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Your Business Greatness

Your Business Greatness

By Simone Sloan

Hot Tips You Cannot Miss! Simone Sloan hosts business experts who share their business knowledge to help your business grow.
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Create Inclusive Cultures that Increase Positive Employee Experience

Your Business GreatnessApr 30, 2021

00:00
18:33
Demonstrate Care for Your Organization’s People & Culture
Mar 15, 202424:18
Transformational Shifts Impacting Business Growth
Feb 23, 202422:01
Using Resources to Scale Your Business
Jan 12, 202416:54
Navigating an Eco-Friendly Approach to Sustainability
Dec 15, 202313:07
Changing the Patient Healthcare Relationship
Nov 20, 202322:02
Create Dynamic Customer Experiences
Oct 12, 202325:38
Building Software for Small Businesses

Building Software for Small Businesses

Simone Sloan, Executive strategist, Founder of Your Choice Coach, hosts a discussion with Paul Jackson, Founder and CEO of Method.

  • Paul is a two-time entrepreneur who believes in building software for small businesses that work just like they do.
  • He describes himself as having optimism, grit, and pessimism all at the same time.
  • Through his journey in business, he has created an automation tool for QuickBooks and Xero users that allows small businesses to make their own custom apps to automate any of their business processes.
  • Paul shares the challenges he experiences introducing his product to companies or transitioning them from one CRM to another. 
  • Method helps small businesses that have grown to this point by providing a CRM with industry-specific templates that can be customized to fit their needs, allowing them to automate processes that don't require critical thinking, are often repeated, and take up a lot of time.
  • Method has about 100 employees and works in a hybrid company environment.  Paul believes in the value of both face-to-face and flexible working. To ensure their distributed teams are inclusive, they focus on automating key processes and slowly easing employees into automation to relieve pressure on the business.
  • They understand the importance of having different personalities on teams. They focus on building grit and navigating those different personalities to help them achieve their goals.

 


Resources Mentioned:


Aug 18, 202322:47
Design Your Business Growth
Jul 14, 202314:56
Effective PR Strategies for Small Businesses
Jun 02, 202322:28
3 P's to Operating an Effective Business

3 P's to Operating an Effective Business

Founder, and Executive Coach at "Your Choice Coach," speaks with Valerie Hayes. She is a fractional COO and is on a mission to help small businesses beat the odds, push through those roadblocks, and become an industry leader.

Three Key Points

  1. If you don't have the infrastructure in place to support that increase in sales and increase in fulfillment needs, then it's not going to work and so Valerie sort of noticed over and over again that really good people were struggling with this problem.

  2. Valerie talks about the three kinds of categories of people that can help your business, all of which are great.

  3. Valerie runs several multimillion-dollar companies as a part-time CEO in 10 hours a week.

Episode Highlights

  • Valerie’s background is that she is a business owner, human resources, professional and fortune 500 company’s coach and mentor for higher achievers that enables them to really be a collaborative approach in every aspect of their business.

  • Bringing in a fractional CEO is like buying speed because the CEO knows exactly what the problem is, can spot it immediately, find a solution and move the business forward to that $1,000,000 mark and move it much faster with less resistance and pushback.

  • If you don't have the time, or maybe the actual skill set or experience level to implement it, it can be a frustrating situation. In that case a fractional CFO comes in and works in the business supporting you and your team.

  • When you are hiring a Chief Financial Officer or a Chief Operating Officer, you should never hire someone who is afraid to tell you or that someone something is a bad idea.

Resources Mentioned:


Mar 24, 202322:33
Tapping into Your Purpose: Activist, Impact, & Inclusion

Tapping into Your Purpose: Activist, Impact, & Inclusion

On today's episode of 'Your Business Greatness,' host Simone Sloan, Executive Strategist, Founder, and Executive Coach at "Your Choice Coach," speaks with Bernadette Smith. She is the Founder and CEO of the Equality Institute and an IBPA Benjamin Franklin booksellers Gold medal award-winning author of three books on LGBTQ inclusion. She has been featured in places like USA Today, the New York Times, Washington Post. She has appearances on, CNN, Today Show, BBC, and NPR. She's been named one of the Chicago's notable 2SLGBTQAI+ Executives.

Episode Highlights

  • Bernadette started her first business back in 2004 when Massachusetts became the first state in the country to have marriage equality for same sex couples.
  • Equality Institute is a small DEI consulting firm, a small boutique firm. Bernadette is the visionary leader of the company and primarily what she is really excited about is what they are doing i.e., the inclusive 360 assessment.
  • Bernadette consulting work did not provide her clients with enough detail and clarity to have like a very tangible roadmap and what she has found, not only with herself personally but in so many other conversations with folks is that when they lack clarity, they don't do anything.
  • Simone and Bernadette discuss the importance of having a support system and how helpful it can be in the entrepreneurial journey.
  • Bernadette's proudest moment is being able to really build a team of people who come from underrepresented backgrounds that she can give opportunities to.
  • Bernadette was raised with a scarcity mindset. Her parents were immigrants. Even though they had a business, she was always given the message that they couldn't ask for money.
  • The most important lesson for any entrepreneur is that you have to learn how to sell because it no matter how good you are at your craft, whatever that craft happens to be, if you can't figure out the sales piece or the piece of getting buyers or hiring someone who can, then you are not going to have a business.
  •  Curiosity and a willingness to learn and put yourself out there are going to take you really far. And there will be lots of folks who give you grace along the way, but just get started and just ask a question.
  • The way our brains are programmed for comfort, safety, security, what's easy, what's familiar, all of that it does require intention to be to get started on this journey, says Bernadette.

