can start. You need to put your energy into what you can do in the present to begin healing. You can’t change your past, so your work doesn’t exist in the past. It exists right here, right now.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Trauma can be stored in the body and manifest through health conditions when left unreleased. Oftentimes, when there’s a physical effect from a traumatic experience, there’s also an emotional effect that resides in the body on an energetic plane that is unresolved. That’s why various physical treatments never work, because they need emotional and energetic treatment.

• Trauma can have many definitions and come in many different forms. When most people think of trauma, they think of sexual abuse, a violent attack, an injury, or something of that nature. Trauma is less about what happened to the individual and more about how the individual responds, how it has impacted their life, and how it has informed how they see the world. It disturbs your flow of energy in a significant way, often repeatedly. Furthermore, an incident that one person considers traumatic may not be traumatic to someone else. Money is such a charged topic, but it’s a powerful topic to tackle and take control of to create endless abundance in your life.

• Spirit doesn’t need money. Money is just required to do life on this planet, so get on board with that. You have the power to use your wisdom and resources to generate money. We often fear money because of the identities we have casted onto it, especially identities of power and greed. Look at who you are as a creator with the power to generate as much or as little as you want. Entrepreneurs often have energetic blocks. If you find you’re not making what you desire, ask yourself: does the structure of your offering make sense for the life you want to live? Look at all the areas of your life and truthfully recognize in what places you’re doing things because you have to, not because you genuinely want to. When you function from that place, your energy is blocked.

RESOURCES

· Victorious Living Now Coaching on Facebook

· Visit Guerda’s website

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It’s challenging for businesses to figure out what to do next in 2020, especially when laws are constantly changing. Approaching the ever-changing laws strategically, so you focus on making changes around the uncertainty, is a wise move… but where do we start?

We address:

● What should I be thinking about what it comes to PPP loans in 2020?

● What business metrics should I know and pay attention to?

● What can I expect regarding future tax relief and stimulus funds in 2020 and changes for 2021 tax law?

● Should I start outsourcing to cut down on costs?

Karen Morales welcomes Nina Braun, a CPA and Partner at Ketel Thorstenson, LLP in South Dakota. Nina has 20 years of experience in the commercial audit arena and has worked with all different types of businesses, from retail to construction. Your accountant is part of your team and Nina is here to talk to us about why it’s important to stay in contact with your accountant and stay on top of your finances.

Nina is all about being proactive and making sure all your bases are covered when it comes to practicing business and being financially responsible. Industries that are currently the most impacted from coronavirus include hospitality and travel, but there’s always room to pivot and adapt, which is why we see so many people taking road trips instead of flying. Business tax law and implications in 2020 have been challenging for everybody, but you have the ability to navigate them effectively, especially if you have a great accountant. In this episode, Nina guides us through these topics and much more to provide us with stress relief and confidence to finish off the year strong.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

● People avoid responsibility with their finances and it’s a huge problem. Many people start businesses because they’re passionate about the industry or practice, not because they’re great at accounting and finances. Sometimes their passion overrides their desire to make sure the business is staying profitable, administratively organized, and financially responsible. Tony Robbins says if you’re a business owner, you are either an artisan, a manager, or an entrepreneur. It’s not likely that we’re naturally all three. We often stay in our zone of genius, without working to strengthen the other areas of knowledge or augment our team with people who can fill those gaps. It’s important to fill those gaps to ensure your business will stay afloat.

● Nina’s best business advice is to be the best that you can be at what you do and have control of your back office and billing. If you need help with it, hire help. Female business owners and artisans often don’t charge enough for their craft and there’s a lot of hesitation around invoicing and standing for your value. It’s essential that you know your value and are able to back it up. If you feel great about your service and you bill your client right away, they feel good about paying your bill. Breaking up with bad clients offers great relief, while freeing up resources so that you can go after bigger and better opportunities. Work with people that value you and your services!

● When you’re looking to hire an accountant, look at their credentials. Note whether the firm’s size is a similar size to your business. Interview them to see if they’re a good fit and get a referral if possible. Look for someone with a 24 hour call policy, because communication is the key to building a trusted relationship with your accountant. And if you’re not currently in contact with your accountant, you should give them a call.

