Branch Out - A Podcast from Connection Builders

Being true to our authentic selves is no easy task. However, we can use simple strategies to overcome the fears and barriers that hinder our ability to find our own voices and align our actions with those voices. Stephanie Gaffin , Co-Founder & Managing Partner with SLS Capital Advisors and The Gaffin Group joins us on the show today to discuss the power of meditation and journaling with regar...

Passion fuels authenticity, and authenticity drives change for the better. Everybody can find their passion, but sometimes it just takes a little fuel to ignite this process. As the Director of Business Development for BDO and the co-founder of 503(c)s 100 Women Who Care and 100 Businesses Who Care , Amy Whipple has made caring for others as well as connecting people her passion. She joins us toda...

Today we introduce Branch Out's new mini-series theme: the power of authenticity. As one of the most essential success skills in business, its value should never be underestimated. We also welcome today's special guests, Jeremy Holland and Grant Marcks , who speak to us about how authenticity has impacted their careers and personal lives. The show kicks off with Jeremy defining authentic...

In today's episode, we sit with Rob Meyers, President and Managing Member of Republic Business Credit, to discuss key factors that drive business development success. We cover topics including clear communication, setting expectations, and following tried and tested processes. Rob kicks off the episode by guiding listeners through the steps of a qualification call before talking in detail abo...

Today we sit with Ryan Grand , Principal with HKW , an Indianapolis-based middle-market private equity firm. In this episode, Ryan shares his story and tells us how he landed a business development role by accident before finding that he unexpectedly loved it. We kick off the show with a breakdown of Ryan's professional history. After hearing about his transition into the field, Ryan fills li...

We all talk about business development, but what does “business development” even mean? To explore this topic, we have a special two guest episode with Heather Madland , Partner and Head of Business Development with Huron Capital along with Polly Mack Director of Business Development for Gryphon Investors . We open the show by listening to our guests’ thoughts on business development and what it m...

Branding is not just about what makes you unique but about how you portray that to the world. Your personal brand is the sum of how people perceive you, and understanding how to influence these perceptions is key to branding success. As the Founder and CEO of InTandem Marketing , Kyle Lindenboom helps businesses drill down on their brands by narrowing the gap between how they want to be perceived...

In today's business world, it's all about quick wins and immediate gratification. But this isn't what it should be about. If you want to create an impactful business that will generate consistent revenue and success, you need to go focus on relationships. In today's show, we talk with Bober Markey Fedorovich ("BMF") partner Mark Bober, who has 35-plus years in transac...

While personal growth is incredibly important for moving our careers and ourselves forward, it is not something that happens on its own. We need to set time aside to be intentional about our growth! Today's guest is Bob Doyle , President and CEO of the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA) , and he joins us on the show to talk about how he is investing in his personal g...

Continuing the discussion on investing in your professional growth, today, we have Mike Witzke , a partner with McDonald Hopkins , a Cleveland-based law firm with more than 140 professionals. Mike is the Chair of the Estate Planning and Probate Practice Group and practices in numerous areas. He focuses on helping clients protect and transfer wealth efficiently, and he works with high net worth fam...

Stepping out of your comfort zone is a difficult thing to do, but it is absolutely essential for growth, in both a business and personal capacity. The world is changing at a rapid rate and if you aren't continuously growing, you are going to get left behind. Our guest on today's show, Elliott Holland , Managing Director of Guardian Due Diligence , believes that your most frustrating expe...

Dustin Hill , today’s guest, is a Director at FINNEA Group , a middle-market investment banking firm. He joins us to talk about how mindset is a driving force for our success (or lack thereof). We kick off the conversation with a look at soft skills, their importance, and how they contribute to success. We also discuss having a ‘why’ and the role this plays in motivating us.  Growth is not easy. I...

Today’s guest is Jeremy Holland , Managing Partner of Origination at The Riverside Company ,  and he understands that building relationships is the key to creating long term value. Jeremy joins us today to share the secrets he’s learned from the world of deals about why investing your time in people can help you achieve more than you ever thought possible. Jeremy explains that while hardly anybody...

Part of being in a leadership position is that you cannot take a “woe is me, hide in the closet mentality”; you have to take a “we are going to get through this mentality” or you may ultimately struggle to be successful. The winners in life are not the ones who never get defeated or never fall on their face. It’s how you respond afterward — it’s about resiliency and persistence and bouncing back o...

The Art of Managing Up, Down, and Sideways with Michelle Acciavatti It doesn’t matter where you are in the corporate hierarchy. Nearly all jobs require working with people and managing up, down, or sideways. Today we speak with Willis Towers Watson market leader Michelle Acciavatti about the art of managing. Starting at the entry-level, Michelle gives tips on managing up and impressing the bosses...

Networking has its challenges; it’s not comfortable at first, you are not always going to be good at it, and you are certainly not always going to enjoy it. It is important to keep in mind that you are not always going to be the perfect fit for every room you go into, but if you don’t go out and do it you are never going to get better at it. When it comes down to it, you have to learn to develop y...

Everyone wants to work smarter not harder, and when it comes to building your professional brand, networking offers that exact opportunity. Networking allows you to establish yourself as a helpful resource to others, not only professionally but also personally. Networking is good for meeting potential clients but it is just as effective for building key mutually beneficial connections that might s...

The Power of a Positive Mindset with Carrie Schochet   In the society we live in today, we’re being bombarded with negativity from many different directions — whether it be the news, social media, friends, family or our workplace. It is crucial that if you want to establish and maintain a positive mindset you have to choose to do so on a daily basis. We have to intentionally sift through all the n...

Achieving Authenticity with Jamil Sanders   Authenticity is something that is often discussed on our podcast and we often talk about in the sense of professional development and professional growth. Authenticity, by definition, will mean something different to every single person and ultimately we all pursue it differently. However, the key is that you simply have to be authentic in what you are d...

Leveraging Social Media to Enact Positive Change with George Khalife Not every professional needs to go out and create a blog, start a podcast, or build a platform, but we all have the opportunity to leverage the technology available to us in order to accelerate our careers. This is why social media can be so powerful! Today’s guest is George Khalife of the Toronto Stock Exchange . George is based...

At the end of the day, community is at the center of personal and professional growth, and life is so much more fun with friends anyway! Today's guest is Benny Mathew , the founder of the Orion3 network. Our conversation with Benny is all about the power of bringing people together and his gift of being a connector! Benny tells the story of his difficulty making genuine connections in Chicago...

Finding yourself in a state of poor mental health not only affects your personal life but also infringes on your work productivity. Often our stresses as professionals are sourced from high demands at work and inadequate methods of managing them. It is important that you begin to implement steps towards changing the way you deal with your mental health. If you find yourself in a poor space of ment...

Human Bandwidth: Expanding Your Life with Leon LaBrecque Burnout, stress, and anxiety are increasingly common in our society. With a never-ending plateful of things to get through, it can often feel like you are just trying to make it through each day. By merely surviving, we are not living up to our full potential. One way to change this and expand our lives is to work on our human bandwidth, and...

Most of us are in some form of remote working position right now and this brings about a whole host of new challenges. Brendan McKay is a Principal with Falcon Investment Advisors who has been working remotely for the last few years and today we have him on the show to talk about the lessons he has learned! Our conversation with Brendan is all about creating a productive remote working environment...

Relationships matter and we need to get to know people, for people. Especially if you’re working in business development for private equity, which is by nature, a highly transactional environment and it can be very easy to forget the people side of things. Today’s guest is Jessica Ginsberg , the Director of Business Development for LFM Capital out of Nashville, TN. Jessica is responsible for LFM’s...