Three Key Points

  1. Bernadette shares her career journey and how she ended up writing a few books and doing speaking and training about LGBTQ weddings. Then how she moved away from weddings and into diversity, equity, and inclusion work.
  2. 360 assessment tool is a 300 question DEI organizational assessment for an organization. It is not an individual assessment. It's not an employee engagement survey. It is the organization across 16 functional areas for gaps of equity and inclusion.
  3. The DEI conversation can be overwhelming. There can be a fear of judgment, a fear of getting it wrong a fear of making a mistake that then people call you out for and then it could get nasty or viral or being canceled or all of that. Bernadette advices to just start, and if you don't know what to say in any given situation, ask a question.


Connect

Simone Sloan: Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

http://www.BernadetteSmith.com

Feb 17, 202319:60
Mobilizing Marginalized Students in Tech

Mobilizing Marginalized Students in Tech

On today's episode of 'Your Business Greatness,' host Simone Sloan, Executive Strategist, Founder, and Executive Coach at "Your Choice Coach," speaks with Linc Kroeger. He is the President of Knight Moves and is passionate about fighting social inequity. He served on a technical association for Iowa boards for three years.


Podcast Key Points:

  • Linc talks about Knight Moves, the objectives, and who the company is really trying to help and how the transition took place to where he is today.
  • Linc's biggest challenge across the whole country is the community college instructor shortage. Even if they offer Knight's curriculum, they cannot provide the instructors. They are trying to come up with creative ways to do this and one of them is pure online or even outsourcing offshore.

Episode Highlights

  • After graduating from high school back in 1986, Linc joined the Air Force, went into Fortran training and technology, and was able to go right from high school into a job.
  • For the last decade Linc has been in the consulting technology space, and in his last company he was the CEO of a technology services company.
  • In Linc's 35 years working in corporate America, he did not see many moves happening in the DEI space.
  • Knight Moves is an organization looking at elite technology and bringing professionals in their training.
  • Some of the interesting data around indigenous groups is that they have one of the lowest attendance rates to four-year colleges, but they can have the most unused scholarships.
  • No one gets excluded from our program because they cannot afford it, says Linc.
  • As soon as you start building trust, you start getting referred to the network.
  • When you go in and you recruit a group of students and then 2 or 3 of them drop out in the first three weeks because it doesn't work for them, that's probably the biggest, toughest challenge we had, says Linc.
  • The Knight Move started as a nonprofit and then we flipped as a social benefiting or B Corp model because as a B Corp we do not have to make a profit, says Linc.
  • There are some really creative things you can do out there if you are doing something valuable for a social benefit and impact that goes along with it.

Words of wisdom:  In anything that you choose to do in life, find your flow and flow

Connect

Simone Sloan: Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

Linc Kroeger https://www.kKnightmoves.org/  or   https://www.linkedin.com/in/linc-kroeger-19674b/

Jan 17, 202323:44
Reframe Your Hiring Strategies With Apprenticeships

Reframe Your Hiring Strategies With Apprenticeships

In today´s episode of ‘Your Business Greatness’, host Simone Sloan, Executive Strategist, Founder, and Executive Coach and DEI Consultant at “Your Choice Coach,” speaks with Kim Nichols, CEO, and Founder of Franklin Apprenticeships. Kim is on a mission to unlock the potential of the American workforce by creating a new route for tech careers via apprenticeship  and work-based education.

Podcast Highlights:

  1. When Kim first started the company she was working with a couple of apprenticeship experts from the UK who were helping to educate. They had been consulting with the US Department of Labor for a couple of years and then they transitioned those relationships over to her, but she also had an opportunity to learn about apprenticeships in other countries. She went through German, Swiss, and Australian models, and further dove deep into the UK model which is something that aligned best in the US. It's an employer-led model versus coming up through the education system, so it made a lot of sense to replicate that model in the US.
  2. People that apply to Kim’s program take a career fit assessment as a first step, and that determines whether they have the aptitude for the tech job. So those that have the aptitude, then participate in a pre-apprenticeship program, and that allows them to test out the occupation. Those people that have completed the pre-apprenticeship then participate in interviews with various big companies, and they feel good about it because they've already done the job.
  3. One of the challenges was that during COVID when companies had stopped hiring and there were layoffs, Kim’s goal at Franklin was to not lose any of their employees. So after some Googling, they found a work Share Plan where they could reduce their employees’ time to 75% and then leverage some unemployment insurance to help carry them was helpful. They also had to step back and take a look at their model. They were able to repurpose some grant funds that they had to deliver pre-apprenticeship which was to give all these people that were laid off from the retail and hospitality sector during COVID to give them the skills that they needed to start a new career, one that wasn't going to go away.

Words of Wisdom: Kim advises you to believe in your outcomes, just go for it, and be more open to opportunities.

Connect to Simone Sloan: Website LinkedIn Twitter Facebook YouTube

Connect to Kim Nichols@ Franklin Apprenticeships:  Website LinkedIn

Oct 07, 202225:06
​​Finding Your Authentic Self

​​Finding Your Authentic Self

Sep 16, 202229:10
How Continuous Learning Builds Your Self-Confidence with Ingrid Naranjo

How Continuous Learning Builds Your Self-Confidence with Ingrid Naranjo

In today's episode of ‘Your Business Greatness,’ host Simone Sloan, Executive Strategist, Founder, and Executive Coach at “Your Choice Coach,” speaks with guest Ingrid Naranjo, an Investment Banker Executive with two decades of experience working across four continents. She's passionate about diversity, equity, inclusion, education, and non-profit work to improve communities.

