Tag Archives: Success

Episode 40: Building a Creative Community | Henry Valdez from Creative Minds & Visions

Creative Minds & Visions is a clothing company designed for people who want to live the creative life. Henry Valdez has been able to bring countless people who are creative and talented to support his brand and has built his business by getting creative people to work with him and for him. Learn how to building a creative community around your business can help make your business grow.

Henry Valdez

Henry Valdez is the owner of Creative Minds & Visions, a clothing company located in Brea, CA. CMV Clothing is helping people live the creative life by sponsoring actors, athletes, musicians and people who make their living doing what they love.

Henry got started in the clothing business on a whim because he liked clothing and art. Henry loves the creative process and has dabbled in art and has always loved and admired people who were willing to put it out there. Henry began working with Michael Divine and Kelly Mort and they inspired each other to build a clothing company behind their work.

Creative Minds & Visions is working to become a global brand in the surf industry and street wear scene. He would like to be in Japan, Europe and foreign countries who like American design.

The type of people who wear Creative Minds & Visions clothing are people who are creative, forward-thinking and people who think outside of the box. Henry likes people who question authority and question everything.

The best selling item Creative Minds & Visions has up to this point is a women’s tank top called Long Road. It’s a great fit for ladies who love it. On the men’s side, it’s a tie between the Hometown shirt and their Cali Bear Hat. People that live in the state of California love both of those shirts. People who live in California have been representing California a lot more recently.

Creative Minds & Visions sponsors several amazing people. Chris Culley is an amazing person and an amazing fighter. He trains extremely hard and he’s a great guy to work with and he recently won the title for BAMMA USA. Jennifer Argenti is an amazing athlete, musician and world-class surfer. Micah Brown is an extremely talented musician. And Adrian Olmos is a saxophone player and an incredible musician and you can rarely see anyone who’s as talented as he is.

Many players on the Anaheim Angels have worn Creative Minds & Visions, many famous musicians have been wearing their stuff and many other celebrities and people of influence.

In the beginning, Henry thought he had such a great response for the designs they created and people liked them too much that he thinks he may have ordered more merchandise than he should have. He thinks it’s a bad decision, but also a blessing in disguise. He thinks it was a mistake, but now they have merchandise which has helped him grow his business.

In the Native American culture, they look at illness and failures as a blessing and he takes that very seriously with his business and understands that mistakes will happen, but that those mistakes will give him an opportunity to learn.

There have been so many people that have been attached to designs and no matter what they’ve done, Henry has found that people have loved and connected with their shirts. Overall, Creative Minds & Visions has created a lot and people who he really respects have given him great feedback and it gives him a great sense of satisfaction.

Bonnaroo has been the greatest experience for Creative Minds & Visions. It was a great accomplishment for CMV Clothing and for them to get their product together and to have the impact they did, it was a huge success. They reached customers in twelve new states and three more countries. It was a great learning experience and was amazing.

Henry Valdez and Chris Culley

Engaging Discussion:

How important is creativity to your business?
Do you think having like-minded individuals who can help your business?
What do you think it takes to live the creative life?

Links to Great Stuff:

Creative Minds & Visions – Creative Minds & Visions Clothing is located in Brea, CA devoted to spreading creativity and encouraging others to Live the Creative Life.
BAMMA USA – “BAMMA USA is a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promotional company specializing in creating live entertainment featuring both professional and amateur combatants.”
Micah Brown – “Micah Brown’s music derives from the blues, rock-n-roll, and outlaw country that drenched the garage while wrenching with dad growing up. Micah has quickly made his ever-broadening audience take notice of his brash and unique, dexterous way around a fretboard. He’s also become known for his milky smooth, deft command of his voice, using it to express passion, emotion, and positive inspiration.”
Jennifer Argenti – “Featured in concert by WILLIE NELSON. ‘Instrumental Artist of the Year’. WSA Surfing Champion. Top 4 in 2011 Quiksilver USA Surfing Championships.”
Bonnaroo – “Imagine a magical, peaceful city of 80,000 happy people that pops up out of a 700-acre Tennessee farm for four days every June. Fill it with multiple stages jumping with 150 acts, music legends and up-and-comers. Along with comedy, film, theater, visual arts, rides, food, fireworks and more.”
Michael Divine – “Michael is at the forefront of a resurgent creative wave that draws it’s inspiration not just from art theory and intellectual ideas but also from the basic principles of what it is to lead a healthy and vibrant life. His spirited and vivacious artwork falls in step with a long tradition of artists who base their work on their interpretive visions. His paintings – with their imaginative wonder and deeper spiritual underpinnings – reference ancient traditions, modern artistic explorations, and contemporary themes.”
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – A Major League Baseball team located in Anaheim, CA.

