Celeste DeCamps Of Empowerment Through Movement and Authentic Voice On The 5 Things You Need To Be…

Celeste DeCamps Of Empowerment Through Movement and Authentic Voice On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Breathing: Breathing properly helps reduce anxiety and helps the voice project clearly. This is the first step I take with my audience and clients. Most people don’t know how to breathe from their diaphragm, so it’s essential to establish this technique in the beginning. The easiest way to tell if you’re breathing correctly is to lay down on your back and place one hand on your chest and one on your stomach. Inhale and see which hand rises. If it’s the hand on your chest, you will need to direct the next inhalation to your belly. Long deep breaths help clear the mind and relax the body. Speaking from our diaphragm gives our voice strength and resonance. It allows our voice to start and end sentences with clarity and projection instead of fading out.

At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Celeste DeCamps.

Celeste DeCamps is an accomplished motivational speaker and speech coach. She shares a lifetime of experience in stage dance and movement in her presentations by implementing engaging stories and fun audience interaction. Through her company, Empowerment Through Movement LLC, Celeste guides clients in discovering the tools needed to get them feeling energized, confident, and more-than-ready for their next presentation or job interview.

Additionally, Celeste has teamed up with fellow keynote speaker Michele Marshall in creating Authentic Voice LLC. This speech-coaching company offers staff training and individual coaching sessions to improve presentations, job interviews, or networking events.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I grew up in North Miami Beach, Florida, one of six kids, two older brothers, two younger sisters, and a younger brother. My dad was a financial manager, and my mom was a homemaker. None of us followed in our parents’ footsteps, though. My older brother a musician, my sister a makeup artist, my younger brother a comedian/magician — and me? I was a belly dancer and drummer. Yet, our parents supported and encouraged all our endeavors. I graduated from the University of Miami with a degree in Communications. I worked in radio and television. I deejayed four shows a week on the college radio station and did camera work, assisted directed and directed for two television stations. On the weekends, I performed in Middle Eastern restaurants, belly dancing. Occasionally, I would join my brother and his band and play the drums. My brother Stan opened a jazz and blues restaurant called One Night Stan’s and asked me to help manage it. After a few years, I ended up moving to New York — my long-distance boyfriend had proposed. I got a job with Southern Wine and Spirits, you guessed it, selling wine and spirits to nightclubs, restaurants, and hotels all over Manhattan. Twelve years later, I felt it was time to put my experience and expertise in sales and management to good use. In addition, I wanted to help people develop their communication skills to find success.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

For me, dancing and playing music was the only time I felt comfortable in my skin. My whole being was locked into the sounds I was concentrating on. I wasn’t worried about how I looked or what people thought of me. Nothing else mattered. When I wasn’t performing, I was self-conscious and second-guessed myself about everything I said or did. I knew if I didn’t find a way to overcome my nervousness around people, I would never have a social life or find business success.

The best thing I did for myself was to take belly dancing classes when I was in college. Not long after, I was hired to perform belly grams for private parties. I spent my weekends driving all over South Florida, surprising people on their birthdays. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the confidence I had when I danced was starting to creep into my everyday life.

At the time, I was taking an interpersonal communication class, which I needed to graduate, and found out that half of my grade would be based on an oral report. Just reading those words “oral report” made me panic. I worked on that report and memorized it all, backward and forward. Yet, when my name was called, my heart started to beat fast, and my legs felt like jelly. As I walked to the front of the class, I suddenly felt a switch turn on inside me. I pulled my shoulders back, lifted my head, and smiled. The same thing I do when I’m about to perform. I spoke clearly, I made eye contact, and I even got a few laughs. My professor came up to me and said, “I don’t know who that was up there, but I hope you keep her. I was worried about you, but today, I saw a confident young woman find her voice. I’m giving you an A.”

In my head, I’m thanking the speaking gods that came to my rescue. It wasn’t until years later, when I was teaching other women to dance, that I saw how quickly their mindset would change from feeling self-conscious to feeling sexy just by shifting their body position. I realized that I could stop the negative, doubting voice in my head simply by paying attention to how I held myself. This understanding of the body-mind connection was my key to success. I began researching and developing my ideas into programs to help others find their voice.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

The most interesting story that happened since I began my career was working with a group of magicians. Yes, magicians as in magic. Most people don’t realize all the working parts that need to come together to make the impossible, possible. On top of that, the performer must engage a crowd and be entertaining. I worked with each artist and gave them my point of view as a layperson. It was gratifying to come up with solutions, even though I didn’t know how the effects were done, to help enhance the audience experience. I also learned quite a bit about the psychology of movement and the subtle gestures that made a huge difference in a performance.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

The funniest mistake I made was presenting the empowering effect of exuding confidence and using legendary film icon Mae West as an example. I even threw in a few of her famous lines in my best Mae West impersonation. When it was time for questions, a woman asked me who Mae West was. I immediately saw others in the audience who wanted to know as well. I asked for a show of hands of those who didn’t know this actress, and to my surprise, the whole audience had their hands up. This event was a valuable lesson for me. I learned the importance of meeting the participants before going on stage. Then, I can fine-tune and focus on what the audience wants quickly and make my message relatable.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

It would be hard to pick one person who helped me on my speaking journey when I was fortunate to have a whole group. When I left the corporate world to become a full-time professional speaker, I joined a Toastmaster club in Manhattan. It was the most encouraging and supportive atmosphere because the members were attentive and engaged with each individual. Everyone evaluated my speeches and gave excellent notes and tips on making them better. I eventually became a mentor to new members and working with them on their presentations made me a better speaker. As a result, I’ve made lifetime friends and supporters. Even after leaving, I can still depend on their expertise and guidance.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

My advice is to get up and fail. It’s the only way to learn and evolve. Waiting for every word and gesture to be perfect will keep you from getting on stage. I’m not saying get up and wing it in front of an audience and hope for the best. I’m suggesting that research, organization, and practice are imperative, but it doesn’t mean you still won’t mess up. Most of the time, an audience has no clue you left out a word, sentence, or a whole paragraph. If you work on engaging the group and helping them find solutions or inspiration with your message, they will forgive any mishaps. Take every opportunity to be on a stage and hone your communication skills. Be open to constructive criticism and ask for feedback from the participants to see how your message landed with them. Find a mentor who will help guide you on this journey.

What drives you to get up everyday and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?

There’s nothing better than helping someone find their voice. I live for that moment when a light turns on inside someone. They smile because that self-consciousness they were feeling a second ago disappears and is replaced with a sense of confidence. I want to share the message with everyone that we have more power over our thoughts than we realize. We can quiet the negative, doubting voice in our head by paying attention to how we are holding ourselves. Check your posture. Are you standing tall, or is your head down? Are you smiling or looking worried? Are you taking slow measured breaths and feeling calm, or does your chest feel tight? We worry way too much about what others think of us. We lose sight of being in the moment when we should be paying more attention to the person in front of us.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

I’m very excited about the workshop I’ll be doing in May with my partner Michele Marshall in Sparta, New Jersey, at the Sparta Avenue Stage. The theme is “Communicate with Confidence.” We will share tools to help people project their voices, reduce the butterflies, and remove the fear of speaking in public. We’ve conducted this training for private companies to help their employees improve their sales and presentation skills. However, we wanted to bring this program to the public because we know everyone from an executive, manager, or student can benefit from learning these techniques to help them succeed. My goal is to continue doing these workshops for different organizations and schools around the country. I realize that texting and emailing are easy ways to communicate, but they will never replace face-to-face conversations. We can’t measure tone, warmth, or energy with emojis, no matter how many are created.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My favorite quote comes from Oscar Wilde — “You don’t love someone for their looks, or their clothes or their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.” It took me a long time to realize no one cares how I look or what I’m wearing, but how I make them feel. I still have times when my insecurities raise their ugly head, and I need to give myself a pep talk. I’ve learned to get past my doubts and jump on opportunities that come my way. The only thing I fear now is regret. I don’t want to ever talk myself out of trying anything new because I didn’t feel pretty enough or smart enough to try. My mission is to help people know their self-worth and see all the possibilities out there for them.

Ok, thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.

  1. Breathing: Breathing properly helps reduce anxiety and helps the voice project clearly. This is the first step I take with my audience and clients. Most people don’t know how to breathe from their diaphragm, so it’s essential to establish this technique in the beginning. The easiest way to tell if you’re breathing correctly is to lay down on your back and place one hand on your chest and one on your stomach. Inhale and see which hand rises. If it’s the hand on your chest, you will need to direct the next inhalation to your belly. Long deep breaths help clear the mind and relax the body. Speaking from our diaphragm gives our voice strength and resonance. It allows our voice to start and end sentences with clarity and projection instead of fading out.
  2. Organization: It’s easy to take your main topic into a few different directions without realizing it. Before you know it, you’re in information overload, and your message becomes scattered. Instead, prepare your speech with one idea and center your examples around it before your call to action. My advice is to present up to three points that support your topic. More than that, you may be diluting your impact. If your subject matter is too broad, for example, “Today we will be discussing the best wines in the world.” You’re setting yourself up for failure. It’s better to narrow the scope to “The best cabernets from California’s Alexander Valley that are under twenty dollars.” Now you’re giving easily digestible information. Your outline should include an introduction, three supporting points and conclude with a call to action. Go out and buy that wine!
  3. Storytelling: Who doesn’t like a good story? We remember facts and information better when connecting them to a relatable event. A few years ago, I helped a young woman with a speech she was preparing about the history of arranged marriages. She had data on the cultural significance and how it affected the families involved in the matchmaking process. I asked her if she had a personal stake in this. She said her family was actively working on finding her a husband. Unfortunately, they had set up one date that went horribly wrong. I said, “That’s the story I want to hear. Put that together, and you’ll have everyone’s interest.” Sure enough, the audience was treated to a hilarious reenactment of her doomed date, but the impact of her subject was made more significant by her personal involvement. Everyone had put themselves in her shoes and could relate to her topic.
  4. Dynamics: One of the first things people tell me is they don’t know what to do with their hands when they’re in front of people. They get so self-conscious that any movement they make will feel exaggerated and awkward. If we stand anchored in one spot and barely change our tone while speaking, we are guaranteed to put our audience to sleep. A speaker should be animated and have good eye contact and meaningful gestures to keep people engaged. The best examples of this are watching comedians on stage. Some of them put their whole body into their story, and it keeps our attention. Notice when they are delivering their punch line. They’ll stop and look at one person as they say the line that will get the biggest laugh. It’s as if they are speaking to all of us. Their voices change levels for effect. They may speak in a stage whisper one moment and, bellow to the rafters in the next- depending on what their story calls for. We don’t need to over-exaggerate our voices or movements, but they should coincide with what we’re saying to enhance our speech.
  5. Practice: Preparation is key to overcoming our fear of public speaking. When we know the information we want to share backward and forward, it becomes part of us. Think about a story you like to tell. For example: When you first described a night out with friends, the account was probably twenty minutes long. The more you recounted the event, the more you began to take out any details that didn’t move the story along. Soon, you’ve got a solid five-minute tale with all the funny and exciting parts intact. You didn’t script it out; it was simply telling the story several times until it became rote. Approach your speaking opportunities the same way. Get in front of friends and family and accept constructive criticism. No one creates in a vacuum. Hearing other opinions will lead you to greater success. You’ll find yourself becoming comfortable with sharing your ideas because of the dedication and work you put into them. You never know who may need to hear your message until you take that leap of faith and pass on your knowledge and passion.

As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?

For many people, the thought of standing in the spotlight with all eyes on them can feel scary. That’s a lot of attention and judgment all at once. We tend to build that fear up as we imagine the worst; I’ll trip and fall on my face. I’ll forget the entire speech as soon as I walk to the front of the room. No one will care what I have to say. The reality is that audiences are rooting for you whether you realize it or not. If you practiced and prepared your speech, it’ll go well. It will never be perfect, and that’s fine. It doesn’t have to be. People want you to give them the information, solutions, and motivation that were promised.

Before you go on stage:

  1. Take deep breaths and relax your body.
  2. Do tongue twisters to warm up your mouth. This will help you from tripping over your words.
  3. Do some stretches and check your posture.
  4. Practice walking with your shoulders back, head lifted, and smile.
  5. When you tell yourself “I’m nervous,” change the thought to “I’m excited.”

The audience isn’t the enemy. They are your friends, looking forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas. If possible, try to meet and greet the group as they’re coming in. You’ll create a quick connection with them before you get on stage. Now it’s a party. Relax and have fun.

You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I want to inspire people to pay more attention to their body language. The way we hold ourselves reflects how we feel inside. We can shift our mindset to be more self-assured by walking, standing, and sitting with good posture. When we are in tune with ourselves, we notice the body language of others. We can empathize readily even with someone we just met. Listening and staying focused on the person or persons in front of us goes a long way in establishing rapport. I believe this will help better our communication skills, leading to fewer misunderstandings in work and personal relationships.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

I want to meet Amy Cuddy. I was researching the body-mind connection, and I saw her TED Talk. I felt validated by a social psychologist who had recognized how important it is to pay attention to our posture, especially when our mind is causing us to doubt ourselves. Her “power poses” are similar to the different dance positions I use to show how quickly our attitudes can change. It would be fun and informative to have the opportunity to talk with her.

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

Yes, please visit my website: www.CelesteDeCamps.com

Facebook: Celeste DeCamps Speaker: https://www.facebook.com/mindbodybelief

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/celeste-decamps-empowermentthroughmovement/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cdecamps7

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Celeste DeCamps Of Empowerment Through Movement and Authentic Voice On The 5 Things You Need To Be… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Project Vesta: Dr Grace Andrew’s Big Idea that Might Change the World

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Don’t compare yourself to others. When looking at other people’s relationships, it is often said that “you don’t know what happens behind closed doors.” This acknowledges that outward appearances can be misleading. The same is true in academics and professional careers! Other people may look like they are flying through school or climbing the ladder at work with ease, but you often can’t see the effort people put in privately, the late nights, the sacrifices, the tutor, the coaching sessions. I spent a lot of time during my career feeling “less than.” That was wasted emotional energy. It is best to focus on yourself. Celebrate your strengths, work on your weaknesses, and keep going.

As a part of my series about “Big Ideas That Might Change The World In The Next Few Years” I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Grace Andrews.

Dr. Grace Andrews, who has dedicated her career to combating climate change. She is featured in an original documentary and educational series on Wondrium called “Solving for Zero” that highlights technological advances that will help our planet reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

As Vice President of Scientific Research at Project Vesta, Grace is working on a global solution to remove carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere by distributing a naturally occurring mineral, olivine, in coastal areas. Her research focuses on coastal carbon capture as a negative emission technology to mitigate climate change. Prior to joining this innovative company, she worked at the Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation implementing terrestrial enhanced weathering trials at locations around the globe. She has a Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Northwestern University where she received the Horace A. Scott Graduate Award for Outstanding Research.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you please tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

My senior year of high school I was like a lot of other kids, incredibly excited to be leaving home and going to college but simultaneously entirely overwhelmed because I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. What I did know was that I wanted a life of purpose and impact and adventure, but I had no clue how to make that happen. That changed when Al Gore’s documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth”, premiered the summer before I started university. Watching that film crystallized for me the global challenge that I knew I had the interest and talent to tackle. A few months later, I started university already declared as an Earth Science major, and I’ve never looked back.

Knowing that a documentary on climate change truly helped shape the course of my life makes my role in Wondrium’s “Solving for Zero” all the more meaningful to me. I hope that I am able to ‘pay it forward’ and through this film, and my story, propel at least one more person towards an impactful career in climate change mitigation.

Can you please share with us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Prior to joining Project Vesta, I spent a number of years launching field pilots of a Negative Emission Technology (NET) called terrestrial enhanced weathering. One of the pilots was conducted in a remote corner of an oil palm plantation in Malaysian Borneo. I spent months, cumulatively, living on the plantation building our field station and developing the pilot. The perspective-changing experiences I had during this time are probably enough to fill a book with, but one experience always jumps out when I reflect on my time there.

On one occasion a senior-level executive came to the plantation to meet with me and about 20 of my colleagues. Our meeting was held over dinner, and we sat around a large dining table with the executive squarely at the head of the table. When he talked, everyone listened. When he joked, everyone laughed. I have never seen anyone “hold court” quite the way he did. And when the eyes of the men sitting across from me diverted as I tried to engage in conversation, it occurred to me that I was the only woman at the table.

After dinner, I decided to go for a walk. But as I set off to go, a group of women that had been working in the guest house kitchen, some who had been serving us all night, emerged and started milling around me. When I started walking, they followed. My Malaysian colleague joined us and translated what was happening — this group of women, maybe eight in number, wanted to walk with the woman who had sat at the table.

They had never seen a woman sit at the table before. And so we walked. One or two of the women walked silently beside me, as we didn’t share a language, and the rest trailed right behind. And each step of the walk pressed into me the very literal importance of my having a seat at the table.

Which principles or philosophies have guided your life? Your career?

As a scientist, and as an executive, there is often pressure to “have all the answers,” to sound smart, to seem competent. I fundamentally believe that the best scientists, and the best leaders, know what they don’t know and aren’t afraid to ask someone who does know. Appearances will only get you the first mile of the marathon. Ultimately, respect and success come to those who have sound judgment and make good decisions. That only happens when you’re informed.

Ok thank you for that. Let’s now move to the main focus of our interview. Can you tell us about your “Big Idea That Might Change The World”?

I am the VP of Science at a company called Project Vesta. We’re developing a Negative Emission Technology called Coastal Carbon Capture (CCC) to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and help mitigate climate change. The mechanism behind CCC is fundamentally based on accelerating the Earth’s natural process for regulating atmospheric CO2 levels, a process called chemical weathering.

CCC works by simply placing sand, made from the natural mineral olivine, in coastal waters. When olivine sand interacts with seawater and CO2, it drives a reaction that takes CO2 out of the air and generates a form of dissolved carbon in seawater that, conveniently, is the antidote to ocean acidification. Because the ocean is so big, there is an abundance of space to implement this strategy and ultimately have a meaningful impact on climate change. We estimate that if CCC was deployed on just 0.25% of coastal shelves, we could remove a billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere. Right now, Project Vesta is building out a number of very small pilot trials of CCC all over the world, including in the Caribbean, to test the safety and efficiency of CCC in a natural setting.

How do you think this will change the world?

I think CCC could be a significant piece of the climate change mitigation puzzle. It is not a silver bullet — no climate mitigation strategy is — but it is scalable, affordable, and can be implemented by any community, state, or country with coastline.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this idea that people should think more deeply about?

The mechanism behind how CCC removes CO2 from the atmosphere is very simple, just add olivine sand to the ocean. In practice, safely and efficiently implementing CCC, as well as robustly monitoring it, are challenges that I spend most of my time thinking about. I think a risk with CCC is that rogue actors may not appreciate its complexities and try to irresponsibly implement it. Having diligent, universal deployment guidelines and monitoring requirements is essential to ensuring that in all cases CCC, and similar climate mitigation strategies, are executed to the highest possible standard.

Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this idea? Can you tell us that story?

There was not really a “tipping point” that led me to believe CCC could be successful, but rather a slow and steady accumulation of knowledge and experiences. I spent my Ph.D. studying chemical weathering, Earth’s natural process of regulating CO2 levels, and the years after that working on terrestrial enhanced weathering, the land-based counterpart to CCC. When I brought together both my scientific understanding of carbon removal processes, as well as my understanding of the technological challenges associated with scaling NET’s and bringing them to market, CCC clearly stood out as having the ability to succeed.

What do you need to lead this idea to widespread adoption?

CCC cannot achieve widespread adoption without social license. Right now, Negative Emission Technologies are still foreign to most people. For a lot of good reasons, the things we don’t understand often seem scary. We need people, communities, states and nations to commit to solving the climate crisis, and to do so, we need everyone to invest in learning, ask questions, and ultimately, demand change.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why.

1. Find an advocate. The most efficient path to a successful career in STEM is through those who have come before you. Starting my freshman year of university, a professor in my department gave me the opportunity to do research in his world-class laboratory, took me to conferences, and encouraged me to take graduate-level classes. The rest of my career has precipitated from these opportunities. In retrospect, I feel that I stumbled into having a tremendous career advocate early on. I wish I was more conscious of the importance of this relationship at the time. To others I say: do not be afraid to seek out potential advocates. You have so much to gain and quite literally nothing to lose.

2. Consider your career goals carefully before pursuing a Ph.D. A Ph.D. is absolutely essential for a few, certain jobs. Beyond that handful of positions however, it over-qualifies you for the rest. Don’t spend five years pursuing a Ph.D. unless you are sure it’s required to get you where you want to be. In my own pursuit of a Ph.D., I was not as mindful as I should have been, as I encourage others to be. It worked out in my case, and I’m grateful for that, but it is easy for me to see how things could have ended differently.

3. Don’t compare yourself to others. When looking at other people’s relationships, it is often said that “you don’t know what happens behind closed doors.” This acknowledges that outward appearances can be misleading. The same is true in academics and professional careers! Other people may look like they are flying through school or climbing the ladder at work with ease, but you often can’t see the effort people put in privately, the late nights, the sacrifices, the tutor, the coaching sessions. I spent a lot of time during my career feeling “less than.” That was wasted emotional energy. It is best to focus on yourself. Celebrate your strengths, work on your weaknesses, and keep going.

4. It’s okay to wander a bit. Some people have career paths that run as straight as an arrow. It’s okay if yours doesn’t. As long as you’re gaining meaningful life experiences, you’re growing, developing, and learning in ways that will have an important mark on your future work. See Point 5.

5. Technical skills will get you started in your career but soft skills are what separate out the leaders. The best thing I have ever done for my career was spend a few months in couples therapy with my husband revamping my communication skills. Effective, interpersonal communication is critical for successful team management. If this is an area where you feel you are lacking, take it upon yourself to learn the soft skills and practice implementing them at home or at work, no matter what stage of your career you are in. You are setting yourself up for success.

Can you share with our readers what you think are the most important “success habits” or “success mindsets”?

Prioritize work-life balance. I put “family time” on my work calendar and make no exceptions. My family is my root source of joy and motivation, and my best work is done when that side of my life is flourishing as well. Some of this family time and the importance I place on it is even highlighted in the Wondrium documentary “Solving for Zero.”

I also believe you should make time to care for yourself. When you feel good about yourself, you have natural confidence. This will permeate into your work.

During conflict or disagreements with others at work, treat the professional relationship largely as you would a personal relationship because everyone just wants to feel heard, understood, and valued, be it in the home or workplace. When conflict arises, give the benefit of the doubt, acknowledge your own mistakes, and most importantly, speak not from a place of anger or annoyance but from a place of empathy. This will build a committed and loyal team.

Some very well-known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

Coastal Carbon Capture is a solution that addresses not just the root cause of the climate crisis (rising CO2 levels) but also the symptoms (ocean acidification, coastal erosion). By adding sand made from the natural mineral olivine to coastlines, CO2 is removed from the atmosphere and stored permanently in the ocean as alkalinity, the antidote to ocean acidification. The added sand can also contribute to the protection of coastal homes, livelihoods, and habitats currently threatened by sea level rise. Due to the Earth’s vast coastal area, CCC has massive potential to scale and combat climate change. If deployed on just 0.25% of Earth’s continental shelf, we could remove one billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

You can find me on twitter, @mgrace_andrews. And if readers want to learn more about the work I’m doing on Coastal Carbon Capture, they can watch #SolvingforZero on wondrium.com and follow @wondrium on any social platform.

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

Project Vesta: Dr Grace Andrew’s Big Idea that Might Change the World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Mesha Page On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Confidence, personality, mental acuity, flexibility, and discipline.

At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Demesha Page.

Director of brand marketing by day and urban adventurer by night. Demesha is an ambitious marketing professional currently assisting with the launch of the ethical organization, “Art For Your Cause”(AFYC). This company is the first known “cause-based” E-commerce fine-art marketplace. https://afyc.com

Demesha is a brand ambassador and an excellent communicator with a passion for speaking. She prides herself on making sure people have the right information because it drives better results. Her background in brand strategy, partnerships, and professional development fuel her mindful but straight-forward approach.

Her résumé boasts a strong background in facilitating organizational implementations, presentations, material designs, and career development. She reports directly to the company’s CEO and collaborates with other executives to make high-level decisions regarding the direction of the company in order to drive sales and build brand awareness.

Ms. Page attributes her tenacity to her passion for making lives better for others. This passion has led her to challenge herself daily. She finds honesty, creativity, and dedication to be the most valuable qualities that contribute to her success. Always eager to learn and cultivate her skills, she continually strives to build on her professional expertise and stay in tune with the latest marketing strategies and trends.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I was the first-born of 2 girls, raised in a small town in the Midwest called Joplin, MO. I was fortunate enough to be brought up in a small community with exposure to good ethics and core values which was just a way of life. I was a sheltered, soft-hearted, good kid with a very strict upbringing in my formative years. My father always pushed me to excel in school and taught me that failure is not an option. Although I was treated by others as the black sheep in my family, my Dad always supported me for who I was and played a significant role in my upbringing. I think that only made me stronger and pushed me to excel beyond expectations. He helped mold me into the woman that I am today. As a child of a broken home, in my teenage years, I eventually moved to Texas with my mother and sister.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

After roughly 20 years in the healthcare insurance industry, I worked my way up the ladder starting out as a customer service phone representative and followed the trail to eventually becoming a Trainer. I had hit a mental roadblock in my career and was burnt-out. I felt that I had learned all there was to know in healthcare insurance.

After living in Hawaii briefly, I decided to move back to Texas. Due to my previous work experience with public speaking and facilitation, I was offered a job as a Marketing Director by the founder of AFYC. Looking for a breath of fresh air, I accepted the job offer and entered into the wonderful world of art and marketing. I haven’t looked back since.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

My position incorporates a lot of various duties and tasks to accomplish. One of those many duties is to find and recruit talented independent artists to partner with our organization. There was one particular internationally renowned artist, Nathan Rohlander. I first saw his work on ABC’s hit sitcom, “Modern Family”. He was one of my favorite artists that I had followed on social media for years. On a whim, I reached out to him via Facebook and requested a meeting with him. To my surprise, he said yes. Nathan is now a large contributor and partnering artist with AFYC.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

One person comes to mind immediately and that would be my training mentor, Nesrin Oliver. Earlier in my career, before I had attained any experience of my own as a trainer, Nesrin always brought 110% to the table when speaking publicly as a facilitator. She was mesmerizing! She was also like a mentor of sorts and taught me how to keep the audience engaged and how to make presentations fun and/or enjoyable. I accredit Nesrin with taking me under her wing and providing me with professional insight for the furthering of my career development.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

Follow your heart’s desires. Life is too short to be controlled by fear. If you have the mind and determination, you can succeed. Sure, it takes practice and effort…but all good things do. You have to convince yourself that you are enough and just go for it. In my opinion, failure is not an option because if you fail at something that means that you gave up trying. As long as you are consistent and disciplined in the pursuit of your dreams, you can master almost anything that you set your mind to.

What drives you to get up everyday and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?

I am a brand ambassador and an excellent communicator with a passion for speaking. I pride myself on making sure people have the right information because it tends to drive better results. My previous experience as a trainer fuels my mindful but straight-forward approach. The message that I aim at sharing with the world (regardless of the subject matter) is to be pliable and open to learning or trying something new.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

I am the Creative Marketing Director for Art For Your Cause (AFYC) which is an online art marketplace. The organization is fairly new and the founder hired me to educate, create, and promote brand awareness in order to be fully operational by Summer 2022. I never get bored or complacent with this position. It is a large undertaking to help a company launch successfully. I wear multiple hats working for this organization whether it’s public speaking, business networking, creating content, etc. I am constantly thinking creatively about our brand even when I am not at work. It’s my passion.

In the future, I can most definitely envision myself working independently with my own business as a contracted Marketing Director with multiple clients.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Failure is not an option” because if you fail at something that means that you gave up trying. I refused to give up and just continued to improve and recreate myself with every bump in the road. Because of my tenacity, I was able to gather more knowledge, experience, and insight towards my career path.

Ok, thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.

Confidence, personality, mental acuity, flexibility, and discipline.

What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker?

It takes confidence to speak to an audience (no matter it’s size). Confidence is key when speaking to your audience, no matter the size. Confidence or lack thereof, is the easiest thing to spot when you’re looking for it. Your audience is looking for credibility. If you, as the speaker, do not have confidence in what you are saying then your audience most definitely won’t either.

What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk?

Be engaging. You have to keep your audience engaged whether online or in-person. Presentations are more effective when they are interactive and engaging. It not only keeps their attention, but the listener is on alert to stay focused on what you’re saying. Once you become comfortable with the content that you are speaking about, that’s when you’re able to just be yourself, let your personality show, and intermingle with some dialogue (when possible) to keep your audience interested.

How can you improve your public speaking skills?

Practice, practice, practice…and then practice some more! Nobody is perfect in delivering speeches without some preparation. When you practice repeatedly, you are building your own muscle memory. You want to be able to strongly grasp the subject matter so that you’re comfortable with your delivery. Once you become comfortable with the content that you are speaking about, that’s when you’re able to just be yourself, let your personality show, and intermingle with some dialogue (when possible) to keep your audience interested.

As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?

Getting over your fear is just a mind game. Nothing physical. You have to tap into that mental space and rid it of the negative thoughts by replacing them with positive ones. Positive thoughts like, “I’m a badass, I’ve got this! I’m going to knock this out of the park!” …dwell on those thoughts…even if you don’t believe them. You have to mentally psyche yourself out by convincing yourself that you know enough, you have enough, and you are enough.

You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

The message that I aim at sharing with the world (regardless of the subject matter) is to always be pliable and open to learning or trying something new. Being open, flexible, and courageous has the potential to set your life on a better trajectory. The possibilities are endless!

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

Sofia Vergara. She stars on ABC’s hit sitcom, “Modern Family” which is my favorite TV show of all time! I admire and look up to Sofia as a role-model to me. I just love her real life story of how she overcame illness and conquered prejudice and language barriers to become the powerhouse you see today. Through perseverance, she has created her own empire in spite of the obstacles she had to face. You see her brand everywhere from Pepsi, to Head & Shoulders, to “America’s Got Talent”, and the list goes on!

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

I am on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Mesha Page On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Making Something From Nothing: Jeff Leitman Of Rocksteady Corp On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Find ways to rely on your people more. As leaders, we often think that our job is to come up with the ideas and then get our people to execute them. By encouraging your team members to innovate and being open to putting those ideas ahead of yours is not only liberating, but it makes you better.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Leitman.

Jeff Leitman is the founder, President and CEO of Rocksteady Corp. and Killer Concepts, Inc.

Rocksteady, makers of the Rocksteady Stadium portable sound system, markets a highly immersive and connectible wireless sound system and will soon launch the world’s first wireless and connectible portable subwoofer.

Killer Concepts, best known for its family of Piggy phone stands, sells and markets mobile phone accessories at retail and online, throughout the US, Canada and in some parts of Europe.

Jeff is a passionate leader, focused on teamwork, growth, and team member development. He and his wife Mia live in Irvine, CA and are parents to two daughters, Jenny and Madelaine.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I grew up in Montreal, a French speaking city on the East Coast of Canada. After High School, I studied Economics in College then shortly after graduation, I left to see the world, returning 18 months later to begin my career.

It began on a salesfloor selling PC’s just as ‘a computer in everyone’s home’ was becoming a reality. A year later I was moved to Vancouver as a category buyer for that same retailer, and it was in that role that I first developed the entrepreneurial spirit and leadership skills that I carry and use today.

At 25, I moved to LA and married two years later. Soon I found myself living in Dallas with two kids before returning to California.

Looking back, my life so far has been a great adventure with the final chapters still unwritten. I wasn’t a happy kid growing up and it often feels like that pursuit of happiness continues to drive me today.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I loved playing basketball when I was younger and it was on the courts where I learned the power of the force multiplier that comes out of teamwork and good leadership.

Later in life, it was a mentor of mine ( Kent Schlichtemeir) who simple truth would be a reminder to me to find strength and courage to take on big things. “Everything that is easy was once hard; and everything that is hard becomes easy,” he would say.

Building a company, hiring people and expanding offices, brands, and taking on large projects is best done when you are strategic with your approach and fearless in your objectives.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

I seek out opportunities to interact with and listen to high achievers and thought leaders, and Podcasts are great ways to do this. I have a curious mind and love to learn how things work, why things happen, and how decisions were made.

I often find myself seeing the world through the eyes of Economics. “People I Mostly Admire,” hosted by Steve Levitt, a non-traditional economist, is one of my favorites. His guests have diverse backgrounds and are each inspirational in their own ways. “Stuff You Should Know” is a fun podcast with diverse topics and a chance to learn lots of random things. NPR’s “Planet Money” is a good way to review the top headlines within a non-political and honest viewpoint.

Developing the skills of critical thought and problem solving takes practice and an open mind. Taking ownership of your mistakes is the best way to learn from them, and reading and listening to Podcasts are ways to avoid the mistakes in the first place.

However, the greatest gift you can give yourself and to ensure your success is to invest in your professional network and friends. “How to Win Friends & Influence People” teaches you great lessons which will serve you along your journey.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

There are all kinds of ideas and businesses, and mine is centered around consumer packaged goods. All businesses are formed around some basic gap in the market, be it better service, better pricing, innovation, and probably more. Understanding the size of your market, the business rules in your category, and an understanding of financial reporting will make your path easiest.

My process is usually the same. Do the free stuff first, which is to study the market, determine a strategy, and create your business plan. If the analysis rings true, then build your roadmap and execute the next step.

Rocksteady Stadium started with a vision about how we wanted to use speakers. We knew the roadmap ended with deliveries to customers but the steps between A and Z many, some uncertain, some unknown, and most harder than planned. Start with what you know and work to fill in the gaps. Determine your first milestone event and focus on those smaller steps between A and B to remain productive and sane. Eventually you get to a point where you see that what remains is easier than what you’ve already overcome, which will energize you to get launched.

Tuning the sound on our Rocksteady Stadium speakers was the hardest thing we’ve ever done, and we couldn’t have done it without great partners. Our initial roadmap had that taking a couple weeks, when in fact it took nearly 8 months.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

For consumer packaged goods, it is often the case that if it isn’t sold on Amazon, then it likely doesn’t exist yet. A Google search should be next; then you should consider who else (other than you) are best positioned to take this idea to market, and then research to see what they are doing in that space.

If the coast seems clear, then you should build a rough business plan in order to gain the confidence to start investing in next steps. Depending on the idea, the next step may be to speak with a patent attorney.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

When I started Killer Concepts, I built a sourcing network in China. So with Rocksteady Stadium, finding our manufacturer was about interviewing as many factories we could find until we had the right match. I prefer factories where I can meet and know the owner or senior management and where their culture is aligned with mine.

The location of your factory will either make sense due to the proximity of your customers, the proximity to you, or the proximity of the up-chain suppliers who make the parts and provide the raw materials needed to make your product. Once you’ve determined the where, use your network to find multiple options. I feel like I fail more than 50% of the time when I do something new, so persevere and use those failures to prepare you for the next meeting.

Your patent attorney will search for both utility and design patents, and both granted and filed applications. Interview several in your search, starting with some referrals and some web searches. Depending on your idea, you may need an attorney trained in your technology, as they will be instrumental in understanding the nuance that makes your idea great.

Finally, getting distribution and ending up on a retailer’s shelf is about hard work, having a good product, being priced right, and working your network. As a rule of thumb, a product that sells well regionally or at a small chain will sell well nationally and at larger chains. Finding our products at Wal-Mart could not have happened if we didn’t start with a local store, and it wasn’t until the Buyer at Wal-Mart saw our products at a store near him did he agree to add it to his assortment.

Retail can be expensive and difficult, so understanding the margin requirements of each partner that stands between you and your customer will allow you plan for success and to make the right decisions in your manufacturing process. While Rocksteady has a retail future planned, today’s ecommerce environment offered us a faster and more controlled path to launch.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

Find ways to rely on your people more. As leaders, we often think that our job is to come up with the ideas and then get our people to execute them. By encouraging your team members to innovate and being open to putting those ideas ahead of yours is not only liberating, but it makes you better.

Rocksteady quickly grew into something that was bigger than me. It was only when I trusted people with larger chunks of decision making that we saw progress and productivity really pick up.

Focus on hitting singles, not homeruns. It will keep you sane and is much more manageable. Getting to the starting line and launching Rocksteady Stadium was exhausting. I hoped that the market would go nuts over our innovation but the hard reality of marketing a launch in crowded and noisy world was sobering and frustrating. Once we got back to work and focused on smaller goals did we finally see ourselves progressing.

Our upcoming subwoofer is an amazing product and one that I can’t think of anything short of a homerun, but my expectation now is much more linear, which relaxes my nerves and helps us to avoid costly mistakes.

Share your vision often and clearly, and allow it to evolve. Your people are your force multipliers and your culture ultimately becomes an extension of you. I try to be a clear communicator at every opportunity and seek feedback whenever possible to be sure we are aligned. The Rocksteady Stadium Subwoofer is an integral part of the portable sound system solution we are creating, but market forces and cash flow forced us to take a harder path. Now, with our subwoofer close to launching, we feel more confident in our plan than ever.

Enjoy the ride and live in the moment. Running a business can get complicated, and it can feel like you are time jumping between now, tomorrow, and the future beyond. Take time to get out of the office and be in the moment. At the end of each year, I like to write down a list chronicling the highlights and struggles from the previous year, and it is only when I look back at previous years can I appreciate and recognized the journey, which is a shame.

Save for rainy days and extend your runway. The Pandemic hit us at a very vulnerable moment and we almost didn’t make it. As we are now regrowing and planning further and further into the future, doing so with the lessons we’ve leaned these past years will ensure we are more resilient and flexible. At Rocksteady, this meant learning how to become direct marketers and converting to a largely ecommerce focused company.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

Your friends want to support you, so they may not be as blunt as you need them to be, and you are likely so invested in your idea that you may hear what you want to hear. A focus group will validate your idea and help you to understand the scale of the opportunity. The feedback you receive may also be invaluable in determining the execution and plan, so find ways to get clear responses.

When you are ready to move forward, create a forecast in the form of an income statement. Plan out revenues and identify all the variable costs. List the fixed costs and seek advice from other business owners about what you are forgetting. Done right, this process will clarify what your pricing model should be and what your cost of goods needs to be. If the numbers don’t line up where a path to profitability doesn’t seems realistic, then you may want to pass or reimagine a different go to market strategy.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

Getting expert opinions and bringing experience and knowledge will help you build your business. The cost has to make sense and you need to protect your ownership interest as well. I have no experience with this as I haven’t hired invention development consultants in my past, but I have hired consultants to help us with hard decisions and to overcame gaps in our road map.

Having brought several ideas to market over the last decade, doing it again and again feels second nature to me now, so if you can find someone you trust and is capable, do it.

Striking out on your own will prepare you for your next go round, but having battle scars aren’t as valuable as having early success.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

There are pros and cons for each funding option and the right one will largely depend on your business plan. If your business plan outpaces your ability to finance the company, venture capital may be your best options.

There is a certain freedom that comes from having enough capital to execute your plan, where your only focus can be towards execution and growth. That freedom though comes at a cost, so choosing the right partners is critical, especially if they can bring more than just money to the relationship.

I bootstrapped both Killer Concepts and Rocksteady, which brings me certain satisfaction. But I am a little envious and curious about how things may have turned out had capitalization not been a central focus of my stress at certain times over the last decade.

The best way to decide if you should do one or the either will be revealed by your business plan. The cash flow requirements from your balance sheet may just make the decision for you. In reality, most VC will want to see some progress before they cut you a check, so chances are that by the time you are ready for VC, you’ll have other options as well, such as SBA lending, friends and family, and other lending institutions.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

We source responsibly and use recycled and recyclable materials whenever appropriate and available. I try to develop our employees and give them a brighter present and future as well.

I take tremendous joy in the knowledge that I have helped put people’s lives on the right track. For some, I have started them off with their first 401k retirement accounts and for most, I have helped them develop skills that will advance their careers beyond their time with me. My philosophy has been to empower the people I work with to contribute beyond their initial comfort level, which expands their role and potential.

Longer term, I’d love to the time and capital to invest in larger goals that go beyond my touchpoints, but for now, it is family and employees first, country second, and fixing the rest of the world third.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Thank you for the kind words. Though we have not hit our goals yet, it is tempting to look beyond and consider our legacy. Mentoring others and helping them to navigate the perils of business and life is something you can pass forward. Changing one life is not only noble, but can be generational. We all have the ability to find and help someone, and when millions, or billions of us, decide to prioritize this, the world will be a different place.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Rocksteady Stadium is an amazing product with the potential to scale it way beyond our ability and scope. With some luck and more capital, I see an ecosystem ahead of us to build and protect. Beats showed us the power of influencer marketing, as Dr. Dre showed that good marketing can be more effective than R&D. So if I could choose someone to meet with and talk business, it would be someone who my shared a passion for music, for business, and is eager to think big.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Making Something From Nothing: Jeff Leitman Of Rocksteady Corp On How To Go From Idea To Launch was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Jim Farris Of Mosser Capital On How Diversity Can Increase a Company’s Bottom Line

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Our investment strategy dictates investment in highly diverse neighborhoods and improves affordable housing options for those who live there, and new opportunities for those that want to relocate there and those that want to operate businesses there.

As a part of our series about “How Diversity Can Increase a Company’s Bottom Line”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jim Farris, the CEO of Mosser Capital, a premier investment management company focused on workforce housing in California.

Leveraging nearly two decades of experience in real estate investment, finance, and property operations, Jim leads all facets of the workforce housing investment management platform. He is an IREI Springboard Leader Alumni, an iREOC Board of Governors member, and a Policy Advisory board member for the UC Berkeley Fisher Center for Real Estate. Jim has developed Mosser Capital’s focus on diversity, equity and inclusion with accomplishing several initiatives in this regard during 2021 and is excited about what is ahead on these important topics for 2022.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive into the main part of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit more. Can you share a bit of your “backstory” with us?

I grew up in the bay area being the oldest son of two teachers struggling to afford living in a good public school district which developed my passion regarding the need for workforce and affordable housing in California. My dad eventually got into real estate to make ends meet and allow us to stay in the San Francisco Bay Area. I ended up staying local and graduating from Santa Clara University with a degree in economics, and quickly followed in my father’s footsteps into the real estate industry. After 10 years on the debt and finance side of real estate, I made a pivot to go back to school and pursue my passion for real estate investing. Upon graduating I developed the business plan for Mosser Capital and partnered with Neveo Mosser of Mosser Companies to start Mosser Capital, which we are continuing to scale today!

Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? Can you tell us the lesson or take away you took out of that story?

I started a mortgage company with my cousin and brother, and it was initially successful, but also had some hilarious situations that resulted from mismatches of skills, talent and job function. One of my favorite stories is when we made someone the head of outside sales that had never done sales before! There were many funny takeaways as a result of that mismatch which we have enjoyed reminiscing about over the years. I learned so much.

From the perspective of growth as a manager, I took away the lesson of leveraging people’s natural strengths and inclinations rather than try and make them into something they aren’t or don’t necessarily want to be just to fill a company need. This is a basic management skill, but still is very helpful today as I continue to build the right team and for each member to be successful at Mosser Capital.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you tell us a story about how that was relevant in your own life?

“Inclusion is not bringing people into what already exists; it is making a new space, a better space for everyone.” George Dei

The sense of community and improving what exists for the benefit of all is at the core of my value system. Mosser has been creating quality workforce housing opportunities for working people in the Bay area since the 1950s. Being inclusive with the hiring and development of employees, maintaining an open policy with residents, and investing both time and money into the communities we work in are all core values at both Mosser and Mosser Capital. We continue to build the Mosser platform to extend beyond representation and instead be a force for equitable and inclusive communities. Our commitment and the strategies that extend from them drive toward diversity, equity, and inclusion — and positive social outcomes — while generating strong financial returns for our investors. We believe these actions serve society as a whole today and will continue to be even more important in the future as the issue of affordable housing continues to pervade our communities.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are?

Without hesitation, I am grateful to Neveo Mosser, the president and CEO of Mosser Companies and chairman of Mosser Capital. He began his career in the family business as a janitor and learned every facet of the company from firsthand roles in every department. His hands-on expertise has driven Mosser’s continual growth — and his commitment to his family business has inspired me as a leader.

Throughout his career, Neveo has put forth great effort towards bettering each of the communities Mosser has done business in and this has continued to be a great example for me. I respect the strong social values and deep commitment to community that Mosser has had since the mid 1950’s. This work has inspired me to move forward the initiatives of Mosser Capital with regard to awareness and goals around creating positive equity, diversity and inclusion experiences that extend from our employees and the residents we touch as well as the communities we invest in. Mosser’s history of successfully applying the principles of DEI and Mosser Capital expansion of these principles has reinforced this deep social commitment which continues to propel our strong business results. I have learned a great deal partnering with him in our work in developing the investment management platform for Mosser as well as the communities that we serve.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

Mosser Capital has had the ability to partner with one of the longest standing and most reputable operating companies in the work force housing space in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mosser Companies.

Mosser Capital has effectively leveraged the unique skills and history of Mosser into a world class investment and operating platform focused on improving the quality of workforce housing in California. Mosser is also a leader in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and unlike the majority of other real estate owner operators, Mosser is a 100-percent African American and woman-owned family business with more than 85 percent of its employees self-identifying as a minority. Mosser has a profound commitment to diversity that is at the core of company culture.

With deep community roots, the company prioritizes its involvement in highly diverse neighborhoods where it can improve affordable housing options for those who live there and offer new opportunities for those that want to relocate and/or operate a business there. The company delivers measurable community and social impact through housing improvements, revitalization of neighborhoods, working with local organizations that push towards bettering the community and supporting local business growth in these neighborhoods that otherwise are under-improved and neglected by institutional capital.

Furthermore, COVID has created a new reality and recent impact of technology on real estate operators and investors, where top tier investors and operators view the utilization of the best technology solutions as a competitive advantage — they are a must have versus a nice to have. In order to attract available capital and stay ahead of competitors in a business where every investment dollar counts — technology is the clear path towards continuing the future success of the Mosser platform. Technology helps us make smarter decisions based on the aggregation of disparate data metrics within our investment and operating platform. Technology also enables us to work more efficiently and productively, automating key workflows and tasks within and between various parts of our organization.

Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that might help people?

We are influencing improvements in policy. The way we see it, to increase the quantity and access to affordable housing, policy must be designed to support incentives that make it economically feasible for owners to fix older, urban-centered properties where there are more minority occupants and make them more environmentally friendly and inclusive. In addition, there needs to be more incentives for owner operators to preserve naturally occurring affordable housing in our country’s urban areas. Finally, there needs to be a massive simplification in the process of qualifying for economic incentives for converting existing market rate or rent regulated housing to true deed restricted affordable. The various incentives utilized by government agencies need to be more accessible via this simplification process in order for this to scale throughout the market.

We are investing in urban renewal. Operators and investors must be better incentivized to join Mosser Capital in investing their capital in areas of urban blight and renewal and bring their skill sets and attention to the areas that need it the most. Incentivizing investment to align with policy in terms of urban blight is important– one method is opportunity zones — but there must be others. We are helping to influence the movement toward improved incentivization.

We are shaping the benchmarks. We are encouraging fund managers to follow our lead and participate in benchmark surveys to help drive change. We are encouraging others in the industry to help ensure appropriate benchmarks are established, around DEI, for example, as it has been historically hard to measure. We are working with stakeholders focused on developing policy around affordable housing in California and we look forward to continuing these efforts in 2022.

We continue to acquire new buildings that support social improvement: Mosser Capital recently acquired the historical Wilshire Royale apartments with 193-units and includes 8,933 square feet of ground floor retail space. This property is the newest addition in Southern California. In typical Mosser fashion, the building is in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Koreatown which fosters diversity, and we will be working towards making renovations while keeping its historic roots and façade, to bring up the neighborhood’s quality of life and inventory of safe, quality, affordable housing.

We will continue to acquire property with this social strategy at the basis of our decision making.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

Mosser has used its unique position in the market to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within the real estate industry. My partner Neveo and I were busy during COVID engaging in events, conferences, and webinars that were focused on DEI and the mounting issues of affordable housing that were exacerbated during the pandemic.

Mosser is historically known for driving improvements in the neighborhoods where the company does business and contributing to the economic vitality of the community. As mentioned earlier, Mosser’s core values are deeply tied to these communities. With that, we have developed communities throughout gateway cities in California that are inclusive of race, ethnicity, national origin, (dis)ability status, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender identity, and immigration status. From our residents to our workforce to our leadership, we are committed to social and economic justice for all.

Mosser does this by strategically investing in and improving neighborhoods that embrace positive improvements with the goal of creating a win-win proposition for both investors and the community. We are good community stewards, we lead by example, and we partner with the community to ensure our neighborhoods are better than when we found them.

There is a saying, “Think globally, act locally.” We make the world a better place by this model. We lead by example by focusing on the local communities we invest and operate in, with the right values and honorable actions. We consider the social ramifications of our business and investments on a larger social impact level and then act locally in our own communities. We recognize that our actions influence the greater good.

With our ties to the community, Mosser makes striving efforts to improve not only their buildings, but their entire neighborhood. In the 1970s, Mosser invested in a full block in the Western Addition in San Francisco with over 117 apartments. At that time, the neighborhood was run-down, and many questioned the move. But Charles Mosser saw great potential to improve the community for the benefit of the residents and the neighborhood. And that is exactly what he did. Over time, Mosser transformed and re-named the block into “Frederick Douglas Plaza,” providing safe, clean, and affordable housing options for both existing residents and future residents — including the Mosser family, which has lived in the property for three generations. Today the Western Addition is among the top 10 neighborhoods to live in San Francisco, noted for its dense urban feel and thriving, diverse community.

Ok. Thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the main part of our interview. This may be obvious to you, but it is not intuitive to many people. Can you articulate to our readers five ways that increased diversity can help a company’s bottom line.

Diversity breeds success and allows us to stand out and unlock our full potential for both our communities and investors.

We build diversity into our workforce, and we nurture our leadership from within. This allows us to foster a more productive, creative, and innovative company which mirrors the diversity of the residents and communities we serve. Our focus on fostering talent has led to a high employee retention rate.

Our investment strategy dictates investment in highly diverse neighborhoods and improves affordable housing options for those who live there, and new opportunities for those that want to relocate there and those that want to operate businesses there.

Retail operations at Mosser not only create urban renewal but maintain the diversity of the neighborhood. We see the bigger picture by providing financial support to small businesses that we know can complement a property and improve the overall tangible calculable value of the neighborhood.

A recent McKinsey study showed that companies that are more gender diverse are 21% more likely to outperform others; while those that are ethnically diverse are 33% more likely to outperform others. Unlike other real estate owner operators, Mosser is a 100-percent African American and woman-owned family business with more than 85 percent of its employees self-identifying as a minority.

What advice would you give to other business leaders to help their employees to thrive?

As other real estate companies begin to commit to DEI in their organization, their success will depend on how deeply they can embed DEI values in their value system. Similar to the need for integration of technology into real estate operating and investment platforms, applying DEI to their business will be a necessity in order to attract institutional capital in the near future. Like Mosser has done, leaders must drive DEI from the top down and support the creation of equitable opportunities for all employees, customers, and suppliers and guide the next generation toward proactively living and breathing these values.

What advice would you give to other business leaders about how to manage a large team?

My best advice I can provide to other business leaders is to build strong relationships and play to your teams’ strengths. Our relationships are key to managing a successful business. I also believe strongly that we must build diversity into our workforce and nurture new leaders from within. This allows us to foster a more productive, creative, and innovative company which mirrors the diversity of those we serve. Our focus on fostering talent has led to a high employee retention rate.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this 🙂

Stephen Curry — He is an amazing personal achiever, teammate, family man, and man of the community. I would love to hear more about how he is able to be everything to everyone.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

– mossercapital.com

– https://www.linkedin.com/company/mosser-capital-llc/

– https://www.linkedin.com/in/jifarris/

Thank you for these excellent insights. We wish you continued success in your great work.

Jim Farris Of Mosser Capital On How Diversity Can Increase a Company’s Bottom Line was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Wendy Lipton-Dibner Of Bruce Merrin’s Celebrity Speakers Bureau On The 5 Things You Need To Be A…

Wendy Lipton-Dibner Of Bruce Merrin’s Celebrity Speakers Bureau On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Impact every life you touch. My top priority has always been to make an impact, or measurable difference, on every life I touch. Steps one through five lay the path to make that happen, but the secret sauce is step three — helping people get clarity on what they have, what they want, what’s missing and what happens when they get it. To make that happen, we assess their starting point and then repeat assessments over time at precise intervals. That provides a complete picture of measurable results and enables us to spotlight and celebrate their success. When we prove our impact, people get driven to strive for still greater results.

At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Wendy Lipton-Dibner.

Wendy Lipton-Dibner is a five-time bestselling author and internationally recognized authority on business acceleration through impact strategy and ethical influence. She has delivered business growth programs to audiences in almost every industry, creating rapid increases in revenue as the direct result of making impacts, or measurable differences, in people’s lives. Lipton-Dibner has impacted millions of lives worldwide thanks to her revolutionary approach, and she is represented by Bruce Merrin’s Celebrity Speakers Bureau, one of the longest-operating organizations providing bookings to an elite clientele of event planners and corporate meetings since 1973.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I grew up in New York City, gazing into the windows of strangers’ apartments and making up stories about the people I saw. My fascination about their lives led me to major in theater in college, but the plays we produced were light compared to the real-life drama I lived in my off-campus apartment. Every day my three roommates mercilessly bullied me, leaving vicious notes on my bathroom mirror and dirty dishes under my bed, then terrorizing me with threats of what I’d endure if I reported them. When I finally went home for winter break, I burst into tears and blurted out the whole story to my mom.

I was sure she’d tell me to move back home, but instead my amazing mom took my head in her hands, put her forehead to mine, and said, “Wendy, if you don’t like it, change it!”

Her words instilled a power in me I’d never known. I found a new living situation at school and started fresh. That semester I took my first sociology class and discovered answers that explained everything from the behavior of the strangers I’d watched as a child to the bulling behaviors of my roommates. Sitting in that classroom, thousands of puzzle pieces came together.

I fell head-over-heels in love with the social sciences and went on to study sociology, social psychology, clinical psychology, neuropsychology, medical psychology, anthropology and every other -ology I could find. There I discovered endless answers to questions I didn’t know I had, and I wanted more.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

While pursuing my Ph.D. at Duke University, I was invited to speak at an academic meeting in Philadelphia. One of the attendees complimented my research and invited me to join his team as project manager of a huge study at Texas Christian University. It was an extraordinary opportunity, so I took a leave of absence from Duke and moved to Texas. Our one-year grant led to more grants, high-profile speaking engagements, publications in prestigious professional journals and, most importantly, living proof of everything I’d learned about people.

Three years later, I received an invitation to present the results of our largest study at the U.S. Senate. I worked 20-hour days generating elaborate models to explain what we’d discovered while a team of lawyers observed and made constant little “suggestions.” I finally understood what my Duke mentor had meant when he warned, “Be careful, Wendy. If you torture the data enough, they’ll confess to anything.”

We arrived at the Senate and entered a chamber packed with dozens of male doctors, lawyers and senators. My report had been placed at my chair, but when I scrolled the pages, I discovered the sponsor’s attorneys had significantly edited what I’d written, making the results appear stronger for the sponsor. It was still accurate, but the narrative they’d added dangerously straddled an ethical line, and I was the one who was going to have to walk that line. I hurried out of the chamber, down the marbled hall, and into the ladies’ room, where I promptly had a bona fide panic attack, got sick, washed my face and stared in the mirror at the mascara that had stained my cheeks. Suddenly I heard my mother’s voice in my head, “Wendy, if you don’t like it, change it!”

Right. No one knew that data better than I did, so I reported the facts of our research and left out the narrative they’d added.

As the senators posed their questions, I realized the real priority of this hearing wasn’t about doing good for people. It was all about money. The sponsor wanted to make more money, the insurance companies wanted to save money, the university wanted to get more grants, and the senators wanted to appease supporters. While our research ultimately helped the senators make a bold decision that has since enabled millions of suffering people get the help they need, the behaviors of everyone involved had revealed something seriously wrong with our system. I was driven to do something about it.

Two weeks later, I left my job and walked into a bank with a proposal for a loan to build a new business — a social laboratory designed to prove businesses could be more effective and more profitable if they were built and operated entirely for the purpose of making a measurable difference in people’s lives. This is popular thinking now, but at the time it was wildly rebellious. To their credit, the bankers were intrigued and gave me a check for $50,000.

I hired an inexperienced team, and for the first three months we sat in an empty shop. I used that time to teach them what I’d learned: what makes each person unique, what moves people to action, and what keeps them from letting themselves have what they want. Most importantly, I taught them to forget about money and place all focus on making an impact on every life we touch. By the end of the year we’d broken industry standards for retail and service sales and developed a stellar reputation throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Merchants were fascinated by our accelerated growth, and I began receiving multiple requests each week for speaking engagements. Three years later, I sold the shop to an employee and went on to build more businesses, to prove that my impact strategy formulas would work in any industry. They did.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

After selling my first business, I searched for stronger paths to expand my impact by learning more about people. I deposited my profits into a brokerage account and spent the next year training to be certified in transactional analysis, redecision therapy, group and family therapy, and gestalt psychology. I opened a private practice to apply what I’d learned and, just as I was hanging my new sign, the phone rang.

“Hi, Wendy, it’s Dave. Sorry to disturb you, but I thought you should know there’s been a major disruption in the market and, well, all your holdings are gone.”

I thought it was some kind of joke. It wasn’t. It was Oct. 19, 1987, a day that came to be called Black Monday. People worldwide had lost everything they owned, so I was in good company. The problem was I’d planned to run my new business without taking insurance — and my intended clients were getting the same calls I’d just received.

I stared at my sign, feeling powerless and lost. Once again, I heard my mom’s voice in my head — “Wendy, if you don’t like it, change it.”

I looked out at University Avenue and, to no one in particular, asked, “OK, who needs me most today?” The answer was clear: If anyone needed a therapist that day, it was stockbrokers. These men and women were having to make call after call, dealing with panic, anger and blame from clients — all while facing the terror of their own uncertain future. I drove downtown to talk to the managers of the top three brokerage houses. Along the way, I heard news on the radio of the crash, along with horrific stories of brokers jumping out of windows. I was determined to do something effective.

Everyone I met accepted my offer of help, so I spent the week in their offices doing whatever I could to make a difference. Within a week, all three companies had hired me to help their brokers. As it turned out they needed more than therapy — they needed skills. After all, how do you succeed in an industry that is 100% focused on money when your would-be clients have no money? I shared the formulas I’d developed in my first business, teaching them how to strategically and tactically focus on making an impact on every life they touched. Soon they were engaging a whole new market of clients and achieving revenues they’d never seen before the crash. That was the beginning of my next business: helping organizations increase revenue by shifting focus away from market share and turning all their efforts toward making a measurable difference in people’s lives, internally and externally.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

The funniest (and most instructive) entrepreneurial mistake I ever made was when I was 4 years old. My grandmother often paid me to do little jobs for her, and my favorite was sharpening pencils in her large, wall-mounted sharpener. It wasn’t easy for my little hands, but when I succeeded, she’d give me a penny and a new pencil to sharpen. I loved our special game. One day, she suggested I expand my “business” into the neighborhood and gave me an empty box to collect pencils.

