Author Archives: Zeb Welborn

About Zeb Welborn

Defining Success Podcast, 19th Hole Media, Welborn Media, The Tutoring Solution

Episode 64: Pinterest and SEO | Cynthia Sanchez Host of Oh So Pinteresting Podcast

In this episode of the Defining Success Podcast, Cynthia Sanchez shares her thoughts on Pinterest and how to optimize your website to take advantage of Pinterest and SEO. She also discusses the importance of including proper descriptions so you can be found in the Pinterest search engines and reach more people.

Cynthia Sanchez

Cynthia Sanchez first started to use Pinterest in 2011, and launched Oh So Pinteresting in February 2012. After a few months she was approached by a company to see if she could help them with Pinterest and manage their social media accounts. In September 2012, she left her job as a full-time radiation oncology nurse to focus on building Oh So Pinteresting and my business. . . . and the rest is history.

Cynthia got involved in Pinterest reluctantly and the first time she got on Pinterest she was hooked. She was seeing pins and images that linked her to these new websites which she never would have encountered using traditional Google searches.

Pinterest is a very visual platform and she thinks that’s the appeal of it because you can quickly browse through images to see what gets your attention to decide which website you’d like to visit. For her, it was eye opening. We relate to images in a more emotional way where we get lost in the pictures, we relax and it causes our brain to react in a different way.

In January of 2012, Cynthia was looking at podcast categories and she came across Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income Podcast. She didn’t realize that she could start a business with her blog and so she listened to all of Pat’s podcasts and it could be something that she could do in her spare time.

She decided to write her blog on her personal experiences using Pinterest. And after starting her blog, she was quickly approached by a business that wanted her to help manage their businesses Pinterest page. She went to Blog World in New York and she created business cards. One of the posts she wrote when she came back was about using Pinterest to get your hair cut. She asked the salon owner if she could leave her cards in the salon. A local business owner visited the salon, saw her cards and approached her.

Cynthia focuses on just doing Pinterest for the majority of the businesses she works for. Last week, they launched a new way for how categories appear and they are constantly changing. Cynthia is now working to stay on top of managing her social media presence.

The biggest piece of advice Cynthia can give to business owners is to come up with a strategic plan. You need to think of your ideal client and how they connect to your business.

The early adopters of Pinterest were women from the midwest and traditional social networks are adopted in a particular geographic region. Women represent the largest population on Pinterest. In Europe, the ratio is closer to 50/50 while in the U.S., there are many more females than males. You can customize the boards you want so you can get and see the topics you want to see on Pinterest.

Cynthia thinks that many businesses don’t use Pinterest and SEO (search engine optimization) properly. They don’t take the time to incorporate keywords into their SEO strategies and this is extremely important on Pinterest.

When Cynthia works with clients she is on Pinterest five to six days a week. She tries to get on Pinterest at multiple times every day. She tends to pin a lot about social media, Pinterest, web design and other topics. She tries to spread out her posts throughout the day. Cynthia tries to pin between 5 and 12 times when she plans how often she posts on Pinterest.

One company that did Pinterest very well was a boot sock company, which is a product that has become very popular recently. She doesn’t have an active account, but her picture went viral on Pinterest, and the girl did around a million in sales and was a featured entrepreneur on Shark Tank.

Cynthia’s podcast has been on for a year now and the coolest thing about podcasting is that she’s been given speaking opportunities as a result. She’s given multiple speaking engagements across the country as a result of her podcast.

Cynthia Sanchez

Engaging Discussion Questions:

How do you use Pinterest?
What is your favorite thing about using Pinterest?

Links to Great Stuff:

Oh So Pinteresting – Have you heard of Pinterest? It has become one of the fastest growing sites in history. In a nutshell, it is an online visual bookmaking site but, if approached with a strategy, it can be a very powerful tool. I’m here to teach you all about it.

Success Quotes:

“Success comes in little bits and bites . . . Those little successes all add up to the big success.”
“People don’t think of the SEO of Pinterest.”
“My favorite thing about Pinterest is being to connect with different parts of the internet that I never would have found before.”

Special Requests:

Go out there and find your success.

Cynthia Sanchez

Episode 63: Being Obsessed with Your Business with Zeb Welborn

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To be a success you must be obsessed with being successful. There are hundreds of people out there who do the same things you do and the only way to be better than them is to be obsessed with your business.

Tamika Newhouse is a famous author in her own right. At a young age, Tamika became a single mother and even though her situation was not ideal, she found a way to persevere. She has written numerous books and started her own publishing company. To become a success she needed to be obsessed with her business. Day in and day out she learned to write better and to connect with influential people in the process who helped her along her path to become a successful author.

: Tamika Newhouse

I feel I have become obsessed with my business, Welborn Media. From the time I wake up in the morning until the time I go to bed, I am continually thinking of ways to make my business better. Whether it be learning a new technique, reaching out to new business contacts or doing the work of my business. I’m constantly thinking, “How can I be of service to more people.” And it has become an obsession.

In an interview I had with TJ Hale, host of the Shark Tank Podcast, we talked about our goals. From our conversation, I came to the conclusion that in order to become obsessed with your business that you needed to develop a very clear purpose for your business. It’s easier to become obsessed with your business if you are working to become a person of significance.

The definition of obsession is the domination of one’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.

