The Thoughtful Entrepreneur

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the Keynote Speaker and Founder of the Caruso Leadership Institute, Joe Caruso. Joe Caruso works with a multitude of clients ranging from organization leaders to the United States Navy. His work involves helping clients understand their mindset and the collective mindset to learn how to influence those mindsets. Joe explains that a business's mission statement or purpose should be shown through their work. If there is a disconnect between what is said and what is done, it brings distrust to others. Joe explains that without narrative there is no meaning because the comparison is crucial to understanding. Joe says that it is important to learn to feed your brain and put time into the things in the forefront of your mind. A critical point to Joe is that humans are present while they are becoming something different in life. Throughout their journey, they are still someone rather than not being present at all.   Key Points: Joe’s clientele and his line of work How clear mindsets are important to business How mission statements and purposes need to be reflected through business Why consistency is crucial to a leaders success Joe recalls a story with a purpose of explaining the need for drive and purpose How storytelling can allow people to resonant Why business leaders need to understand how to properly deliver narratives About Joe Caruso Joe Caruso is an expert on the individual mind, the collective mind of an organization and how meaning drives our behavior and determines outcomes in all aspects of life. As an author, business advisor and speaker, Joe brings his lifetime of expertise to help organizations and leaders change the way they see themselves -- and in turn, the way they think about markets, products and services. Joe has learned this change in thinking drives new behavior and allows organizations to sharpen focus and reach greater levels of success. After being diagnosed with an incurable cancer when he was 18, Joe committed whatever time he had left to spending five hours a day, five days per week, studying life. He wanted to identify what he now refers to as “Simple, Common, Timeless Human Truths.” In his quest, Joe felt compelled to answer a simple, yet difficult question before he was overcome by the cancer: What is the essence of a fulfilling, successful, and happy life? Joe became one of the first people ever cured of metastasized testicular cancer. With this gift, he decided he would continue his studies, and began to collect and analyze his findings on life. After beating cancer, Joe founded Caruso Leadership, a firm dedicated to helping others achieve their goals while enjoying the process. Through the organization, Joe applies the simple, common, timeless human truths to leaders, teams and their employees. With the belief that businesses operate as a collective mindset, he helps organizations identify the core issues preventing business breakthroughs and optimize outcomes by encouraging all contributors to get behind a singular vision. His proven process creates change because it is based on the natural way the mind of all human beings function. Joe’s efforts culminated in a best-selling book and PBS special, both called The Power of Losing Control. In it, he encourages readers to "remember that the only control you really have is over yourself," and provides techniques and strategies to stop wasting valuable time and energy on what we can’t control. He also produced an audio book, The Principles of Authentic Power. Joe is an in-demand keynote speaker worldwide, a syndicated columnist and a sought-after business advisor. His expansive list of corporate clients includes: America Express, American Heart Association, Wells Fargo, Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), Hyatt, Domino’s, Westin Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International, the U.S. Navy and dozens more. Joe advises CEOs, military leaders and leadership teams on the essence of change for success, ultimately driving success for his clients. He is the only non-multi-national CEO to be invited to address the admirals and generals at the National Defense University, the nation's premier joint professional military education institution. Joe was named one of the 50 Most Influential Minds in Personal Development by Nightingale-Conant, the leader in spoken-word publications. Having grown up near Detroit with his parents and three brothers, Joe currently resides on an island between Michigan and Canada with his wife, Carol, who is an artist. He loves to travel and enjoys culinary arts and fine wine. Want to learn more? Check out the Caruso Leadership Institute website at https://www.carusoleadership.com/. Check out the Caruso Leadership Institute on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/carusoleadership/. Check out Joe Caruso on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephacaruso/. Check out Caruso Leadership Institute on Facebook at https://w

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the Lead Generation Expert, Jennie Wright. Jennie helps individuals such as business owners by teaching them how to gain leads and generate profit without being sucked into the typical market that leaves them empty handed. Jennie explains that many of the Lead Generation Experts are doing it wrong and harming their reputation by how they conduct their self advertisements. Jennie explains how her business has been built on referrals, respect, and their relationship. She also advises how online summits help build relationships and further contacts within niche spaces. The major focus for Jennie having clients with engaged audiences rather than one with a high audience and low engagement rate. Finding individuals with higher engagement is simple by looking at your preferred network’s creators, popular podcast guests, looking into their email list, or by referrals. Jennie advises that those who are technologically adverse should attempt to learn about it and there is an importance to outsourcing. In regard to summit platforms, Jennie says she does not believe in all in one solutions. Tech stacks are dependent on the client and what they need in different areas for the same price of a summit platform but more personalized. Jennie explains that you could email her or book a call with her through her website. She will help with support rather than trying to sell you something you do not need. Key Points: Jennie’s response to those doing Lead Gen wrong Jennie’s thoughts on why authenticity and personal relationships aid in recurring clients How Jennie conducts business and maintains her reputation What is an online summit and how it works Jennie’s thoughts on paid traffic versus organic traffic How high engagement levels are more appealing to Jennie How Jennie searches for individuals with high engagement Jennie’s advice for those who are not technologically savvy Jennie’s thoughts on summit platforms   About Jennie Wright Jennie Wright has been helping business owners grow their email lists & generate leads for nearly 10-years. As the creator of The List Injection Method™, she helps her clients and audience generate leads through inbound attraction and permission marketing.   Having built over 375+ list builds, Jennie understands the essential steps to creating an event that attracts ready buyers AND builds trust & engagement with your audience.   Her mission is to help business owners create intelligent and authentic marketing, lead generation and business growth strategies that drive bottom-line results.   Want to learn more? Check out Jennie Wright’s website at https://jenniewright.com/. Check out Jennie Wright on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniewrightjlw/. Check out Jennie Wright on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/jenniewrightjlw. Check out Jennie Wright on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jennielwright/. Check out Jennie Wright on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jennievw Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time! More from UpMyInfluence: ️ We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE.   Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here.   What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.  

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Christy Budnick. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices is a global real estate agency  with around 1500 offices. They have offices in all 50 states as well as many countries globally. The current state of the market does not cause any concern for Christy as the current climate is not replicating the past rescission of 2007. Christy explains that they focus on growth for their franchisees rather than stacking them on top of one another as that can cause consumer confusion. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices is often thought of as a luxury brand. However, 80% of the properties sold are not in that market. Christy explains Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices is for everyone at any market level. Christy explains the importance of having a strong realtor in the current market for first time homebuyers. While there are areas in the United States that could grow, the main focus of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices is expanding more globally.  Key Points:How Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices has handled the current housing marketChristy’s thoughts on the 2007 rescission and its correlation to the market todayHow Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices is different from other real estate agenciesBerkshire’s target markets and main focusesChristy’s advice to first time homebuyersBerkshire Hathaway HomeServices franchisee oppourtunities over the yearsHow Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices plans to expand more globallyHow Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices helps clients beyond the transaction of a new home About Christy BudnickChristy Budnick serves as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, a global residential real estate brokerage franchise network. In her role, Budnick oversees the global real estate brokerage franchise network which is made up of more than 50,000 real estate professionals and nearly 1,500 offices throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, India and The Bahamas. The network, among the few organizations entrusted to use the world-renowned Berkshire Hathaway name, brings to the real estate market a definitive mark of trust, integrity, stability and longevity. Budnick is listed amongst the Swanepoel Power 200 (SP 200), ranking one of the 200 most powerful and influential executives and leaders in the residential real estate brokerage industry.  Want to learn more? Check out the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices website at https://www.bhhs.com/Check out Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/berkshire-hathaway-homeservices/.Check out  Christy Budnick on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/christybudnick/.Check out  Christy Budnick on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ChristyBudnickCEO.Check out  Christy Budnick on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/christybudnickceo/.Check out  Christy Budnick on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ChristyBudnick.Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

On today's episode of The Thoughtful Entrepreneur, we are so excited to speak with the executive director of Financial Modeling Institute, Ian Schnoor! He has a wealth of knowledge in the financing industry. With more than twenty-five years of experience as a financial professional, Ian Schnoor understands the industry well. Starting a Citibank, Ian expanded to becoming president and founder of The Marquee Group & Executive Director at the Financial Modeling Institute (FMI).Financial Modeling Institute seeks to promote awareness, excellence, and discipline in Financial Modeling through world-class accreditation programs. Ian discusses financial modeling and the stories that numbers can tell through becoming scientifically driven and understanding data. He discusses financial modeling as a skill and emphasizes that anyone can learn it as long as you put in the time. He shares that it is not that modeling is necessarily hard to understand but that it can take time to get good at it through practicing and then the skill is with you forever. Don’t forget to listen to our next episode, where we recap all the great insights that Ian Schnoor offered! Key Points from the Episode:- Gut decisions become relics through the tool of Google analytics and insights through forecasting.- Discussing the differences between accounting and finance.- Financial Modeling Institute as an accreditation organization. - How forecasting and modeling works and the impact of strong forecasting and modeling skills. - 10 hour foundations program offered through advanced financial modeling (ADM).  About Ian Schnoor:Experienced financial professional with a demonstrated history of working in the professional training & coachi\ng industry. Strong skills in Valuation Modeling, Excel Models, Microsoft Excel, and Corporate Finance.Links Mentioned in this Episode: Want to learn more? Check out Financial Modeling Institute’s website at https://fminstitute.com/ Check out Ian Schnoor on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianschnoor/Check out Financial Modeling Institute on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/finmodelinginstitute/?hl=enCheck out Financial Modeling Institute on twitter at https://twitter.com/FMI_InstituteCheck out Financial Modeling Institute on facebook athttps://www.facebook.com/institutefinancialmodeling/Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

