Charge Podcast

Brian Moran is a New York Times bestselling author, Executive, Entrepreneur and Coach. His background as a corporate executive combined with his experience as an entrepreneur positions him with a unique skill set to help individuals and organizations grow and prosper.   Brian is a recognized expert in the field of leadership and execution.  His realization that most people don’t lack ideas but struggle with effective implementation led him to the development of the 12 Week Year.   In addition to his books, Brian has been published in many of the leading business journals and magazines.  He is a sought-after speaker, educating and inspiring thousands each year.  His client list includes Allstate, Century 21, Mass Mutual, Medtronic, Paycor, Prudential, Tiffany, and many, many more. What problem do you solve? Brian wants to help people accomplish more of what they want in less time. Which means he helps people with the execution dilimia. Show Notes: All the new processes and plans are nothing without execution.

Helping Businesses Build Better Proposals Joe Ardeeser is a former digital agency owner of 12 years, one he built from just himself to a team of 12. He then took his passion for sales and proposal writing and created Smart Pricing Table, an interactive proposal software. What problem do you solve? How to build better proposals. Show Notes: Joe started a digital agency and realized that he really had a passion for proposal writing. One big challenge is that proposal writing takes a lot of time. You are excited at first and then you realize you don’t really know what to write. Sometimes you spend a few hours on writing the perfect proposal and then your potential client ghosts you. Sometimes we don’t know what we are selling. “If there is a mist in the pulpit, there is a fog in the congregation.” If you don’t define your service well, you aren’t going to charge enough. The vague vortex: If you are vague you often lose. You must define at least a minimum level of the service you are offering so that the client

Mark is a 30-year veteran NFL broadcast journalist, calling games for the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Oilers and working in the front office of the original Dallas Cowboys.   What problem do you solve? The biggest problem employers have is turnover. Mark helps employers understand that the better you treat your team, the longer they’ll hang around. Show Notes: Mark worked in the front office of the original Dallas cowboys. He learned a lot from the head of the front office, Tex Schramm. He made sure things were done properly off the field. He had 3 rules Hire the best people you can find. Don’t hire cheap. Train them your way. (Make sure they know how your organization does things) Then get out of their way and let them do the job you hired them to do. The front office had the job of keeping everything planned and running smoothly. One of the mottos was ‘Do your job.’ Which means do your job completely and well and don’t interfere in someone else’s job. Tex always said ‘Nobody ever does their best work in

During his 17 year sales career, Jeremy was recognized in the direct selling industry as the 45th highest earning producer out of more than 108 million salespeople. Jeremy’s earnings as a commission-only salesperson were in the multiple 7-figures, EVERY year! Jeremy’s particular brand of sales training pioneers the unique use of behavioral science and human psychology within the sales process. He is a contributor for INC magazine and has been featured in Forbes, USA Today, Entrepreneur magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and a host of other publications on the topic of sales.

Tony Lopes is an Uber successful Real Estate Investor who retired at 44 and is now helping others achieve a life of freedom and abundance.  He has a new book out called Freedom At Risk – How To Protect Your Personal And Financial Freedoms that shares some of the ways to live your best life. What problem do you solve? There is a lot of fear of failure. There’s a fear of starting a business of not making money or being embarrassed. Show Notes: Tony’s biggest fear was loss of freedom. He did the right things as a young adult. He went to school and got a good education and a good job but then was laid off. It was at that point that he realized that having just one job and relying on that limited his freedom. He then got involved in real estate. If real estate is not your thing, you could start a side hustle. More that one source of income is valuable. Diversify your income! Having cash in the bank is good but if you can invest that cash and it gives you a monthly income, that is even better. Real estate investme