When you think of Steve Jobs, Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Barrack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and others like them, you’ll understand the sacrifices you must make to become successful. These people are absolutely obsessed with what they do. So, if you want to be successful, think of the career you’re in and think to yourself can you become obsessed with it? Can you work in it day in and day out? If you can answer yes than you’ve found yourself a new business or a new career.

Episode 62: Don’t Get Attached to Outcomes | Creativity Coach & Author Dr. Eric Maisel

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Dr. Maisel shares his thoughts on creativity and how developing a process and sticking to it regardless of outcomes can help you to become creative. The struggle with many creative people is that they expect something to happen when they create something and when the outcome doesn’t match their expectation they get discouraged. Don’t get attached to outcomes. Learn how to explore your creativity in Episode 62 of the Defining Success Podcast.

Dr. Eric Maisel

Dr. Eric Maisel is the author of more than 40 books. His interests include creativity and the creative life, the field of creativity coaching which he founded, and natural psychology, the new psychology of meaning that he has recently been developing.

Eric started out as a novelist early on his career, but it wasn’t paying his bills. He then decided to become a psychotherapist. He recognized that no one was studying creativity and he began studying and learning creativity. He eventually moved out of psychotherapy and became a creativity coach.

Creativity in the business world is meant to be innovation and/or problem-solving. Creativity to artist’s is manifesting potential. Creativity means the results and the desires to manifest ideas so they turn into tangible products. Most creative people are stuck because they don’t know what to do, they are not able to work and they have difficulty in the competitive environment.

Dr. Eric Maisel

Dr. Eric Maisel suggests that creative people start a process where they work early in the morning every day. By creating this habit, creative people can avoid being stuck in a pattern where nothing gets accomplished. Another thing Eric suggests is to continually think of the meaning behind the things you create. Establishing a meaning will help guide the process and make it important to complete.

Eric suggests that creative people start in the morning is because at the end of the night of the night most of your brain cells have already been used. At night, people are thinking and working in the morning will help take advantage of that thought process. Lastly, if you do something in the morning that is creative and has meaning you will be much more positive throughout the day.

There are two kinds of typical creative coaching sessions, the first session gives the client the opportunity to air their concerns so Dr. Maisel can address them and create a plan for subsequent sessions. The regular coaching sessions will be about the issues he identifies in the first meeting.

A woman came to one of Dr. Eric Maisel’s workshop and she created a novel set in World War II and the book that came out of this was called the Puppet Boy of Warsaw. And the pound amount of her two book deal was a phenomenal amount.

The most regular thing that Dr. Eric Maisel encounters in his coaching session are people who have tried to be creative for years without having much success. They are looking for practical advice and emotional support in the process which Eric has been able to offer them.

Natural psychology does a better job explaining what the meaning of life is. It shifts the idea from seeking meaning to the idea of making meaning . . . more specifically, value-based meaning.

Dr. Eric Maisel runs the Life Purpose Bootcamp. Life Purpose Bootcamp is about getting a good handle on your meaning and your life purpose. Eric uses process to help him understand how his life purposes get manifested day in and day out. Don’t get attached to outcomes.

Dr. Eric Maisel

Engaging Discussion Questions:

Have you ever found yourself getting attached to an outcome?
Do you have a process?
How are you creative?

Links to Great Stuff: EricMaisel.com – “Dr. Maisel, widely regarded as America’s foremost creativity coach, maintains a coaching practice, trains creativity coaches, and provides core trainings for the Creativity Coaching Association.” Suggested Reading: For Depression and Sadness: Rethinking Depression and The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Person’s Path Through Depression For Creativity: Coaching the Artist Within: Advice for Wrters, Actors, Visual Artists & Musicians from America’s Foremost Creativity Coach and Secrets of a Creativity Coach Success Quotes:

“Success is making yourself proud of your efforts.”
“Most people can’t white knuckle creativity. You have to do it because you love it.”
“Natural psychology focuses on our meaning needs and tries to articulate what meaning really is and how we can have more of it in our lives.”
“Life purposes are not given to us. They’re decisions.”

Episode 61: Develop a Business Mind with Zeb Welborn

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Ashley Majeski

In my discussion with Ashley Majeski from The Ashley’s Reality Roundup, she explained how she first started writing about reality television and how much she enjoyed it. She received encouragement from her family and friends, who loved her writing and suggested she do more of it. She saw that as an opportunity to start her business. She needed to develop a business mind.

Sometimes, doing what you love is not enough. Sometimes, you have to apply business principles to the things you love in order to turn your passion into a career. I love being an entrepreneur because figuring out ways to build a better business, ultimately gives me the opportunity to help more people. If you find yourself doing something you love, but you haven’t made a career out of it, you might need help to develop a business mind.

My wife, Cindy is very talented artistically. She creates great pieces of artwork and truly enjoys the process of creating new art, but she can never do something she loves as often as she would want because she needs to focus on paying the bills. But, if she would develop a business mind, she could do the thing she loves must and have a happy, fulfilling career.

A good friend of mine, Richie absolutely loves music. I’ve never seen someone more passionate about a topic. He even created a CD for a friend of mine for his bachelor party where the entire CD was personalized for his friend. To do something like that . . . you have to love music. He’s also extremely talented, but he hasn’t figured out a way to turn his passion into a career. He is working on it though which I give him props for. He just needs help developing his business mind.

