On this episode of the Masimo Show we get a special message straight from our founder, Rod Santomassimo. 

Let’s focus on you, the end of 2020, and look forward to where we are moving too.  Every year we provide an outline of a road map to allow you to craft a plan that is right for you. This year we’ve updated our plan- the 7 step plan we call The Seven Days to your Best Year Yet plan.  This plan outlines the 7 steps you should take  to put yourself (with our help of course) in a position to make 2021 your best year yet.  

Step 1. Transactional Review

Look at what you worked on and the results of those transactions

Step 2. Activity Review

Taking a qualitative looks at your activity from last year 

Step 3:  Reflection

Looking back over last year, your way forward should start to come into focus 

Step 4:  Restriction Phase.  

Ask yourself why you didn’t meet certain goals

Step 5:  Reposition.  

Now that you have given yourself an audit, let’s move forward

Step 6: Reaffirmation.

 Look at what you set your plan for 2021 look like?

Step 7:  Refinement.  

Let’s make sure we do what we need to do to achieve the goals you set! 

Remember to start small to build winning streaks to move forward to achieve those goals! 

On this episode of the Massimo Show Rod sits down with highschool basketball coach and motivational speaker, Jim Johnson. 

Based on what transpired in a few short moments in early 2006, Coach Jim Johnson is now an authority on the subject of realizing your dreams. In his many public-speaking appearances, the Rochester, New York resident relates his role in a basketball game that got Hollywood calling. He also emphasizes the importance of teamwork and sportsmanship, delivering his talks with a heartfelt style that has brought audiences to their feet.

Coach Johnson has developed winning high-school basketball teams for 30 years, taking over three losing varsity programs and turning them into winners in short periods of time. Of his 428 career victories, one in particular will surely never be duplicated.

On Feb. 15, 2006, Coach Johnson made the kindhearted gesture of inserting his autistic manager, Jason McElwain, now known to the world as J-Mac into Greece Athena High School’s final home game, which the Trojans won 79-43. J-Mac scored 20 points in just over four minutes, including six three-point baskets, to become an instant national celebrity. Coach Johnson, also, was featured in major news outlets around the country.

To make the Hollywood ending complete, Greece Athena captured the first Section V title of Coach Johnson’s career a few weeks later.

Jim Johnson grew up in a large family, the eldest of 6 (3 brothers and 2 sisters).  His dad was a PE teacher and was his high school basketball coach.  Jim’s father was a key role in his life.  “He gave me the real passion to want to coach.” Jim recalls. 

Jim played a lot of sports while he was young, but in middle school basketball became his passion. He was lucky to play for his dad in high school and when he went to college and was cut from the team after his second year he knew his dream of playing in the NBA was not going to manifest. After college, Jim wanted to be a teacher and a high school basketball coach. He worked for 3 years as an assistant coach in Greece, NY where he had grown up.  At 25, he got a break to be a head coach about 25 minutes from where he grew up.  “My first year coaching, I wanted to take them from the outhouse to the penthouse!  I led that team to 17 consecutive losses.” Jim laughs.  Ultimately he was let go from the position and his own loss became a great motivator for him to become a better coach. After that Jim started to read and study a lot about being a better leader.  

One of the books Jim picked up was The Seven Habits by Dr. Covey.  “He talked about the Seven habits, but also talked about having a Why in your life.” Jim tells Rod.   Now, Jim focuses on pushing people to find and understand their “Why”.  Exploring your personal mission and leading yourself first became hallmarks of Jim’s life and his coaching style. “My personal mission is to be an outstanding role model that makes a positive difference in the world by helping others make their dreams come true.” Jim says. 

Leadership traits that are consistently found in good leaders: 

1) Lead by example.  Come in with a positive attitude everyday

2) Have a service mindset.  

