The Impact Entrepreneur

Dee Ann Turner’s mother gave up a potential career as a lawyer to make a career out of raising her family, and she did an amazing job. Dee Ann says that her mother made sure she never went hungry, made their home a loving space, and led her to a faith in Christ — and everything that Dee Ann has done in her life has been created on that foundation.

Dee Ann had a wildly successful career at Chick-fil-A, starting at the age of 21 and working her way up to vice president. However, landing an initial job at Chick-fil-A didn’t come easily. When she first applied for a marketing and advertising position, the company said they didn’t have anything for her. But then she experienced a moment of serendipity, or divine intervention: her husband helped a woman change her tire, found out that she was resigning from the advertising department of Chick-fil-A because of a family move, and suggested that Dee Ann approach them again.

Dee Ann landed the job, although she actually ended up starting out in human resources, and this ended up being a perfect fit for her because she was responsible for selecting Chick-fil-A franchisees. Her initial question to applicants was always about their first job. She wanted a true entrepreneur; someone who, like Dee Ann, was willing to create a job for themselves. Dee Ann wanted to hear a story that reminded her of her own first job selling candy and drinks to kids on their way to the neighborhood swimming pool.

But as much as she loved working at Chick-fil-A, Dee Ann came to realize she was doing the work that God gave her to do instead of the work that God made her to do. Now she is helping organizations build an extraordinary customer culture by selecting and growing extraordinary talent. Her new book Bet On Talent is based on the principle that decisions about people are the most important decisions a leader makes.

“We are always enough,” Dee Ann says. “Our Creator created us to be enough.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

• deeannturner.com
• Read: Bet On...

Gustavo Fernández’s first career in pharmaceutical sales was inspired by his stepfather, who was the general manager for Johnson & Johnson in the Dominican Republic. Gustavo stayed in the industry for 10 years after graduating college — until his real passion started calling to him.

Photography had been Gustavo’s hobby since college. Wherever he went, he always took a camera along with him. Then, when the internet became a massive tool for building communities, he started connecting with other photographers. Serendipitously, one of the top wedding photographers in the world lived just down the street from him. So he went to a workshop she was holding, and that changed the whole trajectory of his life.

Now, Gustavo has a career photographing people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. 

The internet and online communities continue to be hugely important to Gustavo’s photography and career, too. Because, in this era of social media, the vast majority of new business that comes to him is through word of mouth.

But you can’t just be part of a Facebook group and reap the benefits of belonging to a community — you have to create lasting, authentic relationships with people

When Gustavo is building relationships...

• He always follows up leads and conversations (he even carries a notebook so he doesn’t forget anything!)
• He always picks up the phone. A couple of years ago the event planner for Forbes called to ask him to photograph an event. And she told him, Thank you for picking up the phone. No-one picks up the phone anymore.
• He gives unique, thoughtful gifts to clients and contacts. A $10 gift he sent to a contact actually resulted in $10,000 worth of business. 

Gustavo says that people sometimes comment about how different his two careers are but, at the end of the day, it’s all the same — because “it's all people.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

• Gustavofernandez.com
• Instagram: @gustavofernandez
• Facebook: @gustavofernandezphotographer
• Twitter: @gustavo
• Read: Never Eat Alone
• Read: Into Thin Air
• Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Colleague, friend and fellow storyteller Taylor Sledge saw the way that his parents wrote the stories of their own lives — and their constant presence, love, and support gave him the foundation he needed to tell his story, too.

Taylor’s dad was an attorney. He owned his own business in a risky area of law, so his income was up and down, but Taylor loved that he set his own schedule and never missed family events. His mom was a flight attendant for Delta Airlines. She was never afraid to talk to anyone, regardless of how different they were to her, and this made a huge impact on Taylor. 

Taylor founded the Big Small Business Story to tell the stories of entrepreneurs who are driven by purpose, character, and belief. Their trademarked slogan — “It’s never just business” — reflects his belief that your career or company is about the lives of other people, not just making money, and an understanding of psychology and the human condition are crucial to creating authentic business relationships.

It seems simple — your career is about the lives of other people — but a lot of businesspeople still don’t understand that. And it took Taylor a while to realize it, too.

