Next Action
By Brian Wallace
In 15 minutes or less, you'll walk away with actionable know-how on being intentional and skipping the mediocre towards a better life.
Next ActionJan 30, 2019
Navigating Your Own Personal New Normal: Life Upside Down Before Coronavirus
Shlomi Ron is my first guest since the coronavirus became the new normal throughout the world. I’ve found that some people have had life events that presented a new normal experience even before COVID-19 hit us. Shlomi is one such person to be fortunate to have gone through heavy challenges that he is well prepared for today’s times.
Shlomi is the CEO of the Visual Storytelling Institute, an incredible organization that layers in all sorts of creativity, art, marketing, and storytelling - something more important than ever as many of us are consuming an unprecedented amount of media.
Find Shlomi: Visual Storytelling Institute | LinkedIn | Total Acuity (Book) | Brian on the VSI Podcast
SXSW and the Rise of Voice Tech
Scot and Susan are the husband and wife team behind Pragmatic Digital - a consultancy that helps businesses use emerging technology to improve their customer experience. They are also the authors of Voice Strategy: Creating Useful and Usable Voice Experiences.
It’s Susan’s 1st SXSW, though Scot was there a few years ago - but their first foray into SXSW as Voice Experts. They will be speaking at the Tiny VOICE @SXSW events and sharing their insights on creating successful Voice experiences. The Tiny VOICE @SXSW events will be taking place at the Modev booth Monday through Wednesday from 1 - 2pm. Susan and Scot will also be signing copies of their book.
In this episode, we talk about the role that Voice can play in helping businesses do more with less and why now is the time to start developing a Voice strategy and plan. Scot and Susan also touch on how Voice fits into an omnichannel marketing strategy and how brands can leverage their existing content for consistency and efficiency.
Find Susan and Scot :
Walking, Climbing and Flying at SXSW 2020
Leigh Durst is a recognized authority on business, operations and digital transformation, and a trusted advisor to global Fortune 100s, startups, and businesses across industries. Her book, Walk, Climb, or Fly: Surviving and Thriving in the Workplace Wilderness, is designed to help executives, managers, and professionals better navigate complicated workplace dynamics, improving relationships, collaboration, and performance.
Leigh is a 13-year SXSW veteran and a longtime SXSW Advisory Board Member. Working in partnership with SXSW and clients, Leigh has helped curate over 70 official SXSW sessions, featuring 150+ world-class thought leaders, such as Adam Savage, Nolan Bushnel and Tim Berners-Lee. It is Leigh’s mission to help people move beyond mere career survival to a thriving professional existence.
We’ll talk about Walk, Climb, or Fly’s simple visual model for workplace dynamics - and how knowing your Operational Style can open the door for better collaboration. We’ll also provide a sneak peek at some cool sessions and activities at SXSW 2020.
Find Leigh Durst at walkclimborfly.com | leighdurst.com | livepath.net
Give and Grow: Influence to Impact Others
Bob Burg co-authored the international bestseller The Go-Giver. He’s a sought after speaker at sales and leadership conferences and committed to inspiring the entrepreneurial spirit in us all. He shows that companies large and small that conduct their business the “Go-Giver” way are not only of much greater value to their customers, they’re also significantly more functional and profitable as well.
Providing value isn’t about giving away free stuff. We’ll talk about how to shift your focus from getting to giving, and growing your business through value, influence, and authenticity.
Listen in to learn how to be a Go-Giver.
Mentioned on the podcast: Dr. Rick Rigsby on "The Smartest Person I Ever Met"
Find Bob at burg.com
Rise Above the Noise: The Art of Being Creative
Tuli Kraus has been making noise lately on LinkedIn but he's come to a realization: there's a lot of noise on there these days.
What can you do to stand out? Be creative. Easier said than done, right? Tune in for this fun dialog on how to take practical steps on implementing and being an effective communicator!
Empowering Our Children for the Future
Atara Twersky isn't what you'd expect from an NYC attorney as she's now also the author of the acclaimed children's book series, Curlee Girlee.
Atara is the founder of the curly girl movement inspired by her young daughter in an effort to ensure they love themselves just as they are.
