Small Business Answer Man

Rhea Lalla is an Emotional Intelligence Specialist and Founder of BuildGreatMinds.com. She help parents heal inner wounds and cultivate deeper connections in their families. She has worked with the UN , Children's Aid and supports parents globally in transforming relationships so their children thrive and create empowered lives they love.

How to make impactful interactions with their family now and in times to come so that they have something to be proud of.

• Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is:
  • Self Awareness – Do you know what you are feeling and why you are feeling it. Can you also recognize it in others.
  • Perspective thinking – Can you climb into another person's situation and take a look around
  • Self Regulation – How well we can calm ourselves
  • Social Savy
  • Motivation
• Business owners need to use EQ not only with their families, but with their clients and customers as well.
• Most of the ways we react now are a result of things we learned or felt in our childhood. There are 5 areas that each child needs.
  • Attention
  • Acceptance
  • Appreciation
  • Affection
  • Allowing
• Trauma wounds can even be from not receiving the things we think we should have had.
• Ask the question: What is the best thing or way I can love you that will prove that I love you.

Every decision we make as humans is based on how we feel. So, it is crucial to use perspective to see how you are viewing others and how they are viewing you.

Website: buildgreatminds.com

Get Rhea's 100 questions by going to her website. https://buildgreatminds.com/gift/

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David is a Husband, Father, entrepreneur and coach… and loves to sing. He lives just outside of Nashville, TN with his wife Lisa and their two children. David has a product in over 3000 retail stores (The keyless StatGuardPlus – a thermostat guard with a combination lock). He is also the lead coach for Dr. Andy Garrett's True North Blueprint.

David started off as a business owner that developed thermostats with locks. He now helps people solve and answer the question of how individuals are made uniquely and how they show up in the world and how to use their uniqueness.

• Self-awareness can be your bedrock to success. If you start comparing yourself to others, it can lead to imposter syndrome and doubt.
• David recommends Kris Kelso's book, Overcoming the Imposter. Kris recommends considering yourself an explorer instead of an imposter.
• Sometimes it takes courage to admit that you don't know what you don't know. You'll need to ask for help.
• You have to learn how to get through your own unknowns and fears.
• If you are feeling unsure, own your own journey and stop comparing yourself to others and their journeys.
• Dan Sullivan's book, Who Not How, is a helpful book to help you realize that you don't always need to know the how.
• Be aware of what is authentic in you. Become more self-aware and you can have more fulfillment.
• Be aware of what rocks you are standing on to make your decisions.
• Email [email protected] for a free tool to help you better understand what you are feeling and why that matters.

You become like the people who you surround yourself with. Have people that will call you up and help you to be better.

Also, early in his business, David thought he had to do all things and know all things and then he realized he had to get himself in the right seat on the bus and then pick up people to fill in the other seats.

Website: statguardplus.com and davidask.com

Email [email protected] for a free tool to help you better understand what you are feeling and why that matters.

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Herb Cogliano leads his own advisory practice leveraging the Scaling Up Performance Platform, described in Verne Harnish's award-winning book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits-Scaling Up. As a Business Coach, experienced CEO Scaling Up Practitioner, and Professor of the Scaling Up Masters Business Course, he has learned firsthand what it takes to overcome many business challenges.

Herb helps businesses scale impact, reduce drama and unless the potential of the people in their company.

