At 19, Evan Carmichael built and then sold a biotech software company. At 22, he was a venture capitalist helping raise $500,000 to $15 million. He now runs EvanCarmichael.com, a popular website for entrepreneurs and breathes and bleeds entrepreneurship. His goal is to help 1 billion entrepreneurs and change the world. He speaks globally and calls Toronto home.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Evan’s background
• Why it’s more about the mindset than hitting the target when it comes to goals
• Why it’s important to Evan to make the entrepreneurial path easier for others
• Why having a morning routine & an environment for success is so important
• Why you need to consume some kind of content every day that gets you thinking bigger
• What you can learn from looking at other business models as well as other people’s successes & failures
• Why you should master self-awareness
• Why it’s important to build your business beyond just yourself
• Why you need to spend more time doing what you’re really good at
• What makes a successful entrepreneur
• Why you should just get started and adjust along the way instead of planning for perfection
• Finding the schedule, routine & balance that works for you

How best to connect with Evan:

• Website: www.evancarmichael.com
• YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/ModelingTheMasters
• Twitter: @EvanCarmichael
• Book: “Your One Word: The Powerful Secret to Creating a Business & Life That Matters”

Daina Middleton is a Principal at Larcen Consulting Group and author of “GRACE MEETS GRIT: How To Bring Out The Remarkable, Courageous Leader Within.” Prior to launching her consulting work, Daina served as the head of global business-to-business marketing at Twitter as well as successful leadership positions at Performics, Moxy Interactive, and 16-years at Hewlett Packard. In all, Daina possesses three decades of hands-on business experience as a proven leader and CEO. She now works with executives from large and small companies who seek to take their business to the next level. She helps them understand the importance of leadership development that accompanies success.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Daina’s background
• How having processes and routines helps contribute to Daina’s time-saving success technique
• Why transformational leadership is a critical skill for business owners to master
• Why it’s important to invest and take time for yourself
• Finding the right mentors for the right time in your career
• How mastering consistent, repeatable processes can drive value
• Why finding a core value to stand for is so important for a company to succeed
• Why you shouldn’t change yourself to the whim of your customers
• Why it’s important to balance your strengths & weaknesses
• Why you need to have self-awareness
• Why it’s important to have mindfulness in work situations

How best to connect with Daina:

• Website: dainamiddleton.com
• Email: daina@dainamiddleton.com
• Twitter: @DainaMiddleton

Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media.

Good Morning, Onward Nation — I’m Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI and welcome to this week’s solocast.

Can you believe it? In less 4 days — we will ring in 2017.

AMAZING!

My hope for you is that 2016 was your best year yet.

— AND —

That 2017 will absolutely blow your accomplishments from this year out of the water in every way that matters to you. That you will be able to enjoy all of the freedom that running a successful, predictable, repeatable, and profitable business should afford you, your family, and your team.

Which if you just had a great 2016 — or maybe you didn’t — making 2017 your best year ever will be a tall order.

To be successful…you and your team will need a strategy coupled with a practical and tactical execution plan for you and your team to follow.

You may need an even heightened level of focus on who you should be serving.

Who are the customers and prospects in your current sales pipeline? Are they companies who you most want to serve?

Do they represent your Dream 50 clients? If not…adjustments need to be made.

And once the adjustments are made — you need a system that consistently adds value to what the companies within your sales pipeline — within your Dream 50 — are trying to accomplish in 2017.

Over the next several weeks, I am going to use my weekly solocast to answer these questions and guide you along the path to creating the strategic plan you and your team need.

I will share insights, step-by-step detail, recommendations, and system execution processes in full transparency as always — all within a practical and tactical 4-part series that you and your team can immediately apply.

My hope is that the result outcome for you is that you will be able to fill your sales pipeline so you and your team have more revenue opportunities at your fingertips than ever before — and those opportunities are with the type of companies you most want to serve — your Dream 50 clients.

Over the next four weeks…you and me…we are going to get our hands dirty, together. We are going to get into the trenches to not only fill your pipeline — but — to demonstrate with excellence to your team members how it should be done so they can model your behavior going forward.

This level of hands-on leadership — as you push for new heights — is critically important. Because how can your team do more if you have not shown them how?

So…in turn…I will show you where you can dig in your business to find gold — to go an inch wide and a mile deep to strike oil — to find the data points you need to make great decisions — and all along the way — to be able to look your team members in the eye with confidence so they can see how the business is moving forward.

When you jump into the trenches with your team due to deadlines — due to a large number of orders that need to be shipped — due to some problems with key clients — whatever the reason — your actions in those moments demonstrate how important it is to create big wins for clients.

And…even more importantly…your actions demonstrate that you have your teammate’s back — that you will not let them down — that they can count on you when the going gets tough. That they can count on you to take care of them while taking care of customers — with excellence.

This level of leadership should be one of your most vital priorities in 2017.

There is no better team building move a leader can make like stepping out of their executive office, rolling up their sleeves and riding with the sales team, making presentations to prospective customers, call customers, making deliveries, or shipping orders when there is a backlog.

To be clear — I believe in delegation — I absolutely do — it is a key ingredient to scaling a business. And here at Predictive ROI, my content marketing and lead gen agency, my leadership team and I stress delegation, we support and fund personal development for all our teammates, and each of us pushes one another whenever possible to grow and develop.

Doing all of this is a key to scaling.

But, getting my hands dirty with the practical and tactical is something I love to do — I love to solve problems — I am driven by it. I love jumping into the trenches with my team to work alongside them — to look them in the eye when we are faced with a big challenge so they can see my confidence and how much I believe in them.

It is part of the entrepreneurial DNA that I was blessed to receive my family — and — it was honed to a razors edge during my enlistment in the United States Air Force.

At the close of each day in the Air Force, I was typically covered in diesel fuel, brine, grease, battery acid, cobwebs, and dirt from crawling around the floors inside the 150 nuclear missile silos where I performed hundreds of maintenance procedures as part of a team.

