The Massimo Show

On this episode of The Masimo Show, we continue our conversation with the award-winning author - Andy Andrews.

In part two of the conversation, you will hear about his work with presidents, how he worked with major sports figures, and his emphasis on creating measurable results.

Good Question vs Bad Question

Andy used to tell people which presidents he'd been to the white house to meet but in this day and age when people ask him which presidents he answers "the four that asked me." Very clever.

Despite having been to the white house multiple times, the biggest turning point in his speaking career was when he was capped out by his speaker's bureau. He remembers them saying "This is as much as people like you make." He didn't have a gold medal or Superbowl ring. He didn't have a television show and he wasn't the hero of some national disaster "And so I knew what they said was correct. It was true. I just didn't know if it was the truth." Andy recalls.

He began to search for the answer. "It took me a while," Andy says "because I've always believed that the quality of our answers can be determined by the quality of our questions."

You can ask yourself "Why am I so fat?" and your subconscious will come up with all kinds of self-degrading responses. But if you ask yourself a question directing it towards a solution such as "How can I regain the shape I had when I was 30?" and then let your subconscious do the work, you'll be surprised at how much better the response is.

In search of a good question to the problem of his speaker's cap, Andy thought "Why do people book speakers? Why do companies book speakers? Why does somebody get a consultant? Why does somebody bring somebody in for their convention?"

And one morning, he woke up with the answer, and "it scared me to death because I knew it was the truth."

Most companies booked speakers for their events because they always have.

Creating Measurable Results

If they had 10k to spend they booked a speaker for 10k if they had 20, maybe two speakers. Andy asked his speakers bureau if any company had ever gone from booking 10k speakers to 50k speakers and the simple response was no. And when pressed as to why he was told it was because they didn't have the budget to do so.

And there we go again - thought Andy - was something that was true, but not the truth.

Because in reality, the truth is the reason a company that was booking a 10k speaker was never ever going to consider a 50k. Speaker is because they never got a return on their investment with a 10k speaker.

Andy realized he needed to find a way to help people get a return on their investment. More specifically: how to create measurable results (a term Andy has actually trademarked).

Andy went on to work with professionals in football, golf, Olympic shooters, and even in the mortgage industry.

Rod and Andy go on to outline his success in doubling the revenue of a mortgage company, the details behind his new book Just Jones, the importance of community and personal peace, and what it means to win with culture.

Tune in to this amazing conclusion to the two-part podcast with Andy Andrews and let us know your biggest takeaway!

On this episode of the Massimo Show, we'll explore the first in a two-part series with author Andy Andrews.

Hailed by a New York Times reporter as "someone who has quietly become one of the most influential people in America," Andy Andrews is the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers including The Traveler's Gift and The Noticer. He is also an in-demand speaker, coach, and consultant for the world's largest organizations.

Andy has spoken at the request of four different United States presidents, worked extensively with the Department of Defense, and regularly addresses the world's largest corporations. Arguably, there is no single person on the planet better at weaving subtle yet life-changing lessons into riveting tales of adventure and intrigue—both on paper and on stage.

In this interview, Rod and Andy talk about Andy's history, the origins of his beloved (and real-life) character, Jones, and the origin of the seven principles that changed the course of Andy's life.

From Bad to Worse

Andy recounts that he led a pretty normal life until he was 19 when he lost both of his parents.

His mother from cancer, and his father in a car accident.

With the loss of his role models at such a defining time in his young life you can imagine that the choices Andy made shortly after were motivated by a mountain of grief. After a series of poor decisions, Andy found himself homeless.

"You know, nobody 35 years ago was talking about homeless people," Andy explains to Rod. "But I was living under a pier on the Gulf Coast and in and out of garages and it was just not safe or smart. But I did."

Meeting Jones

While living under his pier Andy came to know an old drifter. He didn't know where he was from or where he went when he wasn't there or really anything about him but he struck up a kind of friendship with him. "We called him Jones, not Mr. Jones, just Jones and he was a very wise man," Andy tells Rod. One of the biggest takeaways Andy got from his friendship with Jones was something that he told him: "'Hey, remember, you can't believe everything you think.'"

This opened up a whole new world of thought for Andy. So much so that it became one of the grounding ideas of the work that he would become well known for in the corporate world and Jones himself became the main character of his book series.

