Today's Business Leaders With Gabe Arnold

Donnie Boivin spent 20 years in sales, and an offhand comment made him realize it was time for a change. It turns out he was not at all prepared for that change, but he figured out what worked and continued to learn and is now running a successful coaching business and is at the helm of a top podcast. Donnie visits Today’s Business Leaders to share his story, lots of actionable advice and his plans to launch a new podcast.Being His Own BossDonnie worked in sales, and he was good at it, but he realized he worked his entire career enabling someone else to retire. This pushed Donnie to become an entrepreneur, and one of the first things he learned on this journey was that everything he thought he knew about being an entrepreneur was wrong.“When I made the jump, I kept trying to create a job for myself versus a business,” explains Donnie. He was always an employee and reporting to someone else, so while he had leadership skills, it was still an adjustment to being his own boss. At a certain point, Donnie was all

Gabe’s long-time mentor Brian Kurtz visits Today’s Business Leaders to share his take on competition and collaboration, why it is important to deserve the money you earn and more actionable advice. Brian started out as a list manager working in the direct mailing industry. Today, Brian continues to put the lessons he learned earlier in his career to good use.The Value of 100-0Brian realized that while he was good at what he did, and he was finding success, there were probably other list managers out there who knew different things and were also good at their jobs. He knew that if he could connect with these people, it would be possible to share ideas and collaborate so everyone could learn and incorporate some of this knowledge into how they worked going forward. This notion of collaborating instead of competing has defined how Brian works.“It’s amazing how the people who think they’ve got it all and think they got it dialed in and they better not share it with anybody are generally the ones that don’t last,”

After eight years of finding success as an entrepreneur, things took a turn for Mary Cravets in 2018. For the first time, her income went down. The amount wasn’t staggering, but Mary found it shocking to be so far along and still hit this hurdle. Mary shares her experience, as well as the lessons learned and lots more actionable advice during her return visit to Today’s Business Leaders.The Value of MomentumMary was convinced she had to invest in a specific strategy to grow her business. She never had time to implement this plan, so she hired someone to help, and the end result was a complete disaster. The strategy didn’t work, and while Mary was able to recoup some of her investment, her momentum took a major hit. “There was all of this loss of momentum because I was not doing the things that did work and that had worked,” explains Mary.Trusting Your InstinctsMary now understands that the warning signs were there when she embarked on her unsuccessful endeavor, but she didn't pay attention. “When you hir

Tim Petrey is a serial entrepreneur who not only built his own successful business but also helps fellow entrepreneurs do the same. As a CPA, Tim understands the importance of managing the details, and he also knows that there is value in doing what you know how to do and understanding when to outsource certain tasks. During this episode of Today’s Business Leaders, Tim shares this knowledge, along with more actionable advice.Finding BalanceTim was fortunate to find a mentor in his first boss, Harold. Through this mentorship, Tim learned the importance of hard work and finding balance in his life. Tim and Harold even went on to become business partners, and 10 years later the business is going strong and continues to grow each year. This growth is due largely to the talented team Tim has assembled and the culture they have built.“What we’re doing isn’t just about [growing each year],” Tim explains. “What we’re doing is about trying to create an environment that people want to work in. They want to work here,

David Wolf makes a return visit to Today’s Business Leaders to share the direction he is taking his business since he last appeared on the show, how to effectively build a podcast audience, why he decided to give back and more.Playing with EmotionsDavid has long helmed a successful podcast, and he helps others do the same with his business, Podcast & Radio. When building an audience, David explains everything basically comes down to love and hate. Playing on cheap emotions, like fear and hate will trigger people and garner attention. However, this is not an effective long-term plan. Constantly barraging your listeners with fear will burn them out. “How we make people feel,” David explains, “is ultimately more important than what we know and what we do for them.” Bringing people into your environment and sharing the emotional side of the spectrum provides value and converts sales.Conscious CapitalismAfter listening to Howard Shultz speak, David was inspired to give back. He donates about 10 percent of the

