Monthly Archives: May 2013

Episode 27: The New Way to Read – Snippet | CJ Alvarado from the Snippet App

 

CJ Alvarado

CJ Alvarado

Teaser:

CJ Alvarado recently developed a new app called Snippet.  The Snippet App will change the way we read books and consume information.  It’s essentially Twitter for books as each chapter is only allowed to have 1,000 words meaning that you’ll be able to get to the “meat” of the content right from the get go.

Recap:

CJ Alvarado is the CEO of Bamboo Creative and creator of the Snippet App.  Snippet believes reading a book should be quick, rich and engaging.  Writers and readers should be able to connect, share and discover in entirely new ways.

CJ got involved in the online world at an early age.  He started his first Internet company in his early 20’s by helping musicians put information out online.  He tried to help artists distribute their content and music online by integrating multimedia to push music and create brands.

CJ Alvarado

CJ Alvarado

Bamboo Creative is a design and innovation company and they have a service side by helping organizations with app development and they have an innovation arm to generate ideas for companies and for themselves.  They work on ideas and develop them into products.

A lot of businesses are not sure how to navigate the online world and are unsure about what the future looks like in their business.  Bamboo Creative will help them generate their new ideas that represent their core values.  For them it’s been a great success.

Lately, one of the coolest things CJ has done was creating the Snippet App and it’s one of the most exciting things he’s working on right now.

Snippet is a mobile reading app and publishing platform.  They limit their chapters to a 1,000 words max, but they incorporate pictures, audio, videos and social media making it easy to absorb information and it’s priced in a way that consumers will love.

CJ has tried to make something that appeals to the changing culture and how people are consuming information.  It will allow you to move through a Snippet and gives them an opportunity to absorb the content so you feel like it’s easier to connect with the author and the ideas presented into the book.  Snippet makes it really easy to connect with the community and to hear what they’re talking about.

Snippet just launched slightly over a month ago.and went to the top of the best sellers list almost immediately.  They’ve had a group of 25 content creators and the day they launched they had 425 authors who were interested in creating content.  They’ve had Pat Flynn from the Smart Passive Income blog, Bee Bosnak, a yoga instructor, Alejandro Reyes, Shawn Murphy, Ted Coine and more exciting folks coming down the pipeline.

The Snippet App

The Snippet App

CJ recommends reading the Alchemist because it’s a fantastic book that focuses on the importance of listening to your heart and your passions and acting on them.

A lot of the research that CJ has done is showing that our reading habits are definitely changing.  He believes we’re reading in different ways, but that we’re consuming more content at different times of the day.

You can go to the SnippetApp.com you can sign up as a writer and you can create your own Snippet (if you’re approved).

The best-selling Snippet so far is Pat Flynn’s Snippet, Let Go.  It’s a phenomenal read and he encourages everyone to read it.

Engaging Discussion Questions:

  • Do you think the way we are consuming information is changing?
  • Do you think social media is a great way to interact with books?

Links to Great Stuff:

  • Bamboo Creative – “We think, create, tinker, and build. We are a passionate group of creatives that love seeing people explore and develop their creativity and ideas.”
  • Snippet App – “Like Twitter for books, we limit the word count to1,000 words max per chapter (unlimited chapters). So, in essence, we’re between a tweet and an e-book. Now as a writer, you can get new ideas to market faster, share expertise, test new book ideas, create companion pieces, or tell entirely new stories—all in less time.”
  • Pat Flynn – “I’m Pat. I’m a 30 year old dude from Southern California who makes a living on the internet. I consider myself the luckiest person on Earth.”
  • Bee Bosnak – “I began my yoga experience with Iyengar in a small and cozy studio in Los Angeles. One day, I discovered Core Power Yoga and there, as I sat in lotus pose in a 100 degree room, I knew this was it. It was the feeling I felt that made me want to go back for more. I had found a physical path that harmonized my mind, body and my soul. After moving to the Pacific North West in 2010, to a city called Portland, I decided to take my practice to the next level. Through CPY I became a certified Power Vinyasa yoga teacher, and for the first time, I began to see the world through a wider lens.”
  • Alejandro Reyes – “I want to help you get famous!  No I’m not talking about getting on TMZ or Keeping up with the Kardashians, I’m talking about having more influence & impact to grow your income.”
  • Shawn Murphy and Ted Coine – “There’s a better way to do business. Better from the human side. Better from the customer side. And as it turns out, better from the profit side as well. This blog is dedicated to exploring that better way. On this site, leadership authors, speakers and consultants Shawn Murphy and Ted Coiné have combined their blogs to amplify their message. Shawn’s focus is on the executives and managers within an organization. Ted’s is targeted more at the C-suite and the board.”

Success Quotes:

  • From Einstein, “Try not to become a success, but rather a man of value.” 
  • “How are these reading habits change and how can we meet those needs in a new and creative way?”
  • “We are consuming content throughout the day . . . all the time.”
  • “We have some incredible content creators coming down the pipe soon and people are going to be really excited with the way they can consume that content.”
  • “It’s kind of like Twitter for books.”
  • “It’s easier to connect with the author, to connect with the community around that topic and thoughts about that topic and specific to that topic.”

 

 

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Episode 26: Breaking Out of Your Shell | Kate Hughes from Vision FORE Success

 

Kate Hughes

Kate Hughes

Teaser:

Kate Hughes was unbelievably shy when she was younger, but grew up into an amazingly charismatic woman who was able to succeed on the LPGA Tour and help youth golfers develop a strong mental game.  Learn more about Kate and how you can break out of your shell in Episode 26 of the Defining Success Podcast.

