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The Bizgnus Podcast

The Bizgnus Podcast

By Douglas Caldwell

One-on-one interviews with experts in business and personal success.
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Is there a kangaroo in the house?

The Bizgnus PodcastApr 22, 2022

00:00
25:16
Is your brain getting in the way of your success?

Is your brain getting in the way of your success?

•  What happened when Liam Naden went to work on his brain

•  “I was forced to try a different approach”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 22:24)

  

AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- Liam Naden was a wild success.  And then he wasn’t.

 He says he went from being a millionaire by his mid-40s to losing everything and becoming homeless.

 That’s when he decided to slice his brain into four parts.  Not literal brain surgery, but through study determining that the brain has four major “parts” that when used properly can lead to success in business and life.

 Liam Naden explains what he discovered and how he puts it to work in this episode of Bizgnus Interviews.

 “I uncovered this when, after a lifetime of personal development and spirituality study and application (and success as an entrepreneur) … I was forced to try a different approach,” Mr. Naden says.  “This led me to an understanding of how the brain really works - and how it is the key to all of the results we get in our life.”

 

For more information:  https://liamnaden.com/ 

Mar 24, 202422:26
Tips from the Google guru
Mar 18, 202412:13
Failure can be a success, says expert
Mar 11, 202414:40
He helps find that perfect fit

He helps find that perfect fit

 •  Executive recruiter offers tips for both job seeker and those looking to hire

•  From Down Under to the United States

(Total recorded time is 22:00)

 

BRISBANE, Australia — Richard Triggs has written books for both ends of your bookshelf.  His "Uncover the Hidden Job Market - How to find and win your next senior executive role" was a best seller and is now in its second edition.

 Mr. Triggs is now writing for the other end of the shelf – a book aimed at managers, "Winning the War for Talent - How to attract and retain top performers."

 Richard Triggs is our guest in this episode of Bizgnus Interviews.

 Mr. Triggs says he and his company, Arete Executive, have placed more than 1,500  senior executives or board members over the past 15 years. Over the last 15 years, Richard and his team have been responsible for recruiting over 1500 senior executives and board directors into roles across his native Australia and now the United States.

 He has also coached over 2,500 senior executives and board directors through their job search.

 For more information:  https://www.areteexecutive.com.au/ 

Mar 04, 202422:01
Finding success as a seller on Amazon
Feb 26, 202422:41
Boosting your company’s social media reach could be easier than you think
Feb 16, 202411:47
How’s your cultural IQ?
Feb 11, 202418:37
Becoming a better leader — through kung fu

Becoming a better leader — through kung fu

•  The your list of kung fu icons, add Craig Cooke

•  “Showing up every single day and grinding it out”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 24:00)

(LAGUNA HILLS, Calif.) — Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and many others made careers in television and movies thanks to their skills in kung fu.  Craig Cooke is taking the martial art in a different direction: into business leadership.

 Mr. Cooke, an entrepreneur who started a “digital first” company on the internet long before “digital first,” “digital transformation,” and other buzzwords of today were created, says leaders should follow the principals of kung fu to be more effective.

 He explains it in this edition of Bizgnus Interviews.

He started his company with two college buddies, each putting in $1,300 to open the doors.

 But bootstrapping it wasn’t the only challenge. Another was starting a company in an industry that hardly anyone knew existed.

 “It was 1996 and the internet was new and we had started actually a digital-first company … before that was even a term,” he says. “The industry was so new there wasn't a lot of people that really knew what it was so there was a lot of education that we had to do … so it took a while to get traction.”

 For anyone hoping to start a new business, Mr. Cooke has some advice.  He says one key to success is very simple: “Showing up every single day and grinding it out.”

 Mr. Cooke has put his story into a new book, “Business Kung Fu,” (Joint Venture Publishing, Blue Sky, November 2023).

 To WATCH the episode, please click here:

https://youtu.be/LkWWBPmjnTs

For more information:  www.csquaredpro.io

Feb 02, 202424:03
He’s trying to save capitalism from itself

He’s trying to save capitalism from itself

•  Businessman Chris Lautenslager says companies should prioritize purpose as much as profits

•  “Allowing all Americans to be justly rewarded for their contributions to their work”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 14:35) 

 

In this audio-only episode of Bizgnus Interviews, we talk with Chicago businessman Chris Lautenslager.

He stresses that he’s a through and through capitalist but one who sees better ways for the economic system to work for more people. 

Mr. Lautenslager says the extraordinary wealthy rarely share the credit or their wealth with the employees, vendors and community that made organizational success a reality.  

Mr. Lautenslager, who has a masters degree in finance and economics from Northwestern University, says he feels it’s his mission to help redefine the hierarchical, shareholder-first corporate model and foster companies that prioritize purpose as importantly as profits. 

He is the founder of Get Looped, a platform to showcase the value and benefits of a collective prosperity for people, businesses and communities.  

Today, he helps businesses and CEOs incorporate prosperity with profitability into their business practices. 

And the changes he calls for might be just in time. The Harris Poll in a survey of some17,000 U.S. adults in 2020 found that only a quarter believed that the current form of capitalism ensures the greater good of society.

 

“It’s not that capitalism doesn’t work or that the drive to create a highly profitable organization can’t be,” he says. “Quite the contrary, it is the revision of capitalism and the creation of a common vision through the guiding principles of Get Looped and supporting partner organizations, that we foster balanced, thriving businesses by allowing all Americans to be justly rewarded for their contributions to their work and their lives.” 

He is the author of the book “The Prosperity Loop,” (Redwood Publishing LLC, October 2022.) 

For more information:  https://get-looped.com/

Jan 27, 202414:37
It’s what you contribute that measures your success
Jan 17, 202411:59
Have a cup of tolerance
Dec 29, 202312:02
Is a franchise your key to financial success?