Marisa Cali is back to share more actionable advice based on her own experience as an entrepreneur for this installment of Today’s Business Leaders. Find out how her New Year’s resolution turned into a social media marketing windfall and what micro-influencers can do for your business.Evolution of the Fancy Mini NewsletterMarisa is a social media strategist and owner of All the Social. This past New Year’s Day, she found herself contemplating how to create true evergreen content. She puts out lots of content, but she wanted to share something different than just a blog post. Marisa also wanted something that would last and be relevant for a longer period of time.This led to the creation of what Marisa has dubbed the fancy mini newsletter. Marisa uses InDesign to create client proposals, and she’s found a lot of success with this presentation. She decided to take this concept and create something visually appealing and informative that could be shared with her followers. What resulted was essentially a newslet

After years of working as a freelance designer and brander, James Gaffney decided it was time to start his own business. While this was a major decision, it was minor compared to the change James later decided to introduce into his life. James recently took the time to talk with Gabe about his entrepreneurial experiences, the value of resetting his life, branding versus a brand, and more.Becoming an EntrepreneurJames admits that while working as a freelancer was liberating and freeing in many regards, it ultimately held him back. He started thinking about what he wanted to achieve in his life and what his legacy would look like, and he decided it was time to establish his business, Blue Dozen Design. “This is my legacy,” James explains. “What I am building is what I will leave behind. I didn’t want the thing that I leave behind to be lame and boring, and like everything that else everyone is leaving behind. I wanted it to be authentic and a little bit crazy at times, but that’s me.”Life ResetAfter realizing h

Jaime Jay returns to Today’s Business Leaders to talk about how things have changed in the past year, what he would do differently if he had it all to do over again, how Gabe’s influence has impacted his business and what the future holds.Maintaining FocusThese days Jaime is fully focusing on his business, Bottleneck Virtual Assistants. Last time he visited the show, Jaime was in transition. He was in the process of letting go of one business in order to go full in on his new company, Bottleneck Virtual Assistants. While Jaime felt this was the right decision, it was still frightening to let go of the financial security that his initial business offered.Fine-Tuning the ProcessAs he has set up his new business, Jaime has learned firsthand that getting the right processes in place makes the day-to-day operations so much easier. “Implementing all of these different things and getting the company set up correctly is a big deal. I’ve had plenty of time to fail and fall flat on my face and say sure, let’s just do t

Daniel Daines-Hutt essentially became an entrepreneur because he didn’t want to move. This turned out to be a wise and profitable decision as Daniel explains in this episode of Today’s Business Leaders. From designing t-shirts to mastering content creation strategies, Daniel has had an educational and unexpected journey.Finding His WayDaniel is from England but ended up spending a working holiday in New Zealand. He wanted to stay in New Zealand, but due to visa issues, he was going to have to leave. When he discovered that he could stay on if he became an entrepreneur, Daniel formulated a plan.Daniel’s first business was designing and selling t-shirts. His online marketing efforts proved highly effective, and the business grew to the point that Daniel and his partner were having trouble keeping up.Finding a Better WayPeople began to notice just how effective Daniel’s marketing strategies were, so requests for help poured in. Daniel took this opportunity to change things up. He sold the t-shirt business and be

Ben Matteucci is back to share more actionable advice that can help you navigate both business and personal relationships. From his days working door-to-door sales, up through running his own business, Ben learned the value of reading body language. Ben and Gabe share what they’ve both learned along the way to help make sense of people’s actions and behaviors and how this knowledge can help grow your business.Learning on the GoBen was first introduced to the concept of body language while working in sales. He was required to read about interpreting body language in order to better communicate with prospective clients. Figuring how what signals people were giving, from their tone and how they positioned themselves and so on, in addition to what they were actually saying, gave Ben insight into what they really meant.Getting Through SmokescreensBen used what he learned about interpreting body language to quickly tailor his strategy to fit each individual’s needs and perspective and help close sales. Based on the

Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs in the relatively small community of the U.S. Virgin Islands taught Pia Larson how to sell products and services from a young age. “I knew that I could control my destiny and make as much money as I wanted from as far back as I could remember,” explains Pia. That still holds true today, as Pia is now Chief Imagination Officer of Fingerprint Marketing. Find out how Pia’s childhood ambitions led to a corporate career that eventually brought her back to her entrepreneurial roots in this installment of Today’s Business Leaders.Finding Her WayPia worked in corporate jobs for 15 years and just couldn’t stand it. She wasn’t afforded the opportunity to be creative and innovative in her work, and it wore on her. After being laid off, Pia fully intended to get another corporate gig but ended up doing work for some of her old clients. This eye-opening experience taught Pia about the value of trust. Pia learned on the fly and taught herself everything from graphic design to social

Pam Savino is the founder and owner of Live Authentically, a life-coaching business. She always knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur, but she wasn't sure what direction to go until she learned how to harness the power of her thoughts and follow her purpose.Learning How to Navigate SituationsPam has always been spiritual, and always felt a pull to help others. Her journey has been a natural progression, but she didn’t always realize that at the time. Today, Pam is using her gift and honing her skills to help others learn how to deal with whatever unique circumstances they face to live their best lives.“The reality is that we have the power, we have the mindset to control this and to navigate this any way we want to, so we can make the choice,” explains Pam. “Do we want to subscribe to societal norms? Or do we want to consciously set the mindset that I can create this to work anyway I want it to.”Finding Your New RealityPam has learned to live in an energetic state, maintain an open mind and look for the

Landon Porter, the self-proclaimed sales gorilla, is back to share more actionable advice on Today’s Business Leaders. Learn more about why Landon walked away from a very profitable sales career to do things his way and how he is helping other entrepreneurs take charge and learn how to make decisions based on value.Working with the Right PeopleLandon literally woke up one day and realized it was time for a change. The first thing he wanted to change was the group of people he chose to be around. “If I don’t like the people that I’m spending my time with, obviously that’s going to affect the rest of my life,” Landon explains.“Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. A lot of people don’t agree with that, and that’s fine. If you’re one of those people who think take the money and deal with the headache and whatever, hey whatever floats your boat,” Landon goes on to say. “I’m not here to change your mind. I’m just here to say, if you don’t like what you have to deal with after you close somebo

As a teenager, Scott Lucas knew he wanted to do his own thing. He saw his single-mother struggle, so he decided to help himself. He knew he could do things on his own, be a leader and be self-sufficient. This understanding and mindset has led him to continue to do his own thing as an adult and Scott now runs his own business: Scott Lucas Strategies.The Value of HonestyScott thinks honesty is a fundamental aspect of business and sales. “I wish people would be more honest as an entrepreneur. Tell them straight up. It’s really easy to sell the sexiness and the hype. When you sell that you kind of lie to [clients],” Scott explains. Being upfront and honest is a more effective sales strategy that leads to satisfied customers and can help lay the foundation of a strong and viable business.Work Smarter, Not HarderScott explains that being an entrepreneur is rewarding if you are smart about how you do things. There is value to hard work, but hard work doesn’t always lead to success. Working smart will lead to success

Dave Woodward has always felt like he was an entrepreneur. However, he wasn’t always on that course, and at one point he was slated to attend medical school. Dave felt that he didn’t fit the mold of what his parents wanted for him. Luckily for Dave, his family and entrepreneurs everywhere, Dave bailed on medical school the week before he was supposed to start, followed his instinct and did things his way.Being His Own BossDave didn’t know what he wanted to do, but he knew he wanted to have a family and he wanted to be able to spend as much time with them as possible. “I started off actually in the insurance business; employee benefits and things in that area. That’s kind of where I first got my start in terms of being my own boss. I never looked back, and I’ve really never had a job. At this point, I’m probably completely unemployable. Nobody would hire me,” Dave explains. Today, Dave is a partner and the Chief Business Development Officer of Click Funnels. Side Hustles and the American DreamThrough his work

