Charge Podcast

As the founder of more than a dozen companies, over three decades of entrepreneurial experience, and with 10+ years coaching businesses, Gary Wilbers is an expert businessman. His primary focus is on helping small business owners achieve success and balance in business and in life through his own peer advisory groups. Gary is a founder, speaker, author, trainer, and coach. His profound familiarity with the daily challenges that small business owners face has instilled in him the belief that everyone is able to reach their full potential. This mantra led him to establish The Ascend Mastermind, a peer advisory group, where small business owners can connect with like-minded individuals, share their struggles and hold each other accountable in order to achieve growth and freedom in their lives. Gary is also an accomplished author, with several best-sellers, including "The High Achiever Leadership Formula," "21 Ways to Attract, Retain & Engage Millennials," "Positive Culture Wins," and "Cultivate Positive Cult

Andy Hite is a recognized leadership coach who supports  .entrepreneurs, executives, and their teams as they navigate the world of building businesses and lives filled with prosperity, meaning, & freedom What business problem do you solve? In today’s episode, Andy delves into the often overlooked factor in business challenges: the owner or leadership team. Small Business Answer Man Shownotes: Andy emphasizes that the key to overcoming business challenges lies within the leadership team and that the success or failure of a business is profoundly influenced by effective leadership. He stresses the importance of business owners being hungry for growth and continually recognizing untapped potential. He highlights the significance of a proactive mindset in fostering business development. Andy defines success as a combination of psychology and skill, emphasizing the need for a broader perspective. He talks about the analogy of an archer needing a clear bullseye, correlating it to the importance of goals in pro

Ramon Ray is publisher of ZoneofGenius.com and brand strategist at CelebrityCEO.com - he's an in-demand motivational speaker, best-selling author, and serial entrepreneur. He's started 5 companies and has sold 3 of them. What problem do you solve? In today’s episode, Ramon will help us solve problems regarding the need for more attention and its impact on sales and trust for small business owners.  Show Notes: Ramon introduces the concept of being a “celebrity CEO,” emphasizing the importance of personal branding. He suggests that business owners should put themselves out there, become a recognizable face in their industry, and leverage their personal brand to gain trust and attract more customers.  Ramon stresses the importance of attention in building trust and making sales. In a crowded marketplace, getting noticed and standing out can be a critical factor for success.  Ramon highlights the value of podcasts as a medium for gaining visibility and showcasing expertise. This is a valuable tool for small bus

Danielle Hayden is a reformed corporate CFO (chief financial officer) who is on a mission to help rule-breaking female entrepreneurs understand their numbers so they can gain the confidence needed to create sustainable profits. After spending 10+ years in the boardroom as a corporate finance officer, Danielle is now in her sweet spot as the CEO of Kickstart Accounting, Inc. where she helps business owners with bookkeeping, financial analysis, and education. She is the author of the Profit Planner book series. When Danielle isn't in her money mindset you can find her hiking or spending time with her family. What problem do you solve?  In this episode, Danielle Hayden, the CEO of Kickstart Accounting Inc.  With a mission to help entrepreneurs understand the importance of numbers for sustainable profits. Show Notes: The number one tip Danielle shared was about the significance of using numbers to manage a business throughout the year. She emphasized the importance of maintaining proper bookkeeping from day one.

William Vanderbloemen is the CEO and Founder of the top executive search firm Vanderbloemen Search Group and author of Be the Unicorn: 12 Data-Driven Habits that Separate the Best Leaders from the Rest (HarperCollins Leadership, November 14, 2023). William Vanderbloemen is known for his expertise in executive search and leadership consulting, he has authored books and spoken at conferences on topics related to leadership, team building, and organizational culture. He is widely recognized for his insights into leadership and organizational development. What problem do you solve?  In this episode, William Vanderbloemen provides insights into the challenge of standing out in today’s crowded business world and amidst the constant social buzz. Show Notes: He talks about the key concepts and traits highlighted in his book, “Be the Unicorn: 12 Data-Driven Habits that Separate the Best Leaders from the Rest.” These include: The book introduces twelve practical and rarely practiced behavioral habits that set in