Is a franchise your key to financial success?

•  The “franchise maven” has some advice

•  “You want them to take you through the process”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 23:33) 

(LICKING, MISSOURI) -- Thinking about getting into business through a franchise?  There are literally thousands to choose from, ranging from giants like a McDonalds tothose folks who scoop up dog doo-doo.  Yes, that’s a franchise.

 

The guy who know it is Gregory Mohr, a serial entrepreneur and for the past ten years an advisor to people thinking about buying a franchse.

 In this edition of Bizgnus Interviews, Greg Mohr talks about the plusses and the minuses of becoming a franchisee.

 Please click here to watch the interview:

https://youtu.be/w-7hR5h_Ko0

 But before writing that check to get a franchise, wait, Mr. Mogr says. You need to make sure the business is a good fit for you and your experience.

 “You want them to take you through the process,” Mr. Mohr says, “so they’re making certain you’ve got what it takes to be successful.”

 In his career, he has managed restaurants, been a micro-electric circuit engineer, owned and operated dry cleaners, storage units, rental properties, and franchises. 

 Mr. Mohr is the author of “Real Freedom, Why Franchises Are Worth Considering and How They Can Be Used For Building Wealth.”

Dec 16, 202323:38
How to boost your sales using love languages
Dec 14, 202326:24
How to stop your business from running you

How to stop your business from running you

•  Tips on getting from operator to owner

•  “Basically, I was an employee who owned 100 percent of the business”

 (Total Recorded Time is 25:10)

  

(SCOTTSDALE, Arizona) -- It’s great to start a business but many entrepreneurs then find that they are stuck in that business, running it with little or no time to plan its future or even to take a real vacation without checking emails and calling the office just to see how things are going.

 

Robert Poole has heard this story countless times as he advises business owners how to extricate themselves from the machinery to become the leaders their businesses need.

“I have been an entrepreneur and owned a B2B marketing company specializing in cold calling for 22+ years,” Mr. Poole says.  “We scaled from zero and no funding to millions of dollars in revenue over this time.”

 But then his partner and co-founder died, throwing Mr. Poole into the business as an operator,

 “Basically, I was an employee who owned 100 percent of the business,” he says. 

 Because of this experience, Mr. Poole says he started focusing on how to change the company so he was no longer a critical cog in the wheel and wasn’t necessary for the business to function on a daily basis.

 Since then, Mr. Poole says he’s been focusing on how to help other small business entrepreneurs make the same transition from operator to owner so they can enjoy the freedom and get the time back that they most likely got into business in the first place. 

For more information: https://www.totalbusinessresults.com/

Nov 22, 202325:12
A foot in two cultures
Nov 14, 202324:55
How much money are you wasting on coaching?

How much money are you wasting on coaching?

•  This executive coach says it’s time to change

•  “Shockingly, we took some approaches to leader development … right out of OSHA training”

 (Total Record Time is 22:42)

 

(LAGUNA HILLS, Calif.) -- Stop wasting your money on traditional executive coaching.  That radical thought is expressed by a veteran executive coach, Lori Mazan, who has coached some of the nation’s top business leaders over the last 25+ years.

 

Traditional coaching works perhaps 10 percent of the time, researchers say.

 

“[T]he skills and capabilities developed don’t get applied on the job. This challenges the very foundation of executive education, but it is not surprising,” write Mihnea Moldoveanu, a professor at the University of Toronto, and Harvard Business School Professor Das Narayandas in a recent edition of the Harvard Business Review. 

 

Ms. Mazan agrees. “Shockingly, we took some approaches to leader development in the past that came right out of OSHA training,” she says. “That’s been shown … to only have about a 10 percent return.”

 

She says another big change over the years has been time.

 

“One of the big changes has been the length of time you have to develop leaders,” says Ms. Mazan.  “In the last century, people stayed at their organizations a long time. Now, even leaders stay at their organizations less than five years.”

 

Lori Mazan explains what’s wrong with traditional executive coaching and talks about how it should be in this episode of Bizgnus Interviews.


Lori Mazan is co-founder, president, and chief coaching officer of Sounding Board, Inc., which she says offers “a tech-driven, human-centric approach” to leadership development. 

 

Ms. Mazan packages her strategies in her new book, Leadership Revolution: The Future of Developing Dynamic Leaders (Wiley; October 2023). 

 

For more information:  SoundingBoardInc.com

Nov 04, 202322:44
What’s keeping you from really succeeding?
Nov 02, 202315:59
There’s a stench in the air…and he knows who’s making it

There’s a stench in the air…and he knows who’s making it

•  Professor finds the source

•  “The problem with the court is that it has become too political”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 26:19)

 

(Chandler, Arizona) -- Americans’ approval of the U.S. Supreme Court and their trust in it are near their lowest points ever, according to a September survey by the polling firm Gallup.

 

It says the public is divided over whether the court’s ideology is about right or too conservative.

 

Going forward, says Gallup, concerns about Supreme Court justices’ acceptance of gifts and lavish trips, particularly among two conservative justices, may further sap the public’s approval of and trust in the nation’s highest court.

 

Joseph Russomanno doesn’t mince words. He says it’s a stench.

 

The Arizona State University professor, who specializes in studying the First Amendment, says the Court has transformed itself from a revered institution into nothing more than just another political institution, which is a primary reason the Court’s public popularity has plummeted.

 

In his book, "The 'Stench' of Politics: Polarization and Worldview on the Supreme Court," (Lexington Books, (November 2022), Mr. Russomanno explains how the Supreme Court has been transformed.

 

Mr. Russomanno says the high court could be moved back to a more nonpartisan middle ground.  “One is term limits,”he says. 