The other takeaway that Jones gave Andy was the gift of escapism. And not into tv or movies or Instagram that way we often do today but in a much more tangible way - the escape into the past. More specifically, biographies.

"I'd always been a sports illustrated field and stream kind of guy" Andy recalls; "and he started me reading biographies. And I said, 'Ah, biographies…' I didn't know what else to say. He said, 'No, no, these are adventure stories. These are mysteries and romances and thrillers, and they're all true.'"

Andy went on to read over 200 biographies. But reading books didn't put money in your pockets or a roof over your head so Andy had to figure out a way to make a living.

Making a Living

Andy was living on the beach but he was no beach bum. He was washing boats as well as selling fish and bait. He would introduce himself to out-of-towners who had money and a boat but no fishing skills and offer to be their guides for the day. "Back then I'd take people for $100 a day and if you don't catch fish, you don't pay me. It was like a fortune to me. But I worked. But I always wanted to speak, I always wanted to communicate, I wanted to be a speaker, I just didn't have anything to say. And that'll kill a speaking career, as you know" Andy tells Rod.

The Noticer is Born

During this time Jones was a constant for Andy. "You read 200 biographies, you got to notice something, and Jones called himself a noticer," Andy says. "He would say 'when they were passing around the talents, I didn't get the good ones. I can't run fast, I can't sing great. But I notice little things that make a difference for people.'"

Like Jones, Andy began to notice some striking similarities in the subjects of the biographies he was reading.

It turned out there were seven principles that Andy saw in each of these remarkable people. He wasn't sure if George Washington Carver or Winston Churchill knew enough about themselves to know they had these principles but it was clear to Andy that they were there.

Andy began to form some bigger questions in his mind:

• What if someone knew about these seven principles and better yet what if they taught them to their own children?
• Could someone get a hold of this knowledge and change their lives? Or was life a lottery and you had to be born with these traits?

"Were these people in this book, were they born this way? Or did they do something? Because if they were born this way, I knew I was out of luck. But if they did something, what did they do? And how long did it take them to do it?" Andy muses.

The Seven Principles...Kind of

I know you're chomping at the bit to get the seven principles and - better yet - start implementing them but Andy explains that "one definition of wisdom is a deeper understanding of the principle. Right? And so if the definition was a deep understanding of the principle, well, that's a target you can hit. Okay, but...where do you go from there? Well, deeper, I guess." and the truth is that that can't be done in a 3 minute TV segment and it can't be done in a podcast write-up - but it can be done in a book. You should read it.

Ok, we'll do one...

Responsibility. The idea and the notion is everywhere - especially today.

There seem to be two extremes about responsibility in our world today. One is that people need to accept and own their responsibilities outright and the other is that the notion of responsibility has to be taken with a grain of salt due to one's upbringing and background.

"But see, here's the thing," Andy explains "Responsibility has nothing to do with blaming somebody about what they've done, or making somebody feel bad about where they're from. Responsibility is about hope and control. And who doesn't want to have hope for a greater future they can control."

Maybe it's your mom or your neighbor or the weather or COVID or the president or your wife - the bottom line is you can't control any of those things.

"And so the opposite of that is if I can look in the mirror, and I can say, you know what, I've had some crazy things happen in my life. And I couldn't control any of them. But I made choices, in response to those crazy things that have led me down a path to a place that I like, and if I can understand and believe that I can make choices that will lead me to a place I don't like, then it just makes logical sense that I could make choices that would lead me to a place I do, like" Andy says...

"and so the game becomes, make better choices. And that's what the other six principles are about helping people do, understanding how to make those choices."

From the Boat to the Stage

Rod and Andy finish out this episode and discuss Andy's rise from living under a pier to standing on top of a stage. Listen to the remainder of this episode and stay tuned for the second half of this amazing interview in two weeks!

On this episode of The Massimo Show special guest, Mike Gallegos sits down with Massimo Founder and President, Rod Santomassimo, to discuss the six key trends that are facing the commercial real estate industry today.

Number 1: Prospect Sequencing, not cadence, but sequencing, think about structuring sequences. It's just not being on Twitter, folks, that doesn't give you …

Number 2: OmniPresence. You immerse your audience, with your knowledge, with your skills, and…

Number 3: Your move to Independence. Yes, think about how you can become more independent? And with your independence you can become…

Number 4: The Advisor or the Consultant and not simply a transactor. The quicker you get to that position, the more money you're going to earn, and possibly as you earn more you will consider…

Number 5: The Restructuring of Big Brokerage houses. It's happening, it's happening every single day. And more and more of these low-cost, high-fee infrastructures will continue to grow. This brings us to …

Number 6: Your Personal Diversification of Income. This is what you need to be thinking about right now. In addition to growing your commissions, grow revenue through other ways.