Recap:

Kate Hughes is a former LPGA Tour Player with 2 top 10 finishes and 1 victory in Japan.  She’s now mentoring, counseling, and guiding young men and women golfers to become great High School players, top student/athletes at all collegiate levels and by those who want to become Tour Professionals.

Kate Hughes picked up golf at an early love for sports.  Her parents would often bring home sports equipment for her brother and she would always end up playing with those.  Her first experience golfing, she took a swing and connected and fell in love with the game at an early age.

She used to be a professional LPGA player, and could have been a lot better but had to have five surgeries during her time as a player.  She played golf in Minnesota at the collegiate level and broke several records while she was there and they encouraged her to go out on tour and she made it in her first try.  As a result of making the tour she gained self-confidence, maturity, friendship and camaraderie.

In golf, you’re your own business and in the end you’re the one that’s responsible for your own destiny and it’s a great mind game.

In college, Kate was playing in the NCAA Championship and on her last shot everything just stopped.  It was an uphill shot and Kate visualized herself shanking the shot.  For whatever reason, she turned her back on the hole and took five steps away and looked up at the sky and saw a plane flying through the clouds and it calmed her.  She told herself she was going to knock it next to the pin and make the putt for a birdie and she did and finished in third place.  To her, it didn’t feel like anything.

Kate is the owner of Vision Fore Success.  Vision Fore Success helps younger players with their mental game to help them improve their golf game.  Kate has been on the journey from High School, to College, to the Professional tour and she wants to help young players make the transition from High School to College to the Pros as well.  She helps players get in touch with their anger, frustration and get them into a better frame of mind.

Kate Hughes and Ken Venturi

Kate Hughes and Ken Venturi

Kate also does a lot of networking to help her golfers get more exposure and she also shares every bit of knowledge she has to help them “play from inside out.”

Kate belongs to the Aliso Viejo golf club and a lot of her friends at the club recommended she pursue this path.  A young person at the course continually lost her cool on the golf course and she sat down and chatted with her and her handicapped dropped and she become very successful.  That student then began telling others and word of mouth helped her decide to turn Vision Fore Success into a business.

Word of mouth and social media have really helped her grow her business.

Young golfers have a lot of pressure.  They often have a lot of external pressure from parents and the parents want their kids to achieve certain things that their kids don’t wan them to achieve.  The pressure and stress are huge for students competing to make teams.  At times, Kate has had to sit down with parents to teach them how they can help their young player.  Sometimes they get so frustrated that they start to give up.

If you look at scholarships there are six scholarships for women and four for men, because there are more scholarships available for football.  The pressure, intensity and stress they put on themselves early on is too much.  One experience Kate had was with a player who could have been a top 10 player in the world, but her father would stand behind her and yell at her for not being able to execute a shot that he wanted her to take.  She left the game because it wasn’t fun for her.

Kate used to be very, very shy.  She could not speak in high school and college classes. And to graduate she needed to take a speaking class and getting inside the ropes and helping to find her own person she was able to blossom.  She learned self-respect and confidence.  She learned that people can literally do anything they put their minds to.

Engaging Discussion Questions:

  • How important is the mental game in business?
  • How do you think you can help others “break out of their shell?”

Links to Great Stuff:

  • Vision Fore Success – “Kate’s experience and success enables her to provide real world expertise to the next generation of World Class golfers. She utilizes her knowledge and Mental Training Certification to assist her players in developing skills sets to optimize their playing potential into the collegiate golf arena and beyond.”
  • Bunkers Paradise – “To provide a community to give golfers the ability to learn from other golfers who enjoy and love the greatest game in the world!”

Success Quotes:

  • “Success is something that you make on your own, you can have help, but it’s really up to you.”
  • “Being successful is going to bed every night knowing that you’ve done everything you can to achieve your goals.”
  • “Building the confidence with younger players from the inside and projecting it outwards so they can be and do anything they want.”
  • “With the iPhone or the Androids . . . we can continue to stay connected, but we’ve got to shut it off at some point.”
  • “Social media is where this world is going and it’s going to continue to grow.”
  • About golf – “I just love the fact that everything you do comes from inside of you.”

Special Requests:

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Episode 25: Build Your Reputation with Online Recommendations | Beau Hodson from Transparent Mortgage

Teaser:Beau Hodson has been in the mortgage industry and has seen many ups and downs and has been able to whether the storm.  He started Transparent Mortgage and has implemented strategies designed to increase his reputation online.  He’s been able to get customers to give him positive reviews on Yelp, TrustLink, Google Places, Facebook and various other review sites to show that he was a well-respected mortgage professional who can help you achieve your dream of financing a home or helping you during the re-financing process.

Recap:

Beau Hodson has been the mortgage profession for more than 10 years and is the founder and Senior Mortgage Adviser at Transparent Mortgage.  He has earned degrees in finanec and business and has a diverse background as a financial adviser and mortgage professional.  He has worked for Luxury Mortgage, Bank of America and Impac Funding.

Transparent Mortgage

Transparent Mortgage

Beau fell into the mortgage industry when he graduated college.  At the time he graduated college it was a perfect time in the mortgage industry and things were booming.  It’s a completely different experience today in the mortgage industry than it was pre-housing market crash.  Beau spent his first two years auditing closed loans and became a mortgage broker after a couple of years.  Nowadays it’s about being a professional.

In this case, Beau thinks of the client to see what’s best for them and providing them the information to make the right decision and then there is a lot of execution involved and at at the start it’s about getting to know a client and doing what is best for them.  Beau is self employed and runs his own business so he has a lot more flexibility to work for the customer.