 

If the jurists had “an end point to each of their times on the court, that would be helpful.”

 

He also says the court ought to be expanded to perhaps 13 members instead of nine.  He says just nine would hear a case, similar to the way lower federal courts work.

 

“The problem with the court is that it has become too political,” Mr. Russomanno says.

 

In addition to teaching thousands of ASU students Mr. Russomanno, who received his doctorate in 1993 from the University of Colorado, has written nearly two dozen refereed journal articles, five books, nearly two dozen conference papers and nearly 40 published reviews and commentaries.

 

For more information:  https://tinyurl.com/JRussomanno

Nov 01, 202325:21
"Fractions" can boost your bottom line

"Fractions" can boost your bottom line

•  Brian Childrerss taps AI for full solutions to each fraction

•  “I see it as a multiplier for the work we are doing”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 17:30)

  

Brian Childress loves fractions, perhaps because he is one.

 

Mr. Childress is a “fractional” chief technology officer.

 

He joins us for this episode of Bizgnus Interviews to tell us what that really means and why he makes more money with his side hustle than a regular job.

 

Please click here to watch the interview: https://youtu.be/cXddWro_Qu0

 

While Mr. Childress is usually brought on board to solve old problems, he is an optimist when it comes to a future working with artificial intelligence.

 

“For me, AI is a really powerful tool,” he says. “I see it as a multiplier for the work we are doing.”

 

He says he is routinely using various types of artificial intelligence to help solve his clients’ problems. 

 

“We’re going to see it take hold in the enterprise, in businesses … in three to five years,” Mr. Childress says, adding that AI has already started helping companies manage and leverage the mountains of data that they have. 

For more information: https://brianchildress.co/

Oct 29, 202317:32
She cleared her own “brain fog” and now helps others do the same

She cleared her own “brain fog” and now helps others do the same

Oct 20, 202322:56
Effective leaders do more than delegate

Effective leaders do more than delegate

•  The key is to also empower 

•  “The 9th stratum is the operating level of high performers”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 20:01)

  

It’s customary for managers to delegate tasks to their staffs.  But that often backfires, with managers having to get into the nitty-gritty to save the task and wondering why they bothered to delegate in the first place.

 

Sales management expert Aaron Salko says stopping at delegating is wrong.  What’s needed, he says, is to empower those to whom you delegate.

 

“Leaders of organizations have the right mindset but they don’t necessarily always know how to acknowledge and perpetuate the performance,” he says. 

 

Mr. Salko joins us in this episode of Bizgnus Interviews to outline a better path to success.

 

Mr. Salko, founder and creator of The 9th Stratum, is a sales management professional with the privately held retail and industrial packaging firm Stephen Gould Company.

 

“The 9th stratum is the operating level of high performers,” Mr. Salko says, explaining his study of the top performers in a spectrum of professions. “It’s their ability to master the skills necessary that are critical to their career.” 

 

He says effective leaders understand that delegating a task is also an opportunity to empower team members toward their own growth, which builds a stronger, more successful team, and greater team loyalty.

 

His new book is “The 9th Stratum: Your Guide to High Performance,” (9th Stratum Publishing LLC, September 2023).

 

For more information:  stratum-nine.com

Oct 17, 202321:02
To motivate your staff, lead with the heart

To motivate your staff, lead with the heart

•  Expert calls for creation of soulful work cultures

•  “There is a dramatic difference between people who are love-driven and people who are duty-driven”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 26:05) 

 

The percentage of employees who are engaged with their work recently hit an all-time high: 23 percent.  The others – nearly eight out of ten – do the bare minimum to keep their jobs – or less.

 

“Employees who are not engaged or who are actively disengaged cost the world $8.8 trillion in lost productivity,” says Gallup, the company that compiles the numbers, in its 2023 “State of the Global Workplace Report.

 

Jo-Ann Triner, president of Soulful Work LLC of Worthington, Ohio, hoes to do something about it.

 

“The disintegration of our culture is actually going on,” she says. “We were headed to this place from the first industrial revolution.”

 

Ms. Triner says from the earliest factories, workers were told to essentially check their souls at the door. “This is pure business. Anything love-related, anything personal  had to be out of the equation.”

 

She says the economy of the early 21st Century has certainly changed from the first industrial revolution – and not necessarily for the better.  “We have fewer people rising up,” she says. “So we stay in this stagnant place.” 

 

In this episode of Bizgnus Interviews, Jo-Ann Triner what is wrong with the economy and what can be done to improve it.

 

Jo-Ann Triner says her new book, "Soulful Work 2.0: Powered by Inner-Person Potential," (SacraSage Press, July 2023) was inspired by her fascination with callings as vehicles for expressing infinite love within communities.

 

“There is a dramatic difference between people who are love-driven and people who are duty-driven,” Ms. Triner says.

 

Ms Triner holds a Ph.D. in educational administration with thirty years of service in high-level leadership roles. Now in her second career, she is founder and president of Soulful Work LLC, set up for the advancement of principled leadership and the creation of soulful work cultures.

 

For more information: soulfulwork.net (under development as of 10/09/23)

Oct 09, 202326:09
A short list that could make big  changes for your organization

A short list that could make big  changes for your organization

•  Your managers are spending on-the-job time looking for a new job

•  “More people need to give a damn at work”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 19:58)

  

In a recent report, Gallup says managers are more likely than non-managers to be:

•  Disengaged at work

•  Burned out

•  Looking for a new job

•  Feeling like their organization does not care about their wellbeing.

 

Now there’s a short list of changes that could make a big difference for managers and those they’re supposed to lead.

 

Everyone likes short to-do lists.  And Charlie Gilkey has come up with one that’s short in words but could be huge when it comes how organizations work.  