During my enlistment, I was stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base near the Black Hills of South Dakota — the prairies were my commute to my office — and my office was 1, 2, or 3 Minuteman II ICBM nuclear missile silos each day that I served.

And I loved every second of it. Most days were like 100 percent pure adrenaline, Onward Nation.

It was absolutely awesome!

And it was in those days — where my team and I worked our guts out — where we stood fast in the face of numerous technical challenges happening concurrently, in the face of impossible timelines and pressure, and the ebb and flow of an ever changing schedule — but — when we successfully navigated it all — when we got back to our base following a 17-hour shift — and debriefed with our supervisors — we felt a major sense of accomplishment.

We did it. And we did it with excellence. There was no finer feeling after a hard day of slugging it out in the trenches then being able to look back on what we had done along the way with pride.

That what we had just done — really mattered.

So let’s bring this back to the leadership lesson I want to make sure you take out of this solocast. When we were working within a missile silo…one of the things we enjoyed most was when our supervisors and leadership from our squadron paid us a visit. Sometimes as a complete surprise.

Our field supervisors wanted to inspect what they expected — to watch us perform while we were knee deep in problems inside a silo. It was nerve racking to be sure — because we didn’t want to make a mistake — but — sometimes, one of our supervisors — all former technicians themselves — couldn’t resist the temptation to jump into what we were working on so they could get some grease on their hands — to help us save time — or to provide us with a teaching moment and mentorship to make us better for our next dispatch.

For example, one of our supervisors might jump in and operate a crane while we were replacing a brine chiller — or help drive one of our maintenance trucks if we were short handed.

What we did on a day-to-day basis was dangerous, Onward Nation. There were significant risks. We were working six feet away from a nuclear missile inside a buried silo — for 17- hours at a time. And as you might imagine, our stress levels could rise pretty quickly within the team — so we had to keep our cool through solid communication and leadership.

So, seeing the willingness of our supervisors to jump in when they didn’t have to was inspiring — it was motivating — it was awesome seeing them get dirty right alongside of us — they looked us in the eyes and gave us courage that we could get the job done and get the heck home to our families — safe and sound.

You and your team, Onward Nation, may not be working inside a nuclear missile silo — but — if you, as a leader, jump in — with the heart to help and not micro-manage — to be a resource — to share your insights and experience — to be in the trenches — to look them in the eye so they know it will all be okay — your team will love you for it — and that momentum will carry you to new heights in 2017.

So that is why over the next several weeks, you and I will be in the trenches together. We will get our hands dirty — together. You and I will get tactical on the curriculum I prepared for you — the step-by-step details along with the metrics you can use to ensure your team is on-track.

January is a perfect time for you to jump in with your team — to get your hands dirty — to pull some levers and let your team see how much you care — put in the hours — to build the business — together.

They will love you for it.

The first practical and tactical lesson I am going to share with you is how to define your client avatar so you know exactly who should be inside your sales pipeline. It is impossible to answer the question of “Who do we want to serve” if you have not completed the exercise.

Or, if you have already completed — like my Predictive ROI team and I did a year ago — it is likely time for you to rinse and repeat the exercise just like we finished doing ourselves. And low and behold — we discovered that over the last several years — a shift had taken place.

That was exciting to see — so we pivoted — and made our sales pipeline much better as a result!

Yes, the exercise is hard work. It can be time consuming. You and your team need to challenge yourselves and not accept surface answers. But the reward is high. Because not getting your avatar right can be one of the single biggest and most expensive mistake business owners make — not knowing who to sell to — or why they choose to sell to one customer instead of another.

Before we jump in — I want to offer up a couple of warnings.

As we move through the steps…you may catch yourself saying… “Oh, I already know that…”

If you catch yourself saying that – take a moment – and instead ask yourself – “But have I mastered it?”

And then take it deeper by asking yourself, “Can I leverage it even greater that what I am currently doing?”

This recipe represents such a significant opportunity for you and your business because only about 2 percent of the business owners listening right now will take action on the steps I share.

Onward Nation, you may nod your head in agreement when you hear this recipe — you may even take some notes – or even share this episode with a colleague.

But ultimately, your inaction will signify your acceptance of operating your business at the status quo — instead of at the level of excellence.

Please don’t let this be you, Onward Nation!

Don’t fall into the trap of procrastination. My hope for you is that you will take the notes – have the discussions with your team — and then put the steps into action — swiftly. That is how excellence is reached.

Let’s dig in by starting with a question.

What’s the number one reason people buy anything?

I will give you a hint. It has nothing to do with the features, advantages, or benefits of the product or service.

In fact — it has everything to do with just one, four-letter word.

And that word is “HOPE.”

The only reason we buy anything is because we HOPE that tomorrow will somehow be better than today as a result of buying the product or service we are considering.

That’s it — HOPE.

So in order for you to fill your sales pipeline like never before — perhaps your goal is to 10x your pipeline in 2017 — you need to understand how to make an emotional and empathetic connection with your prospects and customers.

You do this by becoming a HOPE Dealer to your customers.

Let’s take this a little bit deeper with another question.

What percentage of people make a purchase decision based solely on emotional reasons?

Would you guess 20%? 30%? Maybe even 50%?

The answer is 100%. Yes, 100%.

Now, we like to think we are such rational creatures and we only make decisions based on objective data and thoughtful analysis. But the reality is that all of our decisions — yes, 100% of them — are made for purely emotional reasons.

And if you go back to Episode 392, our amazing guest, Dave Hoffeld will share the science behind selling and the emotionality of the decision making process. He is brilliant.

And because this percentage is so high — you and your business must become HOPE DEALERS to your customers. You can do that by connecting on an emotional and empathetic level with your “client avatar”.

You can do this by understanding their challenges.

You can do this by understanding their pain points.

You can do this by going beyond demographic and economic data by metaphorically “Laying in their bed at night” to understand what is causing them pain…so you can get into the hearts and minds of your customers and prospects.