Watching his Why become a Reality 

Jim had been coaching for over 20 years and had never won a sectional championship.  But this year, he had a strong team.  Jason McElway was the team manager and was on the autism spectrum.  What was unique about Jason was his passion for basketball.  “I have coached for thirty years and rarely would have someone keep trying out if they hadn’t made the team the previous year.” Jim says. Jason didn’t make the team for 3 straight years.  His senior year, he was so committed to the program that Jim wanted him to suit him up to play.  “It was senior night, I wanted to get Jason in so he could score.  We had a great crowd that night.”  With just over 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter, Jason was put in to play.  When he went in the student body gave him a standing ovation, the parents stood up with a head shot of Jason on a paint stick, and the emotions Jim felt were overwhelming.  Jim’s team was 20 points up when Jason entered the game. The first time he had the ball, he had a 3 point shot and missed. The next possession he had a 10 footer that he missed but he was getting closer.  The third possession with just over three minutes, Jason was in the spot for another 3 pointer and he made the shot.  At that point, Jim was elated.  The team kept passing him the ball.  He made a shot from the arc, almost an NBA 3 and Jim was thinking oh no Jason that is way too far.  He launches and swish it goes in! The crowd ran out on the floor along with the team.  “At this point I have no idea how many points he scored, and the public announcer comes on and says the leading scorer was J Mac with 20 points. The greatest moment in my coaching career.” 

But the excitement for Jason didn’t stop in that high school gym. A student who videoed the game put it on the internet and it went viral.  Jason’s speech pathologist called the news station and said you need to see this.  From there, it was sent out nationally.  Jim got invited to go on the Oprah Show with Jason and and his parents. 

Despite the national attention, Jim and his team had more games to play. They had never got to a semifinals but this year they won and were on the way to the finals.  The place was sold out.  They were down 14-3 just 4 minutes into the game.  But they came back to win it. “That was the first win for a sectional championship for us.” Jim tells Rod. “ Later that night as we ate, We watched highlights of our sectional win on ESPN.  We won the next year as well.  The last nine years, Jason came back to help coach and we won 4 more sectional championships.”   

To this day the only thing Jim wishes we could have changed about his life and his career is finding his “Why” earlier in my life. 

On this episode of The Massimo Show Rod sits down with Steve Rizzo. 

An American motivational speaker, author, and former stand-up comedian, Steve is notable for his humorous style of motivational speaking and writing. Rizzo is a member of the National Speakers Association and an inductee of its Council of Peers Award for Excellence Speaker Hall of Fame. At one time Steve was sharing the marquis with folks like Ellen DeGeneres, Rodney Dangerfield, Eddie Murphy and Jerry Seinfeld; a showtime comedy all-star.  At the peak of his career he decided to go in a different direction. 

Steve was born in Brooklyn, NY and raised by what he calls “good people” but from an early age  they instilled what could casually be called a sense of impending doom. Life outside the home wasn’t much more supportive. In middle school Steve was having difficulties and challenges in school and was told by a counselor that he “didn’t have what it takes” to go to college. That seemingly small comment made a huge impact on the rest of his schooling. In high school Steve was nominated for the “least likely to succeed”.  He took those beliefs that I wasn’t smart enough, good enough, or worthy enough into his adult life. “My philosophy was don’t try and you won’t fail.” Steve recalls.  As a result, he hung out with a tough crowd. Most are dead or in prison.  It wasn’t until 5 years after high school when his brother, a disabled Vietnam War Veteran, totally turned his life around and went to college. “He literally took me by the hand and took me with him to college to sit with him in class for 2 weeks.  He then said, I am glad you did this, now I am signing you up.” Steve tells Rod.  Despite being petrified to go do something he was specially told he would never be able to do Steve got straight A’s. He graduated with a degree in Education-English and a minor is Psych. “ I went back to the school that nominated me least likely to succeed and I was counselor for kids with behavioral problems and an English teacher for 2 years.” Steve says. 

Success and the Shift 

Steve realized that the universe opens up when you start following your heart. But despite having obtained a degree and a coveted teaching position he quickly learned he wasn’t done mastering new things. Through a series of “right place, right time, right people” Steve started doing stand-up part time in clubs on Long Island, NY.  He was so good and so taken with it that he quit the second year of teaching to go into the world of stand-up comedy.  “I didn’t even take a leave of absence.  I just quit.” says Steve. Shortly after he was headlining comedy clubs across the country. 

But Steve still wasn’t done shifting into the perfect role. 

