The Entrepreneur Ethos

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Hey everyone. I wanted to jump in quickly let you know about the release of the audio version of my book, The Entrepreneur Ethos, narrated by David A. Conatser. If you want to support the show, you can buy it wherever audiobooks are sold. Links are also in the show notes. To those of you who already got yourself a copy, thanks so much. It means the world to me that you want to support the show but also build a better world through entrepreneurship.

Now on to my guest for today, Tim Sprinkle, founder of Layup Content and author of Screw the Valley: A Coast-to-Coast Tour of America’s New Startup Culture.

Tim is a former journalist who grew frustrated with the quality of the content businesses were trying to pitch in order to get stories written. So in 2014 he started his own PR company, Layup Content, where he helps companies figure out and tell their stories. 

Tim shares my vision of making the core of selling a product figuring out its story. For Tim, he usually finds the story he wants to tell after talking to his client for 20 minutes. Having a good story, not getting out as much content as possible, is key for building a brand. You never want to compete with noise by producing more noise. That isn’t the way to success.

One of the writers Tim admires is John McPhee, a writer who has been able to gain access to all kinds of situations by being just a bit quirky and disarming. Similarly, sometimes finding that one little thing that makes a person or company different can be key to telling their story. 

Now let’s get better together.

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Support the Show. Get the NEW AudioBook!

AudioBook: Audible| Kobo| Authors Direct | Google Play | Apple

Hey everyone. I wanted to jump in quickly let you know about the release of the audio version of my book, The Entrepreneur Ethos, narrated by David A. Conatser. If you want to support the show, you can buy it wherever audiobooks are sold. Links are also in the show notes. 

Now on to my guest for today, Nelly Yusupova, founder of TechSpeak for Entrepreneurs, a coaching program for entrepreneurs. 

Nelly founded TechSpeak for Entrepreneurs after a career as a CTO for Webgrrls International, where she started out as a developer fresh out of college with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. After a brief stint in the corporate world, she found she liked the world of startups better and went back to Webgrrls, a company that has provided support and networking to women to learn how to better leverage technology. She founded TechSpeak in 2012 in order to help entrepreneurs better understand how to manage the technical side of their business.

Nelly’s story is one of hard work and determination. She was thrown into a job where she had to quickly learn English after emigrating to the United States with her family at the age of 13, where she also learned the value of service and helping others. Even though she knew nothing about computers when she entered college, she graduated within three years. 

Nelly came up with the idea for TechSpeak after speaking to many entrepreneurs about frustrating experiences with technical development. She realized she needed to share what she’d learned about the importance of building and following a process when building a company. These are the lessons she shares in TechSpeak, originally a live bootcamp and now available online. Nelly wants to help as many entrepreneurs to succeed as possible by giving them the tools they need to better understand and communicate the technical implementation process of building a company. 

Now let’s get better together.

Links to Explore Further

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Support the Show. Get the NEW AudioBook!

AudioBook: Audible| Kobo| Authors Direct | Google Play | Apple

Hey everyone. I wanted to jump in quickly let you know about the release of the audio version of my book, The Entrepreneur Ethos, narrated by David A. Conatser. If you want to support the show, you can buy it wherever audiobooks are sold. Links are also in the show notes. You can also support the show by leaving a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Thanks to everyone who has left a review. I really appreciate it.

Now on to my guest for today, Brenden from MasterTalk. 

Brenden has caught the attention of corporate executives through his YouTube videos, where he teaches public speaking skills on his MasterTalk channel. Billing himself “the youngest public speaking coach in the world,” Brenden coaches managers who want to move up the ranks by teaching them how to improve their communication skills. Brenden honed his skills as a public speaker in college, where he participated in competitions and coached other students. Wanting to find a way to give back, he started recording videos in his mother’s basement to help people become more confident speakers. 

I asked Brenden why so many people fear public speaking. Find out why he believes schools are primarily to blame for so many growing up with a lot of anxieties around giving presentations, which often connects to the poor communication skills. Being able to quickly tell the story of your business can be one of the most important skills to learn. Brenden shares some of the insights he’s learned about teaching others to do presentations and tell their stories. 

Now let’s get better together.

Here are some tips from Brenden about how to make stellar presentations: 

Links to Explore Further

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Support the Show. Get the NEW AudioBook!

AudioBook: Audible| Kobo| Authors Direct | Google Play | Apple

Hey everyone. I wanted to jump in quickly let you know about the release of the audio version of my book, The Entrepreneur Ethos, narrated by David A. Conatser. If you want to support the show, you can buy it wherever audiobooks are sold. Links are also in the show notes. 

Now on to my guest for today, Lee Chambers of Essentialise Coaching in England. 