Join us as we talk about parenting, work-life balance (if such a thing exists!), and showing our children how to hope for the future on a very empowering podcast!
Find Atara - curleegirlee.com | podcast
Training Your Way to Repeatable Greatness
Chris Ronzio has developed a passion to allow other business leaders find time to do more of what they love. We all know that the process and the journey are just as important as the solution, and Chris has truly embraced this methodology. His company, Trainual allows you to document your processes like never before.
Listen in for Chris' journey and scaling up!
Be a Catalyst: What is your One Word?
Rich Keller has an inspiring story. Going from the safety of corporate America to taking the plunge and following his dreams after overcoming health challenges, he's definitely found his stride helping today's youth by finding the one word that defines them.
Rich is a catalyst and knows how to distill important brand messages into one word. What's your one word and story to tell? Listen in to this truly remarkable episode for more!
Find Rich at: LinkedIn | TheRichKeller
Shaping the Future of Agency Life
Deepak Shukla has a bright future gaining momentum building from the strength of an SEO agency and is moving toward specialized agency expertise. Gone are the days where one can walk around trying to be a full service agency living among a world of experts.
Join Deepak and I for a lively discussion of agency growth strategy on this week's episode!
Find Deepak at LinkedIn | Pearl Lemon
CMO Shining a L1ght to the World
Today's guest Yoav Vilner has gone through a fork in the road, trying to decide if it's worth being a Chief Marketing Officer to many through his former highly known agency vs showing up as a full time CMO & Founding member to one specific startup.
He's emerged as the CMO for L1ght which is changing the game to stop online toxicity for children through data science.
Listen in to his journey and future in truly building out something meaningful in this episode!
Find Yoav at: LinkedIn | Facebook | L1ght
Digital Nomad to Master of Ceremonies
Jason Barnard is a very cool individual that's trying to broaden his horizons past permanence into the digital nomad lifestyle. Pairing this up with being a keynote speaker and MC seems like a great fit and he's making strides going beyond his comfort zone and the search marketing world into a larger pool of experience.
Listen in to this episode as I give Jason some food for thought on new conferences to explore and some LinkedIn goodness!
Find Jason at Twitter | LinkedIn | Kalicube | Jason Barnard
Connecting the Dots: Podcasting, Books, and More
David Bain is an accomplished marketer that has figured out how to build on a set of skills. He's strategized the best way to get the right technical equipment, soft skills, comfort level with oneself and your audience to drive your business from a podcast, to video, to having an audience, running a summit, and culminating the experience all into a book.
Tune in for this truly extraordinary episode!
Find David at: LinkedIn | MarketingNowBook.com (live November 7th)
How To Build Company Culture
Ryan Gibson is the Chief Investment Officer at Spartan Investment Group, a real estate development and syndication company that enables individuals to participate in self-storage investments.
Rather than constantly searching for the next deal or project, Spartan focuses on building a brand, strategic growth, and company culture. Their strategic planning meetings include everyone from executives to interns, fostering open communication, and true transparency.
When hiring, culture fit is essential, but it doesn’t replace expertise. Listen to learn how to find great people, give them the support they need to succeed, and build your company culture.
Find Ryan at Spartan Investment Group | Email ryan@spartan-investors.com
Check out the books mentioned in this episode:
- Good to Great by Jim Collins
- Walk, Climb, or Fly by Leigh Durst
- Traction by Gino Whickman
Hiring To Scale Your Business
Chanie Gluck is a wife, a mother, and has been an entrepreneur for the last 17 years. She successfully sold her first company 4D Medical, a medical billing company. Now she’s quickly growing a new company, 4D Global. 4D Global helps medical billing and software companies easily scale their business by leveraging the global workforce.
Many entrepreneurs fail, but what do you do when your business survives? How do you hire your first employee? We’ll talk about how to find the right people, your role as a leaders, and how to delegate tasks. Dealing with employees isn’t always fun, but building a great team is essential to growing your business.
Listen in to learn how to build a great team and scale your business.
Learning How To Make The Best Investment
Bernard Reisz is committed to providing unbiased, integrated, expert financial & tax solutions. His focus is the establishment of tax-sheltered accounts (IRAs, 401(k)s, QRPs). Through ReSure Financial, you can get the most cost-efficient, flexible, tax-sheltered investment accounts that give you total control over your money.
