Get Your Message Heard

Ron Tite has been named one of the "Top 10 Creative Canadians" by Marketing Magazine, Ron has always blurred the lines between art and commerce. He has been an award-winning advertising Creative Director for some of the world's most respected brands including Air France, Evian, Fidelity, Hershey, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Intel, Microsoft, Volvo and many others. 

He is the Founder and CEO of Church+State, a Toronto-based marketing agency, Editor in Chief of The Business Casual, and Publisher of This is That Travel Guide to Canada – a best-selling, award-winning satirical book from the creators of CBC Radio's hit show, This Is That.  

He has written for a number of Television shows. Penned a children's book. Wrote, produced and performed the hit play, The Canadian Baby Bonus. And was Executive Producer & Host of the award-winning comedy show Monkey Toast. In demand as a speaker on disruption, innovation, creativity and content marketing, Ron speaks to leading organizations all over the world about "Think. Do. Say.", his own take on modern business. 

 

Juggling Multiple Roles 

Being in the public speaking business, Ron is used to being introduced by someone else, but when asked to introduce himself, Ron admits that it took him by surprise. 

"I used to proudly say I'm a comedian, or a comedian who works in advertising, or I'm a creative director… now there's just so many... I think I referred to myself as a plate spinner. You know those people who balance up to 20 plates and they just spin the plates? That's what I kinda do" 

Improvisation as a Way of Life 

That may sound like a wishy-washy way to describe himself to some, but that's exactly the best way to describe Ron. From doing stand-up comedy to shooting commercials to writing books and building businesses, Ron has tried more things than what the average person can probably dare imagine, and he attributes a part of it to the lessons he learned from his improvisation career. 

 "In improv, you don't know where the scene is going to go. When I started this business of Church + State, I didn't know where it was gonna go… I was really, really comfortable in just the iterative process and finding out where this thing goes." 

Expectations vs Reality 

When asked about what made him give up his previous career to start his own business, Ron replied with, "I wanted to change the way ad agencies approach clients' problems," which was a noble idea -- except for the fact that he didn't really know what to expect.  

He said he just knew that he would have to quit so he would be forced to reinvent himself and the way he does things, and it did work for a while. His public speaking business initially paid for the expenses of the agency until the time to pay employees their first salary came and he discovered that their company didn't have the funds to do that.  

Teachable Moment 

Ron said that this left him at a loss. He freely admits that he knew nothing about finances. In fact, he's well too aware of that fact that he was ready to shut the business down after six months if things didn't go well. 

He then relayed the story of how one of his first employees, after overhearing him discussing the problem with a colleague, offered not take on any salary for a few weeks while they were sorting things out. [Text Wrapping Break][Text Wrapping Break]This made him realized that the business was no longer just about him. He's always felt grateful to the people who wholeheartedly placed their trust on him, so it's now his responsibility to not let them down. 

The Rainbow After the Rain 

As a comedian, Ron has mastered the art of finding the positive side of everything -- including that of his initial business failures. When asked how he does this, he said that the key is honesty.  

Ron explains that people often get the impression that improv guys just come up with ideas on the spot all the time, but few know how much time and effort they can spend on rehearsing dialogues and rehashing them over and over again until they become suitable for the audience's consumption.  

Parting Advice for People Struggling in Their Chosen Paths 

"Never ignore the reality of the room." It will always be there for everyone to see anyway, so the sooner you acknowledge it, the sooner you will be able to find ways to fix it.  

Also, always try your best to explore additional options -- even the ones that you might not necessarily like. Opportunities rarely ever come knocking on your door so you have to seek them out. He's really grateful that he was  

Favorite Book 

Ron has many favorite books but there is one that he credits with changing his life, and it's John Irving's The Imaginary Girlfriend.  

It's basically the story of someone who was made to believe that he cannot do something because of his background and how he persevered to carve his own path in life -- a story that Ron said he connected with on a personal level as a former wrestler and a published author like John Irving himself. 

