Conquer Local Podcast

Tune in for an all-new episode of the Conquer Local Podcast to learn about Managed Service Providers with Michelle Ragusa-McBain, a highly-visible thought leader in the global technology channel and serves as Provider Elevate Leader for the Global Partner Organization at Cisco.

Michelle's mission is to help MSPs elevate and succeed via a partnership with Cisco solutions and the Provider Elevate community. Entrepreneur Magazine named her as one of the top 4 people to inspire women to pursue a career in Tech, and SMB Magazine recognized her as one of the 150 most influential people in the global IT Business Community. CompTIA named her Advancing Women in Technology Leader 2021, and Channel Futures awarded her the Circle of Excellence for Channel Leadership & Innovation and DE&I 101 award and recipient of the prestigious Cisco Worldwide Innovation and Growth Award.

Michelle keynoted at the largest and most influential technology conferences globally including Channel Partners, CRN, CompTIA, IT Nation, and Kaseya. Michelle serves as Chair Emeritus of Advancing Women in Technology for CompTIA, sat on the board of CRN’s Women of the Channel, is Co-Founder of Tech Worlds Half non-profit; a longstanding member of the National Women in Technology Group, and most recently serves as Florida Leader for Alliance of Channel Women. 

In her free time, she is a passionate advocate for Women, Diversity, and Inclusion in Technology and enjoys traveling the world with her husband Jay McBain and daughters Brooklyn and Cali with 85 countries and 6 continents to date, or spending time with her fur kids- Husky Auggie Doggy and Calico Kitten Luna Meow.

Conquer Local is presented by Vendasta. We have proudly served 5.5+ million local businesses through 60,000+ channel partners. Learn more about Vendasta and we can help your organization or learn more about Vendasta’s Affiliate Program and how our listeners (like yourself) are making up to $10,000 off referrals.

Are you an entrepreneur, salesperson, or marketer? Keep the learning going in the Conquer Local Academy.

Let’s discuss overcoming burnout with Rahaf Harfoush, a Digital Anthropologist and Best-Selling Author researching the impacts of emerging technologies on our society. Rahaf focuses on understanding the hidden behavioral shifts that are taking place as global digital infrastructures enable the unprecedented exchange of ideas, information, and opinions. She teaches “Innovation and Disruptive Business Models” at  SciencePo’s School of Management & Innovation in Paris. Her third book, “Hustle & Float: Reclaim Your Creativity in a World Obsessed with Work,” was published in February 2019.

Rahaf is the Executive Director of the Red Thread Institute of Digital Culture, leading a team of researchers in exploring the implications of the first global digital culture on how we live our lives. Rahaf is a member of the German Marshall Fund’s Young Transatlantic Network of Leaders. She was named a top future thinker by the Hay Literary Festival and a Young Global Changer at the G20 Think Tank Summit. In 2018, Rahaf was nominated as one of the most innovative people in France by the prestigious “Les Napoleons.”

Rahaf supports organizations in navigating our new constantly connected reality to strengthen their innovation, talent management, and foresight strategies to ensure they are on top of the latest trends and best practices. Her clients include Starwood Capital Group, Estée Lauder, L’Oreal, UNESCO, The OECD, Cross Knowledge, A1, ING Direct, EuroRSG, and more. Her other books include “The Decoded Company: Know Your Talent Better Than You Know Your Customers”, and “Yes We Did: An Insider’s look at how Social Media Built the Obama Brand.” Previously, she was the Associate Director of the Technology Pioneer Program at the World Economic Forum.

Conquer Local is presented by Vendasta. We have proudly served 5.5+ million local businesses through 60,000+ channel partners. Learn more about Vendasta and we can help your organization or learn more about Vendasta’s Affiliate Program and how our listeners (like yourself) are making up to $10,000 off referrals.

Are you an entrepreneur, salesperson, or marketer? Keep the learning going in the Conquer Local Academy.

Millennials have long entered the workforce, but have you considered the Gen Z buyer in your strategy?

George Leith is a lone wolf this week with an all-new Master Sales Series exploring the significance of compiling a strategy inclusive to Gen Z buyers. Join us as we dive deep to evaluate why businesses need to consider Gen Z buyers, a 5-step strategy to explore, and many more learnings for the future of markets.

Conquer Local is presented by Vendasta. We have proudly served 5.5+ million local businesses through 60,000+ channel partners. Learn more about Vendasta and we can help your organization or learn more about Vendasta’s Affiliate Program and how our listeners (like yourself) are making up to $10,000 off referrals.

Are you an entrepreneur, salesperson, or marketer? Keep the learning going in the Conquer Local Academy.