If you want unrestricted access to any investment you choose, you can’t pick just any investment company. When it comes to financial decisions, your advisors are ultimately salespeople. Learning a little goes a long way toward making the best decisions for yourself.
In this episode, we’ll talk about formal education and self-initiated learning — and why you need both. Something as simple as reading a book could help you learn about investing. Perhaps even more than Wall Street wants you to know.
Find Bernard at 401kcheckbook.com
Breaking Out of Your Comfort Zone
Itzy Holczler is a natural communicator and creative, which many people know as "the purple guy." But who's the man behind the color? One that grew up in a largely isolated culture where English was not his first language. In this episode, we examine Itzy's process into internalizing communication and desire to be well-understood, as well as his journey from going to small local events to major world conferences such as the 26,000 person INBOUND marketing conference in Boston, MA.
While many on LinkedIn know him as the purple guy, that's a good hook but not enough of to make a full and lasting impression. Tune in to this episode to hear his steps to focus and greatness in building a memorable and lasting impression in the world!
Find Itzy at: Itzy Holczler | LinkedIn
How to Get Started With Video
Rob Deptford is a strategic video creator, on-camera coach and presenter. He uses his background in broadcasting, marketing, and education to help others learn to craft effective video.
Video is essential to every business. If you’re not comfortable on camera, it’s time to make a change. We’ll talk about how to get comfortable with video, how to speak on camera, and how video length impacts viewership.
Listen in to learn how to get started with video — and why it’s so important.
How To Refocus and Grow After A Career Shift
Shmuel Septimus left a career in healthcare management, and founded of SNF Marketing, a firm dedicated to using tech to build success. He hosts two podcasts: Love Your 9 to 5 and Nursing Home.
Shmuel believes everyone should love their profession. If you don’t love your work, it’s time to make a change and focus on what you really care about. Break through the limitations set by others, and yourself, so you can grow your network.
Listen in to learn about identifying your superpowers, breaking through limitations, and how to refocus after a career shift.
Find Shmuel at LinkedIn | SNF Marketing
Personal Branding Through New Media
Adam J. Carswell is a real estate entrepreneur working with Asym Capital and Concordia Realty. He also creates two podcasts (Dream Chasers & The Liberland Show) and a vlog (Untitled), and teaches a professional development course (BANG).
How does he find the time to do it all? Listen in to learn about the networking, the life of a digital nomad, and how to build a personal brand through new media.
Find Adam, and all his projects, at carswell.io
How Content Creation Builds Support For Your Ideas
Hunter Thompson is the founder of Asym Capital, a private equity firm. He’s helped more than 250 investors and raised over $30 million in capital, but he wasn’t always successful.
The most important aspect of any investment if finding a person worth betting on. But investors often shy away from new ideas.
Listen in to learn how failure, due diligence, and content creation can help you build the infrastructure needed to support your ideas.
Find Hunter at Asym Capital | Cash Flow Connections
How to Find the Time to Succeed
Karen Briscoe transformed her life and wrote the book she’d always dreamed of writing by rethinking how she used her time.
Our hectic schedules leave many of us are left feeling like we don’t have the time to focus on what we really want to do. But taking small steps can transform your life, and business, in a short period of time.
Listen in to learn how to reach a higher level of success by taking just 5 minutes a day.
Find Karen at 5minutesuccess.com | Facebook | LinkedIn
How to Get Out of Your Own Way
Erin Pheil is a master of helping people permanently eliminate (yes, eliminate—not alleviate) self-sabotage.
So many people are stuck in ruts, and feel increasingly frustrated when repeatedly gathering more information and taking more actions STILL don't get them what they want.
For most people, changing habits is hard. They try, but revert back to old ways of behaving.
Here's the secret to why behavior change , getting unstuck,and getting out of ruts is so hard: our time, our actions are actually determined by what we believe to be true-- NOT by the finite, limited will power and focus generated by our conscious minds.
Listen in for a transformational journey to get yourself unstuck!
