Onward Nation

Dan Lok is the world's most cherished entrepreneur, business mentor, and internet marketing authority, with an inspirational story that resonates around the globe. "The Dan Lok" brand is a global movement with one mission: To empower 1,000,000 entrepreneurs to become successful in life and in business. With nearly 1,500 members, Dan operates one of the largest entrepreneurial community in Canada – Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group. Dan's recently launched his YouTube Channel already has nearly 300,000 views, expanding his reach to every corner of the globe.

Dan designed his environment to fit his lifestyle -- your environment is more powerful than your willpower. ONWARD!

Attitude or gratitude -- Dan listens to specific audios every morning and focuses on what he's grateful for every morning.

"Without the right mindset -- the best skill set in the world won't help you."

"You have to learn to be comfortable with success."

1. Get a mentor -- join a mastermind group -- seek help from others
2. Look at yourself in the mirror and reflect

• Website: www.danlok.com
• YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/vanentrepreneurgroup

Judy Robinett is a business thought leader who has been profiled in The Street, Vogue, CBS, NBC, Forbes, The Washington Post and Bloomberg Businessweek as a sterling example of the new breed of super-connectors who use their experience and networks to accelerate growth and enhance profitability. She gives speeches worldwide on business strategy and high-end strategic networking to specific outcomes. Judy has served as the CEO of both public and private companies and in management positions at Fortune 500 companies. She has been on the advisory boards of several prominent venture capital firms and is the author of "How to Be a Power Connector: The 5-50-150 Rule", which ranked #1 of The Top Ten Business Books of 2014 by Inc.com.

Judy utilizes the PADD strategy when she's on a phone call -- write down the purpose, action, details, and deadline to keep you focused during important conversations. ONWARD!

Have affirmations to help you when times are tough -- Judy tells herself she is perfect for what she needs to do.

Judy was broke and had to pay off debt -- and Judy tells the whole story here.

"It's absolutely critical to have metrics to know your numbers inside and out."

"They can break you -- but they can't kill you."

I would have been smarter on sales and figured out my ideal customer.

1. Get an advisory board
2. Don't listen to the naysayers

• Twitter: www.linkedin.com/in/judyrobinett
• LinkedIn: @judyrobinett
• Email: [email protected]

• Founders Dilemma from HBR. This says you can be rich or you can be king. It takes a team. Research shows 67% of teams implode with partner conflicts
• Connections between financials. This is from a professor out of his excellent book, and generously he shared this and allowed Judy to share it with Onward Nation.
• Seven Investors to Avoid. Some angels are devils and some venture capitalists are vultures. Do as much due diligence on them as they do on you.
• How to Tell if Your CEO is Clueless. This speaks to how crucial it is to mitigate risk as viewed by the investor not how wonderful your Kool-Aid is.

Peter Strohkorb is an international speaker, sought after consultant and the CEO at Peter Strohkorb Consulting International. He has 20 years of hands-on Sales & Marketing experience in executive sales and marketing positions for some of the largest corporations on the planet, such as SONY, 3M, and Canon. Peter is the creator of the OneTEAM Method, author of a book of the same name, and a guest lecturer in the Executive MBA program of the Sydney Business School.

Peter reads his email first, figures out what he needs to get done, and blocks out his calendar based on what he has to do. ONWARD!

"If you don't believe in yourself -- why should others."

Success is being able to do what you want to do when you want to do it -- and not having to ask for permission.

Peter forces himself to go out of his comfort zone -- and Peter tells the reasons why here.

An "A player" is someone who can interact with a customer to a degree where they feel they are equals.

1. Just listen -- and try to come up with an external solution

1. Decide what platforms you want to be on
2. Be visible when customers come looking
3. Niche yourself down

1. Allow other people to step in and make decisions without you
2. Make your business more nimble

• Website: www.peterstrohkorbconsulting.com
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/peterstrohkorbsalesmarketing

Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media.

Good Morning Onward Nation…I'm Stephen Woessner. And before we dive into the business building lessons within today's solocast…I want to take a few moments to thank you.

"Thank you" to you, Onward Nation. Here's why…

Recently, we reached two very significant milestones. Neither of which would have been possible without all of the help, support, love, and encouragement we receive from you, Onward Nation — every day.

Your feedback is uplifting…your feedback is inspiring…through all of your Facebook comments, Tweets, comments on LinkedIn, and the emails you are so kind enough to send to us — you let us know we are headed in the right direction — or — if we need to make a course correction or two.