 

“One of my chief goals … is for us to remember the humanity of the people we work with and to increase our skills of empathy,” he says. “More people need to give a damn at work.”

 

Charlie Gilkey is a business author, speaker, coach, and entrepreneur specializing in leadership, teamwork, and productivity. His new book is Team Habits: How Small Actions Lead to Extraordinary Results(Hachette Go, August 2023). 

  

Mr. Gilkey says most people quit or stay at their jobs because of the same four to eight people they interact with daily – their “work team.”  Improving how the team works together, whether it’s in-person or remote, betters team members’ work life, he says.

 

He offers these seven tips:

•  Agree as one team that it’s a good thing to ask for help

•  Be intentional in how you include people, particularly introverts who prefer to contribute more quietly and deliberately

•  Bring up innocent mistakes in real time -- not weeks later -- and with grace

•  Remove decision-making bottlenecks by knowing when you do—and don’t—need management’s involvement

•  Keep a team decision-making log with a program like Notion or Confluence

•  Prevent overstuffed meetings by limiting sessions to single-topic categories, such as planning, brainstorming, updating, or celebrating

•  Eliminate “crutch” meetings -- the inappropriate ones used to deal with matters that have no place in a team meeting

 

For more information: http://www.productiveflourishing.com  and https://betterteamhabits.substack.com/

Oct 04, 202320:00
You may be wasting your training dollars
Sep 26, 202323:01
Entrepreneur finds joy in life after finding success
Sep 25, 202319:47
The overlooked skill that can quickly level up your game

The overlooked skill that can quickly level up your game

•  The secret to a thriving team and culture lies in one skill

•  “Ask more questions. That’s a leadership behavior”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 23:13)

 

Think your staff is really into their jobs, ready to help push the organization to new heights?  Think again.

 

Nearly 1 in 5 workers say their workplaces are unbearably toxic, according to the American Psychological Association’s just-released 2023 Work in America Survey.  Adding to that bleak picture, a recent Deloitte study finds that when it comes to employees’ well-being, leaders are entirely out of touch.

 

What an opportunity for improvement, say two of the nation’s top experts in how people communicate with each other.

 

There’s no reason leaders can’t create positive, meaningful experiences for their teams, say Julien Mirivel and Alexander Lyon, authors of the new book Positive Communication for Leaders: Proven Strategies for Inspiring Unity and Effecting Change (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; July 7, 2023).

 

The secret to a thriving team and culture, they say, lies in one skill: how you communicate positively.

 

“We do see these positive communications behaviors making a difference in the lives of professionals,” says Mr. Lyon. “Ask more questions. That’s a leadership behavior … much more so than telling people what to do.”

 

“One of the powerful ways of engaging with people is to find a way to disclose in a way that’s not going to hurt the other person,” adds Mr. Mirivel.

 

Please click here to watch the Bizgnus Interview: https://youtu.be/T9s03HW4Azo

 

Please click here to listen to the interview or to download the audio file:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bizgnus/episodes/The-overlooked-skill-that-can-quickly-level-up-your-game-e28op64

 

About our guests:

 

Mr. Mirivel, who holds the title of Distinguished Teaching Fellow at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and Mr. Lyon, a professor of communication at SUNY Brockport, are known for their research into optimum communication skills.  

 

Originally from Paris, France, Mr. Mirivel, who earned his PhD in Communication in from the University of Colorado at Boulder, is among the founding scholars in the emerging field of positive communication. He’s author of The Art of Positive Communication and How Communication Scholars Think and Act, and has delivered hundreds of keynotes, trainings, and workshops on effective communication. He is a TEDx speaker and founder of the Positive Communication Network, a community dedicated to creating better social worlds through positive communication.

 

Mr. Lyon, who also earned his PhD from the University of Colorado, Boulder, is a professor of communication at SUNY Brockport who has published original research in peer-reviewed journals, including Communication Monographs, Management Communication Quarterly, the Journal of Applied Communication Research, and Communication Studies, and in his first book, Courageous Organizational Communication Case Studies. For the last two decades, he’s consulted or spoken to audiences at Nike, Google, Visa, and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security. He also hosts the 490,000+ subscriber YouTube channel, Communication Coach Alex Lyon, and is the founder of Communication Coach Academy. 

 

For more information:  https://www.julienmirivel.com/

 

For more information:  https://www.alexanderlyon.com/

Sep 01, 202323:16
The overlooked skill that can quickly level up your game

The overlooked skill that can quickly level up your game

•  The secret to a thriving team and culture lies in one skill

•  “Ask more questions. That’s a leadership behavior”

  

(Total Recorded Time is 23:13) 

 

Think your staff is really into their jobs, ready to help push the organization to new heights?  Think again.

 

Nearly 1 in 5 workers say their workplaces are unbearably toxic, according to the American Psychological Association’s just-released 2023 Work in America Survey.  Adding to that bleak picture, a recent Deloitte study finds that when it comes to employees’ well-being, leaders are entirely out of touch.

 

What an opportunity for improvement, say two of the nation’s top experts in how people communicate with each other.

 

There’s no reason leaders can’t create positive, meaningful experiences for their teams, say Julien Mirivel and Alexander Lyon, authors of the new book Positive Communication for Leaders: Proven Strategies for Inspiring Unity and Effecting Change (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; July 7, 2023).

 

The secret to a thriving team and culture, they say, lies in one skill: how you communicate positively.

 

“We do see these positive communications behaviors making a difference in the lives of professionals,” says Mr. Lyon. “Ask more questions. That’s a leadership behavior … much more so than telling people what to do.”

 

“One of the powerful ways of engaging with people is to find a way to disclose in a way that’s not going to hurt the other person,” adds Mr. Mirivel.