Find Erin at - mindfixgroup.com | LinkedIn | Facebook
How to Read, Comprehend, and Remember Faster Than Ever
Howard Berg is the world's fastest reader clocking in at over 80 pages a minute!
Have a listen in to learning how to read faster - even through this short podcast. You'll get to hear first-hand how to increase your reading comprehension along with some solid tactics on how to enhance your memory.
Check out this truly informative episode!
You can find Howard at berglearning.com and get a special discount for 10% off using the code nextaction10
How to Negotiate Anything
Kwame Christian, Esq is a negotiator par excellence and Director of the American Negotiation Institute. Listening to him can help you get a better deal in your career and help you finally overcome difficult conversations at work.
Negotiation strategies are everything - we discuss curiosity and the art of asking better questions through better preparation beforehand.
What's a great leading question you might ask? An open ended question.
Start with what or how and avoid starting with why, which is associated with judgement.
Kwame will show you how to better negotiate by getting rid of the emotional baggage up front. Self awareness must happen to manage our emotional intelligence.
Listen in for a truly remarkable episode!
Find Kwame at - LinkedIn and the American Negotiation Institute (free gift to negotiation guide)
Language: the Great Grand Symphony of Life
John has a passion for music.
That lifelong pursuit led him to a career in business, showing clients how to unlock the exciting things that happen at the intersection of music and language.
Take time every day to examine your own language. How do you craft language to please, serve (and contribute to) the world around you?
This exercise could literally take you 3 seconds and could unlock the key to your happiness.
We examine the language of others and see how Michael J. Fox operates regardless of his challenges.
Listen to this great episode on how to communicate better through harmony!
Find John at: https://www.klymshyn.com -> click "Learn more" button and fill out with message "Sample Chapter" for a free chapter.
From So-Called Success to Calling BS on Work Life Balance
Joshua B. Lee had the life that many entrepreneurs dream about - or so they think. He had all the success of house, cars, money, family. But he lost sight of vision and was overwhelmed concentrating on the balance.
People go to bed not feeling appreciated. So how to you keep on going?
Appreciate the small things! Be happy you woke up today! Find your silver lining no matter what the situation.
Work life balance - Joshua goes straight to the heart of the matter and calls bs. To have growth, you need imbalance in life to grow?
What makes you happy? What drives you? It's different for everyone.
Joshua shows how even small tips can make a dramatic difference in our day to day and shares an outstanding tip for using video to make things happen - listen in for more!
Find Joshua B. Lee on LinkedIn
Breaking the Rules and Mastering Your Own Destiny
Steve Wiideman is a super interesting guy that has branched out of corporate America and SEO into more of the world's marketing focus.
In 2010, he tried working it out on his own and went out to his neighborhood. In his first month, he already signed $17k of business and it all grew from there.
There aren't any rules when you're your own freelancer, and it's a useful background and a blessing to have the corporate background and having knowledge of how the system works and how to communicate.
He's made a name for himself instead of just being a geek SEO. How? A rigid morning schedule reading as much as he can about the industry. Set times for sales, creative, and brainstorming.
Listen in to how effective he's helped companies really thrive online with his heartfelt story about a now famous watch store and more!
Find Steve on Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Wiideman Consulting Group
Bringing Influence Into Focus With Image and Confidence
Laibel Schwartz is a magnetic person you want to be around. He fills the room with energy and excitement - what's more is that he knows how to transfer it to you to unlock your influence and build you up from there.
Everyone thinks that the featured corporate headshots on his website are a bunch of models - but they are just regular people like you and me! Simply put: Laibel has unlocked their talents and strengths by allowing them to believe in themselves. Confidence from the eyes, approachability from the mouth, and a strong jawline is the core of a great photo - and these are only a few things you'll learn from today's guest.
Laibel started as a wedding photographer and evolved into corporate headshot photography, but what's next? It's to become the influence builder. His next step is how to meet with companies, and seeing how to build their brand. People know when things are fake - this is to pull the true reality by documenting their stories.
Everyone is incredible. Show who and what you do. Listen in for an amazing deep dive on how to unlock your true greatness.