Success Quotes:

“Success is when you find something you’re passionate about that you can turn into your career.”
“Success is where happiness and passion meet and collide with your goals and your career.”
“We try to be good people and the type of people who we want to attract to our business.”

Special Requests:

Check out the CMVClothing.com and Facebook page and tell Henry what you think of Creative Minds & Visions.
Like the Defining Success Podcast Facebook page and engage with us. Comment on our posts and help us improve the Defining Success Podcast.

Creative Minds & Visions Clothing

New Theme Song – SUCCESS by Eighty Bug

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Zebs Theme (success)

Our guest Eighty Bug is overflowing with creativity. She saw the opportunity to craft a custom theme song for us and we can not express how much we love the new sound. We love that she takes her talents and passions and when she sees an opportunity to help someone with those skills she just does it. Thank you so much Eighty!

Eighty Bug

We can’t tell you how cool it was when Eighty offered to create our NEW theme song and even cooler when we got to hear the finished product. We absolutely love the NEW theme song and would love to hear your thoughts on it as well. Definitely check out Eighty’s music in iTunes and be sure to check out her website – http://www.80bug.com/.

Episode 33: Be of Service to Others | Chris Brogan from Human Business Works

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Chris Brogan has been in the online world for sometime now and what he’s learned most is that in order to be successful online that you must be of service to others. If you’re willing to go the extra miles to help others, you will be successful in the online world.

Chris Brogan

Chris Brogan is CEO and President of Human Business Works, an education publishing and media company dedicated to helping professionals work better, do the work they want and to be brave. He is the NY Times best-selling co-author of the Impact Equation and a sought-after professional keynote speaker. He also plays in the band, D3one3 with Jacqueline Carly.

Chris Brogan started his online endeavors before 2005, blogging and using social networks. In 2005, he co-founded Blog Camp, an event to help understand media and help it work for you, with Chris Penn. He then took a job with Jeff Pulver running video on the net and then he went on to work with the Pulse Network and started New Marketing Labs and sold that to them and is now working in Human Business Works. Now, Chris is doing courses for professionals.

Chris started his blog because he wanted to start fiction and it morphed into writing about himself and it was a long time before it became useful for anyone. ChrisBrogan.com is still alive and helping others and it took him 8 years before he got his first 100 readers. Now, Chris has 200,000 unique visitors per month.

The mobile first mind-set is taking over the online world. For example, Instagram is a mobile experience, not a desktop experience. The shift has now moved towards mobile and it looks like it headed that way.

Chris thinks that the future holds that more and more people are going to get there information from smaller and smaller organizations. As experts start to sprout up with different areas of expertise, users will begin looking to those people as the experts and everything will be open to more and more people for the benefit of the individual.

Rob Hatch, does a course called Work Like You’re on Vacation, through Human Business Works. Chris works every day like he’s on vacation and finishes his average work day at noon. Then he’s free to do the things he wants to do, he can write blogs, figure out ways to come up with more money, learns from others or goes to the beach.

Chris Brogan does another podcast called The Human Business Way, which he absolutely loves doing. He’s writing several books, one on Minecraft, one tentatively titled The Freaks Ruled the Earth and he’s also revamping some courses that he’s offering to people who want to learn how to use the Internet for their benefit.

In order to work like you’re on vacation, you have to put in the work to make it happen. So many people think they deserve to live the good life, but people like Chris are able to live that way because they’ve put in the time, effort and energy upfront in order to reap the benefits later.

Chris Brogan

There is a triangle to making money, what do I know how to do really well, who do I know that needs a service and do I have access to those people.

The beauty is that there is always somebody who is into something and you can reach out to those communities and make it happen.

