In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the Chief Executive Officer of RealDefense, Gary Guseinov.RealDefense is a consumer and privacy software development company that sells its products to customers directly as well as licenses its technology to companies in the antivirus, cyber security, hardware, or media sectors. Due to the licensing of the technology, consumers are most likely using RealDefense technology without knowing it. These technologies are typically already installed into a computer before the consumer buys it. RealDefense was created in 2017 as a vehicle to acquire smaller companies within the spectrum. They focus on entities that are divestitures of larger businesses and will keep the staff as well as the technology to then grow it into something better. Gary advises that creating relationships to get into his type of business starts with maintaining the least amount of barrier to entry possible. This can be done by creating offers that are easy to understand and creating a contractual agreement that is easy to cancel. Gary explains that many cyber security software applications are successful at keeping attacks from happening. The most common attack is from attachment emails. The best way to avoid this is to not open attachments from emails one is not familiar with. Other good practices Gary recommends are maintaining antivirus software and VPN access as well as terminating usernames and passwords for staff that has been let go so a breach cannot occur through their account.&nbsp;Key Points from the Episode:What RealDefense is&nbsp;Where does RealDefense fit in for a consumerThe inception of RealDefense&nbsp;Advice from Gary about how to pursue relationships&nbsp;Best practices for cyber security&nbsp;About Gary Guseinov:Gary Guseinov is an entrepreneur and investor who founded his first company straight out of college. Currently, Gary is CEO of RealDefense (a cybersecurity company) and also Managing Director of International Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on emerging technologies in cybersecurity, big data analytics, and marketing automation. He is also a board advisor to 8 startups, and a long-time mentor at the venerable venture capital accelerator 500 Startups. Previously, Gary also served as the CEO and Chairman of the Board of CyberDefender, which he took public in 2010 (NASDAQ: CYDE), and he has co-founded several startups.Want to learn more? Check out the RealDefense website at https://www.realdefen.se/home/Check out RealDefense on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/realdefenseglobal/Check out Gary Guseinov on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyguseinov/Check out Gary Guseinov on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/gary.guseinovDon’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:️&nbsp; We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? I’ve got high-level intros for you. Learn more here. What is your #1 Lead Generation BLOCKER? <a...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the Founder of R Public Relations Firm, Emily Bergh.R Public Relations Firm works to help clients get their name out in the public and has taken on clients in the lifestyle, hospitality, and business sectors to name a few. They also have a technology side to the business that helps startup technology brands launch as well as helping already established technology brands with their public relations. Journalism is an important skill set within public relations because you are writing and oftentimes pitching your clients if media coverage is the goal. If a public relations firm does not have much journalism experience, that may be a nonstarter because journalism is a major aspect of what it takes to be a successful public relations firm. Emily explains a recent non-profit client they worked with, Gentle Barn, they had managed to get them into the New York Times and Martha Stewart’s magazine. They worked with Carey Bringle to get voted as the best in Tennessee through a reader's poll. They also worked with a technology company, Pro-Fit X, to secure press and high-profile media outlets as well as create relationships with sports figures to help with licensing. Emily explains that using public relations principles to help broaden her pull as a public relations firm has proved to be useful as they are putting themselves out there and it helps them better understand their clients.&nbsp;Key Points from the Episode:What R Public Relations Firm does&nbsp;The importance of journalism in public relationsClients Emily has worked with and the outcomes&nbsp;Using public relations practices for a public relations firmAbout Emily Bergh:Emily has garnered more than ten years of marketing and public relations experience through owning her own business, R Public Relations Firm, and also through her previous experience running her award-winning website Defining Delicious and working for the Jason Dady Restaurant Group in San Antonio, Bread &amp; Butter Public Relations in Austin, and Bay Bird Inc in San Diego. While helping businesses and brands flourish is Emily’s passion — with degrees in Psychology and Philosophy and a Master’s in Social Work — empowering her clients and her employees is what drives her. Emily can proudly say that each client she signs is one she admires and knows is helping the world become a better place. Emily’s priority in life is enjoying time with her husband Colter and their five children (no, that was not a typo) whom she calls “her peaches,” while simultaneously exploring the country and seeking the next client for R Public Relations. As the helm of R PR, Emily’s philosophy on life and lifestyle are one and the same: words have power, make them move mountains!&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out the R Public Relations Firm website at https://rprfirm.com/Check out R Public Relations Firm on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/r-public-relations-firm/Check out&nbsp; Emily Bergh on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-reynolds-bergh-rprfirm/Check out R Public Relations Firm on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rprfirmCheck out R Public Relations Firm on Instagram at Https://Instagram.Com/rprfirmCheck out R Public...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the Co-Founder and Co-Creator of Wealth With No Regrets and Director of the Donor Motivation Program Georgia, Barry Spencer.Wealth With No Regrets is helping show business owners, entrepreneurs, CEOS, and executives how to give more generously before and after retirement to make their money work for them and the things that matter to them most. Barry explains that individuals are not generating the income they could generate, investing to build confidence, and reduce their taxes, and Wealth With No Regrets helps these individuals navigate through those issues. Barry states there are many avenues in which individuals such be focusing on their taxes within a business through QBI deductions and 401k plans for staff and the business. Properly maintaining and delegating taxes allows for more income to be brought in over time. Barry explains that it is important to know what an individual is building their business for whether to sell it in a few years or if they plan to stick with the business until retirement because it determines how one will handle their income. Each avenue for the building has different aspects that need to be taken into account so the correct amount of money is obtained to be stable in one's lifestyle. Barry states that leaving a business to a family member is not always the best case because other generations will not appreciate and value it as much as the creator of a business does. Barry explains that no regrets come from the experience he had dealing with his father's passing. Through this, he has made it his job to help others live their lives to the fullest with no regrets. A charitable trust allows for business owners to avoid the extra taxes by taking assets, selling them within the trust, diversifying the assets, as well as getting a tax deduction from it.&nbsp;Key Points from the Episode:What Wealth With No Regrets is and does&nbsp;Taxes&nbsp;Reasons for building a businessNo Regrets&nbsp;Charitable trusts&nbsp;About Barry Spencer:Barry is the Co-Creator of Wealth With No Regrets, where they help individuals donate to charities of their choice, so they can save hundreds of thousands (sometimes millions of dollars) on tax while supporting causes they care about and cementing a meaningful legacy.Barry has written and contributed to 4 books, including a book with Kevin Harrington - an original 'shark' on the hit TV Show "Shark Tank"!&nbsp;Barry works with successful business owners, executives, high-level managers, and women on their own. Professionals from various industries tend to be high-income earners who have done a good job saving for the future through their 401k/IRA accounts and even investment accounts but rarely have a strategy for tax optimization, investment confidence, and income security allowing them to continue their lifestyle with confidence.&nbsp;As a Keynote speaker Barry has addressed charity professionals, board members, and executives, and attorneys, CPAs, financial advisors, and CFPs sharing insights about the importance and details of integrated planning, investing, strategic charitable giving and retirement income strategies.As the CEO and co-creator of Wealth With No Regrets®, he advises business owners, executives, and professionals on how to redirect tax dollars to charity, secure retirement income, invest with more confidence, and create a living legacy.As an advisor, speaker, author and financial educator Barry often share experiences and stories from competing as a four-time Ironman athlete and elite...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the President and CEO of Capitalogix, Howard Getson.Capitalogix is an artificial intelligence or data science company that is also known for its hedge fund that is run by autonomous AI. AI is becoming more intelligent every day, it used to be proficient in things that only had definitive results or guidelines, such as chess. Now, AI is able to read things such as mammogram scans better than humans based on hundreds of thousands of images it has seen because it does not have the same functions and distractions as humans do. Automation and machines have been taking on the biggest constraints of consumers for many years, such as a machine reaping and sowing, so a farmer does not have to do it by hand or a GPS telling someone where to go so they do not get lost or have to use a map. Howard explains AI is useful in many standard practices because it allows for things to get done and decisions to get made, without distractions or stressors getting involved such as emotions. AI also has the application of recognizing opportunities anytime which humans cannot do if they are focused on different things at different times. Howard explains the hedge fund is more like a joint venture with financial partners to create financial products for them that also has a purpose. To learn more about Capitalogix you can go to the website and click learn more, sign up for the newsletter, or text AI to 972-992-1100 for an AI model pdf.&nbsp;Key Points from the Episode:What Capitalogix does&nbsp;Artificial Intelligence and its applicationsEngagement with Capitalogix&nbsp;About Capitalogix:Their MissionThey are focused on purposeful innovation and committed to being dynamic and adaptive as the world around us changes. This creates a lasting legacy for their clients and the wealth that matters.Their PhilosophyThings work until they do not. To keep your edge today, you have to continuously find new ones. They are unrelentingly focused on the long-term from an investment and a business perspective. They believe the highest probability of generating value comes from creating our own future and staying on the apex of the innovation curve.Their Core ValuesCreate BreakthroughsThe engine for their progress and one of their major differentiators is their refusal to rest on their laurels. They are constantly raising the standard in every aspect of their business. What they want is often beyond their current capabilities – and they are comfortable being uncomfortable as they strive to reach new pinnacles.Constant Unrelenting ProgressThe world is constantly changing. Instead of waiting for the world to make them obsolete, they strive to stay ahead. They see a bigger picture and then find a way to build it. There is always a best next step – and they are going to find it.Veritas et FidelitasHonesty and loyalty must come first in business. They are honest with themselves, with each other, and with their clients. They are good corporate citizens and strive to do good.Learn and GrowTo grow the company, you first have to grow your people. Their culture is one of meritocracy, in which accountability, responsibility, and performance are minimum standards. They enable growth and learning wherever and whenever possible.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out the Capitalogix website at https://capitalogix.com/Check out Capitalogix on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/capitalogix/Check out Howard...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the Founder and CEO of Bottomless Branding, Ben Marcoux.Ben explains bottomless branding as a contrarian approach to branding by connecting to people and making relationships. Building and maintaining relationships within the business sector can not only help with the existing clients but can also bring in new clients through the way of referrals. Ben states that he makes this happen by being a bright spot in people's day by making them smile and laugh, as well as being good at the work he does. Fame work is an idea that Ben has been working on and codifying his entire life but mostly for the past five years. Ben explains that there are four main problems for service professionals that include mindset, lead gen, positioning, and sales. If an individual's mindset is not right, it could lead them to self-sabotage their business even in the most subtle ways. The four letters in fame coincide with each problem service professionals face. The F is for a foundation to solve mindset issues. The A is for an attentive audience to solve lead gen problems. The M is for money-making signature systems to solve positioning issues. The E is for emotional enrollment to fix any sales problems. Ben explains that the best way that he deals with lead gen is by creating deep connections with a few individuals and from there he is introduced to more and more people. He explains that he has also done lead gen in an approach of messaging which has not yielded good results in regard to stats for the business or leads generated. Trying to obtain leads in this way is not good for a business and can also sour relationships with present or potential clients, leaving an individual worse off from where they started.&nbsp;Key Points from the Episode:What Ben defines bottomless branding asFAME-WORKLead genAbout Ben Marcoux:Hi, my name’s Ben, and I’m an ad-aholic. I’m a jazz saxophone player turned freelance media buyer, copywriter, and strategist. I officially hung my shingle in 2015. And since then I’ve spent thousands of hours studying history’s (and today’s) most lucrative ads. My copywriting grossed multiple 7 or 8 figures of revenue (who really knows). And I’ve profitably managed $10,000,000+ of ad spend for my own businesses and for clients, generating over 250,000 leads and hundreds of millions of dollars in sales across many verticals. My “day job” is making business owners big bucks by creating simple scalable advertising systems, writing direct response sales copy, driving targeted traffic to high-integrity offers, and using data, analytics, and relentless follow-up to maximize the ROI of these funnels. Now I help other B2B experts effortlessly close premium clients by using “The FAME-WORK” to package their expertise into a Money Making Signature System and position themselves as the go-to authority in their market.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out the Bottomless Branding website at https://bottomlessbranding.com/Check out Bottomless Branding on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/bottomless-branding/Check out Ben Marcoux on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-marcoux/Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:️&nbsp; We are actively booking guests for our The Thoughtful Entrepreneur.<a href="https://upmyinfluence.com/guest" rel="noopener...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to the founder of Blueprint CFO, Jim Downes.Blueprint CFO is an accounting firm. They focus on future based accounting that will allow their clients to make better decisions based on information typically left out by normal accounting firms. They take the financial data and make a plan to help their clients better approach their business ventures. Jim explains that cash is the end goal but things like bills, high inventory, and overtime expenditures are important to focus on as they can drive how cash flow ends up in a specific way.&nbsp;Jim shares that running a business is similar to flying an airplane, without proper instrumentation, people may be less apt to go onto that airplane. The analogy works with running a business, as data is needed to tell business owners what are successful practices or not. Having a successful business is something to be celebrated as many businesses struggle to make it through the first year. However, relying on gut instinct for the accounting aspect can be a hindrance as the data can help further the growth of a business in crucial ways.&nbsp;Jim shares that his engagement with businesses includes strategic planning. They use practices such as charts and graphs to better illustrate the client's financial trends, rather than using only balance sheets or income statements. Strategic planning allows for goals to be set, as well as the flexibility to revisit those goals and adjust them where it is needed to better the financial future of a business. Jim shares that growth potential is a key component among those that Blueprint CFO works with.&nbsp;Jim shares that he started as a CPA and a personal experience led him to venture outward from the typical job responsibilities of a CPA. Through his time of learning, he earned the entrepreneur of the year award in Michigan in 2001. Jim explains that business owners should focus more on a profitability roadmap rather than a revenue roadmap. This can show where money is going and how to instill better financial practices, in contrast to only focusing on the revenue that is brought in each month. Blueprint CFO provides case studies on past clients to provide evidence for their accounting work. Prospective clients can go to the Blueprint CFO website to find these case studies alongside information on how to contact them about a possible partnership.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out the Blueprint CFO website at https://blueprintcfo.com/.Check out Blueprint CFO on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/blueprintcfo/.Check out Jim Downes on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/6criticalfunctions/.Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.&nbsp;

