Author: Fotis Georgiadis

Making Something From Nothing: Tim Davies Of DuelFuel On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Don’t take it personally and come up for breath Of course it’s personal; it’s YOUR business…but don’t take things that happen to the business, good or bad, too personally. It’s business, not life.

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

Tim is the founder of DuelFuel; the new kid on the nutrition block, game-changing, great tasting, combined Performance and Recovery Nutrition solution for all us regular people.

A self-declared former “corporate maverick”, Tim held senior executive positions across sectors spanning hospitality, consumer goods, security and consultancy and applied the learnings from his corporate career to develop and launch a solution to the problem that so many of us face; “What should I eat before and after my exercise to get the maximum benefit from it, whilst making it convenient for me to do so”?

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 Kent, England and am the shoulders-straight, chest-out-proud son of shop-keeper parents.

I loved every minute of growing up in a shop; I watched my parents calculate mark-ups, profit margins and loss-leaders, whilst building up and motivating their team and always…always putting the interests of their customers first.

My parents sold their shop and we moved to Brussels, Belgium when I was six. I went to a French speaking school and grew up speaking better French than English.

We moved back to UK when I was eleven and a few years later I started my first side-hustle, selling rock concert tickets to friends at school. I would skip class, get the train to London and stand in line to buy tickets for the most popular shows and sell the tickets on to friends at a small premium to face value, which more than covered the cost of my ticket to the show.

After college, I started working and took a job in the Middle East, working for an international hotel chain in sales and marketing.

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

“Growth happens outside the comfort zone”, which means to me that we cannot learn by repeatedly doing things we have already accomplished.

I learnt fluent French, at six years old, when my parents enrolled me in a French speaking school in Brussels. I couldn’t speak a word of French on my first day of school, but I was fluent within six months.

I knew nothing about the Middle East until I moved to Riyadh, at which point I started to be exposed to and understand a little more about the richness of the different cultures in the region.

DuelFuel would not have happened without this “don’t fear failure” mindset and everyone within the team are calculated risk-takers.

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?

Robert Greene’s “Mastery” had a big impact on me when I first read it. The book’s overarching message is “master your craft”, which is a natural progression from moving outside any area of familiarity.

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 must have thought about starting at least four or five businesses over the past ten years, but never progressed from “thinking” to “doing”. With DuelFuel, I broke down the development of the business into two stages; the first was to answer the question “what problem are we here to solve”. We spent a lot of time talking with a range of physically active adults, from elite athletes to weekend-warriors like myself, to understand the details of the fuelling problems our customers face and what the ideal solutions to their problems look like.

Having the problems clearly voiced and understood enabled the entire team to model the solution, which in itself gave us the building blocks of our product and business structure. From that point onwards it was, is and always will be about striving for excellence in execution.

The fact that the entire DuelFuel team experience the problem we set out to solve gave us terrific terms of reference and meant we were acting as experienced advocates for our 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?

Think about the problem, or need, the idea solves and who it is designed for. Speak to people who experience the problem; bring them together and get into “discovery mode” to really understand what problems they have. Really knowing what the need is enables an accurate determination of whether there is a product or service currently available that addresses it.

It is unlikely that any need exists that does not already have a solution. The question is whether a new idea can be brought to life in such a way that it addresses that need better, cheaper or faster than options that already exist.

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.

Idea and Market “Fit” — what problem are we solving/what need are we addressing.
Customer Behaviour — how, when, where, how often do customers experience the “need” the product addresses — this analysis determines much of the business model.
Competition — what products already exist, how well do they address market need.
Idea Improvement — can the idea be improved and/or future-proofed, definition of product’s unique selling points.
Financial Model — cost of goods, cost of manufacture, packaging, logistics, target price, margins, fixed and variable costs, cash flow, financing.
Business Plan — commit everything you have learned so far to a three-year business plan.
Manufacture — Identify the right manufacturer & share the plan under a strong NDA; let them see you are serious and a credible business partner. We met with six manufacturers before we selected the right one.
MVP — development of first product in partnership with your manufacturer.
Test Marketing MVP — product trials with target consumers. Qualify and quantify the feedback and iterate the product accordingly.
Implement the business plan, monitor results and adjust as needed.

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

Founding a business and putting your heart and soul on the line every day…it is definitely not for the faint-hearted. It takes HARD work to get a business idea off the ground and even more HARD work to keep it alive and growing.

Know every element of the business

The idea came from YOU, all roads lead back to YOU, the business is a reflection of YOU…so at the beginning you must have a well thought through plan of how you want the business to operate and you must be on top of how the business is operating.

When you launch the business, it might only be you — so you may have to do everything. This is an opportunity, as it enables you to understand and set the standard for how things need to be done and then, as the business grows and you bring in new team members you can teach them how the job needs to be done.

2. Do not be in a rush, but do work fast

It is a cliché, but launching and scaling a business is a marathon, not a sprint. Understand it and accept it but do not use it as an excuse for not working fast. Speed wins in the start-up world, not least because the faster you work, the more you accomplish, the safer your business becomes.

3. You set the standard to which others will perform

You founded the business and its culture will come from you. Be very clear on what you want that culture to be. Your team will take their lead from the way you work and how you conduct yourself. Make sure you are setting the right example for your team to follow.

4. You will encounter obstacles

You will encounter obstacles every day. They will either wear you down or make you more determined to succeed. View every obstacle as a test of you and your business, which when you come through it will make you and the business more resilient.

5. Don’t take it personally and come up for breath Of course it’s personal; it’s YOUR business…but don’t take things that happen to the business, good or bad, too personally. It’s business, not life.

When I launched DuelFuel I immersed myself in it for sixteen hours a day, seven days a week for the first year, which proved to be unsustainable for me and the business. I have now pulled back and I make sure I take at least one full day off a week, which gives me a weekly chance to step away, recharge and look at the business at a distance.

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?

Figure out how you are going to pay the bills.

Seriously, if you are going to do this properly it is going to take time. There is no such thing as an overnight success in business and any business we admire will have taken time to build. If you are going to dedicate time to your idea, how will you earn money while you are doing so? Will you quit your job? The first thing to figure out is how you are going to keep paying the bills.

2. Figure out how you will you finance the business and build a robust funding plan.

In DuelFuel’s case I bootstrapped it fully. No external investment.

3. Establish if there is a need for the product and how well other products or services are fulfilling the need.

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 am skeptical of the sort of consultants that circle around business founders; if they were as good as they claim, why are they not leading their own businesses?

In the early days of DuelFuel I engaged a consultant and did not get anywhere near the value that was promised or paid for. The engagement started with a “fact-find”, where I set out in detail my thinking and the consultant took the information I provided, repackaged it and presented it back to me as their own thinking. In short, the consultant asked to borrow my watch and then charged me to tell me the time. Lesson learned and one never repeated.

My advice would be if you do engage a consultant, always be very clear on what your expectations are. Qualify and quantify the outcomes/deliverables from the engagement and only renumerate once the deliverables have been achieved in full.

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 is no “one size fits all” to bootstrapping vs venture capital, the decision is probably best taken by weighing up a combination of factors including whether you can fund the business idea yourself, whether the VC can bring value other than finances, for example expertise, routes to market etc and of course what valuation you and they place on the business.

The earlier you take investment into your business, the sooner your equity in the business becomes diluted, so my advice is to think this one through, very carefully.

I bootstrapped DuelFuel 100% to launch and it is self-financing at present. Our plan is to do a first round of investment over the next eighteen months to fund international expansion, but we are not in any rush. Our business is growing well and every day it gets stronger, it increases the valuation.

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

Great question. I don’t consider DuelFuel a success…yet, although we are on the way to becoming one.

One of the real privileges of founding a business is being able to hand-pick the initial team. In DuelFuel’s case, I was determined we would give as much opportunity to people who demonstrated the right values (hard work, determination, honesty, authenticity, team player) even if they did not necessarily have the qualifications or experience. Our most recently joined team member is a school leaver, at risk of long-term unemployment, who lacked confidence. Over the last four months, they have grown in confidence and stature and are making a substantial contribution to the business. It is a privilege to watch them grow and to be able to give them the opportunity to do so.

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.

Keep an eye on the people around you and stay tuned in to their energy. At a time when we have all been impacted by Covid, you never know what challenges people might be going through. A heartfelt “hey, are you OK?” could make all the difference.

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.

On the grounds that business founders are supposed to never settle for the first offer…can I meet two?

If so, I would like to meet Peter Rahal, founder of RX Bar and Paul Stanley, founder and lead singer of KISS.

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

Making Something From Nothing: Tim Davies Of DuelFuel 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: Stanislav Levykin Of Muver On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and to learn from them. When you are starting out, experiments can be scary. What if it fails? Well, it can. But you’ll learn as much from it as you would from a successful attempt.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Stanislav Levykin, CEO and Founder at Muver.

Before founding Muver, he was the owner of a marketing company, a taxi service, and a notary startup. Muver began as a side project for his taxi service, and soon he saw this technology’s potential in becoming useful for all drivers. Muver enables them to use multiple gig driver apps simultaneously to pick the rides and deliveries that suit them best.

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, I lived in a small town in Siberia, close to the great Lake Baikal. My father took me fishing and hunting in the deep taiga from the age of five. I started my first business at the age of nine. It was selling balloon figures. I’d buy long balloons with my pocket money, twist them into some shapes and sell them at the town square. In high school, I made money repairing computers, installing and updating software.

At 17, I moved to Moscow to study law at Moscow Finance and Law Academy. I thought that this would be the most useful degree for my future career as an entrepreneur.

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

Keep trying and don’t give up. I believe that this simple truth is the basis for achieving any goal in any field. You can learn to do things yourself or find people who can help you… But it would be impossible to move forward and enjoy the rewards of your labor without following this motto. I follow this principle every day of my life, as there are daily complications and new problems to solve.

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?

Unfortunately, I don’t read a lot of books. But I enjoy watching interviews with successful entrepreneurs and am often inspired by their stories and unconventional approaches to solving problems. I find it interesting to try and understand their thinking. The ones that have affected me the most are the interviews with the Russian-Israeli entrepreneur, venture investor and physicist Yuri Milner.

Most of the time, an idea means nothing, it’s the implementation that counts. Keep trying and don’t give up. In my experience, the Lean Startup methodology works best as the first step. It’s the easiest way to understand the viability of your idea while you take simple, quick steps with little resources required. It helps you to understand in general whether your idea is something the market needs. And if it is, that’s a great positive reinforcement. You can use different methods of testing your ideas after that. There are many ways: from in-depth interviews and analytical studies to launching an advertising campaign on a non-existent “dummy” product, measuring the engagement and interest of potential target audiences.

Without a doubt, you must pay attention to the potential competitive environment. If you are not confident in your abilities, you probably shouldn’t compete in the same market as the large corporations (although that shouldn’t be the rule of thumb). Research into your competitors and analysis of your findings is one of the first steps you need to take when you plan to start a business. Especially since it’s extremely easy to do these days as literally everything is online. Keep in mind that coming up with something and creating a product are very different from launching a business around it. If there is an interesting market or a problem that hasn’t been solved yet — go for it! What’s important is to do more, make mistakes, and learn from the process rather than to watch someone else take action.

First of all, if you don’t have a truly ingenious invention that will change the world, then you definitely shouldn’t waste your energy on either patenting or finding a good manufacturer and seller. In the context of startups, the first thing to do is find out whether someone needs your product, how many people could be interested, whether they can pay for the product with money or their attention (social media), how you plan to inform potential customers that the product exists, and how much the product will cost. With simple actions that consume the minimum of resources you can answer these questions and those answers will do much more for your future business than finding the best manufacturers for a product no one wants. Your next step should be the creation of an MVP (Minimum Viable Product). Once you have that, you can begin approaching potential customers and / or raise initial funds to further develop and expand your business.

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

The first one is that you’ll always be working: 24/7, even when you sleep. There’s a common misconception that once you reach the top and become the “boss,” you’ll have more free time on your hands. On the contrary, the number of obligations and the workload only increase once you have your own company.

Second, is that you’ll need to learn to delegate. If you don’t, the workload becomes overwhelming and 24 hours is simply not enough.

Third, you need to learn to plan and handle company finances. You’re the person who makes the primary decisions on allocation of funds within the company (eg. spending more on marketing vs. increasing sales budget). These need to be informed decisions. Don’t be afraid to experiment though, just don’t put all of the money in one option.

Fourth, when picking your team, a person’s vibe is as important as their hard skills. It’s extremely important that you pick like-minded people.

Fifth, don’t be afraid to make mistakes and to learn from them. When you are starting out, experiments can be scary. What if it fails? Well, it can. But you’ll learn as much from it as you would from a successful attempt.

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?

You should first determine if there is a need for your product. If there is, create an MVP to bring the project to life. Have a group of testers and then do in-depth interviews about their experience using your product. There is a wonderful book on this subject called The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick. Then, build a team of like-minded people, and develop your idea. With the team’s growth, the business will grow.

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?

My opinion is that this should only be done by yourself, as there is a high probability of having unrealistic expectations.

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

It all depends on the type of business. For startups, venture capital is an instrument to test the idea quickly, find your market, segment the audience, and scale aggressively. If your business is set for early profit generation and dividend payments to shareholders, then bootstrapping should fit you the best. In today’s world, however, everything is so jumbled, that you might have a bakery raise venture capital and startups take on bank loans that most likely would never be repaid.

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

In my opinion, you should start with yourself and your surroundings: your home, family, friends, etc. On the other hand, of course, as founders of Muver we are extremely pleased to help thousands of US people earn more and become more comfortable financially.

Again, I believe that the change comes from within. When you change yourself, focus on being nicer, doing good things for others, people around you will feel that and reflect it on their surroundings and so on. It creates a domino effect that could potentially bring the greatest amount of good to the greatest number of people.

I would love to meet the founder of Y Combinator Paul Graham, Tony Xu from Doordash, and Travis Kalanick from Uber.

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

Making Something From Nothing: Stanislav Levykin Of Muver 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: William Cohen Of My GRE Exam Prep On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Learn to acknowledge yourself — Self-doubt is often one of many reasons people feel pressured. I know it’s hard to acknowledge yourself because you may think you aren’t enough. But no one is perfect so, learn to acknowledge the good in yourself.

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

William founded My GRE Exam Prep with a vision to help aspiring learners navigate their exams with flying colours, helping students achieve their dreams. He graduated with a master’s in electrical engineering, received a full scholarship from the American University of Beirut (AUB). Throughout his experience with universities, he can recall the number of times he has had to take standardized tests and exams for each of his study pursuits, such as the GRE, IELTS, and TOEFL. This inspired him to start the website and begin providing this resource to students across the globe.

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’d love to share a bit about myself. So, since I was a child, I’ve been striving towards excellent grades and aiming for scholarships to let my parents rest easy. It was a struggle constantly choosing studies over playing with my friends but, there were times when I let go and enjoyed my life as a kid.

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

Many quotes inspire me each day but if you’re asking for my favourite one, it would be “The biggest lesson I had in my life was failure” — Tim Rice. As someone who kept chasing after success, I read this quote one day, and it changed the way I think ever since. Failure was never inevitable, and when I failed, sometimes I thought I was missing something or wasn’t good enough. However, reading that quote, I realized all the things I learned from my failure. If it wasn’t for those mistakes, I don’t think I would be the person I am today.

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 not a fan of books, but I read ones that catch my interest. One such book was “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” — Angela Duckworth. This book helped me stay on track during the starting years of opening my company. It was a hard time for me during those years since I was new to the business world. After someone recommended this book, I gave it a shot, and Angela helped me learn how passion and perseverance can go hand-in-hand.

Yes, there is no shortage of ideas but, you can combine those ideas to create something better. I suggest finding people who think alike and have the same goal as you. If you want to open a company, you need to have helping hands. Rather than trying to do everything by yourself, take in talented people and make use of the ideas given too.

There is no doubt that an idea you thought of is already patented and has been used for a long time. However, rather than feeling discouraged, you need to further research that idea. Find out all about the benefits and drawbacks that idea has and how you could make it better. Without research, it would be difficult to turn an idea into something.

Searching for manufacturers can be easy if done right. You should pay attention to check whether they operate in the US (or the state you reside in). If they do manufacture in your state then you hit the jackpot. Several manufacturers agree to build your product at the right prices so, negotiation is key. You should do a little back search on the manufacturer you’re going for and ensure their previous records are clean.

As for patenting your idea, you need to conduct an in-depth patent search. If your idea has yet to be patented by someone else, you should find a good patent agent to help you with the details. Refrain from wasting your time and money trying to build something you think no one has thought of because that will only waste your effort.

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

Mistakes are meant to be made — When starting a business, you will make mistakes no matter what. That shouldn’t bring you down because, in every line of work, mistakes are inevitable.
Don’t compare yourself with others — Sometimes, people compare themselves to others stating their weaknesses or strengths. Rather than doing so, simply look at yourself. Don’t judge or try to compare yourself with someone because not one person is the same.
Learn to acknowledge yourself — Self-doubt is often one of many reasons people feel pressured. I know it’s hard to acknowledge yourself because you may think you aren’t enough. But no one is perfect so, learn to acknowledge the good in yourself.
Let go of perfection — When working as a business person or in any other career, don’t strive for perfection all the time. There will be times when you want something to be perfect but, rather than holding that pitch or project back because you want perfection, get along with it.
Learn to depend on others — When you start, you don’t trust people easily, and thus, you would rather do things by yourself than ask for help. But you shouldn’t do that all the time. A company has several employees because it needs people to work together towards a certain goal.

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 off, research as much as you can about the aspects your product will have. When you are certain and have a clear image of what you want to produce, try asking for advice from your friends and family. If they think you may be on to something, go ahead and figure out what market you want to launch your product into and start building a prototype.

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?

Although I didn’t go for a consultant, if you feel like you need some guidance and advice in regards to what you’re doing, go ahead and contact one. You might need someone who can help build your company or shine some spotlight onto your product the right way. But if you’re experienced in that field and have enough knowledge, I recommend saving up that money.

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

Personally, bootstrapping is a better and more convenient option than venture capital. Bootstrapping focuses more on saving money to use it when necessary; venture capital shines a light on spending. While you can go for either option, it is safer to opt for bootstrapping since it shows you how to make the money you’re going to save.

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

My company often helps with charity work now and then. We try to donate as much as possible during times of need. While we strive towards higher revenue, we never fail to give back to the society that helped us get to where we are today.

I would say standing up against racism. Yes, some movements support fighting racism but in today’s world, there is no harm fighting to support them even more. People should understand that no matter what race you are, at the end of the day you are still a human being. Rather than fighting against people with colour or different heritages, maybe utilise that energy to do something that benefits the world.

If possible, I would love to have dinner with Margot Robbie. She is my all-time favorite actress and, I’d be thrilled to even talk to her. I watched her movies since she debuted and love the way she portrays the character perfectly. The way she acts shows the dedication she has towards her career and, she really inspires me as a person.

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

Making Something From Nothing: William Cohen Of My GRE Exam Prep 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: Christian Schauf Of ‘Uncharted Supply Co’ On How To Go From Idea To…

Making Something From Nothing: Christian Schauf Of ‘Uncharted Supply Co’ On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Keep an open mind. From managing the development of talented people to the launch of new products, there’s no way you have every answer. Listen and be open to alternative avenues for success.

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

After traveling the world with his band, Scuba diving with Richard Branson, conquering ironman competitions and climbing some of the world’s tallest mountains, Christian Schauf took on a new adventure as a business owner. Inspired to encourage people to be confident, level-headed and prepared for any adventure, natural disaster or unexpected emergency, he founded Uncharted Supply Co. and has committed his life to ensuring the safety of others. His dedication to sourcing and curating the highest quality gear to ensure peace of mind in harsh conditions, started with the creation of The SEVENTY2™ Survival System, which has become a staple for adventures and an essential piece of gear in any crisis situation. Today, Uncharted Supply Co. not only offers survival systems, but also first aid kits, power systems, rafts and go bags.

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 on a large farm in Northwest Wisconsin. We had everything from dairy cattle and crops to a wood shavings business. Growing up on the farm, I learned the incredible value of hard work and the challenges that come with running a small business. I am a graduate of the University of Wisconsin — Madison where I received degrees in business management and communications. Upon graduation, I enrolled in Berklee College of Music to receive a third degree in music production. Shortly after graduation, I toured with my band, which took us around the world. Our travels included 39 trips to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. We then expanded our role with the Department of Defense, ultimately managing dozens of entertainment tours including everything from comedy to action sports. During the times I was stateside, I was recruited to concept and manage events for several large brands. I also started a hard apple cider company, which was later acquired. My untraditional journey led to me founding Uncharted Supply Co. in 2016 to prepare any adventurer for unexpected survival situations.

Can you please give us your favorite life lesson quote? Can you share how it is relevant in your life?

My favorite quote changes almost weekly, but the one that’s lived in my Instagram bio for years is “Life Is Not A Dress Rehearsal.” I’m very cognizant of the fact that our time on Earth is both limited and precious. Every day is a gift; I want to make the most of my time by appreciating the beauty of life and keeping everything in perspective.

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?

One book that has made a big impact on me is Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight. I read this book when I was starting Uncharted Supply Co. and it was helpful knowing the entrepreneurial and startup journey was also difficult for one of the most successful brands in history.

I believe there are a lot of paths to success, but I can only speak to mine. I had always wanted to be in the outdoor industry, but knew I needed to find an open space in the market. After a few years, I was able to identify an opportunity and began building Uncharted Supply Co. I started slow with modest investments in time and resources. I researched, built prototypes, talked to mentors, interviewed potential customers, visited stores but most importantly challenged the idea over and over. I kept looking for reasons it would not work. I did so until I felt confident the business would be successful. Then I burned the ships. I wrote a check using a significant amount of my life savings to buy inventory, quit my job and went 100 percent in. Entrepreneurship is as much staying alive every day as it is anything else. If you don’t give yourself an out, I believe you’re going to have a much better chance of finding a path forward instead of giving up when things get super hard.

If you’re thinking about starting a business, or creating a product, you must be ready to put the work in. Getting online and spending time searching and researching is about as easy, and inexpensive, as entrepreneurship gets. If you aren’t even willing to do that — you better stay on the sidelines.

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.

There are so many books that address this question alone. For me, it’s continually checking away at all the tasks it takes to become a business, then make that business run and finally make the business grow.

In the beginning, it’s setting up an LLC, getting a bank account, creating a logo/brand name, building a website, finding a manufacturer, etc. Nobody has all the answers right away, but entrepreneurship is equal parts doing what you can as well as finding answers and paths forward. Find mentors, read books and search the internet. The answers are all out there if you’re willing to dig deep enough.

For me, when it came to product sourcing and development, I tapped my network to connect with people who had experience in this area to provide guidance and direction. Together, we built prototypes and launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. I ordered parts from several sources and kept them in a storage space until I could assemble Uncharted Supply Co. products in my apartment. Candidly, it was far from glamorous and quite chaotic, but it worked well at the time. There’s no silver bullet, there’s just consistent hard (and creative) work that’s needed day after day.

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

Over communicate. I think many times entrepreneurs have a clear vision and move very fast. That doesn’t mean your team is always on the same page. Create an environment that encourages constant communication and the opportunity for any questions to be asked.
Be personal, but not too personal. I love the idea of a company being a bunch of friends, but the reality is boundaries are incredibly important. Finding the right balance between friendship and being the boss/leader is critical.
Recognize good work. We work fast, which makes it common for us to see an employee do something great but not take the time to recognize a job well done. Be mindful of this and train yourself to stop to recognize greatness. Doing so goes a long way for your employees.
Surround yourself with people smarter than you. We all have strengths and weaknesses. Recognize that when you’re hiring your team to create a team of experts in their respective roles. I like to make sure I’m far from the smartest person in the room. Also, check your ego. It’s good to seek advice from your colleagues as they are sure to have experiences and knowledge you don’t have that’s valuable for the success of your company.
Keep an open mind. From managing the development of talented people to the launch of new products, there’s no way you have every answer. Listen and be open to alternative avenues for success.

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

Make sure there is a need for it. I’m often reminded of the quote from Mark Cuban on a Shark Tank episode — “You’re solving for a problem that doesn’t exist.”
Research — a lot. Conduct the needed amount of research to ensure your product is unique, differentiated and solves a pivotal need for consumers.
Confirm the addressable market is as big as possible. While there are exceptions to this, generally speaking, the more people who need your product, the more potential customers you will have.
Start. Begin building the brand, the mission, the positioning, the audience, the logo and the product. Businesses are a big ball of clay in the beginning. Start carving away right away or you’ll never shape it into your vision.

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

I build products to solve problems I am uniquely familiar with. I have as much experience in these spaces as almost anyone. To me, this is a competitive advantage.

You can design in a studio, but without real world application and experience you’re going to miss at least some key insights that should inform product design. My suggestion is to do as much work on your own as possible. Know your business and industry inside and out. If after, you feel a designer or consulting is needed, seek those resources. The more info you can bring to the table, the more accurate those consultants can be.

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 recommend not taking money unless you absolutely must. If your company is growing, and capital simply is a multiplier, that’s good. If you’re out of cash and struggling to find a path forward, odds are that additional capital is just going to speed up your demise. It’s also worth noting the longer you can hold off the more valuable your company likely is, which allows you to retain more equity in the event of a raise. Early money is very expensive.

Uncharted Supply Co. is very much a mission-based company that strives to make the world a safer place for all. Our products and educational content deliver on this brand promise. In my opinion, every time a product ships from our warehouse the world has gotten a little bit safer. It’s a great feeling.

When I was on Shark Tank, Mark Cuban told me that I didn’t need his help. I respectfully told him I disagreed. I’d love to circle back, now that a few years have passed, to give him a business update on Uncharted Supply Co.

I’d also enjoy grabbing a beer with Joe Rogan. From hunting to martial arts and cars, there are a lot of synergies between his interests and the products we make at Uncharted Supply Co. He has a wealth of knowledge on a wide range of topics, and think he’d have interesting insights and could help educate people on why being prepared for the unexpected is so critical — a topic that has certainly gained momentum with his followers over the last two years.

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

Making Something From Nothing: Christian Schauf Of ‘Uncharted Supply Co’ 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: Shannon Vaughn On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Personal support and mentors. You need someone to talk to who has done this before. It’s really hard to be an entrepreneur and you spend a lot of time alone making decisions. Make sure you have a sounding board that you trust.

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

Shannon is not a sage, a doctor or an expert of any particular subject. She is a layperson, a woman, an entrepreneur, and a mother. She has learned that it’s not easy to take care of yourself without being armed with good advice, and the tools to do so. She became compelled to share her healing experiences so that others too, could redefine the practice of self-care for themselves, not as an indulgence, but as a birthright. Everyone needs time to unwind and decompress from their hectic lives but few people feel enabled to give that to themselves.

Through her own journey, Shannon has come to deeply believe in the benefits of wellness via detoxification. In 2014, she set out to source the purest and most potent detox beauty ingredients in the world, to formulate them with the most rigorous research, and to deliver them as lifestyle-integrated rituals in the most appealing and accessible forms for modern living…and with that purpose, pursoma was born.

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 often can be heard saying, “I was raised by wolves, wild and ferocious but in a den with a mother that gave deep love”. My mother died when I was young and when she was young; we both lost each other too early. My father was an artist. Life was unstructured — it was really by grace that I had a surrogate mother who stepped into my life and ended up having the most impact on my later adolescence and into adulthood. We fail to remember that we never get to choose our parents (no one does), but I was blessed that my surrogate mother chose me. I was orphaned in many ways and she filled the missing role. I think we can all do that for someone young and seeking direction. Mentoring is a very powerful gift to give to others.

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

William Blake, a poet who lived during the American Revolution, gave me my life lesson quote:

“What is now proved was once only imagined.”

When you break it down, something that is proved means others acknowledge it to be true or a fact — it exists in the world for others to see or quantify, meaning that it is absolute. Blake says proof stems from the formless world (aka your imagination) and was “once only imagined”. Think about how powerful the imagination is here; it has the ability to turn a thought or even a dream into reality, and one that includes others who were never part of the origin of that imagining, So when I Imagine something, I get really clear on that, map it out, draw it, sketch it and then make it happen. I think deeply about why I am moving this into the physical world from my imagination. Who does it serve? What is its outer purpose? Is it powerful?

In pursoma’s case, I first envisioned work that inspired me. When I became sick and healed myself, I visualized a wellness company rooted in nature that would serve in a small little way to make the world a better place. From my imaginations, I created an outer purpose to make people feel better, and now here we are 7 years later in a wellness HQ smack dab in the middle of a former cornfield. What’s most amazing is that the imagination not only advanced me in the direction of my own dreams but others too have joined me — that is where the true magic happened.

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?

My mother died of cancer with zero family history of cancer and in what seemed to be the body of a healthy young woman. She was plagued with a disease that spread everywhere, so I started to look for answers. I had no background on the profound effects that stress takes on the body and how the mind-body connection is so closely correlated with disease. The word “disease” indicates that if we are uneasy and have years of stress which we are unable to process or release, we ultimately become sick. I stumbled upon the book Anatomy of the Spirit by Carloyn Myss when my mother was dying. There is a chapter in the book about how women hold stress in their chest, and how prolonged personal stress correlates with cancer. This was my first glimpse into the mind-body connection, and it wasn’t until I went through my own divorce that it resonated. I became quite ill after my divorce and it took me years to develop tools to cope with anxiety and stress. This really was the genesis for starting pursoma — to pursue healing by natural remedies for my body and to walk the mental and spiritual path that has brought me peace and ultimately restored my health.

I always start with imagination. Then, I move to outer purpose versus idea; the idea can be a simple thought, and then it develops into something more detailed, you start to see it and you are enthusiastic, and it becomes your doing because it brings you joy. Not every imagining must become a business. The point is to turn this inner vision into an outer reality. Look at it from an outer perspective to see where it fits, ask for feedback, assess the response and if people are interested. If you see that you are creating something they may not even know they need, you can move forward. I don’t know what “business” really means, but what I do know is that my business is not a hobby. It involved money — losing it, making it, advancing it, trading it.

It all depends on what the idea is. Not everything is looked at as a business opportunity, but if there’s something similar in the marketplace already, you want to see who is or could be your competition. If you are creating something that fills the market where there is a void, then you should improve on something that already exists and do it better.

I actually did my research in reverse. I had a health issue and looked for and found ingredients that healed me. Having found them, I wanted to produce them at high quality and provide them to others for less money. Deep in the research, I realized I was actually in the bath salt business and that put my competition into context. We shifted from a cult classic single serve detox soak, to a brand that competes with the epsom salt market. Epsom salt (which is not from the town of epsom as the fabled story goes) is just a man made, chemically produced, low quality salt compound. The market has touted this as good for you. Yes — soaking in hot water is good and adding magnesium is good, but epsom doesn’t compare to real mineral-rich salt harvested or mined from a seabed. Natural ingredients offer healing benefits no different than swimming in the sea.

I can only outline the way I did it which was very much not the traditional way. The ingredients that helped me to heal my ovarian cyst were so effective that soaking in those ingredients improved not only my physical condition but also my mental health. I slept better and had less anxiety. So my steps were:

Find the best ingredients.
Source them myself to guarantee the quality.
Build direct supply chain relationships with farmers.
Set up a manufacturing operation to control product formulations and efficacy.
Package the product so the consumer can easily use the product and experience it the same way I did.

You want to practice these steps on yourself before offering the product to the consumer.

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

If you are a female-founded or female-owned company, you will need extra support if you have a family and children. Even in 2022, our society is not set up to have women lead companies. You will require extra support from your household and team.
Funding! Women in finance are the minority. There is less funding for women and there are fewer women in funding positions, so make sure you seek advice. It’s hard to run a company without the necessary funding. I began with no funding and secured small investments over time, but my company saw slower growth because of this.
Choose your team thoughtfully. Make sure there are people on your team that know things that you don’t know and find people that support the vision but are really good at what you are not.
Personal support and mentors. You need someone to talk to who has done this before. It’s really hard to be an entrepreneur and you spend a lot of time alone making decisions. Make sure you have a sounding board that you trust.
Take care of your physical and mental health. You have to be healthy because the work is nonstop, even on weekends and holidays. When you are sleeping you will be thinking about your business, so it’s essential to make time to take care of yourself.

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?

Ask your friends and family if they would use it. Find out what is similar and see if you can get feedback from people using that type of product. Conducting a micro internal focus group can be very helpful.

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 personally am unaware of this, but I do know it’s helpful to talk to a patent attorney because they can define whether or not you need to have a patent or could qualify for one, or if you are just upgrading something that already exists.

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 don’t think you know in the beginning, unless you come from a finance background where funding is always the first step. If you don’t, there has to be a tremendous amount of your own effort and usually some (if not all) of your own money in the beginning. Then It’s like dating — some things fit together, some things don’t.

Your financing can be just the cash needed, or it can be a really helpful partnership. Either way, it needs to be a fit in terms of what you need at the time and what they provide. Finding funding is very hard and listening to the news and reading other people’s stories of how they raised X for X is often deceiving because you don’t know the back story. Funding doesn’t mean that success is guaranteed in the long run. I am opposed to the built-to-flip models, but there are alot of them out there. The VC community is interested in one thing: your exit plan. I have no idea how you build anything solid when you are only focused on how you get out of it. That’s like asking for a pre-nup in the first minute of a first date. My intuition is to say “hey let’s build something beautiful here first, and when we have to get it all on paper let’s think about that structure more”. The first step should be to build something with love and good intentions.

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

I would like to think yes. I’ve shared my personal story of a health crisis that led to deeper healing and building business that provides products that are easy to use, and can improve daily life. I don’t know the answer, but I do know that the process of meditative bathing done at home each evening is a way for me to disconnect from the digital world, ease stress, and sleep better. If others practice that, it can bring more joy and a sense of calm to their lives, and I feel that always makes the world a better place, one bath at a time…

MEDITAITIVE BATHING! It provides a digital detox. “Taking to the waters” has been a term used for centuries; the practice of human beings going to take baths outdoors in mineral-rich waters in nature as a way to heal, relax and rejuvenate themselves has been a healing practice for centuries. In today’s modern and more urban lifestyles, most of us do not have access to a mineral hot spring in nature, but we do have bathtubs in our homes. The addition of pure mineral salts and healing aromatherapy can mimic the calming effects of nature and mineral bathing. Introducing meditative bathing into your at-home mineral soak is a mindful way to offset the impacts of daily stress and create a way to release anxiety.

Sara Blakely — founder of Spanx

Michael Acton Smith, Alex Tew, and Tamara Levitt — the Calm app founders and narrator

Haley Sacks — aka @mrsdowjones

Snoop Dogg

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

Making Something From Nothing: Shannon Vaughn 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.

Rachel Fiori Of Masters of Self University: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader…

Rachel Fiori Of Masters of Self University: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

… Warriors, on the other hand, never stop no matter how difficult things become. They realize that challenges are meant for their own expansion so they can level up in their lives. It’s no different when it comes to running corporations. When there are problems and turbulent times with your corporation, you are being challenged to uplevel into a more powerful person, so you can take your corporation to new heights.

As a 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 Rachel Fiori.

Rachel Fiori MSOT, CEO of Masters of Self University, is a Mystical Therapist & Elite Coach for High Profile People & Couples. She is the lead Mystical Professor teaching the Mystical Life Coach Certification program.

With a Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy, (specializing in mental, emotional, & behavioral health), a BA in Business/Corporate Communications, a Psychic-Intuitive-Empath, and as an HSP (Highly Sensitive Person), Rachel has spent the past 23 years empowering individuals, coaches, and high profile people across the world to heal their lives and relationships at the soul level.

Rachel masterfully utilizes the principles of Spiritual Psychology, as well as her gift of Divine Sight with her clients. She has the ability to perceive the unperceivable, and can see the deep truth of any situation which makes her the best in her field at doing “shadow work”. Her genius is the ability to “See” the root causes of all of your struggles. What she has the ability to see and show within a person or their relationship can change the consciousness of that person and elevate them to the status of fully healed, whole, and free.

Rachel’s wisdom of transformational healing, her methods, and her reputation are unprecedented. She is a Radical Spiritual Teacher here to lead us into the New Golden Age of Harmony, and someone the world desperately needs right now.

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?

My soul came into this world with one massive mission. My parents divorced while I was a toddler. My older sister and I went to live with my grandparents for a couple of years. My father died one week after my fifth birthday. I shortly after was forced to grow up with a mentally ill, very abusive stepfather. No human had the slightest clue what it meant to be a highly sensitive person, (HSP). That term didn’t even get birthed until I was graduating from college. I grew up always having psychic abilities, was extremely empathic, extraordinarily sensitive to subtle energies, but felt like I was the main character in The Sixth Sense. It just felt like no one could relate to me or understand me. I was often invisible in a room full of people. I was far from supported or nurtured. In fact, I was abused and constantly criticized and put down for simply being me. I felt completely invisible and like I didn’t belong on this earth. The mental, emotional, psychological, and sometimes physical abuse that I received at the hand of my step-dad, who I referred to as “step-dick” growing up, was really what shoved me in the direction I needed to go in to complete my soul mission on this planet. I vowed to myself while heading off to college to understand the mental, emotional, and unhealed trauma-based programming that would allow someone like that to abuse a sensitive, peaceful and loving child like myself. I vowed to stop at nothing to heal myself and all of the harmful effects that being raised like that had on me. I refused to be a statistic. And I refused to be a victim.

Statistically, a girl raised the way I had been raised would likely lead to drug and alcohol abuse, promiscuity, dabbling as a stripper or prostitute, and having babies in her teens or early twenties as she moved through abusive young men trying to find the love that she never got as a child.

F*** THAT.

My childhood was bad enough. I wasn’t about to screw up the rest of my life because of one abusive man and a non-supportive, wounded-femnine, disengaged mother.

No one was going to “save me” but me. No one was going to heal myself and step into my true, authentic power but me. No one can do that shit for you. Nor should they. So my “backstory” was what put me on my path of devotion to myself; to stop at absolutely nothing to fully and completely heal myself at the deepest level. I’m not a fucking victim. And I wasn’t about to walk through this life experience as “Rachel-the-victim”. So I healed myself. And I dedicated my entire adult life to creating the framework and coaching programs so that others can achieve the same level of emotional freedom and self-empowerment that I have.

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 didn’t even officially “launch” my corporation, Masters of Self University before it began to explode into a rapidly growing company. MSU has a global mission to change human consciousness. This is a massive mission that my soul has embarked on. It requires a tremendous amount of work, effort, continuous self-growth, and energetic, spiritual expansion on my part as the founder, CEO, and leader of this global mission. It’s not easy. But it’s definitely worth it. Having said that, I am very grateful for my partner, Chris. As I became more and more successful, and as Masters of Self University launched into rapid growth, Chris stepped up and took over most of the household responsibilities, like cooking and grocery shopping. He stepped up as a real man to support me in making my life easier while I devote myself to my soul’s mission. He honors my role in healing, teaching, and empowering others. And part of his honoring of that is to support me as much as he can at home. For that, I am forever grateful to him.

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?

The vision of Masters of Self University is to raise the level of consciousness in all of humanity. Our purpose is to heal people at the root causes of their suffering. This includes all aspects of their lives, their relationships, their careers, and even their businesses/corporations.

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 difficult times? Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?

No. I’ve never considered giving up. Of course, I’ve had days where I felt like throwing in the towel. But I have never actually considered giving up my soul’s purpose for this lifetime. No matter how challenging things got or how turbulent things were, giving up was never an option for me. Giving up is the only true form of failure. Difficult times or during times of struggle, are just moments that I know I am being challenged to expand spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Giving up just doesn’t even get put on my radar.

My soul sustains my drive. My soul drives me to help people in the deepest and most profound ways. And I will never fail at what my soul wants me to accomplish. Many people try to achieve goals and become successful based on ego. When it comes from ego, you’ll always need a reason outside of yourself to motivate yourself to keep going. Motivation comes from others, or from things outside of yourself. And motivation gets depleted and goes away.

But when you come from your soul, it’s completely different. It’s more peaceful. There’s a Knowing of what you must do. The inspiration comes from within. Everything you do is then fulfilling and uplifting to your soul. And it’s always there. Soul inspiration never goes away because it comes from the deepest inner you that exists.

What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?

To walk your talk. To be, not an example, but the example. To be grounded in presence, responsibility, and patience. And probably most importantly of all, is to validate everyone else’s feelings and emotional struggles. People aren’t robots. They’re going to have fears, stress and worry. Validate that and create the emotional safety and spaciousness for them to move through their emotional challenges throughout the workday.

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?

This question alone is rooted in the old, third-dimensional paradigm that power and motivation must come from someone outside of ourselves. I’m not here to boost anyone’s morale. That’s a superficial, surface-level approach to a more deeply rooted problem. How I lead at Masters of Self University is to address, in real-time, what fear or disempowerment programs are being triggered by any situation. This means, to raise an acute level of self-awareness for all individuals involved. We ask ourselves, “What programs am I running?” Then we see what programs this current situation has triggered within oneself. Whether it’s fear, worry, anger, frustration, depression, or hopelessness, matters not. Whatever the program is, each person drops into their heart center, connects to their own higher soul or divinity, and grows the power of their Light. Every single person at Masters of Self University learns to see their unhealed wounds and programs and learns how to bring the Love and Light that they are to them when they get activated. The vibrational frequency of Love, in the form of our Light, transmutes the lower energies of fear or whatever emotional pain gets activated.

So how do I inspire? I remind them that they are powerful and capable of healing their fear-based programs with the power of their Light that each person has within themselves. I then energetically support and guide them in real-time to do this. This is a level of divine engagement with team members. It also turns the workplace into a sanctuary of transformational healing.

What is the best way to communicate difficult news to one’s team and customers?

By being 100% honest and transparent. It’s okay to tell your team members, “this may be triggering, so before I share what I’m going to share, let’s all drop into our heart centers, grow the power of our Light and commit to staying in our heart centers while we deal with this issue.” When you are anchored into heart-centeredness, it’s impossible not to be patient, compassionate, and forgiving. It’s impossible not to get inspired with incredible solutions because divine Wisdom only flows through people who are fully present in their hearts. This practice unites each individual to their own divinity as well as with each other. This level of divine Connection is what brings loving and powerful solutions to scary and difficult situations.

How can a leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?

Simple. By mastering the Way of Presence.

Only weak people constantly try to control their environment, situations, and people in order to feel stable and safe. Powerful people have stability anchored within themselves. The Way of Presence is stability even when the future is not.

Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?

The leader/s must have a high emotional IQ. A high level of emotional resilience is what creates the power of stability throughout the corporation. Having a leader who can’t handle the pressure of turbulent times is like having an ER doctor scream at the sight of blood. You wouldn’t feel too confident in the doctor, or the hospital if that were the case. Leaders of corporations are no different. So if the company is experiencing trauma and bleeding out, the leaders must be masters of the divine characters of Surrender and Presence. It’s what will allow the rest of the corporation to feel that they are in safe hands.

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?

They stress out by overthinking and worrying about the future. They are trapped in mind.

Being trapped in the mind creates more stress, fear, and worry. It decreases your ability to find powerful solutions. When trapped in the mind, you try to force solutions. If you are instead very grounded, and anchored into your heart-centeredness, solutions will be given to you by the universe. You are only tapped into universal wisdom when connected to your heart center. You are disconnected from universal wisdom when you are trapped in your egoic mind. The future of successful businesses will reflect an integration of soul wisdom leading the charge with practical solutions to support the soul or universal wisdom that is offered.

2. They selfishly refuse to consider cutting expenses by cutting salaries of the CEOs or highest paid members of the business.

We have been negatively conditioned to live in a selfish, individualistic society. People seem to only be concerned with how things affect them, individually. Instead of jumping to laying people off during extreme times, you could cut the highest-paid people’s salaries by 20% to 50% in order to save others’ job positions. When you selflessly consider others’ financial safety and security, you’re making choices that reflect selflessness, compassion, and Oneness. Sometimes the founders, board of directors, CEOs, Presidents, and executive management need to sacrifice for the benefit of the whole. Imagine if a billionaire entrepreneur cut their salary in half for just one year in order to save employees’ jobs during turbulent times. I wish I saw less greed and more divine characteristics of Oneness in business relationships and from corporate management.

3. They only communicate or problem-solve with the corporate members.

You may need to discuss issues and problem-solve with your core executive members, but it’s essential to bring the rest of the team and corporation together and allow for communication exchanges to take place. Other employees need the opportunity to express their thoughts and opinions, as well as have a safe space to work through some of their fears or concerns. The more you can practically include them in the process, the more you’re showing that you value what they think and how they feel. You’re valuing them as human beings.

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 difficult economy?

The number one priority is to be the absolute best in the industry. Period. During turbulent times the people who can’t deliver impeccable services are the ones who are going to lose their businesses. Prior to forming my corporation, Masters of Self University, I worked for myself as a Mystical Therapist and Coach. I have had close to zero social media presence. When I finally got a website, it was a pretty crappy one. I paid for absolutely no marketing. And yet, I always had clients. How? Because I’m the absolute best in transformational healing that you can experience. And because of that, word-of-mouth referrals were the only way I needed to market at the time.

Because of my level of integrity, authenticity, and expertise, I always had word-of-mouth referrals. Always. My clients spread the word that I’m the best money can buy. You can’t get better referrals than that. During turbulent times as a solo entrepreneur, I lowered prices for dedicated clients that would not be able to continue to afford me otherwise. And I got flooded with clients simply because, now that people were desperate, they were looking for someone who could finally and legitimately heal them. My reputation is what kept me afloat and what continued to fuel my business.

Since I started Masters of Self University, all of my employees and Certified Mystical Life Coaches get trained on the top two rules that this corporation is based on. Number one: we function from the highest level of integrity, authenticity, and expertise. And number two: money is never. . . and I mean never our number one priority. Our number one priority is to change people’s lives in profound ways and to deliver the level of coaching and guidance that creates that ultimate result. We deliver profound results and we’re the best in the business at what we do.

I brought what I’ve achieved as an individual to the framework of how we function at MSU. When you are the real deal; when you are the best and you deliver services with the highest quality and level of integrity, you will make it through tough times. People clearly see what our coaches are all about and the high quality that we deliver. The reputation that I have personally built, and the reputation that my coaches at MSU continue to uphold and expand upon, are what allow us to persevere through very challenging times. Showing up as the divine characteristics of Presence and Trust in the universe is what allows an individual and even an entire organization to move through challenging times with Grace.

BullS***, manipulative marketing strategies that over-promise and under-deliver are going to come back and bite a company in the ass. Especially during turbulent times. But when you build your business on the principles of authenticity, integrity, and expertise, you never have to use manipulative marketing tactics to trick people into paying for your services. That’s what creates clients that are not only devoted and happy to pay your well-earned prices but who will shout from the rooftops to whoever will listen about how amazing you are. That credibility always boosts whatever honest marketing strategies that you use. It creates loyalty from customers. And it makes your soul sing.

Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are at least 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.

Engage in our Corporate Harmony Coaching Program to address mental health, emotional health, and spiritual health and wellness.

Gone are the days when we psychotically separate mental and emotional health from our careers. Careers have the highest level of impact on mental, emotional, and even relationship health. So why the hell have we compartmentalized it so much from our emotional well-being? It makes no sense. At Masters of Self University, we offer a corporate coaching program that transforms the work environment into an authentically healing environment. I’ve created this because that’s the way it should be. The impact of having healthy, highly conscious employees creates the impact of having a healthy, highly conscious business organization. Everyone wins. Individual employees heal. The organization up-levels in a healthy way. And that healthy, highly conscious organization goes on to have a powerful impact on mental and emotional health in the world, no matter what product or service they offer.
When you adopt this practice, it creates ease and Grace for the entire corporation to move through turbulent and uncertain times.

2. Eliminate fear-based thinking and demonstrate this through leading by example.

Fear-based thinking creates stress, worry, and scarcity. And we manifest what we are, not what we want. So learning how to transform fear-based thinking in real-time with your staff and employees is a very powerful way to move through uncertain times.

3. Honesty and Transparency!

Communicate every step of the way with honesty and transparency. This is not just your responsibility, but it demonstrates respectful treatment and consideration for how your employees are being impacted.

4. Embrace change.

Stop resisting change. People need to be reminded that turbulent times are simply the universe’s way to challenge us to change, evolve and grow. Turbulent times are temporary, but our growth never is. So in the short term, we are being challenged to evolve. So evolve. This includes evolving the company in a way that you never would’ve planned on prior to this challenging time. So let go of the stubborn resistance to change, and evolve the company.

5. Be the role model of what emotional resilience is.

If you’re freaking out, stressing out, and taking that stress out on your employees, that’s a reflection of your low emotional IQ. Grow up. It’s time to mature out of childish ways of how you show up in life when things get hard. This never means suppressing emotions. It means expressing them and moving through them in emotionally mature, healthy ways. And creating spaciousness and safety for the people that work with and for you to do the same. Children don’t have the capacity to run corporations. Especially when things get challenging. So stop acting like a child and be the emotionally and mentally mature adult that your company and employees need you to be.

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

“Weak people don’t heal. Only warriors heal.” ~Rachel Fiori

Weak people feel like they can’t do it. Weak people give up. Weak people quit and walk away when things get hard.

Warriors, on the other hand, never stop no matter how difficult things become. They realize that challenges are meant for their own expansion so they can level up in their lives. It’s no different when it comes to running corporations. When there are problems and turbulent times with your corporation, you are being challenged to uplevel into a more powerful person, so you can take your corporation to new heights.

How can our readers further follow your work?

Instagram: @rachel_fiori

Tik Tok: @rachel_fiori

Facebook: rachelfiori_MSU

Website: www.MastersofSelfUniversity.com

YouTube

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!

Rachel Fiori Of Masters of Self University: 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.

Making Something From Nothing: Chynna Morgan Of ‘GIF Out Loud’ On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Your journey will be full of pivots: Your idea or business model is going to constantly evolve; embrace it! Embracing pivots can change the trajectory of your company for the better; therefore, don’t be dismayed and enjoy the journey.

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

Being in love with cultivating innovative ideas and bringing them to life, Chynna knew that she was destined to become an entrepreneur from a young age. She is the founder of GIF Out Loud and Viddey, an experiential and SaaS technology company that allows brands to engage and connect with their fans and audience using the power of user-generated videos and sound.

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 knew that I always wanted to be an entrepreneur or a businesswoman from a very young age. I have always been full of the biggest ideas, adventures, and dreams, but I had no idea that would land me in the tech industry. I always like to say I did not choose tech, but tech chose me. Before I started my company, I was getting my Master’s Degree in Healthcare Management with the thought of opening up my franchise of home care agencies throughout California. I was three classes away from finishing school when I had the idea to start my technology company (GIF Out Loud). I have been a professional actress and model since the age of 7, so my tech company brought both of my passions together, business and entertainment/music, in a fascinating way. It all started with an idea, execution, and in a short period, it came to fruition. I have not looked back since.

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 is, “When one door closes, another opens.” This means that if something does not work out, it was not meant for me and that something even better is waiting for me. My job is to be patient and understand that rejection is protection. Being in the business or entertainment industry, you’re constantly going to get so many No’s, and I had to understand early that every job was not for me. Understanding this and applying this to my work ethic has given me peace of mind and less stress. When a deal falls through, I am thankful that it did, and I keep it moving.

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?

One book that truly resonated with me was the Secret. I read this book when I was around 12 years old, and it helped me understand the power of my mind and thoughts. Therefore, I am conscious of what I think and the words that I speak. I understood early that I could bring my desires into existence with my thoughts, patience, and confidence.

It’s all about believing in yourself and being selective with who you share your ideas and desires with. This is important so that you will not lose your steam; you have to be careful of negative people or people who do not share your vision. Most importantly, you have to do the proper market research and have confidence that your idea will work. If you’re not confident about your vision, it will be hard to translate your idea into an actual business.

Also, I learned early that a good idea is nothing unless you put it into action.

There is enough room for every idea; one may have to change a few things to make it unique. For example, do you know how many fast-food restaurants there are, but they all specialize in different menus and have a specific target market. The truth is, it does not matter if someone thought of your idea before, and it doesn’t matter if there is something similar in the market. The goal is to research the market, figure out the pain points that your competitors are missing out on, and go for it!

When you first have your idea, the first step is to do your research to see if there is a market already for your idea and/or would you be considered first to market. Once you do the proper research, strategize the problem that your idea’s problem. Once you figure that out, and if you are not a technological person, hire someone who can develop your MVP and get a couple of beta users to give you feedback. Once you get your feedback, go back and make the proper changes, and then you are ready to launch and go to market! Once you develop your technology (you can get a patent lawyer to help you figure out the best way to patent your idea/tech concept).

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

1 . Your journey will be full of pivots: Your idea or business model is going to constantly evolve; embrace it! Embracing pivots can change the trajectory of your company for the better; therefore, don’t be dismayed and enjoy the journey.

2. You MUST have a balance: When I first started my company, it felt like I was working 24/7, with no healthy balance. I quickly realized that I needed to take time for myself, for my family and friends, and do things that I love outside of work. Once I figured this out, it allowed me to work much better and smarter. Balance is critical when running a company (you don’t want to overwork yourself). You have to take care of your mind, body, and spirit; if not, you will burn yourself out, which in return will impact your business negatively.

3. You will get TONS of No’s: Be prepared for No’s; actually, accept and embrace them because a no means not right now. Be patient and know that you will get the yes you have been waiting for and beyond. I live by the notion that when one door closes, another one opens.

4.Build Genuine Relationships: You need to surround yourself with people who can give you honesty and feedback and individuals who have been where you are trying to go. However, you do not want to use people for what they can do for you but connect with people from the heart, creating genuine relationships. Then the goal is to give unselfishly and pay it forward! I have learned in life that you get back what you give and sometimes even more.

5. There is no such thing as failure, only lessons learned: It is all a matter of perspective. I don’t believe there is such thing as failure, but lessons to know what to do or not to do next time. Sometimes what we thought was a failure actually was the thing that took us to the next level.

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?

The first thing you should do is research to see if the idea has already been invented. If it has, figure out what you can do differently than the product that is already in the market. If it has not been invented, figure out why it has not and start brainstorming from there.

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 have never worked with an invention consultant, so I would not be able to recommend whether or not it is necessary.

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 it depends on your product and your financial situation. There are many cases where a person can get started with limited funds and/or support from their family; in this case, if you can bootstrap your way until you are profitable (that is always awesome). If you need venture capital, figure out your monetization model before you start looking for funding. Yes, now you have funding, but the bigger question is, what is your plan to turn a profit? However, the key is to be realistic about what you need to succeed.

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 started my company, I did not have a network or anyone to ask for advice or feedback. However, this experience has inspired me to reach out and help others to make their experience easier. I love connecting with other founders or up-and-coming entrepreneurs to explore ways to help them move towards their goals. I try to make the world a better place is by having people be less stressed and more successful through my support and knowledge.

We should start a movement that teaches children about the importance of having a positive mindset. Imagine a kid growing up, thinking they can do whatever they put their mind too because they genuinely believe it in their heart. It all starts with your upbringing, self-esteem, and confidence.

I would love to have breakfast or lunch with Issa Rae! Her grit and resilience in starting her show to where she is now, having multiple businesses is inspiring!

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

Making Something From Nothing: Chynna Morgan Of ‘GIF Out Loud’ 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: Kristina Alexandra Kovalyuk Of Trident Advisory On How To Go From…

Making Something From Nothing: Kristina Alexandra Kovalyuk Of Trident Advisory On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

… I would inspire a movement of the next generations of female, immigrant and other under-privileged entrepreneurs and future leaders. When you are young, pre-teen and teen, you are most susceptible to the environment around you. This is when its key to have a circle of people and environment that encourages, fosters ideas and self confidence that is often lacking in youth to go after and actualize their ideas. I would also like to inspire a ‘failure is the stepping stone to greatness” movement. Too often we fail once or twice and give up when the greats have failed many times, however we don’t hear about it — too often we only hear the stories of success.

As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Kristina Alexandra Kovalyuk.

Kristina is a trailblazer, innovator, advisor and business strategist and vision actualizer. She is a serial entrepreneur at heart with a passion for building, scaling and growing businesses. She helps a wide ranging variety of clients identify, curate and execute strategic partnerships, recognize and take advantage of new trends, innovate both products, services and enter into new markets. Her specialty is hypergrowth, B2B, creating long lasting mutually beneficial relationships and taking dreams and ideas to reality.

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 Kyiv, Ukraine which was the USSR at the time, behind the iron curtain. I emigrated to the US at the age of 13 under religious asylum as a refugee with my family. We had to start from scratch, with no resources, no capital and just the suitcases we brought with us on the plane. We experienced a great deal of hardship. My father couldn’t work for years due to govt restrictions. My mother had to take low level jobs just to support the family. We were on govt assistance with little money for clothes and food. I was viciously bullied at school and had health problems due to Chernobyl. It was a rough few years to say the least. This is what spurred me on to go find a job. At 14 I started delivering pizza menu flyers door to door for $5 an hour. Then I worked as a filing and copy clerk at a local insurance agency. At 16 I was able to get an internship at one of the largest financial services companies at the time. That changed my life trajectory forever.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”?

Everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish by it’s ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life thinking its stupid — Einstein. “you cannot solve problems using the same thinking you used to create them”. Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life? Yes. I often tried to acquiesce and adjust myself to be like someone else, especially moving across the world and having to learn an entirely different culture. This has led of confusion, lack of success and frustration — not to mention loss of self confidence. When I started to embrace my unique nature and hone in on who I really am — that’s when the paradigm started to shift.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you?

The Count of Monte Cristo changed my life.

Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

It is a story about a young man from humble beginnings in a small town in France with little money, a loving father, a great deal of drive, ambition, integrity, ethics and a pure heart. He gets slandered, accused of a crime he didn’t commit by someone jealous of his fiancé and his rise through the ranks on a sailing ship and great likability/personality. He is thrown in one of the worst prisons in France on a deserted island for 20years. He nearly gives up and commits suicide when fate gives him a lifeline. He manages to get out alive despite impossible circumstances and finds a treasure. He spends years building himself, rescuing other people, souls, rebuilds and becomes one of the most generous and successful men of this time.

Absolutely. The first step is to flush the idea out. How is it transformative? What benefit does it bring? Is it a solution to a problem, or a new way of doing something? Who would be benefitting from it? How would it be used/applied? Whats new/unique about it? Who would one need/want to work with to bring it to life? What resources are needed?.. those are just some of the questions. Once you flush those out that will give you confidence that is truly is a good actionable idea. I think many people just have an idea, mention it to a few people and forget about it. This is what causes the lack of translations and actionability.