I want you to know how much all of this means to me and my team.

We love it — because — we want to get better — and getting feedback — is our best tool for learning what we need to learn in order to deliver even more value in each episode.

And you are helping us do that — so thank you!

And we have learned along the way…so much so…that the world is taking notice. I am proud to say that Onward Nation is now listened to in 102 countries. 102 countries! My word — there are some days — that I need to pinch myself that this has become our reality — that we have this kind of opportunity — to be able to share, talk with, and learn from you, Onward Nation — 102 countries strong — each day. What an incredible gift.

Every time you write a review…every time you share a Facebook post, Retweet one of our Tweets, or write a comment on LinkedIn…you are helping us share the powerful lessons from our incredible guests.

I want you to know how much I appreciate it.

I want you to know sincerely grateful I am for all of your support.

To be able to reach 102 countries is a major accomplishment — and it is because of you — that we have been able to do that.

And the second milestone? Well, we just blew past 50,000 downloads!

Yes, 50,767 downloads and climbing.

Not only have listeners in 102 countries around the world subscribed to Onward Nation — but — we have been able to share the great lessons of our guests with an ever-growing audience within those countries.

So thank you, Onward Nation. And please trust me when I say — we are just getting started. Even though this is Episode 327 of Onward Nation…we are truly…just…getting…started.

Okay, now let's shift our attention to several key business building lessons that I believe will help you move onward to that next level.

Jodi Flynn, our two time guest on Onward Nation in Episodes 125 and 263…taught me much during our two interviews. In fact, one of the most powerful lessons we covered was during our encore interview was the Imposter Syndrome — and — more importantly — how to defeat it every day.

How the Syndrome holds us back every day — how if you let it — you will lose your destiny — you will begin to play too small — it is easy to let that slippery slope of sliding backwards inch by inch rob you of everything so special God has planned for you.

But you have to reach for it. You have to commit…you have to lead your team…you have to push the boulder up the hill…and then go back down to the bottom of the hill and get another one…maybe even a larger one…and then push that one up the hill.

It's not all peaches and cream all of the time. Of course not.

But that is what leadership is. Sometimes leadership is getting into the trenches — side by side — with your team — looking them right in the eyes — and showing them — telling them — we got this…and we got this together…and then you push the boulder up the hill.

And then Jodi invited me to be her guest — on her podcast called — Women Taking the Lead. Brilliant show. And one of the lessons I shared with her audience might even surprise you, Onward Nation.

I believe you are already a leader and mentor…whether you want to be or not — whether you accept this responsibility or reject it — either way — you are being a positive influence — or a negative influence.

But you are creating influence.

So why not create positive influence, right?

As you might imagine — given the title of Jodi's show — we dug deep into a variety of leadership questions — some deeply personal stories, Onward Nation, and how some of the women in my life impacted my career — impacted me as a person — and gave me the confidence to tackle any challenge.

I thought the best way for me to share all of these insights would be to air the full interview — Jodi and me — from Women Taking the Lead — aired as part of today's solocast.

And then I will be back to wrap it up at the end with a powerful lesson you can think about as you move through the rest of today — and your week.

Okay, Onward Nation…here's my good friend, Jodi Flynn…from Women Taking the Lead.

[You can listen to my interview with Jodi inside today's episode.]

Before we close out for today — I want to reinforce a point from my interview with Jodi. Is being a leader hard? Of course.

Is being a mentor challenging? Absolutely.

Is the Imposter Syndrome nipping at your heels — and in your head — every single day — trying to rob you of your destiny? Most definitely.

But, as Marianne Williamson so brilliantly…

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

So, Onward Nation…you are capable of so much more — we all are. We are not doing God — our customers — or the world any favors by playing small.

In fact, we are cheating our customers, cheating the world, and being disrespectful to God by not applying all of the abundance of talents and gifts we were so richly blessed with.

And oftentimes — what is the biggest obstacle in our way? Yep. Ourselves.

So, if you want a good laugh today — go to the show notes of this episode and there is a link to a Saturday Night Live skit from many years ago when Bob Newhart was the guest host of the show — it's hilarious — and the first time I watched it, I laughed so hard, I cried.

It will help you put your Imposter Syndrome into its proper place — and you might laugh hard enough to get those endorphins flowing.