1216 - Leading A Life of Joy with Amy Joy Coaching's Amy Joy

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks with the CEO and president of Shift/Co and Share On Purpose, Terri Maxwell.Share On Purpose is a business that helps create and or invest in companies that are making a noticeable impact in the world. Terri explains that she wanted to do more than simply grow businesses. There is an impact to be made on the world through business and she is exploring how to do so with Share On Purpose. Realizing this after an epiphany, Terri decided that focusing on purposeful companies was more important than making money through companies that do not have the goal of bettering the world with their products.&nbsp;Times have changed in regard to how consumers view businesses and their practices. In the past, the impact a company had on the world was an afterthought for consumers. However, millennials and Gen Z are becoming more aware of the need for businesses to create a positive impact on the world. This means for a company to reach this audience, they must have a purpose within their company to better the world. Terri explains that the world is changing from a profit-based focus to a global improvement focus. Employees are also wanting a change from their normal jobs to one that gives them purpose. Terri speaks about giving employees this purpose and it comes back around in the form of good retention.&nbsp;Shift/Co uses cultivation through ideas as a way to accelerate business ventures that make the world better. Shift/Co was created when Terri had a realization brought on by positive feedback by clients about her conscious business growth platform. Terri speaks about how community is extremely valuable and important at Shift/Co. Through providing free events, it can help prospective members become comfortable around the people they could be working with in the future. Shift/Co does not measure success based on company revenue. They base success on the percentage of clients that have doubled or tripled their revenue in a span of one to two years.&nbsp;Terri explains that the conscious business growth platform is included in the membership as well as it being tailored personally to each specific client. The coaching provided by Shift/Co consists of a pathway coach and a phase coach. With no long term commitment, Shift/Co maintains a 95.2% monthly retention rate. Terri explains that once a geologically specific market reaches 100 members, the members can choose a nonprofit to do work for and Shift/Co will match what they do.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out the Shift/Co website at https://shiftco.global/.Check out the Share On Purpose website at https://shareonpurpose.com/.Check out Shift/Co on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/shift-co-org/.Check out Share On Purpose on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/share-on-purpose/.Check out Terri Maxwell on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/terrifmaxwell/.Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the President of Rapport International, Wendy Pease.Rapport International translates with high quality between languages and they cover everything from start to finish for the clients they work with, including all translatable assets. Rapport International was founded over 30 years ago, and 17 years ago, Wendy helped to develop the systems that have kept their business at the forefront of this industry.&nbsp;Wendy and her team help businesses grow and avoid liability, especially with bad translation services. Rapport International takes pride in the quality of services they provide. Everything from accuracy to SEO is taken into account when they work with clients to translate their content. Wendy shares that many translation companies make the mistake of using machine translation that’s only edited and tweaked later by human efforts. The biggest problem with this is that machines don’t understand the human elements and nuances of a language – which makes for clunky translation.&nbsp;Wendy believes that machines will never take over high-quality translation needs. Anything that needs exact precision of communication or legal considerations can’t afford the liability of a poor translation. Beyond that, new words are added to languages all the time. Getting your meaning across with absolute clarity means needing a professional translator. Some words don’t even have direct translations into different languages – again, machine translations can’t keep up. If you’re going to need translations for your business, don’t make the mistake of relying on machine translation software.&nbsp;Josh and Wendy explore how attentive marketers are in their native language – and if you need translations, you need to put in the extra investment in order to achieve that same clarity of messaging, no matter what language demographic you need to target.&nbsp;According to Rapport Translations’ website, you’re not just selecting a language when you translate your marketing and business materials, you're connecting with people. As Wendy stressed, you need to do it through clear communications. Connecting with your audience on an emotional level requires an intimate and nuanced form of messaging.&nbsp;Rapport Translations’ proven process of people-focused translations helps you find the best solution for your multilingual business communications strategies. Their work can connect you with the people you need to communicate with, locally or globally, no matter the language.Want to learn more? Check out Rapport International’s website at https://www.rapporttranslations.com/.&nbsp;Want to contact someone from the Rapport Translations team? Contact them at https://www.rapporttranslations.com/contact-us.&nbsp;Check out Rapport International on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/rapport-international-sudbury-ma/.&nbsp;Check out Wendy’s book, The Language of Global Marketing: Translate Your Domestic Strategies into International Sales and Profits on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Language-Global-Marketing-Strategies-International/dp/1736561405.&nbsp;Check out Wendy Pease on LinkedIn at <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to the founder and CEO of Innovation Discovery, Carlo Rivis.&nbsp;Innovation Discovery is a strategy think tank that works with two pillars. They help founders become the best versions of themselves through skills and attitude/mindset work, and they help to innovate technology roadmaps to bring new tech to the market. If you don’t innovate and future proof today, you won’t make it in the next few years, Carlo shares.&nbsp;Josh and Carol explore the fact that there’s a serious amount of misinformation in the tech space today. It’s harder now than ever to even research tech solutions, especially as an entrepreneur. Founders are having to sort through dozens of tech options and generally don’t end up happy with the results. This is why there is a need for a better vertical search engines that can accurately research these tools.&nbsp;Innovation Discovery offers a database of these tools and tech options to take the pain and trial and error out of finding tech suites for your company. Carlo and his team take the time to research exactly what their client is looking for, with the background understanding to get the most accurate and specific tools required for business growth. Instead of using keywords, Innovation Discovery encourages its clients to write out exactly what they need so that they can find the absolute best tech solutions and tools out there. Innovation Discovery’s tools work whether you’re a high-performance, advanced company with 1,000 or more employees, or if you’re a start-up looking to get a competitive edge through targeting excellent tech solutions.&nbsp;If you’re interested in Carlo’s work at Innovation Discovery, check out their website and sign up free to try out their search tool. It will take 24 hours for them to get back to you with results, but access to the user interface is granted instantly.According to their website, Innovation Discovery is a unique boutique with the aim to boost and diffuse the most advanced technologies and design new disruptive innovations. The company is composed of a team of consultants who develop strategies for international markets, manage teams in different countries, and develop opportunities for innovative ideas. Innovation Discovery wants to provide users with the opportunity to discover how innovations can be incorporated into users' daily lives. The company’s mission is to connect the world’s innovations to make them more diffused and successful. When users join Innovation Discovery, they gain access to innovations, technologies, innovative talents, dealers, installers, consultants, joint venture partners, testers, incredible skills, updates, and insights.Want to learn more? Check out Innovation Discovery’s website at https://innovation-discovery.com/.&nbsp;Check out Innovation Discovery at https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovationdiscovery/.&nbsp;Check out Carlo Rivis on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlorivis/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence: We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE. Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with Ericka James.&nbsp;Ericka James helps her clients get clear about what they were set out to do, and then she helps them build extraordinary things. She does this through her speaking and training business, The Convergence Center, through her women’s business network called The Alliance, and through hosting her show.&nbsp;Ericka began as a keynote speaker and in corporate work and training. She shares that while she loved being on stage and inspiring others, she also had a passion and skill for helping people access their greatness and manifest. Twenty-one years ago, Ericka realize she had a passion for professional coaching. She was a single mother and needed to figure out a way to bring the information online. She has built online courses and training options ever since. Now, she builds community and pours herself into her members and the groups she has built.&nbsp;Ericka explains that she starts where other coaches finish. First, she helps her clients figure out what’s in their head, heart, and their body. By the time people find Ericka, they usually already have a vision they’ve been working on. Their work focuses on scaling and bolstering these visions, especially in business.&nbsp;Ericka also shares that while running a mentor group two years ago, she had a private session with someone discovering their vision. She hadn’t worked in quite some time on her business and her savings account was empty. Ericka shares that in a year and a half, this client was making 7-figures. In a short time, she went from broke to successful because she lived up to her own vision and potential.&nbsp;According to her website, The Ericka James Show: Life on Purpose is not just another talk show. It’s a process. It is an experience designed to lead you right into living your destiny and fulfilling your life’s purpose. This is a show for those who know they were created for more. If you believe that there is something more in you to share with the world, this show is for you! Along with sharing her gift of prophecy, Ericka brings her depth of wisdom to bring solutions and guidance to help viewers understand why they were created and how to manifest their purpose. In addition to Ericka, the show’s guests share their biggest lessons, mistakes, insights, advice, secrets, and internal shifts they had to make along the way to create, sustain and grow their success. The best life is a life lived on purpose and this show will help the audience know they can do it.Check out The Ericka James Show: Life on Purpose at https://watch.erickajamesshow.com/apps/3851/158710.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Ericka James’s website at https://erickajamesshow.com/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence: We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.&nbsp;

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to the CEO of Scale Architects, Scott Ritzheimer.Scale Architects helps entrepreneurial companies find the right coaches for where they are in their business growth. Beyond that, they train their coaches to understand how what stages they work best at. This means Scale Architects matchmakes their clients and coaches so that they have the best people providing the right help at the right time.&nbsp;Scale Architects have seven formal stages of business development that they follow. Stage one, naturally, is ‘early struggle.’ Every business, no matter how successful, started small and struggled in the beginning at times. As a business grows and overcomes these challenges, they move into the next stage: ‘ organic fun.’ Most entrepreneurs would agree that this stage of experimentation and scaling is exciting because it’s all about getting yourself out there. Delivering quality, again and again, leads into the next stage, ‘white water’ complexity. Suddenly, all the go-to levers you might have used in the past don’t work anymore. Now you have to strategize solutions that don’t affect your profitability. You can’t outsell your way through this complexity, Scott shares. You have to take a step back and look at how to actually address the issues behind that complexity; this comes with systems and processes.&nbsp;You can’t tackle a systemic problem from the front end. Mistakes and systemic failure happen where the decisions are made. It could be senior leadership or an executive team, but either way, your decision-making has to match your execution. The truth is, when you’re in this stage, even the most senior executive, needs the systems and processes just as much as anyone else (maybe even more.) But what do you do during the ‘white water’ stage? You have to reduce complexity and enjoy the ‘fun’ stage, or you can do the systemic work to scale and reach predictable success. Revenue goes up during this difficult stage, but systemic failure begins to occur chronically. You might lose valued clients or talent; there is no one event that triggers this stage, but many small failures of the system that build up as complexity grows.&nbsp;You have to bring others into the decision-making process during this stage. Scale Architects works with businesses at a team level to help get them through the white ‘white water’ stage of growth to help launch businesses into the final stage later on, ‘predictable success.’&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Scale Architects’ website at https://www.scalearchitects.com/.&nbsp;Check out Scale Architects’ free book Predictable Success at https://www.scalearchitects.com/free-book/.&nbsp;Check out Scale Architects at https://www.linkedin.com/company/scalearchitects/.