Looking at and flushing out the questions above is a great start. Also looking at other companies that are doing something similar (if they exist). Also speaking to believable (Ray Dalio term) people in the industry and running the idea by them and getting their input and seeking feedback,

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

Take your time. Rome wasn’t built in one day Just because you have a great idea doesn’t mean it will translate into a unicorn overnight.
Don’t try to do everything yourself.
Figure out your strengths and weaknesses
Hire people who supplement areas where you are not strong.
Get the foundation right. (each one carries a longer story and can expand depending on which one you’d like to feature).

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?

See if something like it already exists (if not, what about something similar)
Is it patented?
Is it hard to copy?
Begin the patent process.
Research who you can work with to bring it to life.
What benefit will this bring to these “cooperative partners”?
Structure and win-win where they and you will benefit from working together.

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?

That depends on your budget. If you can, sure. However many cannot in which case there are other resources available such as at your local chamber of commerce or nonprofits geared towards entrepreneurs. This highly depends on the field (i.e. tech, consumer, etc)

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 the better way to go, however it depends on the idea, product,etc. The longer you can bootstrap the better you can build and the greater value you can extract down the line.

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

I’ve given talks and mentored, both at my alumn and individual mentees who have come to me for guidance. Writing and contributing to articles such as this is another way I’m passionate about giving back and sharing knowledge.

I would inspire a movement of the next generations of female, immigrant and other under-privileged entrepreneurs and future leaders. When you are young, pre-teen and teen, you are most susceptible to the environment around you. This is when its key to have a circle of people and environment that encourages, fosters ideas and self confidence that is often lacking in youth to go after and actualize their ideas. I would also like to inspire a ‘failure is the stepping stone to greatness” movement. Too often we fail once or twice and give up when the greats have failed many times, however we don’t hear about it — too often we only hear the stories of success.

There are many. I would say Jack Dorsey, Mark Cuban, Lloyd Blankfein.

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

Making Something From Nothing: Kristina Alexandra Kovalyuk Of Trident Advisory On How To Go From… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Paul Krismer On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

If you want to be paid as a public speaker, you need to be in a business frame of mind, not expecting people to come and seek you out. Discipled action and a clear business plan are essential for long run success.

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 Paul Krismer.

Keynote speaker Paul Krismer teaches the practical application of positive emotions to achieve corporate and personal excellence to audiences around the world. As an employee engagement public speaker and expert, Paul delivers strategies to attain healthier workforces and increased profits- these are the scientifically proven results of highly engaged teams.

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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 prairie, small farm town in central Canada. I was the youngest of six kids living in a single- parent household.

It was chaotic. People were coming and going, lots of activity, sports, music lessons, neighborhood fun, and I relished the sheer volume of activity. I had a best friend that lived next door.

Frankly, I think my mom was so busy and stressed out by her responsibilities that I was left to my own devices a lot. And overall, that was a lot of fun and afforded me the opportunity to explore and grow as a child in a way that had enough safety and yet enough risk.

To this very day, I like to be playful and take risks.

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

All my life, even in elementary school, I found myself frequently on a stage. I often played parts in theatrical productions. I ran for class President in grade six. And somehow, it seemed natural that when I began my early career, I found myself doing public consultation exercises where often I was explaining complicated law and policy to audiences of laypeople.

It was always fun for me.

And then, in 2016, I opened my consulting practice and have found myself giving a speech somewhere nearly every week and sometimes multiple times in the same week.

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

Well, I’m a Canadian who presently lives most of the year in Las Vegas. But before I had my visa that allowed me to live legally in the United States, I was frequently crossing the border from Canada, going in to meet with a client in the U.S., and I had to get a particular type of visa that a customs officer granted. Anybody who’s ever crossed the border knows that U.S. customs border officers are not exactly warm and friendly types. They are stern, and they’re mostly looking for reasons why they can say “no”. So, on one particular occasion before the pandemic, I was en route to Montana to give a speech in Great Falls, and the U.S. Customs officer, completely at his own discretion, decided I didn’t qualify for the same visa that many times previously I had been allowed into the country for.

And so, with less than 12 hours to go before the event, I frantically had to call the client and say that I’m being denied entry into the U.S., and it felt like we turned on a dime to facilitate me speaking to a large audience via a Zoom call. Of course, nowadays, since the pandemic, virtual events are easy and we all know how to do them. But at that time, it was sheer panic for both me and the event planner.

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, the funniest mistake I ever made while giving a speech was having a staff member of mine come into the public consultation session and whisper in my ear that my wife was going into labor. The audience could tell something important had been said to me, but I didn’t know how to react. And so, I was looking back at the staff member, and I said to her loud enough that the audience could hear, well, what should I do? And she laughed at me and said, go home. And I explained to the audience what was happening. And they laughed with me, and kind of in a loud, collective way, they said, yes, go home.

So I did. And of course, my very capable staff finished the presentation for me.

And the lesson, perhaps, is to be real with your audience. You’re not coming in as a movie star in a make-believe fictional story. You’re coming in to share what learning you’ve acquired from your real life. And being real — being authentic — is much more important than crafting some perfect but fictional 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?

I felt like a competent public speaker before I decided to make a living doing this in my own business — mostly from prior business experience of having to speak in front of audiences. So, my biggest challenge was actually learning how to make a business from my speaking.

A woman — IJ McIntyre — who belonged to the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers, of which there’s an equivalent in the United States called the National Speakers Association, encouraged me to attend one of the annual conventions. She told me that this would be a game-changer to understand the business.

I was unsure. I was reluctant, but I agreed to follow her advice. And in 2016, I attended my first CAPS annual convention.

Learning from other professional speakers how to make a living as a professional speaker is a basic, tried-and-true path to success.

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 think the most important thing is to know your why. Why do you want to be a public speaker? If you think it will be an overnight lucrative and fun, glamorous lifestyle, think again.

The people who succeed in the long run have a burning desire to share an important message.

And they have the fortitude to do the developmental work to get established in the business. It’s not easy.

Even talented, hardworking people will need several years before they’ve got a breakthrough and the money will follow. To get through this hard period, you must have a compelling answer to the question; “why do I speak?”

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?

My topic is happiness! That is pretty fun. I teach happiness specifically as a mechanism to get more success from one’s own life. This not only motivates me greatly in my own life, but the ability to share the science of happiness with audiences for personal, professional and organizational success is deeply rewarding. It is true to my mission in the world.

I know it sounds over-the-top, but I feel like this is what I am on Earth to do. And so, making the world a little happier is more than enough motivation to get me up and going every day.

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 have a particularly interesting client that I’ve just begun working with more profoundly. Without revealing their identity, they are an arm of the U.S. military services. They have very young leaders with tremendous responsibility for their soldiers’ lives, both personal and professional. I’m developing leadership retreats that will help these young leaders see their role differently. They will see their role beyond accomplishing a military mission; rather that their big-picture mission is to aid in the wellbeing of the people they command.

There is a tragic reality of U.S. armed forces personnel too often having broken lives, sometimes resulting in suicide. Our intention is to generally improve the well-being of the men and women who serve their country.

I am super excited to be a part of this project.

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

My favorite “Life Lesson Quote” is from Gandhi:

Your beliefs become your thoughts

your thoughts become your words

your words become your actions

your actions become your habits

your habits become your values

your values become your destiny

This quote is meaningful to me because I feel a lot of my own work is to get my thoughts tracking correctly every day so that my behaviors line up with my intentions of where I want my work and my life to go.

And similarly, I want the same for my clients to get them in a positive, action-oriented frame of mind so that they get the lives that they want.

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.

The first thing is to genuinely have something to say. If you want to be a public speaker because you think it’s glamorous or lucrative, the world doesn’t need you. But if you have something that you know you can share that people need, if you’ve got a message that will make a difference, then start there. Because you don’t have to be famous, and you don’t have to be the most accomplished speaker on stage. If your message is good enough and important, there’s an audience wanting to hear from you.

Second, if you want to be paid as a public speaker, you need to be in a business frame of mind, not expecting people to come and seek you out. Discipled action and a clear business plan are essential for long run success.

Third, be a bit funny. There’s an expression in the industry that says you don’t have to be funny to be a speaker. But if you want to make money, you need to be funny. Be light-hearted. Be passionate about your topic. Show your genuine humility. Usually poking fun at your own self is the best way to make the audience feel connected with you.

Fourth, a good talk is filled with stories that leave an emotional impact. People can learn only so much from the reciting of important and relevant facts. And, of course, it’s essential that you have some factual underpinning to the message you want to share. However, to move people into action, they need to feel deeply that the stories you share reach them in their hearts and in their gut, beyond their minds.

Fifth, prioritize your audience for every speech. If you think you have one canned talk that you can say in exactly the same way everywhere you go, then you are too self-centered to be genuinely of service to the people you’re speaking to. Each audience has a unique language, unique challenges, and a unique perspective to why they want to hear you speak. And if you can’t adapt your talk to speak specifically to that audience then ultimately you won’t get the accolades that are necessary for a long career in this business.

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

Of course, people are terrified to speak. They should be the same as when they first get in a car and learn to drive. The only way you get over being scared to be the driver of a car is to log enough hours driving a car so that it becomes second nature. And that is true for speakers as well. If you want to be a speaker, get in front of audiences and speak over and over and over again.

Even if you have to speak for free over and over again, get in front of audiences until you are totally comfortable, and the fear shifts from deeply frightening to merely exciting and wanting the moment to be important for both you and the audience alike. And once you’ve made that transition, you’re a race car driver in an exhilarating contest and not a scared 16-year-old hoping you don’t crash your dad’s car.

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 movement I would love to inspire is for people to prioritize their personal happiness.

There is so much science behind how we’re more successful and contribute our greatest gifts to the world when we have abundant positive emotions. People who deprioritize their happiness so they can accomplish and acquire things are sadly unaware how accomplishments and acquisitions are, in fact, much easier to get when we start from a place of happiness. And after all, the only reason why we want to accomplish and acquire things is so that we can be happy.

So, we need to reverse the cycle — get happy first, by investing in our personal well-being, so that we can give our gifts needed in the world.

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 with the Dalai Lama. I, of course would be starstruck and probably unable to say much of anything. But his gentle, playful, powerful contribution to the world inspires me and I’d love to meet him.

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

Readers can find me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulkrismer/

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

Paul Krismer 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: Todd Kleperis Of Payzel On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Listen to your elders, especially when they have more experience in a certain area– i.e. get an advisory board that really cares about your business. Give them shares in the firm when you have zero. Not crazy levels of shares but enough to keep them engaged. Or pay them little dividends like bottles of a favorite beverage, or just be nice to the right folks who care will help.

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

An accomplished serial entrepreneur, Todd Kleperis holds over two decades of business experience in both the United States and Asia Pacific Markets. One to always be able to recognize opportunity, his Asian-based start-ups brought millions of dollars of product into the U.S., proving his ability to bring technology to life. He was the first person to federally move both cannabis product and money into the federal reserve. He started what is now the largest armored distribution company in the cannabis space after working for a startup that was bought by Boeing for over 300 million dollars. The defense industry proved to be a great testing ground for the development of what is now the first fintech to support frontier finance industries like defense, autonomous vehicles and emerging markets like biofuel from hemp.

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 hometown was in a small farming area in Connecticut, and we lived very close to the Storrs Uconn campus. I remember swimming at the college early mornings to get ready for the championships in CT. When I left CT for the Army, I moved north to the Boston area and went to Babson college where I focused on entrepreneurial studies. Although it gave me a good first experience, I knew that the snow shoveling business I had as a kid would not generate the kind of lifestyle I wanted , so I began to peruse my journey creating successful companies.

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

Constant persistence towards a goal will always pay off. People sometimes forget the power of goals and focus only on their dreams. Goals have deadlines and deliverables. I set a goal to have my current fintech firm funded by the end of 2021 and it happened, with massive effort. Investors are fun to work with the second you have their money. Consistently grinding allowed us to bring in the largest customer in our space with over 1900 locations. Without consistent diligence in helping the customer solve problems, none of the investors would have seen the mission we were on solving frontier finance issues in wild and unique industries.

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 would highly recommend every would-be entrepreneur visit YouTube and subscribe to a channel they like, with motivation from someone who has really ‘won’. I love Will Smith, some of his speeches online are extremely inspirational. Les Brown is a personal favorite of mine and his “It ain’t over till I win” discussion will leave you pumped for the next battle every time.

Sure — an idea is just that. A concept or a possible theory. What they need to understand is, if the idea doesn’t solve a massive challenge and if they can’t ‘see’ the customer, they should keep looking. I like building things with customers already engaged. It’s easier to create when you solve a customer’s problem. Most of the time people with ideas don’t have a path forward because they lack the customer. An idea is wonderful, but execution is critical. Your best bet is validate the issue and the price point you solve. If you have a better pen to sign documents, will it be relevant in 5 years with e-signatures? Understand that the next app is not effective without massive consumer adoption.

Looking at the market and really knowing the customer are two surefire ways. If you are 100% involved in the industry, then you are focused with the idea and will KNOW if the idea is a winner by asking the top leading people in that field. If you are not in that field, are you a user of the product? I had a young entrepreneur asking me to help him design a set of sandals that you could ‘walk out of’. I asked him how many sandals he owned? He said zero — we ended the conversation and went to the store. I said watch the first 5 people buying sandals. Now I’ve worn sandals all my adult life. I asked him — why would someone want sandals they can walk out of? He replied, because his friends thought it would be wild to have shoes that opened and closed on your foot. I knew instantly he was going to have a rough time with this. Nike, Adidas, and a host of others own the shoe space. His barriers to entry were high. The road to a sandal that you could ‘walk out of’ looked dim. I tried to show him how to build a company and he was completely lost. He had an idea and that was it, and that’s just not enough.
My advice, spend time watching shark tank, that’s business 101 on primetime. It really is the format many investors look at. Does the product solve a problem, have you solved the problem and how did you bring your idea to life.

Filing a patent may or may not even be relevant. Patents today are not as valuable as they once were because firms can grow right past a patent and the legal involved may slow you down. There are firms that help you file your first one if that’s the route you really want to go. Watch how they do it and then in the future you can cut down on the cost by removing steps. Unless you want to read a book or watch a YouTube on it — I’d say your first one should be left to professionals. Only after you determine the real benefit to patenting it. It may be that you don’t ever want to patent something as well. In fear that you may open up the patent trolls who will pounce on it and file all sorts of other patents against your original invention. Best advice, don’t skimp on a good lawyer. Find one you trust. Legal advice can be costly if done incorrectly. Do your due diligence first and then find a lawyer who specializes in your type of industry. Don’t have a guy who specializes in real estate guiding your fintech startup… Unless you’re focused on banking real estate. Just like, don’t eat at a Chinese restaurant run by people from Spain or Russia.

Securing a good manufacturer is paramount. You can even find a good Q/C firm that focuses on China for instance before you start producing products. Smart, depending on the market you are building on. Is it a consumer good? Then 100% do NOT rely on Alibaba or some source. Find a firm who makes something in that space and identify what they have in the supply chain. See if you can build it locally first to cut down on your drama overseas. Shipping your idea off to a foreign land may have worked in the 90’s but it doesn’t today. You may be amazed what local firms can produce for you.

Sometimes retail may not be the best path depending on the segment. Liquor for instance is a battlefield. Cosmetics have 600% margin but it’s a bloodbath. Online retailers can take a smaller portion of product, but you keep margin. Focus on keeping profitable. Forget Walmart out of the gate unless your brother is the buyer!

Focus on getting things made well and solving an issue. You can build from there.

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

1. Use your credit cards wisely. You may never know when you need that credit line increased for that last minute purchase. I had a bank give me a 50,000 credit card and that one card saved our business when Amex decided it didn’t want to be in my industry and left me high and dry. American Express is not one to build a business on any longer in my mind. That one hurt.

2. Finding funding or resources before you need them. When your business is in trouble is the worst time to try and raise money. Try to be in front of that with orders from customers. We had many times when we used a prepayment of services at a discount to the customer instead of taking toxic funding at 20% a month in interest.

3. Find strong partners — even resources that will help you sell your idea / product once it’s out. I had one firm where my channel partner was outselling even my sales team.

4. Hire a lawyer you like. Cheap legal advice is just that — cheap, and may lead you down the wrong path. One lawyer we had suggested we take a client to court. I went and met the client and a $300.00 dinner won them back from the brink. Sometimes honey works better than vinegar.

5. Listen to your elders, especially when they have more experience in a certain area– i.e. get an advisory board that really cares about your business. Give them shares in the firm when you have zero. Not crazy levels of shares but enough to keep them engaged. Or pay them little dividends like bottles of a favorite beverage, or just be nice to the right folks who care will help.

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?

Stop dreaming and commit to your idea. You will never make more money than your boss so go be the entrepreneur you dream to be. If you don’t, and someone else steals your idea, don’t give up. See if they own 100% of the market. If they don’t, then they just validated your idea. Go for it! Go all in and don’t look back. Be ready as this is the hardest fight of your life. Your desire and idea will be the best or worst thing you ever do. It’s up to you! Make it happen and remember, you are worth it.

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’ve never been one to hire someone to validate one of my ideas. Could it work? Possibly. Is it a 100% assurance to success? I’d say no. My bet is, find someone who has been in your space (if it exists) and have a conversation with them. That effort will be worth more than hiring some guy who charges for things like how to form a company. You can find that on google!

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

That fully depends on the market segment for the idea but — using your own money will be where you OWN the entire thing. I would rather fight to keep more of the firm then deal with firms who really don’t understand the direction I’m going. Seek advice from people who have done this before. Much smarter path.

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

My current adventure puts fintech with frontier industries that might not ever see finance from banks. That has enabled firms to grow substantially. One of them is fighting for a coastal defense network that may slow or stop coastal erosion worldwide. I’d say that would be fantastic for the world! Keep focused on the path towards a better planet.

Bring forward technologies that can make this world a better place and you have done well while you are here. Pay it forward and do great things for people, stay humble ,and be kind. Try to be better than the previous 3 generations of people before you, and if you can, make people smile by doing great things.

Fitz from SC Johnson as he has a passion for the ocean and helping millions. Our work with www.tekmara.com will be the firm to stop or slow coastal erosion. I think the founder there would love a breakfast with him. Or a progressive CEO who cares deeply about the impact of what is happening in the ocean.

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

Thank you for doing this — people need to understand that they can do it if they focus and get it done!

Making Something From Nothing: Todd Kleperis Of Payzel 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.

Leah Bonvissuto Of PresentVoices On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Perspective: Most people secretly report struggling to communicate effectively in high-stakes settings — they’re just not talking about it. In my work, I find that the more privilege, power, and seniority someone has, the less likely they are to admit to challenges communicating (sometimes even to me, their coach! sometimes even to themselves!). If you have a fear of speaking up, then it’s likely others on your team feel the same. The more we can understand our innate reaction in situations of stress, the more we can see the shame and stigma surrounding it and proactively build a strong foundation for confident communication.

As founder of PresentVoices, Leah Bonvissuto helps people articulate their best ideas in their most important moments. She is passionate about dismantling the systems that are silencing voices in our society so that more of us can be heard. Combining backgrounds in neuropsychology and theater direction, Leah has helped thousands of people be more powerfully present at organizations including LinkedIn, Adobe, Google, MailChimp, Nike, Square, Estee Lauder, and Dell. Leah has been featured in Forbes, Success Magazine, Harvard Business Review, Bustle, Real Simple, and Communications Week and speaks about how organizations can strengthen employee inclusion, engagement, and efficiency by harnessing the power of conscious communication.

<a href="https://medium.com/media/2baf0ad28fc18421fce29e7bb406c705/href">https://medium.com/media/2baf0ad28fc18421fce29e7bb406c705/href</a>

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 raised by a mime and a Broadway musician, so naturally, I had trouble speaking up for myself. I joke that it’s because my mother was a mime, but really, I suffered from social anxiety. I would lose my train of thought (and my personality!) when the spotlight turned to me. I had nerves that made it impossible to think clearly and access my thoughts. I was unable to articulate my ideas in important moments and it permeated every moment of my life.

Being raised in the theater, I naturally escaped to the stage. As an actor, someone told me what words to say and how to interact with others. There were rules I could follow which alleviated my anxiety onstage. Offstage, I avoided socializing at all costs.

I was very confident doing my work, but whenever I had to talk about the work (in interviews, in the press, at social events) I would shut down. My mind would go blank in the moments that mattered most to me. I was frustrated, angry, and devastated that my life’s work was being muted by my inability to express myself.

It took me many years to learn just how many people feel this way, relative to their own power and privilege in any given space.

It was in talking about this anxiety with others and learning to feel less alone in it that I began to find my voice. For the first time, I could hear myself think and I knew what I wanted to say. Talking about it with others deflated the intensity of the anxiety. That was where this work began for me.

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

Before beginning this work, I was a theater director. At the same time, I spent over a decade working as a neuropsychological assistant (theater didn’t pay the bills, after all). In this work, I learned about trauma, attention, anxiety, exposure therapy, and executive functioning. Desperate for relief from near-constant panic attacks and social anxiety, I decided to apply some of these theories to my own anxiety.

I was desperate to “deal” with the anxiety, which seemed to be holding me back in every area of my professional and personal life. I joined an anxiety support group, which made the anxiety worse because it was centered even more than usual. I treated this as exposure therapy and would go running to simulate palpitations of a panic attack and practiced speaking through the breathlessness. I started meditating, which forced me to get quiet and listen to a voice I had never heard clearly — my own. And I was in talk therapy, which was essential in helping me move through this transition with support and strength.

I first explored this work as part of a healthcare/arts exchange where I helped train 1,500 frontline staff workers at a public hospital in Brooklyn. In exchange, I got my wisdom teeth removed for free (I had multiple jobs but no health insurance!).

Doing this important work with frontline healthcare workers was the beginning of me realizing the impact of this work. I loved helping people de-escalate, articulate, and advocate for themselves and their coworkers in important, fast-paced moments. Helping facilitate more clarity and compassion in communication became my life’s work.

I had grown up in the theater. I loved helping people tell stories on stages of all shapes and sizes, but directing theater wasn’t enough. I wanted to help people tell their own stories with their own voices and feel more powerful doing so. I wanted to help people trust their voices to articulate their vision. I particularly wanted to help people who felt that their voices had betrayed them. I wanted to help people who were struggling to speak up in systems that weren’t built for them.

I had done this work for myself, by myself, and it was isolating beyond imagination. I was determined to serve as an outside eye and sounding board for others through this process of reclaiming their voice so they didn’t have to go it alone.

Today, my work is living theater.

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

At the height of the pandemic in late 2020, I designed and facilitated a virtual resiliency training program for essential workers at an employee-owned pizzeria in a rural part of the country. The program was facilitated on Zoom in interactive meetings of varying sizes and structures over three months. I was approached by leadership to develop this program because these young workers, most of them under 21, were being harassed by customers at work for upholding COVID-19 regulations.

I first developed a program for the team leaders, eight young women under the age of 25, and then together, we designed a program for all workers at the company. We talked about anxiety, psychological safety, trauma, shame, and burnout.

Through creating a space that was collectively-built, reliable, and intentional, we worked on tools to help the workers feel more present and powerful — behind masks, when taking orders over the phone, and on the floor of the pizzeria. Participants came out of the program feeling supported, heard, validated, and empowered with tools to help them speak their truth in moments of uncertainty and high stress. This program impacted me greatly — I learned so much about resiliency, leadership, ownership, and empathy from these young, essential workers.

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 jumped right in to entrepreneurship and parenting at the same time. I wish I’d trusted my own intuition and instincts earlier in both cases. It took me a while to listen to myself — to hear and trust my own voice — something that has become a lifelong journey.

I still had my day job as a neuropsychological assistant when I started doing the work of helping others communicate. Coaching work had built to the point that I could not keep my day job, even though my work with the neuropsychologist was super flexible. I booked my very first corporate contracts, three at the same time for the same week. I was about to embark on a trip where I’d teach five workshops in seven days in four cities. And I also had just found out I was pregnant.

Diving headfirst into entrepreneurship was fun but messy. I took much from my years producing and directing theater, where being scrappy and resourceful was key. In theater, you wear every hat from marketing to publicity to creative direction to facilitation. It was similar to entrepreneurship in so many ways.

But parenting? Parenting required ease and trust and focus. I couldn’t multitask in the same way because it wasn’t effective. Parenting required my presence. Turns out, entrepreneurship requires the same.

Learning how to parent and be my own boss at the same time has taught me so much about ownership, authority, and trust. It’s a daily reminder that I make the rules, that I don’t have to do things in a prescriptive way, and that I can create my work-life to suit my needs.

I’m still learning this every day.

I’m grateful to my clients. Without them, I’d be a puddle of nerves on the floor. My clients give me perspective to remember I am not alone in this anxiety. They give me permission to be confident, because that all I desire for them. I’m grateful to one of my first clients, a 15-year-old girl, who taught me more about following her voice than nearly any other client since. I’m grateful to my clients who come from different backgrounds from me — a ranch manager in rural Colorado and an entrepreneur in Nigeria who help me identify my privilege and limited perspective. I’m grateful to my executive clients who remind me every day of the deep shame and stigma embedded in our communication challenges, especially as people ascend in seniority. I’m grateful for being able to support more marginalized voices to speak up in systems that feel unsafe. Every day, I learn more about communication from these experts of their own voices.

Trust your gut. I wish I had trusted my own intuition earlier on. I wish I knew sooner that most people are making things up as they go along. I wish I knew that even though someone acts confident, they’re likely secretly insecure underneath. I wish I knew that there wasn’t some generic playbook and that I can do things my own way. It would have fostered more creativity, innovation, and trust, which I desperately needed when I started doing this work.

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’m devoted to dismantling the systems that are silencing voices in our society so that more of us can be heard. I want people to know that if you struggle speaking up, there’s nothing wrong with you or your voice.

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 writing a book about communication and presence, and I plan to launch an online course about these topics this year as well. But the project I’m most excited about is the launch of the new PresentVoices Community.

I’ve always witnessed the power of group work. A team workshop where a manager admits to public speaking anxiety alongside their direct reports. Hearing my private clients say similar things, knowing that if they could talk to each other, they would feel less alone. And my group coaching programs where people learn not only from being in the spotlight and speaking in front of strangers, but from watching others change the way they communicate right before their very eyes.

The PresentVoices Community includes weekly group coaching classes and monthly workshops where members can practice speaking off-the-cuff in a confidential, carefully-held virtual space. This is an invite-only community, only open to my current and former clients.

I’ve dreamed of this Community for years, and it is exceeding my wildest expectations. It has become a laboratory where folks can practice and strategize for important interactions, meetings, presentations, and conversations. Speaking up in a space with new people simulates the public speaking anxiety that so many of us experience, creating a controlled way to practice expressing ourselves in high-stakes moments.

One of the greatest surprises has been the way that members are getting to know each other and supporting each other: Product managers meeting on the side to coach each other for interviews; members who had experienced managerial abuse helping each other navigate new workplaces after leaving traumatic environments; members in similar industries in different countries getting to learn more about best practices in other regions.

This community has been gratifying and fulfilling beyond my dreams, and it also creates a flexible, accessible way for me to support people at varying income levels

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

“Slowly is the fastest way to get to where you want to be” by André De Shields

When I started meditating and focusing on my communication, my life slowed down. I learned how to slow my breathing and that helped me slow my racing thoughts. This created space where I could think and hear my own perspective and that allowed me to speak my mind for the first time.

Instead of focusing on the anxiety, which went at a fast-pace, I was more in my moments and because of that, I felt more in control. Pacing is almost always at the forefront of communication challenges, which can impact breath, nerves, thinking, and speaking. Exploring slowness and honoring my own rhythm has been essential.

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.

Video: https://youtu.be/v8KTQ2lg8FY

Public speaking is often noted as the greatest phobia of all, with national statistics hovering around 74%. My data puts this number even higher, with 86.6% of people reporting challenges with public speaking nerves (this data is not just collected from my private clients but from the thousands of people I’ve supported in corporate team workshops!).

There can be many things that get in the way of being an effective public speaker. Physiological sensations and nerves can make it nearly impossible to feel confident and in control. Racing thoughts or distractions can take us out of the present moment. On Zoom, we may be over-indexing people’s facial expressions or over-prioritizing how we’re being perceived (instead of focusing on what we want to say). We may lose our train of thought or go blank. We may not know where to look or how to speak to a group of 50 or 500 (”But I’m really good one-on-one!”).

In my work, I’m not interested in helping people present as more confident or charismatic. My work is committed to making sure that you actually feel more confident in the moment so you can trust yourself to communicate effectively. I want you to be able to access and articulate your unique perspective, passion, and personality, without losing yourself in the intensity of the moment.

We can’t do that when anxiety takes our agency away. We have to be able to make choices and those choices exist in the present moment. Here are five key components to effective public speaking designed to give you the ability to make choices in these moments of high-intensity:

Perspective: Most people secretly report struggling to communicate effectively in high-stakes settings — they’re just not talking about it. In my work, I find that the more privilege, power, and seniority someone has, the less likely they are to admit to challenges communicating (sometimes even to me, their coach! sometimes even to themselves!). If you have a fear of speaking up, then it’s likely others on your team feel the same. The more we can understand our innate reaction in situations of stress, the more we can see the shame and stigma surrounding it and proactively build a strong foundation for confident communication.
Purpose: Often, there’s an underlying intention behind public speaking that puts added pressure on us. “I want to prove I’m the right person”, “I want this to go well.” It serves us to reframe the focus on the purpose or impact of the work. Articulate an objective for the speaking engagement that matters to your audience. This will keep the purpose of the work front-and-center. Anytime you catch yourself over-thinking, refocus your attention on the greater purpose of the work and the audience you are there to serve. For example: Today, my goal is to share some practical tools to help you feel more confident and in control when speaking in public.
Points: When we think about public speaking, most of us focus on the content, but words themselves only account for 7% of how we’re perceived. If 93% of our communication is non-verbal, then we have to make content accessible, conversational, and intuitive. Separate content from delivery by designating time to focus on what you want to say. This is a more analytical process and can take the form of an outline of bullets, a slide deck, or just a few key points. If you tend to script, remember that doing so robs you of the opportunity to practice the emotional transitions — how you get from idea to idea. Instead, avoid sentences and focus on words or phrases. Treat content as scaffolding, designed to support you when you forget, instead of capturing every word you want to say.
Preparation: What makes you feel prepared? Most of us equate preparation with conquering content, and it’s essential to reframe this perspective. In the prior step, you’ve prepared content in whatever way makes you comfortable, which can include slides, an outline of talking points, or even scripting, if necessary. Once you have the big ideas down, it’s essential that you prepare in a way that serves your ability to feel confident. This does not mean sitting down at your desk and practicing a virtual presentation as if it was happening. It also does not mean running through it 20 times or memorizing it so you don’t forget what you want to say. All of this takes away our ability to trust ourselves in the moment and can reinforce anxiety. Instead, have the content visible and practice speaking it through quickly, preferably while moving your body. Speed through the content while washing dishes or in the shower. Go for a walk or even a run, which can trigger the same physiological response we experience with palpitations, and practice accessing your ideas through the breathlessness. Make changes to your content based on where you stumble and make any changes to support your ability to access your ideas in the moment. Treat this as exposure therapy and get more comfortable in the tremendous discomfort of fight-or-flight. Finally, set up your space to minimize distractions and maximize your focus and attention in the moment.
Presence: Anxiety breeds when we don’t have agency — it makes us feel powerless and small when we can’t make choices. We begin to reclaim some of that control and confidence when we make choices that feed our ability to feel in control and confident. To do this, we have to transform unconscious behaviors and habits into conscious choices. The anxiety will tell you to move, fidget, adjust, and restate but all of these things cause more anxiety when done unconsciously. Instead, feel the tactile ridge on a pen instead of fidgeting unconsciously with it. Lean back and feel the points of contact between your body and your chair or your feet on the floor. Think of melting physically and getting heavy, an effective response to vagal nerve dysregulation. Slow your rate of speech by taking intentional pauses to refuel and breathe, to give yourself a moment to think, and to give your audience a beat to catch up with you. Any focus that brings you into the present moment, if only for a moment before you are distracted again, helps us counter the anxiety and focuses our attention on the present moment.

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

When I started doing this work, I realized that most people feel the same. We’re just not talking about it! Just by having conversations every day about the intensity of public speaking fear, my own response to it changed. The intensity began to deflate because I felt less alone in it. Trusting that nothing is wrong with you is the first step. If most people are experiencing this, then odds are, you are not alone. Even focusing on others to see if you can “see” their anxiety can be an effective redirect to bring us more into the present moment and break the intensity of our own internal focus.

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?

U.S. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley says that “The people closest to the pain, should be the closest to the power, driving and informing the policymaking”. I envision a world where more voices are heard, listened to, and understood. I dream of a world where we are elevating those most impacted by the intersections of poverty, racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and misogyny to be decision-makers in our future growth. I truly believe that our answers exist in learning from, listening to, and being led by those most impacted by these deadly daily forces.

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!

My heroes are those fighting every day to save American democracy. I would love to have lunch with Stacey Abrams, and am grateful for her work protecting the right to vote for all Americans.

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

Yes! Please visit the PresentVoices website for tips, tools, and more information on this work (www.presentvoices.com). And find me on social media at @PresentVoices.co on Instagram and Facebook!

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

Leah Bonvissuto Of PresentVoices 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.

Alex DeBarr Of Naylor Association Solutions: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader…

Alex DeBarr Of Naylor Association Solutions: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Take Care of yourself — by getting rest, family time, exercise and eating well.

As a 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 Alex DeBarr.

Alex DeBarr is president and CEO of Naylor Association Solutions, a leading provider of innovative association tools and services that strengthen member engagement and increase non-dues revenue. He has led Naylor since 2006 in its exclusive service to professional and trade associations in the U.S. and Canada. During his 15 years of leadership, Alex has piloted the company through a period of substantial expansion and strategic diversification through organic growth and acquisition, evolving the company to be a full-service provider of solutions that help associations communicate and engage with members, build their brands and generate important non-dues revenue. During Alex’s tenure, Naylor has tripled its client base and more than doubled its revenue. Before Naylor, Alex spent 22 years at Advanstar Communications (now part of Informa plc), the last nine years as an executive vice president overseeing the integrated event, publishing and digital franchises in the travel, hospitality, healthcare, powersports, veterinary medicine and automotive industries, among others.

I graduated from college with a degree in journalism and started my career in 1984 as a writer/reporter for an automotive trade magazine at a large B2B publishing house. After a few years, I realized I wasn’t going to be happy in that kind of role, plus my wife was pregnant with our first child, so I started applying for other positions within the company. About six months later, I landed an advertising sales role. I was able to use my writing experience as an advantage in selling and understanding the publishing business.

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?

I was younger than most peers as I moved up in the company, so my mistakes tended to be from being too aggressive or trying to do too many things at once. The first sales meeting I led had a five-page agenda for a one-day meeting and I was horrified when we only got about 25% of the way through it. I also showed up at a big in-person presentation with Champion Spark Plug and their ad agency with enough material for two days of pitches, but we only had an hour. I was about 26 at the time and I won the business but one of the Champion executives took me aside after and was pretty direct about how I almost didn’t get the business because I tried to present too much material. It was two valuable lessons about how to prioritize — be succinct and to the point.

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?

Early in my career, I was very fortunate to have been exposed to a number of executives who were very generous with their knowledge. I had several great mentors along the way who were very encouraging and helped me understand the need to continuously evolve as a person and as a professional. I learned that when you stop evolving, you will start failing. My mentors helped me learn how to do things — and sometimes, more importantly, how not to do things.

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?

I wasn’t at our company when it started, but the owners had the foresight to instill a clear purpose into the core values of the company. When I arrived as CEO 14 years ago, the company was under new ownership for the first time and we were actively trying to evolve what we did for our customers, how we did it and how to be more driven by results. It was a steep learning curve for the organization that had been run for many years like a small business.

Over time, we have crystallized our purpose — our primary customers are trade and professional associations and our company focus and tagline is “Naylor is devoted to building strong associations.” I think this has helped our customers understand who we are and helped our employees rally around our clients and focus on their success. Associations play such an important role in their industries and our job is to help them succeed. If we focus on that and on creating new opportunities for our people, we will be successful.

Like many, we have faced plenty of adversity because of the COVID pandemic. I am very proud of our company’s response to the pandemic — we found ways to keep our employees safe and our customers front and center and re-invented our entire organizational structure to ensure the best possible service. We made some difficult decisions and a few mistakes along the way, but our people responded amazingly well to working from home, dealing with the COVID downturn, managing the personal anxiety they faced — and they trusted their leadership. I think the keys were that we acted quickly, communicated frequently and stayed positive.

As I mentioned earlier, I was fortunate to have a close-up view of executives in action early in my career, which spanned the recessions of 1987 and 1992, the dot-com bubble burst and 9/11. This exposure was probably more useful than an MBA in seeing how to deal with a crisis.

Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?

I was a pretty shy kid but in my late teens, I started to seek out leadership roles in school and at work. My parents were the children of immigrants who lived through the Great Depression, World War II and many other difficult moments into the ’60s and ’70s. They were very well educated and very down-to-earth and caring people, but in a crisis, they showed real strength and courage without losing their compassion or humility. Giving up was never an option for them, so I think I inherited from them my strong determination and ability to focus intently in the most difficult of moments. When there is a crisis, you really can’t think about giving up, nor can you let fear creep in and confuse things — whether it’s a personal crisis or a professional one.

What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?

There are three critical elements.

As a leader, you must fully embrace the responsibility that comes with leading, which means you stand up tall, you keep your head up, your eyes and ears open, stay positive and strive to be totally honest. In difficult times, people want to be led — whether it’s government, a company or family. I think real leadership is simply being visible, communicating often and being balanced and clear in that communication. If you don’t communicate about the crisis, what it means and what is being done to address it, your employees will start speculating about what’s happening. As leaders, we shouldn’t put them in that position. It isn’t fair to them.

I also think you must make sure you fully understand the crisis and what it means to your business. You can only create plans for leading out of the crisis if you understand it. And to fully understand it, you have to be the most pragmatic voice in the room. If a leader over or underreacts to the crisis, it ends up hurting everyone.

Finally, a leader must be the calmest, most measured and focused person in the room. That doesn’t mean being relaxed; it means maintaining a laser focus on what has to be done. It’s critical to keep your company focused on the right path.

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?

You have to be realistic about what you consider “boosting moral.” There are short-term actions you can take to help ease the stress of the situation — holding virtual happy hours, contests and other fun things that engage employees and build a sense of community.

I think the most important way to keep employees positive is to build and maintain the confidence they have in the leadership who are navigating the crisis. You do that by communicating with them regularly and in a way that helps them believe that leadership is aware of the crisis, has a plan or series of plans and will do the right things to move forward.

At all times — but particularly in tough times — letting your people see the human side of their leaders is very important. I think they want to know that you’re human and that the crisis is something that we are all dealing with together. Showing compassion in your actions, not just words, is important to earn their confidence and frankly, to maintain your own sanity.

What is the best way to communicate difficult news to one’s team and customers?

The best way is to be direct, clear and concise while also showing confidence and compassion. In this day and age, there are few reasons to communicate important news — good or bad — via email. Face-to-face is always best and start with the folks who are impacted the most. Thankfully during the pandemic, we all had the technology to be able to speak directly to our people via video — it would have been so much more difficult without those tools.

How can a leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?

You always must have a plan and this is particularly critical in times of crisis. Oftentimes, plans and goals get chopped up into shorter timeframes and smaller tasks, but employees and teams need extra guidance in a crisis and they generally welcome the discipline of following a plan and appreciate updates on progress.

Part of any plan should be identifying opportunities that often emerge during a crisis, such as opportunities to add new services or update processes for efficiency.

Obviously, when in a crisis, you have to keep a close eye on the crisis, proactively evaluate what it means to your business and then build contingency plans to cover the most likely scenarios. You have to dig in, be as informed as possible and be prepared to be surprised.

Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?

I don’t believe there is one principle. As we’ve discussed, identifying the issues and threats, developing a cohesive plan and attacking the issues and opportunities expediently are the keys. From there, you need to communicate early and often. You can’t be fearful of the crisis or afraid to make mistakes. In a crisis, what matters is forward movement — you can reverse a majority of bad decisions quickly if you are staying on top of the impacts.

The leadership team of a company must be able work well together and trust the effort, judgement and skills of each key member. Employees can usually tell if a management team is on the same page or not and senior managers need to help communicate and lead through their teams. It takes a cohesive team to succeed in tough times.

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?

Some companies jump to conclusions or fall into the trap of following consensus thinking or conventional wisdom that is not always accurate or has proper context. It’s very important to analyze and assess the impact of a crisis on your company rather than rely entirely on outside information. Generalizations can be dangerous.
Speed in assessment, taking swift action and increasing company-wide communication is vital. You can always reverse a decision, but you never get the time back that can be lost to inaction. Moving too slow to recognize issues and taking action is something I’ve seen hinder companies.
Being overly conservative and simply “playing defense” during a difficult time is a natural reaction that can mask the opportunities that come from turbulent times. There are almost always opportunities during a challenging time, such as showing market leadership or creating new offerings. Look for opportunities to go on the offense — difficult times often reveal opportunities for improvements. Tough times slow us all down in some way, but I believe smart companies find ways to keep moving forward.

I think it’s all about maintaining a balanced approach to your business — eliminating risk where possible (playing defense) but also acting on opportunities that are there to drive revenue and win market share — “playing offense.”

This is a little simplified, but to do this effectively your financial and operations teams must be the defense and your sales and marketing teams must be the offense. It sounds obvious but some companies lose sight of this.

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.

Be the most informed about the crisis and the impact to your business and/or your customers:

Example: During COVID it was important to stay fully informed about the national and local impacts, rules, regulations, risks and how they were evolving. Employees and customers expect the CEO/Leader to be the most informed about the crisis and the specific impact to the company. Anyone can listen to the news; you need to get fully informed on the crisis impact to your business, keep your ears open for what other companies are doing, share your knowledge and make good decisions quickly.

2. Communicate more frequently to employees and your customers about what the crisis means to the company and/or what is being done to manage the crisis and update them on progress made:

In turbulent times or a crisis, employees look to leadership more than any other time for direction, inspiration and affirmation. And frankly, toughness. During COVID we increased the frequency of our company-wide video sessions to monthly, and even as the crisis has subsided somewhat, we are still doing that today. The leader has to be informed and have a planned message and format if he/she is going to put themselves out front. The benefit, if done well, is that employees can better focus on their job and not have sleepless nights knowing their leadership is on top of the situation and is open and honest about it.

3. Lead with enthusiasm, pragmatism, and humility:

The saying goes, “Leaders lead…” and you can’t lead from the back seat, or by appearing unprepared, insincere or arrogant. I believe people want to know their leaders have a plan and the chops to execute the plan — but especially today, they also want to know their leaders are human and have empathy for their people. In 2020 when there was a fair amount of political and social unrest on top of COVID, we tried to make clear to our people that we were paying attention to what was happening in the U.S., encouraged debate and activism. We reiterated our support for the fundamentals of fairness and equal opportunity for all without getting into political debates or specifics. We spoke with our people who are spread all over the country and come from a very wide variety of backgrounds, religions, sexual orientations, and races. They needed to know we were aware and had core beliefs. Also, if you are too positive or negative, employees will react to that, so I believe it’s important to convey a pragmatic approach but also find ways to convey a sense of humility and/or humor. Let your personality show.

4. Teach your organization to work with more speed and focus — and with less resource:

Not everyone is comfortable in stressful times. It’s upsetting, its distracting and can keep your employees from doing what they do best. The only way to learn how to function in troubled times is to live through it and learn how to stay focused on short-term goals, work as a close team, and to root for each other. A crisis sometimes creates animosity and short tempers so it’s very important to take the time to help the organization and leadership team understand how to channel efforts and focus on goals, not the crisis. Troubled times often bring changes, reductions, and other unpleasant actions. Be direct and timely with employees about reductions or other changes, then help them get reset and focused on getting through the crisis. Setting goals, and having some fun trying to achieve them, can help your company and people evolve in a way that will help them function better at work during and after the crisis is over.

5. Take Care of yourself — by getting rest, family time, exercise and eating well.

A crisis is stressful enough for leaders, but they often come with higher time demands, loss of routines and the addition of personal life stress. The best way to combat the unhealthy habits that can form during tough times is to be more diligent about your health and the health of your loved ones. You are no good to your family and company if you are not in good enough physical condition to make astute decisions and lead from out front. Many years ago, after a large acquisition that I lead, I was working way too many hours on the integration and running other businesses too. I got away from my regular exercise and eating routines, was getting little sleep and ran myself down. I literally dozed off for a second in a one-on-one meeting one night. I learned the hard way that you can’t lead effectively if you aren’t managing yourself and your health.

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

“A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them and strong enough to correct them.” — John C. Maxwell, author, speaker and pastor

I have made plenty of mistakes. While the pain doesn’t always go away, I have learned from watching others and from my own experience, you cannot dwell on them. We all make mistakes — we have to take what we can from them and move forward.

How can our readers further follow your work?

Through our website, https://www.naylor.com/ and our social media channels:

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!

Alex DeBarr Of Naylor Association Solutions: 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.

Brenda Scott Of Tidy my Space: 5 Things Retirees Say They Wish They Were Told Before They Began…

Brenda Scott Of Tidy my Space: 5 Things Retirees Say They Wish They Were Told Before They Began Retirement

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Plan for expenses to increase not decrease. Medical expenses might no longer be covered so they’ll be out of pocket and you’ll need more drugs, eye glasses and medical treatments.

As a part of my series about the “5 Things Retirees Say They Wish They Were Told Before They Began Retirement” I had the pleasure of interviewing Brenda Scott.

Brenda Scott retired after working 31 years at Kelloggs, and is the owner of Tidy my Space, a Home Organizing company in London, Ontario, Canada. She works with clients who need help getting their homes decluttered, organized and safe to live in. She uses her years of experience to deliver an unique solution specific for each client.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

I thought that I would retire from Kelloggs and live off my pension until the end but the factory closed when I had 5 years left to go, so I had to go to a plan B. Like many of my ‘work family’ I took the cash buy out and invested most of it. I did take a year off to relax and really think about what I wanted to do, I wanted a purpose to get up in the morning. After 31 years of working days and afternoon shifts, your body still wants a routine. So I enrolled at a community college as a ‘older student’. I was scared of going to the campus, so I completed my courses online, which allowed me the freedom to still have a social life with my other retired friends. After completing my Office Admin course, I worked as a receptionist for 3 years then after having many people comment that I should use my natural talent with organizing to help more people. I did a lot of research about what is involved with opening a small business, there’s rules and licenses, so after getting all of my ducks in a row, I opened Tidy my Space.

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

I don’t have any stories yet because I’ve only been in business for 1 year and just starting to get clients.

Can you share a story with us about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting? What lesson or take-away did you learn from that?

I went into a clients’ home with a plan of getting it done quickly but they wanted to chat about each item and visit. I learned to let the clients tell their story, especially if they’re senior, but still get the work done. They need company as much as they need work done.

I’m grateful to Elaine Kapogines. She came into my life as I was getting my business idea launched and I joined her Media Relations membership to learn about promoting my business. She’s not only a teacher but she’s been there to encourage me to try new things, always there to answer questions. For myself, launching a business in my 50s, technology is fairly new, having someone that explains the process so that a newbie can understand is such a gift.

What advice would you suggest to your colleagues in your industry to thrive and avoid burnout?

My advice is to be yourself! Not what others think you should do or be!

What advice would you give to other leaders about how to create a fantastic work culture?

Listen and respect what your workers bring to the job. Understand their ‘story’, their ‘why’.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. Retirement is a dramatic ‘life course transition’ that can impact nearly every aspect of one’s life. Obviously everyone’s experience is different. But In your experience, what are the 5 most common things that people wish someone told them before they retired?

Have something to do with your time.
Plan for expenses to increase not decrease. Medical expenses might no longer be covered so they’ll be out of pocket and you’ll need more drugs, eye glasses and medical treatments.
Make a commitment with ‘work family’ to stay in touch. Too many people lose connection and feel forgotten.
Get another job, you don’t have to retire. It can be a paying job or a volunteer position, keep active.
Change your investments from high risk to low or medium risk. You no longer have the leisure to ride out the ups and downs of the stock market. Hire an investment adviser asap.

Let’s zoom in on this a bit. If you had to advise your loved ones about the 3 most important financial issues to keep in mind before they retire, what would you say? Can you give an example or share a story?

1.Hire a professional investment adviser that’s highly recommended,2. make a will,3. know what your financial situation is. Knowing your financial situation involves; knowing where your money is, how much you have and how much you’ll need. A family member was always saving for retirement but once they retired they still kept saving. They had enough to live very well on but they went without because they felt they had to save money, but for what? Know what you have and what you need, enjoy life! You can’t take it with you!

If you had to advise your loved ones about the 3 most important health issues to keep in mind before they retire, what would you say? Can you give an example or share a story?

Health issues would be:1. you need to stay active to keep healthy. Take up a low resistence workout, nothing high cardio. 2. You’ll probably need more medical treatments, the body starts to break down, have a good doctor. 3. Your meals need to change to support your aging body. Eating habits like greasy fast food, lots of coffee or caffenine, will not be the answer. Listen to what your body needs, get started on a healthy meal routine.

If you had to advise your loved ones about the 3 most important things to consider before choosing a place to live after they retire, what would you say? Can you give an example or share a story?

Choose a home that you can maintain yourself in a community that you love.
Live near friends, family, amenitites, grocery stores, pharmacy, shopping centers. If you aren’t able to drive, can you get there by walking? Also is the hospital or doctors nearby.
Think of your future needs, are there changes that you can make to prepare for your mobility issues in the future. Ex. grab bars, wider doorways, door levers not knobs, higher toilets, curb-less showers.

Just before retiring, my husband and I moved into the country, it was our dream to have a bit of land and no neighbours. We soon found out that it involved driving 45 minutes to visit doctors and friends back in the city. It could also be life changing if we had an emergency, the local hospital was 30 minutes away in good weather.

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. 🙂

Help each other! Be willing to lend a hand and help someone. Don’t always be looking for payment, do it because it’s right.

Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story?

‘The Happy Equation’ by Neil Pasricha

I found this ebook while searching for something to read and the title jumped out at me. I’ve read it twice, he writes with such simple truths and it answered my questions of “why” and “how” to be myself and run a business.

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

I’ve always liked “Just Do It” from Nike. When my daughters were little, they teased me that I should get it tattooed on myself because I constantly said it when they asked ‘why’. It’s helped me when I start to over analize a problem, looking at all of the details, but really I was just delaying the project. Think about it then JUST DO IT!

What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?

They can follow me on Instagram; @tidymyspace.ca and FaceBook : Brenda Scott.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!

Brenda Scott Of Tidy my Space: 5 Things Retirees Say They Wish They Were Told Before They Began… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Meet The Disruptors: Eric Vermillion Of Helpshift On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your…

Meet The Disruptors: Eric Vermillion Of Helpshift On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

The most important job as a manager is to help your team find their next job. I’m not sure where I picked this up, but I’ve always subscribed to it. Sometimes it sounds a bit counterintuitive — like you are encouraging people to leave — but it never works that way. If people know you are passionate about helping them advance their career and support their ambitions, they will be a part of your team forever.

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

Eric Vermillion is the CEO of Helpshift, a San Francisco-based company that develops mobile customer support software that helps companies provide better customer support in mobile apps. Before Helpshift, Eric was instrumental in advancing BlueCat to one of Canada’s most notable software exits and also helped grow revenue at NICE Systems to over $1B. He has also held sales and leadership roles at PTC, Tecnomatix and Triad Systems Corporation. Eric holds a bachelor’s degree in management from Purdue University.

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?

After graduating from Purdue University in the late 90s, I got lucky and found the world of software. Most of my college friends took jobs with Arthur Andersen, or Caterpillar, or in the automotive industry. But I took a shot at a Bay Area software company and found great joy in selling software. I loved the idea of something intangible — that you couldn’t touch or feel — being able to bring such tremendous value. I liked the challenge of it and I loved the outcome. I can point back to products that became more affordable, services that became better, or ways our world became more secure because of projects that I was involved in over the years. That’s probably a statement anyone that has spent their career in software can say, but it’s pretty cool, nonetheless.

Today, I find myself at Helpshift, because I’m a tough consumer, and I know the support experience can make or break the perception of any company.

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

Modern consumers have become accustomed to nearly instantaneous results. They want to be able to resolve issues on their own terms, with self-service, 24 hours a day. Unfortunately, brands are hamstrung by legacy support models that are heavily human-dependent and extremely complicated, often constrained by limited hours of human availability. And, while mobile apps provide a secure, contextual gateway for support, they are often ignored.

Companies that want to engage with their consumers through a mobile app need to do so properly — by keeping the entire experience in the app. It’s stunning to see the number of brands that think it’s OK to spend a ton of resources trying to drive people into their mobile app, then when their users need help (often during a frustrating and/or vulnerable moment) they are hit with an eject button that boots them out of the app. What often happens is that the user then gets sent to a web form and they are at the mercy of business hours and agent bandwidth to get a response… often days later! Or, even worse, they might be given a phone number where they need to listen to terrible “hold” music for an hour.

Modern consumers despise this process yet so many brands ignore it, accepting it as the way it has “always been done.” If you don’t believe me, pull out your phone right now and try to connect to support through any of your apps.

Helpshift allows brands to empower their customers to orchestrate their own support journey, on their own time, through the brand’s mobile app. By connecting to their existing CRM and CX tools, a company can onboard Helpshift very quickly, easily modernize their customer support journey and give consumers what they really want.

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?

Let’s just say it involved a three-way call, back when you actually had to click the handset over and then do it again to fully disengage the second line. My engineer and I left a very humiliating voicemail for a prospective customer that ended up being played over the PA for the entire company right before our arrival when we later visited. Hundreds of people glared at us… Oops! Fortunately, they had a sense of humor and saw that our software could bring real value, but I had to learn a tough and highly embarrassing lesson. Double-check to make sure that you completely hang up the phone!

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 had one boss that told me to take a giant pay cut and a new role that would allow me to learn more than I ever did in my career. He was right. I had another boss that would regularly ask me to compromise my family or my beliefs. He was wrong. One of my early bosses hammered home the value in taking care of the people that take care of you. He was 100% right. I could tell 100 more of those stories, but I’m grateful for all of them because I learned something each and every time. There is one particular professional mentor that I’ve never worked for or with that has consistently challenged me to be very intentional and direct in what I want and has always been there to give me tips and ideas with nothing expected in return. Everyone should have someone like that.

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 think the customer service industry is a perfect example of this. It used to be as simple as making a phone call or walking into a store. Fast forward to the present day and we’ve added email, live chat, chatbots, SMS, IVRs, social media, and all sorts of other stuff and coined it “omni-channel support.” The bottom line is that the consumer has a problem that you need to resolve. You have a number of options, but solving your issue isn’t necessarily any easier, and in turn you’ve made things profoundly difficult for the agent trying to orchestrate it all. We’ve seen a lot of new technology and industry disruption. But I’m not convinced any of that disruption has made it easier or more convenient for customers to solve their problems.

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

If you find a job you love you’ll never work a day in your life. I’ve made some professional decisions because of money and none of those ever worked out great in the long term. The decisions I made out of passion, or a desire to be a part of something great, always have.

Find the 20% of the job your boss doesn’t like to do and figure out a way to do it for them or help them with it. I learned this one from MLB Executive Theo Epstein, and I love it! The people who work hard to help their boss be more successful usually end up being successful themselves and being promoted. There is a real strategic value to the entire company for people who think this way.

The most important job as a manager is to help your team find their next job. I’m not sure where I picked this up, but I’ve always subscribed to it. Sometimes it sounds a bit counterintuitive — like you are encouraging people to leave — but it never works that way. If people know you are passionate about helping them advance their career and support their ambitions, they will be a part of your team forever.

Always value people and relationships over stuff and things. I attribute this to my mom. She was a schoolteacher, and she was always amazed at how much more joy she saw in the kids who shared stories about their time with family and friends than in the kids who couldn’t wait to talk about their new toy or their fancy car. I’m grateful she took the time to ingrain that in my head, because I’ve always tried to be very intentional at work and at home in making sure that regardless of the financial success you find, the relationships, the experiences, and the memories are always the most valuable.

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

We’re looking at ways we can continue to help consumers take control of their support experiences. As mobile apps continue to grow in relevance in all our lives and the world becomes increasingly digital, being able to get help when you need it is going to become even more important. Many of the traditional support channels are going to struggle to keep up. Companies have spent a lot of money on CRM and CX tools, and those will remain relevant and important tools for companies. We believe in leveraging the mobile app, connected effectively to those CX and CRM systems, to empower consumers to personally orchestrate a modern support journey on their own terms. As companies look ahead to a future world of digital and virtual commerce, we will continue to support them in innovative ways that ensure their consumers have an always-on way to get help whenever and wherever they are.

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’ve always loved Simon Sinek’s TED talk on how great leaders inspire action. It must be 10 or 12 years old now, but it talks about a timeless truth. None of us are really that unique on paper — it’s the vision that you paint and the ability to get people to believe in it that makes all the difference. “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

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

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. This one is attributed to Wayne Gretzky and it has resonated with me throughout my entire career. Fear of failure is such an inhibitor to progress. You often have to fail or miss the mark to find success and everyone should embrace that. I always try to foster an environment where trying new things and not being afraid to miss the mark is okay. I think we live in a world that often wants instant gratification, but the gratification after working hard, working as a team, missing the mark a few times, and then finding the sweet spot is about as pure as it gets.

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 find a way to limit social media exposure to 90 minutes or less per day for everyone.

The social media companies would be fine as scarcity would drive higher ad prices.

How can our readers follow you online?

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericjvermillion/

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

Meet The Disruptors: Eric Vermillion Of Helpshift 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: Brian Shniderman Of Opy On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Recognize your opportunities to grow, particularly in the most challenging situations.

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

Brian Shniderman, US CEO & Global Chief Strategy Officer at Opy, is a 32-year veteran of the payments and fintech advisory industry. Brian is responsible for bringing the “BNPL 2.0” model to the US market with the mission of offering a smarter way to budget and pay for life-changing purchases.

He joined Opy from Deloitte, where he founded and grew the firm’s globally top-ranked payments practice. He successfully helped the C-suite of large global companies implement high-visibility, complex payments, fintech and banking strategies, mergers and acquisitions, operations, and technology initiatives. These include large credit card issuers, merchant acquirers, networks, payments processors, corporates, governments, and merchants.

