The Idea Climbing® Podcast

The Idea Climbing® Podcast

By Mark J. CarterBusinessEntrepreneurshipMarketing
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The Idea Climbing® Podcast episodes

  • How to Write a Book That Will Change The Arc of Your Career – Idea Climbing™ Podcast Episode 22 With Bill Hirsch
    If you want to build your personal brand you probably know that writing a book will help. The challenge becomes know HOW to write a great book. That’s what I discussed with #1 Bestselling Amazon author and architect Bill Hirsch.
    As soon as you write something down and publish it you’re seen by your reader or anyone that’s hiring you as a consultant and expert in your field more than the day before you wrote the book. In the months before publishing his book Bill hoped that people would let them become his clients. Rather than writing a book as a marketing vehicle Bill wrote his book as a way to help people out and provide useful information. As a result of that his email inbox filled up and his phone started ringing with people that were eager to become his clients, a complete flipping of the script.
    How to Get Started With a Book Plan
    The best way to start? Start writing SOMETHING. Don’t wait until your ideas are perfect. Writing will help you collect your ideas so that they will start becoming your book. Writing out a book plan is a good way to start because if you don’t know where you’re going you won’t know when you’ve gotten there. Bill also hired a writing coach which further helped him organize his thoughts in a better, more readable book form.
    The start of your book plan can be as simple as an outline of and titles for your chapters. With a little further analysis beyond that Bill’s book plan let him look at each chapter to make sure that he had an equivocal amount of content for each chapter. This became the blueprint for his book and let him know where he was going.
    Find Your Niche
    There are a LOT of books on the market about general topics, such as leadership. Unless you have a huge marketing budget publishing and successfully selling a book about a general topic can be a daunting task. When you write a niche book that can work in your favor because you don’t have as much competition. Using this strategy helped Bill sell over 30,000 copies of his book. As a benchmark, traditional publishers need you to sell at least 5,000 copies of your book and if you don’t hit certain benchmarks a traditional publisher can take your book out of print leaving you with nothing. Bill chose to take the independent publishing route so he would have full control over the content of the book.
    Listen In!
    In this episode we also discuss:
    How to find the right creative design and editing partners for your book.
    How to successfully market your book and get your book reviewed in publications.
    The primary objective that you should have in mind for your book – and it’s not about promoting yourself.
    …and other golden nuggets of advice!
    About The Guest
    Bill Hirsch has spent nearly 50 years designing homes of all sizes that reflect the lives, personalities, and desires of his clients.  With a bachelor’s degree from George Mason University and a Master of Architecture from the University of Virginia, Bill has spent his career at the intersection of psychology and home design, creating dwellings that allow occupants to relax, rejuvenate, and recharge.
    Bill’s first Amazon #1 best seller, Designing Your Perfect House: Lessons from an Architect has sold thousands of copies around the world.  His newest #1 best seller,  The Well-Centered Home: Simple Steps to Increase Mindfulness, Self-Awareness, and Happiness Where Your Live, takes his design philosophy to the next level, moving from architecture to an even finer scale, encompassing the psychological and emotional elements of homes of all sizes and styles.
    A past president of the Delaware Society of Architects, a member of the American Institute of Architects and certified by the National Council of the Architectural Registration Boards, Bill now lives in South Carolina with his wife, Maureen.  They have four children and seven grandchildren.
    23 min
  • How to Use Your Influence to Positively Impact Others – Idea Climbing™ Podcast Episode 21 With Brian Wallace
    Recently I spoke with Brian Wallace about influence. Brian Wallace is the Founder and President of NowSourcing, an industry leading infographic design agency based in Louisville, KY and Cincinnati, OH which works with companies that range from startups to Fortune 500s.