Check Laibel out at: Instagram | LinkedIn | laibelschwartz.com
How to Scale Your Small Business Dream to the World
Estie Rand has found a critical issue to focus on in the realm of the small business world. Instead of leaving SMB's to navigate piece by piece, she helps business find their way through a full service consulting firm that handles both strategy and implementation - a rarity for smaller businesses.
Lots of people want a piece of Estie so she's entered the course market - with no paid marketing!
We discuss the importance of personal branding, how to be irresistible in the media, and how many companies fail - when they succeed.
How do you keep up the pace and scale without compromising quality? Estie is looking for more staff in sales, admin, and copywriting - hit her up!
Estie has a plan and is poised for growth over the next few months to refine everything before heading for more speaking and media focus.
Find Estie at: estierand.com/freegift
Finding Your True Purpose and Being on Cloud Nine
One's true purpose comes from experience. Jordan Gross has already had an incredible journey leaving the corporate world, which has led to speaking and coaching.
Going from people pleasing to finding one's true purpose allows you to lead life by your rules.
Cloud Nine is a journey to personal development through fiction, as so much non-fiction has a stigma as people don't like to be told what to do.
What's your peak happiness? Listen in and get the Cloud Nine approach.
Check Jordan out at: Cloud Nine Living
Personal Branding Through Brutal Honesty
Dr. Natalia Wiechowski really is the master of how you should do your personal brand.
After leaving the corporate world, she studied many successful entrepreneurs to learn how to live your best life.
How? Ask yourself the painful questions. What makes you unique?
You need to start with a self-inventory and there are no shortcuts to it! Only then can you talk about your product, pr, and sales.
Stuck without any motivation? Natalia will tell you that you only have one life and you don't want to die with regret. You are here with a purpose and have something specific to contribute to society.
Do things that you are afraid of and get rid of those limiting beliefs. Natalia used to feel she was really bad at sales until she now shines above many by analyzing everything about her performance.
Hold on tight for a mind blowing episode!
Find Natalia at: Think Natalia | LinkedIn | Instagram
The Power of Empathy and Connecting
Kathy Klotz-Guest is a fabulous human that knows how to move conversations to saying yes so people and business thrive! Thinking about high level value is the way to get there.
Kathy comes from an improv and comedy background AND spent 15 years managing marketing in tech companies... and knows how to integrate this language - along with empathy - so well into the corporate environment that she teaches business people how to start the conversation leading to a path to communicate better. All about communication - it drives creativity, sales, everything!
What makes you different and that you enjoy? When you figure out this difference, you can communicate better in the world. You don't need to be a weak copy of someone else, and you don't need to apologize. Listen in for this great episode!
Check Kathy out at - keepingithuman.com | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Zero to a Million - How to Grow Your Niche
Ricky Carruth is a whole new brand of the real estate economy. He's been the #1 ReMax agent in his state for 2 years running!
While he started as a full time real estate business he has now blossomed into a speaker, writer, and coach - educating real estate agents around the world.
People usually approach speaking the wrong way, being in the echo chamber. Since so many are into the gig economy these days, many people are starting to explore real estate, which should be a good fit for Ricky as its the largest player in the gig economy. We speak about breaking out of the box beyond real estate agents and the possibilities of SXSW.
Ricky and I then jump in to LinkedIn and talk about the opportunity for him to dive in to the creator community, along with some tips on optimizing his profile. Keep content native, don't just re-use your Instagram content.
Check out Ricky as he goes from zero to diamond (1 million in sales+) at ZerotoDiamond and find him on Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn
The Art of How to Meet and Remember People at Events
Daren McKelvey is such a natural when it comes to being a connector. But there's also a lot that goes into it that involves years of learning what to do and what not to do.
He believes in doing his homework. He remembers initially getting good at understanding names, faces, and what people are about back from collecting baseball cards. The modern day version of this is LinkedIn! You can definitely train your brain to be good at names and faces - it isn't a trick but necessary to make some semblance to what otherwise would be the noise.
To truly understand the anatomy of events you need to ask yourself - why are people there?
Balancing serendipity with all of this planning is key.
Try to immediately connect with them digitally on different profiles that they like to be on. Create fear in not forgetting.
We talk through some content searching and planning to grow Daren's events as well.