  •  Ingrid shares her experience and insights on her professional journey as a woman, immigrant, and on religious diversity.Ingrid shares her insights on taking risks.” You need to be brave, face your fears, and go to the unknown to reach your destinations.” She thought she needed to try something new as she had nothing to lose, and she could always return.
  • Ingrid utilized her time during the pandemic by pursuing almost all the courses including Artificial Intelligence, Politics, Diplomacy, and so on through Coursera. She continues to use Coursera regularly because she believes that you find great material there. She also  trained herself in ESG (Environmental Social & Governance) with the School of Pennsylvania.
  • Ingrid’s happiest time was in New York at the Office of Children's Services. Although the salary was terrible,  the conditions were not that great where you have so many cases related to children's lives that you were trying to save, and some of them died at the hands of the parents and they did not remove the custody. During the pandemic, she said that she will go back to foundations.

Words of wisdom: Work with a professional executive coach.  If you are driven or if you want to succeed, or if you want to be in a ‘C’ Suite position, what you need is to get a coach and learn how to deal with the stress, your past, coworkers, etc. Because each of us comes with baggage that others may not understand.

Connect to Ingrid Naranjo: LinkedIn

Connect to Simone Sloan: Website LinkedIn Twitter Facebook YouTube

Jul 05, 202230:44
Using Our Hearts to Address Mental Health

Using Our Hearts to Address Mental Health

In today´s episode of ‘Your Business Greatness’, host Simone Sloan, Executive Strategist, Founder, and Executive Coach at “Your Choice Coach”, speaks with guest Dr. Donna-Demetri Friedman, Executive Director of Mosaic Mental Health.

Dr. Friedman shares the work that she’s doing with Mosaic Mental Health and the services that they are  providing. She also discusses some of her accomplishments in her professional career.

About Dr. Donna Friedman:

Dr. Donna Demetri Friedman is Executive Director of Mosaic Mental Health , adjunct associate professor at NYU, mother-infant microanalyst trained by Dr. Beatrice Beebe, graduate of the Anni Bergman Parent-Infant Program ; co-editor of “Attachment-based Clinical Work with Children and Adolescents”; and and recipient of the Outstanding Alumna Award at NYU and the Emily Fenichal Award from Zero to Three.

Three Key Points:

‘We Mosaic’ has been around for a long time. They started a very small grassroots practice in 1959 when deinstitutionalization was happening. Its mission has been to remain a small, nimble organization that's rooted in the community serving the diverse community that they are in and providing a range of mental health services. They have expanded the breadth and range of services that they provide. Hence, they are a mosaic of community members that they serve. They have housing and crisis services as well as psychotherapy and medication management.

They are focused on integrating their care and providing integrity for the folks that they serve and also promised to the people who are coming to them because they see people with chronic mental illness working and helping others. So, it's not only a place to heal, but it's a place to feel hopeful about one's own future, and that's something that they really feel so strongly about.

They do let people know that they are out there and their clients are very grateful and receptive, word of mouth is one of their greatest marketing tools because they serve in many cases. Entire families come to them and they have something called the ‘Family Support Centre’, where they have groups for parents and their children of all ages. That's been a wonderful program that has some of the kids that were taught and now they're going off to college and they write to them and let them know how much they've helped them and share their successes with them.

Resources Mentioned

Connect to Dr. Donna-Demetri Friedman

Connect to Simone Sloan:


May 24, 202223:35
Want to Join a Company Board?

Want to Join a Company Board?

In this episode, Marla Persky, CEO and President of WOMN LLC, talks about her experience serving on Corporate Boards of Directors.  If you are thinking about serving on a board, Marla shares questions you should consider and reflect on before  deciding to pursue  board service.  She provides tips on how to best position yourself to be considered for a corporate Board position. Talks about the  types of  experiences and expertise one should  develop, including  the” ins and outs'' of board service.

WOMN LLC is a company dedicated to helping women succeed in the business of law by increasing their knowledge of and acuity with financial drivers, client development, and leadership. Throughout her professional life, Ms. Persky has had the opportunity to understand and practice business principles that lead to personal and company success.

About Marla Persky

Ms. Persky retired in 2013 as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Boehringer Ingelheim Inc., where she oversaw a department of over 70 individuals. She also was a member of Boehringer’s executive management team and a director of the company and several of its subsidiaries. Prior to joining Boehringer Ingelheim, Ms. Persky spent 19 years at Baxter International Inc. where she held numerous business and legal positions, the most recent of which was Acting General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. During her career at Baxter, Ms. Persky managed global legal services, was General Manager of an international medical device business, led international crisis management teams, acquired and integrated international businesses, and designed/implemented strategies to manage global mass torts.

Ms. Persky currently serves on the Audit and Chairs the Governance Committees of Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: XERS), a specialty pharmaceutical company that leverages proprietary non-aqueous formulation technology platforms. She is also on the Audit and Strategic Planning Committees of the Board of Directors of YGEIA, a medical informatics technology company, and is on the Board of Advisors of Text IQ, a technology company that harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to prevent legal, compliance and reputational disasters. Previously, she served on the Board of Directors of Cytyc Corporation (NASDAQ: CYTYC) a device and diagnostics company. She was also on the Board of Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation, the world’s largest privately owned pharmaceutical company. Ms. Persky was a director of Watermark, Inc. a private publisher and broker of children’s literature.