My grandmother walked with me, staying just far enough behind to make it feel like I was on my own. At each house, I’d sing a little song I’d made up, inviting people to let me sharpen their pencils. Everyone laughed and applauded and gave me their pencils. My little box quickly overflowed, so my grandmother carried the rest in her purse. That afternoon, I carefully sharpened each pencil, and, after a few broken points, I eventually got them all done and brought them to show Grandma. She looked at each pencil very carefully and told me I had done a great job. Then she asked, “How do you know which pencils go back to which houses?”

I had no idea! So, I did what any self-respecting 4-year-old girl would do — I cried. Grandma responded by doing what any self-respecting grandmother would do — she gave me chocolate cake and milk. By the time we were done eating, Grandma had convinced me to go back to each house and explain what had happened.

As we walked up the slate steps to the first house, I could feel my knees shaking. Grandma nodded and smiled encouragement, so I got up on my tiptoes and rang the bell. A woman opened the door and I just held out the box with both hands and blurted out, “I did all the pencils, but I don’t know which ones are yours. Can you please just pick out the ones that are yours? You don’t have to pay me anything.”

I must have really looked pathetic, because the woman turned and went into her house, and when she came back, she gave me a dollar. “What’s this for?” I asked.

“For the song you sang for me yesterday,” she said. “You brightened up my whole day! Do you think you could sing it again?”

I took a deep breath and sang my little heart out right there on the stoop. The nice woman gave me a second dollar, and then she took my hand, marched me next door and told her neighbor to give me a dollar! By the end of the day the pencil box was empty and I had 17 dollars. My first entrepreneurial mistake — and my first entrepreneurial success.

Many years later, the woman from that house came to my grandmother’s funeral. I didn’t know her name, but I remembered her. She gave me a big hug and whispered, “I still remember the day you and Ruthie came to my house and you sang your little song. Ruthie was so proud of her little Wendala.” Once again, I cried.

I learned a lot about entrepreneurial success that day:

  1. Be fair.
  2. Do something to make an impact.
  3. Keep your promises (and if you can’t do what you promised, be honest).
  4. When you focus on impact, the money will come.
  5. Always keep track of your pencils.

Actually, my grandmother taught me a lot about business. But more than anything else, she taught me to value impact. And I’ve been passing that message on ever since.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

After speaking for thousands of organizations, I decided to produce public training events. To get a handle on the industry, I attended a Tom Hopkins event. Tommy was a sensational trainer, and I was fascinated by how his audience responded to him. For the next six months I attended his sold-out events from coast to coast. Then, one day, the crew saved me a seat in the front row, and I got a closer view as Tommy sat on the edge of the stage to sign books. I’d purchased lots of his books already (mostly to learn about back-of-the-room sales processes), but this time I took my book and got in line to meet him.

Two hours later I was face-to-face with the man I’d been watching for months. He took my book, peeked up to ask my name, then sat up straight and said, “Do I know you from somewhere?”

“Sort of,” I smiled. “This is my 27th time coming to your events.”

“Why?!” he asked.

I looked him straight in the eyes and said, “Because, sir, someday my events will be bigger than yours!” (Of all the things I’d imagined saying, this definitely wasn’t one I’d have chosen.)

To his credit, Tommy just grinned and said, “Well then, I guess I’d better teach you how!”

That evening he took me to dinner and graced me with more information than I could have ever expected. The more he shared, the more I knew the events business was right for me. He asked about what I planned to teach people, so I told him about the system of impact and ethical influence formulas I’d developed, and the extensive research I’d done proving the power of my system. He was quiet for a minute, then invited me to come work in his company. I was incredibly honored but declined his offer. We’ve been in touch ever since, and his mentorship and friendship have made a profound impact on my career. I’ll be forever grateful.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

Launching a career or business is incredibly exciting and paralyzingly scary. I’m currently building my 11th business and know a little something about the terror of what-ifs in the middle of the night. Here are three things I’ve used that have gotten me through every time.

First, I always remember what my mom taught me: If there’s something you see that you don’t like, change it! The sad and simple truth is: pain is everywhere. Our job is to open our eyes and find the pain we most want to address, then learn everything we can about it to find a solution.

Second, be their lid. Just as every pot has a unique lid that will fit snugly, every consumer is searching for a solution that’s just the right fit for their unique needs. When you provide just the right impact in just the right way at just the right moment with just the right message, products and services, it all comes together. Your impact will grow exponentially the moment you discover how to be the right lid for the people you want to serve. Once they find you, they will trust you, listen to you, follow your advice, pay top fees for your products and services, and tell all their friends.

Third, and most importantly, make impact your top priority. In my book “Focus on Impact,” I define impact as “the measurable difference you make in people’s lives as the direct result of contact with you, your team, your message and your marketing, products and services.” The key word is “measurable.” Whatever you bring to people must be measurable — before, during and after contact with you. Your impact will be your best asset in this (or any) economy.

What drives you to get up every day and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?

I’m driven to make a measurable difference in people’s lives, and so every day I ask myself, “Are you making the impact you want to be making?” If the answer is “no” (and it always is), then I bolt out of bed. I’ve discovered my greatest impact happens when I help others make their greatest impact, and that propels me forward every day.

The message I want to empower people with is: You were born with amazing powers and your greatest power is your ability to make an impact on people’s lives. When you purposefully infuse your unique impact into your message, products and services, that’s when you’ll see your greatest power of all.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

Around 2011, I noticed a rapidly growing trend of failure among highly motivated, innovative thinkers. While my research also showed an increase in the number of support businesses that had emerged to help innovators succeed, the vast majority of ideas weren’t being successfully developed, scaled or delivered. As the trend grew, reports showed fully funded entrepreneurs failing at rates of 78% and companies ignoring innovative ideas that came from within their own organizations. In every industry from farming to technology, innovations were being lost, opportunities were being missed and billions of dollars were being wasted.

Considering all the brilliant minds and resources available in the world, why was there so much failure? To find out what was blocking innovative impact, I conducted a study of more than 5,000 entrepreneurs to uncover the causes of these ever-increasing failure rates. The data clearly revealed a robust solution, so I generated a comprehensive strategic and operational plan and brought in a highly seasoned team to make it happen. Together, we’re working to complete a unique infrastructure designed to solve the pervasive problem of innovative failure by enabling entrepreneurs and their investors to develop and scale innovative ideas and get their impact directly to the consumers who want and need it — quickly and efficiently, with lower costs, higher returns, measurable impact and reduced risk. We’re all very excited and are currently gathering the final pieces so we can launch. Stay tuned.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Growing up, I frequently heard elders say, “Life is short.” I didn’t really understand the magnitude of that message until my mother got cancer. She’d done so many wonderful things in her life, but she also had much sadness about the things she’d never finished. In her final weeks, I spent every moment by her side as she shared what she was most proud of, and her deepest regrets. Each day I knew we were getting closer to the end, but nothing prepared me for what I would feel holding my mom in my arms as she took her last breath. She was only 59. The morning she died, I heard my grandmother’s voice saying, “Life is short,” and finally understood what she’d meant. The saying is about far more than the amount of time we get. It’s about what we do with the time we have.

I believe to the bottom of my soul we were all born to make a unique impact in the world and that life’s greatest journey is discovering our impact and making it happen, before it’s too late and we miss our chance. That’s why I always end my presentations by saying, “Life is far too short to settle for less than we truly want — in our business or our lives. So, get up every morning and move people to action so you can make an impact on every life you touch!”

Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.

In my experience, highly effective (results-producing) public speakers give audiences precisely what they need so every single person leaves permanently changed as a result of their time together. Here are 5 steps to make it happen:

1 . Identify their Action Formula. The Action Formula is the shortest distance between where your audience begins and the results they achieve. I researched and developed this formula during my work in corporate, healthcare, small business and nonprofit organizations and on stages worldwide, and I’ve detailed it in all my books. My research revealed there are three components necessary to effect immediate and lasting results. All three components must be attained and balanced to the difficulty of whatever action(s) people need to take to achieve their goals. Highly effective speakers need to meticulously identify and detail the Action Formula for each unique audience we serve by determining in advance: the specific results we’re hired to make happen; the precise actions our audience must take to attain those results; and the unique strategies, tactics, and insights our audience must have when they leave so they are able and driven to take action.

Every organization and individual has their own unique Action Formula. The strongest results come when we interview decision-makers and attendees in advance and use the information to prepare our content and delivery.

2. Generate a customized plan. The more difficult the desired results, the more crucial it is that everyone we’re speaking to has a follow-up action plan when they leave. Game-changing results happen when we get creative. Design a comprehensive, customizable system of step-by-step tactics people can easily apply to their unique situation, personality and Action Formula. Then deliver that system in a fun way that encourages the audience to get highly engaged and excited to implement. Whenever possible, I include a support system to help people through each step of their action plan so they’re never alone on their implementation journey.

3. Impact every life you touch. My top priority has always been to make an impact, or measurable difference, on every life I touch. Steps one through five lay the path to make that happen, but the secret sauce is step three — helping people get clarity on what they have, what they want, what’s missing and what happens when they get it. To make that happen, we assess their starting point and then repeat assessments over time at precise intervals. That provides a complete picture of measurable results and enables us to spotlight and celebrate their success. When we prove our impact, people get driven to strive for still greater results.

4. Value their uniqueness. Nothing brings results faster than targeted customization of content and delivery. That’s why I urge speakers to forget signature speeches. If we don’t take the time to get to know the unique challenges, desires, cultures, pains and needs of everyone in every audience; if we don’t find a way to fully connect to individuals while addressing groups; if we don’t understand and speak in a way that fits for them; if we don’t adjust our delivery to align with their unique brain wiring and style; in other words, if we don’t value their uniqueness, then all we’re doing is flapping our wings, spreading sparkleberries and collecting a check. Life-changing impact comes when we value the uniqueness every person brings to our lives and honor their gifts by delivering uniqueness to them.

5. Expand your effectiveness with products and services. When I first began speaking, people would ask me about how they could get more. Of course, as a newbie I didn’t have any more to give them, so I purchased a franchise from an established motivation company and sold their books and tapes (yes, tapes!) at every engagement. That made a big difference in my outcomes, but it wasn’t really what people were looking for. They wanted to carry me with them, hear my voice in their head and see a replay of what they’d just experienced. This became clear when I began to get return requests and see repeat attendees at my own live events. Data showed 25% of attendees had been to at least one of my multi-day programs, 95% had attended my virtual programs, listened to my audios or taken one of my e-courses, and 98% read my books before or after the events. At private speaking engagements the most frequent questions I received were, “What’s next?,” “Have you got a book?,” “Where can I find you online?” and “How do we bring you into our organization?”

I believe this happens because people are drawn to speakers who give them what they need to get measurable results. When that happens, they always want more. So, highly effective speakers come equipped to give them more.

The bottom line is highly effective speakers help people change how they think, how they feel, what they do and ultimately what they get. That’s why my answer to your question turns out to be an acronym: I GIVE.

As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?

Terror of speaking comes when we focus on ourselves. The key is to take the focus off us and place it all on the people who need us.

Instead of “I could never speak in public!” ask “What pain do I see in the world?”

Instead of “What was I thinking wearing this?” ask “What are they thinking about at 2 a.m.?”

Instead of “I’m going to make a fool of myself!” ask “What shame do they feel in their lives?”

Instead of “I can’t stop shaking!” ask “What are they feeling right now?”

Focus on their pain, then go out and make an impact on every life you touch.

You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I developed and launched the Action Movement years ago for the purpose of helping people make a greater impact in their business and personal lives and, through the ripple effect that creates, an impact worldwide. The Action Movement is based on my research that showed the strongest impact we will ever make is when we come together to ethically move people to action in a way that helps people think, feel and act in ways they’ve never done before. There are complimentary training videos about the movement on my website.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

Hilary Rodham Clinton has made a profound impact throughout her life, and while it hasn’t been easy, she’s never lost her resolve or determination to create a measurable difference in people’s lives. Secretary Clinton has been a tremendous inspiration to me, personally and professionally, and I’d love to sit down with her and have a lengthy conversation about impact.

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ImpactExpert

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/theactionmovement

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendyliptondibner/

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Wendy Lipton-Dibner Of Bruce Merrin’s Celebrity Speakers Bureau On The 5 Things You Need To Be A… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

NervGen Pharma: Dr Harold Punnett’s Big Idea that Might Change the World

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

You need to believe in what you are doing. The sacrifices you will need to make can only be tolerated if you believe deeply that what you are doing is worthwhile. For example, I used to golf, but for the past six years I have barely touched a club.

As a part of my series about “Big Ideas That Might Change the World in The Next Few Years”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Harold Punnett, co-founder of NervGen Pharma.

Harold Punnett, DMD, co-founder of NervGen Pharma, is an accomplished angel investor who has been the director of multiple start-up companies. As a recently retired dental surgeon with a practice in British Columbia, Canada, he has an extensive knowledge of medicine and physiology, including cell biology. Along with this knowledge, he has a deep passion for those suffering from spinal cord injury and other nerve-related challenges.

Dr. Punnett is a Member of the College of Dental Surgeons of British Columbia, Member of the British Columbia Dental Association and Member of the Canadian Dental Association. He received his doctorate degree from the University of British Columbia.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you please share with us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

The unusual path that my career has taken is the most interesting story. I’m a dentist by profession but about 30 years ago, I met a group of Vancouver, BC-based start-up specialists who were actively looked for interesting ventures and funded them through the Canadian public markets. From a very young age, I recognized that I had a strong entrepreneurial side of my character, and it is interesting to me that this part of my personality found an outlet above and beyond what my dental career offered. In effect, I have managed to pursue a dual career over these past decades — both as a dentist and as an angel investor in early-stage companies. This duality gave me the skillset that enabled me to discover the science that forms the basis of NervGen and to help to create the company around that technology.

Today, NervGen is a publicly traded (TSX-V: NGEN, OTCQX: NGENF) clinical stage biotech company dedicated to discovering and developing treatments for patients suffering from medical conditions related to nervous system damage, either as a result of injury, neurodegenerative disease, or other causes.

Which principles or philosophies have guided your life? Your career?

I’ve tried to live what I would term a ‘good’ life. By that, I mean to be honourable, truthful, shoulder responsibility willingly and set goals and work hard to achieve them. And, I strive to treat people with kindness and respect. If you can accomplish this, you will be able to ground yourself in the maelstrom of life. And, you will have a great chance at fulfillment and happiness.

Ok thank you for that. Let’s now move to the main focus of our interview. Can you tell us about your “Big Idea That Might Change the World”?

NervGen Pharma has developed a drug that has the potential to operate at a fundamental level after damage to the central nervous system (CNS). And it does not matter if that damage is traumatic, like a spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury or stroke, or due to a disease, like multiple sclerosis or Alzheimer’s disease. In animal studies, our drug has been shown to allow the nervous system to heal in multiple ways that produce meaningful recovery. The accepted ‘truth’ that the central nervous system has no innate capacity to heal is, in fact, not true.

How do you think this will change the world?

Practically speaking, today’s therapeutics have almost no ability to repair damage to the nervous system. For example, in the case of spinal cord injury there are currently no drugs being offered.

With a condition like Alzheimer’s disease, the currently available drugs are extraordinarily limited in their ability to address the increasingly horrific burden of this disease.

Our drug offers real hope to these people and to sufferers of other conditions as well, including traumatic brain injury (TBI), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS) and others.

There are hundreds of millions of people around the world that suffer from these types of conditions, and they currently have little to no hope. If our drug works even partially as well as we have shown in our preclinical animal models it would indeed change the world. Based on first scientific principles of drug development, I believe it has a good chance of translating to humans.

It’s such an exciting time for me and the company. When I was first pitching the idea to the early investors I would say, “If it works in MS that would be amazing; if it works in Alzheimer’s disease that would be incredible; but if we can help people in wheelchairs to walk again, well that would be biblical.” And, it would indeed be miraculous, but it would be a miracle that was grounded in decades of meticulous and dogged research from our founding scientist, Dr. Jerry Silver, who is a Professor in the Department of Neurosciences at the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this idea that people should think more deeply about?

This is the purpose of the regulatory pathway for drug commercialization and why it is so arduous, costly and time consuming. When a new drug with a new mechanism of action is being proposed for human use, our regulatory agencies provide an effective and necessary framework to avoid any ‘unintended consequences’. Thus far in our Phase 1 human clinical trials, we are showing excellent tolerance to our drug with a wide therapeutic window of safety. In fact, our results have exceeded our expectations both in terms of safety and the excellent pharmacokinetics of our drug.

Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this idea? Can you tell us that story?

Yes, there definitely was and it was intensely and painfully personal. My life plans never envisioned that I would co-found a company dedicated to helping people with spinal cord injury and other conditions of nervous system damage.

But six years ago, in March of 2016, my daughter-in-law, Codi Darnell, fell and broke her back becoming a complete T-11 paraplegic. This means she has no sensation or movement below her belly button. Her doctors told her she would never walk again and that her condition was permanent.

I have never been a person who accepts things as inevitable; in fact, my personality usually questions emphatic pronouncements of any sort. I began to learn all I could about spinal cord injury. I had the requisite ‘omies’ and ‘ologies’ from my dental training including anatomy, neuroanatomy, biology, pathology, histology, physiology, and pharmacology, so the literature was very accessible to me.

I was also certain that if I could find a technology that was truly revolutionary, I would be able to form and fund a company around this technology. At first, the search was disheartening as I poured over hundreds, if not thousands, of peer reviewed papers from all over the world.

I contacted scientists from the U.K., Italy, France, Israel, and even Russia, and of course North America but found nothing exciting. But these conversations with scientists all over the world did confirm to me the basic decency of people, as everyone I contacted was uniformly gracious and helpful to me as I continued my search.

Finally, I came across a 2015 paper from the lab of Dr. Jerry Silver. When I started this journey, I had hoped I would find an undiscovered technology created by some young genius. Well, I did indeed find the technology, but instead of a young genius it was a somewhat older genius (though young at heart) named Dr. Jerry Silver. His discovery was completely different from anything I had encountered to date.

Upon reading this paper, my intuition immediately told me that Dr. Silver had discovered what looked like the fundamental reason that the nervous system had little to no capacity to heal itself after damage. And this failure to heal had always seemed odd to me. Why has mother nature evolved a system that can’t repair what is arguably the most important part of ourselves? Without our nervous system, we are nothing — we can’t move, we can’t feel, we can’t think. And yet, we cannot heal from damage to the CNS. But Dr. Silver’s discovery explained why and once I understood how fundamental his discovery was, I became very excited.

Although both Dr. Silver’s initial research and my personal reason for searching were both centered around spinal cord injury, it rapidly became apparent to me that this technology had a pan-CNS effect and the number of indications that we could potentially positively affect are very large indeed.

Here was a technology that was truly revolutionary. Here was a technology that I could form a company around. The unmet need and the potential of this technology to help is massive.

And, if we are successful, I would have reached the original end goal of this journey — improve the quality of life of my daughter-in-law, Codi.

What do you need to lead this idea to widespread adoption?

Money and time are what will lead this revolutionary technology to widespread adoption. The latter is inexorable; the former is manageable. Thus far, we have executed our strategy extremely well and have raised over US$30 million to-date. We have gone from a bench-top academic science to a biotech company halfway through a Phase 1 human clinical trial in three years. In biotech terms, that’s impressive. The need for our drug is so pervasive that once we have shown efficacy and taken it through the regulatory pathway to a marketable drug, it has the potential to be adopted everywhere very rapidly. We are not that far away from showing efficacy as we hope to have an early read out next year in our Phase 2 SCI clinical trial which we plan to carry out at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. They are the number one rated rehabilitation centre in the world, and I am thrilled that they are now part of the NervGen journey.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why.

  1. It will consume your life. NervGen’s demands on top of an already busy dental practice have been taxing. I have cancelled many appointments for my patients at the last minute as NervGen’s development proceeded. My staff and my patients have been very supportive of this journey which has made the last six years possible. It is, without a doubt, the most rewarding time of my life.
  2. You need to believe in what you are doing. The sacrifices you will need to make can only be tolerated if you believe deeply that what you are doing is worthwhile. For example, I used to golf, but for the past six years I have barely touched a club.
  3. Communicating a paradigm shifting big idea to a world that is full of other companies claiming to be the next great thing, is difficult and will take much more time than you think. Visionary thinkers are rare. For most people, playing it safe and following the crowd are the default positions. Trying to convince people “that impossible isn’t” takes time.
  4. You will need to be comfortable making important strategic decisions with highly imperfect and incomplete information. Going from A to B will involve an almost infinite number of choices. Do I turn left now, or right later? Do I spend money here or there or both? Making the wrong choice can be disastrous but you will have to be comfortable making that choice.
  5. Things will go wrong. Anticipate problems and develop mitigation plans just in case. Trying to change the world is not for the faint of heart. But if you never give up on a dream it is possible to change the world.

Can you share with our readers what you think are the most important “success habits” or “success mindsets”?

Always have humility. You don’t know enough to be successful on your own, and I defer to Shakespeare here:

“Modest doubt is call’d the beacon of the wise”.

Realize that you won’t have all the answers, or all the skillsets needed to be successful. Build a team around you that fills in those gaps and listen to them. Engage with them. Imbue your team with the same passion you feel, and you will get much more than 100% from them. And always recognize that constructive dialogue with other motivated and smart people will increase your chances of success dramatically.

Some very well-known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

Look closely at our science. We have shown unprecedented results across multiple peer reviewed publications, both internally and from independent labs, in six different indications which are available to access here. We are on the brink of efficacy trials, and reaching a major milestone will likely dramatically increase our valuations. We have shown that the nervous system does indeed have an innate ability to repair. We allow the nervous system to heal itself. Call us.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Please visit our website at www.nervgen.com where we also feature a blog written by my daughter-in-law, Codi. We are also on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. We also invite you to watch our videos on our YouTube channel.

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

NervGen Pharma: Dr Harold Punnett’s Big Idea that Might Change the World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Meet The Disruptors: Bill Bloom Of Diane Money On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up Your…

Meet The Disruptors: Bill Bloom Of Diane Money On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview with Fotis Georgiadis

You are probably only really good and passionate about 2–3 things in your life. I know that’s true for me. When you focus on them, and find “Who’s” to help you with the items that you’re not great at, it can be a massive boost of confidence to your project.

As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bill Bloom.

Bill is a husband, father, sailor, classic car driver, entrepreneur and podcaster. Bill has spent over 13 years in the financial services space and has created a new Fintech app, Diane Money, to help figure out people’s money issues for them. Bill is very passionate about finding better outcomes for one’s financial life.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

When I was a child, my parents always struggled with money. So, naturally, taking a pain and making it a benefit has been a big part of my story and life. I still remember my parents arguing whether or not they can pay their mortgage payments. I never wanted that for my family. Now that my wife and I have two kiddos, I never wanted money to be an issue for us. That is why my life’s work is all about helping others create better outcomes with for their money.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

Fintech. It is becoming, if not already, one of the hottest areas of discussion over the past five years. I think something is missing in this space. Marrying AI with functionality to help someone solve their financial goals is priceless. Having access to push a button on your phone to do the work for you is going to be disruptive.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I first started, I had no idea how much of an investment it would take on my part to get it started. I know next to nothing about technology, so finding the right people to build the app was a fun experience. I initially thought that I was going to utilize one guy’s company, and he told me not to text him and questions about the project… and he was immediately fired!

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

James Sullivan and his team at OneSeven Technology, Evan Ryan at Teammate AI, James Robert Lay at the Digital Growth Institute and the guys over at Blip Payments, Seth Fenster and Michael Bank.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

When you change the user experience and make it seamless and give them a better outcome, it’s a positive. That is what Diane Money does for it’s users. Give them better financial outcomes by doing the work and thinking for them.

Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

I’ll simplify this one… “Who Not How.” Read Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy’s book. It’s a game changer. You are probably only really good and passionate about 2–3 things in your life. I know that’s true for me. When you focus on them, and find “Who’s” to help you with the items that you’re not great at, it can be a massive boost of confidence to your project.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

Use AI to figure out what is going to be in a user’s best interest financially. And then offer them the ability to make the changes or adjustments for them by clicking a button on your phone!

Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?

I love David Sinclair’s Podcast, Lifespan. I think with the advances in health and aging, we are going to need our money to be working for us in the best possible way to help with us humans living longer lives.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Action creates clarity. My dear friend Justin Breen and I talk about this all the time. In order to get clarity in life, you need to act. That is the only time that you will get answers. By taking action.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

Understand your money habits. They affect you more than you know. My new company is going to help you understand what you’re doing and how you could have better outcomes by using our platform.

How can our readers follow you online?

Head over to www.DianeMoney.com and sign-up to be part of the exclusive Beta experience and save your spot in line when the app is released this year!

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Meet The Disruptors: Bill Bloom Of Diane Money On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Diane Money: Bill Bloom’s Big Idea that Might Change the World

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

It’s a game changer. You are probably only really good and passionate about 2–3 things in your life. I know that’s true for me. When you focus on them, and find “Who’s” to help you with the items that you’re not great at, it can be a massive boost of confidence to your project.

As a part of my series about “Big Ideas That Might Change The World In The Next Few Years” I had the pleasure of interviewing Bill Bloom.

Bill is a husband, father, sailor, classic car driver, entrepreneur and podcaster. Bill has spent over 13 years in the financial services space and has created a new Fintech app, Diane Money, to help figure out people’s money issues for them. Bill is very passionate about finding better outcomes for one’s financial life.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you please tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

When I was a child, my parents always struggled with money. So, naturally, taking a pain and making it a benefit has been a big part of my story and life. I still remember my parents arguing whether or not they can pay their mortgage payments. I never wanted that for my family. Now that my wife and I have two kiddos, I never wanted money to be an issue for us. That is why my life’s work is all about helping others create better outcomes with for their money.

Can you please share with us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I don’t even know where to begin with this one. There are so many and it’s difficult to just choose one. I think seeing countless adults struggle with money, including my parents, really make me realize that our system is not working and there is something missing in the financial world to help people make better decisions.

Which principles or philosophies have guided your life? Your career?

Take action. Action creates clarity. NPR (reach out to me and we can chat about this one!) Invest in yourself and invest to get into bigger rooms with people who are smarter than you are. Nothing in life is random. That keeps playing over and over again in my mind and it’s true.

Ok thank you for that. Let’s now move to the main focus of our interview. Can you tell us about your “Big Idea That Might Change The World”?

Money. Everyone has money issues. From the person who does not have food to the person who has massive tax bills. Everyone has issues and a relationship with money. I’ve created Diane Money, in honor of my mother’s passing, to help those who need guidance to give them access to figure out how their money could work for them. We all have dreams and ambitions, right? Why not use an financial app that could show you the path to reach your goals more efficiently with better outcomes for your money?

How do you think this will change the world?

The technology that we are building and have built is universal. This will become an international financial app that can work with people in many countries.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this idea that people should think more deeply about?

That this was not created sooner! People have debt and dreams thst they want to accomplish. This app is a great tool to help them understand what it could take to help them pay off their debt or save for their financial goals.

Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this idea? Can you tell us that story?

Times were incredibly difficult when I started the Diane Money App. My mom was dying, my wife and I have a toddler and we were both juggling very demanding roles with our companies, and we were in a pandemic. I truly believe that you need to embrace the hard times. They will make you or break you. You’re being put through these tests for a reason. The situation is asking you to set into a new version of yourself, a better version, to have a bigger and better future. I hired Dr. Jeff Spencer to help me navigate these times. He has coached Tiger Woods, Richard Bransen, over 40 Olympic Gold Medalists and countless others. So, I asked for help and got the best cornerman there is to help me.

What do you need to lead this idea to widespread adoption?

People to share this with their friends and family. It is just that simple. Please share this app with your friends and family who you know could use better financial guidance.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why. Please give a story or example for each.

I’ll simplify this one… “Who Not How.” Read Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy’s book. It’s a game changer. You are probably only really good and passionate about 2–3 things in your life. I know that’s true for me. When you focus on them, and find “Who’s” to help you with the items that you’re not great at, it can be a massive boost of confidence to your project.

Can you share with our readers what you think are the most important “success habits” or “success mindsets”?

Taking action. For sure. You can think about things all day long, but you won’t get anywhere until you actually take action! Find people who are better than you and bring them into your team and focus on the 2–3 strengths that you have!

Some very well known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

Well, this is a shameless plug! Diane Money is in a seed round, so please reach out to me if you want to change the world with us!

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Our handle is DianeMoneyApp on all social media platforms! My email is [email protected] and you can signup for the app here: www.DianeMoney.com

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

Diane Money: Bill Bloom’s Big Idea that Might Change the World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Krisztian Riez Of Condo Control On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Learn how to fail and learn from each time you fail. Failure is part of the game however if you keep failing and don’t continue to learn from each time that you do fail that is insanity. The quote I use for this is: insanity is doing something over and over again and not changing the way you do it and expecting a different result.

At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Krisztian Riez.

Over 10 + years in public speaking roles speaking internationally on the radio to speaking in front of crowds of over 3,000 people to speaking in front of multi national companies. Currently I reside in Canada and working for Condo Control as their PR Consultant in order to help build the companies global brand and public image with its community.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I grew up in a very Eastern European household in Calgary, Alberta where my grandma raised me while my mother was studying to become a teacher. I remember from a very young age the rules of speaking out of line were instilled me; do not speak unless spoken to type of attitude. However for myself I was very stubborn and rebellious and always got in trouble as a child or teenager for speaking.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

Ever since as a child I always enjoyed speaking to people, I worked for my uncle who owned a ice-cream truck and I would go around trying to sell people on why they should have some ice-cream. I think my career truly started when I took a course in University in public speaking and my professor told me I had a special skill for it: I knew then there was something there I needed to explore.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I was at a musical festival and a friend of mine had an emcee who pulled out last minute from emceeing at one of the larger vendor music stages. She runs in festival and asks Kris can you help me out I have no emcee and I am in a bind and of course I said yes and in less 20 minutes time from just attending a festival I became an emcee at one which was a really fun experience.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I was emceeing a fitness competition in Australia in front of a couple thousand people. I called out the wrong name ( a guys name instead of the girls competitors name) while the contestant came on stage as I was describing them to the public their attributes. However I just quickly corrected myself and made a joke out of it and kept going with confidence with her correct name. I think when you make a mistake be confident and fix it as soon as possible with confidence. If you don’t have confidence the crowd feels that energy from you which then disrupts the flow of the event.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

To be honest I never really looked up to anyone when it came to help; I guess I made myself really self aware of my weakness and strengths. I can say my best mentor was the mirror lol I practiced Infront of it thousands of times.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

I would say be comfortable with failing and what I mean by that is change the perspective of what failure is. To me failure is looking at what I am doing like a scientist: I will try a number of experiments knowing that not all of them will succeed. But when they don’t succeed figuring out why and trying again and again. I think for me being comfortable and changing my perspective with failing along with being persistent has helped me succeed in public speaking.

What drives you to get up everyday and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?

Just being 1% better each day than you were yesterday; my drive is to better myself and my story can be used in multiple speaking arrangement whether it be speaking with a client to speaking Infront of a Corporate team to the public. Just bettering yourself in all aspects is what I strive for.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

Currently right now with Condo Control we are working on some very educational resource based Webinars for our audience; along with some speaking engagements in the future. As a hobby I am passionate about Mental Health and have a podcast that I speak on quite regularly.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

If it is to be its up to me is my favorite quote which I have tattooed on the inside of my forearm. For me if I want to be an amazing public speaker there is nothing stopping me except me.

Ok, thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.

Here are the 5 things you need to know to be a highly effective speaker

-You need confidence because when you are in front of a large crowd the audience can smell when you are not confident in yourself and therefore the whole experience will not as enjoyable to the audience as you may have liked.

– You need to be adaptable; what I mean by this is there are a lot of things that can happen when public speaking such as: you may forget your lines, you have an unruly or intimidating question to having technical difficulties. You need the ability to improvise. This a must needed skill that is under appreciated in public speaking.

– You need to have your own personality when you step on that stage or Infront of people: working on developing your personality is a key component on developing your flow when speaking publicly.

– Work ethic: you need to put in the time into your craft to ensure you are constantly perfecting it and making it your own.

-Learn how to fail and learn from each time you fail. Failure is part of the game however if you keep failing and don’t continue to learn from each time that you do fail that is insanity. The quote I use for this is: insanity is doing something over and over again and not changing the way you do it and expecting a different result.

As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?

It takes a lot of work and step by step like the saying goes Rome wasn’t built in a day. You need to feel comfortable speaking out loud then speaking to a mirror then a small group of friends and family. This base is crucial for your success in helping to over come your fear. Now for whatever reason your fear of public speaking doesn’t allow you to even allow you to speak Infront of a mirror I would then recommend working with a hypnotherapist to help unblock some triggers you are having around public speaking and its fear.

You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I would inspire a mental health movement where people can help each other who have depression and anxiety and start coming together on those fronts for a better future for each other.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

I would love to have lunch Erik Weilhenmayer: he a blind adventurer who has climbed Mount Everest. Why I would like to speak to him is because having perspective on life not using your eyes would be very special. We as public speakers can see our audience and reach out to them when we talk to them but imagine now that curtain is black. Your world changes and that change is something I would love to understand more of.

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

You can find me through my projects I am working on with Condo Control by going to their website www.condocontrolcentral.com

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Krisztian Riez Of Condo Control On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Bruce Merrin On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

You must have one powerful theme throughout your presentation.

At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Sage Communications’ Bruce Merrin.

It was none other than Johnny Carson who encouraged Bruce Merrin to formally create his Celebrity Speakers and Entertainment Bureau in 1973 — since then, Merrin has been providing Fortune 500 companies with high-energy, inspiring and entertaining keynote speakers, tailoring speakers for each event based on budget, location and theme. Based in Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world, Merrin’s personal contacts are unparalleled. Now celebrating almost 50 years in the business, Bruce Merrin’s Celebrity Speakers Bureau represents authors, athletes, entrepreneurs, futurists, television and radio personalities, doctors and many more.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

Growing up I was, of course, impacted by my mom and dad. Both were graduates from the prestigious Journalism School at the University of Missouri. They encouraged me to take my first journalism class in junior high, and when I moved on to Grant High School in Van Nuys, California, I became the sports editor of the school newspaper, The Odyssey, and then later a features writer at the Daily Bruin, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In the Army, I served as the editor of Army News Features in Washington, D.C., and the 18th MP Brigade newspaper in Vietnam. My mother, Leona Merrin, was the biggest inspiration of my life. She was the best writer I have ever met, and I’m not inflating her abilities just because I’m her son — she has the Pulitzer to prove it.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

My mom encouraged me to attend the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, and, after I’d graduated, it was my mom who suggested I look for a job at MGM Studios. I obtained a prestigious job in the Thalberg Building at MGM, and my first assignment was handling public relations for Elvis Presley and his new film “Elvis on Tour.” When I met Elvis and we had lunch in the MGM commissary, we hit it off because he and I were both mama’s boys. I am eternally grateful to my beloved mom. She made it all happen.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

My first two sports clients were Muhammad Ali and Jackie Robinson, and my first two entertainment clients were Michael Landon and Johnny Carson. In 1973, I booked Michael Landon on “The Tonight Show,” and after the show Johnny invited Michael and me to his Malibu home for dinner. Johnny toasted us with a glass of his favorite cabernet sauvignon, and he said, “Bruce, I think you should begin a celebrity speakers bureau. You already have a successful public relations company. I will become your first client.” Michael Landon then said, “I will be your second client.” Ed McMahon and Johnny’s famous producer, Freddie de Cordova, soon jumped on board as well. That’s how Bruce Merrin’s Celebrity Speakers Bureau was born, so many years ago.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

President Ronald Reagan was the first president I ever booked for paid speaking engagements. Working with him was an absolute delight. He introduced me to his son Michael Reagan and Michael’s beautiful wife, Colleen. As Thanksgiving approached, the Reagans were planning a festive Thanksgiving dinner at their beautiful estate. Nancy Reagan was adamant that Michael and Colleen not attend. I intervened with President Reagan, begging that Michael and his wife be included for Thanksgiving. I got a tongue lashing from President Reagan, “Bruce, never interfere with my family affairs.” He was right — I should have remained quiet. I learned it is not wise to get involved with any client’s family business.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

As I noted earlier, I am a proud graduate from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. When I attended, Coach John Wooden was leading the UCLA Bruins to many NCAA championship wins — he garnered a total of 10! Though I was not on the team, I got to know Coach Wooden and he became my mentor while I was in college. Later on, he signed at my public relations agency, and I booked him for dozens of paid engagements. Coach Wooden is world famous for his Pyramid of Success, a concept he taught to all of his gifted players. Learning from him totally impacted my life.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

My tagline for over four decades has been “positive persistence.” I am a firm believer in never giving up on achieving your ultimate goal. Every day plant seeds for harvesting.

What drives you to get up every day and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?

I am motivated and inspired to give my talks worldwide because I know that every time I step on the stage, I am empowering lives with new, exciting ideas. Sometimes this helps people reach their full potential, and it’s deeply rewarding for me when I have even a small hand in the success of people who hear me. I was the keynote speaker at the Public Relations Society of America world convention in Omaha, Nebraska, 15 years ago, and there was a gentleman in the audience who had just graduated from Harvard University. He was moved by my talk and began writing to me. He is now an award-winning journalist, and he says that my talk launched his career.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

It’s immensely satisfying to help bring diverse voices to wider audiences through public speaking. One of our newest clients is Apa Sherpa. He is the Michael Jordan of mountain climbing — he has scaled Mt. Everest 21 times, making him the world champion and holder of 13 world records. His powerful story is mesmerizing, as he is a leader who must make life-or-death decisions in the harshest of conditions. Yet he is also a community-minded advocate for education, climate change and conservation. I look forward to booking him for dozens of paid speaking engagements in the future.

As for where I see myself heading, one thing that’s certain is that I will never retire! My life’s passion is my work.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Never Ever Give Up!” In my first year working in public relations, my big goal was to sign Michael Landon as a client. That took me an entire year of meticulous efforts, but I succeeded. He agreed to have lunch with me and told me about a new project he was working on, “Little House on the Prairie.” Later, when I moved from public relations to organizing my speakers bureau, he became not only my first client in that endeavor, but also a lifelong client.

Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.

Working with public speakers has been my life for the past four decades, and I have learned a tremendous amount about what will work and what won’t work in front of an audience. I have boiled things down to a few rules of thumb, basic advice that any speaker — beginner or longtime pro — should keep in mind when they prepare a talk.

1. You must have a story that impacts the audience.

2. You must make the audience laugh.

3. You must touch their hearts early.

4. You must have one powerful theme throughout your presentation.

5. You must create an everlasting memory from your presentation that will stay with every person in the audience.

As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?

Practice, practice, practice. More practice. Perform in front of a mirror. Videotape your talk. Book yourself at Rotary clubs and other civic organization meetings. Relax and meditate before your talks. Get a mentor who is already a professional speaker. Join a speaker’s organization like the National Speakers Association. And last of all, don’t forget to practice!

You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

My mantra has become “impact lives!” Any movement I’d inspire would encourage people every day to do something special that will impact other people’s lives.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has truly revolutionized the business world internationally. I am impressed with his vision.

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

@BruceMerrinSpeakers on Instagram

Bruce Merrin’s Celebrity Speakers Bureau and Bruce Merrin on Facebook

@Celebspkrs4U on Twitter

@Bruce Merrin on LinkedIn

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Bruce Merrin On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Making Something From Nothing: Timofey Drozhzhin Of Momsdish On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

You cannot do it alone. This was by far the greatest lesson in my life. You cannot fight a battle on every front. Some people are great developers, others are great marketers. Simply put, you can run quicker with two legs than one.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Timofey Drozhzhin.

Timofey is the Operations Manager for Momsdish, a food blog focused on bringing crazy easy recipes to the masses. He oversees everything from the backend of the website to the general day-to-day operations required to stay relevant in the competitive creator industry.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I am a first generation United States immigrant. My family came to America when I was a child on refugee status. We were a poor Siberian family, who lived on $15 a month during the nineties. And yes, we really did have eight months of straight winter. In some miraculous way my family was granted citizenship in a country that changed my entire world.

My journey was different, because starting out in a new country from scratch is a nightmare. We didn’t have anything. Our streets were the poorest, my school was the second-worst in the state, and there was this lack of understanding about how anything functioned. Every step had to be a step into unknown territory.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

You’re not important enough to worry about what people think of you. It was a quote I picked up a long time ago somewhere on the internet.

This concept really resonated with me because a huge part of success is to step out of your comfort zone. You have to believe in an idea nobody else believes in, be different and sometimes make a clown out of yourself for a few years until the idea takes off.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

Most of my inspiration came from seeing how difficult both of my parents worked. As kids, my brother and I also had to work. On the weekends, we would do custodial work at a local church. And during summer vacations we would pick berries on a farm and each make about $30–35 dollars a day. It was this experience that developed an urge in me to work harder and reach for higher goals.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

People naturally tend to get the most ideas in the areas they least understand and have least interest in the areas they most understand. Struggling to translate an idea into a business may be a sign that you need to get more familiarized with the field. The first and the greatest step is to get plugged into the community and pair up with the people walking the same journey.

Start by joining a convention, conference or evena local meetup in your field. Every year, there are hundreds of different conventions and conferences happening in every single industry. You’d be surprised how much opportunity and help is given away for free.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

I remember a time an acquaintance of mine launched a subscription based product after securing an investment. The entire company paused the production of their original product because they were so intrigued by this new idea. They were so fervid at the thought, that during the two years of development, no one bothered to check up on the competition.

I kid you not, on the day of the launch, the head of the project Googled the concept and lo and behold — they found two other companies that were selling the same exact product, only more polished and less expensive. Turns out that while the company was developing the product, their competition launched a much better product. That month, the entire company’s crew was reduced to single digits.

I would categorize the steps in the following:

  1. Start with Google and see what’s out there.
  2. Familiarize yourself with the industry. Plug into a community or a convention and start talking to as many people as you can. They likely know something you don’t.
  3. Interview your potential customers. Even if the same product exists, it might have been poorly executed or not very approachable.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

When launching your first product, we have to understand that every venture in life starts with “school”. Product manufacturing and patent filing is no exception. You have to accept the fact that your first steps will likely not make you a millionaire, but they will leave you with an education.

Most of the time when you start a product, be it book publishing, product manufacturing or placing products into major retailers, you’ll need to find an agency that is willing to take you on. It’s very likely it’ll come down to profit sharing and little to no profit in gains.

Alternatively, you can find an individual to partner within the industry you’re targeting. With the partner, you’re gaining experience and contacts. There are so many hidden industry-specific tips and battles that you need to overcome. Only a truly product-centric specialist can assist you with navigating the process.

I cannot advise much on patents, aside from saying this — over the years we naturally developed a much closer relationship with our attorneys. It helps to be able to personally call our attorney for advice prior to investing into any type of patent or trademark. This helps us avoid unnecessary spending.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

  1. You cannot do it alone. This was by far the greatest lesson in my life. You cannot fight a battle on every front. Some people are great developers, others are great marketers. Simply put, you can run quicker with two legs than one.
  2. Do not jump to other ideas. Keep pushing and perfecting the same idea. I opened up eight companies by the time I was 19 and all of them failed. Sometimes it takes 3–5 or more years of pushing the same wall before you start seeing any results.
  3. Choose your surroundings. Surround yourself with people that you want to be. Our minds are built to blend in to other people. Your surroundings will transform the way you think, your routines and help you build up your first steps.
  4. Think less, do more. Don’t overthink a situation and start doing something. For our company, working in teams and having a set schedule has really resulted in less time spent pondering and more time trying to meet the deadlines.
  5. A little crazy is ok. Don’t be afraid to be yourself. Be real, be human, step outside your comfort zone, because nobody likes a boring perfectionist.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

What is something that makes you crave a delicious recipe? Probably hunger. I’m sure Momsdish would not exist if people were not hungry. So first, determine if the market is hungry enough for your product.

Find 5 to 10 people you picture as ideal buyers for your product and go interview them. Ask them how much they are willing to pay for your product. Go a notch further, and secure your first customers. If they’re not willing to pay for your product, either they are not hungry or the product is not appetizing enough.

Second, go after a partnership and don’t be greedy. Are you a developer? Find and partner with the best sales skills. Are you a marketer? Find a partner with the best development skills in the industry. The 50% revenue share does not compare to the potential growth you can accomplish with the product itself.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

Fun fact: Back when we first started our food blog, we used to share the food recipes that we thought were great and hoped they would miraculously go viral. Little did we know, there was an actual tool to list the recipes people are looking for. It wasn’t until we hired a consultant that truly helped us shape the way we conduct the research and publish content that our recipes began to perform stronger across the board.

That said, no one person should ever execute an idea on their own.

Ideas appear easier to accomplish than they really are. When most people see our food blog, they assume it’s just one person spending a few hours a day cooking and posting recipes. Little do they realize that it’s an intense industry which takes a full-time team of seven people and a bunch of contracted researchers, web operators, writers, social media strategists, marketers, photographers, public relations, and ad agencies to make things happen…oh, and let’s not forget the cooking.

I most definitely recommend a consultant, but before that, I recommend plugging into the community in the industry. That way you don’t just hire any consultant, but a one that is recommended by the industry.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

I’m all for bootstrapping. I also don’t own a credit card — maybe there’s some correlation there?

When building up a business, my wife and I experienced greater value in developing a proof of concept than finding startup capital. Money doesn’t make business happen, demand for the product does. In most instances, it really shouldn’t take more than several willing people and a small budget to test the waters.

That said, venture capital is something you should only consider if you’re already sailing the waters, struggling to keep up with the demand for your product.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

One thing nobody told us is when you run a food website, you automatically become a coach and a therapist. It’s not exactly what we signed up for, but it’s true.

It blows my mind to think of the number of messages we have received in the past from people going through anything from relationship issues to depression to struggles with their health. For some reason, food really opens people up and they feel comfortable to share what’s going on in their lives.

Today, my wife and I use our platform to love on people and be real with them. Any warmth that we pass along radiates into bigger circles. I think this alone makes all the hard work worth it.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Before my dad passed away last year, he left one note that stayed close to me. He said — you cannot take anything with you, but just one thing, your actions.

Anything you do, any business you open, will leave a print on somebody’s life. Choose a business that not only makes financial sense, but will leave a better world for the people coming after you.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Sergei Guriev. He is probably one of the greatest economists of our time. He inspires me because of his integrity and willingness to confront corruption, while breaking down the economy into a language everyone can understand. Although I still use a dictionary throughout his lectures, I can sit through his two hour class and walk out feeling like I watched the greatest movie of all time.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Thank you for allowing me to share my journey with you!

Making Something From Nothing: Timofey Drozhzhin Of Momsdish On How To Go From Idea To Launch was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Making Something From Nothing: Joe Zalta Of Riverbend Consulting On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Be prepared to work like you’ve never worked before. Being successful in business is harder than ever, and there will always be competition. If you’re not willing to put in the time and sweat equity, it won’t pay off in the end.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Joe Zalta, co-founder of Riverbend Consulting.

Joe Zalta is co-founder and co-owner of Riverbend Consulting, where he manages the sales and advertising teams. Joe also heads up the brand partnership and referral divisions. He has founded and run successful businesses in multiple industries including e-commerce and wholesale/manufacturing.

Before founding Riverbend, Joe was in the wholesale and manufacturing space for 15 years. He focused on apparel lines, which he represented to major department stores, mass retailers and off-price chains across the country.

This included designing successful private-label programs for Macy’s, Kohl’s, JCPenney and other large chain stores. He was also responsible for driving direct-to-consumer business for multiple men’s and kids’ fashion brands.

Joe then shifted his attention to Amazon and e-commerce, where he continues to specialize in apparel as well as beauty. He is skilled in design concept, trends, merchandising and licensing, and he has leveraged these abilities to create brands and successful seller accounts on Amazon.com.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory?

I worked in a big umbrella apparel company for 11 years in different departments and divisions, and I was trained in different areas. I started in sales and was then taught merchandising by one of the best merchandisers in the entire industry. He was my mentor for 3 years. I also learned the finance side of the business.

In the end, I was doing deals with the likes of Macy’s, Dillard’s, TJ Maxx and others, building merchandising groups for Men’s, Big and Tall and Kids clothing lines that I represented. During that time, I worked with many different brands including the NBA, Lee, True Religion, among others.

I also worked with niche brands, helping them get placed with retailers, and would build out how their products, primarily clothing and accessories, would look on store displays.

Beyond brick-n-mortar retail experience, I also became a reseller on Amazon and other e-tail sites and came to learn a lot about the ecommerce marketplace. That experience led me to my current spot at Riverbend Consulting, where we help sellers on Amazon and other online marketplaces solve urgent issues and grow. Last year, we doubled our revenue as the number of companies selling online continues to grow rapidly.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

There’s a quote I read from Dale Carnegie to the effect of “Show interest and interest will be shown back.” His book How to Win Friends and Influence People is full of great quotes and nuggets of wisdom. That book helped me greatly in my career by helping me become a good listener. By listening to people, you build good relationships because you show interest in their needs, wants and desires. That goes a long way when you’re selling and building partnerships.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

There are two books that have resonated with me. The first is the aforementioned How to Win Friends and Influence People by Carnegie. I’ve read this book more than 20 times.

Another book is Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger. I love mergers and acquisitions and this story detailed how he brought the Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel franchises into Disney. The part I found most interesting was how he learned to work with each entity in a complementary way without changing them and their core competencies.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

That’s a daily challenge for me, but in my experience, I’ve found that ideas are worthless without execution. You can never spend enough time on how things get executed, and you can never be detailed enough.

If you’re trying to launch a product, you better know every single detail of your product and every step of its conception and production — from designing it and producing it, to transporting it and delivering it to the retailer or the end-customer. Being able to clearly explain your idea, product or business off the top of your head is vital.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

We all have access to the internet, so you’ll likely find your idea if you look hard enough. However, just because something has been done before, doesn’t mean it can’t be done better.

Yes, you want to be first to market, but doing it right, better and more creatively is much more important.

One example is the Comfy hooded blanked. It wasn’t the first to market, but the brand creators took their idea, went on Shark Tank, added new colors and good marketing — and they took over the segment.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

First, you need to trademark the name of your brand and your product. Trademarks are category-specific, so be sure you select the proper category to avoid confusion and potential conflicts

Next, you need to hire a good patent lawyer to get a patent for your product. Then you need to research and meet with factories and find several good candidates to determine who can produce your product efficiently.

You’ll need to do your due diligence here because your manufacturing partners are very important. Take the necessary trips to visit factories in China, consider Alibaba, or go to a virtual/in-person sourcing show. Then see how they do with test orders.

It is also very important to work out payment terms with your manufacturers early in the process. If you get this wrong, you could be without cash flow, or even worse, bankrupt.

Anticipate work that the warehouse needs to do — size of containers, labels, etc.

Then you’ll need to work with customs agents and freight forwarders to bring your products to the United States.

Then you’ll want to work with a third-party logistics (3PL) provider or carrier who can pick up your products from the port and transport them to your US-based warehouse(s) that you’ll have procured.

In the meantime, you’ll want to attract and build relationships with relevant retailers in the US. You’ll need to send them samples of your products and maybe even test sample batches to see how well they perform in the store or online.

Also, important to note is that for hardline or molded goods, costs are based on how many products you want to produce and there is typically a minimum order quantity per product type and product variation (i.e., color, style, etc.). On soft goods such as clothing, the minimum is typically 1,200–1,800 for one item style and for one size.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

  1. Build good infrastructure processes and habits from the beginning so you don’t have to adapt as you go. With that said, it’s also really important to review your processes from time to time and adjust, expand or change as needed, based on your company’s growth.
  2. Think Big — when you introduce a new service or product, you need to be willing to invest in the infrastructure and marketing in a significant way, so you can maximize your ROI
  3. Hire the best people you can — if the right candidate comes along, don’t hesitate to bring them on board, or your competitor just might. Also, be sure you continually create a great space for your employees to work and grow. This will help minimize turnover.
  4. Pay attention to your expenses and always keep a handle on them. If you are not aware of your P&L at least as a high level, then you need to get better acquainted with your own books and understand your cash flow.
  5. Be prepared to work like you’ve never worked before. Being successful in business is harder than ever, and there will always be competition. If you’re not willing to put in the time and sweat equity, it won’t pay off in the end.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

Test your target market to see if the product is something they would like. If they don’t immediately react/understand it, then it probably won’t take.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

There’s no shortage of ideas. Just strike out on your own and see what you can do. If you make mistakes, evaluate what you did wrong and fix it. That will be the best way to learn and grow.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

Why would you give up equity if you don’t even know what you have yet? Bootstrap as long as you possibly can. Then go get loans rather than venture capital. There’s nobody better to invest in than yourself. Then you still maintain all of the equity, and eventual profits.

There was a time when I started a company, and I had the opportunity to approach a family member for initial funding to get me started. I decided, however, to do it on my own through loans. I ended up growing four times the amount of the loan needed without giving up any equity or ownership.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

I think it’s important to give back where you can, and help mentor others along the way. I do a lot of career guidance for local schools and I’m part of multiple charity and service organizations.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Learning how to manage your money at a very early age. Most people mismanage their money unless they have guidance early on from family, friends and education institutions.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Michael Jordan — I think he’s truly inspirational. Learning how he built his brand and how he developed such demand for his products. How he always kept it going and looked so good doing it — that’s a sign of genius.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Making Something From Nothing: Joe Zalta Of Riverbend Consulting On How To Go From Idea To Launch was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Future Is Now: Tarun Raj Of Reality MGMT Technologies and Reality Center On How Their…

The Future Is Now: Tarun Raj Of Reality MGMT Technologies and Reality Center On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Tech Scene

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Be grateful. We are only here for a moment.

As a part of our series about cutting edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tarun Raj.

Tarun Raj is an artist, inventor, spiritual scientist and consciousness explorer. He is the founder of Reality Mgmt Technologies and Reality Center which is based in Santa Monica, California.

Merging science, art and spirituality, Tarun has championed the advance of wellness technology and alternative healing for over a decade. After getting a masters in motion graphics in 2010, Tarun started a boutique marketing agency focused on experiential marketing and personalized mobile content. The focus pivoted to encompass commercial production and product design which allowed him to work alongside legendary collaborators like the Mandela family, Tony Robbins and Rüfüs Du Sol, amongst others.

Tarun’s insatiable desire for knowledge and progress created an intense lifestyle, which was only balanced by meditation and energy healing modalities like reiki and qigong. After more than a decade of study and practice, Tarun found his true calling through bridging technology and consciousness to catalyze profound and rapid healing to the world.

This is the purpose of Reality Mgmt Technologies and Reality Center. At Reality Center, Tarun and his team are pioneering the world of technodelics, which is the synchronization of light, sound and vibration to provide the healing benefits of an altered state without the need for drugs. Like Eintstein and Tesla, he believes that frequency is the future of healing and providing open access is his mission.

Tarun currently holds two patents on contextually aware augmented reality, which he hopes will allow people to find harmony in smart cities of the future. When he’s not in the lab, you can find him teaching and tinkering at Reality Center, or outside searching for intelligent life in and around our planet.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

About 10 years ago I had just moved back to Los Angeles after finishing my MA at Savannah College of Art and Design. I was in my “always be pitching” mindset so I was going to different networking and investing events trying to find someone who would put money into our marketing automation startup. At one of these events, one guy really stood out amongst all the suits. He wore more of a martial arts outfit and was so charismatic that I was immediately intrigued. We got to chatting and had a lot of the same thoughts about service and community so we exchanged information.

A few weeks later, he called me and said he needed a favor. Considering our conversations about technology and innovation, I assumed it was something along those lines. I was wrong. He needed a taco truck. He had somehow been given the keys to a 10,000 square foot warehouse in South Central LA and was having a birthday party there. Needless to say, my years in the entertainment industry paid off and with the help of my friend Phil Fraser, I found the truck and a number of other things which made the party one to remember. That led to three years running this arts and education space, providing everything from community permaculture events to hosting some of the most famous musical acts in the city. We always had some really interesting activations during the events, one of which changed my life.

During one of the parties, a group was tucked inside a small room with a TV and a reclining chair. I heard these mesmerizing vibrations emanating from this space so I peeked inside. The person sitting was chanting and the words were converted into vibrations we could see on the screen, hear on the speakers, and to my surprise, feel through the vibrating chair! I watched as everyone was just transfixed and suddenly I was too. This is the first time I experienced the direct biofeedback technology of industry pioneer Don Estes, who became a dear friend, mentor and business partner.

I realized that technology can do so much more as a tool and has the potential to bring a great deal of healing to the world. I have devoted my life to this ever since.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Fifteen years ago my brother and Reality Center’s lead engineer, Pranab, showed me that I could generate energy between my hands by rubbing them together rapidly. It blew my mind and opened up a whole new understanding of the world. Just by intending it, the electromagnetic energy would flow through our water based bodies and channel between my palms. This flow has many names; qi, reiki, prana, spirit, etc. Either way, the mere possibility was enough to change my direction in life.

Can you tell us about the cutting edge technological breakthroughs that you are working on? How do you think that will help people?

In addition to our frequency therapy platform, one the most exciting things we are working on is our vocal analysis technology. Since your voice is a combination of how you’re thinking and feeling at any given moment, we found it to be the best biometric for real-time biofeedback.

Everything we speak about has a frequency we can measure. What most people don’t know is that when sound is sped up many times over, it becomes light. In this way, your vocal frequencies can be correlated to sounds and colors as well. This correlation allows us to use our synchronized therapy to play back specific music, colors and frequencies which are completely harmonic with your words and amplify the feeling you get when you say them.

Algorithms instantly create a therapy experience from your voice, controlling everything from these devices now, to your smart home in the future. Imagine your whole house changes temperature, what’s on tv, the patterns of the lights and the vibrations of your massage chair just based on the tone of your voice. The API will allow you to connect a whole ecosystem of devices with ease, all evolving with the energy of the environment. That is what we are working on now. In the future, on a macro level, we foresee that entire cities will adapt to their citizens instead of relying on emotionless computing to nurture society.

How do you think this might change the world?

The world has experienced an unprecedented level of trauma in the last few years and it only seems to be escalating. These conditions are having a devastating impact on the health of humanity. Drug addiction, alcoholism, mental health conditions and suicide rates have sadly skyrocketed. The simple fact is that people need help and healing. We help take a person out of “fight or flight” through a combination of synchronized light, sound and vibration. When the body is in a rest and recovery state instead, it dramatically reduces the need for pharmaceuticals and any other substance. Our frequency therapy devices are a personal and public health solution.

