Ric Edelman is the Chairman and CEO of Edelman Financial Services, a business that he and his wife Jean founded twenty-seven years ago. Since then, he has been three times ranked the #1 Independent Financial Advisor in the nation by Barron’s and has published multiple books on personal finance. In this interview, he attributes his success in the financial industry partially to his lack of background on Wall Street; Edelman also has no MBA. Instead, Edelman describes how his degree in Communications set him up for success in helping ordinary consumers understand financial planning.

He also discusses:

• Why financial planning “isn’t about the stock market,” but about how people live their lives
• Why it’s not “who you know,” but “who knows you”
• How to plan to learn from failure, not success
• The difference between taking risks and being rash
• Why it can be so hard—and so important—for entrepreneurs to acknowledge that they are not the best person for every job at their business
• The three necessary steps to making sure that your employees succeed

Edelman Financial Services manages $13.7 billion for more than 26,000 individuals and families. The company has 38 offices coast-to-coast, and has won more than 100 business, advisory, communication and community service awards. Edelman hosts weekly radio and television shows, and has published eight books on personal finance, most recently The Truth About Retirement Plans and IRAs (2014). Learn more at RicEdelman.com.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

Mark Asquith is a co-founder of design and digital agency DMSQD. He has described how in 2012 he burned out, a moment that led to his reassessment of his business strategies and subsequent greater success. Here, he speaks about maintaining a sense of perspective on one’s work, and how to manage time and self-expectations, so that the entrepreneurial spirit remains a strength, and doesn’t lead to burnout or wasted energy.

Other topics include:

• What business owners need to know about investing in digital content
• The power of delegation, the risk of burnout, and “superhero syndrome”
• How to balance developing new business with producing the work that generates revenue
• How to be “ruthless with your time”
• Why there “are no competitors”

Asquith hosts Excellence Expected, a podcast that helps entrepreneurs take on their biggest issues, with the involvement of the world’s greatest business minds. He is also the founder of PodcastWebsites.com with John Lee Dumas. Learn more about Asquith at Excellence-expected.com or through his Twitter at @em_two.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

As EVP of Marketing and Business Development at Fragmob, Michel Bayan is working to reinvent the direct selling industry for the digital age: his company works with direct selling companies, selling them tools that help them more clearly understand and analyze their sales figures and compensation plans. Here, Bayan discusses how he moved from being a classically-trained actor into the direct selling industry, and how understanding storytelling, and how stories move people, has helped him be successful in a business he never imagined he’d be involved in.

Bayan discusses:

• Why direct selling is “the last truly democratic opportunity in the world”
• How to balance forward drive and momentum with openness to other possibilities
• How mobile technology will reshape the direct selling industry in the next five to ten years
• Why you need people that are not like you in your business (and why “the nuts are the ones that come up with great ideas”)

A writer and speaker in direct selling, Bayan has advised numerous companies in the industry on their digital strategy, and how to build (or rebuild) their brands to succeed in the digital age. Fragmob is on Twitter (@fragmob) and Facebook (facebook.com/fragmob); follow Bayan on Twitter at @michelbayan.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

From an inauspicious beginning as a self-described “sales failure,” Eric Lofholm has reached tremendous heights in sales: he is President and CEO of Eric Lofholm International Inc., which professionally trains people in the art of selling. In this week’s episode, he attributes the beginnings of his success to learning how to combine his natural talent for teaching with an effective sales system. He also explains the business strategies that helped his company weather and recover from the 2008 recession.

Topics include:

• How formal training can help people overcome the internal resistance to sales caused by the “stigma to sales in our culture”
• The advantages of a “90-day blitz” model for sales efforts
• How to respond to urgency with flexibility
• How publishing—through podcasts, online magazines, and YouTube—can help establish you as a thought leader in your field
• Why it’s so important to understand the mechanisms of your own success

Eric is an instructor for CEOSpace and Networking University, and is the author of How to Sell in the New Economy (2010) and Duplication: The Key to Creating Freedom in Your Network Marketing Business (2014). He also produces a free app, which includes a podcast; to find it, search for “Eric Lofholm” in Apple’s App Store. Learn more at SalesChampion.com or Twitter (@EricLofholm).