Trevor Rosenthal is passionate about personal growth and learning new things. He recently completed a Crossover Into Business program at Harvard Business School, where he gained insights and skills on how to leverage his sports background in other domains. He is also a board member of the Baseball Assistance Team, a nonprofit organization that provides financial and medical assistance to former baseball players and their families. Trevor's mission is to make a positive impact not only on the baseball field but also in his sphere of influence. He is always looking for new opportunities to share his stories of overcoming adversity, building self-confidence, and the role sports have played in shaping him into the person he is today. What problem do you solve?  Today, Trevor will help us overcome difficulties in a world full of distractions, both positive and negative. Show Notes: Trevor begins with talking about his unique perspective as a professional athlete and his journey into business by sharing in

Cam Hall is a husband, father, educational leader, and entrepreneur. Cam believes that all Men are called to live Fit, Healthy, and Fulfilled lives, and that every man can make a positive impact on those around him. He is founder of the Fight the Dad Bod coaching program, host of the Dads Making A Difference Podcast, and Leader of The DMD Mastermind. What problem do you solve?  Cam is going to solve effectiveness. He is going to help you be more effective by optimizing your health. Controlling your health will allow you to control your time and money. You will become effective and efficient in all you do. Show Notes: Cam thinks business owners neglect their health because they don’t prioritize it. They aren’t being lazy but they might drift with all the activities that are happening in their lives.  The 4th quarter is the best time to prepare yourself for success in the new year. To prioritize our health we have to change or shift our mindset. Changing our health will optimize our business. We will be more e

Miriam Schulman is an artist and founder of The Inspiration Place, where she helps other artists learn how to profit from their passion or become better artists. She’s helped thousands of artists around the world develop their skill sets and create more time and freedom to do what they love. What problem do you solve?  Miriam is going to talk with us about pricing. Show Notes: Miriam believes email marketing is better than social media marketing. Instagram engagement was 1% several years ago and now it has dropped to 0.6%. The engagement rate of influencers is 1.2% Open rate on email averages 24%. This means you have to have 4000 people on Instagram compared to 100 on email. Romance your buyers. Don’t just hand out your business cards. You need to gather their contact information and then stay in touch. When someone asks for your card, it is your opportunity to ask for their contact information to send them your freebie or lead magnet. Prestige pricing vs. charm pricing. Prestige pricing is usually used more

John Briggs is the founder of Incite Tax. His theme is, “The IRS Sucks”, and business owners should keep more of their money to build long-term wealth. John is a man on a mission to give entrepreneurs an actual work-life balance so they don’t get burned out. He helps them increase their cash immediately so they can have confidence in their choices and become financially resilient. What problem do you solve?  Today John will give us expert advice on cash flow management problems and he will share tax strategies. Show Notes: Cash flow is the lifeblood of our business. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the emergencies and urgencies of day-to-day business that we forget to address cash flow. One mistake is assuming that the IRS is right. While they have a lot of authority, the employees there may not be competent. Parkinson’s law for cash flow would say that we will expand to spend all the cash available. We need to be careful not to fall into this trap. John recommends using the Profit First method. (See Gar

Kurt Uhlir is known for being at the front lines for creating several of the marketing channels we all use today, including social media management, influencer marketing, and location-based marketing. In addition to his experience building and/or operating dozens of companies, he has advised hundreds more. The unique experience of being inside hundreds of high-growth companies with the opportunity to analyze, scale, make changes of leadership, and advisement has labeled him “the king of scaling businesses”.   What problem do you solve?  Kurt will help us think about how to scale operations specifically around marketing and sales. Show Notes: Batching, scheduling and automation of marketing is crucial. Keep engaged with past customers. Start the conversation with your potential customers before they are ready to buy. Send follow-up messages to your customers. If you think about all the messages at once and what the best timing is, you will have better content. Marketing thrives more on influence than authorit