Beau had to make a lot of changes to make him more successful.  It was hard for Beau to learn how to do things in the current economic environment.  Sometimes Beau questioned his commitment to change, but he eventually decided that he wanted to adapt, stay in the industry and thrive.

In the fall of 2011, Beau had had a tough year and he had to decide whether he was going to give it up or do it his own way.  And now, he’s happy he decided to start Transparent Mortgage and stay in the mortgage industry.

The mortgage loan process is complicated, but Beau really helps to educate his customers about the process.  He then works to get loans for the customer and do what’s best for the customer.

In 2008, 2009 and 2010 Beau had a lot of time to think about what was missing and what was needed in the mortgage process.  Beau thinks what people wants the most in the mortgage industry is transparency.  Beau likes to give real straight information to his customers.  He also felt the need to give his customers the opportunity to be updated on the process of the transaction.  Beau makes sure that he communicates properly with his clients to make sure they know what is going on with their loan.

When Beau started Transparent Mortgage he realized that there weren’t a lot of reviews online and Beau wanted to lead the industry in online recommendations as an independent mortgage broker.  He doesn’t know any customers that operate based on reviews and he wanted people to go online and see what people are saying about him for themselves.

Beau said it’s been a process getting online recommendations.  Beau learned early on that when he began asking for people to give him reviews online it helped make him a better business owner for his customers.  He then began thinking of ways he could improve his business to make his customers happier.

A lot of problems arise in any business and clients understand that, but it’s the way you communicate those problems to your customers that will determine whether they leave you happy or not.

Beau has learned a lot as a business owner.  One of Beau’s biggest problems was spending too much time setting up his website, his logo and he spent too much time working on the website and the logo and the more you do, it doesn’t really improve your business.  He thinks he would have spent a lot less time making his website perfect and would have just made it good so that he could have focused on his business.

Beau advises anyone looking to buy a home to do your due diligence and to get pre-qualified.  Buying homes is very competitive in today’s climate.  There’s an inventory shortage and more and more people are buying homes.  It’s still very difficult to qualify for a mortgage.  The only way you can get into a home is to get pre-approved for a loan.

Beau says the forecast is good in the mortgage industry and more people appear to be putting their houses for sale.  He is nervous about the economy, but he thinks houses are good right now and he feels housing prices will be stable and doesn’t see the mortgage process getting easier anytime soon.  People can buy houses now, but they have to do the work to get them done.

Engaging Discussions:

  • Do you plan on buying or selling a home?
  • How important do you think online reviews are?

Links to Great Stuff:

  • Transparent Mortgage – “Transparent Mortgage is a new vision of a mortgage company built upon a commitment to raise the industry standards for client care, open access to information, and social and ethical responsibility. It is our belief that the best way to achieve this is through transparency. A true and real commitment to transparency in the mortgage industry today is both a bold and unprecedented course of action.”

Success Quotes:

  • “Success is effort and being engaged in your work on a day-to-day basis . . . and you have to enjoy it.”
  • “If you’re not prepared and pre-approved you might miss out on getting your house.”
  • “When we work with people we like and people who like us we’re happier for it.”
  • “You learn that the client understands that there are things that are beyond your control.”
  • “I think a lot of people are afraid to ask for reviews.”
  • “When you make the commitment to a customer and you’re expecting a review you start thinking about the transaction differently.”
  • “If the client calls me and asks me what’s going on, it’s too late.”

Special Requests:

Beau Hodson and Zeb Welborn

Beau Hodson and Zeb Welborn

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Episode 24: Collaboration and Success in Your Business | Mike Lednovich from True North Executive Development

 

Thank you for visiting the Defining Success Podcast.  Please download, subscribe and rate our podcast on iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/defining-success-podcast/id619459909 Thanks for listening!

Mike Lednovich True North Executive Development

Mike Lednovich True North Executive Development

Teaser:

Mike Lednovich has worked with some of the largest organizations and businesses in the United States and has helped them create better policies and procedures to become more effective and efficient.  Learn how to create stronger relationships with the people involved in your organization in Episode 24 of the Defining Success Podcast.

Recap:

Mike Lednovich is the owner of True North Executive Development and has instructed more than 2,000 managers/directors and conducted hundreds of seminars during a 25 year executive career.  Mike heads True North Executive Development serving such diverse clients as the Make a Wish Foundation, Disney, Ruiz Foods, Edwards Life Sciences, the Philadelphia School District and Chapman University.

Mike was an executive with a communications company in Orange County and he was the director of communications and marketing.  Before he got into the executive world he was a journalist and he then went to work for the corporation that owned the TV station and the newspaper.  Mike became very engaged in company strategies, vision setting and helped the CEO implement change in the company.

True North Executive Development was based out of Mike’s experiences at the communications company.  His experience helped him build teams that could successfully complete the tasks at hand.

Many people get caught up in the “whirlwind,” the every day activities that keep the organization running.  When people get so engulfed in the daily activities there is no goal setting and no understanding of how the organization is going to move forward.  Mike helps companies by working with executives and helps them get an understanding of the goals they want to achieve, how they plan to get there and how do they measure success.

Members of an organization need to know what the goals of the business are and how do I help those goals and how will I be held accountable in reaching those goals.  Mike generally works with the management team to help the businesses grow.

Mike says that 90% of the time he goes into a company, all the team members commonly have different goals they feel the organization has.  He really helps develop and establish goals and then works with the organization to enhance their goals and helps team members become attached to those goals.

When Mike gets phone calls, he’s usually coming in to solve a problem.  He usually analyzes the systems to see what is not working.  He then figures out what is not working and tries to correct those problems to make things better.