Even if you do something you don’t love, but you’re good at, you can still create passive income from it. My sister Lacey is very talented when it comes to website design, but early on she discovered that she didn’t enjoy it very much. It was great that she discovered website design was not the career for her, but she still could have made more money from her unique website design skill. She could have hired staff and trained them on website design skills and referred business their way, since people have come to respect her website design skills.

My Dad, Larry Welborn is the epitome of success. In junior high school he knew he wanted to become a journalist and worked to get himself involved in a career he loved. For 43 years my Dad worked for the Orange County Register and most of his time was spent in the courthouse as the court reporter for the Register. He loved his job and was great at it. He developed a business mind early on by connecting with the right people who could help him get the career of his dreams. Once he found himself in his career he also began helping others who shared his same passion.

Larry Welborn

I found something I love to do with Welborn Media. Helping small business owners get more business through social media is the most rewarding thing I feel I could be doing with my time. So many opportunities have come about because I developed my business mind to work to sell my goods and services so that I can grow my business and help more businesses thrives. But, it hasn’t been easy. Once I began to develop a business mind I really started to evolve as a business and it’s growing. Even though my business mind isn’t fully developed, I’m working on it every day to try and develop new business and create more opportunities to help others.

Ashley figured out how to make money from something she loved. She knew she couldn’t just keep writing for the fun of it, so she developed her business mind and created opportunities for herself to make a living from her writing. The happiest and most successful entrepreneurs are those who have figured out how to make money from the things they love to do most. Our economic system is geared to give us the opportunity to help people with our passions.

Develop a business mind in order to make a difference.

Episode 60: Golf is Social | Kevin Flanagan President of USGLL

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Golf is social. Kevin Flanagan is the President of the USGLL which is a golf league for juniors. Kevin talks about the social aspects of golf and how golfing can help bring people together. Learn how Kevin is helping to grow golf by listening to Episode 60 of the Defining Success Podcast.

Kevin Flanagan

USGLL, Inc, is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing national team competition for young golfers. Since 2008, their Team Match Play format offers boys and girls, ages 6 to 18, the opportunity to compete at all levels. Players receive instruction in the etiquette and rules of golf, learn mutual respect and teamwork and develop important social skills. These relationships and sense of integrity are a solid platform that will last them the rest of their lives.

Kevin was in the trade show and transportation industry for over 20 years. Once he retired he decided to get involved in golf and became a teaching professional. He realized that a lot of young golfers were leaving the game. He approached the city and said he wanted to start a golf little league and they worked on a way to figure out how to manage it.

The USGLL opened in April 2008 and now Kevin is running the business and the USGLL is growing rapidly.

The USGLL is trying to get more and keep more kids in the game of golf. We’re targeting the 85 – 95% of the kids who haven’t had the opportunity to expose kids to the game. The matchplay format helps young kids and parents understand the game.

One of Kevin’s mentors, Tom Addis, the president of the Southern California PGA and a former president of the PGA. And he asked “What are you going to do to grow the game?” Kevin really took that to heart and he decided to start this junior program.

The biggest obstacle Kevin faced was missing out on money that was promised to him before the economy tanked in 2008 for the USGLL. He then committed to multiple programs and faced a lot of roadblocks due the economy. Currently, other programs have started up which are similar to Kevin’s, but they’re taking away from the focus of the USGLL.

Kevin is always looking for sponsors to see how they can make golf affordable for some of the parents. Some companies realize if they get a kid interested in golfing when they are young that there is a lot of potential for their businesses.

When Kevin was in business, you could decide on the golf course whether you wanted a guy to go in business with. It’s a sport that all ages and all groups can play together.

The first child that teed off in the USGLL program in 2008. He made multiple All-Star teams and lost his father last year. They mentored him in the program and the child is going to be their first inductee into the USGLL Hall of Fame. Another girl, who’s a freshman is playing in the finals in High School.

The national website is being changed over so it will be a lot easier for golfers to get in. Parents can go to the USGLL.org to work to set up a golfing program for younger golfers.

Kevin Flanagan

Engaging Discussion Questions:

How important do you think being social can help a business?
Do you think golf is social?

Links to Great Stuff:

USGLL – “Our national strategy endeavors to increase our footprint from coast to coast, in all 50 states. Along with the USGA, PGA, LPGA and the NGCOA, we are committed to increasing youth involvement in the game of golf throughout the U.S., its territories, and, eventually, internationally.”

Success Quotes:

“Success is finding something and someone that you love to do and be with all the time.”
“The motto of the USGLL is teamwork, respect and integrity.”
“Girls can now compete with the boys at this level.”
“(The USGLL) started on a paper napkin after a golf lesson.”
Between golf courses and golf players, we’re losing (golfers) left and right.

USGLL

Episode 59: The Best Teachers Listen with Zeb Welborn

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The best teachers listen. Vic Braden is one of the most famous tennis coaches of all-time. When I interviewed Vic, he said the most important element to being a great coach was listening. Learn how to be an amazing teacher.

Zeb Welborn

My first job straight out of college was that of a high school history teacher. As a teacher, I was so concerned with presenting the material that I never actually took the time to listen to my students to help them learn and grow. It was not until I became a tutor did I really harness my listening skills to accommodate the needs of my students. The best teachers are those who listen first and guide students to invest in their own learning.

My first week as a teacher brought about my first test to my students. I was excited. I prepared all the material I had taught them and I was eager to see how they did on the test. They bombed it. At first, my instinct was to blame my students, saying they didn’t try enough and that they should have studied harder, but in retrospect, I did not listen to them and I did not teach at their level so they could perform well on the test. It was a valuable learning experience for me because I began to learn how to listen to my students first, teach second and assess their learning when all was said and done.

