More than a Few Words

In this podcast interview, I had a chance to chat with Che Brown, about the importance of building a high-performing sales team for entrepreneurs aiming to achieve 7 or 8-figure businesses. Che emphasizes the primary challenge facing entrepreneurs today is often insufficient revenue to realize their visions. He highlights five crucial steps to create a 7-figure sales team. Che's first step is to h...

Almost ten years ago, I had a conversation with Juett.  We discussed the fact that people just don’t have the same attention span they used to. You need to get to the point quickly if you want to hold their attention. Surprisingly, our tips on how to keep visitors with short attention spans interested and engaged is as relevant today as it was almost a decade ago. Listen now to learn how to implem...

I started my career in retail as the floor manager. It was my job to attract customers as they walked down the aisle, to pull them into the department and get them to stay.  I would organize the racks of clothing so that they would browse from one to the next and stay in the area as long as possible. Hopefully they would stay until they bought something.  Funny thing, as a web designer that was st...

Deb Schell  joins me for a conversation about building and nurturing communities. Deb emphasizes that in today's information age, communities play a vital role in facilitating learning and implementation of new ideas, connecting people with similar challenges or goals. She also highlights the need for business owners to focus on the people, purpose, and problem-solving within their communities rat...

I've heard it said that entrepreneurs need three things  - smarts, guts and luck. Your smarts can be street smarts, book smarts or creative smarts. You've got to be able to use your intelligence to navigate decisions rationally and analytically. You must have the guts to go after your big ideas. You need courage to put yourself out there and not worry others would think. You need to be brave enoug...

This week I had a chance to chat with Jeanette Stein, a seasoned business coach who specializes in using AI and automation for business growth. She shared insights into how to harness AI while maintaining a personalized touch, overcome SEO concerns, and develop a distinct brand voice. As a writer, I am just a bit nervous about using AI for website copy but Jeanette emphasizes the importance of mai...

If you missed this conversation about collaboration with your peers with Jon Tsourakis, then you are in luck.  You can listen to it now.  When you collaborate with people you would, on the surface level think of as your competitors, it is amazing what happens. You will discover your business is healthier, your mental status healthier and the tips and tricks and strategies that you uncover can comp...

How do you decide which software tools and digital trends deserve attention and resources and which don’t? So how did I answer the question? Simple, our strategy is explore, evaluate and embrace. The first part of the strategy is staying ahead of the curve by reading, reading, reading. There’s no single expert in the field so I have several websites I check on a regular basis. When I find new soft...

In this episode  I have a chance to chat with Richard Rosser about the intersection of artificial intelligence and storytelling. Richard shares tips on how to use AI for brainstorming story ideas. He explains ChatGPT can generate concepts and case scenarios for various situations. Instead of spending hours sifting through search engine results, ChatGPT provides focused and organized information. H...

One of the things I love about living in Indiana is the color the seasons. There are bright pastels in the spring and rich greens in the summer and bright oranges and yellows in the fall. The exception is winter. Those dreary days of winter seem colorless and bland compared to the vibrancy of the colors throughout the rest of the year. That's why I love evergreen trees. They bring spots of color a...

In this episode, the spotlight is on the challenging decisions that small business owners face amidst economic uncertainties. Joining the conversation is Beate Chelette, the growth architect and founder of the Women's Code. Beate equips visionary leaders with strategies, blueprints, and growth maps to enhance business systems, strengthen leadership skills, and maximize profits. With her insights,...

Some people think that chaos is a dirty word. But as my guest Robert Raymond Riopel suggests, a little bit of chaos in your life is a good thing.  If you missed this conversation when it was first released in 2021, you definitely want to check it out now.  He suggests that as as human beings, one of our primary functions is to evolve and chaos is actually what forces us to evolve.  When you courag...

If you're getting ready to hire someone new or add a person to your advisory board it is easy to look for someone with whom you'll get along.  That, however, might not be the best choice. What you often need is someone who can compliment your weaknesses  and fill in the blanks in your skill set.  Very often the person who does that is the Yin to your Yang. They're your opposite and so while they b...

If you are like most business owners you have lots of great ideas.  As a matter of fact you have so many ideas it is hard to get any of them done.  In this episode, Annelise Worn shares her insights on the importance of aligning business goals with one's desired lifestyle and values. Her approach involves reverse engineering an idea by starting with the vision of the business and life you aspire t...

Every time I go to the gym I see people using weights that are clearly too heavy for them. There is pain in their faces as they struggle to lift the extra weight. They are risking injury every time they do that.  My trainer always suggests I work with lighter weights which allows me to perfect the motion. I can do more repetitions and will build muscle as well as the people who struggle with the w...

If you are like most business owners, right now you are stressing about something.  You are probably thinking if you could only get rid of that stress everything would be better.  But Allison Graham,  suggests some of that stress is actually helpful. She discusses three categories of stress: empowering stress, destructive stress, and survival stress. Empowering stress is characterized by feeling e...

  Tracy Brinkman shared some great  productivity hacks you can use to take control of the chaos in your day. Time Blocking: If you have a task, that is high priority make a date with yourself.  Block out time as if is an important meeting, maybe an hour or so, and don’ let anyone cut into that time. Set Priorities Stop trying to accomplish 87 things each week. Pick a few top priority items and mak...

Twenty years ago I wrote a book called the Science of Marketing and and recently I decided to update the book.  As I started editing, I realized most of the content is as accurate today as it was twenty years ago, Sure some of the examples are a bit out of date  because I talked a lot about postcards and radio advertising which really isn't appropriate for small businesses anymore.  However, the f...

Most of the time marketing planning consists of thinking about what are you going to do. My guest Derek Johnson suggests that maybe you need to be focused on the "who"  of marketing.  This involves creating content to build a personal brand and show the human side of business. People often prioritize the technical aspects of marketing, such as techniques, tech work, and funnels, while neglecting t...

We routinely tell business owners that great blog posts are an important part of their sales, marketing and SEO strategy. With so much riding on each and every blog post, it’s tempting to push the sales element really hard. But that is exactly the opposite of what you should do. The hard sell is one sure way to turn off prospective customers. Think about the late night television commercials that...

 Great websites don't happen by accident. Sierra Janisse believes every decision you make on your website from what images  you use to the words you write , the pages you create and all the call to action buttons starts with answering one basic question. What do you want your ideal clients to do when they come to your website.  What is your primary call to action for your visitors.  About Sierra S...

These days, it seems like everybody's talking about robots. It's easy to get swept up by trends like Google algorithm changes and AI generated content. But, guest Rai Hyde Cornell says those things are secondary to the most important factor in your marketing - the human beings  Too often, we think about the system or platform first. We wonder if we should jump into Threads or buy Google ads, but t...

Traveling through Central Europe I was in three different countries, with three different currencies and three different languages. I don't speak Czech, German or Hungarian, but managed to navigate bus, train and boat transportation with ease. How? Almost everywhere we went the directional signs included simple icons which conveyed their meaning at a glance. As I sipped my espresso in a sidewalk c...

You always wanted to write book.  Now you've done.  It is published and you can just sit back, right?  Nope! Nancy Erickson says there is so much more you can do with the content of your book to expand your authority and credibility even further.  For example, if you have written the book correctly each chapter can stand on its own as a topic for a keynote, workshop or online course. 

Did you miss this conversation with Rochelle Groh about networking animals?  She suggests the next time you go to a networking event, look for the four types of networking animals.  The shark, who is ready to take a bite out of every conversation The penguin who typically gravitates to the same people at every event The bee who knows everyone in the room  The lone wolf who prefers longer, more one...