&nbsp;Check out Scott Ritzheimer on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-ritzheimer/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks with the founder and General Partner of Mendoza Ventures, Senofer Mendoza.Mendoza Ventures is on a mission to help underrepresented founders ‘write the check.’ Mendoza Ventures is an artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and fintech venture capital firm. They’re based in Boston, MA but invest globally. Amazingly, 100% of their GP team are minority or female!&nbsp;Senofer shares that she and her partner were founders who scaled and exited from more than one successful venture. However, they also saw the cracks and faults within the venture capital space. Senofer shares that there seems to be a lack of transparency between the people writing the checks and the internal teams of the startups. Mendoza Ventures started because Senofer and her business partner wanted to build a firm around the act of supporting a small business. This required a new level of transparency at all levels of venture capital. By operating this way, they’ve created actional support for founders so that they always have the help they need, no matter the circumstances.Senofer shares that she loves her work and that she is passionate about dedicating her time to helping underrepresented entrepreneurs connect with investors who value transparency and effective communication.&nbsp;Mendoza Ventures seeks to be at the forefront of inclusivity in the venture capital space. Their company is designed to be inclusive and has been from the beginning. Statistics show that diverse teams often outperform, Senofer explains. Senofer and her team set out to raise 10 million dollars during their second round of funding, and they were oversubscribed by another 4 million dollars.&nbsp; Much of this, she explains, is because they are at the forefront of diversity in venture capital. They are now being championed both on social media and by investors, who are happy to write the check.Josh and Senofer stress the importance of pursuing a diverse workplace within your company. The statistics don’t lie; it will hurt your performance if this isn’t part of your core principles as a business. Bias can feel like a risk, Senofer says. You have to intentionally create an environment where everyone on your team can be heard. If you can inspire a diverse group of people to pursue the same cause, you have a strong cultural foundation that will boost your business’s performance. You have to be committed to pushing your team to grow in the same direction with the same goals, no matter what walk of life they come from.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Mendoza Ventures’ website at https://mendoza-ventures.com/.&nbsp;Check out Mendoza Ventures at https://www.linkedin.com/company/mendoza-ventures/.&nbsp;Check out Senofer Mendoza on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/senofermendoza/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to the co-founder of eLearning Partners, Hector Simoudis.&nbsp;eLearning Partners is committed to helping companies create internal training programs and courses that their learners will love. They aren’t a tech platform, learning management system, content library, etc. eLearning Partners focuses on the professional and strategical development behind creating these courses. They also help their clients know what resources they have available and how to use them effectively.Josh and Hector explore the biggest mistake in eLearning. Hector stresses that it’s not just small businesses who experience this blunder, but even enterprise businesses can have this issue. This mistake is the misconception that it’s all about the technology and finding the right learning management system. While these aspects are important, they should not be the driving force behind the development of your eLearning. Avoid falling into this trap by making sure your learners are part of your decision-making process. What drives your eLearning development shouldn't be finding the perfect learning management system, but rather you should focus on your learners. They should be a part of your development process from step one. You absolutely must understand who your learners are, what they want, and what they need before you start developing a course or program.&nbsp;Hector explains that there are two types of eLearning. There is internal eLearning, which encompasses things like onboarding, training, and continued education. The other type is eLearning to generate revenue – you’re taking this to market to create a recurring revenue stream. It’s absolutely imperative that you give content to your learners for free when developing this type of course. Don’t ask your prospect to ‘marry you before dating you’ – your lead magnet should be your stellar content so that your prospects can get to know you. When you give them high-level content for free, you’ll see your purchase rate go up.eLearning Partners offers their free masterclass, "Create and Launch a Successful eLearning Program, Online Course, or Virtual Training" on their website by following this same principle of giving away high-value golden nuggets. This masterclass teaches you how to guarantee success in every course and program you create. You’ll also learn the three pillars of eLearning. People think that eLearning just requires steps – but it’s not steps, it’s pillars. You need to develop these pillars simultaneously, all while keeping the most important element in mind: your learner.Want to learn more? Check out eLearning Partners’ website at https://www.linkedin.com/company/elearning-partners/.&nbsp;Sign up to watch eLearning Partners’ masterclass "Create and Launch a Successful eLearning Program, Online Course, or Virtual Training" at https://www.e-learningpartners.com/masterclass.&nbsp;Check out eLearning Partners on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/madewithmerit/.&nbsp;Check out Hector Simoudis on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hectorsimoudis/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to the founder and CEO of Merit, Adam Vasquez.&nbsp;The basics of the ‘market’ is community, Adam shares - Merit literally creates markets in order to solve problems for like-minded individuals. Merit facilitates market growth for their clients and also for themselves. They’re passionate about innovation and seek to create other market inventors who can change their industries as they know it.&nbsp;Merit is leading the charge in how the conscious economy affects sales and marketing. Marketing is outdated, plain and simple. If you’re not already the leader in a market, you’re very truly just emulating the market leader. If you’re not the market leader, your advertising will only serve to send business to the market leader. You need your own market. This starts with building community.&nbsp;Authenticity is critical now more than ever, and the transparency of the internet is shifting the marketing and advertising spaces. Merit doesn’t just consult with their clients, they eat their own dog food and create their own markets.But how do you demonstrate that you’re a market leader and innovator? Any aspect of your business can be negatively impacted by the market leader – many entrepreneurs get caught up in the fallacy that the market leader is the ‘standard’. Flip this misconception on its head; innovators don’t copy their processes or products from others. Innovators look at problems that others have already tried to solve and look at things from a different perspective. This is what sets them apart and turns innovators into market leaders.&nbsp;Market invention is about recognizing opportunities and collecting perspectives and insights from those who have created markets before. Market invention is more holistic and not only addresses opportunities but actually seeks to change the status quo on a wide scale (this is where innovation comes in!)According to their website, most marketing and advertising agencies rely on decades-old formulas where they swap out businesses and logos and collect fees. Merit believes in strategic marketing with purpose, where the goal and outcome is sector leadership. Can a company move from fifth place to first in market share within the average CMO tenure of 41 months? According to Merit, yes. Market Invention is their philosophy and practice. Adam and his team seek to understand the business of your business and then get to work growing your brand to create or own your market.Want to learn more? Check out Merit’s website at https://madewithmerit.com/.&nbsp;Check out Merit on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/madewithmerit/.&nbsp;Check out Adam Vasquez on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamvasquez/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.&nbsp;

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the President of Capitol Integration, Gene Moran.&nbsp;Gene helps companies achieve dramatic outcomes when selling to the federal government. Gene is also an author of several books, including Make Your Move. Gene shares that as a result of his experience as a Navy veteran, he felt unfulfilled after he left active duty. This is what drove Gene to get into entrepreneurship, which has given him great success.Gene shares that most contractors don’t understand the process of actually securing a contract with the federal government. Gene’s work focuses on funding, which comes long before a contract does. If you don’t understand the ins and outs of where your money is going and what policies will affect it, you absolutely should not seek out a contract.Josh and Gene also talk about the sales cycle of the federal government. The federal government operates in fiscal years with three budgets in motion at any given time. These budgets can be in development, review, or execution at any time, as well. Gene shares that if you get involved during the review or development stages, there is often a lot of room for influence and opportunity.&nbsp;According to his website, when you’re pitching your defense product or service solutions to the U.S. Federal Government, you have more success when you think as your customer does – you need a plan! The best results are achieved when your plan includes the entire federal process, not just the capture. Walking into an opportunity without understanding the budget environment and complexity of the terrain, you will likely be disappointed with your government sales. This is where Gene comes in.Gene and Josh explore how veterans are some of the perfect candidates for entrepreneurship and becoming a contractor for the federal government. It requires hard work and grit, which is something that veterans would be familiar with from their time in the military. These skills have serious value in the corporate and business world, but many of these people undervalue their skills. Don’t overlook your own unique strengths that you learned from your time serving.&nbsp;If you want to avoid wasted investment, lost time, and flat or declining federal sales, don’t spend another minute spinning your wheels. If you need help receiving funding from the federal government or need a policy change in order to sell your product or service, reach out to Gene and the Capitol Integration team here.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Capitol Integration’s website at https://www.genemoran.com/.&nbsp;Check out all of Gene Moran’s books at https://www.genemoran.com/make-your-move/.&nbsp;Check out Capitol Integration on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/capitol-integration/Check out Gene Moran on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/genemoran/ .Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free<a...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to Earl Flormata, who runs marketing operations at Mogul Productions.&nbsp;Earl shares that he was raised in computer science and has been programming since he was five years old. By the time he was 25, he had been programming for 20 years. At that point, he realized he wanted a career change, so he turned his attention toward marketing and sales and never looked back. He's been marketing for 20 years since and couldn’t be happier!Mogul Productions is a community based around the entertainment industry. They help artists, music creators, entertainers, and movies find funding and audiences for their work. They help these artists convert their work to the NFT/crypto space so it can eventually be put to market. Earl explains that much of the media and content Mogul Productions helps to put to market is very unique and highly creative because it breaks from the mold of mainstream media. This allows their users to let their creativity shine through and stand out, rather than conform for the sake of funding.&nbsp;An NFT is a non-fungible token. An NFT is proof that you own an irreplaceable item of some sort. For example, you can own an NFT that represents ownership of a famous dress or pop culture item. Those who buy NFTs want to be part of something bigger than themselves and wish to support the artists they want to purchase the tokens from, Earl explains.&nbsp;Anyone can make an NFT in theory, but you have to own the license in question in order to sell the NFT. These tokens have to be acquired from a reliable source with access to these licenses, Earl says. The structure behind this crypto phenomenon is decentralization. If all of this lived in one database, it would be highly susceptible to cyber-attacks. This decentralization comes in the place of the blockchain across millions of computers, which is also what maintains the valuation of the NFTs.&nbsp;Mogul Productions sell NFTs that equate to production rights and ownership in films as one of their services, which also in turn helps to fund the production of the film directly. If you’re an artist looking to launch your film, album, piece of art, or other creative venture, reach out to the team at Mogul Productions to see if the NFT space is the funding solution for you.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Mogul Productions’ website at https://www.mogulproductions.com/.&nbsp;Check out Mogul Productions on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/mogul-productions-incorporated/.&nbsp;Check out Earl Flormata on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/earlflormata/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks with Talking With Teri’s Teri Karjala.Teri shares that she was a therapist for 25 years before she combined her therapy background with energy psychology and applied principles of quantum physics. Teri’s work combines understanding the business, transformational, and spiritual aspects of entrepreneurship. Often, we get in our own way when it comes to getting our business to the next level.&nbsp;Teri shares the top five negative blocks she sees when it comes to being our own greatest obstacles. These blocks are self-limiting beliefs, self-sabotage, fear overwhelm, burnout, and imposter syndrome. Teri explains that one of her clients brings in 78 billion dollars annually – but has terrible self-esteem. Working with Teri has helped her bring up her own view of herself – and has helped her get out of her own way. Teri explains that many business owners and thought leaders have trauma from the industries they work in. This is what leads to issues with self-esteem or any of the five blocks, especially in high achievers.&nbsp;Teri shares that she’s interviewed entrepreneurs from all walks of life, and they all experience these types of blocks. If we don’t address these blocks, it will get to a point where you can’t grow anymore. As Teri says, ‘a new level creates a new devil’. How we address these blocks not only directly impacts your quality of life, but also your business.&nbsp;Stop to consider what your business would look like if you didn’t stop yourself out of fear. How many more discovery calls might you have booked or connections might you have made? When you lead with generosity and love, you don’t need to be afraid of asks. You might still have fear as you work on your blocks, but Teri reminds us that fear is a warning sign. Accept that fear and appreciate that you have a comfort zone that you’re taking steps out of, but take those steps anyway. We weren’t put here to stay the same, Teri says, so ground yourself with growth and evolution.&nbsp;Teri invites our audience to ask themselves ‘what’s right about this that I’m not getting?’ Your brain will naturally seek out the answer - this will teach you slowly how to gather important, positive insights from a negative situation. She also invites our audience to remember that your brain will find what it seeks; when you perceive something is negative, ask yourself ‘how much better can this get?’ This opens your mind and energy to more possibilities through this perspective of gratitude.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Talking With Teri’s website at https://talkingwithteri.com/.&nbsp;If you would be interested in listening to Teri on her podcast, check it out at https://talkingwithteri.com/podcast/.