Connect with Marla on LinkedIn: Marla Persky | LinkedIn   


To connect to Simone and Your Choice Coach:

www.YourChoiceCoach.com

www.linkedin.com/in/simonesloan

https://yourchoicecoach.com

Twitter: @AimInspireGrow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourBusinessGreatness

YouTube: Your Business Greatness

Feb 11, 202226:49
Elevate to Find Your Purpose

Elevate to Find Your Purpose

Glenville (Glen) Forde is Founder & CEO of Elevate 360 and an entrepreneur.  Glen founded Elevate 360 to provide consulting, coaching and inclusion practices for organizations and individuals but with a geared focus on elevating underserved groups and the power of women.  He believes there are 3 strategic actions in building an authentic sense of belonging in any culture/organization:

1. Having a reflective practice.

2. Adopting an intercultural growth mindset.

3. Developing your purpose.

Glen is passionate about inclusion and belonging where he believes these behaviors are the core of DEI work.  He is completing his doctorate degree with a focus thesis on Thesis: Multicultural Belonging - The Importance of Inclusion for Under-served Groups & Elevating Women in the WorkforceThe Need to Drive Systematic Change for Equality is part of inclusion work.

Glen has been in the HR arena for over 25 years in leadership/executive roles and has worked with people from diverse backgrounds contributing to solutions that impact the world in positive ways.  His personal mission is to create a more equitable and inclusive society.  He is an advisor to organizations like Incluzive.com and aimient.com who are focused on equitable hiring and the representation of BIPOC’s at executive and board roles.  Glen is a member of the National Diversity Council, D&I Leaders and Global Diversity KPI Alliance.

Glen is an avid reader and blogger and you can go here to learn more about him, see what he’s reading and thinking about during these current times.

Connect to Glen Forde: 

https://twitter.com/Elevate3602

https://www.instagram.com/elevate360_1/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/elevate360/


To connect to Simone Sloan and Your Choice Coach:

www.YourChoiceCoach.com

www.linkedin.com/in/simonesloan

https://yourchoicecoach.com

Twitter: @AimInspireGrow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourBusinessGreatness

YouTube: Your Business Greatness

Jan 07, 202227:40
CEO Mindset to Grow and Scale Your Business

CEO Mindset to Grow and Scale Your Business

In this episode,  Barbara  Jones, Founder/CEO of Lillii RNB Inc., shares her journey as a woman in technology and entrepreneur. Eight years in business, she shares her fears and courage that enabled her  to propel and scale her company. She says  she values her team.  She is Founder of Freeing Returns,  an Enterprise SaaS platform that helps retailers with store returns management. Today returns account for over $207B dollars  in losses in the US alone. Last year, due to COVID-19, mass returns and retailers moving to e-commerce, this amount grew to over $325B, that’s a 25% increase in losses for retailers.

Freeing Returns is designed to solve these problems by connecting enterprise POS systems with the most innovative store returns management applications.   We save retailers TIME and MONEY on system integration costs, allowing them to offer more cutting edge technology quickly!

Barbara says “this is NOT our first Rodeo.  My team and I have been on the founding team of retail technology startups that have exited and this is our 3rd one, we are going for a THREE-PEAT.  Our technology moves store returns management to the cloud, making it easy for retailers to stay on top of store returns fraud.”

About Barbara Jones:

Founder/CEO of Lillii RNB Inc. is a retail technology product and services company.  She has been  in retail my entire life. She started out as a cashier , graduated from UT Austin with a Computer Science degree and was recruited by a Startup in Austin, TX that was building Point of Sale software.  After that company was acquired, she founded  Retail Technology System Integration firm in 2013.  In the past 3 years,  Lillii RNB Inc have consistently generated close to $1M in revenue.

Over the years, Barbara noticed that we were doing the same  integrations but for different retailers and different POS systems and most of the integration were for store returns.  We decided to productize our offering allowing retailers to get pre-integrated, latest and greatest store returns management applications - that work with their existing POS systems.

Barbara’s hot nuggets: Set yourself up for a strong transition into entrepreneurship. As you figure out what you like to do in your business, leverage others by building a team to do the rest. Develop a CEO mindset to support your business growth.

Connect with Barbara Jones:

Websites: www.lilliirnb.com and our Freeing Returns software platform: www.freeingreturns.com

Social Media handles:

  • Twitter: @sr98bj @lilliiRNBinc @freeingreturns
  • Instagram: @thequeencoder @freeingreturns

To connect to Simone and Your Choice Coach:

www.YourChoiceCoach.com

www.linkedin.com/in/simonesloan

https://yourchoicecoach.com

Twitter: @AimInspireGrow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourBusinessGreatness

YouTube: Your Business Greatness

Resource Mentioned:

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210216005491/en/Morgan-Stanley-Selects-11-Startups-for-5th-Cohort-of-Multicultural-Innovation-Lab-Supporting-Diverse-Founders

Oct 24, 202125:31
Relationship Vision Starts with Honouring Yourself
Sep 24, 202131:37
Effective Content Drives Business Growth
Aug 13, 202111:15
Stronger Together by Leveraging Skills and Mindset

Stronger Together by Leveraging Skills and Mindset


In this episode, Simone Sloan, explores teaming. The idea of collaborating to leverage skillsets to bring a higher level of value to clients. Her co-collaborators include Elizabeth Eiss, Deborah Boulanger, and Ruchi Pinniger. Listen and learn how these four dynamic women bring teaming to life. 

About Elizabeth Eiss:

Elizabeth Eiss is a results guru who helps others get work done well. She’s a thinker, creator, people and project leader, technology systems designer and an expert in today’s ‘Gig Economy.’

A technology pacesetter, Elizabeth is the founder and CEO of ResultsResourcing®, an online talent curation platform Elizabeth designed and co-developed. ResultsResourcing curates on-demand or freelance talent to help small and mid-sized businesses get more done for less. She is passionate about empowering the purpose of others through win/win solutions for buyers and sellers in today’s fluid talent market.

