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Absolute Advantage Podcast

The Absolute Advantage is about learning from some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, leaders, and achievers at the top of their game. When chasing your dreams, a lot of times there isn’t a need to reinvent the wheel. Instead, shorten your path to success by learning from the stories, strategies and concepts shared by our guests. Then shorten it even further by learning about amazing resources (books, webinars, tools, software, events, coaching, etc.) that should be on your radar. You are not alone in the challenges you face! It's my mission to help you walk away with at least one idea you can apply each episode and to offer content that inspires, encourages and helps you grow and progress QUICKLY both professionally and personally.
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Now displaying: 2018
Jun 13, 2018

Howard Partridge is an international business coach, #1 Amazon.com bestselling author, and in-demand conference speaker. He grew up on welfare, started his first business out of the trunk of his car, and transformed it into a multimillion dollar, turnkey enterprise. He has owned nine small businesses, and for two decades has helped small business owners revolutionize their businesses and have more freedom in their lives. His new book is “The Power of Community: How Phenomenal Leaders Inspire Their Teams, Wow Their Customers, and Make Bigger Profits.” It includes a proven, step-by-step approach to transforming your organization by tapping into the human need to connect and feel valued by others.

How did one L.A. native with only a quarter in his pocket transform his life before gaining international acclaim as a best-selling author and business coach? Howard Partridge grew up poor in L.A. — lower Alabama — one of seven kids in a tiny shack in Mobile. His family on welfare, his mother fed them for $100 a month.

Howard Partridge left home young, arriving in Houston with a quarter in his pocket to begin his life anew. What he lacked in funds, he had in motivation. His first business began in the trunk of his car and became a multimillion-dollar turnkey. Mentored by Zig Ziglar, he later became Ziglar’s exclusive small business owner coach.

In this conversation, Howard Partridge explains why we must turn management theory upside down, re-engage our workers, and assure that recognition of their efforts regularly occurs. Three keys must be remembered:

  • First, when we value people with support, they will value us and support our mission.
  • Second, we must create a culture that encourages workers.
  • Third, we expect accountability, but it needs to permeate all levels of the organization so that employees can also ask management tough questions.

Howard Partridge inspires businesses to create phenomenal products. He transforms corporate organizations by tapping into the human need to connect and feel valued by others.

Take plenty of notes. You will enjoy this episode!

Ways to contact Howard:

Jun 6, 2018

Glenn Elliott is the founder and Debra Corey is group reward director of Reward Gateway, a world leader in integrated employee engagement technology with more than 1,800 clients worldwide. Elliott and Corey’s new book, “Build it: The Rebel Playbook for World-Class Employee Engagement” (Wiley, Feb. 27, 2018), highlights practical improvements that organizations can make to build a highly engaged company culture.

Why would a successful entrepreneur rebel against common business practices? As Glenn Elliott explains in this podcast, it is imperative that we rebel against common models and age-old perspectives if we want our company to thrive and our employees to stay engaged.

During his years as a software engineer and in other corporate settings, Glenn Elliott witnessed more than his share of employee disengagement in the workplace. Knowing that miscommunication breeds mistrust, he founded Reward Gateway in 2006 with a plan to restore engagement among those working in the financial services industry. He stepped down as CEO there in 2017 and currently consults and motivates businesses on ways to bring enthusiasm to the workplace.

In this conversation, Glenn Elliott reminds us that engaged employees spend less time distracted, make better decisions, and frequently are a source for innovation.

Glenn Elliott believes managers should be connected, humble, and honest to those who report to them. This principle should also apply to other units that have a direct impact on employees. As an example, he also discusses the challenges that many human resources departments face when tough HR decisions have to be made with lawyerly precision. We need to restore the human touch.

I hope you enjoy this podcast!

Ways to contact Glenn:

May 30, 2018

Does the constant talk about rising healthcare costs worry you as you balance the benefits you offer your employees with the bottom line? If so, you will want to hear how Michael Menerey collaborates with private firms and public agencies to bring a fresh approach to offering employee benefits with a goal of lowering their costs while enhancing their value to all parties involved.

A senior vice president with Alliant Insurance Services, Michael Menerey launched his Reconstructing Healthcare podcast in 2017 as a platform for discussing the factors that escalate healthcare costs. He seeks innovative approaches that provide better value with reduced costs. By creating a new dialog, he seeks to educate employees and managers of ways they can lower healthcare costs.

In this episode, Michael Menerey explains how the status quo is untenable. We need to explore different approaches, including a plan to offer benefit alternatives that provide our employees the flexibility to select less expensive options that may be available through another nearby pharmacy or clinic. This makes more sense than continuing to keep the same rigid plans while shifting more of the escalating co-pays and deductibles to our workers.

If an MRI costs our present plan $3,000 but our employees still have to pay a deductible, we should have the ability through better transparent pricing in the industry to steer the employee to another location outside of the plan that performs the same procedure for a fraction of the cost. Michael Menerey also encourages benefits managers to consider reimbursing those who can find cheaper prescription prices outside of our plan if the savings benefit the employer and employee in the long run.

I hope you enjoy this important conversation!