Resources 

If you wish to know more about Ron and his business, just head over to www.rontite.com or  

www.churchstate.co to see what he's been up to or to contact him for public speaking engagements. You're also more than welcome to stalk him on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Mike Ganino is a former Chief Operating Officer at one of the fastest growing fast casual brands and now leads his own training and consulting organization.  

Mike is also a leading expert on building a great restaurant and hospitality brand with innovative training and speaking on culture design, people systems, positive leadership, and branding. He has worked with a number of category leading brands like Pressed Juicery, Protein Bar, Yum! Brands, Potbelly Sandwich Shop, ChowNow, USFoods, and Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises. 

Today, he will tell us how he uses all these amazing experiences to help companies, leaders, and individual contributors embrace change, accelerate growth, and achieve breakthrough performance.  

 

It All Started With Improvisation 

His years in the ultra-competitive business industry has made Mike a master of improvisation; however, looking back, he said that his improvisation skills were probably developed even earlier than that -- back when he was a kid growing up in a low-income household where improvisation was not an option, but a necessary part of everyday life. 

Developing the Language 

Mike shares that he learned to figure out how to make the most of whatever he has at an early age -- eventually becoming so adept at it that people started approaching him for tips.  

The problem was, it's something that comes instinctively to him that he didn't even know how to explain it. That's until he stumbled upon a book that teaches what it calls the "Yes, And" mindset.  

The "Yes, And" Mindset 

Sometimes, we spend too much time worrying over how our words come across that we fail to connect with our audience. Mike said that's what adopting the "Yes, And" mindset fixed for him.  

Once he learned how to stop saying "No, I can't. That's not gonna work" and started saying "Yes, and? I'm listening" whenever something new comes up instead, opportunities he never thought were possible began opening up to him left and right. Those opportunities included public speaking. 

Telling Your Story 

Everyone wants to share their story, but not everyone wants to listen to other people's -- and that's why everyone keeps missing the point. 

To really know how you can make an impact on other people, Mike said that you need to listen to what they say.  Ask questions. Ask them what they think of you, how you have helped them, and what else you can do for them. Make adjustments if necessary.  

Sometimes, you won't even realize your own potential until someone points it out to you. 

Building Relationships 

If there's something that Mike has always been grateful for, it's that he made a lot of great partnerships and connections. He admits that he's always performed better when he works with a group, and this is why he's so passionate about helping organizations to truly connect with their members. 

Public Speaking Advice 

Mike often gets asked what advice he can give to people who want to get into public speaking, and he said that there are three things that you need to remember: Celebrity, Expertise, and Skills. You need to be able to make a name for yourself, and to do that, you need to show how good you are at solving problems, but not only that, you need to have the delivery skills to connect with your audience so you can show them what you can do.  

Favorite Book Recommendation 

Mike has always been very vocal of how the "Yes, And" mindset has impacted his life, and this why he highly recommends Kelly Leonard and Tom Yorton's "Yes, And: How Improvisation Reverses "No, But" Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration--Lessons from The Second City." 

Get in Touch With Mike 

If you have an event coming up and would like to know how Mike can help you, you can get in touch with him via his official website. While there, you can also check out testimonials from his previous clients to get an idea of what it's like to work with him. 

Kelly Roach is a highly sought after business growth strategist on a mission to help 1,000,000 entrepreneurs launch, monetize, and scale their dream business… without compromising their quality of life or going broke in the process.  

 From NFL Cheerleader to Fortune 500 exec and now million dollar mogul, Kelly is the author of the #1 international bestselling book, Unstoppable:9 Principles For Unlimited Success In Business And In Life, and the upcoming book, Bigger Than You: The Business Owner's Guide to Building an Unstoppable Dream Team (to be released October 2018)  

 Kelly has been featured in Inc, Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, Entrepreneur On Fire, ABC Good Day, and hundreds of podcasts, and today, I'm very pleased to announce that she'll be sitting down with us to tell her story from her early beginnings up to her future aspirations. 