On today’s episode of The Thoughtful Entrepreneur, we are so excited to speak with creative finance specialist, Brian O’Niell. He is founder and CEO of BKW Property and host of the podcast The W2 Prison Break Show. Brian O’Niell shares with us his expertise of today’s current housing market needs and trends. With his background also in coaching, Brain gives his knowledge in a comprehensible way that also helps the audience expand their understanding.In today's chat, Josh and Brian discuss opportunities that are available for purchasing property and expanding business. Currently BKW is focused on purchasing properties in the Chicago area, generally single family homes, offering no money down with seller financing. Brain talks about expanding into other markets, buying on creative financing and opportunities available for helping people that are self employed that maybe don't look great on paper to banks. Don’t forget to listen to our next episode, where we recap all the great insights that Brian offered! Key Points from the Episode:- Opportunities in private investing with free and clear property.- Ian’s background in corporate sales and real estate.- Creative Financing in single family homes with no money down. - Expanding markets.- The process of finding sellers with a need that BKW can be of service to. - Daily lead generation and marketing through teams. - Marketing properties though systems. About Brian O’Niell and BKW Property Solutions:Brian and Katie O’Neill are real estate investors and business owners. They have been happily married for 10 years and enjoy spending time with their son, Will.BKW Property Solutions was started to provide flexible real estate solutions for both buyers and sellers. They serve the Greater Chicagoland area and help buyers realize their dream of owning a home. When Brian and Katie experienced many of the common challenges of selling their own home many years ago, they knew there had to be a better way. That is the foundation of BKW Property Solutions and we look forward to serving your needs. There is a better way! Links Mentioned in this Episode:    Want to learn more? Check out BKW Property’s website at http://bkwpropertysolutions.com/.  Check out Brian O’Niell on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-o-neill-5069216/#experience. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

On today's episode of The Thoughtful Entrepreneur, we are so excited to speak with CEO of Make Money Your Honey, Amanda Abella! She is a business coach that specializes in online branding and high ticket sales. Amanda works primarily with women coaches and teaches frameworks to help increase revenue while working less. With all of her experience and knowledge in online branding, she breaks down the methods that keep virtual presence consistent.In today’s chat, we discuss attraction marketing, sales, automated funnels, and good old-fashioned sales and networking. Amanda has some fantastic insight on building attraction and creating behind-the-scenes systems to impact sales. Don’t forget to listen to our next episode, where we recap all the great insights that Amanda offered!Key Points from the Episode:- Amanda Abella discusses the effectiveness video and email marketing currently has on attraction marketing.- The 5 Step Sales Process: Engage, Educate, Enroll, Evaluate, and Endorse.- Amanda Abella discusses the importance of asking the right questions to prequalify to avoid getting stuck.About Amanda Abella:Amanda Abella is the founder and CEO of Make Money Your Honey, a marketing and sales training company that helps women coaches, consultants and creatives triple their revenue while working half the time in 90 days by teaching a framework that covers systems, influence and sales.Her clients go from hating sales and marketing to achieving 90% close rates and closing multiple five-figure deals. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Huffington Post, Business Insider, Univision and many more.Prior to teaching marketing and sales, Amanda spent a decade as a financial writer and wrote content for companies like Wells Fargo, Discover, Credit Karma, Santander and more. She’s also partnered with companies like Capital One and Transunion in financial education campaigns.She’s also the Amazon bestselling author of Make Money Your Honey, a podcast host, award winning content creator, keynote speaker and has created a community of over 60,000 people across social media channels.In 2016, Amanda created Persuade to Profit, her signature coaching program for bloggers and small business owners who are ready to position themselves as experts and make money with high ticket sales. You can learn more at http://www.amandaabella.com/persuadetoprofitYou can also get a FREE training that shows you how to grow your influence and monetize it at http://www.amandaabella.com/influencerLinks Mentioned in this Episode: Want to learn more? Check out Make Money Your Honey’s website at https://www.amandaabella.com/make-money-your-honey/.Check out Amanda Abella on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandaabella/#experience .Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to the author of Sell It Like a Mango: A New Seller’s Guide to Closing More Deals, Donald Kelly.Josh asks Donald about his overall work and what it is that he does and how he helps people. Donald explains that essentially they help B2B companies to improve their sales. From individual sales reps that they train, from brand new sellars to seasoned sellers. Through training programs or going through coaching, or sales mastermind. Donald shares how they provide a lot of content through podcasts, blogs, and education. Donald expresses that the goal of The Sales Evangelist is to be the number one sales education organization in the world and help their sellers improve their skills.Josh shares how he has personally been through and experienced Donald’s ​​program and how knowledgeable Donald is at what he does. Josh asks more about his book, Sell It Like a Mango: A New Seller’s Guide to Closing More Deals, asking why does the world need this book today? Donald shares the reason why is that no matter what you sell, there will always be others that are also selling that same thing. He emphasized that what makes him and his book different is his experience. Where he grew up in Jamaica, he grew up selling mangos and others did as well. Donald shares how when he first began he wasn’t selling any mangos. Donald realized that with the same product, same place, same type of people, it requires the seller to be different. It wasn’t the product, it wasn't the customer, it was him. Donald asked himself, “what makes one seller stand out from the other?” He shares that it comes back down to what an individual does to separate themselves from the rest of the competition. Emphasizing to look for the unique things as the premise of the book.Josh asks Donald how do we do that? How do we stand out? Donald explains that one of the biggest things people miss is the importance of servicing the emotional needs that people have.Donald expresses an impactful way to stand out from competitors is by mastering discovery. “How can I help this person to be able to identify and recognize the problem?” Discovery phase is often glossed over. Donald shares that when asking a question, master listening through the discovery process and then the closing becomes easy. Josh and Donald discuss thoughtful discovery and how just asking the question allows for that open discovery.Want to learn more? Check out The Sales Evangelist’s website at https://thesalesevangelist.com/Check out The Sales Evangelist on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/donaldckelly/Check out Donald Kelly on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/donaldckelly/Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:⭐ We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE.🎉 Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here.🚀 What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the CEO of The Mather Group, Josh Greene. The Mather Group is an organization focused on three things: SEO (search engine optimization), paid media, and Wikipedia. Josh Elderedge and Josh Greene discuss Wikipedia and how they help big companies understand what Wikipedia is or isn't, what expectations should be, and what to do with the material currently out there. Josh Elderedge expresses that nearly anyone can contribute to Wikipedia and the intricacies that can come with a collaborative platform. Josh and Josh discuss the process of pages being deleted on Wikipedia and how that happens. Josh Greene shares how it’s not enough to just publish a page, it’s also how relevant that page stays. He discusses the process where a page will be nominated for deletion, from there it is a week to ten days of debate over whether the page is relevant. Josh Greene shares that often the page is deleted. Josh Eldredge asks Josh Greene about notability tests and at what point Wikipedia would consider notability enough to warrant a page. Josh Greene shares how Wikipedia has tons of documentation and how it is very good at their rules and regulations. Josh Greene expresses for new pages the big hurdle of notability is that there needs to be a number of mainstream profiles of someone without quoting that person. Josh Eldredege asks Josh Greene about his work in reputation management and the weight that wikipedia has in google's eyes. Josh Eldredge focuses on reputation issues and how that situation is mitigated or dealt with. Josh Greene expresses how every situation is a little bit different. He explains how sometimes there may be a situation where it now takes up 8 of 10 Google results and how that may not paint a fair picture of what’s going on. Josh Greene discusses clients and how often they hear from people that are either currently in a crisis or just got out of a crisis. He shares how generally it's easier to maintain when doing so in advance but that often people wait until the situation is exasperated before looking to address it. Josh and Josh discuss online presence and how keeping it up to date gives you a solid base. When being a bigger company, a lot of your profiles will be highly visible. Josh Greene shares how when the online presence is stronger, it’s less likely for a negative story to take a headline as there’s additional information to filter through. Want to learn more? Check out The Mather Group’s website at https://themathergroupllc.com/ Check out The Mather Group on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/themathergroup/ Check out Josh Greene on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshgreene1/ Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time! More from UpMyInfluence: ⭐ We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. 🎉 Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. 🚀 What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge, speaks with the CEO of Trainual, Chris Ronzio. Josh and Chris discuss the mission of Trainual which is a business playbook training manual for businesses. Chris talks about history, vision, values, asking why, co-workers, and the rules that are established within businesses. Josh asks Chris if in a perfect world, what would the on boarding process look like? Chris discusses the importance of the formal signing of an offer and the importance of announcing a new member within a company. He discusses the impact of setting up new employees with technology so they have the tools necessary to perform. He also shares the importance of providing space as a new employee is learning their new bearings. Josh asks Chris about the friction that comes when considering adaptations within processes. Chris talks about the different reasons to come into a system like Trainual. First, is to make sure everything is centralized. Next, Chris discusses accountability. Lastly, is the search or ease of finding things when reaching for company resources. Josh asks Chris how Trainual takes something like a manual which is usually perceived as boring and elevates it. Chris discusses how interactive Trainual is versatile, it can include embedded videos, gifts, questions, slides, Spotify playlists. He emphasizes that anything that enriches the culture of your company can be uploaded to the system and the tools are there so it doesn’t have to be boring. Chris talks about one of Trainual’s favorite trademarks, “get your business out of your brain.” He shares how we often feel like the burden of running a company is on our shoulders and how we get stuck in our heads. Chris explains that the transformation doesn’t have to be all at once and the importance of empowering other people within a company. Josh asks what sort of agencies Trainual works with and how these agencies would use Trainual. Chris shares that Trainual is a very horizontal tool. How any business that has people as a component of delivering the product or service being offered can benefit from this system. He discusses how when you have people, then you care a lot about consistency, and to have consistency it’s important to document the company's best practices. They then discuss the value of documenting and collaborating practices within a company and how a process people group can impact that consistency. Chris talks about his book, The Business Playbook, that breaks down how to do this to disconnect from the day to day so that companies are free to grow their business. Want to learn more? Check out Trainual’s website at https://trainual.com Check out Trainual on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/trainual/ Check out Chris Ronzio on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisronzio/Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:⭐ We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE.🎉 Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here.🚀 What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the Lead Innovator and Co-Founder of Respona, Farzad Rashidi.Respona is a platform that helps businesses create partnerships with publications in their sector to gain editorial backlinks to their website. It also helps with gaining organic traffic from Google. A tool that is heavily focused on helps clients identify targets, gives the clients contact information for the target, and outreach for the clients. Farzad explains that there is a lot of malpractice in the space of building backlinks. This malpractice happens because individuals are trying to figure out what works with creating these backlinks. Respona has around 2,000 users that use Respona in very different ways. Farzad explains that they used Respona to recruit affiliate partners through a strategy such as competitor backlink analysis. They would pull the top performing affiliates and use the software to find the main person from those affiliate companies to get into contact. It further helps to create a pitch to give to these companies and possibly create a relationship. There is a program called Respona Guru that is an established relationship with freelancers or agencies and clients can hire these individuals to delegate the process to them. Farzad explains that you can use Respona to find the right podcast to go on for your business. You can use a keyword search or search a specific person's name relevant to your business sector to find a podcast that could be willing to accept guests, the relevancy in your space, and makes the pitching process easier for the client. Farzad explains that he wanted to keep pricing simple for Respona. The cost is starting from $99 a month that is billed monthly and can be canceled at any time. It comes with a free onboarding session and 30 day guarantee. The session includes a meeting with their success team to go over the clients priorities to tour the software and provide a personalized campaign. Farzad explains that Google used page rank to determine popularity. This is a process of the higher the page rank, the higher the amount of quality backlinks are used in regard to that website. Respona spend 20% of their resources on content creation and the other 80% of resources on promotion and outreach to receive backing from other relevant publications. Farzad says there are not many companies that focus on the outreach side of business and it makes it a unique software company. Farzad explains that he wrote about his success with his parent company Visme in his free ebook Marketing Strategies We Used to Bootstrap Visme to over 4 Million users. There is a Respona outreach strategy hub on the website to help ease potential clients into the space and get them comfortable before fully signing up for the software. Want to learn more? Check out the Respona website at https://respona.com/.Check out Respona on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/respona/.Check out  Farzad Rashidi on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/farzadrashidi/.Check out  Farzad Rashidi on Twitter at https://twitter.com/The_Farzad.Check out Farzad Rashidi’s free ebook Marketing Strategies We Used to Bootstrap Visme to over 4 Million users at https://www.visme.co/marketing-strategy/.Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

