Tag Archives: San Diego

Episode 30: The Language of Success | Greg Clowminzer from GregClowminzer.com

Greg Clowminzer shares some of the common problems entrepreneurs face and how he’s able to help them overcome those problems.  One of the biggest suggestions Greg makes for entrepreneurs is to use the appropriate language for success.  Learn the language of success according to Greg in Episode 30 of the Defining Success Podcast.

Learn the Language of Success from Greg Clowminzer

Business Coach – Greg Clowminzer

Recap: Greg Clowminzer is a pioneering business and leadership coach with over 10,000 hours of real time coaching experience.  Greg coaches and consults CEO’s, small business owners, and professionals helping them clarify their vision, create unique strategies for success and developing the necessary skills to be a leader and effectively exercise leadership as their natural self-expression.

Prior to coaching Greg was in commercial investment real estate.  He helped investors acquire apartment buildings and assisted people who held multi-family investment properties.

At a young age, Greg was making a lot of money in real-estate, but just because he was making a lot of money it didn’t necessarily mean he was happy.  Greg felt unfulfilled and not very happy with what he was doing.  He began to look at what made him happy and was fortunate to meet several teachers, mentors and coaches who helped him discover what success and happiness was for him.  He then decided he wanted to become a business coach.

People come to Greg in a variety of different ways.  Some people will reach out to Greg through the Internet or they listen to Greg at a speaking engagement.  Most people reach out to Greg because they want more or less of something.  In the initial consultation, Greg helps them get clear on what’s possible and it also gives Greg a chance to see if the individual would be a good fit for him.  Greg offers a complimentary consultation to explore their lives or their businesses and see how Greg could help them get better.

Greg starts painting a picture for what you want and then helps you generate ideas to help you get to that point.  Greg listens to what you really want and helps you understand what it is you want and without worrying about the way it is.  People come out of the consultation being very energized and excited.

A common problem a lot of entrepreneurs have is focusing on what’s important. A week, month, or several months can go by without taking the time for what’s important to the success of their business.  Another problem he sees is that so many entrepreneurs are focusing on work that they don’t take the time to focus on themselves.  One of the quickest ways an entrepreneur can grow a business is to focus on themselves.  Another big problem Greg encounters are business owners who have problems with leadership or management because they never think about going into business to become a leader.  Most people get into business because they are passionate about something, but the last thing on their mind is thinking about people skills.  Other problems include marketing and sales issues.  And lastly, many people he knows are under-networked and that puts their business at a risk.

Greg has a lot of clients that have hit rough spots where they are down, fearful, taken a major hit or the market affects their business and Greg has been able to get in their and get them back in the game to where they are growing and expanding their business.

In people who speak the language of success, there is a tremendous amount of responsibility in their language.  When they promise something you know they are going to come through.  Unsuccessful people commonly use words like try, where successful people say they will do and make sure they get those done.

The perfect trait for Greg are people who a smart and have a high-IQ and people who have embraced the idea of life-long learning.  If they are willing to experiment with what Greg calls their “beingness.”  People grow when they are able to experience their truth.

Some advice Greg would give to entrepreneurs is to look at their motives about why they are going into business and to be honest with themselves.  At the very onset start building your team around you.  Have an accountability buddy, a team and a success coach.  You can even contact Greg to learn the language of success.

Greg Clowminzer and the language of success

Greg Clowminzer

Engaging Discussion Questions:

  • What do you think of the quote by Yoda:  “Do or do not . . . There is no try.”?  Is there a language of success?
  • How do you show up as a leader and a coach for the people in your organization?

Links to Great Stuff:

  • GregClowminzer.com – “Greg lives in Carlsbad, California and coaches with entrepreneurs, small business owners and professionals, helping them awaken to a greater purpose and meaning in their personal and professional lives. Greg uses a blend of eastern and western views as a means of introducing people to the untapped potential of the human spirit. Greg is most passionate about leading Enlightenment Intensives a Zen-like meditation retreat where he teaches people the lost art of true-self reflection and the uncommon practice of authentic communication. Call or write to schedule a complimentary coaching consultation.”
  • Transparent Mortgage – “Since 2003, Beau has been a mortgage professional and is the Founder and Senior Mortgage Advisor at Transparent Mortgage. Earning degrees in both business and finance he has a diverse background as a financial advisor and mortgage professional. He has worked with and for Luxury Mortgage, Bank of America and Impac Funding. He grew up in Alaska, spending summers working at his father’s fishing lodge, Tikchik Narrows Lodge, where he learned the value of hard work and a commitment to customer service. Beau currently lives in downtown San Diego, CA.”

Success Quotes:

  • “Success is about learning and growing and experiencing the wonderment of life.”
  • “Success is a team effort.”
  • “That which is undistinguished in our lives we’re trapped by.”
  • “The person who is less than powerful in their language in life has no idea that they are trapped by that.”
  • “Successful people use a language that empowers them and other people.”
  • “A really good coach is not coming with their guns loaded but . . . coming with a complete state of presence.”
  • “True coaching and masterful coaching is truly an art.”
  • “I wanted to dedicate my life to other people who are unfulfilled in what they’re doing . . . and support those people and helping them discover what their definition of success is.”

Special Requests:

Rate and review the Defining Success Podcast in iTunes.

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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 17: The Flexibility and Price of Being a Business Owner | Jennifer Davis from Scrapbook Expo

Being a business owner has its perks but it also has its drawbacks. Jennifer talks about the flexibility her job has given her, but also discusses the amount of effort and time she’s spent building her business. In this episode you’ll also learn valuable tips on how to build a following on Facebook.