Prior to Deloitte, Mr. Shniderman was an executive at several advisory firms, focusing on fintech and payments. In 2001, he was recognized as an innovator of the year by Fortune for introducing approaches for B2B equity-based payments, continuing to innovate and launch new fintech products since then.

Fifteen years ago, when my oldest son was five years old, he asked me to attend his kindergarten class for show and tell. I found myself in the middle of a pack of 20 of the cutest little inquisitive, bright, and surprisingly assertive little humans, being intensely interrogated. “Where are you from?” “Why are you so tall?” “How did you get your last name?” All manageable questions, albeit at a pace that one might expect from the CIA rather than a pack of adorable five-year-old children. I was having fun…until they laid the big one on me. The curveball question, which I wasn’t prepared to answer for this kindergarten class, landed on me hard, “What do you do for a job?”

To my son, I had failed to live up to the tractor driver, veterinarian, and airline pilot that day. “I am a doctor for banks and credit card companies,” I said, “and my doctor instruments are technology, hard work, creativity, and innovation”. The look around the room was a mixture of disgust, confusion and boredom. I tried to recover, “I’m a consultant kids, and I solve problems”. And that was the end of it. The teacher thanked me, and in a flash, I remember being ushered out of the classroom less than 15 minutes after I arrived so she could make way for the Boeing 777 pilot. I heard he was in there for an hour.

I cut my teeth in consulting by accident. In business school, I took a real estate course where I turned in a final project which enhanced the industry’s paper-based multiple listing system reports (MLS) data for agents. The tool I created (although archaic by today’s standards) enabled real estate agents to filter a huge list of homes in a local market using search criteria that saved time for them and their clients. Along with a decent grade, my instructor ended up introducing me to one of the largest real estate companies in Southern California at the time, Jon Douglas Co.

It turned out there was a huge demand for the tool I built for a class project. But I had no idea how to answer their big question “How much do you want for it?” I chose to tell the brokers and agents it was free, but with a slight catch. It was only available to them if they were actively using me to train and consult their teams. They stopped printing lists, reduced labor costs associated with the old searches, and paid me very well for a 20-year-old college student in the 80s. It was the easiest 30 bucks an hour I had ever earned, and it was fun.

For two years I grew this accidental business into a small consultancy. And for over 30 years I practiced the consulting trade as part of larger firms.

During those years, I was blessed to work directly with and learn from incredibly talented and passionate professionals, visionaries who shifted their companies to meet the changing needs of the consumers and companies they served. I learned a great deal from these incredible leaders, giving them 16 hours a day for over 34 years and dedicating myself to relentlessly solving their most important challenges.

I was a road warrior zig-zagging the US and several other countries as I hit three to five cities a week. My tools of choice were always technology, hard work, creativity, and innovation. I led some of the most disruptive projects to help launch and expand new products from mobile wallets to loyalty and rewards, and instant payment rails owned and used by every major bank in the United States. I helped lead the Faster Payments initiative that helped the U.S. Federal Reserve modernize its payments system. I helped payments processors and their merchant customers innovate, develop industry-specific solutions, and much more. I loved helping them achieve success, especially when those successes helped change regular people’s lives.

My last project as a consulting partner in 2020 was for a fintech company operating in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, Openpay. This company had something different that I knew could disrupt the US market for the better. After being their consultant for six months, I saw that the potential to change lives through this innovation was so great, I opted to retire my Deloitte partnership to sit on the other side of the table, as their US CEO.

Now after 34 years of helping others create great solutions, I am applying that experience to grow Opy, an extraordinary payments fintech company throughout the United States. We launched in under one year and are now operating a responsible lending model across almost every US state. I love what I do. And through this experience, I’ve realized that it’s not the work I do or analogies I make, but my passion and commitment to helping others that makes my son and my family proud.

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

Meaningful disruption is the cause that drives me and my team.

I am passionate about introducing Opy’s differentiated product to the US market, bringing transparency and fairness to consumers, corporations, and merchants who have told me the status quo is no longer acceptable. I’ve never been more optimistic that systemic innovation in payments can make life-changing purchases more affordable and change lives.

My leadership role is focused on broad-scale financial wellness, focusing on those unfortunate moments, like emergency procedures that cost thousands of dollars out of pocket, or a broken-down transmission that prevents someone from getting to work or making a living, or keeping a safe roof over their heads after a rainstorm.

At Opy, we address some of the most challenging pain points facing consumers and merchants in the payments industry. Buy Now, Pay Later popularity is rapidly accelerating in the United States, but something was missing until very recently. Using a digital app-based platform, we provide larger, longer-term, installment plans for life-changing purchases. We provide flexibility to consumers, often offering a choice of loan plan terms, repayment vehicles, and a day in which repayments are due each month. Opy’s value proposition is aimed at a two-pronged marketplace. Our platform provides benefits to both consumers (confidence, control, and the ability to spread out the cost of purchases) and merchants (a broader market of empowered consumers), and both consumers and merchants contribute to the cost of Opy services. Buy Now Pay Smarter is what we call it, and it’s essentially BNPL 2.0.

Disrupting and innovating in a regulated industry like lending and payments isn’t easy. So, we’ve brought together some of the brightest minds in the industry. Our brilliant, purpose-driven leaders and their teams are enabling us to succeed in this endeavor to disrupt the lending and payments industry for the better.

I don’t take this cause lightly, and I wouldn’t have left my previous role at Deloitte after over a decade if I was not genuinely committed to the potential we have to truly make an impact on our industry and the lives of millions of Americans.

We plan to transform the installment payments industry. We’re doing it the Opy way, prioritizing the pressing needs of consumers and merchants alike, united around the cause to relieve financial stress and provide peace of mind.

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 eager to show my client from another country that I respected his heritage, honored his culture, and knew (a bit) of his language. I proceeded to tell him something with (unintended) meaning but completely irrelevant because my pronunciation was off. He laughed, and gently corrected me. I could tell he greatly appreciated my effort, and it established a friendship between us. The lesson I learned was that you don’t have to get it right every time, you only have to sincerely try, be humble, and care.

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?

Early in my career, in my mid 20’s, I was called into the office of my managing partner. He asked me to help lead a major project that was completely outside of my area of skills and experience. AARP, one of the largest membership companies in the world needed to completely replace its systems, and they wanted us to innovate, concurrently and dramatically, their entire business at the same time. I knew financial services, but nothing about memberships for retired persons.

I asked him why he chose me among the other consultants to help lead the project. He swiveled his chair around 180 degrees and pointed at the skyscraper next door. “Because it doesn’t matter what I ask you to work on, you’re the one person here that will figure it out. If I ask you to build that skyscraper, knowing very well you’ve never built one, you’d actually figure it out and get it done. That’s why”.

I was struck by his belief in me, but he was also challenging me to prove him right. I walked out of his office believing I had the ability, would give it the necessary effort, and had the desire to prove him right and get it done. It took three years, and we developed some very innovative solutions as part of that project.

I see positive disruption as intended and significant change, challenging the status quo for good reasons. That is not to say that the outcome ends up being positive nor necessarily even achievable. More often than not, intended positive disruption ends in failure, but can leave behind important lessons and traces of hope for future trials. This is both healthy and necessary to achieve an environment of innovation. At Opy we intend to disrupt positively by changing the way people pay for the better.

It is interesting to look back at hundreds of projects I have observed and judge them against the relative measure of positivity. I have seen some banks rationalize policies and build systems they stated were positive that inadvertently ended up resulting in consumer harm. For example, many banks stated their intention to ensure that consumers’ largest, presumably most important checks cleared before their smaller checks. Mortgages would thus be paid ahead of a pair of jeans, and who doesn’t want the mortgage to be paid before their jeans, right? Well, that resulted in massive increases in overdraft fees, harming consumers and profiting banks by tens of millions of dollars a year. The courts and regulators have helped to reign in these and other egregious practices with substantial fines on the banks that perpetrated them. Clearly, these were examples of negative disruption with intentions to make money and inadequate consideration of consumer interests.

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

Be passionate about what you choose to do, and continue to do.
Recognize your opportunities to grow, particularly in the most challenging situations.
Actively care for and maintain your relationships.
Be kind, and treat others at all levels as important and valued.
Don’t judge people based on their immediate value to you, and be accessible.

Choose to do something you’re truly passionate about. We’re on this spinning marble for such a short period of time. Follow your passion and true success and happiness will be much more likely to follow. I have a friend that strived to be an attorney. He later realized it was never something he was passionate about, but he did because it was a logical, good-paying, and respected profession. He confessed to being miserable, and worse, didn’t make the leap to get out, wouldn’t accept going backwards to go forwards again in something he was passionate about.

I firmly believe that none of us are ever fully formed leaders. I certainly am not done developing and improving. When the opportunity arises, use the most challenging interpersonal situations to learn and turbocharge your personal growth. As a disruptive innovator, my passion and creativity often drive my team a bit crazy as I frequently bring new ideas to them. People are wired differently, and this diversity is a great thing, but can come with challenges. Use those to grow, especially when it’s most difficult. The ROI is greatest at those times.

We are a unique collection of relationships and experiences. Of my thousands of LinkedIn connections, a very large percentage of them are former clients, colleagues and now friends whose relationships I have actively developed. No one else shares this exact same base of connections. Everyone is unique in this way, and each of us possesses much more potential than we ever internally realize.

Someone once told me to treat everyone, at every level like they’re going to be your boss or your spouse’s best friend one day. The best example I have seen was watching Lloyd Wirshba in action, then US CEO of Barclaycard (now known as Barclays US), a former client, and now a close friend. Lloyd took the time to say hello, treat every line-level employee, janitor, administrative assistant, analyst, and executive with equal respect and genuine care. Years later when he worked with me at Deloitte I would watch how those people who worked for him years earlier would see him in the hallway, run out of their office to go give him a hug and say hi, like an old friend. Lloyd’s garden of relationships is incredibly rich and healthy, with admirers and friends.

It’s not important to treat the people you need something from, but those you interact with who have no immediate ‘benefit’ to you. Always be real, kind, and accessible to those who reach out to you for help, like candidates and recruiters looking for candidates, or people on LinkedIn asking to connect who you don’t yet know.

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

Not even close to being done.

I’m continuing to collaborate with trusted colleagues and partners to bring our technology to the forefront, expand our reach, augment our existing arc into new industry verticals, and change more lives. My work in this capacity has truly just begun. I will shake things up by seeing this effort through.

This is my first stint as a CEO, and I’ve quickly learned that this role requires immense patience and trust in those by my side. In addition to growing this platform, I intend to train and inspire new leaders who can carry the torch and emulate our mission when they reach this pedestal of responsibility. It’s one thing to leverage a product to impact lives, but it’s an entirely different undertaking to do the same with your own expertise to guide an individual on their career journey, one in which I take great pride.

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?

A CEO Only Does Three Things, by Trey Taylor. I’m typically not a big reader of self-help books. But as I transitioned from being a Deloitte partner to a CEO, I wanted to read as much as I could to understand what made others successful. I was struck by the powerful, yet practical stories and suggestions Trey offers. I’ve read it twice, and I reference it frequently. And despite the title, this is a great book for anyone in or considering a management role.

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

I have developed a great relationship with one of our founders and Board members, and he has shared with me the Hebrew term Hatdama. The translation is essentially, “That which does not destroy you, makes you stronger.”

Passion and resilience are everything if you’re going to disrupt and innovate. You will always be challenged and frequently told “NO”. You will frustrate those around you, and often you will fail by your own standards. I’ve learned to embrace these and grow rather than get discouraged. Oh, and three cups of coffee the next morning helps too 🙂

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 aim to inspire business leaders, particularly those in financial services and fintech, to build business concepts around a worthwhile, far-reaching cause. If the lives of your target audience aren’t improved substantially, why bother pursuing an idea? We live in the age of social responsibility, and more businesses are joining the fray in this respect. Money bears tremendous, incomparable power in our society; let’s make transactions and payments more purposeful and make the most of its power.

How can our readers follow you online?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianshniderman/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/open-pay/

https://twitter.com/paymentsguru

https://twitter.com/Opy_USA

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

Meet The Disruptors: Brian Shniderman Of Opy 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.

Meet The Disruptors: Martin Williams Of Above Food On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your…

Meet The Disruptors: Martin Williams Of Above Food On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Don’t attempt to run a marathon like a sprint — Creating disruptive companies is a long journey, if you burn up all of your energy, all of your resources too quickly, the work becomes REALLY difficult. Set a really strong pace, train to improve that pace every day, but make sure it is one you would be happy running for years.

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

Martin Williams has more than 20 years of experience in CPG, specifically in Innovation, Marketing, Operations, and Product Development. He spent 12 years advising Fortune 500 CPG companies on Innovation and go-to-market strategy, bringing a high-level expert opinion to various businesses looking to scale. Williams’ own love for biohacking and the plant-based industry fuels his goals to make Above Food the best plant-based protein company in the business, serving the B2C side as the leader in innovation. He brings his passion for and expertise in the wellness sector to the table for Above Food as he looks to bring the CPG products to the U.S. for all consumers to enjoy.

I’ve been obsessed with the healing power of food for over 30 years. Like many obsessions that drive us, mine had a catalyst that ignited the proverbial wick.

As a 13 yr old my mother became bedridden with a severe form of Epstein Barr Virus, only able to get up to use the bathroom with assistance. No conventional medical intervention made any difference, despite doing everything we were told by doctors for over 6 months. We were introduced to a Naturopath who was also a Holistic Nutritionist, and through transforming my mother’s diet, and subsequently all of our family’s diet, to one with no processed foods, no dairy, no red meat, no gluten, or sugar….my mother went from barely able to get out of bed one day, being markedly better and out of bed within a week. I realize correlation is not causality, but imagine the profound impact this experience would have had on you if you’d witnessed it in your formative years.

Since then, I’ve worked in and around food in one way, shape, or form. Despite a few sojourns out of food, I always find my way back to this passion. My personal mission is to make food better and to make better food.

Which is exactly what we’re doing at Above Food.

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

Above Food is a company I’ve co-founded, and we have created North America’s first completely vertically integrated plant-based food company, of scale. We call this complete vertical integration our Seed-to-Fork Platform.

This is particularly disruptive because conventional business and operating models for food companies say you have to play in one, maybe two of three distinct business segments: Agricultural Production, Ingredient Creation, Consumer Packaged Goods (aka branded consumer products). We believe that by being a scaled player in all three, we deliver a better set of products to all of our customers and consumers.

To give you a tangible example, imagine being able to contract grow 72,000 tons of the best Oats, based on our seeds, that are grown under our tightly defined protocols, that ensure they are produced regeneratively, and that they follow stringent gluten-free standards. We take ownership of those oats at the farm(s). We then Groat them ourselves (a fancy way of saying taking the outer husk off), we mill them into flour in some cases, and in others, we use our proprietary Sonic Milling(™) technology to transform them into the Liquid Oat Base, which used in all Oat Milks, oat ice creams, oat yogurts, etc. We then have several of our own consumer brands like Cultured and Eat Up! that will use these oat ingredients as the basis of their differentiated food formulations.

This complete control of our value and supply chain enables us to have a greater influence on how these foods are cultivated, transported, processed, formulated, priced, and sold. Through this, we are able to drive down unit economics in order to be more price-competitive with meat & dairy-based products, provide unparalleled traceability to our customers and consumers, and be able to quantify our environmental impact (regenerative farming practices sequester a tremendous amount of carbon).

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?

Not sure it’s all that funny, but it certainly is common, and somewhat ironic in hindsight. Sometimes a thing you just accept as a fact that everyone knows can be the exact opposite, it can be a big ‘AHA’ and something that can blow people’s minds once they learn it.

We took for granted that everyone knew the best plant proteins are grown in the higher latitudes of the Northern Plains and Prairies of Canada, so we wouldn’t really talk too much about the fact that this is where all of our proteins are grown for us. We’d mention it in passing but it wasn’t a focus of a pitch per se.

Then in one particular meeting, we had an investor stop us as we were mentioning this in passing, and say, “DO YOU KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THAT IS? That may be the most genius thing about what you’ve done, you have a unique geographic competitive advantage, that others cannot duplicate”.

Needless to say, we talk about that advantage ALOT now.

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 wife, and my kids. They are the teachers that I learn from every day. They call me out, they demand that I continue to grow and evolve, and their happiness and wellbeing are the only fuel I need.

That said, I would be remiss not to mention one person in particular that gave me a chance, believed in me, and was super instrumental in helping me push beyond my self-imposed limitations throughout my career.

An early mentor, who became a dear friend, Rony Zibara hired me when I was still doing my undergrad, to work with him as a design assistant, and innovation consultant for his company’s food clients. I had ZERO experience, like less than zero, and he saw something in me. He gave me an opportunity, and when I would succeed, he would give me increasingly more complex assignments. He had a belief in me early that I was really capable, and just wouldn’t allow me to doubt myself.

He introduced me to the idea of obsessing about the ‘consumer’ and really leveraging empathy and curiosity to create solutions from deep consumer insight.

He also illustrated through his own work and behaviour that one could be equal parts commercial and creative, which are both critical to being an entrepreneur. Invent the product one day, define the best route to market and pricing strategy the next…..he showed me that these were just two sides of the same coin.

Years after this first experience Rony convinced me to move my family down to NYC as he had become a partner in an award-winning innovation consultancy, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. He put his reputation on the line for me, worked closely with me to accelerate my skills, made sure I was getting access to increasingly demanding work, and I like to think I repaid that kindness by delivering day in and day out.

I also believe I’m honouring that faith he had in me by paying it forward by taking chances on people that might not have the educational background, or conventional experience, but have grit, curiosity, a high degree of adaptability, and think unexpected things.

Being disruptive is really hard, you are often educating customers and consumers as to why your new ‘thing’ is better than the old thing. The more disruptive, the more convincing people need.

If you want to be a challenger, or a disruptor, be VERY deliberate in why, where, when, and how you are being disruptive. This requires a great degree of insight and perspective about what works in your industry/market, and what needs material improvement.

If you are only disrupting a product category with new attributes/benefits, without rethinking the underlying business model or value chain, it is likely your ‘disruptive differentiator’ will be copied, especially if you’re successful. That is why we made the deliberate decision to start with building our seed-to-fork platform, then building brands with attributes that take advantage of our platform.

If you are able to facilitate disruption by fully rethinking and reinventing the systems that underpin your product/service, this systems-level disruption and reinvention provide a significant competitive advantage, as it is much more challenging to duplicate.

We sought out to disrupt how food companies produce products, and systematically redesigned the parts of a traditional value chain to suit this purpose. We also chose to change the competitive vectors, making sustainability and nutrient density a key way we were going to win. Again, these two things require deep transparency into the supply chain, enabled through our seed-to-fork platform.

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

Never cost-reduce the magic — Obsess about what is most special about your product or service and never value engineer this out, else you are left with something you won’t love and people will see as just — ‘meh’.

Don’t attempt to run a marathon like a sprint — Creating disruptive companies is a long journey, if you burn up all of your energy, all of your resources too quickly, the work becomes REALLY difficult. Set a really strong pace, train to improve that pace every day, but make sure it is one you would be happy running for years.

The details aren’t the details, the details ARE THE PRODUCT. There are no details too big or too small to obsessive over. If you don’t obsess over them how can you expect an end consumer to care?

Just be better than yesterday, if you can do that day in and day out, the compounding effect of that on your abilities and your business will be profound. I know this type of sentiment is all over the socials, but it is absolutely true that consistency over time wins.

Your product or service might be the most important thing to you, but it is seldom that important to a ‘consumer’. What this illustrates is that it is incumbent on you to really understand what ‘job’ your product service does for your end target, and get super meticulous about how to do that job the best, so you remain the logical choice in their lives.

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

We are just getting started. Now that we have complete vertical integration and scaled businesses across our value chain, the real magic is about to start.

Look for whole cut chicken breasts (plant based of course), whole filet’s of ocean free plant based fish, Oat based Pizza crusts with over 40g of plant-protein, Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) snacks, and cereals…just to name a few of the consumer products you can expect from us in the next 12 months.

I’ll also leave you with this little preview of something we’re not prepared to disclose yet, but are working on under the cover of darkness. We believe that nutrient density will be one of the most important attributes in plant-based foods and will be coming out with a way to quantify this for the consumers while launching many products that lean into this. The days of celebrating how many grams of protein your plant-based burger or nugget has are coming to a close, we are preparing for the next generation of plant-based foods, that celebrate how bioavailable, digestible, and nutritive these foods are for you and the planet….stay tuned.

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’m currently obsessed with Andrew Huberman and his Huberman Lab. Love anything to do with the brain, especially the gut-brain axis.

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

“Be a little bit better, and do a little bit more than yesterday”. This idea of consistency over time, netting the best results is just so freaking elegant and true.

Increase food access, improve food affordability, fund proper food education — divorced from food lobbyists. Food is the way!!

How can our readers follow you online?

Abovefood.com

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

Meet The Disruptors: Martin Williams Of Above Food 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.

Making Something From Nothing: Zack “ROI” Williams Of ROI Marketing On How To Go From Idea To…

Making Something From Nothing: Zack “ROI” Williams Of ROI Marketing On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

How to create my “Power List”

How to manage my time

The power of Networking

How to BRAND myself

The importance of “Your Mission”

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

Zack “ROI” Williams is a business owner who has dedicated his career to helping other business owners achieve their goals through sales and marketing consulting. Leaving behind working for Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies for 13+ years, to bring his expertise to the masses. Zack has taken many small and medium sized business, as well as startup companies alike through his “ROI” programs, and produced tens of millions of dollars for these organizations. Zack “ROI” Williams is confident that he can teach anyone how to become a top performer so long they follow his “ROI” program, and have the heart and passion to better themselves.

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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”?

From an early age I have seen the power of having a strong work ethic, and putting your time to use when you don’t necessarily want to. Remember growing up when we actually used to play outside? Seems like a distant memory now, but there once was a time when kids would go outside and ride their bikes for hours on end, play basketball several coves over, or even play hide and go seek throughout the whole neighborhood… That was me… I was that kid. I loved spending time with friends and socializing. One day I had to make a choice though. I needed to start allocating some of my time to profit producing activities. I still enjoyed being outside, I still enjoyed being physically active… but what was a 14 year old boy supposed to do? I decided I was going to be the neighborhood yard kid. So, with the help of my dad, I printed out some little flyers, $20 to cut, edge, and bag your yard, one time special. I was going to cut anyone’s yard who would let me, for $20 for a chance to get my foot in the door and start the conversation… Now ambitious as I may be, let’s just say there were a few houses I may have “forgot” to leave this coupon on their door. The yards were just absolutely too massive, or they were the scary woman on the corner! However, I walked the neighborhood and left these coupons on the doors or in mailboxes of every house that I could walk to with a push mower, weed-eater, and gas can. I can’t tell you how many houses exactly took me up on this one time offer, but it was A LOT. However as stated on the coupon, if they liked what I did, we would discuss moving forward what the price would be. Now, I am sure some, ok a lot, of people just enjoyed their $20 one time cut, but I did end up with 22 paying customers! So here I am, at 14 years old with a semi business. I had 22 yards that I was to maintain for $40 each, twice monthly. I alternated by 22 yards, and would do 11 one week, and the remaining 11 the following week… only to repeat that cycle over again for the second half of the month. Simple math tells us that this was $440 a week to work an average of 11 hours worth of work… To say that this opened my eyes to the possibilities of what a little work ethic and time management could provide, would be a massive understatement… This is where it ALL began!

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

The best life lesson I believe I was ever taught comes straight from the Bible itself. “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” This lesson hits most people differently depending on the context it is used it, but I believe we all understand it to it’s core. For me, I understood the lesson it taught in the value of knowledge. I HATE having to ask other people for things if it’s something I can and need to understand. I realized that to be GREAT at something, I had to know it at its core. This helped me, at an early age, learn that the value was not getting a task done, but being able to replicate that process over and over again, but in order to do that, you had to know how. Much like… you guessed it… taking your ideas to launch… If I market someone’s business I can feed them. If I can teach them how to market their business, I can feed them for a lifetime.

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?

Andy Frisella is someone I look up to significantly in this world, and I owe a lot of my success to his hardcore business motivation and fundamental teachings. One of the biggest things we as business owners fail on, is the simple stuff….. like just doing the work. He produced a checklist journal called “The Power List” which is made up of daily critical tasks. It’s a simple concept, but it’s all about structuring your day to the core, and managing your time appropriately for maximum results. It’s nothing earth shattering, it just simply works. He also has a podcast episode that speaks on the importance of these fundamentals, and it’s a must listen. This single handedly has positioned my business in a whole new lane since applying these teachings.

Most of the critical lessons I have learned in both corporate America as well as the entrepreneurial world is action. Something so basic may seem laughable, but as the question stated, there is no shortage of good information in this world. Especially now… You can find the answer to anything. Most of the time opposing answers too, that when explained, both make sense to some degree. You can consume all the information you want, but if you don’t apply it, it’s for nothing. I can’t tell you how many business conferences I have been to, spoken at, or heard about, where your serial learners go, take lot’s of notes, leave, and never apply what they learned. It’s like a sponge that soaks up all the water but then never lets it out. What is the use? This isn’t just small and medium sized business owners either, I have seen this in multibillion dollar organizations when I have worked there. We will hold board meetings, and sit around for hours discussing great ideas, and once we have discussed 100 different ways to go, nothing get’s accomplished. We would have been more efficient with a 15 minute meeting where one idea gets mentioned and fleshed out, and then we left to go put it into action. Maybe that’s you? This also isn’t the first time you have heard this, and sure won’t be the last… There will be one time you hear this, and a light switch goes off, and you do it. Is that you? Maybe you should stop reading this article now, and go start that one thing that you know in the back of your head you have been putting off… I say this when speaking all the time. If you ever hear me speak, and you get a piece of useable information that you could implement in your business or life immediately … LEAVE… GO DO IT…. NOW!.. I don’t care about how many people are sitting in the audience. I don’t care how many views I have on a LIVE… I don’t care about those vanity metrics. What I care about is changing lives. This is for you not me… so let’s help you make that life altering pivot… and start putting in the work NOW!

Someone has thought of your idea before. There are no new ideas. “Good artists Great artists steal.” — Picasso. Now obviously this is slightly out of context, and I don’t recommend people stealing in the criminal aspect.. however, there are very few and far between ideas that are not around. That being said too, when you have competition, that just means that there is a demand for your product or service. So at least we know people will exchange money for it. So that is a good thing. Now we just need to find a way to make it more attractive. I could sit here all day and give you book references on this topic, but one that stands out is “The Purple Cow” by Seth Godin. You need to be able to produce something that stands out. Much like a purple cow would. Researching your idea would be looking at your competition closely. What are they doing , what are they not doing, what are they doing well, what could they be doing better? I break down competitors into what I call “Direct Competitors”, and “Global Competitors”. The direct competitors are they ones that you would be competing with in your market. The global competitors are the Fortune 500 versions of your company. The ones you are striving to be like. You should perform a SWOT Analysis on all of them. This shows us what their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats are. You want to pay attention to the Strengths and Opportunities of the global competitors to see what ideas you can “steal” from them to apply to your business. After all they are spending billions of dollars you don’t have to figure this out. When it comes time to look at your direct competitors, we want to look at their Weaknesses and Threats, and find a way to make those parts of your business AMAZING. This will help you create some market separation and really make your organization the obvious choice when a prospect is comparing who to do business with.

*EDITOR NOTE* (I have a free ebook that teaches people how to do this if you want to add it as an asset to this. If not, no worries at all. I am not looking for a plug, but if you think it will add value to the article, it can be found at www.roiebook.com)

The first thing I recommend when coming up with an “idea” is to write it down. An idea is just an idea until you write it down, then it’s a goal. However a goal is still just a goal, until you write out action steps on how you are going to achieve that goal. Once you write down the action steps on achieving your goal you then HAVE TO DO THE WORK! Remember when I was talking earlier about having to do the work. Talking about work ethic. Yeah, it’s because it really matters. However, once you start writing down how to actually accomplish your “dreams”, you will need to start somewhere. I HIGHLY recommend focusing on your company name. When I start up a new brand I want to make sure that the name is going to be available across every platform. Continuity is KEY. So I will do a Trademark search on USPTO.GOV website, I also search for the direct URL name on GODADDY.COM , (and make sure the .com is available. NOT .org , .net, .tv or any other subdomain. YOU WANT THE .COM), I check all social sites. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram , TikTok, YouTube and anything else that’s out at the time you are reading this article. You want to make sure you acquire all of these at the same time so no one else can buy them out from under you, but also so that you are very easily searchable and people can find you even after one brief interaction. Side Note… That also means that your brand name needs to make sense, be easy to remember, and is straight to the point. After you have found a name that isn’t trademarked, and is available across all platforms you need to lock it down. Any attorney can help you start your articles of incorporation and handle your trademark, or you can use services like the one I use, LEGALZOOM.COM. You will want to go and start your business there, but I also recommend creating a trademark as well. Your LLC or whatever business type you choose will protect your business name on a state wide basis, but the trademark will protect your brand name nationally. I then would get your URL Domain purchased, even if you aren’t creating a website just yet, but to make sure it’s yours. Once you do that I would lock down all of your social media accounts, again even if you aren’t going to use them now, or even think you will. Just knowing you have them if you ever want to expand into that market is HUGE. The next step I would do is to hire a coach. Get a business coach that is in the field that you are in, and in a position you want to be in. Coaches can be expensive, so I am not recommending you blow your budget from the get go, so even if it’s just following them on social media, listening to their podcasts, maybe it’s attending an event they are speaking at. Coaches and your circle of influence is massive contributors to your success. Your NETWORK is your NET WORTH. You will get further along in life when you are surrounded by winners and successful people. Pay attention to them, ask questions, learn from them. Where do they source their products? How do they increase their margins? Where do they find their products? How do they do their own research? How do they hire employees? What books are they reading? What mastermind groups are they in? This is a way to skip years of heartache, and millions of dollars in bad decision making. Everything is industry specific, so tools, information, and networks change drastically, but there are pioneers that have done it before, and you can skip most of the mistakes they made by simply paying attention. Get involved. Find ways to add value to people’s lives that could potentially provide value to yours. Make yourself known as someone who gives, and not someone who takes. Your relationships and your network will take you much further than anything else in this life.

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

The Top 5 Things I wish someone had told me when I first started would be:

How to create my “Power List”
How to manage my time
The power of Networking
How to BRAND myself
The importance of “Your Mission”

The “Power List” by Andy Frisella is a series of Critical Tasks that are performed every day to make sure you aren’t just wasting time being busy. We spend so much time trying to be busy that we actually don’t ever accomplish anything that moves the needle. Another book reference that I will mention is “The 4 -Hour Work Week” by Timothy Ferriss. This book I only want to briefly mention as I don’t want you to get caught up in attempting to have a 4-Hour work week just starting off. However the emphasis on maximizing your time is insanely valuable. This leads me into the next topic I wish I had learned earlier which was Time Management. This is single handedly one of the hardest things to learn as a new business owner. It can be incredibly difficult to know what is the most important task, and what gravity it will have on the success of your business. Going back to the importance of “The Power List” and how important clearly defining and clarifying what your critical tasks are and making sure they are completed each day are mandatory to your success. Setting clear paths to your action steps as I stated previously are how you get to make sure that you can create profit producing activities on a daily basis for your company. This also will allow you to set aside dedicated time to creating relationships that will lead to massive informational gains, and revenue in the future. The power of networking is the 3rd thing that I should have implemented sooner than I did, so if you are reading this and haven’t started, NOW is the time. If you start focusing a portion of your time to growing your circle of influence, you will take larger steps along your journey than you ever anticipated. You will surround yourself that have gone down the same path you are, and have paved the way. You will start to make a name for yourself in the industry, and branding your company as the next thing to look out for. Branding is the next thing that I should have implemented sooner than I did, so listen to me when I tell you that now is your time. Finding a way to put yourself out there and create that authority figure will help produce opportunities for you that you never thought imaginable. Lastly, getting serious about your mission will lead you down a path that you can hold your head high on, and stay focused. When you are fully aware of what you are doing and why you are doing it, the journey comes with less resistance. You will be able to make decisions quicker, achieve higher rewards, and feel better about accomplishing your goals.

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?

Market research is key to ensuring that you are not going to waste a lot of time and resources chasing a dead end. People spend money usually to save money, to make money, or to save time. People also spend the most money in the areas of Health, Wealth and Relationships. These are where I would focus a majority of my time ensuring that my product is marketable in any or as many of these categories as possible. I then would see what are the similar products out there that do all or some of what mine would and should do. I would read reviews. What do people like about these products, and what do they not like? I would then create a SWOT analysis on them to see how your product can stand out in the marketplace. Research is absolutely key and is arguably the most important part of creating your own products, so spend some time on it. If you rush into this without finding a way to create your “Purple Cow” you will be in a constant race to the bottom (cheapest priced product). Believe me when I tell you that this is not a place you want to be. Another book reference is “$100M Offers” by Alex Hormozi. This book will teach you how to do what I am discussing here. You have to create an offer so good that people feel stupid not buying it. This starts with the product you want to sell. This starts with the research before you make a product to sell. You have to know what your end goal is in order to get there.

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 is a risky world to be in. As I think these are EXTREMELY valuable if you plan on inventing a product, they can be expensive. Also, as you know that you get what you pay for….. There are cheaper alternatives out there, but I have heard horror stories of people going with these type of “companies” (loose term), and getting their ideas stolen from them because they didn’t have NDAs (non disclosure agreements) in place. This brings me back to several of my points, research, and your network. If you start finding your industry leaders, and joining their networks, you will be able to find trustworthy sources and recommendations on invention development consultants. You can also attempt this path on your own, it’s cheaper that’s for sure, however now you are trading out money for your time, your most valuable resource. What is your time worth?

*EDITOR NOTE* people reading this article that need to be pointed in the right direction here for what networks to start joining based on their industry are more than welcome to reach out to me on any of my social sites @zackroiwilliams and I will point them in the best direction.

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

One of the most valuable mistakes I learned as a young entrepreneur was not taking investments or partners. I didn’t realize the power of having strategic partnerships, or operational capital. I thought to be a good business owner you had to do everything yourself without handouts from anyone. BOYYYYY was I wrong. This ended up being a very costly mistake, or should I say lesson, for me to learn. I call it a lesson because now I don’t repeat that same mistake. There is obviously right and wrong investments and partnerships to take, which I have made bad decisions there too, but they again are lessons. You can absolutely build any business by bootstrapping and putting in the work. However there is a lot of room for rapid growth when you start to consider two heads may in fact be better than one, and with cash reserves you can scale your business faster, getting you to a point where you can work more ON your business instead of IN your business. The short answer is you can do both. Both have their risks, and both have their rewards. I just simply want people to know that you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, and it’s up to you to know which shots are more educated shots you should shoot, and this takes me back to what seems to be the theme here, and that is RESEARCH !

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

I left corporate America making $140,000 a year with amazing perks and benefits to offer my knowledge and skills to those who may not have had access to it any other way. My mission is to help educate and equip as many people as I can in business. Who am I to not listen to my own advice. Here I have been preaching that your network is your networth, and here I am trying to teach you. I want to educate you as much as I can so that you can bring value to my network. It is inevitable that if you have read this far that you have gotten something out of this, and therefore want to join my network by connecting with me on social medial, come to one of my speaking engagements, download my free ebook, become a client, or connect some other way. However I truly believe that you are the average of the 5 people you spend your time with, and you are only as strong as the weakest link, so I am trying to bring everyone up with me. The more people that are around me, and the more educated and successful we all are, than the more chances we have at taking off. Again, as I stated before, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. This is my attempt at taking a shot with you, by putting my all into this article so that you get something out of this, and in turn it will come back around in a positive light to me. Wether that is business, wether that’s relationships, wether that’s connections, wether that’s a thank you… it will all be worth it to me if this helps just one person!

My movement is to create a network of likeminded individuals who bring more value to the table than take away. If we have hundreds of thousands of successful people meeting in one place offering up the best information they have and making connections for people, we will all become successful. The power of your network is extremely important, and should be something you work on every day. In business they say if you aren’t growing, you are dying. This is something I believe to my core, and therefore want to help as many people grow on a daily basis as I can. If we can all get 1% better each and every day, we can change the entire trajectory of our life and our families lives. (a reference from “Atomic Habits” by James Clear) This is the true reason we became business owners in the first place, so let’s make the most of it, and we will get more done quicker if we work together.

*EDITOR NOTE* I have a Facebook group that I have as a community just for this. If you would like the link I would be more than happy to provide it.

Andy Frisella is someone that I look up to on a massive scale. Not only do I look up to him, but I owe all of my current success (for what it is at this point) and all of my future success to the teachings he has put in place. He was my light switch that went off that caused me to start implementing things into my life instead of just “soaking up the information.” There are 2 pivotal moments in my life and business. “75 Hard” , and “The Power List” both are his programs and both have been monumental to where I am today, and where I am going. To personally thank him for that would be the upmost honor!

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

Making Something From Nothing: Zack “ROI” Williams Of ROI Marketing 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: Richard Potter Of Peak Marketing Firm On How To Go From Idea To…

Making Something From Nothing: Richard Potter Of Peak Marketing Firm On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

You can never raise too much funding. The funding process can be lengthy but not having enough funding can slow you down. Try to raise as much money as you can upfront.

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

Richard is the Co-founder and CEO of Decision Intelligence company, Peak. Founded in 2015, the Manchester-based scaleup now numbers 250 staff internationally, it is on a mission to change the way the world works, making outcome focused AI solutions available to everyone within a business and building a company its people love to be part of. In 2019, he was recognized by Data IQ among its 100 data influencers for his work in shaping the early Decision Intelligence space.

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”?

From a young age, I had a diverse set of role models exemplifying entrepreneurship and leadership to show me the way. Three generations in my dad’s family were butchers who owned their own business. However, my dad decided to take a different path by working in car factories. He worked hard for many years and traveled during the week for work, but he taught himself binary coding to move his career beyond the factory floor.

My mom taught at a local college and brought home one of the old BBC microcomputers when they were discarded, and a huge book on coding. My brother and I taught ourselves to code on that machine. We were both under 10 when we learned how to code, and we spent our free time making games and quizzes.

Beyond my parents, the men and women in my life were successful business leaders as well — all from different backgrounds. I never second-guessed that I would have my own company someday because I always had mentors and family to look up to that showed me it was possible. I am acutely aware of this privilege and want to provide more opportunities for those who didn’t grow up with the same access to mentorship as I did.

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

I don’t have a favorite life lesson quote per se but I do hold myself accountable to two key questions, which are also key values at Peak. With everything I do, can I truly say I am proud of it? Am I proud of how I carried myself in the situation at hand? Life throws a lot of different obstacles at us, and we are surrounded by people that may not have the same mindset. As long as you are true to yourself and try your best in every situation, that’s all 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?

A: In the early days of my career, I spent a lot of time traveling as a consultant and was an avid listener of the This Week in Startups podcast hosted by Jason Calacanis. It was exciting and inspiring to hear about what those startups were doing and how I could relate to these businesses. Masters of Scale podcast is also a great one that digs under that superficial layer of startup advice, which I still enjoy.

In terms of books, my favorite author is George Orwell, and I have read all his books — 1984, Animal Farm, you name it. Zero to One by Blake Masters and Peter Thiel is also a good read. But I have to say, On the Road by Jack Kerouac is probably my favorite book of all time.

To turn a good idea into an actual business requires both vision and critical thinking, in other words both your creative and practical sides of the brain. With Peak, we were pioneers in the way that we thought about data and what it could do for businesses. At the time, no one thought to put a centralized platform in the cloud.

From there, it’s all about the people and building a culture of empowerment to maintain the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit from Day 1. After we received our seed funding, our first hire was an HR employee, despite not having any team at the time! We wanted to build an amazing company and culture that everyone loves being a part of. One of our foundational values is curiosity, and we test for this during interviews. We’re first principle thinkers, we ask questions, provide solutions and are open to new ideas and promoting change — all key to fostering innovation.

You have to remember that every idea is a derivative of another, and most people will struggle to do something completely new and out of the box. Think critically and be honest with yourself about whether or not the product you’re imagining is truly innovative and disruptive. Ask yourself — is what I thought of an incremental improvement on something that already exists? If yes, then take it a step further and determine if there is already a big player doing something similar.

This process is different for everyone. We started out as a consultancy, then we developed a SaaS platform and secured seed funding from investors. During the investing stage, we had to do quite a bit of critical thinking about our product that ultimately led us to change our business model.

We intentionally went out looking for four or five very different customers to test our platform and test it in different situations and use cases. That ultimately turned out to be the right thing to do, we started broad, learned, then narrowed our focus and now we’re in a position to go broad again.

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.)

First, you can never raise too much funding. The funding process can be lengthy but not having enough funding can slow you down. Try to raise as much money as you can upfront.

Second, pitch your idea boldly. With Peak, we were very modest when pitching to investors and didn’t share our big vision. Not for any particular reason, but it’s very British to play things a bit more modestly and we only really pitched the next thing we were building, rather than the big overarching vision. I guess we will never know this now, but we might have unlocked our potential sooner if we had gone big and shouted about our idea from the very beginning.

Third, go into this process with your eyes open. We conducted a lot of research in the early days to ensure we understood the industry in and out. Even if it took us longer to start, it was worth it to understand the path forward and potential competitors.

Fourthly, connect with as many people as you can and talk about your business. People often try to keep their ideas a secret, they think it is the right thing to do because they don’t want to risk giving away their innovative product, business or idea. However, if you truly have a breakthrough idea that shifts all the industry norms, people won’t think it is possible. Take the risk of letting people copy the small or insignificant parts of your idea. When you share your ideas, you have the opportunity to find people who will agree, disagree and critique them so you can make them better

And finally, leverage free resources. We sought support from MIDAS, a regional development service, that gave us the critique and encouragement we needed to get started, and helped us to build a network.

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, remember that market testing is key. Millions of great ideas go to market at the wrong time, so be realistic about whether the market is ready for this idea and if you have a customer. If so, you’ll be able to take advantage of the opportunity and own the market.

Second, pressure test your product. Take the time to write an owner’s manual for your product — this is one of the most important tasks we did for Peak. We wrote down all of our assumptions and tested every single one. Some we got wrong, and some were right. This process helped us be confident in our product and build a strong foundation at the beginning of our road.

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?

My recommendation would be to do it on your own. Time and money are two of the biggest risks when it comes to business decision-making. If you hire a consultant, their time will cost you a lot of money. Instead, give equity to someone and keep them in your business.

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

Not every company can be successful when it comes to bootstrapping. Mailchimp and Basecamp are great success stories, but if you are an enterprise software company, that might not be the case for you. With Peak, we tried to bootstrap for about a year. We learned so much, but we didn’t have the time and the resources we needed to grow. Bringing in external funding was the right decision for us and led us to where we are today.

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

I’m not sure that we have made the world a better place yet, but we’re trying and chipping away at pieces to make it better. Peak has been very fortunate thus far, and we are in a privileged position now to do a lot and give back whenever possible. One of our priorities is to create an impact on society and the environment, so we dedicate time to charities and causes that are close to our hearts.

To create a more equal and fair world where everyone is born with the same opportunity. I feel very lucky that I have had so many amazing opportunities put in front of me, but it is incredibly unfair and unfortunate that this isn’t true for everyone.

I may not be able to change the entire world, but I can start by trying to make a difference at Peak. We’re striving to create an inclusive and open-minded culture. The pandemic has challenged us to have an outward-looking lens and has put us to the test. However, we made the conscious decision to put our teams and their families first, and were very transparent with our people about how we were protecting all of our jobs throughout this time. Additionally, we extended this same spirit and mindset into our relationships with customers and supported them in every way possible.

This is such a hard question to answer because there are so many people I would like to meet. However, I’d love to have breakfast with Barack Obama. He seems so relatable, and because he was the president, it feels like he shouldn’t be so relatable.

I’d be interested to know how he managed to stay true to himself while connecting with so many people around the world and how he felt about his time in office. Does he regret it? Does he believe that he delivered on the hope that he promised? What would he have done differently?

Apart from his presidency, he is a family man and you can sense the loving and caring relationship he has with his wife. He was the president of the United States and brilliantly created space for his wife to shine as well. I want to know how he managed equality in his own family to bring up his family’s success while being in arguably the most important position in the world.

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

Making Something From Nothing: Richard Potter Of Peak Marketing Firm 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.

Meet The Disruptors: Sam Grice Of Guardian Angel On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your…

Meet The Disruptors: Sam Grice Of Guardian Angel On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Resilience to being told no. Being told no is part and parcel of being an entrepreneur. Being resilient to it is key. That doesn’t mean ignoring advice, but it does mean you have to be prepared for people to think what you’re doing isn’t going to work.

As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sam Grice, CEO of Guardian Angel.

Sam Grice founded UK death-tech firm, Guardian Angel, in 2017 one year after his mother died unexpectedly in a car accident. He left his successful career in banking to launch Guardian Angel, with the aim of making planning for death more accessible and affordable. Today, they offer a one-stop-shop to plan and prepare for death — everything from funeral planning to lasting will of attorney. Sam has secured £1.6m of seed fund investment which has partly been used to build and launch a new tool called BOW that gives users a credit score for death.

If you’d told me I would be leading a business in the death tech space 10 years ago, I wouldn’t have believed you. I was on a very different path entirely. I was knee-deep in the world of banking, working as an equity analyst. Enjoying analytical number crunching, but missing the space to solve real problems that we all face day-to-day.

Then my Mum died suddenly in a car crash in 2016. There is no sugar coating it, it devastated me.

The support we received from family and friends after Mum’s death was incredible. But it was equally overwhelming. My Aunt swooped in and sorted everything out, from the funeral logistics to the day-to-day bits that don’t stop, even though your world does. At the funeral, Dad referred to her as our Guardian Angel. We all need one of those.

It meant I was forced to dive into the weird world of end-of-life planning. I experienced how wildly inadequate it was so I set about trying to fix it. And so Guardian Angel was born. Looking back, re-engaging with this space for work was pretty bold.

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

The space we’re in is ripe for disruption. In 2016, when Mum died tech was making our lives easier in almost every field — except for the death space — where, arguably we needed support the most. That’s where I started, by creating an online bereavement platform that helped families in the immediate aftermath of the death of a loved one and built supportive communities that lasted long after the funeral had been and gone.

But where we’re most disruptive is our approach to two of the key barriers to planning for death.

We knew from our own experience and from talking to our 100K community that one of the biggest reasons why people don’t put plans in place in case they die is that they don’t know where to start. Our solution — BOW. It’s like a credit score, but for death. Users take a quick quiz and we use our proprietorial algorithm to give each person a score, that tells them how prepared they are, as well as providing tailored suggestions on how to improve — based on their life situation.

The second key barrier to people getting properly prepared is that it feels daunting. We’re addressing this by saving people time and money with our one-stop-shop approach to end-of-life planning. BOW is the UK’s first consolidated planning tool, avoiding the inefficient and fragmented structure of traditional end-of-life planning. Once users have their score they can then take legal, financial and emotional actions to better prepare for death then and there. Now there is no need to fill out endless forms with lawyers, insurers and funeral directors when you can enter your key details once in BOW — saving you time, money and one too many headaches.

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 strangest was probably when I’d gone for a meeting with a funeral director and had failed to leave before a family arrived and started sharing all of their decisions about their loved one’s funeral with me and the funeral director. I ended up playing the role I planning of the funeral. Although actually, because it is something I’d been through myself I think I wasn’t totally useless. What did I learn? I guess the power of sharing our own experiences and providing people with emotional and functional support when they need it most.

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?

Two of the biggest mentors have been Rod and Andrew. They’re both lead investors and were two of the first people who believed in my vision before we even had a working product. Not only have they helped with the business strategy and how to pull together a strong pitch for other investors, but over the years they’ve become more mentors than investors, and have been people I can turn to for all sorts of the strange things you need support with when running a business. I still rely on them today.

This is a great point. We’re not interested in being disruptors for the sake of it.

A good example of this is in the products we offer and how we guide people through them. We’re a tech company but a lot of what we do as a business is using tech to facilitate in-person conversations about end-of-life plans rather than avoid or replace them. That might mean stripping away the jargon so you can focus on talking about what your wishes are rather than trying to decode documents. Or using technology to provide better frameworks for in-person conversations in the immediate aftermath of a death, e.g. Bereaved families can carve out time when they would like visits from friends and family, and when they need time alone in our Support Hubs.

We wouldn’t ever want to lose that balance. A good example is Life Insurance, this doesn’t need disruption like banking did — the underlying product is not broken. The way it’s distributed is.

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

Resilience to being told no. Being told no is part and parcel of being an entrepreneur. Being resilient to it is key. That doesn’t mean ignoring advice, but it does mean you have to be prepared for people to think what you’re doing isn’t going to work.

I’ve found that being passionate about what I do, and knowing firsthand the impact we can have from my experience with Mum makes it so much easier to brush off the no’s, learn from the advice, and keep moving forward.

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

Absolutely no. Our mission is to make death easier. For us, that means creating a one-stop-shop to help people plan for and through death. Our focus is now on building that out so that we can bring everything under one roof with Bow, the UK’s first consolidated planning tool and help to save people time, money and stress when they’re going through this process.

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?

Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely has to be up there. I actually got to meet him once which was a real fan moment. It resonates with me as someone that studied economics because so often the theories we study didn’t seem to apply in the real world around me. Being comfortable with focusing on the real-world solutions rather than being too married to the ‘right’ way to do something has been helpful to me in running a business. A lot of it is messy, hacky and oh-too-real. Getting lost in the theory of how you should approach a problem at this level can be distracting or too time-consuming.

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

“Grief only exists where love lived first.” — Franchesca Cox.

Losing someone you love is really tough, and the more you love them the tougher it is. It takes a while, but you start to realise that the grief you’re feeling is just the love that you had for that person. I will never forget my Mum, 5 years on I am thankful for the relationship and memories that we had.

Hmm. If I could use our experience with Mum to encourage more people to put a plan in place for the people they love I’d be pretty happy — whether that’s with us or one of our competitors. I know how much of an impact that can have at the time where you really do need it most.

That’s why I always say to people your Will or your Life Insurance… isn’t yours. You’ll never use the plan you’ve put in place. But the people you love will. It might not be on their birthday wish list but it really is the most amazing gift to give them. Not only does it allow them to concentrate on the important stuff when their whole world will have been turned upside down, but it gives them the confidence of knowing that they’ve done you proud.

How can our readers follow you online?

You can give us a follow on Instagram or Facebook at @guardianangelnetwork

And you can find out your score at guardianangel.network/bow. Mine’s 70% — which is embarrassingly low given I look after a start-up trying to solve this problem

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

Meet The Disruptors: Sam Grice Of Guardian Angel 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.

Making Something From Nothing: Kristen Carbone Of Brilliantly On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

…Time. Starting a business takes exponentially more time than I originally thought. And that timing of when you’re spending extra time isn’t always convenient. An investor might want to talk during your cousin’s baby shower, or you might need to do a customer service support call in the middle of your child’s holiday concert. I had no idea how much I’d be giving up to start this business and how I’d have to reframe my priorities.

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

Kristen Carbone is committed to making the lives of the people around her more comfortable, fulfilling and beautiful. After a decade long career working in curatorial departments in Museums across New York and New England she founded Brilliantly, a platform dedicated to meeting the long term, quality of life issues faced by women who’ve had an experience with breast cancer.

A writer, public speaker, and solution finder, Kristen serves on the Advisory Council for the Breasties, and is a member of Dreamers & Doers, The Fourth Floor, Female Founders Community. In addition to her work at Brilliantly, Kristen is an avid jigsaw puzzler, gardener, and list maker. She currently resides in Providence, Rhode Island where she lives with her two children and enjoys gardening, jigsaw puzzling, and sharing meals with loved ones.

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 and raised in Buffalo, New York. When I think back on my early life I feel beyond grateful to have had two loving parents and an older brother. Growing up in a safe and stable environment was the foundation for my ability to take big risks- like starting a business.

I attended public school until college, at which point my roommate told me that I was at our private college to “fill a quota of public school kids.” Since then, I’ve felt like I had something to prove. College was the first time that I remember really putting in effort to achieve a goal- I graduated a year early and have continued to try and make my own path both personally and professionally ever since.

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

“Seize the day, then let it go.” — Marty Rubin

This saying resonates with me because I have a tendency to inventory all the things that I didn’t get accomplished in a day rather than all that I’ve achieved. There are days where I’m a tornado of productivity and others where I feel accomplished for just getting a meal on the table for dinner with my kids. I am working on being more intentional with my time, seeing each day as an opportunity to achieve something and not beat myself up about the things (dishes, laundry, getting to inbox zero.) that fell through the cracks while I work towards large, strategic goals. I think I’ve got the “seize the day” part done, but letting it go is a challenge.

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 hope this doesn’t come across as a glib, but I reread the book A Girl Named Zippy pretty much every year because it makes me laugh out loud. I heard the author, Haven Kimmel, speak years ago in Portland, OR where she admitted it was her least meaningful of all her books. However, it’s my favorite. It’s mundane and profound. It’s funny and heartbreaking. It’s quite simply the story of a girl and her tenacity, and for me that’s the most inspiring thing around.

I am hopelessly optimistic and once I had an idea that really had legs (you can ask my friend Noam about the dozens of ideas ahead of this that simply didn’t have a chance), I wasn’t going to quit until it came to fruition.

Besides optimism and stubbornness, having a true and genuine passion for the mission behind your good idea is essential. It keeps me motivated to dedicate so much time, attention and money to starting a business.

The reason I was able to start a business, quite separate from the will to keep going and connection to the community I intended to serve, was the expertise of literally dozens of people. One of the first things I did when I decided to start Brilliantly was form an advisory board. Having people helping and keeping me accountable allowed me to set a north star and support creating a strategic plan to get there.

Google! Just this morning I was on a webinar that helped founders prepare for fundraising and the host asked “have you googled your problem and solution?” The very first thing when you have a good idea is to behave like the consumer you’re trying to reach. What would you do if you had the problem your product or service is hoping to solve? Where would you look? What would you search for on google? What stores would you look in? What blogs would you read? Doing all those things helps you understand the competitive landscape and if your idea is unique within that.

That sure is a big question! I could honestly write a full-length book to answer it too. But here’s an attempt at the highlights.

First, get a really good lawyer. Find one who you like, who gets your idea and has worked with start ups before. Ideally this person will be able to help you with forming your company, planning out how to capitalize, and guide you through protecting your idea. That will likely lead to finding more lawyers. I had one for trademarks and have done work with three patent attorneys- two of whom were also trained engineers. And don’t be afraid to ask them questions like if you can defer payment or if they give discounts for startups.

If you’re making a product and can’t do it all yourself, you’ll want to find the right set of engineers for the job. I needed an electrical and mechanical and software engineer plus an industrial designer and needed them to have some experience with medical devices. Just like finding a lawyer, finding a group or firm or person who is excited about your idea and has a fair contract is going to take some effort. It’s even better if they want to form a strategic partnership or invest in you.

Branding! Brand early. It’s worth developing a clear visual brand and accompanying language for investors (if you’re pitching) and for customers. A simple set of guidelines will help you keep things looking and sounding smart right from the getgo and will also allow you to grow into a larger visual treatment as needed. There’s no deed to develop a whole brand bible from day one, but you might want a font and colors and some social media/pitch deck templates to make your life easier. Doing the process to find the right brand will also force you to articulate your mission, vision, ideal customer and probably your personal brand, all of which will be helpful going forward.

The last thing I’ll say here is form an advisory group. Make an honest and unapologetic list of the things you suck at or areas where you lack expertise and find people who are experts at those things. Ask for strategic support, ask for emotional help, and get advice that allows you to circumvent the common pitfalls and mitigate risks.

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

Probably none of this is surprising, but here are my five things:

Time. Starting a business takes exponentially more time than I originally thought. And that timing of when you’re spending extra time isn’t always convenient. An investor might want to talk during your cousin’s baby shower, or you might need to do a customer service support call in the middle of your child’s holiday concert. I had no idea how much I’d be giving up to start this business and how I’d have to reframe my priorities.
Money. Back in 2017, I thought that I’d be able to get this off the ground for around 50k. So far I’ve raised almost a million dollars and am about to start raising money again. And that isn’t because I’ve spent frivolously. Infact I’ve had over $250k of donated time and services from friends who are experts, advisors and designers. It quite simply costs a lot to develop a hardware device.
Pandemic. Wouldn’t we all have liked to know that the pandemic was coming?! There are so many things that get in the way of even the most carefully laid plans. The pandemic was a reminder that no matter how hard I work, sometimes things are out of my control. If I had known it was coming, I would have adjusted my plans, but looking back, I’m pretty proud of how things have turned out since 2020.
Lonely. Being a solo founder is lonely. It is really difficult to share the struggles with friends or family who haven’t been in this position. I am now happy to report that I have a few different accountability groups of founders who share in this struggle, but I would have sought them out sooner and struggled less if I had a sense of how emotionally challenging the process was going to be.
The upswing. There was a moment in 2019 and then again in 2020 when I couldn’t see a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. I wish I had known, like truly known, that things would get a little tiny bit easier. I still face new challenges everyday, but the success I’ve encountered since product launch has given me new energy and enthusiasm for continuing my efforts.

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?

Many of the first things I’ve already touched on- like finding a lawyer and contractors to help make your idea come to life. But the very first thing to do is understand if your idea is actually a good one. The way to do that, no matter what idea you have, is to do some research. That starts with an exhaustive landscape search to see if you can differentiate your idea from what’s already out there. And if you believe that your idea is indeed unique, then it’s critical to start talking to potential customers. I can’t emphasize this enough- talk to as many potential customers as possible. Understand the pain point you’re trying to solve. Ask what other things they’ve already used to solve for it. Find out how much they have spent on those solutions. Learn where they purchased those things. Inquire about what they wish was different about the products they’re already using. And lastly, ask them about the impact- if that problem got solved well, how would their life change? Once you’ve confirmed product market fit and know all of those answers, you know pretty much every part of how to start a business.

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?

Great question. I think this totally depends on the idea and the founder as well as how much money is available. I am a non-technical founder so I needed consultants to help me build my product. If I was an engineer, I would have absolutely tried to build the first MVP on my own or with minimal help because it would have saved quite a bit of money. That said, working with a group of people allows for a diversity of ideas and for you to leverage the experience, skillset and network (because you’ll need help producing and manufacturing your product eventually) of the consultants or firms you use. If you’re going to hire someone, make sure you have a really great contract agreement that protects you and your idea in case the working relationship doesn’t go well. And, I like to always start with a short project as a test to see if someone is a good fit before bringing them on long term.

