AmiSights: Financing the Future For Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs

On this episode, Ami Kassar interviews Dave Whorton, founder of the Tugboat Institute®, to discuss some of the observations, decision-making patterns, and business lessons learned coming out of the pandemic.

Dave founded Tugboat Institute® in 2013 to connect, support, and inspire purpose driven leaders of Evergreen® businesses. Dave is responsible for all aspects of Tugboat Institute including setting the long-term strategy, curating the experiences, and developing relevant programming for Tugboat Institute along with championing and celebrating the importance of Evergreen companies. Dave believes Evergreen leaders and their businesses are simply capitalism at its best.

Prior to founding Tugboat Institute, Dave founded Tugboat Ventures® in 2006 and co-founded four companies, including drugstore.com and Good Technology. Dave holds a BS in Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Dave and his wife have been happily married for over two decades and count themselves lucky to have raised their son and daughter in Sun Valley, Idaho. Dave is also a voracious reader. When he puts down the books, he can be found hiking, golfing, and cycling with his family.

Recorded 09/17/2021.

On this episode, Ami Kassar interviews Jeff Clapper, President & Owner of 8th & Walton, on everything that's changed with Walmart in the last year.

Jeff is the President & Owner of 8th & Walton and enjoys leading the company's mission to educate suppliers on becoming better partners with Walmart. His retail career began in magazine publishing, as the Newsstand Sales Director for Pack-O-Fun, Inc, a 55-year-old publisher of six consumer crafting magazines, calling on key national retail accounts including Walmart. He later led the business as Publisher and independently brokered its sale to Amos Press, Inc. in 2006. In 2007, Jeff launched an online golf video game, which he sold to World Golf Tour in 2010. He holds a BA in Economics, Philosophy, and Music from Ohio Wesleyan University.

Recorded 09/14/2021.

On this episode, Ami Kassar interviews Robert Clinkenbeard, CEO of The Radix Group, about the Radix Group & Scaling up: what it is, how it works, and how he helps businesses and people with it.

Robert co-founded one of the largest landscape companies (ILM) in the South West Region of the United States back in 2001. The company grew to 350+ employees with 5 branches and revenue of more than $20MM. The company had a very successful exit back in 2016. Robert is now CEO of The Radix Group, which has offices in Greenville, Phoenix, and the UK. The Radix Group specializes in challenging, collaborative business, executive, and leadership coaching programs for CEOs, Presidents and business owners.

Since Robert has had the experience to scale a company up quickly he is now focused on coaching other CEO's and Key Executives in business and personal growth. He is currently becoming certified with Gazelles International Coaches and is closely working with various peer and mastermind groups.

Robert is the past President of the AZ Chapter of the Entrepreneur's Organization (EO) and has helped grow the EO Accelerator program globally to 9 regions. He also currently serves on the EO Western Regional Council's Board as an Area Director. In December 2017 he completed his two-year term as the President of the Arizona Landscape Contractors Association.

Robert was raised in Edinburgh, Scotland and moved to Arizona in 1999 to find a better lifestyle, new opportunities and to widen his traveling options. Robert has been married for eight years to his wife, Faith, and is kept busy with five children. He played competitive rugby and soccer for 20 years and has competed in 4 Ironman triathlon events so he fully understands discipline, strategy, and execution.

Recorded 09/13/2021.

On this episode, Ami Kassar interviews Karie Kaufmann, Business & Executive Coach and Scaling Up Strategic Planning Facilitator, about Scaling Up, what it is, how it works, and how she helps businesses and people with it.

Karie is a master coach and facilitator, having coached over 1,000 high growth companies since 2005. Her clients have achieved double and triple-digit growth in profitability, accomplished through implementation of the Scaling Up framework and Rockefeller Habits. She helps business leaders work through roadblocks and growing pains, build amazing teams, and enable sustainable growth… all while enjoying the ride.

She is an international speaker, Global Hall of Fame Coach, and has won 14 major coaching awards. She also serves on the board of Newbreak church, and is a lifetime partner and financial contributor to B1G1: Business for Good.

Happily married for 18 years, Karie and her husband, Scott, live in San Diego with their two children (ages 8 and 11) and Frank, the golden doodle.

Recorded 09/13/2021.

On this episode, Ami Kassar interviews Deb Gabor, Founder and CEO of Sol Marketing, on branding in this current world - best cases and worst cases of company responses to the pandemic.

"Leading Expert" doesn't come close to describing Deb Gabor's passion for brands. More accurate? Brand Guru. Brand Impresario. Brand Evangelist. She's written the book on branding (twice!) with bestsellers Branding is Sex and Irrational Loyalty. She's the founder and CEO of Sol Marketing, a strategy-led marketing firm obsessed with solving major business and branding problems for clients in every industry. Companies throughout the world use Deb's Brand Values Pyramid, Ideal Customer Archetype, and "Brand Swagger Questions" to align their teams and articulate their brands to audiences.

Deb and her team at Sol Marketing have introduced her revolutionary brand strategy for organizations ranging from international household names like Allrecipes, The Associated Press, Dell, Microsoft, NBC Universal, NPR, NTT Data, and Siemens, to exciting emerging brands like hint water and Indagare. Deb also lends her brand authority with frequent contributions and commentary to major news outlets such as Entrepreneur, Forbes, FORTUNE, Inc., MediaPost, New York Times, NPR, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. Business and marketing organizations regularly call on Deb as a keynote speaker and workshop leader, relying on her as an inspiration for executives to embrace the power of branding to create Marketing That Sells.

Recorded 08/30/2021.

On this episode, Ami Kassar interviews Colleen McKenna, Founder and CEO of Intero Advisory, on how LinkedIn marketing and hiring have changed and how business owners should be taking advantage of it.