As a tutor, I worked with Nick who struggled in school. He perceived himself as lazy, even though he was not and in order to get him to work with me I used my listening skills to help inspire him. I asked him questions about the things he enjoyed and I tried to incorporate those into my lessons as much as possible. Slowly, Nick began performing better and through continual listening and readjustment, Nick began to perform better in school. Listening drastically helped my tutoring ability.

Vic Braden is probably the most famous tennis coach of all-time. He’s met presidents, instructed the worlds best tennis players and is revered by everyone who has any knowledge of the history of the game. In talking with Vic on the Defining Success Podcast, I learned quickly that the skill he thought was the most important to his coaching career was listening. He listened first and came up with action plans second. If the greatest tennis coach of all time thinks listening is important to coaching, don’t you think it should be important to you as well? Sales is something that is outside of my comfort zone, but every time I make a sales presentation, I learn so much just by listening. I’ve also learned that many of the mistakes I’ve made come from not listening well enough. Each time, the potential buyer explains their needs and it was up to me, as a salesman, to listen, pick up on those needs and then use my product as an opportunity to solve their problems. But, sometimes, I focused more on what my product offered and the values it could bring in a general sense . . . rather than solve their specific problem. The listening skills I learned as an educator and a tutor has helped me in uncountable ways throughout my life. I’ve learned to become a better teacher and can sell my services much better once I truly listened to what my potential customers were saying rather than what I thought they wanted from me. The best teachers listen, truly understand and then offer their assistance as a peer. The next time you find yourself wanting to educate someone on a topic of interest, ask them questions, listen to their responses and respond as if you were them.

Episode 57: Blog Writing to Learn with Zeb Welborn

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I started my tutoring business back in 2009. I was very fortunate because my sister was learning how to build websites at the time and she built a website for The Tutoring Solution. 6 months of blog writing opened up my world. What many people don’t understand about social media is that it’s not just a sales and marketing tool, it’s also a learning tool and a communications tool which can make or break a business. Learn how you can use blog writing to learn.

Blog Writing to Learn by Zeb Welborn from The Tutoring Solution, Welborn Media and the Defining Success Podcast

The Tutoring Solution’s Blog

Erin Klein started her blog Kleinspiration with the intention of keeping her students and parents updated about her classroom. As she began to blog she started learning more and more about her profession because she was looking to create content for her blog. As her blog grew, she had a better understanding of the needs of her students and started to develop a reputation as a forward-thinking educator. Her blog eventually led to her being recognized by her school, then her district and has now been educating others on multiple subjects as it pertains to education. Erin was able to use her passion for blog writing and education to build a strong personal brand for herself.

Several years ago, I implemented the The Tutoring Solution’s Blog-Based Learning Program, designed to educate students by creating daily content for their own blog. While the blog-based learning program wasn’t successful, I still think the implementation of such an approach could have a great impact on those students who are passionate about a subject or a topic. The one student we had who enrolled in the program was thinking about becoming a veterinarian. Through her blog she was able to learn and discover what it took to become a veterinarian and learned some fascinating things as a result.

My recommendation to anyone looking to start a business would be to write a blog or create content (video, podcast) that will give them an opportunity to educate themselves on the topic and share what they’ve learned with others. By working to become an expert in the field and sharing new things you’re learning you can help create buzz for your business and establish and develop meaningful relationships which will help you along your career path.

The blog I started back in 2009 set the foundation for everything I have done since I started my business. My ideas have grown and I have been recognized as a thought leader in the industry. In education I began to be contacted to give presentations on motivation and helping to motivate students who were unmotivated. And I continue to learn through my blog writing through my various websites. For anyone who is looking to change careers or who is looking to do something they love writing a blog is an excellent place to start. If you’re not doing what you love, start creating content that will help you to develop an appreciation and an understanding of your field and learn along the way.

Learn more about how you can use blog writing to learn by listening to Episode 6 of the Defining Success Podcast titled, Blog Writing to Learn with Erin Klein from Kleinspiration.

Episode 56: Unique Selling Proposition | Jeff Krantz from KrantzTraining.com

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Jeff Krantz is helping build better businesses and better sales processes for businesses across the country. In this episode of the Defining Success Podcast, Jeff Krantz shares his expertise on developing a unique selling proposition and how you can use that to differentiate yourself in the marketplace and have your potential customers take notice.

Jeff Krantz lives each day with a deep sense of purpose. He integrates his contagious enthusiasm for sales performance with his experience of consulting Fortune 500 companies to deliver world-class training programs. His unique speaking and training style is not only fun and entertaining but is also saturated with proven strategies that send the participants of his seminars and keynotes away with far more than they expected.

Jeff Krantz

Jeff Krantz wasn’t always sought out and surrounded by executive groups; he comes from a humble background, growing up in his family’s small business, where his first inklings of entrepreneurship were shaped. He eventually left the family business and went on to a successful career as a Financial Advisor.

In the beginning he got in front of groups of people to educate them on investment principles It was during this time where he discovered his deep passion for what he wanted to do in life, which was stand in front of people and share meaningful ideas that were going to help them to succeed in what they did. That planted the early seeds and desire to migrate towards a career path, a professional endeavor that would allow him to do just that on a full-time basis.

