“Begin with the end in mind” that’s the advice of today’s guest. Orlando Dorsey is an entrepreneur with a passion for protecting and assisting small businesses. He is an Assistant Vice President with D.H. Lloyd and Associates where he focuses on business development for the firm. Also as an insurance agent with D.H. Lloyd he is part of the risk management team for the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia and the construction of the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino built at the National Harbor in Prince George’s County, Maryland. He is the past president of Beltway Nationwide Business Brokerage, the largest privately held mergers and acquisitions firm on the East Coast. Today Orlando will be sharing his insight on the gross impact of having an exit strategy at the onset of your business.

LinkedIn |

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Tenure, loyalty and chocolate cake. That’s what we’ll be discussing in today’s episode! Tenure and loyalty are two things we as CEO’s strive for and value; however, they tend to be the largest blindspots for many of us. Wanda is a lifestyle and leadership influencer who is not just today’s guest, but she has also been a personal mentor of mine.

She is an empowering speaker, philanthropist, and inspirational entrepreneur who has had her share of experiences after building and running  a multi million dollar business for more than 20 years, Wanda discovered her passion for leading others to pursue their purpose in their lives. She leads discussions on leadership, honesty, and integrity in the work place and provides practical guidance that helps entrepreneurs, business leaders, and purpose driven visionaries realize what they really want.

Horizon Inc

Linked In

The post Three Things that Blindside CEO’s – Tenure, Loyalty & Chocolate Cake: Interview with Wanda Alexander – P2P: 014 appeared first on Anavo Transformation LLC.

Write books that sell… such a novel idea. The marketing landscape has changed significantly over the nineteen years that I’ve been in business personally. When I started, the key marketing component, in terms of allowing you to shine and really show your expertise in the market place was writing white papers. That then evolved into creating check lists and ebooks, but now the big push is writing books on your expertise.

Our expert guest today is going to share her insights on how and why one should write books that sell. Candice Davis is an award winning writer, author, ghost writer, editor, and master author coach. She guides coaches, speakers and other experts so they can reach more people, change more lives, and earn more money. She’s the founder of Go Write Something and co founder of Write Books That Sell.

Website | Twitter

The post Write a Book that Drives Income and Increases Exposure: Interview with Candice Davis – P2P: 013 appeared first on Anavo Transformation LLC.

Susan Brooks is an executive business coach for women business owners who are ready to make their first or their next million dollars in business by achieving greater profitability. She uses proven strategies that increase the capabilities of their businesses and their staff. Susan herself built and sold a 30 year multi million dollar award winning company. She’s here today to share her five strategies to building a million dollar business and I will say, you will want to take notes!

Website | Facebook | LinkedIn

The post Five Strategies to Building a Million Dollar Business: Interview with Susan Brooks – P2P: 012 appeared first on Anavo Transformation LLC.

There are two things CEO’s and business owners must have in order to guide a successful business: persistence and perseverance. Our guest today has certainly demonstrated both. Melodie Narain is Co-Owner and CEO of Sole Savers: a stylish, rollable, flat shoe that provides a comfortable back up to high heels. Melodie is originally from Washington, but she always knew that she wanted to move to New York to be exposed to the world of fashion. Having owned and operated several businesses connected to the fashion industry, Melodie realized first hand how challenging the fashion world can be; however, those challenges did not stop her and instead, they fueled her. Through persistence and perseverance, she has continued to carry her business through the start up phases and onto growth and success.

Connect with Melodie

Website | Facebook  | Twitter

The post Two Things you Need to Guide a Successful Business: Interview with Melodie Narain – P2P: 011 appeared first on Anavo Transformation LLC.

Human resources is one of the most overlooked areas of business, but one of the most critical elements. Stefanie Lomax is here to help you understand how you can embrace HR to benefit your business. Stefanie works with small to mid-size businesses with their HR departments and strategies. She also works with individuals who are mid-career and might be looking to make a change but aren’t familiar with the landscape.

Stefanie and I met over 10 years ago. I can speak first hand to her expertise as she’s helped me shift my business when I needed to do some outplacement within my own company. If you’re not familiar with outplacement, it’s a supportive way to transition an employee out of the company in a positive light (helping them find another job). A few of the ways this helps the small business owner is you can save on unemployment costs, potential law suits, and cobra costs for medical. It also sets the company and business owner in a positive light.

Stefanie’s “EMBRACE” system is a 7 -point system that makes it easy for companies to embrace transparency and evaluate where they need to improve and how they can best support their employees.

Outplacement helps to lessen the blow and is a win-win for the employee and employer.
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Companies are not good at communicating bad news to employees.
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The EMBRACE program

E = Evaluate (assessing and evaluating where you are)

M = Measure what’s missing (we’re going to look at the data)

B =  Benchmarking

R = Restructure the infrastructure

A = Assigning accountability

C = Communicate the plan

E = Employ the help of an HR Expert

This is one of those interview you might want to grab a pen & paper for.

Stefanie absolutely over-delivered and gave a great foundation for embracing HR and when you should look at hiring an expert such as Stefanie.