Chris works as hard as he does because he’s trying to show people that they are great just the way they are and he’s trying to figure out as many ways as possible to help those people achieve success in the what they enjoy and are good at.

In 2010, Chris Brogan lost $400,000 of his own money in some poor investments he got involved in. He learned a lot of from that experience and has become stronger for it, but his advice to others would be to stick to something you’re good at and work hard at that and not try to get caught up in too many different things.

Chris always hears from people who share with him that they’ve been able to take some idea he’s had and expand upon it to help themselves achieve success. Chris Lema is one example of a person who showed his blogging success stats since taking a course with Chris Brogan which makes him proud because it’s something you can’t fake and the results speak for themselves.

In Chris Brogan’s blogging master class they talk about writing in a conversational tone, how to get better blog-writing habits, how to build good cornerstone content and ways to make money. All of these things lock together during the experience and people consistently say that they get way more value than what it cost for them to get into the Blogging Master Class.

In another class Chris runs called Brave New Year, he talks about setting better goals to help you change your life to the life you want and away from the life you don’t. He also wrote an ebook called It’s Not About the Tights on Amazon. It helps people do the things they want to do.

Be of service to others and you will be successful.

Chris Brogan

Engaging Discussion Questions:

How successful have you been feeling?

Links to Great Stuff:

Human Business Works – “Human Business Works is a business design company, providing publishing and media products dedicated to helping professionals like you (anyone from a solo business to a very passionate part of a bigger company) understand how to do business your way, provided that way is relationship-minded, interested in delivering great value for your client or customer, and want to do this in a much more interesting way than the status quo.”
Christopher S. Penn – “My name is Christopher S. Penn. I’m a bridge. I stand between different fields, professions, and ideas in order to help people on both sides understand each other. I can speak and sling code, but I’m not an IT professional. I can design campaign strategies and write copy, but I’m not a marketing professional. Where I provide value is in helping IT understand marketing and vice versa. The same is true for the martial arts, for education, for all of the different worlds I work and play in. I play World of Warcraft, but take the lessons from a virtual battlefield and apply them to business. I take solutions from the dojo floor and bring them to marketing.”
Chris Lema – “Chris Lema is the VP of Software Engineering at Emphasys Software, where he manages high performers and oversees product development and innovation. He’s also a blogger, ebook author and runs a WordPress meetup in North County San Diego.”

Success Quotes:

“How old are your kids?” – Zeb Welborn “I have no idea.” – Chris Brogan
“I’m proud that both of my kids are still alive.”
“When I think of ways to make money, I fail. When I think of ways to serve people, I make money.”
“We go through life trying to be something we’re not and I’ve come to believe that you can be as weird as you want to be as long as you understand how that weirdness can serve your community.”
“If you really work on figuring out a community you can serve . . . everything else figures itself out.”
“Success is buying whatever pants you like.”
“I never go out and look for wayward people, I look for people who want to be my friend and learn from me.”
“My definition of success is being able to say yes to things you want to and no to the things you don’t.”
“Every time I’ve ever failed in life is when I’ve had to play the whores game which is begging for the money and saying yes to crap that was horrible.”
“Overhead walks on two feet.”
“Multi-tasking is stupid.”
“Learn to say no.”
“Get one thing done and do it really well.”

Episode 31: Everyone Has a Success Story | Rey Ybarra, Author of Conversations with Shark Tank Winners

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In Episode 31 of the Defining Success Podcast Rey Ybarra shares the stories of numerous Shark Tank entrepreneurs and how Shark Tank has impacted their lives and their businesses. Rey has been able to share the stories of these entrepreneurs through all of their failures and successes to show how the entrepreneurs who have appeared on Shark Tank have thrived following their appearance on the show.

Rey Ybarra

Rey Ybarra is the author of Conversations with Shark Tank Winners featuring entrepreneurs from the hit ABC TV reality show Shark Tank. As a multimedia book author he is producing audio and video interviews focusing on helping entrepreneurs, small business owners and for those who have dreams and a sincere desire to work their dreams.

Rey Ybarra has been an entrepreneur, talk-show host and has produced a lot of multi-media programming. He’s been helping small businesses understand social media and use the tools of the Internet to help their businesses.