You need to understand the last thing they think about before they go to bed — and — the first thing they think about when they wake up in the morning.

Every piece of communication you send to your customer and prospect lists needs to speak directly to what we like to call your customer avatar.

You should give your avatar, him or her, or both a name. As if you were having a one-on-one conversation with them…right now…just you like and I are having…right now.

Again, as you and your team work through the 10 specific questions I am about to share with you — don’t allow surface answers — challenge yourselves to dig deep and push to find specific examples of situations that either reinforce or contradict what is currently believed to be true.

Question 1: what things are challenging our customers right now?

Be careful here — because this question does not have anything to do with challenges your customers may or may be experiencing right now in working with you. Instead, think about it from the perspective of when your client wakes up — what challenges concern them about their business and in moving their business forward.

Question 2: what are our customer’s emotional fears or worries?

Again, from the perspective of them running their business — not fears or worries as it relates to their working relationship with you.

Question 3: what are their dreams and aspirations?

What would need to happen in 2017 for their company to have their best year ever?

Question 4: what are their pain points?

What are the challenges that really cause them pain — is it a distribution channel — is it a dealer network — is a supplier? What is it? Because if you can solve that problem — you will be hero in 2017.

Question 5: what are their values — and are their values the same as yours?

This is key because it helps to determine if your two companies will be a good fit working together — or will you end up being at odds and fighting. Ugh. Who wants that? There is an abundance of opportunity in the market, Onward Nation — you do not need to work with companies whose values are incongruent with your own.

Question 6: who do they want to impress the most?

If you can help your clients look good in front of who they want to impress — well — they will love you forever.

Question 7: what frustrates them about our industry?

This question is indeed about you — actually — about you and your industry as a whole. And if you know the answer to this question — you can change and pivot to create distinction from your competitors — and in the process — appear to be that beacon in the night for your Dream 50 prospects.

Question 8: what do they want from our business?

Or perhaps said in a slightly different way — how can you best add value to them?

Question 9: what’s the one thing — or result — that if you could guarantee — your customers would pay a premium for?

BOOM! Probably enough said there.

Question 10: finish this statement on behalf of your customers…“You will gain my trust and comfort by…”

Once you have collected that data – you will have all you need in order to create your “Client Avatar.”

But, please remember, your client avatar is one person. Not an email list of 20,000 people.

One person and you should give him or her a name, a personality, you hang a photo of her on your conference room wall, and every time you write an email campaign, shoot a video, etc. you speak directly to your avatar.

Here, I will take you inside Predictive ROI to illustrate this point. Our client avatars are “Harry” and “Sally” (we chose those names because When Harry Met Sally is one of my favorite movies of all time).

All of our conversations with Harry and Sally are personal — they are emotional — and they are always authentic.

Let me introduce you to Sally…

• Sally runs a business-to-business professional services firm with revenue between $1 million and $20 million per year
• Sally and her team are ambitious and want to learn new things
• She knows there is more opportunity and growth “out there” and is frustrated she does not know how to capitalized on it, faster
• he reads lots of books but doesn’t know a good idea from a bad one
• She is uncertain and afraid to fail
• She has been fooled before and does not know who to believe
• Everything sounds too good to be true
• And Sally has said to me…“Stephen…I want to trust you…that you can do what you say you can do…show me the evidence quickly that it is working and that you are delivering on your promises”.

And Onward Nation, during more than one presentation to a prospective client, “Sally” has said to me – “My goodness, that’s me!” It is magic when that happens because I know we just made a powerful, emotional connection with Sally.

But for your team to get this process right — they need you. They need your leadership — they need you to push them — they need to see the importance you give the process by jumping in and getting your hands dirty. Just like my field supervisors did for me while we were out working on the missile silos in South Dakota.

For next week…I will share several research tools you can use to collect the right detail you need to find the specific companies, and the decision makers within the companies, that match your client avatar so the result outcome will be a full sales pipeline as you head into 2017.

So with that…I want to thank you again for taking the time to be here with me today. It is an honor to have you here — thank you for tuning in — I am delighted you chose this episode to be what you listen to, study, and take with you on your morning run, or maybe Onward Nation has become part of your daily commute, or in some other way has become part of your morning routine.

However our daily podcast fits into your daily routine — I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today’s top business owners.

And please continue to let me know what you think of Onward Nation…good or bad…I always want your feedback. My direct email address is stephen@onwardnation.com — and yes — that is my actual Inbox. No fancy filters or filing system and I read and reply to every single email.

So please let me know how you think we are doing. I look forward to hearing from you.

We will be back tomorrow with an incredible interview with Daina Middleton — where she teaches how grit meets grace — and as a leader — the lessons we all need to apply in order to be more effective with our teams and customers. The conversation with Daina is powerful!

You will not want to miss it, Onward Nation!

Until then, onward with gusto!

Nav Athwal is Founder and CEO of Realty Shares, an online marketplace for real estate investing connecting individual and institutional investors to private U.S. real estate investments. By infusing technology into the archaic real estate industry, Nav and his team are able to connect accredited and institutional investors with pre-vetted real estate companies and operators looking to raise debt and equity capital. To date, Realty Shares funded more than $200 million across 400 deals in 31 states, and they are growing rapidly. Nav is also is a regulator contributor to Forbes and TechCrunch.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Nav’s background
• Why creating more efficiency around your time is very important
• How getting your Inbox to zero every night can help you start your day off focused
• Why what you do outside of work can help contribute to your success
• Why having a single decision-maker can make a company more efficient & effective
• Why it’s important in tough situations to be amicable
• Why you need to master hiring as a critical skill in order to thrive as a business owner
• Why it’s so important to cultivate talent & create a culture for retention
• Why mentors & advisors are so critical for founders & CEOs
• Why taking the time to think creatively is so important to having a successful business
• How creating more ways to communicate effectively can be highly beneficial for your business
• How thinking about technology can help you do your job more effectively
• How to make your employees & company more effective, scalable & efficient