RESOURCES

● Connect with Nina on LinkedIn

● Ketel Thorstenson, LLP

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There’s no escaping hurdles and trials in our day-to-day lives. Being faced with adversity is a common thread among all of us as human beings. The question, then, is why some people can become completely overwhelmed by obstacles while others are able to embrace them and come out the other side stronger than ever.

We address:

● What is the fine line that separates those who succeed versus those who fail?

● What is the key to overcoming your limitations?

● What is the “pain cave” and why should you look forward to it when chasing any goal?

● What is the value of listening to your gut?

Karen Morales welcomes Julia Becker Collins, an endurance athlete and the COO at Vision Advertising, a boutique, inbound marketing firm, to shed some light on what to do when life throws you a curveball (or two, or three, or four, one after the other). Few today can articulate the spirit of crisis management like she can: Apart from years of experience in endurance athletics and leading teams, Julia received a thyroid cancer diagnosis in 2020, throwing her into a new journey of being a survivor.

Julia believes, despite the success she has had balancing huge responsibilities for Vision Advertising while dealing with her medical challenges at the same time, amid the pandemic to top it all off, that her grit, endurance, and potential are no different than anyone else’s. “Cancer is only part of me,” she says. “It’s not all of me.” There’s no escaping the fact that life will throw test after test at us. The single biggest difference between those who stagnate and those who thrive regardless is the willingness to embrace the challenges. The choice is between growing and dying. For Julia, nurturing an insatiable hunger for growth makes life worth living.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

● You will not only change your job multiple times in life, but your career as well. A lot of young people understandably assume that the field they go into after graduation is set for life; but for the vast majority of working professionals, that’s rarely the case. You’ll have those crucial moments where a career pivot is inevitable. After all, when you’re a decade or two into your career, you’re probably not going to resemble how you were in your 20s. Likewise, the choices you’ve made up to that point, the situation you were in as a college student, and maybe even your core values may no longer be relevant to how you’ll see the near future. Embrace the never-ending evolution of who you are as a person. If there’s one thing in life that’s consistent, it’s change.

● Embrace the circumstances you were born into, and grow anyway. Karen and Julia both find it difficult to understand why people would find their personal and professional journeys “inspiring”. Isn’t it logical to simply deal the cards you’re dealt and find a way to win anyway? You can’t decide the circumstances of your birth, but you can decide the direction of your life.

● Pain is part of the process. As the old saying goes: “You need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.” True performers don’t get emotionally invested in the constant barrage of discomfort that comes their way naturally on account of their never-ending desire to improve. When faced with challenges of any sort, Julia simply tells us to “deal with it and move on.”

RESOURCES

● More about Julia

● Find us on Facebook

● Visit our website

● Find Julia on Instagram

● Check Out Vision Advertising on Instagram

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Life throws many obstacles and challenges your way, but what’s important is how you deal with them and what you learn from your experiences. On today’s episode, we discuss the significance of thinking strategically and growing from your mistakes, especially in business. After all, mistakes are what make life interesting, right?

We address:

What is the #1 financial marker I should be looking at regularly?

What is the correlation between college athletes and leaders in business?

What is veganism like in Japan?

What is the interview process like at the CIA?

Karen Morales welcomes Brian Greenfield, President and CFO of The Purple Carrot, a plant-based meal kit business, to speak about how companies have failed because of their focus on revenue rather than profitability. He shares his stories of failure and success, detailing the business he started during the 2008 financial crisis, how The Purple Carrot was acquired by a Japanese company, and his recruitment into the CIA.

It’s okay to fail. In fact, it’s a beautiful part of life, if you choose to see it that way. Tune into this week’s episode for Brian’s valuable insight into the importance of understanding your unit economics, fostering a contribution mindset in the workplace, and how to successfully do business with a friend.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

● Access to capital can hurt a business. Businesses must put effort into thinking strategically about their growth and profitability. Entrepreneurs often think they need to get the highest possible valuation of their business, but in order for investors to make a return, you need to eventually sell your business for much more than its original valuation. This means you need to grow at a relatively fast rate in order to justify the potential valuation, which influences the business’s strategic decisions. With so many investors and revenues in the millions, his focus wasn’t on profitability. Brian offers lessons learned from his first-hand experience with his former company going for revenue growth rather than profitability, which caused them to face many challenges and difficult decisions, leading investors to back out and the business to shut down.