    Many people do not have a clear understanding of what influence is. There’s a gap between the word “influencer” and “influenced”. When you hear the word “influencer” you might cringe and think of people posting pet pictures on Instagram or people lip syncing on TikTok. Are they making money from it? Do they just want the rush of more likes? Oftentimes you just don’t know. It seems to be very self-serving instead of serving others. In this commencement speech the speaker discusses using your influence to positively impact others. Influence should be about empowering other people. Power doesn’t mean that you can take the stage; power is giving OTHER people the stage.
    “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”
    ~Zig Ziglar
    How To Expand Your Influence The RIGHT Way
    It all starts with looking in the mirror and knowing what you want to do and WHY you want to do it. Many people look at celebrities and extremely successful people and try to copy them. When you do that you can be aiming for targets that don’t exist. Instead of doing that you should be comfortable with who you are and be self-aware. When you are a fully transparent version of yourself without an act people will relate to you and naturally gravitate towards you.
    One thing you can do is explain the facets of who you really are. Let’s take LinkedIn as an example. Most people, in their headline, just put their work title. Some people think of it as an “elevator pitch”. As Brian points out, first you have to get INTO the elevator. Look at your headline as a getting INTO the elevator pitch. If a bunch of high-level executives or successful entrepreneurs were in an elevator that you’re running towards, what would you scream down the hall that would make them hold the door for you? Just a title, the line “all thoughts are my own” or a list of hobbies won’t do the trick. Brian puts his qualifications and why people should want to follow him in his headline. It’s about what he does and he makes it interesting. His headline is “Founder, NowSourcing - Infographic Expert | Google Board Member | #LinkedInLive | Podcaster | Featured: NYT, Forbes, Mashable | #SXSW Advisory Board”.
    Find Your Tribe
    Everyone is influential in some way. If they say they’re not it’s because they don’t believe in themselves. This is where being authentic can help because you’ll attract more people to you and feel better about yourself. Brian believes that the inauthentic “influencers” with a bunch of fake likes are going away. Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, find an expertise niche to fill with people that should be part of your tribe.
    Listen In!
    During this episode we also discuss:
    Tips for successfully marketing yourself to become an authentic influencer.
    The types of content that you should be sharing and how to be interesting.
    Why having true fans is valuable.
    Where to spend your time online if you want to become an influencer.
    …and other golden nuggets of advice!
    About The Guest
    Brian Wallace is the Founder and President of NowSourcing, an industry leading infographic design agency based in Louisville, KY and Cincinnati, OH which works with companies that range from startups to Fortune 500s. Brian also runs #LinkedInLocal events nationwide, and hosts the Next Action Podcast.  Brian has been named a Google Small Business Advisor for 2016-present and joined the SXSW Advisory Board in 2019.
    Brian can be reached here on LinkedIn.
    23 min
  • How to Achieve Your Dreams by Paying Life Forward – Idea Climbing™ Podcast Episode 20 With Jon Ferrara
    Many people are going through tough times right now and giving back and paying it forward is more important than ever – you just need to know HOW. That’s what I discuss with Jon Ferrara, the creator of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in this episode.
    “You can get anything you want in the world by helping other people get what they want.”
    ~Zig Ziglar
    What is Important in Life and Why?
    We’re not on this planet to make money, we’re on this planet to make memories out of moments. Jon believes that ultimately, we’re on this planet to grow our souls. After doing some spiritual work, Jon came to the conclusion that the best way to grow your soul is by being present with other people, especially those that love you. You need to be present with other people because, if they really love you, they’ll throw your shit right back at you. That’s important because if you take a hard look at yourself and your shit that’s how you really grow. If you really listen and you learn, you’ll find ways to add value to other people’s lives and you’ll change your life for the better. When you do that at scale you can change the world for the better.