When Taylor was 27, he had a business deal go upside down. He realized that he was experiencing the same gut feeling that he had when he was 10 bringing home a bad report card. There were areas in his life where he wasn't living as an adult, and this inspired him to work out where he needed to grow.

And it’s an ongoing journey. Taylor and his wife have recently experienced fertility challenges, and this forced Taylor to confront things he didn’t like about himself, including his self image, and work out what really matters in his life.

Something that really matters to Taylor is legacy. He doesn’t think that we spend enough time considering it, but believes that, “We have the responsibility of setting a trajectory for the future with every decision that we make.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

• Learn more at taylorsledge.com
• YouTube: @TaylorSledge
• Instagram: @taylorsledge
• Facebook: @taylorsledge
• Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

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We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full-service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. They are your one-stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Growing up, Heather Adams always had her nose in a book, and her heroes spoke to her from the pages; smart and savvy women like Anne of Green Gables, Jo from Little Women, and Nancy Drew. 

Heather compares Nancy Drew’s mystery-solving adventures to her own life today — owner of a public relations agency, Choice Media & Communications — because she’s always “running toward the flames, constantly taking notes, and bringing order to the chaos.”

But, unlike Nancy Drew, Heather isn’t doing this alone, and she is passionate about building a cohesive, invested team. After the partnership with her co-founder dissolved, Heather held a strategic planning retreat for her entire team. They re-evaluated Choice’s mission and core values and Heather says this was a game-changer for their work culture — because, now, everyone has skin in the game. 

Heather also has an unusual approach to human relations, arguing that you have to throw out all the policies and love your workers as human beings first. When one of her team members is going through a hard season, she puts their responsibilities aside and taps into what they need. This human-first approach carries through to every aspect of Heather’s business and life, including her attitude towards her competition.

Before Heather started her own company she worked at Thomas Nelson, which was then the world’s largest Christian publishing house, she worked with Michael Hyatt, who eventually became the CEO and chairman. He taught her many important lessons, including to embrace the competition and look at them as someone to learn from and champion instead of someone to take down. 

Heather sees that as a crucial transformation in her life. As she says, “I have this mentality that a win for one is a win for all. And that was something I had to learn because I sucked at it.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

• choicepublicity.com
• Instagram: @choicepublicity
• Instagram: @heatherdixonadams
• Twitter: @ChoicePublicity
• Facebook: @choicepublicity
• Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

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We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full-service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. They are your one-stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Remi Adeleke’s life changed abruptly when his father died—when his family went from being royalty in Nigeria to struggling to feed themselves in the Bronx.

The public education system was so poorly resourced and Remi was exposed to precious few role models in his early life. As a result, he didn’t feel that there was an expectation for him to even graduate high school; it seemed the only path available was stealing, selling drugs, and running scams. 

But when Remi hit rock bottom at 26 and realized, he needed something bigger than himself. That’s when Remi met Tiana Reyes, a military recruiter who helped him find his true path. Tiana was also from the Bronx, so she was passionate about helping to give young people from the neighborhood an opportunity to establish a career and explore the world—because she knew that not many other people would give them the chance.

Tiana attended multiple court hearings to advocate for him and helped him fill out the paperwork to get Remi into the Navy. Once in Navy boot camp, Remi was exposed to all the different programs and set his heart on becoming a Navy SEAL. 

But it wasn’t a slam dunk. He didn’t pass the academic test on his first attempt and, even if he had, he wouldn’t have passed the physical test because he didn’t know how to swim. But Remi’s mother always taught him to persevere, and he drew on that to train and study in the time outside of his role as a medic. The hard work paid off and Remi was accepted into Navy SEAL training.

In addition to fulfilling his dream of becoming a Navy SEAL, Remi is an actor, entrepreneur, writer, husband, and father. He has written a memoir about his life called Transformed and volunteers as a mentor for kids in similar situations that he was in. 

He believes that the past does not have to be a template for our future, that there is always hope and that you can help a person so much that you’re actually hurting them because you're enabling them to keep doing what they’re doing. 