Rey understands that educating businesses on how social media and the Internet can impact their businesses has been invaluable to those businesses. As the world and the Internet has changed Rey has come to realize that a lot of businesses were in denial about how the Internet was playing a role in their businesses.

A lot of people didn’t know where to go and they needed help to understand how people were using technology and the Internet to interact with businesses.

Rey’s greatest passion is interviewing others to learn what makes them tick and how they’re using their business to help others.

Rey began working on the multi-media book, The Shark Tank Effect, to help share the stories of the entrepreneurs who have appeared on Shark Tank to a larger audience. Through his interviews, Rey has been able to dig deep into the lives and businesses of these entrepreneurs and hopes that his book will inspire others to pursue an entrepreneurial path.

Shark Tank is a show that helps people and those who have dreams. Rey interviewed Barbara Corcoran and Robert Herjavec for an article he was writing and also many of the entrepreneurs and he got an idea for the title of his book, Conversations with Shark Tank Entrepreneurs. He went to work right away contacting enthusiastic entrepreneurs to become a part of the project.

During his interviews he talked with several Shark Tank entrepreneurs about what they did before Shark Tank, how they got on the show, what the process was, and how they were going to give the presentations.

Rey decided to make his book into a multi-media platform because he understands that people learn to process information in a variety of different ways. He knows that some people like to read, others prefer to listen and still others prefer to watch video. The multi-media book gives Rey the opportunity to reach people who learn in a variety of different ways.

Rey has interviewed 14 of the entrepreneurs who have appeared on Shark Tank. He also is working with Steve Kaplan, an entrepreneur extraordinaire and he’s on a CNBC show called Crowd Rules which debuted two weeks ago and he’s one of the judges and he is also on a show called Secret Millionaire where they handpick some successful entrepreneur who want to give back and help their communities. He talked with Steve and they are working together on Rey’s book.

The Shark Tank Effect is something Rey covers in all of his interviews in which he asks the entrepreneurs that he’s interviewed is how the Shark Tank has impacted their business and their lives. Each Shark Tank entrepreneur responds with a different answer about how the Shark Tank has changed their lives.

The best interview Rey conducted was with Billy Banks Jr. and his wife Sharon Catherine Blanks and their program, Dance with Me. Their Dad, Billy Blanks invented Tae Bo and living in the shadow of his father had always been difficult. When the episode aired, they were homeless and living in a motel. Now they are traveling the world introducing their Dance with Me program all over the world.

Carol Foster created Mee-Mas Gumbo, who at the time of her appearance on Shark Tank was homeless. The biggest reason why Rey created this book was to help as many people as he can. You can get all sorts of information from these entrepreneurs and you can learn from each one of them.

Barbara Lampugnale from Nail Pak who was visiting her daughter from Connecticut who struck a deal with Lori Greiner. How do you run a business while raising a family? Listen to the interview with Barbara Lampugnale and you’ll be able to understand that.

Persistence is the key to getting the guests for Rey’s book . . . A big problem Rey had in the beginning was that he had some technical difficulties and lost six of the interviews he had recorded.

The one big trait that all the entrepreneurs on the Shark Tank do whatever they have to do to get the work done. They don’t let anything humanly possible stop them . . . not even natural disasters.

Dan and Liz Holtz, owners of Liz Lovely cookies, did not get a deal from the Sharks and three days before they opened their store Hurricane Irene came in and wiped them out. The building materials, staff, and inventory was all lost. They persevered and overcame those obstacles and even though they didn’t get a deal, the exposure they received from the Shark Tank grew their business exponentially.

Cheryl Rigdon invented the Spatty Daddy and even though she didn’t get a deal from the Sharks, Daymond John has been helping her grow her business and she’s experienced exponential growth as well.

The advice Rey would give to others would be to give aspiring entrepreneurs where the entrepreneur is asking for money, you have to know your numbers. You have to know margins, return on investment, cost per unit. You have to know all of those numbers in your sleep. For aspiring entrepreneurs you better know your numbers, why and how and the nuts and bolts of everything in regards to your business.

Rey asked Mark Lim, creator of Lollacup, what his keys for success were and he asked what do you mean? Rey then followed up with him . . . What did you do to prepare to get on the Shark Tank and Mark then understood. When an opportunity comes and you seize it than that is what determines your success.

