After a slight hiatus, Stories of Success is back, with a new host, Craig A. Taylor.

In this special (handover) episode we set the scene for Stories of Success going forward, with founder, Volker Ballueder, and new host, Craig. We discuss what we want to achieve, what success looks like for us personally, and we set sail for new land.

Going forward, Stories of Success will continue to look at personal development, but also explore the back stories of respected visionaries, entrepreneurs and leading lights in the business, music, arts and entertainment industries.

Want to join us and tell your story? Find me on LinkedIn...

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This is the end of season 5 episode. You might think it's earlier than anticipated, but there is a reason. There is always a reason.

I say thank you.

Please stay in touch and add me on Linkedin or subscribe to my newsletter.

Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• How he stumbled into sales
• The hard lessons you learn from telemarketing and picking up the phone
• Hard work paying off
• His background and degree in sports psychology
• How he met his wife when she offered him a job
• His experience launching a juice bar
• Tech and enterprise sales
• How he founded Pavillion (formerly Revenue Collective) to build a community around tech sales
• The latest report on interim and fractional leadership
• How this lead to him founding Scalewise and building a platform to get companies and interim and fractional revenue leaders together
• The average tenure of a CRO being 18 months
• The change of work patterns for C-Levels pre Covid but then the accelerated change due to Covid
• Redundancies and recession
• Flexibility and work life balance
• Sales Impact Academy - creating content and qualifications for sales leaders
• Tom on Linkedin if you want to get in touch Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

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• Companies Martyn worked for and how they lead him to do what he loves
• How is storytelling skills apply to entrepreneurs, interim and fractional leaders or any portfolio professional
• Why he started his own business www.gardn.co
• Wanting to be more hands-on
• Interim and fractional commercial roles
• How he scales Gardn
• Working with both scale-ups and big established companies that want to go to market with a new product
• Sales narrative
• Pitch decks
• Breath and depth of positioning
• 50% of business is coming through recommendations
• Establishing a single narrative to talk to all people
• You can't be all for all people, you have to narrow your focus
• Negotiations
• Value propositions
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martynbaker/

Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• Ran a digital advertising agency for over 10 years
• Exited in 2020 to start a new business when the pandemic hit
• Started his newsletter to figure out what to do next
• Created a system for work-life
• He got a book deal and started working on his book which will be published January 2023: Work/Life Flywheel
• Interviewed 100s and surveyed 1000s for his book, listen to the interviews on his podcast
• You can subscribe to his newsletter on his website
• He works as a fractional CEO 2 days a week
• Hybrid working
• How to get more out of people: does collaboration IRL work?
• If we improve collaboration by 20% meeting in person, does that balance the opportunity to get top talent from around the world dialling in, improving collaboration by more than 20% virtually?
• Access to specialist skills
• How IRL meeting helps with resolving conflict
• Networking as a graduate
• Selling oneself as a freelancer/interim/fractional person
• The future of work being personalised work which gives the individual more choice
• Marketplaces for freelancers
• What happens when the economy slows down
• Unbundling the workforce
• Creating virtual teams of experts
• Aggregation and re-bundling in verticals
• Idea generation - put them out there!
• Is Work Life Balance possible
• Connect with Ollie on Linkedin

Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• Doubling revenue in 90 days thanks to business blueprints
• His sprint coaching programme
• www.strategysprints.com
• Enjoying business instead of the business running you
• Pattern of solo entrepreneurs feeling guilty
• Making the how happen
• Increased LTV (life time value)
• Taking holidays and switching off
• We know what's right but don't know how to put it into practise
• Focus on sales, and how to sell
• Work out your go to market
• Onboarding
• Do the magic
• Forget about lead generation, play instead!
• Talk to people!
• Create value
• How to have skin in the game
• Business models:
• Exchanging money for time
• Packaging things up as a retainer
• Charge upfront and outcome based
• Cash flow vs. profitability
• His book, Strategy Sprints
• His YouTube channel
• You find lots of free open source blueprints on his website

Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• Being a wordsmith
• Getting your story across
• How to position yourself and tell your unique story
• Juggling work and life, particularly as a freelancer and stay at home dad
• Content is king
• Direct response and sales copywriting
• Playing to people's psychology
• Email marketing workshops
• SEO content writing
• Relationship building
• Finding work through Linkedin and networking
• Pricing dilemma and selling services
• Putting a price on passion
• It shouldn't be about money
• Do what you enjoy and what is sustainable
• Be the thought leader
• Be yourself
• Get yourself know, get yourself liked, get yourself trusted
• Personal content
• www.deepsocial.co.uk
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pawsey-45496b2b/

Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• Him learning from an early age about productivity and freelancing, bettering processes in a factory
• How he defines freelancing and a portfolio career
• The variety of freelance job boards
• Differences in demand for consultants, marketing and tech workers
• His involvement in the space since 2012
• How the pandemic changed the freelance work even further
• 40% of US workers having a side gig
• How companies should appreciate those workers developing new capabilities and skillsets
• 'Freelancer Light' - the ones that still have a full time job
• The Great Awakening vs. The Great Resignation
• Survey on Freelancing and some key incomes
• The need for a portfolio for freelancers
• Challenges for freelancers to sell themselves
• Advantages for companies to employ top talent as freelancers
• Open Assembly
• The Center for the Transformation of Work
• Jon's profile on Forbes
• Jon's Linkedin

Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• The differences and sameness of Portfolio Professionals, fractional and interims, as well as freelancers
• How a lot of the change in work style start with a side hustle
• How the pandemic triggered more people to look at their lifestyle, and side hustles
• Lockdown influencing the way we are working, and that hybrid is now the norm
• Focused experts
• The Portfolio Collective platform he founded
• 2030 will see 50% of the workforce having more than one job
• NEDs
• Hedging bets with equity and jobs
• Not putting all your eggs in one basket from a job/career and income perspective
• Ben's journey from army to corporate to portfolio
• A book about the portfolio career written by my former guest Katie Ledger
• Leapers.co - a community for freelancers
• TPC community and how it can help you to become better at your portfolio career, including insights, networking and jobs
• The future of work: hybrid working, economy of offices
• The dreaded commute
• His piece of advice: Know how to tell your story and identify your ninja skills
• Ben on Linkedin

Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• 🙂 Coffee: www.chimneyfirecoffee.com
• Leaving the corporate world or staying there forever
• Finding confidence as a freelancer
• Old school managers not allowing a hybrid approach (4/1)
• How important accountant s and finances are when going freelnance
• Transitioning back into a full tiime role and transitioning out again
• Being an internal consultant
• The meaning of interim, fractional, non executive, advisor, mentor
• How to find a job as a freelancer
• The importance of networking
• Lunchclub.com
• Managers looking for output rather than processes to be followed
• Selling time vs. output/projects
• Selling a proportion of your brain
• Working life, family life, work life balance and holidays
• How to structure your work week
• Growthmentor.com
• It's all about the fit
• Think about your workplace, make it yours and efficient
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriancockle/

Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.