Shawn Buttner is a Certified High Performance Coach and host of The Meaningful Revolution Podcast. He specializes in helping business owners and professionals define and implement their purposeful impacts and best lives. What problem do you solve? How to pivot and when to be thinking about that with your business. Show Notes: Shawn had done software engineering previously. He originally was in business and then started in the technology area about 15 years ago. As he progressed in his business he realized he wanted and could really utilize the ability to coach his employees. He became a Certified High Performance Coach and began to focus more on that. Waiting to pivot can delay your progress into your new adventure. Pivoting can get you to your next level of performance. First, you need to get really crystal clear on what your next level will look like. It’s also important to look at what’s working and doubling down on that. Pivoting is part emotional management. As you pivot and try to gain momentum you nee

Sam Feeney is a consultant and coach who helps business leaders achieve more by asking questions they've been ignoring. What problem do you solve? How to ascend beyond their current plateaus where they are feeling stuck. Show Notes: Why is getting good enough, not good enough? --- Sam thought about this question and realized you may reach a plateau when you feel you have reached good enough and it can prevent you from achieving more. We segment our lives and think that the things that happen at work doesn't affect our home life or vise versa. Sometimes if we are doing really well in one area and are getting recognized and applauded, we may neglect other areas. You don't want to come home one day with a pocket full of money and realize your home is full of strangers. Sam uses a metaphor of a tree. The roots are your identity and faith. The fruit is your career, health, finances, and relationships. The trunk that connects the roots and fruit is your mission. (Sam loves to help people walk through an

Rocky Lalvani serves as Chief Profitability Adviser for business owners. He teaches them how to ensure they get paid and make profit a priority! As a certified Profit First Professional he implements Mike Michalowicz's Profit First System.  We change the accounting formula of Sales - Expenses = Profit to Sales - Profit = Expenses.  This ensures Profit comes first! (PS. It's not about money at all costs, people come before money!) What problem do you solve? He helps businesses to have increased cash flow, more profit, and continue to grow in inappropriate way. Show Notes: Mike Michalowicz is the author of Profit First Mike realized we have the wrong equation for profit. We look at the top line given by the accountants. Mike created a cash flow system that works for business owners. It help people figure out what’s going on in their business without opening up their accounting books. Sometimes the accountant says you were profitable but you don’t see the money. You may be profitable but not have the cash to

Teryn Mozaffari is the owner of Happiness Factory Coaching and a Certified High-Performance Coach.  She considers helping others discover ways and make decisions on how to live more productively her life’s work and finds great joy in helping others improvement their performance and live better lives. Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google, Spotify What problem do you solve? Teryn will help people get a better understanding of what productivity is and why we all want it. Teryn will give us advice on productivity. Show Notes: Being effective is one of the key components of being productive. The number 1 habit people need to embrace is the habit of beginning again. We are really hard on ourselves and beat ourselves down. We need to get up and begin again. Teryn’s biggest metaphor: It’s like laundry. We are never done with it. We can bemoan it but if we finally accept that the work is never done and get excited about it, we can accomplish more. You need to form a habit of saying “We get to do it.” vs. “We

Taking Control of Your Financial Future for You and Your Business Mark Willis is a man on a mission to help you think differently about your money, your economy and your future. After graduating with six figures of student loan debt and discovering a way to turn his debt into real wealth as he watched everybody lose their retirement savings and home equity in 2008, he knew that he needed to find a more predictable way to meet his financial objectives and those of his clients. Mark is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER, a THREE TIME #1 Best Selling Author, the Owner of Lake Growth Financial Services, a financial firm in Chicago, Illinois and co-host of the Not Your Average Financial Podcast. Over the years, he has helped hundreds of his clients take back control of their financial future and build their businesses with proven, tax-efficient financial solutions unknown to most financial gurus. He has become known as “Not Your Average Financial Planner!” What problem do you solve? The greatest financial challenge