Think of this now, while also focusing on getting deals done for your clients, for you, and your family. Will you adapt to these new trends and position yourself as an advisor, a consultant, versus simply a facilitator of deals? Transactors are commodities. Commodities have little value.

Consider how you can apply these lessons today to your practice. How much will these changes impact your income growth? How can you start building the business and the life you've always desired?

On this episode of The Massimo Show Rod sits down with speaker, author, business savant, and leader of B2B sales approach and consultancy, Anthony Iannarino.

Anthony was raised by a single mom, who was raised by a single mom and what he liked to do most in high school was not be there. He spent a lot of energy trying to get out of school and when he got to high school, he had an experience that shaped his life.

"We were very poor. We ate mac and cheese, hamburger helper or fish sticks" Anthony tells Rod. Foods Anthony would never eat again. At 13, A friend of his got him a job washing dishes at Villa Milanos. Anthony would put in 40-50 hours a week. "They would feed me lasagna, prime rib and chocolate mousse" he recalls. "Joey Milano's mother would come around and say 'you are so skinny you need to eat more!'". That's when Anthony fell in love with work...and good food! He was floored by the idea that they would pay him to work and feed him and if he needed a reason to skip school before he'd certainly found it now.

But work and food weren't Anthony's only passions. He also loved music. He started a band that went though a few members and name changes but eventually they were in LA. Despite his love for his metal band LA is not a cheap town and Anthony had to get a job.

Anthony found himself in an outside sales role out selling all of the other sales guys and feeling as though he was really helping people. With a good job and a band on the rise he was feeling great. But he learned that things change quickly.

One day Anthony had a grand mal seizure walking to his apartment. He was taken to UCLA where they found a giant spot on the front right lobe of his brain. They told him he had cancer and he needed a lobectomy but he asked for a second opinion.

"They said it could be an Arteriovenous Malformation. That is a congenital disease where arteries and veins grow into a knot." Anthony explains to Rod. After testing, it turned out Anthony had the largest AVM they had seen. He had several long surgeries that resulted in a small part of his brain being damaged and removed.

At 25 he was considered brain damaged, with no college degree and no real plan for recovery.

But after surgery, Anthony recognized it was like his brain was on fire, in a good way. He was easily reading a book a day and felt like he was making more neural connections. "My neurologist said we have no evidence that is true, you are freaking out because we cut a piece of your brain off." Anthony tells Rod. But it turns out the doctors were wrong. There is a lot of plasticity in the brain and we now know a trauma like this can create new neuroconnections.

That is when Anthony went to college. He completed a 4 year degree in three years working full time and went on to take the LSAT scoring in the top 15%. He got the Dean's academic scholarship to law school but after receiving his law degree, he decided business was a better place for him. Anthony was fortunate enough to go back into the family business and attended Harvard Business school, graduating with his OPM in 2005. The family business was temporary staffing.

When Anthony took over the family business and became the sales leader he had to figure out how to transfer his knowledge to other people who may not have the character traits or skills. "It took me a while to figure out how to help people recognize they had assumptions that were out of line with reality." Anthony tells Rod. "My job is to teach them what reality requires of them and then have difficult conversations to make sure they could make decisions even if they weren't happy about it." When Antony first started at the company the revenue was at 3M. It grew to 50M.

"What you are really doing when you are selling is helping facilitate a decision for your client about what and how they need to do it."

Putting Pen to Paper

The very first publisher that contacted Anthony about writing a book asked him for a manuscript, and he delivered 17 Elements: The Periodic Table of Sales Success. It included the idea that Mindset and skill sets are what one needs to succeed in sales. Character traits dominate the skills and the acquisition and willingness of the skill to be able to try new things. Anthony defined some of the elements as:

• Discipline
• Optimism
• Caring
• Competitiveness
• Resourcefulness
• Determination
• Initiatives
• Communication
• Accountability

Over twenty-five years, Anthony has boiled down everything he's learned and tested into one convenient book, The Only Sales Guide You'll Ever Need that explains what all successful sellers, regardless of industry or organization, share: a mind-set of powerful beliefs and a skill-set of key actions.