“What I realized was my opening acts, Drew Carey, Rosie O’Donnell and Chris Rock and they were getting the big breaks and I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t.  Why was opportunity knocking on their door?  I realized that opportunity was knocking, I was afraid to open the door.”   

Steve eventually let the worry about stand-up go and by the time the industry was begging him to hit the big time he had already decided what was next for him. 

“It was at a Tony Robbins seminar that I realized what I should be doing.  I wrote

1) I should be doing this

2) I could be doing this

3) I will do this

I made the shift.  Everyone thought I was crazy.  I was living in LA, flew home to NY and told my wife, who was supportive.  I did stand up in the tri-state area to supplement income and in between I started investing my time and energy in how I could break into the speaking business.  Everything started falling into place at a fast pace.  When you follow your heart and you are doing what you are supposed to be doing with your life serendipitous events take place that will blow your mind.” 

Steve’s Style 

What Steve offers his clients are the common-sense success strategies that will take them to a better place in life and career.  The strategies are based on these 3 principles:

1) You are the creator of your success and happiness

2) You are the only problem you will ever have and somewhere within you is a solution waiting to be discovered

3) Whenever you are confronted with a challenge or problem of any kind it’s never a matter of managing the situation, it is a matter of how you manage your mind.

Your thoughts, along with your beliefs and attitude feed off of each other will eventually create the actions you take.  The actions you take lead you to the outcome.  That is why some people are successful and some people fail.  

A Final Tip: 

If you find yourself in a negative rampage, at that moment you need to stop and become aware you need to hear “who do you think you are?”  In that state all the negativity stops because your brain cannot focus on 2 things at once.  In that moment of awareness,  you can turn it around.  

On this episode of the Massimo Show, Rod sits down with webinar coach, webinar consultant, webinar expert, and online marketing advisor Jon Schumacher. 

Today Jon is a client acquisition strategist, a webinar specialist and an online marketing advisor to consultants and service providers but he hasn’t always been working in the digital world. 

Finding Online Marketing: 

Jon grew up in rural Idaho on a horse farm. Like many farmers, he would get up and feed

horses, buck hay and do his chores. He remembers it as a great place to grow up, but always wanted to leave the small town life behind to see what was out there. He left at 18 and toured around the US. 

For Jon his passion was sports and then the human body. “Before I got into marketing, I got my MBA in physical therapy. I practiced for several years.” Jon tells Rod.  But like many aspiring entrepreneurs Jon fell out of love with the idea of working for someone else. He was looking for other ways to generate income and create financial freedom. 

He briefly entertained the idea of opening his own PT practice but he didn’t want the small business overhead. He turned to the internet. In 2010 he was the first of his kind in publishing PT info on YouTube. “I was selling content like how to fix your back, e-books and video courses. That was how I fell in love with the online world.” Jon recalls. 

The adventure began as a part-time hobby and like many, Jon was hesitant to leave his full time job. Eventually, he built up a year's worth of salary before and at the advice of a mentor, struck out on his own. With a buffer of cash and the support of his new wife he had what he needed to help with the transition. 

Jon started out in google hangouts software when it was really popular. By the time he

went full time, he was a guru on google hangout marketing. He even had a self-published book and a course he sold on joint venture webinars. Back then, it was a big deal to live stream

from your computer. There was no Facebook or YouTube live . It was the first economically free live stream platform. He committed to the process and became the self educator of the time.

“I started teaching people google hangout and webinars. I pivoted into webinar more broadly.” Jon explains to Rod. “I hosted the webinar mastery summit which was a virtual summit program that generated 8000 subscribers. From there I started offering training programs which led me into the consulting world.” 

The Power of a Webinar: 

A virtual tool to reach as many people as you can. A consultant that has a database of people and wants to reach them more consistently might send an email saying you are having a training. At the end of that training you will have a percentage of those people who will want to talk to you.

But the “build it and they will come” mentality doesn’t always apply in the digital world. Once you’ve mastered the nuts and bolts of webinar hosting the real question becomes: How do you leverage marketing strategies to secure higher quality prospects and transition them to clients? That’s where Jon comes in! 