&nbsp;Check out Teri Karjala on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/terikarjala/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence: Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to the CEO of Video Supply, Dallin Nead.Video Supply is an on-demand video production services marketplace. Users can sign up on their website for free and shop for the specific video production services they need, whether it's a one-time request or a regular custom project. Video Supply helps brands all around the world create professional, high-level content to effectively promote any product or purpose.&nbsp;Dalin shares that the first thing you need when trying to create video content is a plan. Without a plan, you're setting yourself up to fail when it comes to getting eyes on your content. Dallin also explains that there needs to be true intention and purpose behind your video content, especially if you want any of it to go viral. You need to be able to use video to tell your audience your message, no matter where they are in the customer journey. Video Supply plans, produces and promotes video content for their clients.&nbsp;Video Supply offers a paid video strategy consultation where they meet with their clients and their teams to guide them on how to get the biggest ROI for their video content creation. Video Supply can also write video scripts, and produce videos using their trained professional videographers. Dallin shares that your content should reflect what your brand is trying to do, whether that's creating a video marketing campaign or training videos for your team. No matter what type of video you need to generate for your business, Video Supply offers hands-on, high-level services that can meet those needs.&nbsp;It’s all about meeting people where they are, Dallin explains. Pricing is very transparent on their website so you’re never wondering how much you’ll need to spend on video work. Their marketplace offers a unique customer experience that makes shopping for video content services easier and more seamless than ever.&nbsp;Systematizing your video content is extremely important. You need to use the power of SEO and consistency in order to maximize the ROI of your videos. Driving traffic especially from YouTube to your website is vital if you want the most bang for your buck. You also need to leverage your content by getting it in front of the right people. Josh and Dallin agree that you have to consider what matters more to you – views aren’t worth much if they don’t include your target audience. Remember, views are ultimately a vanity metric, and who is seeing your video matters more than how many people saw it.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Video Supply’s website at https://www.videosupply.com/.&nbsp;Check out Video Supply on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/videosupplyhq/.&nbsp;Check out Dallin Nead on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dallinnead/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the founder and CEO of SaaS Partners, Patrick Parker.&nbsp;Patrick shares that he started out as a software architect and worked primarily in private consulting. He felt there were missteps he observed in the way things were handled at the firm where he worked at that time. Much of his work is around project delivery and software implementation. He was tired of seeing his clients not knowing how to use the software that was being delivered to them, or their expectations not being met at all. Patrick thought there was a better way to do things and so this is what inspired him to open his own firm, where he felt he could offer that next-level experience.&nbsp;SaaS Partners take a more human-centric approach to the entire design, discovery, and delivery process, yielding much higher results and ROI for their customers. Josh and Patrick explore how software companies often over-promise and under-deliver. Patrick shares that many of his clients had come from previous bad experiences with other firms where what was delivered simply didn't meet the standards or expectations of their agreement. These clients are often coming to Saas Partners to ask them to rewrite the software. However, they can work with both established companies and start-ups.&nbsp;Saas Partners does a lot of custom enterprise work, but they also work with smaller businesses. For these entrepreneurs, SAS Partners utilizes a variety of platforms on their back-end to develop software. It's all based on the individual needs of their clients. It depends on especially the industry the client is in. Patrick and his team look at each company as a silo and determine what tech suites to use based on the specific circumstances and needs of the business.&nbsp;SaaS Partners set themselves apart in how they operate their business. SaaS Partners features US-based designers, architects, and developers. They deliver a high level of quality and are available during US office hours – which makes for an excellent user experience from start to finish. SaaS Partners provides growth support and maintenance even after the software is developed and delivered to the client.&nbsp;Patrick shares that it’s extremely important to him and his team to help companies grow. They are passionate about finding growth solutions and new revenue opportunities as they maintain the software they build. For them, it’s not just about delivering a product, it’s about knowing the full context of what it’s meant to achieve.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out SaaS Partners’ website at https://saaspartners.io/.&nbsp;Check out SaaS Partners on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saaspartnersio/.&nbsp;Check out Patrick Parker on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickbparker/.&nbsp;&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to business strategist and messaging energetics coach, Eugenia Oganova.&nbsp;Eugenia works with business leaders and entrepreneurs who know that they have big ambitions and dreams. She especially helps women entrepreneurs who have these aspirations to change the world, but simply don't know how to take the first step. Spirituality and business have been seperated for quite some time, and many of Eugenia’s clients struggled with making their dream-led business visions profitable. One of Eugenia’s superpowers is that she unites non-lineal creation and consciousness. She uses energetic work to align her clients’ businesses with their true soul design.The first thing Eugenia looks at is with her clients’ is what their soul expertise is. This is something you're born with. After identifying these factors, she goes over her clients’ soul design, which has to do with what lessons our soul is learning in this lifetime. This is all step one.&nbsp;You have to talk to your prospects in a way that compels them to come to you, Eugenia shares, and aligning your soul expertise and design can help immensely. Your content should generate leads in a way that feels good and fulfilling to you. You have to shift how you look at what you do and how you talk about it. Sometimes, something as simple as changing your mindset around your messaging and how you approach your audience is really what it takes to draw the right prospects to you.&nbsp;When you have the right foundation, energy, confidence, and intention, the mechanics of your business are the easy parts. Too many entrepreneurs focus too heavily on the mechanics of their business and not the soul of it; this is what Eugenia sets out to help business owners discover. Much of business is based on intuition and how consumers feel from an enegeretic and emotional standpoint.&nbsp;Eugenia stresses that if you’re going to work with a coach, you want to work with one that makes you more, well, you – not more ‘them’. Your coach should make you feel good about who you already are so you can further align your energetics with the efforts you’re making to improve your business.&nbsp;If you’re not fulfilled with your life or business, the first thing to look at isn’t necessarily logistics. You need to look at how your energetics are affecting how you conduct business. There are many ways to find what’s right for us as business owners, but it all starts with recognizing who you are at a deep level.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Eugenia’s website at https://transcensiongate.com/.&nbsp;Check out Eugenia’s Soul Strategy Webinar at http://www.soulstrategywebinar.com/&nbsp;Check out Eugenia Oganova on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugeniaoganova/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the founder and CEO of Fetch &amp; Funnel, Samir ElKamouny.Fetch &amp; Funnel is an omnichannel media buying agency that accelerates business growth in months, not years. Fetch &amp; Funnel helps their clients navigate major changes and trends in the paid ad space, as well as helping to direct their efforts in new channels such as TikTok. Going back to basics and building your brand is extremely important. You have to be authentic when you're building a brand. It seems obvious, but it's easy to forget and get lost in the weeds. You need to translate your message into what you do to benefit your prospects, not the features you offer.&nbsp;Josh and Samir explore how to utilize TikTok as a small business. Fetch &amp; Funnel is finding that TikTok either works or it simply doesn't for their clients. Not all brands see success on TikTok, it all depends on what the company offers and who they’re targeting. It takes time to train algorithms and access different audiences using platforms like this one. If you're looking to try adding TikTok to your marketing channels, consider repurposing your Instagram content (or other similar media in video form.) Samir shares that user-generated content always performs the best, especially if you're a product-based company. On TikTok, users are fed content from all types of accounts whether they follow them or not. User-generated ads tend to perform well because it rings as relatable to consumers since they’re created by other TikTok users.&nbsp;You don't need a robust plan in order to start incorporating TikTok into your marketing. Besides repurposing other content you’ve created, record some simple one-minute tips that you can share with your audience that delivers legitimate value. Be consistent with posting, but you don't need to go all out to get started. Experiment with different types of video-form content to see what your target audience appreciates and enjoys.Samir shares that this method works organically over time. Yes, you might do some tweaking as you continue to post, but he explains that he has seen success with his clients as long as they are willing to share their expertise via short snackable clips on TikTok. TikTok and Instagram are great for product-based businesses, so those who offer professional services need to know that they aren’t likely to go viral on the platform. However, this doesn’t mean your audience can’t be found on the platform. If you offer authentic value, the people you DO attract on TikTok will be extremely high-value prospects and it can absolutely work for you.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Fetch &amp; Funnel’s website at https://www.fetchfunnel.com/.&nbsp;Check out Samir's podcast, eCom Growth Leaders at https://www.fetchfunnel.com/podcast/. Check out Fetch &amp; Funnel on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/fetch-&amp;-funnel/.&nbsp;Check out Samir ElKamouny on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/samir-elkamouny/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks with the owner and Creative Director of Viim, Steph Hilfer.Steph shares that what Viim does is tied to the meaning of its name. For one thing, ‘vim’ is an English word that means ‘enthusiasm, high-spirited, and vitality’. Viim’s company name is also an acronym – Visual Intentional Integrated Marketing. Steph explains that before you can begin marketing, you need to have a solid foundation. Your visuals , your intentions, and how you integrate those aspects through your marketing are what create that solid foundation.Viim works with a variety of different types of businesses as their clientele. Their vim comes from your vim, Steph says. Collaboration is very important to the Viim team and combining the best aspects of your creative ideas and theirs is key. You have to continuously nurture your intentionality with your business and brand. Keep yourself in alignment with your mission in order for your messaging to make an impact.Intentionality means changing your perspective on how you show up in the world. Viim and their team offer a one-day-long discovery call for their new clients that aligns their vision, their business’s vision, and their team’s vision. This time for discovery outlines what their client is already doing and why - you’d be surprised with how many businesses really don’t fully grasp what they do. (If your consumer is confused about what you do, that’s probably rooted in your confusion about what you do.) This discovery call brings all the power players within a business into the same room, which is what drives team alignment.&nbsp;Consumers will always notice if you're confused about your own brand alignment. This is usually a subconscious realization most of the time, Steph explains. Unless you're in sales and marketing professionally, you don't typically catch what makes you uncomfortable with a brand. It's all about the consumer experience and how it affects the consumer subconsciously. They may not know what about the brand makes them uncomfortable, but they feel that discomfort and will steer clear. The worst part is that, to begin with, consumers will usually start by blaming themselves and think that their misunderstanding of your brand is their fault. NO brand should ever sit idly if their consumers are feeling this way – and a confused mind will not buy (and if they do, they may feel buyer’s remorse.)&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Viim’s website at https://www.getviim.com/.&nbsp;Check out Viim on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/getviim/.&nbsp;Check out Steph Hilfer on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephhilfer/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to productivity expert, Paul Minors.&nbsp;Paul started off by consulting entrepreneurs on how to learn how to use Asana. He shares that he was inspired to go out on his own and start his own business – and Asana was a great tool for that. He had worked with other businesses in the past on their teams to help them with this program, and figured he could go out on his own by consulting others on how to use the platform. He tested offering it as a service and found there was a serious demand for the expertise he could offer. From there, he added offerings to consult on the use of PipeDrive, which then eventually evolved into the use of Zapier.Zapier is a powerful automation tool that allows users to connect unrelated programs, applications, and softwares in order to integrate their use. Zapier has become a very popular program, and Paul shares that many of his clients wanted consultation on how to combine their CRM with other aspects of their business so that it could be automated. Zapier allows you to plug some of the gaps in your system so that you can do more than previously thought possible to automate your programs.Paul stresses that you should be thinking about automation from early on. You don't want to be in a position where you're too far into the weeds and you have to backtrack in order to automate. Paul and his team consult businesses on how to use these tools to automate their businesses and optimize their growth.&nbsp;Josh and Paul explore specific ways to utilize automation tools. For one thing, you can utilize Zapier to integrate your CRM with your email marketing tool. You can completely customize your email marketing flow by hooking it up to your CRM. You can also trigger other emails to send seamlessly by integrating these two aspects of your business via an automation tool. You can also utilize various different sequences in your email marketing tool in order to allow your CRM to inform the software to send different emails based on their status as your client. Zapier’s purpose is to move information from one platform to another. It can handle anything from email triggers, accounting, administrative tasks, documentation automation, and more. There are countless ways to utilize these types of automation programs with full customization, if you know what to do. This is where experts like Paul come in.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Paul’s website at https://paulminors.com/.&nbsp;Check out Paul Minors on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulminors/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks with the founder and CEO of KickStart Dental Marketing, Chris Pistorius.KickStart Dental Marketing helps its dental clients get new patients by using a mixture of different digital marketing services. They can help with anything from SEO to pay per click, online review marketing, social media, and more. Chris shares that many dental students just coming out of dental school are very good at what they do as providers, but they don't come out of school with a mind for business. They don't know how to get patients or market their practice. This is where KickStart Dental Marketing thrives - they handle all of their clients' marketing and get patients coming in for them - so the dentists can focus on what they're really good at.The biggest common mistake Chris sees these dentists make is that they ‘do nothing.’ Chris and his team found that there's more competition in dentistry now than ever. The old way of doing things where you do nothing and patients still come in doesn’t work anymore. Legacy-style dentistry is suffering for this exact reason. Dentistry requires strategic marketing, especially in today's market.What sets KickStart Dental Marketing apart is its lengthy expertise in the dental industry and its ability to navigate the nuances of the space. Outsourcing to a niche and specialized marketing agency, especially in an industry like dentistry, is essential if you want to see quality results. You could hire a less expensive SEO expert on UpWork, but they won’t know the nuances of the space; as the adage goes, you’ll get what you pay for if you don’t outsource wisely as a niche business.&nbsp;Other more mainstream agencies use templated campaigns, especially for niche businesses such as dental clients. Many of these agencies use the same template for every dental client they have for years on end. This method just doesn't drive results. You have to be able to customize a marketing campaign around your niche offering in order to drive traffic and business. KickStart Dental Marketing offers personalized campaign plans for every client; in fact, this is something they’re well known for.Chris shares that local dentists should focus on tracking where their patients come from and aggregating this data so they know where they should dial in their marketing efforts. Organic searches on Google are probably driving 60% or more of your patient traffic if you’re a dentist with your own practice. You want to verify where specifically all of your business is coming from so you can optimize each channel of your marketing plan.Want to learn more? Check out KickStart Dental Marketing’s website at https://kickstartdental.com/.&nbsp;Check out KickStart Dental Marketing on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/ifuse-internet-marketing-inc-/.&nbsp;Check out Chris Pistorius on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/pistorius/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free<a href="https://upmyinfluence.com/1"...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to Vanessa Ugatti.Vanessa is a keynote sales speaker, trainer, coach, and author. She also teaches people how to get paid their true worth. Vanessa enables people to stop underestimating, discounting, and over-servicing the wrong clients. Many entrepreneurs love what they do and are very conscientious when helping their clients, but they often find themselves bending over backward for the wrong clients. They often do this at the expense of their business and themselves. Vanessa shares her concept of an equilateral triangle that represents balance in business. You need to create value for your clients, your business, and yourself - equally. Too many business owners put their clients over the well-being of their business, and especially themselves. Vanessa's work is all about helping entrepreneurs charge their worth but to also look after themselves.When you operate in a balanced way, your clients are serviced better, your business operates better and can help even more people, and your team feels better about themselves physically and emotionally when they work. Vanessa sees this as a very holistic approach to sales – one we should strive for.&nbsp;Vanessa shares that she began as a coach who helped other entrepreneurs overcome their self-limiting beliefs. She explains that throughout this time of working with them, something in the back of her mind told her that there was more she needed to help them with; she just wasn’t sure what. She shares that, through networking, she realized she needed to niche down. She discovered the niche of helping people get paid what they’re really worth, and experts in her network supported such a marketable idea.&nbsp;Vanessa started asking questions about people's ability to charge for their work, and she found out pretty quickly that discounting, undercharging, and overservicing were rampant among professional entrepreneurs. Vanessa also explains that throughout the process of unfolding this issue and discovering how to fix it, she realized her own charging system needed serious work. This is what put her on the path to realizing her own issues with not charging her value –&nbsp; and what pushed her to help other entrepreneurs with the same issue. Her formula is understanding your value, communicating your value, and confidence in delivering fees; all of these together mean you’re actually charging what you're worth. This issue is actually a human problem; a global problem. Vanessa says that it doesn't matter how old you are, where you're from, or what you do for a living – this issue is seen in every industry and every niche. Remember not to discount yourself; every person deserves to be paid what they’re worth.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Vanessa Ugatti’s website at https://www.vanessaugatti.com/.&nbsp;Check out The True Worth Expert at https://www.thetrueworthexpert.com/.&nbsp;Check out Vanessa Ugatti on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessaugatti/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the founder and CMO of InboxDone, Yaro Starak.&nbsp;InboxDone is an email management virtual executive assistance service. They both develop email management systems and assign their clients executive assistants who will learn everything about the business so they can adequately manage their clients’ inboxes. More often than not, InboxDone’s clients want executive assistants who can respond on their behalf.&nbsp;Josh and Yaro explore how delegation is necessary for growth. It’s not easy to relent control of those aspects of your business, but it’s absolutely essential. Too many entrepreneurs use their inbox as busy work and they get caught up in the mundane work. As a business owner, your inbox should serve as a way to prioritize growth and connection.&nbsp;InboxDone uses a high-touch point process that combines top talent and executive assistance with tried-and-true processes. Yaro shares that his first client was himself – years ago, he sought a better way to manage his inbox, which is how he began developing the processes that resulted in InboxDone.&nbsp;Each client that InboxDone works with has a tailored and unique hand off process. Each business is strategically paired with executive assistants on the InboxDone team. There’s a natural relationship and trust-building phase that comes with outsourcing inbox management, but that’s where InboxDone thrives. They’re your long term partner when it comes to effective, quality inbox management. They both provide the management and also the training – that way you never have to worry about teaching someone the ins and outs of your email.&nbsp;Yaro explains that using an executive assistant was the key to developing a great inbox management system. According to InboxDone’s website, their email assistants are dedicated to streamlining their clients’ email management needs. Rather than having to sort through their inboxes and responding to every urgent email themselves, an email virtual assistant steps in to get the job done for them.&nbsp;InboxDone responds to your emails, acts as help desk customer support, lead follow-ups, develop systems for email handling, social media responses/messaging, and more. InboxDone is dedicated to retaining top talent by offering competitive wages so that no matter what, their team is in it for the long haul to support you.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With their support, you can effortlessly maintain communication with clients and customers, stay on top of any critical updates or developments, and more without having to dive into your inbox yourself.Want to learn more? Check out InboxDone’s website at https://inboxdone.com/.&nbsp;Check out InboxDone on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/inboxdone/.&nbsp;Check out Yaro Starak on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/yarostarak/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to the founder and CEO of AmplifiedNOW, Kathleen Celmins.&nbsp;AmplifiedNOW is a content marketing agency that’s pivoting into a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs who want to do their own marketing. When you’re just starting out, you need to do a lot more of your own marketing. AmplifiedNOW provides templates, playbooks, and tactics in a full suite of services and products that will make life easier for the small business owner.&nbsp;AmplifiedNOW sets the tone for the workflow itself. Once you have a gap in between marketing campaigns, engagement matters. Founders and CEOs tend to take experimental tactical approaches rather than strategizing where their ideal clients already come from. If you strategize and create content for your own pages, you can repurpose that content later on various platforms from a tactical perspective. Make sure to stay strategic first, Kathleen explains.&nbsp;If you can get the attention of Google, your website’s content can live and drive traffic and engagement for years to come. No other platform is as important as Google. Avoid platform-first approaches (especially those that can penalize you on a whim.) You don’t want all your eggs in one basket, so make sure to stay multichannel and don’t rely on platforms that control your content, ultimately. Kathleen recommends finding the search terms that work for your website and optimizing your site SEO to the best of your ability. You want to make it a goal for Google to index your content. Optimizing your website is highly underrated and extremely important, especially if you’re trying to rank within certain key phrases.&nbsp;Kathleen also recommends that you lean into video content. If video is not content you’re comfortable with, ease into it, because it’s the future of content marketing right now. Don’t outsource your videos either – yes, have someone else edit and publish, but you need to be creating your own content. Brainstorm ideas with your team and make sure to be yourself; don’t follow a script and be willing to use video form content to connect with and engage with your audience.AmplifyNOW offers tons of playbooks and templates for entrepreneurs who want to effectively tackle their own marketing. They cover everything from tips on content creation to campaign strategies and platform usage tips. They’re always adding new playbooks and offerings to their membership. Check out information on working with AmplifiedNOW here.&nbsp;Get your FREE Content Playbook from AmplifiedNOW at https://amplifiednow.com/contentplaybook/.&nbsp;&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out AmplifiedNOW’s website at https://amplifiednow.com/.&nbsp;Check out AmplifiedNOW on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/amplified-now/.&nbsp;Check out Kathleen Celmins on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathleencelmins/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures.<a href="https://upmyinfluence.com/b2b"

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to the President of Effective Performance Strategies and author of the new book, From Orangutan to Rocket Scientist: How To Lead and Engage Your Team Through Effective Process, Ryan Weiss.&nbsp;Effective Performance Strategies operate at the intersection of people and process. They help great businesses fuel growth and drive profitability through people alignment and development. Teaching people great communication skills without teaching them process will frustrate them, and if you teach process without communication, you’re wasting their potential. No matter how you look at things, people and processes have to go hand in hand.&nbsp;People want to feel like what they do matters, especially during the era of the Great Resignation. This is why teaching effective process and communication is so important. When you’re trying to gauge how well your business is going, you need to look at your purpose, performance, product, people, and processes, Ryan shares. You need to make sure you have the right processes for your people so that you’re performing with purpose. Knowing your purpose is vital; your team needs to understand and fully comprehend your business’s purpose and what problems it solves.&nbsp;Ryan and Josh also discuss how putting people in the right roles is very important. Your business’s purpose and vision should align with your team as a whole – but also with each individual in the role they serve. You need to make sure your environment is a good one for your team and you need a clear view of how your team actually feels about your leadership teams.&nbsp;Ryan also explores the importance of having balance in your life. He shares a personal anecdote about how he overworked himself to the point of feeling ill, but chalked it up to a medical issue. When he saw a doctor, he quickly realized he wasn’t prioriziting his health or wellbeing. He also had a moment of clarity around that same time where one of his managers asked him if he would simply trust her; he realized his people thought he didn’t trust them because he micromanaged. This realization is what ultimately led Ryan to start Effective Performance Strategies and to write his book; he wants to help entrepreneurs go back to what they do best while their people execute things on the ground level with top notch processes.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Effective Performance Strategies’ website at https://epszone.com/.&nbsp;Check out Ryan’s new book, From Orangutan to Rocket Scientist: How To Lead and Engage Your Team Through Effective Process on Amazon here.&nbsp;Check out Effective Performance Strategies on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/effective-performance-strategies/.&nbsp;Check out Ryan Weiss on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryancweiss/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast.<a href="https://upmyinfluence.com/guest"...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the CEO of Transworld Business Advisors, Andy Cagnetta.Transworld Business Advisors is a brokerage firm that helps buyers and sellers acquire or sell businesses. They sell all sorts of business at varying stages of growth, though they generally work with 1 – 5 million-dollar businesses. Transworld sets themselves apart by creating competition for deals through its vast network. They like to maximize profit potential for sellers and offer competitive deals for buyers. Andy shares that Transworld likes to find good deals for good people.&nbsp;Andy shares that he bought Transworld when it was still a very small company, but over the years, he has turned it into a franchise with over 250 locations worldwide and hundreds of on-the-ground team members. Transworld works with business owners who are ready to sell or those planning to exit in a few years. It’s important to plan for your exit from early on; Transworld can certainly help you grow and increase your revenue streams in preparation for your exit later.&nbsp;&nbsp;Josh and Andy also explore buyers. Who buys businesses in this context? Andy shares that 95% of those who buy these businesses are operators. Andy shares that there are many buyers who are immigrating or relocating and wish to have branches or businesses based in the US. There are also many younger entrepreneurs who are looking to acquire a business they can add to and optimize. There are a variety of types buyers in the marketplace.According to Transworld’s website, when a company owner needs to sell their business, they can’t just stick a for sale sign in the window. They need the assistance of a business broker to locate and vet potential buyers. On the other side, buyers rely on the broker to help facilitate the process of evaluating potential businesses and franchises for sale. Transworld Business Advisors offers solutions for both scenarios. Transworld Business Advisors focuses on three core concepts: business brokerage, franchise consulting, and franchise development.With over 40 years of experience, over 10,000 businesses sold, over 600 experienced brokers, and over 250 offices worldwide, it’s no wonder that Transworld Business Advisors is considered one of the top brokerage firms in the industry. If you’re looking to buy or sell a business, or you want to begin planning your exit, reach out to the Transworld Advisors team here.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Transworld Business Advisors’ website at https://www.tworld.com/.&nbsp;Check out Transworld Business Advisors on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/transworld-business-advisors/.&nbsp;Check out Andy Cagnetta on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/acagnetta/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to the author of The Go-Giver, Bob Burg.