Self Made Strategies

On this episode, we sat down with Christopher Hamze. Christopher has been searching for print on demand his entire life, he just didn't know it. His early entrepreneurial efforts started with a candy shop at the age of 8 to then helping grow the family pizza business through his teens. Even after pursuing an MBA and law degree, Chris always knew something was missing. He knew he had the entrepreneurial spirit but he just didn't know what to do with it.

That's when he discovered print on demand. After 8 years and over 4 million items fulfilled, he still spends every day doing what he loves - helping people start and grow businesses with print on demand. From running the equipment and designing workflow solutions, Christopher does it all.

Teelaunch is the first thing he thinks about every morning when he wakes up and it's the last thing he thinks about before going to sleep. If you need help running your print on demand based business, get in touch with Christopher today!

Visit teelaunch here: https://teelaunch.com/

On this episode you will hear about:

* An explanation about "print on demand."

* We demystify how hard it is to start an e-commerce (print on demand) business.

* We talk about how print on demand is more than simple stuff, like T-shirts.

* How you can also create items like crystals, rugs, cutting boards, headphones, etc.

* Why you no longer have to be an expert at marketing to sell products online.

* The one piece of advice Christopher would give to someone who is unsure about getting started in e-commerce.

Production Credits:

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is a SoftStix Productions LLC jawn. This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Tony Lopes.  Christopher Hamze  joined us remotely, via Google Meet.

Executive Producer - Tony Lopes (SoftStix Productions LLC - [email protected])

Host - Tony Lopes

Guest - Christopher Hamze

Editor - Tony Lopes

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is sponsored by CollegeCast LLC (www.collegecastpodcasts.com).

Make sure you subscribe to the Self Made Strategies Podcast on your favorite podcasting platform, so you can catch the latest episodes.

Copyright 2018 - 2021 SoftStix Productions LLC, all rights reserved.

www.selfmadestrategies.com

 

Van Carlson is the Founder & CEO at SRA and has over twenty five years of experience within the risk management industry. Van began his career with Farmers Insurance Group as an agent; eventually growing his book to be among the largest in his home state of Idaho. Van focuses Strategic Risk Alternatives on risk management primarily and facilitates SRA to assess and solve for the risks our clients have. Van’s primary goal is to continue the upward growth of SRA and continue to develop new products to bring to market.

On this episode you will hear about:

* Risk Management by utilizing 831b tax code

* Working with business owners to better position themselves for downturn economies & recognize self-insured risk

* Maximizing additional revenues, utilizing products and tools similar to fortune 500 companies

* How IRC 831b may provide a tax benefit to you

Production Credits:

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is a SoftStix Productions LLC jawn. This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Tony Lopes.  Van Carlson  joined us remotely, via Google Meet.

Executive Producer - Tony Lopes (SoftStix Productions LLC - [email protected])

Host - Tony Lopes

Guest - Van Carlson

Editor - Tony Lopes

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is sponsored by CollegeCast LLC (www.collegecastpodcasts.com).

Make sure you subscribe to the Self Made Strategies Podcast on your favorite podcasting platform, so you can catch the latest episodes.

Copyright 2018 - 2021 SoftStix Productions LLC, all rights reserved.

www.selfmadestrategies.com

 

On this episode, we spoke with Tom Stern, writer of Fear Less, Sell More: Find Your Courage and Make Millions. Tom was the black sheep in a family of lions. Tom’s father was one of the founders of cable television, and his great grandfather, a prominent philanthropist, was the CEO and chairman of Sears, Roebuck and Co. at the turn of the twentieth century. As an ADHD child with dyslexia, Tom was unable to live up to those lofty expectations, and as a result, suffered from extreme anxiety. Over time, by developing his creativity, as a jazz musician, stand-up comedian, writer/producer for HBO, and comic strip creator, he found his greatest success in sales. First as a talent agent for celebrity comedians and then as president of his own executive search firm. Leveraging what he calls "sales expression" he has sustained excellence in the business world for over a quarter century. Tom's passion is influence, using logic and emotion to engender courage in others. It is Tom’s goal to help others achieve success in sales and realize their dreams by overcoming their fears.  His new book is now available through Tom's site: tomsterncentral.com/.

On this episode you will hear about:

* What vocal expression is

* How to maximize the utilization of your imagination

* Courage and where it comes from

* How to use intention, along with your voice, to bolster your courage

* What sales expression is

* How Tom's success and failures informed his life and my book

* Making a connection with other people, utilizing sales expressiveness

Production Credits:

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is a SoftStix Productions LLC jawn. This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Tony Lopes.  Tom Stern  joined us remotely, via Google Meet.

