Biz Chat Ohio | The inspiration and knowledge hub for Ohio's small businesses and entrepreneurs

The federal government spends over $600 BILLION every year on goods and services. 23% of those purchases are set aside for small businesses!

PTAC can help determine if the government buys what you have to offer then guide you through the federal procurement process. PTAC is funded by the Department of Defense to provide FREE government contracting assistance to small businesses.

Jane Stewart has been with the PTAC program for 22 years and is a Level 3 Certified Procurement Professional through the Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers.

Geza shares his meteoric career trajectory as he went from Jewelry Designer to Architect to Art Director of Hollywood film and tv shows within the span of 20 years. Geza has worked on films such as Judas and the Black Messiah, Dark Waters, White Boy Rick and many others. He’s even been bowling with Matthew McConaughey and considers Martin Sheen perhaps the nicest guy he’s ever met.

Geza attributes his continuous ascent to a diligent work ethic and the building and nurturing of important relationships.

Why is your online brand so important?

• It usually is your first impression, and bad first impressions are tough to overcome
• A great brand will save you TONS of money in online advertising and marketing dollars
• A well executed brand will prevent you from competing only on lowest price

Barry Edwards, owner and creative director of Edwards Communications, has been building brands online since 1996. He specializes in establishing brands that get found online and that convert prospects into customers without spending more money than necessary on online ads.

Barry utilizes UX (User Experience) design and refined Content Marketing to get small business in front of their best target audience and generate leads from these prospects. He's also sharing his FREE eBook with our listeners, "Building Your Best Brand".

#entrepreneur #entrepreneurship #SmallBusiness #podcast #NEO #Ohio #SBDC #BrandDevelopment #branding

How can you expand your market beyond the USA?

Nate Ward runs the Ohio Export Assistance Network serving the greater Cleveland-Akron area. He tackles these important questions:

• How does a small business owner know when to consider exporting?
• What are some preconceived ideas US businesses have about global business that are often wrong?
• What are some challenges a small business owner should consider when dealing with a variety of countries?
• What are some unusual things you’ve witnessed in another country that might be unexpected for an American audience

Ohio Export Assistance Network has helped hundreds of Ohio companies grow their export sales by nearly $100m over the past ten years, growing business on every continent except Antarctica. Nate and his team, housed at Cleveland State University, manages the longest running export accelerator in the country, one of four export internship host sites, and occasionally lead Ohio trade missions to various foreign markets.

Break out of "Survival Mode" and transform into your best self.

Kurt Treu, The Growth Coach, explains the universal limitation and how to break free from it. Kurt also answers these profound questions:

• Why is it what always worked for me in the past does not always work now?
• Why are continuous improvement techniques and strategies not enough?
• What is limiting my full and true potential?
• What is the source of all my stress and irritations?

#entrepreneur #entrepreneurship #SmallBusiness #podcast #NEO #Ohio #SBDC #leadership

Doug Moseley is a lawyer with the University of Akron Law School's SEED Legal Clinic, The SEED Legal Clinic provides very low cost legal services for entrepreneurs. It's mission is to enrich their senior level law school students by giving them experience dealing with real client matters under the supervision of staff attorneys, while exclusively serving new businesses that can't afford an attorney.

#entrepreneur #entrepreneurship #SmallBusiness #FoodTruck #podcast #NEO #Ohio #SBDC

Join us as Nadine Nocero-Tye discusses how to get your business found on Google by your target audience.

Nadine Nocero-Tye has been helping companies turn 'arts and craft' style marketing into revenue-driving investments for the last 10 years. As a partner at SyncShow, a digital marketing agency that achieves 95% of their clients' pipeline goals. Nadine shares secrets of how SyncShow helps their clients generate more traffic and conversions via brand awareness and lead generation techniques.

Nancy Valent - Creative Rainmaker for NMV Strategies is an expert in branding, crisis communications and public relations. Nancy has created a proprietary way of creating elevator pitches that strengthen your brand while delivering your unique propositions.