A serial business executive, Elizabeth is an accomplished, innovative leader who has successfully led multi-billion dollar organizations as well as start-up ventures in technology, alternative investments, and staffing. Elizabeth has a track record of progressive accomplishments in the C-suite, including roles in operations, business expansion, turn-arounds, M&A, as well as leveraging technology to build business value. She has had a particular focus on knowledge work and how technology can make experts readily available when their expertise is needed.


About Deb Boulanger:

Deb Boulanger is the CEO of The Great Do-Over, founder of The Launch Lab for women entrepreneurs and host of the Life After Corporate podcast. She helps smart, accomplished women leaders make the leap from Corporate to entrepreneurship.

Over the last 20 years, Deb has launched dozens of services that generated hundreds of millions in revenue for her clients and launched and grew a single division from 0 to $32 Million in 30 months. She has taught and advised hundreds of new and aspiring women entrepreneurs to use these same proven strategies to test their business ideas and validate their money-making model.


About Ruchi Pinniger:

Ruchi Pinniger is the founder of Watch Her ProsperTM, an organization dedicated to providing the financial mentorship, support and services that creative, women-led businesses need to succeed in today’s world. A former Wall Street executive, Ruchi brings to the table over 25 years of experience in financial management and helping business owners weather economic ups and downs. What makes Watch Her Prosper different from other financial support service providers is their fierce dedication to small business owners and the relationships they build with their clients. Sometimes called a “financial therapist” by her clients, Ruchi’s mentorship goes deep, and works at the intersection of personal and business. Ruchi prides herself on that personal touch and her commitment to women business owners creating prosperity on all levels - so that the passion and purpose they carry on the inside matches their bank account on the outside.


To connect to Simone and Your Choice Coach:

www.YourChoiceCoach.com

www.linkedin.com/in/simonesloan

https://yourchoicecoach.com

Twitter: @AimInspireGrow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourBusinessGreatness

YouTube: Your Business Greatness

Jul 12, 202132:52
Advocating for Diverse Abilities

Advocating for Diverse Abilities

In today´s episode of ‘Your Business Greatness’, host Simone Sloan the Executive Strategist, Founder and Leadership & Executive Coach at “Your Choice Coach”, speaks with guest Bice Del Gado, Founder and CEO of ASD Solutions, a Non-profit organization. The organization’s objective is to provide various resources for Career Development, Life Coaching Community Support and Advocacy for the Neuro-diverse population. Having a daughter with autism, she has a deep understanding of this journey and is driven to help others with the same situation.

Bice shares her work as an advocate and coach with neurodiverse populations. Neurodiverse applies to a community of people whose members are neurodivergent. The conditions of ADHD, Autism, Dyspraxia, and Dyslexia make up 'Neurodiversity'. Neurodiversity is a viewpoint that brain differences are normal, wired differently, rather than deficits.  The idea of neurodiversity can have benefits for people with learning and thinking differences. This concept can help reduce stigma around learning and thinking differences. Some individuals who support the use of neurotypical and neurodiverse believe that autism doesn't need a cure. They believe the differences it presents in people should be respected, not feared or belittled. Neuro-differences are recognised and appreciated as a social category on par with ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, or disability status.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Bice and Simone discuss the need and importance of embracing neuro-diversity by ensuring that the employers / organizations hire such population and make them part of the workforce.
  • Bice informs that when she refers to autism it actually covers a wide range of population with cognitive differences like ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, etc.
  • As per Bice, what’s needed is to be more inclusive in our approach towards creating an environment of appreciation & acceptance while looking at talent differences that each individual brings to the workforce in all aspects of the organization.

About Bice Del Gado:

She founded ASD Solutions Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose purpose is to provide comprehensive resources for career development, life coaching, community support, and advocacy. Having a daughter with autism/learning differences, she has a deep understanding of this journey and is driven to help others. She is now dedicated to educating and advocating for neurodiversity, which covers a wide range of cognitive differences such as ADHD, autism, Tourette’s, dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia. It’s a natural variation of human genetics. It’s not a disorder that needs to be cured; it is a difference in brain function that can be an asset with the right accommodation and support.

Connect to Bice Del Gado:

www.AsdSolutionsinc.org

Resources Mentioned:

https://conference-board.org/blog/postdetail.cfm?post=3676


To connect to Simone and Your Choice Coach:

www.YourChoiceCoach.com

www.linkedin.com/in/simonesloan

https://yourchoicecoach.com

Twitter: @AimInspireGrow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourBusinessGreatness

YouTube: Your Business Greatness

Jun 11, 202118:47
Re-imagine, Adapt, and Transform Your Business Growth

Re-imagine, Adapt, and Transform Your Business Growth

In this episode Brandon Starkoff, CEO of Transparent Partners, shares his experience working with companies to help them  transform their brands. Transparent Partners is an independent marketing technology and data consultancy.  Brandon is a 10 year cancer survivor who shares how that  experience has shaped his appreciation for his work, impact on people and his clients, and his ability to continue his work with the cancer community.

Words of wisdom:  Reality check your situation and remember the people in your life who support and champion you.

About Brandon Starkoff:

Brandon is constantly helping organizations re-imagine and adapt to support their customers. He is an experienced global leader responsible for building customized and transformative marketing solutions to generate growth for Fortune 1,000 companies.

A professional with strong expertise in strategy and digitally-driven capabilities, he developed and led activation of a new agency and brand operating vision and models to inspire new data-driven capabilities, cultivate top global talent and deliver against growth objectives. Over the course of his 21 year career, Brandon has formed trusted partnerships with c-suite executives to introduce and implement several new methods of marketing technology and data infrastructure design, integrated partnerships and measurement solutions to improve speed to market, product innovation and customer experiences leading to impact for his client businesses.