We have had incredible success treating a wide variety of people, ranging from Olympic athletes to special operations soldiers. The big question is, what if this was covered by insurance? What if a struggling, single mom in an inner-city could jump on one of our devices for 20 minutes, unwind and get a comparable amount of rest to good night’s sleep naturally? Our families would be closer, we could see significant decreases in domestic abuse and substance abuse. That’s how big this is. That’s why we are so committed to this mission.

Making frequency therapy accessible to everyone will change the world, so we are proud to be leading in that way.

Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

At this point, it’s no big secret that frequency can be harmful. The military has been using various implementations of this for decades. Science has already tested so many different ways to manipulate the human consciousness by inducing various brainwave states. It is similar to how psychedelics were used in mind control experiments before their popularity grew as a recreational substance. We are doing the opposite by freeing the mind through amplifying what is already good and positive while in these induced states of deep meditation.

The most important opportunity is to teach people how their mindset and their words affect their reality. By showing them the literal waves which are emitted into the world by their actions, perhaps more folks will take responsibility for their lives and use our tools to help reframe their mindset. The power of positivity may be a cliché, but we are developing an exciting science to show how these effects can be amplified through the intersection of science and consciousness. There is nothing to fear when you can control your thoughts and feelings.

Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?

Rather than a tipping point, I would say there is an ongoing series of events which continually inspire me and my team to innovate. A lot of it has come in my own personal breakthroughs using the technologies to manifest the life and opportunities I want. More importantly, I get to see people’s lives transformed on a daily basis through this practice. Each experience is so unique that we have been able to find a common thread in all of the success. That is when a person is able to step into the belief that their dreams can come true in any given moment, it gives them the freedom to let go of the damaging narratives that are holding them back from achieving their best life, whether that means healing their mind, body or soul.

What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?

In order to grow and actuate widespread adoption, we need Impact investors who are interested in helping humanity and motivated by contributing to paramount technology that is vital to the burgeoning wellness sector. We built the machine. Now it just needs fuel.

What have you been doing to publicize this idea? Have you been using any innovative marketing strategies?

We have some exciting partnerships in the works which allow us to have a footprint in some major locations around the world. Our relationship with Den Meditation is bringing some amazing sensory experiences to Los Angeles. Thanks to our partner, Jonathan Chia, we have had significant treatment success with combat veterans. We hope that their sessions will be covered by the VA and grants in the very near future.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I definitely owe my gratitude to my family first. They have been supportive in my life in a way only family can. Regardless of the ups and downs we experienced, they have always been a powerful anchor. Pranab, my brother, is one of them. He works with us now and is one of the most brilliant people I know. My business partners have also been critical in every aspect of my life. They are like family. I mentioned Don before as an incredible mentor. He is a living legend and we are lucky to be working from his decades of experience. The other partners, Jonathan Chia and Benji Tucker are both friends and family as well. We have experienced every challenge possible during our years working together but still found success in the midst of it. They have sacrificed a great deal to live a life of service. Jordan Quaglietta is also someone who has always been a steadfast friend and business partner. Last and definitely not least, all the wives and girlfriends who keep us balanced and wise.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

That’s my goal at this point.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why.

  1. Relax. This happens again tomorrow.
  2. Laugh. You need the reminder.
  3. Sleep. Your future self thanks you.
  4. Love yourself. Otherwise no one else will.
  5. Be grateful. We are only here for a moment.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I want to inspire a movement that brings everyone together in celebration and peace.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” — Mahatma Gandhi

This simple justification for peace has been a guiding principle for me.

Some very well known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

What if you could get the recharge of a full night’s sleep in just 20 minutes? We can do that for you at Reality Center.

We combine the most popular biohacking therapies into one connected experience that you can get anywhere else. Using a unique blend of relaxing light pulses, vibration and sound frequencies, we induce the optimum brainwave states for your body to recover from stress and trauma. This proven method takes your body out of “fight or flight” mode and optimizes recovery. Our technology reduces dependency on drugs and can improve the quality of life of any person who needs to rest, heal from trauma or enhance their focus. When a balanced nervous system is accessible to everyone, we can truly change the world.

Frequency therapy has been a performance secret of athletes, soldiers and people of all ages for over three decades. We know that it works because we are achieving and tracking incredible results at our facility in Santa Monica, California.

Health and wellness is a rapidly growing trillion dollar industry and we are at the helm of it.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Find me on Instagram at @tarun.ig @realitycenter

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

The Future Is Now: Tarun Raj Of Reality MGMT Technologies and Reality Center On How Their… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Meet The Disruptors: Francesco Fazio Of Treacy & Company On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up…

Meet The Disruptors: Francesco Fazio Of Treacy & Company On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview with Fotis Georgiadis

Be human! Show up as yourself. In this world of digital everywhere, connect with people — your employees, your clients, your partners. My teams love a rule we have started — no PowerPoint slides on Monday morning client meetings. Instead, show up with a story about what you did this weekend and, if possible, of course, connect it with how relevant it is for the client’s situation. Monday meetings have become something the whole team looks forward to.

As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Francesco Fazio.

Francesco is a Partner in Treacy & Company’s Chicago office and head of the innovation practice. He has 20+ years of experience helping clients launch new ventures, with discipline in business, service, and experience design. Francesco helps clients develop innovations that improve customer value, accelerate profitable growth, and establish market leadership with an approach that combines superior foresight, systems-level design thinking, agile concept development, and risk mitigation.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

I was born in Italy, a country of beautiful design in art, architecture, furniture, clothes, food, boats, cars. That’s where I cultivated the desire to design something really meaningful and beautiful in the world. This inspired me to go to design school in Italy and, later, to business school in the US. The intersection of design and business is where it came together for me. I realized that I love to design new businesses, offerings, and experiences to help companies delight their customers — and win in the market.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

I help companies launch new viable business offerings, services, and experiences. That, very often, requires the courage to disrupt yourself before someone else does it to you. For example, I am helping a cat litter brand think through a litter box product system with a new innovative business model; a boat manufacturer design a unique boat sharing club to improve access to the category and the community around it; and an insurance company launch a new host of home wellness services. These things are always provocative and often disruptive to the core businesses of the companies that are exploring them. My role is to bring discipline and an innovative approach to my clients to navigate the uncertainty and de-risk these endeavors.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I was working for a company that provides agricultural solutions to farmers. This company has a rich database of what farmers buy from them, including products and services. Our job was to uncover some great patterns and insights from the data and provide my client with a solution to increase sales. The problem was that the pool of data was so large and diverse that it pointed us in the wrong direction. Our initial findings went something like this:

John runs a 100 acres farm that looks similar to Larry’s, but Larry buys less than half our product and no services. So, to get Larry to buy more services, wouldn’t it be nice to put him in the same room as John, maybe in some fancy hotel conference room? This way, Larry can learn from John why he buys the services he does, and of course, he’ll start buying them too. Maybe this singular event turns into an “alike customer” quarterly off-site event with great food, all sorts of networking events, a day of learning with presentations from our leaders. What a great idea — we will see double-digit growth right with the event while getting our customers to sell for us!

But wait, shouldn’t we check with these farmers if they would be interested?

I went to visit a dozen of them when I sat down and simply asked, “What excites you about farming.” The feedback I received was:

  1. Farmers like to be alone,
  2. They like to be out in the field, and
  3. No field is like any other. A big fancy event to get farmers to copy one another simply wouldn’t work. The biggest lesson is never to assume you know your customers better than they know themselves. That is at the core of what I practice now, Human-Centered Design.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

My first mentor was Paolo Caliari, a yacht designer and a direct descendant of the famous painter Paolo Veronese. That was my first job out of design school in Italy. I always appreciated Paolo’s ability to sit at a business lunch with a potential buyer, ask about what the buyer wanted, and then produce some beautiful ‘back of the napkin’ sketches for some boat designs (literally the back of the restaurant napkins). Paolo would always create three alternative designs and lay them out in front of the buyer and their spouse. There were a lot of learnings wrapped into those earlier business meetings: 1) always try to understand your customer; 2) when you learn something about them, do something about it at the moment, and 3) keep it simple — do as much of the thinking for them as possible. I apply these three simple rules in every client discussion, though I am admittedly still miles away from producing concept sketches on a napkin as beautifully as Paolo did.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

I have a relatively simple and (perhaps) one-sided opinion here: disruption is always coming. In one way or another, whether you can see it or not, and whether you like it or not. It is never good to you when it comes unless you saw it coming and started to prepare for it. In other words, you might not want to trigger it (after all, no successful business wants to change things!). However, you absolutely must not act as if it won’t happen to you — as that’s death.

We all know the usual disruptions that created good things for the world but destroyed incumbents who didn’t embrace them. For example, Kodak not investing in digital cameras in an attempt not to disrupt their own core film business; Blockbusters not investing in streaming as “the people that go to our stores like to meet their neighbors, and the physical touch of a DVD box.” But what about the people that don’t go to your stores? Hello, Netflix.

Interestingly, to anticipate and embrace disruption and turn it into new value-creating innovation, you must think beyond your customers. As the famous adage by Henry Ford goes, “if I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have answered a faster horse.”

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

1) Know your strengths before you know your weaknesses.

A fond memory from my days in business school was my role in the admission office conducting interviews of prospective students. The standard question was, “What is more important, to know your strengths or your weaknesses.” The even more standard answer always came as: “the weaknesses, so you can work to improve them over time.” Until this one applicant said, “your strengths! Because under pressure, you will always default on the weaknesses, and it is best to go where your strengths are.” I will never forget that advice. In my case, I know my strength is in infusing enthusiasm and energy into my work and seeing the glass as always half full. Staying true to myself and playing on my strengths has helped me in many situations where I needed it!

2. Define your personal brand. If you don’t do it, people will define it for you.

This connects very tightly with the point above. Be very clear about who you are and what you want to be known for (and ideally build that on what objective strengths you bring to the table). In one situation where I wanted to emphasize my “challenger” mindset, I made a point in the client meetings to only ask disconfirming questions.

3. Be human! Show up as yourself.

In this world of digital everywhere, connect with people — your employees, your clients, your partners. My teams love a rule we have started — no PowerPoint slides on Monday morning client meetings. Instead, show up with a story about what you did this weekend and, if possible, of course, connect it with how relevant it is for the client’s situation. Monday meetings have become something the whole team looks forward to.

As a disruptor, how are you going to shake things up next?

I will continue to be curious, empathetic, and daring. I will also continue spending as much time with my adorable three little girls — ages nine, eight, and six. They don’t have boundaries of what is accepted/acceptable as much as we adults do. By observing how fast they are growing, evolving their thinking, and approaching the world, I am learning more than I could hope to be innovative!

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Meet The Disruptors: Francesco Fazio Of Treacy & Company On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Lindsey Carnett Of Marketing Maven On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Be clear on key points you want to deliver (tell the audience what you’re going to tell them, tell them the key points, summarize the key takeaways)

At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Lindsey Carnett.

Lindsey Carnett is the CEO and President of Marketing Maven. She founded Marketing Maven in 2009, after leading integrated communications campaigns for firms and private industries across the world. With over two decades of experience, Lindsey founded Marketing Maven to elevate the public relations and marketing objectives of clients and provide tangible results.

Named one of the Most Entrepreneurial Companies in America and one of the Fastest Growing Companies in America, Marketing Maven is a bicoastal lifestyle and consumer marketing agency. The agency specializes in international and domestic public relations, social media, reputation management, direct response marketing, U.S. product launches, SEO, event PR, and Spanish media. The team also executes research for clients, identifying growth opportunities for businesses through MavenMapping, a market research and competitive analysis to provide a marketing roadmap for B2C, B2B, or B2G companies.

Working with clients in the health, nutrition, hospitality, beauty, fashion, lifestyle, and consumer spaces, Marketing Maven also pitches and books media coverage on national TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, and online. Additional services include media tours, media training, byline articles, SEO, press releases, crisis communications, event marketing, media training, retail support, Hispanic marketing, nationally recognized PR stunts, booking speaking opportunities, and tradeshow support. Lindsey is a trusted public relations advisor to national and international organizations and has been named an Enterprising Women Award Winner, Top Woman in Public Relations by PR News, a Top Woman in Media, and featured in the Forbes Most Powerful Women Business Leader issue. She also has offered expert insight via news outlets like TheStreet.com, National Public Radio (NPR), The Doctors, The Jeff Probst Show, Telemundo, USA Today, PR Week, Forbes Woman, Medium, Gizmodo, and Thrive Global.

She believes in giving back and has sat on the Board of Directors for Women in Sports in Events serving as their Co–VP of Marketing, served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Los Angeles Chapter, Electronic Retailing Association, and The Victory Club for California Lutheran University and is a member of the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce where she was 2021 40 Under Forty Honoree, VISTAGE, W Source, and Women Presidents’ Organization.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I grew up in a suburban neighborhood in Southern California as the daughter of an elementary school teacher and a psychologist. When I was eight, my mom, dad, brother and I moved to Washington State. I went from doing tap, Jazz and ballet to doing Tae-Kwon-Do, raising sheep on a small farm, playing soccer, volleyball, softball, basketball and competing in gymnastics. At 16 years old, I had the opportunity to represent Washington State in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China playing soccer through the Washington Cultural Exchange Program with my best friends. We spent Y2K in Hong Kong! I graduated early from high school and lived in Cuernavaca, Mexico for a month where I lived with a host family and spent my hard-earned money from summer jobs on a total immersion language program for myself. For college, I decided to return to sunny Southern California and attended California Lutheran University. I played NCAA Division 3 Women’s Soccer for all four years and was the captain during my junior and senior year. I graduated with two majors: Spanish and Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations and Advertising.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

In high school, I originally planned to study biochemistry in college. I wanted to find a cure for cancer, and that’s one of the reasons I attended California Lutheran University, since many of the graduates work for Amgen. I changed career paths when I had the opportunity to intern at a public relations firm in Los Angeles. During college, the pay was very good to write press releases and I was pleasantly surprised that I could work while traveling. I would arrange media interviews for clients while traveling to soccer games. I scored my first Wall Street Journal article at age 20. It was on the front page, above the fold on a Monday morning. Securing that piece of coverage felt like scoring the winning soccer goal in a championship game! I was hooked. I would continue to represent clients at red carpet events, the largest awards shows, and enjoyed the challenge of securing earned media coverage for a variety of personalities in a variety of industries!

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

In high school I was the friend with the gregarious personality who would say yes to dares to make my friends laugh. After I started my firm, Marketing Maven, my friend Aljolynn came to work for me, and she dared me to invite a celebrity we spotted at a design industry event at MOMA in NYC to an event we were hosting for our Norwegian client at the Consul General’s penthouse in NYC. The celebrity said yes and it ultimately turned into a collaboration where we would all travel to Norway together on a Norwegian Design Tour to promote the export of Scandinavian designs to the U.S. — see 3:15 in the video https://youtu.be/Furw0saK0d0).

It was truly the trip of a lifetime. From seeing the fjords via helicopters to salmon safaris, the experiences we had together can truly never be matched. And in terms of press, we secured national TV, national radio and a front page of the national newspaper!

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

The funniest mistake I made didn’t feel funny at the time. I was pitching media in Kansas and apparently I had called the tornado warning hotline, so I had caused a siren for a tornado warning to be triggered. I received a return call from someone who angrily let me know what I had done. I learned to double and triple check the contacts you are reaching out to and exactly what their roles are.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I am grateful to one of my first bosses, Gwen Kent. She helped me connect the dots between my contributions on the marketing side and how they tied into the success of the business. She included me in discussions with executives at the boardroom table that most marketing professionals in their early twenties don’t have access to. I was able to catch a major mistake in a financial spreadsheet that ultimately helped the company to save millions of dollars. Many of the executives didn’t think there was an error, but Gwen championed my findings straight to the top and supported me each step of the way. She continues to be one of my biggest cheerleaders to this day. She’s a sounding board for me as a working mother and someone who really understands negotiations in international business.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

My biggest advice is not to get discouraged. You are bound to have many doors slammed on your face but it’s absolutely true that if you keep working hard and you’re good at it, that other doors will open. In the marketing industry you must understand the nuances of each business you are representing. Growth mindset and being coachable will take you far. Having clear goals and working hard to attain those goals will help to keep you focused. Learn from your mistakes but don’t dwell on them. Don’t blame others for failures. Take responsibility when things don’t work out and ask for help from a subject matter expert who can help you improve so you can do better next time.

What drives you to get up everyday and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?

I love fighting for the underdog. I am obsessed with winning and want my clients to win! I love amplifying the messages of purpose-driven businesses. My team and I have the ability to research an audience, identify the best message and connect with that audience on behalf of a cause. I love inspiring my team to go out into the world and have a positive impact. It invigorates me. I also love educating marketers about how to garner more success in the work they’re doing through new strategies and tactics- from business insights to SEO, PR, social media, email marketing, event marketing. When it all connects as a healthy ecosystem, companies are able to realize the impact.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

One of the most interesting projects I’m working on now is for a genetic screening company. It’s exciting since I wanted to go into biochemistry. The field of genetics is fascinating to me, and women’s health is a topic I am passionate about. The work we are doing for this company is exciting to me because it is going to make gender testing, carrier screening and NIPS more affordable to all women. I definitely have a passion for fem-tech, so I see us doing more market research, marketing strategies, SEO planning, blog writing, media relations, event marketing, influencer activations and social media marketing in this industry and in adjacent industries.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My favorite mantra is: “If you’re comfortable, you’re not growing.” This is why I challenge myself and my team to step outside of our comfort zones. This is where the magic happens.

Ok, thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.

1. Be clear on key points you want to deliver (tell the audience what you’re going to tell them, tell them the key points, summarize the key takeaways)

2. Understand the potential opinions of your audience regarding that topic (consider acknowledging contrasting opinions)

3. Deliver with passion (have points that you emphasize so you don’t sound monotone or disingenuous, get your audience as excited about the topic as you are)

4. Close with a strong call to action (how can they take action based on what you suggested?)

5. Rehearse your speech in front of a sample audience (present to an audience that will give you valuable feedback regarding the way you delivered, ideally an audience who understands the topic you are discussing).

As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?

Just do it! It’s like muscle memory. The first few times will be tough, but you will improve and can speak in front of larger and larger audiences. Speak about a topic that you are very comfortable with. That will help to shake the nerves. Also record your speech so you can watch again and identify specific mannerisms you’d like to improve on next time. Watch other speakers and see what they do well and what they could work on. By identifying those attributes in others, you’ll be able to more identify as you watch footage of yourself.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

I’d love to have lunch with Reese Witherspoon because she’s a role model for influential working mothers around the globe. She wears many hats as an actress, business owner, mother, wife, daughter and still brings a distinct strength and positivity to everything she does. She gives back and uses her influence for good.

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseycarnett

Twitter: @lindsey_carnett

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/lindsey.maven

Website: www.LindseyCarnett.com

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Lindsey Carnett Of Marketing Maven On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Smita Wadhawan Of SimplePractice On How to Effectively Leverage The Power of Digital Marketing…

Smita Wadhawan Of SimplePractice On How to Effectively Leverage The Power of Digital Marketing, PPC, & Email to Dramatically Increase Sales

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Mind your reputation by being intentional about the moves you make and the projects you take, from early on in your career. Prioritize learning and look for opportunities to step out of your comfort zone. Get comfortable being uncomfortable, and remember that every new assignment and role is an opportunity to establish your reputation as a fast learner who leans in and delivers high-quality work. You’ll be surprised how many doors open for you when you have a stellar reputation.

Marketing a product or service today is easier than ever before in history. Using platforms like Facebook ads or Google ads, a company can market their product directly to people who perfectly fit the ideal client demographic, at a very low cost. Digital Marketing tools, Pay per Click ads, and email marketing can help a company dramatically increase sales. At the same time, many companies that just start exploring with digital marketing tools often see disappointing results.

In this interview series called “How to Effectively Leverage The Power of Digital Marketing, PPC, & Email to Dramatically Increase Sales”, we are talking to marketers, advertisers, brand consultants, & digital marketing gurus who can share practical ideas from their experience about how to effectively leverage the power of digital marketing, PPC, & email.

As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing SimplePractice CMO Smita Wadhawan.

Smita Wadhawan joined SimplePractice in September 2021 as the company’s first Chief Marketing Officer. Before joining SimplePractice, Wadhawan served as Head of SMB Growth Marketing for GoDaddy, where she led marketing strategy and campaigns to support each stage of the customer lifecycle. She has also served as the Director of Consumer Product Marketing for PayPal and held consumer and acquisition marketing leadership positions for Visa and Intuit.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I fell in love with marketing when I was 15 or 16. As a young girl growing up in India, I saw a television commercial for a bank selling home loans. I found myself glued to the television screen, as the commercial made a relatively boring product seem captivating and emotional through brilliant storytelling.

It was at that moment that I realized the power of storytelling, and I knew that I wanted to do something similar.

My journey toward doing the kind of marketing I love today was not as straightforward as I would’ve hoped. I went to business school to study marketing, and right after my MBA, I started working with General Electric in the consumer finance division. That’s when I saw the other side of marketing, which had more to do with data and numbers.

I found my sweet spot in between the art and science of marketing by beginning with storytelling, and then layering in data.

Can you share a story about the funniest marketing mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?

I’ve made many mistakes, and not just in marketing. I used to envy how some people’s careers seemed to just follow an upward trajectory.

In reality, it’s not that these people never misstep, but rather that they rarely linger on their own mistakes. This realization changed my perspective significantly.

My first job in the U.S. was at PayPal. Early in my time there, I accidentally sent an email drop to a very long list of the wrong customers.

I was almost in tears when I realized the mistake. When I told my boss, fearing the worst, he was perfectly composed and replied in a calm voice, “Listen, we aren’t saving lives. Let’s go to the customer service team and tell them they might be getting some calls, and apologize for the mistake we made. Then, let’s figure out how we can be more clear in our briefings going forward.”

The situation, and his reaction, taught me an impactful lesson that I was fortunate to learn early in my career, about forgiveness and turning mistakes into learning opportunities.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I have been very fortunate. As a woman of color, creating a career in marketing hasn’t been easy, and I’ve had my fair share of naysayers. But I’ve also been very fortunate to have found mentors who have been generous with their coaching and support.

One person who really stands out to me was the Chief Operating Officer when I was at GoDaddy — Andrew Low Ah Kee. He was a transformational mentor to me. I had been working on the brand marketing side for some time, when he told me he wanted to move me to the website business. The company had big goals for that business and needed a strong leader. I felt hesitant. I truly loved working on brand marketing, and I knew that working in the website business was going to involve a lot of performance marketing, which I wasn’t very comfortable or familiar with at that time.

I expressed my doubts about taking on this new role, and his response was, “You won’t be alone. We’ll work on this together.” Knowing he believed in me and would support me helped me decide to take on the role, and in six months I knew as much about performance marketing as many people who had been doing it for years. I got there through a growth mindset and by doing everything I could to learn about this formerly unfamiliar area of marketing — and because Andrew worked with me and was such a great coach.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

I think what differentiates SimplePractice is that we truly are committed to our customers. We make real customer feedback a part of our conversations, and consider the specific needs of different sectors of our customer base. A lot of companies would say that they prioritize the customer, but they don’t really keep the customer in the room when they’re making decisions. I would say SimplePractice takes steps to ensure that we do, and we do it exceptionally well.

Our culture is another standout to me. People here are very passionate about the mission, and they truly believe that we’re making a difference in the lives of our customers. They can see the impact that we’re having on our customers’ lives. I think their passion and love really shows, and creates a culture of accountability and collaboration that anchors our work to our customers.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

The growth mindset that made my transition from brand marketer to performance marketer possible is absolutely one of my biggest assets.

I also hold myself to very high standards. I don’t compete with people around me, or my peers. I’m just competing with myself, to be the very best version of myself. That perspective helps me hold myself accountable to doing great-quality work and pushing myself to the next level. It also helps me take on long-term challenges, when solutions aren’t immediate.

The third thing I’d say is that I’m extremely determined. When I really care about something, my willpower is iron-strong and there’s nothing that can deter me. At certain points in my career, it would have been very easy for me to give up. However, my sense of determination, and the fact that I was able to look around and see that I wasn’t the first woman doing this, helped push me forward.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

I’m excited about the journey we’re undertaking to tell our brand story in a unified way across these varied segments, to help connect more people with our offerings.

Although SimplePractice’s roots are as a software for behavioral health professionals, practitioners across other health and wellness verticals are signing up as well. The organic influx of interest from a range of health and wellness professionals in trusting us to help them manage their businesses is a testament to the passion and purpose of our brand. Whether they’re setting up their own practice for the first time or trying to take an existing practice to the next level, we know that the value we offer our customers can make a huge difference. Whether they’re in behavioral health, occupational therapy, dietetics, or any other field, we want to support a wider variety of professions across the health and wellness industry.

With the launch of our consumer business Monarch, we’re able to help not only mental health practitioners, but those seeking care, too. Such dual-purpose networks are becoming more and more common. To me, this is a major opportunity to democratize mental healthcare and help make it more accessible to all.

I’m also very excited about investing in giving back to our customers through customer community work that’s underway.

Ok super. Now let’s jump to the main questions of our interview. As we mentioned in the beginning, sometimes companies that just start exploring with digital marketing tools like PPC campaigns often see disappointing results. In your opinion, what are a few of the biggest mistakes companies make when they first start out with digital marketing? If you can, please share an example for each.

I think the biggest mistake companies sometimes make is thinking of digital marketing as very lower-funnel. It’s easy to say, “we’re going to invest in SEM.” But the truth is nobody will click your ad if they don’t know about your brand. Digital marketing works best when considered as full-funnel.

Similarly, when it comes to Facebook marketing, for some of those seemingly lower-funnel campaigns to work, you really have to lead the customer down the whole journey.

Think about the journey from awareness, to consideration, and then closing the sale. I see a lot of companies just thinking about closing the sale, and the messaging they end up producing shouts “buy me now!” which can be simplistic and less engaging. Instead they should be focusing on guiding the customer through the entire story, using journey-based creative and media strategies.

If you could break down a very successful digital marketing campaign into a “blueprint”, what would that blueprint look like? Please share some stories or examples of your ideas.

A successful digital campaign starts with a good brief. Creative can only do beautiful creative work, and media can only do effective media planning, if you give them a strong business brief. Oftentimes, however, I see marketing teams circumvent the process of ensuring their brief is strong.

To avoid this, have a discussion to align on the business brief. Establish: what are the goals of the campaign? Who’s the target audience? What messaging do we want to focus on? How does the customer organically encounter the brand? What is the customer journey? Where are we losing, and winning, along that journey?

The more information marketers can share at the business brief stage, the more ammunition creative has to create a successful campaign. Similarly, if the media team understands the customer journey, they can plan media that complements it. For example, going with the assumption that everyone is on Facebook might not always work, maybe Reddit is a massive channel for your brand. It varies from one brand to another. Sharing those insights with the media team will help them devise a campaign that intersects at the media points where the customer organically shows up. Bring as much insight as possible, and do your homework.

You also want to avoid planning channel by channel, because it creates silos, rather than an integrated campaign and customer experience. Ask: What’s the story we want to create at the start of the journey to raise awareness? Then, how do we want to lead customers down the path to the consideration stage, when they’re comparing us to alternatives? Then, how do we make them choose us? At every stage of the journey, creative should deliver on the specific goal.

While the campaign may have a singular objective the entire time, each stage should have its own KPIs, as should each type of media that delivers at that stage

Let’s talk about Pay Per Click Marketing (PPC) for a bit. In your opinion which PPC platform produces the best results to increase sales?

Google is the king. Everywhere I’ve worked, Google has had a massive share of the marketing budget, because last click makes it so easy to attribute success. When it comes to search, they have tools that make it easy for marketers to manage campaigns.

Can you please share 3 things that you need to know to run a highly successful PPC campaign?

The world of PPC is very competitive. Google is constantly iterating on its algorithms to make them more effective. I see a lot of search teams approach campaigns with the mindset that they can “create it and then forget it,” but that’s not how search works. Even though you can set up rules to automate the process to some extent, Google’s changing algorithm and the shifting landscape of customer preference mean you must constantly monitor performance and figure out new ways to optimize.

The second suggestion I would make is, make sure you’re harnessing the power of testing. You can test across multiple parameters when it comes to PPC, from bidding strategies to ad copy to landing pages. As a marketer, you must think about each aspect of the campaign, and consider what can be improved, and then test for those specific metrics.

It’s also vital that as you go about your testing, you’re setting up solid experiments. You want to test expertly and deliberately. I often see teams fail because the experiments haven’t been set up the right way. If the test topic is relevant but the methodology, hypothesis, or strategy are unclear, you still won’t learn anything useful.

Let’s now talk about email marketing for a bit. In your opinion, what are the 3 things that you need to know to run a highly successful email marketing campaign that increases sales?

If you’re an email marketer, honing your channel expertise is crucial, but it’s also equally essential that you have a solid understanding of experimentation methods. Marketing nowadays is still about the storytelling that made me fall in love with it in the first place, but it’s also become more of a science than an art. Any marketer must be able to understand experimentation.

In email marketing, there are many things that could be tested — subject lines, body copy, target list, CTAs, images, creative, and so on. You have to know what you’re testing, why, and what metric you’re trying to improve.

It’s also key that you understand your existing customers’ behavior, because email marketing mainly targets existing customers. Oftentimes marketers will just send emails and it will end up being an inside-out marketing approach that doesn’t necessarily intersect customers based on their need states. You want to understand what your customers look like, where they’re shopping and how often, and what their next need will be. Then you can create effective database and machine-learning models to design optimal email campaigns for your current customer base.

Lastly, never underestimate the importance of good creative. A lot of energy goes into creating beautiful television commercials, because the media spend is inordinately high. But email is a very important channel, because it’s often the primary communication channel with your existing customers. Be sure you’re leveraging your creative team for email the same way you do for other channels.

What are the other digital marketing tools that you are passionate about? If you can, can you share with our readers what they are and how to best leverage them?

There are so many tools out there, and new ones are introduced every day. Tools are great, but at the end of the day, the thing I’m most interested in is telling a holistic story. You can invest in off-the-shelf tools, but if those tools don’t connect and integrate with each other to create a single view of the customer, it can be very challenging to piece the data together and see the full picture.

And to answer that, you need tools that talk to each other and have multiple capabilities. I’m a big fan of Google’s platform because they’re able to seamlessly stitch together a lot of information between various entities. I think it’s important to figure out how your tools can be interconnected, so you can capture the entire narrative.

Ultimately, rather than asking yourself which tools are best, ask yourself, “How can I tell a holistic story around customer campaign performance, and deliver campaigns that help me understand my customers’ needs?”

Here is the main question of our series. Can you please tell us the 5 things you need to create a highly successful career as a digital marketer? Can you please share a story or example for each?

The elements that make a successful career in digital marketing also apply to any marketing discipline. A lot of the things you need to be successful in digital marketing are also things you need to be successful in business and marketing in general.

First and foremost, think of your career as a marathon and not a sprint. To prepare for the long haul, you have to be able to exhibit a growth mindset. Always keep learning, and making sure you understand how what you’ve learned applies to your work. Strive to stay ahead of the curve.

Mind your reputation by being intentional about the moves you make and the projects you take, from early on in your career. Prioritize learning and look for opportunities to step out of your comfort zone. Get comfortable being uncomfortable, and remember that every new assignment and role is an opportunity to establish your reputation as a fast learner who leans in and delivers high-quality work. You’ll be surprised how many doors open for you when you have a stellar reputation.

As a digital marketer, you have to be open to experimenting by challenging the status quo and even your own knowledge. Embrace a “test and learn” mindset. It’s essential that you’re well-versed in experimentation methodologies and able to understand basic statistics and math so you can run experiments and conclude results. At SimplePractice, increased experimentation rigor was among the very first things I implemented in my initial 90 days.

Although you may be specialized in one channel, creating an impact for your organization means thinking beyond your channel. Customers interact with your brand across various touchpoints, and you don’t always know what point in the journey was the one that led them to actually make a purchase for the first time. In addition to knowing your channel inside out, it’s important to ask yourself how you contribute to the big picture.

The last thing I would suggest is to be aware that making mistakes is going to be part of your journey. Learn to not dwell on your mistakes, and to move on quickly. I’ve done experiments that required a significant marketing budget and didn’t yield the kinds of results we’d have liked them to. Failing is a part of the journey. As long as we’re thinking through the process, and we have a solid method of experimentation, failure is okay and even educational. It’s important to extract the lessons from that failure.

What books, podcasts, videos or other resources do you use to sharpen your marketing skills?

Investing in yourself is crucial to growing as a professional and as a leader.

I read a lot, and also listen to podcasts pretty extensively. On Sunday afternoons, my favorite activity is to listen to great podcasts, whether they are industry-specific or more focused on general leadership. “CMO Moves” is a great one to be plugged into to learn from well-respected leaders. I am also a big fan of “How Leaders Lead” from David Novak.

Weekly newsletters from Google, AdAge, AdWeek are good sources to know what other brands are doing, what they’ve tested, and whether it’s worked for them.

Thank you for all of that. We are nearly done. Here is our final ‘meaty’ question. You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

As a mom of two girls, I’ve been thinking a lot about teen mental health these days. The kind of pressure the kids live with today, with technology, social media and the rapidly-proliferating information they have, plays a very negative role. It impacts their health and wellbeing, and how they think about themselves in the world. Some of the trends that social media sets for them are absolutely unrealistic.

If there was something that I could create momentum around, it would be the responsible use of social media and digital technology.

How can our readers further follow your work?

Readers can follow me on LinkedIn, and they can also follow SimplePractice and EngageSmart.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!

Smita Wadhawan Of SimplePractice On How to Effectively Leverage The Power of Digital Marketing… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Future Is Now: Tina D’Agostin Of Alcatraz AI On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake…

The Future Is Now: Tina D’Agostin Of Alcatraz AI On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Tech Scene

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Make decisions and act very quickly. Being agile does not only apply to your product and engineering teams. In a startup environment, every day, every week counts.

As a part of our series about cutting edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tina D’Agostin.

Tina D’Agostin is the CEO of Alcatraz AI, an artificial intelligence company that employs facial authentication technology to create autonomous access control solutions for enterprises. D’Agostin previously served as the Chief Revenue Officer for Alcatraz AI, responsible for driving top-line growth and expanding Alcatraz AI’s footprint globally. As CEO, she plans to take Alcatraz AI into its next chapter to modernize the access control industry.

Tina brings over 25 years of experience within the security technology and solutions industry, with leadership experience building high-performing organizations in hardware, IT, and smart technologies. Prior to Alcatraz AI, D’Agostin was the General Manager of Building Technology & Solutions at Johnson Controls, focused on delivering smart building technologies to global companies.

Tina earned her undergraduate degree and her MBA from Rockford University. An avid and lifelong student, she has continued her education at Stanford University, receiving professional certifications in Innovation & Entrepreneurship and Energy Innovation & Emerging Technologies. Tina currently serves on the board at the Bay Area Council and is a contributing member of the Forbes Technology Council.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I’ve always worked within the building technology space as this combines my love for technology and architecture, which lends to people’s comfort and their safety. In the last 10 years, I’ve spent in the Bay area after migrating west from Chicago. I moved here to further deepen my passion for technology and the waves of innovation impacting all aspects of life. I’ve been involved in the building technology projects for skyline changing projects like Salesforce Tower, Levi Stadium, Chase Arena, and so many others, and it is very gratifying to be involved with deploying technology in a building from the ground up.

I met our founder, Vince Gaydarzhiev, and became interested in how AI has evolved to underpin many essential aspects of our lives and how Alcatraz AI was creating the next generation of access control for smart buildings. The data and insights that we do at the edge can be used in countless, meaningful ways to make a building more intelligent and secure.

After learning more about the technology, roadmap, and vision, I knew that Alcatraz AI had the opportunity to completely transform the way we enter secured spaces and disrupt the access control market.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Perhaps not the most interesting, but it was an insightful experience. A few years ago, I was on my way to a Bay Area Council board meeting and was getting into the elevator when Libby Schaaf, the Mayor of Oakland, got into the elevator at the same time and introduced herself. She then said, “What does your company do?” I had wanted to speak to her for a while to discuss ways that my team could help her with some of her sustainability and safety initiatives. We rode up to the elevator to the 8th floor. I had her captive attention for 7 floors, which is a matter of 30 seconds. I was thinking to myself that this is truly the meaning of an “elevator pitch.”

It was a keen reminder that you always have to be ready with your value proposition at any time and make sure it’s ready to go as you never know whom you will meet throughout your day, and sometimes all you have is 30 seconds!

Can you tell us about the cutting edge technological breakthroughs that you are working on? How do you think that will help people?

I’m currently working on creating safe spaces. At Alcatraz AI, we are creating a new category of autonomous access control for accessing secured spaces- a self-driving access experience through auto-enrollment and auto-administration. With our biometric solution, the Rock, we automate physical security and controlled access at the edge. We provide facial authentication with 3D sensing, powered by robust AI and machine learning.

How do you think this might change the world?

I believe that by bringing security and technology together to modernize access control. We are changing the way companies control access and mitigate tailgating by providing a facial authentication solution that makes accurate, quick, and powerful decisions at the edge. We want to create safe spaces in buildings to give people the peace of mind they need to focus on other things.

Imagine a world where you don’t have to carry keys or keycards — that can be lost, stolen, or replicated. Your face — the thing most unique to you — is your credential to unlock your secured spaces.

Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

Great show, but we do not see ourselves becoming a storyline there! Because Alcatraz AI does not store any personally identifiable information (PII), we should be a market leader in that we don’t have the same privacy concerns typically associated with traditional facial recognition.

Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?

My personal mission has always been to help organizations be safe through technology. This is how I’ve positively impacted people at scale. I’ve spent my career in building technologies that primarily focus on making buildings in the world safer and more comfortable. Then, in turn, people are more comfortable. Without safety and comfort, companies can’t accomplish their missions.

What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?

We are in the process of closing our Series A round funding. This will enable us to further invest in our market, which will include an international expansion. We have a tremendous product-market fit, and we only need to keep adding more great people to our already stellar team to achieve even more expansive growth this new round of funding will enable this next phase in Alcatraz AI’s path.

What have you been doing to publicize this idea? Have you been using any innovative marketing strategies?

We have built an innovative marketing technology stack for demand creation, but the most prominent way we have reached our customers is grassroots — through referrals and word-of-mouth marketing. Customers share with others in their own words that Alcatraz AI has a best-in-class product and is delivering it with a superior customer experience, and that is how many customers are finding us. We also have a robust ecosystem of channel partners that enable us to amplify our message.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

It would be remiss of me to only remark about one person as there are so many people that have helped me along the way. I have been fortunate to have had great mentors. Some gave me opportunities where they saw my potential to take a stretch role when maybe I couldn’t see my potential for that new progression myself. Anytime I joined a new company or was promoted to a new role, every one of my hiring managers gave me an opportunity to step into my next capacity and then invested time into my success. I have had approximately 10 roles during my career, so at least that many mentors to whom I’m so grateful.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

To the extent that I mentioned my gratitude to my mentors above. I pay it forward by encouraging and giving high-performing individuals on my team their next stretch roles and mentoring them through their career journeys.

For me, the most rewarding moments are not the awards or accolades that I have received during my career but the personal notes that I have received from my employees and mentees, which share with me the impact that I have had on their career. The legacy that I focus on building is that I have now had the opportunity to lead and manage thousands of people during my career, and any positive impact that I had on any of them, or changing their career trajectory in a favorable direction, makes me feel that I have positively changed the world.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why.

In terms of being a CEO for a Series A start-up:

You will underestimate the amount of hours that you will spend fundraising.

Make decisions and act very quickly. Being agile does not only apply to your product and engineering teams. In a startup environment, every day, every week counts.

You are there to inspire your team, but actually, they will be the ones to provide you inspiration every day with their passion and what they are able to accomplish. Hire great people, don’t let anyone who doesn’t fit your culture stay too long or they can undermine the team’s inspiration.

Your Customer Success team may ask how to triage your customers — which customers are more important than others. There is no way to put them into tiers. Every customer is of the highest importance, ensure the customer experience is a 10 every time.

You will redefine perseverance. You are going to hear a lot of no’s before you hear yes whether it’s from investors or customers, but then you crack the code and everything falls into place. Have thick skin and believe in your mission.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

A more wide-scale development of emotional intelligence and teaching leaders to have more empathy. Instead of trying to boil the ocean and contemplate how to change the world. People can think of their impact every day on an individual level by who they interact with every day. Did you make a difference in every conversation you had?

I often like to say to people to focus on making the room a better place than when you joined it spread positivity, humor, and optimism in every interaction, and then the workplace and world will be a better place.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.” — Jim Rohn

I believe in leading authentically to unlock a team’s potential to be its best version.

Some very well known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

Alcatraz AI is transforming the way you enter secured spaces using your face as your credential. Alcatraz AI’s state-of-the-art solution, the Rock, transforms access control by leveraging artificial intelligence and analytics to make powerful decisions at the edge. With features like touchless or multi-factor authentication, tailgating intelligence, and video at the door, we make buildings smarter, more sustainable, and safer.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tinadagostin/

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

The Future Is Now: Tina D’Agostin Of Alcatraz AI On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Meet The Disruptors: Chris Kille Of Elevate Outsourcing On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up…

Meet The Disruptors: Chris Kille Of Elevate Outsourcing On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview with Fotis Georgiadis

Don’t forget where you came from — Oftentimes, people will get a taste of success, and it goes to their head. Don’t forget the people who helped you get to where you are, and bring them along with you whenever possible.

As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Kille.

Chris Kille is a serial entrepreneur and investor based in Charlotte, NC. He is currently the CEO of Payment Pilot, a financial technology and payment processing firm and Elevate Outsourcing, a global outsourcing firm specializing in elite level Virtual Assistants. Chris has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs scale their business with the help of virtual assistants.

He got his start in entrepreneurship at an early age, starting his first company while still in college. Since then, he has founded or been involved with over a dozen businesses spanning a wide range of industries including technology, marketing, and finance.

When he’s not working on his businesses, Chris enjoys spending time with his wife and their three dogs. He also enjoys golfing, traveling to new places and experiencing unique cuisines.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

Growing up, I was very talkative. Not only did I enjoy talking to friends, family members, and people at school, I also enjoyed talking to strangers and getting to know people. I really liked to argue and debate. I always had strong opinions on things and was not afraid to share them with anyone at any time. As you can imagine, the willingness to share opinions and the desire to debate got me in trouble from time to time. I always knew that my career would take me down a path of constantly interacting with all kinds of people. Once I figured out that I didn’t necessarily love to read, law school was off the table. Therefore, I started a career in entrepreneurship / sales. Not only did I love to talk, but I also love to find ways to improve processes and products. I was always trying to come up with new ways of doing things that would either be more efficient or would lead to a better end result. The determination to solve problems ultimately led me to become an entrepreneur.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

In my outsourcing company, Elevate Outsourcing, we provide virtual assistance and remote help for other entrepreneurs as well as small to midsize companies. When I was conducting market research, I noticed almost instantly that there was an immediate need for someone in the market to fill in more of a team type position. You see, a typical outsourcing company will find you one assistant, and it’s up to you to train this person in order to check off all of your boxes. However, I discovered that most entrepreneurs and small businesses need more than one skill set to truly thrive. That’s where our team-based virtual assistant idea came to fruition.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I’m not sure how funny this will be to others but when I was just getting started in business, I was going door to door for a large software company in Florida. Summers in Florida can be very hot, and we were forced to wear full suits when out in public. Being that I was just getting started, I only had one suit and couldn’t afford at the time to get it dry cleaned often. Sweating repeatedly in a cheap suit not only makes it smell terrible, but it also weakens the fabric. I also only had one pair of dress shoes that were incredibly uncomfortable, but I had to look the part so I wore them anyway. We would walk for miles on end every day going door to door selling our product and one morning, the sole of my left shoe felt like it was coming loose. The soles were totally worn, and the glue that held the shoe to the sole was coming completely undone. I went in the field regardless and before lunch, it was barely holding on. I hadn’t made a sale yet so instead of going home, I kept walking door to door. Eventually, the sole of my shoe completely fell off, and I had to walk back to my car barefoot. When I got to my car, I sat down in the driver seat and my pants ripped at the seam. To make matters worse, I had a trainee with me that day. It was really embarrassing.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

To be honest with you, I was kind of a lone wolf in the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey. I didn’t know how to ask for help and being headstrong and stubborn, I thought I knew it all. I really wish that I would have embraced coaching and sought out mentors much earlier in my career. I recently joined a group called Apex, led by Ryan Stewman and immediately found a place that I’m proud to call home. Not only has Ryan helped me with business practices and operations in general, but he has also provided me with a blueprint on how to promote my businesses and have them scaled much faster. It wasn’t just Ryan though. Apex has a large network of other individuals running seven, eight, and sometimes nine figure businesses who have all been more than willing to help me along the way from sharing their experiences to one on one coaching and accountability calls. It’s really been refreshing to be a part of an organization like that. I can’t recommend them highly enough to anyone who may be reading this.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

I believe that being disruptive is not necessarily always good. For disruption to have a meaningful impact, it needs to solve two problems. The first being an improved process or end result; the second is completely creating a new process or product that people don’t know they need. There are plenty of companies who have tried to be disruptors over the years, not all have been successful but some have been wildly successful. An example of an unsuccessful disruptor that comes to mind is the soda wars in the nineties, specifically Pepsi. Pepsi had come out with a new product, Pepsi clear, that was touted as the next big thing, and it was supposed to revolutionize the soda industry. When in reality, it was another version of Pepsi that was just clear. I’m not entirely sure if they did their product research or not, as this product fell flat very soon after launch without making a positive impact and was quickly discontinued. An example of a positive disruptor, the obvious one that comes to mind is Amazon. Jeff Bezos was able to identify holes in an existing market and to this day, many industries across the board would come in and either improve their procedures and their process, or the actual end product. Some people would argue that they’ve gone too far at times, but Amazon is a very clear example of a company coming in, disrupting an industry, and completely taking it over.

Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

  1. Don’t take things personally — It’s only business and you’re going to encounter people who rub you the wrong way, or have malicious intentions. Know your limits and walk away when your gut is telling you to.
  2. Abundant vs Scarcity thinking — It’s common to see people not willing to spend money or give knowledge to others because they feel that in some way if someone else wins, they have to lose. There is enough to go around (plenty actually), and givers will always gain in the long run.
  3. Bring others along — This goes hand in hand with abundant thinking. Just because someone else is winning does not mean you are losing. Success is no fun unless you have people to share it with.
  4. Give more that you take — Givers gain. Period. Don’t be a taker, and always try to bring value to others.
  5. Don’t forget where you came from — Oftentimes, people will get a taste of success, and it goes to their head. Don’t forget the people who helped you get to where you are, and bring them along with you whenever possible.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

The entrepreneur in me is always looking for ways to improve people’s lives or experiences as all of my companies have been started with those goals in mind. I come up with new ideas daily. Some are awesome, some are terrible — that’s how it is. Sometimes you just keep coming up with ideas and you act on to the ones that rise to the top.

Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?

$100M Offers by Alex Hormozi. This book is amazing — it came out last year and I’ve already read it 3x. He is able to take complicated business processes and break them down to something so simple that anyone can apply his concepts.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

The saying that comes to mind immediately is he who speaks the least makes the most. What I mean by that is whenever I was starting out in sales, whether it be pitching an idea or a product, I tended to talk too much when trying to explain how my widget would help the person I was showing it to. As I was talking, I thought I was making a case as to why they should buy my product or invest in my company. When in reality, the person probably couldn’t wait to get out of the room. Learning how to listen more than you speak is a skill that people involved in business should learn. Listening helps you uncover pain points, problems, and customer needs, which can help you in building your presentation around those needs and therefore provide the best service to your customer or client.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I’d like to get people off the idea that a four year college is the only way to get ahead in this world. I feel like the kids nowadays are told that you have to go to a four year college to make something of yourself. When in reality, that’s not the case. More and more, I’m meeting people who either didn’t go to college, or did not graduate college, are doing very well for themselves and are living a very fulfilled life. I’m not saying that one shouldn’t educate oneself, but we’re finding that there are an increasing number of people with four-year degrees that don’t translate in the real world, and a declining number of people who are practicing a specific skill that doesn’t require a college degree. Am I bashing college? Absolutely not. College for the right people in the right industries is incredibly beneficial and serves a great purpose, but I do believe it’s not for everybody. For example, I have a degree in interdisciplinary social sciences, and I do absolutely nothing with it. I finished my degree because I was told that the only way I could become successful is with a piece of paper. I strongly believe that had I focused on entrepreneurship instead of going to college, I might be even further ahead than I am now.

How can our readers follow you online?

I’ve got Instagram (@killeinthenameof), Facebook (www.facebook.com/Chris-Kille-9), LinkedIn (linkedin.com/chriskille), and my website, chriskille.com.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Meet The Disruptors: Chris Kille Of Elevate Outsourcing On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Making Something From Nothing: Melissa Bauknight Of The Ripple Connection On How To Go From Idea To…

Making Something From Nothing: Melissa Bauknight Of The Ripple Connection On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Learn to manage your thoughts: Being an entrepreneur is an emotional rollercoaster and isn’t for the faint of heart. When I began, I had no idea what it actually took to start, run, and scale a company. I have had more moments of extreme joy and equal numbers of tears as I’ve navigated entrepreneurship. It’s the most profound personal growth journey you’ll ever go on! If you can begin to notice your thoughts, question them, and replace them with more empowering ones, that will even out the volatility and self-inflicted stress that can result from the rollercoaster.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Melissa Bauknight

Melissa Bauknight is a multi-passionate entrepreneur, adventurer, mother, wife, and a Business and Life Coach. As a collegiate athlete, she graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Finance and has since earned an applicable PhD in Life. She garnered over 15 years of sales and business development experience in the corporate world working across 6 states and consistently performing in the top 10% of her peers. She is the CEO and Founder at The Ripple Connection coaching over 1,000 women in sales, mindset, and life alignment. She is a living example of her own body of work and is a vision holder for other women to confidently take the leap to make the difference they know they’re here to make.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I grew up in the suburbs of Toledo Ohio with what some might call a white picket fence life. My parents were very loving and wanted the best for me. Regardless of how lovely my parents are, however, I have found that I get to do A LOT of unlearning my conditioning in my adult life to truly live a life that’s an authentic representation of ME. This isn’t a knock on my parents it’s just part of the human experience of finding yourself.

My parents had high expectations of me, although they say that I put those expectations on myself…. which came first the chicken or the egg?? I did what any “good little girl” would do — I learned how to achieve like a boss and got trained to earn my worth through my good grades and athletic prowess. None of us knew that was happening at the time, of course, and after years of personal development in my 30s, it’s quite clear why I struggled with anxiety for decades. I learned how to become a perfectionist and to be afraid of disappointing anyone. I learned how to mould myself into what other people expected of me and to feel like my desires were somehow wrong.

Through this lifetime of love and achievement, I took away some very valuable lessons. I learned that I could do anything I set my mind to, the value of sticking with my commitments and I became very confident in my learning capabilities and athletic abilities. I learned how to fight for myself and my dreams and never give up on myself!

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step” Lao Tzu

When I was 25 I moved from Tampa Florida, where I had gone to college, to Denver Colorado. Moving to Colorado had been my dream since I visited on a softball trip when I was 16. The mountains were love at first sight. I quit my well-paying job in the mortgage industry, pulled out some savings, and loaded up everything I owned into a moving van. My best friend and I drove 30+ hours to my new home where I didn’t really know anyone. I had found a random roommate on Craigslist and hoped that we would at least get along well enough to buy me some time to find out where I wanted to live.

As I was getting to know the area where I lived, I went into the boutique shop and found a bracelet. On the bracelet, it said, “A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step”. I stared at that bracelet as if it summed up my entire journey in one quote. To me, it meant that if we are willing to take the first step the rest of “the how” will reveal itself. We don’t have to know the ending before we begin, we just have to be willing to start. I had no idea that I would become best friends with that random roommate, that her future husband would marry me and my future husband, that I would give birth to my first son in that same random house and that I would find my true home.

But I was willing to take the first step to find out……

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

I love the movie Under the Tuscan Sun. When I first watched it I was in college and had never travelled abroad. I watched the movie in awe of this brave woman who was willing to leave everything behind that wasn’t working to find herself and follow her dreams of moving to Italy. It felt like an adult version of my 18-year-old story. I had left the comfort of my childhood home and everyone I knew to go play softball 18 hours away in Tampa Florida. I was finding myself for the first time and learning how to live life outside of the bubble. Her bravery felt like my bravery. This is a film I’ve continued to revisit over the last 20 years whenever I need a reminder to take big chances and go for my dreams….and to trust that everything will work out exactly as it’s supposed to.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

What I have found is people often get stopped by the fear of their idea before they even begin to give it life. They might think “who am I to……” or “I could never make money by….” Or “I’m afraid I’ll fail” — or any of the other untrue limiting beliefs that we let rule our lives.

They let that soul whisper die inside of them.

My best advice is to listen to that soul whisper and tell someone you trust about it. Then go find someone who’s doing a version of what you dream and let them be an example of this dream being possible for you. I call these people the vision holders. They are the ones who remind us to believe in ourselves when we start to waver. The ones who show us what’s possible for us by their journey. The more you can surround yourself with other people who are making their idea a reality, the more you will discover courage in yourself to take the next step. After all, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step…..just start!

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

If that’s truly the concern, then a simple google search will let you know if it exists. I would push back and invite them to look deeper at that thought because that’s their fear of talking. I think it’s an excuse not to try. There are countless coffee shops, athletic apparel companies, types of cars, life coaches, cosmetic brands, etc. There’s room for EVERYONE. Nobody has ever created something in the exact way you will because nobody else is you. Believe in yourself enough to break through the fearful excuse of “someone else has done this” and give your individual genius have a chance to shine through.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

I can’t speak to the manufacturing process but I can speak to bringing an idea to life and getting support in the process. My idea came to me at a personal growth conference 7 years ago. I spoke out loud “I want every woman to have a voice”. 2 months later I created a conference for women called Create Your Ripple to help them discover what their unique gift was and how to pay it forward in the world. It was a trial to see if this idea was something that I inspired me, brought me joy, and energized me.

It all starts with an idea or as I like to call it, a desire. Once you have your idea, I suggest creating a vision for this idea. Let yourself dream about what could be possible if you decide to act on it. Breathe life into it and trust that it came to you specifically for a reason.

From there, find a few people who have done something similar and ask to interview them. These conversations will give you real-world examples of what the creation process entails, what’s possible for you, and what the behind the scenes reality is of doing that type of work. For example, I used to think I wanted to open a coffee shop until I interviewed 3 coffee shop owners. The lack of freedom in their schedule was the opposite of my core value of having time and location flexibility so I sat that idea down for someone else to pick up.

Making sure your career is aligned with your core values is the 4th step. I suggest getting clear on your core values and the lifestyle you wish to create. If your idea is aligned with that, keep moving forward.

Finally, find a coach or mentor to guide you and plug into a community of people on a similar path They will help you see your blind spots, execute more effectively, move through your limiting beliefs, and create your idea with more ease.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

  1. Learn to manage your thoughts: Being an entrepreneur is an emotional rollercoaster and isn’t for the faint of heart. When I began, I had no idea what it actually took to start, run, and scale a company. I have had more moments of extreme joy and equal numbers of tears as I’ve navigated entrepreneurship. It’s the most profound personal growth journey you’ll ever go on! If you can begin to notice your thoughts, question them, and replace them with more empowering ones, that will even out the volatility and self-inflicted stress that can result from the rollercoaster.
  2. Hire people early. One of my favourite sayings is “just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should”. When you start a business you get to wear A LOT of hats. As a business coach, I have been the head of marketing, sales, operations, finance, and anything everything else you can think of. When I hired my first virtual assistant it was both terrifying and a breath of fresh air. Now I have one that works full time for me and a marketing agency supporting my strategy and implementation. I’m never fully ready when I hire someone but it’s what keeps me running my business with excitement and joy rather than overwhelm and exhaustion. Hire someone to get you out of your business and into your zone of genius before you feel ready.
  3. Don’t sacrifice yourself. If I could shout this from the rooftops every second of my life I would…well I kind of do in my business lol. If you value joy, ease, and happiness, you have got to prioritize yourself and your own needs. It does not work to make sure everyone else is taken care of besides yourself. You can be proactive about this or you will find out the hard way. It takes intention to ensure you don’t work yourself into exhaustion. I highly suggest doing blocking blank space every day for creativity, spontaneity, and nothingness. I also recommend doing something loving for yourself daily as a non-negotiable.
  4. Success will not happen overnight. When we look at other people and their success, there tends to be this immediate bizarre idea that it happened overnight or it was somehow easy for them. I have yet to see that be true. Great things take time and so will your idea. I like to compare bringing an idea to life like birth. It needs time and space to grow and develop and a lot of the process is outside of your control. Don’t force or push. Be patient and give your creativity time to breathe otherwise you’ll stifle it.
  5. Trust and believe on repeat. Let go of the idea that you have to or that you can control everything. That is a fast-pass to anxiety. As someone who personally lived with anxiety for decades, I realize that letting go of the grip takes time and intentionality. I know that might be triggering for some but control is toxic. Elizabeth Gilbert says “You’re afraid to surrender because you don’t want to lose control, but you never had control all you had was anxiety”. Learning to trust yourself, that the path will continue to reveal itself, and that you’ve got what it takes to stick with it through the hard times are paramount to you finding success in your way. Remember success isn’t all about objective outcomes. Consider that how it feels is more important than what’s accomplished!

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

I don’t believe in doing anything alone. I always suggest hiring a coach or consultant to guide you in the process. I believe that it’s one of the most important steps. I have worked with countless coaches and consultants over the past 7 years and wouldn’t be where I am without each one of them. It’s one thing to get a good strategy to launch a product or idea, but the strategy is never enough. I think it’s 20% strategy and 80% mindset. Finding someone who can help you get out of your way will be the best investment you ever make.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

Everything I do through my business is designed to make the world a better place. I believe that changing the world begins by healing ourselves. By learning to embrace our most authentic expression, the difference you make naturally ripples out into the world. I help women align their soul with their work so the work they create is meaningful and honours who they are at their core. The women learn to live with intention, to find love, kindness and compassion for themselves and therefore they can offer it to others. They meet their pain with love and each of their healing is healing for everyone.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Imagine women having all the time in the world doing what they love, having enough free time to do them, being with their families and earning good money at the same time. As a soul whisperer, I ignite heart-led female leaders to embody their purpose and bravely design a business and life on THEIR terms! One of the ways in which I do this is by creating a signature path for women to bring their dream business to life. I ensure that the work you do is in alignment with who you are. My purpose is to help women break free of the conditioning that keeps them fearful of following their dreams while creating an abundance of everything — money, flexibility, impact, and time for yourself.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

If I could sit down and have a private meal with Brene Brown, I would be complete! She is one of the first women that permitted me to be myself. I read Daring Greatly years ago and it was like a lightbulb went off in my heart. I didn’t grow up with a healthy dialogue or understanding of shame and Brene’s research-backed authentic approach to shame made me feel safe enough to look at mine. I have gone on to read every one of her books, watched her Ted Talk many times, and follow her on social media and the more I know about her, the more I respect her. She is a living example of the power of vulnerably sharing our mess, that we can show up in our authenticity and be loved for it, and that being brave is the access to making the difference that I know I’m here to make. If given the chance to meet her, I would be curious about what she would say to women who know they are made for more but are feeling more scared than brave.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Making Something From Nothing: Melissa Bauknight Of The Ripple Connection On How To Go From Idea To… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Future Is Now: Kristoff De Spiegeleer Of ThreeFold On How Their Technological Innovation Will…

The Future Is Now: Kristoff De Spiegeleer Of ThreeFold On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Tech Scene

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Persistence, Rome wasn’t built in one day. Hold to that vision, no matter what happens. Go all-in with the heart. Many people think too much with their minds. But speaking from the heart and why it is important is so much more powerful.