He took that leap of faith and now has the privilege to share ideas to help people to be more successful in their sales rolls and also help organizations to deepen client loyalty and deliver a superior customer service experience.

He is a jack of all trades in the executive world doing trainings, coaching, consulting, and speaking as he helps organizations build better businesses, developing better sales processes and focus on customer service excellence. One area he focuses on is that each person or company has something to offer to each potential customer, the selling point is your uniqueness, what makes you, you.

Jeff explains the differences between the many hats he wears and services he offers in working with professionals and how there is a real art and science to delivering a dynamic workshop for adults. With Jeff’s specialty in the HR and sales world his presentations generally are focused on building customized programs or leading projects within the organization to positively impact the corporate culture of the company. Jeff is a trainer at heart, so most of the work he does is live classroom facilitation for sales audiences and customer service representatives.

Sales Rockstar: How Top Producers Perform

Jeff shared the use of rockstar was a metaphor for simply being the best at what you do. One of the things Jeff has seen through his own personal experience and witnessed in the lives of others is the people that are the most successful in life, personally and professionally, truly have discovered what it is they are the best at doing and employ that talent, gift or strengths in their professional endeavors.

Treat ’em Like a Rockstar

Jeff’s second book which the title continues with the same theme and more importantly one of the fun things about this book is it is not an everyday how to guide to deliver customer service. It has heart, it has motivation and some of the internal drivers needed that allow you to evoke employees to want to serve from within rather than just do what has to be done.

Jeff has heart and believes in serving. He is clear that when you serve someone, when you help someone, when you go that extra mile to really make their day and do something that is going to rock their world in a positive way, and do it sincerely, the results benefit us. We go home happier at end of the day if we serve wholeheartedly,

Obstacles are no stranger to Jeff. One that we all face and question ourselves is “Do I really have what it takes?” No matter how successful you’ve been, everybody faces that giant in their life. As did Jeff, when he went from leaving his small family business to being a financial advisor, but with confidence he drew from deep inside himself to rise to the occasion, and using that experience to help him when working with executives today.

Success for Jeff revolves around client relationships, working with the executive leaders of the company, HR leadership, the training managers to develop the solution that can be delivered, implemented and executed within the company that not only equips the employees with good information but positively impacts the culture of the organization,

A highlight in Jeff’s success was learning about a new industry and collaborating with executives to produce a highly tailored program that was a great value to the company that went on to win a publication excellence recognition.

Krantz Training

His advice for entrepreneurs is also his favorite quote from Confucius ‘Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.’ “After all, the most notorious an iconic CEO’s have a common denominator, these successful individuals; they all had a passion for what they did. The other side of that same coin is encouragement, don’t despise the days of humble beginnings.” Jeff continued to encourage with the message to not give up on the journey you have, to find that job you love so you don’t have to work a day in your life. The road to success, is not a clearly marked or easy road. Enjoy the journey and find what makes YOU remarkable – your unique selling proposition.

Engaging Discussion Questions:

How can we service those people we come in contact with every day?
What are we on Earth to do?

Links to Great Stuff:

Successful Quotes:

“Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance…. Unless you have a lot of passion about this, you’re not going to survive. You’re going to give it up. So you’ve got to have an idea, or a problem or a wrong that you want to right that you’re passionate about; otherwise, you’re not going to have the perseverance to stick it through.”
“Forget your competitors, just focus on your customers.”

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Episode 55: An Entrepreneurial Mindset by Zeb Welborn

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In Episode 55 of the Defining Success Podcast we revisit the episode we did with Charlotte Clary of Ice Chips Candy and share what it means to have an entrepreneurial mindset.

Entrepreneurs continually take risks and fail but are able to sustain themselves while working to find businesses or products that help make them successful. The best entrepreneurs fail and fail often, but they always learn from their mistakes and work hard to make better business decisions and implement systems that will help them become more successful.

We analyze the difference between being an entrepreneur and an employee in an article titled, Do You Have an Entrepreneurial Mindset or an Employee Mindset on the Welborn Media website.

Listen to Episode 55 of the Defining Success Podcast to learn what it takes to have an entrepreneurial mindset.

Charlotte Clary and Beverly Vines-Haines

Episode 54: The Little Voice Within | Shelly Ehler from ShowNo

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Shelly Ehler is the passionate and inspiring owner of the ShowNo Towel. In her interview Shelly shares the lessons she has learned through her journey as an entrepreneur and how these have impacted her and continue to foster success in other professional and personal aspects of her life. She often refers to this internal guiding compass as the ‘Little Voice Within’.

Shelly Ehler

Shelly’s product the ShowNo Towel has been featured on the Today show and on the hit T.V. show Shark Tank. Shelly created the ShowNo Towel after experiencing a frustrating situation with her children at the community pool. The task of tending to a tantrum, while protecting both of her sons from the elements and maintaining their privacy culminated into a daunting task. It was also this moment that served as a catalyst for a brilliant concept. That night Shelley received an epiphany to create the ShowNo towel.

The ShowNo is a bath and beach towel for children, it’s a perfect cover up which can be worn as a poncho to keep warm and protected from the sun. It also serves a tent to change in and out of clothes under it’s privacy. At firsts Shelly was insecure as to whether her idea was “awesome or stupid”. She began by gifting the ShowNo towel to friends and family, who instantly validated the practicality of the product.