There is a common symptom which is number 1 in the workplace and that is holding people accountable for an employment contract.  When you work for a company and you agree for a salary, that is a contract between you and a company.  Most employees feel that they are going to give their employers grade B performance which is good work done correctly, then the company feels good about what they are doing and they feel good about getting there paycheck.  In organizations where employees are not held accountable, their performance levels go down to the C, D or F level.

In entrepreneurial companies, it becomes difficult to manage employees as the company grows.  In a family you are rewarded for good behavior and you have negative consequences when your behavior is below par.

The yearly performance review rarely occurs on time when they are done yearly.  Mike recommends monthly performance reviews for businesses to help hold employees accountable.  The yearly performance reviews usually judge their employees on how the acted in the past six months.  Employee engagement is a huge factor in a companies success.

How do you increase performance on a non-performer?  It starts with a conversation that explains how employees are under-performing.  They judged based off of hard evidence and not opinion.  The employer than helps the employee meet their goals, and they make sure they can handle the task, but if they can not meet those goals, it is on them.

Popular culture says that to hold people accountable is to fire them.  Donald Trump is one example where the way he holds people accountable is by firing them, but in the real world employees and employers work together to build a foundation for the future.  People believe they have to be Donald Trump, but in reality, you just need to be able to communicate effectively with your employees.

The most effective way Mike gets clients is word of mouth.  Mike works for the Make a Wish foundation and one of his clients was on the board and Mike was able to come on board to help the Make a Wish foundation.

The best leaders create a culture of collaboration.  They learn and how to figure out how to get the most ideas out of their employees.  The organizations that maintain a strong workforce are the ones that collaborate well.  Listening to people and communication is an area where organizations falter.  In the real world only 8% of the communication is verbal.  The rest of the conversation is conducted through body language and voice inflection and using email and Twitter we miss out on a lot of that communication.

Larry Welborn, Zeb Welborn, Kent Oderinlo and Mike Lednovich

Larry Welborn, Zeb Welborn, Kent Oderinlo and Mike Lednovich

Engaging Discussion Questions:

  • What does it take to build a successful team?
  • What do you think is the biggest problem large organizations face?
  • How important is the management of employees in a business?

Links to Great Stuff:

  • True North Executive Development – “Mike has instructed more than 2,000 managers/directors and conducted hundreds of seminars during a 25-year executive career.”
  • Make a Wish Foundation – “The Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Orange County and the Inland Empire is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and fulfill the wishes for children between the ages of 2 1/2 and 18 who confront life-threatening medical conditions.”
  • Donald Trump – A link to Donald Trump’s Twitter page.

Success Quotes:

  • “The key to success in relationship is to get rid of the negative ones.  If there are people in your life that are messing you up, get them out of your life.”
  • “If you love something passionately and you can make money from doing it than you have the perfect job.”
  • “Success is an individual evaluation of what makes you happy.”
  • “You don’t give to get.”
  • “The most effective leaders recognize that they are part of a team.”
  • “I’m a firm believer that successful people give without ever receiving anything back.”
  • “A common denominator is that successful people recognize that they want to give back to the community in some fashion.”
  • “The most important piece of that conversation is having data because data doesn’t lie.  Data is objective and most managers will operate on opinion.”
  • “When we talk about achieving success we need to follow the true north of our inner focus.”

Special Requests:

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Episode 23: The Impact of One | Alejandro Reyes from the Get Internet Famous Podcast

 

Thank you for visiting the Defining Success Podcast.  Please download, subscribe and rate our podcast on iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/defining-success-podcast/id619459909 Thanks for listening!

Alejandro Reyes

Alejandro Reyes

Teaser:

Alejandro Reyes grew up on the wrong side of the tracks.  His life was filled with struggle, but he did have one thing going for him . . . a supportive grandmother who would pray for him every day to succeed.  Alejandro is now the host of the Get Internet Famous Podcast, author of the book, Get Internet Famous and has experienced success in a variety of different capacities.  Learn from Alejandro in Episode 23 of the Defining Success Podcast.

Recap:

Alejandro Reyes wants to help you get famous.  Not the TMZ or Kardashian kind of famous, but the kind of famous that will offer you influence and impact to grow your income.  He is also the host of the Get Internet Famous Podcast and author of Get Internet Famous:  The Ultimate Guide to Building Your Platform, Growing Your Influence and Changing the World.

Alejandro got into marketing online in 1999.  The only reason he started his business online was because he didn’t have a car and needed to figure out a way to make money. He heard Bill Gates say that by 2010, half of all sales would occur online and so he sought out to see how he could grow his business online.

In 2003 and 2004 Alejandro learned how to drive traffic to websites using MySpace and in 2006 he built his first six figure business online and he didn’t work very hard to make that happen.  Because of his success he wanted to help people learn how to use the online skills to grow their businesses.  In 2008 he came out with a coaching program and he had a belief that everyone was going to become a social media guru.

He worked offline and started running workshops in Sacramento to help local businesses use social media and the Internet to reach more customers. He was featured on almost every major news outlet in Sacramento and developed quite a following.

Last summer, Alejandro’s wife applied for a nursing school in Seattle, was accepted and within three weeks Alejandro sold his business and took a job in Seattle working for the same school his wife was attending so she could attend school for next to nothing.  But Alejandro wanted to do more so he re-launched his brand online, Get Internet Famous and he’s been able to connect with old friends.

The inspiration for Get Internet Famous came from an article Alejandro read in Wired magazine which basically said that anyone can get Internet famous.  The article helped him understand that there was an opportunity for him to get out of his poor lot in life.  He wanted to inspire people who have buried their passions and wanted to help them get it out.  He thought that if he could help people unleash their passions he could help change the world for the better.