What would you do if you woke up one morning and found you couldn’t walk? Lee’s journey to becoming an environmental psychologist and functional life coach is rooted in his experience with developing a chronic illness where he suddenly found himself without the ability to walk. 

The father of a young child with his wife expecting another, he had to summon up the determination to face up to what had happened, become aware of his limits and failures as growth opportunities, and take ownership of his own path to wellness and recovery. He now shares what he learned about the importance of cultivating a healthy lifestyle to living your best life. 

Lee got his start as an entrepreneur not long after graduating from university, after he found himself unemployed in the recession of 2008 and he started what would become a successful video game company. 

By the time he developed the illness that took away his ability to walk, though, he realized he wanted to find another path, and in recovering from his illness and summoning up the determination to be able to walk again, he found a new calling as a health and wellness coach. He believes strongly in the vital link between physical health and well-being and finding joy and fulfillment in life, encouraging his clients to experiment with ways that best build and harness their energies. 

Now let’s get better together.

Links to Explore Further

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Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Support the Show. Get the NEW AudioBook!

AudioBook: Audible| Kobo| Authors Direct | Google Play | Apple

Hey everyone. I wanted to jump in quickly to let you know about the release of the audio version of my book, The Entrepreneur Ethos, narrated by David A. Conatser. If you want to support the show, you can buy it wherever audiobooks are sold. Links are also in the show notes. You can also leave a rating and review if you like. I really appreciate all those that do. It means a lot to me that you’d take the time to support the show in that way. 

Now on to my guest for today, Nicole Brassington, cofounder of Camp Bespoke, a new year-round upscale camping destination in Kentucky. 

Nicole’s story starts with her successful career as a nurse practitioner in the high-pressure setting of heart and lung transplants. She and three friends, also African American nurses, have been a source of support for each other for many years. They first came up with the idea of starting a nonprofit to help girls in Sierra Leone reach their potential by providing them with menstrual hygiene products.

When they realized they’d have to raise a lot of money to do so, they set to work coming up with a business plan. The business they started grew out of their love for travel as well as for their home state of Kentucky. Their first idea for a retreat center was replaced by a “glamping” campground for practical reasons and so began the rocky journey to building Camp Bespoke. 

Nicole speaks again and again of their determination to see it through, despite having to come up with their own money to fund the first phase and having to cancel reservations because a bank insisted on a feasibility study. But they’ve also found partners and cheerleaders along the way who share in their dream and vision for a place for people visiting Williamstown, Kentucky to stay. They’ve stayed true to their principles of sustainability and supporting the local economy, principles that have earned them key supporters on the local and state levels.

Now let’s get better together.

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Support the Show. Get the NEW AudioBook!

AudioBook: Audible| Kobo| Authors Direct | Google Play | Apple

Hey everyone. I wanted to quickly jump in and thank all of you for listening to the show -- especially those that gave me a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. So thanks Year of the Harris, mngrwl, and Roy Harmon for the reviews. It means a lot to me that you’d take the time to leave a review. If you like the show, I’d appreciate it if you would leave a review. 

Now on to my guest for today, Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing.

Robert has 35 years of experience in marketing. And he learned it all old-school - through reading books and applying what he learned. He started out offering seminars in time management and working as a business consultant. When he realized most businesses wanted help with their marketing, he made that his focus. 

Robert has rolled with the times, moving from in-person networking and seminars to selling his services through the internet back before most businesses were still trying to figure out how to put a website together. He’s been writing and sending out a weekly newsletter, The Fearless Marketer, for over 20 years and now focuses on offering group coaching and training to self-employed B2B professionals. You’ll want to hear how he’s developed his offerings to successfully enroll clients into his program at rates of nearly 90 percent using 13 essential questions all prospective clients have.

Now, let’s get better together.

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Support the Show. Get the NEW AudioBook!

AudioBook: Audible| Kobo| Authors Direct | Google Play | Apple

Hey everyone. I wanted to quickly jump in and let you know about the release of the audio version of my book, The Entrepreneur Ethos, narrated by David A. Conatser. If you want to support the show, you can buy it wherever audiobooks are sold. Links are also in the show notes. 

Now on to my guest for today, Priya Amin. Priya is cofounder of Flexable, a company dedicated to help with child care when your regular child care falls through. She calls it the “911” – or the “bat signal” – of child care. 

Priya started out in corporate marketing for IBM and then Nestle. In 2010, she had her first child and realized that the corporate world was not very friendly for working moms. She quit her job and became a stay-at-home mom. When she attempted to return to the workforce after a few years, she found herself at a disadvantage because of the “motherhood penalty,” so she launched her own marketing consulting company. Then she and another Pittsburgh mom got together and hatched the idea for Flexable. They won a spot in a business accelerator program and began by providing “pop-up” child care at events like conferences and networking meetings. 

