Fractionals Unplugged with Jay Kingley

Burr Cota  of  Polaris Principles  observes that many companies mistakenly believe that celebrating a "return to the office" with team-building events and happy hours will help employees return to their pre-pandemic productivity. Burr notes that people aren't motivated (long-term) by corporate mandates, fun activities, or even increases in compensation. People are motivated to...

When you start a venture or company, you expect success.  Koen Knaepen of DIY Growth Strategies points out that most people think success comes from how good your idea is, if you’ve nailed your business plan, or if you have great skills. But the real key to success is the management of your emotions. The experience of building a business is like riding an emotional roller coaster. Koen advise...

Vik Dixit of 369 Growth Partners provided the sobering statistic that while over $612B in venture capital was invested globally in 2021, 97% of startups fail with merely 1.5% returning your principle, 1% or less returning your principle with modest growth and the remaining 0.5% or less becoming the next unicorn. In Vik’s experience, new investors struggle to get access to good companies to invest...

It’s not hard to rank high on Google. But you have to know what you’re doing to rank high on keywords with intention to purchase. Marc Brookland of SEO Locale tells us the key to success is to identify high customer-intent keywords to build your SEO campaign and more importantly, generate quality leads. No business wants to rank for a "how to" keyword, because that user is just looking for free in...

Karl Diffenderfer of Higher Impact coaching shares that employees are often the biggest source of stress for business owners and managers. Karl observes that some business owners are deliberately shrinking their companies because they don't want to deal with staff issues. In the current climate, you may have the business but lack the right employees to do that business. You need to find the right...

"No one ever started a business because they were good at business," observes Peter Santry of Fox Run Advisors . To get around this issue, Peter recommends incorporating a business operating system to guide how you run your company. In addition to a vision, strategy, and structured accountability, your business operating system includes meeting structures and how to grow your company with controls...

"People don't leave bad jobs, they leave bad managers," says Joran Oppelt of Illustrious . Most leaders struggle to lead because they've never been taught how to do it. Too often people in a leadership role don't take the personal responsibility on how to become a leader. They blame others or themselves but don't act to learn and improve. Joran believes that the best leaders lead through the botto...

Amara Brown of Amara B. Solutions informs us that delivering a great customer experience has to start with the company and its employees. You can't make great music for your customers if your orchestra isn't ready to perform. Amara suggests it is necessary to have a stable workforce that you invest in and train so you can deliver a remarkable customer experience. She advises to write down on paper...

We are all aware that there's a social obligation for businesses of all sizes to be compliant with DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion). Irma Zoepf of The Z Bridge argues it's also good for business. She tells us that it contributes to innovation, making people feel comfortable with what they do, and produce more for the business. It also improves your understanding of your target market. To get...

"Managers Do Things Right While Leaders Do The Right Things", says Kara Lindstrom of Kara Lindstrom Consulting . Kara observes that there isn't just one way to be a leader. Leadership is a skill that must be developed and it takes time to get good at it. She points out that leaders have great vision. You don't need a lot of people underneath you to be a leader. You first have to show you can lead...

Who isn't tired of poorly written, irrelevant, useless, bit and byte wasting emails that clog your inbox? There's a term for that - SPAM! Stephanie Cansian of Say It Simply Productions advises that effective email marketing starts with having a clear objective, an understanding of the recipients, and a commitment to provide them value in each communication. You have to write your email as if you'r...

Karen Loftus of KarenLou Creates shares that one of the primary reason employees like to work remotely is that many have picked up side hustles. Everyone talks about the benefits of cutting down the commute, flexibility, no one looking over your shoulder, and even flexibility in dress, but no one, particularly management, wants to acknowledge the second job. Karen tells us that a big reason why ma...

Patrick Powaser of Ho'ohana Coaching & Consulting shares a surprising insight that there is no such thing as a leadership position. Leadership doesn't come by putting someone into a "leadership position". Just because you are considered an executive or a manager does not make you a leader. Likewise, you can be a leader and not designated an executive or manager. Patrick observes that many comp...