Conversations with Shark Tank Winners

Engaging Discussion Questions:

Are you doing what you love?
Are you willing to do whatever it takes to make your business successful?

Links to Great Stuff:

Conversations with Shark Tank Winners – Conversations With Shark Tank Winners is the multimedia book featuring interviews with the entrepreneurs from the ABC TV reality show Shark Tank!
Steve Kaplan – Steve Kaplan Inc. helps you identify the success you really want. Then, through our no-nonsense, roll-up-your-sleeves mentality and products, we help you get it. Steve has turned his experiences into proven tools to help individuals and businesses identify and achieve big goals. Through Steve’s proprietary products and services such as his unique downloadable step-by-step success playbooks, one-on-one sessions, workshops, bestselling books, DVDs, keynote speaking and more, Steve Kaplan Inc. guides you down the path to success.
Crowd Rules – “Crowd Rules” features three small businesses that compete in front of an audience who vote to decide which business wins a much-needed $50,000 prize. Entrepreneur and jewelry designer Kendra Scott, TV newsman Pat Kiernan and a weekly guest who is an industry expert lead the examination of the small businesses. While the business owners make their case to the panel of three, the real power lies in the hands of the audience—97 strong—whose votes ultimately decide which business is most deserving of the investment.
Secret Millionaire – The secret’s out! Some of America’s most successful self-made millionaires are embarking on a truly incredible journey. They will spend a week in the country’s poorest areas and ultimately reward some unsung community heroes with hundreds of thousands of dollars of their own money.
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.

Shark Tank Entrepreneurs Interviewed by Rey Ybarra in Conversations with Shark Tank Winners:

Success Quotes:

“Success is finding what you’re great at and pursuing it with everything you have.”
“These stories will definitely help them to have hope.”
“As an entrepreneur we all struggle from time to time.”
“You might not relate to all of them but I can guarantee you that you will relate to 2 or 3 of them.”
“The Shark Tank Effect for us means unlimited opportunity.” via Cousins Maine Lobster
“Once you go on that show (Shark Tank) your life will never be the same.”

Special Requests:

Go to iTunes to rate and review our podcast – https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/defining-success-podcast/id619459909

Rey Ybarra

Episode 28: The Power of Purpose | Think Entrepreneurship Podcast Host Pete Sveen

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Teaser: Pete’s goal is to help inspire more and more people become entrepreneurs. He’s spent most of his life as an entrepreneur and is helping others develop a purpose and a passion for entrepreneurship. Recap: Pete Sveen is the host of the Think Entrepreneurship Podcast, a show that interviews successful entrepreneurs and shares their journeys and experiences with you. His guests have included Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank, NFL great, Fran Tarkenton and many other motivated and well-known entrepreneurs.

Pete Sveen

Pete studied entrepreneurship at the University of Nebraska and while he was in college he started a car detailing business and he learned that he wanted to be his own boss. He loved the fact that he could get into something that he could be passionate about. His first business was his car detailing business and then he got into the printing business, which he still owns today. He then got into e-commerce and he started making signs called SignsoftheMountain.com.

He started the Think Entrepreneurship website back in 2010. He’s also been involved in real estate investing. The entrepreneurship focus in colleges is growing and he started taking an Intro to Entrepreneurship class. He learned how to write business plans and learn how to start a business. He got practice working on his business plans and entered a contest and got some money to help him start his business in college. He also did some consulting for businesses with some things that the businesses he did some projects for.

Pete learned a variety of things from the entrepreneurship program at the University of Nebraska, but the greatest thing it offered was networking because he was able to meet investors and find mentors that helped him in the beginning stages of his business. Pete has learned so much in his entrepreneurial journey. Every day Pete learns how to do new things for his business, but that’s what makes things exciting.

Think Entrepreneurship

Pete came up with the name for Think Entrepreneurship for his friends and he was trying to get people to connect his local friends where they could bounce things off of each other. In 2010, Pete got more active with the website. He really understood early on that he began to develop some great connections and the first person that he interviewed ordered 2,000 t-shirts from his printing business.

Pete thinks that podcasting is really blowing up right now. He visited the NMX Conference and they talked about the importance of podcasting. Pat Flynn said there is 4.5 million blogs and only 250,000 podcasts our there which means it’s a great medium and a great opportunity for people looking to spread their message.