So with that…I want to thank you again for taking the time to be here with me today. It is an honor to have you here — thank you for tuning in — I am delighted you chose this episode to be what you listen to, study, and take with you on your morning run, or maybe Onward Nation has become part of your daily commute, or in some other way has become part of your morning routine.

I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today's top business owners.

And please continue to let me know what you think of Onward Nation…good or bad…I always want your feedback.

We will be back tomorrow with an incredible encore interview with Peter Strohkorb — you will not want to miss Peter's philosophy about "If you don't believe in yourself — why should others?", Onward Nation. Peter and I dig deep into topics like success, leadership, how to conquer fear and many other powerful lessons. The encore with Peter is off-the-charts amazing, Onward Nation! Don't miss it.

Until then, onward with gusto!

Phillip Van Hooser works with organizations that wish to build leadership bench strength, performance, and productivity. From his work as a former human resources manager in corporate America -- to his leadership as a director in the bank boardroom -- to his experience as a speaking / training leadership authority for top U.S. companies -- Phil helps organizations grow by improving communication skills between employees and leaders, managing conflict, confrontation, and change while preparing for leadership transition and development. Phil is the author of five books and more than 100 training videos on leadership. His latest book, "Leaders Ought To Know: 11 Ground Rules for Common Sense Leadership", is a must-read handbook for leaders who are feeling the pressure to perform.

Phil spends his time on creating and communicating -- create a deeper base of knowledge and then communicate that knowledge to others. ONWARD!

Make your routine a habit -- Phil gets up early, gets exercise in, does spiritual study, and then tries to maximize his creative output early.

Phil got very sick -- and Phil tells the whole story here.

"Mastery, communication, and leadership."

"It's not how much money you make -- it's how much money you keep."

1. Learn as much about what you do and why you do it as humanly possible
2. Commit to a self-determined quest for personal mastery
3. Don't quit

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: (270)365-1536

Melinda Chen is a sales coach helping women entrepreneurs sell to big clients. She is also a sales executive with an impressive sales track record of 8 figures. Her company, Women Making Big Sales, helps women take control of their lives by going for big clients, closing important deals, and dramatically expanding their businesses. Melinda helps women entrepreneurs to connect with — and sell to — big clients in just 5-weeks.

Melinda looks through a list of 5-10 clients that she wants to target before each week -- make sure you allocate the time to focus on the right clients. ONWARD!

Network with people in the industries you're in -- Melinda goes to at least three networking events for every industry she works in.

Melinda made 100 cold calls a day and she wasn't getting any results -- and Melinda tells the whole story here.

"Be able to take on the creative and the analytical."

"Do you truly believe in the product?"

I would have had very, very focused markets.

1. Go to LinkedIn and search for prospects by industry and location
2. Pick 20-30 people and try to find everything you can to figure out why they would work with you
3. Start crafting your plan to marketing to them

• Website: womenmakingbigsales.com

Joanna Riley is the CEO and Co-founder of 1-Page. Her company is building the next generation of talent sourcing and engagement solutions for enterprises. 1-Page is also the first Silicon Valley tech company to list on the Australian Stock Exchange. 1-Page specializes in helping companies with more than 1,000 employees and serves several Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies with its SaaS platforms. Joanna founded 1-Page with her father, Patrick, and its company was inspired by his best-selling book, The One-Page Proposal. The book provides job seekers with the knowledge to pitch a one-page job proposal to an employer -- and how to be evaluated on what they can do -- versus being judged on previous accomplishments, experience, age, or gender. Joanna lives in San Francisco and is active in raising awareness of female entrepreneurship and the need for more women in tech.

Joanna surrounds herself with the right people -- your employees are your superpowers. ONWARD!

Take care of yourself -- Joanna takes the time to run and it gives her the time to think.

Joanna gave someone too much power and they tried to take over her business -- and Joanna tells the whole story here.

"You can't do it yourself."

"Decide to win before you even start."

1. Have a very deep time to decide what you're willing to give up to be successful
2. Be fueled by no's

• Twitter: @JoRileyWasTaken
• Website: @1pagebiz

Nancy Marshall is known as The PR Maven(R), after having worked in public relations for 30 years. She recently published her first book called PR Works!

Nancy wrote my book to position herself as an expert — and was able to give away her knowledge like Jay Baer said to do in episode 305.

"It's the best business card ever!"

Create an outline and make it as detailed as possible.

This past year is the 25th year of Nancy's agency — and Nancy was invited into the state legislative chambers where her agency was recognized. AWESOME!

