The Bizgnus Podcast
By Douglas Caldwell
The Bizgnus PodcastApr 15, 2022
The seldom mentioned reason for startup failures
• Management of capital means more than money
• “Human capital should be a primary…focus for startups”
(Total Recorded Time is 20:38)
Many new businesses -- even those with mountains of money from venture capitalists or angel investors – fail and fail quickly.
While there’s a long list of typical reasons for failure, Nikki Blacksmith says there’s an often under-appreciated reason: mismanagement of human capital.
“Human resource problems … put the startup at risk for failure,” writes Ms. Blacksmith, chief executive officer of Symeta Behavior Science and co-author of a new book on the subject. “We argue that human capital should be a primary, rather than secondary or tertiary, focus for startups.
“Without the right people all the other components are moot because it is the people who generate ideas, make decisions, and execute all of the business functions.”
Ms. Blacksmith is an adjunct faculty member at American University in Washington, D.C., and has nearly 15 years of experience as a scientist-practitioner, focusing on psychometrics, selection, decision-making, and entrepreneurial performance.
She’s the co-author along with Maureen McCusker of the new book: “Data-Driven Decision Making in Entrepreneurship: Tools for Maximizing Human Capital,” (CRC Press; April 2024).
For more information: https://blackhawke.io
How your business can thrive – ethically
• How much of a disconnect is there between business and ethics?
• “Ethical leadership matters!”
If you were to ask 11 people if they thought they were ethical in their business, 12 of them would say “yes.” But we see on the news every day that’s not true.
Where’s the disconnect and, if there’s a general answer, why?
Richard Swegan may have an answer. Mr. Swegan is the co-author of the new book, “The Practice of Ethical Leadership,” (Routledge, April 2024). He is also founder and principal consultant of Arch Performance of Wexford, Penn.
“With power comes responsibility. That is why ethics matter,” write Mr. Swegan and co-author Florian Engelke in their new book. “Ethical leadership matters!”
For more information: ethicalbottomline.com
Artificial intelligence plus biology. Opportunity, or...?
• Geonomics entrepreneur outlines the opportunities
• What you can learn from a mongoose
(TRT is 21:10)
If you could just find the key to your Wayback machine, would you zip into the past to be at the start of the microchip industry? Or at Steve Job’s side as he crafted the first Mac? Or something else?
No need to wish to return to yesteryear for a ground floor opportunity, says biotech executive Stan Rose. The next revolution of science is underway now with artificial intelligence being applied to biology.
He says “synthetic biology” is emerging, with “creation of organisms or products derived from those organisms.
Mr. Rose, the founder of a series of successful startups, joins us for this episode of Bizgnus Interviews.
Following a kidney transplant, Mr. Rose has continued to contribute to science and medicine. His firm, Rose Ventures, Inc., works with early-stage companies developing life science products and services.
He is the author of the new book, “Can't Tame a Mongoose: Memoir of a Genomics Entrepreneur,” Miles Pond Press (March 20
For more information: www.roseventures.net
The AI train is leaving the station: Are you on board?
• Why some industries seem asleep at the switch
• Using AI to stop problems from developing
(Total Recorded Time is 22:00)
The AI doctor is in. We don’t mean a robot but management consultant Tommy Ogden who has some advice about using artificial intelligence in business.
Mr. Ogden is co-founder of the Houston-based boutique IT advisory firm Activera Consulting where he leads their project excellence and data and AI practices.
Mr. Ogden holds two masters degrees - an MBA from University of Houston and an international business degree from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
For more information: https://www.activeraconsulting.com
Tapping your emotions to make better decisions
• A leadership strategy that centers around interoception
• “Emotions feel hard for so many”
(Total Recorded Time is 16:17)
Who might make a better leader – one who is emotional or one who suppresses emotions? It’s likely that Kim Korte, a Napa, California-based consultant and author, would say the former.
She has developed a leadership strategy that centers around “interoception,” the body’s sensory system that creates the sensations called as emotions. Ms. Korte says studies have shown "a causal relation between interoception and the rationality of decision making.
Ms. Korte is the author of the new book, “Yucky Yummy Savory Sweet: Understanding the Flavors of Emotions.”
“Emotions feel hard for so many,” she writes. “Without having to journey deep into your past, is there a way to identify and process them?”
For more information: www.kimkorte.com
How to stop working in your business
• Jeremy Shapiro says peers can offer the right mix of advice
• Making the transition from “solopreneur” to “business owner”
SAN JOSE, California -- Jeremy Shapiro says he has spent more than a quarter of a century helping small business owners make the transition from “solopreneur” to “business owner.”
