How to Understand and Leverage Your Expertise Featuring Spencer Deering
Spencer Deering believes everyone has the right to do their BestWork. Front liners; charity workers; entrepreneurs; next gen leaders; educators; C-suite execs. Everyone deserves meaningful work that drives maximum value.
We discuss:
- Learning what the market demands rather than what you want to sell
- The challenge of feeling like you’re not making the most of your life
- Why you need to understand three principles about yourself before you can leverage your expertise to create a successful business
- The counterintuitive traits you need to apply to be successful
- Why you need to deliberately try to fail
Revolutionizing leadership development is the only way to get there.
As President of BestWork Inc. Spencer helps organizations prepare next generation leaders for high performance in the knowledge economy.
Starting his career as a high school teacher, Spencer has been a five-star coach: basketball, lacrosse, soccer, and baseball. The specific class or sport at hand was secondary: he focused on leading people to their strengths and encouraging them to double down on them.
Learn more about Spencer at www.bestworkinc.com, LinkedIn and Facebook.
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Transforming a Volunteer Activity into a Business Featuring Mac Prichard
Mac Prichard is the founder and publisher of Mac’s List, an online community for people looking for rewarding, creative, and meaningful work. More than 80,000 people a month visit the site, which includes a job board, and a blog and courses about the nuts and bolts of job hunting and career management.
We discuss:
- What it takes to charge money for the first time
- Why you shouldn’t wait too long to test new ideas
- How to find the hidden nuggets about what your customers want
- How to set your initial price
- How to build recurring revenue
A leading career expert, Mac helps people who are looking for a job during all of life’s transitions: millennials getting a first job, midlife professionals switching sectors, parents getting back to work after raising a family, or baby boomers who want to change careers.
Mac is proud to own two registered B-Corp companies, which use the power of markets to solve social and environmental problems. He is the author of Land Your Dream Job Anywhere and hosts the weekly podcast, ‘Find Your Dream Job.’
Learn more about Mac at www.macslist.org, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
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Strategies for Building a Successful Solopreneur Consulting Business Featuring Susan Kudla Finn
Susan Kudla Finn, PMP, is a dynamic leader, compelling communicator and highly skilled lobbyist with an impressive track record leading seven diverse nonprofit organizations, most recently as President and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association’s National Capital Area Chapter. She currently teaches in the project management curriculums at Georgetown and George Washington University and serves as a strategic consultant to corporate leaders, senior government officials, and nonprofit organizations. She is globally certified in project management (PMP.)
We discuss:
- The differences between accountability, responsibility and planning as an organizational leader and as a solopreneur
- How self-motivation and a sense of purpose are critical skills for success as a solopreneur
- Why personal and professional networks are essential supports as a solopreneur
- How being seen using your skills as a consultant can lead to business opportunities
- Steps you can take as a consultant that may lead to recurring revenue
- How to strategize how much time you should allocate to marketing activities
- The importance of honest feedback from others about your strengths
Susan is an editor of The Complete Guide to Nonprofit Management, and holds an MA in Legislative Affairs is from George Washington University, and a BA in American Government from Georgetown University, where she also completed postgraduate work in international business.
Learn more about Susan at LinkedIn and Twitter.
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Incentives as a Consulting Niche Featuring Rob Marchalonis
Rob Marchalonis is the founder of IncentShare.com. Years of experience as CEO, engineer, entrepreneur, coach, and consultant have given Rob deep insight into employee motivation and incentives to get results. He has advised thousands of business leaders.
We discuss:
- Why investing in incentives for your current employees might be more productive than hiring new employees
- What’s behind the psychology and strategy of incentives
- Common mistakes leaders make when trying to provide incentives and what they should be doing instead
- Why you should consider providing incentive plans by workgroup
- Why there are advantages to building a niche business like IncentShare.
