Onward Nation

Mike Smith is the author of "THE NATIVE ADVERTISING ADVANTAGE" and senior vice president of revenue platforms and operations for Hearst Magazine's Digital Media and senior vice president of advertising platforms for Hearst's Core Audience. He is responsible for digital media revenue platforms, including the company's programmatic sales engineering efforts through the Hearst Exchange, the company's auction system for selling advertising on its hundreds of websites. His previous book, "Targeted", was named one of the "Top 6 Business Books to Read" by Inc.com and won the Axiom Gold Medal Award for best advertising / marketing book for 2015.

• An important innovation that will affect advertising for a long time
• The two big categories of digital advertising
• How native advertising was designed to 'fit in'
• Using Franklin Covey's system and tools to stay organized and focused
• Daily habits that contribute to Mike's success and effectiveness
• Valuable lessons that Mike learned from some of his mentors, including the late Dr. Stephen Covey
• Having a business strategy in place that is very product and customer focused
• The importance of hiring effective people
• Having a prudent financial strategy and course correcting as needed
• Globalizing your network

• Facebook: www.facebook.com/mikesmithblog
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/msmith99
• Twitter: @msmith
• Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Craig Cody is a Certified Tax Coach and the owner of the New York City based accounting firm, Craig Cody & Company. Craig belongs to a select group of tax practitioners who've undergone extensive training and continued education on various tax planning techniques and strategies. Craig is passionate about helping business owners understand the difference between tax planning — and tax paying — by helping them save significant money. Craig is also the co-author of the Amazon bestseller, "Secrets of a Tax Free Life." You may remember Craig and the wisdom he shared during Episode 178. If you haven't listened to, studied, and applied all Craig shared during our first interview…I highly encourage you to add Episode 178 to your list of vital priorities.

• What Craig has been up to and has coming up in the next 12 months
• How Craig defines success
• Strategies to use to help you get past your fears
• What makes an A-player an A-player
• What the hardest hire is for any business owner
• Remembering how you got to where you are and how to get others to the same point
• Game plan to extend your platform and build thought leadership
• Expensive mistakes to avoid as a business owner
• Why Craig strongly believes in starting a podcast
• Why you need to always be marketing
• Using CPA's and accountants as allies to move your business forward

• Website: www.craigcodyandcompany.com
• Phone: 516-869-4051
• Free Book: "The 10 Most Expensive Tax Mistakes That Cost Business Owners Thousands"

Lou Diamond is a master at putting great people in touch with other great people. He has over 25-years of experience in sales, relationship management, business development and executive coaching. Lou's authenticity, energy, and enthusiasm, along with his unwavering passion and desire for helping people achieve their dreams, is unmatched. He has been a top producer at every firm he's ever worked, has led teams at Accenture, Deloitte, Omnicom, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America to achieve record revenues year after year. And he is now the Founder & CEO of THRIVE, a leading consulting and coaching company focused on making the most incredible leaders and top performers even more amazing.

• How sales is the result of what we do – not the process
• The events that led up to Lou writing his book "Master the Art of Connecting"
• Why a portion of your day always needs to be focused on business development
• Making sure that your target sees the value in the service or product that you're providing
• Why picking the right client is just as important as saying no to the wrong ones
• Mastering the skill of connecting to manage & grow your business
• Why you need to focus on getting to 'no' faster
• Having a structured game plan when you're first starting out
• Identifying who you will connect with that will most effectively add to your world

• Website: thrivepartners.net
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/thriveloud
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ThriveLouD
• Podcast: Thrive Loud
• Book: "Master the Art of Connecting"

Cole Fox is a passionate believer in sales and entrepreneurship. He started his career in the wine industry and then immediately founded a vodka company. Then during the 2008 economic meltdown, he shifted his career into sales…full-gear…he sold office supplies, door-to-door. And that wasn't easy Onward Nation…so he soon discovered the magic of technology and was lucky enough to be among the first hired at LinkedIn. From there, he became passionate about startups and has recently been a 'resident sales hacker' at many venture-backed tech startups. He now runs sales for a sales hacking tool called LeadIQ.

• How bio-hacking can contribute to your success
• How LeadIQ works
• The top preparation and time-saving tools that Cole uses and highly recommends
• A tough lesson that taught Cole to take logic into play
• Mastering the essential skill of sales in order to thrive in business today
• Filling in the holes in your business development and sales pipeline
• The main challenge that business owners face
• Why you should focus on continually improving yourself a small amount every single day
• The importance of implementing a list-building tool as part of your business development plan
• Getting outside of your head and the way you view the world

• Website: leadiq.com
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/colejfox

Aaron Walker is without question a veteran entrepreneur. Starting his first business at 18 and selling to a Fortune 500 company nine short years later demonstrates Aaron's passion for succeeding. Unwilling to rest on past success Aaron started, bought and sold eight successful companies over the past 37 years. Having a strong desire for personal development has kept Aaron in a weekly mastermind group for more than a decade with Dave Ramsey, Dan Miller, Ken Abraham and seven other notable Nashvillians. Aaron has enjoyed a 36-year marriage with his wife, Robin. Today Aaron spends the majority of his time HELPING MEN GROW IN SUCCESS AND SIGNIFICANCE as President and Founder of VIEW FROM THE TOP, a premier life and business coaching resource. Aaron's new book, View From The Top is guaranteed to motivate and inspire you to live a successful and significant life.