&nbsp;The Go-Giver philosophy starts with shifting your focus from getting to giving, Bob explains. In this context, it means providing immense value to others regardless of return. If you execute this correctly, you’ll not only conduct business in a more fulfilling way, but you’ll earn more business organically. When you can take your focus off of yourself and put it into helping others just for the sake of doing so, people feel good about you. This is a key element of the know, like, and trust process.&nbsp;Consumers have been so saturated with advertisements and marketing that now, there’s a serious disdain for feeling ‘sold at’ across verticals, and many prospects are hyper aware of sales tactics. It can be felt in a very nuanced way and now, you have to leverage more of a Go-Giver philosophy in order to see results. People won’t buy from you because you have a quota to meet, or even because you’re nice and likable. People only buy things when they feel they’re better off with your product than without. If you take a service-based approach and focus on offering value, then making sales will be a natural result of that approach.&nbsp;Always go the extra mile to actually know your customers. When you first meet someone, focus on them. Who are they? How did they start their business? What matters to them? People don’t hang up on you when they’re the ones talking to you, so engage with them and let them tell you their story. Giving them this time not only allows you to get to know them better, but it helps them begin to know, like, and trust you. Prospects can feel when they’re being sold at, but they also know when your focus is to bring them value. Paint that picture clearly and build the relationship organically; don't rush. The fastest way to get people to deeply know, like, and trust you is to focus on them genuinely and authentically.Josh and Bob also discuss the important that your words and intentions are aligned, because prospects can tell when they aren’t. Making this mindset shift truly and deeply requires acknowledging a false premise; focusing on yourself won’t make the sale move faster. If you really need to close a sale, dig deep to the root of any objections and work together with the prospect to move forward. You should always connect the benefits of what you offer to the exact and specific problems they need to solve. No matter how you’re hurting for cashflow, you can always lead with service and generosity.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out The Go-Giver’s website at https://thegogiver.com/.&nbsp;Check out Bob’s books, The Go-Giver and his other works, at https://thegogiver.com/order-now/.&nbsp;Check out Bob Burg on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobburg/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to the author of The 3 Secrets of Business Success, John Gardiner.John shares that he didn’t actually mean to write his book from the very beginning. He began by writing some business articles for LinkedIn with the intention of helping his followers or maybe even business students with his plethora of knowledge. He wrote some 24 articles before he realized he had the makings of a book. He decided to sell the information he’d written as an affordable book – both to get the word out and build authority and to help his readers and followers.&nbsp;John explains that he began selling sunglasses as a franchisee in the 90’s. His small shops did very well, bringing in well over a million dollars annually. He shares that this was a time where retail flourished – but as the web and computer technology developed, John read the writing on the wall. This is what led him to start some IT businesses just as the age of the internet was beginning. He had one of these companies do well while the other crashed and burned (all of which he details in chapter three of his book). No matter how you slice it, John has extensive experience as a business owner.&nbsp;Josh and John explore the fundamentals of business. You wouldn’t run out onto a football field if you didn’t know the basics of the game, and the same concept applies to business. You have to deeply understand the basics before you go into business. This is one of the biggest mistakes inexperienced entrepreneurs make and it’s also one of the easiest to avoid. This is why John wrote his book, he says.&nbsp;Your business goal, ultimately, is to achieve specific financial goals. Your personal reasons for going into business aren’t going to be the same reasons that the business exists. However, you can’t enter a sales or marketing conversation with your financial goals sitting in the back of your mind as the primary motivation. Always set the actual true purpose of your business at the forefront, because ultimately, your business functions to serve and solve problems. Always approach sales conversations with a culture of deep service and generosity; you don’t want to ‘sell’ to them, you simply want to foster the know, like, and trust process. John details this and more in his book, which is aimed at beginner business owners who want to deeply learn the basics of business.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out John’s website at https://www.3secretsofbusiness.com/.&nbsp;Check out John’s book, The 3 Secrets of Business Success at https://www.3secretsofbusiness.com/product/the-3-secrets-of-business-success-book/1?cs=true&amp;cst=custom.&nbsp;Check out The 3 Secrets of Business Success on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-3-secrets-of-business-success/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free<a href="https://upmyinfluence.com/1" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to the CEO and Principal Data Scientist at Arricor, Luke Arrigoni.Arricor helps enterprise-sized companies solve data science problems by providing complex machine learning solutions and systems. Arricor can develop algorithms that will help enterprises better understand and predict their customer bases. They help companies unlock the power of their data to solve big problems.&nbsp;Data is everywhere and we all create it, Luke explains. No matter how you slice it, data is what drives enterprise-level marketing. According to their website, Arricor’s machine learning process is designed to guide discovery, arrive at cost-effective solutions, and account for staff training. They have designed this process in a way that removes the mystery around machine learning programs and allows companies to control and iterate on their own machine learning goals.Josh and Luke discuss what SMBs should do to better leverage the power of their data. Luke explains there are two things to consider; first, do a vendor analysis. Every single one of your vendors will have an AI product offering that they will try to sell to you in the next few years, Luke says. Always carefully evaluate these claims carefully. Ask for proof and be skeptical. Secondly, tackle how you collect data as you grow. You don’t want to wish you had been collecting data for the last five years when your business hits a milestone.&nbsp;There are likely profit centers in your business that you haven’t even considered, hidden within the data your business generates. There are always new revenue streams to be found when it comes to data. Don’t miss opportunities to leverage your data, even if it means you need to think outside the box a little. Keep your mind open to how data can solve other problems for your customers. Data is in everything, as Luke stated. You can inform all of your messaging and marketing by looking closely at data relating to customer prediction.&nbsp;Arricor mainly does their business via referrals, and they offer a four-step process to help their clients uncover the power of their data; discovery, prototype, production, and training. During the discovery phase, they discuss your goals and existing data. Next, during the prototype phase, they outline your machine learning solution. During production, they build a production-quality model for their client to try out. During training, Arricor helps its clients understand the process of their new machine learning data algorithm. Learn more about their process here.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Arricor’s website at https://arricor.com/.&nbsp;Check out Arricor on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/arricor-incorporated/.&nbsp;Check out Luke Arrigoni on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukearrigoni/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free<a href="https://upmyinfluence.com/1" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with media celebrity, SiriusXM Radio host, speaker, writer, and media consultant, Sharrarne Morton.Sharrarne explains that she majored in broadcast journalism and even had a radio show. She knew it was her calling as she left college. She was then asked to do some commentary on an ABC affiliate for a one-off appearance, where their ratings went through the roof as a result. Because of the audience’s reaction to her, they asked her to come back again and again. That turned into a 14 year long career with ABC. During that time, Sharrarne opened a media company. After 14 years with ABC, SiriusXM Radio offered her a position as a radio host, which is where Sharrarne has been for the past seven years. Sharrarne is on SiriusXM/HUR Voices Channel 141 on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.&nbsp;Sharrarne is also a media coach. People often ask her how to get on television and radio. She shares it’s not as glamorous as it seems and it takes a lot of meticulous hard work and mentoring. The biggest part of being in media is networking; you need to constantly been on the competitive cutting edge and bring fresh ideas to the table.&nbsp;Sharrarne shares that she coaches on how to interview and resonate with an audience. On radio especially, your voice has to truly shine through. It requires more work to captivate an audience. There are many coaches, consuiltants, and business owners out there who want to increase their authority and credibility. The best way to do this is to appear on TV, radio, and in podcasts. Now matter how big social media becomes, broadcast media is still as prevalent and influential as ever.&nbsp;Josh and Sharrarne also discuss the mistakes many business owners make when persuing media appearances. Sharrarne shares that many entrepreneurs overestimate the value of the visibility of their appearances in media. You need to focus more on establishing authority, because this is what’s going to help you network and make your way into other media appearances.&nbsp;Sharrarne’s show is always looking for guests who her audience will resonate with. She shares that her guests need to have authority in their space, but that she makes it easy and accessible to reach her if you’re interested in being a guest. Her show is open to any market or niche expert that can serve value to her audience.&nbsp;If you think you’d be a great guest on Sharrarne’s show, you can reach out to her at [email protected].&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Sharrarne Morton’s website at https://www.sharrarnemorton.com/.&nbsp;Check out Sharrarne Morton on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharrarnemorton/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.&nbsp;

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to the co-founder of Clairty Coat, Adam Huber.&nbsp;Clarity Coat is a peelable paint, also known as a liquid car wrap. It can be used on a variety of types of vehicles with ease. This is a new option for automotive body shops to utilize so that they can expand their business operations outside of working with insurance companies. Adam shares that it’s never a good idea to put all of your eggs into the ‘insurance’ basket when it comes to what you do as a body shop.&nbsp;Clarity Coat can be applied clear to any part of a vehicle to protect it from dents, scratches, or fading. If you want to recolor your car, that’s another option Clarity Coat offers. This peelable paint is a new and innovative paint approach for body shops to offer. According to their website, ClarityCoat has been developed with common paint protection/vinyl wrap issues taken into consideration. With the highest grade materials and years of testing, they have developed this best-in-class product that is successfully being used globally. Clarity Coat goes on the vehicle seamlessly but can be removed with ease as well. With a minimum of 200 microns (8 mils) up to 350 microns (14 mils) worth of 'protection,' there is no alternative on the market.Clarity Coat is sprayed on, so there are no panels or wrap lines on your car after the job is done. It was invented about nine years ago in America, but has grown immensely. Other notable companies have also offered their rendition of peelable paint. What sets Clarity Coat apart is that their competitors stick to whatever region they’re based in; Clarity Coat is global.&nbsp;The peelable paint industry is rather niche, so quality and availability go a long way quickly. Clarity Coat utilizes social media and other various marketing channels – their business comes from a solid combination of those efforts, Adam explains.&nbsp;In the US, the biggest issue Clarity Coat has experienced when getting their product into shops is that they have a proprietary application system. Any shop that wants to add this product to their line of services has to be trained on applying Clarity Coat. Many shopowners balk at the idea of needing to be taught how to apply this type of product, but what Clarity Coat delivers is by far worth the training efforts.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Clarity Coat’s website at https://claritycoat.com/.&nbsp;Check out Clarity Coat on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/claritycoat/.&nbsp;Check out Adam Huber on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-huber-claritycoat/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to the co-founder of I-Fearless, David Stone.&nbsp;I-Fearless helps left-brainers in tech and engineering conquer self-doubt and imposter syndrome. David shares that from the beginning, many of us are conditioned to believe everything we do is not enough. Fear is the common denominator throughout all of this. Infants are only born with two fears; falling and loud noises, David shares. Every fear we pick up on in life is conditioned at some point. Many of us live in fear and anxiety everyday, but this isn’t healthy or sustainable.&nbsp;For one thing, the solution to imposter sydrome isn’t merely achieving more success. David shares his three step framework when it comes to tackling this pervasive form of self doubt. The first step is to shift your thoughts in order to stop the spiral of imposter syndrome. You need to shift your thinking to focus on your accomplishments as they are. If you interrupt the imposter syndrome habits and negativity patterns with this method, you will establish a focused achievement pattern in your thinking.&nbsp;The next step is to release your anxiety. David walks his clients through a guided meditation, especially relating to where the body physically stores this stress. The third step is to lock in these practices by establishing these habits; replace your negative thoughts with thoughts of gratitude and purpose, and always take instant action when feeling sensations of self-doubt. Taking control of your fear and imposter syndrome is a vital piece of establishing these habits. Don’t doubt your ability to achieve the challenges in front of you; when it all comes down to it, the worst time to have self-doubt is when you’re in problem solving mode. David says to consider everything you’ve ever overcome until that point in your life and to trust you have the ability to achieve whatever you set out to do. When you have a thought like, “I don’t belong here,” reflect on everything you have done until that point to achieve the success you have. You do belong, because you got yourself there in the first place. Trust yourself and reframe your thinking around your self-doubt.&nbsp;David shares a great morning ritual to practice when working on self-doubt. First, wake up and find things to be grateful for. Don’t be vague, either; find very specific and different things to have gratitude for every day. He also recommends listening to a meditation each morning to help to ground yourself and help to instill mindfulness.&nbsp;Check out David’s FREE guide, The Left-Brainer’s Guide to Anti-Anxiety Journaling at https://www.i-fearless.com/josh.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out I-Fearless’s website at https://www.i-fearless.com/.&nbsp;Check out I-Fearless on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/i-fearless/.&nbsp;Check out David Stone on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidstone-ifearless/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures.<a href="https://upmyinfluence.com/b2b" rel="noopener...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to the founder and CEO of MainStreet, Doug Ludlow.