How best to connect with Nav:

• Website: www.realtyshares.com
• Twitter: @navathwal
• Email: nav@realtyshares.com

Mark Faust is an expert on growth, strategy, sales, and performance improvement. For the last 26-years, Mark has run Echelon Management, a growth consulting firm. He is an advisor on company boards and he has conducted hundreds of sessions for dozens of the world’s largest companies including Apple, IBM, Procter & Gamble, John Deere, Monsanto, Bayer, and over three dozen third generation family-owned companies. His first book “Growth or Bust! Proven Turanround Strategies to Grow Your Business” was a bestseller and his new book “High-Growth Levers” is also available at BarnesAndNoble.com. Mark is also adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati and Ohio University.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Mark's background
• Focusing on your customer's customers
• Breaking down your to-do list into your A's and B's
• Mark's customer interviews that drive 7-9 figures of revenue
• Strategy, culture, and innovation: the three high-growth levers
• Echelon strategy dialogues
• Why you need to only hire eagles (not turkeys)
• Finding islands of profit in the sea of red ink
• Why you need to think bigger

How best to connect with Mark:

• Website: highgrowthlevers.com
• Phone (515)621-8000

John Livesay is a funding strategist and helps CEOs craft a compelling pitch that engages investors in a way that inspires them to join a startup’s team. He is partners with Judy Robinett in “Crack The Funding Code,” which gets founders — funded — fast. He hosts “The Successful Pitch podcast” with investors from around the world. He is the Pitch Mentor at Startfast.net, the number one accelerator in Upstate New York. INC magazine calls John “The Pitch Whisperer.” After a successful 20 year career in media sales with Conde Nast where he worked across all 22 brands in their corporate division, John won salesperson of the year in 2012. John is the author of The Successful Pitch: Conversations On Going From Invisible To Investable.

What you’ll learn about in this episode

• The strategy behind John’s podcast
• How John overcame the three faces of fear
• Why you should not take rejection personally & why you should never reject yourself
• Why collaboration is the secret to overcoming your fear of the unknown
• How John created a huge shift in his business
• Why John believes the “team” you have is everything
• How having a podcast has changed John’s personal life & career
• Why empathy is the most critical skill to having a successful podcast
• How John learned to let go of the need to be perfect
• Why you need to be gentle with yourself when starting anything new
• Why you need to keep your focus on how you can serve your listeners

How best to connect with John:

• Website: johnlivesay.com
• Twitter: @john_livesay
• Report: 3 Mistakes to Avoid When Pitching

David Hoffeld is the CEO and chief sales trainer of Hoffeld Group. He’s pioneered a revolutionary sales approach based on neuroscience, social psychology, and behavioral economics that radically increases sales. David literally wrote the book on basing sales strategies on scientific evidence in his groundbreaking book, “The Science of Selling.” David works with small and medium businesses to Fortune 500 companies showing them how to align their sales behaviors with how the brain naturally forms buying decisions. David is a contributor to Fast Company and has been featured in Fortune, U.S. News and World Report, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Investors Business Daily, CBS Radio, Fox News Radio, and more.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• David’s background
• How adapting science-backed behaviors can improve your sales ability
• How to align your sales processes with the brain’s natural commitments to buy
• How emotions impact selling & the decision-making process
• Why pre-loading your decisions and linking them to external references with action triggers will increase your chances of following through
• Why you should view failure as feedback to help build your growth mindset
• Why to get rid of beliefs that aren’t serving you and embrace ones that are
• Why, as a business owner, you need to learn how to influence others
• How science-based selling is aligned with what you like about selling
• Why you should be mindful of the relationships you have & the influence they have on you
• Why you should always give more value than you take

How best to connect with David:

• Website: www.hoffeldgroup.com
• Twitter: @DavidHoffeld
• Book: The Science of Selling

Matthew Pollard has built five multi-million-dollar business success stories and is the prestigious Young Achiever Award. Matthew is a true differentiation, niche marketing, and sales powerhouse. He is a recurring guest on Fox7's Good Day Austin as well as a featured contributor to Fortune, Entrepreneur, and CEO Magazine. Matthew was recently honored with induction into the International Sales Blogger Awards Hall of Fame and is the 22nd most retweeted business coach on Twitter.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Matthew’s background
• How every single skill set is obtainable
• How introverts become the gate to their industry
• Why adapting to a sales system can help you be more authentic
• Why you don’t have to be the person asking for the sale
• How to make a sale through telling a story
• Why it’s important to ask the right questions
• Why you should avoid technical jargon when attempting to make a sale
• Why people feel like they get stuck when trying to sell
• Why it’s important to get back to what you’re passionate about
• Creating a unified message
• How to create rapid growth in your business

How best to connect with Matthew:

• Website: matthewpollard.com
• Website: matthewpollard.com/rapid-growth-academy
• Website: matthewpollard.com/webinar
• Website: matthewpollard.com/archetype
• Website: matthewpollard.com/growth
• Website: matthewpollard.com/sales
• Twitter: @MatthewPollard_
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/MatthewPollardSpeaker
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/matthewpollardspeaker
• Podcast: Better Business Coach

Cindy Georghiou has more than two decades of retail industry experience and is an expert in the fashion and beauty industries. She began her career as an assistant buyer out of college, and moved up the corporate ladder to head buyer soon thereafter. She then made the move to the wholesale side for sales, product development, and e-commerce. In 2006, Cindy and a partner launched BlueSource Inc., a full-service web design company where she acquired extensive knowledge and experience in e-commerce, design, and merchandising. Then in 2012, Cindy and a partner acquired the intellectual property for JAQUA, one of today’s fastest emerging natural bath and body brands.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Cindy's background
• Cindy's strategy for keeping her email organized
• Why it's so vital to be flexible
• Why Cindy and her team had to downsize because of uncertainty with a client
• Why you can't get tied into the minutia
• Not sweating the small stuff
• Why you need to secure funding early
• Why your best employees must be persistent
• Understanding you market
• Setting up your path for success