In this episode #258 We are starting a new journey with our new name of The Small Business Answer Man.  I am excited to share this journey with you because for the last 30 plus years I have had the pleasure of starting, running and operating about 13 different businesses. We plan to interview experts to help you find solutions in what I term “The Business Owner 6 P Formula of running your business:  1. People (Human capital), 2. Productivity (Execution), 3. Promotion (Marketing), 4. Processes (Operations), 5. Pricing (Sales), 6. Profit (Financials).  Our experts will help you solve these business challenges. My top 5 book recommendations for 2022: #5 Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman & Mark C Winters – In this book they talk about Visionaries and Integrators and why you need both on your team #4 View From the Top by Aaron Walker – Aaron shares his life lessons and how we can learn to see what we want in life by looking at the big picture. #3 Tax Free Wealth by Tom Wheelwright – This is a great book to create w

How To Achieve Your Goals Why do successful people achieve their goals and those who do not set goals fail?  That is the question I pose to you today.  Why?  I believe that goals are the ingredient that separates those who are successful and those who are not. Show Notes: Approximately 80% of people never set goals for themselves.  Of the 20% of the population that does set goals, roughly 70% fail to achieve them.  Visualize Achieving Your Goals- Create a detailed mental image of the desired outcome.  I use a process called Forward Visioning – This is the ability to look back and visualize how your goal will look after you have successfully completed it. Write your Goals Down- Those who write down their goals accomplish significantly more.  You are 42% more likely to achieve your goals just by writing them down. Telling a friend increases this rate to 78%. Clarity- allows you to constantly view them & become specific Motivation- you see progress or the lack of progress Focus- determine opportunities tha

Ian Ziskin, President, EXec EXcel Group LLC, has 40 years of experience as a business leader, board advisor and member, coach, consultant, entrepreneur, teacher, speaker, and author. He is the Co-Founder and Partner of Business inSITE Group (BiG), Co-Founder of the Consortium for Change (C4C), and Co-Founder of the CHREATE Project. His global leadership experience includes Chief Human Resources Officer and/or other senior leadership roles with three Fortune 100 companies – Northrop Grumman, Qwest Communications, and TRW. Ian has written dozens of articles, blogs, and book chapters on the future of work, HR, leadership, coaching, and HR’s role with the board of directors. What problem do you solve? Defining reality. Being open to paying attention to what is happening around you and minimizing the risk of being in denial. Show Notes: One thing that jumped out to Ian while writing his book, The Secret Sauce for Leading Transformational Change, was that humans have an ability to explain away things that don

Leaders come in all shapes and sizes. There is no one correct leadership style. The best leaders are those who are able to adapt their style to the situation at hand. That said, there are three essential leadership styles that every leader should be aware of. Show Notes: 3 Leadership Styles Task-Oriented Leaders Focus on results and performance Goal driven Deadline driven Create systems Potential for low morale May lack team bonding Can cause burnout in the team Relationship-Oriented Leader Support great teamwork Good communication skills Engaged employees Reduced turnover Slower decision making May accomplish tasks slower Transformational Leaders Focus on change Visionaries Proactive and adaptable United in a common cause Risky and disruptive Too conceptual Requires frequent feedback The best leaders use all 3 styles and can flex to use them all. 10 Common Leadership Mistakes Not communicating goals Not delegating tasks Being inconsistent Failing to listen Not providing adequate recognition or fe

Managing Stress & Avoiding Burnout Being an entrepreneur is no walk in the park. It’s a juggling act of a million different tasks and responsibilities, with the pressure to succeed weighing down on your shoulders at all times. It’s no wonder many entrepreneurs burn out before they ever reach their full potential. Don’t let it happen to you. In this episode, Daran Wastchak interviews Gary for insight to help you manage stress and avoid burnout.  Show Notes: In this episode, Daran Wastchak interviews Gary Wilbers. Over the course of Gary’s 30-plus years as an entrepreneur, Gary’s learned a lot about how to run a business successfully. He shares all that he’s learned with individuals and business owners in several books that he’s written, in public speaking, in his own podcast, and in regular articles posted on his blog. In Daran’s show, he asks Gary to specifically talk about one of his most recent articles, “8 Tips to Manage Entrepreneurial Stress and Avoid Burnout.” Enjoy the show. Links Mentioned in