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

Those are just two of the ways to fund a business. I think we often hear about those two particular examples because they’re the most extreme and in some cases exciting. Who doesn’t love the story of someone like Sara Blakley who built Spanx all on her own? There’s also something really seductive about hearing about a company that got millions from VCs and then experienced explosive growth. There are many, many other ways to fund a business. There are grants, family foundations, angel investors, bank loans, debt financing, and strategic partnerships. Oftentimes it will be a combination of sources and not a binary decision like bootstrap or VC. It takes a lot of research and soul searching to decide on what funding helps your business and fuels the lifestyle you want. No matter what, getting that money from any source is going to take a lot of time and effort.

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

Making the world a better, more comfortable place has been my objective from the get go. My most sincere hope is that the products I make, the conversations I have, the events I host and the connections I foster all create a positive impact. If I ever encounter any financial success, I hope to invest in other female founders trying to solve pain points in a new, creative way.

I don’t know exactly how this would work, but I’d love to figure out some way of helping people (myself included) really understand that we can define ourselves in ways other than through the things that have happened to us. I talk to a great many people who have been affected by illnesses who fall into the trap of letting that control the way they think about their entire being and their place in the world, which is of course easy to understand. There are little and big reminders of our physical and emotional health experiences everywhere- scars, daily medications, behavioral patterns, etc. I’ve also talked to a number of people who seem to be able to transcend that and move into a new way of thinking about themselves or defining who they are. I hope that becomes something teachable, actionable and accessible to everyone because I believe that reframing our thoughts might make a great many of us live happier.

Tim Ferriss! I read his book, The Four Hour Work Week, when my son was born in 2008 and managed to implement many of his suggestions to maximize my time as a working mom. Then I used his Four Hour Body plan after my daughter was born a couple of years later to drop my baby weight and get my BMI back to where my oncologist recommends. I’ve been following his career, books and podcast for as long as I can remember and have a copy of Tribe of Mentors that highlighted and dog-eared on my bookshelf. I love his no-bullshit approach to solving problems and think he’s a wonderful interviewer. I would love an opportunity to talk with him.

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

Making Something From Nothing: Kristen Carbone Of Brilliantly 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: Katy Allen Of Artful Agenda On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

…Being a little naive doesn’t hurt: There are times, looking back, when I’m glad that I didn’t know certain things before launching Artful Agenda. For instance, I might have been hesitant to even begin had I known how much money it would have cost upfront.

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

Katy Allen is the founder of Artful Agenda, a smart and stylish digital calendar inspired by popular paper planners but created with the digital functionality to be accessed anywhere you are. Artful Agenda is the only aesthetically focused digital calendar on the market that is compatible with Google, iCloud, and Outlook and you can even sync multiple accounts to integrate your work, school, personal, and/or family life. Whether you are tech-savvy, eco-conscious, manage a busy household, or are simply forgetful, the Artful Agenda is available at your fingertips as a web app for desktop or through the iOS Apple App Store and Android Google Play Store. Artful Agenda is more advanced and cost-efficient than many of today’s leading paper planner brands, priced affordably at just $3.99 per month or $35 annually. Born out of a life-long love affair with paper planners, Artful Agenda was founded in 2018 by Katy Allen, a mother, wife to America Idol champion Kris Allen, and creative entrepreneur, as a solution to family scheduling conflicts. Artful Agenda is 100% women-founded and operated and with over 750,000 app store downloads, it has helped countless users stay accountable, motivated, and inspired.

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 fortunate to have had a great childhood. I grew up in Arkansas, which is where we settled when my dad retired from the United States Air Force. My mom was a teacher, and I am one of four children. I have an older brother and younger identical twin sisters. As a child, my parents made sure that my life was full of experiences and extracurricular activities. They always encouraged my creativity. I especially loved theater and gymnastics growing up.

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

I love this quote from Amelia Earhart, which says, “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” I find this to be so true when it comes to anything related to starting a business or improving your life in general. Taking the first step is key. Getting out of your head and into a place of action is what matters most!

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 have two. The first is the movie “What Women Want,” starring Helen Hunt and Mel Gibson. I saw this movie when I was younger, and I was enamored with Helen Hunt’s character, who is a high-powered marketing executive. She comes in and takes over the boardroom with her creative ideas. I knew I wanted to be like her and work in a business environment where I could use my creativity and make things happen!

The second is the book “Procrastinate on Purpose,” by Rory Vaden. I read it while trying to juggle my full-time job as sales director for Usborne Books & More, as well as working on the side to launch Artful Agenda. I had a discussion with a friend about feeling crushed, and she recommended Rory Vaden’s book to me. I tell people all the time how this book changed my life. Before reading it, my approach to time management was about challenging myself to see how efficient I could be by creating lists and seeing how quickly I could get things done. I had a workhorse mentality. This book, however, opened my mind to hiring help, outsourcing, delegating, and eliminating things. Had I not read this book, I would not have been able to successfully launch Artful Agenda because it was the commissions from my full-time job that funded the development of the app. I needed to do both jobs, and that book taught me techniques to feel more comfortable with outsourcing. It’s an excellent resource for entrepreneurs.

I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit and the desire to be a business owner. Because of that, I had my eyes open, looking for a great idea to turn into a business. Once the idea came, I was excited and motivated to run with it.

Another thing that helped me early on to transition Artful Agenda from an idea into an actual business was a willingness to ask questions. When I didn’t know where to start, I just asked questions and kept moving forward to where the answers led me. In the beginning, I sent a few emails to people in my life that I thought might have a vague idea about how to develop an app. Those people would point me in the direction of somebody they knew who could offer me more advice, and I kept following those leads.

One of the best things I did in the early stages of launching Artful Agenda was to hire a business coach. I reached out to her initially because somebody told me that she might have useful connections in technology. She deserves a lot of the credit for my early success because she was able to advise me on things I hadn’t even thought about yet, like brand identity, social media development, pricing, and so on.

When I first came up with and shared the idea for Artful Agenda, a lot of people would say, “Surely that already exists.” To me, if people are continuously saying that, then it probably means that it’s a good idea. I knew that I wanted this product for myself, and the idea came about because I was searching to see if it already existed. Google made it easy to research whether or not my idea had already been created. You can also check trademarks to see if somebody has trademarked your business name. I decided that if I researched the idea and it already existed, but I couldn’t find it easily, then it didn’t even matter if it existed because the creator wasn’t bringing it to market in an impactful way.

The first step I took in launching Artful Agenda was asking questions and following the trail of information that it led me down, which is how I ended up with my business coach. From there, I was connected with a tech consultant who helped me “story” my app idea, which is detailing line-by-line what the app could do and how it was unique so that we could shop it to development companies and get bids on it. After getting quotes from various firms and selecting a developer, I was connected with a user interface (UI) designer who helped me design the entire app.

The initial developer I selected failed to complete the job in the time frame they were contracted for, and it was a very emotional experience for me. I felt as if I had spent so much money and had nothing usable to show for it. I was devastated. I went into the sourcing and contracting process far too trusting. I learned that when you get into a serious business deal like that, you have to have a contract in place that is designed to protect you and ensure that you are getting your product for your money. Thankfully, my UI designer helped me hire an alternative firm, and I transferred my code to Twin Sun, who fixed and finished my code. I learned my hardest lessons during this phase of the process.

Once I conceptualized, storied, shopped, designed, and developed Artful Agenda, it was finally time to launch. In its original form, it was a web app for desktops, and only a few hundred people signed up initially. In order to recoup the money I had invested in Artful Agenda, I realized that I needed help with marketing. My developers referred me to a firm with experience in technology marketing, and this connection changed the course of my business. Marketing was a significant investment upfront, which was a concern after spending so much on developing the app, but their team was so driven by ROI that I could see the trajectory. At that point, I had invested too much to let it fail. I realized I needed to be willing to spend more money to see it succeed, and thankfully it worked. As soon as I backed Artful Agenda with real marketing dollars, it took off. This generated enough funds to launch the mobile app one year later.

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

1. Being a little naive doesn’t hurt: There are times, looking back, when I’m glad that I didn’t know certain things before launching Artful Agenda. For instance, I might have been hesitant to even begin had I known how much money it would have cost upfront.

2. The product you develop is only as good as the marketing plans to support it: Your marketing plan is equally important to the product you develop. You need to put marketing dollars behind your product so that it can reach the right audience and yield profits.

3. Spend money on legal advice: Invest in having an attorney look over your contracts to ensure that you are going to receive a usable and acceptable product and outline your legal recourse if you have to go elsewhere in the end. I learned this the hard way!

4. The cost of app development does not stop when it launches: When you build an app, expenses continue to accrue even after it’s released. I was initially under the impression that I would spend money on developing an app, and then it would generate income without further investment. I didn’t realize that I would have ongoing expenses to maintain the app, provide technical support, expand features, and so much more.

5. Hire a business coach: There is no shame in asking for help or getting a second opinion as an entrepreneur. My business coach helped me plan for things I wouldn’t have thought of and connected me with the people who helped grow Artful Agenda in ways that I could never have.

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?

The first is to see if it’s out there, to begin with. Even if it already exists, that’s okay, you might be able to do it better. Then, start asking people in your life who might be able to put you in touch with the right people in your sphere of business. After that, begin building out your idea line-by-line, as detailed as possible, to showcase its capabilities. You need a comprehensive model because you can’t get bids on developing it without that. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes preparation work required before you can bring a product into the world.

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?

A business coach was extremely helpful for me as an entrepreneur. I didn’t pay an exorbitant amount, and I wouldn’t recommend that somebody spend a ton of money on a coach because you can hire one for a reasonable fee. Having some sort of guidance and support during the invention process, even if it is a topic or field you already have some experience in, can help you think things through with more clarity.

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 Artful Agenda the entire way, and I own 95% of the company. I gave my development company 5% because they are so invested in my business. It’s hard for me to tell someone not to bootstrap it because I did, but I also recognize that I was fortunate enough to have a stream of income that I could allocate towards my business. I don’t think there is anything bad about using venture capitalists, but as a bootstrapper, I have enjoyed being the one to call all the shots.

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

I would like to think that Artful Agenda betters the world by helping its users live the life they want to live. A life where they are less stressed, more motivated, and feel more in control and inspired in their daily lives. The entire idea behind Artful Agenda was to give people a tool to help them be more productive and successful in their own endeavors. My hope is that the more Artful Agenda grows and the more people it reaches, the more value it will bring to people’s lives.

I am working with a couple of my close friends to create a mastermind network that will be led by female business owners who aspire to live lives of excellence. The idea for the mastermind network resulted from working with all of the people who championed me while building Artful Agenda. I hope I can do the same for other aspiring entrepreneurs.

Reese Witherspoon. Growing up, everybody told me I looked like her, which is fun, but I really admire how her businesses focus on empowering women. As a female-run company, we also try to do that at Artful Agenda. I think Reese and I share a lot of business interests, and I have a feeling she would love Artful Agenda. I would jump at a chance to collaborate with her and create Draper James covers for our users. She really is such an inspiration to me!

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

Making Something From Nothing: Katy Allen Of Artful Agenda 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.

Dan Barrett Of Adwords Nerds On How to Effectively Leverage The Power of Digital Marketing, PPC, &…

Dan Barrett Of Adwords Nerds On How to Effectively Leverage The Power of Digital Marketing, PPC, & Email to Dramatically Increase Sales

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

…The first thing that you need for sure is a dedication to lifelong learning. Even more than that, it’s sort of a combination. In fact, an incredibly strange combination of extreme confidence and extreme humility. what do I mean by that? Digital marketing is an industry that changes very very rapidly and it doesn’t just change, it changes such that a lot of things that work one day stop working.

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 Dan Barrett.

Dan Barrett is the founder and Head Nerd at AdWords Nerds, the world’s number one online marketing agency working exclusively with real estate investors.

He employs a unique approach that combines online marketing best practices with rapid data collection and intense focus. With this strategy, Dan has helped dozens of clients grow their investment businesses while spending less time on their marketing.

Besides Adwords, Dan also runs the REI Lead Gen Mastermind, a high-level coaching program that teaches investors the skills they need to market online. He is also the CEO of Social Vantage, a social media management company that has helped dozens of small businesses grow their revenue. Having generated online leads for almost two decades, Dan has a wealth of information, which he is happy to share.

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 got into business in a very roundabout way. My planned career path was to become a history teacher, and I originally got into history teaching as a way of balancing work and music. At the time, I was a touring musician. I was in punk rock bands and so on, and that’s what I really enjoyed doing. Besides, I wanted a job that basically gave me summers free, which is why I got into teaching. Luckily, I also loved kids, teaching, and history, so it all kind of lined up that way.

So I was getting my graduate degree in education, a history teaching student, all of that, and in the process, I had started developing some online marketing skills as I worked for the bands that I was in.

I was the one that ended up building up the website, and I was the one that would make the flyers. I also handle the money. I was the one that would get the t-shirts printed and deal with final record pressing and things like that. Over time, I started to freelance using those skills on the side to make extra money. And so I was doing my student teaching at a high school here in Connecticut, teaching history, and I realized that I was making more as a freelance marketer on the side than I would have three or four years into a full teaching career. At that point, I decided to make the jump into working for myself full time with the support of my wife, who came up with the idea and never looked back. It’s been something that I’ve really, really enjoyed. I still do a lot of teaching, though, and I still love it.

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 made what I always called the classic a new business person mistake; the very first thing I did when I started my own business was to print about 5 million business cards, which by the way, if you are interested in prioritizing what you do for your business cards, probably not fame.

What’s more, when I first jumped in, I was planning on working with a friend, and we were going to start this business together. We called the business “Two Friendly Nerds.” He was going to do in-person tech support, and I was going to do online marketing. About two days after I ordered the business cards, my friend let me know that he had received a full-time job offer at a really prestigious company and was going to take that.

So I was on my own with about 5 million business cards that said Two Friendly Nerds on them. I was going to change the name, uh, but my wife very famously told me, “two friendly nerds is funny, one friendly nerd is creepy.” So I kept it as two friendly nerds for many, many years until we finally changed our name to Adwords Nerds.

I was thinking about that, and this is the takeaway from this lesson: when you start a business, there is a real urge to purchase or pursue the kind of trappings of legitimacy. You want to get the office and the fancy sign because we all have this kind of inherent insecurity. We’re not sure that we belong here, right? There’s a version of imposter syndrome that all new entrepreneurs have, and ordering business cards or t-shirts or whatever it is, is a way of sort of saying to yourself that this is for real, but it isn’t usually what moves the needle, right? What moves the needle is experimentation and direct outreach, finding your pitch, finding the right offer, that kind of thing.

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?

Well, the two people who really helped me were my mom and my wife.

My mom was always really supportive, you know. I remember at one time, my computer completely disintegrated, and I was relying on it for work.

She chipped in and bought me a computer when I didn’t really have any funds to show that that was a good investment. She said, “pay me back when you can,” and I did, and that kind of belief in me is something that my parents have given me as a gift for a really long time, so I really appreciate that.

My wife was the one who encouraged me to jump into business on my own. I never thought of myself as a business person at all: I did not think I would be good at it. She was the one that saw the potential there really early again when I didn’t really have any evidence to the contrary, so I really appreciate that.

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

The fact of the matter is, marketing agencies like Adword Nerds and social vantage tend to be anonymous. They tend to be largely outsourced, faceless, and they all kind of look the same, and it’s hard to really stand out in terms of what you do. We do a lot of social media management, we do PPC, you know, and it’s hard to stand out because of the services, so I think the thing that makes us stand out is just the fact that we’re actual people who care about relationships with clients.

In many ways, we are commoditized. You can get someone to do roughly similar service from anywhere in the world, right? So why go with a company like Adwords Nerds? Ultimately, it’s going to be about the relationship you have with the person that is working with you.

We take that kind of trusted advisor model very seriously, where we don’t always tell our clients what they want to hear. We tell them what we think is in their best interests, and we take that very seriously. We stay up front and really try to build trust over time. What that allows us to do is have clients that say, “they may not be the cheapest in the world” (although I think our services are quite affordable and quite efficient that way), “but I know them, and I trust them.” That ultimately is priceless; to sell that sense of trust, right?

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?

I’ll be honest; the first thing is straight-up laziness. Laziness in the sense that I like interesting things and I like to learn, but I hate to do rote work over and over again. And what that’s done is lead me in a kind of roundabout way to a systems mindset.

I’m very intent on building systems, automation processes, whatever we have to do so that the people that work with me and myself included can work on really interesting and important things and not on the sort of tedium that any business ends up being comprised of. What that’s done is lead me in a kind of roundabout way to a systems mindset. And I think if you have that kind of systems orientation, it really, really serves to leverage the work that you do and allow you to have a bigger impact on your clients than you might otherwise need to be.

The second thing is that I tend to be naturally pretty empathic. I find it relatively easy to put myself in someone else’s shoes, and sometimes that’s a detriment, right? It can make it hard, for example, to let employees go when it’s not working out, or they’re not a good fit for the culture, but in terms of client relationships, it allows me to really get in their shoes and understand how it would feel for them to be in that position.

You know, they’re hiring someone for a technical job that maybe they don’t really understand, and they’re worried because they’ve had bad experiences in the past. What can I do as the agency owner to allay that anxiety and put them at ease? The more I can do that, the stronger that bond between agency and client will be similar with my employees.

I know what kind of person tends to like working with me, and I know what that person tends to prioritize and care about.

So, I don’t micromanage my employees because I would hate if someone micromanaged me. I try to get my employees interesting work to do. I try to give them interesting puzzles to solve. I try not to tell them exactly what to do. I let them design their own workflows and their own work rhythms because that’s important to me.

Finally, besides systems orientation and empathy, I think just an ability to really care about learning; I’m a really deep learner. Um, I care a lot about exploring the world around me, reading, taking notes, and writing. I do a lot of long-form writing on a blog as a hobby. And part of why that’s important is to me is that writing allows me to crystallize the things that I’ve read and consumed and turn them into knowledge — pieces of information I can use to change my environment and the world around me. And I think when you are working online in any context, learning is the ultimate meta-skill because things change incredibly quickly. If you don’t stay a step ahead of at least your client base, you are very quickly going to get lapped and left behind.

So, systems orientation, laziness, empathy, and a real desire to learn are the things that I bring to the leadership equation.

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

We’re always trying to work on stuff and testing things. I always say we’re an experimentation company because we are always trying to beat our current best practice. So, it’s so baked into what we do at this point that it’s kind of hard to separate something I’ve done in the last year or so.

What’s new to me is I started a blog called better questions that is completely separate from Adwords Nerds. It is a way for me to write long-form about the things that I’m reading and things I care about, and that’s been really, really fun. I think we’re up to close to 8,000 subscribers at this point, and it’s really helped me in the business in a lot of unexpected ways.

Like I said, writing helps me to figure out what I believe and to make those ideas concrete in a way. I don’t think you ever are forced to do something new till you try to put things down on paper. So yeah, I’ve been really enjoying that.

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.

Okay, I’ll give you two; one more philosophical, and one more implementation-wise.

On the philosophical side, there is a real fundamental misconception that people often have when it comes to online marketing and has to do with the type of system that online marketing is or interacts with. You may think that there are all sorts of systems that surround us all the time, right? The car that you drive to work is a system — there are pieces that interact, right? Your family is a system — It has got a dynamic of its own; how you relate to your significant other or to your kids or to your parents or whatever, right? The economy is a system, the housing market is a system, our bodies are systems, and these systems all interact in various ways.

When you compare the systems, one to another, they differ primarily in the number of units that are interacting and the type of interaction that those units have. For example, you might have a simple system or a clear system. A clear system is something like, let’s say, algebra, where if you put the same input into a given algorithm, you will always get the same output X plus Y will always equal Z, and it is completely reliable, completely clear, right? And so, I always say like a clear system and examples, like I put in a dollar and I get out to that is a clear system.

Now, a complicated system would be something like the human body, right? The human body has clear rules — don’t swallow a bunch of, you know, arsenic, it’s not good for you, right? and you have people that understand the body at a deep level. If I’m a liver specialist, doctor, surgeon type of person, I know a lot about the liver and how it works, but there’s also so much going on so many moving pieces, and so much context that it gets far more complicated than a clear system. In a clear system, I said, X plus Y always equals Z. And so, if your job is to get Z best practice is to add X plus Y but for the human body, there is no such thing as best practice, which means a rule that you always apply. Instead, you have to take into account some context. For example, if you say I have a headache and he was like, great, take two aspirin, that’s the best thing to do, but it’s not the thing you always do, because if the patient with the headache is a baby, then taking two aspirin might kill that baby, right?

Context is incredibly important in complicated systems. Then there are complex systems that don’t just have a whole lot of different pieces and a whole lot of different interactions, but they are systems in which the way the pieces interact changes the rules of the system. An economy, for example, is a complex system. I try to buy low and sell high, you do the same and we interact in a certain way. And there are certain patterns, for example, described by economics to that way that we interact. But if we interact a certain way too much, that creates a wall street crash, and all of a sudden, everything’s off the table, right? So, the way that the pieces interact change the rules of the system itself, and as such, it’s incredibly hard to predict.

Finally, there are chaotic systems where there are no rules — the aliens are bombing the planet, we just got to run, and you just got to whatever. There is no rhyme or reason now. Why am I telling you all this? The primary fundal fundamental misconception that people have when they get into online marketing is they think it is a clear system. Take Google Ads as an example, if I target this keyword, I will get this many leads at this price. Why? Well, because my friend did that, my friend targeted this keyword and got this many leads at this price. Therefore, if I do this, I target this keyword, I get this many leads at this price. If X plus Y, then Z.

However, online marketing systems like Google ads, Facebook ads, Microsoft ads, and SEO are not clear systems — they are markets. They are not clear but complex. The price that you acquire a lead for in your market differs moment to moment, day to day, week to week, depending on what your competitors are bidding, or on how many people are searching for that keyword. For example, if you are targeting the housing market, how is the economy affecting the housing market, the number of buyers or sellers, which affects the number of searches, which affects the supply and demand relationship between the number of advertisers and their bids, and depending on what they think they can make, they might raise their bids or lower their bids.

It’s a bit like the stock market. If I told you, I’m going to give you a list of the top 10 stocks of last year, these stocks made everybody tons of money.

Last year, all you need to have is this list of 10 stocks moving forward and you’ll be rich. Well, the problem is those stocks were great last year, but it doesn’t make them great this year because everything changes, right?

So, this misunderstanding of thinking, you’re going to get a clear outcome when really you’re entering into a complex marketplace is the number one source of frustration, money loss, anger, and bad results, because you have to understand that in situations of uncertainty, there are ways you can stack the deck in your favor and ways you can get way better results over time.

But you have to understand the system you’re in because if you expect X plus Y equals Z and you add X and Y and you don’t get Z, you can’t turn around and blame algebra for your problem because you weren’t doing algebra, instead, you’re trading stocks. I hope that makes sense.

The second single biggest issue, single problem most people have when they get into these marketing tools is they don’t cap their downside. You have to cap your downside. What do I mean by that? When you are entering into an uncertain situation, any kind of complex system, like for example, investing in stocks, well, you probably have an intuitive understanding that even if you are sure, you’re really confident a certain stock is going to go up, you shouldn’t bet everything you own and all your clothing and your kids’ college income or in a college savings fund, right?

You need to cap your downside because you understand that even if you’re confident, there is a chance that things might go sideways, and you might lose that money. Now, when we go into marketing, it is exactly the same way. I can feel very confident that you are going to, on average, for example, acquire a client worth a thousand dollars for a hundred dollars. Net spent that’s 10 times return on your investment. That’s great, but that is an average over time. And any average over time necessarily hides periods in which your performance is lower than the average, which means you might have a month or two where you get nothing.

And that’s on a campaign that is going to generate on average, a 10 X result. So, you have to make sure that what you budget for your campaign, the amount of time you spend on your campaign, and the amount of effort you put into your campaign is not so much that if it does not succeed right away, you collapse under the pressure budget, an amount you are comfortable losing. It’s not because you think you’re going to lose it. It’s because you admit that the universe is a chaotic place, and anything can happen. And if you do lose it, you want to be sure you stay alive to play another day. So those are the two big issues that I see all the time misunderstanding of the kind of system that you are playing in and then not capping your potential downside.

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.

There are a couple of elements that go into any successful marketing campaign. And the thing I want most people to take away is that the world’s best marketing campaign cannot save a poor product-market fit, by which I mean if your service or your product does not match what the public is actually looking for, you cannot convince them otherwise. I am not in the market for, you know, a strapless red wedding dress. I’m not, and you’re going to have the world’s best marketing campaign for it.

Your campaign might be so good that I actually choose to watch your marketing campaign for fun, but I’m never going to buy a strapless red wedding dress because it’s just not what I need.

So, ultimately all good marketing campaigns start with understanding what the market is looking for and matching the service to meet those needs. This is something that most people don’t really think about, they think, and I’ve fallen prey to this as well. You think you can solve business problems with marketing, and you can. All you end up doing is adding marketing problems to your business problems.

Now, that being said, if you have good product-market fit and you’ve got it, got serve a track record, and you say, hey, I know people want this either because someone else is already selling it, or, you know, I’ve done this in the past, whatever it is, then really what I’m looking for in any successful long-term campaign is a couple of different things.

One, I’m looking for some sort of repeat, repeated or repeatable that is designed towards improving top-of-funnel results. What do I mean by that? You can come up with an amazingly creative ad, a social media campaign, a video, whatever it is, and it will do gangbusters, but ultimately sooner or later, people are going to get tired of it. Right? Where’s the beef is a classic marketing campaign, but you can’t just run the exact same commercial over and over and over again.

Think about, uh, you know, Flo with progressive. She’s in a million different variations of the ad with Flo from progressive, right?

Not just one over and over. And so really what I’m looking for is not just a great creative, although that would help. What I’m looking for is what is the repeatable process by which we are going to continue to create valuable creatives? Do we have a split-testing process? Do I have clear metrics by which I am judging the result of a creative, for example, click-through rate? Am I looking at click-through rate in Google ads or in Facebook ads or in Microsoft ads to determine which ads are doing better?

Am I killing the losers and then promoting the winners? Am I routinely, let’s say every week or every month or every three months, depending on how much volume you’re generating, writing new creative, or testing new options for delivering those ads. Right. I did text ads, and maybe I’ll do video ads, right? I did a post ad, maybe I do a long-form text ad, whatever it is. Right? So that’s what I’m looking for. One repeatable process at the top of the funnel. And then I’m also looking for a repeatable process at the back end of that funnel, right?

I’m looking for conversion rate optimization over the long haul is the landing page matching. My ad is the landing page matching — What happens after the conversion is the landing page, doing a good job of getting people to move through that funnel ultimately.

What I’m looking for on a successful campaign. If I really, if I had to bet my kid’s college education on a given marketing campaign, I’m not betting on any one ad or anyone landing page or any one channel. What I’m betting on is a scientific process of consistent and never-ending improvement. And if I can have that, I can pretty much sell anything.

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?

The answer which everybody hates is it depends. And it depends because different PR products and sales have different levels of market awareness, and different levels of market awareness are going to dictate which channels are going to do better. The big divide I would give people is between intent-based marketing and demographic-based marketing. So, what I mean, what do I mean by that intent-based marketing?

The classic example is Google search ads. Google search ads are amazing because I can find somebody that’s going into Google and typing in size 10 air Jordans, or even by size 10 air Jordans and get in front of just that person. It gives me a lot of control, and specifically, it gives me the ability to get in front of people that want what I have right now.

Now the problem is not all products and services are things that people know they want. For example, if I’m a life coach for rock climbers and just to make that up, rock climbers might not know what a life coach is or how it might benefit their athletic career, right?

They might not know that, and so I might have to take a very different approach because if I wait for people to type in life coach for rock climbers, I might wait forever. So instead of intent-based marketing, I might go demographics-based marketing. The classic example of which is Facebook ads or Instagram ads, something like that, where I’m saying, it’s not people searching for me specifically what I do instead. I want to get in front of this type of person, 20 to 30-year-olds that like rock climbing, right? And then I might put content in front of them that gets them to know who I am and sort of warms them up and then educates them.

And then they’re going to pull the trigger, right? So, it’s not necessarily which channels are best, it’s which channel is best for this situation. You got to understand how your service or product matches the market. You’re going after for my money. Intent-based Google ads, Google search ads is still the king. And for demographics — based Facebook, Instagram, that kind of thing is still king. But it depends — if you’re going after gen Z, you might want to go on Tik TOK, right?

There’s no one size fits all for anything. I wish there were because it would make my job a lot easier.

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

one, there’s no such thing as a set-and-forget PPC campaign. This is a myth you can absolutely set and forget if all you want to do is spend your money forever and not get any results. If you do want to get results, you have to pay attention.

I would say to just be aware that the general trend of the industry is towards a heavier reliance on algorithms. So, what’s going to happen is that over time, advertisers, meaning you, the business owner, are going to have less and less, uh, control over what happens inside the ad account.

Whether your ads are shown to the right audience or which ads end up getting promoted, that’s going to be largely within a black box, that is the algorithm controlled by these advertising channels. And so, what’s going to be of utmost importance over the next 10 years is really controlling what you have power over, which is your bottom of the funnel, your sales process. You follow a process, your conversion rate optimization. These things are going to be critical.

Finally, the thing I would point out is that today lead attribution is getting harder and harder to do meaning it’s getting really complicated to really know this ad produced this lead from this channel, so on and so forth. Because what ends up happening is people are on multiple devices, they’re bouncing between multiple channels, meaning I saw your ad on Facebook, and then I Googled you, then I clicked on the organic result, which took me to a YouTube channel. And then I bounced to your website

It’s like, well, it’s really hard to track that lead all the way back to that Facebook ad that maybe they never even clicked.

It’s hard to impossible given some technological changes that happened in 2021. And so the way I tend to think about this is that all these things are one giant system. And I might have an ad campaign. Let’s say a Facebook campaign that doesn’t look like on the surface, it’s generating many leads.

But if that campaign gets me in front of people that I care about, and then those people sort of know about me a little bit more, and then they go and Google me a month later. If I turn off that Facebook campaign, I might see a drop in my organic search results, right. Or my results in another channel.

So this idea that every channel is separate, and you can really dial into the specific return on investment of specific ad, I think those days are kind of gone. Instead, what I would think about is how can I, as effectively and cheaply as possible, get in front of the audience that I care about. And if I’m doing that, I’m getting some kind of engagement. Generally, I’m going to be happy as long as my backend sales are trending in the right direction.

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?

A couple of things about email marketing, and I don’t consider myself a world-class email marketer per se. But I do think that there’s sort of a fundamental mistake that people often make, which is assuming that because it’s email, it is somehow profoundly different from any other form of communications or sales. And I think that’s wrong. Email is essentially asynchronous. I mean, it is asynchronous communications and sales. That’s all it is.

And so, we have to be respectful of people in the same way. We would be respectful to people if we were talking to them face-to-face and that means not wasting their time. The number one piece of advice I would give people is don’t waste people’s time. We are in 2022 — it is not 2015 or 2006 anymore; people get it. They know what you’re doing and what email is. People don’t want your emails. I mean, it’s just, it’s a lot, right?

But at the same time, if you look at what’s happening with services like substack and the sort of rebirth and re-emergence of email newsletters, it’s clear that people are hungrier than ever for high-quality content delivered in their email inbox. They just don’t want your b******t, and so for me, I treat email and email marketing very much in the same exact way I would treat sitting down with someone for dinner and having a conversation with them that I think is going to deliver value. Right? So, I think about email as a platform for delivering value and building a relationship over time. I mentioned before that I run a blog, it’s also an email newsletter, that’s called Better Questions. Um, and you can link to that at https://www.betterquestions.co.

I email people once a week, and I email them extremely high quality, well thought out, hopefully, well-written pieces. Now, if you are running a very specific email marketing campaign, like let’s say somebody signs up for some sort of lead magnet or course or something, I do think you can email them a whole bunch of times during the week, as long as you provide value every single time. And one of the ways that I think about this is, the reason that I’m using email is I am training my audience to react in a certain way. Think about it in a video game. If you want to train the player to act in a certain way, let’s say to take a certain action or to perform a certain move. You reward that player. When they do it, you have the screen light up points go up, you get a positive noise, something cool happens on screen.

If you want to train a dog to sit, when you say SIT, you positively reinforce that dog. Every time it sits. When you say, sit, you pet it and you say good boy, and you give it a treat. This is not rocket science, it is the foundation of behaviorism, but it’s also treating other people with respect. If you want them to do something for you, like open your emails or respond to your offers, you’ve got to make it worth their while. And not just at the point you make the offer, you’ve got to make it worth their while every single time they interact with you. So if you send low-quality, cheesy emails, you are training them to ignore you. Maybe you want them to subscribe, but they’re going to stop opening. They’re going to stop caring. You want them to think, oh my God, this person just sent me an email. I’ve got a check, I’ve got to read it, I’ve got to see what they have to say. And similarly, when you make offers, you have to train them that your offers are so good that they do not want to miss out.

You’ve got to train them that when they buy something from you, you not only deliver you over-deliver to the extent that they are on the lookout for offers from you. So think about email marketing, not as this kind of static funnel, where you extract value from other people. Think of it as a platform for teaching people and positively reinforcing people for listening to you and reacting to your offers. And if you can take a step back and think about it that way, you will have the most responsive email audience you could possibly imagine.

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’s a couple that I particularly like. Um, you know, I think we can focus a little bit too much on tools, and there really isn’t a tool that helps to provide a ton of extra value to an audience. It’s ultimately what marketing and forming long-term relationships is.

Um, there are tools that make the logistical process easier, quicker, and more efficient, and I like anything that helps me save time.

For example, there is a tool called missing letter, which is a M I S S I N G L E T T R. See what they did, they’re missing letter with no E, and that is like a social media scheduler. One of the things I really like about missing a letter is it will read an RSS feed. I’m very big on this idea of content stacking, by which, I mean, I have a medium in which I’m most comfortable. Generally, it’s making videos and writing. Those are the mediums I like to operate in. And so, I focus on creating the best content I can in those mediums, my YouTube channel, my blog, whatever missing letter can watch RSS feeds or your YouTube channel and pull in that content, and then very quickly uses some AI and stuff. It will help you create a year’s worth of social media posts around those pieces of content.

So, not only does it resurface old content, and drive people back to the site, but it also books out your social media queue for a really long time. The whole process is very seamless. I like it quite a bit.

The other software that I really, really like, and actually it’s my most used piece of software on my computer, is something I do everything in. And that is Rome research. Rome is a networked note-taking tool. It’s basically a text pad that allows you to take notes, but it’s sort of like you’re building your own version of Wikipedia. So, everything I do; writing, reading, basically everything I do during the day gets put into Rome and connected in a variety of different ways to all the other ideas I have.

So, when I do research or when I work on a client’s work, when I want to take notes on what I’m doing in a given marketing campaign, when I’m taking from a book or a course, I put everything in Rome. And then later when I want to turn that into content, or I want to turn that into a campaign, or I want to brainstorm on something new, I can easily pull in the variety of thoughts I’ve had in the past.

It’s very hard to explain without actually doing it, but I highly recommend it if you are someone that lives online as I do. Rome research is essentially a second to the brain for me, and I don’t think I can live without it at this point.

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 first thing that you need for sure is a dedication to lifelong learning.

Even more than that, it’s sort of a combination. In fact, an incredibly strange combination of extreme confidence and extreme humility. what do I mean by that? Digital marketing is an industry that changes very very rapidly and it doesn’t just change, it changes such that a lot of things that work one day stop working.

The next is an industry that, really forces you to continuously throw out your preconceptions of how things work and how they should work and rebuild them from the ground up to match the new reality.

And so, you need to have a deep sense of confidence that you can do this, that you can handle it, that you can figure it out.

And you also have to have the extreme humility to understand that no matter how well you understand how things work today, tomorrow, that could all go in the garbage, so, that extreme confidence that you can figure things out, this is something that’s a huge part of my personality.

I’m very cocky, sort of by default, but what I’ve learned through a Scrabble contact with reality over and over is that that can definitely lead you astray, and you need to be humble enough to realize, “Hey, every now and then I need to learn it all over again.” So that dedication to learning, um, is really the second thing. So, if you say like condiments and humility, as a combination as number one, number two, dedication to learning, you need to have a system for learning. You need to be okay with learning. You need to like taking online courses, reading books, watching YouTube videos, reading blogs.

You need to like staying on top of all that stuff because if you don’t, you’ll be very quickly left behind, and you will hate your life. The name of the game is Fast. Moving is fast changing now for me, that is fun. It keeps it fresh. I hate doing the same thing over and over again. So, the idea is that Hey, every now and then there’s a total curveball that gets thrown, and we have to reinvent ourselves and reinvent our service.

That’s exciting. It’s risky. And it can be a little fraught, but it’s exciting. It’s fun. So, if you have that dedication to learning, that curiosity about how things work, that’s really gonna serve you. Well, a third, you need an analytical mindset. We are in a universe where there is more and more data to be had. And in fact, there’s so much data that a lot of times, it’s a matter of which data do you choose to pay attention to rather than do you have data at all?

So having some kind of analytical mindset, being able to sit down and think deeply about an issue, look at the numbers. And from those numbers, pull a story that allows you to create effective action. That’s really what the analytical mindset is all about. And it comes into play in so many different ways in online marketing, and particularly if you’re going to run your own business doing this, there are just so many to look at. There are so many different data points, and it can be easy to get swallowed up in it. It can be easy to go too far down that road and just have like kind of data analysis paralysis as well.

So having that analytical mindset, being comfortable with numbers, I mean, as a kid in school, I hated math. I was all English, all writing.

I hated math. I was not a numbers person at all. So, I’m not saying you need to have like this inherent mathematical skill. I took remedial math every year up until college and then never took it again. But over time, I’ve become comfortable with numbers and comfortable with some kind of level of analytical mindset. And that’s really critical to me.

Fourth, you need to really have a deep interest in people, psychology, sociology, anthropology, management; these all come into play. For one because marketing is really highly reliant on psychology in terms of what really moves people. What makes people act the way that they act? What are the dynamics of groups? What are means, what are narratives? How do all those things play into what the decisions that people make?

What is effective communication? All of these things rely on an understanding of people. And if you’re not interested in people, and you’re going to have a hard time translating the technical skills and marketing to effective actual communications, actually getting people to make a decision.

It’s one thing to be able to set up an ad campaign. It’s very much another to understand what that ad campaign should say in order to drive people to take the actions that you want to take.

And so, marketing is this, especially online marketing, it’s really a unique combination of technical skill and, um, humanistic understanding psychological knowledge. That’s why I like it. If it was all technical, I wouldn’t be into it, but I love that combination of technical and psychological. So having an understanding interest in psychology and that deeper set of like human communication, it’s really, really important.

The last thing you need to be really successful as a digital marketer is something that I think is not unique to digital marketing, but I think it is true of all successful people. And it’s a commitment, a personal commitment to what is called double-loop learning.

single-loop learning is you have a problem, you try to solve the problem, see if it worked or not, and then you try again or not, depending on what happened. So, if you hide a dog treat and a dog goes looking for it, it might sniff under the couch. Didn’t find it? Okay. So, it’s going to go again. It might sniff under a pillow. Didn’t find it? It’s going to try again. It sniffs under the chair found it. That’s that single-loop learning. There’s a, “did I achieve the goal? No, try again.”

Now double-loop learning is where you still have this single loop. Did I achieve the goal? No, try again, but you have a second loop on top of that. That’s asking yourself, can I solve this problem in a more effective way? Am I learning in the most efficient way? Am I acting in the most effective way? You are not only judging the outcome of your actions.

You are judging how you decide, how to act, how you learn and react to reality. Are you being defensive? Are you being entitled?

Are you misunderstanding? Are your prior assumptions about how things work inaccurately? This is what is so important to all forms of success because we all go in with a certain set of understandings of how the world works.

And oftentimes, people that get rewarded for that rely on that single set of understandings for their entire lives. But the fact is the world moves so quickly, and it changes so often that even if you land on the most successful investing strategy, marketing strategy, whatever it is, the likelihood of that strategy lasting for the length of your career is zero.

And if we don’t embody this ability to change how we learn and change how we act and change how we move through the world, we’re never going to be able to adapt.

So just to go back, humility and a little bit of arrogance, uh, dedication to learning, um, dedication to second, a second loop or to a second loop learning or whatever I call it.

Um, a technical mindset, analytical mindset, right? And an understanding and interest in psychology. What books, podcasts, videos, or resources do you use to sharpen your marketing skills?

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

I actually don’t read a ton of specific marketing materials, although that isn’t always the case. I do read a fair amount of business, and specifically, I’ve kind of recently been into jobs to be done. So, a couple of books on the jobs to be done with the framework, but I tend to read primarily, outside of business. So, I’m very interested in systems dynamics, and systems thinking.

I’m interested in learning things like Canavin, which is spelled a C Y N E F I N, which is complexity theory, really, really fascinating, uh, theory of constraints. There’s a wonderful book by the name Of The goal by Eli Goldratt. The theory of constraints has completely transformed how I think about marketing. It is the core of how I approach pretty much every marketing and account optimization problem, but it’s not a marketing book. It’s a book about manufacturing. So I am of the mind that if you read the same books that everybody else reads, you will tend to think the same way and thinking the same way as everyone else can be useful sometimes, but it’s only ever going to make you average.

It is the ideas outside of the norm that you can apply to what you do that makes you truly different and truly unique and effective. So, I tend to look for mental models and ideas outside of the world of marketing. I read a lot about investing. I’m a big fan of Howard marks, Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie’s Almanac, of course, is the classic there. Howard marks has written a couple of different, wonderful books on investing that I highly recommend — Theory of Constraints, Anything There, The Goal by Old Rat, which is the first popular book on the theory of constraints. Can Nevin, which is not yet a book officially, but is a variety of articles you can find on Hartford, Harvard business review, and so on.

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. 🙂

That’s very kind of you to say, I don’t know about that.

You know, it’s hard because obviously there is, um, any number of, um, injustices in the world, economic, racial, gender-based, sexuality-based, areas of deep political strife, violence, political violence, either.

So many places where you could do good. But I think if you were going to try to solve the one problem that would solve all problems, or at least have the most effective impact, it would really be teaching really proactively teaching, uh, rationality, the reason, the use of reason.

And decision-making understanding, trade-offs understanding, things like game theory, these ideas that tend to seem academic from the outside. But if you think of human beings as this interesting mix of pure animal and rational, right, we have these animal drives and desires this deep, um, sort of instinctual, ability.

That’s incredibly powerful, but it’s married to, what Daniel Conaman calls The System to Thinking. This sort of highly rational, highly complex sort of difficult mode of thinking. I truly believe that if we could have more of that, we would tend to make better decisions and better decisions would make the world a better place.

So, for me, rationality is tied to a deep sense of humility, my ability to understand the world, and my ability to truly understand opinions that are different from mine.

I really don’t believe I know better than other people. I try my best to understand as best I can and decide as best I can based on what I know, but I know that I’m never going to get the entire picture of the world is just too complex. It’s too fast-moving, and so I give people a real large benefit of the doubt because of that. And I just think if that attitude could be a little more common, we might be a little better off.

How can our readers further follow your work?

A couple of different places. Obviously, the agency is https://adwordsnerds.com.

My personal blog is https://www.betterquestions.co. And, you can actually see my YouTube channel as well, which is, https://www.youtube.com/AdWordsNerds.

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

Dan Barrett Of Adwords Nerds On How to Effectively Leverage The Power of Digital Marketing, PPC, &… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Dan Faill Of Faill Safe Solutions On 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Your Voice. Now I’m not specifically talking about the volume of your voice, I’m talking about your voice — your authentic, amazing, empowering, true voice. Don’t quote other people all the time. Don’t try to be like someone else. Be yourself. Authenticity and vulnerability will be your best friend when it comes to sales, marketing, and connections.

Over-involved student leader. Fraternity member. Orientation Leader. Chapter President. Tour Guide. Imposter. Sexual Assault Survivor. These are just a few of the titles Dan had during his time in college.

As an accomplished storyteller and international speaker, Dan incorporates his own lived experiences, in addition to industry-proven research, to craft engaging and relatable experiences for student audiences. Having worked for 15 years on college campuses advocating for safe and positive student communities, Dan now travels the country as a full-time speaker and consultant, engaging audiences in hard but needed topics. He creates spaces that engage and inspire us to be our authentic selves, and be brave enough to have the conversations that matter.

Dan has seen the connections stories create, and is passionate about helping others find and share their stories to impact the next generation of leaders, which is why he co-created Voices for College, serving as a coach for aspiring speakers. Dan lives in Los Angeles and co-parents with his spouse-emeritus, while cheering on his sporty daughter and serving as set dad for his acting son.

<a href="https://medium.com/media/ac8c36fba792cd6fab9fe3f96ae8286e/href">https://medium.com/media/ac8c36fba792cd6fab9fe3f96ae8286e/href</a>

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?

Thanks so much for having me!

What’s funny about how I grew up is that it’s somewhat polar opposite of what I do now; I was always the shy kid, playing with my toys in my room as a latch key kid. My friends and I would chat comic books and compare notes from class. I wouldn’t really raise my hand or make an effort to meet new people. I was good in small group settings at my parent’s dinner parties, just chatting and being myself. I grew up on shows like Fresh Prince and In Living Color, really seeing what joy you could have when you laugh. It wasn’t until high school theater that I started to realize I had a knack for performing and entertaining. I enjoyed the thrill of being someone else and making people laugh with whatever antics I was able to portray. Then in college as a communication studies major, I realized I could take topics and make them engaging too, blending data and stories to educate (and hopefully get an A).

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

I remember being a fraternity/sorority advisor, and one of my tasks was to conduct a risk management training for the entire community of over 1,000 members. While speaking in public didn’t really bother me at that time, I was worried how I could make such an incredible topic like risk management (hopefully that sarcasm comes through loud and clear) and not bore an audience to tears. I was going through the powerpoint my predecessor left me and it was…painful. Lots of bullet points and stats and legal jargon that didn’t instill a lot of confidence in me. And then I realized, basically the night before the scheduled presentation, that I could bring my own flair to the information. Why can’t stats and policies be more engaging? I just didn’t want to read them or recite them verbatim; I wanted to give context and have fun and help students understand why the policies existed in the first place, as opposed to just telling them what they can’t do. At the end of that presentation, I had a few students come up to me and tell me thank you for not treating them like children, and making it feel like a conversation. I think my favorite was a couple of men said “hey man, thanks, that didn’t suck.” And honestly? That’s a solid win. From there I wanted to take hard topics and make them engaging, and it’s been an amazing journey as a speaker for college students ever since.

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

I feel like any speaker over the course of the last few years can relate to the fact that it’s been anything but dull in the midst of a global pandemic. To be a public speaker, and then all of a sudden there’s no public? That was very interesting, and not in a fun way. I think I curled up into fetal position wondering what I was going to do, and honestly I stayed in that mindset for far too long. Thankfully I had some great friends to chat with via zoom and weekly online therapy appointments to get me through it. Also in late 2020 I joined Clubhouse, and was able to interact with some absolutely incredible people, which led me to a weekly room about storytelling and speaking that we do every Friday at 10a PT, and we’ve been going strong for well over 70 weeks in a row!

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?

Oh there’s a lot of stories to be certain. I think I can tell you one of my funniest memories from stage… I was presenting to a room full of probably around 800 new members of the fraternity/sorority community, and during one part of that specific keynote, I was illustrating of how ridiculous we look when we’re dancing after having some “liquid courage” — the music came on and I start to dance, making fun of how sometimes we think we have rhythm when we most definitely don’t. Then I decided to drop it like it’s hot, and as I went all in for the move, I heard and felt the rip in my pants. It wasn’t some little seam that came undone, I’m talking full-fledged tear from back to almost all the way front. I owned it though, fully admitting that whoops moment and making an offhand joke about the room getting drafty. Thankfully we all shared a good laugh, and then I kept the keynote going. My lesson learned? Always be prepared for anything and everything, especially when you drop it a little too hot…

One of my mentors always says that speakers should have speaker friends. We’re the ones who get it, we understand the issues and nuances. But I simply have to give love to my friend James Robilotta. We both came from working in higher education, however he began his speaking journey a few years before I did. As I started my speaking career, I looked up to him (and still do). His ability to work a crowd and have so much fun with everyone, and then all of a sudden hit you in the feels with a mic drop moment. When I started I was chasing whatever message I could, because I loved talking about anything and everything. James pulled me aside and said that I’m great at what I do, but I simply can’t talk about everything under the sun because then my audience doesn’t really get to know who I am or what I speak about. I couldn’t (and shouldn’t) be a kitchen sink speaker. I’m thankful to him and our ability to always get vulnerable and talk about what’s happening in our lives, while also being someone who challenges and champions me to be my best.

I mean, when your last name is Faill, you kind of get used to the idea of it after a while… Plus, if you become a public speaker and don’t talk about leadership, vulnerability and failure, it’s a total missed opportunity!

Let’s think about failure another way. Each of us has failed hundreds of thousands of times in our lives. You would think we would be used to it and it shouldn’t be as scary by now. Think about it, we weren’t born able to walk, we had to learn to crawl and then walk; we fell down, got bruises, got back up, and kept at it until it’s second nature. But it still feels scary to try something new. I talked myself out of becoming a full-time speaker for years, I mean years. Any excuse I could find I’d use it. Then one day an opportunity came up to do some great in-depth consulting, which would help supplement the full-time income I had at the time. In the midst of that crossroads, I had to make a decision. Should I stay comfortable and complacent, always wondering ‘what if’? Or should I take the chance, bet on myself, and just try. That was almost five years ago now, and that path was well worth leaning into the fear and doubt, because I’ve discovered more of my capabilities and myself than ever before.

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 firmly believe that the work I do on college campuses can save a life and make a difference. My main keynote is about the intersection of alcohol and consent. As a survivor myself, I know just sharing my story can help others. It can empower others to help a friend in need, even if they can’t find the words to say they need help. My other keynote flips the script on failure and posits that failure is the pinnacle of success, something we should all strive for in anything we do. That keynote addresses the feelings of imposter syndrome and vulnerability in a fun and engaging way. Two very different topics, but all centered around the concept of relationships, looking out for one another, trying something new, connecting on deeper levels, discovering those ‘iceberg moments’ that’s so much more in depth and better than the surface level convos we’re used to.

I believe we need to be brave enough to have the conversations that matter, and I’m so damn proud I get to wake up and do this work every day.

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?

Ooohhh, y’all I’ve got a best-selling book that I can’t wait for you to read. All I need to do now is start writing it! Taking that concept of failure, I created a model that really does place failure at the height of achievement, and can’t wait to share it with the world. I’ve also had so much fun coaching people to find their own keynote and develop personalized keynotes so they can go impact more lives — it’s one of the reasons I created Voices for College with another speaker friend of mine. From here, I see myself continuing to give back to the college space, while branching out and helping others realize their own potential and creating vulnerable moments and stories to connect us better.

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

One of the quotes that I continue to reference in keynotes is from my dad, where he really got me to rethink the concept of networking. “It’s not what you know, it’s not who you know, it’s who knows you.” And when I really thought about it, it makes complete sense. I could know a plethora of people, however it doesn’t mean they know me. In the speaker community we often joke that speakers get speakers gigs. But it’s true. Whenever I’m with a client or campus and they want to bring a message like mine back, but unsure they want me back for the fifth year in a row, I rattle off people that I know and trust and believe can truly show up and deliver something special. I’ve had speaking engagements and coaching clients get referred to me because someone else knew me. That’s my new networking 101, because it’s all about the relationships you have with people — that’s what matters.

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.

Link to 5 Things Video: https://youtu.be/gi2AxngWrpE

Pull up a chair y’all, let’s go for a ride…

Your Mindset. In order to be a speaker, you need to address that space between your ears and get your mind right. When I teach speaking courses one of the first things I do is have them stand up and confidently say “I am a speaker.” To which most times we have to go back in and work on the confidence again. We all have this little voice in our heads that might tell us we’re not a speaker and we can’t do it. That might not be a fear of speaking, but moreso a fear of people speaking about us. “What if they don’t like me, what if I mess up, what if I rip my pants on stage from dropping it a little too hot?” These are lies. The problem is, our brain can’t differentiate between negative self-talk and positive self-talk. We end up believing whatever we tell ourselves. So why not tell ourselves more positive things? Think about the word “believe”. In the middle of that word, is the word “lie” — so what are the little lies that we end up believing? Address your mindset, and you’re ready to keep moving along your journey as a speaker.
Your Message. I often tell coaching clients of mine that if you chase the message, you lose yourself. Hot topic messages come and go like a leaf on the wind. At one point early in my speaking career I think I had around seven different keynote topics. One of my good friends and mental health speakers was listening to me vent about not getting consistent speaking engagements. After a few minutes he finally told me it’s because no one knew what I actually talked about, because I had too many topics. He was a mental health speaker who wrote award-winning curriculum, that’s how people knew him. So then what on earth was I? (And to be honest, that caught me off guard and I joked that a mental health speaker really messed with my mental health in that moment). Any TED/TEDx talk has a through line, a main message. My cornerstone through line in my keynotes is creating conversations that matter: whether that be about failure, leadership & imposter syndrome, or about the intersection of alcohol and consent; we need to have better conversations and connections. Sometimes we also feel like our message needs to be perfect. Fun fact: your mess is your message. No one is expecting perfection from you, in fact, we love to see imperfections. There are lessons in the struggles and messages in the conflict. So lean into your mess to find your message.
Your Story. Storytelling is arguably the first true profession; it was the original way to pass knowledge down from one generation to the next. It’s quite literally in our DNA, however some of us might need to find the right story and reverse engineer it; kind of like Jurassic Park, only without all the death and velociraptors. Too often people feel they don’t have a “good enough” story to tell, and they get stuck in the comparison loop. “My story isn’t as serious as theirs” or “well I’ve not struggled as much as others so I shouldn’t share my little ole story.” STOP IT. Your story matters, because it might resonate with others. It also doesn’t have to be this grandiose story, it can be something seemingly mundane; it’s all about how you pull the lesson or message into the story. For example, in one keynote I share a fable that I read on the side of a Chipotle bag, but tie it into how you can help others see their potential and purpose. I know one speaker that talks about getting a bowl of blueberries every day, which they then illustrate the importance of habits and relationships. Stories can make the message more impactful. One thing to keep in mind as you’re determining how to share your story: don’t get lost in the details. What might feel important to you might not have importance to the audience.

Also, to provide a little extra value for your readers, I co-moderate a Clubhouse room every Friday at 10a PST where a large group of professional speakers spend hours with audience members sharing tips and tricks on the entire speaking business, but really focus on storytelling. Feel free to pop in and say hi — we’ve been going for over 70 weeks in a row with no plans to slow down!

4. Your Speaker Friends. A mentor of mine often says that any good speaker surrounds themselves with speaker friends. You need those people who “get it” and understand the industry. When you want to pitch a new idea or vent about something, they’re the ones you can go to. But if you don’t know any speakers, that’s ok! Outside of my friends that are speakers, I also joined the National Speakers Association — Los Angeles Chapter. That network of others involved in the speaking and coaching industry has been incredibly helpful for me. So if you’re not sure who you can reach out to that’s a speaker, go check to see if there’s a NSA chapter near you, it’s a great place to start.

5. Your Voice. Now I’m not specifically talking about the volume of your voice, I’m talking about your voice — your authentic, amazing, empowering, true voice. Don’t quote other people all the time. Don’t try to be like someone else. Be yourself. Authenticity and vulnerability will be your best friend when it comes to sales, marketing, and connections.

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

Few things strike terror into people like public speaking. In fact, nearly 77% of people have glossophobia, or fear of public speaking. However the act of speaking is something we do regularly: at work, at home, on zoom, on the phone — we talk a lot (and with a 12yr old daughter I can confirm that the next generation talks a lot too). When it comes to public speaking, as the saying goes: practice makes perfect. Most full-time professional speakers have been crafting their messages and honing their stories for years. I know one speaker who rehearses in front of their mirror to see how they express themselves. I know another speaker who would practice in their back yard to trees in an effort to control their pacing and timing (and also entertain the neighbor unknowingly). We practice. We rehearse. But notice I didn’t say we memorize. Many clients and course attendees of mine ask how to memorize their keynotes. Please don’t. I tell them to be married to their outline, not their script. They should write out their keynote to be sure, but they shouldn’t try to do it verbatim. Actors stick to their script. Speakers know their messages and stories and can adapt as needed based on the audience. it just takes 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?

Wow, amazing question. I’d love for us to be more vulnerable. I think Dr. Brené Brown has done an incredible job helping us understand the role vulnerability can play in everything we do. I’d love to continue that movement and infuse storytelling into it, to accentuate our connections to be grounded in relationships with one another. Because if you’re vulnerable and share your story with me, then I know you better and can connect with you on a more human and empathetic level.

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 think I’d love to crush some brunch with Dax Shepard. Outside of his career in improv, comedy movies and hosting the Armchair Expert podcast, he’s been doing some incredible work in the vulnerability space. Most recently I saw an Instagram video where he was dancing ridiculously and wrote about some vulnerable thoughts and feelings he had. It’s that sort of honest approach of male vulnerability we need more of, in an effort to normalize how easy it can be for men to show emotions. I think brunch would have us laughing to tears followed by some in-depth emotional shares.

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

Of course I am! With such an original name I was able to snag @DanFaill on all the social medial platforms: IG, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and even www.DanFaill.com. I’ve got some fun blog posts and podcast guest appearances on the website, so feel free to give a read and listen, and slide into the DMs if I can ever be of service to you, your company or in whatever way possible.

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

And thank y’all so much for having me as a part of this, I really hope it helps others!

Dan Faill Of Faill Safe Solutions On 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.

Keenan Beavis Of Longhouse Media On 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Confidence in Yourself. While everyone has a different comfort level when it comes to public speaking, self-confidence is paramount when it comes to speaking effectively. It doesn’t have to be much, but even a sliver of confidence that you can deliver your message and have it resonate with the audience makes a world of difference.

Keenan is the founder of Longhouse Media, one of Canada’s largest marketing agencies. Combining an academic and practical background in business, he strives to implement digital strategies that are both cost-effective and deliver clear, lasting results.

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 Vancouver, British Columbia. Had a fairly normal upbringing, nothing too out of the ordinary. I was quite active in sports as a child and took a keen interest in fighting/martial arts. Specifically Brazilian jiu-jitsu, judo and wrestling.