As for all the hardships, setbacks and failures in his life, Remi says they made him who he is today because “you can't grow without failure.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

• Instagram: @remiadeleke
• Twitter: @RemiAdeleke
• Facebook: @RemiAdeleke
• LinkedIn: @RemiAdeleke
• Read: Transformed 
• Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

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We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full-service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. They are your one-stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Vicky Oliver’s favorite days begin when somebody writes to her and says they read her book and it helped them get a job. But Vicky didn’t start her career writing about job hunting – it took quite a few twists and turns before she stumbled into a mission that she loved.

Vicky got her start in advertising. But, after September 11, 2001, there were articles in the New York Times every single day about people switching their careers. And this wasn’t because of a downturn in the economy – it was because they were looking inwards and asking, “Am I doing what I want to be doing should I die tomorrow?” And when people were honest with themselves, they started making gigantic changes.

Vicky enjoyed writing commercials, but there was always the lingering feeling that she was making corporations rich, making millions of dollars for them, without really enriching herself. So she looked at her skill, which was writing, and asked herself: Can I do something else with this skill? Can I help people more?

Throughout her career in advertising, Vicky was constantly looking for the next job opportunity, and she was actually really good at securing the jobs she wanted. She realized that she knew quite a bit about job hunting, and that was how she could help so many others achieve their mission. She started writing some articles, and then eventually a book.

Even though Vicky made more money when she was in advertising, writing books turned out to be the thing that brings her the most satisfaction. As she says, “If you look at what you love to do, you will probably be better at it than if you just do something because you think it's going to make you a lot of money.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

• Read: Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots: 201 Smart Ways to Handle the Toughest People Issues
• Live Like a Millionaire (Without Having to Be One)
• vickyoliver.com
• Twitter: @vickyoliver
• Facebook: @vickyoliver
• Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

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We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full-service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. They are your one-stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

The one thing Alexis Meschi remembers dreaming about when she was a kid was to be a mom. But something she had to learn was that most dreams don’t come true overnight – and that the dreams we have when we’re young aren’t necessarily going to be what fulfills us in the long term.

Alexis struggled with a lot of the things we’re “supposed” to do early in our lives. She never did well in school, has no idea how she got into college, and was actually asked to leave college at the end of her third year because her GPA wasn’t up to scratch. The college said she could come back if she got her GPA up, but at the time, Alexis just didn’t think she was good at anything or had any gifts. So she ended up not going back to college, married her husband, and set out to fulfill her dream of being a stay-at-home mom. 

But her dreams were always getting bigger. She didn’t just want to be a stay-at-home mom; she wanted a career of her own. Alexis started blogging about sewing clothes for her girls, and it slowly grew into a business. She was asked to apply for Project Runway twice, which returned a lot of confidence that she lost in university. And after she taught for just a day as a substitute teacher, Alexis was inspired to get her four-year teaching degree – in just two years! 

While teaching, Alexis also picked up photography. So now, in addition to teaching, Alexis photographs women that are in business. She says it can be hard to have your picture taken, especially if you're a woman, because women tell themselves false narratives all the time; there’s a lot of vulnerability and sometimes shame that comes with being photographed.

And Alexis continues to work on herself, too, on a constant mission to push herself out of her comfort zone and live her life to the fullest. She says, “I just knew that there was a mission that God had made for me and I was the only person that could fulfill that mission. And being comfortable was not going to achieve it.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

• Instagram: @alexismeschiphotography
• Facebook: @alexismeschiphotography
• alexismeschi.com
• Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

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We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full-service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. They are your one-stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Colin Morgan is a former pro golfer and the founder and host of The Daily Grind Podcast, where he interviews today’s most successful people in the hopes of inspiring the next great entrepreneur. But his mission grew from a place of deep pain.

Colin actually had a lot of support when he was growing up; he cites his father and his first golf coach as the people who instilled the belief that he could be successful. It was when he reached college that he discovered that not everyone had his best interests at heart, and this is when he experienced psychological and sexual abuse.