He also spends his time as a Board Member for the American Brain Tumor Association and supports his annual "Cater To The Cure" fundraiser for Brain Cancer research.  As a 10 year cancer survivor and fighter, Brandon is passionate in helping others stay motivated through their battle and ensures they have the resources they need to manage their care.


To connect to Bradon Starkoff and Transparent Partners

Twitter: @bstarkoff

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-starkoff-b624192/

Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/transparent-partners/mycompany/?viewAsMember=true

Company LinkedIn Handle: @Transparent.


To connect to Simone and Your Choice Coach:

www.YourChoiceCoach.com

www.linkedin.com/in/simonesloan

https://yourchoicecoach.com

Twitter: @AimInspireGrow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourBusinessGreatness

YouTube: Your Business Greatness

May 21, 202118:55
Create Inclusive Cultures that Increase Positive Employee Experience

Create Inclusive Cultures that Increase Positive Employee Experience

In today´s episode of Your Business Greatness, host Simone Sloan, Founder of Your Choice Coach, an executive strategy, leadership coaching, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) firm, speaks with guest Kelly Fuller, DEI Consultant at Your Choice Coach. Their discussion revolves around what diversity, equity, and inclusion look like during the age of COVID-19 and what it means to bring your full self to work.

When employees believe that their management cares about them as a person, there is more productivity, engagement, satisfaction, and fulfillment. Employers need to ensure intentionality aligns with impact, employee wellness and mental health are prioritized, and work flexibility is considered. Employers and employees need trust to work in a safe space. Managers have to be proactive and ask their employees how they are doing. They need to have questions ready and be prepared to feel uncomfortable with the responses. Most importantly, creating a safe environment where your employees feel they can share this type of information is crucial during this time.


Kelly’s words of wisdom: People-centered approaches lead to profits. For leaders, inclusiveness needs to be a top priority. Every aspect of the workforce is evolving; it's mission-critical for employers to remain competitive and ensure that diversity, equity and inclusion is deeply embedded into organizational culture.

Simone’s words of wisdom: Don’t micromanage. It’s about co-creation, communication, understanding, and how to build an effective workplace community.  Build curiosity and empathy in your company culture to allow employees to become more adaptable, resilient, and trust that you have their back.

About Kelly Fuller:

Kelly Fuller is a dynamic communications, sales, and analytics leader who is passionate about addressing inequity and driving adoption for change management in the workplace. As a Consultant for Your Choice Coach, an Executive Coaching and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) advisory firm, she develops people-centered strategies for clients that support a more inclusive mindset and organizational culture.

Prior to joining Your Choice Coach, Kelly was Senior Sales Director at Talkwalker, a global social listening and analytics company. During her tenure leading the healthcare vertical, she advised enterprise technology, pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies on leveraging data insights to support organizational growth drivers. She’s also held roles with PR agencies and software companies.

Kelly has a BA in Communications, Minor in Spanish from the University at Buffalo, and studied abroad at the Instituto Internacional in Madrid, Spain. She earned a Certificate from Cornell University for its Diversity and Inclusion Training program.

To connect to Kelly Fuller

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/kelly-fuller09

https://yourchoicecoach.com

To connect to Simone and Your Choice Coach:

www.linkedin.com/in/simonesloan

https://yourchoicecoach.com

Twitter: @AimInspireGrow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourBusinessGreatness

YouTube: Your Business Greatness

Resources Mentioned: McKinsey Study: Women in the Workplace 2020 

Apr 30, 202118:33
Inspiration, Intuition, & Curiosity

Inspiration, Intuition, & Curiosity

“It Takes a Long Time To Be On Time.”

Elise Krentzel's professional journey has never been scripted. She drums to her own beat. She is very determined and is driven to experience new ideas, new concepts, and different cultures. In this episode, Elise shares her journey, challenges, insights from her travels with the band KISS,  living in Japan and Europe, and her work in South Africa. She is inspired by people and continues to leverage intuition and curiosity as her secret sauce tools for success.

Words of wisdom: If you have an idea, do not throw it away. Do the research to turn the idea into a reality. Rattle naysayers!

About Elise Krentzel:

Chief Inspiration Officer, who describes herself as a Renaissance Ninja. Her focus is business growth strategy, identifying, pursuing and landing partnerships, executing against future goals to attract customers, investors, media, and key audiences. Elise supplies the HOW to concepts with just enough of an entrepreneurial spirit to stay ahead of the curve. Her pillars of engagement include: strategic marketing & planning, market channel Identification, and developing strategic partnerships

To connect to Elise Krentzel:

elise@krentzel.co

https://ekpublicrelations.com

www.linkedin.com/in/elisekrentzel

https://www.facebook.com/ekpublicrelations

https://www.instagram.com/elise_krentzel/?hl=e

https://twitter.com/elisekrentzel


To connect to Simone and Your Choice Coach:

www.YourChoiceCoach.com

www.linkedin.com/in/simonesloan

https://yourchoicecoach.com

Twitter: @AimInspireGrow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourBusinessGreatness

YouTube: Your Business Greatness


Apr 16, 202128:17
Stronger Together Through Collaboration and Partnership

Stronger Together Through Collaboration and Partnership

“Engage, Influence, Change”

In this episode, Diane Winston, CEO and Founder of Winston Strategic Partners and Simone Sloan, CEO of Your Choice Coach,  share their experiences of working together through  value alignment, partnership, and collaboration.  We share our mantras and how we operationalize them both professionally and personally.  We also share why it is important to collaborate to win business.

Words of wisdom:  Pay it forward, share your gifts, and listen actively.