How best to connect with Cindy:

• Email: cindyg@jaquabeauty.com
• Website: www.jaquabeauty.com

Jason Blumer is the Chief Innovative Officer of his firm, Blumer & Associates, CPAs. The firm was one of the first to move from a traditional office to a virtual environment, where they serve digital, marketing, and design agencies. Jason is also the host of two podcasts, “The Thrivecast” for CPAs and “The Businessology Show” for agency owners. He has been honored as one of the 40 under 40 in the profession by CPA Practice Advisor as well as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting by Accounting Today.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Jason's background
• Why you need to right team around you
• Why Jason brought a partner into his business
• The rhythm of business
• Giving yourself the freedom to work the way you work best
• How Jason and his partner survived losing too many people at the same time
• Learning to choose and move forward
• Why Jason believes in a client onboarding system for every business
• Why you need to know what others don't know and be willing to do what others are not

How best to connect with Jason:

• Twitter: @JasonMBlumer
• Website: http://www.jasonblumer.com/

Garrett Gunderson is Founder and Chief Wealth Architect of Wealth Factory, and New York Times bestselling author of Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths That Are Destroying Your Prosperity. And he’s personally helped countless business owners create efficient wealth strategies that fit their unique strengths.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Garrett’s background & personal wealth building story
• How Garrett is a leader at both home and work
• Basic rules and foundations of the five-part framework to creating economic independence
• Why Garrett starts every day with a “producer power-hour” to put him in the right mindset
• Why he believes we’ve been trained improperly about money
• Why you need to think about investing as investing - not as gambling
• Why you need to move to cash and start increasing your investor IQ in things that you pay attention to - focus on those & forget about the rest
• Why it’s so important to have integrity and restore it if it’s broken
• Why learning to say no to good opportunities to reserve yourself for the great opportunities can help you create more happiness
• Why you should compare yourself on a progress level to where you’ve been instead of where you’re going
• Applying the 5-5-5 strategy
• Why you should delegate roles instead of tasks

How best to connect with Garrett:

• Website: wealthfactory.com
• Twitter: @GBGunderson
• Book: Send a text to 801-396-7211 with the subject “WWRD” (“What Would the Rockefellers Do?”) for a free downloadable copy

Michele Wucker is a global thought leader with experience in strategy, policy, turnarounds, and crisis management. Her most recent book is “THE GRAY RHINO: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore.” After nearly three decades in media and non-profit management and content creation, she recently founded Gray Rhino & Company to help leaders and organizations to strategize responses to risks that are neglected despite - or often because of - their size. Her previous positions include Vice President for Studies at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs; President of the World Policy Institute, which she re-launched in 2007; and Latin America Bureau Chief at International Financing Review. She has been honored as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and a Guggenheim Fellow.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Michele's background
• Michele's book "The Gray Rhino: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore"
• Why you need structure in your daily life to run a business effectively
• Why Michele begins her day by walking her dogs
• Why you need to listen as a business leader
• What you can learn from Kodak's collapse
• Focusing on what you need and how to get it
• Shedding what's holding you back

How best to connect with Michele:

• Website: thegrayrhino.com
• Email: m@thegrayrhino.com

Terry Gremaux is an entrepreneurial leader, training business owners worldwide how to use free social media strategies to grow their market presence & business revenue. Terry is an expert at helping you expand your positive business presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter & Instagram. He’s helped thousands of business owners catapult to get success using the free social media strategies that he teaches.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Terry’s background
• Why Terry starts his day with meditation, journaling, reading, affirmations and movement
• Why it’s important to operate at your own highest capacity
• Why having the right mindset is so important for instantaneous change
• Why Terry asks himself every day what he is afraid of and how that keeps him going
• Why Terry believes that social media is the new telephone
• Why you need to find your target customer and who they are following on social media and have conversations with them…every day
• How Terry steals attention on Facebook and why he creates content “like crazy” so that people stay addicted to him
• How to out-attention your competition so you can win
• Never stopping hustling

How best to connect with Terry:

• Website: thehashtaghunter.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/terry.gremaux
• Instagram: @terrygremaux

Kate Sweetman is a founding partner at SweetmanCragun and co-author of the upcoming book, Reinvention: Accelerating Results in the Age of Disruption. Sweetman was listed as an Emerging Guru with Thinkers50, and is co-author of the bestselling business book, The Leadership Code published by Harvard Business Press. Her first-hand experience with world leaders, Fortune 100 organizations, and Asian multi-nationals provides a substantial foundation for insights that extend beyond borders. A former editor at Harvard Business Review, she has been published in HBR, Sloan Management Review, Boston Globe, and the Times of India, and has appeared on CNBC in the U.S. and India. She is also a coach and visiting lecturer at MIT’s Legatum Center for Entrepreneurship.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Kate's background
• Keeping Stephen Covey's Important vs. Urgent Matrix front of mind
• Why you need to do three tasks every single day
• Getting information delivered to you so that you are always learning and spreading that knowledge across your network
• Why Kate begins her morning with quiet time
• What Kate and her team did when her contact page was broken for 2.5 month after a book launch
• Why you have to double check to make sure your technology is working correctly
• Why you need to talk about what it is that you're doing with other people whose opinions matter
• Staying focused on your end goal

How best to connect with Kate:

• Email: kate@sweetmancragun
• Website: www.sweetmancragun.com

Craig Clark helps guide his clients in the pursuit of organizational or personal excellence resulting in above average results consistently over time, or MOMENTUM. His team’s approach is to affect how people work together and impacting their engagement. Craig provides insights spanning 25 years of bringing transformational answers to everyday business problems — around the globe.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Craig's background
• Why Craig started Momentum Consulting
• Sandbox rules for adults
• How to discover where your blind spots are and how to cover them up
• Why Craig questions how he looks at things
• Building ownership accountability into your organization
• Modeling the behavior you want in your organziation
• Why you need to hold everyone accountable
• Why you need to understand your core values
• Being cognizant of where you slip into being a victim of circumstances