 


About our guests:

 

Mr. Mirivel, who holds the title of Distinguished Teaching Fellow at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and Mr. Lyon, a professor of communication at SUNY Brockport, are known for their research into optimum communication skills.  

 

Originally from Paris, France, Mr. Mirivel, who earned his PhD in Communication in from the University of Colorado at Boulder, is among the founding scholars in the emerging field of positive communication. He’s author of The Art of Positive Communication and How Communication Scholars Think and Act, and has delivered hundreds of keynotes, trainings, and workshops on effective communication. He is a TEDx speaker and founder of the Positive Communication Network, a community dedicated to creating better social worlds through positive communication.

 

Mr. Lyon, who also earned his PhD from the University of Colorado, Boulder, is a professor of communication at SUNY Brockport who has published original research in peer-reviewed journals, including Communication Monographs, Management Communication Quarterly, the Journal of Applied Communication Research, and Communication Studies, and in his first book, Courageous Organizational Communication Case Studies. For the last two decades, he’s consulted or spoken to audiences at Nike, Google, Visa, and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security. He also hosts the 490,000+ subscriber YouTube channel, Communication Coach Alex Lyon, and is the founder of Communication Coach Academy. 

 

For more information:  https://www.julienmirivel.com/ 

For more information:  https://www.alexanderlyon.com/ 

Aug 31, 202323:16
Success sometimes means just grinding it out
Aug 28, 202321:13
The searial entrepreneur who never stopped being a teacher
Aug 18, 202316:03
She defies the robots 

She defies the robots 

•  Kay Oliver says humans are still the best writers

• “Having complete control over your story … is very pleasing to me”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 14:29)

  

Looking forward to a career as a writer, perhaps scripting a TV series of blockbuster movie?

 

Ummm.  What about those robots that are getting better and better at writing?  Or those Hollywood labor problems that are seeing writers on picket lines?

 

Kay Oliver is a professional writer in Hollywood and is not discouraged. What explains her optimism?  She joins us on Bizgnus Interviews to explain why and to offer tips for the next superstar writer.

 

Please click here to watch the interview:  https://youtu.be/I50iVlbQeN8


“Having complete control over your story, which you can do as an author, is very pleasing to me,” Ms. Oliver says.

 

Ms. Oliver offers “Five Tips to Writing a Compelling Story:”

 

1. Keep your focus on the audience. That means putting the audience's needs and preferences first. What is it about your story that will be meaningful to them? 

 

2. Use Your Personal Experiences. This is something AI cannot duplicate. Think about important experiences in your real life and how you might be able to craft them into narratives.

 

3. Use The Power Of Emotion. Engage readers with emotional content. Readers that feel emotionally invested in the characters or story won’t want to put the book down. 

 

4. Craft a message. What do you want readers or viewers to take away after hearing your story?

 

5. Make note of all the examples of stories around you. There are great stories all around you - so make sure you take notice!  From video games to TV to news articles, there are great stories everywhere. Use them as role models for how to tell your story.

  

For more information: www.kayaoliver.com

Aug 15, 202314:27
Go on offense with tech equity – before you are left behind

Go on offense with tech equity – before you are left behind

•  It can make your company future ready

•  “To be future ready and out-perform requires you to take a different approach”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 14:35)

 How’s your organization’s “tech equity?”  Business and technology advisor Michael Fillios says medium and even small businesses must go on offense with thoughtful and innovative solutions to future-proof themselves — especially with investments in technology.

 

But what’s a wise investment of limited funds?  And how does one avoid investing in the next Betamax or Blockbuster video store chain? 

 

“Hardware. Software. It could be talent,” Mr. Fillios says of what constitutes tech equity. “It could be the way you automate processes.  It could be the way you think about data.”

 

In this edition of Bizgnus Interviews, Michael Fillios offers his ideas.

 

Please click here to watch the interview: https://youtu.be/rfMyGc1wu6M

 

Properly managed, tech equity can help a business “out-perform your competition,” he says. “To be future ready and out-perform requires you to take a different approach to the way you think about technology.”

 

Mr. Fillios is founder and CEO of IT Ally, a firm for family owned and private equity backed small- and medium-sized businesses. He is a former Fortune 500 global CIO, small business CFO, technology entrepreneur and management consultant with more than 25 years of experience. His first book, Tech Debt 2.0: How to Future Proof Your Small Business and Improve Your Tech Bottom Line, was published by the IT Ally Institute in April 2020. His new book is Tech Equity, How to Future Ready Your Small Business and Outperform Your Competition(BookBaby, May 4, 2023). 

 

For more information: https://itallyllc.com

Jul 31, 202314:37
Seeking truth in a world of disinformation
Jul 15, 202323:36
She signed off from TV to run her own small businesses

She signed off from TV to run her own small businesses

•  Still long hours, but they are her hours

•  “I decided to ‘produce’ my own life for a change”

 (Total Recorded Time is 13:52)

  

“He (or she) left to spend more time with their family” is a sentence that often brings an all-knowing “r-i-i-i-ght” from those who do not know the real story. But in the case of Shannon Russell, it’s true.  

 

Ms. Russell pivoted from a career as a producer for a major cable entertainment channel based in both Los Angeles and New York City to opening her own small business in the New Jersey ‘burbs.  “I had no idea what I could do outside of the entertainment industry,” she writes.  “After a lot of soul-searching I decided to ‘produce’ my own life for a change.”

 

No less work, but a change in the type of work.  No more coast-to-coast commutes.  Gone was the insane pace of rock and roll music.  She opened a children's education franchise dealing with “STEM” (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects so she could be more present with her kids.

 

That success led to starting a second business: coaching other women as they navigate their paths to find a "second act" career that fills them up, instead of stressing them out.