Early Start 

Kelly was only in her 20s when she became a Senior Vice President running 17 different businesses with over 100 employees.  

She was a workaholic, and she was aware of it. She had the skills, she had the smarts, she had the experiences. Most importantly -- she was young. She had all the energy and time in the world to get what she wants. 

Shifting Gears 

According to Kelly, that changed when one of her first mentors sat her down for a talk. He told her that no matter how skilled she is, what she can do as an individual will never compare to what she can do if she focused on achieving results through other people by building a winning team. 

Being young, she was expectedly unconvinced. Later, she admits that she realized that how you see things in your 20's become different once you've reached your 30's and so on. 

Unexpected Challenges 

When she started her business, Kelly said that she was not prepared for how many failures she'd have to go through to succeed.  

While she has extensive experience managing large companies, Kelly admits that being in charge of one or two departments is a lot different from being responsible for everything -- and that's why you need systems and teams in place. 

Building a Team 

Organizations often start with one or two people, then eventually hire more staff as the business expands. This is the opposite of what she did, Kelly said.  

She said that building a team was on her mind from Day 1 -- even before she started her business. She wanted to make an impact on the world, and to be able to do that, she needed to focus on what she does best and leave the rest to her team. 

Establishing Trust 

Relinquishing control -- especially when the stakes are high -- can be difficult. The same thing went for Kelly. She said this is why she took time to fully train each member of her team until they're on the same level before they welcomed a new one aboard. 

Growth Mindset 

Kelly admits that things don't always work as planned, and sometimes you have to step back to evaluate what needs to be improved. 

That's one important lesson that they learned. That you don't have to generate new ideas all the time. Sometimes, you just need to find how to use what you already have to its full potential then nurture it as you move along. 

Passing the Knowledge 

 Kelly had to learn a lot of things the hard way -- but she's very grateful for that. One, because it helped make her team stronger and she's really grateful for their support, and two, because it put her in the position to be able to help other companies. 

 A lot of businesses -- even the bigger ones -- have no clear systems in place. This allows a lot of things to fall through the cracks -- and it's something that she can use her expertise on. 

 Favorite Book Recommendation 

 Kelly said she has read Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich a staggering 15 times. Needless to say, she highly recommends it. 

 Resources

 If you have a question or any message for Kelly, you can visit her official website at https://kellyroachcoaching.com/ or you can also join her Facebook group, Tribe of Unstoppables. They both give free training and other giveaways there so make sure you don't miss out. 

Kevin Breeding is a proven and seasoned executive coach and consultant, speaker, and author.   

Before he started his coaching business, he worked as the Director of Advertising at Walmart Stores, as a Partner in the Washington D.C. based Hutchinson Group, and as the Senior Vice President of the Emmy and Telly Award-winning Creative Producers Group. 

In today's episode, he will share how he transitioned from his former corporate career into being a much sought-after consultant who has worked in 53 countries and currently serving clients on five continents. 

Serendipitous Start 

A lot of people who wish to venture into the expertise space put a lot of thought into how they're going to put their services out there, but for Kevin, his start was more of a happy accident.  

He narrates how, when he was still working in the corporate world, people called him up to ask him to be their coach. It puzzled him why they would want that, so he initially tried to refer them to other people, until a good friend admonished him for turning away a business opportunity when it's right there knocking on his door.  

Guiding Principles 

When he first started his coaching business, Kevin admits that he had some reservations because he wasn't sure how effective he would be as a coach. So, he told himself that he'd take the offer if he can answer four questions:  

• Can he help his clients? 
• Can his efforts impact their business?  
• Will he enjoy doing it?  
• What value can he offer his clients from there going forward?  

To his pleasant surprise, he found his answers, and the rest is history. 

Setting Yourself Apart 

There are tons of people working in the expertise space, and another ton who are planning to venture into that world as well; however, Kevin believes that what sets him apart from others is that he can ask questions that other people dare not ask.  