It’s the common problem of working “in” their business instead of “on” their business.
Mr. Shapiro joins us for this episode of Bizgnus Interviews to offer some ideas.
Please click here to watch the interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ybVY04vSm8
For more information: https://bayareamastermind.com/
There’s no toying around for this marketing expert
• He says mediocre marketing contributes to the high failure rate of startups
• “They fall into the trap of this sea of sameness”
(Total Recorded Time is 22:48)
SANFORD, Florida -- Daniel Den is an entrepreneur who says he has taught successful marketing to thousands of small business owners over the past two decades.
“What we've found is there is a lot of people when it comes to marketing and sales where they think marketing and sales is taking a look around inside of their market and cherry picking,” Mr. Den says. “Actually, they fall into the trap of this sea of sameness.”
He says mediocre marketing contributes to the high failure rate experienced by eight out of ten startups.
Mr. Den was hoping to become something of an inventor of toys but after finding the needed engineering courses were, to him, a boring way to spend one’s life in college, “I became fascinated with marketing and sales almost two decades ago.”
Mr. Den is the author of the new book, “Ideas That Influence."
For more information: https://www.bigideasbox.com/
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/
Tips from the Google guru
• Marilyn Jenkins offers advice you can use today
• “Your customers are digital”
(Total Recorded Time is 12:12)
HOUSTON, Texas -- Google. It’s been in business for just a quarter of a century but it has in that time wriggled its way into almost every aspect of daily life, especially business.
Is it now too complex for a small business to tap into?
Marilyn Jenkins, a digital marketing expert, has written a new book that she says is designed to give any local business the tools and instructions to dominate their local Google searches.
She joins us for this episode of Bizgnus Interviews.
“In this day and age, your customers are digital. You need to be in front of them when they have a need,” Ms. Jenkins says.
Her company helps local businesses using paid ads and Google Business Profile optimization.
She says her book, "The Google Business Profile Training Guide," teaches businesses how to dominate local search.
For more information: https://maximizeyourgbp.com
Failure can be a success, says expert
• Leadership coach says it just means you’re human
• Where did you put your electric pen?
(Total Recorded Time is 14:50)
You’ve heard of the electric pen, of course. No? It was invented by that guy Thomas Edison. And it was one of his many failures.
The great inventor, who had more than 1,000 patents in his name, also had failures.
Failure is being embraced by Steve McCready, a psychotherapist who has taken that knowledge and experience and become a leadership coach.
He says he prefers to work with leaders of small businesses “around mental performance.”
He joins us with some examples in this episode of Bizgnus Interviews.
One of Mr. McCready’s key messages is how to “reframe” failure.
“Just because you’re part of the problem doesn’t mean you can’t succeed, it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you” he says,. “It means you’re human.”
For more information: www.stevemccready.com
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/
Finding success as a seller on Amazon
• Chris Moe coaches companies toward that goal
• What’s Ozempic got to do with it?
(Total Recorded Time is 22:45)
AUSTIN, Texas -- So you’ve been making your own maple syrup for years and now you think you could sell it on Amazon.
You and ten-thousand other people with an affinity for boiling tree sap.
Enter Chris Moe, chief executive officer of Austin, Texas-based Cartograph, an e-commerce company that helps food brands sell their products on Amazon.
“E-commerce has moved back to the types of products that make sense,” says Mr. Moe, “which tends to be lighter, non-meltable, non-breakable and not too big.”
Chris Moe offers some ideas on Amazon marketing and more – including the new impact of the drug Ozempic -- in this episode of Bizgnus Interviews.
Please click here to watch the interview:
Before developing Cartograph, Mr. Moe was a consultant with McKinsey & Company and, earlier, with Semper Capital Management L.P.
For more information: www.gocartograph.com
Boosting your company’s social media reach could be easier than you think
• Memphis firm says progress can be seen quickly
• “I have fallen in love with the process itself”
(Total Recorded Time is 11:46)
She may look young, but Kaylee Johnson says she has been digging into the details of social media since er parents let her get her first social media platform at the age of 13.
Now she is chief executive officer of Memphis-based Digital Journey, a company that provides consulting on the ins and outs of digital marketing and social media.
“By working with many different organizations and their social media platforms, I have fallen in love with the process itself,” she writes.
Kaylee Johnson offers some tips about surviving in the digital age in this edition of Bizgnus Interviews.
For more information: https://www.digital-journey.net/home
How’s your cultural IQ?