Alejandro attributes his success to the prayers of his grandmother.  Alejandro grew up around drugs and alcohol within his family.  His family was broke and they felt dysfunctional.  His grandma would continually pray for Alejandro and encouraged him to pursue his dreams.  Alejandro says his grandma was the most successful person he knew.  Even though she had no money, she was rich because everyone loved her, she was lively and always happy.

One thing Alejandro mentioned was that sometimes there are people in your life that help you and support you and that sometimes you owe it to those people to go on and do great things, and to not be complacent.

Getting Internet Famous has nothing to do with marketing.  You have to have passion.  If you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life.  It would be something you would do regardless of whether or not you got paid to do it.  You have to also be good at what you’re passionate about.  You have to be gifted and have some expertise at what you’re passionate about.  In order to become great at what you do, you have to work really, really hard to be good at what you do.  When you’re willing to work really hard you can start to come up with your messaging.

Alejandro suggests asking 5 to 10 friends who have your best interest in mind.  Once you ask 5 to 10 people what you’re passionate about and then find out if you’re good at what your passion might be.

Alejandro Reyes started using Snippet to write Get Internet Famous and then he decided to start his own podcast right at the same time.  He basically re-launched AlejandroReyes.com, but wanted to make it more about the other customers. Alejandro says, your personality gets you to stand out online.

Alejandro Reyes

Alejandro Reyes

Email is the first thing people check in the morning is and almost everyone sees emails more likely than Facebook, Twitter or any other platform.  It takes between six and seven encounters before people make a decision to purchase.

A huge opportunity exists for people to create offline connections with people they meet in the online world.  By connecting with people you meet online you can establish long-lasting fruitful relationships with people online, enhance your credibility and become an expert.

Alejandro thinks he’s made lots of mistakes, but the two biggest that came to mind for him was not generating an email list quickly enough and not spending enough time with his family when he first started his business.

Alejandro thinks he’s helping change the world by helping others make a difference by helping them create a larger audience to have a larger impact.

Engaging Discussion Questions:

  • What would you be doing whether you got paid to do it or not?
  • Do you work hard for yourself or for others?

Links to Great Stuff:

  • Get Internet Famous – Alejandro Reyes has been helping entrepreneurs & companies with online marketing for over 10 years. He plans on sharing guest interviews, insights and inspiration to help you grow your business and change the world.
  • Wired Magazine – “Wired (stylized as WIRED) is a full-color monthly American magazine and online periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics.”
  • Gary Vaynerchuk – “Meet Gary Vaynerchuk, a 36 year old New York Times and Wall Street Journal Best-Selling author who is also a self-trained wine and social media expert. From a young age, it was clear that Gary was a businessman. At 8-years-old he was operating seven lemonade stands in his neighborhood and by 10 he had moved onto selling baseball cards at local malls. In high school while working at his family owned liquor store, Gary started reading The Wine Spectator and wine books, and realized collecting wine offered an allure similar to his previous hobby of collecting baseball cards. With a wealth of knowledge and an entrepreneurial spirit, Gary spent every weekend of his college years at his parents’ wine store. Recognizing the importance of e-commerce in 1997, Gary launched Winelibrary.com and helped grow his family business significantly from $3 million to $45 million by 2005.”
  • Snippet – Like Twitter for books, we limit the word count to 1,000 words max per chapter (unlimited chapters). So, in essence, we’re between a tweet and an e-book. Now as a writer, you can get new ideas to market faster, share expertise, test new book ideas, create companion pieces, or tell entirely new stories—all in less time.

Success Quotes:

  • John Wooden “Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”
  • Zig Ziglar “If you help enough people achieve their dreams, along the way you will achieve theirs as well.”
  • “Do what you’re passionate about, love what you do, and serve people with a crazy enthusiasm.”
  • “If your personal life is out of order, your personal brand will suck.”
  • “Email marketing is the biggest opportunity in marketing online right now.”
  • “What would you be doing whether you got paid to do it or not?”
  • “When you marry your passion and your gifts, that’s where the magic happens.”
  • “The soul purpose of getting known online has everything to do with the people that you serve.”
  • “How do you stand out and pierce through all the noise?”
  • “We owe it to people sometimes to be the best version of ourselves.”

Special Requests:

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Episode 22: How To Be a Go-Giver | Bob Burg Author of The Go-Giver

Thank you for visiting the Defining Success Podcast.  Please download, subscribe and rate our podcast on iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/defining-success-podcast/id619459909 Thanks for listening!

Author of The Go-Giver Bob Burg

Author of The Go-Giver Bob Burg

Teaser:

Bob Burg shares the lesson of his book, The Go-Giver in Episode 22 of the Defining Success Podcast.  Learn the five laws, that when applied can guarantee a person’s success. Bob is extremely knowledgeable and shares his expertise on business and some advice and tips which you can apply to your business today.

Recap:

Bob Burg is a sought after speaker at corporate conventions and for entrepreneurial events.  He has addressed audiences ranging in size from 50 to 16,000 – sharing the platform with notables including today’s top thought leaders, broadcast personalities, Olympic athletes and political leaders including a former U.S. President.

Bob has written numerous books, has been a public speaker, has worked in sales and has a lot of experience helping others increase sales.

This interview focuses on Bob’s book, The Go-Giver, a book that encourages people to be go-givers and to be willing to help others in order to attain individual success.  Bob also says that a go-getter and a go-giver are not opposing philosophies, but rather that one could be a go-getter and also a go-giver.