As a part of our series about cutting edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kristoff De Spiegeleer.

Kristoff De Spiegeleer is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of ThreeFold and FreeFlow Tribe with over two decades in the cloud computing and crypto/blockchain industries. He is a serial entrepreneur who has spent the last 15 years founding multiple successful companies at the forefront of cloud computing such as Symantec, Western Digital / Hitachi, Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Belgacom and Telenet, and Terremark/Verizon. He is a leader at the forefront of the blockchain industry with numerous technical achievements over the years including creating the first cloud system, the first proof of block stake blockchain, the first peer-to-peer cloud, and more. Kristof holds an M.Sc. in Electro Technical Engineering from Ghent University in Belgium and a postgraduate in management and economics from the University of Leuven, Belgium.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Well, I’ve been programming since I was 9 years old. We started with those Comodo 64s, it was quite an amazing machine that got me extremely passionate about computers.

When I came out of university, the Internet was becoming really interesting. It was still very primitive at that time, there were no web browsers or servers, but you could feel the promise of a platform that allows for the free exchange of information and value. It was a free-flowing movement, there were no big firewalls, everyone was helping each other and that got me very excited.

I was very quickly hired by one of the first internet service providers in the world — PSI Net, and that was a very lucky move as it was the beginning of the Internet in Europe, there were no data centers. I was hired to run a network operation in Switzerland, which brought me to participate in the making of the first data centers in the U.S. That got me really excited.

So we brought that concept back to Europe, and we were lucky to be part of that golden period between 1996 and 2000, there were lots of opportunities and money available for us to do the most amazing projects. We did a few world records at that time with the team for hosting the Nasa, the World Cup, UEFA, and ICQ. It was really the start of the Internet.

In the year 2000, we decided to go into startup mode to build Internet storage and cloud automation technologies that would be more efficient, scalable, and usable. Throughout the years we ended up building bits and pieces of the internet and cloud the world uses today. Our technologies were acquired by Oracle, Verizon, DataSymantec, and more.

About 10 years ago, my wife got very sick which triggered my mid-life crisis moment. At that time, we had to decide on whether we would continue building successful startups or use our knowledge and experience to build a better world. And this is when the idea of ThreeFold was seeded with the mission to build a new internet infrastructure that is completely open-source, decentralized, equally accessible, and sustainable.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

That’s an amazing question. Of course, throughout a career, there are a lot of events that make your life interesting, but there is one specific moment that I’ll remember forever.

Around 2002, it was very hard, the Internet bubble crashed, and it was a difficult period. At that time we were in a startup and we had developed quite some technology. I was still learning how to handle my investors and board at that time, and we ended up in a situation where we didn’t deliver on their expectations. Luckily, we were very transparent to our team, so everyone understood the risks in what we were doing. We had developed an amazing product around cloud automation and storage backup, but we didn’t meet our deadline and had to license two-thirds of our organization. That was tough. These people were beyond just a couple of colleagues, these were my friends with whom we built technology for many years. I remember we had to lay off part of our team with this “letting go” conversation. Sometimes we cried, but we had to.

But then something absolutely amazing happened. That team came together and made a song called “We will survive”. And they started singing that song altogether. What followed was insane as more than half of the people that were laid off kept on working for many months to give the company a chance to pull through and deliver what we had been working for. That was amazing.

This changed a lot in me as I realized that if we can build something with passion, something that goes beyond just business, something that matters, everything becomes possible. I realized the power of community, the power of like-minded people working together as one.

Can you tell us about the cutting-edge technological breakthroughs that you are working on?

I believe there are three major ones.

The first one is storage.

With our experience, we understand that storage must connect over multiple sites, in a way that it can never be corrupted nor lose data, while always remaining fast enough. It has to be decentralized and distributed, but not with technologies such as blockchain. That would just not scale. We decided to use technology used for spatial communication called — forward error correction code. It allows you to store shards of data over multiple locations in a way that is ultra-efficient and quantum-safe, meaning that even the most powerful computers in the world wouldn’t be able to hack into it. After 10 years of development, we finally did it. Our quantum-safe storage is the most secure, private, distributed, scalable, efficient, and sustainable storage system in the world. It is literally unbreakable.

Secondly, anything that has to do with networking has to change. Today global networks are owned by a few companies, and they are incredibly centralized, unsafe, and slow. We need a new network technology that functions like an overlay network that interweaves people and computers in such a way that there are no intermediaries involved. Our Planetary Network solution finds the shortest paths within end-to-end encrypted overlay networks to ensure that communication can never be intercepted. We’re actually solving major security and efficiency flaws of the current Internet infrastructure. On our network, everyone has a unique IP address that is independent of how you connect. So, whether you use 4g, your neighbor’s wi-fi, or satellite connections, your network will always be the same IP looking for the shortest path to communicate on a planetary scale.

The third piece is computing. We have to ensure developers and enterprises can run applications at the far edge with optimum security. So, we created a stateless operating system that requires no installation or upgrades. Everything that runs on our cloud is hashed and fingerprinted, providing 100% control on data location and access. Such a model makes it very hard for hackers to intercept anything and by using our Smart Contract for IT, users can deploy any current or future IT workload that runs on Linux anywhere around the world without the need of a service provider such as an AWS.

All together, these three elements create the first peer-to-peer edge cloud in the world.

How do you think that will help people?

Not to play on fear, which I don’t like, but today the Internet is very centralized, and it doesn’t take much to shut it down. It has become a very important part of our life, we communicate with each other globally right now, and it’s one of the stabilizing factors of our world today. But it is super centralized, it is actually very easy to break it down and it’s a miracle it didn’t happen yet. All you need is to cut a few cables or launch a major cyberattack.

So the first thing we can do is to deliver hundreds of local Internet networks that can talk to each other, each of them being completely self-sufficient with their own naming system, information, money, billing system, etc. It would be completely decentralized. That would allow us to never lose our internet, even if on an island, and you would always have your information available in case of a disaster, for example, people would still be able to fetch the information they are looking for, communicate with each, do their business, exchange money, etc. And this has never been done before. A decentralized Internet co-owned by everyone.

Secondly, still today half of the global population remains unconnected to the Internet despite it being a human right. While it’s widely available in westernized cultures, it still remains unaffordable to people in emerging countries. But thanks to our decentralized Internet model, we can provide Internet infrastructure and access at a fraction of today’s cost as everything remains within a country’s borders. And by doing so we can provide equal access to information, education, e-commerce, name it. And I believe that allowing everyone to be equally equipped to partake and succeed is incredibly important. This is a model that can liberate people from being a product of the centralized “free” platforms of today.

Also, with our model people can never lose access to the Internet. You can now become a participant on the Internet, which provides you with economic benefits. So instead of paying money to use services, you could earn money for expanding the Internet. A combination of earning and making sure your city or village always has access to the Internet and all its information, no matter what happens to the rest of the world, as it is decentralized. I think this is super cool.

How do you think this might change the world?

To have a decentralized digital backbone co-owned by all of us, which can host everything digital. This can change the way we do business, communicate, and exchange information on this unbreakable internet. It is an opportunity for humanity to build a new foundation built on better values such as respect, neutrality, sovereignty. It can be done in such a way where people are safe and information is verified transparently. Going back to a system owned by all of us and where we help each other, which is fundamentally different than what we have today

Today it’s like a war on data as it became more valuable than oil and that’s what needs to go back to the people. Our data should be ours and on an Infrastructure we co-own.

Let’s paint the picture of the future. Imagine thousands of internets owned by different groups of people under Decentralized Aware Organizations (DAOs), and on each of those internets, there is all the information necessary to do personalized education, business, collaboration, exchange, etc. And all these internets can communicate with each other. Such a model goes across all geographical and cultural borders to restore balance and provide opportunities to everyone.

Today billions of people don’t have access to the internet because of their station of birth. On one hand, it is unfair to them, and on the other, the world is losing billions of inventors and talents. Our internet can scale to anywhere electricity and network exist to provide access to the internet, education, and financial inclusion to everyone.

And not to forget about climate change. Our internet is 10x more energy efficient than any other infrastructure and we’re offsetting our emission 3x to regenerate the planet with millions of students around the world.

Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks of this technology that people should think more deeply about?

With new technologies such as the Metaverse or Neurolink-type stuff, we’re getting immersed in a technological world and it’s quite scary to me, it already seems a bit like Black Mirror to me. We’re going into the Matrix, with our information and moods being controlled by a couple companies.

On a decentralized Internet that can be different and of course, we need to be careful. For example, the values need to be embedded in the system. On our system, we don’t want to see anonymity as people need to be responsible for their words and actions. We believe in authenticity. So we need to rethink values and rights. We need a system that eliminates greed or ego, for new systems to be built that will keep us out of the matrix.

It will be important to get a maximum of people involved to collaborate. I don’t believe in AI or smart contracts to replace people. I trust in the good of people. We just need better tools and platforms.

Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?

I would say there were many tipping points. Sometimes it has to do with money, not having enough cash, the more we lean and mean the more we are forced to reinvent ourselves and do things with less and look for the shortest path, keeping things very simple.

And then there are things happening in the world like what we recently saw with Ukraine. Data centers and towers were attacked first and they lost a lot of data. People, therefore, look at the internet in a very different way. But there is no alternative yet, apart from what we are working on. I hope there are more, to be honest. But blockchain by itself cannot scale for such a use case. Blockchains can be brought down easily actually very easy, and it needs to be rethought.

So yeah there are many tipping points with climate change, potential world wars, etc.. that push us to rethink how we do what we do to deliver what the world truly needs.

What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?

We believe in DAOs. We redefined the term though and called it “Decentralized Aware Organization” instead of “Decentralized Autonomous Organization” as we then put more trust in the awareness of people to know what they have to do. This unbreakable internet we have created can be deployed anywhere and interconnected, and this will be key for mass adoption. We already see it today with thousands plugging in hardware to our grid. We don’t have to be involved. So we’re now thinking about how to provide even more decentralization tools and languages for people to be able to expand it in their own regions.

And the fact that anything that runs on Linux can run on ThreeFold, people can port and build what they want without limits. With our partners and friends, we have about 20 solutions across Blockchain, IoT, Metaverse, Education, e-Banking, and more as starting kits for the peer-to-peer revolution.

Also, we’re working with Real Estate development projects and countries to expand local, edge, peer-to-peer infrastructure as an alternative to building data centers.

None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I can’t mention one person only. Many exceptional people stood up and did things when it was really needed. One of our friends did a video years ago explaining how important it was for him, investors providing us financial support when we really needed it, people getting so inspired they would quit their job to open doors to countries and powerful opportunities for our community. Lots of people have stood up for this project as they see it as an opportunity to improve lives. It is truly decentralized, and we never considered ourselves as a company but more as one big family.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

It all starts with ourselves. I used to be a frustrated engineer when I started as I thought the world was a strange place and tried to prove to everyone I was worth out of ego and frustrations. I’m happy I managed to let these things go and realized I had to change to become a more loving person, dare to speak up for what I believe is right, even if it is a big fund or government official in front of me. But I think that going into our own power allows us to be truthful to what we believe is right and puts us in a strong position from both heart and mind.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

First persistence, Rome wasn’t built in one day. Hold to that vision, no matter what happens. Go all-in with the heart. Many people think too much with their minds. But speaking from the heart and why it is important is so much more powerful.

Secondly, the Pareto rule. Always seek the 20% effort that brings 80% results. Don’t focus on perfection, it doesn’t exist. It’s better to be out there with something that is incomplete and shows potential.

Third, positivity. It is incredibly important to always keep the vibration high in every context. A positive attitude attracts positivity.

Fourth, always be honest and transparent. Never play games. Honesty always wins.

Last, take care of yourself. Your body. Your mind. Eat well, exercise, no matter how hard it may be. Your body is your temple.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

Technology is not there as a purpose but as a tool for humanity, so I don’t believe in a smart contract ai driven world in which we have to fit. So for us all to be happier we need to trust ourselves much more. This internet can provide us with capabilities to tap into our power. We need to make the choice that we have the choice. Most people got so scared today because of many contexts but I believe we can always switch it.

I think it’s important to make sure we always enable others around us to become stronger. It’s a movement for the people around us, it’s a movement of giving. We have to build the infrastructure, the tools, the applications for our friends around us. It’s a movement to take back our sovereignty and freedom. But it all starts with being ourselves and trusting we can do the right thing.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“We cannot solve our problems with the same way of thinking we used when we created them” — Albert Einstein. Why? We need a fundamentally different system, going away from client-servers or master-slaves, so that’s why I love that quote so much as everything we have today needs to be re-thought. The current systems are broken. This quote always pushed me to think about how to do things differently, to a point where it gave me a lot of confidence.

Some very well-known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them

I’ll be a bit disruptive here… We see money as frozen time energy, it’s a tool to do something good with, not a tool to do more money. So, if you’re looking for more money, please find another project. We want to do something truly meaningful to our planet, by providing a new unbreakable internet that makes everyone equal while regenerating our planet. Everyone will create value in such a system, but no one will profit out of others. The world needs change, and we are delivering on the promise of new systems built on strong values.

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

The Future Is Now: Kristoff De Spiegeleer Of ThreeFold On How Their Technological Innovation Will… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Making Something From Nothing: Jonathan Hunt-Glassman Of Oar Health On How To Go From Idea To…

Making Something From Nothing: Jonathan Hunt-Glassman Of Oar Health On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

… Trust your instincts. Founders and CEOs will inevitably get competing advice. In fact, it is your responsibility to seek out diverse points of view! While it’s important to empower your leaders to make decisions, there is a set of choices about who your company is and what it stands for that can’t be delegated and that your team craves clarity from you on.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jonathan Hunt-Glassman.

Jonathan is CEO and co-founder of Oar Health, an addiction recovery platform focused on making science-backed addiction medicine approachable and accessible for the millions of people who struggle with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Jonathan brings 15+ years of healthcare experience, including strategy leadership roles at Humana, Optum and Bain & Company. He also brings personal experience confronting his own addiction to alcohol — a journey that inspired his passion for transforming today’s addiction treatment landscape and led him to start Oar.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I grew up in Los Angeles. My father was a university professor and consultant to local governments, and my mother put her teaching career on pause to focus on raising me and my sister.

A formative experience during my adolescence was editing my high school newspaper. I learned what I loved and what I was good at: leading a diverse cross-functional team towards a common goal, empowering talented teammates to do their best work — rather than bossing them around, and acting with integrity instead of always doing what was popular. I actually had the same high school newspaper adviser as Zillow co-founder Spencer Rascoff, who wrote about learning some similar lessons from her.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Do well by doing good.” It’s a simple piece of advice that my middle school principal shared with every student, but I have found that it encapsulates a powerful truth: we create the most rewarding experiences for ourselves when we focus on the wellbeing of others. It’s true in a marriage or friendship, and it’s true when building a mission-driven, customer-obsessed business.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

“Winning on Purpose” by Fred Reichheld, Darci Darnell and Maureen Burns crystallizes the idea that the primary purpose of a business should be to improve the lives of its customers and rewards will follow: customer loyalty, word-of-mouth referrals, employee engagement, sustainable profits, long-term shareholder value.

At Oar, we decided that our success should always stem from our customers’ success, which means helping each member meet his or her unique goals for changing their relationship with alcohol. While it may increase our costs in the short run to provide unlimited access to clinician care or invest in digital health tools that put evidence-based practices in the palms of every member, we believe these investments are well worth it.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

I’m a perfectionist by nature. I wanted the idea for Oar to be as strong as possible before executing on it but the trap of “paralysis by analysis” is a real one. The breakthrough moment for me was when a trusted mentor helped me see that beginning to execute and test the idea — even in small ways — would improve my ability to iterate on the idea quickly and effectively. There are certain nuances for what consumers want in a product and experience that can only be learned through trial and getting feedback. For example, our initial members helped us understand the power of journaling, setting flexible goals, and other self-help exercises that we are now building into our app. Ideation and execution may be separable in theory, but they are dynamically linked in practice. I found that insight liberating.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

Spoiler alert: 99% of the time someone else is working on something similar to your idea. It’s near impossible today to come up with a truly unique idea. The more important questions to ask are: What do you understand about this market that no else does? And what is your unfair advantage relative to everyone else trying to solve this problem?

At Oar, we have no shortage of peers and competitors that use telemedicine to help people recover from addiction. However, we have a unique perspective on the treatment and recovery landscape. We believe that every person who wants to change their relationship with alcohol deserves the simplest path to recovery that works for them. This means that digital health providers must create more approachable, more flexible treatment options instead of just replicating brick-and-mortar treatment methods and dogmas online.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

The specific steps will vary with the nature of the business but a few important questions that any entrepreneur needs to answer to get their business off the ground are:

  • Have I established a legal structure that provides adequate protection for me and other key parties while enabling nimble execution?
  • Have I found supplier and distributor partners who understand the needs of an early stage company and are willing to invest time and energy while also being sophisticated enough to grow in tandem with my company?
  • Have I done sufficient due diligence to ensure that my MVP (Minimum Viable Product) complies with all legal and regulatory authorities, embodies recognized best practices, and delivers real value to our initial customers?

All three of these questions were especially important in Oar’s earliest days. Consumers were coming to us for real healthcare and access to FDA-approved medications. It was imperative for us to comply with healthcare, telemedicine and pharmacy regulations.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

  1. Tell your story — again and again. I started Oar because I struggled with addiction to alcohol for my entire adult life. I binged, blacked out, made bad decisions, and felt consumed by regret and shame. I sought treatment in multiple settings — AA, primary care, therapy, emergency rooms. I always heard that I needed to quit drinking immediately but I didn’t get a lot of practical advice on how to change my relationship with alcohol until I connected with an addiction medicine specialist who accepted my goal of moderation and suggested medication. I founded Oar so that everyone can get the same level of access to empathetic, expert care that I ultimately received. After I told that story a few times, I assumed that everyone — customers, employees, investors — got it. But it’s unrealistic that others will understand your story as well as you do, or see all the ways that it informs your business. Your story is one of your most important assets and you need to keep telling it to put it to work for you.
  2. As a founder and CEO, your job is to lead, not manage. I’ve found that I add the most value to Oar when I trust our leaders to execute against immediate priorities and focus my time disproportionately on identifying and accelerating one or two things that support long-term goals.
  3. Invest in culture from day 1. Two of our most important values at Oar are empathy and high performance. Neither is created just by repeating the words. One of the most important things we’ve done to build empathy is launched teamwide meetings with first person stories of addiction and recovery that our members are generous enough to share. On the performance front, we’ve found that building transparent accountability checkpoints is a continual source of motivation and satisfaction for our team.
  4. Trust your instincts. Founders and CEOs will inevitably get competing advice. In fact, it is your responsibility to seek out diverse points of view! While it’s important to empower your leaders to make decisions, there is a set of choices about who your company is and what it stands for that can’t be delegated and that your team craves clarity from you on.
  5. Even if you fail, you succeed. I wrestled with the decision to leave a job at Humana that I loved to start Oar. Ultimately, I came to feel that even if the business flopped, I would grow as a leader in ways that would serve me well throughout my career.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

Get feedback from customers as soon as possible. Ask them about the problem they’re trying to solve and what would improve their ability to solve it. Don’t try to sell your idea, but rather learn deeply about who they are and the impact you can make for them. When you have a prototype or MVP, repeat the process.

One of the most important steps in translating Oar from an idea to a business was to perform concept validation tests with real potential customers by participating in Tacklebox’s structured program for entrepreneurs who have an idea, but want to test it before they go all-in.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

I don’t have personal experience to comment on this one. I think the general principle that applies is that you should prioritize hiring to fill gaps in your personal capability set.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to this question. It is essential to look within and honestly assess why you are starting a business and what outcomes are most important to you. For example, is it more important to you to maximize your personal wealth creation potential? In which case bootstrapping can help you hold onto equity. Or, is it more important to you to build scale quickly? In which case, VC financing can be very helpful.

I built Oar by working with Newco, an IAC accelerator. I was able to supplement my passion and healthcare expertise with a team of designers, engineers and brand strategists who knew how to launch a startup.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

Our mission at Oar is to help the people we serve overcome addiction and compulsion by making highly effective addiction medicine highly approachable. Our success is our members’ success. We are still in the early days but have already helped thousands of people change their relationships with alcohol and get back to being the parents, partners, friends and workers that they knew they could be.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

The movement that I’m most passionate about, and of which Oar is a small part, is transforming the way that our society understands and treats addiction:

  • From a personal failing to a common, chronic medical condition.
  • From a hopeless “rock bottom” to a challenge that most people do recover from.
  • From abstinence as the only answer to support for moderation and abstinence.
  • From specialized, intense treatment as the only option to the simplest path to recovery for everyone.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

I’d love to meet Headspace Co-founder Andy Puddicome and hear his voice in person instead of through my AirPods. At Oar we’re inspired by what Headspace has done to transform meditation, from the province of a few highly trained practitioners to something that anyone can do anywhere. This is similar to what we are trying to do for addiction treatment: transform treatment from a specialized service for a few, to an approachable, effective option for anyone who wants to change their relationship with alcohol or any other form of addiction or compulsion.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Making Something From Nothing: Jonathan Hunt-Glassman Of Oar Health On How To Go From Idea To… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Scott Nicholson Of Bruce Merrin’s Celebrity Speakers Bureau On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly…

Scott Nicholson Of Bruce Merrin’s Celebrity Speakers Bureau On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Believe in yourself and have confidence. In order to get up in front of hundreds of people and have the credibility and control to educate other human beings about very powerful life lessons and advice, you, as an individual, must be extremely confident in yourself as a speaker, communicator and motivator.

At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Scott Nicholson.

Scott Nicholson has more than 25 years’ experience in creating, operating, building and selling successful businesses, and he draws upon his expertise in “Seeds of Achievements, Dominate Your Destiny,” a powerful, inspirational and educational seminar, geared primarily to today’s youth and young adults. He considers himself a “mot-emotional” speaker, empowering those in his audience to reflect on their past, their current path, their future, their life’s purpose and how to use their unique abilities for the maximum impact on their lives — as the father of teenaged triplets, Nicholson finds his mission of keeping today’s youth on the right path hits close to home. In 2019, Nicholson signed on with Bruce Merrin’s Celebrity Speakers Bureau, one of the longest-operating organizations providing bookings to an elite clientele of event planners and corporate meetings since 1973.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I grew up in West Islip, New York, on Long Island, and my early life revolved around sports. I played every sport you could think of and was focused on always winning — being the fastest, strongest, or best at whatever sport I was playing. This personality was built into me. If I felt I was not the best in something, I would always work harder, train or practice at whatever it was I needed to do to get better. I was always putting myself under a lot of stress because I was never satisfied with where I was and always had to keep raising the bar to make myself better. I had no problem sacrificing my time, my social life, opportunities to go out with friends and such. I can remember being in my backyard on Friday and Saturday nights, sprinting to improve my speed for football and baseball while all my friends were out at parties.

From an early age I was an intense, passionate, Type A personality that always strived to exceed all expectations and achieve all the goals I set for myself, regardless of what it took. I believed that you need to do the things that nobody else will do in order to attain the things in life that nobody else will have. And I also believed that you needed to become someone you never were in order to achieve the things you hadn’t yet.

As for my family, I was blessed beyond words. God provided me with a mother, father and brother that loved me, cared for me, supported me and supplied everything I needed to live a blessed, wonderful and fulfilling young life. Possessing a strong faith in God also gave me a solid moral foundation that allowed me to do things and make decisions based not on what was popular but whether it was the right thing to do. I believed possessing character traits such as integrity, humility, kindness, gratitude, honesty, trust and the desire to help and serve others is what truly defined me as a person.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

Early in my business career, I was asked by my alma mater, Hofstra University, to give a motivation seminar to the young business students that could impact their lives in positive ways. After my 90-minute seminar, a young man asked if he could speak with me. He proceeded to tell me that before my seminar, he’d felt depressed and did not have any clarity and focus on who he was or what he wanted in life, and he even questioned whether he had a future. After listening to my seminar, he said he experienced what he called a defining moment in his life. He said my seminar gave him inner strength, a feeling that he possessed all the gifts and skills necessary to actually be somebody and achieve success in a specific area of strength. He did not realize any of this until my words brought it out for him, he told me.

That interaction was a defining moment for me. Being able to impact the life and future of a young person with only a few words gave me so much gratification, I knew at that point God gave me this gift of motivational speaking so I could impact the lives of others.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

For me, the most interesting experience is living what I preach. I’m a firm believer that if you want to achieve life fulfillment and find your why — your purpose — you must find your gift. That’s the one thing you love to do and are great at with the least amount of effort, the thing that makes you come alive as a person. You must do what you love in life if you truly hope to possess all the passion, dedication, commitment and desire required to be the best at something.

That said, when I was 44, I was asked to play competitive lacrosse with a men’s tournament team. Now, I had been an athlete my whole life, played college football and baseball and had been coaching lacrosse for many years — but I’d never played it competitively. The one thing I knew was I loved it. In my first game, I was absolutely terrible. I mean terrible. I could not catch well, throw well or really do anything well. After the game, many of the players asked the guy who ran the team to please remove me. They were told to give it some time and see what happened.

I had a decision to make. The first option was to quit. This sport was too difficult, too overwhelming physically, and it would take me years to really become a true lacrosse player. The second option was to dedicate myself to practicing every single day for as long as it would take to turn myself into a competitive lacrosse player. By now, I’m sure you know what option I chose. I spent the next three years, literally every day, playing and practicing lacrosse, working on all the areas I was weak at, until I felt that I was worthy of playing the sport. Now, I play at the highest level of competition in tournaments all across the country.

The great thing about this story is that I lived it myself, and I can now share my experience with the thousands of people I speak to who might be thinking they can’t achieve something because they’ve never done it before. I looked fear of failing directly in the face and took it on, and I won!

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Once I was speaking to a group of MBA students at a university and was not prepared 100% with my material the way I like to be. That forced me to rely too much on the material that I was projecting on the screen instead of being able to talk more freely. Because I had to keep turning to look at the monitor, I did not see a garbage pail on the floor — until I literally tripped over it and fell in front of the entire room. This helped keep humility in my list of character traits, as you can imagine.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

The one individual who defined the person I became is my father. I have never met a more unselfish, giving and generous person than him. He truly tries to serve others. Because my father lived his life giving his time, efforts, support and money to help others, he in turn received so much back. I believe that giving starts the receiving process. The natural law of “Give, and you will receive” is one of the truest statements on earth. My father lived a life based on the phrase “What you sow, you reap,” another one of the most powerful phrases, and it’s so true. Give love, kindness and generosity to people and you will naturally receive it back. This concept goes for anything you do. My dad was a lifelong giver and helper, someone who impacted many lives. His way of life impacted me to live the same way.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

For people who want to embark on this career path but have a fear of failure, my advice is as follows:

1. Find, then live, your gift — the one thing you do better than anyone and you are extremely skilled at with little effort.

2. Do what you love. If you love it, you will put in all the work, effort, dedication and commitment necessary to achieve your goals.

3. Believe in the power of you. If you don’t believe in you, how can you expect others to? You can succeed in life if others don’t believe in you, but you cannot succeed in life if you don’t believe in yourself.

4. Find your why. Figure out your purpose, the reason why God put you on earth.

5. Live with habits and rituals. You must discipline yourself with daily habits and rituals that make you better, stronger, wiser, faster and more intelligent. Make a daily commitment to daily improvement. Be obsessed with always improving.

6. Invest in the most important thing in the world — you. Stop investing in stocks, bonds and companies and start investing in yourself. Live a life of constant improvement by investing in your mind, skills, knowledge and capabilities.

7. Respect time. Every second counts in life, so make every second count. In each moment you are either progressing in life or decaying. You must use every second of every day to its maximum potential. Don’t waste one second. Time is your most valuable asset: you can use it or abuse it, it’s your choice. Use your time to become an anomaly in your craft and uncommon in your skill.

8. Understand that life is precious. It’s the greatest gift on earth. Be sure to prioritize your time and spend it with the ones you love. Ask yourself, “If I was told I have 24 hours to live, how would I spend it and who would I spend it with?” Then, take care of those things.

What drives you to get up every day and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?

I’m driven by a burning passion to succeed and impact the lives of others using the gifts that God has provided me. The first hour of every day I spend in meditative prayer with God. I believe His purpose for my life is far greater than what I think my purpose is; therefore, I ask him for guidance, clarity and direction in all I do. Not only does speaking impact the lives of the people I am speaking to directly, but, if I am successful in impacting the lives of my audience and they, in turn, embrace my teachings and implement those teachings into the lives of others, my ability to impact positively can affect the lives of thousands of people I never even meet or talk to. That’s powerful!

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

My specific target area, where I desire to impact lives, is in leadership education directed at youth, athletes and business professionals. The need for leaders in our society has never been greater. The world is filled with fake leaders, people who call themselves leaders but can only lead by using control, fear, power, ego, manipulation and monetary rewards. This is not leadership. Simply put, leadership is serving. My definition of leadership is the desire to serve others and a dedication to making everyone around you great. If serving is beneath you, leading is beyond you. My goal is to educate the next generation of leaders, coaches, teachers and politicians on how to become legendary leaders. My seminar series with that goal in mind, “The Journey to Legendary Leadership,” is designed to transform people into world-class leaders.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I believe that the single most powerful thing in life is your mind. After all, it controls all your thoughts, emotions, decisions, actions and choices. So, the strength of your mind will determine the heights of your success. That said, my favorite life lesson is, to paraphrase Ralph Waldo Emerson and author Joyce Meyer, “What lies behind you and before you is miniscule to what lies within your mind. Life is fought on the battlefield of the mind. This is where the war of life is won or lost.” I always try to possess a strong, positive, optimistic, passionate mindset and that keeps me focused on life and my tasks at hand.

Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.

1. Believe in yourself and have confidence. In order to get up in front of hundreds of people and have the credibility and control to educate other human beings about very powerful life lessons and advice, you, as an individual, must be extremely confident in yourself as a speaker, communicator and motivator.

2. Know your material. Great speakers gain confidence in themselves when they are 100% confident in their material and their ability to deliver it with passion. You can tell when a speaker is on their game or not. I personally use both a visual and audio approach in my seminars because human beings retain the most material when they are able to see it and hear it.

3. Have a desire to serve and impact others. The greater your desire to serve and impact the lives of others, the greater your success as a speaker will be!

4. Keep faith in God. Without this, you can never achieve your greatest successes.

5. Aim for constant improvement. The greatest speakers never stop learning and searching for new material and new wisdom. I am always enhancing my seminar material, making it better and better every day.

As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?

The two keys to overcoming such fears are: 1. Have a great introduction ice breaker. I usually start with a funny story or situation that lightens up the room and, more importantly, lightens up the stress that I might have in front of a large group. With a good story and some laughs, all the fear or stress vanishes and I get into my zone. 2. Know your material down cold! You should never get in front of an audience as a speaker until your have your material and message so buttoned up that you can recite it in your sleep.

You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

My movement would be to establish a leadership philosophy centered around serving others. There is no such thing as a business, there are only people. If leaders could focus their time more on fulfilling the lives of their people and less on their clients, products, profits and financials, their success would skyrocket. Legendary leaders sacrifice the numbers for their people.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

Though you can’t tag him, I’d love to meet with Jesus and get some answers on a number of things!

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

www.seedsofachievements.com

www.linkedin.com/in/toscott-nicholson

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Scott Nicholson Of Bruce Merrin’s Celebrity Speakers Bureau On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Making Something From Nothing: Dror Fixler Of ‘FirstPoint Mobile Guard’ On How To Go From Idea To…

Making Something From Nothing: Dror Fixler Of ‘FirstPoint Mobile Guard’ On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

… Know life’s going to be a roller coaster from now on — This is true for every high-tech startup. You’ll find yourself up one minute, down the next. Keeping everything in perspective is critical.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing,” I had the pleasure of interviewing Dror Fixler, CEO & Cofounder of FirstPoint Mobile Guard.

Dror Fixler is CEO and Co-founder of FirstPoint Mobile Guard — AND an Israeli physicist specializing in optics, director of the Bar-Ilan Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, and a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Nanophotonics at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel. He is also an Israeli Orthodox rabbi and posek (arbiter of Jewish law). Additionally, he serves as a visiting professor at the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry in China. Fixler received the European Science Foundation’s Plasmon-Bionanosense Award in 2015 and the President’s International Fellowship Initiative Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2017.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I was actually a regular kid — nothing special. I went to school, joined youth groups, nothing out of the ordinary. Although I was born in Netanya, a beach town in Israel where my company is headquartered, I grew up in Tel Aviv and am a Tel Avivian at heart. I started each day with morning prayers, after which I would go to the sea and swim for 30 to 45 minutes (even in winter), except during exam days when I didn’t want to be late. The oldest in a family of four kids, I also worked as a volunteer at the Tel Aviv central library.

What is your favorite “life lesson quote” and how was that relevant to you in your life?

I really believe in teamwork. When I was in university, I met a very smart Dean who told me that every successful endeavor needs these two “ingredients”: the brilliance of an Einstein and the resources of a prince.

I had neither of those. I had a strong belief in teamwork, that the way to success is for every individual in the team to know exactly what to contribute to the effort to spark the fire of success.

At FirstPoint, I am fortunate enough to collaborate with our CTO Adam Weinberg, a team of experienced telecommunications, cybersecurity, and general technology experts, colleagues with business and finance expertise, and angel investors who not only provided me (a techie with minimal business experience) with initial funding, but also educated me in the art and science of business and management. I’m not Einstein nor a prince of England, but I have reached my goals with amazing help along the way.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

Although I don’t have the time to read as much as I’d like, I keep rereading the books of Maimonides, a medieval Jewish philosopher as well as a preeminent astronomer and physician, which have inspired me greatly. One of the most important codifiers of Jewish law, he wrote the Mishneh Torah and The Guide for the Perplexed. I found that reading Maimonides has changed my way of looking at life not just philosophically but practically — including how to treat my spouse, children, fellow human beings, even the environment.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few tips from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

One word: mazal (or luck). Three letters:

M — makom (place) — You need to be in the right place.

Z — zman (time) — You need to do it at the right time.

L — ladat (to know) — You need to know it’s a good idea for the right time and place.

Many people have good ideas; the problem is that they aren’t successful because they just don’t have the “mazal” to have all three (and most important — the last L) at once.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it, saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

I meet with people all the time who come to me with their ideas and, unfortunately, I end up disappointing them and telling them that this or that idea has been done before. The truth is, in this day and age, most market segments have been filled, and it will be very rare indeed to come up with a totally new “slice” of the pie. One thing you can do is take a segment, say the cyber segment, and drill down into possible sub-segments — healthcare-digital healthcare -telemedicine-remote health data monitoring, etc. — and find ideas for a new technology. Or think of areas like bioconvergence, which brings together healthcare and technology. For example, combine life science biomedicine/math/algorithms/engineering, and perhaps bring about a new discipline or innovation. The field of Optogenetics — a biological technique that uses light to control the activity of neurons or other cell types — is an outcome of such thinking and has been used to restore a blind patient’s vision.

Many new technologies have resulted from innovators standing on the shoulders of giants from the past and seeing farther into the horizon.

When you’ve come up with an idea, the next key step — to avoid wasting time and resources — is to go to a trusted expert in the relevant field or area of knowledge and learn if the idea is worth pursuing.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

First thing is to make sure your technology is solid and dependable. Then, put on your business hat and find the right partners who will adopt your solution and can give you honest feedback. Where do you find them? Start with friends, neighbors, high school friends, friends of friends, military buddies, etc.

There are different approaches to dealing with patents. Personally, I believe that patents are critical. You need to do the legwork to ensure your idea isn’t already on the books.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

  1. You’ll need to find the correct balance between your personal life and your business life. This is very difficult, and I’m not sure I’ve already achieved it. I wish someone had told me when to say “yes,” “no,” and to whom.
  2. Pay attention to your board of directors — and your investors as well. You are personally responsible for their money. They’ve looked you in the eyes, listened to you, believed you — and now you have to show them that their trust in you has been well placed.
  3. Know life’s going to be a roller coaster from now on — This is true for every high-tech startup. You’ll find yourself up one minute, down the next. Keeping everything in perspective is critical.
  4. There isn’t a better feeling than the feeling of success — Seeing your idea blossom into a feasible venture that delivers real value and benefits a wide range of people is just like seeing a baby being born, taking his first steps, or saying her first words. Suddenly, it’s no longer an idea on the drawing board but a living and growing phenomenon. I guess this is what every new pioneer feels.
  5. Invest in your chairman<->CEO relationship — it is so important to have a strong relationship with your chairman, and you need to work on that constantly.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

As discussed, consult with experts to make sure it is really a novel idea. Build a prototype and find people to try it who can give you realistic feedback. Integrate that feedback, and see whether your concept is still truly unique. Then patent it, and start making the rounds among friends and family to see if they are willing to act as your angels.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

It really depends on your resources — if you can afford an innovation development consultant, a second — or third or fourth — opinion is great.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

Bootstrapping is a great way to get started, but if you want to grow significantly, you’ll need VC funding to take your company to the next level. You need to select the right VCs, though. They are looking to exit, and you would prefer to grow the organization into a major player. You need to find the right fit.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

I’d like to go back to Maimonides, and the prophets, who’ve said that in the future the sheep will live with the wolf and the lion with the lamb, and everyone will be happy together. Living in a country where the wolves would have gobbled us were it not for a competent, high-tech military, I’ve come to believe that technology has made all the difference and will continue to do so. Thanks to FirstPoint solutions- tracking and monitoring hidden attackers on your mobile networks — I am confident we are contributing to the safety and security of the world tremendously — and keeping the wolves far, far away from the sheep.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I’d like to see a world where the wolves and sheep work together to make it a better place.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

A private, quiet dinner with my wife would be great, as FirstPoint usually takes up much of my time.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Making Something From Nothing: Dror Fixler Of ‘FirstPoint Mobile Guard’ On How To Go From Idea To… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Making Something From Nothing: Leila Muhaizen Of Baklava On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

… You don’t always have to be the trendsetter. We often waste time and energy trying to think of unique promo videos to increase our membership, rather than simply hopping on existing trends. People often want more of the same, you just have to find the creativity that’s already there, replicate it, and make it better.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Leila Muhaizen.

Leila Muhaizen is the founder and CEO of Baklava, the true Arab relationship app for dating, marriage and friendships. Leila combined both her experience in social entrepreneurship and project management, her education, and her passion for bringing people together to build an innovative, one-of-a-kind app. She is a native of Lebanon and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Media and Communications with an emphasis in Marketing from the American University of Beirut.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I was raised in a traditional tight-knit community in Lebanon with my single mother and brother. Technically, it was just us three, but it always felt like we had a village supporting us. People there have known each other for generations and have developed a sense of responsibility and loyalty to one another. I used to complain as a teenager that I had five women mothering me at once. It was an atypical family dynamic, but it is what shaped my appreciation for community.

After working for five years at a corporate job, I was laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I jumped at the opportunity to do something personally meaningful. That’s when I started Baklava.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

There’s a quote that I live by and that I’ve carried with me from my childhood. It’s from Peter Pan. Early in the story, Peter is encouraging Wendy to think of happy thoughts to make her fly. After unsuccessful attempts, Wendy finally lets her true inner and wildly fantastic thoughts out and says to herself, “I’ll think of a mermaid lagoon, underneath a magic moon.” It is only then she sees herself lift up and fly to Neverland.

And when you think about it, Neverland is a place where you never set your feet on the ground. You are always pushing past boundaries and liberating your mindset to manifest your heart’s desires. I never want to be weighed down by adulthood and lose the lightheartedness that keeps me going. Always think of Neverland.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

The book series that will stay with me forever is Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. The story and lessons are timeless, especially as they relate to how Harry navigates his two identities of being a “normal kid” but also the “chosen one.” Harry sets an example of what leadership should be. It is his grounded and honest character that makes him best suited for power even though he never sought it. Similarly to how startup founders find themselves thrust into leadership positions and must take the mantle; they are often surprised by how well, or not, they wear it. It’s a story that speaks to the new person we all want to become while remaining true to ourselves as we embrace the unique challenges that arise with our growth.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

The best way to start developing an idea is to find a mentor. Choose someone who has had successful experiences with similar product concepts to what you’re developing. We tend to overthink and overcomplicate, but oftentimes the roadmap is already paved for us, and we simply have to replicate a process that’s proven successful.

In my case, I started from scratch with no ideas, just a fascination with startups, so I followed the process first and then the idea developed itself. My mentor had given me a book, Designing Your Life, and said, “This is not a book of great ideas, but it is a roadmap of proven steps that produce many potentially great ideas.” Unlike traditional career mapping books that often capitalize on your interest-inventory, this book prompts us to think of the life experience we want first and then design the building blocks of it — including your business ideas. In other words, for a business idea to be successful, it has to meaningfully complement your life.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

With Baklava, we were lucky to be “the first and only,” yet we still stood in the face of giants like Tinder and Bumble who have a strong market hold. The key is to differentiate your product enough so that the big fish and the oversaturated market don’t scare you anymore. Baklava is designed to personify Arabic culture, which makes it far more attractive to our target market than any mainstream app will be. Our target market is not the entire world population, our goal is to connect Arab communities. You have to research an overlooked need and jump at the opportunity to present a solution. Ideas similar to yours most likely exist, but innovation is when you take an existing idea and give it a twist to find your niche.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands?

The first step is a no brainer, do your due diligence with market research and competitors. After you feel confident with your idea and have created a wireframe (blueprint) of your product, take it to your designer to create a mockup with a rendered click-through model. It is crucial that your product has a seamless and enjoyable user experience, which brings us to the most important step: collect feedback. Bounce your mockup off friends, family, even enemies. You will learn that there’s a behavioral formula that you should translate into your technology. For example, where do people’s eyes first go when they open a page? Which features catch their attention? Does swiping up feel more natural than diagonal? Remove any aspect that seems robotic or unnatural. Spending the most time on this step will save you money on making expensive changes in the code development stage later. Once your app is fully developed, and you’ve ironed out the final kinks through test groups, you’re finally ready to launch. Here’s where the real fun begins. How do you create hype for your new cool app? Word of mouth is huge for social apps like Baklava. Our friends and families blasted it on social media, and that’s how we received our first few hundred founding members. Now, we get thousands of downloads from every viral TikTok video or Instagram Reel — that’s a good deal to me!

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

  1. Nobody ever tells you that starting a company is like getting married. The moment you’re in that contract with your colleagues, you’re there for better or for worse. You love each other, you argue about finances, and you make all your decisions together.
  2. You don’t always have to be the trendsetter. We often waste time and energy trying to think of unique promo videos to increase our membership, rather than simply hopping on existing trends. People often want more of the same, you just have to find the creativity that’s already there, replicate it, and make it better.
  3. Allow yourself to delegate work while you step up into a mentorship position. You always think you can do everything better, and no one else can do it the same way, but that will only lead to burning out and alienating your colleagues.
  4. Your people skills are more valuable than your technical ones. It’s a misconception that you should have a coding degree or an MBA to start your business. Be a charismatic leader with an inspiring vision and hire a skillful technical team to back you up.
  5. Stay close to your users. Remember, you’re in a marriage with your company and your users are your children. Nurture them now and they’ll take care of you later! Focus on user retention by creating strong personal connections and capitalizing on brand loyalty.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

First, find a mentor to be your guide. Second, hire a designer to create a sketch of your ideas. Third, peer review the sketch with your peers, mentors, and your mentor’s peers. Fourth, send it to an engineer to develop a code for the product (app). Fifth, run the final product by test groups to clean out any remaining mistakes. Sixth, publish the final product (app) on the App Store and Google Play. The third step is perhaps the most crucial and where you need to spend most time. You don’t want to develop something and go back to the drawing board again and say the design doesn’t work. You can always fix bugs and make updates, but redesigning significant portions costs you time and money.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

I would say don’t waste your money or time hiring a consultant at these early stages. I’ve had multiple incredible business mentors in my six years of working and they all welcomed taking me under their wing for free. Some have also become close friends and life coaches. Find the right mentor for you by talking to as many inspiring figures as possible. Start with your alumni, Linkedin connections, and even cold emails. Don’t underestimate people’s willingness to share their success stories when you demonstrate curiosity.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

Baklava is bootstrapped and we’re bringing it to successful fruition this way. This structure works well for us because we have a niche market and operate as a boutique company that’s self-sustaining. Nothing scares me more than an investor smoking cigars at his desk in Silicon Valley and saying “Let’s change it from a dating app to a dessert delivery service.” We’re hellbent on succeeding our way.

However, this model is not for everyone. If you’re in a highly competitive “winner takes the market” kind of race, your best bet is to look for investors who can offer the resources to scale big and fast.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

A couple from the app just got married last week. How much better can it be, creating new relationships, new homes, new life? I’m declaring myself as the “Godmother” of all children born because of the app.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

My movement would draw elements from Women’s Rights and my personal experiences. Women in the Middle East are inherently born with social restrictions that have stripped them from their right to grow their emotional intelligence. The arcane ideology that dating is a taboo has forced women to remain clueless on what a loving and healthy relationship should look like. Many end up marrying the first man they were “allowed” to date and often get locked in abusive marriages. I want Baklava to normalize dating for Arab women, just like it is normalized and even encouraged for Arab men. I wish for Baklava to empower women to take control of their love lives and swipe yes/no a hundred times before they choose the men to tie their lives to.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Michelle Obama. After reading her memoir, Becoming, I was mesmerized by the deeply personal reckoning of a soulful woman who defied expectations. I couldn’t help but draw similarities with my life as she chronicled the events that shaped hers, from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to mine in a similar area in Lebanon to her pressures to be a lawyer, as I was expected to be a doctor. Our breaking away from corporate jobs and pursuing meaningful community oriented careers and most importantly, the same way we started conversations about our race and culture. My favorite fun fact about her life is that Barack started out as her intern at a law firm. PS: we’re hiring interns.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Making Something From Nothing: Leila Muhaizen Of Baklava On How To Go From Idea To Launch was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Heroes Of The Homeless Crisis: How Katina Holliday Of Holliday’s Helping Hands (HHH) Is Helping To…

Heroes Of The Homeless Crisis: How Katina Holliday Of Holliday’s Helping Hands (HHH) Is Helping To Support Some Of The Most Vulnerable People In Our Communities

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

… To be successful, you must put in the time even if that means evenings and weekends (while it’s important to recharge your batteries, there are times in our business when your involvement is necessary and that can mean after hours).

As a part of my series about “Heroes Of The Homeless Crisis” I had the pleasure of interviewing Katina Holliday.

Katina Holliday is the Founder and CEO of Holliday’s Helping Hands (HHH.) Her organization seeks to provided interim housing for families and pregnant women experiencing homelessness. By providing nourishing food, safe shelter and an array of services, Miss. Holliday witnessed her clients achieving happy, independent and productive lives. Miss. Holliday’s organization has places hundreds of clients into permanent housing of their own by developing “roadmaps” for their futures — detailed, comprehensive plans that help them hone their lifestyle skills, plan monthly home budgets, prepare for job interviews and become good neighbors and citizens so that they can enjoy living independent, fulfilling lives.

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your personal background, and how you grew up?

Thank you for inviting me to participate in this interview. To start at the beginning, I grew up in Mississippi whose motto is “the hospitality state” in a small town called Aberdeen. It’s a special place as the people there have always been so warm, caring, compassionate and friendly. That set a good foundation for who I am as a person. I’m the baby of the family — LOL — as my mom only had two kids and I was raised in a trailer home on my great grandmother’s property. Education was a priority in my family so I became a “straight A” student. I breezed through high school and, in fact, skipped 11th grade, so I enrolled in college quite young. It was around this time that I came to the conclusion that you are not a product of your environment, you’re a product of your expectations. If you expect great things, great things will come.

Is there a particular story or incident that inspired you to get involved in your work helping people who are homeless?

My grandmother was a powerful and inspiring guiding force in my life and it was she who provided constant care of the town’s most vulnerable soul whose name was Shine. He walked on the streets of Aberdeen, although he lived with his family. I have clear recollections of how she would take care of his most basic needs including three meals a day and other essentials, Later, when I was working alongside the homeless population of Los Angeles, I couldn’t help but recall her kindness when caring for Shine. And it was that correlation that provided the inspiration for my company, Holliday’s Helping Hands. I guess you could say that my approach to my career is embedded in my DNA. With the exception of Shine, we really didn’t see homelessness. Later after moving to LA and driving through Skid Row, I was blown away by the sheer number of homeless. I was a nurse practitioner at the time and regularly took care of these disenfranchised folks. I loved them and they loved me. In was then and there that I gained my sense of purpose. I knew that this was my calling.

Homelessness has been a problem for a long time in the United States. But it seems that it has gotten a lot worse over the past five years, particularly in the large cities, such as Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, and San Francisco. Can you explain to our readers what brought us to this place? Where did this crisis come from?

There are myriad factors at play here including the lack of affordable housing, inability to pay massive hospital bills, mental illness, substance abuse….Through working directly with the homeless population here in LA over the past 10 years, we are seeing more men taking to the streets. Many of them lack basic life skills. Currents stats estimate that LA has 70,000 homeless, however, I suspect that there are many many more. We know that those without resources often “couch surf” which means they sleep from one family or friend’s house to another and they are not counted among the homeless. When COVID hit, we saw a spike in homelessness. We find that whether it’s COVID or some other serious medical condition, major life crises often result in the loss of employment, which, of course, sets the stage for homelessness.

For the benefit of our readers, can you describe the typical progression of how one starts as a healthy young person with a place to live, a job, an education, a family support system, a social support system, a community support system, to an individual who is sleeping on the ground at night? How does that progression occur?

The reasons why a seemingly healthy and well-adjusted individual could find themselves homeless are countless. Right now, for instance, many people are one health crisis away from living in their cars since they lack insurance or not enough of it. The loss of a job can be a crippling circumstance as can the breakup of a significant relationship — — both of these crises can result in the person losing hope and falling into despair. Of course, the onset of mental illness and substance abuse are common causes. Our program, Holliday’s Helping Hands (HHH), believes that everyone has the right to be housed, no matter their circumstance. Having a roof over ones head should be a human right — full stop. We remain nonjudgmental throughout the entire process. We custom tailor our approach to care and treat our clients them with dignity and respect. To make this process as productive as possible, we work closely with them to develop “roadmaps” for their futures — detailed, comprehensive plans that help them hone their lifestyle skills, plan monthly home budgets, prepare for job interviews and become good neighbors and citizens. We help them write their resumes, find jobs, enroll in college, and obtain access to services. We become their support system if they do not have one. We also connect them to their families and try to bridge splintered relationships. We have realized that showing them love is the greatest motivator.

A question that many people who are not familiar with the intricacies of this problem ask is, “Why don’t homeless people just move to a city that has cheaper housing?” How do you answer this question?

Our research shows that California and New York offer resources that other states don’t. I recall a 50-year-old woman moving to LA from Georgia to get health benefits because she was diagnosed with cancer. She had been gainfully employed as a cook, but her employer offered no benefits — no health insurance. After her diagnosis, she moved to LA and ended up at the Union Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter. Another reason people on the streets migrate to LA is the weather. You can live outdoors most of the year. We also see a lot of young people from all over the country gravitate to Hollywood with stars in their eyes. It’s not long before the high cost of living catches up to them and before long they find themselves living on the streets. It’s nearly impossible to live while earning minimum wage .

If someone passes a homeless person on the street, what is the best way to help them?

One of the most powerful and positive things you can do is simply smile and say “hello.” They are human beings and most of them simply wish to be acknowledged. All too often, people avert their eyes from them and that only fosters a sense of worthlessness. In LA, we have the 211 system, which offers myriad services for the homeless. If you engage them in conversation, let them know about 211. One of my goals, is to have a system in place that you can call and housing can be provided right there and then anytime of the day.

What is the best way to respond if a homeless person asks for money for rent or gas?

Instead of handing over money, ask them what they need. If they want food, walk into a restaurant with them and pay for their meal. If they need gas, go with them to the pump and make the purchase. Sometimes when I ask what they need the money for, I have a good idea that they want it to buy alcohol or drugs. Do I give it them? Yes I do give them something. I let them know that they are loved and give them my card in case they need anything. I remain nonjudgmental as this is the key.

Can you describe to our readers how your work is making an impact battling this crisis?

We have permanently housed more than 100 individuals in our short 4 years in existence. Approximately 20 have returned to work and now tax-paying citizens. We currently house approx. 400 individuals nightly with HHH. We are making a small yet powerful impact. Since we are a well-oiled machine, we have the ability to open a facility in as little as one-week’s time. With the necessary resources, our approach to helping the homeless could make an even bigger impact not only in LA but in other communities as well.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the homeless crisis, and the homeless community? Also how has it affected your ability to help people?

One of the silver linings of COVID-19 was the inception of Project Home Key (PHK), which allows us to take the homeless off the streets and into interim housing. This was a real blessing. We currently have a PHK that holds 135 clients.

Can you share something about your work that makes you most proud? Is there a particular story or incident that you found most uplifting?

We started a program recently called the Shine Ambassador Program, which was named after a man from my hometown whom my grandmother cared for named Shine. We were recently talking to one of our Shine Ambassadors who now works for Hollidays Helping Hands and he described the impact that we’ve had on his life. He had the Director and me in tears. He was saying that since working with us, he has learned that the HHH team love people without condition. The progress he has made and the fact that he has found purpose in his life again thanks to HHH makes my heart smile. To know the vision is being carried out by others is just unbelievable.

Without sharing real names, can you share a story with our readers about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your work?

One story stands out. It involves a woman who made a lifetime of poor choices. She was a mother of an 8 month old when the child was removed from her custody for various reasons. Now, many years later, she became an HHH client, we housed her, helped her find purpose in her life and she is now back on her feet. The icing on the cake is that she currently lives independently, has been reunited with her now 23-year-old son and they are rebuilding their relationship.

Can you share three things that the community and society can do to help you address the root of this crisis? Can you give some examples?

It takes a village to combat this issue. One key is being more receptive to having sites in one’s neighborhood. We like to find good, healthy communities to place our facilities but are often met with resistance and sometimes even hostility from neighbors. We want them to understand that our clients pose no undue risk. In fact, our clients must adhere to strict codes of conduct that make them especially good neighbors. Also, I would suggest that people consider volunteering to help stem the problem of homelessness. I was told by a wise woman that instead of giving them a “hand out” that we offer them a “hand up” and volunteering is a great way to do that. Finally, the most powerful tool at our disposal is financial support. We have to rely on the government — ultimately tax dollars — to provide the services to stem the tide of homelessness and make the changes needed to for them to live independent lives.

If you had the power to influence legislation, which three laws would you like to see introduced that might help you in your work?

First law I would implement is the Stipulations on how to house the homeless in a business model. Second we need to adopt the Housing First Model across the United States. Third, I would place guidelines on the housing that organizations offer to individuals. The reason for this last one is because some housing sites look like third world countries here in the US and this should be unacceptable.

I know that this is not easy work. What keeps you going?

Hope and faith that we can make things better. I love being a blessing to others. Having an impact on even one person’s life is a privilege. When we make a positive difference in the lives of others, it has enormous impact and inspires others to do the same in their own way. That’s really what life is all about….creating lasting legacies that improve the world around us.

Do you have hope that one day this great social challenge can be solved completely?

I am making it my life’s mission to accomplish that. I know some people living on the streets do not want to be housed but they still need our love and support. Our mission is to end homelessness and barriers to getting the help individuals need to live lives of purpose.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

  1. Not everyone has the same passion about their work as I do so be patient with them (sometimes employees can be as challenging as our clients).
  2. California employee laws can be very complicated and challenging (know the law, don’t depend on others to read/understand laws and statutes but do it yourself…it’s empowering).
  3. To be successful, you must put in the time even if that means evenings and weekends (while it’s important to recharge your batteries, there are times in our business when your involvement is necessary and that can mean after hours).
  4. Put people around you whom you trust (I have lifelong friends, former employers and loved one in my inner circle whom I trust implicitly and that gives me peace of mind).
  5. Take time to enjoy your successes (enjoying your free time with loved ones gives you a healthy work/life balance).

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

Livable wages for the working class. We have the working poor right here in America. Even when I was a registered nurse living quite modestly here in LA, l was living paycheck to paycheck, which meant that one dramatic life event could have thrown me into homelessness. A lot of us work hard and find it difficult navigating this thing called life. Our society needs to focus on establishing a balance between the cost of living and earning a living wage.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

It’s a simple, yet profound quote by Mother Theresa. ”It’s not about how much you do, but how much love you put into what you do that counts.” I have another quote to match that. “If you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like work.” I believe in Love. Love motivates, stimulates, and activates us as humans. When we love someone or something, we invest our entire selves into it. It’s obvious when you meet someone who lovers what they do. I am blessed that I love what I do and it shows in my work. I am committed to changing lives daily through love.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂

It would be a dream to have lunch with Oprah Winfrey. She too comes from a small town in Mississippi. I have had people compare me to her because I try to be as generous as I possibly can. I take that as a great compliment. I remember on one of her shows she surprised the studio audience who were comprised of teachers with brand new cars. I was so moved by this gesture that she was recognizing the hard work that teachers, the unsung heroes of our communities, have on society. I was inspired by Oprah’s generosity of heart. If I had a 2nd choice, it would be to spend time with Jeff Bezos who has made such an impact on this world. But his impact could be so much greater and his legacy so much richer by partnering with community based organizations like HHH to combat the homeless crisis.

How can our readers follow you online? *I’ll check theses

On Facebook, you can find us at @HollidaysHH and on Instagram we’re @hollidayshelpinghands.

Just in case the readers need to know… Everyday is a Holliday!!! So love, live and laugh daily!!

This was very meaningful, thank you so much!

Heroes Of The Homeless Crisis: How Katina Holliday Of Holliday’s Helping Hands (HHH) Is Helping To… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Making Something From Nothing: Afton Brazzoni Of Scribe National On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Surround yourself with people who are where you want to be: Investing in myself and getting business coaching has been instrumental to the growth of my company. This journey has made me so much more confident in my own abilities — and I think that is a gift. It has also given me greater economic power. I get to do what I love every day and make a difference in clients’ companies. Being in community with other entrepreneurs has taught me that.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Afton Brazzoni.