How best to connect with Craig:

• Email: craig@momentumconsulting.com

Linda Hollander is often referred to as the Wealthy Bag Lady. She has been featured by Inc. and Entrepreneur Magazines as the industry leader in corporate sponsorship. She has over 20-years of experience as a business owner and does sponsorship and business consulting. Her clients and sponsors include Microsoft, FedEx, Citibank, Mattel, Bank of America, Marriott, Health Net, American Airlines, IBM, and Wal-Mart.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Linda's background
• What sponsors are
• What can get sponsored
• Mistakes people make when attempting to obtain sponsorships
• Why you shouldn't market yourself as a podcaster or a blogger but rather as a media company
• Why your worries about having sponsorships are unfounded
• Why you should make the sponsor the star
• Why you should enter one-year contracts
• Why banks are great sponsorships
• What your sponsor wishlist should look like
• Creating a great sponsor proposal
• The #1 secret to getting corporate sponsors
• How she got Bank of America as her very first sponsor

How best to connect with Linda:

• Website: sponsorconcierge.com

Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media.

Good Morning Onward Nation…and welcome to Episode 382…I’m Stephen Woessner. Thank you for taking the time to be here this morning and for making Onward Nation part of your daily routine.

I want you to know how much your time and attention mean to me. I’m keenly aware that there are many demands on your time — at this moment — and yet you chose to spend some of your precious time with me to learn more about the lessons we share from today’s business owners.

I take the trust you place in us pretty seriously.

My team and I know that we need to deliver practical and tactical knowledge within every episode — knowledge you can take and apply into your business to accelerate your results, quickly.

But oftentimes — a critical component to being successful when applying newly found knowledge is fighting back the fear and temptation to procrastinate. The overwhelm — the delay — in reaching back out to your top prospect who has not made a decision on your proposal yet — and guess what — fear and procrastination is what is holding them back from making a decision in your favor, too.

But Onward Nation…if you solve for the fear on both sides of the equation — meaning your fear and their fear — your probability of success increases exponentially.

Or, maybe you are plagued by the failure of a previous venture or a series of ill-advised decisions — and there are days when the burden of money lost and opportunity squandered makes you feel like quitting.

I get it — I’ve been there.

I have been at the top and I have been at the bottom. I know what the daily pressure feels like when you need to add employees because of increased demand but you can barely afford the team you currently have because you are still paying for mistakes in year’s past.

But, rest assured, Onward Nation, the pressure you may be feeling right now…the pressure that seems unending…is actually refining you.

As you feel your business model being compressed, pushed, and pulled — all of it — it is actually a beautiful thing.

The intensity of your situation right now is refining you into something spectacular — if you let it. You and your business may be a diamond in the rough — and it is the intense pressure of today that is refining you, cutting you, removing all of the impurities from your business — and if you have the guts, the mental and physical fortitude to stick it out, you will be a brilliant diamond on the other side of it with exceptional cut, clarity, and color.

So as odd as it may seem — and as painful as it is to endure — enjoy this time — focus on the result outcome — and apply proven, practical, and tactical knowledge to get you through to the other side.

And that is what I am going to share with you during today’s solocast.

I am going to share my favorite success quote — I am going to share some of the behind-the-scenes of one of my biggest and most terrifying business failures that caused me to have many puke in the bucket moments.

And I am also going to share the story behind a one-on-one call with my mentor, Darren Hardy and how he properly shifted my mindset, like iron sharpening iron, and gave my team and I the momentum we are still riding today here at Predictive ROI, the content marketing and lead gen agency that I lead alongside our incredible team when I am not interviewing today’s top business owners.

And I am going to share all of this insight by sharing — in its entirety — my full interview with John Lee Dumas, host of the exceptional EOFire podcast. John invited me to be his guest for Episode 649 of EOFire and it was an incredible experience. JLD asked me tough questions and I’m excited to share with you the blueprint for eliminating the guesswork behind building an audience — and overcoming the fear and procrastination that often holds us back.

Onward Nation, the lessons you will learn as a result of listening and studying this interview are timely — because if you put them into practice — you will take several large leaps ahead of your competition and be well on your way to ensuring 2017 is your most successful year ever — in whatever way you define success — because it is a deeply personal metric and is different for all of us.

So without further adieu, here is John Lee Dumas, and me, in Episode 649 of EOFire: www.eofire.com/podcast/stephenwoessner

Hey — welcome back, Onward Nation — I hope you found the practical and tactical recommendations I shared with JLD, and now with you, to be valuable as you refine and sharpen your plans for 2017.

Remember, all of the intense pressure that may be bringing you to your knees each and every day…is helping you…if you let it.

Learn from it…adapt…change course…and get mad…fight back…but next time…fight back using the wisdom of what you learned…and you will begin to see the cuts and clarity taking shape, Onward Nation.

You will walk brilliantly into 2017 as the perfectly crafted diamond you were meant to be because you will have allowed the process of pressure and heat to unlock all of God’s abundance.

So when you are feeling that pressure…just take a moment to remember the wise words of Marianne Williamson, who said…

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

So, Onward Nation…you are capable — you have the gifts and talent to get through whatever the pressure you are feeling at this very moment — you can get past it — and you will make 2017 the best it has every been.

With that, Onward Nation…I want to thank you again for taking the time to be here with me today.

It is always an honor to have you here — I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today’s top business owners.

And please continue to let me know what you think of Onward Nation…good or bad…I always want your feedback. You can hit me up on Twitter, find us on Facebook, me on LinkedIn, or you are always welcome to email me directly at stephen@onwardnation.com — and yes — that is my actual email address — no fancy filters or filing system — it will come directly to me.