Introducing Erin Diehl Erin “Big” Diehl is a Business Improv Edutainer, Failfluencer, and Professional Zoombie. Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin created Improve It!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn, play, and grow. She is the proud host of The Improve It! Podcast, which helps develop leaders and teams through play, improv, and experiential learning. Among her many accolades, Erin is most proud of successfully coercing over 28,000 professionals to chicken dance.  What problem do you solve? She will help you develop yourself or your team as a leader through play, laughter, improv, and experiential learning. Show Notes: Improv takes people’s shields off and opens them up. It suspends judgment and helps people listen to each other. It helps teams feel seen, heard, and valued. It helps us tap into our inner child and let them become more creative. While you can’t fix your culture in a single improv session, you can work on a single issue and it’s also the

Introducing Kurt Davis Kurt Davis is a technology executive and investor with over two decades of experience building tech startups throughout Silicon Valley, Europe, and Asia. From 2008-2017, he worked with a startup called Boku where he led global business development, focusing on deals with Apple, Microsoft, Spotify, Sony, and more. This book documents and chronicles Boku’s journey from closing small sales deals to transactions worth billions of dollars in transactions. Speaking to other entrepreneurs, he realized that many get stuck in their initial market but few leap the chasm to bigger opportunities. So he wrote this book. What problem do you solve? How to help their businesses grow to the next level when you feel you’ve tapped your initial client base and how do you resource your company in order to take advantage of bigger opportunities. Show Notes: You need to dissect and get to know the companies that you could be working with in your market. It’s important to research them. Look at the compa

Introducing Andrea MacKenzie Andrea MacKenzie is helping companies to hire, build, and lead teams for business growth and workplace well-being through her company Lead With Harmony.  She is working with growth-oriented small business owners and executives to hire, develop, and lead their teams toward higher performance, lower stress, and stronger leadership. She brings her 20+ years in corporate roles and consulting, which spans almost every business function and size, from small businesses to Fortune 500s, to her unique approach to serving her clients. What problem do you solve? Andrea can help business owners and team leaders with hiring, leading, and developing teams for success and well-being. Show Notes: The most common mistakes people are making in the hiring process are: Not defining the role. Don’t throw in the kitchen sink — don’t include everything in the role. Making the role up as you go. Not really having a job description. Hiring the first person you find. Rushing the process. Mak

Introducing Aaron Anderson Aaron Anderson has been working in the SEO industry full-time since 2013. While working and consulting for multiple SEO agencies he saw a big demand for high-quality link-building services, which led him to start offering those services as a freelancer and then growing those services into a full-fledged link-building agency. He is also the host of the podcast “Let’s Talk Link Building”, which dives into all the different approaches and strategies one might take to build backlinks for their online business. What problem do you solve? He will help you understand what link building is and how to navigate the whole SEO and link building industry. Show Notes: Quick explanation of SEO: Search engines look at content of your query and then they look at all the websites and results. Next, they narrow it down to authority and trust. The more links a website has, the more trusted the site is and the more likely the search engine is to send people to that site. When you link a different

Beth Banks Cohn, PhD is an accomplished Organizational Consultant, Executive Coach, and Thought Leader with more than 25 years of business success.  Beth is a valuable asset as she helps companies use organizational, and individuals use personal, transformation to reach the next level of growth. What problem do you solve? She will help people solve those bumps in the road either by helping them avoid them or get over them. Show Notes: Change may be harder now due to what we’ve been through in the last few years. It’s easy to say we just need to be more resilient but that’s not always easy. Other things going on in our life can make change harder.  First, we need to own our reaction to the change. We should then educate ourselves so that we at least understand the reason for the change. Then explore how it might help you… will it help you with growth, will it give you new opportunities Also, we need to realize that it may change our position. We then have the opportunity to decide if we want to stay o