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

Jeremy Pound is the founder of JuicyResults.com, a search engine optimization firm with a flagship service of a guaranteed SEO. Wil Reynolds is the founder of Seer Interactive, a digital marketing agency. Both are in the search engine industry—but while Jeremy’s company guarantees its search results, Wil has said that a guarantee it is not possible in this swiftly-changing industry. Can these two entrepreneurs find common ground?

Certainly they can! Both agreed that their goal is to help search engine users find content that is useful and relevant to them, and to help the user and their client connect when they should. In this rigorous discussion, they also address:

• The difficulty of measuring accomplishments (or even accountability) in a constantly-changing and unpredictable business environment
• Choosing to pursue revenue vs. rankings
• The importance of performing due diligence before working with a client, and treating a client like a potential business partner
• How sharing risk with a client should affect business decisions
• How to help a client choose between branding vs. direct marketing approaches
• The keys to long-term business success in a quickly-changing industry

Wil Reynolds founded Seer Interactive in his apartment in 2002; the company now has a team of over 100 people and offices in Philadelphia and San Francisco. Reynolds is its current Director of Strategy. Follow him at @wilreynolds.

Jeremy Pound is the founder of JuicyResults.com, and writes and speaks regularly on how organizations can best take advantage of the web to grow their customer base. His book The Bootstrapper’s Guide to SEO is forthcoming. Follow him at @jeremypound.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

Tony A. Rose is a founding partner of Rose, Snyder & Jacobs, a partnership of certified public accountants.In this interview, Rose draws on more than thirty-five years in the industry to talk about finance, fulfillment, and happiness, where they intersect, and how understanding their dynamic can help lead to business success.

In his interview, Rose covers a range of topics including:

• Defining and connecting wealth, happiness, money, and fulfillment
• The importance of measuring and maintaining business capital—not only financial capital, but also human, intellectual, social, and structural
• The strength of “knowing people who are strangers”
• How periods of ambiguity, discomfort, and danger can be turned to a business’s advantage
• What prevents people from making the changes they need for their companies to thrive

Rose’s firm provides a full-range of assurance, tax, and consulting services for small public, closely held, and family-owned businesses, with a specialty in high-net-worth individuals and their families. Rose is a is a Legacy Wealth Coach® and a Certified Kolbe Method Consultant®, as well as the author of Say Hello to the Elephants: A Four-Part Process for Finding Clarity, Confronting Problems, and Moving On (2008) and Five Eyes on the Fence: Protecting the Five Core Capitals of Your Business (2014).

Learn more about Rose at RSJCPA.com.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

What can we learn when politics, academia, business, showbiz, and the literary worlds collide? Between the two of them, Dorie Clark and Eric Ruben have a tremendous breadth of experience, and both experts take different approaches to the same topic: personal brand and reputation management.

Clark is the author of Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future (2013). A former presidential campaign spokeswoman, she is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and Entrepreneur, and is a speaker for clients including Google, Microsoft, Yale University, Fidelity, and the World Bank. A graduate of New York’s Cardozo School of Law, Ruben is a former veteran entertainment professional, and has performed in film, TV, commercials and in off-Broadway productions. He has traveled across the country performing stand-up. He also has over twenty-five years’ experience as a counselor, litigator, literary agent, and talent manager.

In this episode, Clark and Ruben discuss their different approaches and attitudes toward personal branding, including:

• Personal branding: overhyped, or underrated?
• The value of doing good work—and the value of publicizing it
• Why social media can be a double-edged sword for an online reputation
• How to distinguish yourself in a crowded marketplace
• How developing a personal brand can be “fundamental” to your ability to earn a living

Dorie Clark is an Adjunct Professor of Business Administration at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a Visiting Professor for IE Business School in Madrid. She has guest lectured at Harvard Business School, the Harvard Kennedy School, Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, the Wharton School, the MIT Sloan School of Management, and more. She is recognized as a “branding expert” by the Associated Press and Fortune, is a frequent guest on MSNBC, and appears in worldwide media including NPR, the Wall Street Journal, and the BBC. Her book Stand Out: How to Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following Around It comes out this April. Learn more at dorieclark.com or follow her on Twitter @dorieclark.