1265 - Your Brain's Personal Secretary with Selfluence's Blaine Oelkers

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the founding partner of LOCAL, Neil Bedwell. Josh and Neil discuss LOCAL and its impact of working with top global brands. Josh shares how LOCAL provides a very unique value. Neil expresses how lucky LOCAL has been in being able to help brands navigate change. LOCAL is a group of marketers that are now focusing on employees. He describes them as a change marketing company instead of a change management company. Neil shares the statistic that two thirds of adults are unhappy at work. That means that two thirds of people are unhappy in the thing they spend half their waking adult lives doing. Neil emphasizes how that’s a huge problem. Neil discusses the origin of what a company actually is. A company is a collection of people. He shares that the word company is derived from a Latin word describing the communion around bread. He expresses that companies don’t employ people, they are people, and how in recent years organizations have forgotten that.  Organizations think more about profit than people, more about the bottom line than the heartbeat of the organization. Neil discusses marketing versus management techniques. Neil describes marketing as the orientation of everything you do around your audience. He believes you must also have that same orientation around employees. Sharing that for employees to want to stay with you, they must feel like the organization is also oriented around them. Josh shares how wonderful it is as an organization to have heart centered values and making them a part of how everything within the organization operates. They discuss the importance of having company values and the impact those values have when they’re felt by the employees every day, not just heard. Neil describes this as the value gap many organizations are recognizing today. Employees know the organization's values but they aren’t feeling it in their day to day work. Josh and Neil discuss company purpose and how many companies today focus on doing good or creating positive impact on the world and the importance of employees feeling aligned with that purpose driven impact. Josh and Neil talk about the pathway of creating lasting change within an organization. Neil discusses a three part process of change. The first is belief, second is adoption, and the third is opportunity. Neil shares that LOCAL’s goal is to work with any leader driving change within a complex culture. Want to learn more? Check out LOCAL’s website at https://www.localindustries.com/ Check out LOCAL on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/local-industries/ Check out Neil Bedwell on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilrbedwell/ Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:⭐ We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE.🎉 Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here.🚀 What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the founder and CEO of Matter Logic, Katie Burkhart. Josh and Katie discuss what it is that Matter Logic does. Katie explains that in its simplest form it is a different way of thinking about and running a business in the day to day. Matter Logic questions “What’s the point,” asking the key element questions from why your business exists to why am I scheduling meetings today and who in the company needs to be sitting in it. Josh asks Katie why do organizations need to do this work and they discuss the importance of focusing on the why in many aspects of life and business. Katie discusses how what’s important to us in life changes and how on a business or organization level what doesn’t change is the impact of purpose. She shares to help establish purpose, Matter Logic encourages people to think about purpose as lasting a hundred years or more. Katie expresses how purpose is why we exist, why we do the things we do day after day over the long term. She explains purpose as our ultimate value and the shift many businesses are establishing. Money isn’t the goal, money is actually the resource that’s going to enable a company to fulfill its purpose. Josh and Katie discuss the “great pause,” and “great resignation,” that the current work market has been experiencing. Katie shares how she considers it to be the great reprioritization where people are asking what really matters to them. She shares the importance of an entity  having a really good reason for bringing people together and understanding what value is really being delivered. Katie circles back to the importance of being able to ask the “what's the point” questions so that everything being done is enabling for delivering that value. Josh asks Katie about the involved process that goes into doing this work. Katie discusses her 5 steps with clients. The first is shifting thinking by asking what does it mean to be purpose driven? Step two is getting clarity on value. The next step focuses on core strategy. After that, focusing on getting people on the same page. The last step includes asking “how do we stay focused.” Katie explains it as a constant focus of staying aligned. Josh and Katie discuss the evaluation process and the significance that fresh perspective can have on an organization when considering value and purpose. Want to learn more? Check out Matter Logic website at https://www.matterlogic.co/Check out Matter Logic on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/matterlogic/ Check out Katie Burkhart on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/katharineburkhart/ Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:⭐ We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE.🎉 Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here.🚀 What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