    As an example: When Jon invented Customer Relationship Management (CRM), he didn’t do it because he wanted to make $100 million dollars. He did it because he loves building solutions, and in the case of CRM the solution was something that Jon needed. While working in sales before CRM Jon had leads in various places and it was hard to track the customer’s journey as it got closer to closing the sale. It turned out that a LOT of people, literally MILLIONS of them, had the same problem. By serving those people and helping them achieve their dreams, Jon achieved a dream that very few people ever achieve. And it came from serving and helping other people, not just himself.
    How to Be a More Successful Person
    Let’s look at sales, Jon believes that in many ways everyone is a salesperson in one way or another. Unfortunately, many salespeople are only interested in “bagging and tagging” you to make money. That can make sales a four-letter word. That’s why service is the new sales. If you enter into every engagement not with the intention of what can you get from this person but what can you give to this person you can’t help but walk away from that engagement with a positive boost, and the other person walks away with the same thing.
    If you want through life without being present, without really listening and without an intention to serve you’re just focused on “getting”. The alternative to that is to live by the mantra “the more that you give, the more that you get.” That applies to not only everyone that you know but also to strangers that you interact with.
    How to Stay Top of Mind with People
    First, you DON’T send them a quarterly email that tells them how great your products and services are. That’s selfish and people don’t care about that. They care about themselves and what good things you do for them. What can you do instead? Follow them online, follow their digital footprint on a regular basis and add VALUE to the conversation so that when you do reach out it’s not a cold call, it’s a warm call because you’ve been staying in touch with them.
    Listen In!
    During the rest of our discussion we discuss topics including…
    How to take your business relationships beyond “just business” and touch people on a personal level by using the “Five F’s of Life” and the “Five E’s of Social Business”.
    How to build your personal brand at scale to reach more people.
    How to balance being nice and serving others with making sales.
    How to reach out to people that you haven’t spoken with in a long time and successfully reconnect with them.
    …and many, many more golden nuggets of actionable advice!
    If you enjoy this podcast, please rate it and subscribe to it on iTunes!
    About The Guest
    Jon Ferrara is a serial entrepreneur and noted speaker about social, sales and marketing. He has re-imagined CRM by building Nimble - The Simple CRM for Office 365 & G Suite. Ferrara is best known as the co-founder of GoldMine Software Corp, one of the early pioneers in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for Small to Medium sized Businesses (SMBs). He has been recognized by Forbes as one of the Top 10 Social CEO’s, Top 10 Social Salespeople in The World and Top 100 Marketing Influencers.
    29 min
  • How to Successfully Network and Build Your Business in the Era of COVID-19 – Idea Climbing™ Podcast Episode 19 With Sonny Sultani
    The networking landscape has DRASTICALLY changed. We’re not seeing our clients, potential clients or people that we want to get to know in person anymore. We’re at home and we’re trying to make networking work from behind a screen. That’s a BIG challenge if you’re the type of person that’s used to shaking hands and having lunch meetings. There are things you can do instead, and that’s what I discuss with B2B digital marketing agency Founder and CEO Sonny Sultani in this episode.
    Advice for People That NEED to Be Networking
    There’s no better safety net than a good network at this moment. You need to foster your existing network AND create new connections. Everyone wants to have some kind of human connectivity again, so give it to them!
    You can even have fun with it. Have virtual coffee meetings. Send somebody a bag of coffee and say, “I want to get to know you, can we hop on a Zoom call?”
    Important point: Resist the urge to sell something to everyone that you connect with, this isn’t the time to be doing that. What can you do instead? Be a resource to people. Everyone needs resources right now; we’re all trying to navigate something that we’re not quite sure of. In addition to sharing ideas one way to be a resource to people is to promote THEM and not just yourself. One of Sonny’s client’s posts about the people that he’s meeting with during these hard times. He goes onto LinkedIn and shares something like “I just met with Bill Smith, he’s an amazing management consultant that you should get to know” and he tags them in the post. That is a phenomenal way to start an online conversation today, wouldn’t you agree?
    Now is the PERFECT Time to Be Networking, Here’s Why and How