 

Shannon Russell tells her story in this edition of Bizgnus Interviews.  Please click here to watch the interview:

https://youtu.be/H03aIWfdBk0

 

“Too often we are taught to pick a career and stick with it from graduation until retirement, and I motivate others to check all the boxes and do all the things because we only get one life,” Ms. Russell writes. 

 

For more information:  www.secondactsuccess.co

Jul 04, 202313:60
Embracing failure brought her success
Jun 24, 202315:23
The essence of humanity in an AI-driven world

The essence of humanity in an AI-driven world

•  Unveiling the core traits that define us

•  “People and AI will almost become indistinguishable”

 (Total Recorded Time is 20:02)

 

 Steve Bates, a former reporter and editor with the Washington Post as well as other newspapers, has been writing science fiction short stories for more than a decade. Now in his new novel, “Castle of Sand,” (Sunstone Press, July 2023) he grapples with perhaps the most fundamental question of all: what it truly means to be human in a world increasingly reliant on artificial intelligence.

 

He’s reluctant to make definite predictions, but after studying artificial intelligence for his book, Mr. Bates is prepared to predict the AI future will be neither dystopian nor wildly optimistic.

 

“I’d say we’re headed to some sort of convergence. And I think that means that AI and humans are going to get married and live together forever after happily,” he says.  “It’s not inconceivable to me that we will somehow form a partnership where people and AI will almost become indistinguishable.”

 

In this edition of Bizgnus Interviews, Mr. Bates talks about what he has learned about artificial intelligence as humanity stands on the precipice of a profound intersection with machines smarter than we are.

 

Please click here to watch the interview:  https://youtu.be/GAwir07C4ZU


While Mr. Bates’ novel is a work of fiction, in many aspects it seems closer to next week’s newspaper that’s tossed on the driveway.

 

According to the online news service Axios, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers recently asked undergraduate students to test whether artificial intelligence chatbots could be used by nonexperts in causing a pandemic.

 

Did it work? Within an hour the artificial intelligence platforms suggested four pathogens, MIT says.

 

“Widely accessible artificial intelligence threatens to allow people without laboratory training to identify, acquire, and release viruses highlighted as pandemic threats in the scientific literature,” the MIT report says.  The chatbots helped identify which pathogens could inflict the most damage, and even provided information not commonly known among experts.

 

Disturbingly, the research also showed that the AI chatbots offered the students lists of companies that might assist with DNA synthesis -- and suggestions on how to trick them into providing services.

  

Editor’s Note to Readers:  The headline and subhead for this story were written by artificial intelligence.  Everything else is human-generated.

 

For more information:  www.stevebateswriter.com

 

Jun 22, 202320:01
How to turn ordinary into outstanding

How to turn ordinary into outstanding

•  Entrepreneur says to be audacious

•  “My belief is you need to step out”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 20:52)

  

What makes a superstar in business?  What makes most just muddle along, never touching the top,?  Roy Osing has an idea.  Or as he might put it, an audacious idea.

 

The veteran entrepreneur outlines his thoughts in this edition of Bizgnus Interviews.

 

“My belief is you need to step out. You need to do things that others don’t do,” Mr. Osing says. “You need to get away the world of copying. You need to do things bold and courageous because, quite frankly, that’s what we need in the world. 

 

As president of a major Canadian data and internet company, he credits his “audacious” leadership ways in helping grow the internet-based company from its early stage to $1 billion in annual sales when he left the firm. The company has since grown its internet, television, and cellular telephone sales further, posting operating revenues in excess of $18 billion in its fiscal 2022.

 

In the years since leaving the company, Mr. Osing says he has devoted his efforts to inspiring leaders, entrepreneurs and organizations to stand apart from the average to achieve their true potential.

 

“There’s always going to be superstars.  The problem is, the percentage of superstars is really, really, small,” he says. “So you have this bell curve with the majority of human beings stuck in the middle of the bell curve. It’s my view that we can move them ten points toward the superstar.  Imagine the power, the energy and the performance that would unleash.”

 

Please click here ti watch the interview: https://youtu.be/rKnybSlj6Vg

 

Mr. Osing is the author of the “Be Different or Be Dead” book series. He says its latest book, his seventh, “The Audacious Unheard-Of Ways I Took a Startup to a Billion in Sales,” (Morgan James Publishing, May 2022) helps small businesses and nonprofits develop strategic plans.

 

“You don’t need a five-year plan,” he says. “And you don’t need a $50,000 consulting arrangement.”

 

For more information:   https://www.bedifferentorbedead.com/

Jun 16, 202320:54
He’s got the prescription for success

He’s got the prescription for success

•  Getting fired was just a bump in his road to success

•  “Revenue is turning in the right direction”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 23:30)

 

 

Jerry Fu is not your ordinary pharmacist.  He has transformed his career in pharmacy into a career as a conflict resolution coach who helps Asian American leaders.

 

It’s just about opposite from where he started.  Mr. Fu says he was so reluctant to deal with conflict that he was ultimately fired.

 

But he says he took that as a wake-up call.  He joins us for this edition of Bizgnus Interviews to talk about what happened after that bump in his road to success.

 

Please click here to watch the Bizgnus Interview:

https://youtu.be/FfBqIIVgKUs

 

Mr. Fu says he works with Asian-American professionals on their career and life journeys, focusing on resolving his clients' conflicts at work, in culture, and within themselves.

 

Mr. Fu is still developing his coaching business.  “Revenue is turning in the right direction, but still not to the point where I can quit my day job” he says. 

 

He says he has had to adapt and improve as a leader, which means “engaging the conflict I disliked so much. 

 

“Ironically, my ongoing struggle with conflict became a fascination. Now, I help others take on the same challenges,” he says.