The biggest mistake Pete has made was trying to do everything on his own. He didn’t outsource anything and he wishes he had outsourced things sooner. He reaches out to local college students and tries to hire out as soon as you can so you can focus on the more strategic parts of your business. One of the most interesting interviews Pete had was interviewing Fran Tarkenton . . . and Pete’s been a Vikings fan since he was born and it was a great experience for Pete to interview him. He had a wealth of information and he was inspiring to hear from. Fran is now doing a lot of investing in start-ups and is working with around 25 companies and he’s currently working with Office Depot to help mentor entrepreneurs from around the United States.

Pete gets guests for his podcasts by reaching out to people who he would like to try and get to. He sends emails and calls entrepreneurs in order to get guests for his podcast.

Pete says one thing that strikes him about entrepreneurs is how willing they are to give back. Pete does a lot of affiliate marketing which is referring a lot of businesses and companies that you believe in and sending them to their websites. He is also gathering sponsors for his podcast which are sponsoring episodes.

Pete Sveen

Engaging Discussion Questions:

Do you have a clearly defined purpose?
What do you think about entrepreneurship?

Links to Great Stuff:

Think Entrepreneurship – “We created this website to help entrepreneurs and small business owners start and grow their business. We are extremely passionate about helping, inspiring, advising, and motivating other entrepreneurs.”
SignsoftheMountains.com – “Thank you for visiting SignsoftheMountains.com. Signs of the Mountains is based in Bozeman, Montana. We produce unique metal signs that serve to recreate memories you’ve had out in the mountains. We create signs about skiing, hiking trails, mountain elevation, gps coordinates, hunting, fly fishing and so on. We also create motivational signs to help inspire outdoor enthusiasts and others. In addition to our standard signs, we are able to personalize signs to make them even more special for our customers.”
University of Nebraska – “The University of Nebraska–Lincoln, chartered in 1869, is an educational institution of international stature. UNL is listed by the Carnegie Foundation within the “Research Universities (very high research activity)” category. UNL is a land-grant university and a member of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). The university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.”
Kevin Harrington – “Kevin Harrington, chairman and founder of TVGoods, Inc. and chairman of As Seen On TV, Inc., is widely acknowledged as a pioneer and principal architect of the infomercial industry.”
Fran Tarkenton – “Fran is a hands-on entrepreneur. His companies are the result of his ideas and his direct day-to-day involvement. He funds the start-ups, develops the business plans and executes the strategies to build thriving businesses. Fran launched 20 companies over the last 25 years, the largest one reaching revenues of $142 million. He was a founding board member of Coca-Cola Enterprises. He also served on the Board of Directors of Sterling Software, Blimpie International and Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.”
Pat Flynn Smart Passive Income – “With this blog, I want to be as transparent as possible with everything I do online. My businesses, my strategies and my income – it’s all out there for you to see. I’m not trying to show off my success – that’s definitely not my purpose. If you’re already doing business online, I hope that my experiences – both my wins and my failures – can help you reach your goals.”

Success Quotes:

“Success is finding something that you’re passionate about and you want to work on every single day.”
“Success is finding something you’re passionate in that can bring in a good income to do the things you want with your family.”
“My big goal is to reach out and inspire as many people out there about entrepreneurship.”
“My goal is to help inspire as many people as possible.”
“I have to be helping somebody in order to stay passionate about it.”
About Entrepreneurs: “One thing that I’ve really noticed is their willingness to help other entrepreneurs.”
“Every day I’m learning.”

Special Requests: If you need help finding your passion or have questions about how we can help you develop yours, send me an email at Zeb@WelbornMedia.com, visit and comment on our blog www.DefiningSuccessPodcast.com or visit and comment on the Defining Success Podcast Facebook page.

Episode 19: The Importance of Learning from Your Mistakes | Brian Roberts from In-Store Radio

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Brian Roberts, aka “The Voice,” is the announcer for the Defining Success Podcast, but he also manages his own business, In-Store Radio which are custom radio stations for retail locations. As an entrepreneur, Brian knows the value of learning from your mistakes and shares with us why making mistakes are some of the most important things you can do.