I took school very seriously, especially writing as I knew my entire life would involve communication. It’s good I did because now my whole job is:

Emails
Speaking
Writing for web design projects,
Sales proposals
Scriptwriting
Ad writing
And more

If there was ONE part of my upbringing that I’d recommend to kids, it would be to become friends with your English teacher!

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

It was a mix of several different things, but ultimately boils down to having a knack for understanding how to market both myself and other people. The first that immediately comes to mind was when I was younger and used to make Youtube videos for fun. The videos were far from spectacular but I learned how the Youtube algorithm worked and was able to tailor my video titles and descriptions so that the videos showed up in people’s recommendations. I think I managed to climb to something like the 27th highest viewed channel in Canada!

The other instance I can think of was when I convinced my Brazilian jiu-jitsu teacher to let me run Facebook ads for him. By creatively targeting the ads towards people who are Joe Rogan listeners (an incredible amount of crossover fans between his podcast + BJJ), I was able to help them exponentially increase their class attendance. These two experiences taught me a lot about the business potential of a company like Longhouse Media.

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

The first thing that comes to mind was when Longhouse was shooting a video for a natural wellness clinic. While filming a demonstration to use as B-roll for the video, I actually ended up getting blood sucked out of my arm and running a test to discover my blood type.

My job is never boring. This month I’ve been to manufacturing facilities, restaurants, a doggie daycare, a petting zoo and government buildings. It’s something new every day.

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 first starting Longhouse I had originally tried to do everything myself, from photography to web design. I honestly don’t know what I was thinking back then and laugh when I look back at some of the work I had tried to do. Thankfully, I began to focus on the aspects of the business that I’m best suited for and let other people with different skill sets handle what they’re best at, which caused us to grow incredibly fast.

As cliché as it sounds I’m eternally grateful for the support my parents have shown me through my life. They’ve been there for the entire journey and continue to support me or lend some input when it comes to both business and life.

Additionally, my best friend Austin Mallar is one of the smartest + capable people I know and has become such a loyal fixture in my life that I don’t see myself ever wanting to do a business project without him by my side.

Don’t be afraid of failure. Whatever endeavor you decide to pursue, give it your all. Even if you fall, chances are you’ll still come away with something worthwhile, whether it be the start of a new network, a job opportunity, or even learning something new about yourself.

Also, I’d rather fail being authentic than to have marginal success playing a cookie cutter mold of someone else. If you want to be the best, be authentic. Time and time again, I’ve noticed that to stand out, you have to be unique; and when you stand out, your business WILL grow.

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 drives me each day is being able to empower people who are self-starters and fostering positive working relationships with the community. When we can come together for a common goal and build each other up, it does so much to benefit the community in the long run.

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?

Longhouse recently helped the Black Business Association of BC launch a new directory and marketplace of black-owned businesses and services. It was a great experience to combine black and indigenous business leadership and foster our allyship while also building a positive local connection with fellow business owners.

As for where we’re looking to go from here, we have dozens of monthly clients who we pour our all into. Our team makes sure that anyone who is our partner gets 100% of our attention and we don’t want to compromise our quality. We will continue to grow, but at a healthy pace that maintains our quality standards.

Our marketing company is very lucky to be in the position of having more people who want to work with us than we take on. At this stage, we can choose to work on projects that excite us!

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

It would have to be the proverb “It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war”. Not so much in a literal sense but more so in that it pays to be prepared when things go south. It’s not about being “dangerous”, it’s about being capable. Capable people can be dangerous, although not necessarily in a bad way, and these are the people who can be relied on in bad times. It’s noble to be the person who can control their inner warrior and turn it on when needed.

Being capable and available has led to countless opportunities for me, both personally and in business.

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) Understand That Being Nervous is Completely Normal.

Nerves prior to any daunting interaction, whether it be speaking in public or a job interview, are a good thing and a completely normal thing to feel. Don’t try to calm your nerves or make them go away. Instead, make peace with your anxiety and understand that it will be there until the end of your talk. While it’s easier said than done, try to use your nerves as an energy boost and take a few deep breaths before speaking to relieve any potential physical tension you may be holding.

2) Confidence in Yourself.

While everyone has a different comfort level when it comes to public speaking, self-confidence is paramount when it comes to speaking effectively. It doesn’t have to be much, but even a sliver of confidence that you can deliver your message and have it resonate with the audience makes a world of difference.

3) Belief in What You’re Saying.

If you don’t believe what you’re saying matters, neither will your audience. This will cause them to disengage and, at worst, grow bored and tune you out. Speaking with genuine conviction demonstrates to your audience that you are to be taken seriously and makes it much easier to keep them engaged for the duration of your talk. This also helps in creating emotional appeal for the audience to relate to you.

4) Individuals, Not a Crowd.

Remember that you’re speaking to an audience which is made up of numerous different individuals, not one united entity. Making eye contact with different individuals around the room and deliberately speaking to different parts of the audience helps to build an emotional connection and increase perceived confidence. It is also a crucial step in giving your talk a more conversational quality, rather than robotically spewing an obviously rehearsed speech to the room.

5) Practice Practice Practice.

Improving any skill takes countless hours of practice. The best way to become an effective public speaker is to keep doing it on a consistent basis. If at all possible, record your talks and watch them back, then take notes on what you think you could have done better. Doing this on a regular basis will lead to exponential growth in your speaking abilities, from writing to body language to verbal delivery.

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

Make peace with your nerves. Trying to make the butterflies in your stomach go away or somehow lessen how much you feel them only makes them worse. Accept that you’ll be nervous until the end of your talk and try to coexist with them. I try to view nerves as a good thing. They’re a sign you’re eager to do well and excited to perform. Look at any speaker who’s buzzing with energy when they talk, they’re most likely amped up on nerves and channeling it into their speech.

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?

Most likely a movement that would encourage people to be authentic. This could be through trying hobbies that interest them, starting a business or just wearing what makes them feel cool.

So many people are scared of being their authentic selves. I want to encourage everyone I meet to embrace whatever makes them unique. It is a freeing feeling and honestly, your business will grow and you’ll attract loyal, real friends.

So many people today feel that their lives are empty or that they’re unsatisfied with life and it’s saddening to see. I would like to encourage people to step out of their comfort zone every now and again and see that sometimes a bit of discomfort can be incredibly worthwhile.

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!

Without a doubt it would be Dr. Jordan Peterson. A fellow Canadian and I want to figure out how his brain works. His ability to think out loud in a structured way that is both thoughtful, efficient and digestible fascinates me.

Also, I would ask him how he figured out his formula for writing books. It seems like every chapter is strategically crafted using 4 key pieces and I would love to pick his brain if he thinks my analysis is correct. Message me on social media if you want to know more about this!

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

You can visit Longhouse Media’s website, www.longhouse.co or follow us on social media @longhouse.media. You can also find me on Instagram @keenanbeavis.

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

You rock!

Keenan Beavis Of Longhouse Media On 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.

Kyle Boze Of Kettering Fairmont High School On 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public…

Kyle Boze Of Kettering Fairmont High School On 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Knowledge — this might be the thing I tell people that really separates great speakers from poor speakers — it’s the knowledge of the content. Most people would be able to share stories about their favorite sports team, rant about a TV show, or detail something they’re passionate about, no matter who the crowd. You should have the same understanding of the content you’re about to deliver. Remember, competence breeds confidence.

Kyle Boze currently teaches Business at Kettering Fairmont High School in Kettering, OH. Originally a Marketing Executive, Kyle made the transition into education in 2016. Passionate about leadership, culture, and coaching, he started the “Fairmont Leadership Academy,” a program (and class) designed to empower, encourage, and develop young adults into leaders within the community. He still consults for teams, organizations, and businesses on a variety of business disciplines. Kyle is a graduate of both Wright State University and Bowling Green State University and lives in Southwest Ohio with his wife and kids.

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?

Sure — I am a midwestern guy. Born into a very middle class family in Southwest Ohio, and I still reside in Southwest Ohio with my wife (Laura), son (Lincoln) and daughter (Harper). I am a former marketing exec turned teacher.

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

I probably have one of the least traditional paths, career wise. I got my degree in business, and was fortunate enough to become a Director of Marketing for a mid-sized company at 25. I had about everything you could want — great bosses, office, salary, etc. and I was miserable. After a whopping 2 weeks on the job, I quit to become a teacher at Kettering Fairmont High School, where I still work to this day. Admittedly, it took me too long to make the move, but I was driven by a sense of purpose & passion to invest into others. Which I feel fortunate to do every single day.

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

(I think the above answer might fit this one too!)

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?

Sure — as I am sure many of my students would say, I am a man of many stories. One I don’t believe I have ever told was early in my college career, I had a position where my main job was to recruit new employees for an hourly position within the company I worked for. Most of the time, the interviews were group interviews in which we had already identified people for the job. I distinctly remember one where our boss called me early in the interview and was telling me something, though I couldn’t tell you what. At the end of the call, by accident (and habit), I said “Love you.” Thankfully, I don’t think she heard me, and hung up immediately after.

It definitely caught everyone off guard — who all kind of gave me a confused look.

I rebounded with “Dang — she didn’t say it back”

You would have thought I was a world class comedian by the way the group reacted. That was one of my favorite lessons in public speaking — to add in (appropriate) humor to put people at ease. It’s as effective of a method in public speaking as it is within interviews.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my wife right here. She’s been incredibly supportive at every turn of this journey. I distinctly remember getting the offer & opportunity to jump into the education world, after turning down three other educational opportunities before. Telling your wife you want to quit a six figure position to go teach for practically nothing, and that you’re going to have to move in with your parents because you can’t afford your place to live anymore? That’d be a hard sell for a lot of people, and she was in with no hesitation.

I’m fortunate enough to teach a leadership class where we talk about this exact topic…the fear of failure. It genuinely paralyzes so many people. I really preach two things that I strongly believe in. The first being that “failure” doesn’t exist. Kids always do a double take when I say that (and show them resources supporting that), but all of our journey’s continue on. More often than not, failure is simply growth. For us to grow as people, professionals, friends, parents, etc. we’re going to have to fail, and embrace the fact that we failed, not run away. The second piece of advice I always tell people is to just “go for it.” More often than not, when we think back on things we were afraid to do…it’s never as scary as we anticipated it being. And if you’re never willing to just GO FOR IT, you’ll never know your own potential. You’ll just be guessing.

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?

As a teacher, I don’t have much of a choice! I really believe in the art and power of story telling and how it can help people understand ideas or concepts quicker. But I am fortunate to teach personal finance and leadership — two classes that directly impact people’s lives every day. So I feel a certain obligation to be “on” and perfect the ability to public speak to connect with audience. To the shock of no one, high school and college aged kids have SHORT attention spans, so if you’re not a great public speaker, story teller, or not engaging, you’ll lose them pretty quickly.

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?

That’s a great question. I’m fascinated with leadership and fortunate enough to teach a class on it. One of the things I enjoy most about my position, and are “ongoing projects” really revolve around the opportunity to consult and advise other teams, organizations, and groups to help them better define/grow their cultures, relationships, and teams.

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

“Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.” — JFK

I really believe almost every great thing to have happened in my life is because of calculated risk I took, that could have easily “failed” or gone wrong. But without the courage to take those risks, in the face of uncertainty, to better yourself or serve others, the joy of “achievement” would be so much less rewarding.

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.

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

Great body language — great body language means a lot of different things, but we’re primarily talking about presenting yourself to your audience in a way that welcomes your audience, or advances your story. Positioning your chest towards the crowd helps keep them engaged, while allowing your voice to carry. Eye contact, facial expressions, arm movements, all help articulate and portray the message that you’re trying to tell. I have to remind speakers all the time that only 8% of what people retain/perceive from a speaker is the actual words. 92% are your tone and body language.
Inflection of voice — specifically tone (as mentioned earlier) and using your voice to inflect/adjust to important moments or gain attention to key elements of your speech. Plus, people can sense when you’re passionate about something by your voice/energy levels.
Pacing — Too often, people go too fast when public speaking. It makes it hard to understand/gain the knowledge that the speaker wants you to take down. So often times, for those who are especially nervous, speaking TOO slow actually evens out their pace. I also think it’s important to understand how to time yourself with well timed pauses is a key element to keep attention of a crowd.
Knowledge — this might be the thing I tell people that really separates great speakers from poor speakers — it’s the knowledge of the content. Most people would be able to share stories about their favorite sports team, rant about a TV show, or detail something they’re passionate about, no matter who the crowd. You should have the same understanding of the content you’re about to deliver. Remember, competence breeds confidence.
Awareness — This is an underrated skill for those who are okay/good public speakers, but not great. Awareness of your audience and THEIR nonverbal cues can often times unlock opportunities for yourself to better your own skill. Especially utilizing your audience within the speech helps. Anytime you can reference someone in the crowd, have them ask a question, roleplay with you, play along with something, they’re automatically involved and when people are involved, they are more likely to be active. Awareness of yourself involves the above items, along with your movement, to understand how it’s positively/negatively impacting your audience.

Actually, one of my favorite examples of how all of this is relevant is from one of my favorite books, “The Culture Code” by Daniel Coyle. The book discusses an experiment in which researchers tracked idea pitches made to executives. But the researchers only tracked data around the presenter and audience in terms of eye contact, proximity to crowd, attention, body language, vocal pitch, communication between presenter/audience and audience/audience. What they found was the idea pitches with higher amounts of the above almost directly correlated to the ranking of said business pitch by executives. Meaning the presentation with the highest amount of interaction/positive body language, vocal pitch, communication was ranked the highest by the executives.

However, when simply presented with a physical copy of said business plan (no presentation this time), the results were vastly different. Meaning that the content of the presentation was not as important as the verbal and non-verbal cues.

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?

This is something I have actually thought about a tremendous amount lately. As I mentioned earlier, I am insanely passionate about leadership and culture, how the two are interconnected, and how to maximize teams. I could genuinely talk for hours about the value of it, but my wife tells me that not everyone wants to hear 4 hours of it!

I would love for more individuals, across all industries and levels, to have more access to resources that help them grow as a leader. I really think, especially in the times we live in now, we need great leaders across the board. Most people who get put into positions of leadership never go through formal training during that transition, or have the ability after to continually hone their craft. I’d love to inspire more people to become better leaders — for themselves and others.

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’ll give you two for which I find hilarious, insightful, and believe their journey would/has inspired me. I’d truly love to pick their brains more on what they feel allowed them to succeed at their levels. I’d even pay.

Bill Hader

Keegan-Michael Key

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

Absolutely! Im on Instagram and Twitter primarily. I love connecting with people passionate about the things I am passionate about, or for who I can help!

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

Kyle Boze Of Kettering Fairmont High School On 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.

Tommy Hilcken On 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Be confident. Once you get good at what you do, have confidence. Step up and be noticed. There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and you must never cross that line. Being better at public speaking never makes you better than anyone else, yet we must develop the confidence to walk with a bit of a swagger.

Tommy Hilcken is a public speaking coach, a Toastmasters Humorous Speech Champion, a motivational humorist, and founder and principal of Toolbox Talent, which provides entertainers, facilitators, motivational speakers, and experts of ceremony for corporate, community, and private events.

With over 30 years of experience, Tommy has performed more than 6,000 speaking and magic/comedy engagements. Studied under the infamous and one of the world’s most popular and beloved motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, Tommy combined his love for magic with a natural passion for comedy to define and capture his future. As a life success coach, he has worked with individuals and families from every walk of life, as well as celebrities and professional athletes.

As a motivational humorist and keynote speaker, Tommy believes in using laughter to help his audience learn, embedding a crafted message that best serves the audience, and delivering value to any business meeting, community event, or private gathering. He has helped others break through their fears and challenges, move away from those things holding them back, and towards full career fulfillment.

He is a Toastmasters Humorous Speech Champion, a member of the National Speakers Association, and a certified life success coach by the Proctor Gallagher Institute, founded by speaker, author, coach, and mentor Bob Proctor.

Tommy was one of six children raised in Guttenberg, NJ, where he loved sports and being with people. As a child, he developed a deep commitment to family that helps define him today and he extends his nurturing to those with whom he works. When not helping others achieve their life goals, Tommy enjoys blues music, sports, and trout fishing. He is married to Cheryl and together they have three children and three grandchildren.

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 little town called Guttenberg, New Jersey great little community 4 by 10 that’s four blocks wide by 10 blocks long. I lived on Wiffle ball, stickball, and hanging on the stoops. It was right across the river from New York City and simply just a great community with a great bunch of kids. We still get together all these years later; everybody knew one another, everybody knew what everybody stood for. It was a great way to grow up. Back then, did I have thoughts about being a public speaker? Probably not. One thing I did realize early on growing up in Guttenberg, you had to have good verbal skills, or nobody would ever see you or hear you. It was noisy in the schoolyard.

What brought you to this specific career path?

What brought me to this career path was my good friend from Guttenberg, Mondo, with who I grew up with. He owned a magic shop. Mondo showed me a magic trick, and I fell in love with entertaining with magic. I was making money doing it six months later, and six years later, I turned it into a career. I guess it was a natural, and it just had to come out of me, but I love being on stage, I love holding a microphone, I love being in front of an audience.

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

My career is now 33 years long, so picking a favorite thing that happened or something exciting along the way would be tricky to choose.

I’ve done over 7000 performances in my life, but here we go. I will choose this as I started to grow as an entertainer, I began to be seen more and more by people who could hire me, and one day, I was hired by the New York Yankees. Growing up right across the river, from the Bronx right across from Manhattan, being a lifelong Yankee fan, this was a dream come true. Not only was I doing what I love, but I was also doing it for one of the greatest baseball teams in the history of baseball and living out my childhood dream of someday being on the field at Yankee Stadium.

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?

Sometimes mistakes are a lack of awareness. I was hired to do a clown show, and I had no idea what it took to put together a clown outfit. I had no makeup, and I used my nephew’s diaper cream for the white around my eyes.

There were a few lessons there.

The show must go on.
The secret to success was to raise my awareness of what it took to become a professional and perform professionally.

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 genuinely grateful for the mentor I had in the clown business. In the 1990s, clowning was huge; it was big; it was everywhere. There’s no longer a clown school; there’s no longer a circus, so clowns are rare to see. Back in the day, my mentor Fred Collins was the owner of Mecca magic in Bloomfield, NJ; he took me under his wing taught me all the skills I needed to be a professional clown and entertainer.

Soon after, I had asked him the most critical question if I was going to be in showbiz and I love doing the show, can you teach me more about the biz. Fred taught me how to be a great clown; he also taught me how to run a business. I was then able to earn a living doing what I loved.

If you love or genuinely enjoy what you’re doing, you’ll never work a day in your life, and that indeed has happened to me.

Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seemed daunted by the prospect of failure?

Go out and fail!

If you choose something as a career and love doing it, remember, it will be challenging at times. There is a lot to learn. You have to learn how to market yourself and sell yourself. My advice to anyone looking to be self-employed is to remember it is not for the faint of heart; it is not as easy as it seems, and it takes a lot of work. I’ve enjoyed listening to motivational speakers and self-help tapes throughout my career. Soon after starting my career, I discovered the great Zig Ziglar. He was known as one of the most incredible motivational speakers in the world. I studied with him and was reminded personal growth always precedes professional development. I had to grow as a person before I grew as a professional. I learned a great lesson from Zig that helped me push through: Stinkin Thinkin was that failure was an event and not a person. Wake up the next day and get back at it.

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 rest of the world?

This is not a dress rehearsal. Make the most of every day. I am a people person. I might think that I like being in front of audiences, but I want to BE with audiences. There is a big difference. I genuinely love hanging with people sharing things that can help them. I can take their mind off where they are and get them into a place of fun, even for only a little while. One of my favorite things about my job in a profession I chose was bringing joy to the world. Laughter is the best medicine.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

As a speaker and entertainer, once you learn how to hold the microphone and get in front of an audience, there are multiple ways to get out and do business right now. I’m working on a thing called Magical Motivation.

It’s a magic show that includes a motivational talk or a motivational talk that includes magic. It depends on the day! It is a great way to get a message across as people learn more in a fun environment.

Where do you see yourself heading from here?

I will continue to do what I am doing. Helping others see a different view of the world with my speaking, training, and entertaining

Can you please give your favorite life lesson quote?

“My primary purpose is to help people get what they want — to help them believe in their unlimited potential, to define their goals and pathway toward those objectives, and to take the steps that will bring them there.”

Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

As I mentioned, I’ve been around many motivational speakers and a lot of inspirational people. Earl Nightingale (One of my all-time favorites) said: “Everything in the world we want to do or get done we must do with and through people.” I’m a people person, and I realize that I must help as many people as I can to become successful for me to be successful. If I have learned something that may be helpful to you I must share it with you and teach it to you. That’s what it comes down to people helping people. After some thought, here are the five things you need to be an effective, professional public speaker.

What are your Five things you need to be a highly effective public speaker?

You must be trained; everyone thinks they can go out there and be a public speaker. Many people can speak in public, but not everyone is a public speaker. Some skills and talents must be developed, and you can only get that through training. Find someone or a company you’re comfortable with and learn the skills needed to become a professional public speaker.
Be confident. Once you get good at what you do, have confidence. Step up and be noticed. There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and you must never cross that line. Being better at public speaking never makes you better than anyone else, yet we must develop the confidence to walk with a bit of a swagger.
Be prepared If you’re going out and giving a presentation, always remind yourself to put it together. You never want to go out and wing a presentation. Winging it is for the Super bowl. Your audience would know just by reading your body language if you prepared or not. As my man, the late great Zig Ziglar would say, you must plan to win; you must prepare to win.
Do the Biz To become a successful public speaker, you need to do public speaking, and the only way to do public speaking is to become better at the biz. Showbiz, being on stage, holding the microphone, that’s the show. That’s the part we love to do. That’s right; speaking is what we get to do. The business, the back end, the paperwork. All the stuff most people don’t want to do. That’s what we’ll get you stage-time. It’s the business, the back-end stuff, that helps you become a professional public speaker.
Love what you do. Enjoy what you’re doing. If you’re going to be a public speaker and you’re going to be in front of people, let them know that you love what you do. They should be able to read your passion right from the start. The only way to influence another person is by example. If you are a professional public speaker, behave like one. If you are going to impress someone, it’s only through example. Show you have charisma and can own the room. Have a purpose for yourself, have a purpose for your presentation. A purpose that serves your audience.

Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome the fear of speaking in public?

I have been asked hundreds if not thousands of times by workshop attendees why do I fear public speaking? Through my years of training and meeting people, I’ve concluded that most people do not fear public speaking; what they fear is being judged. I remind them every time we move and walk through a store where we are being judged. If you’re going to walk on stage, understand you’re being judged and get used to it. Once you feel comfortable being judged, you will be much more comfortable with public speaking. All these thoughts can be erased with proper training.

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 think it is essential for the world to have better communication. Communication builds relationships. Looking someone in the eye creates trust. We’re connecting through texts and emails and videos and all sorts of good stuff, but we’re losing human to human connection.

I love people, so I’d like to see people get back to connecting with people. I hope we can remember that people have a heartbeat and the only reason we’re here is to serve one another. You can have everything you want to if you are willing to help other people get what they want. I’m saying communication is the key. I hope we get back to communicating one to one and talking to people like people again.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why?

Yes, there is a person I would love to have lunch with. My Rock & Roll her Eric Clapton. I’ve been to many concerts in my life and have met with many performers. I’ve never gotten to meet Eric Clapton/ Meeting him would be fabulous. I enjoy his story, and I love everything about his music. I have seen him over 15 times!

Social Media

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommyhilcken/

https://www.facebook.com/presentationskillsexpert

https://www.instagram.com/tommyhilcken

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

Tommy Hilcken On 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.

Agile Businesses: Matt Wursta On How Businesses Pivot and Stay Relevant In The Face Of Disruptive…

Agile Businesses: Matt Wursta On How Businesses Pivot and Stay Relevant In The Face Of Disruptive Technologies

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Don’t underestimate the power of training and clear communication. The teams will need more training than you think, they’ll need more communication, they’ll need more understanding. All of this is sometimes lost in the shuffle, but incredibly relevant.

As part of my series about the “How Businesses Pivot and Stay Relevant In The Face of Disruptive Technologies”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Matt Wursta.

Matt is the founder and CEO of Wursta, a firm focused on helping organizations use cloud technologies to compete in a modern world. Prior to founding, he spent time at PNC bank, another startup, and then a short time at Google. He’s passionate about the confluence of business and technology, and he’s an avid snowboarder.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. 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?

The backstory is kind of a fun one. My parents have had a restaurant since I was born, and for as long as I can remember, I’ve had this work ethic associated with it. Restaurants are hard. You’ve got to be there to make money, and your customers depend on you to be open. It’s a really tough thing, but it’s helped me tremendously in life. Today, we might think it’s a little funny helping out when you’re 12 years old, or working your weekends in high school, but it just was the way of things. That stuck with me.

I did eventually leave the restaurant, however. It was actually over a dispute over technology. I got to answer phones in big corporate america for a bit, and then spend a few years at a small fast moving startup. It was at that startup that I learned there is a market for almost anything, and if you frame the value properly, there are whole worlds to be unlocked. This was an incredible exposure for me, because I just didn’t have the visibility prior. For example, paying $500 for 1 hour of training on a particular piece of technology seemed absurd to me, but if the 25 people in the session each even saw just one hour a month of productive time gained, the organization would see a tenfold return on that money. That type of thinking was just missing for me until I really got to sit and listen first hand. It was a great experience.

Then I moved on to the big G, Google. While I enjoyed my time, I had this inflection moment where I realized I wouldn’t have a better chance to start my own firm, and the downside was minimized. So, I took the leap.

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 aren’t a lot of ‘funny’ mistakes in the beginning, at least not for me. Most things seemed like life and death. Of course, they weren’t, but they certainly seemed so at the time. One thing I learned early on is that traditional banks are not set up to support entrepreneurs, regardless of what they say. It actually makes a lot of sense, from a risk management perspective, but when you’re trying to get your first business credit card, it doesn’t seem particularly fair. Many of the terms and requirements for things like an AR line of credit really aren’t as common sense as you might think, primarily because you’re not thinking fraudulently, but the bank has to cover for those scenarios. This was definitely a lesson learned that I’ve stuck with, always be ahead of your banking needs.

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 still really can’t thank my parents enough, as trite as it might sound. They let me move home, live in their basement, and really put myself in a position to minimize my bills. This was incredibly instrumental in the early years at Wursta.

Along the way, there have been countless others who have all acted as wonderful guideposts. I’m particularly interested in candid feedback, and many folks are willing to give it to you if you ask. This has been a huge part of my learning curve. Even some of the CEOs and Founders of my competitors have helped along the way. It’s amazing what playing nice and asking for feedback will get you.

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?

When we started, there was this idea; it went roughly like this: Technology is innovating faster than most organizations have the ability to adapt. This creates a problem, despite the availability of tons of technological horsepower, folks weren’t using it. Our mission was, and continues to be, to help organizations maximize their use of the cloud, to compete in a modern world. The last bit was added later, but it was a byproduct of our work. Organizations, our clients, were better able to compete in the thing they were good at, once they started to build a better technology muscle. That premise still stands today.

Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion. Can you tell our readers a bit about what your business does? How do you help people?

Wursta is a technology firm, a consultancy, that helps organizations invest in and leverage technology to make their business processes better. We look at the available tech and their business and industry, and help create and execute a strategy to ensure they’re as nimble as possible to compete. We’re helping in all sorts of ways, but ultimately we like to think we make life easier for our clients, easier to do what they’re focused and good at. This is centered on collaboration, custom application and infrastructure, and organizational change management.

Which technological innovation has encroached or disrupted your industry? Can you explain why this has been disruptive?

I think cloud computing has been on a pretty steady path for some time. Recently, however, Web3 and the technology surrounding blockchain has started to make a lot of noise. For us, as future thinkers, we’re keen to hear the noise, but it took us some time to really hear it. The blockchain is going to (and is already) disrupt many of the markets our customers are in. It’s helping people to see things in a new way, and empower them through its decentralized nature, an entirely new set of business models and economies. The disruption is just beginning, but it’s happening so quickly.

What did you do to pivot as a result of this disruption?

I wouldn’t call it a full on pivot, so much as an area of explicit focus for us. We were in a position, working to find our niche in certain industries, when I was exposed to Web3, and specifically NFT technology. While many people think of this as monkey pictures on the web, it’s actually the proof of concept for decentralized identity and ownership for the web. Really powerful stuff. So, we quickly built out an internal team to start doing some research. I personally also sought out some experts in the industry to really help me understand better what was happening. Then, we presented to the whole team this addition of the Web3 technology into our focus areas, and we’ve been doing great since. Everyone is excited and engaged, knowing that we’re focusing on our core business, but we have this next step outlined.

Was there a specific “Aha moment” that gave you the idea to start this new path? If yes, we’d love to hear the story.

We sponsored an art gallery in Miami during Art Basel. There’s this great artist, Blake, and he asked if we wanted to come and be ‘NFT Educators’ since the team had been ramping up. We went down, and it was a total blast. But, most importantly, I remember standing in the gallery, full of people, listening to the conversations going on around me. An Architect, with a new way to transfer house plans. An artist, with new access to his fans. A climate activist, with a new non-profit driven by access tokens. I knew then, this technology was going to touch so many things, we needed to be there.

So, how are things going with this new direction?

It’s early, so it’s sort of hard to tell. I can say that the majority of the team is excited. We’ve got great engagement from the market, we’re working on a permanent installation in Austin, sort of like a thinktank for Web3, and we’re starting to promote some of these offerings to our clients. So, all in all, it’s going great.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this pivot?

My team, at least for some period of time, thought I was quitting and running off to another company! I had been working to get educated as quickly as possible, through an advisory engagement with another firm deeply entrenched in the space. What I hadn’t done was clearly communicate with the team, because at first, I didn’t know if there was anything there. By the time I had the thought to communicate, it was probably a little too late. It all worked out in the end, but I was definitely blindsided, I’m not going anywhere!

What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during a disruptive period?

I’m still a lead from the front kind of guy. I really think it’s important to demonstrate to the group the type of individual you want them to be. In this case, it means being energetic, engaged, and naturally curious. We’re sharing articles internally, I’m having chat conversations (digital and IRL) with folks, sharing knowledge, and really trying to drive the excitement. I think that’s really important.

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?

At Wursta, we’ve worked hard to create a culture of transparency. Because of this (specifically), for me, having a level talk with the team and letting them know we’re on this journey together has been incredibly valuable. Everyone at Wursta puts a ton of time and effort into every day, and we wouldn’t succeed without each other. I’m reminded daily how complex a machine it’s become, and it’s important for everyone to know there’s no such thing as failure when you try new things, only learning. But you are certain to fail if you don’t try at all.

Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?

Our first and arguably most important principle is ‘Win-Win’. I’ve actually gone round and round a few times on this one, but I’m a firm believer, if you look for the situations that allow for a win-win, you will always be successful, regardless of the times.

Can you share 3 or 4 of the most common mistakes you have seen other businesses make when faced with a disruptive technology? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?

The first mistake businesses make when it comes to disruptive technologies is being afraid of it. We saw so many companies being thrown into embracing new technology that they had previously resisted when the pandemic hit. Because they had avoided it for so long, they were wholly unprepared to quickly change gears for remote operations that it was devastating to their business. The companies that had embraced new technology were better prepared because they were more forward thinking.

The second mistake companies make when it comes to disruptive tech is trying to tackle it without help. Not everyone is meant to be a technology expert. Even internal IT departments are not always equipped to deal with all technologies. If you want things deployed properly — bring in outside help.

Lastly, you don’t have to be the first one to the party, but you do have to be aware. I always recommend spending time to educate yourself on the technologies, even if they seem like they are sitting on the fringe. It doesn’t take long for a disruptive technology to take hold.

Ok. Thank you. 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 pivot and stay relevant in the face of disruptive technologies? Please share a story or an example for each.

Leaders have to set an example. It’s important to embrace change, and to really own the change yourself, daily. Many times, we run into leaders who want to pivot their company towards a new technology, but then they won’t adopt it themselves. That’s not the recipe for success.
Don’t underestimate the power of training and clear communication. The teams will need more training than you think, they’ll need more communication, they’ll need more understanding. All of this is sometimes lost in the shuffle, but incredibly relevant.
When it comes to a disruptive change in your industry, seek knowledge. Often, out of habit, or perhaps fear, leaders will shy away from the things that appear to be impacting their market. Lean in and learn. Find ways to acquire knowledge about the technology, so you can make more informed decisions.
Tie it all together. Too often, leaders will address disruptive technology as a massive change. It’s often the case that it can be correlated back, and your teams will want to know how it all ties together, how it connects to the mission and vision.
Don’t forget about the people. The team and people are the folks making the program come together, whatever it is. When disruptive technology emerges, lean on your team, give them transparent information, and they’ll step up to the plate to help adapt and evolve. Keep them in the dark, and you’ll struggle to make the changes needed.

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

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has a genius, power, and magic in it.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

For me, this saying encapsulates it all. You have to take action, begin, in order for great things to happen. Don’t be afraid of that action, it’s the first step. By just starting, I’ve ended up where I have today, and in every situation, where the people I’ve seen start, they are likely to find success, or learning. Both are better outcomes than waiting.

How can our readers further follow your work?

https://wursta.com/

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!

Agile Businesses: Matt Wursta On How Businesses Pivot and Stay Relevant In The Face Of Disruptive… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Neil Khaund Of National Society of Leadership and Success: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly…

Neil Khaund Of National Society of Leadership and Success: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Embrace change. It’s one of the great human frailties — we don’t like change. The irony is that oftentimes, change brings about greater happiness and greater success. You need to change to keep growing.

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 Neil Khaund.

Neil Khaund is the President and CEO of The National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS), the largest accredited leadership honor society in the United States. With more than a decade of private sector education and organizational growth experience, Khaund currently leads the organization through its new phase of international growth.

Throughout his career, Khaund has been passionate about democratizing education and improving the online learning experience. His work has encompassed SAT prep, corporate training programs, and everything in between.

As CEO of Livius Prep, one of the nation’s leading providers of college preparation programs, he transformed the company into a high-growth, online education services provider serving students and schools around the country. Later, Khaund launched and operated a number of high-growth businesses, including Kennedy International Education, an international online education firm that provides U.S. college certificate programs to B2B customers throughout Latin America.

A pioneer in creating new educational curricula, Khaund spearheads sector efforts that drive real educational results for students across demographics.

I actually started out in financial services. I graduated from the University of Michigan right when the dot-com bubble burst, so I had to start out in commission-based financial sales. In retrospect, it was the best learning experience I could have received coming out of college. It not only forced me to develop a sense of resiliency but also taught me people skills that have helped me throughout my entire career regardless of if I was actually in an internal strategy role or a CEO in the education industry. Anytime I have the opportunity to speak with students, I always advise that they build those selling skills as soon as possible. You’d be surprised how useful those skills are regardless of your career trajectory.

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?

I am not sure if it’s funny, but it was definitely a moment I’ll always remember. Early on in my management career, I was managing a group of sales reps and I brought them in for a strategy session. At the time, I hadn’t been given much management training, so I thought my main responsibility was to be the smartest person in the room to drive us to the promised land.

I spent weeks developing a strategy for driving sales I thought was so brilliant I was sure my team would be thinking, “Wow, I am so lucky to be working with him!” The reaction I got was anything but. I got questions, concerned looks, and constant doubts. As a young manager I did not respond well and took offense. I remember a rep of mine during our break asking “Hey Neil, are you OK?”

As a leader, our job isn’t to be the smartest person in the room. Our job is so much simpler and, candidly, more enjoyable. It’s to get the best out of everyone in that room. Rather than spending weeks preparing some secret strategy to unveil, I should have been meeting with my team, gathering their insights and feedback toward a shared vision, and then when we come together, we are focused more on how we execute vs. unveiling some approach no one understands.

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?

My father is a true immigrant success story in that he came from India to North America in the early 1970s with $7 in his pocket and worked nights as a bellboy while he finished his master’s in engineering. He built a great career for himself and retired leading R&D for one of the world’s largest manufactures.

Growing up, he was always very tough in terms of always challenging me to study more, read more, and build something for myself. The expression among many of the kids from our Indian community would say it was like “perform or die.” I promise it wasn’t that serious, but the pressure was certainly there. It wasn’t until his retirement ceremony that I understood why. At his retirement, people from around the world showed up to tell stories of how he spent years motivating and challenging each of them to aspire for more. I was blown away hearing their anecdotes and then realized that this was his form of leadership. Some folks take more of a motivating coaching role and some know exactly what it takes to get the most out of you. I like to think my dad knew exactly what buttons to press as he did with so many of his colleagues.

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?

The NSLS is coming up on its 20-year anniversary, and our founder has been extremely mission driven since day one — always focusing on how we can help the greatest number of people in the greatest way. Today, we see our focus on driving a positive impact in the community and in the world by helping build tomorrow’s leaders. We see it as not just an opportunity but a responsibility.

A few years ago, I was running a center-based college prep business with locations around the United States. When COVID-19 hit, we were forced to transform our business to being a 100% in-person service to an online tutoring company. The challenge wasn’t necessarily the conversion to an online-driven business but building a marketplace in a very crowded online tutoring market. We found a marketing strategy to differentiate ourselves using a live-online freemium option that not only saved our business and the jobs of about 100 staff but also was a growth vector that had higher margins and unlimited scalability.

What to take from this is not that we are amazing marketers or somehow discovered a secret strategy. Something I have always focused on with my teams is for everyone to develop a growth mindset. While some folks may think a growth mindset is purely focused on driving sales or profits, I have always looked at it differently. A growth mindset is instilling in your team to always be reaching a bit further than what is needed. It’s stretching your individual skill set and knowledge into areas that you may not know, but over time you will continue to build confidence and personally grow from. I think my teams have always had this focus, so if or when a crisis occurs, we are prepared to adapt and move quickly because we can have confidence we can thrive in the unknown.

Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?

Not even for a second. The question was never whether or not we can make it to the other side of the pandemic — it was just a matter of how. When you instill a growth mindset in your entire team, you never know where the idea will come from but you can be assured that people are thinking about things differently than the normal course of business. This is what motivates me to this day. There is nothing better than working with a team member who has been a bit heads down and getting them to think outside of the box and find a new gear they didn’t know they have. Because guess what? We all have it.

What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?

I believe it’s essential for leaders to be as steady a presence as possible. During challenging times, the status quo is disrupted and people are searching for something solid to latch on to. Leaders need to be the calm voice that people can look to for guidance and direction.

Many leaders think this means being cold and stoic, but it’s really about being faithful to whatever cause your organization champions and to your employees’ work. Being steadfast for your team isn’t about pretending that everything is okay and not showing your emotions. It’s about being honest with yourself and others while letting them know that you are there for them, are aware of their needs, and are willing to grow and work right alongside them to get to the other side.

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?

Boosting morale begins when things are steady and successful. Even when you’re doing well, in the background, you should be taking steps to make your organization resilient to market and economic changes. That way, when uncertainty does disrupt your day-to-day, your team’s confidence is already high — and becomes even higher when they hear you say that you have prepared for such moments. The root of motivation and engagement is support — letting your team know you are prepared and basing your corporate infrastructure on actively showing support keeps employees inspired to do their best work.

What is the best way to communicate difficult news to one’s team and customers?

We never know everything that the people around us are going through. These days are especially complicated and challenging for many. Given the flux of our economy, bad news such as layoffs or pay cuts are unavoidable. If addressing a group of people, I suggest scheduling a meeting for the end of the day so they can decompress from bad news after work. Approach customers tactfully and request a time to speak with them at their convenience. Try to handle matters as delicately but as professionally as possible.

How can a leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?

If there’s anything the past few years have taught us, it’s that we should always expect change. But this shouldn’t stop us from setting goals. Leaders should set multifaceted goals that take unpredictability into account. In the past, growth and security have often been separate objectives, but today they’re largely linked. Organizations that don’t pivot and adapt to change quickly are more at risk. Continue to set concrete, measurable goals, but understand that everything is in flux, and simply changing focus and moving in a different direction can be success.

Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?

Having a strong mission and set of values is key to navigating turbulence. Strong values can give organizations parameters to follow in the event of an unexpected catastrophe. And they can even help define success in events where traditional goals and KPIs have to be thrown out the window.

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?

I like thinking about good profits vs. bad profits. Bad profits are things like service and penalty fees that do nothing to inspire promoters of your business. When you focus on good profits, you focus on building products and services that enrich lives vs. detracting them. This type of focus will help keep momentum in good times and bad.
They de-emphasize employee development. Learning and development is often the first line item on the budget to get crossed off. We are living in a different talent market for the foreseeable future and investing in your employee’s development is key to not only retaining talent when times get tough but also attracting the folks who can propel your group forward.
Find a way to be listening at all levels within the company. Many organizations tend to lean on their management teams when it’s those employees who are closest to the customer who are the ones with the greatest insight. Find a way to ensure you have a finger on the pulse and ear close to the ground for the anecdotes that can have a transformative impact on your trajectory.
Be resilient. I know that’s easy to say but when times are tough, you as the leader need to be the one keeping the team calm and focused. As soon as your team sees you losing your edge during the tough times, guess what? You aren’t the leader anymore.

I think as a leader you have two hats you need to be wearing. The first hat is a familiar one that is focused on making success formulaic. Once you’ve identified your strategy, vision, and differentiation, build a highly achievable three-year plan and stick to it. Work with your team to build quarterly goals that will make progress toward that three-year plan.

On the flip side, as the leader you also need to be the one in the bird’s nest looking not only for troublesome icebergs but also for opportunities to accelerate even faster toward your goals. Regardless of what’s happening in the economy, you need to be the one ensuring the plan’s success is on track.

1. Resilient. The second your team sees your concern, during turbulent times you aren’t the leader anymore. During the height of COVID-19, there were times we had a tough time making payroll, but I wanted my team focused on innovating and executing. In some cases, you can share some vulnerabilities but keep your team focused and moving forward.

2. People first. The Great Resignation will lead to the undoing of many organizations. Great companies are built from great talent and that comes from not only attracting talent but also developing the talent you have. No matter the organization this is my focus, and it has served me well.

3. Celebrate the wins. One of my favorite examples was from a company I worked with that announced every single new sales meeting booked department-wide. While the email inbox was flooded, every rep was motivated to be recognized. We all think it’s about the commission, but taking the time to recognize people can be a long-term motivator.

4. Growth Mindset. As I mentioned earlier, if you are not finding your employees opportunities to stretch beyond their capacities, then you are not helping them grow. Helping them grow is the focus that can help organizations survive during the turbulent times and thrive during the good times.

5. Embrace change. It’s one of the great human frailties — we don’t like change. The irony is that oftentimes, change brings about greater happiness and greater success. You need to change to keep growing.

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

“Behind every great player is a great coach who believed in them more than themselves.”

This quote is how I manage on a daily basis. Your organization is not going anywhere unless you’re investing in your people and their development. Most people need someone to believe in them, and it’s something I think about with every employee I have ever interacted with. To me, it’s not only a way to protect our organization during tough times, but most often, it’ll end up being your best growth strategy.

How can our readers further follow your work?

You can follow the NSLS on Twitter and Instagram at @TheNSLS, on Facebook at facebook.com/theNSLS. And of course, our website is www.NSLS.org.

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!

Neil Khaund Of National Society of Leadership and Success: Five 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.

Simba Nyazika Of Lenica Research Group On 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Make eye contact with sections of the audience, especially during key portions which you want them to remember: Eyes are considered the windows to the soul. Even when a speaker is on stage, when that speaker looks at different areas in the room for a few seconds, the people in that area feel like the message is meant for them. The speaker is no longer speaking to the audience, they are speaking just to them. Making eye contact in a large crowd adds to the impact and influence of the speech. We sometimes see this with politicians when they look and point to specific areas in the crowd. The people in that area tend to feel more connected to that speaker.

Simba has helped 1000s of people improve their communication, increase their confidence and overcome their fear of social situations. He is the go-to expert on mindset and communication bringing over 10+ years of experience. Simba completed his educational background from the University of Alberta with a BSc in Neuroscience and a BSc in Psychology. He spent 7+ years as a Behaviour Consultant specializing in developing behaviour management strategies using evidence-based protocols from Applied Behaviour Analysis, Neuro-Relational Framework and Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy. As a tech founder and CEO himself, Simba is very pragmatic about the information he shares with his clients, customizing it to maximize their results. If you struggle with confidence, want to improve your communication skills or need to shift your mindset, Simba will help you get the results you want, guaranteed.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

When I migrated to Canada from Zimbabwe in 2005, I realized some of the non-verbal cues that worked well back in my home country were not working in Canada. I was intrigued with how body language meanings differed based on culture and of course as a teenager I was trying desperately to get a girlfriend. My initial passion for speaking came from the awareness that how we communicate determined how people responded to us.

In University, I studied psychology and neuroscience completing two separate Bachelor of Science degrees. I went on to work as a Behaviour Consultant for children with various neurodevelopment differences for over 7 years where I gained a deeper understanding of human behaviour and its role in communication. In 2017, I founded the Body Language Training community in Alberta which aimed to share my expertise on communication. What started as a simple course to help people learn to read other people’s body language turned into a consulting organization teaching courses on public speaking, dating, confidence and mindset. The Body Language Training community now has over 3000’s members across North America.

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

A tool to improve communication is to record yourself speaking. So I decided to try this when I gave my first lesson in 2017. It was well attended, with about 20 people coming and all in all the presentation went well. However, when I went to review the video, I was mortified not only by the sound of my voice, but by the realization that by the end of my speech I looked like I had run a marathon. I learned not to wear grey and to apply a lot of antiperspirant in my subsequence presentations.

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?

So, I have an accent. In one of my sessions, the attendees had no idea what I was saying. They mentioned after the lesson that they were trying to figure out whether I was speaking English or they had lost their ability to understand language. This offered the opportunity to adapt my speech patterns so my audience could understand the message I was conveying.

My family has always supported me whenever I venture into a new project. In addition, I followed a lot of past speakers through books and audio recordings to learn how they had gotten the outcomes in their lives. Some of these included Dale Carnegie, Winston Churchill and Barak Obama.

Public speaking has allowed me to benefit immensely in almost all aspects of my life. Not only has it been a rewarding career, but it has also helped me when I founded my neurotechnology company as I was able to communicate and articulate my vision well.

When you start anything new there will be a period of discomfort. Like the first time you ride on your bike without the training wheels. If you know why you started it and stick with it, it will become the most easiest and natural thing to you. My passion for public speaking only emerged after 3 years of engaging in it consistently.

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?

Many people feel disempowered and struggle with their self-worth. My primary message is to help them realize their power and worth, not just from the words I convey but also from the plethora of examples of how other people have become empowered.

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 just completed a course for singles on “How to Attract, Vet, and Keep Your Ideal Partner” launching on Udemy this month.

My neurotechnology company has secured three new partnerships.

Over the past few years, I have developed habits that have resulted in positive outcomes in my life. I will continue to engage in those behaviours to progress my life.

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

You become what you do every day. The beautiful thing about life is that it takes place one day at a time. So each day we get to choose what we want our life and how we want our future to look. All success comes down to being deliberate about how you are spending your time and resources, every, single, day.

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. Have a clear vision (why) for the presentation: During one of my presentations on confidence, the purpose of the speech was to help the audience overcome their fear of criticism and discomfort in social situations. Because the purpose of the presentation was not to convey information but to have the audience overcome their fears, I spent 50% of the lesson having the attendees engage in specific exercises to overcome their mental barriers.

2. Clarify the one primary thing you want your audience to leave with or to do: Sometimes we offer a lot of information when public speaking, however, we need to ask ourselves, “if the audience were to only take one key takeaway what would it be?”. During my body language classes, we hyper-focus on one key behaviour to improve. For example, if it is eye contact, we may spend the majority of the practical component of the lesson practicing eye contact. For other speeches such as sales presentations, then you may want your audience to engage in a specific behaviour. Everything you say and show them has to lead the audience to that one outcome.

3. Use stories to engage and make your speech memorable: Stories are much easier to digest than facts. For example, if I am teaching people that it is only our perception of events that make them good or bad I would use the story of the Chinese farmer. In this story, the farmer’s horse runs away, in the evening when the villagers meet they all say that was a terrible thing to have happened. The farmer’s response, “maybe”, The next day, the horse returns with 6 wild horses. That evening the villagers say that was an amazing thing! The farmer responded, “maybe”. The following day the farmer’s son fell trying to tame one of these wild horses and broke his leg. The villagers again said “that’s terrible”, the farmer responded, “maybe”. The following day the Chinese army came to the village to take all the men to fight in the war and left the farmer’s son because of his broken leg. The villagers commented, “Isn’t that great”, and he said, “maybe. This story helps the audience build a mental blueprint of the idea being conveyed so they can easily recall it in the future.

4. Use your non-verbal behaviour to make your speech more impactful (hand movement and the voice): Body language is an extension of our words and can be used to help make the speech more engaging. Using your hands when you talk can add emphasis on some words while reducing them in the areas that may not be important. Voice tonality, intonation and speed also impact how engaging the speaker is. We have all had the experience of being tortured by a monotone speaker. No matter how important the message is, the brain just shuts off what is being said and drifts away. The most engaging speakers, the best inspirational leaders all used their non-verbal behaviours to make their speeches more impactful.

5. Make eye contact with sections of the audience, especially during key portions which you want them to remember: Eyes are considered the windows to the soul. Even when a speaker is on stage, when that speaker looks at different areas in the room for a few seconds, the people in that area feel like the message is meant for them. The speaker is no longer speaking to the audience, they are speaking just to them. Making eye contact in a large crowd adds to the impact and influence of the speech. We sometimes see this with politicians when they look and point to specific areas in the crowd. The people in that area tend to feel more connected to that speaker.

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 fear of public speaking emerges from the fear of rejection. If you are afraid to meet one person because of what they would think of you, can you imagine being in front of 100 people you do not know? Understand the route of where this fear comes from and then create a plan of how you can start to overcome it. Start public speaking in areas you are more comfortable with. This could be with your family, friends or even in front of a mirror. Be diligent and consistently practice. Review the speech you provided and practice again. You can then advance to larger crowds. Remember the following tips:

Practice, practice, practice (with feedback. This could even be recording yourself and reviewing it).
Know your material and use prompts if necessary.
Become comfortable to give the speech with no visual support. When you get to this point, then add the sports.
Break down each element of the presentation. For example, listen to yourself without watching your body language then watch your speech without audio. Improving each of the components will make the sum of each that much better.
Don’t aim for perfection. When you mess up it makes you more personable. (I used to tell myself any time I would mess up that I am just becoming more likable to my audience which relaxed me).

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?

Teach through the clarity of your example. Many people focus on everything they want to change in the world. Become that which you want the world to be. If you want the world to be more loving, become more loving to yourself, if you want the world to be more peaceful, then become peaceful within your own life, if you want people to get along, make sure you are getting along with yourself. It all starts from within, then and only then, can we be effective in changing the world around us.

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!

If this happened it would be amazing! Barak Obama. It would be great to understand his mindset and how he achieved his accomplishments. I would also be curious how he gave such amazing speeches.

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

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simba-nyazika/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simba_nyazika/

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

Simba Nyazika Of Lenica Research Group On 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.

Mark Fisher Of CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly…

Mark Fisher Of CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Empathy: Great leaders do not ignore the emotions of others. They always show empathy and possess the social skills to build strong relationships.

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 Mark Fisher.

Mark D. Fisher, SPHR, MSHR, MSHCA is the Vice President of Human Resources at CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center (CHA HPMC), a 434-bed community hospital providing quality medical and nursing care in Los Angeles. Mark is a senior executive with over 25 years of comprehensive human resources experience including Human Capital, Employment Law, Policy Development and Administration, Conflict Management, Change Management, Strategic Development, Workforce Planning, Employee Relations, and Compensation. At CHA HPMC, he collaborates with the senior management to conduct Human Resources strategic planning in order to support and further the organizational goals. Mark is a visionary leader with a passion for fostering an inclusive and collaborative organizational culture that brings out the best in every employee across a broad, diverse workforce.

I started my career in the Human Resources (HR) field in 1992, working for a global transportation logistics organization as a Human Resources Information Systems Analyst and worked there for almost two decades. During this tenure, I worked my way up in the HR department and gradually climbed the ladder of success to reach the position of Assistant Director of HR — with responsibility for North, South, and Central America — where I gained my international knowledge.

In 2010, I made a transition to healthcare industry and led the Human Resources Business Partners and Shared Services teams at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach for six years before moving to Tenet Healthcare’s Los Alamitos Medical Center to serve as the Chief Human Resources Officer. Within Tenet, I moved to Fountain Regional Hospital as the Chief Human Resources Officer in 2020 and was later promoted as the Group Human Resources officer in the Pacific Coast market with oversight of four hospitals. In September 2021, an opportunity presented itself and I transitioned back to working for a standalone hospital to join CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center (CHA HPMC) as the Vice President of Human Resources. CHA HPMC is a member of CHA Health Systems, a global network providing a full spectrum of dynamic healthcare services. At CHA HPMC, I collaborate with the senior management to conduct HR strategic planning in order to support and further the organizational goals.

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?

Early in my career, my childhood best friend and I worked for the same company. During our 25 years in the company, we would often work for one another and because of our tenure, we were sure that everyone knew about us. However, one day the CFO walked into my office and started talking about a situation that I absolutely knew nothing about. I quickly realized that this had to do with my best friend. Instead of interrupting him and letting him know that he was talking to the wrong person, I let him continue with the conversation. When he was finished, I asked him if he knew whom he was talking to and he said my friend’s name. The CFO laughed when he realized that I was not the person he was looking for and he had to repeat the entire situation again to my friend. Lesson learned: clarify upfront before a person gets too deep into a situation or story, so as to not waste their time.

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?

When I started my career in the logistics company, the VP of HR asked to speak with me and I was extremely nervous. As we sat down to talk, he started off by saying that he had noticed my great work and performance in the company during initial years — being promoted every 2–3 years. He had envisioned me as an instrumental part of the Human Resources team and wanted to support my growth within the team. Due to my limited education and lack of in-depth knowledge about Human Resources, I wanted to learn more about the field. So, I went back to school to complete my Bachelor’s degree, which I did in 18 months, and completed my Master’s degree in HR within 2.5 years. The VP lived up to his word and gave me my first position in HR — a true testament that if you have a strong mentor and support, you can accomplish anything.

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?

CHA HPMC is a nationally recognized acute care facility that has cared for Hollywood and its surrounding communities since 1924. Today, CHA HPMC offers comprehensive healthcare services with a 434-bed acute care facility, including 89 skilled nursing beds, and a medical staff of more than 500 physicians and specialists, representing 69 specialties and 75 different countries. As a community-based safety-net general acute hospital, CHA HPMC cares for patients from all economic sectors and provides medical services to culturally diverse, largely low-income communities surrounding the facility — including the homeless population and those who meet the criteria for Medicaid eligibility. The hospital is located in the area designated by the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) as a medically underserved area, in which residents have a shortage of personal health services.

Since it opened nearly 100 years ago, CHA HPMC and its parent company, CHA Health Systems, have served as a cornerstone to its community’s health — a unique position which enables it to embrace all payors as one of the area’s only safety-net hospitals.

When I joined CHA HPMC, the first thing that caught my attention was its commitment to the community. As an HR leader, I am passionate about fostering an inclusive and collaborative organizational culture that brings out the best in every employee. My goal is to:

Have 100% clarity and genuine belief in the mission of the organization.
Make the organization’s vision relatable to all employees to get them connected to the company’s goals.
Understand what motivates me and my team to help everyone stay invested.
Empower our caregivers to provide patient-centric, compassionate care.
Establish strong relationships with colleagues and teams.

As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to impact normal business operations, leaders are grappling with the unknown — you don’t know when your employees will be able to return to the workplace or how different things will be when they return. Regardless, you need to be in constant communication with your team. As a leader, you need to make some crucial decisions such as: what information — and how much of it — should you share with your reports about the health of your organization, how can you be candid about the possibility of pay-cuts and layoffs without demoralizing your team, and how can offer assurance to your teams without giving them false hope during this period of uncertainty?

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented event in modern history. And yet, the experience of going through it is not necessarily unique. Similar to other crises, such as 9/11 and the global financial downturn, employees feel scared and worried. Uncertainty triggers fear as many employees may be wondering, “What does this crisis mean for my company, my job, and my future?” Our role as leaders is to project confidence and strength during these uncertain times. Even though the situation is fast-moving and you may not have all the necessary information, you need to be honest about what you know. Firstly, it is important to be transparent to the team and explain, “Here’s what we do know, here’s what we don’t know, and this is what we are doing to close that gap.” And secondly, it is important to articulate a sense of possibility and hope. However, accomplishing both of these tasks as a leader is no easy feat.

Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?

I have thought about it, especially when the goals I wanted to achieve seemed unattainable. Motivation is the force driving my behavior — the “why” behind everything I do and the reason I take up a cause, commit to an action, or work towards a goal. Everything I do is driven by some combination of conscious and unconscious need or desire to make a difference. When I talk about self-motivation, I am going beyond basic motives and what I really mean is the ability to follow through on making a positive change in life without giving up. Self-motivation requires me to believe in myself, stay inspired, and keep going despite any setbacks.

What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?

As a leader, one of the most significant responsibilities is to be resilient and model the way for others. People pay attention to you as a leader perhaps more than you realize, including what you say, how you react, and the decisions you make.

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?

Communication is arguably the most effective way to boost employee morale. Without good communication about organizational goals and expectations, employee morale will plummet. By establishing clear benchmarks and regular check-ins, leaders can quickly boost morale at work. Individual check-ins are an opportunity to clear up miscommunications and build personal connections with team members. These 1:1 meetings are a good time to ask how team members are handling difficult news feeds, whether they’re getting enough time away from work and current events to recharge, and get their input on what managers and executives could be doing better to ease any burdens.

To increase employee buy-in on morale-boosting ideas, try asking for their input on how managers and executives can support employee initiatives or improve teambuilding efforts. With enough honest feedback, leaders can hone in on opportunities that they may have otherwise missed to boost employee morale.

What is the best way to communicate difficult news to one’s team and customers?

Some of the key things to remember include:

Be direct and address the information immediately.
Be honest and provide factual information to your employee or team.
Take responsibility.
Allow time for a response from the employee or team.
Focus on the future and what comes next.
Follow through on your word.
Be respectful.
Last but not the least, be caring and empathetic.

How can a leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?