Colleen launched Intero Advisory for individuals and companies focused on increasing their sales and talent initiatives. Since 2011 Intero Advisory, a LinkedIn consulting, coaching and training firm has been engaged by more than 600 companies who have increased their presence, revenue, and hiring opportunities applying Colleen's insight, strategy, and techniques and to tens of thousands of business professionals.

Her membership site, blog, and podcast reach a global audience and more than 600 companies have benefited from her expertise.

The Intero team, over an 18 month period sourced more than 80,000 LinkedIn profiles for clients across the country for lead generation and recruiting. On behalf of one client, Intero secured more than 2.3 million in new revenue.

With a personal approach to business, Colleen and Intero shake up the status quo by maximizing an individual's network, personal brand, and expertise.

Colleen has worked with and for startups to market leaders like Xerox, Consolidated Graphics, and Carefirst. She earned her M.A. in publication design from the University of Baltimore and a B.S. in mass communication from Towson University.

Recorded 08/27/2021.

On today's episode, Ami Kassar interviews Mikki Williams, Hall of Fame Keynote Speaker, TED Speaker, Storyteller, Executive Speech Coach, and Vistage Master Chair, about how presenting online is different from presenting in person and how she teaches these skills.

Mikki Williams is a CSP, certified speaking professional, a member of the prestigious Speaker Hall of Fame, and a TEDx speaker. A global celebrity speaker and transformational storyteller, she was chosen as one of the best speakers in the country by Meetings and Convention Magazine along with Tony Robbins, Bill Gates, and Lou Holtz.

Mikki is an award-winning Vistage speaker, the world's leading executive organization, and a Master Chair of two of their peer advisory boards. If that's not enough, this busy entrepreneur runs Speaker Schools, The Mikki Mouth Club, Keynote Kamp, Outrageous Orators, and she was recognized in Forbes as a top executive speech coach. She has spoken in every US state, every Canadian province, and every continent except Antarctica…where she can't wear her stiletto's.

Recorded 08/25/2021.

On this episode, Ami Kassar interviews Claudia Williams, Chief Frientorship® Officer, Executive Coach & Leadership Mentor, Speaker & Workplace Trainer, and Author about her philosophy of Frientorship, how it works, and how it evolved during the pandemic.

Claudia improves the lives of leaders and their teams so they can thrive together to deliver superior business results and lead fulfilling lives. In her role as a Vistage Chair, she increases the effectiveness and enhances the lives of CEOs, key executives, and those they influence and impact, including their teams, customers, and clients. Claudia brings together a select, non-competitive group of CEOs and executives to harness the power of unbiased peers and purposeful education for professional and personal growth. As a result, they make better decisions, grow 2.2 times faster than their peers, and live rewarding lives. In her work as a consultant, Claudia works to inspire leaders and motivate employees to love what they do and love the places where they work. Through Frientorship®, a combination of key principles of friendship, mentorship, and leadership, we can create a self-sustaining method to develop ourselves and our teams so that we are leaving in place an individual or a team who is ready to stand up and lead when we are done leading. Relationships matter and this methodology puts people at the forefront of a winning business and employee engagement strategy – one that delivers financial results along with business continuity. Immediately prior to starting The Human Zone, Claudia served as Associate General Counsel, Global HR & Litigation, for The Hershey Company. She founded The Human Zone after spending more than a decade as an attorney coaching leaders of organizations of all sizes through challenging situations. Claudia believes in giving back to the community and building professional and personal legacies to last for generations to come.

Recorded 08/26/2021.

On today's episode, Ami Kassar interviews Steve Dobbins, Founder and CEO of The Dobbins Group, on how marketing has changed and evolved throughout the pandemic.

Steve is a seasoned marketing and communications pro, with a passion for compelling content, brand building, audience engagement, purpose-driven business, and growing dream teams. For more than 20 years, Steve has worked side-by-side with CEOs, helping them grow their brands and blow through their goals. His areas of expertise include content strategy, digital media, social media, event marketing, visual branding, experience design, media relations, product development, and global marketing.

Clients have included IBM, SWIMS, Casco Contractors and Design Studio, AchieveNEXT, YPO, Alliance Resource Group, the CREATiON Companies, Prime Power, the Tarsadia Foundation, and many more.

Steve is a passionate leader, lifetime learner, and eternal optimist who believes in the power of business to transform lives and create a better world for us all.

His leadership journey has taken him around the world, wearing many hats, from small business owner and entrepreneur to chief marketing officer and SVP of strategic new initiatives. In April 2016, Steve co-founded a new socially-driven fitness brand, evolve, where every purchase includes a giveback to a nonprofit fighting for social justice. In August 2016, he launched The Dobbins Group, a consultancy focused on providing strategic marketing and communications support to diverse clients around the world.

Always up for a new challenge, Steve competed in his first Half IRONMAN in December 2018 and ran his first full marathon in San Francisco in July 2019.

Recorded 08/06/2021.

On today's episode, Ami Kassar interviews Anita Campbell, Founder and CEO of SmallBizTrends.com, on challenges small businesses have had in her community during the pandemic and how they're coming out of it.

Anita is the Founder and CEO of Small Business Trends LLC. She bootstrapped the company from a nascent idea. Previously she was a General Counsel and CEO of a technology subsidiary of Bell & Howell. She founded this site in 2003 and was named one of the 30 Small Business IT Influencers to Follow in 2020 by BizTech Magazine.

Small Business Trends is an award-winning hub of more than two million entrepreneurs, business owners, influencers, and experts. The site features over 20,000 pages of content, reviews tech products, cover small business news, and interview movers and shakers. They spotlight other small businesses and startups. The core focus is practical content with targeted tips, trends and answers to your toughest questions.

Recorded 07/08/2021.