Afton Brazzoni is the founder of Scribe National, a B2B content studio that helps entrepreneurs catapult their sales with undeniable brand messaging and strategic content plans. With 12 years of experience in marketing and communications, Afton’s mission is to help 100 entrepreneurs around the globe communicate the value of their work so they can command their worth. Her company also works with B2B marketers to create written content that drives demand and growth.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I’ve been a storyteller since childhood, when I wrote my first “book” about horses in a hardcover notebook, in pencil. After working as a freelance reporter at a small town weekly newspaper in the Canadian Rockies when I was 20 years old, I decided to go back to school to add a post-graduate public relations diploma on top of my journalism degree. The media industry was going through a tough time, still feeling the effects of the 2008 recession, and jobs were scarce. This opened the door to the marketing and communications industry, and I worked for several organizations over the years, ranging in size from 5 to 5,000 staff. In 2019, I was working full time and freelancing on the side when I decided I wanted to spend more time doing what I loved — writing — and that I was ready, with 10 years of experience under my belt, to start my own content writing company. It has grown from the side of my desk into a multi-six-figure company with clients around the globe.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I have so many beloved quotes, but in the context of this topic, “Done is better than perfect,” stands out to me. I’m not sure who said it. My business would not exist today if I hadn’t followed that advice. I’ll talk more about this later in the article.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

I’ve always been a big reader. Out of the 25+ books I read last year, one of my favourites of all time is We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers. It offers practical, straight-shooting and empowering insights that truly transformed my mindset around earning wealth as a woman entrepreneur. It’s a goodie!

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

The bottom line: just get started. There is a fine line between doing research on your competitors and getting yourself stuck. You need to be aware of your competitors, but once you’ve completed your research, get back to doing what you do best. Share your ideas with the world. Don’t try to perfect them. Keep your focus on the unique value you offer, and on serving your customers. This will get you farther than worrying about what another entrepreneur is doing.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

I say, start with your mindset. Don’t be discouraged if you see competition in your market. It means there is demand for what you want to offer.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

While I’m not a patent expert, at Scribe National, my team and I have the pleasure of helping billion-dollar companies and solopreneurs alike with their marketing and launches. The common thread between successful businesses at every level? An undeniable brand and a solid strategy. This is what will make or break the idea for your business. You must be able to engage your audience in your mission if you want your company to succeed. Brand messaging and strategic content planning are integral to this process. I see far too many entrepreneurs try to market their offerings without carefully crafting their messaging and content strategy first. Don’t rush into content creation! If you need help working through all of this, I offer a group program to help entrepreneurs catapult their sales with an undeniable brand. You can find out more about it on my website.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

  1. The biggest setbacks can lead to the greatest success: One of the most significant moments on my journey was after I’d been in business for six months, but was still working at my day job. I’d reduced my hours from full time to part time so I could focus more on Scribe National. I wanted to quit entirely, but felt guilty that I’d be leaving my team in the lurch. March 2020 rolls around, and I received an email saying the organization I was working for was laying off over 250 staff, myself included. I was shocked. It was a blessing in disguise, though. I immediately began to focus my full attention on Scribe National and managed to reach six figures in revenue that very first year. We now have amazing clients all over the world.
  2. Challenge your assumptions: In my experience, the thought of leaving a full-time job to pursue something where you are responsible for bringing in revenue can be daunting, especially if you don’t have a financial or sales background. I had what I thought was a stable full-time job, until that stability went away and I realized that as an entrepreneur, I actually had more control over my circumstances than ever before.
  3. Stay true to your mission through discomfort: You need to believe in yourself and the mission you’re trying to achieve, which is bigger than you. You need to be comfortable being uncomfortable. You need to have a desire to constantly learn and grow. Having my own business changed me greatly as a person — I had to quickly get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Don’t put yourself in a box if you don’t think you have certain skills at this moment in time. We all evolve. Be open to possibilities.
  4. Link arms with others: You can’t build a successful company alone. When Scribe National had been in business for almost a year, I had so much client work that I could barely keep up. I was working from the early mornings through to the evenings, and every weekend. I was watching the very short Canadian Rockies summer slip by, and although I was grateful to have the business, I wanted to do more than work all of the time. Building an amazing team changed all of that, and I’m grateful for each and every one of my team members.
  5. Surround yourself with people who are where you want to be: Investing in myself and getting business coaching has been instrumental to the growth of my company. This journey has made me so much more confident in my own abilities — and I think that is a gift. It has also given me greater economic power. I get to do what I love every day and make a difference in clients’ companies. Being in community with other entrepreneurs has taught me that.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

First, research your competitors to see what they do well and where they fall short. Second, be very clear on the promise your product offers and who it is intended for. Understand their struggles and aspirations deeply. There’s more to it than that, but these two simple steps will enable you to start off on the right path to create something that truly stands apart from the competition.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

Investing in yourself and getting expert guidance to set you on the right path is ALWAYS a solid idea, in my opinion. I don’t think we can do anything completely on our own. It takes a community of support.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

I’ve worked a lot with the tech industry, so I hear about founders raising capital nearly every day. As the owner of a marketing company, you likely don’t have that option. I didn’t. This is true for many service-based businesses as well. In addition, the stats show that women face significant barriers to accessing venture capital. As someone who has bootstrapped, although it can be tough and you may not be able to grow or hire as quickly as a company with a $1M raise under its belt, you have greater autonomy over your business because you’re not beholden to investors. However, this is my perspective as a founder who has bootstrapped her company, and I realize there are huge benefits to receiving funding.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

When your company earns wealth, you have the opportunity to give back and use that wealth to support causes you care about. For me, those are humanitarian and animal rights causes. Aside from the monetary aspect, helping others up is also a huge part of giving back — whether it’s giving your time or attention to support the work they’re doing.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I would inspire a movement to empower people to step out of the echo chambers that are harming our society and listen to one another’s perspectives with empathy. Differences of opinion are not something to be afraid of or stomped out.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

I would love to meet Rachel Rodgers, the author of the book I mentioned, We Should All Be Millionaires. She is doing amazing work in the world to lift others up!

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Making Something From Nothing: Afton Brazzoni Of Scribe National On How To Go From Idea To Launch was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Sapha Arias Of Your Soulful Goddess On 5 Things You Need To Know To Survive And Thrive After A…

Sapha Arias Of Your Soulful Goddess On 5 Things You Need To Know To Survive And Thrive After A Divorce

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

… You one hundred thousand percent do not need to be perfectly healed to get into a healthy relationship. — And yeah, I know that I’ve been in the yoga slash “light and love” community for a while, but I promise, I have heard the following word used by psychologists, neuroscientists, and self-help people alike. And that word is, “Attracting”… “Attracting” someone doesn’t mean that if you’re not perfect from head to toe, you will continue “attracting” the same person in different suits, and with different names time and again. It simply doesn’t. Yet for some reason, this seems to be the lesson we are teaching people nowadays, and it really ruffles my feathers because it’s akin to emotionally bypassing someone’s reality. It’s as bad as saying, “everything happens for a reason”. Sure it sounds nice on the surface, and it makes the people saying it feel like they are sharing some incredibly wise advice, but in truth, it is causing an incredible amount of damage to a person’s subconscious mind, and in many cases, it’s telling them that they are too broken to ever be deserving of real love. So, please, don’t for a moment believe that if you need to be picture perfect in order to magnetize (I refuse to use attract in this context) a healthy, thriving, long lasting and equal relationship you can take deep pleasure in

As part of our series about the “5 Things You Need To Know To Survive And Thrive After A Divorce Or Breakup” I had the pleasure of interviewing Sapha Arias.

Sapha is a feminine embodiment and relationship mentor with over a decade of experience specializing in helping womxn reclaim their feminine self-authority, so they can get the aligned relationship and life they deeply desire.

She’s known for her unique approach to feminine energetics, empowerment, and no-nonsense introspective work that explores the root of trauma and core wounds in a person’s subconscious with compassion and respect for each individual’s needs.

Sapha’s mentorship has helped numerous clients reconnect to their purpose, inner power, and sense of self; effectively providing them with tools to change their lives for the better.

Sapha’s personal experience with emotional and psychological trauma, as well as her passion for life has led her to search for, cultivate and refine healing techniques that allow her to guide womxn to become deeply devoted to their process without dismissing the validity of their life experiences. Her goal is to see every womxn empowered, in love, and deeply fulfilled.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to ‘get to know you’. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?

I grew up amidst the bustling crowds, the rich culture, and the beautiful history of a strong, hard-working, and loving people, Mexico City.

My childhood wasn’t filled with the care-free delight so many of my friends had experienced having grown up in the US. But it was filled with the unequivocable warmth of a Mexican hearth, overflowing with familial devotion, a myriad of mythologies to sink your teeth into, and the wisdom of the ages that so often seems to permeate such ancient places.

It was a full, and colorful childhood, with many ups and downs, and its fair share of trauma, but it was a journey that ultimately formed much of my sense of self, and I am so very grateful for it.

Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Imagine waking up one morning and realizing that you’ve been living your life on autopilot. Just, going through the motions, but never really connecting to what you are doing, who you are with, or what you are experiencing.

Then, picture what it would feel like to also recognize that you no longer know who you are. And I don’t mean that in a “oh, we all go through periods of rediscovery in our lives” kind of way. I mean this in the most heart-wrenchingly terrifying burden of having given so much of yourself, sacrificing so much just so that everyone around you could be taken care of at your own expense, that the essence of who you are is simply gone.

That disconcerting, and numb place is where my current work as a feminine embodiment and relationship mentor began. It was a gradual awakening that brought me here, and it’s a tale of courageous action, and unyielding dedication.

It’s the tale of a journey through the underworld, and it all began with a tear-filled breakdown on my yoga mat.

I always laugh when I describe this, because in all honesty, I didn’t choose this quest right from the first. Honestly, it chose me, and it found me, in the middle of a vinyasa class, surrounded by beautifully bendy yogis who must have been at least a little uncomfortable to hear my sniffles as they blissed out in pigeon pose.

But yeah, that’s where it all began, and that was my first clue, my first exposure to the world of true embodiment, and even when I didn’t know it by that name in that moment, I knew that the tears I had found while “flossing” my hips were going to be my way back to the land of the living.

It was in that moment that I chose to pay attention to the stories my body was telling me, and it was through that process, that I was able to find the courage to research, study, and ultimately, become adept at feminine embodiment. *A term, which, by the way, still confuses various members of my family, and some strangers, and which I take deep pride and pleasure in.

Because it’s not as if there was a specific PHD on this, but I’d been able to, not only heal much of my subconscious patterns through these practices, but to also reclaim my life entirely, so show could I not pursue it?

I’d gone from numb, disconnected, and voiceless to radiantly present, and deeply empowered! And all I could think of was, “I want this for every single womxn out there”. And so, here we are.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

The biggest thing has been discovering how many of us are absolutely parched for real feminine embodiment, and simultaneously, how many of us are hyper-resistant to it because there has been such a misrepresentation of the feminine for so long that we don’t really want to deal with it.

The truth is, we have become a society obsessed with the subconscious need to cage, subdue, and in some cases, vilify the feminine, and this old paradigm has taken a toll on all of us in ways we can’t even begin to fathom.

On the one hand, you have those who believe that the word “feminine” means “diva”, and that anyone who is open about wanting to “reclaim their feminine self-authority” (as these are the words I’ve chosen to use in my business) must be a nut case who hates men, and behave like bratty, entitled, over-the-top people who want to be served grapes from a golden plate whilst being fanned by a person in scant clothing.

On the other hand, you have those who feel like the word “feminine” has been weaponized against them. For example, I hear so often that people who desire to be in an equal partnership need to learn how to be less “intimidating”, and that the more “feminine” you can be (and in this case, they are using the word to describe sweet, quiet, dainty, delicate and even subservient depending on whom you’re speaking to) the more likely you are to get the relationship you’ve always dreamed of.

And then, of course, you have those who believe this is all just a new age fad, and who’d rather not associate with the crazies, and the hippies touting this stuff.

I feel like I’m always walking the line between several different realities all at once, and I have to tell you, I’ve really enjoyed the chance to deconstruct it all because it’s so very needed.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Well, this isn’t so much a funny mistake, as it is a business-centric one. But when I first made the transition from yoga teacher and nutrition coach to feminine embodiment and relationship mentor, I was still meeting with clients 1:1 for pennies on the dollar, and this was leaving me energetically, emotionally, mentally, and financially depleted.

And in all honesty, I was afraid to make a change because I wanted to keep serving as many people as possible, and I didn’t know how to go about stepping into my worth in this specific arena.

It took many conversations with my inner child, and my business coach to finally shift the dynamics of my business, and probably the biggest lesson I learned was that, just as I had learned to stop bending over backwards to please everyone in my personal life, so too did I need to create healthier boundaries, honor my value, and lean into my worth in my own business.

The moment I recognized that, was the moment everything changed.

Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life or your work?

“Their lack of effort was never a cry for help or an invitation for you to prove your strength, your worthiness or your love”

This is the marvelous, and potentially “sticky” part of being a high caliber womxn. Because you will show up in all areas of your life with a deep desire to “do the work”, to move through it, and excel, and the thing is that sometimes, we interpret that powerful realm of dedication as a forceful task where failure is not an option.

Yet, the reality is that the more present we learn to be within our sense of integrity and self-devotion, the less we have to “push”, and the more readily we can recognize that it is not up to us to save everyone, to prioritize everyone above ourselves, or to keep showing up when the other person was never fully invested in the first place.

Particularly in relationships, powerful womxn tend to see the promise of potential as an open-ended invitation to “work at it”, and in truth, it’s nothing more than a wishful projection of an unrealized and unmet desire.

There is a time to show up and do the work, and there is a time to stand your ground, put the effort-filled tools away, and flow.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Well, my heart of hearts is my Freedom of the Goddess program, which is an intensive on feminine leadership, emotional intelligence, and empowered action reflective of the feminine archetypes — I even created a little quiz for the program, where you can find your personal archetype, which is lots of fun.

Also, at the beginning of this year, I opened the doors to “DEVOTED”, a 12-week program aimed at helping powerful womxn get into an aligned partnership with a person that is their equal even if they’ve been in a toxic relationship in the past. — My intention with this program was to help womxn reclaim their voices, take pleasure in falling in love with their energetic match, and put away the old narratives that told them they needed to be perfectly healed or impeccably delicate to be in an equal partnership. I know what that’s like, and I want better for every womxn out there.

I’ve also got a year-long luxury experience I’m creating right now that I can’t wait to launch, but everything is still in the “womb” right now, so to speak.

Oh, and I will be relaunching my signature Shadow Work course again later this fall, which I am incredibly excited about because the transformations from that particular container have been incredible!

Ok. Thank you for that. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. Can you tell us a bit about your experience going through a divorce, or helping someone who was going through a divorce? What did you learn about yourself during and after the experience? Do you feel comfortable sharing a story?

Yes, absolutely! I’d love to share my story, that’s actually one of the biggest reasons I’m here today, doing the kind of work I do, because I’ve been there. And I know what it feels like, that sharp pain in your chest that threatens to crush you in the middle of the night. The one that keeps your mind repeating, “My marriage wasn’t supposed to be like this! To end like this! To shatter my heart like this!” over and over. Especially, when YOU are the one making the call to end things so you can live a better life.

No one ever really warned me about that, you know? I mean, goodness knows I got plenty of advice from everyone prior to getting married (heck, I even went to a marriage counselor beforehand), but no one ever told me that happy ever after isn’t always so charming after all, or that losing your identity in a toxic relationship can happen so slowly, you don’t even notice it’s happened until it’s too late.

Add to that the pressure of wanting to do things differently from my parents, the societal and religious structures, and beliefs I’d been raised to care about, and well, you have sort of the perfect storm to make divorce seem like one of the most horrific things a human being could do or experience on this planet.

To be honest with you, that’s one of the reasons I stayed for so long. I didn’t want to “fail” or be seen like a heartless monster who’d chosen to walk away from a situation everyone from the outside looking in would have deemed ideal. I didn’t want to be in pain or deal with the discomfort of the wounds I’d been left with after 12 years.

But I knew I needed to take my life back, and I had gotten to the point in my embodiment journey where I couldn’t keep pretending that everything was ok anymore.

I couldn’t keep walking on eggshells and ignoring the numbness in my heart.

Couldn’t prioritize everyone else’s needs above my own anymore.

The time had come to face the music and choose ME first, second, and last, and I had never been taught that doing that was anything other than selfish, but I could see the lie in that pattern, and ultimately chose to reclaim my life, stand up for my highest potential and good, and declare myself free from the miasmic quality my relationship had taken on. It was time, and I was finally ready to take that step and thrive.

Making the decision took an extraordinary amount of courage, but I have to tell you, I never felt so strong nor so sure of myself. And even though maneuvering some of the more challenging spots wasn’t easy, and there was, in fact a lot to heal, I’ve learned over the years never to force, resist, or run away from the deep growth and expansion we can gain from these moments in our lives. So I leaned in, and I stayed true, and learned that I am not only more powerful, resilient, and capable than I gave myself credit for, but that the information we’ve been fed as womxn from an early age around marriage and relationships needs to change.

Because for every person who showed up to support, love and embrace me without judgment during this time, there were 5 more trying to say this was “fixable”, or that if there hadn’t been any cheating of physical harm, it made no sense. Heck, I even had someone say that even if I was tired of all the fighting and screaming, or even if I was not fulfilled in my marriage, God could “fill the gap” and I could stay and simply focus on that even if the rest was crap.

I say this, understanding that no one had ill intentions, by the way, and I have never judged anyone for approaching the situation in that manner, but it definitely became clear to me that we have created structures, paradigms, and verbiage that keep us in situations that are in essence, enslaving us.

These rigidly unyielding concepts have prevented us from understanding that toxic doesn’t have to be deadly.

Too many womxn are being dismissed on a regular basis because when they say they feel like they’re in a toxic marriage because the other person isn’t growing, or because they are gaslighting them, or because there is no respect left, or because they fell out of love, or because they want to share their lives with someone who sees them, cherishes them, shows up for and with them in true partnership rather than through power dynamics.

And look, I am not saying there aren’t times when you’ll need to show up, do the work and fight, but I am saying that for many of us, those actions of deep devotion are poured into a space that is not deserving of what we can bring to the table.

If you know that the time to invest in this relationship has come to an end, you are valid, and you deserve better, and you don’t owe anyone any explanations along the way. That was the other thing I learned, and that is super hard for a recovering people pleaser, but let me tell you, it made a huge difference, and I am grateful for each lesson along the way. It was all worth it.

In your opinion, what are the most common mistakes people make after they go through a divorce? What can be done to avoid that?

One of the biggest mistakes you can make, is romanticize the good, second guess your power, and vilify yourself.

I remember when I finally had made the decision, one of the first things that happened was, I started to believe that I was a terrible person. I started to believe that somehow, I had been responsible for the demise of what so many had seen as such an ideal relationship. (And again, it really didn’t help when people commented on this.)

I though, surely, I had caused it all. After all, wasn’t that what the therapist and the self-help books said? That there was something so wrong with me that I had “attracted” person into my life in the first place and therefore made it happen?

And I wasn’t easy to deal with to be sure, I was clingy, and mistrustful insecure and “difficult to love” Wasn’t I? I was for sure “too much” — “too independent”, “too intimidating”, “too sensual”, “too dramatic” and on and on, the barrage of self-depreciating chatter wouldn’t stop.

It took an extraordinary amount of presence, awareness, self-love, and embodiment practices to keep me from losing my grip, and to be honest, I still felt guilty months after the papers had been signed and the divorce had been made official. So much so, that almost a year later, when I had finally opened my heart up to someone new, the first thing I told him was that I was bad news. — I’m chuckling now because I just love that part of myself so much. She was just lost, hurt and confused, and she’d learned to internalize things that didn’t belong to her as a way to survive it all, but I’m glad I worked through it, and can work with that side of me in present time now. But I digress…

Yeah, vilifying yourself, feeling guilty, ashamed and unsure of your decision are all perfectly normal parts of your healing journey. The biggest thing is to learn to observe these subconscious patterns, honor their voice, and release the attachment to the stories they have created for you.

When you start feeling like everything is spinning around these old ideas, working through them, and learning how to embody your healing so it isn’t stuck in your brain alone is super important.

And look, no matter what, I promise you, you are not broken, this was not your fault, it was not all rainbows and unicorns all the time, and you knew you deserved better and that doesn’t make you the villain.

People generally label “divorce” as being “negative”. And yes, while there are downsides, there can also be a lot of positive that comes out of it as well. What would you say that they are? Can you share an example or share a story?

Showing up for yourself from a space of deep self-love is never going to lead you astray and making the decision to get divorced is just that, an act of deep devotion and love the likes of which many people will never understand.

It’s choosing to honor your worth, your values and your integrity, and it is a momentous opportunity to fall madly, deeply, and truly in love with yourself. So, yes, there is pain, there is turmoil, there are changes, and upheaval, and uncertainty day in and day out, but there is also expansion, there is a rewilding of sorts, and there is an opportunity to rise again from the ashes a more radiant, more potently magnetic, more self-assured version of yourself, and that is worth every single moment of pain, discomfort and doubt.

I can sincerely say that this period of transition in my life was when I experienced the biggest growth, the deepest healing, and the most unrelenting sense of expansive freedom. It was the difference between walking around with a mask all the time, to showing up in my radiant truth, without feeling like I needed to be perfect to take up even a miniscule amount of space.

And probably one of the most beautiful things that came from my divorce, was the fact that I was able to seduce, court, and ultimately, fall head over heels for me, and I know, I know that that sounds cliché, but when I tell you, that taking trips, driving in the car, and even going to events by myself became the most delightful experience of my life, I mean it. Honestly, I had forgotten how utterly enjoyable my company was! And I learned to relish being in the quiet peace of my own presence so much, that I make it a point to take time to be alone even now.

But I wasn’t always alone, and this was another little miracle in my life that came post-divorce, because, where I had felt isolated, cutoff and alone for so long, when the toxic dynamics had been put to rest, I was able to delight in my time with my friends. It felt like I had been walking in solitude down a dark alleyway for 12 years, and then, when the flood gates opened, I found myself surrounded by the most incredible womxn I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.

My friends are my sisters, and they are my heart of hearts. They were my safe space, and my companions from the second I reached out to them and lay my heart bear for them to witness. None of them judged me, and each of them drew a beautiful part of my true self forth from the depths of my soul. — If you have gone through a divorce, trust me, you need a sisterhood to embrace you.

Some people are scared to ‘get back out there’ and date again after being with their former spouse for many years and hearing dating horror stories. What would you say to motivate someone to get back out there and start a new beginning?

The first thing I want to say, is that I get it, and it doesn’t have to be hard or scary.

So, full disclosure, after the divorce, I had gotten so comfortable being on my own, that I really felt like being alone forever (in a very non-dramatic kind of way) didn’t seem like such a bad idea. After all, I had only just started enjoying my “singleness”, and I had gotten married so young that I really just wanted to have some fun and enjoy my newfound freedom in full for a while.

Of course, it didn’t help that I’d been out of the dating game since high school (so, really, I had never been in the dating game at all) and that so many of my single friends had gone on bad date after bad date without any real, long-lasting, and healthy connections that the whole prospect didn’t seem worthwhile at all.

Add to that the annoying chatter around how I really shouldn’t date until I had healed completely from the aftereffects of having been in a toxic relationship, and the harsh realities of how “intimidating” alpha womxn are, and how they have to make themselves “sweeter, more lady-like, and less “masculine”” to “attract” a partner, and well, I wasn’t only reticent, but thoroughly annoyed.

Seriously, who had told these people that being perfect was the only way to get into a healthy, long lasting and equal relationship? Or that being feminine was tantamount to being submissive? And why?

Yeah, I was having none of that.

I even remember my ex-therapist making a comment about how awful dating was going to be for me, and how it was going to take at least one month per every year of marriage to get closer to even trying to date anyone. — Side note: There’s a reason she’s not my therapist anymore, and if you ever get “advice” like that from anyone after your own divorce, check with your inner compass first. That person’s judgements of your life are not your responsibility, and they sure as hell do not define you or act as a curse on your life.

At any rate, the funny thing was that I’d spent so many years understanding feminine energetics, fine-tuning my radical self-authority, and becoming present with my values, needs and boundaries, that none of these things felt heavy enough for me to mind them too much. I mean, they gave me pause, don’t get me wrong, but I knew that if I listened to my intuition, I’d know when the time was right despite any fears I may have been facing, and I knew I could be myself without the need to play games, or soften my supposed “masculine” energy (people rarely know the actual aspects of each).

So, I did just that, and without ever even downloading a single dating app, or spending decades in therapy, I magnetized an aligned partner I consider my equal, and with whom I can share in safe space without any of the old patterns disturbing our devotion to our individual and unit-based growth.

And I’m telling you, if it can happen for me, it can happen for you too. It wasn’t luck, it was my inner sovereignty that helped me along the way, and there are ways for you to tune into that innate part of yourself.

What is the one thing people going through a divorce should be open to changing?

The old beliefs that they are somehow to blame.

I say this all the time, and in fact make this a key element of my course on aligned partnership, but it’s important to remember that you are not to blame.

And when you’ve gone through a divorce, it doesn’t always feel like that. In fact, it often feels like there is more evidence to the contrary, which is how and why so many wind up getting stuck in a state of limbo for far too long after.

Ok, here is the main question of our discussion. If you had a close friend come to you for advice after a divorce, what are 5 things you would advise in order to survive and thrive after the divorce? Can you please give a story or example for each?

  1. I really hate to repeat myself, but my first point is always going to be “you are not to blame”. — I say this especially because I work with high achieving (read: powerful) womxn who are used to always giving it their all. That is, after all how they are able to thrive in other areas of their lives, like their businesses or even raising their children. That kind of dedication takes a high quality of commitment, resiliency, and love. And so, there’s a heightened level of shame, guilt, blame and self-doubt that can take over at a time like this for these womxn. Imagine giving it all you have, and still coming up short. It doesn’t feel good, and a lot of times, people will internalize this and blame themselves for all of it. So, it’s incredibly important to acknowledge that none of it was your fault, and releasing that burden is the first step to creating a life of deep fulfilment.
  2. Know that fear is your biggest teacher right now, and that none of the words it whispers in your ears are real. — I say this because I know plenty of people who get stuck in a place of complacency and tension after divorce. These are people who have been alone for years after, and who are pushing aside their healing, their growth, and their power for fear to get caught up in yet another toxic dynamic. And it’s perfectly normal. After all, who would want to go through that heartache all over again? But the thing is, that fear isn’t meant to immobilize and deplete you. Fear is meant to invite you to delve deeper into your heart so you can decipher what works for you, what doesn’t and why. Frank Herbert did a phenomenal job of exemplifying this in his Dune series. In the books, there is a litany against fear that is recited often, and which I have found to be a great reminder of my own capacity to move through the fear in my own life. The litany goes like this, ““I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” *The key phrase there is “Only I will remain.” Because it’s true. If you sit there, and listen to all your fears, you will never take action. You’ll sit there and wonder about what could have been and watch your life waste away from the comfort of your own stagnation. However, if you face your fear, if you allow yourself to move through it regardless of what it tries to make you believe, you will come out victorious, empowered, and intact. So dare to move through it, I promise it’ll be worth it.
  3. No one gets to tell you how you “should” — This takes me back to what I was sharing about my ex-therapist earlier, and really, it applies to all aspects of your life and with all the people in your life. Everyone is going to have an opinion, and everyone is going to tell you what they think you should or shouldn’t do, but ultimately, the only one who gets to determine what will and won’t work for you is you. You get to take as long as you need to to grieve, and wallow, and rage, and do anything that will help you heal in earnest. You get to decide when you’re ready to date again and under what conditions. You certainly don’t have to join a dating app if you don’t want to, and you can take less than one month per every year you were married or longer than that to start dating again. It is YOUR call. You get to decide whom you allow into your space and why, and you get to choose how you will maneuver these waters.
  4. You one hundred thousand percent do not need to be perfectly healed to get into a healthy relationship. — And yeah, I know that I’ve been in the yoga slash “light and love” community for a while, but I promise, I have heard the following word used by psychologists, neuroscientists, and self-help people alike. And that word is, “Attracting”… “Attracting” someone doesn’t mean that if you’re not perfect from head to toe, you will continue “attracting” the same person in different suits, and with different names time and again. It simply doesn’t. Yet for some reason, this seems to be the lesson we are teaching people nowadays, and it really ruffles my feathers because it’s akin to emotionally bypassing someone’s reality. It’s as bad as saying, “everything happens for a reason”. Sure it sounds nice on the surface, and it makes the people saying it feel like they are sharing some incredibly wise advice, but in truth, it is causing an incredible amount of damage to a person’s subconscious mind, and in many cases, it’s telling them that they are too broken to ever be deserving of real love. So, please, don’t for a moment believe that if you need to be picture perfect in order to magnetize (I refuse to use attract in this context) a healthy, thriving, long lasting and equal relationship you can take deep pleasure in
  5. Stop trying to be more “feminine”. — I laugh so hard every time I say this because I am, after all, a feminine embodiment mentor. So how and/or why am I telling you not to try to be more “feminine”? Well, it’s because the truth is we have misunderstood the true characteristics of the feminine and masculine energies in our lives, and we’ve become convicted that the only way for a womxn to be appealing, is for her to let the other person feel more powerful, more “in charge”, more “masculine” (and I mean that even for same-sex couples, I’m actually referring to energy here, not sex), and this couldn’t be further from the truth! Yet I can’t tell you how many coaches out there are still teaching that a womxn has to wait to send a text, or that she has to play down her incredible accomplishments on the first dates, or that she can’t led from her “boss-babe” energy because she’ll just come across as “too much” and she needs to tone it down. It sounds archaic (because it IS) but I have clients in their early thirties who are still being told this! And it drives me nuts! Feminine energy is powerful, it is a veritable force to be reckoned with, and a compatible, aligned masculine energy will respond to that potency without being intimidated in the least. *You wanna be a power couple with someone who is your true equal? Then expand your power and your “muchness”, don’t play it down, that is faux-feminine bull, and the time for that is at an end. Now is the time of the Goddess.

The stress of a divorce can take a toll on both one’s mental and emotional health. In your opinion or experience, what are a few things people going through a divorce can do to alleviate this pain and anguish?

Embodiment practices are the best thing you can do for yourself at a time like this. And it doesn’t have to take up too much of your time. In my personal practice, I teach womxn to use feminine embodiment tools that range from breathing techniques to dance, to what I’ve called :differential movement” to help them integrate all the knowledge they are acquiring during their healing journeys, and I haven’t found or used more potent medicine.

Do you have any favorite books, podcasts, or resources related to this topic that you would recommend to our readers?

I love Brene Brown, and although her work isn’t centric around this, her incredible presence with vulnerability and heart-centric connection has been paramount in my own journey.

I also love the book “When Pain is the Doorway” by Pema Chodron, and “This is Me Letting You Go” by Heidi Priebe

Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

Healing the wounds of the sacred feminine and creating sisterhoods that can bring us all to a place of deep devotion, expansive healing, and Goddess reclamation in our own uniquely wild hearts. That is my passion of passions.

We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

Rosario Dawson is my absolute favorite actorvist, and I had the pleasure of meeting her briefly once, but I would love to chat with her about her work with Eve Ensler.

Thank you for these great insights and for the time you spent with this interview. We wish you only continued success!

Sapha Arias Of Your Soulful Goddess On 5 Things You Need To Know To Survive And Thrive After A… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Caytie Langford Of Bold Women Society On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public…

Caytie Langford Of Bold Women Society On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Practice, practice, practice, and practice some more. A mentor of mine, who has shared the stage with some of the biggest speakers on the planet, told me that the speakers who look like they are speaking off the cuff are the most prepared and practiced. The same mentor also told me that I should be spending on average one hour of practice for every minute of a speech. As soon as I started practicing, public speaking became easier.

At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Caytie Langford.

Caytie Langford is the Founder of Bold Women Society™, a personal and professional development company focused on helping women bust through the status quo. Bold Women Society’s vision is a world where every woman unapologetically pursues her dreams because she has the confidence to be bold, the courage to be authentic, and the power that comes from being supported. As a former nonprofit executive, she built a life and career she enjoyed, but she always knew there was much more. In 2015, Caytie walked away from it all to create a business that would inspire, motivate, and impact the lives of women. In her role, Caytie serves as a public speaker and executive coach. The more she started coaching, the more she realized there were many women who need and want to connect with other rebellious, rule-breaking women who have their own plans for their life. She is obsessed with teaching women how to build and maintain their confidence because they have big, BOLD things to do in their life. She believes that when women get really clear on what they want and engage their confidence muscles, they can achieve any goal they set. Since 2016, Caytie has become a TEDx speaker, coached over 100 executive women, and trained over 1,000 women helping them achieve their personal and professional goals.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

Thank you for having me! I think I grew up like most children of the 80’s. There was a lot of fun, love, peppered in with episodes of Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street, and Three’s Company. My mom had me at a very young age, so my maternal grandparents were heavily involved in my life. My grandmother was one of my best friends until she passed away in 2021. My childhood was pretty idyllic. I grew up in the suburbs of Dallas. In elementary school I walked to school in the morning from the house my mom and I shared, then walked to my grandparents after school. My mom married the man who became my dad when I was 7. As an only child until I was 15, and an only grandchild until I was 8, I was well-loved, some may even say spoiled. I was heavily involved in dance, cheerleading, basketball, and softball. My parents and grandparents were at everything I did. With the exception of 2nd and 3rd grade, when I walked to and from school, I went to private school my entire life. The school I was at from 4th through 8th grade was very diverse. Friends introduced me to the world of Korean culture, authentic Mexican food, and my best friend, Rachel, taught me what it was like to be British. In high school I went to Ursuline Academy, an all-girls school in Dallas. (On a side note, our most high profile, visible alumna is Melinda Gates.) There they reiterated the same messages my mother has always instilled in me; I can be anything I want if I work for it. My parents believed that when I started something I had to finish it. It’s the number one reason why I never played the clarinet. My mom told me I couldn’t quit halfway through, and I got super nervous because I knew deep down, I didn’t want to do it. My parents worked hard. They taught me I had to do the same. We ate dinner as a family. My grandparents took me to Ohio every summer to visit my great grandmother at her farm. I went to sleepovers. Had lots of friends. Normal childhood things. The one thing I always knew growing up was that I was loved.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

I graduated from college on Saturday and went to work on Monday. I quickly climbed the ladder from entry-level fundraiser to chief development officer in just 12 years. I had gotten to the point where I had everything I wanted, and I had it a year ahead of schedule. My career was everything. It was how I defined myself and how I let others define me. And yet, every day, I would cry in my corner office. I was miserable and sad and mad, and I kept thinking, “Is this what it’s supposed to feel like?”. When I turned 35 in March 2015, I kept having the thoughts that it may feel awful, but this is the plan. Stick to the plan.

On May 3, 2015, I resigned. On June 1, 2015, I woke up with no c-suite title, no six-figure salary, no corner office, no identity, and worst of all; I had done this to myself. I had to learn who I was, what was important to me, and most importantly, what impact I wanted to make in the world. It was terrifying figuring this out.

I took six months off to figure out what I wanted to do and how I wanted to impact the world. Figuring it out looked like praying, meditating, journaling, speaking with others who I admired, reading books, getting really, really quiet to listen to my gut and intuition, and answering tough questions about who I am and who I want to be.

I also started looking backward, and that’s when the dots started connecting. I was in my twenties before I realized other people hated public speaking. I’ve been a natural cheerleader for others my entire life. I have always seen things in people they don’t see in themselves. I love sharing that with them and giving them advice on getting what they want. And on top of that, I have always loved standing on a stage speaking. Give me a microphone, and I am in heaven.

Putting all of this together, speaking on stages, and helping women get clarity to become more confident so they go after what they want is my dream job. Half the time, it doesn’t feel like a job. It is what I was born to use my gifts to do.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

My career has been interesting because of the fantastic people I have met along the way. In my late 20’s, I had a role with United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, working with female donors giving gifts of $10,000 and up. The influential women I had access to included Fortune 500 executives, C suite leaders from privately held companies, entrepreneurs, and wealthy philanthropists. I will never forget when I had lunch at The Tower Club in downtown Dallas with a C-suite executive at an international bank. People were coming up to her left and right, saying hello. But she was focused on me. She told me how impressed she was with me, asked how she could help me in my career, and let me know there were big things ahead. Situations like this happened weekly for over four years. Can you imagine being in your late 20’s and early 30’s with the women who were the literal ceiling breakers telling you that your future’s so bright! It was amazing. During those 100+ conversations, the seeds were planted that what was coming for my future would be beyond my wildest dreams. When I decided to walk away from my nonprofit career, all of these seeds, which had started to sprout, served as a reminder that greatness was ahead of me.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I laugh all the time about being in the IT department. I am not tech-savvy at all. At all. I know how to use technology, but I still get confused about what a MB is. When I decided I would go out on my own, I knew I had to get a laptop. All I knew was that Macs were cool, and everyone at Starbucks seemed to have one. I also heard they didn’t get viruses like a PC. So, I went to Best Buy in search of a new computer. I’m a big fan of staying in my zone of genius and letting others do the same. I’m not sure what Brian sold me, but it still works! And now, when I’m at my local coffee shop, Halcyon, I guess I look cool with my Mac. HA!

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I have been incredibly fortunate to have so many mentors, sponsors, and advocates in my life and career.

The person I am most grateful for is my husband, Shane. I did not come from an entrepreneurial family: my parents, my grandparents, my aunts, and uncles, all employed by someone else. My friends’ parents were all employed. My goal was to get out of college, find a good job, and save my way to retirement. On the other hand, Shane watched his father and grandfather start and run their own businesses. So, when he quit his corporate job at the age of 25 to start a company with his dad, I thought he was nuts! For 20 years, I have watched him build his company. I was not “born” to be an entrepreneur, but 13 years into his business, I started seeing what was possible for myself. I started seeing that I could create and build a company. I could be successful as an entrepreneur.

When I was deciding whether or not to walk away from my nonprofit career, it was Shane who was by my side. One night we were sitting at one of our favorite Tex-Mex restaurants, and I couldn’t quit crying. I was so miserable, but the thought of walking away from everything I built was absolutely terrifying. Somehow, he made me feel better. He believed in me. He believed in us. He knew that I could move on and that not only would I be okay, but I would find the thing that was the right thing. When I decided to launch my own business, he was right there giving me advice, cheering me on, and supporting me.

About a year into my entrepreneur journey, I apologized to him. Having been an executive, I knew what it took to lead and manage nonprofits. There were many times that I would tell him what he should and shouldn’t do. I would say to him how to make things better or more efficient. But it was when I started my own business from the ground up I realized that leading an existing operation is very different from creating something out of nothing.

He is my biggest champion, my greatest supporter, and the person who reminds me that I can build the business of my dreams. “Team Langford” is our motto. Every day, I am grateful that he’s my teammate and partner in this thing we call life!

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

Failure will be part of your journey. Accept it. Embrace it. Shift your mindset to believe that everything is always happening for you, even the failures. Failing is just a way to learn what works and what doesn’t. Some of the most significant pivots I have made in my career have come from my failures. In 2019, I invested $30,000 into a launch strategy and marketing plan for a new service I was offering. I made $0, nada, nothing, not even a penny, from it. I could have quickly taken the $30,000 and flushed it down the toilet. I was heartbroken and mad and sad and defeated. For a few weeks, no, really it was a few months, I let myself wallow. It wasn’t just about the money, although that hurt, it was that this new service was “the” idea, the thing that was going to change my business. Looking back, if it had worked, I wouldn’t have pivoted from going at this alone to creating and launching the Bold Women Society. I would have remained a one-man-band. I would have continued to play small. Because that failed, I pivoted and have created something bigger than that particular service could have ever been.

It’s all mindset, and you’ve got to put in the mindset work as much as the actual work in and on the business. Being an entrepreneur is full of ups and downs. You have to manage your thoughts, your emotions, and your actions. It might take longer than you expected. It will 1000% go differently than you planned. So, enjoy the process.

What drives you to get up everyday and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?

I believe that we, as women, have big, BOLD things to do in this world. But I know from my first-hand experience as an executive coach that far too many women out there hold themselves back because they don’t feel confident enough to go after exactly what they want. That is heartbreaking. The truth is we need women to do the big, BOLD things in this world. We need it for our families, communities, countries, and world.

I want to teach everyone, especially women, that confidence is a muscle. We have to build and maintain it over and over and over. It’s just like working out. You don’t build confidence by sitting on the sidelines of life! You have to get in and DO the work! Yet, time and time again, I hear and see people saying, when I have the confidence, I will do X, Y, or Z? But that’s not how it works.

The most amazing thing, though, is that you have built your confidence muscles your entire life. You just need to learn how to re-engage them. I teach women (and men) how to put together their Confidence Résumés. This is the evidence, the social proof, that they had accomplished things in their lives, that they had done hard things, things when they were nervous, anxious, even excited. I’ve taught 16 and 17-year-olds how to do this. When you put together your Confidence Résumé, you connect to the truth that you have been building your confidence muscles all along. And the next time you have something in front of you that’s hard or that you are nervous, worried, anxious, or even excited about, you have proof that you can do this too. When people connect to this, the possibilities for the future are endless.

Think about this, what would you possibly do if you were so confident in your abilities that you just went for it? What challenges would you take on? Where would you use your voice? What action would you take? Where have you been sitting on the sidelines of your own life that you need to jump in the game and get going? Can you imagine what kind of IMPACT you would make?

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

My Co-Founder, Amanda Cahill, and I are excited about the future of the Bold Women Society. For us to grow, we have to get in front of as many women as possible. We are in the midst of writing our book, which will give women another way to interact and learn from us. And by the time this article is published, our podcast, Let’s Get BOLD, should be out. Let’s Get BOLD started as a weekly Instagram live show where we spotlight everyday women doing the extraordinary. The women attracted to Bold Women Society want to hear about other women just like them. We preach inspiration over comparisonitis, collaboration over competition. We want to continue that work and expand the platform to inspire, motivate, and impact the lives of more women.

And, of course, my goal is to do much more public speaking. Whether inside companies with their women employee resource groups, at industry-specific women’s events, virtual or in person, we want to be there. Personally, I am thrilled that so many events, conferences, and meetings are going back to being live in person. That’s where I want to be, with ambitious, intelligent, talented women engaged in deep conversations about things that matter. One of the biggest goals on my life list is to speak to an audience of 10,000 people. It will happen. Until then, I will continue to speak to women in groups of 10 to 9,999.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“You just keep going, one foot in front of the other.” My grandmother, Mary Lou Mitchell

Before she passed away, my grandmother was one of my greatest confidantes. After I walked away from my nonprofit career, I had a lot of times when I doubted, when I was scared, when I questioned my decisions. One time I called my Gran, as we all call her in our family, crying. I wasn’t sure what I should do. I had heard the stories over and over of how she and my grandfather used to share one car. She would drive him to work, then go to her office only to return to pick him up. They had two small children and not much family around them to help. I asked her, “how did you do it?”. She responded with the quote above. We talked about all the ways I could keep going, the ways I could simply put one foot in front of the other. The truth is, my natural response when I am scared is to freeze or flee. I either altogether avoid the situation, or I retreat away from it. But as an entrepreneur, no as a woman with big, BOLD things to do in my lifetime, I have to keep going. So, I remember my Gran’s sage words and just put one foot in front of the other. Bold Women Society wouldn’t exist if I didn’t heed her advice.

Ok, thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.

  1. The speech is never about you. It’s always about the audience. What do they need? What answers are they looking for? What information do you have that they want? If you don’t know, ask them! At Bold Women Society we put on masterclasses. We have themes based on what we hear our audience needs, but we always poll them ahead of time to ask specifics that they want to learn. It’s the same for every company I speak at. I ask the planning team what is happening, what is relevant for this specific audience. Once you know this information, then you can prepare.
  2. Practice, practice, practice, and practice some more. A mentor of mine, who has shared the stage with some of the biggest speakers on the planet, told me that the speakers who look like they are speaking off the cuff are the most prepared and practiced. The same mentor also told me that I should be spending on average one hour of practice for every minute of a speech. As soon as I started practicing, public speaking became easier.
  3. Speaking is just as much about your voice and body as it is about the words you use. Get comfortable being evaluated on video. A video will give you feedback in a way that a voice recording or standing in front of the mirror never will. How are you standing? What are you doing with your hands? Do you rock back and forth? Are your knees locked? Are you moving too much in a way that’s distracting? What about your tone? The speed of your voice? Is your body matching your words and your voice? These are all things that have to be considered. I’ve seen way too many bad speakers who don’t project, have no clue how fast they are talking, walking back and forth on stage, wringing their hands. Zero idea what they said because of all of the distractions. My speaking coach showed me the playback of a practice speech I was giving. I held my hands in a way that they looked like wet noodles. I speak about confidence, and yet here I was indicating with my hands that I was meek. We quickly corrected that to a hand position that is powerful. The words, body language, and voice have to match.
  4. Find a way to connect with your audience as quickly as possible. I find the best way to do this is to share a story about myself. It’s not the bio version, it’s the nitty gritty that you don’t get in my bio. I allow myself to be vulnerable. The women I am trying to share my message with connect with that. Think about what you have in common with the audience. What do they need to know about you? What can give you credibility? What can you share with them that will help them know that you understand them? Use that.
  5. Don’t skip the good part! When people share stories of transformation they talk about who they used to be and who they are now. The messy middle is the good part. That’s where the learning takes place. No one wants to hear how things used to be bad, and now they are great. They want to know how it happens. Give it to them!

As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?

The greatest advice I have about this goes back to the first thing I mentioned in the five things you need to do, practice, practice, practice, and practice some more! As one of my mentor’s, Craig Seigel says, “preparation breeds confidence.”

When I was preparing for my TEDx talk, I spent hours and hours practicing. Of course I had given hundreds of speeches before, but this one was different. That stage is the definition of to whom much is given, much is required. This was the opportunity for me to be a part of one of the greatest platforms of our time. For my 17 minute and 27 second talk, I spent over 40 hours just preparing to give the talk, these 40 hours didn’t include the time crafting the talk. I used the method where you hook lines together. You start with your first two lines until those are memorized, then you hook the next two together. You do this over and over and over until you have your entire speech memorized. On top of this I recorded myself on video. Then I watched it back. I looked at the placement of my hands and how often I moved my feet. Then I rewatched it to listen to my pitch, my tone, my speed. I also voice recorded the talk. I would listen to it in the car, while I was grocery shopping, and going for a walk.

The moment I stepped onto that stage, my heart was pumping. I don’t get nervous on a stage, per se, but I do get super excited. Adrenaline is going, and I am on a high. I knew that if I got the first two lines out, then all of the practice I had done would take over. And I was right. Deep breath. First line, next line, on a roll.

You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I want to inspire every woman to go after exactly what she wants in life. Stop concerning yourself with what you “should” do. Concern yourself with what you are meant to do, and what you want to do. I truly believe if we as women could find a way to do this, we would fundamentally change the world for the better. The piece of this I know I can do right now, is helping every single woman I can become the most confident version of herself. All the rest will fall into place. I know this because I’ve already seen it in the women I have worked with.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

Sara Blakely, Founder of Spanx! I’ve been following her career since my early 20’s. Everything Spanx makes is amazing, and I personally wear one of their bras every day. She’s helped women learn that we don’t have to be perfect, but we can always feel great about ourselves. But what I’m most inspired by is that she didn’t take outside investors until the Blackstone deal recently, and she just kept going. In a world where women receive less than 3% of VC funding, it can be an insane challenge to be a female entrepreneur. And yet, she has proven that you don’t always need outside investors. Sometimes it’s about grit, belief in yourself, putting yourself out there over and over and over, and embracing failure for what it is, the opportunity to learn. I had the chance to meet Sara at the Spanx store opening at North Park Center’s grand opening. I only talked to her for about three minutes, but I have been pinching myself ever since. She’s the embodiment for me of what I can accomplish.

I would love to have the chance to talk to her!

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caytielangford/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caytielangford/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boldconfidentauthentic

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boldwomensociety/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bold-women-society/

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Caytie Langford Of Bold Women Society On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Graig Robinson Of Diagnostic Service Center: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader…

Graig Robinson Of Diagnostic Service Center: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Talent expansion. Tough times are made for tough people. Most companies have the talent to navigate these times. Don’t pigeonhole your team because traditionally, they haven’t had a role or responsibilities. The solution is right in front of you and has been aboard for two to five years. Give them a clean slate and a chance. You’d be surprised.

As part of our series about the “Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Graig Robinson.

Graig Robinson, the owner and CEO of Diagnostic Service Center, is an entrepreneur, and a thought provoker, representing the next generation of thought leadership.

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I like to think of myself as a “Freemason.” Let me explain.

I started with the United States Pharmaceutical group when I was 18 years old as an administrator and moved quickly up the ranks into a senior role. I had a lot of success very young, and through each success grew into a well-rounded healthcare administrator, working for companies like WellCare, United Healthcare, and Caremark.

After years of successfully climbing the corporate ladder, I decided to move into doing my own thing. Entrepreneurs are the Freemasons of today. We take business opportunities and literally build enterprise, not just for ourselves but also for others. We do this brick by brick, and we do it with a level of mastery.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

There are so many, but we contracted with a strategic partner who wanted to scale and ramp up across the 48 states.. This was our big fish, and we wanted it to succeed.

With meticulous planning, we thought we had everything covered. We ramped up 7000 customers in 22 business days. I mean, we went full-fledged with data, and we spent a tremendous amount of money on Facebook marketing because of our demographic print mail.

Then the snowstorm hit, not just any snowstorm. We got a snowstorm in the Midwest, and when there’s a horrific storm in the Midwest, in hubs like Illinois, the mail can’t move.

We handled the crisis by running up unlimited overtime. We spent $40,000 reshipping to places that weren’t frozen over, that did not go through the Midwest postal hubs to get to those customers.

I’m happy to say that while we fell short of hitting our big goal, we met our deadline and our margin. I always say this was a “W.”

I say it was funny because we had accounted for everything; we avoided the holiday season and decided to go in October to avoid the heavy holiday mail. We spent so much on that postage and re-postage, but we made it happen, and we came out on top. The “takeaway” is sometimes you have to gamble, and you’ve got to believe in yourself.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I have two people in my life that have been incredible mentors.

My dad is such a driver for me, especially as an African American male. To watch him throughout my life, to watch him make the moves he’s made, becoming the authority in his industry.

To watch my dad build such a beautiful name and brand for himself was huge for me. I remember watching my dad at “take your kids to work” day, watching my dad at executive meetings, taking charge; that was significant.

When I first moved into sales leadership, I met a sales operation manager named Michael Jacoby. He was pivotal in changing my mind from being a production-based producer to a production-based leader with a solid operational foundation to ensure a positive impact, a positive customer journey, and an onboarding experience.

I still lean on both of them regularly. I’m vulnerable with them; I tell them when I’m scared as an entrepreneur when I’ve lost confidence in myself. I lean on those guys.

Extensive research suggests that “purpose-driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. When your company started, what was its vision, what was its purpose?

Our vision was to make sure that we were continually growing and adapting. Our second one was to partner with businesses with the same mantra and help them do the same thing. Adding to this vision is that we’re never going to stop helping from a place of servitude, where all greatness is grown.

We stopped selling, and we started helping. We stopped pitching, started listening, and started searching for solutions to problems. We always want to grow and always help. We believe that as long as we get out and help people, we can’t lose.

Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion. Can you share with our readers a story from your own experience about how you lead your team during uncertain or complex times?

The first thing that comes to mind is the Midwest snowstorm story. Even in those times, we didn’t make excuses; we didn’t get down, we didn’t lose our confidence. We got back to the table, and we found a “W” even in chaos.

I was very proud of our team because many businesses would have caved or made excuses. We made it work.

Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?

I don’t care who you are, we all win and lose from time to time, but when all is said and done, we win more than we lose.

I woke up this morning, and all my limbs were intact. I had ten toes and ten fingers, so I already knew I got a “W.” But when I need someone to talk to, my mentors are a phone call away.

What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?

You’ve got to know who you are as a leader, and you can’t be afraid to surround yourself with people who are everything that you are not.

Strong leaders surround themselves with the best and listen to those around him. I’m a huge fan of FDR, and he was never afraid to surround himself with the best. If you weren’t more intelligent than him, you couldn’t sit at the table. FDR made it his business to understand his strengths and his weaknesses.

When the future seems so uncertain, what is the best way to boost morale? What can a leader do to inspire, motivate and engage their team?

Through turbulent times, I will walk into my office at any time of day and pull everybody off of the floor, out of their offices and have them come to the call center floor and stand in a circle. I will go around that circle and look them dead in their face and ask them, “Who better you?” There is no one better than you.

What is the best way to communicate difficult news to one’s team and customers?

Communicating in these turbulent times takes emotional intelligence, honesty, and empathy. Use your emotional intelligence to empower your people.

How can a leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?

Leaders must be flexible and keep an open mind. When business is upended, we have to look for creative solutions. It’s important to be fearless and allow for experimentation. Finally, utilize your team and give them a chance to help rise to the challenge.

Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?

There are several of them, but if I have to lean on one it’s going to be, “Buckle your knees.” You’ve got to stay in the fight.

When the smoke clears, the ones left standing will become the dominators of their market and industry leaders.

Can you share 3 or 4 of the most common mistakes you have seen other businesses make during difficult times? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?

1. Sticking to previous market data to make decisions; data was compiled before a pandemic. While I’m sure it is valuable, unprecedented times call for equal measures. Use it as a guide but keep an open mind.

2. Letting the suffering taken Acquisition model to be an excuse for poor support and customer journey.

3. Talent expansion. Tough times are made for tough people. Most companies have the talent to navigate these times. Don’t pigeonhole your team because traditionally, they haven’t had a role or responsibilities. The solution is right in front of you and has been aboard for two to five years. Give them a clean slate and a chance. You’d be surprised.

Generating new business, increasing your profits, or at least maintaining your financial stability can be challenging during good times, even more so during turbulent times. Can you share some of the strategies you use to keep forging ahead and not lose growth traction during a challenging economy?

I’m a firm believer in the principle, “buckle your knees and weather this storm.”

Life is about balance, so you have to take the good and the bad. You can’t take just the wins. When the losses come, you’re going to be in for a stormy ride, but it’s a powerful one that the universe will pay dividends. So be mindful to buckle your knees and weather the storm.

Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things a business leader should do to lead effectively during uncertain and turbulent times? Please share a story or an example for each.

1. You’ve got to maintain your mental dexterity.

2. You’ve got to maintain your mental endurance.

3. You’ve got to develop your knowledge of yourself.

4. You have to keep your Mamba mentality.

5. And you have to remember to stay connected to your mentors.

I motivate my employees constantly. I run around my office like a locker room two or three times a day. I get in there, get their spirits up, give them the mental dexterity, and allow them to plug themselves to me and let me be the conduit.

You need to be the calm in the storm; you have to keep your wits, mental dexterity, mental fortitude, emotional intelligence, and your Mamba mentality.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I’m one of those people who is incredibly positive. It drives my wife crazy. I even listen to positive affirmations in my sleep. I wake my children up in the morning, and I put on positive affirmations to listen to why they get ready.

Success starts internally. You must trust the process.

How can our readers further follow your work?

Go to Diagnostic Service Center

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!

Graig Robinson Of Diagnostic Service Center: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Meet The Disruptors: Sarah Perl Of HotHighPriestess On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up Your…

Meet The Disruptors: Sarah Perl Of HotHighPriestess On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview with Fotis Georgiadis

“The only thing that can stop you is yourself” is another piece of advice I took to heart when taking on this journey. It may sound cliche, but truly, I realized it really was only me who stood in the way of my wildest dreams. If I believed in myself, it made the journey so much easier and more feasible. In fact, I realized it is us that gives meaning to obstacles. What may seem like an obstacle is an easy hurtle to another. Therefore, it is only you that can limit the possibilities — anything is possible is what I quickly realized! The last person who should stop you is yourself. You need to be your own biggest cheerleader. This was advice I adopted into my life and advice I now give to others.

As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sarah Perl.

HotHighPriestess, sometimes known as “the girl who gives people hope”, is an intuitive tarot reader, manifestation coach and TikTok content creator. She began her TikTok in November of 2020 and has grown over a million followers ever since. Her goal is to help guide people through tarot and growth mindset. She is now the author of “From Within”, a book of poetic affirmations.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular path?

I have always been someone who has been fascinated by various perspectives and philosophies on life. While I have chosen to remain fairly agnostic for much of my life, I still loved exploring different religions and philosophical ways of living. Specifically, I loved delving into ideologies that helped empower individuals in their self growth and development. Spirituality and tarot became an interest of mine primarily due to its growing presence on social media. I loved that spiritual practices such as tarot and manifestation could be used to guide and inspire people, and it certainly helped me. I was at one of my lowest points in life, mentally, when I found spirituality and it completely shifted my mindset on life. I knew I wanted to give others this sense of hope. After falling in love with spirituality on social media, I decided one day to post a series of three videos on TikTok reading tarot cards. I never expected anything to come out of it, or for anyone to see it. But to my surprise, the videos went viral and my life completely changed as a result of this one decision. In the midst of it all, I realized the importance of mindset on success. Growing up as an immigrant with a family that struggled heavily financially, it was easy to fall into a state of hopelessness that I’d never make it out: that my destiny was predetermined. Spirituality made me realize however, that it was actually this fixed mindset, that was the only thing that was truly holding me back from success. As soon as I began having a growth mindset and manifesting the future that I have always dreamt of was when I saw my dreams come true before my eyes.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

I think that our society has shifted into becoming more accepting and encouraging of the fixed mindset, that success is a formula, that only certain people are worthy of success, or that there is a single definition of success. I feel as though I’m disrupting this narrative in society by making more people realize they can adopt the mindset that will give them the ability to be successful, and that in many ways, they already are successful.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I think the funniest mistake I made was assuming no one I knew had seen my TikToks. I’d often casually talk about the guys I was seeing on TikTok because I view my community as my friends. What did I have to lose afterall, we’re talking about love in the tarot reading regardless. I quickly realized that everyone I knew actively saw the TikToks I posted — even the guys I was seeing. They’d bring it up, and I had to just accept it. Lesson learned: keep your mouth shut online about people you know in real life, even your crush.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who has been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

The entirety of the spiritual community online has been a huge inspiration and help for me along the way. Within the spiritual community we each inspire each other when making content, growing our businesses, and are there for each other as a support system. It is one of the most collaborative communities online and we each want to see each other grow and thrive. Someone who has helped and mentored me since the very beginning has been @KendallTheMedium. I am forever grateful for all the help she has given me and for the friendship that we’ve been able to create. Kendall was one of the first creators to become my friend when we were both just starting out online. A funny, yet wholesome story about Kendall and I was that she actually messaged me on TikTok first, even though she was a larger creator than me. I was fangirling because she was so inspirational and I couldn’t believe she wanted to connect with me. She wanted to collaborate and help me out even though I had less followers than her. On social media, there is often a hierarchy of power based on follower counts, but Kendall cared about so much more than that. To this day, this kind gesture has stuck with me, and as I continued to grow on TikTok I was inspired by her to do the same.