    There are directors, Vice-Presidents, Founders and CEOs amongst other busy people that would have never had the time to talk with you six months ago. This is a prime time to get people on the phone that previously wouldn’t have had time for you, take advantage of it.
    Leverage your current network by having them introduce you to new people, there’s nothing like a warm introduction. Promise NOT to sell anything on the first call, just focus on getting to know the other person. The challenge is that many people aren’t used to sitting in front of a screen and asking for stuff. They’re more comfortable when they’re face to face. The best replacement for that, as most of the world has discovered, is to set up video meetings. It’s the next best thing and it’s easier than ever to leverage video services in lieu of in person meetings.
    Listen In!
    Other topics that we discuss in this podcast include…
    How to ask for referrals and new connections during virtual meetings
    How to ask potential clients for meetings (and GET the meetings) without trying to sell them anything immediately
    Why now is the perfect time for introverts to go head to head with extroverts in terms of filling their sales pipeline and how to do it
    How to get potential clients to know, like and trust you so that you’re the person they go to when budgets start opening up
    The ONE thing that you NEED to do now to drive business before the opportunity disappears
    …and more golden nuggets of actionable advice!
    If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes!
    About The Guest
    Sonny Sultani is the Founder and CEO of 120/80, a digital marketing agency specializing in growth for B2B and Professional Services. Prior to 120/80, Sonny held positions including CEO, Chief Creative Officer, and VP of various companies in the creative, technology, and marketing space. With 20+ years of experience, what makes Sonny unique is his ability to navigate a variety of businesses and understand the challenges to grow a company. Sonny has received over 60 accolades in communication & marketing and holds a Bachelor's & Master's in Communication from Northwestern University. He is an avid volunteer of Not for Profits in the Chicagoland area.
    26 min
  • How to Successfully Rebrand and Market Yourself During COVID-19 – Idea Climbing™ Podcast Episode 18 With Troy Sandidge
    The pandemic is affecting everyone in some way shape or form. If you’re staying home more that gives you extra time to work on your business. It’s an opportunity to work on your branding or rebranding, your marketing strategy and many other things. That’s what Troy Sandidge, A successful social media marketer who provides marketing strategies and solutions for growing small to medium size businesses to multi-billion-dollar enterprise brands, and I discussed on this episode.
    Maybe your website wasn’t up to par pre-COVID, maybe your sales funnels and online calls to action weren’t up to speed and you weren’t getting as many online conversations and conversions as you would have liked. Screen time during the pandemic has increased 80-90%, which means many markets, possibly including yours, have become oversaturated with competition for views.
    Now is the time to take a step back, monitor and update your website and implement new, improved marketing strategies. With all the competition chances are that not many people are coming to your site – that’s the perfect time to rebuild.
    Taking a Step Back to Move Three Steps Forward
    Look at your messaging from the last six months and examine what worked and what didn’t work. If you’re interested in creating new video content or getting into (or improving your current initiatives in) podcasting, now is the time to create in bulk – use that extra time wisely! Recoup, retool and repurpose your content while you’re not getting as many eyeballs on your site.
    Where should you start rebranding? First and most importantly, examine your messaging. Start with understanding your audience and WHY they’re coming to your site in the first place. Then make that messaging more attractive based on who actually converted from viewing your products and services to BUYING your products and services. Who actually made you money? Focus your messaging on THEM.
    Then ask yourself who is your IDEAL visitor? Who do you really want to focus on? Answering those questions will tell  you where to start retooling your messaging.
    One Way to Wisely Spend Your Marketing Time
    During COVID-19 you can’t meet people in person so you’re missing opportunities for richer connections. During the pandemic you can shift to highly focused videos and livestreams that are no more than 10 minutes long. Forget about the longer hour long, rambling videos that could actually work against you. In the videos and copy surrounding them tell your audience what the focus is and what important information you’re going to share with them – and then provide value in shorter sound bites. Focus on being conversational instead of just broadcasting messages.