- The importance of finding your proprietary space that will separate you from your competition
- How to build recurring revenue with consulting, coaching and facilitation
Rob attributes many of his results as a leader to sharing strategies that multiplied sales, profits, productivity, and more. His accomplishments include twenty years as GM and CEO of Stoner Inc., where he developed business strategy, built a team, and created incentive plans that resulted in 15X sales growth. Rob has innovated hundreds of ways to incentivize and share results with individuals, work groups, and entire organizations.
While CEO of Stoner Inc., the company received the Malcolm Baldrige National Performance Excellence Award from the President of the United States and was named a Best Place to Work in Pennsylvania for nine years. When you find the right way to “share your success,” everyone wins!
Learn more about Rob at https://incentshare.com/, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
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Success as a Solopreneur Featuring Michael Katz
An award-winning humorist and former corporate marketer, Blue Penguin founder and Chief Penguin, Michael Katz, specializes in helping solo professionals get more and better clients by positioning themselves as Likeable Experts.
We discuss:
- How it feels to take the risks and reap the rewards that are inherent to entrepreneurship
- The mistakes that solopreneurs commonly make when it comes to building their business
- Why building trust is the major differentiator for solopreneur experts
- How specificity and narrowness dramatically improve your positioning as a solopreneur
- The importance of staying top of mind with your network – even if they aren’t likely to ever become your customers
- Why being helpful to people in need is a marketing opportunity – whether or not they need your services
- Taking advantage of your flexibility as a small business
- How teaching the skill you have is an opportunity to build recurring revenue
- The importance of consistency – one of the keys to building successful relationships
Since launching Blue Penguin in 2000, Michael has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Business Week Online, Bloomberg TV, Forbes.com, Inc.com, USA Today, and other national and local media.
Michael is the author of four books, and has published more than 400 issues of “The Likeable Expert Gazette,” a twice-monthly email newsletter and podcast with 6,000 passionate subscribers in over 40 countries around the world.
Michael has an MBA from Boston University and a BA in Psychology from McGill University in Montreal.
Michael’s special offer for listeners of Smashing the Plateau can be found at www.michaelkatz.com/plateau.
Learn more about Michael at www.bluepenguindevelopment.com, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
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Finding Your Cross-Generational Voice Featuring Phyllis Weiss Haserot
Phyllis is the foremost workplace multi-generational expert speaking with a cross-generational voice. She champions the power of cross-generational conversation and collaboration to solve the urgent problems of knowledge transfer, succession planning, and attracting and retaining clients and employees of different generations. Her newest book on generational challenges is “You Can’t Google it! The Compelling Case for Cross-Generational Conversation at Work.”
We discuss:
- Why cross-generational conversations are so critical to business success
- How these relationships build and sustain business
- How today’s time pressures exacerbate the challenges of effective communication
- Ingredients that foster healthy cross-generational conversations
Phyllis is President of Practice Development Counsel, a business development and organizational effectiveness consulting and coaching firm she founded over 25 years ago. She is a frequent speaker and a columnist for Forbes.com, Next Avenue, Legal Executive Institute, and others. Phyllis is the founder of Cross-Generational Conversation Day, and owner/manager of the Cross-Generational Conversation group on LinkedIn.
Learn more about Phyllis at www.pdcounsel.com; www.youcantgoogleit.com; www.crossgenerationalconversation.com, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
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Finding Your Ideal Revenue Model Featuring Josh Haynam
Josh Haynam is the co-founder of Interact Quiz Builder, a tool used by more than 30,000 businesses including The American Red Cross, Home Depot, and Forbes.
We discuss:
- Why quizzes lead to conversations
- How to discover the tool that can be the secret to success
- Why and how you should get advice from your customers
- How to identify revenue models that fit well with your offering
- How to overcome unexpected roadblocks as you test something new
- How boring content marketing can work really well
- What’s most important to do as you try to create recurring revenue
Josh has probably seen more quizzes than any other human on earth right now.
Learn more about Josh at www.tryinteract.com, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
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Developing Recurring Revenue Featuring Cathi Nelson
Cathi Nelson, author of Photo Organizing Made Easy, is the founder of the Association of Personal Photo Organizers, a membership organization dedicated to helping hundreds of entrepreneurs from around the globe build successful photo preservation and organizing businesses.