If you look at the companies that are successful, have a long-sustaining business, and who run the business well.  They take the five laws from the go-giver and those laws were already in play.

The five laws are the laws of value, compensation, influence, authenticity and receptivity and all five laws work in conjunction with each other.  When all five of these are used in conjunction it makes it possible for people to achieve their goals.

The Go-Giver by Bob Burg

The Go-Giver by Bob Burg

The first law of success is to give more value than what you take in payment.  In business, it’s important to focus on the other person.

The second law says that the more people we add these values to then the more we will receive in return.  As you add more value to more and more people you will have more people willing to spread the word about you and your business.  Our value comes from how many people we can add value to.  Not only do we need to provide great value, we also need to provide that service to as many people as we can.

The third law is the law of influence that says your influence is determined by how abundantly you put other people’s best interest first.  The best leaders see how they can place other people’s interest first and if they can do that they will become more successful.  To the degree you’re able to help others the more likely people will be willing to help you.

The law of authenticity shows how willing you are able to help yourself.  All the sales skills, and technical skills are very important, but those skills are not valuable if you don’t show up as yourself.  When people see there real you, they become attracted to you and they respect you and they like people who walk in their own integrity.  One key in authenticity is being confident enough to do so when we understand the value that we bring to others.  Market value are skills, traits and values that you bring to the marketplace.  It’s important to have someone that is removed enough from the situation who can see who the forest is from the trees.

The fifth law is the law of receptivity.  You have to be willing to receive as much as you are willing to give in order to be successful.  Giving and receiving work in tandem with each other.  The key is not giving or receiving, the key is to focus on the giving and allow the receiving.  If you can’t receive the little things, then you can’t receive the big things.

Bob says that if you follow those five laws, you’re guaranteed to succeed.

A lot of people think that selling is taking advantage of others or trying to convince people of what they don’t want or need.  Selling is actually about helping people get what they want or need.  When you shift your focus from an I focus to others you will see a return.

Engaging Discussion Questions:

  • How do you know when you’re being your authentic self?
  • What do you think of the five laws Bob presented during the interview?
  • Are you a Go-Giver? Why or why not?

Links to Great Stuff:

Bob Burg – “Bob Burg shares information on topics vital to the success of today’s businessperson. He speaks for corporations and associations internationally, including fortune 500 companies, franchises, and numerous direct sales organizations.”

The Go-Giver – “The Go-Giver tells the story of an ambitious young man named Joe who yearns for success. Joe is a true go-getter, though sometimes he feels as if the harder and faster he works, the further away his goals seem to be. And so one day, desperate to land a key sale at the end of a bad quarter, he seeks advice from the enigmatic Pindar, a legendary consultant referred to by his many devotees simply as the Chairman.”

T. Harv Eker – “Eker is the author of the best-selling books, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind and SpeedWealth. He has also developed several highly-acclaimed courses such as The Millionaire Mind Intensive, Life Directions, Wizard Training and Train the Trainer. He is also the producer and trainer of the world-famous Enlightened Warrior Training.”

Success Quotes:

  • “Success is the progressive realization of a worthwhile dream or goal.” from Nightengale
  • “Success is a feeling of piece of mind and genuine happiness based on having done ones best in living up to their potential.”
  • From Sean Woodruff “A great salesperson matches the benefits their product or service with the wants, needs and desires of the prospect.”
  • “When you’re selling you’re giving time, attention, council, education, empathy and ultimately, great value.”
  • “When you’re selling, you’re literally giving.”
  • “One mistake people make . . . is thinking that giving and receiving are opposite concepts.”
  • “The key to authentic giving is to stay open to receiving. 
  • “Being authentic means that we are congruent.”
  • About Gandhi “Integrity is when everything you think, feel, say and do are in alignment.”
  • “The golden rule of business says that all things being equal people will do business with and refer business to those people they know, like and trust.”
  • “The money you receive is a direct result of the value you provide.”
  • “Money is an echo of value.”
  • “The first law of value says your true worth is determined by how much you give in value than you take in payment.”
  • “A go-taker is somebody who feels entitled to take, take, take without having added value to the person, to the process and to the situation.”
  • “We want to take the focus off ourselves and move from an I focus to an other focus.”

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Episode 21: Networking Secrets for Entrepreneurs | Esther Kiss from EstherKiss.com

Esther Kiss helps entrepreneurs build better businesses.  She considers herself to be a mentor and has a lot of advice for entrepreneurs on how they can build their business, reach more customers and make more money.  The key to getting what you want, explains Esther, is giving yourself to others.  By helping others you will receive benefits and, in turn, become successful

Esther Kiss

Esther Kiss

Thank you for visiting the Defining Success Podcast.  Please download, subscribe and rate our podcast on iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/defining-success-podcast/id619459909 Thanks for listening!

Recap

Esther Kiss, from EstherKiss.com, mentors entrepreneurs.  She helps experts and service providers generate a steady flow of ideal clients and helps to convert leads more effectively than ever before.  In short, she will show you how to get more clients and make more money in your business.

Esther has an extensive background in business.  She grew up in a small family that had a lot of investments in hotels, real estate, and trading and shipping companies.  Esther lost a lot of her investments in the stock market and so she started her own business to teach others how to speak Hungarian.  She was able to package her business in a way to have only the people who are very committed and had enough time to learn Hungarian.  She was able to get them pre-paid and paying triple the market value.

She then realized that her expertise would be perfect in a business coaching context.

Esther than got a job at the Beverly Hills Lingual Institute to show that she has some credibility in the industry.  It gave her the credentials to show that she could do it.  She reached out to her circle to ask if people knew anyone who was interested in learning Hungarian and her business blossomed from there.