Ways to contact Michael:

Resources:

May 23, 2018

Nikki Lewallen fosters connections and promotes networking as CEO of Rainmakers, an Indianapolis firm she joined in 2007 that builds bridges within Indiana’s business community. She also shares her expertise on the Gut + Science podcast that started in April this year.

Do you know someone who lives for the weekend and hates the thought of Mondays? If so, learn how Nikki Lewallen inspires people to live life for Mondays. She enjoys connecting people and enhancing corporate culture by helping others appreciate their contributions as valued members of their companies.

In this episode, Nikki encourages managers and leadership to discover what motivates staff and how we can inspire them to find deeper meaning in their work. This motivational speaker and philanthropist shares her passion for putting systems in place that allow us to gain valuable feedback. She encourages the use of an assessment tool managed by a third party to encourage higher participation and honest responses.

When we solicit feedback from employees, we must act upon it rather than file it away. We need to do this regularly, perhaps once each quarter. If we plan to inspire action and enhance our corporate culture, we need to reassure those willing to share their opinions that they will be valued, disclosed in a way that assures confidentiality, and will lead to change. We must do more than go through the motions.

Nikki encourages intentional acts of kindness and discusses the value of seeking mentors.

The messages from this podcast should offer inspiration for those throughout the organization.

I hope you enjoy this episode!

Ways to contact Nikki:

May 16, 2018

James Swanwick is an Australian-American investor, entrepreneur, speaker, former SportsCenter anchor on ESPN, and host of The James Swanwick Show podcast. He is the creator of blue-light blocking glasses Swannies from Swanwick Sleep, which helps people sleep better; and the 30 Day No Alcohol Challenge, which helps people reduce or quit alcohol. Forbes magazine voted him one of the Top 25 Networking Experts. Swanwick has interviewed celebrities including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Kobe Bryant, David Beckham and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

How did a pair of “ugly” glasses inspire a successful marketing campaign? James Swanwick, a journalist by training, explains how seeing his friend wearing those glasses gave him the idea to create Swannies Blue Blockers that promote better sleep.

From his time writing for newspapers and magazines and appearing on broadcast media, James Swanwick learned the impact of effective media in getting a message across. He launched his career in his native Australia, gained skills in London, and moved to Los Angeles in 2003. He later co-founded Crocmedia as a media company with connections in Australia and became an anchor and correspondent for ESPN.

In this episode, James Swanwick explains how his early experiences in media gave him the skills to develop solid marketing brands. In recent years, he has developed motivational programs to ensure better sleep, reduce a reliance on alcohol among social drinkers, and encourage others to develop successful habits. He explains how he learned to overcome procrastination through “seemingly impossible deadlines” and why paying for a top-notch mentor can be a sound investment.

James Swanwick reminds us that compromising on your sleep compromises your business and ultimately your relationships, finance, and health. He also explains ways that his 30 Day No Alcohol Challenge benefits health and may offer a competitive edge.

The theme that defines James Swanwick’s discussion is his desire to teach others about “health, wealth, love, and happiness.”

This week’s program has great advice. I hope you enjoy his message.

Thanks for listening today!

Ways to contact James:

Resources:

Free Book:

  • “12 Easy Ways to Beat Procrastination”: Enter name and email at the bottom of his website
May 9, 2018

After spending 15 years working in a traditional marketing agency designing and developing websites, George B. Thomas stumbled into Inbound Marketing & HubSpot in 2012. After helping run the Wild Boy agency in Massillon Ohio for 2 years, George had the joy of accepting a phone call from Marcus Sheridan asking him to join The Sales Lion team. After he picked the phone up off the floor and stuttered his way through an acceptance, he joined the team and @GeorgeBThomas was born.

As an inbound marketer and brand strategist, George’s daily contributions include inbound strategy and design, HubSpot intensive training, speaking at conferences, content marketing, and social media marketing as well as business management and development.

What can you learn about inbound marketing from a former youth pastor and bouncer in a pub? George B. Thomas definitely took a different path as he entered the field of inbound marketing and developing high-quality video content. After he learned to be proud of his nerdy tendencies, he expertly applied them to become a “nerd who needs to educate” in the areas of content, inbound, and social marketing.

George Thomas strongly believes in the potential of HubSpot and has done tutorials about HubSpot’s CRM. From his work in the industry, he has witnessed the ways that HubSpot certifications enhance abilities in marketing and sales and the value that video adds for inbound marketing.

In this episode, George Thomas talks about how video bridges sales and marketing with digital customers. Whether we want to reach current customers, prospective customers, or our own employees for professional development, making well-designed videos allows them “to see us, hear us, know us.”

There are various ways that you can enhance your business by incorporating video. For example, George Thomas gives you reasons that you should have a video signature on your email so those you communicate with can know about you, what you do, and learn “something fun” about you. A strong video presence is important because 70 percent of a buyer’s journey may be finished by the time they reach you.

This is certainly a conversation you will want to hear! I hope you enjoy the full episode now.
I appreciate you listening to us discuss the ever-increasing importance of video-based content on the web.

Ways to contact George:

May 2, 2018

A professional engineer, Jill Marilley is the Construction Services Manager, Pacific Northwest District for WSP, Inc. (formerly Parsons Brinkerhoff) based in Seattle, WA.