We will be back tomorrow with an incredible encore interview with Linda Hollander — she is rock solid awesome and will take you by the hand, behind the green curtain of sponsorships, and how you can leverage your business platform into a sponsorship of $10,000 to $100,000 with a large corporate brand. She is amazing and shares the details in full transparency! You will love it.

Until then, onward with gusto!

Tiffani Bova is the global customer growth and innovation evangelist at Salesforce, where as an industry thought leader, she watches overall market trends to uncover best practices on how to improve sales performance and enhance the overall customer experience. Tiffani has extensive knowledge of go-to-market, sales and channel strategies. Prior to Salesforce, she spent 10 years at Gartner as a vice president, distinguished analyst and research fellow, covering sales transformation and indirect channel innovation. She won the Gartner Thought Leadership Award for her comprehensive work on the Future of Sales and has delivered more than 200 keynote presentations around the globe to over 250,000 people on sales transformation and business model innovation. Tiffani has been published in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and The Huffington Post. She was named one of the 50 Most Powerful and Influential Women in California in 2014 by the National Diversity Council and named by Inc. Magazine as one the 37 Sales Experts You Need to Follow on Twitter.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Tiffani's background
• What Tiffani does to plan out her daily priorities
• Why you should take the time to connect people in your network
• Being respectful and responsive when people reach out to you
• Why Tiffani kept changing sales jobs early in her career when that wasn't very common -- and why that wasn't always the right decision
• Why you have to think ahead as a leader
• Why to be a great leader you need coaching
• How Tiffani grew her confidence muscle
• Why you need to take the time to listen to people who ask you questions -- if you don't -- they might not ask a question again
• Why you have to invest in yourself

How best to connect with Tiffani:

• Twitter: @Tiffani_Bova
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/tiffanibova

Lisa Bodell is CEO and founder of futurethink and author of WHY SIMPLE WINS: Escape The Complexity Trap And Get To Work That Matters. A globally recognized innovation leader and futurist, Bodell founded futurethink in 2003 to provide a simple approach to the otherwise complicated topic of innovation.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Lisa's background
• Why Lisa started groupthink
• Why you need to simplify
• The addiction to more (and what can be done about it)
• Tips for saving time in email
• Getting rid of stupid rules
• Evaluating your to-do list to figure out what is truly valuable and worth your time
• Standing up for what you believe in
• Why you have to focus
• Why you need to get over failure quickly

How best to connect with Lisa:

• Email: innovate@futurethink.com
• Website: futurethink.com
• Twitter: @LisaBodell

Dana Malstaff is a mother, author, business & content strategist, coach, podcaster, and blind spot reducer. Dana is the author of Boss Mom: The Ultimate Guide to Raising a Business & Nurturing Your Family Like a Pro, and the founder of Boss Mom. She serves Boss Moms who yearn for more time and less guilt when it comes to building their business and raising their family, by providing the tools they need to get more out of their content and business, without sacrificing their family goals.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Dana's background
• How Dana came to start Boss Mom
• Crafting your movement manifesto
• Saying no to things that don't financially benefit your business
• Getting clear on your brand and message and repeating it the same way every time
• Why you have to become a working sales page
• Why it's not your job to work harder than your clients
• Why you need to hire a team sooner than later
• Why you need to assess your relationship with money
• Getting clear on your dream-makers and deal-breakers
• Why you need to write down what you're good at and what you're not

How best to connect with Dana:

• Website: boss-mom.com
• Trello training: boss-mom.com/trello

Dr. Alan Pitt is an attending physician and professor at the Barrow Neurological Institute, a national center of excellence in Phoenix, Arizona. He is also an entrepreneur engaging with multiple companies in the device and health IT space. His current focus is on medical collaboration and technologies bringing care teams together. In addition to his clinical responsibilities, Dr. Pitt is the chief medical officer of Avizia, a global provider of telemedicine services. He is also the author of a popular blog at healthcarepitstop.com.

What you’ll learn about in this episode

• Alan’s background
• Why team is most important in the healthcare arena
• Why you need work with someone who understands healthcare if you want to start a healthcare based business
• The challenges business has that healthcare does not
• Why — if you want to affect change — you need to be the change
• Why you need to guard your cash like its your own blood
• Recognizing personal strengths and weaknesses
• Big challenges facing the investment community today
• Getting technology not just created but adopted
• Why you need partners that help mitigate risk
• Why you need to fully understand the problem and the competition in the space
• Why you need to begin to think about your exit strategy before you start 

How best to connect with Alan:

• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/alanpitt
• Blog: www.healthcarepitstop.com

Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media. Good Morning Onward Nation...welcome to Episode 376...I’m Stephen Woessner. I hope you had a wonderful and very Happy Thanksgiving last week with friends and family — and in the process — you were able to take some time to think about all of the people and opportunities in your life to be grateful and thankful for. Because we all — no matter what the circumstances pulling or pushing us from inside or outside of the business — have an abundance of opportunity and much to be thankful for.

Now, if your business is breaking into new levels and momentum is at full force — having an abundance mindset, is quite frankly, easy.

But, if you are struggling to make ends meet, if you are in danger of not making payroll (I’ve been there by the way), or you have employee issues, customer issues, and nothing seems to be going your way — and you just need a break — thinking about abundance may seem like mystic dark magic voodoo or a bit like staring into a crystal ball and to learn any sort of nugget about your future.

And when you’re back is up against the wall — and mine has been, Onward Nation — so I get it — I understand it’s hard to show up every day with your mind fixated on abundance. But if you just break free, inch by inch, and realize that you don’t need to win the war all in one day, that sometimes solving just one problem today build momentum.

And then tomorrow another.

And then tomorrow another.

And eventually you can begin to feel confident in metaphorically putting on what Garrett Gunderson recently described to me as “The Armor of Abundance.” And he wears his every day.