Listen as Jon and Rod discuss tips, tools, and best practices for turing webinar attendees into paying clients! 

On this episode of The Massimo Show Rod sits down with decorated former US Army Black Hawk Helicopter pilot and Motivational Speaker, Elizabeth McCormick. 

Elizabeth flew command and control, air assault, rappelling, top-secret intelligence missions, and also transported high level government VIPs including the Secretary of Defense. She has received many awards in the army, and supported United Nations peacekeeping operations in Kosovo, receiving the Meritorious Service Medal for her excellence in service. In 2011, Elizabeth was awarded the US Congressional Veteran. 

Elizabeth grew up in rural Michigan and went to an agricultural school with less than 50 students.  “I was a geek, shy just starting to play sports and trying to find out who I was.” Elizabeth recalls during her talk with Rod. “My mom worked 2 jobs and because I was playing sports, I would sometimes have to walk home 7 miles after practice.  At home, I would do my homework and read until early morning.” Because her school was so small, they needed people for almost every sport and Elizabeth stepped up where she was needed. 

After being offered a volleyball scholarship for a D3 college - Siena Heights in Michigan- Elizabeth, an aspiring architect, went on to double major in art and math with an associates in engineering.  Eventually she had to stop playing volleyball because it interfered with her studies and subsequently gave up her scholarship as well. 

In the last year of college Elizabeth met what she refers to as her “starter husband” a well-intentioned army bound young man whom she married in her final year of college. She followed him to small town Louisiana and found herself working in a pizza place. “That made me pissed off,” Elizabeth recalls candidly, “five years of college with student loans knocking at the door. I realized I couldn’t change my circumstances so I had to look at what I could change.  I realized if my husband could go in the military, so could I.” 

Everything she went through after that decision was a matter of self-motivation. “If I don’t believe in me no one else is going to believe in me.” Elizabeth tells Rod. What seemed like a simple decision ended up being an extremely difficult life change. From the recruiter who didn’t know how to do the paperwork, to the flight doctor who called her a “little girl”, to the crew at the MEPS station who told her the test was going to be difficult, she faced adversity at every turn. It wasn’t until she got through the process and went through basic training to candidate school that she learned there were only 2 spots in the nation!  “If I had known that, I might not have been as confident.” she recalls. Despite her shy demeanor she was determined. “My mission to be who I wanted to be was more important than being shy... It is these situations that make you realize how much you have within you.”

Elizabeth notes that she was then and is often now driven by four distinct words: 

Do you want this?  If you don’t believe this is going to happen, no one is going to.

Life Lessons Learned from Piloting: 

Every year as a pilot you have to prove yourself and show you are skilled in what you do.  After two years of flying you go to the pilot in command for a promotion. After my second year in Germany I was up for this promotion.  What you have to do is fly the map of the earth.   The instructor got lost.  I pushed myself because I realized you can’t depend on other people.  You are in the pilot seat. No matter what role you are in there is no autopilot.  We have to lead instead of follow.

5 truths to Leading yourself in Life

• Potential
• Implementation
• Leadership (Communicate Aviate Navigate)
• Optimal Performance
• Tenacity

Business after the Military 

I would have still been in the military however, I was injured and offered a medical retirement and got out of the military right before 9/11.  This is when I got my first corporate job working as a warehouse inventory accounting and worked my way up to purchasing manager.  My last job I was a commodity and international contract negotiator.   I was broken.  I came out of the military physically and emotionally broken.  I was not ready to speak.    It was the community who found out I was a helicopter pilot that would ask me to speak at school or church events.  At every event I would speak at after I would get 5 more calls to speak elsewhere.  At this time, I am still working a corporate job so I am turning a lot of them down.  It wasn’t until someone said we will pay you.  In 2009, I was laid off.  And that is when I realized what I was supposed to be doing.  

Rod and Elizabeth round out the interview talking about the meaning of “SOAR” and how setbacks in life can lead to your greatest accomplishments in business ownership. 

On this episode of the Massimo Show, Rod sits down with former NFL player turned motivational speaker JJ BIrden. 