Where to Connect with Stefanie

Website | Facebook | Twitter

The post Embrace HR to Influence Growth: Interview with Stefanie Lomax – P2P: 010 appeared first on Anavo Transformation LLC.

This interview is an in-depth look at what it branding really is… and how you can successfully grow your own brand.

Tara Gates-Anderson didn’t hold back and clearly outlined what branding means (hint: it’s not your logo and website). With an extensive background in education, Tara made the transition into entrepreneurship after getting her MBA, moving to Europe to gain international business experience followed by a masters degree in PR.

We talked about authenticity in your brand, what that looks like with todays current business environment with social media and how you can course correct if you make a mistake. Tara helps her clients get clear on what their purpose is, what their values are and how they can integrate those with their personality for their target market.

Your brand is your reputation & visibility in your desired target market @The_TGA
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Tell us a little about yourself & your business?

What exactly is branding?

What things should small businesses consider when building their reputation & visibility?

How much does authenticity translate into your brand?

If you haven’t been consistent with your brand, how do you communicate “I’m human”…and share with your audience that you made a mistake?

How have you been able to grow 4 different brands?

I’m in my element. I’m in my flow. I love helping people grow their business. @The_TGA
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How Tara transitioned from education (as a school principal) into building her own company

Why she went back to school to get her MBA

How her international business experience transitioned into a career in PR & Management (where she earned a second masters degree in PR)

What Business amalgamation is… and what that means for Tara

What visibility means for your brand

Where to Connect with Tara

Website | Twitter | Facebook

The post How to Position your Brand to get Beyond the Plateau: Interview with Tara Gates-Anderson – P2P: 009 appeared first on Anavo Transformation LLC.

Shannon has an extensive background in support, systems and gathering data for her clients so she can take the tasks off their plate and they can focus on their business (and increase profits). Shannon has grown from doing the work for her clients to scaling her own business through establishing processes and hiring her own team.

We talked about some of the challenges people have when determining when to hire the right help and why delegation is key to growing your business.

If you don’t delegate, you’re going to fail. @SociallySavvyVA
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Questions I Asked Shannon

How did you get started with Socially Savvy VA?

You call yourself a combination of a virtual assistant and a virtual business manager. What is the difference between a virtual assistant and a virtual business manager?

Can you talk about the struggle of removing yourself from ‘doing the work’ to managing your own business?

When do you determine that it’s time to document a process?

How has that helped you in terms of delegating to your own team to support your clients?

Why do you think it’s so difficult for CEO’s to delegate?

I’m the quality control for the end result of the work they do – @SociallySavvyVA
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What You’re Going To Learn

When it’s time to start hiring and getting things off your plate

What types of processes should be documented?

How & when you should delegate

Why Shannon let’s her customers buy an hour of time

Where to Connect with Shannon

Website | Twitter | Facebook

The post Virtual Project Management and the Art of Delegation: Interview with Shannon Baker – P2P: 008 appeared first on Anavo Transformation LLC.

I’m excited about today’s episode because we’re going to talk about marketing at it’s simplest form. Sherron is celebrating her 10th year in business this year. She started working in non-profits doing marketing and realized she wanted to spend less time traveling. After a conversation with a manager who offered to be her first client she launched P3 Solutions.

Sherron is an adjunct professor and the author of “Market Simple: The Blueprint I Wish I Had When I Started A Business: The Small Business Guide To An Easy Marketing Plan” (available on Amazon as a Kindle publication here).

Sherron recommends starting out with a one page marketing plan… not a lengthy marketing plan that will end up getting put away and never used. Select one item (goal) and focus on that. One thing at a time. If your goal is to generate leads, you need to measure what’s working by creating expectations when you start working towards that goal.

All of Sherron’s one page plans include the following:

Questions I Asked Sherron:

What You’re Going to Learn

Where to connect with Sherron

Website | Twitter | Facebook

The post Marketing at its Simplest Form & How it Impacts Business Growth: Interview with Sherron Washington – P2P: 007 appeared first on Anavo Transformation LLC.

Odessa Hopkins, affectionately known as Lady OH, brings an impressive 20 years of onsite federal government contracting to her portfolio with Technology & Management Services (TMS) and, later, IBM. During her onsite contracting career, the task she managed quadrupled in both tasks and revenue.

Odessa has been an entrepreneur since the mid 1980s. In 2007, she launched Another Approach, a business and diversity consulting company that assists start-ups to large corporations: one of which exceeds $11B a year in annual revenue.  Odessa now focuses her time and attention on women in business. Last year, she launched a mission to help 1000 women receive more exposure, generate more leads and close more deals in 2016. Her Global Marketplace, BizWomenOnline.com, collaboratively markets and promotes the products, services, events and businesses of women. In addition, she hosts masterminds, brainstorming and other events to facilitate the growth of women in all aspects of entrepreneurship.

Enjoy this podcast full of great information on building those all-important connections.

Questions I asked Odessa:

What you will learn from this podcast:

Key Tips to Making the Right Connections:

How to Connect with Odessa Hopkins:

Website

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