Nancy has held executive positions for Fortune 500 companies and was Chief Marketing Officer for a premier international franchise where she developed a strategic marketing initiative that enabled franchisees to achieve image awareness, sales growth and dominance throughout the USA and Canada.

Nancy has trained more than 500 executives and small business owners in proactive media awareness and crisis procedures utilizing her background in media relations.

Bob Goricki helps businesses get found online by their target audience through Google, social media and other digital channels.

Bob has worked at marketing agencies since 2005, joined regional CPA and business advisory firm Skoda Minotti in 2006 as part of an internal marketing department of three people. The goal was to eventually provide marketing services not just to the firm, but to clients of the firm as well, which was achieved within three years.

Over the next few years, the team added a business advisory offering that complemented Skoda's other non-CPA services  such as information technology, staffing and wealth management.

In December of 2019, Skoda Minotti was acquired by Marcum LLP and the team became Marcum Strategic Marketing. And as of November 1, 2021, became Strategic 7 Marketing. Their focus is on results-driven marketing processes that increase brand recognition, build customer loyalty and drive leads and sales.

Special guest, Tom Lix is the quintessential serial entrepreneur and Cleveland Whiskey’s founder and CEO. Cleveland Whiskey is a profitable and growing whiskey start-up with distribution in 16 States and well over 100 medals and awards from spirits competitions around the world. Tom will discuss:

• Common marketing mistakes made early on, and how he adjusted course.
• Recommendations for business owners to determine their marketing budget and where should those dollars should be allocated.
• Is “watching what your competition is doing” helpful or hurtful as a business owner?
• Metrics. How much should a business owner get hung up on the campaign data and what is a good starting point?
• How has COVID affected Cleveland Whiskey> Did you have to pivot your business as many others have?

Tom has worked in on-line media (sold one company to National Public Radio), software technology and applications and consulted for leading food, beverage, hospitality, and entertainment companies including Guinness PLC, Proctor & Gamble, H. J. Heinz Company, PepsiCo, The Clorox Company, Burger King and Harrah's Entertainment. In addition, Lix has consulted to leading media companies and brands such as HBO®, Time magazine, and MTV Networks; travel and transportation companies including American Airlines, Amtrak, and Northwest Airlines (now Delta); as well as service delivery and technology innovators that included American Express, FedEx® and Visa.

Our guest, Anna Tyrrell of Anna Tyrrell & Associates, ltd., and Common Ground: Conflict Resolution Services, ltd., is here to talk to answer these questions and help us rekindle our passion for our businesses:

• Is there a "honeymoon phase" for a business owner?
• Some areas of business ownership become dreadful at times, causing the owner to question their decision. What's a SB owner to do?
• Should a small business owner hire someone to do or manage the tasks that cause them angst, or will adding wage expense give them even more anxiety?
• How can one determine if they're truly burned out, and what can they do about it?
• How do you handle a partnership that's developed friction from disagreements?

Our guest, Justin Kalvitz, President of Spatula Consulting LLC. Justin has 30 years of experience guiding clients to achieve their goals. He finds opportunities to improve and align these companies around an impactful vision and then works with them to create a plan for growth. He focuses on 4 main areas: * Growth Planning * Product Development * Strategy/Vision/Business Planning * Amazon, Digital, Retail strategies.

In this 30 minute discussion Justin shares:

• Why is the owner not always the best one to lead growth and marketing strategies, ie. grow the team?
• How does looking at the goals from competitors or prospective buyers' perspectives helps advance a small business?
• If a business has a sales/marketing person on board, how can a consultant or advisor fill in the gaps?
• How does a company stall their own growth by doing too much at the same time and how do you find clarity?
• Justin discusses "The Plan” – "must-haves" that really make a difference

Justin gained his experience at a variety of different brands and business including Sherwin Williams, Krylon, Newell Rubbermaid, Zenith Products, Bemis Corporation, Mactac, and Boogie Board. He's worked in historic brands managing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and built businesses and divisions from the ground up. As a general manager leading businesses, he focuses on sales and marketing but most importantly the P&L. Justin has worked in CPG, Retail and Commercial Manufacturing and B2B businesses and has done business in over 50 countries.