Think how you can help and make your mini-profile about the person so you can figure out how to cast them into future events and opportunities.
Find Daren via email, Twitter, LinkedIn, wechat and be sure to connect with him if you're in NYC!
Being a Professional Working Dad at a Fortune 500 Company
John Stancliffe is a 15 year veteran in the digital space, currently as Social Media Manager for AT&T Business and tells us about what life is like working at a big company. Resources, access to mentorship and leaders is a tremendous form of growth.
Want to be an entrepreneur without the risk? You can have a lot of creative freedom inside a large organization as an intrapreneur. John gives his thoughts on how he's had this mindset throughout.
We discuss building employee advocates out of the workforce. Empowering people with skillset and permissions to build their personal brands on social and advocate for the brand.
You might be reluctant as a brand but you're sitting on an army of support! Why hire a bunch of influencers when you have such a great team?
We then chat about being a dad and in the workforce.
It's great to be at a solid company when you have a family and have little turnover when you go home at the end of the day and not have to worry about going back into the office.
John is building a platform talking about how to balance your work and still be a parent. He's even interviewed Chris Gardner, the man who's life was the basis of the book/film The Pursuit of Happyness about this.
We end talking about using social in B2B. It's an H2H Human to Human play.
Check out John on: LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | #DadChat
Grow Your Business Smarter Being High End and Focused
Wendy Maynard helps people land high end clients for the last 2 decades with companies of all sizes for signature offers.
We're all doing the same thing so making proprietary systems and offers are worth your time. Or maybe you're making remarkable service but you aren't touting it enough. It's time to own it!
People are afraid to charge a premium price - so much is based on this premium as the buyer places a lot of value into this.
Just because your competitors aren't will to go beyond the mediocre, doesn't mean you should settle.
We talk about Wendy getting known - Wendy has set systems - such as her Facebook group. Continuing the flywheel and getting more systems up and running is key. Wendy and I talk about ramping this up to LinkedIn as well.
Hustle isn't everything - we are our best assets and must take care of ourselves.
Check Wendy out at wendymaynard.com, LinkedIn, Facebook, and her Facebook group
How to Stop Mental Health Issues in the Tech Community
Stewart Rogers is well known for his work at Grit Daily and VentureBeat and he runs multiple startups and social good projects.
Embracing the nomad lifestyle, Stewart has learned how to stay calibrated, healthy, and strong - mentally and physically.
He's found a zen state of focus on the now - a message he travels the world with - giving a keynote on mental health in the tech industry.
You see, mental health in the tech space is rife with self-destructive behavior. In 2018 alone, Stewart had lost a friend to suicide every month except December.
Stewart breaks down his keynote into 3 parts:
-explaining the issue and why tech founders have self-destructive behavior
-coping mechanisms - stay stress-free and fluid, focus on the moment, and reach your zen state
-behavioral change in the industry - support the ecosystem
Check Stewart's powerful keynote at TechChill: What is going wrong with mental health in the tech industry?
(profits for the speech go to charity)
And find Stewart on: Twitter | Snapchat | Instagram | LinkedIn
Build on Strength, Not Reinvent
Wendy Glavin has learned how to accumulate a number of different skills throughout her career - from theater to communications, working in numerous PR and marketing firms to running her own agency.
We talk about how people can learn anything when they put their mind to it, and of course wax eloquent about NYC aggression :)
Wendy has so much to give - we talk about getting known beyond her current circles in the world of LinkedIn. Helping without selling is the name of the game - I suggest using some of the new document sharing tools and how to stand out.
Check Wendy out at wendyglavin.com and on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Getting Known Beyond Your Comfort Zone
Naphtali Hoff is an awesome executive coach that helps leaders scale. He's already carved out a very specific niche, much of which caters to male small biz owners, entrepreneurs, and leaders within the NYC area Jewish community.
How can he grow beyond his comfort zone to help others get out of their comfort zone? We discuss broader metro NYC projects and upping his game speaking at different conferences to gain influence, authority, and access. Writing across the web is key and it will be great to get more quotes/interviews.
Some get really into being a keynote speaker - that's really not a focus unless you want that to be your business model. We discuss SXSW EDU and how that may be a fit.
