The Bird's Nest

Amelia Taylor is one of the most well known LinkeIn Influencers around.  She has gone against the grain her entire career and it has allowed her to build a following due to it.  She is so open and honest on where she wants to go in her next role, examples of speaking her mind to her leadership team and if she ever thought of slowing down to take it easy given the rise of the past four years.  Amel...

Amanda Bagley was employee number fourteen at Chili Piper.  She has made her career in tech start-ups that has included the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.  She goes into both of those areas with me during this tremendous episode of The Bird's Nest.  She details the first days of Chili Piper as their first SDR, to Sales Management, to a lay-off and now to a fantastic team at her next...

Cold calls or cold emails are his thing.  Clint Steveson just waves to people, has a great conversation, offers to help them with whatever they need and has a built a new business off of this mindset.  He is breaking every mold of how to build his health insurance business.  Through just waving to folks everyday during his walks he is now known for his kindness and that is who people want to work...

Emily Mireault faced burnout twice, an unexpected layoff and has turned that experience into becoming a published children's book author, a valuable member of a team she loves with a product she truly believes in and finding her joy in life.  She discusses how she had the idea of documenting her pregnancy on LinkedIn, how the idea of a the children's book came to her and her husband and...

Every team, company and department is looking at their goals for this year and will need top talent to hit the mark.  I spent over a decade at a recruiting agency working with Fortune 50 companies to family owned businesses.  I have seen best in class hiring practices and I have seen some of the all time failures along the way.  In this episode, I provide the outline of how to win the hiring proce...

LinkedIn used to be where you posted a resume.  It is now the world's premier professional networking platform and Danny DelVecchio discusses how video is the future on the platform.  He has created a hugely successful business helping people create videos on LinkedIn that engage their audience in a way that written content cannot.  He discusses his journey in starting his business, tips and...

LinkedIn Influencer Marketing is only going to increase and at a very rapid pace as brands recognize the power of the platform and the reach to various audiences.  Alexis Rivera Scott discusses this growing trend and how she has positioned her company to be part of that movement.  Her very candid insights into the current and future state of this movement along with telling her journey into entrep...

Maddie Bell and her husband left church on a Sunday.  By the time they got home they had an idea for an AI tool that would change the way businesses scheduled meetings forever.  Fast forward through an accerlerator program, a U.S. patent and now serving sales and revenue teams drive better experiences with their customers, Maddie Bell and her husband Mike have launched the next great AI tool.  Mad...

Laid off after being a top sales person, Kristine Kapatos turned to her faith and began her journey into what is now a thriving business.  Kristine opens up about how she beat her self-doubt and limiting beliefs, formed a deeper connection with God and turned what was a negative event into what is now a her passion of helping businesses and people achieve their goals.  I was captivated by Kristine...

Aaron Wallace was a 6th Grade Math Teacher and is now a thriving Account Executive in one of the most respected companies in the SaaS industry.  He tells his story of breaking into tech sales but also how one sentence of encouragement empowered him to reach his potential.  Aaron is open, honest and very revealing in the road that he took from educator through SDR and now into an Account Executive...

Stephanie Whalen, President of Ullico, provides how she raised her hand over the past 25 years to take on the tough assignments or in her words "figure it out".  She came into the organization with a goal of staying 18 months to 3 years, but through hard work, dedication and mentorship she is now an industry leading executive.  Stephanie goes deep to discuss her challenges out of college...

My wife of almost 23 years uttered those words as I was "quietly fired" from my last company.  She looked me dead in the eye and said in a way only she could, "They Don't Know You!"  It set me on a journey to find a find a new career, a new part of myself who is not scared to dive into something new, a version of myself who now is not scared to fail.  This short 12-min epi...

Julie Raeder is a story in understanding that winning in whatever you do is not an isolated incident but a continous journey.  Julie takes us through her progression as a D1 athlete to her career change into the tech industry and then to how she is applying this to her entire life.  I personally was challenged on this episode to understand how I can do better in my journey and I think you will tak...

What started as Grayson Hogard and his wife started baking cookies out of their townhome for friends has now turned into a wildly successful business.  The Groove Cookie Company is a simple story of a great product, crazy hard work and some ingenious marketing.  Grayson shares his story, what he has learned as a new business owner and what is next for the company as they continue to grow. 

JR Butler, the CEO of Shift Group, is a former athlete who after a successful career in sales started his company focused on helping former athletes like himself as well as veterans find their identity and a place in the corporate world.  He discusses his own trials with this during his transition as well as how the the mindset of a professional no matter your industry.  JR provides a true glimpse...

Brian LaManna from Gong joins the program to speak about his incredible journey in sales.  He speaks on his rise from SDR to one of the top producers in his company and how he became a leading voice on LinkedIn with a tremendously popular weekly sales newsletter all within five years of starting his sales career.  Brian provides a very transparent view on how people have viewed him due to his age,...

James provides his vision on where the AE and SDR roles will eventually evolve to given the state of sales, AI, and how people buy.  He also discusses his journey of finding a new role after going through a reorganization recently.  Super transparent and useful for anyone in that situation.  He also describes his views on training, hiring and how companies can improve in both of those areas.  A tr...

Dan Goodman, Founder and CEO of TruCommish, discusses how sales professionals are losing millions of dollars each year in commissions that are rightfully owed to them in their compensation plans.  Dan provides extremely valuable tips on how to look at your compensation plan as an employee and how to negotiate the plan before you start your new role.  This episode is a must listen in educating your...

Both ultra successful, John Lane and Will Barfield were forced to pivot their businesses due to the pandemic.  They came together to form a partnership and a new business venture that will fuel them for years to come.  John and Will share the details of the journey, what they have learned in the process and where they intend to take it in the years to come.  I learned a ton listening to their stor...

Mando Sallavanti III goes into the law of attraction that allowed him to go from making nothing in his first three months in sales to over $50k by month five.  Mando is super bright, articulate and brings energy in this episode as he discusses his passion,  the pillars in his life and how he took his career and life to a new level.  I was captivated by his story and the lessons he shares and I am...

Most of us think that to be truly successful you can never be content.  Jacob Karp proves this wrong to discuss his journey through sales, but also his mindset of being content.  He is a super successful Enterprise Account Executive in Software Sales that provides a wealth of knowledge on how he has changed his life with this thinking.  Sit back and enjoy as Jacob did not disappoint.

Brandon Barend describes his sales career that involves being himself and not changing no matter the client, the account or what is situation.  He has succeeded by allowing people to get to know the real person and nothing else.  This mentality is appreciated by anyone who comes into contact with him.  His ideas on how to lead a sales team in this new environment is also riveting.  You will enjoy...

Cynthia Handal was unemployed at the start of the pandemic, had never held a SDR position and transformed herself into a sales leader, content creator and teacher to everyone around her.  Her story of working hard as an SDR to make her numbers, coaching successful teams to now building a sales team that helps talent in her home country succeed in sales.  An amazing journey that you will want to he...

Jen Allen-Knuth from Lavender brings passion, energy and a her own true thoughts on a number of topics.  Jen speaks from the heart on women in sales, how she bet on herself and her career, how to be authentic and building communities for your product and company.  I personally learned so much during this short time with Jen.  I know you will enjoy this episode as much as I did.

Mikey Henninger joins the show and tells all on his story of Sales Professional to Fantasy Football Entrepreneur.  It is a detailed and riveting story of a hobby turned successful business.  Mikey is honest and candid on why he took the leap away from Corporate America and how his family played a large part in that decision and the success of the business today.  A must listen for anyone pursuing...