You don't need all the i's dotted and t's crossed to file for a patent advises Joshua Goldberg of Nath, Goldberg & Meyer . In a first to file system, as most countries including the US have, speed to file is of the essence. You probably need less detail than you think to qualify for a patent. Describing the idea is what counts. You don't even have to have a working prototype to get a patent. I...

⅓ of all performance reviews result in worse performance is a key piece of evidence that Dave Wight of LPS Consultants shares to make the point that the performance review process used by just about every company with employees is badly broken. Dave provides 5 compelling flaws in the current system and provides the architecture of a new way that is collaborative, continuous, focused on the future,...

Many would-be entrepreneurs and business owners stop pursuing their dream because they can't afford to leave their corporate job and be without health insurance for themselves and their family. Frank Ferrara of Brotherly Love Insurance points out that the belief that a solopreneur or small business can't get health insurance is simply not true. In fact, these types of businesses often have more op...

The more you give to others, the more you help them scale their relationships. And when people feel good that someone's out there to help them, they're going to want to help back. ... They're going to want to hear your story. Dan Horwich or Camp IT Conferences shares his wisdom on the better way to sell. The focus really has to be on the relationship if a salesperson wants to elevate their game. S...

"When emotion comes into play, it livens up what you're watching or listening and makes it relatable. When you have emotion, it livens up the copy, it makes it more readable. It takes the audience on a journey from the time before your product and service to the promised land of a better life by using that product and service", declares Lee Barnathan of LB Communications . Lee points out that busi...

Alex Lloro of All Marketing Services acknowledges that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be cheaper than Pay Per Click (PPC), but the best return on your investment comes from doing both. Many times PPC traffic is better quality than organic traffic as the intent to purchase is often higher. Alex is clear when he says if your goal is to make money, then traffic that converts, which is more like...

Todd Feldman of The Rocket Factory shares the surprising fact that 70% of the time, a business's strategic plan fails. Even worse, it can take 18 - 24 months to even know if your plan is on track. As Todd jokes, "That's why they call it shelfware!" On the other hand, you'll never reach your objectives if you bypass the development of your strategy and go immediately to tactical implementation. Tod...

Kashif Zaman of Pivyt advocates that small and mid-sized retailers must have a direct to consumer channel along with selling through other intermediaries and retailers. He recommends selling through a number of different channels but one of these must be direct to consumer. To be effective at selling to consumers, you must understand the buyer's journey. Kashif points out that you can only do this...

Outsourcing your sales and marketing to an intermediary seems attractive when your skills and passion focus on what you do and not on customer acquisition. But, as Bobbie Malatesta of Bobbie The Awesome Enterprise points out, this can be effective at both getting your clients and taking all your profit from their fee structure. Intermediary platforms, like 1-800-FLOWERS, FTD, Uber Eats, Doordash,...

April J. Baynes of The Jewel Marketing Company states it's essential your brand be authentic and in alignment with the principals of the company, particularly for start-ups and small businesses. Your employees make up the majority of your brand ambassadors and they aren't going to represent your brand well if it is not authentic. April suggests 4 questions you must answer in order to build your br...

Claudia Williams of The Human Zone explaining why your workforce gets unengaged and disconnected, There is no emotional connection. There is no purpose for what they're showing up to do every day. Employees become disaffected when they feel the employer doesn't care about them and the things they believe in. Paying well and providing great perks and benefits may be necessary but it's far from suff...

Storytelling is so fundamentally human, informs Stephanie Judd of Wolf & Heron . The goal of telling a story as part of your sales process is to create human connection. You can only do this by bringing emotion into your story. Influential storytelling is inherently a vulnerable process but it leads to authenticity and high levels of effectiveness. Two mistakes salespeople make in communicatin...