1262 -Hire for Your Company's Culture with Hire Better's Kurt Wilkin

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the co-founder of Sidekick, Bonny Van Rest.Sidekick is a group of strategy consultants that offer an entrepreneurial approach to solving business problems, maximizing impact, creating business integrators with action oriented purpose drive and first hand experience of growing, leading, and owning businesses. Bonny shares with Josh what she’s seen in the market and how a lot of great business ideas go to waste. Oftentimes the visionary entrepreneur minds that come up with ideas often do not  have the profile, personality, capacity, or time to scale the idea.Sidekick offers a good but simple strategy including purpose, passion, people, and profit to make an idea a reality and a thriving business. Bonny shares how often when we think of entrepreneurial minds we associate them with business founders, however a lot of these entrepreneurial minds also live within larger organizations too. She calls them “intrepreneruials,” innovators from within the system. These personalities are often the first to spot an opportunity but they have a department to run and an entire organization to convince of an idea so they often struggle to bring these ideas to fruition.  Bonny shares that’s where Sidekick can offer the hands on approach or bench strength to help translate the entrepreneurial passion into actions. This is done through the facilitation of strategic and annual planning, developing a go to market strategy, or helping tackle a current business challenge.Josh asks Bonny what Sidekick provides that leaders or organizations are not able to do by themselves. Bonny shares how Sidekick works alongside you to help set up simple and straightforward tools and processes. She explains the different profiles of people and the gap between the visionaries and executer level thinkers. Josh asks about the Sidekick team and what does that engagement look like, how does that process work. Bonny discusses her 4P assessment which is part of Sidekick’s framework. It includes a true discovery phase where the different backgrounds and expertise can collaborate together. She discusses the facilitation of workshops and how that facilitation process is what she considers one of Sidekick’s superpowers. She also emphasizes Sidekick’s objective of making sure that the solutions that they provide are sustainable. Bonny shares that the goal is to work with you not necessarily for you and the philosophy of teaching a man to fish and how that ideology has impacted Sidekick’s practices.Want to learn more? Check out Sidekick’s website at https://www.sidekickconsulting.ca/Check out Sidekick on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/sidekick-consulting-ca/Check out Bonny Van Rest on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnyvr/Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:⭐We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE.🎉Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here.🚀What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the CEO of Next Level Benefits, Lauren Winans.Next Level Benefits is a Human Resources consulting firm. Josh asks Lauren about the origin of Next Level Benefits and she shares how she started the business to fill in the gap of looking for experts that could be available for short term projects. Next Level Benefits is staffed with former corporate HR experts and professionals. Clients are able to have access to HR expertise when needed with support for short term projects, filling in for open positions, and handling consulting and advisory opportunities.Next Level Benefits has expanded from just employee benefits to all aspects of HR. Lauren shares that their clients are all sizes and all industries, she considers Next Level Benefits to be an extension of an existing HR team or a substitute for a company without a large HR presence currently established within.Josh and Lauren discuss the benefits of strategic approaches when managing people. She discusses the decades and depths of expertise of the HR consultants on her team and how they are able to fill in the needs gap and support the human resources side of business. Josh asks Lauren about the team that makes up Next Level Benefits. Lauren shares that their team consists of former corporate HR executives, leaders, managers, and experts within the space. Lauren shares that a majority of team members come from fortune 500 organizations with those types of experiences and backgrounds and how some have worked for non profit organizations. Next Level Benefit’s team experience comes from a versatile array of big brands and companies and brings value being able to leverage those experiences.Josh asks at what size company would HR consulting be beneficial. Lauren expresses that when it comes to employee benefits regardless of the size of the company, it is worth making sure companies are building the right packages so that you can attract and retain talent. She shares how it is critically important to be paying people competitively and offering competitive benefits or people will leave your organization and go elsewhere.Josh asks Lauren what leaders may not realize about the world of benefits today. Lauren shares how from a benefits perspective, employees expect a level of standard from their employers. She discusses health care and the ROI that benefits provide and the impact benefits can have on turn over.Want to learn more? Check out Next Level Benefits website at https://www.nlbenefits.com/Check out Next Level Benefits on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/nlbenefits/Check out Lauren Winans on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurencwinans/Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:⭐ We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE.🎉 Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here.🚀 What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to the CEO of Christner Strategies, Jenny Christner. Josh and Jenny discuss improv’s ability to impact strategy. Jenny discusses her history in theater after medical school and how after taking an improv class she fell in love with it. Jenny shares how she uses improv every day in both personal life and business. She discusses the science behind improv and how it appealed to the scientific side of her and how it opened a window of hobby. She expresses how she learned these tools and how when these improv tools are applied, it can also help people within their workplace. In learning the rules of improv, Jenny was able to make sense of them and apply them to all aspects of life. Jenny also serves as the dean at the College of Medicine at Baylor. Josh asks how improv has been used professionally as well as within the education space. Jenny shares that the more you dive into leadership, more than anything, it’s really about personal relationships. She emphasizes that a key piece of improv is you have to listen very carefully and that when we converse with others in the workplace, listening is crucial. Often we get lost in our own thoughts and responses and improv tools give great lessons on using strong listening skills to accomplish set goals. Listening allows for better collaboration and stronger relationship building. Josh shares his own transformative experience in exploring improv classes and how it has helped him to be more real, more authentic, and a more present leader. He also shares how it has helped him feel better about himself in social situations, with less second guessing on what to speak. Josh and Jenny discuss the impact of implementing improv skills to team members within an organization and how the safety improv ideals of communication provided in expressiveness can foster improvments within a team. They discuss the improv tool of “yes and” versus “yes, but” and how responding with an ‘and’ instead of a ‘but’ keeps communication flowing and open within teams. This can allow a team to work together more effectively. “Yes and” allows the concept that there’s no mistakes, and it’s open to take in every person's input within a safe environment where everyone has a voice. Jenny expresses the impact that this form of collaboration can have within a team to create and establish a common theme. Want to learn more? Check out Christner Strategies’ website at https://christner-strat.com/ Check out Christner Strategie on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/christner-strategies/ Check out Jenny Christner on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennychristner/ Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time! More from UpMyInfluence: ⭐ We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. 🎉 Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. 🚀 What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the CEO of Grace and Ease Productions, Shay Wheat. Grace and Ease Productions is a client supporter in creating powerful and profitable events by producing in person and live virtual events from one-day to three-day events. Josh highlights the photography on Grace and Ease Productions’ website and how there is so much minutia when it comes to events, including collaboration with celebrities. Grace and Ease Productions spends about 100 hours on pre-event planning to produce an event. By focusing on sale strategies, offers, what is the promise of the event, swag, virtual, in person, hybrid, and on the backend, Grace and Ease can make the event very profitable. Josh discusses with Shay the intricacies of planning events from the simplicities of parking to the details that you really only learn from planning these sorts of events. They also discuss the risk of events when they aren’t executed smoothly and the effects that can have on an organization. Shay expresses that how an event shows up to their community is a representation of how their program will perform in their subconscious thoughts. Shay also highlights the importance of having an industry professional negotiate venues with hotels to save a ton of money for their clients. The Grace and Ease team handles many different components varying from planning, speakers, and sponsor support to help really create an amazing experience that is also revenue generating. They focus on key fundamentals when it comes to event planning including the audience, ticket sales, run of show (agenda), and offer strategies to really create an experience. Josh expresses when events are done well and also when done poorly, it can impact their brand. Shay shares how the stage showcases the experts and how it allows them to speak from one to many. Josh and Shay talk about how having events helps grow your brand. While they may not always be cheap, the impact it can have on a brand can help an organization grow quickly. Josh asks Shay where events are today with in person, virtual, and hybrid events and the frustrations that have come with these different forms of events, especially hybrid in the post pandemic world. Shay shares that she does all three forms of events, and has seen that attendees generally will attend virtual events after attending an in person event first. She also expresses that attendees really appreciate the virtual option. It allows for more flexibility for an event to showcase, both big and small. Want to learn more? Check out Grace and Ease Production’s website at https://graceandeaseproductions.com/ Check out Grace and Ease Production on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/graceandeaseproductions/ Check out Shay Wheat on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaywheat/ Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time! More from UpMyInfluence: ⭐ We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. 🎉 Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. 🚀 What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks with the Chair of the Evolutionary Business Council, Teresa De Grosbois. Evolutionary Business Council is designed to help others grow their reach and influence through events and collaborations. Josh asks what it is that the Evolutionary Business Council does and Teresa shares that it is all about helping conscious entrepreneurs that are in alignment with creating a more conscious and sustainable world. Teresa shares that the Evolutionary Business Council is based on three pillars which focus on helping businesses become more influential, more profitable, and more impactful. Josh asks Teresa what consciousness really means, she explains that it’s really just being on top of your own thoughts. Research shows that most people have self limiting beliefs through their inner dialogue and that not all of our thoughts may not be serving you. Evolutionary Business Council has members including speakers, trainers, authors, podcasters, but also members that are all about creating products that influence sustainability. Teressa discusses influence and the impact of action. Teresa shares that when you can get people to take action, that's the point of change. Insight isn't enough – you also need action, and that’s the component that drives sales. Josh asks what council members do. Teresa shares that the council does live events and is also an opportunity for collaboration through a learning library. There is a versatile range of members within the Evolutionary Business Council, with the idea of bringing those in with a giving attitude and to really be of love and assistance to other members. Teresa shares it is amazing what’s possible when we all help each other. Evolutionary Business Council provides a safe environment for leaders to step into where they can get to know each other and do their own work to make sure they are truly challenging themselves to bigger levels moving past self limiting beliefs. Teresa shares that you can’t make yourself influential or famous. Josh asks about the Evolutionary Business Council’s grand mission. Teresa shares that the council’s goal is to have 1.2 billion (15 percent of the population) lives transformed by helping them learn more conscious ways of living. She explains how the Evolutionary Business Council chose that number with intention, considering communication theory. Expesssing 15 percent as a tipping point number and how they have taken that concept globally. Teresa shares how when influence and profit are used together as a tool, your impact gets so much greater in the world. Want to learn more? Check out Evolutionary Business Council’s website at https://ebcouncil.com/ Check out Evolutionary Business Council on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/evolutionary-business-council/ Check out Teresa Grosbois on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresadegrosbois/ Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time! More from UpMyInfluence: ⭐ We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. 🎉 Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. 🚀 What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

1256 - Problem Solving with Schlegel Consulting's Matt Schlegel

1255 - Figuring Out the Formula with Thynk Consulting Group's Alexa D'Agostino

1254 - It Doesn't Have To Be All At Once with Go High Level's Shaun Clark

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with Serial Entrepreneur, Kim Hvidkjaer.Kim explains that throughout his time as a serial entrepreneur, he has gone through many successes and failures. The failures have given him the ability to better avoid those mistakes and direct others away from them as well. Kim explains that growing a business too fast could cause a business to fail due to the risks of upping production with the possibility of a future decrease in demand. Covid has caused companies to focus on niche areas that may not be as high demand in a few years. Kim explains that Covid has caused businesses to change their operations in ways such as physical meetings changing to remote meetings. Kim explains that companies are not using proper sales metrics to gauge the results of their processes. Tracking data allows for a business to control their sales as they are measuring the real data for their products. Kim explains that he does consulting in the form of an investor or board member. It allows him to have engagement with multiple companies rather than being stuck on one. Kim explains that networking through word of mouth referrals or social media is where new leads tend to come from.   Key Points from the Episode:The impact Kim has in the worldWhy 90% of companies failOutside market forcesKim’s thoughts on what works and doesn’t with sales Key ideas in Kim’s book How to F*ck up Your StartupWhat Kim is currently focused on NetworkingAbout Kim Hvidkjaer:I am an award-winning serial entrepreneur, WSJ bestselling author, keynote speaker and angel investor, having built companies from startup to exit in several industries.I started my first company at the tender age of 19 years old, and was as a 29-year-old millionaire, aptly named one of Denmark’s “6 Rising Stars.”Two years later, after a cluster of f*ckups, I found myself broke—having lost more money than the average American earns in a lifetime.I since have rebuilt my fortune through several startups, becoming an expert in failure.Interviewing dozens of startup founders and studying thousands of collapsed startups, I developed a comprehensive guide to failure—what it means, what it looks like, and the strategies business owners can employ to avoid it. Want to learn more? Check out Kim Hvidkjaer’s website at https://kimhvidkjaer.com/Check out Kim Hvidkjaer on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimhvidkjaer/?originalSubdomain=dkCheck out Kim Hvidkjaer on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/kimhvidkjaerCheck out Kim Hvidkjaer on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/kimhvidkjaer/?hl=enCheck out Kim Hvidkjaer on Twitter at https://twitter.com/KimHvidkjaerCheck out Kim Hvidkjaer’s book How to F*ck up Your Startup at https://kimhvidkjaer.com/book/ Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with Expert Sales Copywriter, Alyson Lex. Alyson helps course creators, experts, and coaches sell more of their product. Her impact with this is being able to help her clients sell products that could potentially benefit many other individuals. Good copywriters should be able to adapt to the needs of their clients and understand their clients' audience. Alyson explains that many clients need extra help with understanding strategy within their marketing. The process of hiring a copywriter varies from person to person. Alyson advises to look at samples from the copywriters to see what resonates, look for high recommendations, and use conversation to take the possible relationship further. Alyson explains that manipulative copy can work in some areas but it does not work as much as it used to. Good copywriters should be able to show their client where to enter the conversation with their specific copy. The process with copy is to ease the sales process to make it smoother for the business. Alyson explains that talking about yourself too early and too often in a copy is a telltale sign of an inexperienced copywriter. The business should not be talked about until the solution of the problem is introduced because the setting needs to come first to set the stage for the solution. Alyson explains that overediting and over formality are a downside as they take away the humanistic value of the business. The process of working with Alyson is completely custom based on the clients needs. Alyson explains most of her work starts with an introduction call to gather information. From there she will either write a copy if it's short term, or write a copy as well as provide coaching if it is a longer term deal.   Key Points from the Episode:What Alyson does and her impact on the world What a good copywriter providesAlyson’s advice on hiring a copywriterThe purpose of good copySigns that a professional copywriter has not been utilized The process of working with AlysonAbout Alyson Lex:This direct-response marketing thing... it's what I DO. It's how I've put food on my family's table for years - and it's how I've helped business owners just like you grow bigger and reach higher.I’m the former Marketing Manager for Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle - and my very first sales letter generated nearly $9,000.00 in less than 3 days to a list of barely over 200 people.My copy and marketing strategy contributed to a campaign that generated over $1 MILLION at an international event attended by more than 1,000 people.And now, I’m a hired-gun for all your marketing “stuff.” Want to learn more? Check out Alyson Lex’s website at https://alysonlex.com/.Check out Alyson Lex on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/alysonlex/.Check out Alyson Lex on Instagram at https://instagram.com/alysonlex.Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