Jill has more than 30 years of public and private industry experience in public works from project ranging from transportation to drinking water quality to parks. She has served the public as a public works director and city engineer and now leads a team in the Pacific Northwest providing high quality construction management service to ensure the public’s money is well spent.

Jill is a strong leader and advocate in the public works industry and is currently the National President-Elect for the American Public Works Association. Her focus is on public works funding, operation and maintenance of our infrastructure, and the continued development of APWAs next leaders.

Sometimes we take some things for granted that we just don’t think about. Whether it be brushing our teeth while leaving the water running to the transportation we use every day for work. Jill Marilley was inspired to improve everyone’s quality of life and create a ripple effect on the community.

In this episode, Jill and I explore leadership, STEM education, gender and wider diversity in engineering and other STEM professions. It is a powerful and wide ranging-discussion.

As numbers continue to remain low for women working in the engineering industry within the last 30 years and 25 percent of women leaving the profession, Jill gives great insights about her experience as a woman in the engineering field and how there is a need for diversity in education.

The perspective Jill brings on the area of leadership is refreshing. You don’t have to be up front to be leading. Leadership comes from deep within and is about your ability to expand yourself, your family, your friends, your community, your world.

Jill also made a great point about how we all need to remind ourselves to see what we are willing to provide to others to help reach all of our goals.

Jill Marilley offers amazing stories and wisdom on how you can create a ripple effect within your community and lead by example to create change within your own industry.

You will not be disappointed!

I appreciate your time so very much.

Ways to contact Jill:

Apr 25, 2018

Paula Brown Stafford and Lisa T. Grimes are two award-winning, c-suite executives who together have accumulated 60 plus years of work experience at the highest levels, 60 years of marriage, and raised four successful children. Collectively, they have managed more than 25,000 employees globally. Paula recently retired as President, Clinical Development at QuintilesIMS and Lisa has served as President & CEO of PurThread Technologies. Although Paula and Lisa were fierce competitors 20 years ago, they eventually formed a friendship and now, as a team, speak to corporations and women’s groups on a number of topics, including Complementing Not Competing, Packing Your Potential, and The Juggling Act.

Together, Paula and Lisa wrote the book, Remember Who You Are: Achieve Success. Create Balance. Experience Fulfillment.

Finding balance in the midst of a successful career is a challenge – and women face unique challenges as they rise up the ranks in business. Paula Brown Stafford and Lisa Grimes know that first hand, so their stories and advice are truly priceless.

In business, you will inevitably face competition – but there is more to advancing and excelling in your career. Mentorship is a huge factor in building on your skills and experience. Learning from someone who went down this path before you can open doors and open your mind to seeing a path more clearly.

Paula Brown Stafford and Lisa Grimes are my guests on Absolute Advantage today, and we had a wonderfully animated conversation. From competing for multi-million dollar contracts 20 years ago, to literally finishing each other’s sentences – the respect Lisa and Paula have for each other really shows through.

What sticks with me is the way they are giving back – offering guidance not just to women in (or on their way to) positions of power, but men too as we all interact together. Respect is the key that provides a way forward for everyone. The book they co-wrote even includes – cleverly I thought – a “Her Perspective” forward and and “His Perspective” forward.

We talked — among many topics — about networking and cultivating your personal brand. These are important elements of building a trifecta of success, balance and fulfillment.

Lisa and Paula also worked with this great juggling metaphor: in life you juggle so much. You have crystal balls, glass balls, rubber balls, plastic balls and lead balls – you’ll just have to listen to find out more! What these two share on this subject is really powerful.

The c-suite and life experience both Lisa and Paula have had brings unique and powerful insights we can all learn from. So if you like the idea of success, balance and fulfillment, our conversation is a great one to get in on.

Thank you for listening today! I appreciate your time so very much.

Ways to contact Paula and Lisa:

Apr 18, 2018

Rob is President and Co-Founder of imageOne, a Document Lifecycle Management company. Rob’s journey began in ninth grade when he and his current business partner, Joel Pearlman, launched their first business selling blow pop candy out of their school lockers. Rob and his partner realized early on that their passion for delivering an extraordinary customer experience would be key to their success. It is this passion that has become the driving force behind imageOnes success. Rob has completed 14 marathons and is an avid meditator and loves spending time in Northern Michigan with his family and friends.

My guest today has some surprising ways to tap into his creativity and increase his success.

Today, I’m with Rob Dube and talking to him about his thoughts regarding working smarter and not harder.

What he has to say is not exactly what you might think the owner of a company that Forbes named one of the “Best Small Companies” would say though.

According to Rob — and he has the backing of researching and the fact that leaders all over the world embrace this strategy — that slowing down is the key to unlocking both your creativity and your leadership potential.

Putting away your technology opens up the mind and relieves stress. This is because silence enables the mind to clear away chaotic thoughts and clarity emerges.

Successful business CEOs and all branches of the military practice some form of meditation. If you’re going to become a leader, you have to give your company your full energy and your employees your full presence. If you don’t those that rely on you can feel the disconnect.