• Colette Phillips says cultural IQ bridges culture gaps
• Discovering what’s often invisible to white leaders
(Total Recorded Time is 18:35)
Businesses and nonprofits are faced daily with how to best meet goals of diversity, equity and inclusion. DEI expert Colette Phillips says cultural IQ bridges culture gaps among the Black, brown, and white experiences that whites often don’t even realize.
And she says improving one’s cultural IQ just takes some homework and an open mind.
Colette Phillips explains in this episode of Bizgnus Interviews.
Colette Phillips is president and CEO of Colette Phillips Communications in Boston, Mass., and founder and president of Get Konnected! and The GK Fund. In her business, she advises C-level executives and corporate teams as well as developing public relations branding and communications strategies.
Her new book is “The Includers: The 7 Traits of Culturally Savvy, Anti-Racist Leaders,” (BenBella Books; January 16, 2024.)
For more information: https://www.cpcglobal.com/
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
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/
It’s what you contribute that measures your success
• Sam Adeyemi has a different approach
• “The moment I went on radio – from the first broadcast – it was ‘boom’”
(Total Recorded Time is 11:59)
As a leadership coach, Sam Adeyemi has a different approach.
“The measure of a leader’s success is in contribution, not acquisition,” Mr. Adeyemi says.
He explains it in this episode of Bizgnus Interviews
Born in Nigeria, Mr. Adeyemi started his adult career as an engineer but found he had little interest in it. Things changed when he had a short, weekly program on a local radio station.
“I underestimated how much people needed to know to live their lives to succeed,” he says. “The moment I went on radio – from the first broadcast – it was ‘boom.’”
His program expanded to a network of African radio stations, with his career “engineered” to help leaders.
Now Atlanta-based, Mr. Adeyemi has switched to internet programs and is author of the new book "Dear Leader: Your Flagship Guide to Successful Leadership."
For more information: SamAdeyemi.com
Have a cup of tolerance
Psychologist and professor Tom Norris says an answer to the divisiveness that is rupturing society can be as simple – and as difficult – as a “cup of tolerance.”
That’s also the title of his recent book.
He joins us for a cup of tolerance in this edition of Bizgnus Interviews.
(Poor internet connections required extensive editing of the content.)
Mr. Norris has taught in the Religious Studies Department at Florida International University since 2005. He also taught psychology courses at St. Thomas University and Miami International University. With more than 50 years of counseling experience, he is the head of a spiritual and pastoral counseling agency.
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:
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.”
How to boost your sales using love languages
• A childhood of anger and blame blossoms into love and harmony
• “Highly effective leaders that lead with love will retain their personnel”
(Total Recorded Time is 26:24)
(St. GEORGE, UTAH) -- Paul Zolman says he has a new way to use what he calls “the love languages” to improve customer service and create a more effective sales team.
Love? Sales? Really?
Mr. Zolman explains his ideas in this episode of Bizgnus Interviews.
Please click here to watch the interview:
https://youtu.be/LkA2-_6SW48
“Highly effective leaders that lead with love will retain their personnel,” he says.
Mr. Zolman says his system has roots in an unhappy childhood where anger and blame were common threads to daily life.
But that has changed for him.
“I’m not stacking annoyances any more,” Mr. Zolman says. “What’s happening is I’m stacking kindness on top of kindness, on top of kindness, on top of kindness to get to the higher levels of love.”
For more information: www.roleoflove.com
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/
A foot in two cultures
• Author suggests ways the divide between the U.S. and Iran can be bridged
• “One of my great-grandfathers had 25 wives and concubines”
(Total Recorded Time is 24:54)
Can technology bridge the divides between the United States and Iran?
In this episode of Bizgnus Interviews, we hear from Afarin Bellisario, an American who grew up in Iran and got her doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
She says her unique background places her squarely at the intersection of technology and society.
Her latest project is a novel, “The Silent Whispers,” that she says tells the story of an Iranian woman's battle for freedom in the early 20thCentrury amid profound societal changes and her forbidden love for a Russian reformer.
Ms. Bellisario says it sheds light on issues such as East-West relations and the over a hundred years of Iranian women’s struggle for independence.
“One of my great-grandfathers had 25 wives and concubines,” she write. “I have a PhD from MIT.”
For more information: https://www.afarin.net/
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
What’s keeping you from really succeeding?
• Ben Owen says it could be your inner saboteur
• “In doing the work that was required to see it in myself, I started seeing it in my clients”
(Total Recorded Time is 15:59)
(Dubai, UAE) -- Benjamin Owen says many people are letting an inner enemy hold them back from full success in life and business.