Design from the heart and the head: During crisis, the hardest thing for a leader to understand may be the softest things, such as employee feelings and emotions. Resilient leaders are genuinely empathetic, walking compassionately in the shoes of employees, patients, and their broader ecosystems. Yet resilient leaders must simultaneously take a hard, rational stance to protect financial performance from the invariable flexibility that accompanies such disruptions.
Put the mission first: Resilient leaders are skilled at triage, able to stabilize their organizations to meet the crisis at hand while finding opportunities amid difficult constraints.
Aim for speed over elegance: Resilient leaders take decisive action, with courage, even based on imperfect information, knowing that expediency is essential.
Own the narrative: Resilient leaders seize the narrative at the outset, being transparent about current realities — including what they don’t know — while also painting a compelling picture of the future that inspires others to persevere.
Embrace the long view: Resilient leaders stay focused on the horizon, anticipating new models that are likely to emerge and sparking the innovations that will define tomorrow.

Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?

The number one principle you can use to guide your company through tough times is a strong vision. Many companies fail because they don’t have a strong vision or a leader to carry them through these difficult times.

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?

Cutting headcount: When times are tough and the budget is tight, cutting headcount may seem like a solution to reduce spending. In reality, it creates fear across employees and stunts creativity. Resorting to layoffs indirectly communicates to the team that the organization will put itself above the people who support it.
Stopping payments to suppliers: When organizations stop paying suppliers, this ends up not only hurting long-term relationships with the suppliers but may also cause them to go out of business. When a company puts itself above others, they end up damaging connections they might need later. This short-sighted approach will lead to long-term problems.
Not adapting to market demands: Many companies want to lay low during difficult times, but I think there’s an opportunity to evaluate how we can continually evolve our business models to adapt to what the market needs — whether that is a new product, new service, or identifying a new target audience. We can always do better and keep growing. This allows us to find areas of new revenue that we may have missed out in the past. With a fixed mindset, an organization won’t be able to survive.

Reduce your debt: Do all you can to ensure your debt is low enough so that if you lose some clients, you can still survive. Pay off all credit card debt, if you have any, and keep it at zero. Pay the entire balance every month and pay down your line of credit as much as you can. This way, if the market falters, you are not at risk.
Build your cash reserves: As they say, cash is king. It’s always good to have an emergency fund — even more so when the economy takes a turn for the worst. Ensure your cash flow is in great shape so if, for some reason, you find yourself a little tight with cash, you have a buffer.
Keep your credit (both personal and business) in good shape: If you have a great credit and find yourself in need of some extra credit (as a last resort) during an economic downturn, it will be easier to secure an extension on your line of credit. It will also be easy to get a short-term loan, if your credit is in good shape. The last thing you want to have to do is use your credit card as a source of funds during an economic downturn.

Business acumen: Business acumen is one key area that leaders need to excel in — how they behave and the strength of their character is just as important, if not more, than achieving their financial targets.
Emotional intelligence: Leaders with a high level of emotional intelligence have the ability to control their emotions and think before they act. Leaders who demonstrate emotional intelligence are motivated by intrinsic and extrinsic values. They are determined to achieve their goals and do not focus on money and prestige. These leaders are especially optimistic during times of change and uncertainty; this motivation allows them to achieve important goals and lead others positively.
Empathy: Great leaders do not ignore the emotions of others. They always show empathy and possess the social skills to build strong relationships.
Adaptability: The best leaders can move flexibly from one leadership style to another to meet the changing needs of an organization and its employees. These leaders have the insight to understand when to change their management style and what leadership strategy fits each new business paradigm.
Flexible and Inclusive: Leaders need to understand that their organization is comprised of distinct individuals, each with their own perspectives and personalities. Similar to the way that effective communication requires an awareness of people’s different styles of listening and interpretation, successful leadership must adopt an inclusive approach to the diversity of viewpoints within a company.

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

“It happens to everyone as they grow up. You find out who you are and what you want, and then you realize that people you’ve known forever don’t see things the way you do. So you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on.” ― Nicholas Sparks

This is relevant to me because during my childhood, I knew what I wanted and I knew I would get there. But to achieve those goals, I had to climb that mountain on my own, with or without the support of my family. With my wife’s support and self-belief, I was able to achieve my goals and make a difference.

How can our readers further follow your work?

Readers can learn more about me by visiting www.hollywoodpresbyterian.com or follow my work on my LinkedIn page at www.linkedin.com/in/markdfisher.

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!

Mark Fisher Of CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center: Five 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.

Marla Cormier Of Emerging Leader Training On 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public…

Marla Cormier Of Emerging Leader Training On 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Greet people at the door. When I delivered my first large keynote to an audience of a few thousand, I got a little nervous. It was a large group, in a large room, and it started to feel overwhelming. I decided to treat it like any other training class so before my session, I stationed myself at the door and shook hands and welcomed as many people as I could. That short, personal connection helped me get my bearings and turn my nerves into excitement. Each person I met was friendly and smiled back. Some even said they were looking forward to my presentation. All of a sudden the situation changed from overwhelming to exciting.

Bringing over 20 years of experience in Learning & Development, Marla Cormier has developed leadership training and emerging leader programs for some of the most recognizable names on The Las Vegas Strip including The Venetian and Palazzo, MGM Grand, and Mandalay Bay, small, high-tech internet startups, and long-time, global industry leaders like Caterpillar. Today, Marla is the President and founder of Emerging Leader Training, a company designed to assist organizations in retaining their high-potential employees and developing internal talent pipelines to fill future vacancies. Marla lives in Texas with her husband, Andy, and two dogs, Peanut and Boomer.

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?

My family moved from Southern California to Las Vegas, Nevada when I was four years old. My dad, after being laid off from his job, decided to open his own print shop. Remember, this was back before everyone could design and print their own business cards from home. At the time, I was an only child, and they named the store Marla’s Quick Print, after me. I remember my parents driving me to see the store one night before it opened. We just sat in the car looking at the building. Then, it happened. The sign lit up and there it was, Marla’s Quick Print, in lights. I grew up in that store, playing school in the back, doing homework, even having a birthday party there where my friends made their own personalized notepads. It was a mom-and pop store and they worked incredibly hard to make ends meet. Growing up there I learned how to properly answer the phone, “Thank you for calling Marla’s Quick Print, this is Marla speaking, how may I help you?”, how to count back change, and how to un-jam copy machines, a skill that earned me quite a bit of praise throughout my career. Sometimes we’d eat dinner there, bringing in fast food so they could grab a bite while they finished working. Other times we’d eat at home and after dinner my dad would go back to the store to finish up multiple jobs. It was a great lesson in hard work and determination, but also in the importance of modernization and relevance. When the big quick-print stores came, which offered more services with newer technology, my parents couldn’t keep up. The summer I went away to college they closed the store. They had worked so hard but didn’t find great success. That made me nervous to every start my own business, but I’m sure we’ll get to that later.

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

On my first day of kindergarten, I became enamored with my teacher, Mrs. Labinger. She got to write on the board, take role, pass out papers, get us lined up for lunch, and when we came back from recess, she would open the big wardrobe closet in the classroom to reveal a mirror on the inside door. She’d look at her reflection and comb her hair quickly, making sure every strand was in place. It may sound strange but from that day I knew I wanted to do what she did. I wanted to be a teacher. As I got older that feeling grew thanks to the phenomenal teachers I had. I saw how they helped students learn, how they encouraged each person they had in class, and how they genuinely cared about each student. I was certain that teaching was my career path and that I wanted to do what they did.

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

The most interesting was finding out that after so many years of wanting to be a classroom teacher, it wasn’t a great fit. Once I had my degree and my first teaching job, I was surprised to find out that I didn’t like it. It was a terrifying feeling not knowing what to be when I grew up. After so many years of certainty, all of a sudden, I had none. Fortunately, I got a job with Hillel of SDSU creating student programs on campus and working with students to build their leadership skills. That experience led me to working with MGM Resorts to create career advancement programs and redefined my career path.

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?

One of my earliest attempts at entrepreneurship was a business my husband and I started together. We had great services, a killer website, and designed some pretty fantastic mailers. We sent out a bunch of them and waited for the calls to come rolling in. They didn’t. We were about to follow up with the post office to confirm they’d been delivered when one call finally came in. I’m embarrassed to say that our only response to that amazing mailer was a guy asking to be taken off our mailing list. Not exactly the response we were hoping for. From that experiment we found that our perfect customer was different than what we’d thought so we regrouped and sent the next batch of mailers out to a group with different characteristics. Thankfully that one generated far more interest — although let’s fact it, it wasn’t hard to beat the one response from the initial attempt. It taught me the importance of knowing your services, and your ideal customer, so that you put the right message in front of the right audience. It seems obvious but taking the time to narrow down a scope of services, and then clearly define who will need and pay for those services, is how I’ve been able to build a successful business. It’s also a great reminder not to take myself too seriously.

Hands down, my husband, Andy. I found success throughout my career because of hard work, continuous learning, and a desire to be the best at what I do, but it wasn’t until I met him that I tackled bigger challenges like overcoming my long-held fear of running my own business. He helped me see that being my own boss wasn’t scary, it was empowering. Andy is what I call a serial entrepreneur. He started his first successful business at 17 and has continued to create opportunities for himself ever since. Almost from the day we met, he started nudging me toward going my own way and designing my own path. It didn’t come naturally to me but thankfully he was determined and never let up. Because of his support and his belief in me, I eventually moved from fear to excitement and carved out my own path to success.

Don’t avoid failure. That was my happy place, doing the things I knew I was good at without any risk of failing. What I didn’t realize is that I never failed because I never let myself dream big enough. I’m not saying you should purposely fail, but if you stop short on an idea or a project because you’re afraid to fail, you’re also stopping short of success. They’re very close cousins and it’s not until you fail that you learn what doesn’t work. It took me years to appreciate that gift because failure always felt awful but now, because of my failures, I know better ways to reach out to perspective clients, to structure contracts, and to partner with decision makers. It’s because of the times I didn’t do it right that I do it so much better now. Because of the early failures, I no longer feel the stress and anxiety that I did before. Take the big leaps, believe in your big ideas, and make a few big moves. With every attempt, you get closer to big success.

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?

The simple message behind everything I do is, “Love your job more and your life becomes easier.” As a leadership trainer, every class I facilitate, workshop I teach, and keynote I deliver, has the same goal of helping people become more effective in their jobs today while preparing them for opportunities tomorrow. How can I not wake up every day excited to get to work? I help people help themselves and it’s amazing. When I get feedback after a session or at the end of a program and people share how they’ve learned and grown and created new opportunities for themselves at work, it’s beyond great, it’s fulfilling and it’s what makes me love what I do even more.

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 exciting project I’m working on currently is finishing my first book. I’ve wanted to author a book since I was a child but it wasn’t until recently that all the ideas came together. I thought I’d write a great American novel but instead, what poured out of me was a guide that anyone can follow to design their own training class. I’ve seen so much bad training over the years that I wanted to create a tool for trainers, HR professionals, operational subject matter experts, and everyone else, to create their own high-impact classes whether in person or virtual. It’s exciting to be able to share what I’ve learned over the course of my career with others who are looking to write and facilitate their own content. And yes, there’s a section on getting comfortable with public speaking to make sure readers have some of the basic presentation skills to successfully deliver their training.

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

“Stay committed to your decisions, but flexible in your approach.” I think I came across this Tony Robbins quote while looking for quotes to add to a training workbook and it made me stop and think. This quote, which is on a sticky note on my desk, continuously reminds me to refocus on my goals rather than on how I achieve them. It helps me remember to be open to different ways of thinking about challenges and most of all, to be open to the idea that the path I set out to achieve my goal may not be the path that actually gets me there. I was committed to being a teacher but flexible enough to change direction. It’s a message about staying true to yourself while getting creative to achieve your goals.

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.

Becoming an effective public speaker typically means getting over some nerves and creating opportunities to get comfortable with the material, the environment, and the audience.

Here are my five tips to tackle all three:

Greet people at the door. When I delivered my first large keynote to an audience of a few thousand, I got a little nervous. It was a large group, in a large room, and it started to feel overwhelming. I decided to treat it like any other training class so before my session, I stationed myself at the door and shook hands and welcomed as many people as I could. That short, personal connection helped me get my bearings and turn my nerves into excitement. Each person I met was friendly and smiled back. Some even said they were looking forward to my presentation. All of a sudden the situation changed from overwhelming to exciting.
Get the audience involved. One challenge every speaker needs to tackle are the first three minutes of their talk. That’s when your adrenaline is at its peak so you may find yourself short of breath and racing through your material without knowing how to slow yourself down. Instead of jumping right in, I recommend a different approach. Ask your audience a question related to your topic, conduct a poll, have them stand and ask each other a question — anything that gives you time to acclimate to standing at the front of the room. It takes the pressure off you for just a moment, giving you a chance to adjust to your environment. Then you can take a deep breath and focus on what comes next with a clearer head.
Make it a conversation. When you’re at the front of a room, it can feel like you’re out there on your own. Rather than think of it as a presentation or a speech, think about public speaking as a conversation. Use your everyday language and mannerisms to convey your message just as you would if it was in a small meeting or one-on-one conversation. Elicit feedback by using phrases such as, “Nod your head if you agree,” or “Raise your hand if this has happened to you,” to connect with each person in the room. You control the environment so make it one that’s easy to be part of by consciously making your presentation one where everyone feels involved. The more involvement you have, the less alone you’ll feel.
Know your topic. If the first time you say your entire presentation out loud is on the day of your presentation, you’ve missed the boat. Practice saying your presentation out loud multiple times from start to finish to build some muscle memory. Practice with your slides or other materials and be sure to time yourself so you’re sure will fill your allotted time appropriately while still leaving time for questions or discussion. And be sure to think about where you’ll pause for questions, or a laugh, or when you’re going to reference a slide or chart. Go through all the motions ahead of time and you’ll come across as a trustworthy expert when you deliver your presentation.
Gain confidence through practicality. Just like your mom would tell you, stand up straight, with your shoulders back, occasionally walk across the front of the room as you speak, and look around your audience to connect with people. No one knows the details of your presentation so no matter what happens, act as if it’s all ok and it will be. Confidence comes with practice so there’s not better way to improve your skills than to keep getting up and speaking. But you already knew that, you just need to get started.

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

When they say that practice makes perfect, they mean it. In junior high I decided to run for president of an extracurricular club. To get elected I had to give a speech and, even though I was unopposed, the thought of getting up to deliver my speech had me tied up with anxiety for days. Spoiler alert: I won, which was great, except that I’d have to lead the club meetings each week moving forward. The first month or so was rocky, lots of sweating, lots of light-headed moments where I wished I’d just pass out, lots of stomach aches. But eventually something clicked and I realized that no one was laughing at me, or expecting me to be perfect, or questioning if I should be up there at all, they just wanted me to stand up and lead the meeting. It took some time but eventually, with practice and repetition, leading the meetings actually became fun. Instead of stressing out all day about it, I just got a few butterflies right before the meeting started, and then one day, instead of butterflies, I realized I was actually feeling excitement. At the end of the year when we installed the new board and everyone’s families came to the celebration, my friend’s parents were shocked and actually asked if I was the same kid who had been elected last year. The number one reason my skills improved was because I got up and spoke, week after week, getting more and more comfortable. If your fear of public speaking is holding you back, create opportunities where you can regularly get up and speak. Join a committee at work, ask to get on a project, or find a Toastmasters group in your area. I promise it will help.

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?

Career development for all! Every company, every industry, every employee, every day. People want to grow and whether it’s growing the skills to become experts in their current positions or growing into new roles down the line, the movement I’m working to build is one where every employee has the opportunity to learn and grow. And make no mistake, developing comfort and confidence with public speaking is an important part of career development. Afterall, if you can’t speak up, it’s hard to stand out.

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 with country music legend and all-around super woman, Dolly Parton. When we moved to Vegas, my dad decided we were in the wild west, so I grew up on country music. 9 to 5 is my go-to karaoke song. Her voice and her song writing just drew me right in and the more I learned about her, the more I admired her. From heart-felt song writing to giving away children’s books, and creating a theme park run by her family to her new fragrance, album, and novel, this woman is a power-house of inspiration! I would be honored to have lunch with her, although I’d be so starstruck I doubt I’d be able to eat a thing.

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

Absolutely! You can follow me on LinkedIn.or Facebook

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

Marla Cormier Of Emerging Leader Training On 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.

Meet The Disruptors: Ethan Drower Of CiteMed On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

“‘Learn to sell and learn to build’ — These really are the quintessential skills for a startup founder, and while fundamental, they are surprisingly overlooked. I spent a lot of years of my youth laser-focused on building things, and then forgot to go out and try to sell them! The most useful ideas in the world will remain unknown, unless you learn how to sell them as well as you can build them.

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

Ethan Drower is the Co-Founder and Operating Partner of CiteMed, which is revolutionizing the European Union Medical Device Regulation (EU MDR) process. Literature Search and Review is the cornerstone of medical device companies’ Clinical Evaluation Report, and CiteMed has made this process more streamlined and optimized than ever. The CiteMed team was formed to deliver a high volume of beautifully written and formatted Literature Reviews on timelines that will enable companies to meet their EU MDR goals.

I was one of the original founders of CiteMed. My contribution to the team was originally to build and lead the software development team in the creation of our first internal tool.

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

We saw a massive need rise with the implementation of the EU Medical Device Regulation in 2020 and 2021. Manufacturers were suddenly buried with work, especially when it came to Clinical Evaluation and Post Market Surveillance. Someone had to come in and innovate the space, because current best practices simply wouldn’t be enough to comply with the new regulation — we launched CiteMed to do just that.

CiteMed leverages a software platform that we built in-house to perfect the formatting of uniform and error-free submissions. Humans read and write, while CiteMed’s machines handle the arduous tasks of formatting and error handling. The result is consistency across all literature review submissions. ‘The CiteMed Edge’ has been our ability to bring together amazing technologists and industry-leading medical writers and regulatory consultants. It’s the collaboration between these groups that has allowed us to build tools unlike anything used in Regulatory Affairs and scientific literature review today.

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?

All of our funny stories stem from the same idea: when you’re starting out in a new industry, ‘you don’t know what you don’t know.’ At the start, we had a lot of simple oversights that resulted in some very long nights fixing issues. They are funny now, but less so in the moment!

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 have spent a lot of time and money seeking out world-class entrepreneur mentors. While none of mine are in the same industry, their insights have definitely shaped the company we have become today.

The biggest impact that mentors have had on me is that they relentlessly focus only on the things that matter. As a business owner and operator, we tend to fall victim to tunnel vision and spend our days putting out fires frantically. All the mentors I have had over the years forced me to step back and look at the big picture. Where was our company going? What did our customers want (and pay for)? How well are we running our company? I have since always put aside time each quarter to reflect on the ‘big’ questions of our business.

I truly think that being disruptive is always an overall positive thing for a particular industry. Testing the limits of any old story will either result in something new and improved, or will validate the existing structure. I see that as a net win. However, there are always casualties and pains when it comes to innovation. Take the Uber Rideshare revolution — many long-term taxi company owners watched their generations-old family businesses crumble in a matter of months. That’s a negative, however, the consumer and industry as a whole have benefited. Taxi companies are better and more modern now than they ever have been, thanks to competition from Uber and Lyft.

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

‘Learn to sell and learn to build’ — These really are the quintessential skills for a startup founder, and while fundamental, they are surprisingly overlooked. I spent a lot of years of my youth laser-focused on building things, and then forgot to go out and try to sell them! The most useful ideas in the world will remain unknown, unless you learn how to sell them as well as you can build them.

‘Ignore great ideas, focus on great execution’ — This is a great piece of advice from Felix Dennis. Most tech entrepreneurs are not short on ideas, but they are short on time and focus. When I look back at all of my previous business ventures, it’s become clear to me that any one of them could have been wildly successful if I had just stayed the course and continued to execute on it. Far too often, we give up our current project for a more exciting, shinier item.

‘Lose the ego, be agile and always looking to improve’ — When you start getting a little bit of traction or success with a new idea, your natural tendency is to start thinking you have really mastered the game and understand the business. This piece of advice has been critical for us, because while we gain experience every day, it’s equally as important to always be able to see the game with a beginner’s mind. The company that admits they don’t know everything is the one that will ultimately try and execute on the next big innovative idea.

‘People who never risk anything suffer the worst anxiety of all’ — This quote had a powerful impact on me when first starting CiteMed. A new company in an old industry is a daunting task, especially when you have every intention of completely turning the current methods upside down. But the decision to press onward was made simple by realizing that I would feel worse if I never tried than if I would try and fail.

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

We are in the Regulatory Affairs and Medical Device space for the long haul. We hope to continue to help clients with their Clinical Evaluation submissions, while simultaneously building amazing software platforms that innovate and drive this industry forward.

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?

Naval Ravikant has probably had the most profound effect on how I approach business and company building. He thinks of everything in terms of time (how much will doing this action cost you) and leverage (what things can we do to increase the impact of our time). His podcasts teach you to think in terms of long-term, strategic moves.

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

The mind should be a servant or a tool… not a master’ — This is another gem from Naval Ravikant. I love the quote because it emphasizes one of the biggest inhibitors to success (in your business, relationships, or life in general): we simply think too much.

Oftentimes, we can be so stressed and reactive to all of the things going on in our lives, that we simply tread water and don’t end up anywhere closer to our goals. Stillness of the mind is a way to combat the constant bombardment of everyday life and make clear decisions to move you forward.

Clarity and stillness of mind would be my choice here. I think the course of the world would be changed forever if more people worked towards being able to sit quietly alone in a room with their thoughts for an hour every day.

How can our readers follow you online?

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/citemedical

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

Thank you for the opportunity!

Meet The Disruptors: Ethan Drower Of CiteMed 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.

Julia Weikel Of Donuts: Five Things You Need To Build A Trusted And Beloved Brand

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Bring real value and tell the story. The great thing about having more options than could have been fathomed ten or so years ago is that it’s harder to survive unless your product or service provides real value. These days, the brands that thrive after launch are passionate about their customers’ successes and do a great job of letting those customers tell the story with user-generated content and testimonials.

As part of our series about how to create a trusted, believable, and beloved brand, I had the pleasure to interview Julia Weikel

Born in Australia, Julia Weikel is a branding and marketing domain industry insider with years of education and marketing experience in Australia, China, and the U.S. Julia attended fashion school and studied marketing in Melbourne.

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 moved to China in 2011, three days after marrying my American husband. While living in Shanghai, I ran and promoted venues and events for a fast-growing hospitality and entertainment group. This experience involved partnering with global brands and keeping their venues full and top of mind for resident expats and western tourists. This was before Instagram was broadly adopted, and Facebook is blocked in China, so it’s an understatement to say we had to be creative.

After moving to the U.S., I led a boutique digital marketing agency providing branding and reputation management marketing services primarily in the legal, real estate, and insurance industries. Differentiating and providing a platform for individuals in these markets posed a challenge that required my team’s creativity and hustle. This experience taught me how earned media works and how to appeal to journalists and editors with narratives that also helped our clients get established in their local markets and ultimately secure more sales leads.

In subsequent years, go-to-market strategies became my specialty, building customer acquisition and retention nurture sequences for a mobile app and a cannabis education and logistics platform. For the last few years at Donuts Inc., I have leveraged my professional experience and passion for visual identity and branding along with my acute understanding of small business challenges to help them in branding and marketing descriptive domains, meaning domain names featuring keywords on the right of the dot in place of the legacy options of .com, net, etcetera.

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?

This is a perfect ice-breaker question because I have a doozy that is always top of mind when I need to reassure someone who may have had a faux pas. While representing a PR and reputation management services agency, handling a situation with a high-priority client, signing off and thanking the client in a very formal email, I addressed the gentleman named Bob as Boob.

I noticed after he responded to my message — being gracious enough to ignore the slip. I took a screenshot I shared with new team members to ease their anxiety in facing clients for the first time. I think it’s important to break down illusions or expectations of perfection.

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

Donuts owns and operates the world’s largest inventory of keyword descriptive domains with extensions like .live, .world, .studio, and over 250 more TLDs (top-level domains). What sets us apart is the breadth of our inventory both in its size and application, in addition to the opportunity for brands to establish unique and meaningful digital identities that break the status quo in all the right ways.

Observing organic adoption of our descriptive domains by the best brand builders and startups is rewarding. Creators who understand the value of an authentic, uncompromised digital identity see the opportunity and no-brainer decision to select a domain that does away with legacy extensions that were standard for previous generations. Instead, they opt for modern, anti-status quo domains that better represent them. A few examples include

Our descriptive domain names also stand out because they include premium features essential in protecting a founder’s business and the safety of their customers’ data.

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

Anything we do that spreads awareness of new domain options is exciting. We’re lucky to be working with solutions that, once exposed to prospective users, are a “no brainer.” I’m very mission-driven and enthusiastic about helping people discover better solutions for their brands — and our product delivers.

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?

When contemplating brand marketing, I consider what our offerings represent for people. The right domain names will enable them to tell their stories with an authentic digital identity that facilitates building a connection with their customers. Product marketing tends to be more about product positioning and messaging, while brand marketing emphasizes the brand’s identity and is designed to elicit an emotional response.

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?

For better or worse, a brand is judged on its ability to communicate its value and positioning in the marketplace through its visual identity, UX, and its tapestry of brand touchpoints across various mediums. We’re inundated with content and advertisements all day. Consumers are more than your prospects. They’re professionals who judge brands and products through their own lenses, which, while unique, are accustomed to brand executions like Nike and Apple. A brand that doesn’t pay attention to detail, is inconsistent, and compromises on the small things will either be disregarded as a legitimate option or stand out in all the wrong ways.

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.

Bring real value and tell the story. The great thing about having more options than could have been fathomed ten or so years ago is that it’s harder to survive unless your product or service provides real value. These days, the brands that thrive after launch are passionate about their customers’ successes and do a great job of letting those customers tell the story with user-generated content and testimonials.
Go beyond two-dimensional. I’m so inspired by the volume of DTC (direct to consumer) brands who are constructing exciting three-dimensional worlds around something as simple as, say, a single cosmetic product. When people make a purchase decision, they add to their personal brand or identity. From the trendy olive oil and adaptogenic peanut butter, to their toothbrush mentioned by their favorite podcasters, to the apps on their phone and clothing, individuals are making purchase decisions that reflect their aspirational identity.
Going beyond two-dimensional can be a differentiating factor that makes or breaks a brand. The worlds that some standout brands have created beyond their tangible product attributes can lead to unmatched brand loyalty in addition to user-generated content as your advocates share their enthusiasm.
A top-of-mind example is starface.world. Visitors to their website and social accounts are immersed in the bright and colorful “world” of Starface. The brand is so much more than blemish patches. It has proven to be a dynamite strategy with healthy funding rounds and the launch of a new waterless personal care brand cleanwith.plus.
Have your founders and leadership team come out from the shadows. Share your story and communicate your values by focusing on the human side of your organization. A recent example is the building in public of the beverage brand drink.haus. The founders shared their product and brand development journey, including wins and hardships. Feeling like you know the people and mission behind a company can establish brand trust, which is potentially one of the biggest hurdles for new companies breaking into a niche market.

On the flip side, the court of public opinion can quickly decimate a brand if there are reports of unsavory leadership behavior or unethical practices. I believe this a good thing and can be leveraged positively for budding founders breaking into the market.

4. Don’t lose sight of internal brand alignment and messaging as you grow. Most companies’ brands and messaging evolve with their product offerings and core competencies. As a brand scales and brings on new teams and agency partners, it’s important to foster an internal culture that reflects the values and brand positioning that is projected externally.

5. Go all the way. In episode 386 of How I Built This with Guy Raz, he shares an anecdote of wandering through the grocery store and picking up some frozen plant-based nuggets, “I don’t even like plant-based nuggets, but the brand leaped out at me! A really good design or branding suggests that the people behind the product have thought very intentionally about what it is they want to convey to you, the person who passes by thousands of items at the grocery store.”

Additionally, Andrea Hernández of Snaxshot recently highlighted that studies have shown that “beauty” literally triggers a part of our cerebellum that controls our hand movement, making us want to reach out for beautiful things and that 52% of consumers have changed product brands because of new packaging design.

New brands working within the confines of outdated branding status-quos in an attempt to capture a large segment of a market are at risk of diluting their branding and messaging. Branding that boldly represents who you are and what you’re about is always the better strategy, and I predict we will continue to see more of it.

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?

Quantitative user research can gauge brand or product awareness and show impact of awareness campaigns over time. It’s crucial to use category and brand awareness leveraging this type of research when working with a product or service that doesn’t fit a traditional buyer’s journey. If every marketing campaign had to show directly attributable ROI, billboard advertising would cease to exist.

What role does social media play in your branding efforts?

Social media is the place where your branding is tested. Prospective and existing customers can and will share their honest opinions on everything your product or service promises.

A Meltwater study concluded that the main reasons people share things on social media are to:

Better the lives of others (94%)

Reflect their online identity (68%)

Grow and nourish relationships (80%)

Have others comment on it and engage (81%)

Keeping this in mind can help create content that effectively engages your audience in the right way.

What advice would you give to other marketers or business leaders to thrive and avoid burnout?

WFH turned out to be one of the best things for my personal productivity but can also blur the line between work and personal life. It’s essential to understand boundaries are important and advocate for work/life boundaries. This allows team members to maintain high performance.

I want to see continued evolution and fracturing of consumer product brand conformity. The early 2000s reflected a strong cultural position of “mainstream, premium brand versus the other,” illustrated clearly with CPG (consumer packaged goods) and FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) markets. Within a category, there were mainstream brands or generic branded “off brands.” Today’s generic and alternative brands do not carry this stigma of subpar quality and compromise.

Consumer brands are establishing themselves within niche markets and sustaining rapid growth and cult followings. While this is a use case in the consumer goods category, it can be applied to digital brands in the same way. I’m sure legacy brand strategists see this market shift and continue to get on board.

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 lunch or breakfast with? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂

I’d pay good money and sign any number of NDAs to sit in on a brainstorming session with the MSCHF(a Brooklyn-based art and advertising collective) team. They’re tapped into another level of creativity that I don’t think exists anywhere else.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

https://twitter.com/julia_weikel

https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliaweikel/

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

Julia Weikel Of Donuts: 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: Basma Hameed On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

There is no right or wrong answer. I feel like it’s important to have someone you can bounce ideas off of. Whether a business partner, family member, or a friend.

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

Basma Hameed is a prominent female person of color, immigrant (Iraq and Canada), and entrepreneur who has established two successful international businesses in the beauty sector. She positions her businesses to be inclusive and equitable to the core with a focus on accessibility inclusion. Basma immigrated to Canada in the 90s with her family to avoid war and is now based in Los Angeles, California, USA. She founded ‘The Basma Hameed Clinic’, the longest-running clinic of its kind in Toronto, Canada, and Beverly Hills, USA. In the past two decades, Basma built an elite team of professionals that are recognized for their ground-breaking work. The success of thousands of procedures performed on clients from all around the world has consistently garnered the attention of the media, business world, the medical community, along with members of Royal Families, Business Moguls, Hollywood A-listers, and large social media Influencers. The Basma Hameed Clinic has been prominently featured on news outlets and television shows such as The Doctors, CNN, CBC, The Huffington Post, TedTalk, Vogue, and more. In 2021, Basma launched BASMA Beauty, a color cosmetics company inspired by her own story and passion for makeup.

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 two years old when I was involved in a kitchen accident that left me with 3rd-degree burns on almost half of my face. This traumatic experience forced me to miss school and social interactions due to extensive reconstructive surgeries. I was told that the scars from my accident would not go away and that I have to live with the discoloration. This forced me to learn at an early age to find self-acceptance, but not stop being solution-oriented. At 17 years old, I embarked on a bold vision to improve discoloration in scar tissue, a treatment now widely known internationally as scar camouflage.

I continually think of products and services I can provide to improve our lives. This year, I launched BASMA Beauty which is a color cosmetic brand inspired by real skin. I am very excited to share it with the world as I have been developing the formula for my first product for four years.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? My favorite life lesson quote “Knowing who you are”

Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life? Once I figured out who I am and what my purpose was I had a clear vision of exactly what I wanted to achieve for myself. I knew my purpose early on that I’m here to help and inspire through my story and professional work.

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 listen to podcasts such as How I Built This, I’m intrigued by hearing people’s stories and how they started their businesses or how they come up with ideas.

Do not overthink it or try to make your idea perfect from the jump. You are going to learn so much during the process and be able to make adjustments and improvements along the way.

To me, if you dismiss the idea quickly then you are not really passionate about it. Find something that truly inspires you or brings you some sort of excitement. If it does exist then find a way to make yours much better.

Once you register your company and file a patent application. You have to make a list of manufacturers and set up meetings with each one of them. Check their experience and capability. Discuss cost and payment options. With retailers or distributors, you have to ask what their model is.

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.)

1- Hire the right team

2-Marketing

3-Importance of VC and Investors

4-Taking care of your health

5- Time management

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?

Study the market, the demand, and the shift for the next 10 years.

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 is no right or wrong answer. I feel like it’s important to have someone you can bounce ideas off of. Whether a business partner, family member, or a friend.

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 have bootstrapped both of my businesses. I think it depends on your business plan, with a VC things will definitely go much faster.

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

To me success is how many lives you have touched, I am blessed to be able to tell my story to inspire others to not give up.

Self-love and acceptance would be a great movement.

I have many but we can start with @oprah 🙂

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

Making Something From Nothing: Basma Hameed 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.

Meet The Disruptors: Gustav Schauman of Goatlane On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your…

Meet The Disruptors: Gustav Schauman of Goatlane On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions to people that have been in your shoes before — I got surprised how helpful people really are.

As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Gustav Schauman, CEO and Founder of Goatlane, the footwear brand developed with PGA Tour pro golfers to redefine style on and off the golf course. Sweden-born Goatlane creates golf sneakers that combine PGA-level performance with chic street fashion, and launched in the US and Europe ahead of the 2022 golf season. Goatlane’s footwear is unique in blending street fashion aesthetics fit for the office, nightclub, or clubhouse, with all the technical requirements of a professional-standard spikeless golf shoe.

I love golf. It’s been a true passion since I was a child. I’ve always played competitively, and I’m a good golfer, but I wasn’t professional standard. As a kid, I did well academically, too, and I find numbers and business interesting, so I studied Economics at Bocconi University in Milan. Milan is possibly the world’s chicest city, and my time there laid the seeds of a business-centric interest in style and design. But my degree initially led me into a very corporate investor relations career. After a decade, I was realising I wasn’t fulfilled — I longed for the golf world, and for professional freedom.

My founder ‘eureka moment’ for Goatlane was very specific. In 2019, I was in Turkey for a European Tour Pro-Am Rolex Series. I was playing against a party of Italians, who were, as so often is the case with Italians, immaculately dressed — but then you looked at their golfing footwear. It was terrible, functional, ugly. That was the moment of inspiration: I would create a footwear brand that was PGA-standard on the golf course, comfortable off the course, and looked great wherever you were. As soon as I got home, I began sourcing materials, sketching designs, and contacting pro golfers, asking them to participate in testing the products. In less than a year, the first Goatlane collection launched.

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

Our footwear brand is redefining style on and off the golf course. Until now, any golfer, from amateur to professional standard, expects the awkward shoe-change in the golf course’s parking lot. It’s not a ritual many people enjoy — throwing your regular shoes into the trunk of your car, hopping on one socked foot as you pull on ugly, unstylish golfing spikes.

We’re changing that, by creating a product that is both an elegant, stylish streetwear shoe, and a first-class piece of golfing equipment. PGA Tour pro golfer Henrik Norlander serves as our technical advisor, and from the beginning has been heavily involved in the design of the shoes from a performance perspective. We’ve been meticulous and rigorous in our design and testing to make Goatlane shoes as good as any professional golf shoe out there. And our Swedish design aesthetic makes Goatlane shoes as well suited to the office, clubhouse, or nightclub, as for the golf course.

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 first batch of Goatlane shoes arrived from our production centre in Portugal the day before my wedding. I told my now-wife I had to go into the city and run a few wedding errands. My team and I carried 300 pairs of shoes to my apartment, printed post labels, packaged all our pre-orders, and delivered them to the post office. My wife was a little surprised when she returned to Stockholm a few days after the wedding to find that the spare room was filled with shoe boxes..!

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?

In terms of the golf performance aspect of the products, mentors have been my brother, who is a former Tour player, and Henrik Norlander, who plays on the PGA Tour. They have given us a lot of input towards fit, design, and style. Business-wise, several of our lead investors have helped with strategy. Henrik Grundén, a co-founder of the women’s activewear brand Stronger, has provided some excellent insights on e-com and how to build a brand identity.

As a start-up, you have to allow yourself to make mistakes and ask tons of questions to people who have been on the journey before. I think that’s a smart way to improve both yourself and your business.

It’s a really interesting question. Being disruptive as a startup is, of course, generally a positive thing. In the case of Goatlane, we perceived a problem in the status quo — the ugliness of typical golf shoes and the consequent frustrating need to carry a second pair of shoes solely to play golf, which is already an extremely equipment-heavy sport — and we’re disrupting the norm with our innovative solution.

But ‘disruptive’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘faultless’. Take fast food — the business model of McDonald’s and others was about as disruptive as it gets, and is one of the biggest commercial successes in history. But fast food empires have also had a big impact on global health, not to mention on the environment.

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

Be patient because things take time.

Your product will always have room to improve, so don’t hold back waiting to launch your product.

Learn from the feedback you get from your customers and use that to improve your brand.

Don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions to people that have been in your shoes before — I got surprised how helpful people really are.

Surround yourself with positive people that give you good vibes and support your journey.

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

We’ve only just begun. Our disruptive concept is working, and we know we’re on the right track. We launched in the US and across Europe late in 2021; in just a couple of months, preorders for the 2022 golf season exceeded last year’s entire sales including retail and e-com.

Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to say too much about specific upcoming plans just yet, but we have some very exciting things in the pipeline. What I can say is that we’ll keep creating and improving products with a focus on blending technical excellence and aesthetic elegance.

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?

One book really resonates with me, for reasons that are probably obvious! It’s Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike, by Phil Knight, Nike’s Co-Founder. It’s a really honest and eye-opening account of what taking a company to greatness involves. It’s candid, human, and insightful. I learned a lot from it.

It’s a real source of inspiration for what I hope will be Goatlane’s own Shoe Dog story. Just like Phil, I’ve actually sold a few shoes from the back of my car. When I go out and play golf, my goal is always to make sure that at least one person from the group buys our shoes.

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

My mom always used to tell me that you should solve your issues before you go to bed, and never go to bed angry. I try to live by that, addressing and tackling the big problems, and letting the small things go and not sweating them. And getting a good night’s sleep!

I’m very passionate about animals. They are so important to the planet, and to humanity, too. I would love to inspire a movement where some form of wasteful consumerism — for example, the annual spending on plastic decorations at Halloween or Christmas, which mostly end up as landfill — was instead invested in conservation.

How can our readers follow you online?

We’re a really visual brand, so our Instagram is the best way to keep in touch and follow what we’re up to: @goatlanegolfers (www.instagram.com/goatlanegolfers)

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

Meet The Disruptors: Gustav Schauman of Goatlane 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: Evan Frank of Fora On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Operate with a clear sense of mission. Startups are hard, and honestly, even in today’s startup hiring market there are easier ways to make a living. There are many cold nights. It’s the mission that keeps us going.

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

Evan Frank, a serial entrepreneur, is a three-time founder or CEO of travel and hospitality marketplace startups. In the last decade, he’s started, scaled, sold, restructured and pivoted high growth, globally distributed businesses. Evan co-founded onefinestay which was bought by Accor Hotels for $200M, and was later hired as the first external CEO of Context Travel, a globally distributed travel experiences business. Most recently, he co-founded Fora in August 2021, a modern travel agency focused on empowering anyone with the interest, passion and time to sell travel just like the pros.

My career started in corporate finance, and then venture capital. The joke in banking is everyone wants to move to the ‘buyside’ — because investors were having more fun. But once I became an investor, it was the same thing — all the VCs I know just wanted to be entrepreneurs. So, I turned 30 and decided to try building a company. After a short stint selling underwear on Portobello Road in London in an early D2C startup, I was invited to be a cofounder of an alternative accommodation startup called onefinestay. I loved the work. So, I’ve spent the last 10+ years building new disruptors in the travel and hospitality space.

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

The work that we are doing at Fora is literally disruptive in the classic ‘Clay Christensen’ sense. The current travel industry is dominated by big OTAs and big agencies. By empowering the long tail of who could sell travel for a living, thinking laterally about our advisor targeting, building tools to make the work easier and a community to make it more fun, we think we can create something with OTA-like tech and agency-like human touch.

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?

If you mean my entrepreneurial career — I messed so many things up. A lot of first-time entrepreneurs have this slightly surreal experience where they, up until that point, have done more or less ‘everything right.’ And then they start a company and don’t have a clue what they are doing!

My first startup was a D2C men’s underwear brand. We manufactured in Portugal and batch shipped to London, where I lived at the time. Doors in London have letterboxes. So, I thought it would be cool to manufacture a specific letterbox package to deliver the underwear in, and we could deliver it just like the morning paper or a utility bill.

Problem was when you put the underwear in the box — which I spent thousands of dollars manufacturing — it bulged too much to fit through most letterboxes. I quickly abandoned ship and moved to simple black envelopes and stuck a branded sticker on top of it, which worked infinitely better and looked cooler.

Lesson is: be scrappy and lean, and allocate resources wisely!

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 learned a tremendous amount from my cofounder at onefinestay, Greg. He was really the person who introduced me to startup ways of thinking. He was a legendarily tough interviewer and had an insanely high bar for talent. My hiring philosophy is in large part due to the many years I spent building onefinestay alongside Greg.

Honestly, I didn’t have that many other mentors along the way. BUT I did read a ton. I approached every book I read for years as an opportunity to learn, and apply in nearly real time, some of the lessons from some of the most amazing business builders in history. This learn, apply, adjust loop has served me well.

I think disruption is generally good, as it results in better consumer experiences and value. I think most entrepreneurs have that bias. It can, of course, go too far. Uber is an amazing company but created real economic challenges for taxi drivers in NYC, for example. And various health and safety issues that they’ve taken steps to address. Same with Airbnb — disruption is cool when you are monetizing your spare bedroom, or finding a well-priced accommodation when traveling, but it’s less cool when affordable housing is being exploited by Airbnb landlords — or when your holiday is ruined because the host didn’t take the same steps to make sure the basics are in place as a hotel would have.

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

Operate with a clear sense of mission. Startups are hard, and honestly, even in today’s startup hiring market there are easier ways to make a living. There are many cold nights. It’s the mission that keeps us going
Hire the best and never settle. Not only does this create the best work culture, but in many cases lifelong relationships
Play the long game. Disruption is hard and often misunderstood for a long time
All we have is time, and not enough of it. Guard it carefully
Every interaction is an opportunity to reduce someone else’s suffering

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

I’m committed to growing Fora and getting it to a much larger scale than today. I’ll keep working tirelessly to bring new people into the industry and support travel advisors as the best we can with technology and community. We are focused on our mission of empowering 100,000 travel entrepreneurs to enter the industry and making a Fora advisor truly the best job in the world.

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 did love Jim Collins’s Good to Great. It’s a classic. I think the most important takeaway from the book is how ‘Good’ is the enemy of ‘Great.’ This concept can be applied across so many areas — relationship dynamics, hiring, business models and even child rearing.

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

I think it would be Peter Thiel’s “If you have a 10-year plan of how to get [somewhere], you should ask: Why can’t you do this in 6 months?” It’s really hard to be complacent about work, relationships, career path and achievements. And life is short and unpredictable. It’s a reminder to always bring plans forward.

Treat every interaction as an opportunity to make someone’s day better.

How can our readers follow you online?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanbfrank/ and evanfrank.co.

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

Meet The Disruptors: Evan Frank of Fora 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.

Meet The Disruptors: Jim Conyers of Enlitic On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Rather than five individual words, I will share the five words that my grandma said to me often, “Don’t just Dream, Do it.” My Grandma would tell me, “Jimmy, the road is always long, bumpy and often you will not see a curve coming. Some will stay home rather than travel that road and just dream. Don’t just dream, Jimmy, do it. Do not be afraid to travel down the road and see what it has to teach you.”

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

Jim Conyers has spent the past two decades bringing critical care solutions and technology to the market. As a recognized specialist in the healthcare information technology field, he continues to develop clinically relevant solutions that assist healthcare systems and enhance the overall quality of life for clinicians and patients. Conyers earned a Doctorate in Applied Management and Decision Sciences from Walden University.

My journey getting where I am today was not just straight and narrow. I grew up spending most of my time split between North Carolina and Montana, working on the farm in North Carolina or the ranch in Montana. Even though both jobs were physically and mentally exhausting, both were equally rewarding. My upbringing not only taught me what hard work really means, but more importantly taught me how to believe in myself and the endless possibilities that life has to offer. I learned at a young age that hard work can lead to great opportunities by giving you the courage to believe in what you are capable of achieving.

Northeast Montana can get extremely cold temperatures, which was the biggest challenge. I enjoyed the various chores associated with farming and ranching, but I knew without a doubt, I did not enjoy the extreme cold. It was in middle school, during a job outlook class when I was first learned of industry forecasts, job growth predictions, potential earnings, career demand and more, and that was when I began to think about my future. When I was in 8th grade, computer science and information systems were taking off fast as growing industries. To be honest, that sounded cool to me and I made my decision to work towards a career in technology simply for that reason. As I approached the completion of high school, I was determined to be the first member of my family to attend college. I buckled down, worked hard, and focused on my goal to make this happen — and I did it, I made it to college! I went to school for computer science, then information systems, then business. While in college, I studied a lot of work related to IT certification programs that were starting to ramp up in the industry. I wrote test questions, trained the trainers and performed student training programs.

After college, I worked on a project to design and build high speed bandwidth solutions for delivery to residential customers and then was presented with an opportunity to move to Colorado to work for a large healthcare organization in their information technology department. My core focus was on Microsoft systems and solutions, networking and large scale IT architecture design. During this time, digital picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) were being introduced to the healthcare market and I wanted to be part of the transformation from analog to digital healthcare delivery. It was then I was given the opportunity to join a large multinational corporation that delivers medical imaging and software solutions to healthcare organizations like the one in Colorado. This amazing opportunity opened doors that allowed me to experience so many different aspects of healthcare and health system operations. I started off technical, but over the years gained a great deal of clinical and operational knowledge.

It was at this point that I realized that we were at the beginning of a significant evolution in medicine and that the possibilities were vast. Over the last 20 plus years this digital transformation has grown so rapidly and I started to realize that the problems we were seeking to solve were too general and specific. We were creating these point solutions designed to solve single individual challenges but we were overlooking the main problem of data that continues to grow today. When I came to terms with this, I got to work and set my focus on solving real high value challenges and was determined to once again open the doors to possibilities in the advancement of medicine like nothing else we’ve seen previously. It was that decision seven years ago that has led me to this exact moment and I have never been more excited in my entire career than I am now.

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

When we pause for a moment and really think about the complexity of the challenges facing healthcare, we can start to connect the dots and see that medicine is an intricate ecosystem that is affected by a multitude of variables and outside factors. If we peel back the tangled layers and focus strictly on the difficulties related to the entire continuum of healthcare delivery, we can uncover the root cause of so many of those challenges that affect accessibility, data and extraction, security, capacity, and operationalizing innovative solutions.

Healthcare organizations utilize complex ecosystems consisting of individual point solutions designed to address specific elements within clinical workflows. Each point solution is provided to address the specific problems and needs of every member of the healthcare delivery team. So why is it that we continue to deliver solutions focused on addressing specific challenges? The answer is because we are not addressing the root cause. We are too focused on the downstream clinical workflows instead of addressing the upstream problems that affect the downstream clinical systems. This leads to bandaged systems that attempt to create an ecosystem of interoperability and accessibility.

We are disrupting the current paradigm with the work we are doing by providing advanced technologies and AI to alleviate healthcare challenges at the core. We are resolving the problems that positively affect downstream workflows and unlock real potential in medicine/medical innovation and advancement. Unlocking the treasure chest of clinical data generated throughout healthcare organizations is the key to improving clinical workflows and operations. It is not just about interoperability to and from the electronic medical records, but across all critical care systems. It is about unlocking the valuable data that exists in all of these siloed systems, in addition to the valuable data that exists in the diagnostic images themselves.

Interoperability and standardization of all clinical content is our mission. We enable institutions to realize real-world evidence that is constructed of not only EMR based data, but decades of archived diagnostic imaging data. We do this by delivering a new expandable AI technology that enhances clinical AI models’ ability to derive insights in real-time while correctly linking that evidence across all systems within the healthcare environment. Our mission is to bolster the healthcare industry in the delivery of a comprehensive real-world evidence-based solution that can be shared among all health systems in an intelligent, meaningful and secure manner. At the end of the day it is about saving lives through improvement in patient outcomes, reduction in clinician burnout and innovative drug and medical device discovery.

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?

Years ago I was in a crucial meeting with a hefty healthcare system and it was down to us or the other vendor. In the middle of the meeting and heated discussion about how all healthcare information technology vendors’ solutions are horrible; “they do not work like they promise, so forth and so on”, I started giggling out of nowhere. Everyone in the room stopped arguing to look at me. Perplexed, likely frustrated, they wanted to know what was so funny. I first apologized, but then responded that I finally understood. I continued to explain, you are frustrated and concerned about false promises and inadequate solutions. They are not living up to the expectations you hold to ensure high quality delivery of patient care. Rightfully so and you deserve better, your patients deserve better.

I proceeded to provide a solution with a common understanding and collaborative path forward. What makes the story funny to me is what popped into my head when I started giggling. When I was just starting in this career, I was at the bottom of the organizational structure and an executive in our company said to me, “You know Conyers we suck, we are just as bad as everyone else.” At that time I had no idea what he meant. Five years later in that meeting, I finally understood. All companies have their challenges and issues. They all have good intentions and want to make a difference. To believe that your company is perfect is denial. Yes, we are not perfect, but we are better than the alternative and we will always work as hard as we can to continuously improve in the areas we are not.

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?

Starting off on this journey I was a young passionate individual starving to take on the world, not really knowing what that looked, I just knew that I wanted it. The one thing I knew to my core was I needed to make a difference and that I wanted to work in healthcare in some capacity. If I could prevent one tear from falling that could have been avoided with better solutions, innovation or data I knew that meant I helped make a difference. What I did not know was how complex healthcare delivery actually was and the incredible magnitude of the number of solutions that were used across the continuum of care to address a very specific care delivery model. It seemed to be an impossible mission to get to true interoperability, communication, accessibility and to break down the silos of all these point solutions.

Along the way I was blessed with the opportunity to be mentored by one of the most passionate, dedicated and intelligent people I had ever met. Jim Morgan was an executive leader in the company I worked for. Even though I was only a couple years into my career he always took the time to engage with me and share his wealth of knowledge. Mr. Morgan taught me that no matter how daunting the task we will always have to keep moving forward.

I remember when it all clicked, we were in Miami at a customer visit discussing the challenges they were facing with getting various critical care solutions to communicate, exchange and present to the clinicians. No matter how I looked at it I seemed impossible. How do you get a dozen different vendors to come together and use the same communication protocol, to produce a standardized data output and present the relevant information at the right time in the clinical workflow? This is what we had been fighting for years to accomplish and in all honesty it hadn’t truly progressed. That evening feeling defeated, Mr. Morgan said to me, “It sucks, it’s unfortunate but if we wait for everyone to start speaking the same language, with a universal standardized output, and with a common data model, we will be waiting longer than our lifetime. You cannot control that, what you can control is what you do to make it a non-issue. Remember the answer is always in the clinical workflow.”

The impact this had on me was significant. I realized that rather than waiting on the environment to change, I had the control to change the environment. I spent the next 10 years studying clinical workflows throughout the hospital with healthcare systems around the world. Doing so I realized we do not have to wait for everyone to speak that same communication language, standardize output in a common data model, we can use advancement in technology coupled with advanced AI to solve the issues from the inside out.

There are times when disrupting is good and there are times otherwise. It is my position that disrupting is good when it can be achieved without turning everything upside down. When introducing a new disruptive technology or solution, it shouldn’t negatively impact the environment around it or negate the value. When we bring to market a new disruptive technology, we must be considerate of its impact on other clinical workflows, critical care systems, and others downstream. When a new disruptive technology is introduced it should enhance everything around it, seamlessly and with limited effort and impact.

Early in the digital transformation within healthcare when Radiology PACs were taking hold in the market, one of the benefits that was being promoted was how it would help to break down the silos that existed within a health system. It would reduce the number of proprietary technologies, reduce the number of solution specific requirements such as: storage systems, backup and recovery, management, monitoring and software and hardware variations being supported by the health system’s IT department that was required by the vendor for the solution. It would allow for clinical data to start to transition to a single enterprise health system managed IT infrastructure, storage, security and change management.

Then a decade later Clinical AI started to take off in the market. The core delivery model of these AI solutions was cloud-based. This meant that all the consolidation efforts over the past decade and breaking down silos would take steps backward. First, there was not one AI vendor that had all the needed clinical AI models to treat a patient, meaning that the health system would need multiple vendors, all of which had their own cloud instances on different cloud platforms and all clinical data needed to traverse the internal secure network of the health system to these siloed individual cloud instances. In addition, none of these AI vendors’ models or cloud instances integrated or worked with each other. This created a situation where silos of solutions increased where data was being created and the management of the health system became even more complex. Clinical AI is disruptive technology that has the potential to positively impact healthcare, as the PACs technology did, but only if it is designed, developed and deployed with intelligence and understanding.

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

Rather than five individual words, I will share the five words that my grandma said to me often, “Don’t just Dream, Do it.” My Grandma would tell me, “Jimmy, the road is always long, bumpy and often you will not see a curve coming. Some will stay home rather than travel that road and just dream. Don’t just dream, Jimmy, do it. Do not be afraid to travel down the road and see what it has to teach you.”

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

We have expanded on our unique flagship Clinical AI Model. Our Curie Standardize is a comprehensive AI Model that unlocks the door to many new cutting-edge industry revolutionizing solutions. Over the next 12 months we will be introducing the healthcare industry to first-of-kind solutions that solve decades old high value challenges that every health system in the world faces. We have developed a skeleton key with endless possibilities. The market will see new solutions designed to support and drive better drug discovery, device development, clinical workflow optimization, cross-specialty support, coding, and billing, auto protocol, a new peer-review technology and the industry’s first, real-world clinical recommendation solution for radiology, to name a few.

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?

A book that comes to mind that has impacted my thinking is by John Doerr, “Measure What Matters”. Doerr introduced me to the concept of Objectives and Key Results. Possibly more importantly he influenced me to think outside the box on looking at how Healthcare IT (HCIT) companies operate, as well as how we develop applications. Rather than defining our objectives for the year and then setting goals to meet those objectives by the end of the year, we identify your annual business objectives, then break them down by quarter and stay focused on our quarterly measurable results. He also helped me adjust my mindset on how HCITs operate and how they are structured. This led to defining a new approach to how our company operates and how we are structured. This book opened my eyes to how we develop software. It provided me with a different way of thinking. This led me to create a different development model and technique. This has allowed us to evolve faster with high quality outputs, delivering more innovation in less time and meeting customer demands and needs quickly.

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

I believe it is my original quote as I started saying it many years ago, “You cannot get an Answer if you do not ask a Question.” Seemingly simple enough, but also amazingly enough, we do not always ask questions when we have them. I feel that sometimes we have questions we want to ask but we just don’t for whatever reason, but hope that we ultimately get an answer. We should not be afraid to ask questions, nor fear or be upset with the answer we get, at least we got an answer. It may not be what I wanted to hear but at least now I know.

I want to start a movement to make clinical real-world evidence accessible. All the data we need to produce better drugs faster and safer exists locked away within the archives of healthcare organizations. The data needed to drive down clinical error, reduce risk, improve treatment planning and post-acute care exists but remains untapped. The data needed to have a rapid and relevant response to outbreaks, pandemics, etc. exists today but is too disorganized to access. Non-standardized data makes the search, analytics and insights difficult, untimely, and expensive. I am on a mission to change that and create a real world data movement.

How can our readers follow you online?

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/james-conyers-4052881b

https://www.linkedin.com/company/enlitic

Website: https://www.enlitic.com/

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

Meet The Disruptors: Jim Conyers of Enlitic 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.

Meet The Disruptors: Ryan Lahti of OrgLeader On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Open. When we focus on accomplishing the multitude of tasks that come with daily responsibilities, it can be easy to succumb to tunnel vision. By this, I mean relying too much on certain viewpoints or ways of doing things. In this case, open refers to objectively considering other perspectives and methods for fulfilling responsibilities.

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

Dr. Ryan Lahti is the Founder and Managing Principal of OrgLeader. As a strategic advisor to STEM organizations, he specializes in helping leaders thrive in uncertainty and better manage risk.

Ryan combines business experience serving Fortune 500 and midsize companies in 20 industries with a background in leadership and organizational effectiveness spanning three decades. Prior to founding OrgLeader in 2006, he worked for global consulting firms including Ernst & Young and Hay Group. He also held corporate positions overseeing leadership and organizational development.

Ryan is the author of the book The Finesse Factor: How to Build Exceptional Leaders in STEM Organizations. He is a frequent speaker on uncertainty and risk as well as a contributor to Forbes on leadership and organizational effectiveness topics. Ryan has been featured on NBC TV, Inside Forbes Councils and in a variety of publications including Fast Company and CIO.

From an early age, I was intrigued by how organizations operate including how they’re structured, how systems and processes enable them to function, how they strategize to compete in different markets as well as adapt to change. When I was an undergrad at UCLA, I often found reading one article on these topics took me down a rabbit hole of reading several more when I was supposed to be doing research for a class assignment. This intrigue became a personal pursuit to figure out how to help organizations operate more effectively. Since I believe leadership effectiveness and organizational effectiveness go hand in hand, I was especially interested in helping leaders run their organizations.

Because of this pursuit, I not only served in roles where I was the client but also roles where I was the service provider. I intentionally did this so I could better understand each viewpoint. Corporate positions overseeing leadership and organizational development as well as positions with global consulting firms made this possible. With this as a solid foundation, I eventually launched my own professional services firm, OrgLeader. To better enhance leadership and organizational effectiveness, I sought more depth and rigor in my educational background. Consequently, I earned a master’s degree and Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology along the way to complement my business experience.