    Listen In!
    Other topics we cover include:
    How to create high quality content through interviews
    How to use your notes and repurpose your content to create podcast episodes for people that don’t watch videos.
    Why you shouldn’t hard sell your audience and what you can do instead
    The key components of successful marketing conversations and how to integrate them into your marketing strategy
    The right and wrong ways to market yourself on LinkedIn
    …and more golden nuggets of marketing advice!
    24 min
  • How to Have Successful Virtual Video Meetings – Idea Climbing™ Podcast Episode 17 With Susan Ibitz
    During the pandemic Zoom has been doing VERY well and it seems like everyone wants to have a video call these days. But are they doing their video calls the RIGHT way and making them as productive as possible? That’s what I recently spoke about with Susan Ibitz, professional “Human Behavior Hacker”.
    Some Tips for Video Meetings
    Video conversations have great benefits. Having video conversations speeds up the process of meeting new people. Instead of setting up a coffee meeting three weeks out you can set up a 30-minute video meeting the same week as making contact with the other person. This also shortens the amount of time you have to research the person before speaking with them, so you have to be ready to act quickly.
    Susan calls her clients every six months to ask what she can fix for them or how can she help them. She then asks a series of questions to get to know her clients better. If you do not have the right questions, you are not going to have the right answers that could move the relationship forward. One way to know what questions to ask is to understand modalities.
    An important thing to know is that people primarily learn and interact in one of three modalities: Visual, auditory, or kinesthetic (touch).
    If you have too many things going on in your background during a video call people are going to get distracted, especially if they are visual learners. You can tell if someone is a visual learner by the words they use, even in emails. An example of this is “I’ll SEE you later”. Another thing that helps communication with visual people is changing your background on Zoom. If you put up a background with your logo and the other person’s logo you’ve already put the two together.
    Another important thing for rapport is smiling while you’re on camera. A good handshake replaces three hours of communication. Smiling on a video call replaces the in-person handshake.
    Introverts & Extroverts
    It’s also important to know if the other person is an introvert or an extrovert. Generally speaking, extroverts prefer video calls and introverts prefer a mix of video calls with phone calls. When you’re on phone calls it helps to walk around. That increases the oxytocin in your brain and helps you be more creative and focused on the phone call. One way to discover the best way to communicate with people is to give THEM the option of a video call OR a phone call. Let them tell you what their preferred mode of communication is.
    Listen In!
    On this podcast you’ll learn:
    How to go to your “happy place” during video calls which makes your calls more productive
    How to remind yourself to look at the camera instead of the other person during a video call
    How to communicate in the other two modalities, auditory and kinesthetic
    How to read someone’s face for important non-verbal cues
    What questions to ask to move the sales process forward
    …And more great nuggets of advice!
    About The Guest
    Susan Ibitz Human Behavior Hacker | Keynote | Corporate Trainer | Sales Trainer | FORBES.COM | TRIBE GLOBAL | Imagine you can learn a SUPERPOWER
    Susan can deliver training and consult on Human Behavior,  Micro-Expression, Body Language, Deception-Detection, Statement Analysis, Face Reading (Physiognomy), & Personality types, in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
    Susan has trained, consulted, and worked with people and fields such as:
    Journalists & Producers - Politicians & Political Campaigns - Law Enforcement - Realtors - Lawyers - Market Research - Insurance Fraud - Headhunters - Match Makers - Managers - Medical Field Professionals - Sperm Donor Selection - Couples Compatibilities - Love Life - Sales Team - Job Seekers - Human Resources Professionals - Negotiation - Hospitality - Customer Oriented Services
    39 min
  • How To Unleash The Power of Great Mentors – Idea Climbing™ Podcast Episode 16 With Danielle Pierce