&nbsp;MainStreet works with small businesses to help them use their time more efficiently to build their business. Between managing administrative tasks and finances, business owners have no time left to actually grow their company. MainStreet makes it easier than ever and puts your fintech stack in one place.&nbsp;MainStreet started with wedge products that provided unique value to their customers. The first product they launched was a tax credit offering – less than 2% of small startups and businesses collect the tax credits they’re eligible for. MainStreet made it easier than ever to sign up for their engine so that you could be informed on how to take advantage of those tax credits.&nbsp;You first have to consider what advantages the larger, more successful companies have in order to determine what products to design for small businesses. Doug shares that MainStreet takes these concepts and advantages and shrinks them down into democratized product offerings that are more accessible to a small business owner. Doug explains that their products are meant to replace teams – their goal is to replace banking services for small business owners, who act a lot more like consumers than enterprises. You have to make financial tools easy and seamless in order to appeal to a SMB owner.&nbsp;Josh and Doug discuss the need for a product that makes getting tax credits easy for entrepreneurs. According to MainStreet’s website, “The Federal R&amp;D Credit is designed to incentivize companies who bring new products to market. Think of this program as the IRS’s way of rewarding businesses that prioritize innovation. Startups and Fortune 500 companies alike claim billions of dollars a year in R&amp;D tax credits — but the process to access this money is complex and time-consuming. That's where MainStreet comes in. They take the guesswork (and the legwork) out of tax credits and pass the savings onto you.”There’s a scientific method when it comes to experimenting with tax credits. The government wants to incentivize innovation, but it takes trial and error to figure out what your business is eligible for. Their website states that, “MainStreet takes a holistic approach to small business management so you can grow your business smarter, not harder. From government tax credits to treasury management to exclusive savings on the tools you use every day, they save you thousands of dollars, hundreds of hours, and countless headaches.”Want to learn more? Check out MainStreet’s website at https://www.mainstreet.com/.&nbsp;Check out MainStreet on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/workonmainstreet/.&nbsp;Check out Doug Ludlow on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougludlow/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to the founder and CEO of Draft.Dev, Karl Hughes.&nbsp;Draft.Dev writes technical content for companies that want to reach software engineers. Typically, the companies Draft.Dev works with are businesses that design tools for software engineers. They create content around things like continuous integration platforms and other complex software tools. The main issue companies experience is that they actually need someone with a software development background to write this technical content. This is where Draft.Dev comes in - they have the software expertise and a background in creating strong content. They married these ideas and Draft.Dev was born.&nbsp;Karl explains that Draft.Dev typically works with publicly traded companies that build platforms and&nbsp; tools for software developers and engineers. He shares that, when marketing to this demographic, you have to not only explain the benefits of your tool or platform; you have to demonstrate the practical uses and applications of it. This requires a level of technical expertise, and traditional marketing teams struggle immensely with this.&nbsp;Josh and Karl also discuss what the market traditionally does outside of the solutions Draft.Dev offers. Karl says that developers are notoriously hard to reach and market to. They’ll block ads or email addresses – marketing to such a savvy group of prospects requires avoiding hard selling to them. You have to come off as authentic and authoritative in the space; in other words, your marketing team needs to know their stuff.&nbsp;When you’re writing complex and deep content, you need to come off as an expert. The standard freelance copywriter won’t always know if what they’re saying is totally accurate in such niches. You have to outsource the expertise itself to capture that essence in your content. Many companies now hire specialized developer marketing teams because these issues with content are so pervasive in the space. Draft.Dev manages to differentiate themselves in their niche, which has resulted in rapid growth for them.Draft.Dev doesn’t have many competitors at this time. They stand out in their space and much of their business is word of mouth. Their team has over 150 writers (and they’re still growing). They have blown up with success in the year and a half since they launched. Karl explains that their team of technical writers and editors is their major differentiator; they’re dedicated to accurate, expert technical information paired with remarkable content creation and storytelling.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Draft.Dev’s website at https://draft.dev/.&nbsp;Check out Draft.Dev on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/draft-dev/.&nbsp;Check out Karl Hughes on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/karllhughes/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to the CEO and founder of Forma.ai, Nabeil Alazzam.Forma.ai changes the way large organizations pay and motivate their sales teams. There are 50 million sales representatives across North America that are paid on a variable compensation structure. How they’re paid is based on how well they do. Poorly managed compensation is one of the biggest pain points in this space right now. Forma.ai not only automates the payout process for these incentives, but they leverage AI to curate the best incentive structures to drive the right behaviors and ultimately raise the whole company’s top line.&nbsp;But how do payout disputes even happen? Nabeil explains that in sales, because it’s dynamic, it’s calculated using business rules. If you consider the flux of an organization, sales compensation isn’t static. Enterprises have to individually calculate what to pay each of their sales reps and you have to be able to transparently iterate this to your rep. Nabeil says that software development has paved the way to fix this issue through the form of automation. The problem is that there isn’t yet data to show what really incentives sales teams. Not enough businesses actually look at this data and pivot their compensation model. This is one of many things that Forma.ai seeks to shine light on in the niche focus that is sales rep compensation.There are a few issues Nabeil shares that he’s seen in his space. He shares ultimately, some of these enterprises aren’t properly paying for performance. The ideal compensation structure should see your top performers getting paid 2 to 3 times the average. If a handful of sales reps are the revenue engine of your business, pay them generously; you don't want them seeking out your competitors. You have to pay for performance. On the other hand, you can’t overpay underperformers. If you pay more for your best performers and don’t keep on those that underperform, what you spend won’t change, your money will just be better spent. This is the model Forma.ai follows.&nbsp;Businesses require agility and stay on top of trends to future proof. Looking at your sales compensation model is a crucial piece of looking at your business on a fundamental and operational level. Assess your business, leverage data to be more agile, and pay properly for performance.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Formai.ai’ website at https://www.forma.ai/.&nbsp;&nbsp;Check out Forma.ai on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/forma-ai/.&nbsp;Check out Nabeil Alazzam on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nabeilalazzam/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.&nbsp;

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to the founder of The Thought Leaders, Doug McIsaac.Doug helps coaches and consultants multiply their impact, influence, and income without multiplying their hours. He also saves them from billing by the hour. Doug found that, after years of doing lead generation with his company Social Montana, his coach and consultant clients would cancel their lead generation services when they’d get busy. After sometime, they’d call him back frantically after not closing the expected amount of deals. Doug realized he needed to show these coaches and consultants how to level things out and earn recurring income from various different sources.&nbsp;Doug teaches his clients how to create courses and programs as well as funnels on top of their existing work – without adding a lot of time to their day to day. He shows them the tools of how to be successful without getting stuck in the weeds of their business. He shares that the more money you make as a coach, chances are your quality of life has decreased somewhat.&nbsp;Doug has been a consultant since 1997, so he has a deep level of experience with reaching high levels of success in his space. He was used to billing by the hour, but they soon realized there were issues with that business model. He ultimately developed a different approach and at the time, his company systemized this.&nbsp;Along the way, Doug shares that he found a love for helping coaches and consultants use better business practices, and so that is where he turned his focus. Josh and Doug discuss where courses fit in for couches. Most clients want everything done for them or only want the information they need. Courses should be aimed at teaching your clients’ staff how to do the more in depth tasks. Doug also suggests that if you’re trying to attract higher level clients, offer a mastermind.&nbsp;Doug and Josh discuss best practices when trying to implement a program or course into your business. Doug explains that you need to take the knowledge you have and turn it into a course for your prospects that can’t afford one on one time with you. Doug shares that he works often with clients who have a client base, and so they can sell their course to their client base.&nbsp;Doug recommends delineating your knowledge into categories; what can you make into a course, what needs your one on one attention, and what can be used to build a mastermind? Start asking yourself these questions if you’re a coach or consultant looking to create a program or course offerings.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out The Thought Leaders’ website at https://thethoughtleaders.co/.&nbsp;&nbsp;Check out The Thought Leaders on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/thethoughtleaders/.&nbsp;Check out Doug McIsaac on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougmcisaac/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free<a...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to the founder and CEO of Sartoris Digital, Nick Collins.&nbsp;Sartoris Digital helps their clients put their business in the ‘right time’ and position to serve their ideal prospects. Nick and his team have worked with major companies such as Ford, AT&amp;T, Johnson &amp; Johnson, United, Wilson, and more. Sartoris has done a broad array of work for these larger companies over the years.&nbsp;Josh and Nick also discuss how Sartoris Digital helps to develop apps. Nick shares that everything Sartoris does is tailored to their clients. They go through an initial ‘fitting’ process with their clients in order to determine their unique, individual needs. From there, Sartoris Digital will custom curate an online experience for their client that is significantly unique. Nothing Nick and his team does is ‘off the shelf’ – which is why they decided to offer app development as a service. Their clients needed better ways to engage and connect with their communities. Applications offer unique, game-changing engagement opportunities between a company and its audience.&nbsp;Nick explains that his reputation and quality of work are what propelled Sartoris Digital into the massive success it has seen. Nick was fortunate enough to grow in his career by focusing on both design and engineering, which gave him an edge in his field. For the first five years Sartoris was in business, it did zero marketing. Their 7-figure business was purely word of mouth during that time.&nbsp;Nick shares an important principle; always, to the best of your ability, do what you say you will do, when you say you will do it. Overpromising and under delivering leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Don’t put yourself or your team in a position to miss deadlines because you want to sweeten the pot. Set realistic deadlines and make an effort to truly meet those obligations in order to build your reputation.&nbsp;Nick and Josh also talk about how to drive traffic to your business as a coach or consultant. As a coach, your business is almost solely based on reputation. He stresses to only put money into what will truly provide value to your clients. 80% of courses go unfinished because they don’t offer the value the client is looking for. Every time you have someone drop off your programs or courses for this reason, it dings your reputation. Your priority should be to provide the most premium, high level value possible to your clients. If something isn’t providing that value, or that specific program isn’t a fit for a prospect, don’t continue to sell that program. Selling with integrity will pay off because it will strengthen your reputation tenfold.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Sartoris Digital’s website at https://sartorisdigital.com/.&nbsp;Check out Sartoris Digital on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/sartoris/.&nbsp;Check out Nick Collins on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ndcollins/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.&nbsp;

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to networking concierge, author, motivational speaker, podcaster, and the man known as “The Guy Who Knows a Guy”, Michael Whitehouse.Michael collects and connects people, so to speak. He loves fostering connections that provide value. Over time, he connected more and more people and realized this was a skill he could teach others, so he went on to write The Guy Who Knows a Guy book. He was then asked to speak at networking events and engagements, and it had been several years before he realized he could turn his networking skill into a business for himself.&nbsp;Now, Michael is a networking concierge and makes connections and introductions for a living. He shares that he needed to learn how to support himself so he could connect people even more. He works with high revenue individuals who might know how to network, but who simply don’t have the time. Michael explains that he goes to events on retainer for his clients and meets people for them. He doesn’t necessarily seek to sell anything, but rather he seeks fits for joint ventures or strategic partnerships. Michael spends the time with these prospects and vets them for his clients so they don’t have to, which is where the value occurs.&nbsp;More specifically, Michael tends to work with high level entrepreneurs that have already reached a good level of success but need to outsource for the sake of time. He also iterates that his work is meant to be done alongside other efforts and he doesn’t replace outreach efforts, he bolsters connections.Michael’s audience is the entrepreneurial space, specifically coaches, authors, speakers, trainers, and consultants. Most of what Michael has done in the last couple of years has been totally remote, and the pandemic allowed him to virtually branch out and network globally. As long as you leverage your one on one meetings, you can build a network totally virtually, Michael shares.&nbsp;Michel recommends going into a conversation to identify someone’s pain points first, then start considering how you can help them solve those issues. At that point, perhaps you can help them or you know someone who can. Either way, always come from a place of service first and don’t have a set goal of ‘selling’ to them. Problem solve for your network and give them value first and you will certainly continue to make good, lucrative connections.&nbsp;&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Michael Whitehouse’s website at https://www.guywhoknowsaguy.com/.&nbsp;&nbsp;Check out The Guy Who Knows a Guy on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/gwkag/.&nbsp;Check out Michael Whitehouse on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwhitehouse/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the founder and CEO of Pushbutton Podcasts, Richard Matthews.