Executive Producer - Tony Lopes (SoftStix Productions LLC - [email protected])

Host - Tony Lopes

Guest - Tom Stern

Editor - Tony Lopes

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is sponsored by CollegeCast LLC (www.collegecastpodcasts.com).

Make sure you subscribe to the Self Made Strategies Podcast on your favorite podcasting platform, so you can catch the latest episodes.

Copyright 2018 - 2021 SoftStix Productions LLC, all rights reserved.

www.selfmadestrategies.com

 

On this episode, we spoke with Jamie Nash, writer of Save the Cat! Writes for TV: The Last Book on Creating Binge-Worthy Content You'll Ever Need.  Jamie Nash has been a working screenwriter for more than a decade.  He's written feature films for Lionsgate, Haxan Films and Nickelodeon, among others.  He is primarily a genre writer for Horror and Family (a weird combo, right?), he somehow makes it work.  His new book SAVE THE CAT! WRITES FOR TV is now available here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0984157697/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_TCZGP3Q9AAY1CGNW5BNG.

Make sure you visit Jamies site here: jamienash.net.

On this episode you will hear about:

* How Jamie broke into TV writing, even though he started out as a computer scientist and programmer

* The dirty secret about making it in screenwriting

* How Jamie met Blake Snyder, which eventually led to the writing of Save the Cat!

* Why consistently writing several scripts a year has helped him to maintain his success

* How Jamie's background in juggling relates to his entrepreneurial spirit

* How to hack storytelling

Production Credits:

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is a SoftStix Productions LLC jawn. This episode was hosted and produced by Tony Lopes, and edited by Michael Leary.  Jamie Nash  joined us remotely, via Google Meet.

Executive Producer - Tony Lopes (SoftStix Productions LLC - [email protected])

Host - Tony Lopes

Guest - Jamie Nash

Editor - Michael Leary (onefifteenfilms.com)

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is sponsored by Lopes Law LLC (www.LopesLawLLC.com).

Make sure you subscribe to the Self Made Strategies Podcast on your favorite podcasting platform, so you can catch the latest episodes.

Copyright 2018 - 2021 SoftStix Productions LLC, all rights reserved.

www.selfmadestrategies.com

 

On this episode, we spoke with Jeff Epstein, of onboard.io.  Jeff was previously the founder of Ambassador, the world's #1 referral tracking, attribution and management platform for businesses, for over 9 years. INC 5000 recognized Ambassador as one of the fastest-growing companies in the USA, and they were acquired in 2018. Jeff is a lifelong entrepreneur at heart and a 2011 NYC TechStar graduate.  He's been through the ups and downs of running, scaling, and selling a business. He's excited to share great value with your audience and his mission with his more recent venture of which he is CEO: Onboard - a SaaS made specifically for customer implementation to create, optimize and automate the perfect journey for every customer, enabling companies to manage the perfect onboarding process.

On this episode you will hear about:

* Starting, growing, scaling + selling a business

* Serial entrepreneurship

* Raising Capital

* Customer Success / Onboarding

* The Rise of the Customer Driven Organization

* What makes a great Customer Success team and how to build one

* How to build and perfect your onboarding process

* How, when and why to sell your SaaS business

* How Jeff went from online poker to running a 2x INC 5000 SaaS company

* Back to back: lessons learned going into his second startup

Production Credits:

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is a SoftStix Productions LLC jawn. This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Tony Lopes. Jeff Epstein  joined us remotely, via Google Meet.

Executive Producer - Tony Lopes (SoftStix Productions LLC - [email protected])

Host - Tony Lopes

Guest - Jeff Epstein (onboard.io/)

Editor - Tony Lopes

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is sponsored by Lopes Law LLC (www.LopesLawLLC.com).

Make sure you subscribe to the Self Made Strategies Podcast on your favorite podcasting platform, so you can catch the latest episodes.

Copyright 2018 - 2021 SoftStix Productions LLC, all rights reserved.

www.selfmadestrategies.com

 

On this episode, we spoke with Jared Curry (@officialjaredcurry). Jared Curry is a 19 year old, 7 figure business owner. After scaling his business, Scope Marketing, to 7 figures, he moved on to the next project: 6 Figure Agency Elite Coaching Program. He partnered with Billy Willson whose student he used to be. Together they are offering a new coaching program for agency owners teaching them how to scale their business. Jared has been featured in Authority Magazine, Blavity, International Youth Journal, Thrive Global, The Good Man Project, FOX, NBC, and interviewed for many podcasts including Action & Ambition on Entrepreneur.com. To learn more and join the new program that Jared offers with Billy please check: https://go.billywillson.com/elite.