• We all started our business with a dream to help people. Then as our business grows, complexity sets in and starts to cause drama and nightmares. Then the business owner might fall out of love with their business. All because no one helped them learn to navigate the scaling of their business.
• Scaling may not be for everybody. Only 4-5% of companies make $1M or more. Many businesses are lifestyle or single entrepreneurs.
• Herb sees 3 big barriers for business owners to get to the next level.
• First, Many businesses face challenges when they go from a few employees to several. When they had a few employees, they were able to directly manage them. Now with several, they have not developed their team to help others manage and share their message. (Scalable leadership)
• You can also have scalable infrastructure challenges. The organization chart, decision making and communication breakdown. (Scalable infrastructure)
• A third challenge may be when market dynamics change and you have not pivoted your business to move with the change. (The ability to navigate changing market dynamics)
• 3 core things to look at for great leaders
  • The ability to repeat your core values and your purpose.
  • The ability to delegate.
  • The ability to predict.
• Look at 7 simple but very effective levers to move your business. These 7 moved in the right direction can make a huge impact.
  • Price lever. Have you looked at your pricing? Have you updated it? Consider bundling. Have you considered inflation?
  • Volume. Not all volume is good.
  • Cost of Goods Reduction
  • Overhead Reduction
  • Reduction in AR days
  • Reduction in inventory stock days
  • Increase in accounts payable days
• Read the Scaling Up book

Herb wants every business owner to be running their business not their business running them. To do this business owners need to learn to scale up the right way.

Website: aspiregrowthadvisors.com

Get a Free Scaling Up readiness assessment from Herb. Find it on his website home page.

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In the 30 years Dave Kahle has been in practice, he has worked with over 459 individual companies. He has presented in 11 countries & 47 states. Dave has authored 13 books, including The Good Book on Business and How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime. His books have been translated into 8 languages and are available in 20 countries.

How to begin to create a sales system to grow your business methodically and predictably.

• You have to invest time and mental energy into how you are going to sell something.
• If you create a system you can save time and energy.
• Your first step in sales is to think about your customer, not your product
• Dave has a formula for the 5 stages of sales
  • Identifying suspects
  • Review those and determine if they are truly prospects
  • Turn a prospect into a customer. This has happened once money changes hands.
  • Turn the customer into a client.
  • Turn some of those clients into partners. These clients are committed to you.
• You need to look at each of these stages and ask how you can do them better.
• You need to look at sales as relational instead of transactional.
• Money and sales is a result of this relationship.
• Every company benefits from having a sales system in place.
• Create the system and then train your salespeople to your system.
• Everyone can sell better. It is a learnable skill.
• The best practices of a successful salesperson are the same as the best practices of a Christian salesperson.
• The majority of your sales will come from your "partners"
• Create a sales dashboard to measure and track your sales.
• Review your sales dashboard regularly to see what is working and refine it.
• Find access to his free e-book on his website.

Every business person should think of sales in terms of a sales system and should always be refining that system.

Website: davekahle.com

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Anthony Butler is the founder of the digital marketing agency Can-Do Ideas and author of Primal Storytelling, Marketing for Humans. He is a highly regarded expert in brand storytelling and digital marketing. Anthony graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and the US Army Ranger School. He is a combat veteran and commanded an infantry company in Iraq during the invasion of Baghdad. He is also a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelt and currently resides in Montana with his wife and two sons.

Anthony helps companies get more website traffic and build their social media followers which increases their customer base.

• Anthony feels that the big problem is that businesses do "random acts of marketing" and don't have a strategic plan or a business process that helps them create content.
• It's getting harder and harder to distinguish yourself and get noticed. It takes a real plan.
• Marketers need to think about the mix of emotions that are in the sales situation and then bring that into their marketing.
• You need to start with building trust. You need to start with stories so that people get to know you and trust you.
• People buy emotionally and then justify with logic.
• Stories have the same basic format. With primal storytelling, a business uses the basic format and fits in the details about their business.
• We start with an origin story. It's about where we come from and how you got started. It helps people know you.
• Next is your vision story. It is about what you are bringing to the world. It helps people connect with what you are trying to accomplish. Many people will connect with just this part of your story.
• The transformation stories are the case stories. It's about how you've helped and did you produce results.
• The fourth part is the storyline. Think of it like your favorite TV show. It will have your underlying theme.
• Primal Storytelling is Tribe + Primal Urges + Stories

Understand who your audience is and then make a strategic marketing plan. You should have your plan in place at least 90 days ahead of time.