RICHARD A. MORAN is a Silicon Valley-based business leader, workplace pundit, bestselling author, venture capitalist, former CEO and college president. He is best known for his series of humorous business books beginning with the bestselling, Never Confuse a Memo with Reality, and is credited with starting the genre of “Business Bullet Books.” His body of work includes 10 books about using commonsense in business. He is the host of the CBS syndicated radio program, “In the Workplace.” Rich has appeared on CNN, NPR, and most major media outlets. What problem do you solve?  Richard will help business owners solve the problem of decision making and simplify it. Show Notes: Richard’s message is to stop saying the word “Whatever” because you come across as a slacker. You also are not making a decision and every decision matters even the small ones. When you are faced with a decision – make it. Research shows that the decision you would make in the first few minutes is usually also the decision you would make 2 we

Josh Fonger is a consultant, coach, and speaker who is recognized as the leading authority in Business Performance Architecture and CEO of WTS Enterprises. He helped hundreds of businesses grow simply using the WTS Method, from working “in” their businesses to working “on” their businesses. What problem do you solve?  Help ambitious business owner break free of the day-to-day and working their tails off by working on systems and processes. Show Notes: Yoyo business is where a business grows and then they hit a plateau and then just kind of go up and down. The business is often their own deterrent to growth. This comes from a continuous back and forth shift from sales to customer service. Working on systems and processes can help alleviate the yoyo situation. It’s important for business owners to realize their business is a separate entity from themselves. That allows them to look at their business more objectively. Concentrate on doing the important, not urgent thing. Create the system. It makes your busines

Lisa is the CEO of SMITH Co., a sales consulting firm focused on modern midsize B2B businesses. She understands her client’s challenges because she’s been there as a “COVIDpreneur”. Despite the turbulent economic landscape, she reached six figures in her first year of business. What problem do you solve?  Businesses often want to off set sales and she will help with the question of when to hire outside sales and what to pay them. Show Notes: The right time to think about adding a sales person is when things slow down, when you just can’t keep up or when your referrals dry up. You need to know what your sales cycle looks like. You need to arm them with as much information and processes as possible. What is your Unique Selling Proposition. You do not want to hire someone without the tools. Else, you are hiring them to create the process and organization for you. Be sure you are doing the things necessary to keep your current customers happy. 80% of revenue with B2Bs is from their current customer base. The low

Mickie Kennedy is the Founder and President of eReleases, the small business leader for press release distribution, now celebrating 24 years in business. He is an expert at helping small businesses increase their visibility and credibility and he’s here today to share some valuable insights. What problem do you solve?  How to build a strategic PR campaign using press releases and building one that’s effective and will succeed. Show Notes: Mickie started with PR releases in the telecommunications world and slowly built his database. A press release is written in third person. It is great to include a company quote. You provide data and facts and then the hook of what you are offering. You hope that it turns into original content. When a journalist covers your company in an article, it makes you an expert in that field. Press releases can distinguish your company in the marketplace. When putting a press release together, make sure to include all the elements of a good story. Being authentic can be helpful. Inc

After growing up in Houston, Jesse Rubenfeld began his career in New York City at the Lime Group of companies doing the books for a variety of companies, gaining experience with non-profit, software industry, hedge fund, and management company accounting. After serving as LimeWire’s CFO for his last four years there, he joined the D. E. Shaw Group as the controller of the research division that builds supercomputers to revolutionize drug discovery. From the beginning, Jesse’s interest in technology led him to automate financial operations, first with spreadsheets, then Perl, and most recently Python. He founded FinOptimal to help QuickBooks Online-based businesses streamline their financial operations, optimizing  value-per-dollar with an outsourced accounting service heavily focused on automation. Jesse has bachelor’s degrees from UPENN and Wharton, and an MBA from Columbia, and he lives in Houston with his wife and four children. What problem do you solve?  Keep your books on accrual basis as quickly and ch