Brian Roberts

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:

Recap:

Brian Roberts is the owner of In-Store Radio, which creates a customized radio station for retail and corporate locations. He also happens to be the voice you hear at the beginning of every podcast for the Defining Success Podcast.

Brian ran Goodwill Industries in Central Florida and at 33 Brian decided to come out to L.A. to become a rock star. His dreams as a rock star weren’t really working out and he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to keep his dreams and his family. Someone told Brian he had a great voice and suggested he be a voice actor.

The idea to run In-Store Radio came when he visited Walmart and Walgreen’s and listened to their customized radio station. He then began to think of the opportunity that he could create a customized radio station for smaller businesses and thus In-Store Radio began.

His association with Goodwill Industries got his business started and being somewhat of a computer geek, Brian was able to create a usable system for small businesses to have their own customized radio station inside their business locations. His love of computers, Goodwill and entrepreneurship helped him build the foundation for his business.

Brian was then able to set up a live radio stream into their business and as long as the location has access to the Internet they can get access to their customized radio station. Brian is trying to get into 1,000 locations by the end of the year.

A great success story Brian likes to share is that every year they had an event which never seemed to get a lot of visitors. The first year that they had Brian create a short advertisement and for the first year ever they sold out their tickets and the next year they increased ticket sales by 300% selling out again. For Goodwill Industries, Brian was able to encourage shoppers to donate and encouraged those who donated to become shoppers.

When talking about learning from your mistakes . . . Early on in his career, Brian offered a deal to a friend of his that was unsustainable. Once Brian realized he couldn’t deliver on the deal he offered his friend he told him he couldn’t do it and they re-negotiated. Brian felt awful, but he learned a valuable lesson that mistakes are acceptable and as long as you learn from your mistakes and move on that you can never fail. Learning from your mistakes is an important skill to have as an entrepreneur and business owner.

Brian has two children and Brian thinks it’s interesting that when his kids were younger they would constantly make mistakes and they were encouraged to do so, but that as they got older he became less willing to encourage his children when they made a mistake.

Brian’s mom was a teacher and he had a complex early on about asking teachers questions. And for his entire ninth grade year he was lost in Algebra and sometime during his junior year he finally raised his hand and said that he was completely lost and asked for help. The teacher helped him understand the material and afterwards many of his friends came to him saying they were having the same problems. It taught Brian a lesson that it was ok to ask questions because if you had a question, it was likely others had the same question as well.

Being an entrepreneur taught Brian that he can do pretty much anything he can put his mind to. It taught Brian that all along he had a unique gift that he could offer the world. Once he learned that he could make money as an entrepreneur it became very freeing.

Brian believes that he has certain talents and has developed particular skills. His singing ability has helped him become a successful voice actor. He was able to find the emotional connection in his writing just like he did when he was a singer. The computer has been invaluable to Brian’s success in business as well.

Procrastination and over-thinking got Brian in a lot of trouble early on in his business. The way Brian describes the way business should be done is “Ready, Fire, Aim.” Meaning that as an entrepreneur, it’s important to take action first and then analyze your results.

In-Store Radio

Engaging Discussion Questions:

What mistakes have you made?
What is the importance of learning from your mistakes?
Do you think “Ready, Fire, Aim” is a good strategy to use for entrepreneurs?

Links to Great Stuff:

In-Store Radio – Brian’s mission is to spread the “Good News” of not only Goodwill, but of ALL businesses throughout America and abroad through In-Store Radio. That mission will put a custom-designed and professionally-produced radio show into every retail store and waiting room around the globe.
Voice123.com/BrianRoberts – Brian’s voice is varied and strong. He has the ability to do all types of work from the “Classic Announcer” to “Young punk” and anywhere in between!
Goodwill Industries – “Goodwill® works to enhance the dignity and quality of life of individuals and families by strengthening communities, eliminating barriers to opportunity, and helping people in need reach their full potential through learning and the power of work.”
Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce – “The Chino Valley Chamber offers a wide variety of opportunities for members to market their businesses, a strong legislative action committee, and a commitment to the continuing education of a diverse workforce. For additional information, check out our convenient links to city websites, selected businesses and current projects.”