    Mentors can change your life if you know how to create and leverage mentorship experiences like entrepreneur Danielle Pierce learned to do over the years.

    When Danielle got started things seemed really challenging because she had to wear all of the hats in her company; the graphic designer, the accountant the attorney and everything else. The missing piece is that you can accelerate your results significantly faster the minute you release control and stop trying to be “manager of the universe”. She spent 11 years trying to do everything herself and only realized that piece of advice during the last two years or so. Now she welcomes outside advice and collaborating with other people. Now her business life is fun and exciting as opposed to being just another job that needs to be done.

    Get Uncomfortable and Take Action!

    A great mentoring relationship isn’t the most comfortable relationship because it can push you in directions that you don’t want to be pushed in and create new experiences that you didn’t plan on. Because of that many people that say they want a mentor aren’t ready to take on the responsibility of that kind of relationship. When you’re ready to get uncomfortable and be vulnerable then you’re ready for new mentoring relationships!

    Danielle’s current mentor found her. They went to high school together, lost touch, and then reconnected through Facebook. The relationship started with him giving her some advice here and there. She began applying that advice and getting new, successful results in her business. When he noticed that she was taking action and taking the relationship seriously it became a more formal mentoring relationship.

    That’s a great tip for YOU! Mentors want to see that you’re doing more than just talking, they want to see you taking action. When you do that, you’re respecting the time that they invest in you and taking the relationship seriously.

    How to Be Prepared for Successful Mentoring Relationships

    As the mentee you must be ready to hear a lot of things that you don’t want to hear. You must be ready to admit that you’ve been doing things in not the most effective and efficient ways. You must be ready to put in a significant amount of work in a relatively short period of time. You need to be coachable. You cannot get advice and then ignore it and do things your own way. You must TRUST your mentors’ advice and take action in a way that goes along with their advice, not just the way you think that you should do it.

    Listen In!

    In this episode we talk about:

    • How to foster trust in your mentoring relationships
    • What you can do to become a better mentor
    • More ways to become a better mentee
    • Danielle’s first mentoring experience and why it was successful at the time
    • How to release control as a business owner
    • …and more great nuggets of advice!

      • If you enjoy this podcast please rate it and comment on it on iTunes!

      About The Guest

       

      A graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, by way of the Chick Evans Caddie Scholarship, Danielle Pierce has an accounting degree which she has not utilized in over 12 years.  She began her entrepreneurial career after a sudden layoff from her corporate audit position. Danielle took this as a sign from the Heavens that she was meant to be a full time entrepreneur. Although she did look back a time or two (or three lol), she has held on to the reigns of entrepreneurship and never plans to let go.

      Danielle’s online courses and group training programs (Real Estate Profit Lab), teach aspiring business owners  how to establish and grow profitable six figure enterprises within the real estate industry, outside of sales. Her current areas of specialization include the following: tax lien investing and managing bank owned properties.

      Danielle is an author, highly regarded speaker, the founder of a highly specialized real estate consulting firm, and a member of the Forbes Real Estate Council. She loves house music and can usually be found somewhere making it rain for her 3 little ones.

      You can learn more about Danielle here: www.daniellepierce.com

       

      22 min
    • Mentoring and Collaboration in the Life of an Entrepreneur – Idea Climbing™ Podcast Episode 15 With Aaron Stahl

      Recently I spoke with Aaron Stahl about his journey in entrepreneurship. One of the first things he brought up was the importance of mentoring.

      To be a good mentor you need to listen to what the other person has to say. You’re listening to learn what specific problems they’re facing and discovering if you can help them. If you can’t help them you can try to connect them to someone who can help them. Being in that mindset will help you become a good resource to people and a good mentor.

      Aaron also learned that entrepreneurs need to start small and grow big. When Aaron was in his early twenties, he started calling on Fortune 100 companies to get them as clients. He wanted to instantly become a millionaire, but that plan didn’t work out. He learned that you have to invest time and energy to grow into success.

      Another lesson learned is that if you leave your business for any amount of time you should come back to a business that’s as good or better than when you left. To make that happen you need to only do what you’re best at and hire and train people to do things that you’re not good at.

      Listen in!

      In this episode we discuss more about mentoring, how to grow your business the RIGHT way and how to empower your employees to collaborate with each other to run a successful business for you.

      About The Guest

      Aaron got his start in the cost recovery business in 2004 at the age of 22 when he started P3 Waste Consulting. After helping numerous clients save money on their waste expenses the business grew from there to become what it is today. Aaron expects revenue to grow to $4 million in 2020.