Mastering the Art of Business Success – Register HERE Ron Story Jr. was born and raised in East St. Louis, IL.  He started his first business as a kid, collecting and recycling aluminum cans so that he could buy the toys he wanted.  That drive to solve a problem in order to get the things that he wants continues today, just on a larger scale. Ron’s mission is to help people become financially independent without sacrificing everything to do it.  ‍ Many of the mistakes that entrepreneurs make, he’s already made.  Ron’s businesses try to solve the two biggest problems that he believes most entrepreneurs have when getting started.  Those problems are related to lead generation and closing deals.  That’s what he’s spent his life doing, from age 21 to 34 as a financial advisor and the last 10 years as a consultant to software companies as he’s traveled around the world.‍ What problem do you solve?  Ron’s superpower is cold outreach. He is going to show us how to do that without experiencing any of the rejection th

Mark Carpenter is a serial storyteller. He teaches people how to lead intentionally by telling stories that teach, lead, sell, and inspire. He is the co-creator of the best-selling book and workshop “Master Storytelling: How to Turn Your Experiences Into Stories that Teach, Lead, and Inspire”. What problem do you solve?  Mark is going to focus on connecting with people through storytelling to achieve business goals. Show Notes: We are always dealing with people. How are we going to get to know, like and trust people? We can do this through story. Research shows that people that learn information through stories, retain the information better and find you to be more credible. Storytelling can be a game changer. Learn the skill and structure, get feedback and practice to get good at storytelling. You won’t get better by sitting on the sidelines. You’ve got to do it! One of the biggest mistakes in storytelling is to not knowing what your purpose and point of the story is. “You’ve got to know how to land the pla

Justin Janowski has helped hundreds of coaches build their dream businesses from the ground up. Driven by his faith, he founded Faith2Influence to help people learn what it takes to turn coaching into a profitable business venture. Justin has guided Christian and non-Christian coaches alike through the rewarding process of optimizing business models, pricing, and sales strategies so that they can scale their income alongside their impact. He has a passion for sharing this process with emerging Entrepreneurs to help them simplify and grow their businesses the right way. Justin currently lives in Milwaukee with his beautiful wife, Kara, and their playful kiddos, Grace and Gavin. What problem do you solve?  Justin is going to help us sell more with ease in an honest way. Show Notes: Justin has been in sales since he was 18. Justin wants to encourage others. If you are called to do something, go and do it even if you are scared. Fear around selling can come from old stories or bad experiences. These stories migh

Mastering the Art of Business Success – Register HERE Rhea Lalla is an Emotional Intelligence Specialist and Founder of BuildGreatMinds.com. She help parents heal inner wounds and cultivate deeper connections in their families. She has worked with the UN , Children’s Aid and supports parents globally in transforming relationships so their children thrive and create empowered lives they love. What problem do you solve?  How to make impactful interactions with their family now and in times to come so that they have something to be proud of. Show Notes: Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is: Self Awareness – Do you know what you are feeling and why you are feeling it. Can you also recognize it in others. Perspective thinking – Can you climb into another person’s situation and take a look around Self Regulation – How well we can calm ourselves Social Savy Motivation Business owners need to use EQ not only with their families, but with their clients and customers as well. Most of the ways we react now are a result of

Sign Up For the Full Focus Training HERE David is a Husband, Father, entrepreneur and coach… and loves to sing. He lives just outside of Nashville, TN with his wife Lisa and their two children. David has a product in over 3000 retail stores (The keyless StatGuardPlus – a thermostat guard with a combination lock). He is also the lead coach for Dr. Andy Garrett’s True North Blueprint. What problem do you solve?  David started off as a business owner that developed thermostats with locks. He now helps people solve and answer the question of how individuals are made uniquely and how they show up in the world and how to use their uniqueness. Show Notes: Self-awareness can be your bedrock to success. If you start comparing yourself to others, it can lead to imposter syndrome and doubt. David recommends Kris Kelso’s book, Overcoming the Imposter. Kris recommends considering yourself an explorer instead of an imposter. Sometimes it takes courage to admit that you don’t know what you don’t know. You’ll need to ask fo