● Focusing on a contribution mindset and core competencies is important. Your weakest link will give you the most problems. Negative performers have consequences! Brian shares how The Purple Carrot seek out talent and explains their competency-based hiring to find team players that exhibit certain values.

● Unit economics are the most important financial markers you should be looking at regularly. What are the gross profit margins of your business and the expected lifetime value of your customers? How much is it costing your business to acquire customers? Businesses often try to scale before understanding their unit economics, which can cause problems down the road. Brian says you must nail the unit economics of your business before you start to grow.

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Brian Greenfield is the President, and CFO of The Purple Carrot, a 100% plant-based meal kit business. Brian leads day-to-day operations and manages the company’s finances.

Previously, Brian co-founded and was President of Next Step Living, a residential energy efficiency company, in 2008, and grew the Company to $100m becoming the fastest-growing private company in MA in 2013.

RESOURCES

● Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/beamarketingmagnet

● Visit our website: www.momentummagnet.com

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Parenting is difficult… but our children are here to teach us some of the biggest lessons in life. How can we reciprocate this to create mutually beneficial relationships? On today’s episode, we discuss why communication, expectations, and working to reach shared understanding with our children is crucial for protecting everyone’s sanity.

We address: How does one dump the old-school methods of parenting and adopt a more positive, productive parenting practice? What can I do to deescalate a tantrum? How can I create peace and harmony in my home during the 2020-2021 school year? When is the best time to address behavioral challenges? Karen Morales welcomes Holistic Child Specialist, Amanda Houle, to speak about the common struggles that parents have with emotionally charged and emotionally reserved children, as well as how to address these struggles and turn them into opportunities for learning and growing.

You’re not expected to be the perfectly positive parent every minute of every day, but there are small steps you can take to restore balance and ease in your home. Tune into this week’s episode for advice on understanding where your children are coming from, practicing effective communication, and helping them develop emotional intelligence.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

● It’s okay to have emotionally charged and/or emotionally reserved children. Strong-willed children are truly a gift from above and our kids come into this world to teach us lessons. Amanda talks about how sometimes a child’s sensory nervous system is a factor in their temper, such as kids getting upset and feeling intense sensation in their body when they don’t get what they want. Because they cannot express what they’re feeling, children are often not able to calm themselves down without an adult to teach them how to regulate their emotions and sensations. Children who are less sensitive and expressive may have similar experiences of not being able, or even willing, to express themselves and we must honor that. It’s important to recognize that that’s who they are and to let them know that it’s okay to talk about things. Amanda recommends journaling for more reserved children to foster that release and build the confidence to talk about things.

● Open communication is key to reaching peace and harmony in your home. How you interact with each other matters. It’s easy for a parent to say, “You need to calm down,” but this doesn’t create a shared understanding between the parent and child. It’s important to work towards understanding where the child is coming from, from a developmental perspective, and to be the one that teaches emotional regulation. Find one mindful tool that you can utilize as a family to find your center for the day and try to build it into your routine with the most consistency you can. Whether it be two minutes of silence, music and dancing, a journaling session, or a walk around the neighborhood… whatever works to foster communal ease for your family can make a huge difference.

● Aggressive, old-school parenting doesn’t work anymore. It may be difficult to give up control, especially when your child is throwing a tantrum, but breaking the cycle of old-school parenting is essential. What worked in the past, doesn’t work now. We need to learn to understand each other without having a control battle and children need to learn how to handle expectations or rules. Kids also internalize the parents’ actions and words, so it’s important to be mindful of how your choices can affect them later on. Amanda offers great insight into these concepts, with examples of what may work to deescalate your child’s tantrums.

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With the pandemic shifting almost every aspect of life, homeschooling might feel like the last straw. How does one take traditional education and deliver it from home, in a way that keeps everyone happy. On today’s episode, we discuss why this is the time to take control of your children’s education and how this time in history may well be the wake up call for our historically slow to change educational system.

In today’s show we address:

What are some of the short-comings of traditional education today?

What can I do to foster a better learning environment in my home?

How can I work with teachers to adapt online curriculum for me and my children?

How do I know my child is receiving the best education they can to set them up for a successful future?

Karen Morales welcomes Disruptive Educator, Dr. Ai Addyson-Zhang, as well as Teacher and Coach, Kathy Fritz, to speak about the changing education systems and why it’s important to ride the 2020 wave of education evolution.