      Aaron is an expert in the waste and recycling industry and has been the CEO/President of P3 since the beginning.  In his spare time he enjoys flying airplanes and is an instrument rated pilot and certified flight instructor. He also enjoys traveling abroad, hunting, hiking, mountain biking and attempts to surf whenever possible. He is an Eagle Scout, avid Arkansas Razorbacks fan and holds a degree in small business/finance from the University of Arkansas

      You can learn more about Aaron on LinkedIn.

      19 min
    • How Generation Z Can Create Successful Mentoring Experiences – Idea Climbing™ Podcast Episode 14 With Austin McCulloh

      Mentoring can change the arc of someone in Generation Z’s career, and that’s what I recently discussed with 23-year old entrepreneur Austin McCulloh who has been a mentor and been mentored.

      Two of the biggest lessons from one of Austin’s early mentors was not to burn bridges and not to take everything personally. If someone cancels a meeting or ends a conversation abruptly that doesn’t mean you should take it personally or get upset with them. It’s better to come from a point of understanding and knowing it’s not always about you, they might have things going on in their life that you know nothing about. You never know how the relationship will develop over time.

      Mentoring tip: Why was Austin’s early mentoring relationship successful? His cared about Austin’s well being and made himself accessible. If you want to be a mentor to someone else those are two things to consider before you start mentoring someone.

      Austin’s mentors taught him that getting real world experience early one will help your career. Instead of getting a fast food part time job Austin started in the financial services industry as a financial advisor so he could shave years off of his learning curve and get real world experience while he was still young.

      Mentoring Generation Z: Give them clarity and support so that they can set productive goals and start moving towards them. Using clear and effective communication can go a long, long way when you’re mentoring other people. “Clear and effective communication” means being honest with the other person and not just telling them what they want to hear. This means being transparent with the other person and definitely not lying just to make them feel better about a situation.

      Just giving one or two hours a week to an individual that’s not as fortunate as you are can change the trajectory of their life.

      A Great Book

      The one book that Austin says you NEED to read? Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate and at one time the richest man in the world, saw something special in Napoleon Hill. He gave Napoleon a 20-year mission to unlock the key to success and then Carnegie opened his rolodex and introduced Napoleon to some of the most successful people of the time (the early 1900’s). Napoleon took what he learned and combined his learnings to create 13 success principles which he outlines in his book.

      Self-Awareness

      Having weaknesses is not what makes or breaks you; knowing how to deal with them or not dealing with them does. You’re not going to know what your weaknesses are if you’re not self-aware. At one point during high school Austin’s football coach said something simple and profound “Austin, you’re uncoachable”. And at the time Austin says he was because he wasn’t taking accountability for his own life. Austin remedied that problem by taking accountability for his actions and results in life and becoming more self-aware. He took 30 days off from social media and most social interactions and got to know himself. Once he became more self-aware mentors were better able to help him.

      Listen More and You Will Learn More

      Practice being intentional – close your mouth and just listen. When you practice that enough you’ll become good at it, even if it doesn’t come over night. For yourself you will learn more and grow faster as a person. When you listen and learn what OTHER people’s problems and pain points are, you’ll learn how you can better help THEM by not making the conversation all about yourself.

      Listen In!

      Some other topics we cover in this episode are:

      • If you want anything in life, from a mentor to a job, ASK! You’ll learn how to ask the right way
      • How to leverage the Law of Reciprocity to get what you want in life and give others what they want
      • How to ask someone to mentor you
      • How much time to ask your mentors for
      • How to reach out to potential mentors on LinkedIn
      • …and other great nuggets of advice!

        • If you enjoy this podcast please subscribe and rate us on iTunes!

        About The Guest

         

        Austin McCulloh’s high energy, strong discipline, and intense drive make him the perfect fit for achievers looking to take their career to the next level.

        McCulloh plans to take the company he recently launched – Austin McCulloh Advising – to a billion-dollar business by the time he turns 30. His firm already has ten clients from Los Angeles to Pennsylvania, and McCulloh, who turned 23 on Feb. 22, believes his mind will be the secret sauce for companies on a global level to attract and retain Generation Z employees, as well as develop their young sales professionals. “I see this company becoming the No. 1 human capital consulting firm in the world,” said McCulloh, who lives in Iowa City, Iowa.