How does Rob suggest that you do this in order to be successful? Attend a silent retreat.
Listen to more about Rob’s experiences with silent retreats and how this lead to his newest book “Do Nothing.”

Ways to contact Rob:

Apr 11, 2018

Dr. Rick Brinkman is a leadership and communications expert who teaches Conscious Communication® for leadership, teamwork, customer service and effective meetings. Since 1987 he’s performed more than 4,000 programs in 17 countries, sharing his insights on human behavior and strategies for practical communication. He is known for Educating through Entertainment, using humor and storytelling to make the learning memorable.

A popular keynote speaker, his clients range from the Astronaut Corps at NASA and the FBI to Merck, Adobe, the Federal Reserve, and IBM. His newest book is Dealing With Meetings You Can’t Stand: Meet Less and Do More (McGraw Hill, 2017).

Are you able to lead effective meetings? Dr. Rick Brinkman is a communications expert who teaches conscious communication for leadership, teamwork, and customer service applications.

As a medical naturopath, Dr. Rick Brinkman discovered that the mental and physical health of his patients were entwined. He brings this knowledge to business communication, creating a holistic approach to information dissemination.

In this episode, we discussed now negativity surrounding meetings can serve as a barrier, preventing the proper retention of information. If your employees resent the meetings they’ve brought into, why should they pay attention?

Yet if you empower people to change the ways in which they meet, you can get better results — sometimes increasing output by up to 25 percent without any additional cost to you. Dr. Brinkman explains that in terms of structure, meetings are divided into four important categories: preparation, processing, people, and time. Mastering all of these leads to effective meetings and effective leadership.

Running bad meetings will eventually lead to a lack of confidence in your leadership, as your employees may doubt your decision-making abilities. Bad meetings waste your time, your employee’s time, and ultimately your company’s time.

Dr. Rick Brinkman offers numerous incredible tips on how to improve your meetings and offers a document — called a “cage rattling document” — for convincing higher level executives.

Are you interested in hearing more? Listen to the full episode now!

Thank you for listening today! I appreciate your time so very much.

Ways to contact Rick:

Apr 4, 2018

Kelly Riggs is an author, speaker and business performance coach for executives and companies throughout the U.S. and Canada. Kelly is a former sales executive and two-time national Salesperson of the Year with well over two decades of executive management and training experience. His new book with his son, Robby Riggs, Counter Mentor Leadership: How to Unlock the Potential of the 4-Generation Workplace (Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2018), offers practical, actionable advice that improves workplace culture and enables organizations to bridge the generational divide.

Getting team members from different generations to work well together has always been a challenge businesses have had to face, but it’s never been as pressing of an issue as it is today. Four generations make up today’s workforce — and the divide between Boomers and Millennials is a larger gap than we’ve ever seen.

Millennials are the first generation to bring skills to the table when they enter the workforce that other generations don’t have, and that has completely disrupted the traditional company structure where, in most cases, the people with the most knowledge are the ones who have been in the industry the longest.

That’s just not true anymore, and something has to be done to bring these generations together.

You’ve probably heard of the idea of reverse mentoring before, even if you aren’t familiar with it by that name. Reverse mentoring is the idea of taking an older employee and a younger employee, pairing them up, and having them teach each other what they know.

Kelly Riggs is my guest on this week’s episode of Absolute Advantage, and he believes there’s more to it than that, which is why he and his Millennial son wrote the book Counter Mentor Leadership: How to Unlock the Potential of the 4-Generation Workplace.

The book is built on their idea of counter mentoring, a seven-step process for assimilating all generations into a singular team that can be highly effective. All of the seven steps make up the acronym COUNTER.

The first of those steps is communication, and in our interview, Kelly stresses how critical communication is for employee engagement.

“Every leader should care dramatically about employee engagement or disengagement because it impacts the bottom line. It has everything to do with the amount of money you make, how much productivity you get, how safe your people are, how much turnover you have. All of those things are contingent upon communication. Communication is where you build trust, and trust is what creates leadership.”

Kelly has a great system for improving your communication. To learn all about that system as well as the other six steps that make up the acronym COUNTER, please listen to the full interview with Kelly.

Thank you for listening today! I appreciate your time so very much.

Ways to contact Kelly:

Mar 28, 2018

Ken Baker is currently serving as a member of Gensler’s Board of Directors and the Gensler Management Committee. As a Co-Regional Managing Principal of Gensler’s Southeast Region and past Co-Managing Principal of Gensler’s UK, EMEA and Gulf Regions, Ken is considered a global expert on workplace design and planning, particularly for law firms.

He has designed tens of millions of square feet of corporate headquarters and offices for law firms and financial institutions and is one of Gensler’s major Global Account holders, managing relationships with clients such as Sidley Austin LLP, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, JP Morgan Chase, and Barclays Capital worldwide. Ken is also a leader in Gensler’s furniture and product development practice and frequently speaks about the power of design at industry events around the world.

A fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and a member of the Board of Trustees for the National Building Museum, Ken is passionate about producing design solutions that optimize trends that align with clients core objectives. Ken’s focus on maintaining strong client relationships is a core tenant of his leadership philosophy and design strategy and is a natural outgrowth of his people oriented personality.