We discuss:
- How to listen to your audience for business opportunities
- How to look at other models to develop multiple revenue streams
- How to identify your core offering as your base
- The power of collaborating with other business owners
- How solopreneur experts can start developing recurring revenue
Considered a trailblazer in the photo organizing industry, Cathi has been interviewed by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, The Atlantic, and Better Homes and Gardens, and is a regular contributor to Houzz.
She is also a sought-after speaker, presenting at numerous conference on topics related to photo preservation, storytelling and the art of creating an entirely new industry.
Learn more about Cathi at www.appo.org, www.cathinelson.com, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
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From Employment to Your Own Business as an Expert Featuring Bruce Hurwitz
Bruce Hurwitz is president of Hurwitz Strategic Staffing, a boutique executive recruiting and career counseling firm.
We discuss:
- Timing, investing and overhead when launching your business
- Why you should build diversity into your business and how to launch a new revenue stream
- How and where to find good resources to help you
- What factors to consider as you try to build relationships
- Factors that help solopreneur experts develop consistent, stable, recurring revenue
While he works with everyone, Bruce’s mission is to promote the hiring of veterans. He is the author of the upcoming book, The 21st Century Job Search. His articles on LinkedIn have been read some 400,000 times, and he has been quoted in over 700 articles, appearing in 500 publications, across the United States and in some 30 foreign countries. He has been a guest on the Fox Business Channel and Headline News.
Learn more about Bruce at www.hsstaffing.com, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
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Scaling Your Expertise Featuring Kathryn Rose
Kathryn Rose is a nationally sought-after digital marketing and sales strategist, personal branding expert, trainer, author and sought out speaker. For over 20 years, Kathryn has been keenly focused on developing, supporting, and connecting women to succeed in business.
We discuss:
- Why it is difficult for women entrepreneurs to gain access to qualified expert advice, to build up their perceived or real lack of knowledge, to manage the cognitive load they face every day and to receive funding
- How to choose the right model for yourself to scale your business, being clear on your target, how to handle your competition, how to build stability, and how to determine the right location and economics to suit your goals
- How to decide what to do yourself, what to delegate and outsource and how to do it
Kathryn is the founding CEO of wiseHer, a revolutionary platform offering on-demand expert advice for women in business, career and life. Prior to devoting her focus to wiseHer, Kathryn was an executive marketing consultant for large global and local clients developing targeted online campaigns resulting in millions of engaged fans, followers and connections. Kathryn’s experience has taken her from startup to multimillion dollar companies. She is the author of 9 books including two best-sellers: Solving the Social Media Puzzle and Return on Relationship.
Learn more about Kathryn at http://wiseHer.com, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
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Smashing the Plateau in a Rapidly Changing Industry Featuring Rob Dube
From Blow Pops to Forbes’ Best Small Companies! Rob started selling Blow Pops out of his locker in high school and now he is President and Co-founder of imageOne, which was ranked on the 2017 list of Forbes’ Small Giants: America’s Best Small Companies.
We discuss:
- How to continually smash plateaus when you stay in one rapidly changing industry for a long time
- The power of listening critically to your customers
- Why honesty, integrity, humility and vulnerability give you better insight into your customers’ needs
- The importance of being extremely focused on your core competency
Throughout Rob’s 26 years of experience, he has developed an unwavering passion for delivering extraordinary experiences that positively impact the lives of his team members, the goals of their customers, and the fabric of the community — a unique approach to business that has driven the company to success in its industry and as a top workplace. imageOne is the leading organization in Document Lifecycle Management and is well-known as an exceptional company, receiving local and national recognition for its strong focus on culture.
Rob is an avid meditator of 12 years, the author of donothing
: the most rewarding leadership challenge you will ever take, set for release in early 2018, and organizer of the donothing leadership silent retreat.
Learn more about Rob at www.imageoneway.com, www.donothingbook.com, Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook.