Shelly’s first big break for mass exposure was granted through the Today Show’s segment on “Moms with Good Ideas”. She was then contacted by the ABC network to appear on the reality T.V. show The Shark Tank. After pitching her product, she was the first entrepreneur on the show to be granted a $50,000 dollar check. Shelly discusses the aftermath of events and clarifies that the agreement is subject to renegotiation. In the final outcome, Shelly was not able to redeem the promised money. None the less she values her time on the show and is extremely thankful for the opportunity and proud to have achieved that platform and exposure for her product. Shelley describes her experience as “I know I wasn’t on Shark Tank to sell a towel, I was on there to sell hope and my journey has just started, I have a really awesome future ahead and I’m just getting started.” In the months after the show aired, a licensing opportunity was finalized with the largest towel manufacturer in the country. The Show No towel will begin to be distributed in the large licensed stores such as, Target, Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, etc. by Spring 2014.

Shelly Ehler

The experience has also propelled Shelly to pursue a career as an Author and Motivational Speaker around the country. Her focus is to spread the message of hope and following the Voice within, to trust it and allow it to guide you to your ultimate purpose. Shelley is a firm believer that the voice within has guided her to where she is now and that every single place and every single person encountered as a result has a special lesson.

On disappointment and overcoming obstacles; Shelly declares that the success she initially expected was not the same as she had pictured in her mind and was momentarily devastated. However she strongly reinforces the belief in one’s self and being prepared for a learning curve with starting a new business. There are a lot of lessons to be gained with experience and is extremely grateful for learning as she goes along. she explains and in retrospect Shelly states that she does not have any regrets and does not frustrate herself with the ‘what if’s’ is she had to do it all over again.

Ellen DeGeneres

Engaging Discussion Questions:

What business ideas have you come up with that you didn’t pursue?
Have you ever felt or heard that little voice within guiding you to greatness?

Links to Great Stuff:

ShowNo – “A ShowNo is a bath towel and beach towel that kids can use to dry off on their own. It’s the perfect coverup that can be worn like a poncho to keep children warm and protected from the sun. It can also be used as a changing towel so that kids can change their clothes underneath in privacy.”
Shark Tank – “The critically-acclaimed business-themed show, Shark Tank, has the Sharks continuing the search to invest in the best businesses and products that America has to offer. The show received a nomination for a Producers Guild Award in 2013. In 2012 “Shark Tank” received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Reality Program and a nomination for a Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Reality Series. The Sharks — tough, self-made, multi-millionaire and billionaire tycoons — will once again give budding entrepreneurs the chance to make their dreams come true and potentially secure business deals that could make them millionaires. They are: billionaire Mark Cuban, owner and chairman of AXS TV and outspoken owner of the 2011 NBA championship Dallas Mavericks; real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran; “Queen of QVC” Lori Greiner; technology innovator Robert Herjavec; fashion and branding expert Daymond John; and venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary.”

Success Quotes:

“The universe gives you what you’re ready to handle.”
“Money without fulfillment is hell.”
“The best thing that you could do for your business is to help another business.”
“I know I wasn’t on Shark Tank to sell a towel. I was on Shark Tank to sell hope. And my journey’s just started.”
“The best thing you can do that will take you the furthest in life is gratitude.”
“Success is when you are living a life where you achieve abundance and where you have found fulfillment.”

Special Requests:

Go out there and find your success!

ShowNo Towel

Episode 53: Personal Branding by Zeb Welborn

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Today, personal branding is extremely important for anyone looking to become successful. Communicating your value and what you can bring to others through your online presence is critical toward building your online reputation and making a difference.

In Episode 53 of the Defining Success Podcast we discuss how you can build your personal brand and how you can use your personal brand to achieve your goals. Our economy has changed and personal branding has become a huge component for people who are looking to make a name for themselves.

Perform a Google search on yourself and see what comes up. Are you happy with the way you’re represented? If you’re not happy then you can do something about it. Create your own content online and determine how people are talking about you and what they are saying about you online.

Personal Branding

Episode 52: Build a Following on Pinterest | Author Jason Miles

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Jason Miles has written six books and has been very active using social media on sites like Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube. Jason shares some insights on those social media platforms and how to set up your website to build a following on Pinterest.

Jason Miles

Jason Miles is a best selling author, VP of advancement at Northwest University, & Co-founder of Liberty Jane Clothing, in this podcast he will share his story of how him and his wife found the little niche everyone is looking for, and how they used social media to market their successful business.

Jason began a small at home business using his wife’s sewing skills creating doll clothes in 2008. In 2010 with the introduction of Pinterest his business “Skyrocketed”, and the word quickly got out. With this new demand in his product Jason Miles found another business opportunity in helping seamstresses that used his wife’s design patterns to sell their products on websites such as Pinterest, and Etsy.

Liberty Jane Clothing Logo

After starting the blog that helped his readers market and sell their products online, Jason was contacted by a author from New York that was interested in working with Jason, an expert on Pinterest, to write 3 books called Pinterest Power, Instagram Power, & Youtube Marketing Power. After his initial book contract with McGraw Hill, he launched a series of three self-publishing books 2 of which are #1 Best Sellers on the Kindle Market.

Pinterest Power & Instagram Power

“Instagram is a phenomenal tool for social media marketing, its like Twitter without words.” – Jason

Can you do direct marketing on Instagram? Will it result in traffic and sales? YES! Instagram has recently been utilized by businesses to promote a strong visual marketing campaign. By effectively combining two or three pictures into one, you can quickly grab the viewers attention and then present them with an offer. According to Jason another tactic is to use Instagram for free giveaways, this will not only grow your number of followers but also allow you to see the effectiveness of how Instagram affects your business.