• Aaron's new book, "View From the Top" and why it almost didn't happen
• The benefits and power of being in a mastermind group
• Being true to yourself and having the ability to stand alone
• Why you need to be willing to have conflict in your life in order to make a stand
• How significance differs from success and how to be significant in the life of others
• A place where businessmen struggle today
• Being available to others when it's not convenient for you
• Contentment vs. complacency
• How fear of the unknown is one of the biggest hurdles for business owners to overcome
• Having people in your life that are willing to tell you the truth

• Website: www.viewfromthetop.com/onwardnation

Scott Dubois is the co-founder of Pidalia, a digital agency in Boston, that provides clients with solutions to their challenges in advertising, software design, and business process management. Scott specializes in media selection, campaign strategy, and analytics and applies his knowledge of business processes through consultation with clients. His consulting focuses on enhancing his clients' relationships with existing audiences and helping them reach new audiences. Scott is also an internationally recognized speaker on the topics of marketing strategy, user engagement, and cross-media communications.

• The tool Scott uses to prioritize and organize his daily thoughts
• Creating a habit of starting the day at Inbox Zero and how Scott achieves it
• A great learning experience that taught Scott to always do right by the client
• Mastering the skill of short-term patience
• An important lesson that Scott learned on how to view things in the proper perspective and why not to overreact to conditions
• Implementing a project management system sooner rather than later
• The benefits of looking at other companies in the same vertical and applying the same successes that were achieved with other companies
• The importance of pitching and communicating value
• Why you shouldn't try to be all things to all people

• Website: pidalia.com/onwardnation
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/scottdubois
• Twitter: @ScottDubois
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/scottdubois

Jocelyn Jones is an Instagram expert, international speaker, international bestselling author, and online marketing consultant. Her socializing strategy for connecting businesses with their perfect audience is second to none. Her simple "3 Step Formula" teaches you how to attract followers, build your list and convert them to customers in as little as 15-minutes a day allowing you more time to do the things you love.

• How to use Instagram to build your list and relationships
• The importance of having a morning routine to get you focused and prepared to handle the day
• Taking the time to focus on yourself and your needs first
• Knowing what skills you are good at and mastering those
• Speaking with authenticity
• Getting clear on what it is that you want to do
• The importance of engaging and having conversations with your followers on social media
• The calls to action that work best on Instagram
• Cutting your learning curve by working with a mentor

• Facebook: www.facebook.com/jocjones75
• Instagram: @theigmama
• Free Guide: Rockin' Instagram

Kelly Hatfield has been in the Recruiting / HR field for 20 years as a successful business owner and entrepreneur. She is co-founder of the firm Enginuity Advantage and the host of the top-rated Absolute Advantage podcast. Kelly believes people are the greatest asset any business has, and to be successful, business owners must cultivate the talents of their team. Because of these core values, Kelly has created an outstanding referral-based network that has built and continues to build her businesses.

• Where bad hiring decisions live
• Using the best practices of marketing and sales to attract talent vs. clients
• A recruiting method that can constrain the growth of your business
• Strategies that business owners can use when it comes to recruitment marketing
• Why Kelly defines success as progress
• The importance of having clarity of your self-awareness when it comes to fear and challenges
• What makes an A-player an A-player
• Why it's vital to attract people who are going to be a good fit for your organization and repel the ones who aren't
• The importance of painting a clear picture around your culture
• Understanding and having clarity around the direction you're headed in and why you're headed there
• Taking a close look at the processes and structure you have in place in order to take you to the next level

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.enginuityadvantage.com
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-hatfield-2a2610a
• Podcast: absoluteadvantagepodcast.com

Lee Caraher is the CEO of Double Forte, a public relations and digital marketing firm based in San Francisco with offices in Boston and New York City. Lee is an acclaimed communication strategist and known for her practical solutions to big problems. Double Forte works with some of the top consumer and technology brands in the country. Lee has a reputation for building cohesive, high producing teams who have fun together at the same time. She is a straight talker who doesn't hold too many punches, although she does her best to be pleasant about it. Her big laugh and sense of humor have gotten her out of a lot of trouble and her latest book is entitled, "The Boomerang Principle."

• What Lee has been up to recently, including the launch of her new book, "The Boomerang Principle"
• What Lee believes is the missing piece in business
• How 'The Boomerang Principle' works and how it came about
• Why bringing people back to a job that they left can be so powerful
• How all companies are always competing for the top '25%-ers' and why you need to keep them in-house if you have them
• Why companies need to shift from being employer-brands to being talent-brands
• How the top '25%-ers will propel your business forward regardless of the size, industry or location of your business
• The Netflix Culture Deck and why it's considered to be one of the most important documents to come out of Silicon Valley
• How boomers, Gen X-ers, and millennials can all thrive in the same environment
• Why organizations where people feel more appreciated perform at a higher level

• Website: leecaraher.com
• Twitter: @LeeCaraher
• Book: "The Boomerang Principle: Inspire Lifetime Loyalty from Your Employees"

Roberta Matuson is the president of Matuson Consulting, and for over 25-years, she has helped leaders at General Motors, New Balance, The Boston Beer Company, as well as small to mid-size businesses, achieve dramatic growth and market leadership through the maximization of talent. Roberta is the person that Monster.com and Staples turn to for advice on talent. She is the author of the newly released, "The Magnetic Leader: How Irresistible Leaders Attract Talent, Customers and Profits." She is also an expert blogger for Forbes and Glassdoor.com and a former columnist for The Boston Business Journal.

• How maximizing talent in an organization is hard but at the same time, easy
• Why leaders need to work on themselves and relationships with employees
• Providing the best value that you can to your clients
• Why you need to be a master marketer to thrive in business today
• Marketing elements that should be applied to your business to attract talent
• Why it's vital to be intentional and not just sit back and hope for something to happen
• The benefits of having a strong online platform
• The process of writing a book proposal and doing it in a way that works
• Why you have to keep producing intellectual property
• Being really clear on what market you are trying to serve

• Website: www.matusonconsulting.com
• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/roberta-chinsky-matuson-51a5a
• Twitter: @matuson
• Book: "The Magnetic Leader"