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Making a Successful Transition from Employee to Entrepreneur Featuring Mari Anne Snow
Mari Anne Snow is the CEO and founder of Sophaya, a virtual company that designs, builds and delivers custom soft skill training for organizations with remote teams and dispersed workers.
We discuss:
- What it’s like to jump out of corporate life and into entrepreneurship
- The impact of those around us when we are in a narrow place
- How to unearth where the best opportunities are
- Pivoting your business as conditions around you change
- How to build an effective team in a dispersed workforce
- The benefits of humility
- How to learn when you are faced with new challenges
A former corporate executive who jumped ship in 2009, Mari Anne successfully transformed a recession severance package into an entrepreneurial opportunity. As head of a fast-growing woman-owned business, Mari Anne has learned the art of managing her minutes and the importance of work-life integration for maximum ROI.
Learn more about Mari Anne at www.sophaya.com, Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook.
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Finding a Valuable Niche Featuring Antreas Ghazarossian
Antreas Ghazarossian founded Cost Containment Advisors (CCA) to be the country’s foremost property tax savings resource.
We discuss:
- How to listen for major pain points in a target market
- How to create an ideal solution for these pain points
- Unearthing your super-power that is part of your unique value proposition
- Why a solopreneur business must have a process for getting new clients
Antreas’ experience had shown that 80% of taxpayers were overpaying property taxes. Realizing the magnitude of property taxes and the challenges they present to the power, energy, and infrastructure industries, he envisioned an organization that could ensure fair and minimum property taxes for the sector.
Learn more about Antreas at www.cost-containment-advisors.com and Linkedin.
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Finding Fulfillment with Consistent Revenue Featuring Vikram Rajan
Vikram Rajan is the co-founder of phoneBlogger.net & Raviate, the web app that broadcasts testimonials through your raving fans.
We discuss:
- How to find fulfillment – whether you are en employee or an entrepreneur
- Creating consistent revenue using your expertise and your passion
- How to package your skill as a recurring revenue product
- Making your solution really easy for your customer to use
Learn more about Vikram at https://www.Raviate.com, Linkedin, Twitter and vik@phoneBlogger.net.
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From College Professor to Multi-million Dollar Entrepreneur Featuring Susan Peirce Thompson
Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. is a New York Times bestselling author, an Adjunct Associate Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester, and an expert in the psychology of eating.
We discuss:
- How to build consistent, stable revenue for an expertise-based business
- How to do less and less so your business can grow
- Building a team that can support the transformation you offer
- What kind of professional development can help you support your business
Susan is President of the Institute for Sustainable Weight Loss and the Founder and CEO of Bright Line Eating Solutions, a company dedicated to helping people achieve the health and vibrancy that accompany permanent weight loss. Her program utilizes cutting-edge research to explain how the brain blocks weight loss and every day she teaches people how to undo that damage so they can live Happy, Thin, and Free.
Learn more about Susan at www.BrightLineEating.com, Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook.
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Make Your Business Work for You Featuring Chris Goegan
Chris Goegan is one of the world’s most sought-after business growth consultants. Clients seek his wisdom and ability to help them grow and scale their businesses. Chris draws on his background as a high-volume manufacturing engineer, in-the-trenches sales professional, marketer and endurance athlete.
We discuss:
- Why it’s important to realize that people buy stuff
- How an entrepreneurial seizure doesn’t necessarily set you up for financial success
- The three core elements for building a business: lead generation, lead conversion and client fulfillment
- How to make your business work for you
Chris has worked with hundreds of business owners in 100+ industries around the world. At the core, he’s really a simple guy. He loves his work, loves his clients, and loves his family. Chris has worked with well-known thought leaders and professionals, like Michael E. Gerber. He also works with smaller businesses like his daughter’s ballet studio that went from struggling to being full. Chris’ mission is to simplify small business growth.
Learn more about Chris at http://www.chrisgoegan.com/, Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook.