He's also gone the author route, having written Becoming the New Boss.
And yes, we chat about LinkedIn :)
Definitely on his way to gaining influence! Listen in on how we dive further in.
Check Naphtali out at ImpactfulCoaching.com, and on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Be Like Amazon: the Story of Bryan Eisenberg
Bryan Eisenberg is an incredible marketer with significant achievements in his career. Imagine creating things like Conversion Rate Optimization and Bounce Rate? Being a 2 Time NYT Best Selling Author? Amazing!
In this episode We dive into Bryan's latest book, Be Like Amazon.
Let's face it - Amazon out-executes everybody.
We dive in to 4 pillars of how today's business operates: price, selection, convenience, and customer experience.
Your brand isn't what you say it is anymore, but rather what other people say about you - and how you act.
Part of Amazon's magic is the 6 page memos - from the customer point of view - as Bryan likes to call them: buyer legends.
We examine if any anyone can compete with Amazon and take a look at Microsoft.
Can anyone be like Amazon? Yes! even a lemonade stand can do it :)
Find Bryan on LinkedIn Instagram Twitter and at Buyer Legends
SXSW: How to Maximize Your Knowledge Through Planning
Angelique LaRue is an awesome SXSW planner and partner in crime. One of the most prepared folks I know at the event, Angelique starts early checking out food, brand marketing panels, event and music spaces. She advises to know what's on the schedule and adjust before 30 days out - in case you want to stay extra and change your hotel reservation.
SXSW is much more than a giant party! Try to find latest greatest what's new and trending. How?
Angelique will tell you how to properly hack your schedule - don't save everything to the last minute and hope that serendipity will save the day. Plan a month out and check all the official and unofficial sources as you get closer to SXSW time - and sign up to events early! Even if you have a plan, have backups. Keep an eye on events on Adweek and searching SXSW on Twitter - Google alerts are your friend.
Optimize your energy - go to sleep early - in bed by 11 - and pace yourself: morning meetings and breakfasts (yes people wake up in the morning), make sure that the people coming with you have an invite or +1's.
Angelique runs one of the most helpful SXSW planning groups with over 2000 people in the group. It's a great crowdsourced way to plan your SXSW and have a built in base of people to go around with.
Find Angelique on LinkedIn and Twitter and the SXSW Interactive 2019 Networking group
SXSW: Spotting the Right Speakers and Sparking Outlasting Energy
Lynae is a wondrously disciplined event catalyst. She's boiled down the art of going to places like SXSW to a science and brings a wealth of knowledge on how to figure out the best sessions to attend - and which you could always watch later.
Some speakers use the same speech year round - look for the people that shine and come prepared for SXSW and will answer your questions and be interactive! We walk through how small business owners may have the habit of walking you through a pitch vs an enjoyable and knowledgeable event - no shame in walking out of those!
Let's talk energy! Be a memorable looking person with a current photo on all your socials and hey, be a morning person and be effective with your time! (Bonus points if you can be a night owl too).
Check Lynae out at @lynaecook and the #BTSPodcast
SXSW: Crypto and Social Impact
Cleve Mesidor is an awesome source of knowledge and relationships in the world of crypto and blockchain.
This will be Cleve's 2nd SXSW and since her first time, a lot has happening in the ever expanding world of crypto.
This is the first year that SXSW has an official track for crypto and blockchain - and Cleve will be speaking as well!
New to the crypto discussion? Not a problem, Cleve and I spend a lot of time speaking about how it will impact SXSW this year from a beginner level.
Check Cleve out on Twitter @cmesi and http://www.mylogos.io/
SXSW: How Emotional Intelligence Wins the Day
Wesley Faulkner really knows how to work a room at SXSW. If you were at SXSW a few years ago, armed with a few discount cards and a $35 Where's Waldo outfit, he outshined some of the biggest brands and budgets.
Outfit or not, Wesley has a magnetic and caring personality and has a great way with words. It was a pleasure to have him on the show as he shares ways of being authentic and his expectations at his new role as Developer Relations Advocate for IBM Systems.
Genuine excitement is something you can't fake - and as Wesley says - let kindness be your currency. Listen in for more!