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!
Scrapbook Expo - Business Owner Jennifer Davis

Scrapbook Expo

Recap:

Jennifer Davis is the owner of Scrapbook Expo, the premier scrapbook show; Weekly Scrapper, a blog for every day scrappers; and, Party Solutions, a party supply rental company.  She’s also extremly knowledgeable when it comes to Facebook as she has been able to amass a following of close to 110,000 likes on her Scrapbook Expo Facebook page.

Jennifer’s scrapbooking business started out as a hobby and it gave her an opportunity to get out of her job which she hated.  She started out as a vendor at a Scrapbook show she attended and saw what the owner of the conventions were able to do and she thought she could do it so she started her own Scrapbook Expo.

She was one of the first scrapbooking businesses to start a new show.  She put on her first show in San Diego and now she puts on shows in 17 locations.  In the late 1990’s it was real easy for Jennifer to get support for her Scrapbooking shows because they would choose a location and word of mouth was really the only marketing they needed.

Weekly Scrapper

Weekly Scrapper

When the economy started to go down hill it became a lot more difficult to attract customers and she resorted tto learning how to market for her business.  She started doing print advertising, email marketing and she finally turned to social media marketing and does almost all of her marketing online.

At a Scrapbook Expo scrapbookers would have access to 100 different booths related to scrapbooking to shop at.  They hold workshops all day to learn different techniques to scrapbooking.  There is also scrapbooking crops which are held at the show where scrapbookers get together to scrap all weekend long.  Ladies get an opportunity to get together, share ideas and have a great experience.  Different groups like different activities.  A lot of the people who attend the shows are groups of four or five women who make a weekend getaway of the Scrapbook Expo.  They rent a hotel room, they shop together, they sign up for workshops and they participate in one of the crops.

There are also make and takes which are very popular which is where they can visit a booth and take part in a project where they create a finished product within 5 to 10 minutes.

Jennifer was very instrumental in my success as she’s been able to help me in a variety of different ways.  We first came in contact when she put out an ad for a tutor and I helped to tutor her son, Nick.  After which, she became my first client for my Internet marketing business as I helped to build the online Twitter presence for @ScrapbookExpo.  My sister and I have been working for Scrapbook Expo ever since from social media marketing to email marketing to search engine optimization (SEO) to website design.

Jennifer also mentored me and made being an entrepreneur accessible to me.  I had never met an entrepreneur before Jennifer and her help and guidance helped encourage me to this path for which I will forever be greatful.

Jennifer doesn’t use Facebook personally and it took her a long time to figure out how to use it for her business.  She knew that Facebook fit in well for hobbies.  And she learned how Facebook was used to market her business and has found it to be very successful.  Scrapbook Expo now has almost 110,000 Facebook Likes and is growing daily.  Jennifer has really mastered the art of Facebook and has learned that Facebook should rarely be used as a sales tool, but mostly to build an online community.

Because Scrapbook Expo has such a high user engagement Scrapbook Expo uses Facebook to get access to users email addresses.  Last month they gave away 100 prize packages, but had to give them their email addresses to get an opportunity to win those prizes.  Because they were so respected through their Facebook presence it was easy for their fans to give their email addresses and during their giveaway campaign they gathered over 10,000 email addresses.  They then can use those email addresses to sell services or products to customers.

Word of mouth is a huge benefit to using social media to promote Scrapbook Expo.  Every customer who attends the show has the potential to reach dozens, and even hundreds of more people. If you can get one person to endorse you on social media you have the ability to reach more people.

Jennifer recommends not using social media to sell.  Businesses who are failing in their use of social media is that they are not asking themselves what the customer wants.  Businesses need to find out what the customer wants and they also need to be consistent.

Party Solutions

Party Solutions

Jennifer also owns a party rental company, Party Solutions, and Scrapbook Expo started buying their own decor for the Scrapbook Expo and because they weren’t using their equipment throughout the whole year they figured they could rent out the equipment they had when it was not in use.

One of Jennifer’s mistakes in business was that she was not a good sales person.  She was great at marketing and promotion but lacked in her ability to sale.  At first, sales came easy, but after the recession hit she needed to learn how to sale or how to hire others who could sale.  Now, Jennifer has hired sales people who are helping to grow her business and have more of an impact.

Currently, Jennifer has more than 100,000 emails of people who are interested in Scrapbooking and she’s currently marketing that list to advertisers.

Jennifer is very thankful for the flexibility that her business allows her.  She says she works twice as hard as her wage working friends, but the results more than make up for it.  As a single mother, being a business owner gave Jennifer the opportunity to take time off when she needed to in order to spend time with her son.

Discussion Questions:

  • What are you thankful for?
  • What is important to you?

Links to Great Stuff:

Success Quotes:

  • “Success would be finding something that you enjoy and being able to turn a profit to support yourself.”
  • “If you make yourself an expert and you market yourself there’s a lot of opportunities and I see a lot of people who lack taking that first step.”
  • “The beauty of social media is it’s viral and word of mouth . . . is the best form of advertising.”
  • “The majority of what we post is useful posts that interest them as far as learning how to scrapbook.”
  • “On Facebook, if you have a hobby related business . . . it’s very easy to find and connect with other people who have that same interest.”
  • “You don’t go into business you grow into business.”

Special Requests:

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