Working in partnership, Eric Ruben assists his clients in determining how best to achieve their personal and professional goals. He can be reached by Twitter (@ericrubenlawyer) or through his website, RubenLaw.org.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

Wanda Allen is a national speaker, coach, author and award-winning business owner. After being a business banker for 25 years, Allen left the bank to pursue her own ventures, founding her business Follow Up Sales Strategies. In this interview, she discusses the emotional blocks that can prevent successful follow-ups, from fear of rejection to reluctance to “bother,” and how having a system in place can help a business overcome these hesitations.

This week, we spoke to her about:

• The five questions you should be asking in the follow-up process
• How overthinking sales follow-ups wastes time, and how having systems in place can help you be more productive (see also Wendy Lipton-Dibner, Smashing the Plateau episode 30)
• How to use follow-ups to establish trust and credibility
• Creating and maintaining effective relationships outside your business–and within it

Allen is a Rising Star Award Winner and Business Owner of the Year Nominee by the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), and an expert in helping entrepreneurs, business owners and sales professionals improve sales performance, increase client retention, and become more referable through effective follow up systems.

Learn more at Follow Up Sales Strategies, or contact Allen through email at wanda@followupsalesstrategies.com.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

Dr. Cheryl Lentz is an international best-selling author, professor, and speaker, also known as The Academic Entrepreneur. She has written and edited books on leadership, critical and refractive thinking, and more, including the multi-award winning series The Refractive Thinker, a collaboration of essays from around the world.

In this interview, we discuss how “refractive thinking” can help us move forward in business, including:

• Defining success according to constructs from the digital age, rather than old methods
• Changing how we conceive of business spaces to shift how we think about the nature of business itself
• Identifying our own biases when listening to a customer
• The importance of scheduling time to plan for the future (with reference to previous Smashing the Plateau guest Larry Sharpe!)
• Seeing getting help as a sign of strength
• What Einstein can teach us about being the silliest person in the room

As a university professor, speaker, and consultant, Dr. Lentz is an expert in teaching students to apply critical thinking skills to problem-solve in record time. She can be found on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and through her website, www.drcheryllentz.com.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

Jeffrey Hayzlett is a primetime business TV host and host of multiple shows on the digital television network C-Suite TV; he is also a global business celebrity, speaker, bestselling author, and Chairman of C-Suite Network, home of the world’s most powerful network of C-Suite leaders.

In this interview, we discuss:

• Why thinking you’re stuck will keep you stuck
• Entrepreneurship vs. the corporate C-Suite
• How negative storytelling dictates too many important decisions
• Key ingredients for fostering trust in business
• What Pixar’s Up can teach us about business

Jeffrey Hayzlett has bought and sold more than 250 companies in the course of his many, many-faceted career. The former CMO of Eastman Kodak (where he managed a $17 billion-dollar budget) is currently chairman of the C-Suite Network, where he hosts C-Suite with Jeffrey Hayzlett and Executive Perspectives.

He is also CEO, speaker, and author with The Hayzlett Group, and is the bestselling author of Running the Gauntlet: Essential Business Lessons to Lead, Drive Change, and Grow Profits (2012) and The Mirror Test: Is Your Business Really Breathing? (2010). He is also Chair of TallGrass PR, based in New York, San Francisco, and Sioux Falls. Most recently, he launched the CBS Radio show “All Business with Jeffrey Hayzlett,” where his first guest was Gene Simmons.

Follow or get in touch with Hayzlett through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ or email.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

Public relations expert Richard Laermer debates sales and marketing veteran Tony Grass in this episode of “Smashing the Plateau,” our latest in the FaceOff series. Tony and Richard go back and forth on issues related to branding, public perception, and making an impact in the market – fundamental topics for any business leader trying to grow.

Topics include…

• Why the intangibles may matter the most
• Where to sell and where to raise awareness
• Meeting customer needs vs. sticking with vision
• Why analytics doesn’t tell the whole story

Richard Laermer is the Founder and CEO of RLM Public Relations. He is the author of numerous best selling books including Punk Marketing and Full Frontal PR. Tony Grass is the President and Owner of e-Market Intelligence, Inc., an online sales development company focusing on marketing strategy and customer targeting.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

Rémy Chaussé helps people get unstuck from whatever’s keeping them from getting to the next level. As a victim of getting stuck herself, Rémy knows firsthand which strategies work and which just lead to frustration. On this episode, she discusses stubbornness, embarrassment, and how the biggest obstacle is usually yourself.