We’re not all meant to be teachers, but there are ways in which we can help our children reach their goals and create a future that makes them flourish. Tune into this week’s episode for advice on homeschool scheduling, practicing life skills with your kids, and helping them utilize their strengths and passions.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

● The coronavirus era is a great time to take control of your children’s education. The century old education model is broken, but the pandemic has accelerated some much-needed reform. Technology is making learning more accessible, personal, and relevant to students’ interests. As a parent, you now have the opportunity to take control of your child’s learning experiences. Dr. Ai explains why it’s important for them to build their own online digital footprint, as well as an online network. She also provides inspiring insight into why the best education happens outside the classroom.

● Learning must be personalized. Children are not standardized, so their learning experience should not be standardized. With focus on GPA and IQ, children aren’t learning important soft skills and life skills, leading to lower levels of innovation and creativity. Focusing on what children are good at, rather than what they are not so good at, is key to cultivating the intrinsic drive to learn and succeed in life. Dr. Ai details the top 3 life skills that parents and teachers should be focusing on in 2020.

● How do I start optimizing my child’s homeschooling education? You don’t have to do it all at once. Starting small will cause you to gain momentum and confidence in your ability to foster a fun and educational atmosphere for your child. Kathy and Dr. Ai offer valuable tips on what you can do to deal with the challenges of the system and make personalized tweaks in your child’s educational schedule. Dr. Ai explains how the next generation is entering a “show me don’t tell me economy” and why that matters. She emphasizes eliminating the reward system we’ve inadvertently created, building breaks into your child’s schedule, and building a positive parent/teacher relationship.

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8-7 Momentum Magnet with Sarah Tugender.

Life can be overwhelming. Sometimes, it may feel like there’s just too much to do and not enough time to get it done! On today’s episode, we discuss how outsourcing can save your sanity and what happens when people take advantage of doing less.

How do I become more efficient at work and at home?

Where do I start outsourcing and what does that look like?

Karen Morales welcomes guest Sarah Tugender, who has been working as an efficiency expert for medical care practices for 15 years, to delve into these powerful questions.

We’ve all experienced an overly busy schedule, but there are countless ways we can lighten the load and find our flow. Tune into this week’s episode for advice on delegating tasks, simplifying your daily life, and finding your strengths at work and at home.

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE

● How does Sarah give peace of mind to her clients? [2:58]

● Keeping the medical environment safe and systemized [6:50

● 3 things that make or break efficiency in any business [10:45]

● How to bring boss babe energy back home [14:13]

● What happens when people start doing less [22:48]

● Start here when beginning to outsource [25:46]

● Advice on outsourcing while remaining socially distant [31:33]

● What to do to build momentum and grow your business fast [35:16]

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

● To get farther faster, you need to do less. Making life easier should be accessible for all of us! Taking some of the tasks off your plate in order to free up time for more important things in life truly changes the game. Outsourcing and simplifying can save tons of time and decrease stress and clutter in the mind. Sarah gives great examples of how you can delegate tasks and uncomplicate areas of your life so you can feel more joy and ease.

● Know what makes or breaks efficiency in business. Sarah shares three powerful aspects of business that can make or break your efficiency. Knowing who is responsible for what tasks or areas of the business, having people working in their zone of genius, and managing by metrics rather than emotions is vital for maximum, organized productivity. Not only that, but these three things translate to our personal lives as well. Try them out for yourself!

● How do I start outsourcing? Karen and Sarah detail the difference between tasks best done by you and outsourceable tasks, while touching on ways you can easily incorporate help from others into your daily life. Remembering that any decision to outsource can be temporary is important. Trying it out without expectations or judgments may change your life in ways you’ve never imagined! Sarah offers valuable advice on how you can do this gracefully and in a world where we are distant from others.

RESOURCES

● www.facebook.com/beamarketingmagnet

● www.momentummagnet.com

● Visit Sarah’s website: www.sarahtugender.com

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Marketing today can be confusing! So many people are wondering what to do next. On today’s episode we tackle the most commonly asked questions on what to do next for your business.

How can a business respond to the Coronavirus challenge?

Is there really one marketing tactic that everybody should be doing?

How much should I be spending on advertising and marketing?

How do I begin to scale my business?