 

For more information:  https://www.adaptingleaders.com/


Jun 14, 202323:32
He shows a path to podcast success

He shows a path to podcast success

•  Kevin Palmieri left a six-figure job to take on podcasting fulltime

•  “I didn’t expect to be where we are today”

 

(Total recorded time is 25:24)

  

Next Level University has no bookstore, classrooms, or even an animal mascot.  It’s a daily podcast that has attracted a following of more than 750,000 listeners.  

 “I've helped grow the podcast into a multi six-figure business,” says co-founder Kevin Palmieri. 

 “The podcast is the top of our business model but below that we have coaching,” Mr. Palmieri says.  He coaches on how to do better podcasts -- and mindset. There is a link, he says: “A lot of people are being held back by themselves.”

 Mr. Palmieri caught the podcast bug after being interviewed for a podcast.  It was like a duck suddenly realizing it loved to swim.  “I just wanted to sit down with people and have deep conversations. I didn’t expect to be where we are today,” he says.

 He says he left a six-figure job to take on podcasting fulltime, despite little, if any, income from his initial online efforts. “I sustained it on credit cards and grit pretty much in the beginning,” he says. 

 In this edition of Bizgnus Interviews, Kevin Palmieri talks about how he gave up a career he loathed to try the uncertain world of podcasting.

 Please click here to watch the Bizgnus Interview: https://youtu.be/dFAjd_Nh_Dc

 Since 2017 he has notched more than 1,300 podcasts and still keeps a seven-podcasts-a-week schedule. “I like being my own boss and being able to says whatever I want on my own platform,” he says. 

 

For more information: https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/

Jun 12, 202325:13
It was a hassle getting the pool guy.  But it sparked an idea to help all small businesses

It was a hassle getting the pool guy.  But it sparked an idea to help all small businesses

•  Pete Wasmer just wanted a burned-out pool light fixed

•  “Nobody else has a mobile app that the customers can use to have what I call an ‘Uber-like’ experience”

(Total Recorded Time is 21:00)

 

When a light burns out in your swimming pool, replacing it is usually a job for the pool guy.  When you can reach him.

 

Veteran businessman Pete Wasmer was faced with that problem.  And while he eventually reached the pool maintenance company, the hassle that was involved led Mr. Wasmer to develop unique software that is now being used by many service companies.

 

“Nobody else has a mobile app that the customers can use to have what I call an ‘Uber-like’ experience,” he says.

 

Pete Wasmer talks about his software and being an entrepreneur in this edition of Bizgnus Interviews.

 

Please click here to watch the interview:  https://youtu.be/abul00nxkGk

 

Earlier, Mr. Wasmer developed a national platform that he says changed the powersports industry by leasing – not selling or renting -- Harley-Davidson motorcycles. “We focused on creating a single system where data was input one time. It created all the documents that you needed,” he says.  

 

Funny how things will sit in the back of the brain, only coming out when they can be applied to a different set of circumstances. The data management Mr. Wasmer created to deal with leasing Harleys has become the foundation for a new cloud-based software-as-a-service company, Pure Coastal, which sells ProValet, software that lets its users deal with job scheduling, payments and more, especially customer communications.  

 

For more information:  https://provalet.io/

For more information:  https://www.purecoastal.life/

Jun 03, 202321:00
Tired of your 70-hour work week? We have solutions

Tired of your 70-hour work week? We have solutions

•  Serial entrepreneur offers tips from his own experience

•  “As business owners, there’s more to it than just your business”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 24:30)

  

From selling shoes to running a company that renovates bathrooms to helping other small business operators actually enjoy ownership, Pete Mohr has been an owner or advisor to a myriad of small businesses.  

 

These days he says he's spending most of his time helping other business owners with simplifying their entrepreneurship. He says most of the people he works with are doing okay financially, but they're no longer keen on working 50, 60, even 70 hours a week or more at their businesses.  

 

Is it really possible to get to a more even work-life balance? Pete Mohr offers some ideas in this edition of Bizgnus Interviews.

 

Please click here to watch the interview:  https://youtu.be/fIT5kslGKhY


“Small business owners are the backbone of our communities and if we can help them survive and thrive, we'll help the communities that exist around them,” he says.

 

Mr. Mohr says he has developed a bit of shorthand for success, cautioning that real success stems from turning bullet points into action.

 

He has “5 Ps” for business success, “5 Fs” of better decision making and “4 As” of accountability.

 

“As business owners, there’s more to it than just your business,” Mr. Mohr says.  “We become business owners because we want a better life. You as the business owner shouldn’t always be giving your life to support the better business, the better business should be there to support your better life.”

 

For more information:  www.speaktopete.com

May 31, 202324:31
To lead, serve your team first, says coach

To lead, serve your team first, says coach

•  A happy and engaged workforce is the backbone of organizational success

•  “Life is too short to live stuck in a rut”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 17:41)

  

How do you get to be a popular leadership coach?

 

Here’s one way: “I was a failed pre-med student,” says Jerry Dugan, who has developed a career and business of coaching executives to become more effective leaders.

 In two decades of offering his training sessions, Mr. Dugan reminds leaders of a fundamental too often forgotten:  A happy and engaged workforce is the backbone of any successful organization.

 In this edition of Bizgnus Interviews, Jerry Dugan offers insights from his two decades as a leadership coach.

 Please click here to watch the interview:

https://youtu.be/BgvX6mHAhYw

After two decades of leadership experience, for nearly eight years Mr. Dugan has been the host of the Beyond the Rut podcast. But on the air or as a coach, he says that at his core is the concept of “servant leadership.”

 “In a nutshell, it is taking care of the people who report to you so that they can take care of the mission or the customer,” Mr. Dugan says. “I learned it in the military.  It’s communicating to the team.” 