People tend to put a clear boundary between professional and personal lives, but there are times when you just can't separate the two. Kevin acknowledges this, so instead of ignoring things that are obviously there, he tries to address them so both he and the client can trace the root of the problem together. 

Taking a Step Back 

Sometimes, the best way to help people is to let them sort things out on their own -- and according to Kevin, that can be one of the biggest challenges of being a coach.  

People are most receptive to being helped when they really need it, so what you can do is to wait for them to recognize that, then prepare a toolbox of options that can help them fix the areas that they need to address. 

Based on his experiences, relationships that start like this tend to last longer and grow stronger over time. 

Asking Questions 

A common misconception about people in the expertise space is that they know everything, when in fact, no one does -- even coaches.  

When Kevin started his coaching business, he had some general idea on how he's going to get it off the ground and how he's going to run it afterward, but he also thought of soliciting other people's ideas for good measure.  

That turned out to be a good idea because it helped him understand exactly what his target clients want, what they would be expecting from him, and how much they're willing to pay for it -- and he got it all from doing Facebook Lives which didn't really cost him anything. 

The Formula to Success 

When asked about the formula to success, Kevin responded, that the formula is that there is no formula. There's no single way to get things done and make it work for everyone, so you need to "try a bunch of stuff, keep what works, throw out the rest." 

Book Recommendation 

Kevin highly recommends Marshall Goldsmith's "What Got You Here Won't Get You There" for people who are stuck with a current dilemma and don't know how to move forward. His website, https://kevinbreeding.com/ also offers insights on how you can grow your business by changing your mindset via daily coaching lessons delivered through their Mindset Engine app. 

Mikael Dia is a digital marketing expert and founder of Funnelytics, a software company helping entrepreneurs and marketers convert traffic into more profit.  

 Passionate about helping entrepreneurs scale their business in a faster and more efficient way, Mikael developed a simple, visual tool to understand numbers at a glance in order to easily fix the holes and optimize what's working. 

 He used this very method to scale one of his businesses from $2,500 / month to $5,000 dollars per day in revenue, and he has helped countless clients grow at a similarly quick rate as well. Mikael has also grown his marketing agency, White Coat Digital to over a Million dollars in revenue in just 18 months.  

 Today, he will tell us how he did it and what he learned from the whole experience. 

 Take Things One Step at a Time 

 Sometimes people have a lot of great ideas, but they fail to take off because they're too afraid to take the first step. Mikael says don't be.  

 He actually admits that when he started his first business, everything was an experiment. He didn't really know what he was doing. Sometimes he would get results, sometimes he would not; however, focusing on every little win he would get kept him going and things became easier to figure out over time. 

 Don't Force Yourself to Be Like Other People 

 We all have our way of learning and doing things, so don't force yourself to be like other people to emulate their success.  

 Mikael said that when he was starting out, he turned to using different informational materials to figure out the things that he needed to do, but they didn't always work for him, so he had to do some things differently -- and that's when things started falling into place. 

 Understand the Fundamentals 

 We all want to make money -- that's why aspiring entrepreneurs venture into the business industry -- but Mikael said that if you really want your business to take off, you need to shift your focus from constantly chasing after the money to understanding the fundamentals of building a business.  

 Find out what your target customers really want, what they need, how you can help, and how you can get them to seek you out. 

Equip and Empower 

 No man is an island, and to be able to scale your business, you're going to need all the help that you can get. That's where some people fail, Mikael explained.  

 They focus on their personal expertise too much that they sometimes fail to recognize what valuable contributions other people can bring to the table; however, he said you can easily fix this by equipping and empowering.  

 Tell people where you need to be, then let them decide how they're going to reach it. 

 Don't Take Processes for Granted 

 Working on processes can be boring, especially if you have no natural inclination for it, but if you really want your business to succeed, Mikael says that you don't really have much of a choice.  

 Knowing your product and the message that you want to send out is a good start, but if you want to scale your business, you need to figure out how to get from Point A to Point B, then from Point B to Point C.  