In the interview, Esther provides lots of valuable tips on time management for entrepreneurs.  She encourages all of you to write down what you do on a daily basis literally to the minute because in order to manage your time effectively, you need to know where you’re spending your time.  Do the highest revenue generating activities and then you will be better at time management.  You should divide your time into three categories:  flex time is devoted towards the day-to-day operations of your business, focus time is focused on long-term projects like your marketing campaigns and the third is your free time which is the rest of your life.

If you want to do a better job at networking, see who the decision makers are at a company and see who they know.  If you know someone who might be connected to someone you’re trying to get a hold of then reach out to that person and see if they can connect you.  Another great tool entrepreneurs can use when networking is to be a giver, because people will think you’re a nice guy.

Esther says there are a variety of different ways to figure out who the decision makers are and there’s a lot of different tools to figure out who those decision makers are.  Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ are great tools to figure out who the decision makers are, but you can also view the website or get access to information online about who you’re trying to reach.

Many entrepreneurs struggle because they are able to make a certain amount of income but they are never able to cross the hump to live a more comfortable lifestyle.  Esther helps entrepreneurs by delving into their business to find ways to make their business more efficient and reach out to others for a higher potential profit.

Many business owners go for low income sales and focus on volume, but Esther recommends entrepreneurs target the customers that are willing to invest more and more often.

Esther Kiss at the Emmy's

Esther Kiss at the Emmy’s

Most entrepreneurs make the mistake of trying to be like everyone else while they think they are making themself unique.  If you’re doing what everyone else is doing, you’re getting followers, but it doesn’t necessarily mean your making money.  Esther recommends having a system that works and that when you turn it on you know you’ll be able to get customers.

Esther considers herself to be a business mentor.  Coaching typically involves spending a lot of time with a person to help them come to their own conclusions.  Esther than gives entrepreneurs shortcuts to come to their own conclusions.

Esther considers herself to be very logical and analytical.  She focuses much more on results and numbers and she tries to help find her business produce results.  Esther is also very strong at connecting with others.

Willpower is an app that will not let you go onto certain websites for a particular amount of time.  These external tools can help, but it really comes to your own willpower that will determine your success.

Spend an hour a day looking for referral or promotional partners.  If you’re a marketing coach you would be interested in working with a website designer or a PR Director.

If you’re not able to say exactly what they are interested in you will not be successful in business.

Engaging Discussion Questions:

  • How important do you think giving is in business?
  • What traits do you look for in a business coach?
  • How do you network?

Links to Great Stuff:

  • EstherKiss.com – “Esther loves teaching her creative business & marketing strategies, mentoring entrepreneurs to help them get more high paying clients.”
  • Beverly Hills Lingual Institute – “The Beverly Hills Lingual Institute is your best choice for learning a language in Los Angeles and Orange County.  Offering language classes in over 25 languages with the most comprehensive schedule of classes available, we are Southern California’s Premier Language School.”

Success Quotes:

  • “Success is having the confidence and ability to building what you want from scratch.”
  • “If you come from a place of wanting to help and serve rather than selling something to them . . . you build more confidence and leads because every person will have a great experience.”
  • “Tune in to the core desire of your ideal client, pinpoint it and speak to their highest need.”
  • “Entrepreneurs are usually very excited and energetic in trying new things.”
  • “Most entrepreneurs have entrepreneurial ADD where they start a million projects and none of them get finished.”
  • “Be very clear about the results you can get for people.”

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Episode 20: The Importance of Youth in Golf and in Business | Jay Miller from Golf Card International

Jay Miller Golf

Jay Miller Golf

Jay Miller loves the game of golf.  He’s passionate and has great ideas on how to grow the game for the future.  A big push Jay says that needs to be made in golf is to encourage more young people to take up the game.  By giving youth golfers more opportunities, Jay says, we can help grow the game. Attracting the youth is also valuable in business because in order to maintain the longevity of a business you have to be willing to attract younger generations that will one day fill the role of different age groups.  By learning how to build a business focusing on the youth, we can help build better businesses overall.

Recap:

Jay Miller was the past President of the California Golf Course Owner’s Association, Founder and past-CEO of one of the most successful non-profit golf foundations in America,past General Manager of the National Golf Course of the Year, Golfer’s Association’s “Man of the Year” and is currently the Director of Business Development for Golf Card International and Fairway Rewards.

Jay got started in golf at Edgewood Country Club when his parents let him hit his first shot at a young age and knocked it close.  His parents immediately got him a set of clubs and got in touch with some golf teaching professionals who taught him the game.  He eventually gave up all the other sports he played to become a golfer.  He started working at a local course and he went to Purdue University on a golf scholarship where they won the Big 10 Championship in his senior year.

Jay tried to become a professional golfer but realized he wasn’t good enough to make it and so he quit playing professionally but started his own business.  The man who sponsored him on tour owned the largest manufacturing facility of plaques and he jumped into the business.  The first year he did the Betty Ford Center in Palm Springs and got to play golf with Gerald Ford.  Betty Ford went on Good Morning America where she talked about Jay and his business which gave his beginning company a huge boost.

He was doing donor recognition wall displays across the country and offered a bunch of new products until 2001.  He was playing 160 rounds of golf.  In 1986 he had a dream about changing children’s lives and he wrote a 72 page thesis on how to grow the game.  A good, wealthy friend of Jay took him golfing and asked Jay what he would do with money if his friend were willing to give it to him and Jay said he would start an organization to teach young people the game of golf.  A couple years later his friend gave him $3 million dollars to start Jay’s project.