I was recently emailing back and forth with a listener about building a recruitment marketing strategy for their business. How companies can make people want to come work for them is actually one of the things I’ve been talking to people about the most lately, so I wanted to make sure to have an episode of Absolute Advantage with a guest whose business is excelling in this area.

The architectural design firm Gensler is an excellent example of this, and I was so thrilled to have Ken Baker, Co-Regional Managing Principal of Gensler’s Southeast Region, join me to talk about making an impact in everything you do.

One of the areas in which Gensler makes an impact is their excellent process for growing and developing their team, no matter what position someone might have inside their organization. That internal mentorship program is absolutely top notch.

This really stood out to me because of the impact actually making that effort and investing in their team has on their recruitment and retention efforts. When every person inside your company continues to get better and better, that becomes really attractive for people job searching. Top talent loves attracts top talent, and that’s absolutely the case for Gensler.

Not only that, but the growth is really important to the millennial generation. They often get a bad rap, but growth is so important to them. When you give them the opportunity to grow, develop, and gain purpose, they want to stick around. We all know how expensive it is to turn people over, so you have to do what you can to keep your good employees around. The best way to do that is through this growth program that Gensler has implemented so well.

This is just one of the many ways that Ken talks about around this idea of how you can make an impact that is spread all over this episode. I highly recommend that you listen in to the full episode because when you apply Ken’s strategies to your business, you will be applying the secrets that have made Gensler one of the most successful companies in the planet.

Thank you for listening today! I appreciate your time so very much.

Ways to contact Ken:

Mar 21, 2018

Aaron Hendon is a Seattle Realtor, real estate investor, author, educator, and speaker. He is managing partner of Christine & Company, a Seattle Magazine awarded, Five Star Real Estate Agent, winning team for the past 6 years and an individual Rising Star in Seattle Real Estate winner.

Bringing together a diverse background and history including transformational leadership, entrepreneurial start ups and traditional cold calling sales, Aaron and his team consistently outperform the local market, selling homes for over 5% more than local market averages.

Born in New York, Aaron graduated SUNY Purchase with a BFA in 1997. Discovering his fine art degree made him eligible to work in the foodservice industry anywhere in the country, he headed out to New Mexico immediately after school. He eventually found his stride opening a real New York bagel shop in Albuquerque, selling it 9 years later as a business grossing over $1,000,000 annually.

In 2000 he found his way to the Pacific Northwest and now lives on a small island off the coast of Seattle with his brilliant wife, Kael, his two brilliant children, Leela and Jonah and his adoring, if not exactly brilliant, Golden Doodle, Rozy. He has just published his latest book, Shortchanged by Shortcuts? 44 Surprising Ways People Rip Themselves Off When Buying or Selling Their Home.

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“A leader’s job isn’t to make followers. A leader’s job is to make other leaders.” – Aaron Hendon

When I asked my guest Aaron Hendon to share a lesson of leadership as I do with all of my Absolute Advantage guests, I thought the idea he shared about developing the people in your organization was incredibly profound.

It’s a great example of the incredible conversation we had about what a great culture looks like and what it takes to build one, which is something Aaron knows all about. His company Christine & Company is Seattle Magazine award winning company, and it is that way because of their culture.

Christine & Company has turned qualified people down that didn’t gel with the rest of the team because that’s just how important culture is for a successful team, and they know it. Not only that, but they’ve let people go that have gossiped about the team because of their belief that you can’t belittle any member of the team.

It takes a lot of work to build an award-winning culture like Christine & Company, but it’s so worth it because of the way your team gels with each other and makes your company so much more successful than it could be with a lesser culture.

To learn how to do it in your business, please listen to this episode with Aaron Hendon.

That was one of the nuggets from my conversation with Aaron Hendon that stood out the most to me. Please let me know which stood out the most to you.

Thank you for listening today! I appreciate your time so very much.

Ways to contact Aaron:

Mar 14, 2018

After doing tech startups in Canada and the US for about 10 years, Mark Sears lived in Nepal for 6 years building CloudFactory. He is driven daily by his passion for technology, business and people. Mark lived in Durham, NC the last 3 years to help grow sales and marketing and now is building out CloudFactory’s global HQ in Reading, UK. Mark’s better half is his beautiful wife Laurel and together they have a lot of fun seeing the world through the eyes of their children Noah and Maya.

He started his career as a software developer with Sun Microsystems before finding his groove in the world of startups. Moving into technology evangelism and product management roles he helped a 5 person startup grow to 130 employees across 4 international offices after raising $48 million in venture capital. Mark then raised angel investment, launched and managed his own startup company for 6 years before coming to Nepal and starting the CloudFactory adventure.

It isn’t enough to have full-time employees that live in the same location you do anymore. You need to have access to the best talent in the world, and it’s highly likely that those people don’t live within 30 miles of your office.

Luckily, there are a lot of options to fill out your business. When you have an important project come along that requires a specific skill to complete, you don’t need to hire a full-time employee to do that work. You can work with a consultant, contractor, freelancer, agency, or a variety of other options to help get that work done, and they don’t have to live in the same city you do.

This idea of how to supplement your business using outside talent is one of the topics I talked to my guest Mark Sears about.