On today's episode of The Thoughtful Entrepreneur, we are so excited to speak with founder and CEO of Virtual A Team, Nicole Bandes! Virtual A Team works specifically with coaches, consultants, and other online based entrepreneurs. Known as the freelance whisperers by bridging the gap and creating a more seamless process with virtual teams. Nicole discusses virtual assistant mistakes that include not knowing exactly what the business need is. She discusses zone of genius and scaling businesses. Don’t forget to listen to our next episode, where we recap all the great insights that Nicole Bandes offered! Key Points from the Episode:Virtual Assistant Budgets Benefits of a strong operations teamEmpowering people to do the things they are most passionate aboutHiring processes and the why behind them About Nicole Bandes:After losing her 17 y/o son, Nicole Bandes discovered her purpose: encourage others to make time for what matters most. In 2017, Nicole founded Virtual A Team, a virtual services agency helping overwhelmed coaches and consultants who want to define success by the wealth of their lives, not the size of their bank accounts. Nicole also shares valuable tips as podcast host of Coach’s Copilot: Your Online Business Manager. YES You CAN Build a Successful Business Around an Amazing Life, Here’s How Nicole shares her story of how she’s been able to successfully work less than 20 hours a week while building and growing a profitable business through outsourcing and delegating. Why a Virtual Assistant May NOT be Your Best First Hire and What to Do Instead When coaches and consultants start thinking about getting help, they default to hiring a Virtual Assistant. I can share 3 convincing reasons for why that might not be the best move and what to do instead. Do it Yourself or Delegate, How to Earn More by Doing Less You can choose to do things you don’t love and aren’t good at or you can make more money in less time by focusing on the things that only you can do. Let’s talk about 5 key strategies coaches can use now to start delegating more and doing less.Links Mentioned in this Episode: Want to learn more? Check out Nicole Bandes’ website at https://virtualateam.com/optins/calculator/ Check out Nicole Bandes on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolebandes/ Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

On today's episode of The Thoughtful Entrepreneur, we are so excited to speak with podcast host “Screw the Commute,” Tom Antion! Offering support to those who want to escape their 9 to 5 and those who are in business for themselves. Tom shares how he has never had a job and how that has influenced the name of his podcast. Tom discusses how his mission is to help his students get to a point where it’s too expensive for them to go to work anymore. He shares his objective of individuals being so successful in their own business that it basically would cost too much to go into their usual 9-5. He shares the benefits of side businesses utilizing low risk to get started. Don’t forget to listen to our next episode, where we recap all the great insights that Tom Antion offered!  Key Points from the Episode:Corporate culture and working independentlyLow risk side businesses Selling digital products or affiliate products About Tom Antion:I'VE NEVER HAD A JOB.For 44 years I've always had my own small business. Starting with nothing, I owned five apartment buildings and a hotel before graduating college.NICKNAMESSome people have nicknamed me "The OG" for Original Gangsta of online marketing since I've been selling on the commercial Internet since there was a commercial Internet circa 1994. Other people call me the "King of Kaching" because my email goes "Kaching" every time an online order comes in.✔ GRAB A FREE EBOOK ON HOW TO AUTOMATE YOUR BUSINESSScrewTheCommute.com/automatefree MENTOR PROGRAMI'VE HELPED A TON OF PEOPLEFor more than 23 years I've had the longest running, most successful, most unique program for small business owners and professional speakers One of my proteges just sold pluto.tv to Viacom for $340 Million.I'm certainly not claiming you'll do that well, but if you are willing to do the work, you will learn from me the proven techniques to maximize your online presence and sales and minimize your expenses.YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT=> Shopping Cart Systems=> Email marketing=> Online advertising=> Chatbots=> Product Creation=> Publicity=> YouTube Marketing=> Blogging=> Online Courses=> Website Development=> List Building=> Crowdfunding=> Traffic Driving=> Membership Sites=> Digital Marketing=> Social Media=> Professional Speaking, ANDThings that haven't been invented yet hahahaSEMINARI have the longest continuously running Internet Marketing and Digital Marketinng seminar ever. Ask me about it. It's got a funny name, but it's a serious seminar.PROFESSIONAL PUBLIC SPEAKING 🎤I'm a veteran of over 3000 speaking engagements in 12 countries. I claim to have trained more pro speakers in the art of public speaking and presentation skills than anyone living. No one ever challenged me on that statement. I've never been beaten in "non-obnoxious" back-of-the-room sales in over 20 years and I can teach you how to do that too.🎧 ENTREPRENEURSHIP PODCAST"Screw the Commute" is an entrepreneurial podcast based on the fact I've never had a job. I've always worked from home including six years when I had the second biggest nightclub in my state and I lived above it. So, technically I had a nightclub in my basement hahahaDOCUMENTARY 🎥I invite you to watch the trailer of "The American Entrepreneur" Documentary where I'm humbled to have been featured by Hollywood producer Terri Marie. Facebook.com/AmericanEntrepreneurFilmCONTACT ME✉ EMAIL: [email protected], [email protected], cc [email protected]📞 MOBILE: Text and Voicemail: 301-346-7403Links Mentioned in this Episode: Want to learn more? Check out Tom Antion’s website at https://screwthecommute.com/automatefree/ Check out Tom Antion on LinkedIn at https://linkedin.com/in/tomantion Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the CEO and Founder of Pursuing Results, Matt Johnson. Matt works with producing and launching podcasts for coaching or consulting. Matt explains that podcasting creates a major arena of networking opportunities for businesses. Matt’s company will handle all of the communication for their clients so the clients do not have to worry about much beyond the content creation. Matt explains that there is a struggle to find a way to monetize after there is a high visibility. However, if there is already monetization, visibility is easier to manage to build a business and or clientele for that business. Matt explains that podcast sponsors are difficult to come by for the long term and it is a revolving door of uncertainty. Matt explains that he pushes his clients to speak on niche topics that are specific to their target audience. This allows for better clients to come from the podcasts to create revenue for the clients. Matt explains he thinks attention spans will get shorter over time, youtube will contribute to podcast trends more, and discoverability within the youtube space will expand. It is common for there to be some stage fright around podcasting as the format is more vulnerable than others. Matt explains that becoming good at podcasts is all about practice and it will take some time. An individual should expect to not be happy with their first episodes as they will be learning and growing to become better over time.  Key Points from the Episode:The effects of Covid on business What Matt doesThe difference between focusing on monetization or visibility firstThe problem with podcast sponsorsHow consultants use their podcasts to drive revenue Matt’s thoughts on the future of podcastsHow Matt helps clients overcome stage frightAbout Matt Johnson:Matt Johnson is a marketing agency founder, podcaster, and musician. Matt runs a podcast launch & production agency based in San Diego, an international team that helps business coaches, consultants and thought leaders use done-for-you podcasting to attract an audience, build influence & become MicroFamous. Matt is the author of MicroFamous and currently hosts the MicroFamous podcast. He is a frequent podcast guest and event speaker to audiences around the US, Canada, and Australia. Want to learn more? Check out the Pursuing Results website at https://pursuingresults.com/.Check out Pursuing Results on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/pursuing-results/.Check out Matt Johnson on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/microfamous/Check out Matt Johnson on Facebook at https://facebook.com/getmicrofamousCheck out Matt Johnson on Instagram at https://instagram.com/microfamousDon’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the Founder of Vhault32,Jeremy Bishop.Vhault32 is a social media marketing company. Vhault32 helps high level business owners grow their social media platforms. It was created because business owners need access to someone of trust to help maintain and grow their platforms. The name Vhault came to mind for Jeremy and his partner because there is a need for security for data business owners share with marketing companies. Vhault32 works with many real estate clients and even musicians. They work to help bring the clients online presence up to speed with their real life successes. Jeremy explains that a high following on social platforms does not equal a successful business. He wants to work with individuals that have a good mission so the right message is getting across as their following grows. Jeremy says that conversations are a crucial part of business. Genuine connections based on similar views or topics can help someone grow as it broadens their business possibilities. Influencer club media is a part of Vhault32 that focuses on celebrity media campaigns. The focus is on doing media campaigns that hit the target that the client is wanting such as gaining 10k followers. Jeremy explains he wants a good relationship with his clients so both parties can get the results they want. Giveaways are a major aspect of the media campaigning in influencer club media. This allows for multiple people to gain traction from one simple post. Jeremy says that his typical engagement with new profile clients is gaining 100k followers and the client needs to scale their business with their following. Growing a following without a stable business could cause trust issues with their audience, which could lead to possible issues in the future. Teamwork is important in business and media because multiple voices are needed to make a successful career. The basis of going viral is something Jeremy does not want for his clients. Becoming viral is a one moment by moment thing, whereas building a successful brand is a lifelong journey. The journey is highly reliant on personal connections with other people and not being fully reliant on the content itself. Jeremy explains that when you start growing a following or brand, not to delete any of the past. The past gives the ability for the client and their followers to see the growth that has been done over time on the client’s part. Jeremy says interested individuals should check around the website and get into contact to start a relationship as connection is crucial to the brand. Want to learn more? Check out the Vhault32website at https://www.vhault32.com/.Check out Vhault32 on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/vhault-32/.Check out Jeremy Bishop on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-bishop-b564921a1/.Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur andthank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here.  What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here. 