Website: www.primalstorytelling.com

Get a free digital copy of the book and 7 bonuses at www.primalstorytelling.com/podcast

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• One of the keys to success is in the area of Mindset.
• Mindset can be changed but we have to keep in mind that much of our mindset is set when we are in adolescence.
• We are either in a fixed mindset or climber mindset. A person with a climber mindset wants to learn, grow and become the person they want to be. The fixed mindset person never tries and is afraid of failure. Which one are you?
• We can change but we need to take action
• We must realize that to change we must call upon our subconscious mind to help us achieve something greater. 85% of our subconscious determines if we can achieve greatness because our subconscious mind has to overcome
  • Our self image
  • Beliefs
  • Our past experiences
• Consider what paradigm you need to break.
• The recording is from Carol Dweck. Check out her book – Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
• Another resource is Brian Moran and Michael Lennington's book, Uncommon Accountability: A Radical New Approach to Greater Success and Fulfillment
• Mind Your Mindset by Michael Hyatt
• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• These books will go in a deep dive to help you understand mindset and what is holding you back from achieving the greatness you desire.

Website: goascend.biz

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Joey Coleman helps companies keep their customers and employees. As an award-winning speaker, he shares his First 100 Days® methodology for improving customer and employee retention with organizations around the world (e.g., Whirlpool, Volkswagen Australia, and Zappos). His Wall Street Journal #2 best-selling book Never Lose a Customer Again shows how to turn any sale into a lifelong customer and his upcoming book, Never Lose an Employee Again, details a framework companies around the world can use to reduce turnover and increase employee engagement.

Business owners are struggling with people. They are struggling to hire and engage and keep their employees. Joey will talk about people and a process to help your business think more strategically about their people.

• Joey wrote his book, Never Lose An Employee Again, specifically with small business owners in mind.
• Joey wrote his second book because he realized that you cannot offer a good customer experience with out having a good employee experience.
• His research was done during Covid and post-Covid and reflects some of the shifts in employee experience.
• Small business owners are some of the most resilient people in the world and Joey would like to encourage them that they can handle this and can adapt.
• We need to recognize that the expectation of our employees has changed. We need to recognize that the landscape has changed. Then we need to say "What do we do now?"

• Assess – A prospective employee is trying to determine if they want to work at a company.
• Accept – The company extends a job offer and the employee accepts it.
• Affirm – There can be a phase of new hire remorse. The employee starts to wonder if they made the right decision. This is the point where the company needs to affirm to the new hire that they made the right decision. If there is a gap between acceptance and Activate phase, the company should continue to engage the new employee.
• Activate – This is the first day on the job. Create an amazing experience. Give them something to talk about when they get home.
• Acclimate – Starts on day 2 and runs for weeks or months.
• Accomplish – This is when they have their first milestone or achievement on the job. How are we gonna celebrate this?
• Adopt – This when they become loyal to us. They are not looking for jobs elsewhere.
• Advocate – When they are here they are singing our praises and become recruiters for us.

• We have to be careful because once they are in the door, we may take them for granted. If we do this, we will never get them to the Adopt or Advocate stage.
• Most business stall out between the Activate and Accomplish stage. We need to think strategically about how people learn so that we can help get them to the Accomplish stage.
• It may help to think about teaching instead of training.
  • People learn visually.
  • They learn auditorily
  • They also learn kinesthetically
• It is important to teach every step and action a new employee with make. If you don't have time to teach your people, they won't be able to deliver what you need them to deliver.
• Process is your friend. Process is repeatable, process is scalable, process allows you to to have more time for spontaneous situations.
• The first 100 days are critical to make or break the employee experience.

If you want your employees to care about your business as much as you do, you should care about your employees as much as you care about your business.

Website: joeycoleman.com

E-mail a receipt of your pre-order of Never Lose and Employee Again (in any format) to [email protected] and receive a special bonus.

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Chris Masiello has built a successful, nearly forty-year career, spanning a variety of nationally recognized businesses in the real estate and financial services sectors, accounting for over two billion in annual sales. He continues to lead a portfolio of successful companies.

How to become more adaptable and how to take our hesitancy from paralysis to action.