Mark loves this strategy because it allows your in-house team to focus on the core parts of your business while allowing you to leverage on-demand talent at a high level with really expensive experts but only using them when you need them.

Mark says leveraging talent in this way is going to become critical in the years to come.

“It’s a huge competitive advantage when you can learn to tap into the talent of the world…when you can build a culture that allows people to really interact and collaborate with your organization no matter where they sit in the world. Those are competitive advantages that are pretty much going to be table steaks in the coming years.”

So, next time you’re thinking about hiring someone new because you need some extra capacity, think “how would I do this if I’d never done it any other way before.” If you typically resort to hiring full-time people in your area, that’s not going to suit you well in the long run.

That was one of the nuggets from my conversation with Mark Sears that stood out the most to me. Please let me know which stood out the most to you.

Thank you for listening today! I appreciate your time so very much.

Ways to contact Mark:

Mar 7, 2018

Pam Wasley is Co-founder & CEO of Cerius Executives and Cerius Advisors. She is a serial entrepreneur with multiple decades of knowledge and experience. She has personally sold companies, led a management buyout, and advised hundreds of companies on strategies for growth and higher shareholder value. Pam has served on several private boards and is a highly sought after speaker. She’s been featured in prestigious publications such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fortune, and Bloomberg Businessweek on the topics of mergers and acquisitions, the workforce of the future, and global contingent workforces.

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If your business is currently hiring, this statement shouldn’t come as a shock to you, but talent is a big problem today. There aren’t enough qualified applicants currently on the market to fill all the positions that companies are looking to hire.

What can you do about it? My guest Pam Wasley says you need to really have a strategy for your talent … which means both new hires and current employees … and how to grow that talent long-term.

For most companies, talent is an afterthought when it comes to their strategy. They say, “Okay, what talent do we need to execute our strategy,” but as Pam explains in the episode, that’s backwards thinking.

Companies need to integrate their talent into their strategy conversation and start thinking about how to build their talent into a long-term asset to be more profitable.

This is a problem for many of the clients we work with, and we struggled with it ourselves starting out, but it can be solved without having to make expensive hires.

Companies are lacking a plan for growing their existing talent. Try identifying where your strengths and weaknesses are and then develop the talent you already have to fill those gaps.

Listen and learn how!

That was one of the nuggets from my conversation with Pam Wasley that stood out the most to me. Please let me know which stood out the most to you.

Thank you for listening today! I appreciate your time so very much.

Ways to contact Pam:

Feb 28, 2018

Known worldwide as The Millionaire Marketing Mentor®, Adam Urbanski is the go-to guy for coaches, consultants, and other successful service professionals who want to attract more clients, convert more high-value sales, build an authority brand, and grow a lifestyle business that makes a bigger impact while generating more income.

His clients and students often double, triple, and even 10x their business – some in as little as 90 days!

Adam started out with only $194 and a limited ability to speak English but was able to build and sell his first 7-figure business in less than 10 years.

Today Adam influences over 100,000 coaches, consultants, speakers, experts, online marketers and entrepreneurs worldwide, teaching them how to transform their limiting, time-intensive businesses into automated money making machines that Attract Clients Like Crazy®.

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We all face fear. It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t even matter how successful you’ve been in your career. The Imposter Syndrome or the Fraud Factor or whatever you want to call that little voice that tells us we aren’t good enough or smart enough … it comes knocking for us all and keeps us from taking that next step forward.

Why does this happen? My guest Adam Urbanski says it’s all about self-confidence. There are so many people out there with the skills to reach the next level, but they just don’t have the confidence to put themselves in new situations.

But Adam has a great strategy for fixing that. Whenever he isn’t feeling confident, he uses a psychological trick he calls outing himself.

“The minute you out your fear, you disempower it. It’s gone.”

I think that’s just brilliant for a number of reasons.

#1: The Imposter Syndrome likes to tell you that things are scarier than they actually are. It wants to keep your fears inside you. When you vocalize your fears … when you hear yourself say them out loud … you start to hear how silly they are.

#2: When you open yourself up like that, you build a lot of trust with the person you’ve just shared your fears with. They see you as the authentic person you are, and that goes a long way for building a relationship that will help you take down the fears you’re facing.

Learn more about this trick in our episode.

That was one of the nuggets from my conversation with Adam Urbanski that stood out the most to me. Please let me know which stood out the most to you.

Thank you for listening today! I appreciate your time so very much.

Ways to contact Adam:

Feb 21, 2018

Jeremy Slate is the founder of the Create Your Own Life Podcast, which helps entrepreneurs live the lives they know they were meant to. He studied literature at Oxford University, specializes in using online social networking to build an offline relationship, and was ranked #1 in iTunes New and Noteworthy and #26 in the business category. After his success in podcasting, Jeremy Slate and his wife, Brielle Slate, founded Command Your Brand to help entrepreneurs get their message out by appearing as guests on podcasts.

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I’m so grateful that you’ve joined me here today. I’m Kelly Hatfield, and as always, my goal is that you’ll walk away from this episode with one strategy, idea, or insight that inspires you to take action in your professional and personal life.