A professional high-performance coach with over 15 years of experience in long-term results-based coaching, Mr. Owen says success begins when one realizes this and then takes steps to surmount it.
“I've overcome divorce, a business breakdown, and my own inner saboteur,” he says “I didn’t realize until I was in my 30s how much I’d let my inner enemy ruin my life.”
He says he was hardly unique. He has used that realization in his career as a coach to high performance people. “In doing the work that was required to see it in myself, I started seeing it in my clients,” Mr. Owen says.
Ben Owen joins us in this episode of Bizgnus Interviews to talk about inner obstacles to success.
Mr. Owen is one of the founders of the “Awakened Man Project,” which he describes as “about men awakening to their potential.”
For more information: https://www.awakenedman.org/amp-mastermind
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
"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/
She cleared her own “brain fog” and now helps others do the same
• Adrienne Simmons explains how to find new energy as you age
• “I started to become more aware of people all around me suffering from … chronic fatigue and or brain fog”
(Total Recorded Time is 22:54)
It happens to a lot of people. After about age 50, one’s energy level seems to drop, pounds are easier to add and the work-work-work and play-play-play days seem unattainable.
That happened to Adrienne Simmons. But instead of trying to bring that lifestyle back or just slowing down, she turned the changes into a business.
In this episode of Bizgnus Interviews, Adrienne Simmons explains what she did.
After she turned 50, Ms. Simmons noticed changes in how she felt.
“I was living the same lifestyle that I'd lived in my 30s and 40s,” she says. “Worked full time, socialized after work, partied into the wee hours of the morning and with that came lots of take out, alcohol and party favors.”
Recalling that her father had died at a comparatively young age, she set about changing her lifestyle.
Shortly after that, she says she started to notice two things. “People started complimenting me on how energetic I was and … I started to become more aware of people all around me suffering from various levels of chronic fatigue and or brain fog,” she says.
That resulted in starting her lifestyle coaching business.
For more information: http://www.energyforlife.energy
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
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)
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/
You may be wasting your training dollars
• In buying coaching for your team, don’t overlook the mid-levels
• “I'm trying to shift focus to the benefits of coaching”
(Total Recorded Time is 22:59)
A retired U.S. Navy commander and former university professor, Walt Morgan knows about management training. But too often, he says, companies buy professional coaching for so-called senior leadership, overlooking middle level positions.
“I'm trying to shift focus to the benefits of coaching for small business owners and middle level managers,” Mr. Morgan says.
In this edition of Bizgnus Interviews, Walt Morgan explains why not training mid-level managers is costing organizations.
At the University of Colorado, Mr. Morgan has honed his message with its Leadership Minor since its inception, working as an advisor on its founding committee beginning in 2014. A developmental coach and leadership consultant, he is also the founder of Translational Lift Coaching.
“But more than anything, I am a curious partner in exploration, growth and development for those who are intentional about their journey,” he says.
For more information: https://tliftcoaching.com/
Entrepreneur finds joy in life after finding success
• Something was missing in Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell’s life
• “People want more out of life than to just be happy”
(Total Recorded Time is 19:46)
Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell had accomplished a lot: She was an attorney, an author, an entrepreneur. Most people would be happy with that success. But she says she realized that the accolades and achievements did not create lasting happiness.
There had to be something more.
“The ‘Great Resignation’ has made it clear that people want more out of life than to just be happy,” she says. “They want to be fulfilled and have peace and joy. Joy comes from within.”
Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell joins us on Bizgnus Interviews to rerveal how she has finally found joy along with material success.
For more information: https://www.lynitamitchellblackwell.com/bio
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:
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/
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/
Success sometimes means just grinding it out
• Bruce Weinstein explains how he now thrives after financial ruin
• “My main story is about perseverance”
(Total Recorded Time is 21:10)
Persistence could be Bruce Weinstein’s middle name. He describes himself as “a survivor, a grinder, a finder and a minder.” The words point to his two lives, first as a financial advisor who had a successful 30-year career during which he built “a $100 million book of business.”
His second career has seen him rise from financial ruin to create from scratch, with his wife and a loan from two fraternity brothers, an insurance agency that generated over $200,000 of new commission business in its second year.
“My main story is about perseverance, not giving up, dusting yourself off and getting back to the grind,” Mr. Weinstein says.
In this edition of Bizgnus Interviews, Bruce Weinstein tells what happened.
Please Click here to watch the interview: https://youtu.be/Mh0PhlYnlrY
After losing his first business, he spent four years trying to figure out what he could do to restart his career when he was in his 50s, he says.