In today’s world, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

Disrupting an industry or the status quo comes with many consequences, both good and bad. Within the spiritual industry, I feel as though I have helped disrupt the narrative of who or what a spiritualist looks like. Oftentimes, people associate tarot readers, witches, or spiritualists with being people who dress witchy or are hippies. Moreso, people often have negative associations with the spiritual world, and specifically tarot readers. I feel like I’m redefining that narrative. I’m making spirituality very digestible for people. I look like the girl next door, so people are able to realize spirituality or even something like witchcraft isn’t just for those with a crystal ball and a black cat. Anyone can practice these things and use it to help them in life. In fact, TikTok has made spirituality and tarot a very trendy practice now. With the help of young people showing their interests in these things and making it relatable, people have learned to love and benefit from what it is we do. Disrupting the industry, in my case, was making spirituality more acceptable through the use of social media and my image. But it comes with a cost. Many people who may not look like me can become silenced and not receive the same recognition. Additionally, now that spirituality has become a trend, it comes at the cost of people overlooking much of the culture tied to the practices, and being aware of these sorts of things. It has its pros and cons, but this is very much a developing thing, and I’m hoping for a positive and knowledgeable future in spirituality.

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

“All engagement is good engagement” is the first that comes to mind. While the vast majority of feedback I receive online as a content creator is positive, there are obviously times where the algorithm will send my videos to the wrong crowd and it can feel like a nightmare. The anxiety of people sending hate is hard to describe. But it is something I’ve learned to deal with and in a way, learned to view it positively. Some of my creator friends have told me that all engagement is good engagement. In essence, the goal of being an online creator is to reach an audience, and even when the wrong audience is reached, it is an audience nonetheless. The hateful comments may push my content to a person who enjoys the video, who needs to hear it, and that’s the goal. So regardless of the hate, it is engagement and engagement is good.

“The only thing that can stop you is yourself” is another piece of advice I took to heart when taking on this journey. It may sound cliche, but truly, I realized it really was only me who stood in the way of my wildest dreams. If I believed in myself, it made the journey so much easier and more feasible. In fact, I realized it is us that gives meaning to obstacles. What may seem like an obstacle is an easy hurtle to another. Therefore, it is only you that can limit the possibilities — anything is possible is what I quickly realized! The last person who should stop you is yourself. You need to be your own biggest cheerleader. This was advice I adopted into my life and advice I now give to others.

“What if it all works out?” was a question I was told by some in the spiritual community. It’s a complete perspective shift. What if it does all work out? We spend most of our time thinking about the negatives and everything that could go wrong, but if we spent more time thinking about what could go right, we’d open the door to some incredible possibilities.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

I hope to eventually reach an audience outside of the spiritual niche and to explore the self-help and self-development niche. I am very fascinated by the study of psychology and would love to incorporate it into what I do and how I help people. I hope to eventually become a motivational speaker, write another book, expand more on other social media platforms, and continue helping those who need guidance.

Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?

The Power of Now was a book that really inspired me. The author, Ekhart Tolle, teaches to live in the moment, and that the now is all there is and all there ever was or will be. It inspired me to adopt this mentality and I began encouraging my viewers to as well. I think that coming from humble beginnings has instilled some harmful ways of thinking in me, especially on the subject of money. I realized that as I became more successful, I became more fearful because I had a feeling that I would lose it all. Looking back now, I understand that this mindset came from a place of trauma and my upbringing. In fact, by hyper fixating on this hypothetical reality, I made myself more likely to let it into my life. After reading the power of now, I realized the importance of thinking about the only moment to exist: the now, and to stop hyper fixating on the future and to enjoy the success I have had thus far. Oftentimes, we find ourselves living for the future in the hopes that we will enjoy a now that has yet to exist, but we must also enjoy the now that is guaranteed to us. I think this mindset helped propel my happiness and also my entrepreneurial spirit.

If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I have a huge huge passion for creating education equality. Reforming the education system has always been my main passion and career aspiration. While what I do at the moment may seem irrelevant to this, I feel as though the two are inherently interconnected. It was actually learning about the theory of growth mindset in students that helped introduce me to the idea of manifestation in spirituality, they’re largely connected. Studies show students are far more likely to succeed in a classroom if they have a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset, similar to how believing in the possibility of your dreams coming true while manifesting helps attract that energy to you. Having attended underprivileged schools growing up, I realized that what was largely lacking in these schools was instilling this value, the growth mindset, in students. So often, being in an environment like this can cause a student to believe that they can not achieve their dreams. While they may be at a disadvantage, I believe shifting student mindsets is the first step to helping alleviate the inequity in the education system. Down the line, I hope to use my platform to spread awareness for education inequality and create resources for underprivileged students in every capacity. Education reform, no matter where my career takes me, will always be a movement I will stand by and support.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

One of my favorite quotes has always been “I don’t think there is any truth. There are only points of view” by Allen Ginsberg. Time and time again in my life I realize we each experience the world so differently. From a neurological, psychological and even spiritual perspective, this makes sense. Our environment and experiences shape the way we live and perceive our lives. Even something that may seem so non-negotiable can vary from person to person (as we saw in pop culture with the dress color dilemma). If something like color can vary so much from person to person, then can you imagine how much our perceptions of life vary? There really is no truth, only our individual perspectives on every situation. This quote teaches us to be more empathetic and understanding of everyone we come across in life.

Where can our audience keep up with you?

My TikTok, Instagram and YouTube is just @HotHighPriestess. My Twitter is @HHPriestess. You can check out my book of poetic affirmations on Amazon called From Within, and I just started a podcast called The Priestess Perspective. Thank you so much for having me!

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Meet The Disruptors: Sarah Perl Of HotHighPriestess On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Meet The Disruptors: Dan Avida Of Engageli On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview with Fotis Georgiadis

Never argue with people’s feelings. I learned that from my boss when I was a newly minted manager. I have found this advice to be very useful. There is no point to try to convince people to change how they feel about something by argument. Many studies have shown that to be case.

As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dan Avida.

Dan Avida, CEO and Co-Founder of Engageli, a comprehensive learning environment purpose-built for higher education. Before founding the company, Dan spent more than three decades as a tech executive, board member, and venture capitalist. Throughout his career, he participated in scaling several companies from a small founding team to over $100 million in revenues and valuations of over $1 billion.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your back story? What led you to this particular career path?

We had a front row seat to the very poor experience most learners had as they found themselves about two years ago being asked to learn using systems intended for business meetings — video conferencing software. This led to lack of engagement and, for the most vulnerable populations, the loss of critically important years of education.

One saying I take to heart is “from who much is given, much is expected.”

As an experienced team with deep roots in innovative product design, we quickly put together a company with the mission of delivering a purpose-built, engaging, accessible, and dynamic online learning platform. Our founding team included Serge Plotkin, CTO of Engageli and an Emeritus Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University Daphne Koller, the co-founder of online learning platform Coursera.

Since we built the company during the pandemic we structured it as a distributed organization, which enabled us to hire the best and brightest from around the world to build Engageli. The platform is designed by educators and built from the ground up for teaching and learning in higher education across all modalities — synchronous, asynchronous, in-person, or hybrid. Engageli offers features to accommodate blended classes, with learners online and in the physical classroom, and provides concurrent access for hundreds of learners.

Engageli’ s unique virtual table seating allows learners in large classes to break into smaller groups, or communities, of 10 where they are able to communicate with their peers and participate with each other in learning, driving even greater engagement in the classes. Using Engageli, the experience is better for all learners in the class, whether they are in-person or remote.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

The pandemic has dramatically accelerated key trends that started years ago. Even as the pandemic restrictions are being lifted, surveys of employees, instructors and learners have been consistently showing a strong preference for a new hybrid future — where people can choose some days to come in person to their work or university, and some days to work and study from home.

Engageli created a disruptive platform with an entirely new category of multimodal learning technology. It is a comprehensive, digital-native solution built from the ground up to focus on improving learner outcomes. Up until now, instructors had to cobble together different applications to create a mediocre solution; with Engageli, everything is built in the platform.

Engageli is purpose-built for adult education which includes higher education, alternative credentials, employee and customer training. We aren’t repurposing a video conferencing tool for learning. Engageli starts with a classroom setting (supporting all class sizes, from a small seminar with a few learners to hundreds in a large lecture hall), with learners seated in smaller groups at virtual tables to promote peer-to-peer learning and community. The tables have between two and 10 learners each; either assigned by the instructor, self-selected, or automatically assigned based on learners’ responses to a quiz or poll question. The instructor can observe tables individually, like walking around a physical classroom, or join a table to interact with or coach learners, but also address the class as one large group (gallery view), similar to a face-to-face classroom setting.

The learners can send chat messages (1:1, to their tablemates, the entire class, or their instructors), talk amongst their tablemates without disrupting the teacher or class, virtually raise their hands while a presenter is speaking, join breakout sessions without leaving the class, and more. Most importantly, learners are always in the same space as their instructors.

Engageli blurs the lines between learning modalities, reaching learners in the modality they are most comfortable with — be it synchronous, asynchronous, blended, or hybrid.

With Engageli, instructors get real-time and anonymous feedback during the class and can monitor the activity levels of learners at each table, seeing whether a learner is active and engaged in conversation. Engageli also has integrated interactive polls and quizzes instructors can use to keep learners engaged. The ability to share feedback anonymously, makes engagement easier even for the shyest learners. Until Engageli became available, these engagement metrics were not available to instructors, though they have now become a key tool that helps them routinely optimize learners’ experience and increase both comprehension and participation.

Further, Engageli’s ability to measure student behavior provides instructors insight into student habits and understanding at a level that is almost impossible to collect in the classroom. Instructors have an unprecedented opportunity to leverage that data to make short- and long-term changes to teaching practices and curriculum content.

Finally, the Engageli platform is designed for accessibility and to protect student privacy with state-of-the-art encryption, unlike any other online platform. By default, learner video and audio are not recorded during the class session unless their hands are raised. Only the instructor is recorded. A class can also be setup so only the voice (not video) of the students that raised hands will be recorded.

With Engageli, the disruption in the EdTech industry — and higher education, particularly — means both learners and instructors have a superior experience, specifically curated and optimized for them.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I have been building companies for a long time (I did my first start-up as a university student almost four decades ago) so the mistakes I make now not are thankfully not rookie mistakes. Personally, I don’t find making mistakes particularly funny, given the responsibility given to me by Engageli’s stakeholders (employees and investors).

One mistake I made early in the company is not thinking big enough. We were initially focused solely on the higher-education market but over time, due to every increasing incoming requests from companies for our platform, we have now expanded the markets we serve.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

My late grandfather taught me that only fools learn from their own experience, so I always tried to learn from others.

I learned a lot from Efraim “Efi” Arazi. Efi was the founder and first CEO of Electronics for Imaging (EFI), his namesake company that he started in 1988 after a 20-year career as the founder, president and CEO of one of the first Israeli high-tech firm, Scitex Corporation. He was a brilliant innovator and entrepreneur.

Efi was seen in the 80s as the Steve Jobs of Israel, so when he started EFI I joined him as one of the first employees. Efi asked me to build a product, named the Fiery, which ended up dramatically changed color printing. We launched Fiery, in 1991, and it was an immediate success. In 1994, we were named one of the nation’s fastest-growing public companies by Fortune.

Efi promoted me to president and CEO at age 32, and we took the company from a market cap in the low $100 million to a $3.5 billion valuation by the time I left the company at the end of 1990s. The Fiery product line is the world’s leading digital color workflow technology, with approximately 20 million users worldwide.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

We aren’t out to unsettle the learning environments of the fortunate, those who have the opportunity to study with the top professors at top universities in small, personalized classrooms. We can make it better with digital tools but disrupting that wouldn’t be ideal. But few people have that experience.

We do not wish to change the experience for those who are in their perfect learning situation, but we want to improve teaching and learning for everyone by offering a collaborative and engaging environment. Engageli improves and democratizes education in a positive way, without taking anything away.

Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

  1. Never argue with people’s feelings. I learned that from my boss when I was a newly minted manager. I have found this advice to be very useful. There is no point to try to convince people to change how they feel about something by argument. Many studies have shown that to be case.
  2. Another executive early in my career explained to me that it’s not what you did with the last million, it’s what you are going to do with the next dollar you invest. It has always freed me to manage investments looking forward instead of in the rear-view mirror. Every new dollar invested is influenced by what comes next, rather than what happened last. This is harder to do than it seems.
  3. One of the things I personally learned from a conversation with Steve Jobs is to be focused on the long-term goals, sometime at the expense of short-term gratification. It means there’s no need to act impatiently. ROI can be calculated over years, versus weeks and months.
  4. Efi used to say that it important to treat all employees equally, no matter where they are in the organization and to provide people with challenges and opportunities so they could shine.
  5. I have always greatly enjoyed spending time with my colleagues no matter what their specific role is. Hewlett Packard used to call this “management by walking around.”
  6. Another thing I learned from Efi is not to go into negotiations with a backup position in mind. Efi felt that if we had one prepared, we would get to it prematurely.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

We are only at the beginning of the Engageli journey. Recently we held our first user conference using the Engageli platform. It dawned on us that we inadvertently built the world’s best virtual event platform! There are many use cases for our platform that go far beyond where we started.

Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?

Adam Gran’s Think Again! is one of the best books I’ve read recently. He makes the point that instead of favoring the comfort of our conviction and being blind to our own limitations, we must be flexible and open, to argue like we are right, but listen like we are wrong. The book is an invitation to let go of what’s no longer serving us and value flexibility over consistency and to realize what we don’t know — and see the wisdom in it to be open-minded.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I recently saw a movie about Nirmal Purja and his team who set out to climb all 14 peaks over 8,000 meters in less than 7 months, when the previous record was doing so in seven years!

There is a scene in the movie where he and his team show up at the base camp of K2 to find a dejected group of climbers that have tried several times unsuccessfully to ascent to the K2 peak and were all about to give up. He told them, “I have been going from mountain to mountain, and sometimes you feel like you are f****d, but when you say you are actually f****d, you are only about 45% f****d.”

He and his team not only ascended to the peak of K2 shortly thereafter, by coming up with a non-intuitive approach, but also laid the groundwork for the other climbers to ascend to the K2 peak within a few days.

The point here is clear — don’t give up, just find another approach. There usually is one available.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

Many of the word’s problems are directly caused by lack of access to quality education. Providing access to high quality education for everyone in the world is of critical importance.

How can our readers follow you online?

https://www.engageli.com/

https://twitter.com/engageli

https://www.linkedin.com/company/engageli/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-avida/

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Meet The Disruptors: Dan Avida Of Engageli On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up Your Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Making Something From Nothing: Aytekin Tank Of Jotform On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Start slow. No one told me to start my company slowly. In fact, the popular opinion in tech is to go fast. I decided against this path and to take the slow route, which allowed me to play the long game and be successful over time without giving up control of my company.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Aytekin Tank.

Aytekin Tank is the Founder and CEO of Jotform, a popular online forms solution. He enjoys writing about his entrepreneurial journey and sharing advice with startups.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I was born in Turkey, and my family frequently moved during my childhood. Looking back, adjusting to the constant relocation and establishing new roots helped me develop the ability to adapt quickly and appreciate different cultures. Those lessons also helped me stay resilient throughout my career and successfully grow and operate a company across multiple countries.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Writer Elizabeth Gilbert has said, “I have a rigid self-accountability.” To me, self-accountability is understanding time is limited, and if you want to make time for things you’re passionate about, you have to prioritize them. It’s about making good choices, which I believe is critical in my professional and personal life.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

Similar to Gilbert’s quote I mentioned, entrepreneur and philosopher Naval Ravikant warned how a busy calendar would destroy your ability to do anything great. His ability to prioritize growth resonates with me since he has had to learn to say “no” and focus on things that matter and provide meaning.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

My first step is to evaluate ideas honestly and see if they solve an existing problem. A lot of mythology exists in the business world about entrepreneurs following their dreams and chasing their passion. Sometimes, what the entrepreneur is passionate about translates into an innovation that brings success. But most of the time, successful entrepreneurs find a market for their innovation because it solves a problem for their customers.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

A simple search online can help determine if the basic version of an idea or product exists. But research shouldn’t stop there. If you find a similar product or idea that already exists, see if your idea can solve a problem for a specific industry or consumer.

Also, check if the existing product creates another problem or flaw your idea can improve upon. When conducting this research, you want to constantly ask how your idea or product can be differentiated from similar products.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

Each process of bringing an idea to life is different. But I can speak to my online forms software company, Jotform.

The idea was sparked from the day job I had when I saw a huge opportunity to create a product that would ease the burden of coding online forms. I started the company because I was sick and tired of having to code forms and knew there had to be an easier way forward.

When I started Jotform, I thought it would be good to make the product completely free so there was a low barrier of entry for people to use it, and so it would create brand loyalty.

I opted to grow my business slowly, so I didn’t need to accept any venture capital or even bring in a co-founder. Of course, bootstrapping isn’t for everyone, but it worked well for Jotform.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

  1. Start slow. No one told me to start my company slowly. In fact, the popular opinion in tech is to go fast. I decided against this path and to take the slow route, which allowed me to play the long game and be successful over time without giving up control of my company.
  2. If you can swing it, grow organically. Choosing to grow through bootstrapping rather than taking on capital from investors is a great way to develop a loyal customer base and build out the product without outside pressure.
  3. Focusing on profitability is the only way to ensure success. In a bootstrap situation, it’s a lot more valuable than “vanity” metrics. You can and should monitor an array of key performance indicators, but profitability is the most important by far.
  4. You can create a great company as a solo founder. Many successful startups have multiple founders but resisting the pressure to launch with a co-founder or multiple co-founders streamlines decision-making when time is of the essence. You know what’s best for your company and growth.
  5. Bootstrapping forces you to focus on customers, and that’s a good thing. Companies who receive VC funds answer to customers too, or they ultimately won’t succeed. But the leadership team’s time and attention are fragmented by the need to justify decisions to investors or shareholders who play an oversight role. In a bootstrap scenario, customers get 100% of your attention.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

My recommendation would be to define a list of people and resources needed to bring the project to life. First, take stock of the skills and resources you already have, then identify gaps and plan to acquire what will be needed to develop and market the product.

It’s also important to keep in mind how fast you’ll need to move. By setting expectations and timelines early, you’ll avoid overwhelming your team when you’ll need their input and commitment to move forward.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

Hiring an invention development consultant can be a great asset in terms of feedback and research. A second opinion is always good to have, especially from a consultant who has the expertise and background necessary to advance your idea. They can also provide the guidance and research needed to push your idea across the finish line.

However, it’s essential to stay true to your idea as well. You know your vision better than anyone else.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

I’m a strong proponent of bootstrapping over venture capital. Bootstrapping a company is not only possible — I believe it’s a more sustainable and streamlined way to build and scale a business. To be clear, bootstrapping isn’t always easy. It requires patience and focus, but the freedom to create a meaningful product on your own terms is worth more than even the biggest VC check.

Plus, as I mentioned earlier, bootstrapping allows the entrepreneur to focus on customers rather than answering to shareholders and investors. It also gives the entrepreneur autonomous control over their company’s decisions and, ultimately, its maturation. By enabling the entrepreneur to develop products and grow the team at their own pace rather than adhere to an artificial schedule, they can ensure their vision is executed accurately and efficiently.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

One achievement I take pride in is the great company culture we’ve built at Jotform. I believe in hiring driven and creative individuals because we’re an ambitious company, and I’m sure some of the decisions we made early on contributed to our growth and success. The Jotform team didn’t develop overnight, so we could curate a collaborative culture and create a workplace where people have the tools and resources they need to do great things — and the time and space they need to recharge.

I am also proud of how we’ve helped countless nonprofits advance their causes by offering them a 50% discount on Jotform tools. Philanthropy work is an asset to any company and including it in your business models sets intentions for your growth and value to your work.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

From a business perspective, I’d like to inspire a movement to “check egos at the door” so everyone can focus on solutions instead of unraveling over mistakes. This would be an enormous benefit to billions of people.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Adam Grant is a brilliant management thinker, and it would be incredible to meet him one day and discuss some big-picture ideas about work and life.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Making Something From Nothing: Aytekin Tank Of Jotform On How To Go From Idea To Launch was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Wendy Morrison: Five Things You Need To Build A Trusted And Beloved Brand

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Be authentic — everything we do is authentically Wendy Morrison Design. Years ago we dabbled with the idea of being more commercial but it never felt right. We stuck with our core authenticity and if you have a truly beautiful product that people can’t ignore, sooner or later you’ll get the breaks to grow your brand and business.

As part of our series about how to create a trusted, believable, and beloved brand, I had the pleasure to Interview Wendy Morrison.

Wendy Morrison is a Textile designer based in Edinburgh, Scotland, with an outward-looking approach and curious nature. Wendy takes inspiration from an eclectic range of sources, including Oriental symbolism, chinoiserie, art history and colour, as well as nature and its connections to life and the world around us. Over the past 6 years, Wendy has expanded her range of designs, techniques and products, including the release of fabrics, wallpapers and a selection of soft furnishings. Wendy Morrison Design has partnered with the likes of Anthropologie, John Lewis and has recently collaborated with major French retailer, Monoprix which saw Wendy’s designs come to life across fashion, homewares, stationery and more.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

After gaining a fashion degree from The Scottish College of Textiles, I started my career designing a wide variety of clothing, including mens and womenswear, sports and leisurewear, for a range of well-known brands. The experience gave me invaluable insight into the world of design, as well as the business side of the fashion industry. After learning all I could, I then embarked on my solo career, using my experience and creativity to build a reputation as a successful freelance fashion designer. I worked in a freelance capacity in the fashion industry for a number of years before a new commission introduced me to the world of rug design. Accepting that commission took my career in a completely unexpected direction — rug design offered a creative platform that perfectly suited my love of colour, detail, history and storytelling. A debut collection was very well received and, in 2004, we launched Wendy Morrison Design with a focus on designing and producing bespoke rugs for interior designers, architects and high-end consumers.

Can you share a story about the funniest marketing mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

The only marketing mistakes I could think of were painful and not worth repeating! Instead I’d like to share the story of accidental marketing success, which is funny in the sense that marketing is meant to be strategic and planned! Way back in 2017, I happened to suggest we invest in an Apple iPhone for photography. We naturally started taking impromptu shots around our home featuring our rugs and some of our favorite curated furniture pieces. We thought, why not post them on that new social app called Instagram? Little did we realize we’d just created the spark that would help our brand find its feet. Lesson — some of the best marketing actions can be spontaneous, authentic and just ‘meant to be’.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

We aim to create beautiful handcrafted rugs that can be passed on from one generation to the next, working with integrity, care and kindness, and continuing to support the age-old traditions of rug storytelling and weaving. Although designed to be used, our rugs are not regular, everyday items; they are not designed to tick a box or fit a particular look. Each design is unique and individual, with its own journey to completion and its own story to tell. The craft of rug making has always been about stories, the colour and detail of life woven through cloth, giving feeling, emotion and longevity to beliefs and ideas. Art, beauty, history, tradition, craftsmanship and longevity are part of every rug we create. I follow my heart with the stories I am inspired to tell, which results in a personal connection to each design. Every design, and the story it tells, matter to me, which puts honesty and emotion at the heart of each one.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

An exciting new project I am currently working on is the One Hundred Birds 100 Flowers hand knotted rug. One Hundred Birds 100 Flowers hand-knotted design was inspired by a pair of hanging scrolls from the Edo period by Suzuki Kitsu (1796–1858) called 100 Birds and 100 Hundred Animals. As the title suggests it is composed of many Animals and Birds — some imaginary, some native, others from foreign lands all coexisting within these scrolls, set against a densely coloured blue-green landscape amid blossoming flowers and plants from all four seasons. The animal scroll seems to be a prayer for good fortune and peace, creating a Buddhist paradise, or land of the immortals, another reflection of how many following the pandemic are sharing more of themselves within their homes and its interiors.

Ok let’s now jump to the core part of our interview. In a nutshell, how would you define the difference between brand marketing (branding) and product marketing (advertising)? Can you explain?

Brand marketing is your means to tell the world about your brand, its missions, its values, etc. In my experience, we have achieved our brand growth predominantly through social media and through collaborations with aligned brands. Product marketing is the promotion of your actual products. Now for a brand like ours, unsurprisingly our products align very well with our brand values so there isn’t a huge difference in our marketing techniques.

Can you explain to our readers why it is important to invest resources and energy into building a brand, in addition to the general marketing and advertising efforts?

General marketing and advertising is a means to an end. Marketing and advertising efforts drive people to learn about your brand. If you don’t have the brand that you, your team and your customers believe in (aims, values, etc) then why would customers that you have worked so hard to bring into your community, want to stay?

Can you share 5 strategies that a company should be doing to build a trusted and believable brand? Please tell us a story or example for each.

  1. Live your brand values — we ran an internal workshop including all staff to define our values which were documented in our brand book. It’s imperative that we live and breathe our values in all aspects of the business as this is what everyone else will see as the ‘brand’.
  2. Be authentic — everything we do is authentically Wendy Morrison Design. Years ago we dabbled with the idea of being more commercial but it never felt right. We stuck with our core authenticity and if you have a truly beautiful product that people can’t ignore, sooner or later you’ll get the breaks to grow your brand and business..
  3. Be customer centric — your customers are your lifeblood. We aim to have 100% customer satisfaction within the bounds of our brand values. If you put the customer first you can’t go wrong. Listen and learn from your customers at every opportunity.
  4. Be a business for good — We’re currently working on becoming BCorp certified. The process of certification is a fantastic way of guiding your brand to make decisions and set strategies that have a positive impact on all those that interact with the business. For all at Wendy Morrison Design, this is a huge driver for motivation.
  5. Build a community — a fantastic way to interact with your customers. We’re always building a community of like-minded souls through our social media channels. It’s the perfect way to share our authentic content and engage with our community.

In your opinion, what is an example of a company that has done a fantastic job building a believable and beloved brand. What specifically impresses you? What can one do to replicate that?

House of Hackney. As an outsider looking in, I think they’ve pretty much nailed the 5 strategies above!

In advertising, one generally measures success by the number of sales. How does one measure the success of a brand building campaign? Is it similar, is it different?

Brand building is notoriously difficult to measure for success. In my experience I would say the clearest indications of success are

  • the amount of interest shown in your brand. Do you have an increasing number of enquiries for collaborations, for example?
  • Is there an increasing amount of chatter about the brand and is it all positive?

What role does social media play in your branding efforts?

Social media has been a huge factor in building our brand and will continue to play a crucial role in engaging with our community. We’ve also recently started working with a PR partner to help us in our mission to elevate the brand.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I think as a business we have already been hugely inspired by the BCorp movement and we are entirely motivated to become a certified BCorp business. BCorp is all about making business a force for good. The most fundamental aspect is the commitment to treat all stakeholders with passion and respect. The traditional ‘for profit’ business has sole responsibility to bring profits to the shareholders. The BCorp model turns this on its head in an effort to bring a positive impact to our world. Such a hugely positive movement!

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself!

We are blessed that very prominent leaders in business and entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world with whom you would like to have a lunch or breakfast with? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂

There are some very inspirational ladies out there who have built amazing fashion/textile brands. I’d love to meet any of them for lunch — Dolly Parton, Kelly Hoppen, Orla Keily, Tricia Guild, Stella McCartney. It would be enlightening to hear the story of their personal journeys.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

@wendymorrisondesign

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

Wendy Morrison: Five Things You Need To Build A Trusted And Beloved Brand was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Making Something From Nothing: Kuzeyhan Ozdemir On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Hire a coach acting as a marriage counselor between you and your cofounders.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing,” I had the pleasure of interviewing Kuzeyhan Ozdemir.

Kuzeyhan is passionate about enabling the innovators and the founders of the startups to safely navigate through their journey from the spark of their idea or invention to launching their products or services to impact people’s lives positively. He argues that the entrepreneurial mindset can be developed, and he explores how to shift from a technical mindset into an entrepreneurial one.

He is a business & innovation management consultant, coach and mentor supporting the startup founders, the innovators, and the stakeholders in the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. He also works with international organizations to explore the worldwide innovation ecosystem and the engagement of the innovative companies developing sustainable technologies to be active in developing countries.

He has more than 20 years of business, innovation, and technology management experience with an educational background in electrical engineering, computer science, and business administration. He also holds Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

First, I would like to thank you for having me as your guest.

I was born in Ankara, the capital of the Republic of Turkey. My Mom was an elementary school teacher, and my Dad was a middle school art teacher. My Dad also had a small printing shop where, at the time of no personal computers and printers, he was printing the books, some of them being his plays or poems for the children, and the company brochures along with the wedding and birthday invitation cards. He was also binding the books. I helped him in printing the invitation cards and binding the books when I was in middle school. In return, he gave me a weekly salary that I used to buy books. Buying a book with my own money and reading it was an excellent experience for me.

However, I only realized while taking classes for my MBA degree after years of engineering education that my Dad was also an entrepreneur with no business or entrepreneurship education. I now reflect on this and realize why I am so passionate about helping innovators to be entrepreneurs who transform their ideas into something useful and valuable for people. Making something from nothing and sharing it with the world fascinate me.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Yesterday, I was clever. So, I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise. So, I am changing myself.”

This quote from Rumi, poet, philosopher, Islamic scholar, and Sufi mystic, resonates with me. It reminds me how change is a constant for all of us. Changing ourselves by developing a growth mindset, including the transitioning among different perspectives, is crucial to adapt ourselves to the changes around us and impact the world.

I realized more what this quote meant for me when I, along with my wife and two kids, moved to Washington D.C. from Turkey five years ago due to my wife’s job in an international organization. I knew it would be a significant change for my family and me, which we needed to adapt; however, I was not much aware that I also needed to reconnect with my inner self and change my mindset.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

A couple of books shaped my thoughts, my way of living, my interaction with people, nature, and my connection with my inner self. Today, I want to share the one book’s impact, called “The Long Game” by Dorie Clark, on me.

As we all witnessed, millions of people lost their jobs after the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world at the beginning of 2020. People were puzzled and anxious with the uncertainties, lockdowns, and mask mandates and started to question the purpose and meaning of their jobs and their lives.

Even though I was among the lucky ones to have a job aligned with my purpose, I was also puzzled and anxious about the future. I also observed that the pandemic didn’t negatively affect some people’s jobs who started to invest in themselves and diversify their revenue streams years ago. They had already shifted their mindset from short-term thinking to long-term thinking. Dorie Clark was one of the best examples of long-term thinkers I started to follow in 2020. That is why the concrete action plans in her book about long-term thinking and acting resonated with me.

Being interviewed by you today, for which I am grateful, is the result of the inspiration I received from her.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

Let me start by sharing a real-life example I encountered a couple of years ago. We organized an event for startups to train them about the lean startup methodology developed and popularized by Steve Blank and Eric Ries. The business model canvas created by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur was also used in this methodology.

The instructor asked each startup founder when they launched their startups and how many customers they talked to so far. One of the founders said they had launched their startup two years ago, and they didn’t speak to any customers yet since they were trying to develop their product. They were sure that they could find many customers when they launched their product in the market. However, they didn’t know who their customers were and why they would care about their product. What value would they bring to which customer?

Therefore, if you have an idea that is novel and useful, you first need to ask yourselfto get out and talk to the customers to understand which customers you will serve, to which one of their problems or needs you have a solution and what value you would bring to them so that they would choose your solution to do their jobs. If no one or a few people find your idea valuable, unfortunately, your idea will stay as an idea.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

I specifically remind the first-time startup founders to conduct thorough research about similar ideas. I recommend them not only search keywords via Google but also check the data offered by web sites about startups like CrunchBase, Pitchbook, Owler, Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and alike. I also tell them to check patent databases provided by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and Google Patents. It takes time, but it is incredibly valuable.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it?

The patent is a long process. Let me try to give you a brief answer.

FirstAs we discussed before, they first need to search whether similar ideas have been already created or not so that they can understand whether their concept is novel or not. Then they need to get out of their comfort zone and search for a business model by carrying out customer discovery and testing their hypotheses about customers and the other components of the business model.

This approach is based on the lean startup methodology that I mentioned before.

This is an experiential learning process that gives them the flexibility to test their hypotheses, change the components of their business model; hence they pivot and validate customers. They need build Minimum Viable Products and try to create customers during this process. This process reduces their initial spending and saves time.

When I reply to your question about patenting, I need to emphasize that not every idea is patentable, and patenting is just one of the Intellectual Property protections. There are also trademarks, service marks, and copyrights. They need to familiarize themselves with these kinds of protections and decide which one is much more appropriate for their cases. They can get information from the websites of the U.S. Patent OfficesOffice or the World Intellectual Property Organization. They can also work with a patent attorney. If they are employees or students in a university, Technology Transfer or Licensing Offices can give them more information and help them to file for patents.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

I am currently carrying out a study about Entrepreneurial Mindset and talking with startup founders. I asked a similar question to them. I found out the following five things.

  1. Start to talk to customers even before developing your product.
  2. Join an accelerator or an entrepreneurship program.
  3. Focus on not only the growth of the company but also your growth and change your mindset.
  4. Have an open communication channel with all your employees and show empathy.
  5. Hire a coach acting as a marriage counselor between you and your cofounders.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

I recommend them to learn about lean startup methodology and go through the customer development process.

First, I recommend them to readReading some business books will also be helpful. like They can read “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries, “The Startup Owner’s Manual” by Steve Blank & Bob Dorf, “Business Model Generation” by Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur, and “The Mom Test” by Rob Fitzpatrick.

Then They can write your their guesses in the business model canvas, write down your their hypotheses about customers, go outside your their house or office, and talk to the customers to test your their assumptions.

They can also join an accelerator, boot camp, or an entrepreneurship program.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

First of all, this is their idea and their business. The personThey needs to search for a viable business model by themselves or with their cofounders. Getting support from an experienced consultant or mentor is also valuable.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

The decision depends on various conditions like; whether you have enough financial resources to run the company or not, whether you are comfortable sharing your company’s control. In any case, you will most likely start by bootstrapping. You may need a V.C.enture Capital when you don’t have enough financial resources to grow and scale your business. V.C.s can also bring you the market experience and a vast network. It may be a good idea to find an experienced and reputable V.C. in your market in such a case.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

I am sharing my experience with startup founders who want to affect the lives of people in the world positively.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

My son is 15 years old and freshman at high school. He is very interested in being an entrepreneur. It will be good to have a network of experienced entrepreneurs mentoring teenagers like my son.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, V.C. funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the U.S., with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Can I choose two people? It would be great to have breakfast or lunch with Peter Diamandis and Ray Kurzweil. Even if they don’t know yet, both have a special place and positive effect on my professional life.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Making Something From Nothing: Kuzeyhan Ozdemir On How To Go From Idea To Launch was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Jesse Bradley On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

… Believe it before you say it! You need to own the message in the core of your being. It should feel like the most important talk in the world. You cannot take people where you have not gone. You cannot share what you do not have. I will rewrite my content as many times as needed until I reach that point. It is a non-negotiable for connecting in a meaningful way with people. I have and will completely change my message before speaking if it does not deeply resonate with me.

At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Jesse Bradley.

Jesse is a speaker, pastor, author, former syndicated radio host and professional athlete. After graduating from Dartmouth College, he played overseas in Africa until a tragic illness ended his soccer career. He was fighting for his life for a year, and it took ten years to fully recover. This pain fueled a new purpose and passion as he now spreads a message of hope to millions of people around the world. Jesse and Laurie have four children, a patient dog named Bella and a noisy hamster named Kiwi.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I grew up on the University Of Minnesota campus (our apartment was literally in the football stadium parking lot), and I told my parents that I wanted to be a professional athlete when I was three years old. Some dreams start early in life, and I was unwavering until I signed my first official contract as an adult. I never wanted to be a speaker. In fact, I pleaded several times with a high school teacher to please allow me to skip a verbal presentation because I was terrified of the endeavor. The one speech I gave in front of my high school was three minutes long, and I delivered it in my falsetto because I was so nervous. Life can be ironic as public communication is one of my deepest joys.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

During my senior year at Dartmouth, I brought an encouraging message to high school students at a soccer camp about moving to the next level. It was the first time I remember thoroughly enjoying a speech, and they responded very favorably. It was a glimpse of what was to come. When I lost the physical ability to continue my career as a goalkeeper, I started speaking to high school students again. A fire was lit in my soul as I could see lives were transformed. I love seeing people come alive!

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

The first time I was making an appearance on Good Morning America, it felt surreal. Waking up extremely early, running the sound bites through my mind, looking at a camera knowing that our nation will be watching was overwhelming. Technical issues took it over the top. For many minutes that felt like hours, we had no audio connection. It was literally a couple of seconds before we went live (I was connecting from Seattle) that we had a breakthrough and audio returned as we started the countdown. I just tried to smile as my prayers were answered and not look as stunned as I felt.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Continuing with the theme of technical adventures, I have a headset with a microphone that I use when I speak. The sound booth operators are usually faithful to keep my mic muted. They unfortunately forgot. The event was livestreamed around the world. You need to know that I cannot sing the right notes nor do I have any sense of pitch. I am loud and enthusiastic though. True story-I have been in a choir before when someone asked me to stop singing because I distracted them. All that to say, the singers on stage were wondering what they were hearing in their ears, and the listening audience online was trying to figure out who on stage was ruining the song.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

One of my mentors was Dr. E.K. Bailey of Concord Missionary Baptist Church in South Oak Cliff (Dallas, Texas). He took me under his wing and trained all the pastors on the finer points of communication. He inspired me and gave me a vision of how much can happen in one message. On many Sundays, I was the only white person in a predominantly black church. I felt so loved, supported, and he made me feel like I was family. He died of cancer, but his voice still rings in my heart.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

My advice is to accept all opportunities initially because experience is so valuable. Speak to groups of all ages. Children will give you honest feedback. I also went to senior centers and would notice if anyone fell asleep. Camps, conferences, and prisons are great options. Record it when you give a message and watch yourself. Make short videos and post them online. Ask your family and friends for honest feedback. They can give you three positive points and two areas to grow. Always be learning and improving.

What drives you to get up everyday and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?

According the the Census Bureau, 46 percent of Americans feel hopeless during the pandemic. Hope is available to everyone. Hope is more of a foundation than a feeling. There is a practical roadmap for finding hope that includes your identity, thinking, attitude, and purpose. I know what it is like to feel like everything is lost, and I have compassion for people who feel stuck in life. I have two family members who committed suicide and that reminds me of the urgency to spread hope. I believe there is a hope greater than the challenges we face.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

I enjoy creating hope content; new series that are launching and are free on my website (JesseBradley.org). Another fulfilling role is being a guest on shows, and I’m grateful for several upcoming invitations on television programs reaching a global audience. I think collaboration is healthy and partnerships with Global Media Outreach and World Vision are exciting. I have also started writing a book. Writing is more difficult than speaking, but I am persevering.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“God does His greatest work in the most difficult times, and the best experiences in life can emerge from the worst circumstances.” This statement is filled with hope, and it is my story. The love and grace of Jesus changed and rebuilt my life. When I feel weak and timid, I can ask God for help and that takes the pressure off me. I know that I am not alone. Prayer gives me courage and clarity when I speak.

Ok, thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.

  1. Believe it before you say it! You need to own the message in the core of your being. It should feel like the most important talk in the world. You cannot take people where you have not gone. You cannot share what you do not have. I will rewrite my content as many times as needed until I reach that point. It is a non-negotiable for connecting in a meaningful way with people. I have and will completely change my message before speaking if it does not deeply resonate with me.
  2. Information and inspiration: Engage both the mind and the heart. Cognitive content includes facts, statistics, research, principles and ideas. Stories, transparency, failures, and sincere emotion connect with hearts. Too often speakers gravitate in one direction and miss the potential of the wholistic impact. When you prepare, be intentional to cover both elements well. Research is work and vulnerability is risky. As a pastor, I was initially more reluctant to reveal my humanity because I thought I needed to be professional. It took me many years to move past that unhelpful myth.
  3. More boldness than nerves. I had a false expectation that I would be able to remove any sense of feeling scared. To be honest I still get nervous before I give a message. Does that make me a failure? No. There is distress (negative energy) and eustress (positive energy). We need to be alert and energized as speakers. My nerves are sometimes too amped which often leads me to pray. I sometimes feel very scared and that feeling keeps returning. As long as my boldness is greater than my nerves, I can move forward.
  4. Authenticity is your sweet spot. So many speakers try to be someone else on stage, put on a front, or have a false view of what success looks like. It is great to have mentors, but it is a trap to constantly imitate other people. Have confidence that you are wonderfully made and gifted, get comfortable in your skin, find your voice, and keep all of the nuances that make you unique. Authenticity is not permission to be unprepared and sloppy. It both empowers you and helps your listeners go there too. You will have the greatest influence when you are most authentic.
  5. The Top Takeaway: Some speakers have no practical application and others overwhelm a crowd with ten things they need to do. Both scenarios are not ideal. Hone in on one key next step and share it many times in clear and creative ways. If you were being dragged off the stage what would be the one thing you would express to people? Have a specific measurable action that people can take home with them.

As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?

I think great preparation alleviates fears. Take extra time to gather golden content. Then begin the process of separating the good from the great. Write out your talk until it lands well. Then let it marinate and drop from your head to your heart. Practice it as many times as you can. Becoming familiar with it allows you to have more freedom to move around, make eye contact, express with your body and voice what you really want to say. When have done all of the work of preparation tell yourself to savor it. Every opportunity you have to speak is truly a gift.

You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I believe that everyone has an incredibly important story. I think if more people would share their journey, and we listen to each other well with understanding, there could be so much healing. There could be a movement of hope stories that spread organically and change countless hearts. We have the technology now to share inspiring stories around the world. Stories build friendships. Authentic hope leads to a movement and greater practical and tangible expressions of love. Hope inspires hope. Three specific outcomes of this movement (because I realize it does sound broad) would be an end of our foster care system. I want to see every child have a forever family. I also think we can end human trafficking too. We can provide clean water for every child around the world. A real hope movement would truly protect and provide for children.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

I would enjoy lunch with Elon Musk because he is very creative, intelligent, and has the means and influence to make a significant impact.

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

My new website is JesseBradley.org and @jessejbradley on all socials. I would love to connect with you there.

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Jesse Bradley On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Meet The Disruptors: Wylie McGraw Of Radical Performance Acceleration On The Five Things You Need…

Meet The Disruptors: Wylie McGraw Of Radical Performance Acceleration On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview with Fotis Georgiadis

It’s better to “embrace the suck” than to “suck it up.” Stepping towards the unknown and relishing discomforts is what “embracing the suck” entails. Loving what’s difficult and painful is how anyone surpasses their limitations. Whereas the idea that we should “suck it up” is akin to swallowing poison hoping it won’t kill us. It implies we don’t let it bother us, that we should hide it. That’s why so many people, not just leaders, suffer so much. It’s ultimately dangerous to your health, and others who regularly interact with you. Don’t fight the pain, embrace it.

As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Wylie McGraw.

Wylie McGraw is the founder of Radical Performance Acceleration, and for well over a decade now he’s been behind-the-scenes doing life-altering work with powerful CEOs, entrepreneurs, leaders, and public figures accelerating their performance, both personally and professionally. His work is the proverbial “Navy SEAL training” equivalent to high performance and leadership development — pushing even the elite beyond their limits, so they not only hit their peak but sustain it. He has been named a “secret weapon” by some of the most influential leaders across industries from Wall Street, Hollywood, professional sports, Fortune 500 companies, personal development, and everything in between.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

Happy to participate. I grew up in Southern California — the oldest of 3 boys and born to a semi-professional baseball player. I was raised around legends like Rod Carew, Bo Jackson, Jim Abbott, and even Mickey Mantle. I became a sought-after pitcher with an arm worthy of the big leagues, and I was pushed to be my best year in and year out. Yet the pressure to be perfect started to limit, rather than uplift me, and it caused me to question if baseball was my future.

I wanted to experience something different, something more exciting. So, I became a bull rider. It introduced me to a version of myself I was ready to meet. Riding bulls was nothing like baseball. It was chaotic. In most sports, you prepare yourself for the game. You listen to music, a motivational speech, whatever. And that helps you get in the zone. But with bull-riding, you’re literally thrown into it. Your mind, emotions, and intuition run at you in full force. I found something here that pushed me beyond my limits, and, well, reawakened me. Being a competitive bull rider felt freer than anything else I had ever done. And strangely enough, the possibility of serious injury or death never dissuaded me.

Eventually I wanted more for myself than just winning competitions. I wanted to be a part of something meaningful, something bigger than myself. That’s when I joined the US Military and served as a Combat Infantryman with the 101st Airborne Division. I fought overseas, on 3 tours to Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Through these intense experiences I discovered a personal superpower that had me bringing out the best in my teammates during high-stress operations. War gave me an opportunity to be calm amid chaos. It served as a bridge to many personal discoveries, and it gave birth to my philosophies of performance that I realized are necessary for the success of those in positions of power and influence.

Leaving the military wasn’t easy. I struggled with whether I should stay in to continue fighting for my country or go out and fight for others in a different way. I decided I wanted to build something of my own, to place my newfound potential in the hands of more people.

So, I began focusing on mastering myself first, and then on the skills I felt would optimize my innate abilities more holistically. Formal education and training were invaluable in supplementing the “real-world” knowledge and skills I picked up throughout my life thus far.

Finally, I founded Radical Performance Acceleration — a specialized business focused on giving high-achieving leaders a customized experience that radically accelerates them beyond their limits into new levels of performance and success in record time. I’ve been effectively named a “secret weapon” by some of the most influential leaders from Wall St., Hollywood, professional sports, Fortune 500 companies, personal development industries, and everything in between.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

Many performance-enhancement systems today revolve around coaching and advice giving, therapeutic approaches, and linear models that separate the personal from the professional. When you look at military special operations training, they aren’t based around these aspects. They take you out of your element, tear away any comfort and external control. My work is rooted in that philosophy. I provide a Navy SEAL-like experience that reshapes leaders holistically. Ultimately, it’s a metamorphosis. So much like the special operations community, I put my clients through real-world challenges out of their control. This makes them vulnerable. It rehashes and sews ripped seams in their attitude, their view of life, and their obstacles. It’s a holistic approach, testing and proving their emotional, physical, and cerebral limits. Oftentimes, their difficulties don’t lie in the problems themselves; they need to look elsewhere. I customize the framework to each leader, taking into consideration their current performance capacity, their responsibilities, and their personal and professional life. It’s intimate, it’s difficult, and it works. I give an elite edge to high-achieving individuals. We resolve their cycle of stress, sacrifice, and suffering commonly associated with reaching their levels of success. As a result, these leaders improve their decision-making skills, have clearer and stronger impacts on their familial, personal, and professional community.

“An optimized leader advances the world, an unresolved one distorts it.” — Wylie McGraw

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I walked into a high-end conference event full of industry titans and leaders dressed to the nines. They probably each wore 5–10 thousand dollars’ worth of threads and accessories. Not me, though. I wore a graphic tee that read, “I Can’t Adult Today” along with blue jeans and sneakers. All my suits and dress shirts were left in luggage at the front door of my home 8 hours away. What I thought was a mistake turned out to be an endearing move to the group. I was bombarded with smiles, laughs, and handshakes with everyone wanting to meet the man in the graphic tee. I was a bit worried, but I knew that it really isn’t the “clothes that make the man.” It’s just confidence and personality. I gained more business that day than I had expected. I think the accidentally humble contrast between my confidence and my casual threads made the payoff. It set me apart.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

I’ve noticed most people answer the question, “who have been your best mentors?” by usually naming people — some being authors of books they read, or teachers from their schools, maybe their bosses, and or celebrities they’ve followed for years. But this has never been true for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had incredible people like pro athletes who coached me as a young star pitcher, and rodeo cowboys who pushed my mental limits when riding bulls, military leaders who taught me, quite literally, how to survive. But in all honesty, it was the overwhelming life experiences that served as my greatest mentors.

My first tour overseas comes to mind; I remember I was asked to be a part of a covert reconnaissance mission. We were sent in the cover of night and after 7 hours of humping it in by foot we found the location. I pulled security through camouflage, and it was mere hours later by the time the first sense of danger crept in. I was the one who caught the first glimpse of the 12 enemy targets that were moving into the area. Not long after that I was looking through the barrel of an enemy’s AK47. He had pointed it just making sure that the area was clear, unaware I was merely 2 feet away with my weapon pointed back at him.

The training I was put through by instructors was nothing compared to this experience that forced me to show up in unexpected ways. My decisions in that moment set the tone for the operation, and ultimately led to the prevention of an international incident. It made me into a stealthy, ghost of a soldier in control of my emotions with mental fortitude that would serve every other operation I would be involved in for years to come. My leadership skills were honed, and I found an ability to be calm amid chaos, no matter the encounter. No person, nor training could’ve given to me what the barrel of an enemy fighter’s AK-47 pointing at me provided.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

It’s simple. In today’s social and environmental landscape, being disruptive is only positive when it thwarts the perpetuation of waste, damage, and destruction. It needs to foster progress that affects the good of the environment, humanity, society, and the health of all involved. An obvious example are the companies assuming sustainable and socially conscious standards. These change the way we consume and live for future benefit. We see much of this, from eco-friendly products to responsible farming, to conservationism.

Disruption is negative when people, companies, or politics heavily focus on scaling, profits, and the consolidation of power; it overshadows the harmony of the masses with their environment. Amazon is a prime example disrupting the commerce industry. For the sake of instant gratification when buying products en masse, this titan, and its customers, ignorantly or naively leave a host of problems to the environment, communities, and the workers without second thought. The idea was progress at that time, and maybe still is — but it’s not holistic progress. We’re all seeing the manifold costs now.

Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

1. “The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing.” — Socrates

This implies that when we accept that we really know nothing, we’re left open to learning everything. Owning this piece of wisdom dissolves the rigidity in our personality and egoic ideals that we need to impress, or don’t need help, or should triumph over others. Life is an amalgamation of the information and experiences that are learned and observed from others. When we stop this essence of community, we cease to exist as a civilized, progressive society.

2. It’s better to “embrace the suck” than to “suck it up.” — Wylie McGraw

Stepping towards the unknown and relishing discomforts is what “embracing the suck” entails. Loving what’s difficult and painful is how anyone surpasses their limitations. Whereas the idea that we should “suck it up” is akin to swallowing poison hoping it won’t kill us. It implies we don’t let it bother us, that we should hide it. That’s why so many people, not just leaders, suffer so much. It’s ultimately dangerous to your health, and others who regularly interact with you. Don’t fight the pain, embrace it.

3. You’re only truly free when you’re properly contained. — Wylie McGraw

As humans we are not designed to be completely free without boundaries or limits. It isn’t in our nature to sustain comfort without a tether to some form of containment. But pay careful attention to the source of containment. Is it cultivating you or stifling you? Take the US Constitution for example: this is our nation’s founding document of structure and boundaries for a free, civilized society to thrive. There are laws, rules, and declarations laid out clearly that ensure certain rights. Most importantly, there are limitations. We have enough structure and rigidity in our constitution to live peacefully and productively, but not so much that we can’t grow. Essentially, your life needs to be balanced.

4. “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” — Lao Tzu

Achieving balance in our lives can feel boring, as it’s without drama or chaos, but is the only state of being that gives access to our fullest potential and puts us in total control of where we channel our power. In ancient Chinese martials arts, the fundamental practice of form is slow, smooth, and intentional to integrate and better it. This integration is where power and speed is easily generated with little effort. The principle of contraction and expansion simultaneously is where true balance is mastered: don’t over-exert, don’t under perform. Contract enough for expansion to occur. Our society has operated out of this balance, completely over-exerting and rarely valuing the importance of simplicity in contraction. When you are over-exerted (expanded too far out) you’re left vulnerable and weak. Kung Fu was born of masters who studied nature’s and animals’ natural way of movement. There is no rush, there’s only balance. We are of nature as well, and most people today are operating against this aspect of themselves.

5. “A master unlike a beginner holds himself in reserve, he is quiet and unassuming with no desire to show off.” — Bruce Lee

We are living in a narcissism epidemic, brought on by the asymmetrical advancement of technology and social media overexposure. Our personal validity is now tied to the number of likes, followers, and social credibility derived from strangers, rather than ourselves. We’re a culture that primarily rewards obnoxiousness because we’re beholden to superficial characteristics. To truly master our lives and find our most fulfilling purposes, we must also value humility and stillness. It’s easier to be cocky and loud than confident and humble.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

Many in my inner circles over the past few years have continued to mention that my work would be valuable to those in positions of power and authority within the political spectrum. I’ve had the pleasure of being introduced to various political leaders, both foreign and domestic. Many of them are seeking more progressive resources in assisting their decision making and overall personal performance objectives. So, I see myself in the next decade serving these types of people. Because of technological advancement and our near cluelessness of how to handle it, I’d love to do what I can to create a more balanced and healthier world on a macro scale.

Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?

It’s been experiences that had the greatest impact on my thinking. I’ve been fortunate to have been accepted into a sacred circle of Native American elders given my Native American heritage.

For years I was put through the traditional rites of passage as part of my cultural evolution, and they were some of the most valuable and intensive moments of my journey. I learned there is a proper way to suffer, and it is this version of mindful and purposeful suffering that transforms who we are into who we are meant to be. Whereas the version of suffering most humans experience is either self-inflicted, or born from fear, pain, and trauma without purpose. This shows the contrast of our modern, personal-development industry and those who only work on themselves out of convenience. True transformation only happens through challenge.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“You only really get to know a person after a fight. Only then can you judge their true character.” — Anne Frank

Humans are adept in masking themselves: their intentions, their fears, their real goals, etc. But when pressed, stressed, or stirred, it is impossible to hold in one’s truth. Although I value polite and civil society, I find great value in healthy confrontation to determine someone’s true self and their motivations. This is a foundation for the work I do with leaders.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

The most amount of good happens when people of power and influence are living and acting as their best selves. I have already begun a consortium for reaching out to leaders across industries to establish and employ new, progressive, and healthier standards in leadership and performance development. I have faith that these higher standards will meet the needs of our ever-evolving world.

How can our readers follow you online?

They can connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/wyliemcgraw and on Twitter: @WylieMcGraw.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Thank you for having me.

Meet The Disruptors: Wylie McGraw Of Radical Performance Acceleration On The Five Things You Need… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Janene Liston, The Pricing Lady On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

… A Love for Your Audience: When it comes to the fear of public speaking, I’ll often joke with people “How dare you be so selfish.” Because when you’re so focused on how scared you feel it’s because all your energy is on you. It’s centered on worrying about what’s happening to you. When your attention and energy is directed towards the audience and bringing them value (whether they learn something or it’s just for entertainment) then you’re serving a higher purpose. It’s easier to do it in spite of the fear, when you’re serving others. In fact, you might still be nervous but you’ll find the courage to do it anyhow, because IT MATTERS on a whole different level.

At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Janene Liston.

Janene is a highly trusted Pricing Consultant & Business Coach working with small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs across industries and the globe. She’s also a Certified Pricing Professional who has been helping businesses improve pricing and profits for over 25 years. Her mission is to empower small businesses to be more sustainably profitable — turning their purpose into profits. Helping them know the economic value of their offer. Ensuring they can confidently create, communicate and charge for the value they deliver. She’s the host of Live with the Pricing Lady, the Podcast, a European public speaking Champion and a sought after podcast and radio show guest. Watch out, her passion for pricing is contagious.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I was born and raised in northern California. I was often called “little Miss Independent”, I was and still am fiercely independent. I’m the eldest of two children and the first in my family to go to University. I was shy and yet very active. I played a lot of sports including swimming, tennis, soccer and volleyball. I like to do things differently than others. At about 10, when we could join the band the instructor suggested flute or clarinet, like all the other girls. No way that wasn’t good enough for me. Nope, I chose to play the oboe. I wanted to be different, a theme that’s played a big role in my life.

I remember our family vacations. We had a two-door Mustang that we’d travel in for 3–5 weeks at a time. In the trunk we had 2, two-man pump tents, a one-burner Coleman stove, one ice chest, one picnic basket and one suitcase for 4 people. My brother and I sat in the backseats on top of the four sleeping bags and nestled amongst the four pillows.

Tally ho! Off we’d go on those family adventures. I often tell people if it’s between California, Vancouver, east to North Dakota, south to Texas and back west to Southern California AND if it was in the AAA Guide Book, I’ve seen it. Every ice cave, lava tube, Indian ruin and boulder with a plaque in the middle of it. I’ve seen them all. We learned early on, if my dad said we were taking a “shortcut” that it was going to be a long day…as we’d inevitably end up lost.

My mom forced us to keep journals on these journeys, with drawings and all. She’s kept them but we’ve yet had the chance to see them now. I look forward to it one day.

Maybe all that exploration is why I love to travel. After university I spent 8 years in southwest Connecticut. Later In 2001, I relocated to Switzerland. I went for the life experience, the job was the vehicle that got me here to Europe. I was on a 2 year contract when I came. 20+ years later I’m a dual citizen, with Swiss and US passports. I live in the Basel area and am fluent in German. I’ve traveled the world both for my job and for pleasure going to both places I never dreamed of and others I never knew existed. I wouldn’t trade a moment of it. It’s been amazing and I’m not done yet!

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

I had no clue what I wanted to be when I “grew up”. In my teenage years, one of my uncles started asking me questions. His guidance and my interests led me to study Architectural (Structural) Engineering at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. In all honesty, I didn’t really know what I’d gotten into. It was a huge challenge and it was super cool too. I love bridges and building and constructing things. There’s no doubt I’m an engineer geek at heart.

After graduation I took my first “real” job and moved to Connecticut. Sure there were plenty of jobs in California, but I wanted to see the east coast. I launched a campaign to find a job somewhere out east. In the dark depths of the library I discovered a little black book called Professional Engineers in Private Practice. Armed with that I called more than 100 firms, collected information and sent each one an application tailored to them. This was in the day when online applications were unheard of — it was phone calls, printers, envelopes, stamps and snail mail.

The Monday after graduation I still didn’t have an engineering job offer. I was going to write grants for a professor at the university until I found what I wanted. I did have one potential lead that hadn’t gotten back to me. I called and said, “Hey. If you guys are interested at all, I’ll borrow the money from my parents to come out and meet you. Just let me know.” He asked me to give him an hour and he would call back. Boy oh boy did he. An hour later, I had a job offer. 3 weeks later I was living in Connecticut. Yeah I don’t do things the usual way.

I practiced for a few years and then decided it wasn’t my future. I didn’t know what I wanted so I took a job and tried to figure that out . At that company I eventually landed in Sales & Marketing. I became a Product and Marketing Manager. It’s also where I was first really exposed to pricing. But it was later after moving to Switzerland that I was hired as a Global Pricing Manager and earned my Certified Pricing Professional designation. Yes, there are people who do that. And yes, there’s such a thing as a CPP. That’s when Pricing became my profession. I knew I landed on something unique that not everyone else did and something that brings a lot of value to businesses.