 He says his personal mantra has helped guide him.  “Life is too short to live stuck in a rut,” Mr. Dugan says, “So really think about what you want out of life. What do you want to be known for after you’re gone?  What kind of impact do you want to make?

 “Go start making that impact now. Life’s too short, too fragile … and it’s too quick,” he says.

 

For more information:  https://beyondtherut.com/ 

May 19, 202317:30
Military leadership fails to address suicide rates, says now-former officer

Military leadership fails to address suicide rates, says now-former officer

•  Since 9/11, four times as many in the military die by suicide than in combat

• “The more veterans I talk to these days are ashamed of their military service”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 29:22)

  

Active-duty military know they could be asked to put their lives on the line in times of armed conflict.

 

But to see a steady loss of life during peacetime because of suicide – that’s a problem a former Army officer says needs to be better addressed.

 

Tara Fields resigned her commission as a captain with the Kansas National Guard after her efforts failed to get top brass to deal with the steady loss of lives through suicide.

 

“I love the Army,” says Ms. Fields, author of the new book Tracer Patient.  “I would do it again but … the more veterans I talk to these days are ashamed of their military service. ”

 

She says while the large majority in the military do a good job, a minority, including many in positions of power over policies, are incompetent or worse. “We quietly retire them. We sweep them under the rug,” she says. 

  

Tara Fields talks about the suicide problem and what could be done to solve it in this edition of Bizgnus Interviews.

  

Please click here to watch the interview:

https://youtu.be/OwFO3S6U2zY

 

It’s not a small problem.  According to data reported in 2021 by Brown University's Cost of War Project, about 7,057 service members had been killed in various military operations since 9/11, while more than four times as many -- 30,177 – had taken their own lives.

 

Department of Defense data show that the National Guard has a higher overall suicide rate than other branches, including active-duty soldiers.

 

“This should not be happening in the world’s best miliary,” she says. “We can do better.”

 

Ms. Fields served 12 years in the military, eight of those on active duty. In the Kansas National Guard, she was a behavioral health officer.  She says she quit after her calls for changes were largely ignored by those up the military food chain.

 

She is the author of the new book, “Tracer Patient,” (Writers Republic LLC, March 2023).

 

For more information:  www.t4therapy.org

May 18, 202329:24
From obese teen to executive coach to AI pioneer
May 11, 202319:44
The wisdom of hundreds of experts distilled into one
Apr 23, 202324:04
The worm turns, or, wriggling to success

The worm turns, or, wriggling to success

•  Cathy Nesbitt runs the quietest farm in North America

•  “I set about to do this without any business savvy”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 23:55) 

 

Farming is actually pretty noisy:  the bleating of sheep, mooing of cows, oinking of pigs and so on. Even an apple orchard can be loud what with birds singing in those trees.

 But Cathy Nesbitt is a quiet farmer, perhaps the quietest of all, despite having a thousand head of livestock at any given time.

 Ms. Nesbitt raises worms.  For fun – and profit, she says.

 In business for more than 20 years selling worms by the pound for indoor composting, Ms. Nesbitt says she stumbled into entrepreneurship.

 “I set about to do this without any business savvy,” she says. “Nobody in my family or my circle … was self-employed. I just saw a solution to a big problem.”

 The self-made worm advocate says that worms are going to play an ever- increasing role in waste management, soil production and therefore food security. 

 “Food waste is a simple way that we can mitigate climate change and create 'black gold' to grow more delicious, nutritious food,” Ms. Nesbitt says. 

 And, she says, “a worm composter offers a tremendous learning opportunity for all ages.”

 

She says she’s had her share of adversity in building her business.  “You can imagine that not everyone wants to have worms in the house,” she says. “Daily laughter is now a huge part of my health plan.”

 Ms. Nesbitt runs a free, weekly “laughter club” via Zoom.  Click here for more information: http://www.cathysclub.com/

For more worm info:  https://www.cathyscomposters.com/

Apr 21, 202324:25
When the music stopped, she still had a story to tell
Apr 20, 202311:38
The secrets to effective SEO

The secrets to effective SEO

•  Remember SEO?  It never left and now may be more important than ever

•  “And they’re not looking for you”

 

(Total Recorded Time is 26:26)

 

Remember SEO?  The letters stand for search engine optimization.  And even in these days of the frothing over artificial intelligence, good, ol’ SEO – when done right – can boost a business like a rocket, says Lorraine Ball, an Indianapolis-based marketing strategist.

 

“When you build your website and you want people to find it, they’re going to go … to one of the search platforms,” says Ms. Ball.  “And they’re not looking for you.  They’re looking for a company that does what you do.”

 

She says that’s where a website maxing its SEO attributes will snag the search engines and be displayed to people looking for answers. 

 

In this edition of Bizgnus Interviews, Lorraine Ball offers ideas on what she calls “Common Sense SEO.”

 Ms. Ball is founder of the Indianapolis digital agency Roundpeg.

 

“Too often, business owners obsess about ranking for a specific key word, losing sight of the fact that it is people, not Google who actually buys from then,” Ms. Ball says.

 

She says there are simple, specific steps small business operators can take to improve their SEO and visitor satisfaction with their website. 

 

“As websites have become more and more complicated, there are a lot of rules,” she says. “And sometimes for small business owners, those rules are absolutely overwhelming. You hear all the buzz words and it’s enough to make your head spin.”

 

A professional speaker, business owner and former corporate executive, Ms. Ball is host of the podcast “More than a Few Words.” 

 

For more information:  https://morethanafewwords.com

Apr 19, 202326:30
Is this your idea of branding?  Really?
Apr 18, 202319:40
Feeling alone as a business owner and none of your employees get it?
Apr 15, 202321:46
These skills for success aren’t found in the classroom
Apr 09, 202318:15