Yes, we’re in the midst of coronavirus chaos. Yes, we’re in a recession. In today’s episode, Curt challenges you to snap out of survival mode and go into THRIVE mode.

Are you up to the challenge?

In today’s episode, Curt Mercadante interviews hall of fame keynote speaker, bestselling author, and former NBA basketball player Walter Bond about how to keep a “shark mindset” amidst the coronavirus turbulence.

“If you don't really know what your purpose is, if you're not really locked into your career, and I'm not talking about just a job,” said Bond. “If you don't know what your purpose is, you're going to be unstable right now. You're going to be, "Uh-oh, my money making opportunity is gone. Now what do I do?" Go find your purpose.”

Listen to the full episode to learn more.

“You’re told it (your career search) is a numbers game. Everyone thinks they have to run their job hunt like this soul-sucking process where it’s ‘spray-and-pray.’” -- Issac Morehouse

Curt Mercadante interviews Isaac Morehouse, founder of Crash -- a career launch platform that’s disrupting the job search industry by empowering individuals to brand and sell their impact.

In today’s episode, Curt and Isaac discuss the Crash platform and how it can empower you to “crash” your career.

“You can build a brand that is more valuable than anything you can buy at a university,” said Isaac. “It’s not about whether or not you have a degree or whether you have these credentials. It’s about realizing that you can be so much more than that. And then you will not only win the opportunities you want, but something amazing happens: You start to build a body of work, you start to create value, and opportunities start to find you.”

Listen to today’s episode to learn more.

How can you gain the sales edge in the current "coronavirus" economic climate?

Is it appropriate to sell right now?

Should we waiver from our product offerings, or stay the course?

The economic impact of the coronavirus has many wondering if and how they can sell their products or services.

Freedom Media Network host Curt Mercadante discusses all this and more with sales trainer Joe Pici in this episode, taken from a live interview conducted last week.

"What keeps me centered is every day I stay in my process and in my skills," said Pici. "And whether there's a coronavirus or no virus, getting that competitive edge, it starts here (pointing to his head)."

Ranked by Global Guru’s as the Top Sales Guru for 2020, is a strategist for top sales professionals and a coach specializing in results-driven sales training. He is COO and co-founder of Pici & Pici, Inc. and co-author of the book, "Sell Naked on the Phone."

Whether in times of crisis or not, Pici said he follows a process of daily lead generation and making 150 outbound calls every month.

To contact Joe Pici, text SALESEDGE to 55678.

The STARTedUP Foundation, an Indianapolis, Indiana-based educational innovation foundation, announced this week that it's making available free digital curriculum in the wake of widespread coronavirus school closures.

In today’s episode, Curt Mercadante interviews Don Wettrick, president and CEO of the foundation.

 "What an opportunity we have. A lot of people, millions of students are going to have downtime and my fear was that they were just going to get on TikTok and watch 18 different people dance renegade the same damn way and the same damn time," said Don Wettrick, president of the foundation. "So instead I wanted to like, 'Hey, might you be introduced to a new way of thinking? Might you be introduced to some skills that we have kind of worked on and refined over the last five, six years in our class?' 

"And so yeah, in design thinking I had empathy for our end-user, which is either parents, teachers or students. And we decided to kind of give an abbreviated version of our class."

Listen to the full episode to learn more.

Get the curriculum: https://startedupfoundation.org/oae

Curt Mercadante interviews Isaac Morehouse, founder of Crash -- a career launch platform that’s disrupting the job search industry by empowering individuals to brand and sell their impact.

In today’s episode, Curt asks Isaac what the word “freedom” means to him. 

“Freedom, to me, is the freedom to choose your own challenge,” said Isaac. “Because it's not freedom from difficulty or freedom from struggle or hard work, but it's the freedom to choose the hard work that you're doing and the struggles and the challenges that you face. 

“You're always going to face those, and that can mean something as small as you're in a situation that you feel you don't want to be in, knowing that you were the one who chose to put yourself there. If you can't immediately get out, at least saying no one else is responsible for this, I am. 