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How to Achieve Your Goals with Profit Featuring Carissa Reiniger
Carissa Reiniger is the Founder & CEO of Silver Lining Ltd. She started Silver Lining in 2005 and created the Silver Lining Action Plan methodology that has helped over 10,000 small business owners in 9 countries set and hit their growth goals.
We discuss:
- Why it’s so hard for highly skilled small business owners to create consistent, stable revenue
- The skill of investing your time and money to get the best outcome
- Why busy doesn’t equal successful
- The benefit of asking for help for before you reach desperation
- Why behavior change is necessary to achieve our business goals
Carissa has worked with major organizations such as Google, The White House, HP, Staples, Citrix and American Airlines to bring more resources and support to small businesses. She and her work have been featured in places such as the New York Times, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Forbes. She is on a mission to help more small business owners make money doing what they love because she believes that we CAN change the economy one small business at a time.
Learn more about Carissa at https://smallbizsilverlining.com, Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook.
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How to be a Successful Multi-preneur with Marc Halpert
Marc W. Halpert is a self-described “multi-preneur.” Since leaving the corporate finance world in 2001, Marc has started three businesses, all of which he still operates. In 2010 he started his third company, “connect2collaborate,” to spread his LinkedIn and networking knowledge.
We discuss:
- What you should do if Sunday nights are tough for you
- Why you may want to be a teacher rather than a vendor
- How your “special sauce” can lead to consistent, recurring revenue
- How to recognize your niche and expand your business
- How to really connect with your target market
In all his LinkedIn training and coaching, Marc offers professionals the opportunity to better explain their brand and positioning on their LinkedIn profile pages: who they really are and why them vs. the competition.
Marc has authored numerous articles on innovations using the latest LinkedIn techniques for self-branding in national publications, both in paper and online. He is a contributor to inc.com and other national online magazines and has been heard frequently on WCBS Newsradio 880 AM giving LinkedIn advice on their business reports. He blogs every business day with a LinkedIn Nugget.
Learn more about Marc at https://connect2collaborate.wordpress.com, Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook.
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How to be a Successful Serial Entrepreneur with Will Mitchell
Will started skipping school to build businesses in the sixth grade.
We discuss:
- How entrepreneurs are changing the world
- What to do if your business is not generating the revenue you need
- How great branding can transform your business
- How to pick the perfect name for your business or startup
- How to get the perfect logo designed
- Why target audience feedback is so powerful
- How your definition of success changes as your business grows
By 16, Will had started a successful e-commerce business and dropped out of school shortly after to become a full-time entrepreneur. At 19, Will helped launch Affluence – an exclusive social network for the ultra-wealthy. After the successful IPO of Affluence, he re-entered the world of e-commerce. At 20, Will helped acquire and grow his beauty-centric e-commerce brand Simply Organic to an 8-figure company. At 22, Will launched the personal blog that would eventually turn into StartupBros – a community of like-minded entrepreneurs on a quest to regain control of their lives and quit their 9-to-5 grinds.
StartupBros struck a chord with aspiring entrepreneurs, and has since helped launch over 6,000 successful businesses from scratch.
Learn more about Will at https://startupbros.com, Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook.
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How to Build Long-Term Success in a Company with Scott Mesh
Dr. Scott Mesh is CEO of Los Niños Services, a special education company providing therapeutic services to young children with autism and other developmental disorders.
We discuss:
- The importance of getting the right people in the right seats
- Identifying the results that you want and going with the lowest risk method to achieve them
- How to look for skills and potential in different experiences to create a great match for your organization’s culture
- How we can learn from our failures
- How to exceed expectations
- Where to get the help you need to learn business skills
Los Niños Services is one of the largest Early Intervention programs in New York State serving 1,500 children a year with 300 staff. Los Niños has been recognized with 8 Best Company to Work for Awards and is known as an employer of choice. Dr. Mesh has co-led Los Niños with Edita Diaz, MSEd, President since inception in 1988. Los Niños also presents the Young Child Expo & Conference in New York City and Los Angeles. Their conferences are attended by 1,500 from around the world and are renowned as one of the best in early childhood.