His wife named the project “Get a Grip.”  Get a Grip on your life, education, the golf club and the Lord.”  They were named three-times the National Junior Golf Education Foundation of America.  They had one location called Cresta Verde Golf Club in Corona California.  They built an education center at Hidden Valley Golf Club.

Jay took over Hidden Valley Golf Club in 2007 and became the National Golf Course of the Year in 2011.  Jay went down to Florida where he managed a few clubs and did some consulting for other golf courses.

Golf Jay Miller

Golf Jay Miller

Jay is addicted to the game of golf and has probably played over 16,000 rounds of golf at 700 golf courses.  He got hooked on hitting the cool shots.  He loves the camaraderie  the fellowship, and talking smack with your buddies.

His purpose is working in a program called Mulligan, connecting golfers to God.  The famous Wally Armstrong, Jim Hiskey who invented Bible study on the PGA Tour.  He loves helping golfers enjoy the game and grow the game.

Jay says we’re losing 100,000 golfers a year meaning that more people are quitting the game than are starting the game.  In 1957, 88.6% of all children had a father at home.  In 2007, 44.4% of the children born had a father at home.  Around 90% of the golfers were introduced to the game by their father or by a sibling of their fathers.

Single mothers don’t have the time, energy or resources to introduce their children to the game.  Some parents are spending $20,000 a summer in an effort to get their children a golfing scholarship.

According to Jay, $100 million has been spent on the First Tee Program which offers money to inner city youth to take up the game and the program is failing.  Because many inner city youth do not go on to college and therefore can not afford to pay for golf at a later age.  Jay suggests we raise $10 million a year to get students started playing the game in preschool.  They get preschool teachers to learn how to teach golf and the instructors can teach preschool teachers in around 5 hours.

If you love golf then you should introduce others to the game.  Donate clubs and balls to juniors.  Glen Ivy in south Corona gave Jay close to 12,000 golf balls to give to young players.  Jay encourages golf courses to give youth the opportunity to play the game in any way they can.  If all golfers could have a philanthropic attitude we can all help grow the game.

I interviewed 1,500 real golfers and I found out that 68 to 78% of golfers don’t have a handicap.

Jay has gotten to play with two U.S. Presidents, many celebrities, many professional golfers at hundreds of courses.  Jay feels he was created to change childrens lives through the game.  He wants to improve their game, make them feel important and give them a product that was a good value for their money.

The top golf stories Jay ever had was when he played golf with Keith Jackson and Frank Boyles, Bob, the friend who funded the get a grip foundation on a golf trip.  They spent four days at Augusta National and and Shoal Creek. The opportunity Jay had to spend the trip with two legends in the game of football was one of Jay’s most memorable golfing stories.

Engaging Discussion Questions:

  • How can we help grow the game of golf?
  • How would you get more people to play golf?

Links to Great Stuff:

  • California Golf Course Owner’s Association – “The California Golf Course Owners Association (CGCOA) is dedicated to the stimulation of market growth for California’s golf course industry. We promote collaborative advertising and promotional advertising programs encouraging more rounds of golf throughout California.”
  • Golf Card International – “Golf Card International was founded in 1974 with a simple idea: find a way to help golfers save money on the high cost of green fees. To do this, we formed a club for avid golfers and built a network of affiliated golf courses that would provide savings to our members. After 38 years, our membership is still strong, and Golf Card is now accepted at nearly 3,000  courses in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean.”
  • Fairway Rewards – “Fairway Rewards is a venture–funded startup now located in Sonora, California. For eight years, we’ve strived to provide innovative customer loyalty, incentive marketing, and media solutions for golf courses.”
  • The Mulligan Golf Club – The “Mulligan Golf Club” is a metaphor that describes the largest golf club membership in the world (golfers who have been invited to follow Jesus!)
  • The Golf Club at Glen Ivy – “Glen Ivy Golf Club is a unique golf experience, with scenic views and creativley placed fairways, tees and greens.”
  • PGA Tour – “The PGA TOUR is a tax-exempt membership organization of professional golfers. The mission of the PGA TOUR is to expand domestically and internationally to substantially increase player financial benefits while maintaining its commitment to the integrity of the game. The PGA TOUR events are also committed to generating revenue for charitable causes in their communities.”
  • Wally Armstrong – “Wally Armstrong competed in more than 300 PGA Tour events, including  numerous US & British Opens, Masters, PGA and Tournament Player’s  Championships. In his first Master’s tournament, Wally finished fifth,  setting a rookie scoring record of eight under par at Augusta. He is a  Lifetime Member of the PGA Tour and holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s  Degree in Education from the University of Florida, where he also  achieved All-American Honors in Golf.”
  • Augusta National – Home of the Master Golf Tournament located in Augusta, Georgia.
  • The Esteban Toledo Family Foundation –  “For fifteen years it has been my dream to establish a Giving Foundation that will put efforts into helping children around the world, and I am proud to announce that my dream has become a reality. With the assistance of my family, friends, fans, and supporters, I am proud to introduce The Esteban Toledo Family Foundation.  A foundation focused on helping others, especially children. Our purpose is to supply basic needs such as shelter, clothing, food, education, love, and an introduction to the Lord.”

Success Quotes:

  • “Success is using your blessings and your purpose.”
  • “You show me somebody that wakes up in the morning with a purpose and can’t wait to go to work no matter what they do.”
  • “Women golfers on average play faster than men ever dreamed about playing.”
  • “If you don’t have four hours three to four times a month to enjoy a game of golf with your friends than your life is not balanced.”
  • “The father is a key component to introducing your children to golf.”
  • “You hit one shot equivalent to somebody on T.V.”

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