Brad Milford didn’t always know what he was looking for, but he gained total clarity when he eventually found it. As the founder of Build Brilliance LLC, Brad uses his experience to meet clients on their level and help them achieve their goals. Brad took time out of his busy schedule to talk with Gabe about his journey, how he found what he was looking for and how he helps other entrepreneurs find their version of success.Early YearsBrad fostered entrepreneurial tendencies as a child. He collected bottles, delivered newspapers and held various other jobs before launching his own landscaping business, which he later sold. Brad didn’t yet understand it, but he was looking for something. This desire to find something he didn’t yet understand caused him to join the Navy and pursue his dream to travel. While in the Navy, Brad learned a lot and had some great experiences. He also had his fair share of frightening experiences, but when he left after serving six years, he was ready for the next chapter in his adventu

While in grade school, Wally Carmichael realized he was an entrepreneur. Even while he was in the military, he still found ways to put his entrepreneurial tendencies to work. After Wally realized he was, in fact, living his dream, he decided to work on a book which led him on a journey of abundance. Wally recently spoke Gabe on Today’s Business Leaders.Finding a Better WayWally grew up near Phoenix, and while he had wonderful parents, life was always a bit of a struggle. His uncle suggested that he join the military, and it took some time for Wally to come around to this idea, but it ended up completely changing the course of his life. The military gave Wally structure, leadership and mentorship. These are all skills Wally continues to use to this day. After 25 years in the military, Wally left and officially started his career as an entrepreneur. As Wally explains, “It’s been a crazy, crazy life. It’s been a lot of fun. I’ve learned a lot. I messed up a lot. I failed a lot, and I think that’s why I’m where I

Terry Ogburn started his company to help small businesses take over and grow into being the backbone of the country. Terry has had a vast career and has gained tons of actionable advice along the way. During his first appearance on Today’s Business Leaders, Terry covered how he got to the point of opening his consulting business. In this episode, he delves into how he helps small business owners and entrepreneurs.The Value of SystemsTerry uses metrics and a variety of other indicators to help his clients grow their businesses, and for good reason. Terry believes small business owners are the future. “I started my company helping small businesses, small entrepreneurs and little companies because I believe these are the people that are going to turn this country around. They have always been the backbone of our country. I think we got pushed away a little bit, and now it’s time to come back together and really take over like we should,” explains Terry.How to Harness a PerformaBookkeeping is important for busine

Brian Basilico started to hone his entrepreneurial tendencies when he was young, and many career changes and technology evolutions later, he is still going strong. His business, B2B Interactive Marketing, is celebrating 17 years as a company. Brian recently took the time to chat with Gabe about his journey, why it is important to know your space, the foundation of his system, and more actionable advice.Doing Things His WayWorking for others never really worked out, so Brian started his own marketing company in 2001. Through this business, Brian helps companies set up their online strategy to convert sales. “People talk about how to make a million dollars with Facebook ads, how to make a million dollars on Instagram, how to make a million dollars here. It’s not that hard. It’s like wherever your audience is hanging out, just talk to them,” Brian explains.All About PrinciplesAs an entrepreneur, Brian had to learn how to do everything. Learning these basic business principles from accounting to marketing practic

Kyle Lipton has enjoyed an awesome journey, but there’s still more to come for this up-and-coming entrepreneur. He started by handing out discount tickets to get into clubs, and now he’s coaching business leaders and helping people overcome their fears in order to find success. Learning on the Go Kyle dropped out of college for a great job opportunity and transitioned from one job to another. Along the way, he learned about business and entrepreneurism. A podcast interview series that never launched led to a job as an assistant, and from there Kyle stumbled into coaching. Finding What is Possible and Real The first time Kyle ended up coaching, he immediately felt a moment of emptiness. While feeling empty usually has negative connotations, in this instance, it was different, and Kyle felt positive and powerful. “When I say emptiness, I say more it’s a feeling of, ‘I gave everything that was in my tank.’ Whatever was inside of me that I wanted to express, is out,” explains Kyle. He soon realized that coaching