I know you’re going to get that from Jeremy Ryan Slate. Jeremy and I talked about how being a guest on podcasts can really pay off.

Let’s face it: being a regular guest on podcasts is a major time commitment, and as business leaders, we don’t have the time to waste on things that aren’t going to add value to the bottom line.

But podcasts give you access to people’s lives in ways that you’d never have before. Because people listen to podcasts when they’re driving, working out at the gym, etc, they don’t have to be sitting down at their computer in order to find you.

Not only that, but when you make a guest appearance on a podcast, you get access to the host’s built-in audience.

So then, as business owners, we have to ask…if being on someone’s podcast gives us access to more people, how do we monetize being a guest so that it grows our businesses?

Jeremy has a great strategy for that. His business is built around helping entrepreneurs monetize their podcast appearances by creating value and building relationships.

In the episode, you’ll learn how to offer listeners of podcasts value both in your interview and long after it’s complete through strategies like building a value-adding email sequence.

He’s even offering you a checklist for how to be a great guest — absolutely free! Click here to download it.

Being a guest on podcasts is one of many ways to market your business, and Jeremy’s strategy is a great reminder that it’s foolish to go into any of them without a solid plan.

How you are going to add value has to be top of mind in any marketing strategy, and once you’ve added value, you will be able to convert those people into customers.

Thank you for listening today! I appreciate your time so very much.

Ways to contact Jeremy:

Resources:

Books Mentioned:

Feb 14, 2018

Travis Chappell is a direct sales expert who has built teams for several sales organizations over a few different industries and is also active in the real estate market. More recently, he decided to pursue his passion of helping others and founded Build Your Network, a podcast dedicated to helping professionals grow their inner circle.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Travis’ entrepreneurial itch that has been with him since high school
  • The value of creating relationships and why that opens doors to business opportunities
  • How actually reading and focusing on personal development changed the game for Travis
  • Why you need to hang out where the people you want to recruit hang out (and an example of how to use this theory for building a great sales team)
  • Why you should pay more attention to the kind of person someone is vs what’s on their resume
  • Strategies for effectively networking online
  • How to get people to engage with your content inside Facebook groups
  • What should go in your Facebook profile
  • Why Facebook is Travis’ favorite social media site, followed by Instagram (and why he generally doesn’t bother with LinkedIn)
  • The networking opportunities that come from providing people with incredible value
  • Why you shouldn’t be afraid of people telling you “no”

Ways to contact Dave:

Feb 7, 2018

Dave Sanderson is an inspirational survivor, speaker, and author. His thoughts on leadership have made him an internationally sought out speaker. When US Airways Flight 1549 (or “The Miracle on the Hudson”) ditched into the Hudson on January 15, 2009, Dave knew he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

The last passenger off the back of the plane on that fateful day, he was largely responsible for the well-being and safety of others, risking his own life in the frigid water to help other passengers off the plane. Despite the hazards to himself, Sanderson thought only of helping others and emerged from the wreckage with a mission to encourage to do the right thing.

Today he travels the globe sharing his inspirational and motivational leadership messages to help people make a difference in how they do business and live their lives.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Why you’re never too good to do anything when your name’s on the building
  • How Dave ended up as the Director of Security for Tony Robbins while working in sales and trying to improve through Tony’s seminars
  • Leading yourself: why it’s just as if not more important than leading your business
  • Dave’s incredible story of surviving “The Miracle on the Hudson”
  • What caused Dave’s mind to flip from trying to get off the plane as quick as possible to doing whatever he could to help everyone else on the plane first
  • Knowing your strengths and weaknesses and taking a step back when someone else is better equipped to take charge of a situation
  • The power of having a positive mindset and asking yourself the right questions
  • Why you have to see things exactly as they are — no better or no less
  • Focusing on the outcomes, not the actions
  • Sticking to your values no matter what in life in business
  • Dave’s overcoming adversity in challenging times video
  • Dave Sanderson Declassified: Dave’s new partnership with Amazon Echo

Ways to contact Dave:

Resources:

Jan 31, 2018

Aaron Agius is one of the world’s leading digital marketers according to Forbes. He is the CEO of Louder Online, one of the world’s leading digital agencies with a global reach.

Louder Online is an inbound marketing agency that works globally with clients such as Salesforce, IBM, Coca-Cola, Intel, and scores of leading brands, showing them how to technically optimize their sites, perform influencer outreach and link acquisition and produce and distribute content that drives significant lead generation and ROI.

Aaron is a highly sought speaker at Search, Content Marketing and Growth Hacking and many other conferences around the globe including the U.S, U.K, Brazil, London and Australia. His passion to help businesses is driven from his own experience. Aaron was at the cutting edge of the emerging digital marketing field over 10 years ago. He uses that lived experience and now translates it into revenue for clients.