Explore the world of targeted TV ads and Digital Billboards with our guest, Gabriel Smith, Founder, and CEO of AdCritter, the small business advertising platform. As a nine-time small business owner himself, he deeply understands the challenges small businesses face, particularly with advertising. 

Gabriel is a leading advocate for the democratization of advertising ecosystems and the removal of ad tech access barriers. He has helped over three thousand small businesses advertise successfully, making it his life mission to see them win.

In our conversation, Gabriel highlights the Performance Marketing and Campaign duration traps and three core principles in how digital agencies should set their expectations to generate an engaging campaign over the long run.

Conquer Local is presented by Vendasta. We have proudly served 5.5+ million local businesses through 60,000+ channel partners. Learn more about Vendasta and we can help your organization or learn more about Vendasta’s Affiliate Program and how our listeners (like yourself) are making up to $10,000 off referrals.

Are you an entrepreneur, salesperson, or marketer? Keep the learning going in the Conquer Local Academy.

Why is systemization important for a company? Let’s find out by chatting with the Founder and Author of SYSTEMology, David Jenyns, to discuss steps to consider for an effective strategy to improve business processes - and why you should start immediately.

David’s entrepreneurial journey began in his early twenties when he sold Australia’s most beloved sporting venue, the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Since then, his business experience spanned from franchising retail clothing stores to founding one of Australia’s most trusted digital agencies, Melbourne SEO Services.

In 2016, he successfully systemized himself out of that business, hired a CEO, and stepped back from daily operations. Through this process, he became a systems devotee, founding SYSTEMology.

Today, his mission is to free all business owners worldwide from the daily operations of running their businesses. To achieve this, David spends most of his time supporting the growing community of certified SYSTEMologists as they help business owners implement SYSTEMology. He also delivers workshops, keynote addresses and hosts his popular podcast – Business Processes Simplified.

Conquer Local is presented by Vendasta. We have proudly served 5.5+ million local businesses through 60,000+ channel partners. Learn more about Vendasta and we can help your organization or learn more about Vendasta’s Affiliate Program and how our listeners (like yourself) are making up to $10,000 off referrals.

Are you an entrepreneur, salesperson, or marketer? Keep the learning going in the Conquer Local Academy.

On October 2022, Vendasta announced the acquisition of Yesware, a product assisting sales professionals in delivering positive buying experiences and building valuable relationships that customers deserve – making the process easier and more effective.

Join us to kick off the new season with Vendasta’s acquisition of Yesware. In this exclusive interview, George Leith chats with the former CEO of Yesware, and Vendasta’s Vice President of Growth, Joel Stevenson, to discuss the history of Yesware, the acquisition, the Hard Sell Podcast and Yesware’s tool for driving sales growth. 

Joel Stevenson is VP of Growth at Vendasta which acquired Yesware in 2022 where Joel was CEO. Prior to Yesware, Joel built Wayfair’s B2B business from scratch to $400 Million in annual revenue. He also ran Wayfair’s UK business and oversaw the FP&A function as Wayfair transitioned into a publicly traded company. Before Wayfair, Joel worked as a consultant at ZS Associates and spent the early part of his career in various sales roles. Joel has an MBA from Yale, attended the University of Illinois for undergrad, and has a goal of being #1 for humor endorsements on Linkedin.  

Conquer Local is presented by Vendasta. We have proudly served 5.5+ million local businesses through 60,000+ channel partners. Learn more about Vendasta and we can help your organization or learn more about Vendasta’s Affiliate Program and how our listeners (like yourself) are making up to $10,000 off referrals.

Are you an entrepreneur, salesperson, or marketer? Keep the learning going in the Conquer Local Academy.

2022 was a year of growth for Vendasta. For our last episode of season 5, we invite Vendasta's CEO and Co-Founder, Brendan King, to join George Leith for our annual Year in Review to discuss Artificial Intelligence Automation, Vendasta's 15 years, Yesware's acquisition, and many more. 

Brendan has been named a winner of Canada’s Most Admired CEO™ Award by Waterstone Human Capital. Tune in as Brendan looks to his crystal ball to highlight how new businesses could expand, the implementation and use of technology, and the growth of Vendasta's ecosystem using 3-steps.

Conquer Local is presented by Vendasta. We have proudly served 5.5+ million local businesses through 60,000+ channel partners, agencies, and enterprise-level organizations. Learn more about Vendasta, and we can help your organization or learn more about Vendasta’s Affiliate Program and how our listeners (like yourself) make up to $10,000 off referrals.

Are you an entrepreneur, salesperson, or marketer? Then, keep the learning going in the Conquer Local Academy.

Part 2 is now out!