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

As an advocate of science, technology, engineering, and math (aka STEM), I view STEM from a different perspective. I look at it as a continuum from STEM curricula to building STEM economies. Over the years, most of the discussions I heard about STEM related to curricula at the middle school, high school, or college level to build crucial STEM skills. What I heard less often in those conversations was the other end of the continuum — STEM economies. We now know that metropolitan areas with STEM-related economies perform better on jobs and innovation. Both ends of the STEM continuum are important.

As I continued to hear these conversations, something caught my attention. There was one element that is critical to the STEM continuum that I didn’t hear anyone talking about — STEM organizations. STEM organizations are technical and data driven. While all organizations possess these attributes to some degree, those driven by science, technology, engineering, and math rely on them more heavily.

The reason STEM organizations are so important is they’re the linchpin in the STEM continuum. They directly affect individuals with STEM skills and the jobs they take, and they’re key drivers of STEM-related economies. If you think about a typical week, you’ll find most of what you do, where you go, how you get there and how you remain able to do these things involve STEM organizations. Examples include hospitals, software companies, automobile manufacturers and banks. In addition to the enterprise level, STEM organizations also exist at the functional or departmental level. Finance, accounting, IT and R&D departments are also STEM organizations.

As I worked with STEM organizations across 20 industries, I noticed a pattern. Certain leaders handled uncertainty and risk exceptionally well, and certain leaders did not. Because I wanted to determine what made some leaders better at handling uncertainty and risk, I examined the work I had done across industries and analyzed 10 years of leadership assessments I had conducted in STEM organizations. This revealed seven finesse essentials that enabled leaders to thrive in these tricky situations. Three of the essentials relate to what leaders think about and process on their own prior to and during situations involving uncertainty and risk. The four remaining ones deal with how leaders relate to others as they handle the uncertainty and risk.

Due to what I just mentioned, OrgLeader specializes in developing resilient leaders who excel in the face of uncertainty and risk. Thriving in this form of adversity is more than agility. It includes using authenticity to apply the right mindset and capabilities so they can address whatever comes their way in a resolute manner. Since leaders are not the only ones impacted by uncertainty and risk, thriving also entails inspiring team engagement. By team, I’m referring to the workforce not just peers and direct reports. For this reason, OrgLeader partners with these leaders to build motivating work environments where people want to be and stay. This isn’t just talking about culture and corporate values. It’s about fostering the success of talented employees by how leaders understand them, coach them, provide valuable opportunities and support life balance.

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 I was laughing at the time, but I found it comical after the fact. Early in my career, I worked downtown Los Angeles. During a busy week, I rushed back to my office from a meeting to finish some work. Since the parking at my office building and nearby surface lots were full, I paid to park in an old parking structure next door. Given how crazy the week had been, I had to stay late to finish a project. By the time I left the office, it was 11pm. To my surprise, the parking structure was completely closed, the lights were off, and no one was there. In rushing to get to the office, I failed to notice the structure only stayed open until 9pm. During the day, this structure was nothing to behold. At 11pm at night, it looked like a condemned tenement.

I had an 8am meeting the next morning with a client that was an hour south. So, I needed to get my car out, make it home to west LA to sleep, clean up and then drive to the meeting. After thoroughly searching the outside of the building, I found a tiny sign that had a phone number at the bottom. I called it, and an irritable man answered who managed the parking structure. I explained my situation, and he said he was 45 minutes away and there was nothing he could do about it. After negotiating with him for 15 minutes, he begrudgingly agreed to drive to the structure. However, if I wasn’t standing in front of the entrance, he said he would drive by, and I’d be out of luck.

It was now after midnight. As I waited outside the parking structure, the security guard for the office building where I worked walked across the street and asked me if everything was okay. I told him it was. He pointed out that a guy wearing a suit with a laptop bag over his shoulder was a target for mugging at that time of night. I told him I appreciated the concern but needed to wait there to get my car from the structure.

After another 20 minutes, the manager of the parking structure drove up, opened the exit, blurted out the parking structure door would close on its own after I left, and then sped off. I walked in and thought to myself “you’ve got to be kidding.” Inside the structure, it was pitch black. Since I didn’t have anything I could use as a flashlight, I had to feel my way up seven flights in a dark stairwell hoping I didn’t run into anything or anyone. After bumping into the wall and stumbling a couple times, I finally reached my car and triumphantly drove it out of the structure.

The moral of the story for me was threefold. First, there is always a solution if you persevere. Second, situational awareness is your ally. Third, be sure to write down the hours of the place where you park.

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?

There have been a few people along my journey who had an impact on me and my career. In my early 20s, I had a boss who provided challenging opportunities that gave me a chance to prove what I could do to others and myself. She outlined the objectives, the timing, and the end result that was needed. Then she turned me loose, checking in occasionally and offering guidance if I asked for it.

If I had to pick one person who was the most impactful, it would be my dad. I’m not saying this to be a dutiful son, and we didn’t always see eye to eye. He was the most impactful due to how he objectively listened and provided guidance through empathetic candor. He took the time to understand the issue but didn’t hold back when it came to sharing things that I needed to hear. He had a strong interest in organizational effectiveness which could be in part what sparked mine. This combined with his big-picture perspective and political savvy were great resources for me.

Whether it relates to business and industry or a social movement, I often hear the word “disruption” used (or overused) in circumstances. As you might expect, it can bring about strong reactions. From my perspective, the word disruption is not the issue. It is how you disrupt that can motivate or rub people the wrong way. If your way of disrupting is simply to abolish, don’t be surprised if you get limited support. For example, I’ve seen some leaders and organizations get rid of a product or service or alter a business strategy, structure or process based on what seems like a whim. This form of disruption usually brings more headaches than celebrations.

If your way of disrupting is innovation, this is the form that energizes and produces the greatest benefit particularly when objectivity is an ingredient. Disruption of this type results in new solutions whether they are devices, service offerings, strategies, policies, or methods. In this case, disruption is change driven by a need, discovery, or purpose instead of eliminating something with little rhyme or reason. It is in our best interest to take a moment to consider how disruption occurs, including the catalyst for it, who’s involved, and the outcome it produces before passing judgement on it.

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

Three words have been especially meaningful for me:

Open. When we focus on accomplishing the multitude of tasks that come with daily responsibilities, it can be easy to succumb to tunnel vision. By this, I mean relying too much on certain viewpoints or ways of doing things. In this case, open refers to objectively considering other perspectives and methods for fulfilling responsibilities.

Tenacity. Setbacks inevitably occur in business, careers, and life outside of work, particularly when dealing with different forms of uncertainty and risk. This word resonated with me because it represents what we need to handle the setbacks or hurdles we encounter. We may need to start again or use an alternate approach, but we still persevere with resolve to get the desired outcome.

Present. Examining what happened in the past and strategizing how to address similar or even new situations in the future is beneficial. However, it’s just as important to tune into what’s going on around us in the here and now. The data in the room often provides more insight than the data we see in charts and spreadsheets.

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

I’m far from done. I’m just getting started helping leaders of STEM as well as other organizations look at uncertainty and risk differently. You can’t eliminate uncertainty, but you can control its impact which helps you manage risk. It’s not enough for leaders to do risk-benefit analyses. Unless you can get the powers that be as well as other affected parties to understand, commit to taking action and execute successfully based on this information, it has limited value. This requires building crucial intrapersonal as well as interpersonal capabilities.

The point is to increase leaders’ proficiency at handling uncertainty and risk so they can consistently rise to the occasion whether it’s dealing with the impact of Covid, taking on larger roles and responsibilities, trying to retain top performers, or establishing trust with customers. Incidentally, I’m using a broader definition of leader. By leader, I mean anyone who sets direction, aligns and motivates others and/or moves an undertaking forward in some way. This could be determining company strategy, spearheading an initiative, or getting people on board with the task at hand.

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?

What comes to mind is an improv class that I took in Hollywood. Just to clarify, I’m not an aspiring actor or comedian. Periodically, I like to do something I’ve never done before to gain a new perspective, experiment with different approaches, or just challenge myself. I thought an improv class could be a way to strengthen thinking on my feet or adjusting to a situation in real time.

One activity that resonated with me was called “Yes, and…” The basic idea is one person makes a statement and the other person accepts what the first person stated (the “yes” part of the activity) then builds off it (the “and” part of the activity). If we take a step back and observe discussions at work or even outside of work, we often say “no,” whether it’s intentional or not, by the way we respond through our actions as well as words. This can shut down communication.

The “Yes, and…” approach is just as applicable to work situations as it is to those on a stage or in front of a camera. By applying more “Yes, and…” thinking to interactions with colleagues, clients, and other business associates, I’ve found it enhances the flow of conversation and facilitates the sharing of ideas.

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

For me, it’s not a quote. It’s the Finnish term or concept of Sisu. I’m an American, but a primary nationality in my heritage is Finnish which some might guess by my last name. Because of this heritage, I learned about Finnish culture, including Sisu, at an early age.

Roughly translated, Sisu refers to tenacity, perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity. Regardless of what I encountered at points in my life, this concept came to mind. Here’s another Sisu moment. How am I going to respond? I may not like it, but the reality of the situation is I still need to figure out how to deal with it in an effective way.

When it comes to thriving in uncertainty and the risk that comes with it, profit and positive impact are not mutually exclusive. In fact, success in the midst of uncertainty and risk is accelerated by creating positive impact. By this, I mean producing beneficial outcomes for those inside and outside company walls who have a vested interest whether they are employees, customers, shareholders, community members or parties anywhere along the supply chain. Given that STEM organizations are so prevalent in our daily lives, they are critical in demonstrating the synergy between profit and positive impact.

Some are skeptical of such stakeholder capitalism because they consider it too idealistic. That’s okay. A little skepticism can be healthy. I’m a pragmatist who believes in stakeholder capitalism. In the last couple of years, members of the Business Roundtable signed a pledge, and leaders of other organizations have made similar commitments regarding environmental, social and governance (aka ESG) concerns. While pledges are nice, actions involving strategies, structures, processes, and metrics reinforce accountability to pledges and commitments. We are in the early stages of companies putting these in place.

Whether organizations decide to become Certified B Corporations, benefit corporations or something that shares similar interests with them, positive impact will not happen without leadership. By partnering with leaders of these organizations, my goal is to help them put in place strategies, structures, and processes not only to create but to sustain positive impact once they have made the decision. This includes ensuring these leaders have the right capabilities to succeed despite any uncertainty and risk they face as they strive for this outcome.

Most of us would like situations to be black and white when it comes to making decisions and taking action. This applies to positive impact, profit as well as other business concerns. Uncertainty and risk will always create gray areas (probably more than we think). So, we need to become comfortable with this and get better at finessing the gray.

How can our readers follow you online?

On LinkedIn (@ryanlahti) and on the web at OrgLeader.com.

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

Meet The Disruptors: Ryan Lahti of OrgLeader On The Three 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.

Glen Moriarty of 7 Cups: 5 Things We Can Each Do To Help Solve The Loneliness Epidemic

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Make a list of your family and friends that might be struggling. Start with someone that is not struggling too much, but enough where you’ll be able to fill up their emotional bank account with a small deposit. This could look like a 10-minute phone call, coffee, or texts one to two times per week.

As a part of my interview series about the ‘5 Things We Can Each Do Help Solve The Loneliness Epidemic’, I had the pleasure to interview Glen Moriarty, Psy.D.

Glen Moriarty is the founder and CEO of 7 Cups, an online support network for people in need of emotional or mental health support. 7 Cups has grown to be the world’s largest digital mental health platform, serving tens of millions of people. Glen is a licensed psychologist who is passionate about the Internet’s power to help people lead healthier lives. His first startup focused on scaling up online learning and free access to education. 7 Cups is his most recent endeavor, marrying his background in psychology with his love of technology.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your “backstory” with us? What was it that led you to your eventual career choice?

Support is essential during tough times, which is a lesson I learned throughout my challenging childhood. Although this experience was difficult to navigate, it inspired me to become a psychologist to learn how to help others find strength after suffering. Some might call this a wounded healer.

In parallel, I launched an educational technology service that taught me a lot about how to scale a technology company. Later on, I was lucky to marry psychology with technology by launching 7 Cups, a platform that scales compassion, and builds genuine connections.

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

It has to be the ‘Hogwarts’ I went to for startup founders.

By attending Y Combinator in 2013, I was able to work with incredibly smart people that helped refine my thinking. Much of what they taught me continues to influence my thinking. Through this training and other experiences, my team was able to get a clear direction of what talent we hire, and specifically what characteristics could make an impact. We landed on HHA: Hungry, Humble, and Accountable.

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

Early on I thought I’d be able to recruit enough listeners for 7 Cups from universities across California.

Looking back on it now, I see why that was a really bad assumption. Nevertheless, I persisted in this approach for many weeks even though we could never meet the demand. It wasn’t until a listener, Robin Stepto, came along and said, “Why don’t you put a banner up over the online chat where people seek help that says, ‘The best way to help yourself is to help someone else.”

It worked. We finally had enough listeners. This is key to how Alcoholics Anonymous works and many other social impact organizations. I had just completely missed it.

The lesson is that there are obvious solutions right in front of us and shifting perception is all that is needed to ‘see’ the solution. Of course shifting perception can be quite difficult; but sometimes it can be easy!

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

It’s no surprise that social network feeds have been largely recognized as harmful spaces that keep people hooked and engaged for too long.

In response, we released a 7 Cups feed that weaves in forum posts, self-help exercises, and listener recommendations. Before we structured the feed, we thought carefully about each of our users, and their common issues. For instance, if we want to help a 25 year old person struggling with depression, we want each post, exercise, and listener to offer the most tailored support possible.

We think of it like a neutral medium — like a book or movie (which can be good, neutral or bad) — where what matters isn’t the mechanism, but the content or exercises in the medium. We are in the process of working with Carnegie Mellon University to use the feed as a mechanism to drive health outcomes. The key is to get the right dosage and sequence. Those are the sorts of questions we are now starting to answer and I’m excited about the possibilities.

Can you share with our readers a bit why you are an authority about the topic of the Loneliness Epidemic?

I’ll use my daughter as an example, who used to struggle with sharing as a child. My partner and I didn’t make a big deal out of it. We just thought, hey everyone has a generosity muscle, and we have to practice giving things to others to help build up that muscle. To start small, we asked her to try giving away one of her free ice cream coupons.

Now that she’s grown up, she’ll come home and say, “Hey Dad, I looked out for this person today by giving them X.” Yeah generosity muscle!

This small, but impactful, moment is exactly what 7 Cups is all about. People listen and care for one another via anonymous messaging. It works because we need one another. It isn’t a want. It is a need.

It is a tragedy that people struggle to make genuine connections with their family and friends. Thankfully, human connection — or compassion, love etc. — is a practice that can be learned, just as my daughter did. Erich Fromm wrote a book called the Art of Loving, which showed me we can learn how to better care for one another. It just takes deliberate practice, and that is the key to responding to loneliness in a healthy way.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the main focus of our interview. According to this story in Time, loneliness is becoming an increasing health threat not just in the US , but across the world. Can you articulate for our readers 3 reasons why being lonely and isolated can harm one’s health?

We are social creatures. That is how we evolved. When people do not feel like they belong, their health starts to unravel. This causes them pain. They then start to medicate that pain in ways that are less helpful, such as drinking or eating too much, and consuming mindless media. These problems compound, and we end up losing the beauty, presence, and gifts of that person.

Sometimes, we have a hard time seeing our own value and the value of others. But the simple truth is, every single person matters. We all need to be treated with dignity and respect. And when we are, we flourish and are able to lift one another up.

Thankfully, these are relatively easy problems to solve. We know how to listen and communicate that another person is worthwhile. We can take measurable real steps each day to help one another out. Say something nice to the cashier, smile at a person you walk by, text a friend or family member and give them a compliment. All of these things are free, powerful, and they help you.

On a broader societal level, in which way is loneliness harming our communities and society?

Loneliness is a symptom. It is trying to tell us something important. We need to listen.

For instance, I am a runner. If my knee starts hurting, then I listen to that symptom and stretch or take a break. My body is telling me, “Hey Glen, there is something wrong that you need to address.”

Loneliness, suicide, depression, and truthfully, all human suffering, is telling us we have a major problem and we need to listen.

We can opt to keep ignoring it. Famous authors Aldous Huxley and George Orwell are prophetic in their concerns about people that rightfully do not feel okay because the societal structures are not healthy. Or people that are largely medicating themselves to go along by numbing the pain. The stats do not look good. The red lights are flashing. We need to listen because it is impacting all of us.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said: “In a real sense all life is interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be…This is the inter-related structure of reality.”

We’ve got to look out for one another if we want to reverse these downward trends. It’s that simple. We need to start exercising our compassion muscles more deliberately. It’ll be hard at first, but like with all practice it gets easier with repetition. We have neuronal networks in our collective societal brain that have become hardened. It is time for us to stop fighting with each other, stop arguing, and just focus on caring for one another. I might not agree with you, but I can still be kind to you and help you rake your leaves.

It was not too long ago that neighbors looked out for one another, and people called to check in on one another. The art of friendship is there in our DNA. We’ve got it. We just have to turn it on again and start developing that muscle.

One idea I have is a sort of #LoveAmerica campaign where people that are “supposed” to not like each other take a picture of themselves working together to solve a problem they share. That is just one quick idea. There are many things we can do to start showing people that we love one another and want to work together to share common challenges.

The irony of having a loneliness epidemic is glaring. We are living in a time where more people are connected to each other than ever before in history. Our technology has the power to connect billions of people in one network, in a way that was never possible. Yet despite this, so many people are lonely. Why is this? Can you share 3 of the main reasons why we are facing a loneliness epidemic today? Please give a story or an example for each.

We are quickly losing the art of loving one another. Think about this on a global, national, regional, group, and individual level. All of these levels are organisms or ecosystems in and of themselves. These are practices that operate through brain connections on an individual level and on parallel cultural brain connections in larger groups. If we do not exercise these practices, they will fade. And what is happening right now is they are fading in an accelerated manner across our societies.

Think about a baby. A baby does not know how to walk. They have to learn by standing up, falling, and then standing up again and taking a step. The baby builds brain connections on how to walk. In short order, the toddler is zipping all over the place. The brain connections have become strong. It is unconscious. The baby doesn’t have to think about walking, they just walk.

Now think about our collective brain as a society. We once had much stronger cultural brain connections on how to care for one another. We are now building VERY strong brain connections on how to argue, disagree, and fight with one another. Those pathways are becoming very strong,and unconscious. We need to stop fighting, stop being divided, and start finding common ground so we can increase the strength of our collective brain.

Here are three examples:

1. Dating

People have an impulse to mate. I’ve been married for over 25 years. I can’t imagine trying to date now. With dating apps, our society is being reduced to a swipe right or left. Further, our physical appearances are constantly being algorithmically ordered and evaluated. Yikes.

2. Friendships

People want to have friends, but it comes with a series of daunting questions.

How do I become friends with someone? Where do I go? How do I start a conversation?

These are basic skills that can be easily taught and learned. We have to know we can still be friends with one another even if we have different views or opinions. It is very normal to not agree with everything about another person and still care for them. We need to overcome our tribal instincts.

If I am trying to become friends with someone and they say something that puts them in another tribe, then I need to be able to be okay with it and continue the conversation. I need to build bridges past our differences so I can see you and enable you to see me.

One side effect of social media is that people are quickly reduced to being seen as X. When we look at others we can fall into the fundamental attribution error, which occurs when we judge a person and then say they are behaving that way because they are X. We attribute the behavior to their personality.

Interestingly, we do not do this to ourselves! When we make a mistake or do something we are not proud of, we say, “Oh I did that because I was tired or hungry.”

We have grace for ourselves. We need to get better at extending that same grace to others. Ideally, we’d have mechanisms baked in that would give us pause and help us learn how to better see and appreciate one another as nuanced and complicated beings.

3. Belonging to a group that shares a bigger purpose

I’m a big believer in taking a personality test like 16personalities.com, which helps you better understand your strengths and natural way of navigating the world, or the Big 5.

Find your interests and your strengths. There are problems you care about. There are thousands of other people that share your strengths and also care about solving those same problems. They are in nonprofits, shelters, food pantries, faith communities or in online groups like 7 Cups. Find those folks and help make the world a better place.

Ok. It is not enough to talk about problems without offering possible solutions. In your experience, what are the 5 things each of us can do to help solve the Loneliness Epidemic. Please give a story or an example for each.

Learn how to be a good listener. You can do that for free on 7 Cups in under an hour. Or take other free courses to learn how to better support people at our online 7 Cups academy.
Make a list of your family and friends that might be struggling. Start with someone that is not struggling too much, but enough where you’ll be able to fill up their emotional bank account with a small deposit. This could look like a 10-minute phone call, coffee, or texts one to two times per week.
Build that compassion muscle! Even when you are tired or want to zone out. Tell yourself, “Okay, this is a super small ask. I’m going to reach out to my person and check on them.”
Realize how good it makes you feel when you reach out. Amazing right? You can have that little hit all the time. Just keep doing it.

5. Convert someone else to the same process above. If we start doing this we will solve the loneliness epidemic. It’ll be fun and not even that hard to accomplish. Wild, right?

I’ve been working hard on 7 Cups for nearly nine years. I think we have another six years until we start to see massive impact. We have 500,000 volunteer listeners in 189 countries providing support in 140 languages. I love all of these people and I’m honored to be working alongside them. For me, I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing with hope beyond reason that it’ll all work out and we can make a major difference in reducing human suffering. We would welcome all the help we can get!

We are 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 with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

A lot of people would like to talk to Elon Musk right now and I would too. He cares about the brain and is trying via neuralink to help people out.

We need people that are radical in their thinking to help solve these bigger issues. I’d like to sit with him and discuss these challenges via a social technology perspective because his ideas may light things up.

To callback to the point above about very obvious mental health solutions that we cannot yet quite see, we often can’t see them due to a lack of insight or courage. I think Elon’s got a lot of insight and courage, so we could use the help!

How can our readers further follow your work online?

You can follow 7 Cups on Instagram @7Cups, Twitter @7Cups and Facebook @7CupsofTea. I post routinely in the 7 Cups online community, and people can find my nook there. Drop me a message and I’ll respond!

Thank you so much for these insights. This was so inspiring, and so important!

Thank you for asking some hard questions and for taking the time to share thoughts and ideas. I very much appreciate it and let me know if I can do anything to help support your work!

Glen Moriarty of 7 Cups: 5 Things We Can Each Do To Help Solve The Loneliness Epidemic 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: Deaver Brown On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Create a single dominant approach & method. Mine is to be the low cost producer through lower overhead by simpler creation, design, supplier & customer network, IT delivery such as with AWS, online everything. Everyone associated with me looks for today’s opportunity to cut costs since consumers say price determines 80% of their purchasing decisions, which all starts with costs.

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

Brown started as an entrepreneur early by buying and selling many things from school records, lawn services, and tutoring. He attended Harvard College to learn how to think better and received a Magna in History which has served him well. He got an MBA at Harvard Business School to learn and adapt the toolkit of business. He is a serial entrepreneur from the Umbroller stroller sold to Rubbermaid, APC to an IPO & sale for $6 billion to Schneider Electric, to simplymedia.com now with 806 downloadable $2.99 eBooks through the FAANG group, Walmart.cm & others. He is a published author with The Entrepreneurs Guide from Macmillan & 50 other books.

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 Father died when I was 7 and I woke up to the reality that life wasn’t fair so I had to make my own way. My father was brilliant, top of his class at University of Toronto, State Doctorate at The Sorbonne in French & English, Chairman of the English Department at 29 at Manitoba, working his curveball out in the minors, on to Toronto, Cornell, and Chicago. He wrote the definitive biography of Willa Cather. My mother had beauty, panache, great health and presence, and was called “The Movie Star” by students at Manitoba and Toronto. My DNA included some of my father’s brains, my mother’s robust constitution, and her personal presence.

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

“Doing the right things is more important than doing things right.”

“The difference between making a buck and losing a buck is more than two bucks.”

“Never worry about getting opportunities. Worry about recognizing them.”

These three lessons guided me to better decisions in my 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?

Milton Friedman’s succinct 1 hour and 10 minute lecture on Inflation using his seminal work, Free to Choose. His brilliant ebullient son, David, a Harvard College Economic Summa Cum Laude, succinctly explained economics to my roommate and me at a random lunch in Lowell House during the LBJ/Goldwater 1964 election, which shifted my career plans from law to business and entrepreneurship.

It is a matter of personality and the ability to live with ambiguity to start with-I don’t know, I don’t know when I will know, and I can live with that. Most people can’t. Professor Amar Bhide, a colleague, co-case writer for Harvard Business School, and friend, identified this key personality trait in his landmark book, The Origins of Entrepreneurship published by Oxford.

I identified and listed the 8 key traits in The Entrepreneurs Guide. Enthusiasm and Endurance-boundless positiveness & the ability to get knocked down many times and still get up again to fight another day. Conclusive-the ability to pull the trigger and move on. Leadership-a few have it; most don’t. Product Pride-”You have to love the business,” to quote Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett. Marketing skill-What sells & How to make it so. Nerve and shrewdness-The guts of a cat burglar & shrewdness to make it all work.

Not the point. Don’t worry about the other guy. Worry about the person in the mirror. Can you make it work? Walmart wasn’t the first discounter, nor McDonalds the first hamburger place, or Apple the first smartphone company.

Patents are overrated for most people. The great ones lead to big royalty money by and large or are ignored and not commercialized by the creator. Haloid was the 25th company to look at Xerography after 24 companies had turned it down. I have never been offered a patent that I turned down that anyone ever made.

Filing a patent requires finding a patent and trademark legal specialist. The challenge is to make the claims broad enough to matter but not too broad to be overruled. Legal venue matters. Blue states tend to overturn them as monopolies & red states to enforce them as creations.

India is my go to country now. LinkedIn has led me to all the vendors I have used in the last 15 years.

Physical Retailers are a challenge; less so if you can sell online to their endless shelf. Physical retail is dominated by large established companies. A tougher sell. A bad place to start. As with Vegas, you can win with an inside straight; just down not bet on it. You need as many odds as possible in your favor to survive, not to speak of succeeding.

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.)

Create more with less has worked since Adam Smith’s pin factory described in March 1776 in The Wealth of Nations. My approach with the Umbroller stroller was to set up an assembly line, not a job shop, to make 200 strollers per day in just 500 square feet, in an unused corner of an American contractor. I did the same in Canada. It worked.
Build a network of people to learn from and for you to reciprocate with. This takes time and is why young entrepreneurs such as I struggle-we had so few. At simplymedia.com I am older, have a broader network, so can daily fine tune my business with help, such as this opportunity here.
Create a single dominant approach & method. Mine is to be the low cost producer through lower overhead by simpler creation, design, supplier & customer network, IT delivery such as with AWS, online everything. Everyone associated with me looks for today’s opportunity to cut costs since consumers say price determines 80% of their purchasing decisions, which all starts with costs.
Secrecy. As Marlon Brando told Sonny in The Godfather, “Do not tell them what you think.” Deliver by avoiding all trade shows, advertising in trade journals, and such things.
Ability to live with ambiguity, critical to performance and survival. Harry Truman said it best, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” My crispest experience was in the tough supply and inflationary period of 1974 when OPEC used its pricing muscle, was to tell my partner who did the finances when he asked me how we were going to meet our $40,000 payroll on Thursday, $250,000 today, “It’s only Tuesday.” We made it.

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 Willa Cather wrote, “Pioneers die broke.” Much better, safer, more profitable, and predictable to refine a known concept as did McDonalds, Walmart, and Apple.

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?

No. Too risky.

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

VCs are looking for front people who they can control as Wolfsheim did Gatsby in The Great Gatsby. That can be a road to wealth but not as an entrepreneur. Bootstrapping is for entrepreneurs with less than $250,000, often much less. Bootstrapping leads to the angel market which is much easier to break into. Remember: consider this a career and this just your first step. Most of us need to go venture to venture to build up the capital and references to go for the big one. I missed that lesson. Don’t you!

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

My biggest contribution has been deflationary, from Umbrollers, to APC UPS’s, to $2.99 downloadable eBooks & audiobooks. All of them used fewer resources, energy, and footprint. I helped make money for VCs, Investors, and angels so they could pay it forward to help launch & find other ventures, hire people for work, and pay tons of taxes to fund various governments.

My new Merit Fund to invest in the few companies just trying to make money and let the owners handle their own charities and givebacks to the world.

Would like to discuss investing in my new Merit Fund. My own company is cash-flowing and have no acquisition candidates with any hope of creating affordable eBooks and audiobooks due to their high overheads, unprofitable author and narrator contracts, and placing a low priority on doing the work or making money. The ideal competitors but hopeless acquisition candidates, at least by me. As Warren Buffett says colorfully, and his comments stick to my ribs, “Sometimes it is better to switch boats than repair the one you are in.” In my case, my boat is fine but I only see leaky boats as possible acquisitions, I can’t see how or desire to fix. So I will keep developing internal affordable titles for expansion..

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

Making Something From Nothing: Deaver Brown 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.

Chad J Verdaglio Of Sawyer Aviation Group: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader…

Chad J Verdaglio Of Sawyer Aviation Group: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Don’t sacrifice integrity.

As a 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 Chad J. Verdaglio.

Aviation expert and licensed pilot, Chad J. Verdaglio understands what it takes to lead during turbulent times as owner and president of Sawyer Aviation Group. Born and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona, Verdaglio started working for his family’s business at a young age. It was here that his entrepreneurial spirit first took flight. Under Verdaglio’s leadership during the past two decades, Sawyer Aviation has navigated challenging times and successfully come through. In 2020, Sawyer Aviation marked its 60th year in operation and is one the oldest private charters in the industry.

I’m an Arizona native that primarily grew up in Scottsdale. My father was an entrepreneur and got me started working in the family business when I was just 10-years old. It was there that I got on-the-job training in sales, marketing and finance and my entrepreneurial spirit first took flight. Now, as the owner and president of Sawyer Aviation, I believe this same entrepreneurial spirit is what’s allowed the company to soar.

The summer before I started college, I signed up for an intro paraglide ride. Soaring through the sky was exhilarating and I knew then that I wanted more. After extensive research, I registered at Sawyer School of Aviation, a respected program that operated a flight academy at the Scottsdale Airpark since 1961. My goal was to earn a private pilot’s license. During college, I continued during weekends and school breaks to earn my instrument rating, a commercial rating, multi-engine rating and eventually an instructor certification.

After graduating from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Science in business communications, I continued to work for the family business for a couple of years, and applied to grad school. I was accepted to the Wharton executive MBA program where I planned to go the coming fall. That summer I took the opportunity to resharpen my piloting skills that had taken a backseat to work. I saw an ad in the paper for Sawyer Aviation, prompting my return to the flight academy where I was quickly offered a position as an instructor and eventually the opportunity to buy Sawyer Aviation — it was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.

During the 20 years, we’ve worked through many challenging times, but Sawyer Aviation has not only survived, we’ve achieved significant growth from those early days. Today, we continue to offer private jet charter services, aircraft management and we’ve become the largest maintenance provider at Scottsdale airport, and we operate one of the oldest flight academies in the world. With current operations out of Scottsdale and Van Nuys airports, I have future plans for more. The sky’s the limit!

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?

The funniest or not so funny mistake we made in the beginning was assigning the wrong passengers to the wrong aircraft. Only to realize once the aircraft was in the air that that plane was headed to Palm Springs while the passengers thought they were going to Aspen. The pilot turned the airplane around and we were able to rectify the situation. Later, we realized that there were two identical aircrafts on the runway. Our passengers were frequent customers that saw a pilot they’d flown with before and assumed that was the plane they were boarding. This was many years ago before everything was digital. Now, we check ID’s and profiles on the passengers via software so a mix-up like this wouldn’t happen today, but it was a “funny” learning experience.

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 am grateful for the Sawyer Aviation team, clients, and friends for their support but there is one client in particular who had a big impact on me and the company’s success. The client is a well known business leader — so out of respect for his privacy I’ll keep his name confidential, but he’s been a loyal customer and supporter. He bought the first aircraft we sold at Sawyer and he has since gone on to purchase another. He was also a regular customer on our private charter flights. For years we flew him weekly from Scottsdale to Santa Barbara and back. He lived and worked in Arizona and enjoyed his weekends at the beach.

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?

When I purchased the company in 2001, I knew the potential was there and I had a vision for developing it into a premier full-service aviation operation. It had all the elements, it just needed to be reignited. Sawyer Aviation was largely known for the flight academy and it always offered private charter services. Today, we provide the full spectrum of aviation services and we’ve expanded — adding SawyerMX, our airplane maintenance and repair service, along with expansion of our airplane management and charter services.

While the company has weathered a number of ups and downs, the most challenging time was the recession in 2009–11. Demand for private airplanes or a private charter flight plummeted as people were trying to hold on to business and keep their homes. We are largely in a luxury market and during that time people were not buying luxury.

Working through challenging times forces you to get very real with yourself and your team. I believe it is important to be transparent as a leader. It’s the only way to create and maintain trustworthy relationships. I had to look at where we could cut costs and how we could generate revenues. Keeping my team informed and involved was invaluable and necessary.

Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?

Absolutely, I considered giving up. I think most entrepreneurs have at some point. But even through the darkest times, the glimmer of hope was the upside potential. The rewarding aspects of working in aviation always keep me going. Whether it’s selling an aircraft, seeing someone earn their pilot’s license or watching a customer share a special moment with their family and friends — it is the “coolest thing.”

What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?

Understanding the gravity of the situation and reacting accordingly. In business, in life, or in the air- wishing the cards dealt to you were different- isn’t going to fix the problem. You need to be willing to do what needs to be done and make the tough decisions.

A leader needs to be there for the team, evaluate the situation and determine what’s the next right thing to do.

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?

Remind everyone why they are there- focus on the common goals and mission. The team needs to feel that they have a purpose and there is potential for light during a dark or difficult time. Whether it’s an in-flight emergency or a personal matter, losing is not an option.

The great Michael Jordan once said “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” Jordan’s words and example represent the work ethic and purpose I strive to instill in our team. Essentially, leaders must always keep learning and never give up.

What is the best way to communicate difficult news to one’s team and customers?

I have good news and bad news: which do you want to hear first? The answer is bad news. When you are delivering difficult news, it will require a follow-up action or decision — something must be done to rectify or improve the situation. Good news doesn’t generally require action.

Communicating bad news comes with leading, which goes back to what I said earlier about facing reality and being transparent. It is during difficult times that you can really earn trust.

How can a leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?

Adapt your tactics, not your goal. Be willing to be flexible. There is always something you can do, even if it doesn’t go your way, you can always affect the outcome.

“If there is a will there’s a way.”

Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?

When things are going bad, options are more limited. Whatever the situation, it is vital to remain focused and stay on your path — go back to your core and what you do best.

As a pilot and President of Sawyer Aviation group, I have definitely had my fair share of turbulent times but taking the route less traveled is what has seen us through and made us into the reputable and innovative aviation company that we are.

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?

It’s great to approach a business with a fresh set of eyes and try to innovate but certain fundamental aspects of the industry can’t be overlooked. In the aviation industry, I have seen people try to come in and make the most over the top luxury private charter experience but in the process they fail to set themselves apart because they overlook the basics. For example, having a dependable crew that is consistently on time delivers greater impact than luxury flights offering a red carpet experience. I call this approach “all frosting, no cake.” Better to nail down the basics and then add the frosting.

Another common mistake people make is getting ahead of things during the growth phase. Businesses will rob from tomorrow to pay for today. While it can work, it is not a smart approach and will often leave companies in a financial hole.

Most important is to maintain integrity. During difficult times, people will resort to desperation. But if customers and staff trust you, they will stick with you through the most challenging times. You must earn and retain the trust of customers and employees before anything else.

In terms of growth traction, I”ve learned it is best to focus on our core business, focus on what we do best and what is profitable. Don’t spend time on things that don’t bring return.

I continuously ask myself and the company this question- what are you doing right and what are you doing wrong?

Focus
Communicate
Don’t sacrifice integrity
Accept reality
Take action

These 5 strategies or leadership attributes helped me bring Sawyer Aviation through the turbulent times of the recession. I remained focused on what I could do to keep business going. We adjusted prices to make flights available where we could and still be profitable. When there were no other airplanes out on the runway, Sawyer Aviation airplanes were still there and operating. This kept us visible and working while many of our competitors accepted defeat and sat on the sidelines. We rolled up our sleeves and did what we could to keep planes operating. We accepted the reality that we were in, stayed focused, communicated internally with our staff and externally with clients. And we took action to continue to generate revenues where we could.

More recently, we pushed through the challenges of the pandemic and created opportunities. When everything came to a halt in March 2020 — there were photos of the airport looking like a ghost town with only a Sawyer Aviation airplane on the runway. Again, we approached the pandemic used the same tactics — facing this new and immediate reality. Travel came nearly to a halt and people were afraid to go anywhere. At that same time there were essential workers that still needed to travel and they did not feel comfortable or safe traveling commercial airlines. When demand for travel was down, we reduced our private charter prices to meet the demands of those who still needed to travel. This helped bring in customers during those slower months and kept our planes and pilots in the air.

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 life lesson quotes is “Opportunities multiply as they are seized.” — Sun Tzu

This quote really captures my own experience and philosophy as an entrepreneur. When I was presented the opportunity to buy Sawyer Aviation I made the decision to seize it and forgo grad school and I’ve never looked back. When challenges arise there are always opportunities as well. The pandemic is a good example — we pushed through and seized the moment. Today, Sawyer Aviation is in expansion mode — adding flights and services to its thriving operations.

How can our readers further follow your work?

Readers can come fly with us on social media @sawyeraviation

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!

Chad J Verdaglio Of Sawyer Aviation Group: 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.

Lynn Mason-Pattnosh of ConciergeQ Media On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public…

Lynn Mason-Pattnosh of ConciergeQ Media On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Smile. Even if you are being interviewed on the phone or for a podcast, think of something happy, sensual or funny and break into a big smile. When you smile, your body releases endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin — all of these magnificent chemicals saturate your brain, elevate your mood, reduce stress, and relax your body. Smiling will give you a positive emotional and physical lift before you even begin speaking.

Lynn Mason-Pattnosh is the executive producer and host of ConciergeQ Media. She is also a casting director and performance expert, who has worked on Emmy-winning TV (including casting the pilot of “Arrested Development”), film, and media. ConciergeQ Media is a recognized and respected travel and entertainment brand, delivering award-winning URHere Travel all-access festival and event coverage from such events as the Sundance Film Festival, Sun Valley Wine Auction, Dent Conference, The Mother’s Ball, and elrow. Lynn recently spoke at SATW’s 2020 Virtual Convention and is slated to speak such events as, Women’s Travel Fest, Visual Storytelling Conference, TBEX North America and Europe, and Podfest Multimedia Expo.

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?

My family owned and operated the Goldman Hotel in Pleasantdale (now West Orange), New Jersey. The resort was the social hotspot to see and be seen at during those years. Although my family no longer owned it, I grew up hanging out by the pool and starting my lifelong love of hotels and hospitality. The hotel is now The Wilshire Grand, if you watch The Real Housewives of New Jersey, you are familiar with the property.

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

My company, ConciergeQ Media, focus is covering festival and events with a luxury travel point of view. Primarily, I executive produce and host travel and entertainment content. We were even a Top 100 Influencer and Brand at the Rio 2016 Olympics, according to data from Onalytica, a company that specializes in influencer marketing software and helps brands scale influencer programs. At some point, after watching and interviewing many, many speakers at these events, I thought, I can do that!

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

Well, that has to be interviewing the beyond talented, philanthropic-minded, Broadway legend Brian Stokes Mitchell. I’m not someone who gets starstruck easily, but I love Broadway and respect his work as chairman of The Actors Fund, which offers a huge variety of programs to support the unique needs performers. I also interviewed the equally as talented Sutton Foster that day.

They were performing together later that week at Sun Valley Resort in Sun Valley, Idaho. The show — a serotonin-fest of Broadway favorites from Cole Porter to Stephen Sondheim, including Stokes belting out “The Impossible Dream” from “Man of La Mancha” — was amazing, too. But interviewing someone on-camera who I deeply admire as an artist and compassionate patron of the arts and artists — well, that was a great day.

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?

With my extensive experience as a casting director, I don’t often make mistakes casting on-camera hosts. However, for one event — and out of total embarrassment, I won’t mention the name — none of my usual go-to hosts were available. So I decided to hire someone I was unsure about, although she had excellent credits. Let’s just say my initial instincts were correct. This event was pretty much a “one-take” situation — get the interview and move on. Unfortunately, she was extremely nervous. Despite my coaching — deep breaths, relax, focus, even some wine — she didn’t get any better. The shoot was pretty much finessed in editing, but it still haunts me, as it is not to my level of professionalism.

My takeaway from that incident is always listen to your instincts and don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone. I should have stepped into the role of host and producer that day, and that is what I often do now. However, at the time, both producing and hosting at the same time wasn’t something I was comfortable with. But I have quickly learned to jump from host to producer, bounce back and forth, and now it’s second nature to me, and a lot of fun.

Deborah Barylski, the Emmy-Award winning casting director, not only taught me so much about casting and performance, but also how to run a business. The business part of running a casting office was something Deb always focused on, and this definitely got her work over other casting directors. Deb was also the person who recognized my talents and after I had been an assistant for a few years in other offices, made me her casting associate.

The entertainment industry is an odd entity, because there isn’t one path to create a career and the industry is always changing. Having someone like Deb believe in me was everything. My first day as her casting associate was the day we moved into our offices on the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank. There is nothing like working on the Disney lot for Disney, an experience I treasure. It’s a magical place, as well as a company to be admired.

First of all, if you want to be a performer, ask yourself: “Is there any other career that would make me happy?” If there is, do it! Even in this world being shaped by TikTok, Instagram and YouTube with seemingly overnight sensations, influencers, and stars, making a living as a performer is not easy.

As a public speaker, the same lesson applies as with any performer: Don’t be afraid to be rejected. If you don’t ask for the opportunity, there won’t be an opportunity. If you never ask, the answer will always be no. You simply need to take risks and not be afraid of rejection.

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 public speaking and enjoy helping people. My main empowering message is my message itself — it’s all a bit meta. Whatever performance topic I am addressing, the goal is the same, which is to give my audience the tools to be more confident, and better performers — whether on-camera or behind a mic, in a meeting, or simply in their daily lives.

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 actually casting a truly innovative project. It’s a feature film, From Our Mind to Yours, which will feature only TikTok influencers. Professionally, I love that it combines my expertise as a casting director and performance, and my work with influencers and as an influencer.

It’s a ton of fun, too. I’d love to work on more projects like this. I am definitely adding “How to Cast Influencers for Your Project” to my public speaking offerings.

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

I often share Billie Jean King’s sentiment that “pressure is a privilege — it only comes to those who earn it.” I’m about to address this idea during my list: “On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker.” Hang on to that thought!

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.

Public Speaking as Performance. Think about public speaking as performance. It doesn’t matter if you are speaking to an auditorium or virtual event of thousands of people or doing a PowerPoint presentation for ten. Elevate your presentation to performance.
Smile. Even if you are being interviewed on the phone or for a podcast, think of something happy, sensual or funny and break into a big smile. When you smile, your body releases endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin — all of these magnificent chemicals saturate your brain, elevate your mood, reduce stress, and relax your body. Smiling will give you a positive emotional and physical lift before you even begin speaking.
Breathe. There is a lot to be said about breathing, how it helps with insomnia, stress management, and is essential daily emotional balance. I highly recommend James Nestor’s New York Times Bestseller, “Breath,” in which he argues all of this and more. When it comes to public speaking and performance, breath is everything. Start with the basics: Where are you breathing from? If you are a singer, you will understand this more easily. Proper breathing starts in the nose and then moves to the stomach as your diaphragm contracts. Where is your diaphragm? Put your hand just below your ribs and take a breath. Moreover, breathing from your diaphragm will not only help your overall performance but it will also decrease stage fright.
Audience. Please don’t picture the audience in their underwear. That’s an outdated trope. Again, think of public speaking as performance. A good public speaker understands how to engage and can even alter the audience’s energy. Personally, I love to make my audience laugh. Nothing brings an audience together like laughter and almost assures a successful speech, presentation or even phone call.
Pressure is a Privilege. Billie Jean King’s quote is a favorite of mine, especially when it comes to the pressures of public speaking. If you are fortunate enough to be in the position of being interviewed by the BBC, lecture to a class of UCLA graduate students or speak at CES in Las Vegas, please expect to be nervous. It is normal to be nervous. I recommend acknowledging that feeling, even say, “I am nervous and that’s okay” aloud to yourself and then let that feeling go (see #3 Breathe to help those nerves). Remember: If you weren’t worthy, you wouldn’t have been invited to share your expertise.

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

Preparation is the best tactic for stage fright, which is a focus I share in my public speaking. And, the truth is, the more experience you have speaking in public, the better you will become and the better you will be at handling your nerves. But also remember that if you are terrified, it simply means that you care — caring is a good thing.

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 hope one day we can all treat people the way we ourselves would like to be treated. It is a maxim found in most religions and cultures that thrive on the planet today. I am, of course, talking about equal rights, but general kindness and compassion as well.

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!

Richard Branson. I’m ready to launch with Virgin Galactic. I challenge you to a game of tennis on Necker Island, Richard!

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

Please follow me on Twitter @ConciergeQ

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

Lynn Mason-Pattnosh of ConciergeQ Media 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.

Dr Amelia Reigstad On 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

…Be Authentic and Vulnerable — We are constantly invited to be ourselves in a wide variety of situations. Having the ability to be our authentic selves as a speaker is incredibly important as it demonstrates to your audience that you are a real person. Being real has impact and we want our presentations to have lasting impact.

Dr. Amelia Reigstad, Ph.D. is a passionate change agent, speaker, communication consultant and coach with over two decades of industry experience. She has spoken on a global scale at many professional events and conferences and has taught a variety of communications courses across the U.S., Canada, Europe and the U.K. With a passion for helping others, she consults and educates business professionals on the importance of understanding gender differences and communication styles and how this leads to more effective communication and productivity in the workplace. As the founder of The Women Empowerment Series, she inspires and encourages women to use their voice to initiate change. To learn more, visit www.ameliareigstad.com.

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 am originally from Abbotsford B.C. Canada, with a background and education in public relations and communications. Through working in corporate settings to running my own PR consultancy and educating up and coming professionals as a university professor, my passion lies with helping others find their communication purpose. Fast forward and I now call Minneapolis, Minnesota home where I am a sought-after speaker and expert in effective communication and work with organizations and individuals to increase communication in the workplace.

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

Growing up I was always involved with my community, school and I was ALWAYS talking. Perhaps that’s why a career in communications was so fitting. Having a passion for gender equality also allowed me to focus my career on women empowerment and inspire and encourage women to use their voice to initiate change. I’ve had the opportunity to speak at a variety of different conferences and events across the globe so feel very fortunate that I can use my own voice and hopefully inspire others.

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

One of the biggest life experiences that happened since I began my career was being diagnosed with melanoma at the age of 32. Life threw me a giant curveball and told me to SLOW DOWN. I was extremely fortunate it was caught early and I am grateful for the lessons learned and perspectives gained through that 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?

When I was interning at a top PR agency in Vancouver, B.C. way back in the day (early 2000s), I was tasked with compiling media kits for a large event. Everything was printed and compiled into folders with a notepad and pencil included in case the media wanted to take notes during the keynote address. I forgot to sharpen the pencils. Oops! I learned that even the most mundane tasks need 100% attention. A great life lesson!

Two of my greatest mentors were educators. Wade Peary was my high school leadership teacher and Terri Smolar was a colleague when I was teaching at a university in Canada. No wonder I spent 15 years as a university professor! They instilled in me a passion and love for knowledge and taught me to go after my dreams. They also demonstrated through their care and compassion, how to truly be a leader. I am eternally grateful for such impactful mentors in my life.

Failure is an interesting word isn’t it? Of course, we all can have a fear of failing but I offer the perspective that if we didn’t fail in certain aspects of our lives, we wouldn’t be human. Failure is a good thing. It keeps us grounded and allows reflection.

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?

As mentioned earlier, I was diagnosed with melanoma 10 years ago and it has taken all these years for me to be comfortable in my own skin. Literally. My melanoma diagnosis involved surgery and a skin graft, leaving me with a very large, visible scar on my forehead. Up until a few years ago, I always made sure my hair was covering my scar, but when Covid-19 became a global pandemic, it made me realize that life is too short. Authenticity is key and being myself became my anchor. So, I cut my hair short, dyed it platinum blonde and added in a purple mohawk — fully rocking my visible scar! My favorite quote which links to the main empowering message I aim to share with the world is “Be fearlessly authentic. Bravely be 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?

Gender equality and encouraging women to use their voice to initiate change, all through communication is something that I am very passionate about. I developed The Women Empowerment Series after the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and am excited about growing the series to impact women around the globe. Working with organizations and individuals to improve workplace communication through different programming, workshops, speaking and coaching sessions allows me to educate others on the importance of effective communication so I look forward to continuing to build this part of my company. Add in writing a book or two and I’m fairly certain I will stay busy.

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

Besides the authenticity quote I shared above, “Live your passion” or “O’la ko koni koni” in Hawaiian is my favorite life lesson quote. Hawaii holds a special place in my heart, hence the Hawaiian translation. It’s tattooed in Hawaiian on the top of my left foot as a constant reminder to truly live and breathe my passion. It is an incredibly important aspect of my life and if I am not living my passion, I need to change it up. If I can continue to speak to and inspire women to use their voice to initiate change, I am certainly living my passion.

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.

Be Authentic and Vulnerable — We are constantly invited to be ourselves in a wide variety of situations. Having the ability to be our authentic selves as a speaker is incredibly important as it demonstrates to your audience that you are a real person. Being real has impact and we want our presentations to have lasting impact.

Tell a Story — Make whatever it is you are speaking about, relatable. Use examples, share personal stories and paint a visual picture so the audience has an opportunity to imagine themselves right there with you.

Use Visuals — Using visuals can add to your story and can help the audience understand what you are speaking about. This also helps the audience remember the presentation. Avoid heavy text on slides however and use images, graphics, icons, etc.

Be Organized and Prepared — Whether you are working with a meeting and events planner or a speakers’ bureau, make sure you are organized and have all your ducks in a row. Know your AV requirements, walk the room prior, hop on stage and get a feel for where you will be speaking. This has helped me tremendously and makes me feel more prepared.

Practice, Practice, Practice — It’s imperative to know your content and know it well. There is something to be said about the cliché quote, practice makes perfect. Now, it may not be perfect but practicing out loud allows us to get through the stumbles and figure out our transitions. It also helps us become more confident in what we are presenting.

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

Keep going after it. Those that enjoy speaking usually have a story to tell and love being on a stage, but it doesn’t mean we don’t get nervous. Being organized, practicing your presentation and taking deep breaths can help to overcome the fear of public speaking.

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’m a firm believer in effective workplace communication, women empowerment and gender equality. The Women Empowerment Series combines all three of these elements together to inspire and encourage women to use their voice to initiate change. This is a movement I hope will continue to reach women around the globe.

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!

She has now passed, but I would have loved to have had lunch with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. What a spitfire she was!

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

Yes! You can follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn or visit www.ameliareigstad.com

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

Dr Amelia Reigstad On 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.

Falling In Love Again With Your Spouse: Barbie Adler of Selective Search On 5 Things You Need To…

Falling In Love Again With Your Spouse: Barbie Adler of Selective Search On 5 Things You Need To Rekindle Love In A Marriage That Has Gone Cold

…Be the best version of yourself and support your partner in doing the same. Make sure you are doing your part in maintaining a lifestyle that allows you to reach your full potential. Mental and physical self-care routines are critically important. You can’t be a good “other half” if you aren’t prioritizing your own needs. At the same time, ensure that your partner is doing the same by encouraging them and their goals. Be each other’s cheerleader, coach, and biggest fan. Make your home the safe place you both crave after a hard day.

When people first get married, they are usually deeply in love and extremely excited to be together. But sometimes, over time, that passion and excitement begins to fade. This has been particularly true after the pandemic, when many marriages went through great upheavals. What can a couple do to rekindle the love and excitement that they used to have when they were first together?

In this interview series, called “Falling In Love Again With Your Spouse; 5 Things You Need To Rekindle Love In A Marriage That Has Gone Cold,” we are talking to relationship professionals, therapists, psychologists, and coaches to share stories and insights from their experience.

As a part of this series I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Barbie Adler.

Barbie Adler, President and Founder of Selective Search, is a national expert on dating and relationships. Barbie believes that to love and to be loved is the most important and powerful of all human emotions, which is why she founded Selective Search, North America’s leading luxury matchmaking firm. Selective Search has the highest success rates in the industry, a product of the company’s process which combines sophisticated algorithms and executive recruiting methodologies with traditional matchmaking intuition.

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 story about what brought you to this specific career path?

My mother was a psychologist, so I grew up attending seminars, reading Psychology Today, and listening to her lead marriage counseling groups. There were posters all over our house when I was growing up about marriage and relationships and I found them very intriguing. I always had a passion for interpersonal relationships because of my early exposure to it. I went from working in Public Relations to Executive Search to Personal Search. It was always important to me to have deep interpersonal relationships in both my professional and personal life. Matchmaking and helping people find love is truly a passion of mine, so that is why I started Selective Search.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

I started a company to help others and it came full circle when I found the love of my life through Selective Search. I am now happily married and have also entered the modern scenario of a blended family. I am a bonus mom, and it is an exceptional position to be in. I love my husband and step kids so much, and I really have Selective Search to thank for that. Because Selective Search is so private and confidentiality is of the upmost importance, I really can’t share specifics about client stories, but we talk to exceptional people on a daily basis. It is fascinating to listen to their successes and failures and learn about the mistakes they’ve made and how they’ve grown. I get a behind the scenes perspective of brilliant minds, and fascinating people every day as I help them create their stories.

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 the company was smaller, I surprised my employees and took the company to Broadway in New York as a day trip. We are based in Chicago, so I imagined it as this fun getaway where we would go and come back all in a days’ time. There ended up being a horrible snowstorm and we were all stranded there with no luggage! We had to stay overnight which lost productivity and ended up costing the company. However, I do think it was a unique and priceless bonding experience that we still laugh about so many years later.

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

Passion: For what I do and for the mission. I really believe you HAVE to love what you do or else your lack of passion will translate into your work.

Determination & Perseverance: You have to make sure it’s personal. Failure is not an option, and you have to make it happen no matter what. I started Selective Search completely by myself with not much support from my family, I was determined especially after leaving a successful career to take this leap of faith.

Empathy and the Ability to See Beyond the Obvious: I read beyond the resume, the small talk, and the interviews; I have an innate ability to see who a person really is, beyond what they choose share. This skill is why I am able to be successful in building a strong diverse team, and also finding the best matches for my clients. Empathy is not often something you think of when discussing business and success, but it is hugely important. Knowing and understanding the feelings of others is a crucial quality to have, especially when working with people in the way that I do.

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

Yes, we have expanded our services by offering more in-depth consultations. Building out a relationship history and identifying patterns, good or bad, is important for setting our clients up for success. These services are so valuable with increasing demand for relationship coaching, especially for people who have been through tough breakups or are having difficulties navigating the dating scene.

For the benefit of our readers, can you briefly tell our readers why you are an authority about the topic of marriage?

I have been in the matchmaking business for over 20 years and in that time, our work has resulted in over 4,000 happy couples and over 1,500 marriages. Coaching couples as they move from first dates to committed relationships and celebrating as they marry and start families is the most rewarding part of my job. We are right there with our clients through the happiest times in their lives as well as helping them navigate the challenges that come with nurturing and growing a long-term relationship.

Ok. Thank you for that. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about ‘How to Rekindle Love In A Marriage That Has Gone Cold’. Based on your experience, what is a common root cause of marriages “going cold”?

Lack of communication and feeling unheard or misunderstood.

Broken trust: once it is broken it’s difficult to get it back.

Prioritizing work, children, or other interests before your marriage.

In my experience with helping others in relationship difficulty, I most often hear “lack of communication” as the reason for the difficulty or wanting to end the relationship. Lack of communication is really a symptom of the real root cause, which is always “loss of connection.” What must be done to regain that connection?

Lack of communication is common when relationships go on autopilot. What might have started from a healthy sense of trust and comfort with one another can lead to misunderstandings and partners feeling unheard in a relationship. Even if you are feeling comfortable in your routines, make time to check in with your partner. Evening walks, screen-free dinners, texts and calls when you are apart can all go a long way toward keeping the lines of communication open and strengthen your connection.

Based on your experience, what is the foundation for a successful marriage?

A good sense of humor. There is so much humor in my marriage, we cry laughing and have so much fun most days. Silly, funny rituals are a huge part of our day. My husband likes to play DJ and will play all my favorite songs, so we dance and have fun while we are cooking or doing things around the house. We have a fun dynamic and play off each other’s energy.

Keeping intimacy fresh. That’s pretty self-explanatory, but also a very important factor within a marriage that people often put on the backburner. And intimacy doesn’t always have to mean sex. It can be holding hands on a walk or some flirty teasing throughout the day. Something that shows you are still interested in each other.

Be reliable and have a friendship. Clear communication and playfulness are so important which are key in a successful friendship. Be there for each other and make sure to have fun, just as you would with your best friend.

Have patience and pick your battles. Sometimes, after you have addressed an issue, you have to let it go. Diffuse a negative situation rather than add to it and try to avoid an argument when there really doesn’t need to be one.

It has been said that “a healthy, happy marriage is the union of two generous forgivers”. Can you talk about why forgiveness is so important for a relationship to thrive?

A healthy relationship starts with a healthy you. Holding on to resentment and anger can be emotionally and physically taxing on your body. Being a generous forgiver does not mean ignoring your feelings. Recognizing the validity of your feelings and discussing them with your partner allows you to be your truest and best self in a partnership. But once you feel heard, it’s time to forgive and move forward.

Based on your experience, why do you think couples struggle to forgive and be forgiven?

Forgiveness is hard in general, but when it’s with your partner it can make the conflict seem like an even bigger transgression. And it’s hard to imagine that the person you love the most has wronged you, or you’ve wronged them. Love is a sacred thing, and the feelings of anger, fear and sadness are powerful. This is why strong communication and healthy conflict resolution is so important.

Is it important for marriage partners to inspire each other to be the best version of themselves that they can be? Can you please explain what you mean?

It is very important to make sure your spouse is happy and healthy, but there is a balance. You don’t want to change someone, and you want to accept them as they are, but it is very important to help and encourage each other along the way, especially if it aids in their longevity and health. I personally make sure my husband eats well and takes vitamins every day. These small gestures let him know that I want him to live his healthiest and best life because I care about him. It is crucial to make sure you know what your spouse’s goals are so you can support and not unwittingly undermine them. Helping someone achieve their goals is a demonstration of your love for them.