You will soon hear Garrett tell his story in Episode 388 that will air on December 15th, Onward Nation, and how even when the times were the toughest for him, the toughest for his family, and for his business — he refused to give up.

Even when he was writing checks for tens of thousands of dollars or hundreds of thousands of dollars to vendors who had done him wrong...he pushed forward.

He refused to, using Garrett’s words, he refused to “Gnaw on the bones of scarcity.”

And who taught him those lessons? Mentors.

Onward Nation...nothing will affect the trajectory of your business or your life like a good — or bad — mentor can. We talk a lot about mentorship with our guests — but — it has been some time since I shared any of my thoughts on the importance of your inner circle, how to build a culture of greatness within your company, and ultimately, how to find great mentors and advisors who will help you unlock that next level in your business.

So to add some value in each of these areas during today’s episode — I am going to share with you — in its entirety — an interview Laura Steward and I did when she was kind enough to invite me to be a guest on her show, entitled “It’s All About the Questions” and you can find her at LauraSteward.com.

True to the name of the show — Laura asked great questions and we dug into mentorship, inner circle, how to make the difficult transition from one circle to another, how to deal with the insecurities of others and not letting them affect your business and life, and a more — all focused on how to eliminate the guesswork to mentorship and learning — because getting it right is critical to your success.

So, here we go, Episode 81 of “It’s All About the Questions” with Laura Steward and me. Episode Link: www.laurasteward.com/81-stephen-woessner-onward-nation-digital-marketing-simplified.html

My hope for you is that you found the lessons Laura and I discuss to be helpful — to be recipes and tactical ingredients you can break down and insert into your business right away to accelerate your results — to be able to build a culture of greatness within your business while measuring your ROI in a complex digital world.

So with that, Onward Nation...I want to say thank you again for taking the time to be here with me today.

It is an honor to have you here — thank you for tuning in — I am delighted you chose this episode to be what you listen to, study, and take with you on your morning run, or maybe Onward Nation has become part of your daily commute, or in some other way has become part of your morning routine.

I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today’s top business owners.

And please continue to let me know what you think of Onward Nation...good or bad...I always want your feedback. You can hit me up on Twitter, find us on Facebook, me on LinkedIn, or you are always welcome to email me directly at stephen@onwardnation.com — and yes — that is my actual email address — no fancy filters or filing system — it will come directly to me.

We will be back tomorrow with an incredible encore interview with Dr. Alan Pitt — don’t miss it because Alan digs deep into how the healthcare industry has and continues to change — and the impact that will have on us as consumers within the system. The conversation with Alan is transformation — you will love it.

Until then, onward with gusto!

Chris Paradiso is one of the most passionate and dynamic agency owners in the insurance industry today. His passion for digital marketing, a strong drive to improve efficiency, and his unwavering dedication to exemplary customer service has led Christopher to build and grow his own agency. His clear vision has helped direct other insurance agencies to push the envelope and find their own success as well. In 2011 Chris, was excited to introduce “Paradiso Presents” a social media marketing program aimed at teaching other agencies how to survive and thrive in today’s complex online marketing world. His innovative marketing solutions have been recognized and implemented into agencies nationwide.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Chris' background
• Why the fear of being outworked is Chris' driving force
• Why you have to read every single day
• Why Chris reads two different books at the same time
• The time where Chris found almost all of his employees new jobs and started his business over
• Why accepting change is the most critical skill for business owners
• Why you can't ever show up one minute late
• Why "garbage in, garbage out" is a lie
• How hearing "work on your business, not in your business" changed Chris' life
• Why you need to buy your domain name
• Why you need a coach
• Why you need an app for your business

How best to connect with Chris:

• Email: cparadiso@paradisoinsurance.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/paradisoinsurance

Laura Rittenhouse is a keynote speaker, financial strategist, business coach, and best-selling author. She advises CEOs and CFOs on how to increase employee creativity and accountability to boost results and revenue. Her Candor Academy workshops strengthen trust between investors, customers, and employees. She partners with executives, visionary managers, and inventors who align conversations and culture to become more effective problem-solvers. Her Candor Analytics methodology was chosen by the CFA Institute as a “Future of Finance” initiative. Laura’s book, “Investing Between the Lines”, showcases a decade of research connecting trustworthy leadership with financial returns that consistently outperform the market and was endorsed by Warren Buffett. 

What you’ll learn about in this episode

• Laura’s background
• Why language has such a profound impact on Laura
• Why candor is so important
• Why the authenticity is tied to vulnerability
• Why Laura starts every day with a half hour of meditation
• Why Laura left her job to find what calls her “thumbprint”
• Why you need to believe and have faith
• Why you need to trust your intellect
• Developing a words matter mindest 

How best to connect with Laura:

• Website: www.rittenhouserankings.com

Don Osmond is a marketing professional, speaker, and writer focusing on authentic marketing to help businesses develop sound, branding strategies. Widely regarded as a marketing and communications thought leader, Don works with his business clients to develop the genuine narrative of their companies, which becomes the foundation for their branding and messaging. Son to international entertainment icon Donny Osmond, Don’s approach to marketing incorporates lessons from the entertainment industry, which he integrates into effective business strategies. After years of education and experience, he knows firsthand that good marketing requires truth-telling and invitation, not spinning. Don believes that authenticity is the only true value proposition a company can offer, so he serves clients by developing genuine story-based marketing and authentic marketing strategies.

What you'll learn about in this episode

• Don's background
• What he learned from his dad, Donny Osmond
• Why storytelling is so pivotal
• What Don's learned from Judy Robinett
• Why Don starts each day by being of value to his network
• How Don uses Audible to be a constant learner
• Doing the one thing you need to do each morning
• Don's soul-searching that led him to marketing
• The importance of integrity
• The major lesson Don learned about storytelling from his college English professor
• Operation, capital, and awareness: the three things your business comes down to
• Why you need to stick with processes and tweak them until they yield results

How best to connect with Don:

• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/donosmond
• Twitter: @donosmond