On this episode you will hear about:

* How to open a digital agency, and scale it 

* Why you are focusing on the wrong things in your business, and what you need to focus on to scale your business

* How you might be able to increase the percentages of closing business

* Why trust is directly related your closing percentage

* Why practicing what you preach is critical to your business' ability to scale and build trust

* How the pain of change effects your ability to reach your goals

* How and why you need to invest in your self-education and get ready for a digital future

Production Credits:

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is a SoftStix Productions LLC jawn. This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Tony Lopes. Jared Curry joined us remotely, via Google Meet.

Executive Producer - Tony Lopes (SoftStix Productions LLC - [email protected])

Host - Tony Lopes

Guest - Jared Curry (go.billywillson.com/elite)

Editor - Tony Lopes

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is sponsored by Lopes Law LLC (www.LopesLawLLC.com).

Make sure you subscribe to the Self Made Strategies Podcast on your favorite podcasting platform, so you can catch the latest episodes.

Copyright 2018 - 2021 SoftStix Productions LLC, all rights reserved.

www.selfmadestrategies.com

 

On this episode, we spoke with Tim Keen.  Tim is a LA-based marketer (originally from Melbourne, Australia, with a stint in Montreal) whose previous day job was with a touring rock band. He learned the ropes of performance marketing (the main focus of this episode) by dropshipping sex toys and bootleg Harry Potter merch. He then leveraged that experience to get his first-ever full-time job at the age of 28, which consisted of running Google Ads at MuteSix.

After scaling 3 clients to 10x revenue, in 6 months, he got back into the music industry with a stint at Roland, working on digital transformation, with their Global Marketing Team. Then he accidentally co-founded a digital marketing agency, called Loop Club, and the rest is history. Loop Club has grown 10x in the year and is poised to replicate that success in 2021. 60% of Loop Club's clients have received additional funding or been acquired in the last year, and 90% have increased their revenue by at least 100%.

Loop works with high-growth eCommerce brands whose values they can get behind, and are deeply committed to diversity & inclusion within Loop Club's own organization. Loop Club also dabbles in progressive politics: having ran paid media for the Nithya Raman For City Council campaign in Los Angeles, which got more votes than any city council campaign in Los Angeles history.

On this episode you will hear about:

* How Tim went from selling a band to selling sex toys online to a full time marketing firm

* Why the experience, being a part of an indie band, was great

* What "performance marketing" is and what it isn't

* How you can use performance marketing in your business to scale

* Why performance marketing is essential to scaling a brand

* How performance marketing helps you to find what is actually driving real results (and how you can optimize that to scale)

* Why moving to the United States motivated Tim to become an entrepreneur

* The practical best practices that you should apply to your business (so that you can build up faster)

* Why measuring and optimizing your marketing plan is often a better focus for you than spending your money on marketing

* Why asking your clients for testimonials is of critical importance to building your business and marketing plan

* The reasons that you must niche your services, being tiny and specific, so that you can be the best at that offering

* What it was like, starting a marketing agency, during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Production Credits:

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is a SoftStix Productions LLC jawn. This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Tony Lopes. Tim Keen joined us remotely, via Google Meet.

Executive Producer - Tony Lopes (SoftStix Productions LLC - [email protected])

Host - Tony Lopes

Guest - Tim Keen (loop.club)

Editor - Tony Lopes

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is sponsored by Lopes Law LLC (www.LopesLawLLC.com).

Make sure you subscribe to the Self Made Strategies Podcast on your favorite podcasting platform, so you can catch the latest episodes.

Copyright 2018 - 2021 SoftStix Productions LLC, all rights reserved.

www.selfmadestrategies.com

 

On this episode, we sat down with Rocky Lalvani. Rocky serves as Chief Profitability Advisor for business owners. He teaches them how to ensure they get paid and they make profit a priority! As a certified Profit First Professional he implements Mike Michalowicz's Profit First System.  We change the accounting formula of Sales - Expenses = Profit to Sales - Profit = Expenses.  This ensures Profit comes first! (PS. It's not about money at all costs, people come before money!) 

On this episode you will hear about:

How to make profit your priority

Why you should work backwards, from the sales and profit you want to fund your lifestyle, to make profit a priority

How to figure out how to make your business fulfill your life

Why you should choose the best clients for your business, and not necessarily take on every client that comes your way

How to get to the next level

How to think outside the box to find the solutions to scaling your business

Production Credits:

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is a SoftStix Productions LLC jawn. This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Tony Lopes. Rocky Lalvani joined us remotely, via Google Meet.