Learn more about Scott at www.losninos.com, scott.mesh@losninos.com, Linkedin and Facebook.
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How to Create Recurring Transformations with Your Clients with Erica Peitler
Erica is a certified leadership performance coach, high impact facilitator, author and speaker.
We discuss:
- What happens when you hit a personal wall in a high-performance role
- How to rethink fear and your need to make money
- Why you need to know who you are and who you serve, the recurring nature of your relationships with your clients and the recurring transformations you are helping them achieve
- Strategies for your time and your pricing to be successful as a solopreneur
Erica partners with CEOs and their leadership teams to accelerate business performance and productivity through personal and professional growth.
Learn more about Erica at www.ericapeitler.com, Linkedin, and Twitter.
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How to Build Subscriptions into Your Service Business with Kathy Greenler Sexton
Kathy Greenler Sexton is the CEO and Publisher of Subscription Insider, a company uniquely focused on the “business of subscriptions” providing the industry news, best-practice information, training and research that subscription entrepreneurs, executives, and their teams need to support improved decision making, skills and profitability.
We discuss:
- The benefits of a recurring revenue business model
- The critical importance of relationships to a subscription business
- How to start your first subscription revenue
- How to avoid the most common pitfalls in a recurring revenue business
Kathy has a reputation for injecting a great deal of energy and enthusiasm in everything she does. She is a recognized expert in digital subscription business models, market development and corporate turn-arounds with deep experience in marketing strategy, brand development, M&A and digital information products. Her resume includes AltaVista, Individual, Office.com, HighBeam Research, SIIA, ZoomInfo, Business & Legal Resources and others – all experience she brings to her role at Subscription Insider.
Learn more about Kathy at http://subscriptioninsider.com, Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook.
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Learn How To Achieve Financial Independence with Justin Taylor
Justin Taylor is a 27-year-old Air Force officer from Mississippi that is currently stationed in Boston, MA. His goal is to guide normal people to abnormally fast retirement through his living example from humble origins.
We discuss:
- The power of a long-term strategy to gain financial freedom
- How to build your mindset muscle and core beliefs to ride out a downturn
- Why you should think about freeing yourself from daily business activity
Justin has an undergraduate degree in computer engineering and a Masters in Operations Management.
Learn more about Justin at www.Saving-Sherpa.com, Twitter and Facebook.
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How Your Business Can Run Without You With Mandi Ellefson
Mandi Ellefson is a CEO, author and advocate for hands-off business success. As the founder of The Hands-Off CEO, she leads clients into greater success, life balance, and productivity by helping them free up to 20-50% of their work week. Her international clientele has seen productivity and cost savings gains of up to 67%.
We discuss:
- The difference between scaling and leveraging
- How to make more money in less time
- What you need to spend your time doing if you really want to grow
- How to automate, eliminate and delegate to propel growth
- A process for delegating that yields effective results
As a co-author of the best seller Creating Business Growth, Mandi is a recognized expert and sought-after speaker. Her new book, Scale to Freedom, will be available soon. All proceeds from her book are donated to rescue enslaved victims of child sex trafficking. Mandi is a committed social impact advocate and Freedom Fighter.
Learn more about Mandi at www.handsoffceo.com/roadmap, Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook.
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How Elite Consultants Can Attract More Clients with Michael Zipursky
Michael Zipursky is a coach to elite consultants and CEO of ConsultingSuccess.com. He is a leading authority on marketing and pricing strategies for independent consultants.
We discuss:
- Why it’s so important to do your own marketing
- The benefits of conversations with your prospects
- The formula for success in a consulting business
- How to find the best help for your business
- How your mindset and business model can lead to a plateau
- Why it’s easier than ever to build recurring revenue in a consulting business
Michael’s previous clients include billion dollar global organizations and top consulting associations. In addition, Michael has coached and trained hundreds of consultants as part of his Accelerator Coaching Program and over 6,000 consultants have taken his consulting courses and workshops.
Learn more about Michael at www.consultingsuccess.com, Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook.
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