After the abuse, he started to hate golf, but still continued on the path to being a pro player. Then, mid-tournament, he realized that he wasn’t happy. He decided to make a dramatic change. He was drinking and partying to mask his feelings, and he says that's where he really learned that how you do one thing is how you do everything. The way that he was partying trickled down into every aspect of his life, including entrepreneurship. He was always looking for a get rich quick scheme, ultimately experiencing a cycle of failure and then getting excited about the next big idea.

To create the change he needed, Colin started to incorporate habits like journaling. He wrote down things that he was grateful for and worked on a goal to move his business forward, for at least 20 minutes each day.

And it paid off. Colin found a purpose in helping to prevent and stop abuse in sports, and he really encourages other survivors to reach out for help. Colin lost a college friend who also suffered abuse to suicide and says, “The work I'm doing goes much beyond abuse. It's about saving lives.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

• Listen: The Daily Grind Podcast 
• Instagram: @colinmorgan.dgp
• LinkedIn: Colin Morgan

• Read: Psyched Up

• Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

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We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full-service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. They are your one-stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Eddie Osterland lives by a piece of advice that was told to him by his father: watch for the gold ring.

Eddie’s dad used to ride a merry-go-round in Brooklyn as a child. The best part was getting an outside horse and, every once in a while, there was an arm that would drop down with cartridges of lead rings that you could grab, if you were lucky enough to be on the right horse. And if you got one of these rings, you got a free ride. But, once a week, there was a brass ring, and if you managed to get it, you got free rides for the year. 

Eddie’s dad called this the gold ring. You never know when it's going to come by. So be vigilant, reach out, grab it, and ride it wherever it takes you. It may not be the end-all, but the next gold ring you see coming along might be seven years from now. 

Eddie’s gold ring was a plane ticket from New Jersey to Honolulu. He decided to take a vacation after he got a degree in psychology, before jumping into his career. He and a friend went down to a travel agency intending to buy one-way tickets to California. The travel agent told them for another $95 they could buy tickets to Honolulu instead, so that’s what they did. 

Eddie decided to stay in Hawaii and started studying psychopharmacology at graduate school. He started working as a waiter at night, but one night the sommelier was sick so Eddie ended up filling in, which inspired him to move to France to study professional wine tasting at the University of Bordeaux, making Eddie America's first master sommelier.

Now, Eddie combines his food and wine expertise with sales psychology to create memorable events that help businesses acquire new clients.

His tips for power entertaining include:

• Always serve wines in pairs so you have something to compare it to
• Serve your best food and wine first 
• If you’re entertaining at a restaurant, don't let the restaurant control your experience – make friends with the sommelier and book a quiet, private dining room
• Never let the check come to the table – give your credit card to the restaurant beforehand and tell them to add a 25% tip

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

• Learn more: eddieosterland.com
• Facebook: @eddie.osterland
• Instagram: @eddieoeddieosterlandcom
• Read: Power Entertaining
• Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

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We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full-service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. They are your one-stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Tommy Baker is an author, podcaster, fitness junkie, and the founder of Resist Average Academy. His mission is to help you live a life you can’t wait to wake up for.

 
Tommy’s entrepreneurial career started in gyms, where he started to notice something that would eventually change the course of his life and career: one person can walk into a facility and experience transformational results while another person with a similar background and natural ability might barely scratch the surface. 

This realization turned into a fascination, so Tommy started to learn more about neuroscience, human behavior, and positive psychology. In the process, he realized that those were really the things that lit him up.

So, as Tommy combined these new insights with his fitness knowledge, he identified the one thing that we all need to be successful – we need to operate with an incredibly powerful foundation; a strong connection between mind, body, and spirit. 

Tommy recommends two techniques for reverse engineering success:

1. Imagining what your life looks like in a decade. What would it look like if our biggest dreams were realized?
2. Imagining your life five years from now as if nothing has changed. How does that feel?

But, above all, Tommy believes that if we continue to avoid the uncomfortable truth about our lives, then we’re going to miss out on what we want. As he says, “Radical honesty is the first step to changing anything.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

• resistaverageacademy.com
• Read: The Leap of Your Life
• Facebook: @resistaverageacademy
• Twitter: @ResistAverage
• Instagram: @resistaverageacademy
• YouTube: Resist Average Academy
• Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

--

We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full-service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. They are your one-stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media