On today's episode of The Thoughtful Entrepreneur, we are so excited to speak with the founder of Recruiter Mill, Ugis Balmaks!Recruiter Mills helps online businesses hire ”A” players in six weeks or fewer. Ugis shares how the process of creating an online business in high 7 figures and how that growth created the need to find the need to hire “A” players. Ugis discusses how Recruiter Mill helps close the gap in hiring the best team possible. Ugis talks about online businesses and the impact hiring and retaining quality players has on an organization. Ugis highlights how important a job description is in getting the attention of the best candidates. He expands how at Recruiter Mill, instead of standard responsibilities and requirements, they utilize a candidate-centric approach through job descriptions.…Don’t forget to listen to our next episode, where we recap all the great insights that Ugis Balmaks offered! Key Points from the Episode:Solutions for Online Business Owners Candidate-centric job descriptions “A” Players recruitment processes About Ugis Balmaks:I'm an experienced and creative recruiter, hiring executive and senior management, digital marketing, and technical talent for online businesses.My recruitment experience comes from hiring for my own company - iPhone Photography School. We managed to scale this info business to high 7-figures in revenue.Now that I've sold my shares in the company, I run Recruiter Mill. We help 7- and 8-figure online businesses hire A-players in 6 weeks or less.Recruiter Mill helps 7- and 8-figure online businesses hire A-players.If...- You're not impressed by the quality of job applications you receive- Hiring takes up too much of your time- And you want to hire A-players only... we'll manage your entire recruitment funnel for you.Using targeted head-hunting, we'll fill even the most challenging vacancies in 6 weeks or less.We hire:- Senior managers & directors (CMOs, SEO directors, PPC directors, COOs)- Online marketing specialists (SEO managers, link builders, PPC managers, content writers & editors)- Developers & tech talent (front-end, back-end, full-stack devs, team leads, designers, project managers)Think we could help you? Shoot us a message or book a free hiring strategy call here: https://recruitermill.com/Links Mentioned in this Episode: Want to learn more? Check out Ugis Balmaks’ website at https://recruitermill.com/ Check out Ugis Balmaks on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ugis-balmaks-74067647/ Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

On today's episode of The Thoughtful Entrepreneur, we are so excited to speak with the author of The Six Habits, Laura DiBenedetto! Laura discusses the philosophy behind her 6 habits: kindness (how we treat ourselves), acceptance (how we feel about ourselves), gratitude (for all of life, good and not), presence (choosing now and living for today), goodness (energy management), and intention (clear, deliberate, relentless action). Don’t forget to listen to our next episode, where we recap all the great insights that Laura DiBenedetto offered! Key Points from the Episode:The productivity of honest and open communication strategies. The impact of growing positive habits to enhance the quality of life. Laura’s TED Talk, The Six habits of the Happiest People.About Laura DiBenedetto:TEDx Speaker, #1 Bestselling author of The Six Habits and Life Mastery Coach, Laura DiBenedetto teaches how to create the life of our dreams without sacrificing what we love. Laura is the founder and CEO of the award-winning marketing company, Vision Advertising, located in the greater Boston area.  Laura created, built and ran the growth-oriented enterprise for 19 years with tremendous success, before retiring from active involvement in 2018 at age 37, passing the reins to her successor. Over the years, Laura personally sold several million dollars in ongoing contracts, was featured on Fox News and other Boston programming several times, was publicly recognized for business accomplishments, and was named a 40 Under Forty winner at only age 23. Having started her first business at 19, Laura began to search for her next big project in 2012, finally finding it right on the cusp of retirement.  While Laura’s career had been speckled with accomplishments and accolades, when she retired, she was simply burnt out and unhappy.  After years of classes, workshops, books, and more, Laura was confused and wondered why the personal development world had let her down and sought to solve the problem.  She went on a radical journey of self-discovery, research, and testing, determined to find energy and lasting, fulfilling happiness in all areas of life. Laura found the answers to the question that plagued her (and so many of us) – six of them, in fact. She is devoted to sharing the universally applicable and deeply liberating truths she discovered, so that others may find their own path out of misery and into lasting, fulfilling happiness and limitless possibility. Laura moved away from Boston in 2019 to the island of Maui, Hawaii and lives in tropical bliss with her husband, cats and dog. Links Mentioned in this Episode: Want to learn more? Check out Laura DiBenedetto’s website at https://lauradibenedetto.com/ Check out Laura DiBenedetto on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lldibenedetto/ Check out the book The Six Habits at https://www.thesixhabits.com/ Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

On today's episode of The Thoughtful Entrepreneur, we are so excited to speak with the founder of Unhustle®, Milena Regos!Milena shares how she takes society's idea of hustling to success and flips it on its head. She calls attention to the current culture of overwhelm, burnout, high stress, sleep deprivation, and suffering relationships. She discusses the hustle as a fake version of success and shares how she reframed her process and Unhustled her life. Milena talks about slowing down to speed up. Milena shares her upcoming book to be published this year and her mission to inspire millions to reclaim the Power of Being in a Culture of Doing. Milena talks about entrepreneurship and current mental health statistics in today's industry. She discusses the importance of mindfulness and learning how to nurture your way to success. Milena shares about her upcoming book and the community she’s creating and inspiring through Unhustle®. Don’t forget to listen to our next episode, where we recap all the great insights that Milena Regos offered! Key Points from the Episode:Importance of Flow States and Life, Work, Play Design. The Why behind replacing a Hustle Culture with a Human Culture. Milena's mission to create a festival of entrepreneurs to enhance purpose. About Milena Regos: Milena Regos is the founder of Unhustle®, living at the intersection of work and real living. An ex award-winning marketer she experienced first hand how hustle, and "always-on" mentality can impact overall wellbeing and success. She's on a mission to create a counterculture movement to replace burnout Hustle Culture with Human(e) Culture and inspire leaders to design sustainable LiveWorkPlay. She hosts The Unhustle Podcast and lives between Baja and Lake Tahoe while working on her book.Links Mentioned in this Episode: Want to learn more? Check out Milena Regos’ website at https://unhustle.com/ Check out Milena Regos on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/milenaregos/ Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!Check out Milena Regos on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/milenaregos Check out Milena Regos on Twitter at https://twitter.com/milenaregos Check out Milena Regos on Instagram at https://instagram.com/unhustle More from UpMyInfluence:️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

1244- Reach your Full Potential with Transformational Life Coach Michelle Boulé

1243 - Getting Your Business Out There with Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers' Jonathan Rosenfeld

1242 - Be Your Own Hero with Think Unbroken's Michael Unbroken Trigger Warning: Mentions of Abuse

1241 - From the Top To The Bottom with Capforge's Matt Remuzzi

1240 - Internships with Symba's Ahva Sadeghi

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with Founder and Author OnlineJobs.ph, John Jonas.OnlineJobs.ph serves as a platform for entrepreneurs, employers, and business owners to find the talent they need who can work online, and that's also super affordable. According to John, it's a different experience outsourcing from the Philippines. He also talked about business owners' common misconceptions when hiring online contractors. John also shared what makes OnlineJobs.ph different from other outsourcing platforms and addressed the objections business owners are missing out on outsourcing from the Philippines.Key Points from the Episode:Addressing the common mistakes business owners have when hiring online contractorsWhat makes OnlineJobs.ph stand out from the competition?What are the objections business owners have when hiring overseas contractors?About John Jonas: John had regular "work" for 8 months following graduation, and his main goal at the time was to be able to quit. He was able to quit in 2004 and has since worked from home himself.He felt he was onto something great when he first employed someone from the Philippines in January 2006. Since then, he discovered that having Filipino workers on the team makes life much easier for most individuals. Now he gets to play a lot of golf, spend a lot of time with his family, and go backpacking in the middle of the week. Because of their excellent work, Jonas works roughly 17 hours weekly. According to him, what's terrific about recruiting Filipino labor is how it has altered their lives. They get to work from home, earn a reasonable wage, enjoy a higher level of life, and raise their children independently, a luxury that most Filipino parents do not have.About OnlineJobs.ph: They alleviate people's problems by linking employers needing assistance with workers needing work. Their team works hard to instill trust in everyone's outsourcing experience. Thousands of entrepreneurs have succeeded because of it. They focus more on getting long term permanent help or staff that functions similar to an employee without the commitments of having an employee attached to it. Tweetable Moments:01:58 - "Having that grit and having a strong mental attitude when you're a business owner is so important."03:47 - "A lot of times, we get in this negative cycle when there's a bad month, then we have these negative thoughts that lead to negative emotions that lead to maybe us not taking action because we're demoralized."Links Mentioned in this Episode:Want to learn more? Check out the OnlineJobs.ph website athttps://www.onlinejobs.ph/Check out the OnlineJobs.ph on Twitter athttps://twitter.com/OnlinejobsdotPHCheck out the OnlineJobs.ph on Facebook athttps://www.facebook.com/onlinejobs.phCheck out  John Jonas on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-jonas-41128b/Check out  John Jonas on his website athttps://johnjonas.com/Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