Topics include…

• How to avoid getting ordinary self-promotion
• Swallowing pride to get things done
• Why leaders should expect less of themselves
• How creativity can actually stifle progress
• Being honest to find your “Joy Factor”

Rémy Chaussé is the Founder of the Get UNStuck Revolution and the selfproclaimed World’s Best UNStuckologist. She helps people move from their creative brainstorming phases to a place where they can implement changes and make progress.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

Public speaker, mentor, and coach Nella Barkley discusses goal recognition and being honest and smart about personal approaches to business. The world is full of entrepreneurs, but many are stuck in old, unoriginal habits. In this episode of “Smashing the Plateau,” Nella helps listeners figure out how to get noticed for things that are wholly unique to them.

Topics include…

• How business is like baking a cake
• Finding what’s truly unique about yourself
• The questions leaders should be asking themselves
• How to avoid the greatest danger

For more than 20 years, Nella Barkley has been helping people find their own personal career and life paths at the Crystal-Barkley Corporation. Through strategic planning principles and her own innate drive to enable others, Nella has become a sought-after mentor, public speaker, and coach.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

Jennifer Kushell is the Founder of Young & Successful Media and YSN.com—Your Success Network and author of the NY Times bestsellers, Secrets of the Young & Successful and The Young Entrepreneur’s Edge. In this episode of “Smashing the Plateau,” she discusses motivating young people to think like entrepreneurs and building success through structure.

Topics include…

• The changing face of business
• How to deal with a market in flux
• Making, and then packaging, change
• Why the written word is more important than ever
• How successful people see the world

As the Founder of Young & Successful Media and Your Success Network, Jennifer is fulfilling her mission of ensuring that no driven young person, anywhere in the world, lacks access to opportunity to fulfill their true potential.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

The two podcasts collide in this episode of “Smashing the Plateau,” as today’s guest is Marc Mawhinney, host of the Natural Born Coaches podcast. In our sit down with Marc, we explore the unexpected upsides of his work and the adventure in finding a niche to call your business home.

Topics include…

• Thinking often and acting even more
• Having faith in yourself to succeed
• Why hiring a coach isn’t admitting you’ve lost
• What farming can teach the world of business

Creator and Host of the Natural Born Coaches podcast, Marc Mawhinney helps motivate listeners who want to become professional coaches and offers advice to current coaches looking to improve their businesses. A coach himself, he is also the Founder of Marc Mawhinney Coaching.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

Jim Canterucci runs his business not so unlike we at TEND run ours. Jim helps executives get their big ideas put into action. On this episode of “Smashing the Plateau,” he shares his wisdom on getting companies to accept innovation and how to maintain success even when some of those risks don’t work out.

Topics include…

• Why you should be celebrating failure
• The [60:40] rule of leadership
• How to get people working for the right reasons
• Exceeding an entrepreneurial spirit
• The new normal for leadership
• What farming can teach the world of business

Jim Canterucci is the Founder and CEO of Transition Management Advisors and a Leadership Advisor at ELCircle. He figures out ways to get executives unstuck, moving ideas from inside the boardroom out to the rest of the world by implementing them successfully.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

Author, speaker, engineer, and entrepreneur Kalynn Amadio is the CEO of ikalynn LLC. As a digital marketing expert for Baby Boomers, she helps older entrepreneurs stay relevant in a world that’s migrated online. In this episode, Kalynn talks about learning to use the tools of today so that businesspeople can connect meaningfully with an audience.

Topics include…

• The real reason to use social media marketing
• Building a 1-1 conversation
• Imagining your ideal customer
• How to avoid time sucks
• How to build communities of raving fans

Kalynn Amadio is the CEO of ikalynn LLC, a digital marketing company that helps Baby Boomers flourish in the ever-changing world of the Internet, social media, video, and mobile technology. She is also an author, speaker, engineer, and entrepreneur.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

If sales are the short-term push, marketing is the long-term pull. It’s the extended demand you cultivate over a period of years. Despite its importance, a sense of urgency gets in a lot of people’s way. In this episode, Geri Mazur discusses common errors in thinking and how to market effectively in 2015.