Executive Producer - Tony Lopes (SoftStix Productions LLC - [email protected])

Host - Tony Lopes

Guest - Rocky Lalvani (https://profitcomesfirst.com/)

Editor - Tony Lopes

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is sponsored by Lopes Law LLC (www.LopesLawLLC.com).

Make sure you subscribe to the Self Made Strategies Podcast on your favorite podcasting platform, so you can catch the latest episodes.

Copyright 2018 - 2021 SoftStix Productions LLC, all rights reserved.

www.selfmadestrategies.com

On this episode, we sat down with Michele Molitor, the founder and CEO of Nectar Consulting Inc., and co-author of “Breakthrough Healing.” She works with executives and entrepreneurs bringing more than 25 years of experience, intuitive insights and strategic business savvy to their success. She is an expert at enhancing the capacity of leaders, to build high performing teams and exponentially increase bottom-line results. Michele’s unique Rapid Rewiring approach is a culmination of years of study in the realms of emotional intelligence, neuroscience, organizational psychology and Rapid Transformational Therapy. She helps catalyze shifts in thinking and eliminate mental and emotional blocks to rapidly rewire your brain for greater confidence and success. A nationally recognized speaker, certified executive coach, Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) practitioner, consultant, trainer, and writer, Michele’s passion for helping others amplify their natural talents and expand their leadership is conveyed through all aspects of her work and writing.

Visit her websites here to find out more: https://www.nectarconsulting.com  | https://michelemolitor.com

Blog: https://www.nectarconsulting.com/brain-candy/blog/

Michele's Book “Breakthrough Healing” on Amazon | http://bit.ly/Breakthrough-Healing 

On this episode you will hear about:

Why imposter syndrome can hinder you

Who "AMY" is and how to control her

How women have been more adversely impacted by imposter syndrome then men

How Michele's Rapid Rewiring(TM) approach helps business professionals subconsciously remove the fear, self-doubt & blocks created by imposter syndrome to elevate their confidence and achieve greater success, well-being, & career satisfaction

How To Master Your Mindset

How to Rewire Your Brain To Boost Your Confidence

Overcoming Fear & Anxiety In Uncertain Times

Here are some gifts Michele left for you:

YOUR FREE TOOLKIT | Conquering Fear & Anxiety Toolkit: https://bit.ly/ConquerFearandAnxiety

YOUR FREE EBOOK | Tapping Into Your Power & Presence 2020: http://bit.ly/TYPP2020  

Production Credits:

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is a SoftStix Productions LLC jawn. This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Tony Lopes. Michele Molitor joined us remotely, via Zoom.

Executive Producer - Tony Lopes (SoftStix Productions LLC - [email protected])

On this episode, we sat down with Claire Bahn, a personal brand strategist and the CEO and Founder of Claire Bahn Group.  She helps high-achieving entrepreneurs, investors, founders, and executives create magnetic personal brands to increase their visibility, deal flow, and opportunities.  She found her way into personal branding after her career as an actress did not work out.  Even though acting didn't pan out, she did find that she had a knack for personal branding.  Claire was getting requests to help actors, friends and clients with their personal brand (including for online dating profiles).  That eventually led to an organic opportunity to begin branding corporate executives and angel investors.

Your personal brand isn't just your logo. It’s an amalgamation of EVERYTHING: your social accounts, what’s on Google about you…all of this IS your brand.

Visit her website here to find out more: clairebahn.com

On this episode you will hear:

Why personal branding is so important

How personal branding effects your outcomes and life in general

How entrepreneurs can boost revenue by showcasing their subject expertise and leveraging their authority

Why ignoring your personal brand can negatively affect your business

Claire's best practices for developing your personal brand

Why you have to give (to your audience) before you can get anything back

Why you should use the 80-20 rule

Production Credits:

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is a SoftStix Productions LLC jawn. This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Tony Lopes.  Claire Bahn joined us remotely, via Zoom.

Executive Producer - Tony Lopes (SoftStix Productions LLC - [email protected])

Host - Tony Lopes

Guest - Claire Bahn

Editor - Tony Lopes

The Self Made Strategies Podcast is sponsored by Lopes Law LLC (www.LopesLawLLC.com).

Make sure you subscribe to the Self Made Strategies Podcast on your favorite podcasting platform, so you can catch the latest episodes.

Copyright 2018 - 2021 SoftStix Productions LLC, all rights reserved.

www.selfmadestrategies.com

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