Dropping Bombs

Dan Fleyshman, the youngest founder of a publicly traded company in history, joins Brad for the 95th episode of Dropping Bombs. How did Dan rocket to success at such an early age?

In high school, worked 3 different jobs to save up money to start a company of his own. Dan leveraged that money to trademark the phrase "Who's your daddy?" for 300 different products, then licensed it out for 9.5 million to Starter Apparel. After spending a few years selling clothing to department stores, he started a poker site and continued to rake in the cash.

But everything came to a screeching halt when the US government put a ban on online poker. In this Dropping Bombs, you'll learn how Dan Fleyshman persevered when all his competitors crashed and burned.

Entrepreneur, investor, and award-winning speaker Cole Hatter is the guest for our 94th episode of the Dropping Bombs Podcast. Brad chatted with Cole about a wide range of topics related to making your money matter. Cole knows a thing or two about building 'for purpose' businesses that build more than his bank account—Cole and his wife have founded an orphanage in Mexico and have worked with other philanthropic organizations around the world. Brad and Cole talked about:

• Why happiness depends on making your money matter--not just making money.
• How you can live your dream life guilt-free by sharing the abundance with others.
• That you can't help others if it takes your full-time effort to stay afloat.
• How to pursue wealth, not as a defining characteristic of who you are, but by what it allows you to do going forward.
• Why sales can be the foundation of all your success. You'll never find a come-up story that doesn't start with some sort of selling.
• Why it's important to ask yourself, "What do you want to solve in this world?"
• How, with the right knowledge, anyone can succeed.
• That influence matters. You might not be able to give a million dollars. But, if you can influence one million people to give one-dollar each, you can create the same amount of good.

Brad also spoke with Cole about "Thrive: How to Build a 'For Purpose' Business," an event founded by Cole to help entrepreneurs do just that. Brad will be speaking at this year's Thrive event and invites all the members of the Bomb Squad to save 30% on their tickets by using the code TRBL at checkout.

It takes talent, drive, and determination to make a champion player. What makes a champion team? That's the question Brad asks Coach Jamy Bechler, a basketball coach turned professional consultant who helps organizations of any size rebound from a bad patch.

With Brad having just recently revamped the LightSpeed VT vision statement to gear up for his company's hiring spree, Coach's timing couldn't be better. After all, who doesn't like working with a clean slate?

While Brad's purpose for the future couldn't be clearer, he's still got some lingering concerns about how to coach current employees into greatness. "What do I do if someone's a great fit, but they don't have the talent for a certain position?" he asks Jamy.

"Look," Jamy replies, "you're in the people business. It's important to stop giving those team members chances to do better, and start teaching them how they can."

Tune in to hear Coach Jamy Bechler and Brad Lea in this episode with more bombs on running a business than we've ever had before. If you're in a leadership position, get ready to have your mind blown!

"If you can control what people see about your brand, then you can control what they think about you," says Ulyses Osuna.

But, how does an entrepreneur in the early stages of their business strike go about controlling their image during a stage when any press is seen as good press?

The smart ones bring in help, such as public relations guru Ulyses Osuna.

Self-described as the number-one public relations expert in the US, Ulyses states that million-dollar companies look to him for advice — an impressive claim since, at a fresh-faced 20 years old, Ulyses can't even buy himself a beer to celebrate a big win.

Eager to put Ulyses' knowledge to the test, Brad asked the influencer for one hack that could help anyone, at any stage of building their personal brand… and he delivered!

Tune in to check out Ulyses' three steps to gaining authority as a Subject Matter Authority that are so useful, even Brad was jumping to put them into play.

How to build the best possible teams and then, how to help those teams beat out the neighborhood competition? Those are the two questions Kress Johnson, Co-Founder of Evolve Pest Control, faces every time he and his crew of salespeople pound pavement.

Kress is convinced his pest control service is the best on the block. Not just because of Evolve's operational standards, but because of the staff that defines their brand.

"We want to build the best team possible," he says. "Whether they stay with us or use Evolve as a stepping stone, they can come here, have a positive experience, make money, and become better people."

Despite Evolve Pest Control sounding like an entry-level sales person's paradise, their turnover is hovering somewhere between sixty to seventy-percent. Kress is convinced he can find a way to help his new hires develop the same passion and work ethic he has. But, Brad suspects the issue might be something else entirely.

So, what's the problem? Join us on the ninety-first episode of Dropping Bombs to find out!

Brad's guest today is Faisal Sublaban. Known as the Hotel Boss, Faisal doesn't run a hotel — he rates them, sending hordes of followers to stay at the locations that leave him impressed.

So, how does someone who doesn't own a hotel become known as the "hotel boss"? According to Faisal, the only thing you need for success is an entrepreneurial spirit.

"Sales can make up for any number of shortcomings," agrees Brad. "Not even leadership — nothing's as important as sales."

In this episode of Dropping Bombs, Brad and Faisal take turns sharing how they overcame their shortcomings and unexpected challenges on the road to achieving success. Rule number one? Knowledge is great, but you've got to put it into action.