About Diane Winston:

Diane Winston is a seasoned communications strategist with over 30 years of experience in corporate and consulting roles. She established her Winston Strategic Partners, LLC, in 2005, specializing in change management for organizations (Change Management), individuals (Executive Coaching and Leadership Development Training Seminars), and cultures (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion).

She is a Prosci-certified Change Management Practitioner and Diane recently completed her training as an Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator. She is a member of the Association of Change Management Professionals, the International Association of Business Communicators, Women in Public Policy, the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, and the New York Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

Diane demonstrates her commitment to her community on several fronts: She is a SCORE Workshop Speaker and Business Mentor for prospective and new business owners; a member of the National Black MBA Association for which she founded her local chapter’s Leaders of Tomorrow® Mentoring Program for high school students and served as a mentor for nine years; an Adult Sunday School facilitator at Harvest Time International Church, in Greenwich, Connecticut; and until recently, Diane served on the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Lottery Corporation and the Small Business Council for the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce.

She has an MBA from the University of Chicago, a BA from New York University. She is a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 1000 Small Businesses Program and the Executive Education Program at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

To connect to Simone and Your Choice Coach:

www.YourChoiceCoach.com

www.linkedin.com/in/simonesloan

https://yourchoicecoach.com

Twitter: @AimInspireGrow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourBusinessGreatness

YouTube: Your Business Greatness

Apr 08, 202121:08
Reframe Your Self-Care to Be Young, Strong, & Sexy

Reframe Your Self-Care to Be Young, Strong, & Sexy

“Find your recipe for success.”

Renata transitioned from the media to the health industry. As a first time entrepreneur she realized that you cannot wing your plan. She found and developed her tribe that helped her build her business success. Her aha moment in business came when she leveraged and owned her age, the good and bad.  Keep your mind fresh, keep your body moving, and believe in your dream.

Words of wisdom:  Regardless of your age, never stop learning!

About Renata Joy:

Renata Joy is a Lifestyle and wellness expert, and the founder of Pure Joy Wellness—a community-based lifestyle brand that helps women over 50 improve their lives through fitness, nutrition, and self-care. A former Emmy-nominated television producer, Renata started Pure Joy Wellness to teach women the importance of taking care of themselves, and to show them how to regain their health and revitalize their bodies and spirits. She’s on a mission to change the conversation around aging, and to give women who have been left behind a voice. At 64, Renata is living proof that you can be confident and healthy at any age.

To connect to Renta Joy and Pure Joy Wellness

IG:  @purejoywellness

FB:  www.facebook.com/PureJoyWellness

FB Group:  www.facebook.com/groups/purejoywellnessgroup

Twitter: @purejoywellness

Linkedin:  www.linkedin.com/in/renatajoy

Website:  www.purejoywellness.com

Pinterest:  www.pinterest.com/purejoywellness


To connect to Simone and Your Choice Coach:

www.YourChoiceCoach.com

www.linkedin.com/in/simonesloan

https://yourchoicecoach.com

Twitter: @AimInspireGrow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourBusinessGreatness

YouTube: Your Business Greatness

Mar 20, 202130:51
RPA, A Revolution in Business Process Automation

RPA, A Revolution in Business Process Automation

“I build companies.”

As more business leaders turn to robotic process automation (RPA) to eliminate tedious tasks,  they are realizing the benefit of having their corporate teams focus on higher value work. RPA requires proper design, planning and governance. Companies need to think strategically about their business, processes, and people before RPA adoption. It is a change management transformation.

In this episode, Tommy Simon shares his work with RPA. He shares wins companies have had when adopting this new technology, as well as the pros and cons to considering RPA.

Words of wisdom: companies need to adopt technology as part of their business strategy, people need to prepare themselves to be effective to navigate the future of technology, and countries need to invest in order to compete globally in the years to come.

About Tommy Simon:

Tommy Simon enjoys advocating with integrity, intelligence, creativity, and passion for his clients, employees and investors. He builds successful growing organizations that are profitable and socially responsible. He helps early stage companies grow through sales planning, guidance, and execution excellence. One of his passions is to provide business opportunities to results-oriented, passionate, driven individuals so they can thrive personally and professionally.

To connect to Tommy Simon:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommy-simon/

To connect to Simone and Your Choice Coach:

www.YourChoiceCoach.com

www.linkedin.com/in/simonesloan

https://yourchoicecoach.com

Twitter: @AimInspireGrow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourBusinessGreatness

YouTube: Your Business Greatness

Feb 19, 202130:44
Finding Your Joy

Finding Your Joy

Starting over is never easy. It takes preparation,  planning and time.  In this episode, Jennifer Dawn shares her journey from entrepreneur to corporate and back to an entrepreneur. She shares her challenges working in a toxic work environment.  From this toxic place, she begins to  emerge when she is asked to join a women’s empowerment group. The group helps her to start rebuilding her confidence, courage, and changes the course of her life.  Today, her passion is helping people find their joy.  She shares how she is able to “let it go and get into the flow of life.”

Words of wisdom: Ask people if they are OK.

About Jennifer Dawn:

Jennifer Dawn is a Whole-Life Business Coach, founder of Best Planner Ever and Best Journal Ever, and author of The Joy Guide: Finding Your Joy In A World of Crap. She began her entrepreneurial career selling apples off her grandfather’s tree because a lemonade stand was so “yesterday”. She’s a serial entrepreneur who has grown several multi-million dollar businesses, is a successful speaker, and author. She helps motivated entrepreneurs master their goals, achieve a mindset for success, and build remarkable businesses and lives through whole-life productivity and coaching.