1238 - Lifestyle Genetics with 3x4 Genetics' Yael Joffe

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with Founder and Author of BottomLine, Lisa Genovese.Bottomline is a formal research firm that helps entrepreneurs and clients develop strategies relying on and leveraging data. Lisa also added that they include implementation plans to turn these strategies into life. She shared her knowledge on how businesses can attain important bits of information to supplement their marketing strategy whilst staying true to the services and products they offer.Key points from the Episode:How to figure out the right strategy for your business?Should you do research for your business strategic plan?How to gather unbiased information for your research strategy?About Lisa Genovese: As President of BottomLine, I support Challenger Brands to evolve their business, creating more impact on the world around them. For me, advancing a business requires more than a surface-level strategy. This is why my team and I hyper-focus on our unique Impact Assessment process to uncover key insights, and help clients see what others may not. BottomLine’s global team helps clients implement kick-ass strategies centered on strong market research insights that consistently improve conversion rates, increase sales, and profit margins. Fueled by research and competitive analysis, BottomLine strengthens our client’s mission and creates actionable strategic plans to maximize their message, providing the tools, materials and content to get going that much faster. We help our clients to optimize their marketing spend to ensure their budget isn’t going into the woodchipper by shining a light on what they’re missing in their current strategy. By leveraging data and an analytical approach, we build our strategies to have a huge impact on their bottom line. When I’m not working with Challenger Brands through BottomLine, I sit on several not-for-profit and for-profit boards; I am an active member of the Women Presidents’ Organization, as well as the Alberta IoT Association. I support Alberta’s growing technology ecosystem through my work with Alberta IoT as chair of their annual charity golf tournament, a volunteer for their Centre of Excellence and Startup Visa Program, and facilitator in their business accelerator program. Similarly, I am an ambassador for the International Deal Gateway which facilitates direct transactions on a blockchain platform. Previously, I was a mentor in the ATBx startup program. In an endeavor for continuous learning and improvement, I recently graduated from Harvard School of Business Strategic Planning and Customer Focus certification programs. About BottomLine: BottomLine guides businesses through a market research-based methodology to determine their TRUE value, strengths, market position, and audience perception.They develop an actionable marketing strategy plan to optimize the organization's message. This plan, fueled by research and competitor analysis, strengthens its mission. BottomLine's staff can design the tools, materials, and content to get you up and running even faster.Links Mentioned in this Episode:Want to learn more? Check out the BottomLine website athttp://www.wearebottomline.com/Check out the BottomLine on Twitter athttps://twitter.com/BottomLineIncCheck out the BottomLine on Facebook athttps://www.facebook.com/BottomLineYYC/?ref=page_internalCheck out  Lisa Genovese on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamariegenovese/Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

1236 - Delegating So You Can Focus on What Matters with VIAA's Lynee Palacios

1235 - Growth Through Generosity with The Lucky Titan's Josh Tapp

1234 - Business Can Be Challenging with Unleashed.ceo's Richard Shaull

In this episode of The Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the CEO, President & Director at GenesisAI, Archil Cheishvili. Archil listed some of the most common problems faced by companies and individuals in the field of AI. He believes that AI products and services are indispensable today, but due to lack of accessibility, in-house talent, and high costs, companies often shy away from the idea.According to Archil, GenesisAI's mission is to help people easily access AI tools and help AI developers easily deploy and monetize their projects. Together with his collaborators, their goal is to create a space where people can easily access the AI ​​tools they need.(Josh jokingly calls it an "Amazon of AI"!) In other words, accessing and purchasing AI for yourself or your business will already be that easy! Archil pointed out that anyone looking for an AI to analyze and solve their problems can benefit a lot from GenesisAI. Key Points from the Episode:How GenesisAI StartedWhat an AI is or notGenesisAI’s Business ModelHow to Partner with GenesisAIAbout Archil CheishviliArchil Cheishvile always had a passion for business growing up, but it wasn't until he was admitted to Harvard University's undergraduate program that he caught the attention of the Gregorian media. Being smart led him to start his own business and sell it with a high return when he was just 18 years old. It has also led him to win numerous awards in the field of AI and received numerous recognitions from Yahoo Finance, Fox News and a lot more!His interest in the AI space has sparked a passion in him to partner with many leading companies and AI developers on a mission to make AI tools accessible to everyone. He also writes for Forbes on topics concerning the role of artificial intelligence in humanity. Some of his popular writings include "Why should mankind strive to build artificial general intelligence?" and “Top Five Ways AI is Revolutionizing the Financial Planning Industry.”Archil Cheishvile is among the top 100 CEOs in the United States in the Marketplace space. About GenesisAIGenesisAI is a machine learning marketplace for AI products and services. It connects companies in need of AI services, data, and models with companies interested in monetizing their AI tech.By linking AI services with each other and increasing the supply of AI services, GenesisAI provides a web platform that offers low-cost AI services. This makes AI technology more efficient and affordable for businesses. Their platform enables different AIs to communicate with each other, exchange data, and trade services.  With the GenesisAI platform, anyone can develop and purchase AI services, as well as allow software engineers to discover, test, and integrate various AI-related APIs.GenesisAI was established in 2018 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA and Miami, Florida, USA. The company is led by software engineers from Amazon, Google, and Salesforce.  Tweetable Moments:“04:05: And if all of these AI tools become better as a result of those collaborative efforts, then that’s a game changer.”“7:29: We found that lots of companies know that they want an AI but don’t know if their problems could be solved by an AI.”Links Mentioned in this Episode:Want to learn more? Check out the GenesisAI website at www.genesisai.ioCheck out the GenesisAI on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/genesisai/Check out Archil Cheishvili on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/archie-archil-cheishvili-854aa792/Check out Archil Cheishvili on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/archie_archil/Check out the GenesisAI on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/OfficialGenAI/ Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time! More from UpMyInfluence:Tickets for the FIRST Annual Fame and Profit Summit 2022 are on sale now! Check it out HERE!️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.  

In this episode of The Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the Founder and CEO of Sandoval Tax CPAs, Joel Sandoval.Joel Sandoval is a CPA and entrepreneur. As Founder and CEO of Sandoval Tax CPAs, he shared that one of the main goals of his company is to help businesses save more money on taxes. According to him, it is possible, with a concrete plan and strategy, for a business owner to save between $10,000 and $300,000 in taxes, as long as you have the right group of people who can deliver the right strategy tailored to your needs. He also went on to emphasize the hard truth that not all CPAs know what they need to do or simply just don’t have time to do so. Having been exposed to this type of industry for so long, not to mention having parents who were both real estate agents, Joel thought of a better career that would match his skills and personality. He learned his passion for numbers, which earned him high GPA scores and multiple job offers from CPA firms. He shared that after reading great books on entrepreneurship, he realized he could do so much more and potentially earn. He admitted that while it's expensive to invest in coaches and mentors, it will help get you on the right track.Additionally, Joel pointed out that one of the biggest problems in the industry is that there aren't too many CPAs who are willing to spend more time providing the right advice to their clients. He and his team of CPAs will reverse this approach by offering a personalized tax plan that guarantees clients save at least $10,000 in tax dollars. He also added that they don't work as tax preparers, but rather as advisers — someone who can provide the right tax strategies that not all CPAs could. He was confident to say that many business owners these days have already switched from hiring accountants to CPAs to do tax strategy.Asked about price, Joel pointed out that they don't compete on price, but rather on value. He said the price they will charge their customers is relevant.Key Points from the Episode:How Joel Sandavol started Sandoval Tax ServicesThe benefits of hiring CPAs for Tax Services and Tax PreparationHow you can save at a minimum of $10,000 in taxes using the right tax strategies for your businessAbout Joel SalvadorNot only is he a successful CPA, but Joel Sandoval is a tax mastermind who has helped many business owners save around $37 million in taxes each year. With its CPA team, they strive to help business owners maximize their profits by reducing their taxes. Having been greatly influenced by the teachings of his mentors and coaches, he was inspired to create Tax Savers Academy, a course to help business owners who want to apply the same strategies the company applies with their clients. Whether you are a small business or not, the course can help you better manage your internal accounting with some tips.About Sandoval Tax CPAsLocated in Bakersfield, California, Sandoval Tax CPAs offers professional bookkeeping and tax preparation services for various types of businesses. They also help businesses achieve their goals by helping them understand the numbers, manage them effectively, and reduce stress. They believe that in order to do more than just prepare clients' taxes, they require everyone to enroll in continuing education courses in taxation and accounting provided by the State of California. The better the accounting services, the more time you can devote to income-generating activities.Tweetable Moments:“6:06: To be 100% transparent and honest, I knew nothing about business, so I had to invest in coaches and mentors that knew about business.”“6:47: The solution for me anyway is to invest into coaches and mentors who were who I wanted to be.”Links Mentioned in this Episode:Want to learn more? Check out the Sandoval Tax CPAs website at www.sandovaltax.comCheck out the Sandoval Tax CPAs on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/sandoval-tax/Check out Joel Sandoval on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelsandovalprofitlab/Check out Joel Sandoval on Instagram at https://instagram.com/joelsandovalcpaCheck out the Sandoval Tax CPAs on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/SandovalTax/Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:Tickets for the FIRST Annual Fame and Profit Summit 2022 are on sale now! Check it out HERE!️We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE.Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here.What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