In 2017 after a burn out in the corporate world, I started my own business. As I was exploring what’s next I knew two things: the best times I’ve had has been helping others see their own value. Sometimes it was helping children see math or science as a path for them, or helping someone with their public speaking or helping a business with pricing. That ah-ha moment, when they saw what was possible and what they could achieve, that’s when things are incredibly exciting. The second thing I knew was that Pricing was going to be the best way for me to be of service.

I had contemplated starting my own business for years — my first business plan was written in 2008. I stood at the edge of the entrepreneurial cliff, peering over the edge, wondering if it was really for me. Not one to “dip my toes in the pool a toe at time”, I decided to take the leap and give it a try, otherwise I’d never know what was possible. As The Pricing Lady I help small businesses, entrepreneurs and startups get pricing right earlier on, so they can build more sustainably profitable businesses. And that’s what I do today. I’ve spoken at many conferences on the topic Pricing. I’ve also spoken at many other events over the years both internal and external on many different topics. As you’ll see, I wasn’t always a great speaker…but I turned that around.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Related to public speaking, let me share the story of how I got where I am today. In university I had the experience of running off stage after bursting into tears during a short speech in front of 100 people. It was humiliating. After that experience, I shied away from speaking. For years I would sit in the shadows because I thought I couldn’t risk that happening again. I did public speaking from time to time, but it tormented me. At the same time, I secretly envied those people who looked like they were having a good time on stage. Why couldn’t I do that?

Fast forward nearly 15 years I joined Toastmasters in Zug Switzerland. My goal when joining was to figure out how to have fun when I was presenting. That was it. It wasn’t to be the greatest speaker or get over my fear — I simply wanted to have fun doing it.

For the first speech, the Ice Breaker speech, I was incredibly nervous…and it showed. From start to finish my voice wobbled, squeaked and sputtered. I sounded like a teenage boy. All that nervous energy made it impossible to control the pitch or quality of my voice. And my knees were literally, visibly shaking. But I powered through and delivered the whole thing anyhow. It was called “Intrepid…Who Me?”

It was a success and boy was I relieved that it was done. Everyone enjoyed it. Afterwards, my mentor came over and said, “Let’s have a meeting. We need to teach you some breathing exercises.” That begun my journey to enjoy public speaking.

From that point on I did everything I could in Toastmasters, to achieve my Confident Communicator and Leadership Certificates. In fact I’m advanced in both of them. More importantly I started participating in the contests. Long story short, in 2012 I found myself at the European Humorous Speech Championship. Lo and behold…I won and I had a smashing time delivering that speech. What I remember the most from that experience is the people who helped and supported me. I joined Toastmasters with the goal of enjoying public speaking — really that was my objective. In the end, with their encouragement, mentoring and support, I also found a passion and talent for something I didn’t know I had. A big thank you to them all.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

During university we were asked to come to the local Children’s Museum and do a talk with the kids on aerodynamics. We were told they were 4–6 so we prepared something for 4th to 6th graders — our focus was to talk about the forces that act on an airplane and allow it to fly.. We were super excited.

When we arrived the room was filled with 4–6 year old children, not the 9–11 year-olds we expected. The two of us looked at each other in panic. How were we going to explain the forces that act on an airplane to children of this age? We had about 20 minutes to figure out how to make this a fun science experience for the kids and their parents. We stepped into the back room and created 5 simple exercises we could do with the kids to help them relate to how planes fly. Our goal was for the kids to relate to some new concepts and to have a positive experience learning about engineering.

I remember laughing so hard. When we were explaining gravity to them I said, “All right kids stand up. Now I want you to jump up in the air and stay there.” Of course, they tried but kept falling to the earth and the room filled with giggles and laughter from the kids and their parents. Did they totally understand gravity, probably not. Did they have fun, learn something and connect with science & engineering in a positive way…ABSOLUTELY!

What I learned is that you have to ALWAYS be prepared for the unexpected. As a speaker the unexpected happens all the time. Be prepared to give your speech without any of the tools you’ve planned to have or for the audience to be different than you understood them to be. Simply be ready to adapt to the situation if needed. And sometimes, connection and experience are more important than true understanding. Sometimes understanding is step 2.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

One of my first mentors (professionally) was Jeanne. She was the head of the Women’s Engineering Program when I was at university and our advisor for the Society of Women Engineers. She was also a powerhouse — leading the charge to make change and provide better circumstances for the women who followed in her “footsteps”. She was so amazing at leading us that of all the engineering clubs at campus SWE was the biggest and most successful to the extent that we also had men in the club. To me it said something about what we were able to offer.

She taught me so much about how to write and speak. How to put together proposals, word grant applications, and put togethers a killer presentation. But mostly I feel I learned about having integrity as a woman in a male dominated space. About how to stand tall and stand up for what I believe is right (I also got a big dose of that from my parents). Jeanne showed me how to lead with both grace and power, while remaining authentically who I am. All these are skills that nearly 30 years later are still supporting me professionally and personally.

I’m forever grateful to her.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

In the end whatever you choose to do in life the outcome is largely determined by your mindset and your tenacity. I thought starting my own business was about my career. That it was a career decision. Boy oh boy was I wrong. It’s the BIGGEST personal development journey I’ve ever been on. It has tested & challenged me. It has crushed me at times. It’s led me to places I never dreamed were possible. Every piece of that is part of the journey. I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am if I hadn’t had those experiences.

When I went through my burnout one of the things I had to learn was the check in with myself and my mindset. To recognize in a better way when things were off track. I turned to mindfulness meditation as a tool and it’s been invaluable to me. I’ve also worked with coaches and done different programs. It’s a lifelong journey to keep working on developing & maintaining a growth mindset. There are many tools out there to help you..

The best advice I can give is to keep working on and developing your mindset — believe that you can and you will find the way. Keep building your skills and interests. Live a curious life. Don’t try to do it alone, get support when needed. Most importantly, have fun along the way. In spite of the challenges and setbacks, I can look back and say yes it’s been a great experience.

That’s what I want for you as well.

What drives you to get up everyday and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?

What gets me up every day is my curiosity about the world and desire to help uplift others (or help them lift themselves). Similar to how others have helped me. I wrote earlier about my mentor, we all need a “Jeanne” or two or three in our lives. My biggest wish is that I too can be that person for someone else.

When it comes to pricing, I want people to understand what they do has value. In fact whether it’s a salary for a job or the price of your product or service or software, it has value to others. Too many people walk around thinking “I’m not worth it” or “no one will pay that.”. Reality is, if that is your mindset then they certainly won’t pay for it. I don’t want them to just know the price, in fact I want them to know the value that they bring. Because that is where the magic happens.

When you believe in the value you bring you change your mindset and the dynamics of any conversation you’re having. Ultimately this leads to more people having financial freedom because they have profitable businesses (and well-paid jobs). But first they have to believe it. Second, they have to take the steps to get there. Only then can the reap the benefits.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

One of the projects that’s very dear to my heart is Bookbridge. It’s with them that in 2019 I went to Sri Lanka to run an entrepreneurship bootcamp for local entrepreneurs. It was amazing. It never ceases to blow my mind, the incredible ideas people have for making change in the world. Working with programs like this is one of the reasons I love what I do so much. It gives me the opportunities to travel to new places, meet & learn from these amazing people and help others in their own journey. Now that things are opening up again I look forward to future opportunities not just to support them online but also in person.

As for where I’m heading, I don’t have a full plan for the next steps. I do know that it includes things like public speaking, seeing more of the world, meeting new people, making a difference and helping people believe in their value. Recently I’ve had a revelation or awakening that’s shifted things. I’ve worked in many industries and each was absolutely fascinating. I’ve learned so much and enjoy the learning process. But I can’t say I was passionate about what we did as a company. Yes the Power Industry is fascinating and so is Agriculture but they weren’t my passion. I was passionate about what I did in those companies, just not about what we did.

As I’ve been contemplating what’s next I’ve also been reminded about my passion for education and children. I wonder right now what it would be like to do something in an industry where I’m as passionate about what I do as what we do. It’s not yet clear what that looks like. I’m excited to see where this strange combination of interests and my passion leads me. If life has taught me anything, it’s there in my peripheral vision, it’s just not in full focus yet.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Rather than a quote there’s a poem I’d like to share because it sums up how I view the meaning of the people I come across and the things that happen in my life.

Bits and Pieces by Lois Cheney. It’s about how we are made up of all the bits and pieces of people (I also include the things that happen to us) who have come into our lives. Some have been there for a long time, others briefly. Some have had a positive influence others have been hard to bear. Ultimately each of them lives on in us and is part of who we are. I love that sentiment and it reminds me that everyone (& everything) has a purpose in my path. And so do I in theirs.

Ok, thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.

  • A great message to share
  • Skill to talk about your subject at the level of the audience
  • Ability to make each person feel like you’re talking to them
  • A good sense of humor
  • A love for your audience

A Great Message to Share: One thing that I always found interesting is how stressed people can get about the topic of their speech. My definition of a great message is one you are passionate about sharing. Here’s why, if you’re passionate about it you can make it interesting for anyone to hear. I think that often people think that have to say something earth shattering or something no one else has said. That’s how finding the message becomes such a challenge.

One time when I was preparing for a speech, I wasn’t sure what topic I wanted to present yet. I was in a meeting with my boss. I kept yawning (it was no reflection on him). He asked, “Am I boring you?” He wasn’t. I just tended to yawn a lot and that got me curious. If I’m not boring him, why was I yawning. That became the title of my next speech. Was it a great message? Some would say no. I’d say yes, because I made it so. A great message is that which you are both passionate about (at the time) and can deliver in an entertaining way. And that’s precisely what I did.

Skill to Talk About Your Subject at the Level of the Audience: This is where many professionals struggle. They can talk about their subject but they assume the audience knows what they know and speaks the way they speak. Those assumptions break connection with large portions of the audience, sometimes the whole room because you end up talking “above” them. It’s not about “dumbing” things down, it is about meeting people where they are.

Earlier I wrote about being able to take a talk we had prepared for 4th-6th grader and turn into something 4–6 year olds could relate to. It’s the same in what I do today. Recently I worked with a program that helps migrants start businesses. I don’t assume they are familiar with finance or marketing terminology. I bring the content to them in a way that everyone can understand and engage. I start with the basics. If you can’t adapt like that then inevitably you’ll end up talking over people. Your message might be great but people won’t understand it.

Ability to make each person feel like you’re talking to them: To me this is one of the greatest gifts a speaker can give to someone in the audience. And believe me, even if the audience is huge you can still leave people with the feeling that you were speaking to them. This is usually only possible when you’re confident in your message and skilled at delivery. Sometimes it will also come with passion and authenticity.

Prior to the European Championship I had participated in other contests, in particular with a speech titled “Duckie Moon”. It was about how my Dad had helped me learn to believe in myself when I was a kid (I was awkward like most of us). People came up to me all the time and thanked me for how I connected with them during the speech. They each felt I was talking to them. Or course I was talking to an audience of 50–100 people but I was able to connect with each of them. I paid attention to when I got that feedback and incorporated more of that into my speaking.

A Good Sense of Humor: OK I don’t mean you have to be telling jokes, although a good one will help here and there. I mean have a good sense of humor and be able to roll with whatever happens. People make mistakes. I’ve done it and will continue to do so. Chances are I’m not yet done in this life with embarrassing myself or making mistakes. While I would prefer not to, it’s better to assume it will happen again.

If you mess up, that’s ok chances are you might be the only one who notices. If it’s a biggie, then have a good laugh about it. You can freak out later in private if you must. Life is too precious to be serious all the time and when you’re speaking there are bound to be things that happen that you don’t expect. Smile and move on.

A Love for Your Audience: When it comes to the fear of public speaking, I’ll often joke with people “How dare you be so selfish.” Because when you’re so focused on how scared you feel it’s because all your energy is on you. It’s centered on worrying about what’s happening to you. When your attention and energy is directed towards the audience and bringing them value (whether they learn something or it’s just for entertainment) then you’re serving a higher purpose. It’s easier to do it in spite of the fear, when you’re serving others. In fact, you might still be nervous but you’ll find the courage to do it anyhow, because IT MATTERS on a whole different level.

As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?

Participating fully in Toastmasters is what made the difference for me. Find a similar place where you can practice, mentor someone and get consistent practice.

First, I got a lot of consistent practice in an environment where it didn’t matter what happened (as opposed to a work related environment where I didn’t want to mess up in front of colleagues). Second, the community is supportive and helpful. You get a mentor and you get feedback. You know what to work on and have someone to help you explore how to improve. Last, it also gave me the opportunity to see a lot of speeches and different styles. I learned from seeing the good ones and the ones that still need to improve. It gave me different ideas of what I could do.

When I had direct reports, some wanted to attend a week long public speaking training. I always required them to join Toastmasters first and do the first 3 speeches. Then we would send them to the training. After which they needed to complete speeches 4–10 at Toastmasters. This gave them both the training they wanted and the consistent practice and feedback they needed to master and ingrain the skills they learned.

Ultimately in a way that works for you, embrace the fear. Accept it’s ok to be afraid, just don’t let it stop you if you really want to do it. Get help to learn how to use the nervous energy that arises to connect with your audience.

You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

A worthiness movement.

I myself had two math teachers in high school whose actions led me to doubt myself. One even told my parents and I that I was stupid and would never be able to do math. Joke was on them when I graduated from University with an engineering degree. My point is things happen in life that make us doubt ourselves and feel less worthy. It sucks. But it doesn’t have to define who you are going forward.

In various aspects of what I do from pricing to public speaking, I’ve worked with people and see how little regard they hold for themselves. On some level they doubt their worthiness. Worthiness — that they have a topic that people will be interested in. Worthiness — to charge for the value their product or service delivers. Worthiness — to have opinions, ideas, speak up, get that job etc… You name it, it pervasively impacts everything they do.

Let’s break this down for a moment. Most people would agree that when a child is born into this world, they are worthy. If we accept that as true, then the question is, if you don’t feel worthy now, at what point in time did you stop being worthy? At 3 months? At 1 year? At 4 years, at 10 at 30 at 50, etc…

The answer is each of us was born worthy, have always been worthy, are worthy and will continue to be so. If we all just accepted that a bit more and didn’t allow outside forces to chink away at how we feel, we would be much happier beings. The world would be a much better place for it.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

Yes there is. It would be Oprah Winfrey. I remember as a teenager running home from school to catch her show. I was always excited to see who would be on the show and learn from the discussions. And now I’m an avid follower of Super Soul Sunday, to the extent that I go back and relisten to episodes I’ve listened to before. Admittedly, I find it hard to verbalize what it is — there’s so much about her that inspires me.

Growing up she was, aside from my own family, probably the biggest public female influence on me and how I thought about the world. OK at 15 I wouldn’t have expressed that way but she is and always has been for me a beacon of what was possible for women. My impression of her is that she upholds many of the values that are important to me like trust, respect, integrity, joy, strength, and vulnerability.

She’s also just good fun. Her laugh is contagious and to sit down and have a chat with her would be one of the great privileges of my life.

As I’ve listened to the podcast I’ve laughed, cried and reflected on myself and my place in the world. When times are tough I find myself thinking “It’s a SuperSoul Day” I need to reach out and get me some Oprah. Haha! Whatever I listen to it feels like the right message at the right time.

She inspires me to be a better version of myself. Thank you Oprah for that!

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

Yes, mostly they can find me on LinkedIn or on Facebook (both @thepricinglady). Or on my website similarly named.

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Janene Liston, The Pricing Lady On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Future Is Now: Nancy Parsons Of CDR Companies On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake…

The Future Is Now: Nancy Parsons Of CDR Companies On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Tech Scene

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Improve your financial leadership acumen. This is something I knew to do, but kind of ignored. I have always counted on others who love the financial aspects of the business. I like knowing where we are, setting goals, etc., but do not enjoy the tedious details, calculations and data behind the results, etc. With growing the business this is a must, so I still am working at it, and I still rely on those who are really good at this.

As a part of our series about cutting edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing Nancy Parsons.

Nancy Parsons, CEO/President of CDR Companies, LLC, is a globally recognized expert in combining the science of assessments with the art of developing people. In 2020, Nancy and her team launched CDR-U Coach, the first of its kind. This is an AI type avatar coach that provides individualized feedback and development for all employees and was just awarded the 2021 Gold Star Winner of the “Best New Product or Service of the Year” by the Stevie Awards for Women in Business. In February 2022, CDR Companies launched another first of its kind, STEM Fit Review, to CDR-U Coach’s action planning module. Also, Nancy was the MEECO International Thought Leader of Distinction in Executive Coaching (2019) and author of the Amazon bestseller: Women Are Creating the Glass Ceiling and Have the Power to End It.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I started my career in human resources working at a shipyard, coal mine and then, pipeline operations. I was a generalist and was even responsible for labor relations. I grew tired of the fire fighting and wanted to get in front of problems by helping leaders and executives become more effective. So, I began to gravitate to development, coaching and developing assessment measures. In fact, back in 1989 at Sun Pipe Line, I led a project for succession planning that reached every employee with a Career Enrichment Program and developmental coaching feedback with their supervisor at a minimum. This meant that every employee was afforded a custom developmental opportunity each year, not just high potentials. A custom development opportunity might have been attending a workshop, shadowing in another area of the company, mentoring, leading a study group and more. I think I instinctively knew early in my career, even before technology capabilities, that developing each and every employee was very important.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

To be candid, the most interesting story since I began my career is that I married the company doctor. He was a widower and I was a divorcee at the time. I was the pipeline HR director and he was our medical director located at the refinery in Tulsa, so we did not work at the same location. We were brought together when the new DOT drug testing regulations were mandated, and we were both charged with implementing the testing. We have now been married over 30 years! Who would have ever thought that romance could be found while working on the details of drug testing?

Can you tell us about the cutting edge technological breakthroughs that you are working on? How do you think that will help people?

The whole focus of our technological breakthrough is to help people to be more self-aware so that they will be equipped to drive their careers and performance in the best direction to maximize their success and happiness. The truth is, studies show that while most people think they are self-aware, only 10 to 15% actually are. Our purpose is to reverse this statistic with our Stevie Award-winning technology, CDR-U Coach, a scalable assessment and coaching platform. CDR-U Coach provides personalized coaching feedback and action planning guidance based on the results of the in-depth CDR Assessments, which measure one’s in-depth character traits, inherent risks factors and drivers and reward needs. Driven by complex algorithms leveraging rich data with predictive results, CDR-U Coach provides an AI type experience for users with no two individuals receiving the same feedback — it is that personalized. It is also completely virtual with feedback delivered by an avatar coach and employees can go back at any time to review or to update their developmental action plans. This first-of-its-kind scalable talent development solution is available 24/7 to users.

In February 2022, we launched another first-of-its-kind STEM Fit Review. The lack of STEM talent across all sectors is a critical problem. This severe shortage impacts all industries and according to Deloitte in Semiconductor Engineering, 82% of executives cite there is a shortage of qualified STEM candidates, particularly in technical and engineering fields.

Interestingly, many individuals in the workplace and in college have the capability to work in STEM careers, but just don’t know it. Raw talent for STEM careers frequently goes underdeveloped, especially for female and minority candidates. CDR-U Coach now offers individual analysis and feedback on whether a candidate has the personality characteristics and motivational drivers to be a successful STEM professional or leader. This digital assessment and coaching platform segment called STEM Fit Review, which is part of the Career Action Planning Module (CAP), delineates those who have STEM capabilities. It even takes it further by identifying STEM candidates with leadership or project management strengths or math-only STEM capabilities.

How do you think this might change the world?

I believe this can change the world of work, performance, and careers, as we know it today, to be highly effective, far more productive, and satisfying. Frankly, the hard truth is that employers do a poor job at effectively identifying and developing leaders and talent today. There are systemic breakdowns and inadequacies. Here is an excerpt from my upcoming book, “Transforming Leaderocrity,”

The alarming truth is that there are far more inept and mediocre performers populating leadership ranks than stars. It has been this way for thousands of years. This is because the way we “do” leadership has not changed in any substantial way. Selection decisions, promotions, succession, development, and rewards have essentially been done in the same way since the beginning of recorded times. The decision makers chose those for leadership roles they:

  • generally like or have an affinity for,
  • feel have the right “stuff”,
  • find remind them of themselves,
  • think can talk the talk,
  • believe have the right experiential and academic boxes checked,
  • find to have a paper trail of sufficient financial performance successes,
  • trust what references have told them,
  • deem to have the needed level of confidence and boldness,
  • quietly approve of as passing the social club or comfort zone criteria; and,
  • believe it looks like they will play the part well.

Of course, the semantics have improved to some extent as well as talent development investments, perks, and glitz (executive competencies, descriptors, performance measures, incentives, etc.). Unfortunately, the process of getting ahead and becoming the chosen one or few has not changed significantly throughout the history of humankind. Those who are charming, witty, tough, articulate, courageous, reasonably intelligent, clever, well groomed, competitive, energetic, politically astute or aligned, and aggressive tend to get the prized top jobs. They always have.

Of course, there are decades of studies that suggest that anywhere from 50 to 75% of leaders are ineffective. When considering all employee levels, this is not to suggest the same ineffective rates; however, engagement, retention, job misfits, underutilization of talent, failure of D & I initiatives and more, are real problems for organizations now and into the future if we do not change how we identify and develop talent. CDR-U Coach is the solution to these dilemmas. The assessments used by CDR-U Coach are also scientifically valid tools for employee selection screening and succession planning — to identify talent to assure that jobs are filled with the best-fits. Next, it develops all talent in a way that democratizes, personalizes and digitizes, which is essential for the future and to reach all levels of employees. This means it is scalable and not manpower intensive. Last, the data and analytics can be used for enterprise-wide talent initiatives such as success planning, team formation, custom leader training, team development, talent capability analysis, training needs analysis and more.

We can no longer rely on resumes, interviews, universities attended and subjective data sources we have used to this point. We can get it right so that companies are more productive and successful; meanwhile, employees will be more satisfied and passionate about the work they do.

Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

I don’t think the drawbacks are with the avatar coaching feedback technology we use. In terms of psychological safety, users say they feel safer with the avatar coach because they are in the “non-judgment zone.” Also, they can take their time, pause and go back to give themselves time to think about the feedback. We also provide action planning tools to help them build tangible plans for their development.

However, what can be a drawback for some is more about the assessment results which we have been providing for global clients for more than two decades. There is a very small percentage of people and leaders who are:

  1. Not comfortable with this type of in-depth feedback — it is accurate, hard-hitting, candid and is not sugar-coated, as we identify 11 risk factors, or ineffective coping strategies when under stress. Some only want positive, happy feedback.
  2. Change-resistant and not open to new technologies or new ideas.
  3. Afraid of being “exposed” for who they are and overly worried of others’ perceptions of them.

Last, the only other drawback or caution is that companies need to adopt appropriate ethical standards of usage and terms of confidentiality when using these types of assessments and coaching technology. They also need to develop internal subject matter experts and/or rely on external consultants to guide them with communications, additional live coaching, designing succession planning systems incorporating the data, etc.

Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?

What led me to this breakthrough idea was actually a client request, so I cannot take credit for the initial idea. Leslye McDade Morrison, Ph.D. was CLO at the Pentagon and then at the US Army Civilian University. She and her team were certified internal coaches to use our assessments for coaching leaders at their posts within the DOD. Leslye asked me if we could develop some kind of multi-media or avatar coach. She explained they had 10,000 employees who weren’t at the executive levels yet needed the self-awareness provided by the coaching debriefs of our assessments. Leslye said they couldn’t possibly afford to pay for live coaching or handle the nightmare logistics, but that all of their people needed the feedback. At the time, I responded to her, “Well I think we can, let me get on that!” We completed this goal in late 2020 with the initial release of CDR-U Coach.

What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?

We need to communicate better with HR and talent development executives so that they will let down their guard and give CDR-U Coach a chance.

“While these may be exciting times for those who embrace and thrive on change, the truth is that most HR leaders and professionals do not have change agent profiles. Our data show that most established HR types tend to be risk aversive and prefer established solutions from well-known vendors that tend to regurgitate semantically enticing, yet low result approaches. HR people tend to be great at processes, operations, policy administration and guidance, implementing and getting things done well with consistency. They are practical, helpful and relatable. However, those relying on the existing HR playbook and who are not comfortable with change, will not be prepared for the new world challenges.”

We are developing case studies, communications and pilot testing programs with clients and prospects to help these key executives to understand the practical and business value of CDR -U Coach. They can now provide personalized development to all of the employees who typically never receive coaching as well as have a goldmine of data and analytics for talent management and development.

Also, on January 13, 2022, CDR-U Coach was honored as the winner of a Gold Stevie® Award in the Best New Product or Service of the Year — Business Services category in the 18th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business. This was a strong validation of our new coaching technology. There was an impressive slate of judges in our category with some from large companies such as Cisco, Walmart, Macy’s, IBM, Google, London’s Academy of Online Learning and Oracle. Here is a sampling of the judges’ comments we received:

  • I spent quite a bit of time reading through this submission as this is my space. It intrigued me in reference to the avatar. The possibilities are endless — and I must admit what you are doing excited me for where this could go. We all want our employees to know their strengths and weaknesses, their areas of opportunities, and this looks like a tool that does this in a clear, non-emotional,non-judgmental way without taking away from the traditional coaching model.
  • Impressive development, CDR! The incorporation of AI and having coaching made available to all levels of employees and highly commendable.

What have you been doing to publicize this idea? Have you been using any innovative marketing strategies?

We have been taking a multi-pronged approach. First, since we are a small business, our budget is limited compared to large leadership and talent development competitors. So, we must get creative! I think applying for and receiving the Stevie Award was innovative and extremely beneficial. We have a PR firm that provides a great deal of social media content. We host monthly LinkedIn Live sessions with compelling guests. I speak at various conferences, am interviewed by blog hosts and media personalities and write articles about CDR-U Coach and AI coaching technology. We have a digital marketing company as well, so we have video content and other media releases. We offer “test drives” of CDR-U Coach to increase awareness and to introduce the technology. While this may not have a huge reach, I found it very clever and fun, our communications agency just designed a series of social media posts using the sitcom “The Office,” which depicts some of the key characters’ “Risk Factors.” We are also in the midst of pushing out news about the STEM Fit Review, via our newsletter and our network of CDR Certified Executive Coaches, so we are pulling on many levers. The good news for us is that the tech types love CDR-U Coach. In fact, we have quotes where they say they prefer the avatar to a human coach.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

First, you don’t get this far along in your career without a lot of help and support from many wonderful people. I could write a book on so many amazing people who have helped me along the way and who are still supporting us. So, thank you all!

However, I will focus on two special people who pushed me to get CDR-U Coach completed and over the finish line. For some history, when I started exploring technologies and designing this avatar coaching platform, CDR Assessment Group was based in Tulsa. Due to my husband’s job relocation, I had to move the business to the Houston area which pretty much shut down my development project work. I had to hire new staff, sell our building in Tulsa and just try to keep things afloat.

Through all of this, my husband, Bill, kept saying, “You have to get that coaching technology done, it is critical and innovative.” He kept nudging me to get it done as he had seen some of my early designs and business planning. He’s also been 100% committed as we personally funded, from our retirement savings, the technology development part of CDR-U Coach. That is a supportive husband!

A couple of years after relocating to Houston, I hired, part-time at first, Christine Klatt, who has amazing talent in running the business. She wanted to do volunteer work part-time too. Her background had nothing to do with assessments or talent development as she was a high-level leader in an energy-related environmental mitigation company. Immediately, she saw the value in the assessments and was drawn to our work and clients. She also saw the compelling need to get the digital coaching technology done. She not only pushed me to pick it back up and move forward, but she was instrumental in leading our technology teams and was the project manager. Had they both not believed in what we were doing so strongly and committed with their actions and support, CDR-U Coach would likely still be in my head. Of course, there were many other supporters along the way, but these two made all the difference for taking this vision to reality.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

We help people see their own gifts, talents, vulnerabilities and needs. We help individuals see their own true talent. From executives to college students, we help people realize what is best, unique and wonderful about them. We help them to avoid or mitigate potential problems by understanding their risk factors that can undermine success. We help them find joy and passion for their work. For me, this work is the essence of goodness.

While we work with a wide range of companies and organizations, we have also helped a great number of nonprofits. To name a few: Impact a Hero, VEL Institute, Lonestar Veterans and more veteran organizations. Other non-profits include universities and health care providers such as SouthCentral Foundation in Alaska and health research foundations. We’ve provided support to Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits, various church organizations, and today, are helping executive coaches who are providing pro-bono coaching to non-profits spearheaded by Val Markos, PhD. in Atlanta. Founder and president of The Reach Foundation, Tracy Young, just wrote us:

“I went through the results of my survey and found it fascinating. Thank you for the opportunity to take such a well-produced and thoughtful assessment. I loved having an Avatar. It felt so much more personal and I was able to keep focus so much more. “

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why.

I would say:

  1. Most important: build a strong marketing and sales team.

We did not do this for many years, more than two decades. We sold by word of mouth, customer referrals, writing articles, speaking, etc., and did not build an effective marketing and sales plan for two decades. So, when we developed into a new technology company, we faced the same challenges as a start-up, although we have a great wealth of success stories, not enough people know about them. Now, here we are as a small boutique-type women-owned firm, trying to compete with the big boys. (Gender notation intended.)

2. Improve your financial leadership acumen.

This is something I knew to do, but kind of ignored. I have always counted on others who love the financial aspects of the business. I like knowing where we are, setting goals, etc., but do not enjoy the tedious details, calculations and data behind the results, etc. With growing the business this is a must, so I still am working at it, and I still rely on those who are really good at this.

3. Work on the business rather than in the business.

I do work on the business in terms of growth, but unfortunately, I work too much in the business, providing services to clients, developing products, marketing, sales, etc. I wear many hats as an entrepreneur. Some hats suit me better than others. In the future, I hope to find a successor who can grow the business so that I can do the things I am best at, developing services, teaching, coaching, writing and learning.

4. HR people are hard to sell to.

This is a hard nut to crack. It is kind of ironic in a way. While I was one during times past, I was definitely a non-traditional HR type. The truth was, I was the odd woman out, and I was not winning popularity contests within my HR organization. I lacked political savvy and always stayed in operational units (shipyard, coal mine, pipelines) because I couldn’t imagine myself suffering the stifling, stodgy role in corporate HR. One time, my HR VP had a Labor Relations meeting in New Orleans for those of us dealing with labor organizations. I actually had the largest number of bargaining units to deal with. I happened to be the only woman in this role and somehow I received the invitation to this summit two weeks after the meeting was held; an oversight, I am sure. Fortunately, with our good work at pipelines and in building trust with our employees, several of our labor organizations decertified while I was there. No, I wasn’t a traditional HR type. One funny comment I remember was that my Ops VP in Pipelines was worried that I wasn’t manipulative enough as a negotiator. I have a “what you see is what you get” style and I didn’t like to BS people. I was willing to push back and forth, but I failed at manipulation. In the end, my style worked and I built trust with the union reps and negotiating teams.

Here’s another irony. I have the data of these HR execs and leaders. I know their profiles, so we recognize what the problem is in getting through to them. We have our best opportunities with those who are change agents or new to their talent development roles. I am all ears for advice on how to open more doors and gain the trust of reluctant HR executives.

5. Often those that market best, not those that have the best services or products, have the most success.

This one is part of the human experience. Often, we see far less capable or talented folks gaining the most traction in business. I am not trying to be disparaging, but it is frustrating to see people selling or repackaging, the same old same old, and just wrapping these “services” in glitzy marketing campaigns or with their name recognition. They continue to win the day, meanwhile many of these individuals are not helping organizations in significant or impactful ways to move the needle. Some who are brilliant in selling themselves are often not brilliant with the solutions they provide. Just saying…

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

My movement would be to develop all talent well, not just those at the top or those designated as high potentials. You would be amazed at what talent your organization has on board that you do not know exists. Move people to roles for which they are best suited to serve so that performance soars. Last, adjust job roles and descriptions to mold to your people. Don’t force fit people because you don’t want to adjust key job duties.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Use the talents God has given you to make the world better for your having been in it.”

Robert Collier

I grew up outside of Philadelphia in a blue-collar family and was the middle of five children. I did not go to college right out of high school. I took the 10-year route, while I worked full time. Believe me, when I was young, I would have never imagined myself where I am today. Still, I always believed in trying to develop my gifts and talents that God had given me, whatever they were. I have always been on that course and am still on that path. I think it comes down to if you don’t believe in yourself and the good that you do, who else will rally with you? Mistakes are okay, they are part of the process. My journey has not always been easy, but I never gave up when I could have. Being sure to “do the right thing” and to help people has kept me moving forward. Last, my competitive drive keeps pushing me and won’t let me slow down. My work is never done. I have four adult children, and seven grandchildren, yet I am driven to push this new technology forward. Rationally, I am at a point where I likely should be slowing down. Obviously, I did not get that message as I am just revving up. I am so passionate about the work we are doing that I cannot let go. I am full of excitement and drive, and we are just throttling up. Let’s just say I am proudly immature for my age!

Some very well known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them 😊

Even after spending more than $50 billion annually on developing leaders, many companies still don’t have the bench strength to meet their future business goals. CDR-U Coach is an avatar coaching platform that extends the same level of assessment and feedback to all levels of employees that is typically only offered to senior leaders. It is a first-of-its-kind technology that is fueled by the CDR 3-D Suite of Assessments providing a comprehensive and scalable solution to talent development. The algorithms of CDR-U Coach are so rich, no two users receive the same feedback. This gives CDR-U Coach a competitive edge that can’t be duplicated.

Also, data from the assessments used by CDR-U Coach provide enterprise-wide solutions for: discovering hidden talent, upskilling and reskilling, identifying STEM talent, succession planning, selection screening, team building, and more.

The market we entered is more than $370 Billion global spend, with e-learning being the fastest growing segment and the #1 industry goal is “personalization of learning” which CDR-U Coach delivers!

How can our readers follow you on social media?

On LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyeparsons/

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

The Future Is Now: Nancy Parsons Of CDR Companies On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Wisdom From The Women Leading The Blockchain Revolution With Vivi Lin Of Octopus Network

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Don’t shy away from the spotlight. I know you might feel that you are being humble, but when it is your opportunity to shine, grab it and shine.

As a part of our series about Wisdom From The Women Leading The Blockchain Revolution, had the pleasure of interviewing Vivi Lin.

Vivi Lin, Partner at Octopus Network, is an award-winning TV personality, crypto influencer and media advisor. She works as a spokesperson for Octopus Network, a Web 3.0 infrastructure; a columnist for Financial Times China and media advisor for various blockchain projects. Prior to that, she was a bilingual TV presenter and producer for Reuters Financial TV.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you share with us the story of how you decided to pursue this career path? What lessons can others learn from your story?

Nice to be here. 🙂

It was a natural transition for me. I stumbled into crypto around 2017 and 2018 when I was in Silicon Valley as a TV producer and presenter, sharing the stories on innovation and entrepreneurship. If you remember, that was the previous bull market for crypto. I noticed a lot of my engineer friends who worked in Facebook and Google all quit their jobs to start their own crypto ventures. I started to do my homework and research on Bitcoin and crypto, which led me down the rabbit hole.

Fortunately for me, I was quite familiar with the business and entrepreneurship scene and very active in the cross-border startup communities between China and the US. I received an offer to work as the global partner for one of the biggest crypto media and investment groups in China, and that officially started my crypto career about 4 years ago.

The lessons — I’d say don’t be afraid of learning new things and don’t get intimidated by the lingo and jargon. I did not study computer sciences or coding and the technical description around crypto did seem overwhelming at the get-go, but once you understand what it really means, you understand that the industry needs talents from all walks of life, not only tech, but storytellers and marketers in my case. I am sure you will find your role in this fast-growing space.

Can you tell me about the most interesting projects you are working on now?

I recently joined Octopus Network, which is a brand new multichain network to bootstrap that runs appchains. It’s a very exciting and interesting project. I share the same values and visions with Octopus’ co-founder Louis Liu and the team, as we all believe that Web3 needs more applications and increased adoption, and we are here to help solve the bottleneck problem.

Octopus is an important infrastructure of Web3, because it helps web 3 applications to start more easily and run more smoothly with appchains. The Octopus Network, deeply rooted in the Near Blockchain, is offering a set of support, from technical support, to funding and community, to help Web3 applications to build appchains in the Octopus ecosystem.

Together, we help Web3 to happen faster, and this is a mission close to my heart.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

You are right!

I feel so grateful for all the support and love I’ve received along the way, just so many people have helped me and guided me, from family to friends to colleagues. It’s hard to pick just one person.

If I have to pick one, I would say my father. He always encouraged me to go as far as I can and to pursue my dreams. I remember when I was a teenage girl, growing up in south China where still many people believed that girls were not as “worthy” or “smart” as boys. I overheard conversations between some grown-ups, probably friends of my parents, discussing educational tips. One “uncle” (we call them uncle and auntie) suggested to my parents to send me to some vocational school near home. I still remember some sentences, such as “What’s the point of girls studying so much?” and “What if she never comes home if she goes too far to study”. I was horrified, as I had so many dreams and wanted to see the world while learning as much as I could.

I later asked my father, and to my delight, my father said “You are just as good as any boy, or even better; and you can go as far as you want. The world is for you to explore”.

I took that to heart as my family’s support has given me so much strength and love that whenever I face challenges or difficulties, I know I can overcome them.

What are the 3 things that most excite you about blockchain and crypto? Why?

Innovation, freedom and growth.

Crypto and blockchain were born out of innovation and there is still so much innovation happening in this space, from technology to business models to products. I am learning happily everyday.

The next is freedom as crypto offers people an opportunity to have the freedom independent of any established system or regime. Look at the situation in Ukraine and Russia, and some places where inflation is wiping out people’s hard-earned fiat savings; bitcoin and other crypto assets provide an alternative, which is precious.

Growth — when the world economy stagnates, only innovation can help revive the growth, that’s why we see the boom of Web3 projects. Of course, it takes time to transit from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0, but it is happening, and that will contribute to the growth of the whole world too.

What are the 3 things that worry you about blockchain and crypto? Why?

Scams, speculation and short-sightedness.

There are scams in any industry, that’s just a sad fact of human weakness, but because crypto is still new and at an early-stage, people seem to hear stories of scammers a lot from crypto. The truth is there are scams in the crypto space, but there is also real growth and development, so people need to see both sides. Also we also hope industry players can work together to wipe out scammers.

Speculations are normal in all financial markets, I just hope that people also see the true value of the projects in the space, not only just the buying and selling of coins.

Short-sightedness refers to people who forget about the big picture or don’t have long-term views. Be it investors or builders, if you hold a long-term perspective, you’ll see the real value which is good for the real growth of the industry.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world? Can you share a story?

I am not there yet in terms of “success”, but am grateful to lead the life I have today.

One of the missions that’s closest to my heart is women’s rights. Like the story I shared earlier, in many parts of the world, there are still places where people value boys over girls, and women are treated unfavorably in workplaces. I have used my influence to unite communities by sharing stories and empowering more women to pursue their dreams and stand up for their rights, and also to our men counterparts to enlighten them about the importance of gender equality, which is good for all of society.

As you know there are not that many women in your industry. Can you share 3 things that you would advise to other women in the blockchain space to thrive?

Lesson 1: don’t get intimidated by the tech lingo of crypto, because it is not as difficult as it seems. Believe in yourself, you can do it.

Lesson 2: Don’t shy away from the spotlight. I know you might feel that you are being humble, but when it is your opportunity to shine, grab it and shine.

Lesson 3: Use your feminine power wisely. Crypto is a male-dominated space, we need to learn how to work with men better. Men and women think differently in many ways, it is a challenge, but also an advantage for us. Learn to use the differences and you’ll be surprised once you figure out the trigger.

Can you advise what is needed to engage more women into the blockchain industry?

Just like the blockchain industry needs more people to educate the wider audience to join the space, we also need to share our insights as women already inside the industry to other female friends.

Some women might feel intimidated by the blockchain space, or believe the stereotype that it is full of scams, making them hesitant to join. We just need to show them it is not the case, and it is an area full of innovation and could use more talent.

What is your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that had relevance to your own life?

I actually don’t have only one favorite quote, as I get inspired by various quotes all the time haha, and they change as I grow up.

One of the current ones is “Everything is figure-outable”, by Marie Foleo, an entrepreneur and TV presenter whom I deeply admire. I was traveling back to China for the lunar new year from Silicon Valley in early 2020, and did not expect I would be struck by blackswans — the pandemic and the increased tension between US and China, which took a toll on my business and travel schedule. But truly “everything is figure-outbale”, you just need to stay calm and seek solutions, instead of thinking, “Why is this happening to me?!”. I took a deep breath, and sorted my life out accordingly, and life continues. I managed to continue my media advisory business as well as producing crypto video content from wherever I am based, a “Web3” lifestyle.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I’d like to start a movement to make people aware of women’s rights, in the sense of empowering women about their worth, as well as helping men and women understand each other better. The world is not a zero-sum game, it is not like we women have to take from men, but when we understand and value each other, together we create a better world.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

You can follow me on Twitter by @vivilinsv, or check out my Youtube channels “Vivi in the Valley”, as well Octopus Network’s Youtube and Twitter.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Wisdom From The Women Leading The Blockchain Revolution With Vivi Lin Of Octopus Network was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Making Something From Nothing: Alister Punton Of Storylines On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Be yourself. You don’t have to act like some corporate high flier suit-wearing robot. Being yourself is more honest and in today’s world, completely acceptable. You’ll come across as more natural, more confident and get better results.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alister Punton.

Alister Punton is a principal founder of Storylines at Sea, a liveaboard private residence ship which continuously travels the world, offering an international lifestyle for a community of global citizens. He brings more than 20 years of experience in business planning and strategy to the expanding residential yacht and ship market. Alister oversees the development of the lifestyle side of the Storylines brand while his business partner Shannon Lee oversees the ship’s construction.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

Growing up on a farm gave me an unfair advantage as an entrepreneur. A farm life is the essence of ‘making something from nothing’ and very quickly from a young age I learnt how to make myself an income, and by the time I was 18 I had nearly a dozen micro-businesses which ranged from seasonal work to mini enterprises selling products in the town nearby. This all played a role in where I’d end up today; that I’m sure.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness. I am kind to everyone, but when someone is unkind to me, weak is not what you are going to remember about me.” Al Capone
There is a great lesson here, you need to be kind, caring and compassionate as a leader, but you need to know when to step in and control the situation. Finding the right line between interfering with your team and appropriate action is a key life skill. Al Capone had different objectives and delivery methods, but the philosophy is relevant to business management.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

I’d have to say author and physicist Stephen Hawking and his book ‘A brief history of time’ really made it clear to me that we are all just talking monkeys on an organic spaceship flying through space. It’s humbling to think about, but also motivating to think that there is so much we don’t know, so by inventing a new thing maybe I’m helping to bridge that gap in some weird and wonderful way.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

Ideas. Everyone has them. But making them into something; that’s the hard part. First you need to find a problem people have, and then solve it. That’s most businesses in a nutshell. These fixes may be obvious or hard to understand at first, but if it’s a genuine problem you are fixing, people will pay money to do it which brings us to revenue models. What is yours? Is it sustainable? Do you have capital? If not, where will you get it from? A little trick I was taught by a billionaire is to double your costs and half your revenue number…if it still works you have something worth pursuing. Now granted that’s not suitable for all business models, but it’s something to think about.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

Welcome to the magical world of the internet; it’s all there, might not be on the surface, but it’s all there if you look hard enough. Start by looking to see who else is doing it. Dig deep. Find the research that has been conducted on the topic or the problem you are looking to solve, and of course there are likely discussion groups on social platforms already talking about this. These are great to get a pulse on the idea.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

Let’s think of the key steps you must go through.

  1. Identify and define your idea. What is it really, is that a go-to-market idea? What’s your elevator pitch? Can you explain your idea to a five year old? Get your business plan in place and continually update it so it stays relevant. That’s a critical step at this early stage.
  2. Get support. It’s going to be a long road, so get some support from future consumers, friends, investors!!!, manufacturers, etc. Start conversations early with as many people as possible — they can be your best resource and give you an unbelievable amount of knowledge and direction to better define your idea and maybe even new revenue streams you hadn’t thought of.
  3. Chunk it down. You can’t possibly do everything all at once, so chunk it down into smaller manageable parts with clear outcomes. This will ensure you see progress and keep motivated.
  4. Be prepared to learn. You will need to be the jack of all trades at first, learning new things and knowing how to do everything is just as important as actually doing it.
  5. Get good at processes. Once you do the step above, you’ll need to be good at documenting everything down to the finest detail: not all at once, but it will need to be done. That way when it comes time to outsource that role, you’ll have a ready-built standard operating procedure that works for you in your company right away. Less time training and worse yet, repeating yourself.
  6. Get to revenue, fast. It may not be the best version of your product, but get something out there as soon as possible. This will do a number of things; it will keep you and your team motivated, attract investors and of course provide incredible user data and feedback.
  7. Outsource. Armed with your SOPs, now figure out which hires are next and get them, even just short term gap fillers, always find the very best people you can, and source globally, don’t restrict yourself to local talent.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

  1. There is no training for what you are about to do — no courses, MBAs or anything that can really prepare you — you just need to back yourself and do it. Day in and day out.
  2. Get a mentor. This is easier than you might think and it doesn’t need to be a professional relationship, just have people better than you available and willing to take a call from you from time to time. Just airing and sharing a problem or talking to others can in many cases solve your problem.
  3. Be yourself. You don’t have to act like some corporate high flier suit-wearing robot. Being yourself is more honest and in today’s world, completely acceptable. You’ll come across as more natural, more confident and get better results.
  4. Stay focused. There are a lot of shiny objects out there, and you’ll be tempted to sway from your plan for something along the way, but tread very carefully with this. It has the potential to stop you in your tracks or lose face with other stakeholders. Know what is good for you and your company and its goals.
  5. Take time for yourself. Sounds easy enough, and maybe I was late to the party on this one, but blocking out time away from it all is as important as being there for your team. You need this reset time, time to think and strategize the next move/s.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

Learn from others; the internet is full of amazing content, start watching videos, like my video LINK. Don’t just watch and read, do it with a goal…what is your outcome at the end? What did you learn? And importantly, How can you apply it to what you want to do?

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

Hiring consultants can be a minefield and a pocket burner in the early stages. Anytime you hire a consultant you need to make sure the deliverables are clearly defined for all involved. Do this up front and honestly and you should be fine. Make sure you have exit clauses so if they aren’t performing you can move on, and learn to recognise this quickly.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

Venture capital at an early stage will cost you more than you will want to give up as a general rule of thumb; not only in equity, but also control so this can be risky. The flipside of course is they have the capital to potentially move things forward much faster than you could alone and may make your venture worth a multitude more than if you were without them. Choose wisely. My business partner Shannon Lee and I chose to bootstrap for a number of reasons, mainly because we knew that at the early stages we wouldn’t be a target for serious levels of investment. We did a friends and family round early on to enable us to reach the point where we were looked at seriously and at the time of writing we have various offers for project and company funding.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

Already we have seen a positive impact being made in the world because of Storylines. During a tour to the Philippines it was on our advice that a terribly poor, muddy and dangerous road was sealed all the way to a mountain top, making the lives of everyone who uses it including school children a little bit better. Our plan is to make meaningful change in every port we visit.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

One of our founding principles is based on contribution. We consume less than we contribute. On and off the ship, philanthropy and sustainability are central to all that we do. We are planning on using the Storylines vessels to contribute positively all around the globe at all the ports, cities and regions we travel to. With 1000+ residents travelling the world continually via an environmentally sustainable ship, we believe our community will have a positive impact everywhere we go. I’d love to hear from people with practical ideas on how to facilitate this. We have the floating city and many people in our community who want to participate; let’s hear your ideas!

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Elon Musk — He has what many might consider ambitious plans, that include putting humans on another planet and, interestingly, I saw a talk where he discussed ‘space citizenship’. Well before that can happen there needs to be a consciousness shift from the land based creatures we are to embrace his ideas. I think that Storylines is a logical step in this direction. We are helping our species evolve from living on land, to actually living on the sea. The next logical step will be with space and then to Mars and beyond. So although he may not know who we are and what we are doing, we like to think that we’re helping him to realize his dreams too. So Elon, Breakfast or Brunch?

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Making Something From Nothing: Alister Punton Of Storylines On How To Go From Idea To Launch was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Future Is Now: Assaf Feldman Of Riskified On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up…

The Future Is Now: Assaf Feldman Of Riskified On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Tech Scene

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

I wish I didn’t believe for so long that managing people wasn’t my thing. In fact that’s partly why I chose to work for a lot of small places where there wasn’t much of a management need. It was only when I started my own company did I really develop my own management style and unexpectedly discovered that I had a real knack for it. I’ve learned that if you truly want people to work as a team, the leadership has to embody that before it can be reflected at all different levels of the company.

As a part of our series about cutting edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing Assaf Feldman.

Assaf is the CTO and co-founder of Riskified. He leads the Product Development and Technology teams.

Under his leadership, Riskified has built an eCommerce risk management platform with proprietary machine learning models that drive an automated decisioning engine supporting its eCommerce risk mitigation suite of products.

Assaf brings two decades of experience developing robust systems with ML algorithms and intelligent UIs for risk management applications.

He was selected to be a research scientist for the Ambient Intelligence group at MIT’s Media Lab.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I went to college to study film and computer science. After graduating, I worked as a product manager and programmer. I later went to MIT to study data science and started to integrate that into my programming. This varied career path has shown me the value of interdisciplinary learning — over the years, it’s allowed me to pick up a lot of different skills, develop a creative approach to problem solving and seek out collaborative ways to work with colleagues.

Before Riskified, I was working at a startup called BillGuard, which was where I met my Riskified co-founder Eido Gal. We got along very well. We both understood the problem of eCommerce fraud and had different, complementary strengths. Eido knew the business side of the problem and I was well-versed in the tech skills needed to solve it. In our conversations, he would frequently come with the what and I would come with the how.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

It was early in my career. I had decided against working in film but wasn’t fully enjoying programming because I felt that my creative side was unfulfilled. Then I began working as a programmer with a studio in New York specializing in user generated media and content. We worked on a project for MTV that eventually went to the Museum of Moving Image in Queens. During that process, I learned that I didn’t have to give up my creativity as a programmer. It’s also ironic that the project that got me closest to fulfilling my film ambitions was the one where I worked as a programmer.

Can you tell us about the cutting edge technological breakthroughs that you are working on? How do you think that will help people?

Before Riskified, the main solutions that eCommerce merchants used were legacy rule based solutions or scoring solutions. These are imprecise and often turn away legitimate transactions. We pioneered the chargeback guarantee model of fraud prevention, which means that if Riskified approves a transaction that turns out to be fraudulent, we are held liable for the transaction, not the merchant. This aligns Riskified’s incentives with the merchants and pushes us to be as accurate as possible.

With our machine learning models, we can approve more transactions for merchants while still enabling them to provide a seamless experience for shoppers. In order to do that, our models have to be very precise. When we first started, that kind of precision did not exist in the market.

Nine years later, not only have we shown that our business model is viable, we’ve expanded beyond fraud management to be a comprehensive risk management solution. Our platform protects customer accounts, rescues orders from bank declines and helps merchants enforce store policy. We also deliver huge returns on investment for merchants. Some merchants using Riskified see more than 20% increase in sales approvals and over 60% reduction in fraud-related costs.

But it’s not just about increasing revenue, Overall, our platform makes eCommerce safer and more accessible. Lots of legitimate customers get falsely declined because of outdated, legacy fraud management systems. Our platform not only prevents fraud but allows more good customers to access eCommerce and participate in the global economy.

Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

The question Riskified has to answer for merchants is this: is the person behind each transaction the actual, legitimate card owner? To solve this problem, we have to work with a lot of customer data. I’m constantly amazed by how much information exists out there and understand exactly how much damage can be done when bad actors use that data for unscrupulous ends. Companies need to take data privacy seriously, which is why Riskified protects its customer data ferociously. It also behooves regulators to make sure something like the Cambridge Analytica scandal doesn’t happen again.

Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?

One of the most effective ways we demonstrate our value to merchants is to go through their declined transactions and identify the portion that’s actually legitimate. When we first started doing this, we found that on average, we could approve 50–75% of what merchants used to decline or were afraid to approve. This floored us — we assumed that market inefficiencies were there but didn’t think it was this bad.

Outdated fraud prevention solutions meant that merchants were missing out on full percentage points of sales and that huge swathes of legitimate customers were being shut out of the global economy. It strengthened our conviction that there was a huge problem that we needed to address and that we could also successfully solve it for merchants.

What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?

At the beginning, we worked really hard to educate merchants about false declines, showing them that the danger of having an outdated fraud management system wasn’t just fraud, but the number of good transactions that were left on the table. We began working with small and medium merchants, but as word spread, larger enterprise merchants began to seek us out.

We entered the market at the right time — a lot of organizations were realizing that they needed to find more efficient ways to deal with fraud prevention and they saw Riskified as a growth tool. Nine years on, we count many Fortune 500 companies as our clients, and the entire eCommerce market is embracing machine learning in risk management. The next step is continuing our geographical expansion and continuing to pursue the application of our solutions in emerging verticals like cryptocurrency.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My family has been a source of constant support — from my parents to my spouse to my children. My mother was an early source of inspiration. She ran her own business back in the 70s and 80s when women-owned businesses weren’t as common in Israel. My parents have always encouraged me to explore different areas of interest, and really fostered my sense of interdisciplinary thinking before I even realized what it was.

My children are my driving force. I went to MIT right around when they were born, and to this day they challenge me to constantly better myself. And my wife is my rock. Throughout our careers we’ve always given each other time to pursue our ambitions and made sacrifices for each other. I couldn’t ask for a better partner.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

When we conceived the company, we knew we wanted to make a positive impact in our communities.We established our CSR program early on and our employees have really embraced it. Last year, despite the pandemic, In 2021, nearly a quarter of Riskified’s employees spent over 1,200 hours volunteering in over 50 CSR projects in support of 30 nonprofits. We support a broad range of causes, from environmental conservation working to providing entrepreneurship training and educational programs to students. Our employees have even created their own programs to give back. Our research team spearheaded and taught an R coding course for frontline doctors on the fight against COVID-19, with the goal to help them more quickly and effectively analyze medical data.

Recently following our IPO, we realized the proceeds from our stake in Tmura, which is a foundation that aims to increase the Israeli tech community’s involvement in the nonprofit world. It receives equity donations from companies and uses the proceeds to fund education- and youth-related nonprofits operating in Israel. Riskified’s equity stake in Tmura generated $2.5 million that will be used to support a number of diverse nonprofits and projects over a seven-year period. Our donation broken the record for largest Tmura donation to date.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why.

I wish I didn’t believe for so long that managing people wasn’t my thing. In fact that’s partly why I chose to work for a lot of small places where there wasn’t much of a management need. It was only when I started my own company did I really develop my own management style and unexpectedly discovered that I had a real knack for it. I’ve learned that if you truly want people to work as a team, the leadership has to embody that before it can be reflected at all different levels of the company.

Through Riskified, I’ve been able to build the kind of company and culture that I always wanted, one where people aren’t siloed, and where everyone puts their egos aside to collaborate and solve some of the most complex problems facing eCommerce.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I would do something around interdisciplinary STEM education. For a period of time, I worked as a lecturer in art school, teaching tech to art students. It was incredibly rewarding to pair STEM learning with art literacy, and demonstrate that there’s a lot of creativity in the sciences. I also try to infuse interdisciplinary thinking into what we do at Riskified.

Some very well known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

We went public last year, a huge milestone that was the culmination of many years of hard work. I still remember what it felt like during the early stages of Riskified when investors were skeptical of whether our business model would work, and how that pushed us to deliver results to convince them and merchants that fraud prevention could be done in a new way. VCs should seek out startups that aren’t afraid to fundamentally change the way things are done in their industry.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

You can follow me on LinkedIn and also follow Riskified on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

The Future Is Now: Assaf Feldman Of Riskified On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Meet The Disruptors: Jeff Bettencourt Of Slate Technologies On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up…

Meet The Disruptors: Jeff Bettencourt Of Slate Technologies On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview with Fotis Georgiadis

Be paranoid. I believe the saying that “only the paranoid survive,” is a good one in business. It means stay on your toes, be aware of competition, stay grounded and be aware of your surroundings.

As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Bettencourt.

Jeff Bettencourt is the CEO of Slate Technologies, an AI platform that maximizes efficiency and costs for the construction industry. Prior to Slate, Jeff served as SVP and general manager of EMC’s $1B dollar Connectrix SAN Networking business; CMO and COO/chief of staff to the president of the $21B Core Storage Division; and Chief of Staff of the EMC $8B Backup and Recovery Division. He also held the role of EMC’s lead executive for its Product and R&D Value Creation and Integration Management Office, for the $67B combination of Dell and EMC.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

I like to think my career has come full circle to adapt and be ready for the disruptive challenge at Slate Technologies. When I was in college I wanted to major in architecture and design buildings and be part of the construction industry. Instead, I majored in business and marketing.

I started my career as an email product manager back in the ’90s, when email was not widely used. My career progressed, and I ended up working for Vint Cerf, formally known as the father of the Internet and TCP/IP. There, I worked with Vint and a team to create an eCommerce marketplace on this newly formed public Internet.

We would go on to use ecommerce software from a little company called Mosaic Communications, which became NetScape, one of the most influential companies in the public Internet’s history. I then worked with a few startups, focused on bringing businesses online, then I joined a company in the eDiscovery space right before the 2008 financial meltdown. We sold to Hewlett Packard, where I worked until I was recruited to be a GM at EMC, the largest electronic storage company in the world. I left EMC as an SVP and GM managing a $1B business in the storage networking space, where I also had the pleasure of leading a super smart team to rationalize over $30B of joint products between Dell and EMC prior to the acquisition.

My career path went from product management to business development to outside sales to general manager, to COO and now, to being the CEO of Slate — all along the way touching technology trends like facet navigation and search, eDiscovery, storage (disk to flash), backup and recovery, machine learning and artificial intelligence. I like to think that my collection of ideas, thoughts and experiences led me to my current opportunity at Slate.

Our mission at Slate is to help each and every construction professional impact construction productivity by revealing the timely context that helps them make earlier, better decisions. Slate’s “Digital Assistant’’ uses machine learning and AI to execute multi-dimensional analysis across internal and external data sources. This includes public data such as weather, labor and traffic with the dark data locked in silos and non-integrated systems within the general contractors and sub-contractor organizations. Gartner defines dark data “as the information assets organizations collect, process and store during regular business activities, but generally fail to use for other purposes.” In fact, in a report called “The State of Dark Data”, data specialists at Splunk released a study stating that as much as 55 percent of potential data context in a company is never available or not intersected in a way that could reveal incredibly valuable decision context.

Early versions of Slate will focus on augmenting decisions before, during and after all the tasks scheduled in a construction program. Once a master schedule is consumed or built, Slate leverages its proprietary dynamic scheduling capabilities to ensure change decisions can immediately update the overall schedule, as well as the order of individuals’ tasks. We’re also evolving easily to implement cross-firm data integrations, intersecting multiple data streams to reveal valuable opportunities that otherwise might never have been found fast enough to impact outcomes. Soon to follow, Slate’s increasing number of integrations with subcontractors and material suppliers’ software and systems will create data insights that are valuable to the executive suite, as well as the individuals executing tasks.