&nbsp;Pushbutton Podcasts is a full service podcasting agency that focuses on small business get into the small marketing game. Pushbutton Podcasts makes it as easy as ‘pushing the start and stop button’ for their clients to be podcasters. They handle everything from show notes and production to publication and derivative content. Richard and his team help their clients leverage their content and distribute it across all platforms, all on their behalf.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Josh and Richard discuss how working with Pushbutton Podcasts would differ from someone trying to produce their own podcast in house. Richard explains that Pushbutton can replace or work alongside a social media manager to create and distribute the content from scratch. Pushbutton takes care of everything, which means you don’t need to hire an entire team on your end to publish your content. When you don’t have to worry about hiring editors, copywriters, social media managers, and more, you can focus on adding value to your content.&nbsp;Richard shares three things you need to consider when deciding to start a podcast; attention, awareness, and authority. When it comes to ‘attention’, you have to be visible in your market before you’re able to do anything; you need to have people’s attention. You need to show up with high quality content and value to stand out in your space, so this is how you drum up awareness. Once you deliver that quality content consistently enough, the authority comes along with that.&nbsp;Josh and Richard also explore setting expectations with entrepreneurs looking to start a podcast. Richard shares that he tells his clients that if they’re looking to increase sales and grow revenue, there’s three things you need. You need an audience, which you can grow through bought ads, through ‘borrowing’ them (podcast guesting, strategic partnerships, etc.), or by building them. The difference between these is how long it takes to see ROI and how much you need to invest on the front end.&nbsp;If you put the time and effort into building an audience, you will have the authority and awareness you need to generate revenue. You need to strategically build, borrow, and buy simultaneously as you grow, Richard explains. While you can use one primary method as your main source, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket when it comes to creating your podcast audience.Richard says that odcasting is a high-intimacy sort of content. People listen to your podcast when they cook, drive, work out, etc. This means you’re in someone’s ear and domestic life, perhaps on a daily basis. You don’t need to go ‘big’ when it comes to audience numbers, you just need to know how to connect with your core audience.Want to learn more? Check out Pushbutton Podcast’s website at https://pushbuttonpodcasts.com/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.&nbsp;

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to the founder and CEO of Prominence Publishing, Suzanne Doyle-Ingram.&nbsp;Prominence Publishing is a publishing company that exclusively works with business professionals to write non-fiction books. They work with professionals who want to use their book to leverage and position themselves better within their vertical. Suzanne explains that they help busy business owners effectively manage their book and leverage it to get more clients. They also teach these professionals how to sell their books.&nbsp;Suzanne shares that one of the biggest issues she sees is that entrepreneurs don’t utilize their book properly. Prominence Publishing decided to launch a new program called “Beyond the Book” that teaches professionals and authors what they should do after the book is published. A book will always give you more perceived authority, Suzanne explains. A podcast, journalist, client, or anyone else in your sphere will almost always choose an author over someone who isn’t. It affords that extra authority in your space and sets you apart enough so that you seem more credible to audiences.&nbsp;Suzanne also discusses a trend she’s observed in her space. Many business owners, coaches, and consultants like to sell their books for ‘free’, the buyer only pays for shipping. She explains that, while this might work for business owners who have $50K to spend on advertising, it isn’t feasible for small business owners or professionals trying to get their book out there. Only use this method when you have a dialed-in back end and the cash to spend on marketing.&nbsp;Josh and Suzanne also explore how people tend to read books in this day and age. She shares that only 20% of books are actually read to completion; most people don’t read books in their entirety anymore. This is why it’s important to design your book carefully and utilize an outline. You have to detach emotionally from your book and focus only on what will provide value to your reader. On top of that, you should always put a call to action in your book as well to engage with and connect to the reader.You should always be leveraging your book. Suzanne shares that you should make it obvious you have a book across all of your social media accounts. Everywhere you appear on the internet, add your book somewhere on that page. Beyond that, don’t ask people to buy it; demonstrate why you have authority and why your book might benefit them. Don’t forget to engage with your network and ask others to share your book when the time and circumstances are appropriate. Always make sure to leverage your book optimally.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Prominence Publishing’s website at https://prominencepublishing.com/.&nbsp;Check out Prominence Publishing on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/prominence-publishing/.&nbsp;Check out Suzanne Doyle-Ingram on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannedoyleingram/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to the CEO of Pikmykid, Pat Bhava.&nbsp;Pikmykid provides dismissal automation solutions to schools so that children and parents don’t need to wait longer than necessary to be picked up from school. Their solutions make things easier for parents and kids and allows teachers to spend more time focusing on what really matters.&nbsp;Pat explains that he doesn’t have a background in tech, but he is a serial entrepreneur. He shares that when he was between business ventures some time ago, he would spend that time helping out with his kids, especially picking them up from school. This was when Pat really saw the chaos that is after-school dismissal in America. Worst of all, when he finally picked up his daughter, he realized that they put the wrong child in his vehicle. This was when it hit him; there had to be an easier way to approach this. Teachers and Principles are left to their own devices, without any outside support to tackle these issues. Pat explains that he was an outsider initially, and he had to do a lot of research and trial and error in order to find an appropriate technical solution that would actually solve the problem at its core.Another realization Pat had as he and his team developed their solution was that they needed to avoid relying on expensive hardware. Pat was clear on the direction Pikmykid needed to take; they needed to not rely on hardware, not use biometrics, and not involve the children in the responsibility of the platform – all while keeping the children the core focus of it. What they came up with was a unique solution that utilizes digital geofencing software that allows the parents to utilize an app that communicates with the staff at the school. This allows parents to remotely inform school staff and administrators where they are in a carpool line so that things operate as a conveyor system. This unique solution took a lot of time to perfect, but was well worth the effort.&nbsp;Pat explains that when he first started his business, they tried a B2C approach with parents. However, this failed, he shares. They pivoted to a B2B approach and began offering their solution to schools, and this is where they started to gain traction and success. Pikmykid is driven by their mission to make kids safer and to help teachers spend more time doing their meaningful work.&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Pikmykid’s website at https://www.pikmykid.com/.&nbsp;Check out Pikmykid on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/pikmykid/.&nbsp;Check out Pat Bhava on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhava/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

&nbsp; In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to the CEO of Social27, Ike Kehal. Social27 helps host virtual and hybrid events that make an impact. Ike shares that when they went to market in early 2020, once COVID-19 hit, they experienced a boom in business. Their solution was new but grew rapidly during the age of the pandemic. Josh and Ike explore the new future of events. One thing is for certain, hybrid and virtual event experiences are here to stay. But why do we even go to events in the first place? For one thing, we want to hear the brilliant ideas of thought leaders and we want to network with our peers. Understanding why people actually go to events is very important, Ike explains. The reason their customers choose Social27 is because they offered a dialed-in and prescribed, curated event experience. Events should always feel like a curated experience for everyone in attendance. Do all of your networking in advance, Ike says. The time you spend during the event should be used methodically and optimally. Networking before an event is the best way to forge those connections without missing the real value of the event itself. Ike also talks about how long it took him and his team to get Social27 to market. He shares that back in 2012 when he first started trying to strategize building the company, he found that streaming was too expensive for any major players to want to hold virtual events regularly. The age of the pandemic during 2020 is what paved the way for Social27’s fast and successful growth. Now, people need to be virtually connected the majority of the time. This changed the game when it comes to events, and as Josh and Ike agree, this is the new normal. Ike also explains that when the market changed to favor primarily virtual training, we also adopted a newer way of consuming media that was totally curated and easily accessible (now more than ever with streaming prices lower than they were). Ike and his team saw this shift and knew that a boon for virtual events was on the horizon. Social27 wanted to make sure they helped their clients execute hybrid and virtual events correctly. Especially with hybrid events, you have to make sure your mindset is focused on providing an amazing virtual experience along with whatever events you host in person. Social27 doesn’t just deliver effective, curated virtual and hybrid events, but they look to the future so they’re always on the cutting edge. Want to learn more? Check out Social27’s website at https://www.social27.com/. Check out Social27 on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/social27/. Check out Ike Kehal on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ikekehal/. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time! More from UpMyInfluence: ✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE. ✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here. ✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks with the Chief Creative Officer of Podfest, Chris Krimitsos.Chris has an extensive background in the podcasting space. Podcasting is on demand, searchable audio that's syndicated through the internet, he explains. Podcasts are messengers that people can actually search for and find. They’re also extremely versatile and can serve many different purposes, both creatively and pragmatically. Podcasts also get you in front of people and can be monetized in many different ways.&nbsp;Josh and Chris also explore the types of listeners podcasts attract. The extremely busy business owner, who may not otherwise have the time to sit through lengthy business lectures, can now passively listen to podcasts on the go. Podcasting is an incredible way to reframe important information into digestible, snackable portions.&nbsp;Chris stresses the importance of choosing the right name. You need to make sure your podcast is search engine optimized within each player platform and that your podcast name is succinct and easily recognizable. In order to create a successful podcast, it needs a strong foundation.&nbsp;When you produce content and syndicate it correctly, you’re going to be indexed on some of the best player platforms out there. This is all high domain authority that you can leverage directly. Podcast guesting is not only easy, but it’s a great way to easily get your name out there and circulating. When you guest on podcasts effectively and ensure the audience knows who you are, you will create authority for yourself and forge connections naturally with listeners.&nbsp;Josh and Chris also explore the misconception that the podcasting space is ‘too crowded.’ Yes, there are lots of podcasts out there. However, if you stay passionate and consistent with your show, position and leverage your content, and be a podcast guest effectively, you can definitely see great results. This is why Chris and the team around Podfest began. They wanted to create an expo that aligned with their dedication to podcasting excellence.&nbsp;Podfest is a gathering of content creators from across all platforms where experts can exchange ideas and trends. This expo deep dives into hands-on content and offers new, cutting edge strategies to boost the success of your show. Top creators come together at Podfest to share their wisdom and welcome new podcasters to the space with open arms and great information. Podfest 2022 takes place on May 26 - 29. Check out their schedule here and purchase tickets to Podfest 2022 here.Want to learn more? Check out Podfest’s website at https://podfestexpo.com/.&nbsp;Check out Podfest on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/podfestexpo/.&nbsp;Check out Chris Krimitsos on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriskrimitsos/.&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more...

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to the author of the book Cycles: The Simplest, Proven Method to Innovate Faster While Reducing Risks and serial entrepreneur, Bryan Cassady.&nbsp;Bryan explains that he’s helped to build eleven different companies and sold eight of them successfully. He ultimately began dabbling with teaching, where he discovered his passion for helping others learn and improve themselves. He now helps companies innovate faster by reducing their business risks, which is what his book is all about.Mistakes are frequent in the entrepreneurial world, and they’re going to happen no matter what. Bryan says that his book isn’t about avoiding mistakes altogether; it’s about reducing risks. The key to reducing risks is the daily grind. Don’t rely on your ‘next big idea’ as your one and only path; that’s the road with the most risks. Bryan says you should always have a set goal and revisit that goal often to make sure your day to day operations are going in the right direction. If you want to reduce the risks your business needs to take to succeed, dial in your daily grind. Bryan’s book isn’t just what you should do, but it covers how you should do it. If you’re looking to transform your business and align it better with your vision, you have to build, measure, and learn.The ABCs of innovation have been simplified, thanks to Bryan. He says to always start with your ultimate goal. Build a business framework off of that and test it out. The key is to constantly revisit what you’re doing and tweak and improve as you learn. Don’t blindly put a process in place and then walk away from it, assuming it’s working for you. Critically assess these processes in your day to day. Building and, in effect, testing a process should naturally lead into the next steps, which are to measure effectiveness and learn from those results.&nbsp;Bryan explains that many entrepreneurs burn themselves out after doing this process only once. He explains that in order to set yourself apart from the ‘could be successes’ as an immense success, you have to continue this process consistently. Continue to go back and test your processes. Find what doesn’t work and find the hitches in your processes, then go back and innovate for improvement.&nbsp;Most companies that see successful innovations will be the first to tell you that what worked for them isn’t what they started with. Innovations themselves should change over time in order to keep up with the needs of your company. You may not get it right the first, second, or even the third time. The key is not just believing in yourself, but being willing to continuously improve incrementally over time. This is how you build a successful business. Bryan shares that innovation isn’t really about creativity, it’s about persistence and constant improvement.&nbsp;&nbsp;Want to learn more? Check out Bryan’s website at https://www.thecyclesbook.com/.&nbsp;Check out Bryan Cassady on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryancassady/.&nbsp;&nbsp;Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free<a...