 If this is something that is outside of your expertise, then you need to find someone who can put the pieces of the puzzle together for you. 

 Takeaway  

 Mikael said that if there's anything that he learned from his experiences, it is to learn how to roll with the punches. It's good to be prepared and have a clear goal of where you want to be, but things don't always go according to plan so you need to learn not only how to innovate, but also to delegate. Once you learned how to do that, it will be easier to figure things out as you go.  

 Recommendations 

 For more tips on how to build and scale businesses, Mikael recommends Michael Masterson's Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat. He also invites you to visit his website www.funnelytics.io and try out their free mapping tool to see how they can help you increase your website's conversion rates. 

A 34x best-selling author, speaker, and High-Performance Coach whose podcast was named by Inc Magazine as one of the Top 13 Business Shows in 2017, JV Crum III is the founder of the Conscious Millionaire and "High Performer Bootcamp.com." 

 Known for his LIVE On-Camera Trainings where he helps coaches and entrepreneurs find $50,000 or more in hidden revenues then develop steps to put it in the bank, JV will sit down with us today to share his story of what inspired him to start the Conscious Millionaire and the formula he developed to grow your business by making a difference. 

 Figuring Out What You Want 

 People tend to measure success in terms of tangible things, but JV says that there is something more to life than that. He goes on to share how despite his business success, he felt that something was amiss -- and that he needed to figure out what that something was.  

 Keeping Things Simple 

 JV admits figuring that out didn't come easy. In fact, it took him years, but after a heart attack scare forced him to take a break and gave him plenty of time to think about things, he discovered that the answer was there all along. He just needed to stop making things overly complicated and focus on following his gut instead. 

 Making an Impact 

 "How do I make a bigger impact in life?" After recovering from heart attack, JV recalls how this became the nagging thought inside his head and how this inspired him to start the Conscious Millionaire. 

 Shifting Your Mindset to Achieve More in Life 

 In order to bring changes in your life, you need to change your mindset first.  

 JV admits that he initially met a lot of resistance when he first shared his philosophy of growing your business by making a difference, but how his methodical approach to things and changes in the market brought upon by newer technologies helped him convert non-believers into supporters. 

 Using a Tried and Tested Formula 

 JV says that everyone has their own experiences and these can affect how they view things and how they go about achieving their goals. 

 Still, he emphasizes that there are nine, universal steps that can help you maximize the amount of impact that you can make regardless of your background and personal beliefs, and he covers each of those here in brief. 

More Tips on How to Achieve Financial Success by Making an Impact 

 If you want more tips on how to grow your business by making an impact, JV's the Conscious Millionaire podcast has a staggering 1,500 episodes that can help you get started. Visit his website today or subscribe on iTunes to stay updated on the latest episodes. 