• We come by our aversion to change naturally.
• So, we come by the aversion naturally. What do we do about it? We need to be mindful that the threat is a perception but not an actual physical threat.
• No matter where you go, there you are. Look for opportunity first and threat second, not the other way around and you will find opportunity.
• When change is going on become really curious. It is hard to be in judgment and curiosity at the same time.
• If I label something as bad, I pass judgment that there is no opportunity. If I label it as interesting and decide to be curious, I can take a step back and see it from a wider or multiple dimensions and look for the opportunities.
• We've only got to where we are through change.
• When we resist change we meet fate. When we embrace change we achieve a destiny.
• It's important to slow down and become more aware of your thoughts.
• Try to position yourself so that you are more aware of your surroundings.
• Chris's book is Change Short and Simple. It is a workbook and is packed with strategy.

Be curious! Understand that as change is happening we need to align our priorities with our vision.

Website: chrismasiello.com

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Chad Stokes is the Owner of Stokes Mosquito in North Augusta SC. He retired from the US Army in 2004. After retiring he attended University of South Carolina and received a BS in Business with a concentration in Accounting. While working on his MBA he realized indoor work was not for him since he really does not like numbers and especially taxes… He worked for a property management company for nearly 10 years before starting his pest control company. He is in his 5th year of business and growing slowly. He has been married to Darlene 38 years and has 4 grown sons, 1 grandson and a grandson on the way.

The advantages of surrounding yourself with likeminded individuals.

• Chad realized the power of a Mastermind after purchasing a franchise. He realized friends don't have the background to give business advice, but other business owners in a Mastermind, are a great resource for questions.
• A Mastermind becomes a trusted board of advisors, but you still get to make your own decisions.
• Masterminds are great for accountability as well.
• Chad has benefited from his Mastermind group in that every step of the way he has had someone say either it's a good idea or it's a bad idea.
• There are a variety of members with a lot of different strengths and expertise.
• He faced questions such as: How do I do marketing? How do I get customers? How do I determine where my money should go? When should I buy equipment? What about hiring an employee vs. having an independent contractor?
• Chad works on learning as much as he can through books, podcasts, and his mastermind group.
• Chad says you need to surround yourself with people you want to emulate or be like. Also, take the time to get to know others.

Get a business coach! Surround yourself with smart people. Join a mastermind.

Website: stokesmosquito.com

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Zach Lush, CEO of DOJOX and CMO of VMax Group, has over 12 years of marketing experience helping coaches and consultants drive growth. A former professional baseball player and lifelong passion for coaching, Zach inspires growth with his strategic insights and infectious optimism. He's coached thousands of entrepreneurs at both the agency level and working under marketing gurus like Aaron Fletcher (Fletcher Method) and Sam Millais (Legal Funnels)

Helping to understand marketing at a deep level.

• Zach says the beginning of marketing is relationships. Building up a good system for outreach is the beginning and the most important part.
• Marketing starts with you and what your message is. What are the stories that you have that relate to what you offer?
• A good message does three things:
  • Is it relevant
  • Are you conveying it in an elegant yet simple method
  • It is unique? How are you differentiating yourself from others?
• You must understand that there is a spoken layer of problems but there is also a deeper layer of fears that they may only relay to those close to them. If you can address these deeper layers too, you will really be speaking to them.
• Emotion sells. That is why stories are so useful in selling.
• In today's climate, you need to have a video presence. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million words.
• ChatGPT is a new AI device. It can become a co-pilot for you. It has helped Zach be more productive and decreased his overhead.
• ChatGPT doesn't do everything. We need to know the parameters to put in.
• Follow-up is key.
• There is a 1 million ceiling that you will have a difficult time getting past unless you have your processes in place and you surround yourself with others that can be a support and sounding board.
• Zach says one of the biggest benefits is having a group of advisors/mentors and surrounding himself with people he can trust and lean on for wise counsel. Coaches are also crucial to success.
• Zach is developing a course on how to use ChatGPT for marketing.

Understand your customer audience at a deep level.

Website: DOJO.us

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