At Slate, we believe we are at the start of a significant shift in how we deliver buildings, where our software ‘machines’ work hand in hand with humans to transform productivity and profitability.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

Slate is focused on bringing a digital assistant to critical functions (personas) in the construction industry, removing guesswork from construction and helping companies deliver dramatically better projects. According to McKinsey, “Globally, construction sector labor-productivity growth averaged 1 percent a year over the past two decades, compared with 2.8 percent for the total world economy and 3.6 percent for manufacturing.” The construction industry has remained unchanged for over 100 years. Techniques, tools and machines have changed, but how constructability happens has largely gone unchanged. Slate is here to assist construction industry workers as a new machine that can work alongside them to solve business problems by predicting, relating, introspecting, and providing real-time decision making.

In construction, typically the master schedule of a project is only on schedule immediately after the schedule has been created. After that, things change rapidly. I use the analogy that we learn as children that the quickest route between two points is a straight line. However, with all the planning we do, nothing can stop change from occurring. There is never a straight line to follow. So, what if you had a Digital Assistant that could warn you or nudge you with context that could turn a seemingly negative decision into a positive one? Would you take it? Well, that’s what Slate is all about — assisting a construction supervisor, manager or program manager with information such as lessons learned from the last project, delivery lead time from suppliers, short-range radar weather forecasts, and potential safety issues from video or cameras. There is no shortage of digital data in construction — but there are no machines that give us the capability, coverage and capacity to process all the data we otherwise would not be aware of.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

As a young product manager (PM) early in my career, I had this idea that the smartest ideas would bubble to the top and the most organized would win the day. Boy, was I wrong. Business — as in life — is all about influence. How can you show people that you’re describing a better way to go about a project? How can you influence them to come on the journey with you and to be a part of the idea?

There is an adage that as a PM you are responsible for everything, but you own nothing. Your superpower is influence. When you break that down, success depends on your ability to influence others to see a point of view that you think is worth seeing.

The art of storytelling and influence is a CEO’s most powerful superpower. At Slate, I must energize a group of people to go on a journey, where things are not always clear, and get them to work as a team to build and disrupt an industry that no one has cracked yet.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

When I joined EMC, my manager was the COO of the division of EMC called Documentum. I was hired to be the GM of the Archiving Software and eDiscovery division. My president and COO had previously been the CIO of Microsoft for close to 15 years. The biggest thing I learned from him is that “it takes a village” to build a successful company. His messages to me were to hire people unlike me, who think differently and look at problems differently. He told me that if not for a very diverse team of people who did not always think alike, his team would not be able to navigate through the challenges.

That message has stuck with me.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

At Slate, we believe that disruptive technology does not have to be a negative if you are not trying to remove the human from the loop. The construction industry has traditionally been about humans and machines. We believe the role of machines is changing. They are no longer used just to assist in building or lifting materials. Machines help us see, predict, introspect, and make informed decisions throughout the day. We call this our Slate Decision Assistant, which is there to assist the human in the loop or role/job to make informed decisions based on knowledge of Slate machine learning algorithms.

Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

  1. Always have fun. Two of my mentors would always tell me to pick something you’re passionate about and always have fun. If the work you are doing is not fun and doesn’t put a smile on your face, find a new role.
  2. Be paranoid. I believe the saying that “only the paranoid survive,” is a good one in business. It means stay on your toes, be aware of competition, stay grounded and be aware of your surroundings.
  3. Congratulate others on their success. Too many people believe that in order to be successful, someone else needs to fail. Success is not finite, and someone else’s success does not diminish yours.
  4. Build a diverse team. In business, you must have people from all walks of life. Otherwise, you will miss opportunities to grow a company and handle problems with a different lens. Too many managers hire people that have similar backgrounds to themselves. A manager once said to me, if you hire everyone that’s like you and has the same background, be careful crossing the street (metaphorically). If everyone is looking in only one direction you will get hit by a car!
  5. Do the right thing. When all else fails in business, we should always do the right thing for our employees, business partners, and customers.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

At Slate, we are focused on helping the construction industry make better decisions. How we will do that is by making a product that is as easy to use as social media (access points and training), focusing on persona types vs. process; and creating a new machine that they can use to make better, earlier decisions that can increase productivity for each user.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My father would tell me: “Always be aware of your surroundings.” It’s about being present in the moment, taking it all in, and enjoying the ride.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I believe it would be most beneficial if I could inspire everyone to do right by others, no matter what. It comes down to treating people how you would like to be treated. If we as a human race would follow this simple rule, we would all be better for it.

How can our readers follow you online?

Website: www.slate.ai

Slate LinkedIn: ​​https://www.linkedin.com/company/slatetechnologies/

Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffbettencourt/

Twitter: @jbettencourt5

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Meet The Disruptors: Jeff Bettencourt Of Slate Technologies On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Making Something From Nothing: Hemant Varshney Of DigiCom On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Success to me is taking care of the people you work with, taking care of your client and ensuring that you provide high quality work.

As a part of our series called “Making Something from Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Hemant Varshney.

For over 10 years, Hemant has played a pivotal role in all aspects of digital marketing. Starting out as a media manager, he continued on to become a consultant, Head of Growth, and executive at a hyper-growth agency, managing a team of 30+. Outside of work, Hemant loves to travel and has been to more than 40 countries (and counting).

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

My childhood story is one of a lot of travel. My father owned a garment manufacturing company producing clothes for Macy’s, Sears, Belk, Dillards, Calvin Klein, Tommy Figure etc… His factories were in India, China and Bangladesh while his sales offices were in London and New York. So as a kid, I had the opportunity to travel a lot and learn business early on.

My mother is a doctor who went through schooling in the British system. When I was about 12, we moved from Asia to Canada then to the states. My mother went through med school again to get certified here. Watching my parents persevere the way they did while immigrating is inspiring. It’s helped me develop my drive and determination to build businesses.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Wake up, crush life. A friend of mine said this to me once, and I adopted it as my motto. There are a lot of challenges we will face everyday. And that’s ok… It’s imperative that we keep our head on a swivel and continue learning and solving these challenges.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

Yes, I have a few:

  • The Lean Startup — Eric Reis (Taught me a lot about startup life)
  • Creators Code — Ed Catmuel (Opened my eyes because it show cased how to many parameters limit creativity)
  • Principles — Ray Dalio (Taught me about people and management)
  • How To Win Friends and Influence — Carnegie (It’s not always what you’re saying but how you say it)

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

At DigiCom, we work with startup founders that are all different sizes. Our goal is to help them grow. This means that we have to test the viability of their services or products. The way for us to do that for our clients is to see if they can push any sales from their products or services. If they can prove out that people are willing to pay, then we have a baseline to work off of. With this information, we hit the ground running developing creatives, tuning their website, and running paid ads.

If people are not buying their products, then we do a deep dive and dissect it to determine the purchase barriers. Is it the quality? Is it the price? Is it the positioning? We have to understand where the roadblock is, then come up with ways to solve for it. Once we think we have a solution then we go back to the market once again to see if users will buy the product or service.

Most entrepreneurs have ideas. They want it to be perfect before going into the market only to find that there are challenges. I say get to market fast, test fast, fail fast and learn fast. Then iterate, rinse and repeat.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

Google it. See what’s out there. Figure out how you’re different or what you have to do to deliver something better.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

  • Search the idea, who’s doing it and what are we doing differently? How are we going to be better?
  • Go to Alibaba, thomasnet, indiamart to see where you can source the product from.
  • Get in touch with suppliers from the sites above ^^
  • Order samples from a few suppliers to select who you want to work with.
  • Order some products, small quantities, then go try to sell it to friends family.
  • If you’re selling a service, see if you can partner with them to sell the service.
  • Get feedback from them.
  • Improve the product if you can.
  • Simultaneously build a website (shopify is great for that).
  • Create a marketing plan for organic and paid ads.
  • Run some ads, see how the products sell.
  • Continue to improve on all the steps above.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

Failure is not a bad thing. You only fail if you stop learning. I’ve tried to start multiple businesses since I was in high school. I made so many mistakes. The one thing these mistakes taught me was how to be better on my next venture.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

Same as above^^.

Search the idea, who’s doing it and what are we doing differently? How are we going to be better?

  • Go to Alibaba, thomasnet, indiamart to see where you can source the product from.
  • Get in touch with suppliers from the sites above ^^
  • Order samples from a few suppliers to select who you want to work with.
  • Oder some products, small quantities, then go try to sell it to friends family.
  • If you’re selling a service, see if you can partner with them to sell the service.
  • Get feedback from them.
  • Improve the product if you can.
  • Simultaneously build a website (shopify is great for that).
  • Create a marketing plan for organic and paid ads.
  • Run some ads, see how the products sell.
  • Continue to improve on all the steps above.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

Try it on your own first, make a couple mistakes and learn from them. It’s important to learn and understand the process, it’s also the most fun part of building a business.Once you’ve figured some things out and missed on others, then consult.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

Try to keep your company private as long as you can until you’re looking to scale.

You should always have a goal for what you’re doing with the capital you’re raising, don’t raise money just to raise money.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

Success to me is taking care of the people you work with, taking care of your client and ensuring that you provide high quality work.

This means, pay north of fair, expect north of fair. Take care of your team, ensure they are happy and treated well.

Charge what is fair, but ensure your product quality is top notch quality. Listen to your customers, make adjustments from their feedback.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

The world has many great places to visit and many challenges to overcome. I would create a program that allows for continuing education or travel for those looking to expand their horizons. This way we create the next generation of problem solvers.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Making Something From Nothing: Hemant Varshney Of DigiCom On How To Go From Idea To Launch was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Jackie Kallen Of Bruce Merrin’s Celebrity Speakers Bureau On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly…

Jackie Kallen Of Bruce Merrin’s Celebrity Speakers Bureau On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Share Your Personality. No matter how much of an expert you are on any subject, without an engaging personality, you cannot hold an audience for an hour. You have to mix in some humor and be relatable. If you seem too much above your audience, they will tune you out.

At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Jackie Kallen.

Jackie Kallen, known as the First Lady of Boxing, made her mark in the late ’70s as a sports writer with a focus on boxing and worked her way up to become the most successful female manager in the sport’s history. Following a successful career as a journalist — she interviewed everyone from Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra to the Beatles and Michael Jackson — Kallen went on to guide the careers of more than a half a dozen champions, was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame and has written two successful books. An accomplished public speaker, Kallen has crossed the United States and Canada countless times, presenting her inspirational and motivational speech, “Roll with the Punches,” and in late 2021 Kallen signed on with Bruce Merrin’s Celebrity Speakers Bureau, one of the longest-operating organizations providing bookings to an elite clientele of event planners and corporate meetings since 1973.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I grew up in a typical middle-class neighborhood in Detroit. I had a wide variety of friends from various backgrounds, and I enjoyed the company of the boys as well as the girls. I guess you’d say I was a combination of a girly-girl and a tomboy. I was adventurous and never followed the crowd, choosing my own paths and making my own decisions. My parents split up when I hit the teenage years, so that was a tough time. But I learned to weather the storm.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

When I was 13, I won a “date” with teen idol Ricky Nelson. He was a big star, and I was a typical teenager. It was obvious that he didn’t find me romantically interesting, but I proceeded to ask him question after question about his life. By the end of the evening, he told me that I was the most outgoing, fearless young girl he’d ever met. He encouraged me to use my interviewing skills and ability to communicate in my future endeavors. I decided then and there to become a journalist.

I have always been the person that others go to for advice and direction. I have been blessed with street smarts and a lot of common sense. I am a good listener, and I try to motivate and inspire people. Plus, I have had a pretty interesting life journey that people seem to be interested in hearing about — it makes for a lively hour!

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

There have been many interesting stories since each appearance has been different and unique. But I especially enjoyed a recent speech at a Native American reservation in North Dakota. I met some fascinating people who shared their culture and customs with me while I was there. After telling my story, one woman was so moved that she presented me with a beautiful pair of ivory earrings. She explained that when one shares a part of themselves, the recipient must also give back something. Another woman gave me a beautiful woolen blanket. They also drove me around the reservation and explained their way of life to me. We are still in touch.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

In my case, I think it was my mother who inspired me and guided me to my destiny. She loved everyone, was comfortable in any situation and always stood up for what she believed in and what was right. She taught me to be comfortable in my own skin and never feel apologetic about who I am. She encouraged me and taught me that anything was possible. She said, “If you believe it — you can achieve it.” I still follow that rule.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

Failure is a natural part of life. No one wins all the time. But it’s how you accept defeat that separates the winners from the losers. Every failure is a lesson. Every defeat is a step toward future greatness. The only obstacles that really stop us are the ones we put up ourselves. I choose to sidestep bumps in the road as much as possible. But if I hit one, I fix it and keep going.

What drives you to get up every day and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?

Life is a gift. Every day is a fresh canvas to be painted in whatever colors and shades you chose. I welcome each day with a smile and the optimism of knowing that it will be as good a day as I decide it will be. I expect the best, but I am prepared for the worst if it presents itself. I want people to know that you — and you alone — control your destiny. It’s not about what happens to you. It’s how you handle what happens to you.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

I love everything I do — or I wouldn’t do it! I recently produced an independent film, and I loved the process and the people I met along the way. Tom Sizemore is in the lead, and from the cast to the crew, everyone was fantastic and interesting. Each person was a brick in the building. Take one person out of the mix, and it wouldn’t have turned out the same. I plan on producing more films, as it’s such a creative process. I am also launching a podcast called “Between the Ropes,” which is a natural fit because I love interviewing people. And my longtime love of boxing is not something I’ve given up — I also hope to develop another world boxing champion.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

One of my favorites is “Never let them see you sweat.” I have learned to keep all my fleeting feelings of insecurity or nerves to myself. People only see what you project, so I always present my best self. People believe what they see.

Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.

  1. Motivate. I try to show examples of how I self-motivate and how others can do the same to get themselves up to performing at their highest potential.
  2. Inspire. I use examples of how I broke the glass ceiling in the all-male world of boxing to show that you can achieve whatever you set out to do.
  3. Entertain. I like my presentations to make people smile, relate to them and leave them somewhat dazzled, which is why I include a slide presentation of the many amazing people I’ve met along the way.
  4. Be Creative. I feel you have to find new and creative ways to captivate an audience. Most people are somewhat jaded and you can’t hit them with the same old things they’re used to hearing.
  5. Share Your Personality. No matter how much of an expert you are on any subject, without an engaging personality, you cannot hold an audience for an hour. You have to mix in some humor and be relatable. If you seem too much above your audience, they will tune you out.

As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?

I think you’re either born to be a speaker or you’re not. I love it. I take no notes with me and simply speak from the heart. I thrive on the energy of the crowd. Some speakers fixate on one person and speak to that one person. Others block out the crowd entirely and speak as if they were alone. I make eye contact with as many people as possible and sometimes even walk down into the audience. To me it’s like hanging out and speaking to a group of friends.

You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

To simply love and accept one another for who we are, regardless of what separates us. Find something good in everyone and realize that we are in this together.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

Great question. I would have to say there’s a couple … I’ve met Oprah but didn’t have lunch with her. And I’d love to sit down with Lady Gaga.

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

Facebook: Jackie Kaplan Kallen

Instagram: Jackie.Kallen

LinkedIn: Jackie Kallen

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Jackie Kallen Of Bruce Merrin’s Celebrity Speakers Bureau On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Making Something From Nothing: Michele Levy Of Zing! On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

I like to think everything we do makes the world a better place.

We teach kids how to use their minds & bodies to feel confident in who they are and what they do. We are teaching them movement and mindfulness tools and techniques so they feel empowered to take on whatever comes their way. We are also providing a safe, inclusive, active environment so kids’ learn how to be kind to one another.

Additionally, we help schools make fun, healthy activities happen for the kids, despite the numerous challenges educators have faced during the pandemic. We also help busy parents who are looking for activities to help their kids see how amaZING they truly are!

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Michele Levy.

Michele Levy is disrupting the $32 billion dollar fitness industry, bringing together 13 years of experience as an acclaimed fitness professional & marketing maven to focus on our future leaders, AKA our kids. Zing! is a new-age youth fitness & wellness movement allowing kids to tap into their physical and mental strengths. Through exercise and affirmations, Michele teaches kids how to feel amazing in their own bodies.

Growing up, Michele was an ambitious, yet painfully shy child who found her voice through exercise. Today, she’s on a mission to help kids feel powerful, confident, healthy, and strong.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I was a painfully shy kid growing up and struggled to use my voice. I remember one incident in elementary school when I felt a kid was treating me unfairly and I did speak up, which was rare. My teacher came over to me “Michele…that voice you used…I want you to speak up like that more often”, and then he walked away. I will NEVER forget that. I was a shy kid and the teacher’s positivity helped me feel more confident.

Growing up, I also noticed how my younger twin brothers loved being active but didn’t love sports. They had trouble finding activities that provided them a physical outlet but had a warm environment. I became a certified group fitness instructor when my brothers were nine years old. I immediately started bringing them to my fitness classes and they loved it. Seeing my brothers thrive in my fitness classes made me want to create an inclusive, positive fitness program for them and for my younger, shy self.

Fitness helped me find my voice and helped me gain the confidence I needed, which is what Zing! is now doing for this next generation of kids.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Oh, where do I begin? I have several quotes I turn to on a regular basis. However, there’s one from my mom that was a great life lesson for me:

“There will always be people who are hard to work with–teachers, bosses, co-workers, friends. Don’t make that an excuse for why you can’t do something. Do your best and find a solution to the challenge.”

My mom said this to me when I was in third grade, and it stuck. There will always be something to hold you back or you may feel like you can’t do something. Instead of wasting time and energy complaining about what you can’t do, put your energy into what you can do.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

I’m going to pick Legally Blonde, an odd choice, but here’s why: While it’s a fictional story, Elle Woods’ determination and ability to go after what she wanted while staying true to herself inspires me. That resonated with me because I’m very ambitious & passionate about what I do, and I like to go after big goals on my own terms. We can all relate in some way to how she unexpectedly found herself and was able to use her work to help people in the community. I always try to channel my inner Elle Woods.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

I always wanted to go out on my own and I’ve had plenty of business ideas over the years, but none of them stuck. This idea stuck because I was ready for it and the marketplace was ready. I’ve worked in the fitness industry for many years, learned a lot, worked my way up & around different organizations, and felt like I learned everything I needed to know from my formal job setting. Additionally, the industry was ready for disruption; if i didn’t start Zing! now, I’d miss the chance to help people when they need it the most.

This all said, I wouldn’t be here unless I put my idea out there. I started by talking to my husband, friends, and family about it. I called some industry leaders to ask them about my idea. Next, I put a plan together, outlined what the program would be, and listed out ways to monetize my concept. Afterwards, I called parents to see if they liked the idea and asked how much they’d pay for a class. All it takes is one small step every day.

Before investing a significant amount of money & time into your idea, do your research & try new things around your idea. See if it’s something you’d be excited about (even when the going gets tough), learn who your customers are and what they need, and the most effective ways to capitalize on your idea. These things won’t happen overnight, but you need to start somewhere. I’m still learning & tweaking everyday while simultaneously growing at an exponential rate.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

You should absolutely scope out the marketplace. What exists? What doesn’t exist? How can you create something that will stand out and be different from what’s out there? Is it something people need? Who could you partner with? How will you provide value?

I wouldn’t dismiss something because it might’ve been done in some way before. You have a unique point of view and there’s always someone who will benefit from it. Figure out a way to put your personal spin on an idea.

When it comes to research, go deep.

  1. The internet is your best friend. Beyond simply searching your idea on Google, which is important, you can look up certain phrases or words related to your concept. You can also look up who the key players in the industry are and what they do.
  2. If you’re looking to do something local or regional, don’t just check out what’s happening in your neighborhood. See what’s out there all over the world. There could be someone doing something similar that could inspire you.
  3. Look up community boards that your customers are on. For me, I knew I was targeting parents & school leaders, so I joined Parent Facebook Groups, followed school & camp social media channels, and signed up for parenting magazines. I looked up local community centers to see what kids classes were offered, how they were positioned, and how they were packaged up.
  4. If there are industry magazines or forums, what are they talking about? What businesses do they highlight? What are the industry trends forecasting for the year ahead? Is your idea trending with those forecasts?
  5. Network. Go on LinkedIn and listen to podcasts to find those who work in the industry you want to get into. See if your idea is viable by asking questions.
  6. Call your potential customers and ask them if your idea is something they’d be excited about. They will tell you if the idea can work, if there’s something out there already, and probably offer tips because we all want to see good ideas and good people thrive.

I did all of these things to help me learn how to best position Zing! and make it something extra special.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

Here are all of the steps I took that anyone can follow, no matter what industry you’re in.

  1. Research — is your idea viable?
  2. Can you do this? Do you have the support (financially, socially & emotionally)?
  3. Why YOU? You should nail this down so when the going gets tough, you know what YOU bring to the table!
  4. Formulate & Test — see what works & what doesn’t — you’ll probably have to do this quite often in the beginning. I started teaching virtual classes, putting my work out there, and collecting feedback. I tweaked my offerings based on that feedback. And even now, I continue to change as I grow so that I can provide my consumer with exactly what they need.
  5. Find An Accountability Buddy — I tapped into my friends who are also business coaches and I had them give me weekly assignments to build the Zing! Program while working my full time job. I needed someone to push me since my full-time job at the time was demanding. Their help was instrumental to my success. For you, this could be a friend, mentor, spouse, or potential co-founder/business partner. Find someone who believes in you & your idea and will help you see it through.
  6. Dive deep into the details to build, formulate & test your idea/product/service. What will the experience be like if someone walks into your shop? For me, it was getting granular on the programming, pricing, class options, branding, and name.
  7. Ask yourself: how will you scale your idea?
  8. Test & try different platforms to host virtual live & on-demand classes
  9. I didn’t need to hire a manufacturing company, but I did need to work with a partner to host and book our virtual and in person classes. This was a huge challenge for me. I went through 3 or 4 different platform partners. I needed someone who made booking very easy for busy parents, who allowed booking to seamlessly integrate into my website, and lots of other personal features. I finally landed on a great partner, but it doesn’t necessarily happen immediately. For whatever your business idea needs, take the time to figure out what will serve your customers best.
  10. File your trademark and form a business — This was one of the first things I did. I knew how important this would be, especially if I wanted to collect money through my business. I recommend you find a lawyer who specializes in your work and can help you file the trademark and form an LLC.
  11. Create marketing materials (media kit, deck, info/pricing sheet, etc.) and set up your website. The marketing and branding of your business is very important as to how you stand out. I focused a lot of time on this. It helped me position ourselves, devise our own voice, and speak to new partners in our infancy. If marketing isn’t your strength, I’d consider bringing on a consultant or coach who can help you to best craft your business’ story to stand out in the marketplace. Get ahead of this now so when your product/service is ready to go, you are ready to market and sell it!
  12. Do a soft launch. I offered free virtual classes for those who helped me go through the process of going from idea to market. This was our “beta” program. We reached out to people we knew, friends of friends, etc. and invited them to take free virtual classes with us. I learned a lot from this process and today, those folks are Zing!’s biggest champions. I continued to offer those people free & discounted programs with Zing!. They were so happy to support me. I’m sure your followers will feel the same way. If you’re doing a product launch, you can also add these people to an exclusive waitlist, etc.
  13. Hit publish on your website — GO TIME! I told myself this was a “soft launch” as we weren’t fully ready. When I went live, the website didn’t feel perfect and there was more content I wanted to create. But instead of waiting, I knew I needed to get my idea out in the world. Ever since that day, March 14, 2021, we’ve been rocking & rolling. My main goal was to get my idea out there so I could help busy families when they needed it the most. Once the website was published, I started pitching my idea to families, promoting on social media, handing out flyers in the community, and Zing! was born.
  14. Cultivate Patience. Whether you’re trying to turn an idea into a business while working a full time job or simply working to get an idea off of the ground, you’ll need to find the balance between hustling to bring your vision to life and having the patience to nourish the idea and let it grow.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

  1. Invest in what you need from the start. I wish I brought on a lawyer from the beginning to help me form an LLC, trademark my business & logo, etc. While the websites that do this for you are great, my idea took off within a few months and I had to consult with all sorts of lawyers for help on things. If I had just gone to one in the beginning, I could have eliminated headaches that I dealt with later on.
  2. Take time to come up with a good business name.
  3. Trust Your Gut.
  4. Find a mentor or a group of friends you can turn to for big, important decisions.
  5. Build out your team–don’t try to do everything alone.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

START WORKING ON IT TODAY! Write it down. Figure out how to build it. Call the experts. Call a friend. Tap into your network. Don’t let fear hold you back. Start small with one step forward.

Overall, I think turning an idea into a product starts with the following:

  • A strong idea
  • A viable market (aka do your research).
  • A good manufacturer for hard products.
  • Ease of access (especially for service-based businesses).
  • An incredible team (it may be only you at first, but once you need/start to hire — those folks need to be INCREDIBLE and you must support them as much as possible).

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

Personally, I wouldn’t hire a consultant, but I would consult with industry experts and potential customers and partners in the field. For example, I connected with fitness industry friends and leaders to see if they thought my idea was viable in the marketplace. I also called and emailed several parents/educators from all over the country to learn what offerings excited them. These two things gave me enough confidence to try and test out my ideas. This experience was valuable for me and the responses I got from these folks were things I turned to for the first few months of launching Zing!. I highly recommend reaching out to folks in your industry to get their point of view. If your invention or idea is something that will require a heavy lift or investment, perhaps a development consultant could be a good strategy before you go “all in”.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

I think this is a personal decision–every person and business is different.

At this point, we’ve bootstrapped everything. I’m really glad we’ve done this because everything is my own. I do not owe anyone anything. We’ve been able to grow organically and learn how to go and grow on our own, especially in our early stages.

That said, I had the opportunity for investment last year and I put the conversation on hold. We were too new and very early in the business. I didn’t feel comfortable to “share” the business with someone else before I even got a grasp on the business. In my gut, I knew it was not the time to get a financial investment, even if I really wanted it to help the business scale faster. When going through this, I reached out to several folks who both bootstrapped their businesses and got VC investment, and had to ask myself some of these questions:

  • Why do I need money? What will getting the money do for me now? Can I wait?
  • I took a break from “corporate” so I could be on my own. How will I feel reporting to someone else on the business?
  • Are these the right partners for me? Does the VC firm/team’s values and goals align with my own?
  • If you go the VC route, how much involvement will they have? How much of the business are you willing to potentially give up?
  • Where do you see your business headed? Is the goal to do this forever or is it to build it, grow it, sell it, and move on to the next concept?
  • If you want to bootstrap your business, what are some ways you can raise money on your own? How can you hustle to get extra business to support your goals?

While I’m grateful that we are 100% bootstrapped, I am looking into grants for specific teaching opportunities in communities who need Zing!. Additionally, once we learn a bit more on how to best scale this year, I’m open to VC conversations down the road. And we are working through strategic partnerships with key folks that I am very excited about, which has been instrumental to our growth these days!

For other types of businesses/industries, I can see investment being the ideal way to scale quickly, especially if you have a product that you can mass produce. For now, we are people-focused and I want to make sure I provide a quality experience as we keep learning and growing organically. Our first year in business has been full of testing and trying new things to create our signature programming that educators, parents, and kids love.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

I like to think everything we do makes the world a better place.

We teach kids how to use their minds & bodies to feel confident in who they are and what they do. We are teaching them movement and mindfulness tools and techniques so they feel empowered to take on whatever comes their way. We are also providing a safe, inclusive, active environment so kids’ learn how to be kind to one another.

Additionally, we help schools make fun, healthy activities happen for the kids, despite the numerous challenges educators have faced during the pandemic. We also help busy parents who are looking for activities to help their kids see how amaZING they truly are!

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

3–2–1

Say 3 positive things to yourself every morning & night

Find 2 minutes everyday to sit down, take a few deep breaths, drink some water, and relax.

Do 1 thing everyday that will help you feel and do better, even if it’s uncomfortable or challenging. It could be a workout, creating a monthly budget for yourself, applying for a job, going on a date, reading a book, outlining a business idea — anything!

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

There are so many people who I’d love to connect with. I would love a private meal with Beto Perez, the man behind Zumba. I’ve always used Zumba as a model for my work in the fitness industry and at this point in my career and growing Zing!, his insight, advice, and support would be incredibly valuable. I also want to thank him for getting so many to love movement & fitness. Zumba has been a true fitness gateway for those who didn’t love the gym scene and has made movement accessible to everyone.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Making Something From Nothing: Michele Levy Of Zing! On How To Go From Idea To Launch was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Making Something From Nothing: Bill Myers Of “Mill It” On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Be humble: There’s the saying, “the more you learn, the less you know.” I can say from experience that it certainly applies in entrepreneurship. It’s important to ask for help with what you don’t know; and listening intently when working with others makes you a lot more effective. I believe that success is rarely singular; true success comes from collaboration.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bill Myers.

Bill Myers is the founder and CEO of Mill It, the first-ever plant-based buttermilk and buttermilk dressings that use ancient grains to match the taste, texture and consistency of dairy. Bill received his Bachelor’s in Food Science from Brigham Young University before working as a plant-based consultant for some of the world’s leading food brands. He founded Mill It in 2018 to provide consumers with a healthy — yet tasty — alternative to traditional buttermilk-based dressings, while also using more sustainable, earth-friendly ingredients.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I grew up in parts of upstate New York, Northern Idaho, and Vermont. My dad is a food scientist, and I grew up taste testing products he would make, and it really piqued my curiosity around food. I was always drawn to sports which led me to be curious about what nutrients were in different foods so that I could gain any performance edge possible. My generation grew up with a lot of products that were unhealthy and full of sugar and fat, which inspired me to create something that was better and healthier than what we’ve traditionally seen on grocery shelves.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. — Russell M Nelson

When I was 16, my best friend passed away in a car accident. That experience shaped my life in several ways. One thing I carry with me is how important it is to focus on things that truly matter instead of things that are fleeting. I am far from perfect at it, but I try to focus on doing as much good as possible in both my personal and professional life. I’ve found that I am a lot happier when I focus on trying to help those around me instead of complaining to myself when my circumstances are unfair or unideal.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

I love Shoe Dog. Phil Knight gave an invaluable gift to the entrepreneurial world with his book. One of my main take-aways from it is how resourceful he was anytime he hit an obstacle that could have derailed his business. There were several times where he could have walked away from Nike, but he always found an outside of the box solution that allowed him to succeed. To me, that’s a key characteristic of a successful entrepreneur: finding ways to succeed when faced with serious adversity.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

There definitely are a lot of good ideas, but what gets lost on people is often the execution. Once you have an idea you must determine if it is something that can be scaled into a business. There are many ways to do this, but writing a business plan and trying to create a basic product were some of my first steps when creating Mill It. From there, we had to pivot and improve all our products before they were fit for retail.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

I would recommend researching your industry as much as possible and comparing your business or idea to what is currently in the market. With Mill It, we identified an overlooked market and launched several first of their kind products — which have been a huge part of our success. With that said, I do think that just because someone may have invented something like what you’re creating, it doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t a fit for your product in the marketplace, especially if you’re able to make a better version of it.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

Ideation, product development, patent, branding, marketing, manufacturing, filing a patent, sourcing a good manufacturer, and finding a retailer are all difficult challenges companies will face when they’re scaling a business. Regarding patents, we wrote the initial drafts for Mill It internally, and then worked with a lawyer to put it into legal language that could then be filed as patent applications. With manufacturers and retailers, it can be a little bit of the ‘chicken and the egg’ scenario. Retailers want to see that you have manufacturing set up before sending orders, and manufacturers want to see that you have retailers ordering before they will want to onboard you. Ultimately, you need to have both set up before anything can happen — and that requires building a partnership where all parties can benefit.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

Be humble: There’s the saying, “the more you learn, the less you know.” I can say from experience that it certainly applies in entrepreneurship. It’s important to ask for help with what you don’t know; and listening intently when working with others makes you a lot more effective. I believe that success is rarely singular; true success comes from collaboration.

Embrace the challenge: Every day brings a new challenge. Each day I make a to-do list and then try to complete the hardest and most pressing tasks first. This allows me to keep things on schedule for our company, and my capacity to overcome difficult challenges is increased.

Read and learn as much as you can: I studied Food Science and Chemistry in college and did not take a single business class, so I have had to learn a lot on the go. They say, “you don’t know what you don’t know” and, for me, I’ve tried to read about as many different aspects of a business as possible so that I can be an effective leader. I think it’s important to understand every facet of your business and to embrace the fact that you should always be learning.

Committed versus motivated: I think this is an important concept when it comes to entrepreneurship. A lot of people can get motivated to chase a dream business; but when things get tough, they lose motivation and walk away. You really need to be committed and understand that entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster and not everything is going to go your way. If you’re committed, you can build a successful company.

Be solution-oriented: Especially in the current era navigating COVID-19 and its impact on business, it is crucial to find ways to succeed when obstacles are impeding your brand’s growth. We have tried to be creative at Mill It in how we work with retailers and in how we build awareness. There have been a few things that we’ve tried that haven’t worked but pivoting and thinking of innovative solutions is critical for a business to succeed.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

I would encourage them to experiment as much as they can and to build the best prototype that they can on their own. It’s beneficial to understand what it takes to source materials or ingredients and to then use them to create something. Sometimes people have great product ideas but are unable to source the materials and set up the manufacturing necessary to build a viable product.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

Personally, I would recommend trying to build out the idea on their own. I developed most of the technology and the products that we use for Mill It and having that knowledge base has helped me succeed at every other facet of running our company. If necessary, you can bring on a consultant once you have a basic prototype to help you perfect your product.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

I bootstrapped Mill It for the first several years and it was some of the most difficult times of my life; but I wouldn’t trade the struggle I went through. Learning to be successful without a lot of resources will help you be more successful when you do raise capital. Most investors want to see you be successful on your own before they take a leap of faith and invest into your company. They want to make sure that you have a product that will bring them a return on their investment.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

When I was 19, I served a two-year volunteer mission for the Church of Jesus Christ in parts of New Mexico and Texas. Several of the areas in which I served are among the most impoverished counties in the United States. One thing that really impacted me was seeing many families with children who went without foods such as bread, milk, meat, fruits, and vegetables. As a missionary we worked closely with LDS Charities to provide food for those in need which really impacted my life and my desire to give back.

During my final two years in school, I was able to work with LDS charities again by running the micro-analytics for some of the products they produced. Since I started Mill It, we’ve been able to work with distributors to donate food to local food banks across the country. I’m very passionate about giving back and want to play a role in ending world hunger.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Our world is so desperate for sincere kindness and authenticity. My generation was the first to grow up with social media and one of the downsides of that is how afraid people are to be vulnerable and connect with each other on a personal level. I would love to be part of a movement that shares sincere kindness and helps people feel and recognize their intrinsic value.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

I’d probably pick Jay-Z. I grew up listening to his music and making my own remixes to his songs. I would try to convince him to let me do a feature on his next album. I also would love to pick his brain on how he has used his platform to become a successful entrepreneur, business mogul, and philanthropist.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Making Something From Nothing: Bill Myers Of “Mill It” On How To Go From Idea To Launch was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Matias Rodsevich Of PRLab On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Keeping it short is vital. Losing the attention of your audience will make anything you say less impactful. It is also important to make sure that the people can easily comprehend the structure of your speech. In that sense, when you speak on your topic of expertise, a cohesive picture is vital, it ensures that your audience not only is able to follow you, but also understand and reflect on the suggested ideas.

At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Matias Rodsevich.

Matias has had PR & Marketing experience in B2B, B2C, technology and product communications across corporate, startup and agency environments for over a decade now. His specialty focuses on B2B & B2C Tech PR & Marketing. After graduating PR from the Argentine University of Enterprise, he was employed by various highly-prominent Tech clients such as IBM and Google Argentina, as well as over 50 European and American startups and scaleups. Examples include 3D Hubs, Recruitee, Unifonic, and more.

He’s the Founder & CEO of PRLab, one of the top 5 PR Agencies of The Netherlands, specialising in a data-driven and growth-driven approach that brings uniqueness into PR. He’s also the author of The PR Paradox, the first book about mastering the art of PR as a startup. Lastly, Matias founded the PRLab Community, the first community of its kind with over +1300 PR and Marketing professionals as members that get together to discuss innovation in PR on a monthly basis and follow emerging and ever changing trends in the PR and Marketing industry.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I grew up in Argentina, a city called La Plata, and my parents loved to travel. So for me, it was normal to often visit new places, and experience new environments. From an early age I remember we travelled all the way to Madrid, which I adored. We also went to Buenos Aires all the time, and these experiences made me fall in love with travelling.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

I have always been able to connect with people. Maybe from the different cultures I experienced at an early age, or from my natural passion for new experiences and journeys, but I am a people person. When I found out PR is all about people, I had set my path to learn everything there is to know about PR and how it helps people. So I went to Buenos Aires to do my Bachelor’s in Public Relations, and there I found my natural surroundings.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

After I had begun, it was a great and dynamic experience — I moved to a new continent (twice) and in The Netherlands I kickstarted a community and my own agency. But the most interesting thing was writing a book. I took all of my experience and wrote it down, and the sheer process led to me to love what I do even more.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

There was this one client, who was unhappy with the story we released for his company. The story had been published with the collaboration of a third party journalist, and I went and contacted the journalist to see if we can remove or change the story. When I did, they simply laughed in my face.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

One of my closest friends, Marco Genaro Palma, whom I have known since I was 18 years old is a huge reason why the agency is prospering. We would occasionally see each other when we have free time and are in the same country or continent (he tends to travel even more than I do). He specializes in SEO and web performance and optimization, and was immediately on board to help me expand my agency’s outreach. We were having coffee in La Plata when I first mentioned the idea to him, and he was all in.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

Ultimately, don’t feel intimidated. Although it is challenging, PR is all about people, and with time and experience you will ease in and realize it’s actually a close community. My advice would be to make sure you connect with people and think of how you can help others. In no time you will find yourself already on a steady career path.

What drives you to get up everyday and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?

There’s always something to learn from others. Being open-minded is the number one characteristic that will get you going. This is what drives me. I always have something new to learn, and if I can, I also want to be the source for someone else to learn. I get up every morning with excitement about the things I’ll learn and it motivates me to give my talks for others to learn.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

The tech world is rapidly growing and we try to be there for this growth. We help tech companies expand into new markets and get visibility in front of investors, so they can keep their companies alive and grow them further. Currently, we focus on the Dutch, German, and Swedish markets, with our clients receiving constant exposure, and their brands creating impact, both in their image and their work.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” — Albert Einstein

This quote by Einstein has slightly changed the way I look at what I do. Instead of rushing to succeed, I began thinking about how I can actually contribute to the world. This helped me focus my activities on helping the community I’m so passionate about and involved in. It also helped me realize my goals, and with that, I managed to gather the knowledge and experience to be a man of value as much as I can, and put this value to play impactful roles.

Ok, thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.

  1. Confidence brings credibility and authenticity. If you are confident on stage, your words will be more impactful. When you go in front of a large audience, you need the confidence in your words to reassure them of the knowledge and expertise you have on the subject. Then, it is more likely to be successful and impactful on the crowd.
  2. Being yourself relates to your ability to keep it natural. Establishing a natural connection with the audience is a positive trait that will aid your performance, while fake tones that might be “too perfect” can be detected to dissociate the crowd from you. That’s why you should avoid putting up a stage appearance or character — it’s easy for others to see through it and detect that something is “off”.
  3. Relating to the audience also establishes a connection that helps convey what you are saying. Rather than keeping it cold and distant while speaking, you should be talking with the people instead of to them. This way, the crowd gets more engaged, and it feels more like a two-way conversation than just a mere output of information for them to soak.
  4. Keeping it short is vital. Losing the attention of your audience will make anything you say less impactful. It is also important to make sure that the people can easily comprehend the structure of your speech. In that sense, when you speak on your topic of expertise, a cohesive picture is vital, it ensures that your audience not only is able to follow you, but also understand and reflect on the suggested ideas.
  5. Lastly, practicing your speech is a guarantee for having the natural flow needed. It builds your ability to bring the other 4 points into your speech. If you only memorize the words it will feel distant from the audience. Practicing is a key component to having a good speech and a good performance. You will learn along the way that intonation, body language, pauses are all important and even necessary. And with practice you will know how these details affect how the crowd takes in your speech and the impact it will have on the overall success of your performance.

As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?

Sometimes I still have that fear. But the more you expose yourself to speaking on stage, the more comfortable you will become in that surrounding. I worked on my stage fright by reassuring myself that I know what I’m talking about, and I’ve found the way to say it. Which again comes with experience, but more importantly with your own personal way of communicating. Speak in your own unique way, as if explaining to a friend, or even to yourself in the mirror. This will trick you into feeling more confident and drive the fear away.

You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I would definitely focus on privacy and data protection. In a fast-paced world that is more and more digitalised, it’s important to know that your personal boundaries are protected. You wouldn’t want your information in the wrong hands. So I support the movement for more privacy and cybersecurity.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

This is more of a dream than reality, but I’d really love to have lunch with Steve Carell. I loved him in The Office, and his confidence, impersonations, and energy are all great values that I would love to connect with over lunch. Certainly a great comedian, with a lot of natural intuition.

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

Yes! Feel free to check out my LinkedIn profile, and follow or connect for more exciting things coming up!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mat%C3%ADas-rodsevich-12964043/

https://prlab.co/author/matias-rodsevich/

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Matias Rodsevich Of PRLab On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Meet The Disruptors: Nicole Kearney On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview with Fotis Georgiadis

“Breathe, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” This is my personal mantra that allows me to step back and be present while also holding the long-term vision in my mind.

As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Nicole Kearney.

Nicole Kearney is the vintner/founder crafting vegan wines for Sip & Share Wines and a writer with a master’s in fine arts in Dramatic Writing. She has been in the wine industry for several years starting with representing Black winemakers. She was named a 40 of 40 Black Tastemaker and 2021 Black Innovator on the Rise and Sip & Share Wines was named 2020 Pacers KeyBank Small Business of the Year and one of their wines, Conjure Zinfandel, was featured in Forbes Magazine.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

I’ve always been interested in wine. In graduate school, we sipped wine and shared our work with one another. I felt this type of community should be available to Black and Brown wine lovers, while welcoming all. I did a Google search and there were 30 Black owned wineries listed. I started reaching out as I wanted to sip and share these wines with folks. The wine industry regulations were quite restrictive. Since I had always made Sangria and people were enjoying it. I decided, at my coach’s urging, to shift our business to a winery. Being a winemaker blends my creative and scientific sides together.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

I am part of changing the narrative around the definition of a wine enthusiast. I am among .001% of winemakers that are Black women and 1% of the wineries that are Black owned in the US. The current Black wine industry in the US is less than 30 years old. Sip & Share Wines is honored to apart of building our own tables that are inclusive and diverse, while centering new majority wine lovers.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

My son was assisting me at the first vending event I did. Sip & Share Wines introduced our red and white Sangrias. I was selling a glass for $6 and a ½ glass for $2.50. People were buying lots of half glasses. My son pointed out it was because the half glass was cheaper than the glass. We never sold half glasses after that event.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

QueenMentorSis Benita Johnson of The Vine Wine Club gave me two hours of her time less than two weeks before her major event. Her graciousness with her time and introductions will always be special to me.

QueenMentorSis Marcee Jones of Urban Connoisseur came from the introductions. She gave me advice on the business of wine and introduced me to QueenSis Theopatra of Theopolis Vineyard and KingBro Phil Long of Longevity Wines also who gave me winemaking advice. These relationships have provided me with a solid foundation in the wine industry.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

Instead of waiting to be invited to the wine industry table, Sip & Share Wines and the diversity of other Black winemakers, are taking our wines to the people. Sip & Share Wines engages with Black and Brown wine drinkers in a way historically they haven’t been included. We bring the wine to the people offering a SipSperience (Sip & Share Wines Experience) that integrates wine as a lifestyle versus just drinking an alcoholic beverage.

We have experienced not so positive disruption too and those industry disruptions affect the core products. When issues or disasters arise like the wildfires in California or the current supply chain issues where glass bottles and cans are extremely hard to source, it can sometimes cause a hinderance on the industry and the products we provide.

Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

We were at Hue Society’s The Black Wine Experience at Essence Fest in 2018. We were pouring wines to get the wine lover’s feedback. I wasn’t sure I belonged in the room as a novice winemaker being in a room of veteran wineries. David Thompson, my partner-in-wine and life, calmed me down and said, “You belong in this room.” Our wines were a hit.

“Breathe, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” This is my personal mantra that allows me to step back and be present while also holding the long-term vision in my mind.

“Jump and the net will appear.” I read this. It’s about setting intentions and having faith they’ll manifest.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

We’re still in Act 1 of our story. We offer monthly virtually SipSperiences at sipandsharewines.com. In May we’ll be re-launching Culture Can, 4 can wines breaking the stigma around can wines, which originally launched Juneteenth 2021. We’re in R&D for a new offering. The rest you’ll have to follow us on our social platforms to see!

Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?

“SubScribed” by Tien Tzuo. It’s all about how any product can be sold via a subscription model. “StoryBrand” by Donald Miller who explains how to build the story of your brand. As a writer, telling your brand’s story to the intended is critical.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My personal mantra is, “Breathe. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.” It’s to remind myself to breathe, be present, enjoy the now and the journey.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

Healing trauma for Black and Brown descendants of enslaved Africans, First Person Natives (Indians) in order to restore, re-educate, and reunify the relationships among Black men and women.

How can our readers follow you online?

Sipandsharewines.com

Facebook.com/sipandsharewines

IG @sipandsharewines

LinkedIn.com/Sipandsharewines

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Meet The Disruptors: Nicole Kearney On The Five Things You Need to Shake Up Your Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Making Something From Nothing: Naoe Miyata Of EN Innovation On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Don’t be harsh on yourself — In order for your business to grow and sustain, you as a founder need to have the right mind. It is natural to be harsh on yourself with all the pressure and criticisms. I was always blaming myself for my mistakes and never being satisfied even if I was achieving something. Your emotion is so attached to the company that sometimes you forget your own emotion, and your emotion is dependent on the company’s success. Once you are on that emotional rollercoaster, it will affect the other teammates, stakeholders, and your company’s performance as a whole.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Naoe Miyata.

As an innovation business consultant who serves as a bridge between Japan and Southeast Asia, he helps businesses with venture building and business design for all sectors, including both conglomerates and SMEs in various industries such as agricultural, F&B, manufacturing, medical, and energy. His first startup, Coin⇄Back — a social enterprise that provides travelers with a chance to get rid of their loose change by simultaneously making donations, won several awards, including Startup Weekend Travel Edition and WIT Indonesia. With his own experience in building a startup from zero(0), he has expertise in “zero to one” venture building, where he uses creative design to execute ideas into real products and services through a customer-centric approach; from vision setting, team and culture building, operational excellence, problem-solving, product development, customer acquisition and building strategic partnerships. To leverage on his first-hand experience, he started to enhance real businesses: as one of the digital transformation initiatives, he successfully transformed a publicly listed Thai manufacturing company by building a new B2B e-commerce platform which became one of the value-generating pillars during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

Thank you for having me. Sure, I’m a Taiwanese-Japanese, born in Bangkok and raised in Tokyo until I was 18. Growing up, I would spend my summer in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and the USA., where I was exposed to different people, cultures, and environments at a younger age. I loved being in the new environment, where I got to make new friends, learn new perspectives and expose myself to new experiences that I had never encountered. The more places I’m exposed to, the more open-minded, inspired, and curious I become about the people and the world around me. As a shy person who’s not confident enough to be in the center of the crowd, I tend to observe people — what their perspective is? What are they thinking? And why does someone act the way they do? etc. People often ask me what nationality do I consider myself. I don’t know if I can answer that question (I was confused growing up myself!) However, what I know is that I can easily adjust, cooperate with everyone, and live and survive anywhere in the world.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

That’s an interesting question, and I don’t often think about it. But if I had to choose one, it would be the quote that my parents would often tell me growing up. “Be persistent (a.k.a GRIT), and once you decide on something, make sure you follow through and finish it till the end despite the outcome.” To be honest, I hated every time my parents would tell me this whenever I started a new hobby or new lessons that I originally initiated. As a kid, it’s usual that you want to just give up when things do not go the way you want, and I felt overwhelmed when I had to keep going. However, thinking back, this quote has been in the back of my mind and the base of my work ethic and my life lesson. Now, I take full responsibility for every decision I make and build resilience to thrive for whatever challenges come my way.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

“Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell” is one of the books that had a significant impact on me. His focus on the great team and “collaborative world” and his belief toward the well-being and success of his people is very admiring and something that I put into practice when dealing with people. Once, as the Head of Operations for a SaaS startup, I was always thinking about what would be the best yet challenging environment to grow as a company. Though our platform relies on the technical product, it is people that drive the business, and it is very important for the leaders to create a safe and supportive environment to maximize their potential and increase productivity. As a result, I was always thinking about how to make each individual better. I believe where he mentioned, “the higher you climb, the more your success depends on making other people successful.”

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

I totally understand this. I was the same. As an engineer, I’m a problem solver. In my free time, I like to think of a problem and come up with ideas to solve those issues. I loved coming up with ideas but never could execute one into an actual business. I wanted to start a new app that can help people with mental health, I wanted to make a device where you can get rid of leftover coins, I wanted to own a ramen store with subway-style… the ideas are exponential. So many ideas, but where do you start? I was clueless until I participated in this event called “Startup Weekend” — a three-day program where aspiring entrepreneurs can experience startup life: from building a team, ideation, validating an MVP product, creating a business model and plan, and finally pitching your idea in front of credible investors on the last day, all within one weekend. My idea, which later became a real product, at this event was called “Coin⇄Back” — a social enterprise that provides travelers with a chance to get rid of their loose change by simultaneously making donations. This intensive and rich experience made me realize that you can actually achieve a lot within the given and harsh time frame. If you can achieve this much within three days, you can actually achieve much more. All I needed was to initiate it and start executing the idea into some tangible format for your potential customers to see and visualize how your product or service will change their life completely. Of course, what we did in a week is far from what we can market out in the world, but to start something with the people who believe in your idea is something extraordinary, and it built a lot of confidence in what we are capable of. Start with whatever resource you have today to picture your idea into reality. That would be the first step toward translating good ideas into an actual business. If you can execute your ideas in three days, imagine what you can achieve if you start today.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

First of all, I would recommend doing simple website research through the internet. It’s very easy to find public information these days. Search for similar topics and articles that might be related to your new ideas and topics. In addition, start with the resources and reach out to your existing network. You will be surprised how your existing network, such as family, friends, advisors, and colleagues, might know some of the information you are seeking for. Often, I would discuss the ideas with my friends to seek their feedback. It’s has been helpful as they would give you honest opinions, and the more you pitch your ideas, one of them would give you advice on whether there are similar ideas out there or not.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

I do not believe that there’s a set of rules that you have to follow as an entrepreneur. People in the startup community joke around, calling themselves Chief Everything Officer (CEO). You pretty much have to do everything in parallel when you become a CEO, especially when you are about to start your own product and services. Sometimes your focuses are on marketing and business development. Other times, you will have to focus on the operations and continuous product development. At some point, you might focus on hiring new employees etc. However, here are the steps that I took when starting a company.

  • Research: It is very important that you talk directly to all the stakeholders and potential customers who might be using your product. Feel their pain points and get their Insights to see how you would solve their issues. Real customer feedback not only gives you real, honest opinions, but it also can build up your confidence level if you are solving their pain points.
  • Business Plan: set a vision of the company and what impact do you foresee achieving by starting this business. What are the main value propositions that you would like your customers to know? What is your business plan, and what is your strategy for achieving each milestone to reach the ultimate goal? Creating a business plan will
  • Hire specialists: In order to set up a company and operate accordingly, you will need to seek specialists such as accountants and lawyers. In addition, if your product is something proprietary, then you can search directly on a patent and trademark office or seek a patent attorney.
  • Get a fan base who love your product — your fans are the ultimate supporter and a cheerleader. You can iterate products, get honest feedback and can brainstorm ideas together. In addition, it’s always nice to have a strong fanbase who might be able to promote your products and services in the future to share with the rest of the market.
  • Build a team: You can’t do everything on your own. Understand your capability and responsibility, think about who else you need to achieve your vision. It must be someone who believes in your company vision and who would be able to drive and execute things like it’s their own issue. The core team is very important as it will set the culture and fate for your company.
  • Building a product or service: It’s quite important to start with a manual process, so you get to understand the whole process to see how using your idea, technology, and services can solve customer pain points.
  • Business Development — At this point, you should have enough information about the landscape of the industry you are entering. Start reaching out to all the potential partners and vendors that you would like to work closely with, such as manufacturers and distributors, by going directly to the company website, LinkedIn search, or through your existing network for the introduction.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

I would have liked to write this message to myself when I started my business for the first time:

  1. It’s ok not to be perfect — Your product is never perfect, especially in the early stages. As a founder, you often have the ultimate product and services features that you would like to achieve, but it requires time and resources that you might not have at this moment. Often, a product fails because of fixing a non-existent problem or a failure to understand customer needs and wants. So, it’s very crucial for you to put out the product as early as possible to get real customer feedback so you can check your product direction based on the customer feedback. For the Coin⇄Back machine, which we built, we went through four MVP iterations in order to come up with the final product. The first MVP machine took the longest, and the results were a disaster. However, we were able to build the rest of the three iterated machines rapidly, where we got tons of good customer feedback to improve and make it into a product that people are looking for. Now that I look back, I feel it’s more important to deploy a product to get market feedback rather than spending a long time building something that people might and might not want. Execution speed is the key, and it does not necessarily mean it’s a perfect product. You can always improve as you progress.
  2. People have opinions, and it’s ok — Quite often, when you get a chance to talk to more external people such as your customers, partners, or mentors about your product, they will have many different opinions. I often struggled with this because, as a founder, I want to take everyone’s advice seriously and achieve it to acquire their support. However, you need to know that you cannot satisfy everyone in the world. People do have different ideas and opinions, and it is our responsibility as company owners to make decisions and prioritize their wise advice while progressing forward as a company. This also applies to internal members within your team. As the company progresses, your team members will have different opinions. Team communication is very important for all team members to be engaged and reduce unnecessary silos and stress on the way.
  3. Enjoy the process, not the results — Operating a business and continuously growing the business is a long-term journey. Sometimes you are hitting your goals and milestones, while most of the time, you might not be achieving them. To stay motivated and thrive even in this uncontrollable emotional roller coaster, we as a founder will need to create a safe environment where all team members feel comfortable and are not only being pressured and stressed about the immediate goal, forgetting about the long term vision of the company and why and how each individual are contributing to it. With the team that I work with, I often set small goals and celebrate small milestones with the team over lunch or mini prizes to show appreciation and gratitude and increase team spirit to keep moving forward no matter the situation. Results are cumulative progress, and in an environment where results are not often achieved, we should focus on small daily wins to achieve big wins and success in the future.
  4. Don’t worry, your team got your back — As a Chief Everything Officer, a founder often thinks that they will have to do everything on their own. We want to get involved as much as we want and make decisions in every aspect. However, there’s so much that one person can do. I was also like that. Early on, I tried to control everything because I thought making these important decisions would ease off my teammate’s responsibility and help them release from the intense pressure they were facing. However, a highly motivated and passionate teammate of mine thought that I did not fully trust his capability and that I did not treat him as a professional, who later quit the company. From then on, I realized that I needed to devote more work and give ownership and responsibilities to the teammates. So, the hiring process becomes the key here. It is important to hire someone who believes in your company and the vision and for you to have full trust in them and be transparent with them. You believe that they are better than you in the sense that they can grow the business faster from a different angle. As a result, it creates engagements and ownership within the company while efficiently making progress towards your goal. Work with someone you can fully trust and believe in. All you can do as a CEO is to support and challenge them when necessary.
  5. Don’t be harsh on yourself — In order for your business to grow and sustain, you as a founder need to have the right mind. It is natural to be harsh on yourself with all the pressure and criticisms. I was always blaming myself for my mistakes and never being satisfied even if I was achieving something. Your emotion is so attached to the company that sometimes you forget your own emotion, and your emotion is dependent on the company’s success. Once you are on that emotional rollercoaster, it will affect the other teammates, stakeholders, and your company’s performance as a whole. This is the reason why it is so important for you to have the right mindset so that you can share that with the rest of the team and generate feelings that drive productive action. There’s no right answer to whatever decisions you make, as long as you believe in it and follow through till the end. You will make many mistakes on the way, but it’s okay to make wrong decisions as long as you learn and improve for the next action plans.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

I would recommend starting with whatever resources you have now and finding the simplest way to showcase your product and services. Target the people who would benefit from your idea, and find out how they will react to your idea. And the easiest way to do that is to directly talk to potential customers and get their honest opinions and feedback about your idea. What do they like, and what can be improved? The first thing I did when setting up an e-commerce platform for a client was to make a fake website to learn about our customers and listen to their feedback. You can always start small with minimum investment in the beginning. You want to share your idea with the people who need your product. While getting their honest feedback, you would be able to define your idea and build up the confidence so that it makes sense to execute the idea.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

I would always recommend striking out on your own first. The idea itself is one thing, but the execution process to me is the most important. It’s the process of your assumptions failing, learning from experiences, and exposure to customers’ direct feedback that continuously improves to get the final idea across and exposed as a business. The process has so many meaningful learnings and insights that I recommend starting it by yourself first. However, consultants are helpful if you would like to expedite the whole process and if you know your idea is exactly what is needed in the market.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

I believe that I’m far from achieving success, and I am still in the process to be successful. However, with my experiences starting businesses from just an idea, I am now mentoring and helping other founders and startups in their growth stage and global expansion. By understanding the importance of community and boosting startup ecosystem, I am now contributing as a business mentor at JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) in helping early-to-mature stage startups with go-to-market strategy and execution support for global expansion while also leveraging the network and acting as a connector for open innovation initiatives. Startups that I support include AI, SaaS, FinTech, CleanTech, Foodtech, and Healthcare. I hope that my contribution will be able to support founders to grow their business overseas, especially in the Asian region.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I am currently trying to test a networking platform called “EN Network”, where people can connect with one another globally to share their ideas and get inspired. The themes are Global, Diversity, and Open, where I want people from different backgrounds, cultures, and careers to meet online for a one-on-one coffee break. I believe that innovation and best ideas come from outside your industry, and I would like to connect people to empower and enhance innovation and ideas in the world through “cross-border”, “cross-generation”, and “cross-industry”. I believe in the collective energy and collaboration among this community to create and empower people to encourage innovation. I hope this network can create serendipitous moments that can enhance new ideas into real businesses for everyone. I’m still in the early testing phase, and please reach out to me if you are interested to find out more about it.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

I would like to meet Guy Kawasaki as I respect all his work, inspirations, and how he’s been giving back to the community.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Making Something From Nothing: Naoe Miyata Of EN Innovation On How To Go From Idea To Launch was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.