        Austin already has one successful business on his resume. He founded Supercorn Tutoring while he was a business student at the University of Iowa. The company tutored Chinese students over thousands of hours and led to McCulloh hiring several tutors. He ran the business while taking 19 credit hours during a senior year semester, while serving as a licensed financial advisor, tutoring each morning to help grow Supercorn, and serving on the executive board of two student organizations at Iowa: the Financial Management Association and HawkTrade Investment Club.

        24 min
      • How To Successfully Build Relationships ONLINE That Turn Into Business OFFLINE – Idea Climbing™ Podcast Episode 13 With Phil Gerbyshak

        Recently I spoke with Phil Gerbyshak, he really knows SALES. He’s a sales speaker, a sales expert, a sales trainer, a sales leader mentor, a sales podcaster and a sales coach. We spoke about how to successfully build relationships ONLINE that turn into business OFFLINE.

        We started our discussion talking about the fact that relationships are what we all want when it comes to growing your business or advancing your career. Nobody buys unless they know, like and trust you. So how can you get people to know, like and trust you faster? By adding VALUE to their life.

        If you are initiating a relationship it is not about you, it’s about the other person. Getting to know them as a person, what they are working on right now and what they need help with right now helps you kick start any relationship. There are two key factors for creating and fostering relationships in the business world. They are relevancy and recency.

        Relevancy is important. There are three ways to become relevant faster.

        1. Discover what you have in common. Focus on what and who you have in common with them.
        2. Insight into the other person. Research the other person online so you know what they’re talking about so you can join the discussion.
        3. Interesting or Interested. Become interesting by being interested in the other person and what they are working on.

          4. Recency is also important. You need to keep in touch with people and foster your important relationships. If you haven’t spoken with someone for years you need to re-build that relationship and become relevant again. Remember: The goal isn’t just to have more conversations, it’s to get more business or advance your career. This is why what you talk about is so important. To have more successful conversations use the three H’s:

          There are three H’s to building successful business relationships:

          1. Be human. Be authentic with the other person, get to know them and let them get to know you.
          2. Be helpful. Come from a place of service and be willing to help the other person in some way.
          3. Be humble. Instead of saying that you’re the greatest in your field you need a third party to say it.

            4. Go Offline

            When you make an online connection, you need to make it more than just another online connection. You need to take things offline. Set up a phone call or if you have the time a coffee meeting. A great way to start a conversation is reaching out to say happy birthday.  Everyone has a birthday and social media channels remind us when their birthday is.

            That creates an opportunity to reach out to them, make that phone call. After happy birthday ask them what they’re working on and who they need to know. Chances are they will reciprocate by asking you the same thing. Maybe they need your services quickly or maybe time will go by. It’s just a matter of keeping the conversation going so they think of you when they have a problem that your services can solve.

            Phil goes on to talk about:

            • How to turn online relationships into clients
            • How to earn a conversation with new connections
            • How to add value to every conversation
            • More about leveraging the three components of relevancy
            • And more great nuggets of advice!

              • If you like what you hear please subscribe and rate The Idea Climbing™ Podcast on iTunes.

               

               

              Phil Gerbyshak knows SALES. He’s a sales speaker, a sales expert, a sales trainer, a sales leader mentor, a sales podcaster and a sales coach. He’s written 5 books, more than 3000 articles, and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Daily Globe and Mail, Financial Times, Investor’s Business Daily, Inc. and many other publications, including earning 3 covers: Speaker Magazine, Marketing Media and Money, and Social Selling Made Easy. Phil is known as a Sales, Leadership and Technology Authority with a particular expertise in inside sales, LinkedIn and social selling.

              26 min

            About The Idea Climbing® Podcast

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            If you’re passionate about bringing your big ideas to life and want actionable strategies for marketing, branding, sales, mentoring, networking and more this show is for you! You’ll learn from…