1231 - Activating Your Potential with Djiana Llugolli

In this episode of The Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the CEO and author of the new book, "The Automatic Marketing Machine," Danny Decker.Danny Decker has built many successful businesses in the past. His book, “The Automatic Marketing Machine" is built around helping entrepreneurs stop worrying about finding their next customer and build a sustainable marketing system that will continue to work for them. Danny explained how, through his book, entrepreneurs could understand why most of their marketing strategies weren't working and how to fix it. He shared his vast experience in the field of marketing and blatantly revealed how extremely difficult it was, especially when following intentionally misleading gurus. Over the years, he discovered that many marketing agencies aren't 100% good at what they do, which prompted him to sell his agency and move into speaking, teaching and writing books. His goal: help entrepreneurs develop a solid marketing plan and find the right marketing vendors that could deliver the results they expected. Furthermore, Danny stressed that there could be no good tactic other than one that had been deeply planned and tested. From the knowledge they could gain from the book on how to create a sales plan and strategies for their business, they can form better collaboration with their vendors, which more likely leads to positive results. The book is packed with tons of teaching and vision-related information, as well asplenty of free resources to help get businesses started. Key Points from the Episode:What the book “The Automatic Marketing Machine” is all aboutThe differences between his book’s marketing approach and othersHow to plan the right marketing tactics for your business and collaborate with vendorsThe right approach to address your target marketThe benefits of working on List-based marketing for Facebook and LinkedIn AdsWhere to buy the book “The Automatic Marketing Machine”.About Danny DeckerPassionate about seeing businesses grow, providing opportunity and transforming lives, Danny Decker teaches small business owners to create marketing systems that produce predictable and sustainable growth. He worked in the marketing industry for over 12 years, started, grew and sold his 7-figure marketing agency in just 6 years. He is a speaker, author, podcast host, consultant and marketing coach for ambitious entrepreneurs.About the BookDanny Decker's book "The Automatic Marketing Machine'' is not your typical manual for developing effective marketing tactics. The book contains step-by-step instructions, case studies, tools, examples, and FREE BONUS resources to help build an Automatic Marketing Machine tailored to improve your business and your life!Tweetable Moments:“2:50: I’m sorry to report, but there’s also a whole lot of marketing agencies and gurus and vendors that aren’t doing things the right way.”“6:56: The fundamental problem for most small business owners is that when they think about their marketing, especially when they are communicating through their marketing, it's all about them and how great they are.”Links Mentioned in this Episode:Want to learn more? Check out the The Automatic Marketing Machine website at https://automaticmarketingmachine.com/Check out Automatic Marketing Machine on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/automaticmarketingmachineCheck out Danny Decker on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieljdeckerCheck out The Automatic Marketing Machine on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/automaticmarketingmachine/Check out The Automatic Marketing Machine on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AutomaticMarketingMachineDon’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:Tickets for the FIRST Annual Fame and Profit Summit 2022 are on sale now! Check it out HERE!I️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE.n Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.  

1229 - Two Paths with Lucas Root

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to CEO of SundaySky, Jim Dicso.SundaySky provides a video platform that allows various sizes of organizations to create, distribute, and scale their use of digital video for all business applications. Jim shares some challenges businesses face regarding video creation and how SundaySky alleviates these for them. He even talked through the process and the approach of SundaySky in video creation and what sets it apart from other platforms. Being in the business for a decade, he shared how he got into the business and how SundaySky locked in their first few clients.During his free time, Jim is passionate about sharing his knowledge with budding entrepreneurs by coaching and teaching them what's the next step to take on their journey. He works with his team in SundaySky to utilize the power of video to result in an exponential impact for a new level of content effectiveness and efficiency.Key Points from the Episode:What is SundaySky all about?What are the pain points associated with SundaySky's customers?Video as a modular mediumVideo creation in SundaySkyImpact of SundaySky video creation on UnitedHealthCareThe customer base of SundaySkyVideo creation in SundaySky:They utilize the concept of "video as a modular medium"Configuration nature vs. Customization natureUsing data to personalize it to each personAbout Jim Dicso: Jim Dicso is CEO of SundaySky. Prior to joining SundaySky, Jim was executive vice president of sales and services at LivePerson, a SaaS-based provider of real-time online customer engagement solutions, where he helped grow revenue from $17M to $96M and operating earnings grew from $2M to $30M. Prior to LivePerson, Jim held multiple sales leadership roles in his two years at Witness Systems and eight years at Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC), including a four-year assignment in the UK and Europe, and at a variety of sales positions over four years with Xerox Corporation.About SundaySky: SundaySky's platform includes technology that helps businesses customize, distribute, and optimize captivating videos at an enterprise-scale. SundaySky enables enterprises to lessen their reliance on traditional resource-intensive video production methods which incur significant expenses, time consuming, and demand specific creative and technical expertise.Links Mentioned in this Episode:Want to learn more? Check out the SundaySky website at https://sundaysky.com/Check out SundaySky on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/sundaysky/Check out Jim Dicso on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jimdicso?lang=enCheck out Jim Dicso on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimdicso/Check out Jim Dicso on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ahvacados/Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:Tickets for the FIRST Annual Fame and Profit Summit 2022 are on sale now! Check it out HERE!️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the CEO and Partner of FranBridge Consulting, Jon Ostenson.FranBridge Consulting is a franchise matchmaker. They match investors and entrepreneurs with great non-food franchising opportunities. Jon shares that there are thousands of opportunities to franchise in industries beyond food. Josh and Jon also discuss some of the advantages of avoiding food franchises. Jon shares that in his experience, he found that most of his clients didn’t want to work with franchises that dealt in food service. Between needing to be available 24/7 for issues and needing a heavy amount of staff members, many investors want to pursue easier methods of generating profit through the franchising model. Jon shares that the level of interest in investing in franchises is unprecedented. With record levels of opportunities and cash on the sidelines, business owners and budding entrepreneurs are looking for new ways to work for themselves. Many of his clients are entrepreneurs who have already built a couple of businesses but didn’t want to reinvent the wheel each time they started a new venture. Franchising gives an entrepreneur an eyes-wide-open perspective when it comes to starting a new business. They have the roadmap completely laid out and they know what to expect from day one. Jon explains that over 85% of franchise businesses will stay in business after five years – a much higher success rate than traditional start-ups. Franchising lends itself to easier exits for a few reasons, Jon explains. For one thing, you have other franchisees that might be interested in buying your business. Also, franchisors usually have a pipeline of interested, high-level leads that you can access as a franchisee. Another win? Private equity loves franchising. Private equity firms are very interested in franchises, especially now. Josh and Jon explore what types of franchises might be ideal for busy business owners who want to break into franchising. Most franchises allow for the room you need to run your other businesses, Jon says. He shares a case study where a very successful business owner he worked with entered the home and property services franchise when he wanted to diversify his businesses. He also came back to diversify further after he went on to hire a competent, trustworthy team to run each of his businesses after they were built. Being a good business owner means having great teams and operators. This is the only way franchising can be executed well for serial business owners. Want to learn more? Check out FranBridge Consulting’s website at https://franbridgeconsulting.com/. Check out FranBridge Consulting on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/franbridge-capital/. Check out Jon Ostenson on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonostenson/. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to Consultant, Speaker and Author, Melanie Curtis.Melanie competed professionally in skydiving for years and she traveled the world as a professional headliner coach. She helps people learn and reach the competitive success they’re after. According to Melanie the structured environment skydiving has is similar to knowing what your goals are and the steps to take to get there. She also pointed out that working in teams it’s not always roses. Conflict can happen because different personalities and opinions can clash anytime. To mitigate these conflicts, having structured communication really helps.Melanie also emphasized the difference between calculated courage and being less prepared but still going for the gun! Preparation is important to ensure you reach your peak performance, however knowing when to let go and accessing the flow state is equally important. Reaching the next level of success for the team means unclenching those knuckles and getting masterful control of your fear. Key Points from the Episode:Who’s Melanie Curtis?What can Entrepreneurs learn from professional skydivingDifferent forms of professional skydivingThe value of structured environment in skydivingHow can calculated courage help reach your goal vs making a reckless moveHow to get masterful in controlling fearStructuring your goal setting:Structured systemStructured communicationAccessing to flow stateAbout Melanie Curtis: Melanie is a recognized leader and advocate in skydiving and personal and professional development. She's a professional skydiver, author, and podcast host. She's featured as an expert in Forbes, Fast Company, Thrive Global, CBS Sunday Morning, Masters of Scale, and other publications. Being a champion of growth, kindness and inclusion makes her one of the best life coaches, speaker and author. Mel's coaching work helps the greatest performers to look inward to take on some of the most challenging work there is, to grow, to heal, connect, and contribute in the ways people most sincerely desire.She is an excellent listener who is dedicated to truly being there for her customers, their needs, and their experience. Working with her means that she won't be solving the problems herself. Instead, she has a unique way of highlighting numerous possibilities and choices that individuals can make for themselves by using her wisdom, positivity, and encouragement.Links Mentioned in this Episode:Want to learn more? Check out Melanie Curtis website at https://melaniecurtis.com/Check out Melanie Curtis on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniecurtis11/Check out Melanie Curtis on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/melaniecurtis11/Check out Melanie Curtis on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/melaniecurtiscomCheck out Melanie Curtis on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/melanie.curtis.37/Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:Tickets for the FIRST Annual Fame and Profit Summit 2022 are on sale now! Check it out HERE!️  We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? Take my free quiz here.