“But if you can, once you realize you're responsible, you often start to find all these creative ways that you can exit the situation, if not immediately, soon. 

“And so I think constantly reminding yourself, I get to choose my own challenges. I don't get to choose a life that's free of challenges, because that's like death. That's not living. But I get to choose my challenges. That's what freedom is to me.”

Listen to today’s episode to learn more.

And learn more about Crash: http://Crash.co.

$250 million to produce and star in films that garner as low as 0% on Rotten Tomatoes?

“Yes, please,” says Netflix, recently inking another deal with actor/producer Adam Sandler for another four films, following the success of his initial $250 million, four-film deal.

This may seem like a bad deal for Netflix, until you realize that Sandler’s latest movie, Murder Mystery, was the most-watched movie on the streaming service in 2019, despite its 44% Rotten Tomatoes score. Back in 2015, Sandler’s movie, The Ridiculous 6, became Netflix’s most-watched movie ever, despite its 0% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Is the lesson here that we should produce low-quality content in order to attract a bigger audience and more money? Of course not.

In today’s episode, Curt Mercadante discusses the two lessons we can learn from Netflix: 1) Focus on the audiences that matter, and 2) Don’t be afraid of becoming an acquired taste.

If Netflix can utilize our online behaviors to entice us to watch certain movies, and companies can do the same to use digital ads to influence our purchasing behaviors of everything from diapers to dog food – can a foreign government track and weaponize our data to influence our moods, emotions, and voting behavior?

The fact is, we know all three of those examples are happening.

In a recent episode of this podcast, Curt Mercadante interviewed retired Air Force Brigadier General Robert Spalding. In addition to being a 26-year veteran of the Air Force, where he flew the B2 stealth fighter, he is the former director of strategic planning to the president for the National Security Council and China strategist for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Currently a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute, Spalding recently authored the book, Stealth War: How China Took Over While America’s Enemies Slept.

In his book, Gen. Spalding discusses the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) quest for control of the personal data of not only its citizens – but also of citizens in other sovereign countries, including the United States. The CCP has deployed facial recognition cameras and software on a mass scale in its own country, and uses it to track, influence and, yes, punish, behavior by its own citizens.

Why should we care if the CCP, for example, has your data or your “face” on file?

As Curt discusses in today’s episode, we already know behaviorally-driven advertising can be used to influence our purchasing and voting behaviors. 

What if a foreign government can do the same?

Is the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attempting to weaponize the 5G telecom network?

Brigadier General Robert Spalding, USAF (Ret.) left his post as director of strategic planning to the president for the National Security Council after a furor caused by his warnings over the security of Americans’ online data.

A 26 year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Gen. Spalding also previously served as China strategist to the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and pilot of the B2 stealth aircraft.

Specifically, Gen. Spalding raised concerns over the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) efforts to hack or otherwise obtain the private data of American citizens. His concerns centered on the construction of the 5G telecom network in the United States. 

As he explains in his book, “Stealth War: How the Chinese Took Over While America’s Elite Slept,” 5G is one hundred times faster than 4G. It can be used to power an aggressive facial recognition program, which already has been deployed in China for several years.

His concerns centered on the protection of that private online data here in the United States. 

Listen to the full episode to learn more.

Do you have a morning routine? Or do you think you don’t have enough time to put one in place?

Or is your “routine” little more than habits squeezed in between stress-fueled morning alarms, coffee chugs, and rush hour drama.

Sorry, that’s not a routine, it’s self-mutilation.

A morning routine should allow you to ground yourself, be mindful, and fill you with energy for your day. And, yes, it means you have to wake up earlier in the day, which means you need to go to bed earlier. A good day starts the night before, because it includes 7-8 hours of deep, restful sleep. If you’re someone who thinks you “function just fine” on 5-6 hours, you’re kidding yourself. But that’s a topic for a different post.

In today’s post, Curt Mercadante shares the six-step routine he does each morning to set his day up for abundance and success.