Topics include…

• Why outputs matter more than outcomes
• Creating demand, then fulfilling it
• How to know you’re spending wisely
• Learning the long game of marketing
• What you should be doing once a week

Geri Mazur is an award-winning small business-marketing consultant with more than 25 years experience moving people, products, and brands forward. She is the owner of Geri Mazur Marketing.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

Mentor, presenter, and author Heather Pich has found self-limiting beliefs to be one of the greatest forces that hold people back from achieving their goals. What we tell ourselves can stick with us forever. It’s only after we shed that false narrative, Heather says, when we can move forward.

Topics include…

• Why you should turn selling into sharing
• Shutting out the naysayers
• Understanding (and deleting) self-limiting beliefs
• Finding success in a change of attitude

Heather Pich is a Mentor at Productive Learning, helping people to recognize the thoughts and self-conceptions that are holding them back, ultimately to succeed. She is also a presenter, trainer, and best-selling author of the direct sales guide Bookings When You Have No Bookings.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

C.C. Chapman virtually invented the concept of content marketing with his book Content Rules (with co-author Ann Handley). Many people say “content is king.” C.C Chapman virtually invented the concept. In this episode, he talks about how he blends his personal challenges and professional missions.

Topics include…

• The importance of the “Hell Yeah!” test
• Why content is king
• Where the best creations come from
• Turning followers into customers
• Why you shouldn’t try to measure everything

C.C. Chapman is the Founder of Never Enough Days, a consulting company that focuses on marketing social causes. He is also a public speaker and author of the books Amazing Things Will Happen and Content Rules.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

Leader and entrepreneur JC Maldonado has no doubt the businesses that succeed are the ones who embrace change. On this episode of “Smashing the Plateau,” JC guides listeners through steps to make that change, without feeling like the sky is falling.

Topics include…

• How to avoid getting left behind
• How to reinvent yourself
• The 3 phases of business growth
• Why you should always be learning
• Why a strong business model must come first

JC Maldonado is the CEO of BizGro Partners, a business development firm that helps privately-held businesses advance through organic growth strategies or strategic corporate transactions.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

Peter Thomson is one of the most successful information product creators in the world, currently ranking as Nightingale-Conant’s top-selling UK author. His success is driven by one primary aim—to help people build careers out of sharing their ideas.

This episode packs some of the most value-per-minute of anything we’ve done.

You’ll learn…

• The 2/5 Method of Opportunity Selection
• How testing can show you when to persevere vs. give up
• The 6 P’s of every successful information product
• Why you should be thankful for negative people

Peter Thomson coaches consultants, speakers, and small business owners to share more of their authentic messages with more people than they could ever reach on a one-to-one-basis by showing them how to write and create their own informational products.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

These days it has become commonplace to talk about storytelling in business, but far less common to why it matters so much. Turns out there’s a biological basis to why persuasion works best in story form. In this episode, Wired for Story author Lisa Cron talks about the profound influence you can gain among your customers, employees, and colleagues by mastering the ancient art of story.

We discuss why…

• Story is the only effective way to communicate
• Every decision is an emotional decision
• Brain chemistry determines whether people buy
• Showing people you’re a mess is a fantastic leadership tactic

Lisa Cron is the author of Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers From the Very First Sentence. She’s worked at W.W. Norton, serves as a producer on shows for Showtime and CourtTV and is a consultant for Warner Brothers and the William Morris Agency. Since 2006, Lisa has also been an instructor in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares

Award-winning author, attorney, and conflict resolution expert, Lisa Gibson has a full tool belt for dealing with conflict. She discusses crossing cultural boundaries and using your story to anchor your business (and much more) on this episode of “Smashing the Plateau.”

Topics include…

• Why business conflicts don’t end
• The importance of having a strong story
• The isolating effects of business
• How to deal with cultural conflicts
• Accepting yourself as an expert

Lisa Gibson is a best-selling and award-winning author, attorney, mediator, and global conflict mitigator. She is also a Certified Trainer in managing workplace conflict.

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

0Shares