Success Quotes:

“Success is being happy . . . Nothing matters unless you’re happy.”
“I really love helping people accomplish things they didn’t know they could accomplish.”
“I was perfectly content being an employee and letting someone else tell me what I was worth until the fire was lit.”
“I’m completely unemployable . . . because there is no possible way I can survive working for someone else.”
“There are a lot of people who are bound up by their fear of looking silly that they pay this horrible price.”
“The more mistakes you make the more money you make.”
“What business owners do better than the people that don’t own businesses is make mistakes and are ok with making mistakes.”
“The reason entrepreneurs succeed where other people don’t succeed is because they understand that as long as they didn’t quit, they didn’t fail.”

Special Requests:

Download, review and subscribe to the Defining Success Podcast on iTunes.
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter – @DSuccessPodcast
Sign up for the Defining Success Podcast Newsletter.

Episode #15: Exposing People to Their Passions | Principal Collin Miller from Sparks Middle School

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Teaser: Collin Miller is extremely hard working and extremely passionate about education and works hard to improve the lives of his students. His passion shines through in Episode 15 of the Defining Success Podcast as he shares what he’s doing to improve the lives of the students that step foot in his school.

Exposing People to Their Passions Collin Miller Sparks Middle School

Principal Collin Miller from Sparks Middle
School

Recap: At 33 years old, Collin Miller is one of the youngest administrators in Southern California and was recently nominated as a new administrator of the year by the HLPAA. He started as a teacher at Sparks Middle School and he’s now the principal at the school he originally started working at.

Collin graduated from California State University, Fullerton with a degree in TV, Radio and Film and got a job with a multimedia company and he wasn’t sure if that wasn’t his passion. The only way he knew he would go anywhere in the industry, he knew he would have to move to Los Angeles.

He had a friend who was a second grade teacher who gave him the opportunity to teach a five-step lesson plan on soccer and he knew he found his passion. He then took all the necessary steps to become a classroom teacher and quickly moved into the classroom and up the ladder to administration.

When you’re young you have people you look up to and Collin had some great mentors who helped guide him to become an administrator. Collin loved exposing people to their passions and building relationships with them. He teaches in a low income area. As a teacher he saw how resilient many of his students were. As an administrator the same goes for building relationships with students and growing them. Collin now feels like he has the same opportunity to work with teachers and help them become better in the classroom.

One of Collin’s goals for Sparks Middle School is to help get more parents and partners involved with the school. Collin works really hard to get his students college ready. One thing Collin stresses to his students is that “Success is the only option.”

Principal Collin Miller from Sparks Middle School

I was actually fortunate enought to attend a career day put on by Collin at Sparks Middle School where I taught students how they can use the Internet to achieve their goals. Collin worked really hard to put on the event in order to show students how many job possibilites there were out there. Too often students don’t understand what options they have when it came to a career choice and his career day was designed to open the eyes of many students at his school.

One of Collin’s favorite things is to get a yearbook and have student’s sign his yearbook and his personal reflection is reading what student’s say and is his best evaluation of himself for that year.

One of the challenges Collin faces is that you’re always looking for what’s in the best interest of the students. And that’s challenging because we have feelings and mistakes are made and he always tries to learn from his mistakes and not make the same mistake twice.

Collin considers himself to be a great motivator and is very passionate at what he does which sets him apart from some other educators. Learn how Collin works tirelessly exposing people to their passions.

Engaging Discussion Questions:

How do we work on exposing people to their passions?
What can we do to help our schools and educators?

Links to Great Stuff:

Sparks Middle School – Sparks Middle School is located in Hacienda – La Puente in Southern California. Collin Miller is the school principal.
The Tutoring Solution – The Tutoring Solution tutors students in Corona, Chino, Ontario and across Southern California. Visit our website to learn more about our Share Your Passion scholarship gven to students who complete an essay about their passions and how they are using their passion to help others.
Welborn Media –

Success Quotes:

“Success is being involved with something . . . and seeing a greater result.”
“Living every day like you couldn’t have done anything else.”
“We want students to own their future.”

Special Requests:

Share The Tutoring Solution’s Share Your Passion Scholarship with any passionate individual in grades K-12 who is willing to share what they are passionate about with others.
Download, review and subscribe to the Defining Success Podcast on iTunes.
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter – @DSuccessPodcast.
Sign up for the Defining Success Podcast Newsletter.