Like so many impacted by the pandemic, Priya found she had to pivot drastically when covid hit. Seeing a great need to help parents working from home alongside their children, Flexable now provides virtual child care. Parents can arrange for their child to be led virtually in an interactive activity for an hour while they participate in a meeting or get some work done. 

It’s just the beginning for Flexable as the company navigates new terrain while trying to meet a very real need. As Priya notes, the problem of child care has a huge economic impact, and it’s a problem that requires everyone to work together to find solutions. 

Now, let’s get better together.

Amin and Flexable demonstrate how some problems may be too big for one person or company to solve. Here are some tactics Amin has used: 

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Support the Show. Get the NEW AudioBook!

AudioBook: Audible| Kobo| Authors Direct | Google Play | Apple

Hey everyone. I wanted to jump in quickly let you know about the release of the audio version of my book, The Entrepreneur Ethos, narrated by David A. Conatser. If you want to support the show, you can buy it wherever audiobooks are sold. Links are also in the show notes. 

Now on to my guest for today. Stan Rymkiewicz, founder and CEO of Orapa, a lead generation agency out of Poland. 

Stan’s start as an entrepreneur began when he was training to be an Olympic snowboarder. He couldn’t get a traditional job, so he had to think outside of the box and try to have some fun, so he went into sales. Snowboarding didn’t ultimately pan out, but Stan took what he’d learned as a sales rep and founded a lead generation company. His company, Orapa is a platform that helps companies land sales meetings. 

Stan’s approach to sales is straightforward: work the process every day, ultimately building up successes and experience. It’s important for entrepreneurs to get clear on their product and messaging and land some of their own clients first. Stan sees the role of his company as taking over once the founders have figured out their messaging so they can help close more sales and scale the business. His own goal right now is to be able to soon convert his part-time sales reps to working full time so they can have what he was looking for when he started. 

Now, let’s get better together.

Do you dread thinking about having to prospect and make sales? Here are some of Rymkiewicz’s tips:

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Support the Show. Get the NEW AudioBook!

AudioBook: Audible| Kobo| Authors Direct | Google Play | Apple

Hey everyone. I wanted to jump in quickly let you know about the release of the audio version of my book, The Entrepreneur Ethos, narrated by David A. Conatser. If you want to support the show, you can buy it wherever audiobooks are sold. Links are also in the show notes. 

Now on to my guest for today, Jaryd Krause, founder of buyingonlinebusinesses.com.

Jaryd dropped out of college and became a plumber, moving quickly into supervision, sometimes supervising workers who were much older than him and didn’t appreciate being told what to do. He worked hard but was always looking for an escape. He went through a cycle of working hard for a while and then traveling for months at a time. 

One day he finally decided to figure out a way he could work while he traveled. He learned how to evaluate, buy, and build online businesses, and now shares what he’s learned in his podcasts and through his community at buyingonlinebusinesses.com, where anyone can learn how to find and evaluate an online business for sale. He calls what he teaches the “due diligence” framework, enabling potential buyers to research and analyze the potential risks and benefits of buying a particular online business. Jaryd clearly likes helping others, describing it as “teaching someone to fish.” 

Now, let’s get better together.

Book or Blog or Twitter or LinkedIn or JSYPR

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Support the Show. Get the NEW AudioBook!

AudioBook: Audible| Kobo| Authors Direct | Google Play | Apple

Hey everyone. I wanted to jump in quickly let you know about the release of the audio version of my book, The Entrepreneur Ethos, narrated by David A. Conatser. If you want to support the show, you can buy it wherever audiobooks are sold. Links are also in the show notes. 

Now on to my guest for today Michelle Fishburne, who turned her job loss into an opportunity building Who We Are Now, a glimpse into the life of Americans in 2020. 

Michelle started out professionally as a high-powered attorney, traveling around the world. When she started a family, she opted to stay home and delved into homeschooling. This led her to get curious about education and alternatives to traditional education. 

Most recently she worked as an executive for the Brian Hamilton Foundation’s Inmates to Entrepreneurs program. Ever unconventional, when Michelle found herself out of a job and her children gone earlier this year, she opted to hit the road. Since July she’s been traveling the country, documenting and sharing stories and pictures of how people around the country are living and coping with the pandemic, sharing them at Who We Are Now online. 

A recurring theme in Michelle’s stories and in our conversation was how vital the local community is, especially downtowns, and how people can really step up and find creative solutions to current challenges when they work together. Michelle’s stories attest to the power of ingenuity and compassion for others you can find all around the country, no matter your political stripe. 

Now, let’s get better together.

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