He is also a regular contributor to some of the worlds largest editorial publications, including Entrepreneur.com, Hubspot.com and many more, with thought leadership on marketing and business growth.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • The story of how Louder Online made its first 40 cents with affiliate marketing (and how it scaled from there)
  • Why they added a consultancy side to their business very early on
  • Inbound Marketing: what it is and why it’s so important for businesses
  • Creating content that answers questions and solves problems
  • Strategies for content distribution so that people actually see it
  • Why you need to have a detailed content strategy before you ever put the metaphorical pen to paper
  • How to improve your SEO by running a good business (and why you need to be realistic about the results you’re going to get)
  • Writing the content that attracts the kind of people you want to come work for you
  • The importance of balancing long-term marketing with short-term results as a startup
  • Why video is big now and only going to get more massive going forward

Ways to contact Aaron:

Resources:

Jan 24, 2018

Ordinary to Extraordinary is something Erik Seversen lives by, and he’s been pretty successful at it. Erik studied Anthropology (often voted the least-likely-to-succeed major), and used anthropology in business, helping a company grow from $7M to over $100,000,000 in ten years as VP of International Business Development. He also taught English as a Second Language for 10 years in Japan, France, Thailand, and universities within the USA. Erik uses entrepreneurial success formulas and motivational materials in business, but he’s also pioneering their use in the field of education.

Erik is a writer, speaker, adventurer, entrepreneur, and educator who refused to let others tell him what he could and could not do. He continually worked toward his goals even when others said they were unreasonable. Erik’s travels and intersections with people from around the world weren’t just a fun romp around the planet — they were a deep study of people, love, struggle, and ways of thinking that can be used to tackle problems in school, business, and life. His most current ambitions are sharing the lessons he’s learned through his business and climbing mountains which he says makes everyday challenges seem a lot easier.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Ordinary to Extraordinary: how Erik lives this out in his life
  • Why the way we approach an interaction with people determines how it is going to play out — positively or negatively
  • The tendency for entrepreneurs to spend too much time preparing and why they’re ready way sooner than they think
  • Asking for help and not being afraid of what other people think
  • Why things will change in your favor when you step back and take a deep breath
  • Erik’s upcoming book that shares lessons from his life and structures them around the pillars from Emily Esfahani Smith’s book “The Power of Meaning”
  • Ways to imbue your life with more purpose and meaning
  • Recalibrating yourself by occasionally breaking your routines
  • Leading by absolute example (or leading by action, not command)
  • Staying focused and doing what needs to be done to work on your goal
  • Perfectly balancing family, work, and self (and why you cannot neglect the self part of that triangle)
  • Staying focused on what truly matters

Ways to contact Erik:

Jan 17, 2018

John Mitchell’s 12 Minute a Day Think It Be It technique is recognized today as the top practical application in the world of the legendary book “Think and Grow Rich.” Applying this book to his own life caused his annual income to go up from the low six figures to over $5 million a year. This technique also allowed him to meet the love of his life in his fifties.

John’s technique doubles your control of yourself, triples your personal growth and focus every day on what moves the needle in your career. The science behind the technique was profiled in a TIME Magazine cover story.

Today, John teaches his 12 Minute a Day technique at the University of Texas in Austin as a faculty member of the McCombs School of Business, one of the top-rated business schools in the country.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • John’s story of achieving his two major life goals: achieving the financial freedom that would allow him to not have to work and finding the woman of his dream (and how he achieved both of these after the age of 50)
  • The fundamental changes that happened to John after applying Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” into his life and business using the 12 minutes a day methodology he developed and tweaked over time using the lessons from Hill’s book
  • Freedom: being able to get up every day and do what you want
  • Why hard work isn’t enough to achieve success
  • The built in human operating system that causes us to react with fear to everything (and how to get rid of this OS)
  • Building good habits through repetition
  • Defining exactly who you want to be, what you want to achieve, and how you are going to achieve it
  • Why you can’t do what everyone else does and expect to have an exceptional life
  • Why most people consider success a preference, not a necessity
  • How John’s method differs from meditation
  • The importance of being self-aware

Ways to contact John:

Jan 10, 2018

Steve Utech is the CEO and Founder of Illumyx. Steve is compelled to find meaning in all that he does, cherishing all the highs and lows that life brings. He works to embrace the duality of life, exploring the depth and nuance of the human experience. His background in both the hard sciences and the art of family dynamics inspired him to combine data and compassion as he entered the field of leadership, team and culture development in 2008. An entrepreneur at heart who can’t help but create, he has been spending the past 5 years developing illumyx, finally giving companies a way to objectively measure and improve their workplace culture.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Illumyx: a unique culture analytics tool that allows users to instantly see the strengths of their organization and highlights the challenges that should be addressed
  • Taking negative feedback and using it become better
  • Culture: how you get things done within the walls of your organization
  • Why companies struggle with creating a vision that people can get excited about and communicating it to the team
  • Consistently keeping all members of the team accountable
  • The key traits of a really strong culture
  • How to start/stop/continue feedback show people what they need to focus on to meet the expectations of everyone in the company
  • What it means if you’re struggling to get feedback from your team and what you need to change
  • How Illumyx helps increase employee engagement
  • Avoiding culture clash when entering into a merger
  • How promising things you can’t commit to can be deadly in a merger or acquisition
  • Avoiding making the wrong hire by truly showing your culture — warts and all
  • Bridging the gap between millennials and boomers and the role clear communication plays in that
  • Paying attention to your fear and not falling into the trap of making bad decisions because of it

Ways to contact Stephen:

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