Nancy hired someone 20 years ago part-time to read newspapers from her home. She did everything so well that Nancy begged her to join her full-time and eventually became the president of Nancy's agency.

1. Create your most-wanted media list (20-30)
2. Start following those media
3. Try to identify the angles you would use with those journalists
4. Pick up the phone and call journalists with your pitch
5. Build a media kit
6. Do media training in your business
7. Submit letters to the editor
8. Do media follow-up

• Agency website: http://www.marshallpr.com
• Personal branding website: prmaven.com
• Email: [email protected]

Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media.

Good Morning Onward Nation…I'm Stephen Woessner. And welcome to Episode 322 — where 5-days a week — I interview one of today's top business owners so we can learn their "recipe for success" — how they built and scaled their business. In fact…have you downloaded our 12 SUCCESS Strategies eBook? It's a distillation of the best business building advice we have collected from our incredible guests. You can get yours at OnwardNation.com/12download.

So for today's solocast — we are going to continue the momentum we have built over the last two weeks by sharing lessons I learned during my interview — as a guest — on the Business Rescue Road Map podcast.

Now, if the name Business Rescue Road Map sounds familiar — you may recall — the host of the brilliant show is Stacy Tuschl — a three-time guest on Onward Nation. Stacy was our guest for Episodes 6, 174, and 287 of Onward Nation.

And during each of our interviews — Stacy shared deeper and deeper insights. For example, in Episode 6 — she taught us great lessons about how to prepare for growth — and transparently — connected it back to story when one of her companies grew so fast — it outpaced her and her team's ability to adapt to the rapid changes.

But, they prioritized and successfully rebalanced the ship.

In Episode 174 — I asked Stacy to take us deep into platform building — and she generously did. We dug into what Stacy describes as her "three steps to platform building" and how her business strategy is focused on all three — each and every day.

Intrigued — I had to learn more — especially with how Stacy's three steps were baked into the strategy behind her amazing podcast. I wanted to find out how podcasting became a key component to her business strategy.

So we had a "Why Podcasting" discussion in Episode 287 — and let me say, Onward Nation — it is rare that a business owner will say — "Oh sure…you want to know the innermost workings of my business — for me to take you deep behind the green curtain so you can learn all my secrets? Absolutely, walk right this way." But that is what Stacy did in all three episodes — and that is what all of our Onward Nation guests do — each and every day.

Pure awesomeness from our guests.

If you haven't listened to — studied — and applied all of the pure awesomeness Stacy Tuschl shared with us during Episodes 6, 174, and 287 — I highly encourage you to add all three episodes to your list of vital priorities.

You will be glad you did.

And then shortly after Stacy was my guest on Onward Nation — she invited me to be a guest on her podcast called…Business Rescue Road Map…and wow…that was an outstanding conversation.

Now she was interviewing me — interesting role reversal — and true to form — Stacy is an incredible host.

She has this innate gift of being able to ask the questions she knows her listeners are hoping she will ask. She gracefully guides each guest down the exact right path to make sure her audience learns what needs to be learned during each and every episode.

As I am sure you can tell, Onward Nation — I am a bit of a Stacy Tuschl fan.

So, when she asked me if I would be guest on her show…I responded with the lesson Jay Baer recently shared with us during Episode 305… "Hell yes, I'll do that! WOW!"

And like Jay said…if we are not letting the "It's a hell yes, or it's a no" principle guide our decision making, Onward Nation — then you are saying "yes" way too often.

I learned a lot from Stacy when she interviewed me, which is why — in just a moment — we are going to air the full interview as part of today's solocast.

The discussion with Stacy is that impactful.

One of the lessons I shared with her audience might even surprise you — when you hear me encourage business owners to "embrace the challenge" and why enjoying those moments of struggle are key to your success — and happiness.

Stacy and I also dug into:

• The story of why my first company failed, how I recovered from losing $100,000 when I was just 28 years old, and how those painful lessons formed the foundation what we have build here at Predictive ROI.
• Why it is important to be at your best when the fight is the hardest. I am a firm believer, Onward Nation, in never ever giving someone the permission — anyone — to tell me what is so — to tell me what my destiny is. I'll explain why I am so fixated on this point during the discussion with Stacy — coupled with — how the the transformation of challenges forcing you to become somebody different on your way to accomplishing a goal, that's what makes this entire process so rewarding — becoming more — becoming the person you always dreamt of becoming, Onward Nation.
• We also talk about why it is important to think thoughtfully about the things that are important — about the benefits of prayer, meditation, or just general thinking time.