What is the difference between marriage partners being “a team” and not just “a couple” ?

As a “team”, you take on each other’s’ challenges, celebrations, and special moments together. A couple simply describes what you both are, not what you do as partners. As one united team, you face conflict together focused on the shared goal of a healthy partnership where you can thrive as individuals and together.

Ok, here is the main question of our discussion. Can you please share your “5 Things You Need To Rekindle Love In A Marriage That Has Gone Cold?” Can you please give a story or example for each?

Be the co-CEOs of your family unit. First — you have to decide that you want this to work. Like a business, you need to want it to be successful and really put in the work to communicate and make sure things are running smoothly. You and your partner have to think of yourselves as the leaders and accept the responsibility of keeping your business growing and thriving. Focus on the positive outcomes and the successes that come from your family unit and build upon those.

Be the best version of yourself and support your partner in doing the same. Make sure you are doing your part in maintaining a lifestyle that allows you to reach your full potential. Mental and physical self-care routines are critically important. You can’t be a good “other half” if you aren’t prioritizing your own needs. At the same time, ensure that your partner is doing the same by encouraging them and their goals. Be each other’s cheerleader, coach, and biggest fan. Make your home the safe place you both crave after a hard day.

Lead with praise. People often forget to remind their partner just how good of a job they are doing. It is human nature to criticize and point out mistakes, but it takes that extra effort to point out the wins and the “job well done’s,” even over small things that normally wouldn’t draw attention. Encourage the things they may have done right in difficult situations and support their feelings so they know they can turn to you when they need someone to lean on.

Don’t have the same argument over and over. Figure out the repeat issues, work through them and move forward. This requires really hearing your spouse and then moving into problem-solving mode together. Sweeping things under the rug or having unfinished business when something is causing friction is grounds for serious resentment and an inevitable battle. Make sure your partner knows you are on their team no matter what. If an argument needs to be had, never hit below the belt, or use your partner’s insecurities to win a fight. Diffuse the situation rather than feeding into it.

Have regular distraction-free time together. Even if you have to schedule it, it is important to have dedicated time together to keep things fresh and the spark alive. Go out to dinner, go see a show, get dressed up and grab fancy drinks. Recognize the value of spending time with each other in little ways, too — a walk, a cuddle or dinner at home. Activities like these are the foundation for not only a sustainable marriage, but a healthy, evolving and thriving one at that.

Do you have any favorite books, podcasts, or resources related to this topic that you would recommend to our readers?

Podcasts

Unlocking Us with Brené Brown: A podcast about conversations that unlock the deeply human part of who we are, so that we can live, love, parent, and lead with more courage and heart.

Books:

Gary Chapman’s 5 Love Languages — A great insightful book that is an easy read for how you perceive and deliver love. It teaches people to really understand, accept and honor each other.

Atomic Habits: This book is the definitive guide to breaking bad behaviors and adopting good ones in four steps, showing you how small, incremental, everyday routines compound into massive, positive change over time.

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. 🙂

Mission to put more love in the world: Everyone deserves to love and to feel loved by someone. Loneliness negatively affects your physical and mental health. At Selective Search, we are on a mission to help people find authentic and honest love so they can live happier healthier lives.

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 🙂

Mark Cuban: I am so inspired by his willingness and ability to jump in with innovative approaches to solving complex problems. I love what he is doing about the pharmaceutical industry. It is important work that needs new and innovative thinking.

Thank you for these great insights and for the time you spent with this interview. We wish you only continued success!

Falling In Love Again With Your Spouse: Barbie Adler of Selective Search On 5 Things You Need To… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Julie Navickas On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Understand Your Audience. To be an effective public speaker, it’s crucial that you understand the make-up of your audience. When presenting to a large group, always consider these six things before opening your mouth: size of the audience, setting in which you’re speaking, the type of audience before you, their interests, their prior knowledge, and their attitude toward your topic.

Julie Navickas is a nationally recognized contemporary romance novelist with Inkspell Publishing, known for her keen ability to weave heart-wrenching, second-chance love stories through relatable characters with humility, humor, and heroism. She is also an award-winning instructor and academic advisor in the School of Communication at Illinois State University, the public relations manager for Burning Soul Press, the social media strategist for Labyrinth Made Goods, and is a continuing education instructor with Heartland Community College. Julie is a mom to three children: Lily (5); Colton (4); Brady (2), and has been married to her high school sweetheart, Thomas, for ten years.

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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?

Sure! I’m from Johnsburg, a sleepy farm town in Illinois that’s a stone’s throw from Wisconsin. I’m really just your average Midwestern girl from the Chicago suburbs. I grew up playing softball in diamonds carved out of cornfields, hanging out with friends in front of raging bonfires, and cultivating a deep (and sometimes embarrassing) love for stories of all kinds.

In 2006, I moved to Bloomington-Normal, Illinois to start my college career and never truly left the classroom. I completed an undergraduate degree in public relations and two master’s degrees in organizational communication and English studies with an emphasis on book history. Illinois State University has been my home away from home for over fifteen years as both a student and working professional.

And while it’s easy to poke fun of Central Illinois, my Midwestern roots go deep.

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

When I applied to graduate school in 2008, I was offered an assistantship that would pay for my tuition in exchange for teaching a general education course at Illinois State University in the School of Communication. The course graduate teaching assistants are typically assigned to is Communication as Critical Inquiry. In less fancy words, it simply means public speaking!

I didn’t know it at the time, but that experience fueled my passion for teaching and led me down a now fifteen-year career path. While the courses I teach today are a bit different, I sometimes still get the opportunity to instruct this original class — and it brings back many fond memories engaging with students as they learned the ins and outs of public speaking and how it applies to a professional career.

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

I’ve learned over time that most people simply do not enjoy public speaking — and they’ll do just about anything to avoid it! I’m not sure this is too interesting, but it’s certainly fascinating! Once people started to recognize that I was comfortable — and good at — speaking to large groups, I became the token volunteer for every presentation, project, and speech!

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 tell this story to my students every semester when we study communication apprehension. One of the first experiences I had delivering a speech was in my sixth grade English course. I was asked to deliver a “how-to” speech, so I decided to demonstrate to the class how to color Easter eggs. In hindsight, vinegar and colored dye was probably a really poor choice for a nervous, shaking, junior high girl terrified to speak in front of her classmates! I’m pretty sure the carpet is still stained in Mrs. Meyers’ classroom in Johnsburg Junior High School.

I credit my knowledge and experience in public speaking to a handful of my peers in the School of Communication at Illinois State University. Dr. Cheri Simonds and Dr. John Hooker are the co-directors of the basic course program. They selected me for a graduate assistantship which led me down the path of public speaking. In addition, I have two mentors in the School of Communication who have helped me grow as an instructor. I owe much of my expertise in the subject matter to Dr. Stephen Hunt and Elizabeth Chupp.

The advice I have is not earth-shattering — nor is it rocket science! The simple fact is that the more you allow yourself to engage in the art of public speaking, the easier it’ll become — and the better you’ll get at it. I tell my students all the time that it’s okay to not excel on your first try; it’s the effort and desire to do better that makes the difference.

For public speaking, it’s best to start small. I started out speaking to a classroom of about twenty students. But as the opportunities continued, I found that my audience size grew with it. The largest speech I’ve given has had upwards of three hundred people in the crowd. But the truth here is that I never would have done well in that setting without the smaller, more private experience of the classroom.

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?

Much of what I speak about today revolves around my journey as a published author. As I alluded to in a previous question, I write contemporary romance novels, so my speaking engagements mostly focus on my writing experience and the road that led me to publication. Writing brings me so much joy, that it’s easy to want to talk about it with the world and encourage everyone to share their story.

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 next speaking opportunity is with the organization, PR Women in North America. As part of their leadership talk series, I’ve been invited to share my expertise on “Best Practices for Writers & Authors”. In addition, I have a few smaller scale events on the calendar with the local Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, and continuing education courses.

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

Whenever I’m asked to share my favorite quote, I always fall back on, “You’ll never regret being kind.” As noted in your question, this simple quote packs a punch as a life lesson. Because no matter how you look at it, it speaks the truth. As a parent, I strive to teach my children to be kind, generous, considerate individuals who value the lives of others. They’re very familiar with this quote — and I hope it stays with them for a lifetime.

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 — Understand Your Audience. To be an effective public speaker, it’s crucial that you understand the make-up of your audience. When presenting to a large group, always consider these six things before opening your mouth: size of the audience, setting in which you’re speaking, the type of audience before you, their interests, their prior knowledge, and their attitude toward your topic.

2 — Engage Your Audience. It’s important that you keep your audience engaged throughout the duration of your message, but it’s essential that you engage them from the beginning. Start your speech with any of these tried-and-true attention getters: tell a story, share a personal experience, relate your speech to a current event, show a compelling visual image, ask a provocative question, use a startling fact, spell out what’s at stake for your listeners, offer a humorous observation or anecdote, explain your own interest in the topic, or tell your listeners what the topic has to do with them.

3 — Be Aware of Your Non-Verbal Communication. You may have heard that our non-verbal communication is actually far more powerful than the words we speak. Our facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, posture… all of it — have more meaning than the messages we verbally share. To be an effective speaker, you must ensure that your non-verbals complement your verbal message.

4 — Use Humor Effectively. Listeners can only take so much intensity without requiring a release or a chance to catch their breath. As a speaker, if you do not provide a release, your audience will likely stop listening. If used correctly, humor can be an effective way to keep your audience at ease. One of the best places to deliver a serious point is right after people laugh. Use this to your advantage. As a rule of thumb, just two or three instances of humor in a 15–20-minute speech is ideal. Keep the humor short — it’s a means to an end, not the end itself.

5 — Practice. I’ve never agreed with the common saying, “practice makes perfect.” In speaking situations, we’re not going for perfect — we’re going for impactful. What worked in practice may not be ideal for the live audience. To be an effective speaker, you need to know how to read and adapt to your audience. You should be well prepared and rehearsed, but your message shouldn’t sound like a recording. Be flexible to your audience’s needs to really deliver a solid impact.

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 me, it really came down to intentionally placing myself outside my comfort zone. I learned early on that public speaking terrified me (I’ll never look at an Easter egg the same way again!), so I purposely enrolled in leadership programs, volunteered for speaking opportunities, and really used my instructional time in the classroom to capitalize on my growing skillset.

For anyone interested in trying to overcome a fear of public speaking, I would encourage you to step beyond your comfort zone. You may also consider smaller tactics like deep breathing, meditation, visualization, listening to calming music, drinking room temperature water, or muscle clenching. Any of these strategies help to calm nerves.

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 heart will always fall back on my love for the written word — and my passion for instilling truthful and accurate information into a reader’s hands. If I could inspire a movement that would bring peace to the greatest amount of people, I’d start with global literacy and access to credible — and accurate — information. We live in a world of constant media bombardment (advertisements, social media, television, radio, podcasts, blogs, magazines). No matter the platform, a significant number of individuals have access to obtain news and information in mere seconds — which leads to misinformation if the source behind it speaks little truth. Feuds erupt, differences of opinions spark violence, and the idealistic notion of peace becomes unattainable.

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!

Absolutely — beyond any doubt. Whenever I’m asked this question, my mind travels straight to Middle Earth. I’ve immersed myself in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien in the classroom. I’ve studied abroad and trapsed my way through the historic streets of Oxford University — absorbing the magic, experiencing the passion of his genius firsthand.

And because of that, I am a self-identified The Lord of the Rings nerd with an admiring love of two hobbits in particular. I simply adore Dominic Monaghan @thedominicmonaghan and Billy Boyd @boydbilly (Merry & Pippin) and can think of no other person(s) that I’d rather meet and partake in second breakfast with (or, just be a guest on their podcast, The Friendship Onion @thefriendshiponion).

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

I love connecting with readers and would be happy to continue the conversation on any of the platforms listed below:

Email: [email protected]

Author Website: https://authorjulienavickas.com/

Personal Blog: https://authorjulienavickas.com/blog/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julienavickas/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJulieNavickas

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JulieNavickas

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

YouTube (Just Write Julie coming soon!) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNUW07fs9AmSRN2o-yAjISg

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

Julie Navickas 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.

Natalie Sullivan Of Vegas Improv Power On 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Know what you don’t know. You are speaking to people for a reason — to share something you know that maybe they don’t. But it is just as powerful to stay open to the negative space of your knowledge, the gaps that are filled in by curiosity, and by what you can learn in and after your talk. Be authoritative, not authoritarian. I love when I am teaching improv and people have an experience I didn’t expect or haven’t seen before. I can learn from that and carry it into my next class.

Natalie Sullivan has taught, coached, and performed improvisational theatre for over 20 years. She trained in Chicago at The Second City, iO Chicago, and ComedySportz theatres, and performed and wrote sketch comedy as a Second City Touring Company cast member. In 2014, she relocated to Las Vegas, where she co-founded the Vegas Theatre Hub, developing their improv program curriculum and producing several shows. Over the pandemic, Natalie and her partner, Ryan Neufeld, began online improv training “for being a human” through their company Vegas Improv Power. Since they reopened their in-person classes, VIP coaches individuals and organizations in the art of Functional Improv™, which focuses on the communication aspect of improvisational theatre as a means to practice human connection in the real world. She lives in Las Vegas with Ryan and her two daughters, Lily and Jo.

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 in Denver, CO, but we moved to Florida when I was 8 years old, and just kept moving from there. Since we uprooted so often throughout my childhood (Colorado to Florida to The USVI to Mississippi to Alabama and back to Florida, a total of 9 schools), I don’t consider any place my hometown except for my eventual adult home of Chicago. With all the moving and changing of schools, I feel I developed a talent for connecting to new people quickly. I learned how to present myself as individual while also being able to chameleon myself into a setting appropriately. And that was a challenge, going from the culture of the Virgin Islands to a small town in Mississippi. I learned to feel comfortable with change.

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

I was cast in my first school play in kindergarten, mostly as a result of my being able to read and memorize well for my age. I knew from that first production (The Elves and the Shoemaker) that I loved acting onstage. I continued to pursue theatre through college, when, at the University of Florida, I took Improvisation of Social and Political Issues as a theatre elective. Wait, I can act without a script?? It was amazing. I knew immediately that this was what I want to do forever in some form. After graduation I moved to Chicago and began taking classes and auditioning all over town. After about two and half years of classes and shows, I finally landed my first professional improv job with the mainstage ensemble of ComedySportz Chicago.

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

I have taught all levels of performers and non-performers to use improv, either onstage or in everyday work and life. I am fascinated by why people take classes and how it affects them, and I am still constantly surprised. One of my students at my former theatre was a professional clown with the Cirque du Soleil. She always brought a unique perspective to class due to her life and performance experience. After 3 levels of improv class (24 weeks total), each class gave a show in our 50-seat-max space. At the 10-minute call for this student’s class performance, she crept to the crack in the stage flat and looked out — she knew well that if you could see them, they could see you, so she carefully stayed in the shadow. She gasped, retreated back to the green room, and nervously said, “There are so many people. I hope I can do this.” She was dead serious. I stepped out to look, and there were about 12 people scattered through the house. I marveled at how a professionally trained performer who played before literally a thousand people per night could be nervous about a dozen. I realized that a) she probably couldn’t see faces in a dark see of Cirque goers, and b) doing something new and challenging can always be scary, even to the most seasoned professional. Never assume someone’s inner experience.

I have had many inspiring and insanely talented improv coaches and teachers, it is hard to single out just one. However, one coach I had early in my performance years stands out for what he imparted me as an improviser. His name was Evan, and he was my first Harold team coach at iO Chicago. The Harold teams were house teams made up of students graduated from their training program, and we played shows 2–4 times per month on their mainstage, which had been graced by people like Chris Farley and Amy Poehler, so it could feel intimidating to us new kids. Evan taught us that if we followed this guideline, our shows would be successful: be simple, honest, focused, and supportive. If you could say your scene work was all four of those things, you could be proud of your work. And the side effect would also be great comedy and fun. I have long carried those four words with me into my shows, classes, and workshops, and they mean everything to me to this day.

Improv, or any performance career, is a challenge, mostly because so much of it is not your decision. You put yourself dangerously out on a limb to be either elevated or knocked to the ground sometimes daily. In the arts, you can feel like everything is out of your hands and rejection is around every corner. This is why I am so grateful for improv, where failure is embraced and practiced in a safe space. We say in class that “mistakes are gifts” which means that when you do or say something unexpected you are now on a path you did not plan, and therefore you can discover new worlds. In that way, what is meant to be finds you, and you can learn to let go of control and trust the unknown. That practice helps when life throws curveballs.

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 driven to share connection. I think people like to go about their plans with blinders on when there are opportunities to observe and connect everywhere. My two main messages as an improv coach are “be a human” and “know this about you.” The first is simply to be you rather than constantly rehearsing lines you think you are supposed to say. And the second, is to constantly observe your behavior in small, spontaneous interactions. Improv exercises create a lab in which you can know how to react when certain rules are applied. Do you reflexively say no? Do you look to help others? What can you learn about you every day?

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 proud to have facilitated several sessions of Improv for Caregivers through The Second City in partnership with the Cleveland Clinic. In these sessions, I worked with family caregivers of those with brain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons, and the like. We used improv exercises to help the caregivers better connect with their family members, with each other, and to practice self-care. It is the most rewarding work I have done as coach, to be a part of the most difficult facet of someone’s life and offer unique support. It reinforces to me that improv is a life skill, and that the work Ryan and I do with Vegas Improv Power is so much bigger than a stage.

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

A phrase I have developed and used over the years is, “There is no right or wrong, only weak or strong.” It is a way for me to tell my students and colleagues that we don’t simply make black and white, good or bad choices on stage or in life. Instead, each choice is simply a weak or strong way to support your bigger objective.

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.

Know what you know.

Be prepared. Have an inside book knowledge, as well as a malleable working knowledge of whatever you are presenting or discussing. Knowing what you know builds a strong base of confidence to put yourself out there in front of other people. As a scripted actor, I knew that having my lines memorized gave me the freedom to embrace the character; as an improviser, my practiced skills helped me feel ready to play. In front of a crowd, you must feel the steady assurance: “I know what I am talking about.”

2. Know what you don’t know.

You are speaking to people for a reason — to share something you know that maybe they don’t. But it is just as powerful to stay open to the negative space of your knowledge, the gaps that are filled in by curiosity, and by what you can learn in and after your talk. Be authoritative, not authoritarian. I love when I am teaching improv and people have an experience I didn’t expect or haven’t seen before. I can learn from that and carry it into my next class.

3. Care about what are saying.

Facts without feelings have a place, but public speaking and presentation isn’t that place. Engaging with an audience, class, or group is best done when you care passionately about what you present. Memory and learning are triggered by emotion. I have had many people over the years choose to take a class or workshop because they observed my passion for improv. Draw people in with your feeling, and they stay for the facts.

4. Comfort in discomfort.

People assume that good public speakers are comfortable onstage or in front of a crowd. That may be true — but great public speakers thrive in a healthy level of discomfort. Motivational “nerves” truly energize a great presenter. You must feel a little bit anxious to be driven to focus. I can feel tired, worried, or even under-prepared, but the adrenaline surge I feel in front of a crowd of people is always what pushes me out of a lukewarm frying pan and into the fire.

5. Connection.

When I coach scenic improv, a question I ask is, “Why are we seeing this? Why is this moment of these character’s lives important enough to be playing out in front of people?” If you aren’t speaking or presenting to connect to other humans, then…why? We share knowledge, information, and advice to connect, to share our common human experience.

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

Speaking is not simply a spotlight on you as a presenter, it is a collaborative exchange. I personally have always liked attention, so being onstage is not a fear for me. However, my experience as a presenter was deeply enriched when, as an improviser, I started to see public speaking as an exchange. If you are afraid to speak, try seeing your audience as the other half of a conversation, and that pressure may feel a bit less.

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 strongly in the power of “yes, and.” I think if more people, more often said, “yes, and” there would be a huge shift. Yes, and isn’t blind agreement. I am not suggesting you simply say yes to everything. That would be reckless and not in people’s best interest for sure. Yes, and means yes, I acknowledge your feelings and where you are coming from, and I want to add to it. NOT a counterpoint, not a “fix.” A true “and.” Yes, you are feeling angry about the issue we are on opposite sides of — and, I feel angry too for the opposite reasons. Let’s notice our feelings are the same, and then acknowledge the facts and see what is possible. So many of us are living in reflexive no, for defense or revenge, or whatever reasons. There is a better way on the other side of yes, and.

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!

Brene Brown. Her work on presence, shame, mindfulness, and her ability to communicate the science is amazing. My company, Vegas Improv Power hosted a four week Improv Book Club featuring her book The Gifts of Imperfection, which embodies improv so well. We embrace mistakes as a path to change.

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

I am on IG as @natalinasp and my company as @vegasimprovpower

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

Natalie Sullivan Of Vegas Improv Power On 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.

Lillee Jean: Five Things You Need To Build A Trusted And Beloved Brand

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Include people who believe in you and your brand as part of your team. The most important attributes someone can have with their team are care and trust.

As part of our series about how to create a trusted, believable, and beloved brand, I had the pleasure to interview Lillee Jean.

Lillee Jean is a well-known social media influencer who creates content on YouTube, Instagram, as well as owns her own corporation and two websites. Lillee Jean is a self-taught makeup artist, actress, model, director, writer, producer, and a strong advocate for climate change as well as pushing for stronger laws on online bullying. You can catch her web series Lillee Jean TALKS! Live on her YouTube, and her websites.

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

Even when I was very young, I enjoyed the arts. With a long line of artists in my family, it was just a natural fit for me to transition myself into the industry.

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?

Although not the funniest, it is nonetheless a lesson in life. Over time, I’ve learned that no one is less valuable than anyone else in making things function. Everyone is an intricate part of the team and is valuable in their own way.

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

We stand out from the rest because of our sense of family and openness with one another. The things that happen in our personal lives are just as much a part of who we are together as a team as what is going on in our professional lives. I believe that listening to each other, as a team and supporting each other as individuals, has enabled us to stand out from other companies in general.

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

We are! I am! Our team is creating a documentary that will include my past experiences about online bullying. As a result of the documentary and the press generated, we hope to influence federal laws protecting people against such attacks. I am excited to push this initiative forward and look forward to completing the filming by the Fall.

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?

While brand marketing is an image you want to portray, product marketing translates that vision into reality using advertising as the medium.

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?

Brands remain in people’s minds for the rest of their lives. A good marketing strategy, while important, is a temporary blip on your brand marketing timeline. In order to succeed in marketing and advertising, it is best to focus on the brand’s message first.

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.

Define what the brand will be. It is important to decide what image you want to portray to the public, and then build on that image;
After you have defined what your brand is, you need to consider how you will position yourself in the world. When people think of your brand, how do you want them to feel?
Include people who believe in you and your brand as part of your team. The most important attributes someone can have with their team are care and trust;
It is extremely important to communicate what your brand stands for. It pays off to take a few months to develop your brand strategy for positioning, even if it takes longer than you expected;
There is always a niche where a brand can excel and help the community grow and benefit from others. As a company builds a brand, building positive relationships with the public is among the most valuable things it can do. Helping others will not only help your brand awareness, but it will also benefit the communities that you go into.

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?

Microsoft would be the company. Microsoft has been taken to a whole new level of social responsibility by Bill Gates; companies in his position should be in awe of his commitment. As one of the founders of a philanthropic foundation that helps non-profit organizations with grants, he has also achieved the global goal of ensuring that more and more people are starting to have access to digital media and skills. The support of economic inclusion, along with social responsibility, is heartfelt, and one that I believe any large corporation would want to endorse.

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?

It is very different in many ways. The sales may come and go, but building a brand is a lifetime endeavor. It’s a reputation-builder, and one you should continue to nurture, cultivate, and advance.

What role does social media play in your branding efforts?

In terms of branding, social media is the king, as they say. In addition to staying relevant with the changing times, social media also provides us with the opportunity to reach so many people globally.

What advice would you give to other marketers or business leaders to thrive and avoid burnout?

In this digital age, you need to make sure you stay relevant. Take a breather if you are feeling drained, but you can’t really stay away from social media for too long, the world moves fast, and digital media even faster.

Ideally, I would like to see people working together to help each other prosper and be more productive towards each other.

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

Here’s a Disney girl here, so Grandmother Willow’s quote from Pocahontas has to be my favorite. She says, “Sometimes the right path is not the easiest path.” — the quote hits me every time.

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. 🙂

If I could talk to Lily Collins, that would be great. She’s so bright, full of life, and smart and creative. I would love to hear her take on how she deals with negativity, since she has received a lot of flack and criticism from people over the years.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilleejean/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGQF-GZ2oWfgb1NN3QtJJlA

Websites: https://www.lilleejeanbeauty.com and https://www.lilleejean.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/REALlilleejean/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/LilleeJean

Deviant Art: https://www.deviantart.com/lilleejean

Giphy: https://giphy.com/lilleejean

Tenor: https://tenor.com/official/lilleejean

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10479689/

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

Lillee Jean: 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: Shannon Bain On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

You Can’t Do It On Your Own: Whether it is hiring a coach, service provider, industry expert or team member, if you want to start a business seek out people who have done it before and can help you get there faster. There are plenty of people who would love to see you succeed and have the skills to help you.

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

Shannon is the Creative Director and Consultant of Shannon Bain Digital, a Brisbane-based agency that works with pupose-driven coaches and service-providers. The agency creates sales-driven websites, strategic marketing and time-saving systems for their clients.

Shannon’s purpose is to help people start, grow or scale their own profitable, location-independent business that enables them to live a life of freedom, personal growth and financial independence.

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”?

Sure! I grew up in a family of 3 girls and moved between the Gold Coast and rural Queensland before spending my teenage years in Darwin, Australia.

As a child I was ambitious and tried a lot of different things, but like most teenage girls I lost interest in most of my hobbies when it came to high school,. My twenties were challenging, trying to figure out what value I could bring to the world. Again, I tried many things before I found my purpose in helping others start and grow their businesses using using systems, web design and marketing.

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

There are two:

“You can have it all but you can’t do it all” — I feel this is profound because I truly believe we are the master of our own destiny and the CEO of our own life. This means we have full control of the outcomes we experience or at least if we perceive them to be positive or negative. You have the POWER to achieve anything. But, the truth is the only limitation we have is TIME. That means we need to spend it wisely, and as such if we try and DO everything and lose the ability to properly manage the investment of time, we are less likely to achieve the outcome we want. So you CAN have everything you desire, but you need to choose your path wisely.
“Don’t confuse movement with progress, you can run in one spot and never get anywhere” — this one hit home for me. Just like many other business owners, I can be guilty of pushing to go fast, blinded by the pursuit of my ambition. But just because we are doing ‘something’ doesn’t mean we are achieving or closer to our goals. I am much more thoughtful and strategic with my time and focus now and aligned to the quote above about ‘having it all’ but not ‘doing it all’.

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 Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. This book is all about being in the present, which is essentially all we have in life. Living in the past is the definition of depression, living in the future is where anxiety lies along with all the ‘what ifs’. I am still learning to practice this more, but becoming more aware of living in the present and being mindful that time is our most limited resource made a profound impact on me. I value time above anything else in life.

I have a method called ‘Idea to Income’ . It’s an 6 step process that can take anyone from indecision and lacking confidence, to a bulletproof mindset and making sales with their offer.

Firstly, the big problem is that people struggle to make decisions and taking action, which is due to lack of understanding around their purpose. Without clarity on the driving force and purpose in what you are doing, you will suffer from lack of confidence or worry about what others think too much. This will affect your ability to take action on any idea that you have.

It’s not easy by any means but the first step is to get clear on your the thing that you would love to do everyday, that the world needs and that people would pay you for. This is what you should build a business around.

It doesn’t matter if the idea/offer is already out there because of 3 reasons:

Your special ‘sauce’ or ‘method’ and personality will make it unique and/or better. People will invest in YOU, your process in combination and the outcome you are helping them achieve.
There are MORE than enough people out there to build a business around any idea that solves a problem people are facing (billions to be exact), there is a market for anyone to be successful.
If there are already people making sales/being successful with your idea it means it has proof of concept and there is a market for it. This is a good thing.

I can’t comment on patents and manufacturers as I primarily work with coaches and service-based businesses. But if you have a product, program or service idea that you haven’t taken action on, follow these steps:

DEVELOP A SUCCESS MINDSET: That means knowing your purpose, eliminating fear of judgement and building self confidence. Mindset plays a big part in our ability to make decisions and take action, so is just as important as any other strategic or skill-based factor.
DEFINE THE OFFER: Define the offer based on the transformation. Your offer will have the biggest impact on your success, along wth your ability to market it. Create a solution-based offer by mapping out where your ideal client is right now, where they want to be and then the 6–12 steps they need to take to get to that goal. You should then decide on your delivery vehicle, like how will you actulaly help your client/customer get to the outcome they are hoping for. This could be a product, ‘done for you’ service, coaching, consulting or something else, the choice is yours.
ATTRACT YOUR TARGET MARKET: Now you have your offer, you need to create a brand, then go out and find the congregation points of your audience and market yourself there. You should use a combination of inbound attraction-based method and outbound engagement methods to get closer to your audience and create awareness of the offer you have created.
NURTURE YOUR AUDIENCE: If you are a new kid on the block you cannot expect to make sales straight away, as you haven’t built what the marketing industry calls the ‘know, like and trust factor. Consider creating high value, free content and engaging with your target market regularly, always trying to understand and deliver what they want and need, not what you think they want.
MAKE REAL SALES: Once you have found and grown your audience, it is important to try and make sales, even BEFORE the offer is 100% ready. This allows you to essentially gain proof of concept, adapt your idea around the real needs of your client and get paid to create it. Real sales also help you build confidence, force you into action-taking mode and as sales are the life blood of any company, you must learn to love sales.
OPTIMISE YOUR OFFER: Business requires never ending consistent improvements and your offer requires constant assessment, refinement and optimisation based on the needs of your clients, the results, feedback and changing market conditions. The work doesn’t stop once you launch your offer, in fact it has only just begun. You can then market it to a wider audience.

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

Confidence Comes From Taking Action: Confidence and fear works in cycles, and the catalyst for breaking the cycle of fear and moving into a cycle of confidence building lies in taking action. When we decide that the fear of taking action and the ‘what if it fails’ or ‘what if they judge’ me concerns are less painful than the possibility of NOT achieving our goals, we can take action easier. When we take action, we gain experience, that allows us to develop new skills, when we have skills and the expeirience in something, we have confidence to do that thing, while also becoming more comfortable in taking other actions we may have once avoided too.
Simplicity Scales, Complexity Fails: When I started my business I wanted to do everything for everybody and thought I had to have super complex marekting funnels and offer every service under the sun just to ensure I didn’t lose a potential client. But this is far from the truth. One thing sells and scales better than 10 things.
Everything Doesn’t Have To Be Perfect: As I have elluded earlier in this article, inaction is the biggest dream-killer out there. Don’t wait for everythign to be perfect, messy action is better than no action at all. Even if you fail at something you will be 1000 steps ahead of someone who never tried at all.
Consistency Is The Key: The simple things done on a consistent basis is what will move the needle forward in your business. Think of it this way — a 1% improvement each day or week will get you to your goals faster than a 2 steps forward, 1 step back method.
You Can’t Do It On Your Own: Whether it is hiring a coach, service provider, industry expert or team member, if you want to start a business seek out people who have done it before and can help you get there faster. There are plenty of people who would love to see you succeed and have the skills to help you.

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?

Do market research
Look for competitors
Define the idea in detail

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 recommend finding someone who can provide a framework of steps to follow so you can reduce the time needed to test and launch your offer or brand and avoid costly mistakes or unnecessary failures.

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

You don’t need a lot of money to create and test a service or information product. Keep it lean and costs low while you are still trying to prove the concept.

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

My purpose is to help people start, grow or scale their own online business to enable them to live a life of freedom, personal growth and financial independence. I feel that the world is a better place when we are trading value on a community basis and living lives that we truly love.

I’ve said this in a previous article before, but I would like everyone to do ‘screen free Sunday’, where all devices are inaccessible and we all need to get out into nature for the day.

I would LOVE to meet Gary Vee to talk about the next generation of business models using blockchain technology and how we can harness the power of the creator economy.

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

Making Something From Nothing: Shannon Bain 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: Gabe Frank Of Arcade On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The…

The Future Is Now: Gabe Frank Of Arcade On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Tech Scene

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Learn to shrug off criticisms and focus on the positive. When you have a vision you believe in, to stay focused on achieving your goal, stay positive, and be determined to prove naysayers wrong.

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

Gabe Frank is CEO of Arcade, the most sophisticated DeFi NFT lending infrastructure. A third-generation pawnbroker, Gabe helped run the family business of 9 storefronts under the name Benny’s Pawn, founded in 1947 and eventually acquired in 2016. Through this real-world experience Gabe learned the importance of collateralized loans against physical assets and developed and ran an online sub-prime loan portfolio. An early NFT enthusiast and DeFi advocate, Gabe brings expertise from consumer and traditional financial markets to Arcade, having previously supported BitGo growing their digital asset custody (AUC) to over $1B and assisted BitGo Prime in building an institutional lending book to over $150m. Later, Gabe joined Curv where he introduced the first-of-its-kind institutional Metamask product built for DeFi hedge funds and fintechs.

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

Absolutely! Before I got into crypto, I was working with my dad right out of college as a third-generation pawnbroker in El Paso, Texas. My family owned a chain of storefront Pawn Shops that my grandfather originally started in 1947. I learned a lot working with my Dad and seeing first hand how to run an organization. Working there I made consumer loans, both collateralized and uncollateralized. And that’s where I learned lending and borrowing on non-fungible, physical assets. Then in 2016, we sold that business, and what had by then become a sizable online small dollar short-term lending portfolio. That’s when I got into crypto. I worked in crypto for three years, employed at two custodians, BitGo and Curve. During that time, I was also getting involved in DeFi and NFTs as a collector and realized it was a lot of fun. So, from collecting NFTs and being in the space, knowing all the big players and kind of the inner workings of the ecosystem, I realized that there was an infrastructure gap in Web3. I found a market fit to try and build something like what I envisioned as Arcade. So, I paired up with my co-founder, Robert, who was one of my clients at BitGo, and we started working on this kind of nights and weekends while we both had full time jobs, decided to raise a seed round and then we both dedicated ourselves to Arcade full time and haven’t looked back.

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

I started working at BitGO, during basically, the heart of the bear market, throughout 2018/2019 When the market was down 80–90% from the peak. During that time, I remember talking to one of my coworkers at the time, and saying, you know, tokens and all of these applications that had tokens were kind of dead, and I just kind of pondered about what the next big thing would be. And now suddenly, three years later we’re in a raging bull market, the space is attracting a lot of talent and capital, and things are kind of moving from Web 2 to Web 3, and now it’s all about tokens again, and what you can do with tokens and community owned protocols. So, we kind of went from thinking that this approach was the end, asking ‘why do you need a token for everything’, to now this is definitely the way the internet’s going to work at a basic level. Now, it’s community owned protocols, where users of the protocol can interact in the governance of it. And we’re starting to see applications being built that have billions of dollars being worked, very different from empty promises and white papers, like the ICO days in 2017, but real applications that are creating new jobs, new users, new businesses, and new ways to conduct business online.

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

The application we’re building is a decentralized application built on Ethereum. One of the cool things that NFTs and blockchain allow people to do is to prove ownership on scarce digital goods. When you think of music being downloaded every single time on the internet, well a song is sort of non-fungible in itself, but it can be downloaded as many times as possible without the artist/creator being fairly compensated, and losing its provenance. However, now with NFTs we have a mechanism that allows Internet assets to be scarce and to prove provenance of those assets and online IP. And so what we’re doing is allowing any, basically on-chain asset on Ethereum today to be able to be collateralized and to get liquidity from. So, you can start to see the world is going to get a lot more liquid in terms of what can I do with these digital assets and how can I maximize my spending and earning potential? Capital efficiency comes to mind. That’s a huge benefit to users in any market and this is a new asset class, so access to credit and new credit markets are going to open up and unlock a lot more ways to conduct finance in an on-chain, and entirely new way.

How do you think this might change the world?

As we start to move assets on-chain, and that means, you know, today, it’s digital art and collectibles that have basically disrupted the traditional collectible market. Now we’re seeing top name brands getting into the space and creating new forms of user value, with new and innovative ways to connect more to their user base. So the world starts to look a lot more composable. You have all these different applications working together, where value is captured by the user. So, you can think of any top internet company today, Facebook, Amazon, Google, all the value gets captured by the entity itself. But with Web3 protocols, now, the ownership is with the user base. The other part of this is the new creator economy. New ways for internet users to monetize their online IP. Everyone is a creator.

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

Blockchains are permissionless and immutable, so that allows basically any sort of financial activity to happen without safeguards in place, because the blockchain is a bunch of different nodes all over the world and once the code is released on chain it can’t be censored. They’re there forever. So we should always think about protecting the platform and protecting against illicit activity. We have these automatic, permissionless protocols, and they’re good because it opens up a new world of a native internet economy, but it’s always mindful to think about protecting against any sort of bad actors on the platform.

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

It was around early 2020, they call that “the defi summer”, when new defi tokens and applications started being created and market caps soaring into the billions. I started collecting a few digital art pieces and thought it was really fun. Then I realized, if I was having fun, then other people were going to have fun collecting this stuff too. I’d never been an art collector, but collecting in a way where I had ownership online was novel for me. That was kind of the breakthrough moment where I thought, you know, eventually there’s going to need to be a place where these assets could be collateralized. And so, tying that back to my pawn background, and also being in the crypto space for a few years, I just found a unique opportunity to build a financial platform that collateralized what I thought was a new asset class. And very similar to the art market, where art gets collateralized and the funds are used for capital efficiency, I thought the same thing could happen with NFT’s.

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

At this point, our application is very niche. You need crypto and a Web3 wallet., which is becoming more mainstream now, and NFTs, are kind of the mainstream breakout concept for crypto that is bringing a lot of new user into the space. NFTs are just technology, a mechanism that allows for unique ownership online, so as more brands start to come into the space and use this new technology, that’s really going to be the mainstream moment where it becomes ingrained in the culture. We’re starting to see it already with Addidas, Disney and movie producers, and all these different brands that are already coming to the space because they see that NFTs are disrupting the traditional collectible market. Then with Sotheby’s and Christie’s auctioning off digital art pieces as NFTs and taking ETH as payment, I think we’re starting to see mainstream, widespread adoption. It’s still niche thought, and Arcade currently caters to a small subset of crypto users, it’s going to become bigger as institutional money comes in, and the market cap and money tied up in these assets will become to big to ignore.

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

The crypto and NFT communities live on Twitter, on Discord, and on Telegram. So, the way we’re getting the word out is by having these channels open and having community managers, and myself and the team in those channels, talking to users, and anyone interested in using the platform. It’s all about staying close to the user. Being part of the community and staying closer to users around the application and getting people excited about it. This is much different than a lot of other non-blockchain applications.

Someone that had a big impact on my career is my former boss, Josh Schwartz, who hired me at Bitgo and then hired me at my second startup Curve, and gave me a lot of autonomy to learn the industry and get to know the players and the inner workings of the space. I have him to thank for quite a bit. Then, second, I’d have to say my Arcade co-founder, Robert. He was one of my clients at BitGo, he worked for a private equity firm that also had a mining facility and was one of my clients for custody. I think one of my best decisions was partnering with him to tackle the problems Arcade is focusing on. He’s been a great partner, who brought a ton of industry knowledge and a lot of valuable connections. We’ve been able to bring our heads together and build a great team around us, so probably one of my best decisions was bringing him on as my partner.

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

You get a lot of opportunities, just by virtue of being in the crypto space and having a seat at the table. We’re building a radically new form of finance, it’s a new form of computer science, game theory and math, it’s a whole bunch of different kind of topics that are incredibly interesting. And so, I think just spreading that and teaching other people by getting them involved. You know, I’ve spoken at my old university, UTEP in El Paso, Texas trying to educate the students about the industry and what they can do to be a part of these communities and learn the space. So, I’ve had a lot of fun doing that. It’s always fun to make a little bit of extra money and do it in a way that’s sort of cutting edge and new. A new space with endless opportunities is fun to teach people about.

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

Protect your cap table. Equity is expensive, work with VC’s that add value.
Focus on building community. Attention is scarce. Take time off. Conserve your energy and don’t lose sight of the bigger picture.
It’s inevitable to fail sometimes. Failures are necessary on the road to success, don;t get discouraged by them. Learn from them, adapt, and come out stronger on the other end.
Learn to shrug off criticisms and focus on the positive. When you have a vision you believe in, to stay focused on achieving your goal, stay positive, and be determined to prove naysayers wrong.
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 lot of people in the space have great ideas, and I think the most important thing you can do with a great idea is to inspire people to join you in building that idea into reality. I think the most important thing is finding the right team, and one of the most important aspects of any team is emotional intelligence. We built a team with people that are high in emotional intelligence and mature and can work together in an ambiguous and fast-moving environment. There’s a lot of brain power coming into Web 3 and DeFi from Web 2 who are used to a certain set of rules and guidelines and a very corporate mentality. But if you can inspire someone to be mature and genuine about what they’re doing, and not have to motivate somebody, but just have them invested and wanting to work on problems that are worthwhile, then you can build a team that inspires great output.

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

My Dad really ingrained in me the idea that being good to people and making people feel important is something you should always strive for. I think one of the best quotes that I learned from my Dad and from my grandpa as well was, “it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice”. And I think if you can make people understand their contributions, and what they have to say is important, then you’ve got a great base to build from with anyone. So that’s a good quote, but also I learned a lot from my CEO at Curve, and I don’t know if I have an actual quote from him, but I think just observing the way he treated his team and his company, in a very kind of very humble way, allowing people to have autonomy over what they were doing, and always listening was fundamental 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 🙂

Arcade is taking on a whitespace opportunity, and a subset of a very fast-growing market. We found a niche that very few teams were working in, but fast becoming more relevant now that NFTs are capturing billions in on-chain value and hitting mainstream adoption. The problem we went out to solve was very specific in the beginning, it was to enable price discovery and liquidity on NFTs. We’re now focusing on building infrastructure and Web3 primitives with a massive TAM. We’ve organized a rockstar team with unique skill sets and institutional backgrounds.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

You can find us on Twitter @arcade_xyz — and we also have a Discord. If you’re an NFT collector, we have a collector lounge. And we’re also all individually on Twitter as well. You can find me @Stanleycrup, I’ve got a golden Bored Ape Yacht Club, NFT avatar. And as always you can visit our website Arcade.xyz

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

The Future Is Now: Gabe Frank Of Arcade On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Author Peter Docker: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Be guided by stands: A position is against something — a negative reaction to something we don’t agree with. A stand is for something and generates more positive, sustainable energy.

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 Peter Docker, author of Leading From The Jumpseat.

Everyone is capable of accomplishing extraordinary things. If you share this belief, then Peter Docker’s new book was written for you. Leading from the Jumpseat is a metaphor for how we can choose to lead. In business and in life, handing over the reins to others is inevitable. Everyone will eventually leave their team, retire from being the CEO, or see their kids leave home and lead their own lives. Leading from the Jumpseat enables us to embrace this inevitability. Leading from the Jumpseat is a metaphor for how we can choose to lead. It’s about the journey we take so we can hand over control to others, who are then equipped to continue forward.

Peter Docker, co-author of Find Your Why (translated into more than 25 languages and with over 460,000 copies sold) and formerly a founding Igniter at Simon Sinek Inc., delivers the powerful message that leadership is about lifting people up and giving them the space they need so that, when the time is right, they can take the lead.

Drawing on his 25-year career in the Royal Air Force, and over 14 years spent partnering with businesses around the world, Peter’s goal is to inspire others to Lead from the Jumpseat. Jumpseat Leadership is a way of interacting with people that will enhance performance in any given situation — during normal business, times of crisis, and life in general. Becoming a Jumpseat Leader takes practice and Leading from the Jumpseat is your practical guide to handing over control.

Peter’s career has spanned from professional pilot to leading aviation training, teaching postgraduates at the United Kingdom’s Defence College, to flying the British prime minister around the world. Peter has also led multibillion-dollar international procurement projects and served as a crisis manager and former international negotiator for the UK government.

I feel incredibly fortunate to have traveled to over 90 countries, so far, and met so many people of different cultures, backgrounds and perspectives. This started when, in my early twenties, I became a pilot in the Royal Air Force, literally flying myself around the world. At the age of 25 I was one of the few pilots selected to fly the British prime minister.

I progressed well in the air force, being promoted to the senior rank of group captain (full colonel). Along the way I was given command of a squadron, led people during the 2003 Iraq war, taught leadership at the UK’s Defence College, negotiated with the Russians on behalf of NATO, and was an executive on the board of the largest military base in the UK. After almost 25 years’ service though, I felt I could contribute more in the commercial world. I joined a consultancy that taught leadership and transformed cultures in high-risk industries, such as oil & gas, construction and mining.

Another change came when I had the opportunity to work alongside Simon Sinek where I became one of his founding ‘Igniters’, presenting and facilitating around the world to help share his messages. During that time, I worked with some of the largest companies on the planet in almost every sector. The highlight was co-authoring the book, Find Your Why, with Simon and David Mead. In December 2019, I stepped away from Simon to concentrate more on bringing together everything I had learned over my different careers, and the lessons from working with leadership teams across the world. The result is my latest book, Leading From The Jumpseat — a ‘how-to’ guide to creating extraordinary opportunities by handing over control. I now present and teach the practices of Jumpseat Leadership to companies who want to use the techniques to accelerate their performance and ensure a sustainable future for their businesses.

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?

It was 9th April 1988, I was 25 years old, and I had the task of flying the British government’s foreign secretary, Sir Geoffrey Howe, from Singapore to Brunei. While I had my hands on the controls of the aircraft for this flight, the captain in overall charge was the very experienced pilot Squadron Leader Jimmy Jewell. This was an important diplomatic visit and our aircraft had been equipped with VIP seats, fine china and crystal glassware. The extra cabin crew on board would deliver a first-class service to Sir Geoffrey, his team, and around a dozen press reporters who had paid handsomely to have the opportunity to follow events as they happened.

It was vitally important on trips such as these for the crew to ensure the flight landed on time. We focused on what was known as a doors time — the time at which we would arrive at the destination, stop the aircraft alongside the red carpet, shut down the engines and open the passenger door. This was done to the second. Doors time was more than just professional pride. If we arrived early, we could embarrass the host nation whose welcoming party might not be ready. If we arrived late, it could be seen as a diplomatic slight. The crew worked hard behind the scenes to achieve doors time, taking satisfaction in making it smooth and seamless for the passengers.

On this occasion we were working harder than usual. Air traffic control had delayed our departure from Singapore, and now we were running late. I flew the approach to Brunei airport at a much higher speed than usual — something we practised frequently. However, for a number of reasons (all of which I explain in my book Leading from the Jumpseat), it didn’t work out quite as I had planned and, rather than arriving like a graceful swan, I was forced to touch down heavily, followed by some harsh braking. To my horror, all I could hear through the flight deck door was the sound of smashing china and glassware as the strain of the landing caused it to spill out of the storage lockers and onto the galley floor. I knew I’d messed-up. I’d turned our graceful swan into an ugly duckling. I felt hugely embarrassed.

There were several ways Jimmy Jewell could have reacted to this situation. As the captain of the aircraft, it was his reputation on the line. It would have been understandable for him to have admonished me and ensured I didn’t get my hands on the controls again for the rest of the trip. But he could see I was upset with myself. I had let him, and the rest of the crew, down. I knew the error I’d made — he didn’t need to make it worse by lecturing me. So, instead, he took it as an opportunity to build me back up. After Sir Geoffrey and the passengers had departed, he smiled and gave me some banter about how there was no doubting that we had landed. He then left me in control of the aircraft to move it to a remote parking spot while he went to speak to air traffic control about the next day’s departure. As he left the flight deck he turned and said, “Oh, and I’d like you to fly the aircraft tomorrow from here to Bahrain.”

When I look back at this event, I chuckle to myself. No one was hurt — it was just my ego that was dented. But importantly, what I learned is that, as a leader, whenever someone on our team makes a mistake, we have a choice. We can react in a way that has them spiral down, lose their confidence, and take a long time to recover. Or, we can choose to see the moment as an opportunity to help that person to learn and spiral up.

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?

There are many people who have helped me along the way, especially my wife Claire who, for over 33 years, has supported me during the highs and lows of this life adventure. However, there is another person who gave me a remarkable opportunity, a chap by the name of Simon Sinek.

Since the early part of 2012, I had got to know, and had been coaching, some of the members of Simon’s team. Simon was becoming well known following his famous TED talk, Start With Why, and the best-selling book by the same name. Later that year, Simon was passing through London and we arranged to meet, for the first time, at the Royal Air Force Club for breakfast. We sat down in the elegant dining room with views over Green Park, and we started talking. Indeed, we talked so much that we hardly ate anything. I’m sure we could have continued chatting, animatedly, for the rest of the day, but Simon had other commitments, so less than an hour later we had to bid each other farewell.

That first meeting was quite short, but what happened next was one of the greatest acts of trust I have ever experienced. Shortly afterwards, Simon asked me to work with him to deliver keynote talks on his behalf, helping to share his message of Start With Why around the world. He was entrusting me with his brand and lifting me up. What made this act of trust particularly remarkable was that he had never seen me deliver a talk. Indeed, the first time he saw me speak live was when we were on tour together in Australia in February 2017. I remember asking him then what caused him to extend the trust he’d shown five years earlier. “It just felt right”, he replied.

I’ll always be grateful for the opportunity Simon gave to me and the extraordinary experiences that have since unfolded.

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?

I formed my own company in 2007 and it has always been purpose led. I currently express that as ‘To lift others up and enable them to be extraordinary.’ It gives me the chills when I see people overcoming challenges and excelling in what they do — especially when it is in service of others. My focus is on those within my team, lifting them up so as they can grow, build their capability and feel fulfilled in what they do. My aim is that, when I eventually take a step back from business, there will be those in my team who will want to carry forward what we’ve created.

Many of us, including my own team, have been faced with uncertain and difficult times over the past couple of years. However, for me, one of the most extreme leadership situations was back in 2003.

I was in the middle of my career as an officer in the Royal Air Force and in February of 2003 I was deployed to the Middle East as the British Force Commander for air-refuelling operations during what became known as the Iraq War. I had under my care almost 200 pilots, aircrew, maintenance engineers and support personnel who looked towards me to lead them. There was much uncertainty and difficulty: a controversial political backdrop; lack of equipment; the complexity of a multinational coalition, and the challenge that came with the need to have my crews fly large, undefended, unarmed aircraft into a hostile environment.

Thankfully, most of us are not routinely faced with situations where our life is on the line, but in business, we may still sense our livelihood, status or reputation are threatened. When this occurs, we can use the same key practices of Jumpseat Leadership.

First, we need to identify the ‘signal’ from the ‘noise’. Often, and particularly during times of uncertainty, there is so much going on it’s very difficult to have everyone focused on the mission. There’s too much distraction. Our task as leaders is to identify what is truly important and have our team ‘tune-in’. The message needs to be simple and clear, and is most powerful when it is connected to those deeply important things that drive us — our ‘non-negotiables’ or stands. For my team during the Iraq War, our focus was on the lives of others who wore similar uniforms to us, and depended on us doing our job. If we failed, those people would die — it was that simple.

Secondly, we need to become adept at loading when we don’t know the answer. By the time we get to formally lead a team, we have likely been rewarded for being the one who knows the answer to the problems we face. It’s usually how we get promoted. Ironically, that conditioning becomes a limitation during times of uncertainty — times when we don’t know the answer. It can feel deeply uncomfortable, but if we are to progress, we need to overcome that feeling since it will otherwise hold us back. We need to let go of ego. The opportunity is to relate to our ‘not knowing’ as a strength. We do this by focusing on the context — providing clarity of what we need to accomplish and why it is important — and then holding the space for those on our team to step up and help learn our way through to the solution. Rather than being the one with the answer, we ask the important questions that help us tap into the collective genius of our team.

These — and the other practices of Jumpseat Leadership — can be learned.

Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?

No. I didn’t want to let my people down. The motivation and drive came from the commitment I had made to others — those people who were relying on me, and my team, to do our job.

Our drive to continue forward is most powerful when it comes from the love for something, rather than the fear of something.

What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?

To maintain clarity around our commitment, to frame the important questions with the humility to listen, and to nurture a sense of belonging for the team.

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?

During uncertain times, everyone responds better — and has greater resiliency — when they feel they belong. This sense of belonging starts with providing clarity around what we’re working together to achieve, the reason it matters, and enabling people to connect with how they can contribute. All of this can be captured under the heading of ‘Caring’. When, as a leader, we show that we care, not only for what we’re trying to achieve, but importantly, for each of our people, they will step up and contribute more.

As part of this, it falls to anyone who chooses to lead, to be the guardian of hope. Hope is an unshakeable belief that there will be ‘an after’. Hope is not dependent on a timescale to exist and, while it’s grounded in our current reality and circumstances, we maintain our focus on what can be.

What is the best way to communicate difficult news to one’s team and customers?

Having difficult conversations is a skill that takes practise. Taking the time beforehand to think through the different scenarios of how people might react is essential if we care about the outcome and our relationship with others. Even then, we can’t always predict what will happen — people and human relationships are complex, and what works well on one occasion, may not on another.

Despite this, the outcome is always better if we are guided by our stands — those things that are deeply important to us as an individual or organization. When we act consistently with our stands, it builds trust and respect — even if the other party doesn’t agree with the actions we’ve taken.

Immediately before the start of the 2003 Iraq war, I needed to tell my people that insufficient supplies meant that not everyone could have the personal equipment that would protect them from a biological or chemical attack. I told them directly, gave the context, explained who would have priority and why, and what I would do to protect those without the necessary kit. While everyone may not have been happy, they could understand the decision I had taken was based on my stands. Trust and mutual respect were maintained, and they quickly got back to being focused on our mission.

How can a leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?

The future is always unpredictable, and we never have 100% of the information we think we need. Firstly, any plan is better than no plan. The best plans are those that are formed around key guiding principles, connected to those things that are deeply important to us (our stands), and are focused on an outcome that we are personally committed to achieve. How we get there is less important. It’s like running up a mountain: the way to do it is not to stand at the bottom looking up at the daunting task ahead of us. Instead, we need to visualize what it looks and feels like to be standing at the top of the mountain as if we have already accomplished the task. An emotional connection is vital: the more we can viscerally connect to that moment of completion, the more powerful the drive to get there will be. What path we will have taken to get there becomes less important. As leaders, our job is to share that visualization with those on our team since, with that clear picture in front of them, they can then figure out the path we need to take.

It’s like being a parent: when our first child is born we might have little idea of how we’re going to overcome all the challenges of raising them, but we have absolute commitment to seeing them thriving and what that might look like. As our son or daughter grows, we learn to ask the important questions of them, listen as they figure out what’s important to them, and together we will learn our way through to what we’re all trying to achieve — a happy and thriving adult.

Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?

Nurture a sense of belonging for our people. Together we will find a way through.

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?

During difficult times when we sense our livelihood, status or reputation is on the line, a common mistake I’ve seen is for senior leaders to tighten their grip of control. That’s a sign that fear is kicking in, often showing up as ego. Unfortunately, when we do this, it leads to people on our team becoming disengaged and feeling unempowered, waiting to be told what to do rather than stepping up to be part of the solution. As leaders our focus should be on the context of what we’re trying to achieve, and support our people so as they have what they need to help find the answers.
With fear at the helm, there is often a tendency for decisions to be made that are increasingly focused on the short term. This can show up, for example, as letting key people go based almost entirely on financial imperatives. While difficult decisions may need to be taken, it’s important to look ‘beyond the immediate hill’ and ensure that any choices we take now don’t jeopardize our ability to make the most of opportunities when there is an upturn in the marketplace. It is not always possible, for example, to re-hire skilled people at short notice.
When the pressure is on, it’s easy for senior leaders to become so entrenched in detail (often disempowering others by micro-managing), that they lose sight of the big picture — the reason the business exists in the first place. If senior leaders aren’t keeping people connected to the purpose of the organization, it’s unlikely that anyone else will be. That’s when the soul of the team diminishes and, along with it, creativity and innovation. Once again, a key role for the senior in a company is to keep the context of the business alive. Context is what gives meaning to the work we do.
Another symptom of fear becoming the driver in difficult times is when senior leadership become dogmatic in their approach. In other words, they stick rigidly to what they know, staying in their comfort zone of control. This approach closes down the likelihood of fresh ideas emerging that could help overcome the problems they face. We can guard against this by reminding ourselves to stay curious and, in so doing, we will foster the humility we need to prevent dogma becoming an issue.

Practice Jumpseat Leadership: be clear on the commitments we’re making and the context for the work we do as a business; inoculate against ego by choosing humble confidence to drive us — confident in our ability and resolute in where we’re heading, while having the humility to listen and tap into the collective genius of our team; and nurture a sense of belonging in our people by showing that we care for them as individuals and giving them the framework and opportunity to play their part in finding a way forward.

Be guided by stands: A position is against something — a negative reaction to something we don’t agree with. A stand is for something and generates more positive, sustainable energy.
Find strength in “not knowing”: When we embrace leading when we don’t know the answer to the challenges we face, our progress is no longer limited by our own individual knowledge. We begin to relish the opportunity of the next unsolved challenge because we’re confident we can lead our team to figure it out.
Choose integrity over authenticity: When we are being ourselves, one could say we’re being authentic. As leaders we need to be aware of how our reactions to situations can affect others, and apply a filter. That filter is integrity.
Be a guardian of hope: Hope is a powerful force — an enduring belief that there will be an “after”, no matter how dire our current situation. Hope can be difficult to quantify, although we all know when we have it, as sure as we know when we don’t.
Nurture a sense of belonging: When people choose to take responsibility for their work and actions, we call that ownership. People will make this choice, and contribute more, when they experience a sense of belonging.

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

“Whether you believe you can or you can’t, you’re right.” This quote from Henry Ford has nudged me onward whenever I’ve had doubts about stepping into the unknown.

How can our readers further follow your work?

I can be found via my website, www.leadingfromthejumpseat.com,

Click the link below to get your copy of, Leading from the Jumpseat: How to Create Extraordinary Opportunity by Handing Over Control https://smarturl.it/gypw4g

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Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!

Author Peter Docker: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.