Karen Morales answers all your burning marketing questions. Karen is a speaker, writer, and founder and CEO of Marketing Magnet, a fast-growing marketing agency for purpose driven companies.

If you’re having difficulty with starting a business or adapting your business structure to suit the needs of your consumers, this podcast is for you. Tune into this week’s episode for tips on identifying your business’s value, which marketing tactics will work best for you, and how and when to scale your business.

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE

• What to do with your business now [1:38]

• Marketing tactics that everyone should be doing [4:32]

• How to tell your origin story if you have created an industry disruptive business [8:42]

• You can't solve a sales or branding problem with advertising [11:07]

• This is the role of social media [15:27]

• What to keep in mind when making a big change to my business in the current climate [17:29]

• Where to start when starting a business [22:30]

• Building a community without live events or video [28:06]

• Marketing for small companies [29:49]

• Promoting without getting lost in the media’s noise [31:39] • Changing email open rates [33:42] • This is how much of your total budget should be spent on advertising and marketing [35:25] • How to best engage with B2B clients [37:53] • From freelancer/solopreneur to an expert with a licensed business and staff members [41:57] • Tips for scaling when revenue is under $50k [46:54] • Are people reading email newsletters? [49:22] • How to get comfortable on camera [50:19] 4 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED • Everything revolves around solving a need. Just as there isn’t one diet that works for everyone, there isn’t one marketing tactic that works for everyone. If you’re always approaching your business and your offering in a way that provides the most value to your customer, you will continue to do well and grow. • Know your why and start with value. As Karen says, do less. Simplify. Determine which marketing tactic is going to bring you the most value and start there. Karen offers insight into how to ask yourself important questions that will guide you to where you need to go when starting your business or when you’re becoming overwhelmed. She emphasizes the importance of knowing what it is you want to accomplish, why it matters, and if the tactics supporting your vision align with what you enjoy doing. • Make changes to meet the changing needs of your customer base. Now more than ever, people’s needs are changing rapidly, and you need to be able to keep up so that you don’t get left in the dust. The coronavirus pandemic has altered the way businesses are operating and consumers are consuming. So, what can you do about it? Start with identifying what need has truly changed. Karen gives great examples of how certain companies have adapted during this time and how you can too. • How do I go from a solopreneur to a licensed business owner? Evaluating your outcome, or the value that you’re delivering for clients, is key. What is a fair price for compensation? How do I handle the elements of business that I’m not comfortable with or not willing to do? How do I acquire a great staff? Karen provides valuable answers for these questions that you certainly won’t want to pass by. RESOURCES • https://www.facebook.com/beamarketingmagnet • https://www.momentummagnet.com

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What happens when you’re at the top of your game, then everything crashes down (literally)?

One morning in 2012, Sarah Foley was standing on a mountain in Utah, staring at rock formations and reflecting on how perfect her life was. She was newly in love and running a spa at a ski resort—a job she worked really hard to get. There was nothing about her life she would change.

Later that day she was thrown from an ATV, leaving her paralyzed.

In this episode, Sarah shares her journey of resilience and recovery, both physically and emotionally. After a long struggle to accept what happened, she realized the story of how her life was supposed to look is what kept her from moving forward.

This, she says, is where a lot of people get stuck. We tend to focus on:

How losing a job is supposed to look.

How a pandemic is supposed to look.

How living with a disability is supposed to look.

Before she could even begin her emotional healing, she had to let go of the vision she had for her life, and accept reality in a wheelchair.

“Does acceptance mean that you give up hope for the situation to change? Absolutely not,” Sarah says. “But if we're spending so much time resisting this thing that has already happened, how can we have any energy left to do the work?”

Today Sarah has a lot of energy. Through her company Vertical Blonde (a nod to her goal of walking again one day), she created a fitness app for wheelchair users, inviting them to become their own #DisabilityIcon. She also speaks at events, hosts a podcast, and coaches clients on empowerment through seemingly disabling circumstances.

Sarah’s life is anything but perfect… but she loves the woman rolling around in a wheelchair.

About Sarah Foley

Sarah is a mother, motivational speaker, podcast host, and elevation role model, believing the only way to create change is to transform the way we view ourselves and our circumstances. She is on a mission to redefine what disability looks like, to herself and others.

Sarah hosts a podcast called Vertical Blonde, and was recently featured in a book called “Your Second Act: Inspiring Stories of Reinvention.” It’s a collection of stories about resilience from author and actor Patricia Heaton.