Born and raised in Portland Oregon, JJ went to the University of Oregon where he was a two sport star in Football and Track and Field. A 5’10”, 157-pound wide receiver, JJ was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the 1988 NFL Draft and played nine seasons (Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, and Atlanta Falcons). He played two years with Hall of Fame Quarterback Joe Montana. He certainly was not the biggest, strongest, or fastest guy on the field, but he knew how to seize his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and maximize his success through dedication and hard work. 

JJ’s ultimate passion was to be successful at something. Raised in the inner cities of Portland, JJ and his family knew what real struggle was and he was determined to break that cycle for himself one way or another. Unlike other kids his age JJ didn’t play a team sport until his sophomore year in High School but he showed true talent and drive and quickly became an integral part of his teams. The first success was learning how to manage his time and prioritize early on in his life. 

Becoming a Pro 

JJ wasn’t sure where he was headed when he qualified for the 1988 Olympic trials for the long jump and was the #1 high school wide receiver in Oregon. He thought it would be track and field when he didn’t receive a single D1 scholarship offer. 

After receiving a scholarship to the University of Oregon for track & field, JJ earned a walk-on spot with the football team his sophomore year. He was at the bottom of the depth chart and nowhere near seeing actual playing time on the field, but his coaches and teammates didn’t know how hard he was willing to work. It didn’t take long for them to find out: JJ became a starter the next season, his junior year. 

But like all long-shot stories and underdog tales, JJ’s trials were just beginning. The remainder of his college career was plagued with injuries and unimpressive stats. Still, JJ’s speed and toughness were enough to earn him an invite to the NFL Combine, a yearly gathering of the top 300 college prospects in the nation. Unsurprising to his teammates, coaches, and fans, JJ dominated the Combine. His performance earned him the 216th pick in the 8th round of the 1988 NFL Draft. That’s when the going got really tough.

“My first setback was tearing my ACL at the Cleveland Browns Rookie camp” JJ remembers. “The bright side was I was drafted and I got to sit on IR with the Browns and see what happens.   The first year, there was no pressure.  It was a learning curve.” 

Eventually he got back on the field. Having always excelled in athletics he was convinced he would continue to do so in the pros but he quickly learned there is a reason why they called it the professionals.  “I remember I was grabbed by my pads and thrown to the ground” ‘Rookie- this is the NFL and every day is game day.  You better do better than that.’  I got a quick wake-up call that It doesn’t matter what I have done in the past, these guys bring their best every day.  I better figure this out.” JJ recalls. JJ learned a valuable lesson that he continues to apply to business:  Every day is game day and you can’t take days off.  

As a motivational speaker JJ Shares principles from the point of view of the underdog and what it takes to  leverage where you are to be successful. The truth is, JJ felt like an underdog his whole life but he was also convinced that stats didn’t matter.  “When opportunities knock, you don’t’ answer the door, you rip the door off the hinges and make opportunities and do what it takes.” he says. 

FASCO 

An acronym: Failures Adversities SetBacks Challenges and Obstacles = The thing that is trying to stop you from achieving your goal.  What does it look like to be outworking others?   There is a thin line that separates you from your competitor and you  have to make small incremental changes to continue to improve your game.  What is your competitive advantage?  What is the little extra thing that you bring to the table?  

Your Why Factor 

Understanding your “why” is the key to what you are doing.  If the why is strong enough the process to get there is not a challenge.  You will do whatever it takes.  You need to ask yourself, what inspires you, motivates you, what gets you excited?  That is what is going to take you to those good days and support you through the bad.    

Jeb Blount is a best selling author including Fanatical Prospecting, Sales EQ, Objections and most recently Virtual Selling. He's published hundreds of articles and is among the world’s most respected thought leaders on sales, leadership, and customer experience.  He is the leader and CEO of Sales Gravy.  Sales Gravy is the #1 most trafficked website in the world.

This week on The Massimo Show Rod sat down with an internationally recognized client-acquisition expert, author, and speaker - Bill Cates. 

Bill has delivered his business-growth message to over 300,000 professionals, small business owners, and salespeople across 5 continents; helping them increase revenue without increasing their marketing budget.

Bill is the author of four popular books:  Get More Referrals Now, Don’t Keep Me a Secret, Beyond Referrals, and Radical Relevance.

