Onward Nation

Yann Ilunga is a podcasting consultant and the host of four podcasts. His latest show, The Podcaster Lab, teaches and discusses podcasting with a brand new approach. Dubbed as a "Podcasting Advocate" by Forbes, Yann is also the founder of the Podcast Success Academy and the creator of what has become the world's biggest virtual summit for podcasters: The Podcast Success Summit.

• How hosting your own podcast can help express yourself
• How you can build a business around podcasting
• How having a podcast can help build your existing business
• Having your own podcast to help connect to clients in a more human way
• Why podcasting is a marathon and not a sprint
• Why it is necessary to be flexible and willing to pivot and change if necessary
• Not letting fear or self-doubt keep you from having a podcast
• How to leverage your podcast as an asset for your business
• The importance of focusing on building your own community for your podcast
• How being strategic with your time and money can help build your podcast audience

• Website: www.yannilunga.com
• Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/PodcastGrowthMastermind

Isaac Lidsky is the New York Times best-selling author of "Eyes Wide Open: Overcoming Obstacles and Recognizing Opportunities in a World That Can't See Clearly." Diagnosed with a blinding eye disease when he was 13 years old, Isaac slowly lost his sight over the next 12 years. He graduated from Harvard at age 19 with a degree in mathematics and computer science; founded an Internet startup that later sold for $230 million; and became the only blind person to clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court when he worked for Justices Sandra Day O'connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

• The power of the mind to shape and create the reality that we experience
• The importance of challenging assumptions
• How we have the power to choose the life we are going to live
• Why fear is one of the biggest obstacles keeping you from living the life you want
• Why many times what you are perceiving as truth or being out of your control really isn't
• How being honest, transparent, and accountable to yourself are keys to success
• The importance of having your own definition of success
• Why building the life you want for yourself has to come from you
• How we grow from our challenges
• Why performing effectively as a team is a key strategy to success

• Website: www.lidsky.com
• Book: "Eyes Wide Open: Overcoming Obstacles and Recognizing Opportunities in a World That Can't See Clearly"

Aaron Hendon is one of the top real estate agents in Seattle, Washington. He and his team bring together a diverse background and history, including transformational leadership, entrepreneurial start-ups, and consistently outperforming the local market, selling homes for over 5 percent more than the local market average. He founded a New York bagel shop in 1989 and 9 years later — sold it with a gross revenue of over $1 million annually. Aaron is currently at work on his next book entitled, "Short Changed by Short Cuts: 44 Surprising Ways People Rip Themselves Off When Buying or Selling Their Home."

• Hiring the right people that will assist in making sound business decisions
• The importance of creating a system of accountability
• The value of reading and learning about the Profit First System
• Why Aaron wrote his latest book, "Short Changed by Short Cuts"
• One way people short change themselves when buying or selling their home
• Why consistency is a critical skill to master
• The power of outworking the competition
• How seeing employees through their view will change how you treat them
• The importance of being true to yourself and having integrity
• The degree of which you can listen to people from where they are is the degree that you can be a contribution to the world

• Email: [email protected]

Craig Ballantyne is the author of "The Perfect Day Formula: How to Own the Day and Control Your Life". He discovered The 5 Pillars of Success, which he used to overcome his crippling anxiety attacks, and today, shows men and women how to use the 5 Pillars to overcome any obstacle in their way. You may remember Craig and the wisdom he shared during Episode 264. If you haven't listened to, studied, and applied all he shared during our first interview…I highly encourage you to add Episode 264 to your list of vital priorities.

• Why Craig built the Work-Life Mastery program
• How striving for work-life balance causes business owners anxiety
• The importance of building a better vision for yourself and setting the bar higher
• How to enjoy work and make an impact on the world guilt free
• The benefits of tackling your hardest or least desirable project first thing in the morning
• The importance of using all the media channels available to you
• What Craig defines as the four values of success
• Why you should tell positive people around you what you want to achieve
• How to attract, recruit, hire and surround yourself with "A players"
• Building a better platform by stepping back and asking what is going to work best for your business

• Instagram: @realcraigballantyne
• Email: [email protected]

Rich Sheridan is the CEO and co-founder of Menlo Innovations and author of "Joy, Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love". His company was founded with the purpose of bringing joy to the world through software and to teach this method to others. Rich spends the majority of his time sharing the "Menlo Way" through teaching classes, leading tours, speaking at conferences and mentoring entrepreneurs in the community. You may remember Rich and the wisdom he shared during Episodes 37 and 286. If you haven't listened to, studied, and applied all he shared during our other interviews...I highly encourage you to add Episodes 37 and 286 to your list of vital priorities.

• The benefits of focusing on leaders, rather than bosses
• The outcomes of having a leadership model versus a hierarchical model
• How the culture of Menlo is shared openly
• The importance of being flexible and adaptable to change
• How you can learn and grow by being willing to challenge assumptions
• Why creating joy within your organization should be one of the more important things to be thinking about
• The importance of being intentional about the culture within your organization
• The power of asking "who do we serve and what would delight look like for them"
• The benefits of servant leadership
• How to build the energy of a team

• Website: www.menloinnovations.com
• Book: Joy, Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love

Les Trachtman is the CEO of The Trachtman Group, focusing on helping companies grow and scale, as well as managing director of "Purview", an early stage company focused on disrupting the medical imaging business. For the past two decades, he has taught and lectured at numerous universities across the country, including the Harvard Business School and the MIT Sloan School of Business. A portion of Les' career is chronicled in the Harvard Business School case study: "Les is More Times Four", which educates entrepreneurs at leading business schools.