Stacy and I wrap up the interview with some things to consider if you happen to be thinking about or contemplating — quitting — throwing in the towel — and closing your business.

To be clear, there are oftentimes some really good reasons why a business should close its doors — but it has been my experience — that business owners can be tempted to give up way, way, way too early. So Stacy and I share some thoughts and suggestions to consider — things business owners should really look at before closing their doors.

Onward Nation — there's always a way to build capital.

So, I thought the best way for me to share these insights would be to air the full interview. I think you will get a lot out of the discussion.

And as always…please let me know what you think. Drop me a line. Thumbs up or thumbs down.

One point that I want to make sure I emphasize before we close out for today — during my conversation with Stacy — you heard us offer several recommendations for business owners to consider before closing their doors. And one particular area I have studied even more intensely since being a guest on Stacy's show is the number of companies — more specifically — the number of business owners who struggle with generating enough leads — high quality leads flowing into their business on a steady basis…like a stream of prospects flowing right into their sales pipeline.

In fact, the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs recently released a study showing that the top goal of 85 percent of today's companies is lead gen.

85 percent, Onward Nation. Staggering.

Here's today's reality — there is a gaping hole inside most businesses — and that hole — is the lack of qualified leads within their pipeline. It has been my experience, Onward Nation, in 20+ years of working with business owners all over the country — most do not have a sales pipeline — and the stress of how they will meet this month's budget — or next quarter's — can feel crushing at times.

I am on a mission to help change that, which is why I shared several pipeline filling steps within Episode 298 several weeks ago.

But you know what…when I relistened to the episode — I thought — "Hmmm, I can do better than that — I should have gone here and talked about that — and darn it — I missed this, this, and this. Arrgghhh."

So, I decided to create a masterclass on the 4-steps to Filling Your Sales Pipeline. You will see the full details and all we will cover — in full transparency — in very specific detail — on-screen demonstrations — it will be a very deep dive — so you can take and apply this lead gen recipe immediately inside your business.

I look forward to seeing you — virtually at least — on September 21st.

So with that…I want to thank you again for taking the time to be here with me today. It is an honor to have you here — thank you for tuning in — I am delighted you chose this episode to be what you listen to, study, and take with you on your morning run, or maybe Onward Nation has become part of your daily commute, or in some other way has become part of your morning routine.

I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today's top business owners.

And please continue to let me know what you think of Onward Nation…good or bad…I always want your feedback. Hit me up on Twitter or LinkedIn — or stop by our Predictive ROI Facebook page — and let us know what you think of the show — thumbs up or thumbs down. Either way — we want to know.

Your feedback helps get better. And remember…you can always email me at [email protected] and I reply to every single message.

Please let us know how you think we are doing. I look forward to hearing from you.

We will be back tomorrow with an incredible encore interview with Nancy Marshall — my word, Onward Nation — you will not want to miss Nancy's third visit to the show. We took this opportunity to dig deep into Nancy's book — to dive into several of the exceptional PR strategies within the pages — as well as — Nancy's business strategy behind the book and how it has become her best business card ever. So…if you have ever thought of writing a book…listen to Nancy Marshall tomorrow…because she lays out her entire strategy in precise detail. Nancy is off-the-charts amazing, Onward Nation. Don't miss the show.

Until then, onward with gusto!

Kute Blackson is the secret weapon of some of the world's most successful people - top CEOs, supermodels, pro athletes, and the Hollywood elite. His new book, "YOU.ARE.THE.ONE" is a new breed of self-help book for millennials and was released in June. Kute unravels the layers of temptations that stand between you and a more amazing life than you could ever imagine. In YOU.ARE.THE.ONE., Kute guides readers on a spiritual journey spanning London, Bali, India, and Los Angeles that will crack them wide open and leave them reborn as the person they were always meant to be — their authentic selves.

Kute stays in touch with his mortality and focuses on what matters -- embrace death and make it your motivator. ONWARD!

Make your health non-negotiable -- Kute wakes up and starts exercising.

Kute was stuck and his business wasn't growing -- and Kute tells the whole story here.

"Get into your target customer's mind and heart and feel them fully."

"Every moment is a moment to serve and love."

1. Change yourself -- cultivate a commitment to personal growth
2. Be willing to go where it's scary
3. Focus on being of service

• Website: www.kuteblackson.com
• Website: www.youaretheonebook.com