Bill Cates’ client-acquisition system has been featured in such publications as Success Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Selling Power, the Huffington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.  His own business’s success has been featured in Money Magazine.

Bill was born and Raised in Silver Springs, Maryland just outside of Washington, DC. While attending the University of Maryland he was a drummer in a rock n roll band who turned professional after college, even touring the country after he finished graduate school. While they were fairly successful Bill knew enough to realize he didn't want to play at Holiday Inns for the rest of his life.  After working for American Airlines in customer service he got the itch to own his own business.  

A woman was selling her cookbook at a "pick your own strawberry" farms.  She stole all his ideas and he was not compensated for it.  He thought “I could do better than this” so he identified 1500 pick your own strawberry farms around the county and got an offer to write a cookbook and sell it to the farmers.  The first year he sold 15000 copies of the book.  He moved on to an apple and honey cookbook.  It was a niche for the farmers.  Bill was selling around 80000 copies of his cookbooks a year.  He started selling in kitchen stores, gourmet shops, and grocery stores.  He then moved on to writing specialty cookbooks for equipment manufacturers.  He wrote for Weber grills, a smoker company, a cookie cookbook for American Greeting Cards.  He created this niche of smaller cookbooks.  He built the business until it was saleable and publishing his cookbooks was going great. 

They say liberal arts majors make good entrepreneurs because they learn how to learn and teach.   Bil sold several businesses and was looking for the next thing to do.  A friend of his said “you should be a professional speaker” so he started hanging out at the National Speaker Association.  

After trying his hand at running a book publishing company he discovered his passion for speaking and teaching other entrepreneurs. 

It didn’t matter if Bill was getting gigs for his band, soothing ruffled feathers of airline clients, or connecting with farmers over a great recipe - he was learning to make real connections. This led to Bill’s niche - referral marketing.  Bill believes in the power of multiplying your best clients.  

“It doesn’t cost money to do that,” Bill notes.  “What I learned is not only about referrals but about introductions.  Make sure you are getting introduced to the people who will give you referrals.  Referrals and introductions work because of borrowed trust.  Make sure to have a Value Check-in.  This is when you check-in in along the way so your client knows the value we are bringing.  To see that we are exceeding their expectation because most businesses don’t check in enough.   When you check-in and ask how do you think we are doing? When you bring that openness to checking in on a regular basis, that is the beginning step for asking for an introduction.  It solidifies the connection.” 

Rod and Bill go on to discuss the delegation of 5 things that will free you up to do the things that need to be done: 

1. The sales division is handled by a referral network and reputation.
2. Marketing by speaking in key conferences, newsletters, blogs. Reputation building and maintenance.  Run by his team.
3. Personnel- marketing run by his team. 
4. Operations use CRM.  
5. Finance has an accounting team and book-keeping service 

Bill and Rod end with some helpful information on how to multiply your best clients in five steps and more about Bill’s books Beyond Referrals and Radical Relevance

On this episode of the Massimo Show, Rod sits down with Joe Calloway

Joe Calloway helps leaders, owners, and entrepreneurs make great companies even better. He helps organizations focus on what is truly important, inspires new thinking about challenges and opportunities, and motivates people to immediate action.

Joe is the Executive In Residence at Belmont University's Center For Entrepreneurship. He is a business author, consultant and speaker whose client list reads like an international Who’s Who in business, ranging from Coca Cola and Verizon to Cadillac and American Express. Joe also works with small to mid-sized business groups including franchisees, medical practices, law firms, and a range of professional services groups.

Joe is the author of Be the Best at What Matters Most and five other ground-breaking business books including Becoming A Category of One: How Extraordinary Companies Transcend Commodity And Defy Comparison, which received rave reviews from The New York Times, Retailing Today, Publishers Weekly, and many others.

His newest book is Magnetic: The Art of Attracting Business.

Joe's business experience includes having owned a restaurant in Nashville, and he is currently serving as Advisor on Business Development with Gilson Boards, a snowboard design and manufacturing company based in Pennsylvania.

 Joe grew up in a rural community in Tennessee where he focused mainly on his passion for rock and roll bands such as Rolling Stones, The Who, Doors, and the Beatles.  He started off as a drummer and eventually became the frontman! 