Let’s continue the conversation with expert Paul Zikopoulos, the Vice President of IBM Skills Vitality and Enablement to explore AI fundamentals, job elimination or creation, using the cloud for storage, and the future of AI.

Paul is an award-winning professional writer & speaker who’s been consulted on AI & Big Data by the popular TV show “60 Minutes”. Paul’s been named to dozens of global Experts to Follow & Influencers lists, including Analytics Insight’s Top 100 Global AI & Big Data Influencers. Paul’s written 21 books - including The AI Ladder, Cloud without Compromise, and 3 ‘for Dummies’ titles - and over 360 articles during his accidental 28-year career as a data nerd. 

At IBM, Paul leads from the front, helping to shape the strategic direction in a ‘tech years are like dog years’ world for the IBM Technology Unit’s (all IBM software & hardware) sales, tech sales, and partner ecosystem learning journeys and upskilling programs.

Paul actively supports Women in Technology and is a seated board member for Women 2.0 - now called Switch which he became involved with after his tweet was mentioned on the TV show, The View. He’s the only and first male to win IBM Canada’s Women in Technology Ally of the Year award, and is at the forefront of general workplace inclusivity, completing an intensive D&I certificate at Cornell University. Lastly, Paul is a seated board member of Coding for Veterans and sits on the world-recognized Masters of Management Analytics & AI program boards at Canada’s prestigious Queen’s University.

Conquer Local is presented by Vendasta. We have proudly served 5.5+ million local businesses through 60,000+ channel partners, agencies, and enterprise-level organizations. Learn more about Vendasta, and we can help your organization or learn more about Vendasta’s Affiliate Program and how our listeners (like yourself) make up to $10,000 off referrals.

Are you an entrepreneur, salesperson, or marketer? Then, keep the learning going in the Conquer Local Academy.

Everyone’s biggest buzzword right now is Artificial Intelligence, but what is it really, and what does the future hold for AI?

Let’s find out in our 2-part episode as George Leith chats with expert Paul Zikopoulos, the Vice President of IBM Skills Vitality and Enablement to discuss fundamentals, ethics, and the future of AI.

Paul is an award-winning professional writer & speaker who’s been consulted on AI & Big Data by the popular TV show “60 Minutes”. Paul’s been named to dozens of global Experts to Follow & Influencers lists, including Analytics Insight’s Top 100 Global AI & Big Data Influencers. Paul’s written 21 books - including The AI Ladder, Cloud without Compromise, and 3 ‘for Dummies’ titles - and over 360 articles during his accidental 28-year career as a data nerd. 

At IBM, Paul leads from the front, helping to shape the strategic direction in a ‘tech years are like dog years’ world for the IBM Technology Unit’s (all IBM software & hardware) sales, tech sales, and partner ecosystem learning journeys and upskilling programs.

Paul actively supports Women in Technology and is a seated board member for Women 2.0 - now called Switch which he became involved with after his tweet was mentioned on the TV show, The View. He’s the only and first male to win IBM Canada’s Women in Technology Ally of the Year award, and is at the forefront of general workplace inclusivity, completing an intensive D&I certificate at Cornell University. Lastly, Paul is a seated board member of Coding for Veterans and sits on the world-recognized Masters of Management Analytics & AI program boards at Canada’s prestigious Queen’s University.

Conquer Local is presented by Vendasta. We have proudly served 5.5+ million local businesses through 60,000+ channel partners, agencies, and enterprise-level organizations. Learn more about Vendasta, and we can help your organization or learn more about Vendasta’s Affiliate Program and how our listeners (like yourself) make up to $10,000 off referrals.

Are you an entrepreneur, salesperson, or marketer? Then, keep the learning going in the Conquer Local Academy.

Tune in to an all-new episode as we feature David "Ledge" Ledgerwood. David is the Co-founder and Managing Partner at Add1Zero, a team of senior sales experts who provide lead-to-close execution for B2B services and tech companies ready to advance from founder-led sales to 7 digits of revenue.

David is a Startup revenue growth professional focusing on business development, and his career closes topped $34M, with an average deal size above $150K. He is the founder or early hire assisting multiple companies grow into the mid-7 figures, and an experienced podcast host and guest with more than 200 interviews hosting leaders from Microsoft, Auth0, Netflix, and Google.

 Conquer Local is presented by Vendasta. We have proudly served 5.5+ million local businesses through 60,000+ channel partners, agencies, and enterprise-level organizations. Learn more about Vendasta, and we can help your organization or learn more about Vendasta’s Affiliate Program and how our listeners (like yourself) make up to $10,000 off referrals.

Are you an entrepreneur, salesperson, or marketer? Then, keep the learning going in the Conquer Local Academy.