  Sean Douglas is a U.S. Air Force veteran, TEDx speaker, Master Resilience Implementer, Suicide Awareness trainer, Performance Enhancement expert, international radio show host, and author.   Considered an"Iconof Influence in the New Media Space," Sean hosts the popular live online radio show, Life Transformation Radio which is heard in over 58 countries and has thousands of weekly listeners.   His journey to get to where he is now was not short and straightforward, though, and today, he will share with us how, from rock bottom, he climbed his way out of the darkest moment in his life--unlocking his true potential in the process.   Find Your Voice   Contrary to what you'd expect from a speaker, Sean shares that he was not born outspoken. In fact, he bottled up a lot of things while growing up. It wasn't until he joined the Air Force and became a drill instructor that he realized that he has a lot of things to say, and he credits that experience with awakening his passion for speaking and training.   Find Your Why   Sean mentions that people who want to become public speakers often ask him how to get booked for a gig. He said that this is a good question, but the better one should be:"Whyshould I speak to other people?" Ask yourself what message you want to send out and what you want the people who received them to do afterward.   Simplify   Sometimes, we get so consumed with projecting the right image or thinking about the right things to say that the message that we are trying to convey get lost along the way. Sean understands this, but he encourages people to keep things simple."Letthe mess of your life be the message and the tests that you've gone through be your testimony."   Never Give Up   Sean has come a long way from that dark period in his life when he used to abuse alcohol and made a suicide attempt, but he's quick to emphasize that his life is not a success story.   He admits that he still struggles with a lot of things; however, what makes his story different from others' is that whenever he encounters difficulties, he doesn't give up; he gets pissed--and it gives him the determination to keep trying and trying.   Stop Comparing Yourself With Other People   We all have someone that we look up to, even him, according to Sean; however, he cautions us to stop comparing ourselves with other people because we are walking down different paths. If we keep on counting other people's blessings, we might end up losing sight of ours.   Adopt an Attitude of Gratitude   "Every moment is a teachable moment," Sean says. That's why it's up to us to find meaning in the things that happen to us no matter what they may be."Ifyou have an attitude of gratitude, you start to see the blessings in everything."   Unlock Your True Potential   Sean co-runs The Success Corps where he and his teammates offer life transformation skills and business strategies to millennials up to 50-year-old professionals, military veterans, speakers, entrepreneurs, and business owners. Email him at [email protected]to join them today.

For nearly 30 years, Jeff Brown has been earning his living behind a microphone; first as an award-winning broadcaster, and now as a successful podcaster, consultant, and speaker.

In 2013, Jeff launched the Read to Lead Podcast, a three-time Best Business Podcast nominee, featuring interviews with today's best business book authors including, Dr. Henry Cloud, Seth Godin, John Maxwell, Gary Vaynerchuk, Simon Sinek, Chris Brogan, Brian Tracy, Dan Miller, and over 100 more.

Jeff and his work have been featured in Inc., Entrepreneur, and Hubspot, the blogs of Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, Jeff Goins and Social Media Explorer, as well as publications like The Nashville Business Journal, The Tennessean, and over 100 other blogs and podcasts.

 

Resources from Jeff

Visit his website: www.readtoleadpodcast.com  Join his Book Club: readtoleaduniversity.com  Find out about his Mastermind Group: www.zoneofgenius.net

Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast!

Check out my website at www.michaelhudson.com 

Esther "Pinky" Kiss is the founder of Born To Influence, a boutique publicity firm specializing in helping experts and personal brands get more publicity, leads and sales. Her clients have been featured on TV, in newspapers, magazines and on some of the top podcasts in the world, resulting in millions of dollars in additional sales.

Esther has worked on campaigns in a variety of industries from SaaS products, mobile apps and digital information products to New York Times and othernational bestseller book launches to philanthropic projects and she's the creator of the popular course Publicity Empire, where she teaches entrepreneurs how to get interview opportunities in the media.

She's also the producer and host of Born To Influence: The Marketing Show, where she interviews highly successful entrepreneurs and New York Times bestselling about their publicity and marketing strategies.

Get your free media positioning checklist: www.borntoinfluence.com/checklist

Click Subscribe, Rate, and Review the show 

Jeffrey Shaw is host of the popular business podcast Creative Warriors, a featured storyteller on The Moth, and a nationally acclaimed keynote speaker at creative and business conferences. For more than three decades, Jeffrey has been one of the most sought-after portrait photographers in the U.S., photographing the families of such notables as Tom Seaver, Pat Riley, David Bloom, Stephanie Seymour, and C-Suite executives from Twitter, Anheuser Busch, 3M, as well as Wall Street leaders too many to mention. His portraits have appeared on the Oprah Show, in People magazine, O Magazine, and others.

Having a keen eye isn't just for what one sees, but also for what one senses. Jeffrey Shaw, a.k.a. the Lingo Guy, uses this honed intuition developed as a photographer to teach entrepreneurs how to attract their ideal customers by speaking their Secret Language. He's the author of the book, LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer's Secret

Language and Make Your Business Irresistible.

Jeffrey is the father of three adult children and resides with his two dogs in Miami Beach