Joe also had a passion for all things political and after college, he worked in the House of Representatives representing the state of Tennessee.  Eventually, Joe changed directions because he was becoming tired of the political scene.  

From there he went to work with his Brother in law in Real Estate taking a big leap and leaving his home town to move to Washington State.  He became the General Manager of his brother in law’s company where there were about 10 agents.   

“My job was to help the agents become more successful.  I was paid based on the company revenue.  I got intrigued by coming up with ideas to help the agents become better at what they do.  That is when I left the Real Estate business to go off on my own to seminars and workshops for some real estate companies, banks, all different areas from time management and sales programs.  That evolved into people asking for me to do a speech at a trade association and that grew to speak at big conventions being the keynote speaker.” 

Joe’s roles continued to evolve over the years from customer service, to building your brand with your people, to eventually transitioning into leadership speaking engagements working with smaller groups. 

Joe and Rod discuss what it takes to be a successful leader. Joe remarks that: 

“There are a lot of things, but there is no set answer.  What comes to mind is Clarity. No one wonders what is going on.  It is clear.  This who we are, this is what we value, here is what is important.  Here is the way we treat people.  And clarity on where we are going.  Our vision for the organization and how to get there.”  

Joe and Rod close out the show with Five Factors in Five Minutes where they cover Prospecting, Marketing, Productivity, CRMs, and how Joe is handling his team during COVID.

On this episode of the Massimo Show Rod sits down with David Newman certified speaking professional marketing expert and founder of Do it! Marketing. 

David is the creator of the Speaker Profit Formula seminar and mentoring program.

He has worked with over 600 executives and entrepreneurs to monetize their message including IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Qvc, Merrill lynch and more. His podcast is the #1 podcast for

experts who want to speak more profitably and his new book Do it! Speaking is a must for anyone to read regardless if you are a speaker or not.

David grew up in Northern New Jersey with dreams of being a doctor like his godfather. He went to college for pre-med and failed out but that didn’t deter him. He changed his major to drama and graduated with an undergraduate drama degree and went on to graduate school to receive his MFA in stage directing from the City University of New York. After school he worked in professional theatre - directing, stage managing, and assistant directing for 4 years in NY. 

Eventually a friend said “you are teaching at graduate school to pay the bills, you could do that with companies and that is called corporate training” and David took his advice. 

Over the next 10 years he had three corporate training or corporate consulting jobs in management and Human Resources. David worked for Microsoft, doing internal training, trainer to trainer, client based training on technology and HR management topics. “When you are an internal consultant at a big firm, you are doing a big portfolio of things. You are given a binder of things to learn. You are flying all over the country teaching at different locations. You have to be flexible and versatile.” David said. “I was teaching anything to anyone, I began to think how hard could this be to go out on your own? I know what I am doing. I learn anything and go out and teach it the next day. Let me go out on my own as an entrepreneurial speaking consultant.”

David  found out quickly how hard it could be. He learned that it’s not about doing the work, it’s about getting the work. “It took me 3 years to figure out how to get clarity, focus and momentum. It took me a while to be able to answer questions outside the binder.” he said. David invested in sales training and sales coaching and came to the conclusion that he should focus on sales and marketing. He launched Do it! Marketing.

“When I had alignment of what I was doing who I was doing it for and what I was saying about

my business, That is when the flood gates opened.” 

The 4 greatest foundational decisions you can make are:

• Who you are
• Who you not
• Who your clients are
• Who your clients are not

You are either Timex or Rolex. If you are selling “cheap” you are going to

attract cheap people. If you are selling “premium” you will attract premium people. Low fees lead to low attention. Low attention leads to low respect. Low respect means low implementation of your ideas and thus, low results. When you undercut your price you are doing your clients a disservice. They don’t take you as seriously, they don’t follow your advice. They don’t show up on calls or follow through on your recommendation. They start looking at other places for results. Pricing is positioning.

David and Rod spend the remainder of the podcast discussing Influence, engagement, and speaking. They touch on Podcasting and the importance of leveraging other people in your own business to add value to your audience!