Check Wesley out on Twitter at @wesley83 and https://developer.ibm.com
SXSW - Press and What's New in Tech
Jeff Powers runs Geekazine, a company that started in the podcasting space which has been evolving in live streaming and tech coverage so he's always scouting for great interviews. Over the 6 years he's been coming, he has a keen eye for the different tech companies making a splash on the scene. We discuss different event venues and hotels that have been on the rise.
Jeffrey and I talk about where to get video content and fun event activations such as Game of Thrones and one of the best kept secret s in the lounge arena - the Mercedes Techset lounge.
We round off the show talking about how the on demand scooter market should help people get around easier - excited to see how this shapes up!
Check out Jeff at https://geekazine.com
SXSW Veteran: from Musician to VC
Brian Penick is a great way for us to start off our SXSW podcast special series!
This will be Brian's 12th SXSW - what's even more interesting is he started on the Music track - as a performer! Brian's moved on to the Interactive and Venture Capital World and he and I discuss some really useful tactical tips about which are the best hotels, coffee and food hangouts, and our favorite secret spots.
Check Brian out:
Entrepreneurship or Find a New Job?
Jon Lee had lots of early success. Then, he listened to the crowd and did what everyone says to do for content. He was consistent, did all the posts, all the videos and most of this isn't generating new business.
If you spend enough time on social media, you might even feel depressed watching everyone be "successful," lots of unsolicited advice, and all the while where they are telling you you're killing it, they won't hire you.
Should Jon continue? Maybe. But before he does, I suggest some inbound tactics on LinkedIn and the importance of a global audience seeing his great work and also not give as much away for people to steal.
Jon's at the point of thinking of giving up entrepreneurship and getting a job. We talk about LinkedIn and the relationship economy.
If you were Jon, what would you do?
Check him out at http://thecontentmarketingking.com
More With Less: Bulletproofing Your B2B Marketing
Our next guest, Michael Phelan and I agree that the economy is likely heading for a down cycle. Fast.
So what do you do in a down economy? Don't follow the crowd. Why is it that so many people - especially in B2B - put out a ton of content, hoping it will lead to meetings and sales?
Michael shows us that everything we know about content is wrong. He's pioneered a magnet marketing approach to prospectively target those who'll buy from you and do the content marketing step at the end!
Check Michael out at https://www.gotomarketpros.com/
The Man Behind the Curtain - From Small Town to Internet Superpower
Sticker Mule is a fascinating company. It's become so powerful that it's the go-to place whenever you think about buying custom stickers online.
What's even more fascinating is that they have built a cult-like following with little to no press. Unless you really dig around, you might not even know who the founder is.
Enter Anthony Constantino.
Anthony shows that you can run a successful internet company and be in your small hometown and not have to go to places like Silicon Valley.
Join us on this episode as we examine Anthony's reasons for coming into the spotlight, how he became more comfortable with speaking through comedy, and where he's going next with personal branding vs the brand.
Check out Sticker Mule at https://stickermule.com
From Frustration to Mojovation: The Art of Going Deep
Joe Apfelbaum is a source of inspiration to many.
He's been on a 95 pound weight loss journey and is making his way into the hearts and minds of everyone waiting on the LinkedIn sidelines, but is afraid to engage.
Joe's bringing passion and precision to the masses and has super specific goals on how building these relationships online and offline will take his already super successful Inc 500 featured business, Ajax Union, to new heights.
So how do you help the guy that's already got everything? Introduce him to worlds that haven't already seen him!
One of Joe's goals is to speak at 50 venues this year.
He used to be afraid of public speaking and now he's great and polished!
He has a mission to help 1,000 entrepreneurs go from frustration to mojovation and beyond his LinkedIn reach is looking to get 50 speaking engagements for the year, many of focused crowds of 50-100 entrepreneurs and business owners alike.
In this episode, we speak about SXSW and how it could be a good fit - if there's enough time to time to jump in for a day or 2 or not. Listen in for our mutual struggles for going there for the long haul!
We talk about using the relationship economy to seek out becoming known at key events. Joe is like me in that I don't want to travel far, so we also talk about focus in the local area.
Check Joe out at - https://www.ajaxunion.com/