Connect with Sarah:

VerticalBlonde.com

Vertical Blonde Podcast (Soundcloud)

Facebook

Instagram

VerticalBlonde

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Have you been struggling to accomplish your overwhelming to-do list? Are comparing yourselves to others who seem to always accomplish them? Wondering how they do it? The answer is simple: focus. Karen shares the summer mantra she believes will change the way we look at our lists, creating repeatable success for both our personal and professional lives.

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Tara West is Boston’s best fashion blogger. And of course she knows exactly how to look cute on Zoom, what trends are worth the investment and the three ultimate closet pieces every man and women should invest in.

But her fashion accessory that works for anyone? That’s right: self confidence. Tara’s journey to recapture self love started during her abusive childhood and finally led her to leave a stable career as a therapist to pursue her love of fashion. Self love and confidence is the one free accessory that truly looks good on everyone.

Visit her web site: tarawestfashion.com

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Sometimes, life changes in an instance. For Monica Vallejo, that meant waking up one day to learn her husband and father of three was living a dangerous double life. Overnight, she found herself a full time single mom. As she grappled with providing for her family, she took stock in her health. She was obese: 75 pounds overweight. And knowing she was the sole parent for her children led her on a fitness journey that would reshape her life.

Today, five years later, Monica is strong and fit and now coaches other women to chose a healthier lifestyle. Monica reminds us that most destructive habits are rooted in fear and retiring them helps us claim the natural power we were born to use.

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Ramon Garcia: The Power of Fitness in a Comeback Story

Ramon Garcia shares his journey from food stamps to professional basketball to a career as one of Boston’s best trainers. His comeback story was fueled by his ability to see his life as a child and to say: no thank you, I want more. He now coaches CEOs and elite athletes on breaking through their fitness goals with his success formula. To make change, you have to know why you're doing it, where you are going and find your patience through the becoming. The road to success has a golden rule: you must go slow to go fast.

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Karen Morales, My Comeback: From Laid Off to CEO

Did you ever wake up one day and know your entire life needed to change? In 2017, former ad agency executive Karen Morales faced that decision. In one weekend, she decided to take all the challenges thrown at her that year and create the new life she always wanted. What’s more, she did it while facing a muscle disease that doctors promised would require a wheelchair, a new divorce, two small kids and no financial plan B. Karen shares her personal comeback story and how her three rules for the comeback can apply to any personal or business transformation.

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Corinne Morahan, How To Remove Blocks to Better Organization

Do you struggle with keeping your home, office or personal life organized? Often it isn’t because you aren’t wired for structure, it’s just that you aren’t prioritizing creating systems for your life. Corinne Morahan helps us rethink what is limiting our organization and how doing the daily tasks to keep things tidy can free up our minds to focus on the sweetest things in life.

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Rich Horgan, How A Nonprofit Pharma Company Is Using CRISPR To Cure Muscular Dystrophy

Many of us face challenging medical diagnoses, and those with rare diseases often get the news without any treatment options. Rich Horgan’s family has been fighting his brother’s Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) diagnosis for over two decades. Rich’s relentless dedication to helping his brother Terry led him to leave Harvard Business School to create the first nonprofit drug company to use CRISPR to cure DMD. Rich shares his journey, the future of personalized gene therapy and how he built an organization to save not only his own brother, but other patients fighting these incurable diseases.

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Jess Tardy, Finding Peace in Times of Crisis

Jess Tardy is a creative director, signed signer, cancer survivor and chaplain. Today she helps us navigate how we can all get comfortable being uncomfortable. We discuss how to find your center by acknowledging what is awful in the present moment and how to connect to a force greater than ourselves. If you can't name it, you're never going to get past it. So if you're listening today and you're overwhelmed, freaked out, you're angry or traumatized, it might not just be your mindset. It is part of the process of finding your center to not avoid the pain that we inevitably face. You have to surrender to it. When you feel it, then you can move through it.

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Maria Terol, Thriving Through Uncertainty

Tony Robbin’s Master Coach Maria Terol helps us reset our expectations in these challenging times. We talk about finding balance during homeschooling and remote work. We dive into how times of uncertainty can be the best breeding ground for innovation and growth. And she gives us tools to ask better questions when we are struggling to adapt to change.