To connect to Jennifer Dawn: JenniferDawnCoaching.com and BestPlannerEver.com

Facebook: @ JenniferDawn

Pinterest: @JenniferDawn8

LinkedIn: @JenniferDawn

YouTube: @JenniferDawn

To connect to Simone and Your Choice Coach:

www.YourChoiceCoach.com

www.linkedin.com/in/simonesloan

https://yourchoicecoach.com

Twitter: @AimInspireGrow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourBusinessGreatness

YouTube: Your Business Greatness

Feb 05, 202122:00
Catalyst for Change by Introducing Freight Drones to the World

Catalyst for Change by Introducing Freight Drones to the World

Jan 22, 202123:24
Reset, Reframe, & Retool Yourself to Improve Your Business
Jan 08, 202120:23
 Ideas Worth Spreading & Acceptance
Dec 18, 202016:53
Become Your Own Boss
Dec 11, 202029:22
Momentum Makers Who Tell Compelling and Authentic Client Stories
Nov 13, 202031:34
Business Structures that Make a Partnership Go Right
Nov 06, 202026:06
How to Use Your Determination and Resiliency to Drive Your Success
Oct 30, 202048:02
Leveraging a Passion for People to Bolster a Dynamic Career
Oct 23, 202024:57
 Creating Multiple Business Revenue Streams with Adrian Miller
Oct 16, 202041:52
Clarion Call Leading from the Heart with Selina Maitreya
Oct 06, 202043:10
Accidental Entrepreneur Builds a Sustainable Business
Sep 25, 202035:25
Navigating the Transition from Remote Working to ?????
Aug 21, 202028:10
How to Define Your Energy

How to Define Your Energy

Energy is contagious either you affect people of you infect people.

“Everything is energy.” This an ancient wisdom which the science of Quantum Physics is now offering conclusive evidence. The concept of energy is truly profound and yet perplexing.  Your energy impacts how you show up as a human being and the experience people have with you. Changes in your energy can affect your life and decisions that you make.

Our guest Miia Viita, helps us to gain a better understanding of energy explains how energy impacts our daily lives, and provides tips on how to change your energy

About Our Guest: Miia Viita

Transformation Mentor and Energy Intuitive. She helps executives, entrepreneurs, and professionals to attain positive shifts in their personal life and business by guiding them to transform from the inside out. Originally from Finland, Miia started her career in the Wellness sector. She switched to the corporate world after receiving her Master’s degree, and worked in expert and executive roles for over 15 years in the Finance and Executive Education sectors. Subsequent crisis in her life pushed Miia on a path of personal transformation, which later led her to start helping other people with their problems and emotional distress.

Aug 14, 202029:11
The Power of You and Your Purpose

The Power of You and Your Purpose

Discover your why behind everything that you do!

Your purpose is unique to YOU and YOUR journey. Therefore, no one can define your purpose for you.

Have you ever wondered What is the why behind everything you do?  Taking the time to reflect so that you can identify who you are and discover the real you, are extremely critical.  Authenticity to ourselves and living in alignment with ourselves can be challenging and rewarding at the same time.

Everything happens for a reason. There are no coincidences. The question is what does it mean for you ? Nazli Yenis takes us through a journey that explores “The Power of Purpose” and how it creates change and impacts  our lives.


About Our Guest: Nazli Yenis

Founder of  “Blink Minds,” where she brings her audience the power of positivity, passion, and purpose for moving toward one’s dreams. She completed her post-baccalaureate in Finance at Columbia University and MS in HR Management , Organizational Effectiveness at NYU. She loves spending time on the beach, creating new things, and making connections. With a long time, passion for self-development to grow and thrive. 


Aug 07, 202021:52
Discovering the World While Building Brands
Jul 31, 202030:51
The 5C’s of Radical Resiliency During Really Challenging Times

The 5C’s of Radical Resiliency During Really Challenging Times

Whatever changes are in your line of vision, or no matter the roadblocks in the past, each day you have the opportunity to think and act in ways that move you towards change, progress, and excellence.

The key that unlocks the door is resiliency; the ability to bounce back, reboot, increase your self-confidence, and develop skill sets that fuel your success in your personal and professional life. So, rather than merely getting by and going through challenging times, you can grow through them!

In this upbeat, insightful and interactive talk, Lois. Barth, Human Development Expert, take us  through the 5C Model of Radical Resiliency. She helps us to  grow our confidence, competence and feel more connected when dealing with change or challenging situations.

www.YourChoiceCoach.com

Contact Lois Barth: lois@loisbarth.com


Jul 24, 202027:29
How to Value People and Creativity During Uncertainty
Jun 16, 202032:21
Pricing Your Product and Services for a Profit (WEBCAST)

Pricing Your Product and Services for a Profit (WEBCAST)

 Pricing is both an art and a science.  Your price helps to position your business in the market place and sets the tone for your brand.

For many business owners, pricing is an enigma. The only frame of reference they have is what their competitors are doing. Unfortunately, their competitors are not any more knowledgeable.

Dale Furtwengler (dale@furtwengler.com) shares his experience on how to:

  • Debunk common myths that exist about pricing
  • Identify your ideal customer
  • Detemine an approach to help you gain a better understanding of what your customers value
  • Provide strategies to help you position and align your customers' value to your product/service offerings


To learn more about our host, Simone Sloan, please like and follow on the links below.

www.YourChoiceCoach.com

Facebook: Simone.Sloan.526

LinkedIn: Simone Sloan

Twitter: @AimInspireGrow



Jun 09, 202029:25
Discovering Your Superpower with Dr. Serena Goldstein
Jun 02, 202031:36
Create an Inclusive Culture in a VUCA World
May 26, 202029:55