“When you stare into the abyss, the choices are do you want to fall into it or do you want to move away from it,” he says. ”I come from nothing. It was nice to make money but I’d been broke before. I believe in myself and my abilities.”
For more information: www.planman.tv
The searial entrepreneur who never stopped being a teacher
• Roger Pearson uses his experiences to help other business owners
• “Running a business … is really the most gratifying path to happiness”
(Total Recorded Time is 16:00)
Roger Pearson studied to become a teacher. But that didn’t quite result in a career in a classroom. Instead, he has been teaching small business owners ways to improve bottom lines and their lives.
“The important thing about running your own business is [finding out] what you feel your mission is,” Mr. Pearson says. “It took me a lot of years to do that.”
Mr. Pearson was a serial entrepreneur as he searched for the right business for him. “It’s been quite a journey,” he says.
Like a person hiking through a woodland, along the way he picked up ideas that seemed to work. He’s been sharing them with others and offers some of his ideas in this edition of Bizgnus Interviews.
Please click here to watch the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVe-7MOM08c
Roger Pearson is president of Seagull Technologies Inc., in Tampa, Fla.
“In the end, I have found that running a business whose goal is to improve the lives of others is really the most gratifying path to happiness,” Mr. Pearson writes. “Especially when it is one that spans everything from improving health to saving money or taxes and for a few, making a few extra bucks to balance the budget.”
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
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
Seeking truth in a world of disinformation
• Longtime activist targets lies that undermine democracy
• “I feel very worried. I feel very worried.”
(Total Recorded Time is 23:34)
In 1971, Frances Moore Lappe wrote a book that transformed the way many relate to food called “Diet for a Small Planet.”
Now, more than half a century and more than a dozen books later, Ms. Lappe is the force behind the movement called “living democracy.” It seeks to challenge everyday citizens to take active roles in their local and even national lives.
“I feel very worried. I feel very worried,” she says. “Because of all the different forms of media, it is very hard to sort out truth and fiction.”
Frances Moore Lappe isn’t your everyday activist. She joins us for this edition of Bizgnus Interviews to explain why citizen involvement in government is more important than ever.
Please click here to watch the interview: https://youtu.be/ZrWKlW1yIJ8
Her most recent book is “Crisis of Trust: How Can Democracies Protect Against Dangerous Lies,” ( , January 2023). It takes on the American disinformation crisis and offers lessons from democracies leading the fight to combat harmful lies and promote truth.
For more information: https://www.smallplanet.org/frances-moore-lappe
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:
“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
Embracing failure brought her success
• What she said when Bill Gates’ wealth rang
• “I failed my way to success”
(Total Recorded Time is 15:22)
A single mother in an adopted country and in debt to the depth of $135,000, Beate Chelette plowed through what she describes as a decade of mistakes to transform her passion for photography into a global business and to finally emerge successful and with a bit of Bill Gates’ fortune in her bank account.
“I believe that failure is an unbelievably important aspect of success,” Ms. Chelette says. ‘How do I know I’m having a good day unless I’ve had a bad day?”
She says every mistake she made helped her push harder toward success.
“I failed my way to success,” she says. And there’s a secret to that: “You can’t take it personally. That’s the key to it.”
Please click here to watch Ms. Chelette on Bizgnus Interviews:
She says the acquisition of her company by Gates gave her the freedom to pursue her passions and purposes.
Ms. Chelette is the author of “Happy Woman Happy World – How to Go from Overwhelmed to Awesome,” Chelette Enterprises, 2014.
For more information: https://beatechelette.com/
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
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/
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:
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/
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/
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/
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
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:
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/
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:
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
From obese teen to executive coach to AI pioneer
• Dai Manuel sees AI as the future of coaching
• “The world’s most robust health AI coach”
(Total Recorded Time is 19:43)
What do you do after you’ve run a successful major retailer?
How about being a life coach?
Dai Manuel, author of the book “Whole Life Fitness Manifesto,” (Life Tree, 2016), says he began his quest for physical and financial fitness as a teenager.
And now he’s making a new turn: helping pair artificial intelligence with lifestyle improvements.
Dai Manuel reveals his remarkable story in this edition of Bizgnus Interviews.
His business experience includes a nine-year stint as chief operating officer of and partner in Fitness Town Inc., a chair of fitness centers in British Columbia.
He’s now working with a startup planning to develop an app that uses artificial intelligence. “What we’re trying to create is the world’s most robust health AI coach,” he says. “Anybody anywhere as long as they’ve got the internet can have a health coach.”
For more information: https://www.daimanuel.com/