• The importance of having a succession plan for your business
• How far into the future you should be looking into a business succession plan
• Why identifying the truth in an organization is important
• How celebrating mistakes leads to learning opportunities
• The importance making employees feel safe to voice thoughts and opinions
• Why choosing the right individuals to hire is vital to your business's success
• How picking the right customers leads to great client relationships long-term
• Why delegation is the most critical skill to master
• Having confidence in yourself knowing what you are doing is making a difference
• One of the keys to success as a leader is being a great communicator

• Website: www.foundertransitions.com

AJ Wilcox is a LinkedIn ads pro who founded B2Linked.com, an agency that specializes in account management and consulting with LinkedIn Ads. He is globally recognized as one of the top LinkedIn ads experts and speaks, trains, presents, and manages advertising campaigns for executives and teams around the world. And his agency recently became a Certified LinkedIn Partner.

• The benefits of using LinkedIn paid ads to generate leads for your business
• Determining if LinkedIn ads are the right fit for your company
• The two different channels of digital marketing
• How to use account based marketing to target customers
• Why you should approach any social channel with a thought towards audience, messaging and offer (AMO)
• Lead costs and quality comparison between LinkedIn and Facebook
• How the traditional model of selling is changing in the digital age
• How overcoming your fear of failure can lead to success
• The importance of testing your product in the marketplace
• Why understanding your customers needs is vital to your success

• Website: www.b2linked.com

Josh Tickell is an award winning film director and bestselling author. His films and books focus on critical issues including the need for alternative energy, reversing climate change, and the power of Millennials to change the world. He co-directed the film "GOOD FORTUNE", the rags to riches story of Paul Mitchell and Patron cofounder, John Paul DeJoria. He regularly films and interviews luminaries such as Elon Musk, Woody Harrelson, and Sheryl Crow. Josh has been a guest on The Tonight Show, Good Morning America, Morning Joe, and The Today Show. His new book, "Kiss the Ground" with a foreword by Whole Foods Founder, John Mackey, hits store shelves in November.

• How cynicism can be destructive, caustic, and contagious
• The importance of turning a negative situation into a positive
• What the B Corp classification model is
• Becoming a better business by taking care of the people who are taking care of you
• What the fundamental resource of our economy is
• How soil has the power to reverse climate change
• How pesticides kill the nutrients in soil
• Why the food pyramid has become outdated
• Why reading "Kiss the Ground" will challenge your assumptions regarding our food system
• How regenerative agriculture is going to bring a huge change and profit to agriculture and food in the future

• Website: www.joshtickell.com
• Website: www.kissthegroundthebook.com
• Book: Kiss the Ground: How the Food You Eat Can Reverse Climate Change, Heal Your Body & Ultimately Save Our World

Our special encore guest today is Anne Deeter Gallaher and she is the Owner and CEO of Deeter Gallaher Group, a marketing, public relations, and digital media firm. She is the co-author of the book, "Students in High Gear: A Guide for Students and Aspiring Game Changers in Transition from College to Career" -- and -- "Women in High Gear: A Guide for Entrepreneurs, On-Rampers, and Aspiring Executives". You may remember Anne and the wisdom she shared during Episode 316. If you haven't listened to, studied, and applied all she shared during our first interview...I highly encourage you to add Episode 316 to your list of vital priorities.

• The importance of being gracious and kind to everyone you come in contact with
• Being aware that your business holds the key to controlling its own brand and content
• The need to control your personal brand in addition to your businesses brand
• Why being honest and not just telling your clients what they want to hear is important
• The importance of knowing how your business is being presented online
• What it means to be "high gear"
• Why success means something different to each person depending on the stage they are in
• How hiring employees with different skill sets than your own leads to success
• The steps needed to build your platform
• Why you need to surround yourself with people who will challenge you

• Website: www.deetergallahergroup.com
• Twitter: @annedgallaher
• Book: "The Future Belongs to Students in High Gear: A Guide for Students and Aspiring Game Changers in Transition from College to Career"
• Book: "Women in High Gear: A Guide for Entrepreneurs, On-Rampers, and Aspiring Executives"

Ava Kaufman has the heart of a 17-year-old boy…literally. Just a few years ago, she was a successful businesswoman in Los Angeles, but after being diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder, life changed dramatically. She lost everything. After going through a heart transplant, Ava founded a nonprofit called "Ava's Heart Foundation" which provides resources and case management to organ transplant patients and their families – filling a critical void in the healthcare system.

• The importance of living in the moment
• Why it's important to celebrate all the stakeholders in a project
• Why donors and recipients have two different sets of emotions
• How Ava's Heart is meeting a financial gap for organ recipients
• How Ava's Heart provides education and resources to both donors and recipients
• The goal of Ava's Heart: to become the go-to foundation for both donor and recipient families
• How sometimes businesses are formed out of great tragedy and then go on to serve a great purpose
• The importance of setting goals within your organization
• Why marketing and strategy are vital to a nonprofit's success
• When forming a nonprofit, treating it as a business to ensure an easier path to success

• Website: www.avasheart.org
• Email: [email protected]