Jason’s visual launch strategy includes using Instagram and Pinterest to create hype and buzz about new product launches. He releases sneak peaks of the new product he is creating, and once his followers can’t wait anymore he unleashes the products to them, creating lots of sales and revenue. A normal eBay auction has roughly a 100 visitors to the auction site, Jason’s eBay auctions have between 2500-3000 visitors to his auction, which tremendously drives up the sale price.

Some final words of advice from Jason Miles on Pinterest and Instagram

1. Pinterest – Don’t start on Pinterest, audit your own site, then utilize the PinIt tool to make sure the images that are used are effectively little ads, and have Pinterest do the rest.

2. Instagram – Have an editorial mission, take eye-catching images of your products in order to cater to your target audience, if done properly the images will work for themselves.

Jason Miles is currently a Senior Vice President of Advancement at Northwest he will be retiring in the next few months in order to focus all of his attention on his business. After having a 16 year career with a NPO charity and being a part of Northwest University for the past 4 years, Jason has finally achieved his long time dream of becoming a successful Entrepreneur. Social media has played a big part in his success by utilizing it as a strong marketing tool for his business.

As with any business its important to have a strong marketing campaign, social media will allow you to create one, just as it allowed Jason Miles to develop a small doll clothing business into a large brand. So use social media to go out there and find your success!

Engaging Discussion Questions:

How do you use Pinterest?
How do you use Instagram?
How do you use YouTube?

Links to Great Stuff:

Marketing on Pinterest – “We’ve built a thriving business based on my wife’s design talent. We’re working hard to dominate our categories, build long-term brand power and get insanely good at delivering our unique products.”
Liberty Jane Clothing – “Jason Miles is the co-founder and marketer at Liberty Jane Clothing. He has a graduate degree in Business Administration, and undergraduate degrees in both Organizational Management and Biblical Studies. By day he’s the Vice President for Advancement at Northwest University, which leaves the evenings and weekends available for all things Liberty Jane!”

Success Quotes:

“Instagram is a phenomenal tool for social media marketing, its like Twitter without words.”

Special Requests:

Interact with us on the Defining Success Podcast Facebook page

Episode 51: Explore Your Options by Zeb Welborn

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Explore your options! Business decisions can be the difference between failure and success. It is critical to the success of any business to make informed decisions. Taking action as an entrepreneur is great, but making informed decisions is even greater.

Many people have hired us for web design, because they did not know anyone else who did it. However, in some of those cases we were not the best option for them, because we were either too expensive for what they wanted, or we did not cater to the type of website design they were looking for.

Small businesses do not have time or funds to hire people. They do not spend the time interviewing multiple people; they will often hire the first person that comes through their door. But it is vital to have options and to make informed decisions.

At the beginning phases of my business I did not make many informed decisions. I chose the first option that came to me. However, I was lucky with the first person I hired because he worked out great. Nonetheless, I wasn’t able to pay him very well, so he did not stick around. I continued following that same hiring process, but I ended up with a bunch of losers, which cost valuable time, energy, and effort. Had I taken the time to do the interview process fully and completely, I would have saved myself a lot of time in the long run and I would have been much happier.

White Chocolate Mint Cake by Daisy Cakes.

In Episode 2 of the Defining Success Podcast, I spoke with Kim Nelson of Daisy Cakes. When Kim began her Daisy Cakes business, she was shipping her cakes across the country for more than double what she currently pays. Because she decided to explore her options, Kim went from paying $45 per shipment to $20 per shipment just by switching shipping companies.

That one business decision allowed her to lower her price point so she could reach more customers and increased her profit margin so she could make more money on the cakes she was selling.

An added bonus of exploring your options and talking to other people is that you become a more informed decision maker, you get a better understanding of what you are looking for, what you are not looking for, what fits best for your business, you get ideas on ways to improve and enhance your business, and you get to see what your competition is doing.

Another added bonus are negotiating points, not only will it help you a better understanding but it will also give you very valuable negotiating techniques with the companies you are doing business with, because you will understand what it costs, what it takes, so it will help your bottom line as a business.

It is important to explore your options. With major business decisions it is always important to give yourself an opportunity to analyze the effectiveness each option will bring you. In the long run, making effective business decisions from the options available to you could save you thousands of dollars and even save your business. Never overlook the importance of making informed business decisions.

If you explore your options when making important business decisions you can have your cake . . . and eat it too!

Zeb Welborn Eating a Daisy Cake

Speaker Zeb Welborn at Shark Boot Camp

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As you may recall, I was recently invited to speak at the Shark Boot Camp event held at the Balboa Bay Club on November 9.

The event was full of great guest speakers, including entrepreneurs who had appeared on the hit ABC TV Show Shark Tank, like Shelly Ehler from ShowNo Towels, Michelle Kapustka from SendaBall, Mike Robinson from Cuddletunes, Mona Weiss from Eco Nuts, Nick Romero from The Ave., Brandon Marz from Marz Sprays.