Today many small businesses can't find employees. In fact, some have to turn down work reduce hours because they simply don't have that human capital. Small businesses are trying to come back from COVID. They're trying to build back capacity, and they're not able to do it.

Another challenge is that small businesses are often competing with larger businesses that often provide more benefits. Planning is more important than ever when it comes to managing the human resources in your business.

Biz Chat Ohio is joined by Crista Bartolomucci, manager, talent acquisition and development for iDesign. Crista discusses the importance of being proactive versus reactive in your business, and also using creative solutions to attract and retain talent post-COVID.

Crista spent 10 years in the hospitality industry before transitioning to HR with Apple Growth Partners, a regional CPA firm. At Apple Growth Crista concentrated on building an entry-level talent pipeline, campus recruitment strategies, and career pathing.

In 2017, Crista received the Greater Akron Chamber 30 for the Future Award and graduated the Leadership Akron Women's Network Community Leadership Institute. Additionally, she served on the University of Akron Institute for Leadership Advancement advisory board and was a member of the Torchbearers board of directors.

Biz Chat is joined by Miguel Gomez, senior managing director for the Americas at Transom Group. Miguel holds an MBA, and is a bilingual executive with 20 plus years of international experience with Fortune 500 companies in manufacturing, consumer goods and consulting industries. Miguel provides vision, leadership and management to these teams to drive profitability, growth, visibility and process effectiveness through the architecture design and implementation of technology-based solutions and best practices.

Miguel is a visionary entrepreneur and change agent with a successful track record of building high-performance organizations in multinational environments, creating cultures of continuous improvement, partnership and customer focus, bringing value and positively impacting enterprise performance and customer satisfaction.

Stress, and more so, stress at the workplace, has certainly been compounded over the past 15 months with Covid – a lot of people were and many still are feeling foggy. There have been a variety of workplace adjustments and while it may seem like we’ve “adjusted,” the reality is, it brought on another layer of stress.

Our guest today, Anna Tyrrell of Anna Tyrrell & Associates, ltd., and Common Ground: Conflict Resolution Services, ltd., is here to talk to us about workplace stress. She'll provide self-help tips and simple strategies that you can do today to recognize stress and reduce its negative effect on your health, your family, and your work.

Small business legal advice with Ric Selby of Dworken & Bernstein. Ric heads up the commercial litigation department and has extensive trial experience in state and federal court. In addition to his litigation experience, Ric regularly consults with clients on employment related issues and is called in to assist at trial with the class action department when those matters go to trial.

He has been recognized as a Super Lawyer Rising Star, and was selected to be included in the 2019 edition of Best Lawyers in America. He is also a contributing editor to Attorney at Law magazine, featuring articles on employment law.

Rick joined Dworken & Bernstein in 2000. Became a partner in 2011, and this year became managing partner.

Frank Suponcic of Markum's valuation, forensic and litigation services group, concentrates on fraud and embezzlement. Frank has investigated and managed multi-million dollar forensic engagements. He helps businesses investigate payroll, cash receipts, billing, cash disbursements and expense reimbursement schemes.

He regularly assist clients in evaluating their internal controls to help minimize their likelihood of becoming a victim of a financial crime.

And Mr Suponcic  has written several articles on fraud, forensic accounting and identity theft, and is a frequent speaker throughout Ohio on these subjects.

Guest, Amanda Todorovich, Senior Director of Content at the Cleveland Clinic, has grown the Cleveland Clinic’s digital marketing team from three people and soon to be 80 people. She’s an award winning marketing expert passionate about building audiences by creating amazing content that is useful, helpful, and relevant to customers.

Full transcript: https://bizchatohio.com/2021/05/11/podcast-1-2-amanda-todorovich/

Listen, as Neil Singh, Director of business development and technology at TeamNeo. Neil talks to us about how TeamNEO helps small and mid-sized businesses in NE Ohio grow and what it takes to qualify for their assistance.

Neil shares several business owners/managers can qualify for TeamNEO assistance. Discover the innovations, business tools, and business resource that are available as your business or organization continues to evolve.