They also had numerous other speakers on business including Mike Cordes from Viral Booth, Peter Mehit author of Killer Business Plan, Aggie Kobrin from Funder Way, Rey Ybarra, author of Conversations with Shark Tank Winners and former Defining Success Podcast guest, Rey Ybarra, TJ Hale, host of the Shark Tank Podcast and former Defining Success Podcast guest, K.J. from Smartphone Trainers, and Dan Fowler from Red River Productions.

The speaking engagement provided me a great opportunity to interact with other fans of the show and share my expertise when it came to interacting and communicating with the guests who had been on the show itself. Plus, it’s always great to reconnect with others who have appeared on the Defining Success Podcast like Rey Ybarra and TJ Hale.

Another great benefit of the event was the new connections I was able to establish with the people who attended the event. One of our future episodes will include an interview with Shelly Ehler, the owner of ShowNo and several others who may make their way into the Defining Success Podcast.

I’d especially like to thank Aggie Kobrin for inviting me to the event and hope to be involved in future opportunities.

: Zeb Welborn at Shark Boot Camp

: Zeb Welborn and Rey Ybarra at Shark Boot Camp

: Rey Ybarra, TJ Hale and Zeb Welborn at Shark Boot Camp

: Rey Ybarra Author of Conversations with Shark Tank Winners

: Rey Ybarra and Zeb Welborn

: Zeb Welborn

: Zeb Welborn

: Being Introduced?

: Zeb Welborn

: Zeb Welborn Speaking

: Zeb Welborn

: Zeb Welborn Speaker

: Zeb Welborn

: Zeb Welborn

: Zeb Welborn

Episode 50: Bring Yourself Into Your Career | 4th Grade Teacher Karen Krupnick

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As a 4th Grade Teacher Karen Krupnick was an excellent teacher who always brought something of herself into the classroom. Her passion for teaching transferred itself to her students and, as a former student myself, know she changed the lives of her students. Learn how you can bring yourself into your career in Episode 50 of the Defining Success Podcast!

Karen Krupnick

Karen Krupnick was my 4^th grade elementary teacher. Karen Krupnick has been a teacher for 40 years and has taught over 1,200 students, including myself. She fostered the creativity of her students by teaching lessons that were outside of the box.

Karen had no idea she was going to be an educator. She graduated college as a French teacher and it took a while before she made a decision to become a teacher. A friend of Karen’s began teaching preschool and Karen decided to give it a try.

Teaching has changed completely from 40 years ago. When she first started, there was a lot of experimentation in the classroom. It was a time when you tried new things and when she left teaching it became a test-oriented environment.

State standards have changed the classroom many times over. The new common core is looking to change the way teaching is done. The one thing Karen enjoyed about teaching was that she was able to bring something of herself into the classroom (bring yourself into your career) and could teach her classroom in creative ways and now that is definitely not encouraged.

When Karen went into teaching most teachers said they went into education because they could share their passion with their students.

One of the most valuable things Karen learned about teaching was the never-ending progression of students. Because of their different gifts, Karen came to appreciate people in a whole different way. She found the uniqueness of the human being to be very interesting.

Karen loved teaching math and she learned many things she could bring to her students and she loved doing integrated units and bringing all subjects into these units.

The Great Race to Nome

The Iditarod is a sled-dog race in Alaska where somewhere around 100 dog-sledders make this long trip along Alaska and it was immediately fascinating to Karen that human beings do this. At the time Karen was first introduced to the race, there wasn’t a lot of stuff out there. Students could calculate averages, do mathematical equations, read on the subject, and communicate with participants in the Iditarod. As a result, Karen created curriculum and wrote a book on the subject which 1,000’s of teachers were using in their classrooms. Recently; however, the state standards have forced administrators to say that this was not important and were discouraging teachers from using it in the classroom.

As technology evolved, students could do live chats with the mushers. And students could also chat with classrooms that were located at checkpoints along the Iditarod trail.

Karen wishes people outside of education understood that the teacher’s job never stops at 3pm. And that they’ll never understand how much time teachers put into their job over the summers. It’s painful as a teacher that so many other professionals diminish the efforts of teachers and it would be nice if they only knew how much time, effort and commitment most teachers put into their job.

Being a member of the team to educate your child is extremely important. Making sure they’re doing their homework and understanding what goes on in your child’s day is very important. Good, quality parenting is always part of the education process.

One of the things Karen missed was picking up her kids at her line in the morning. She loved seeing their energy and feeling their energy and loved questions.

Karen Krupnick

Engaging Discussion Questions:

Should teachers bring a piece of themselves into the classroom?
What do you think is the best way to educate children?

Links to Great Stuff:

Iditarod.com – “It takes so much more than a field of willing mushers and anxious sled dogs to run the Iditarod Trail Race. With an annual budgetof almost two million dollars, the Iditarod Trail Committee depends on a hard working force of volunteers and supporters to raise the necessary money all year around. An annual sweepstakes isheld. Various items are sold at fairs and benefits. Banquets are planned in both Anchorage and Nome. This volunteer force and the loyal supporters from both the private and business sector make the race possible each year.”

Success Quotes:

“Success is being able to get up every morning and be glad that you’re going to your job.”
“If you love where you’re going and what you’re doing than you’re a success.”
“Be yourself and study the things that you love. Don’t choose what you study because of what anybody else tells you.”
“Be yourself. Bring something of yourself into your classroom.”
“A career goes home with you. A job, you leave behind at the office.”
“Good, quality parenting is always part of the education process.”

Special Requests:

Rate and Review the Defining Success Podcast in iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/defining-success-podcast/id619459909