Listen in as Rod and Anthony talk about being optimistic about the future and still doing what needs to be done.

On this episode of The Massimo Show Rod sits down with author, speaker, entrepreneur, corporate guru and so much more…Lisa Copeland

Lisa was a cheerleader and on the drill team in Arlington, Texas - where football and cheering are a way of life. But Lisa admits she didn't have a lot of ambition in high school. "I wanted to chase boys and go to fashion college." Lisa tells Rod

An accidental change of direction

While in fashion college, she did something that changed the course of her entire life: she wrecked her car. "My parents would send me money for insurance, and I did not pay my insurance. I had a totaled car and no job." Lisa recalls. After the wreck she went to her dad and he said 'I gave you a car, paid for college, your car Insurance - you screwed up; figure it out.' There was no public transportation in Dallas so Lisa got creative. She got a job selling cars because they would give her a demo car off the lot.

But it wasn't as easy as walking in for a job and walking out with a car. At first, the car dealership did not want to hire her at all. In fact. the managers were dead set against hiring her. Lisa called her parents to tell them she had figured it out, "I am going to sell cars and they will give you a car." she told them. Her parents started to back peddle saying 'no no we will get you a car' but it was too late. Lisa's first big sale was herself. "I talked my way into a job" she explains. Turns out she was really great at sales.

Lisa had never even been in a car dealership before applying for the job but like a lot of us, she learned that you can fake it until you make it. Despite not wanting to hire her and the general lack of support from the management there was one gentleman, Ernie Bays, who took Lisa under his wing and was her mentor. "He showed me the ropes and made sure the rest of the men were nice to me."

After college, Lisa was doing really well at the car dealership and was promoted to finance for a few years. She then became the finance platform director. "I stayed in the car business for 12 years." Lisa says.

After her second child the nights and weekends were too much. She was able to transition to the mortgage business because of her finance background. She did so well in the mortgage business that within 2 years she had started her own mortgage company that is still in business today.

Car Buying, Her Way.

Lisa travels the country speaking to small businesses, associations and large corporations teaching methods that got her to the top of her field and made her highly sought after.

Lisa's first book Crushing Mediocrity - 10 ways to rise above the status quo was co-authored with Rene Banglesdorf who is the CEO of Charlie Bravo Aviation.

If you have a mediocre mind set you will fail as an entrepreneur. There are ten aspects that will help you rise above. The one I start with is:

• Do you believe what you do matters?
• What is your purpose?

Taking her sales presence to the stage

Lisa's speaking took off after her team broke the world sales record. In sales you must know how to push through mediocre days. If you get stuck the organization gets stuck. I get brought in to help sales organizations get unstuck.

Listen in for all the details of Lisa's inspiring story!

On today's episode of The Massimo Show Rod sits down with experienced keynote speaker and author, Alan Stein.

At his core, Alan is a performance coach with a passion for helping others change behaviors. He spent 15+ years working with the highest performing basketball players on the planet (including NBA superstars Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, and Kobe Bryant). Through his customized programs, he transfers his unique expertise to maximize both individual and organizational performance with clients such as American Express, Pepsi, Sabra, Starbucks, Charles Schwab, and Penn State Football, and many more.

Alan grew up in Washington DC and when he was 4 his parents signed him up for his first basketball team. "Basketball was my first identifiable passion, the first thing I fell in love with." Alan tells Rod. 40 years later basketball is still a major pillar in Alan's life. "I am grateful that I have been able to make a life and a living around something I love, something I am passionate about, and something I have always had an affinity for." Even though he now does corporate keynote speaking and writing, it is all done through the lens of someone who spent his entire career around the game of basketball.

In addition to playing basketball Alan also played "every sport under the sun"; football, volleyball, baseball, hockey as well as martial arts, skateboarding and BMX. But he always came back to basketball. He was a good high school player, and even played on scholarship at Elon College. While at Elon, he was developing an equal love for performance training - Strength training, conditioning for fitness as well as becoming more powerful and more fit. When he graduated college and realized his formal basketball playing days were over he decided to pursue a career where he could combine his love of basketball with his new found love of performance training. "I became a basketball performance coach right out of college for almost 20 years and I had an opportunity to work with some remarkable players and coaches." Alan reminises.

4 years ago Alan decided to take what I learned from the game of basketball and show folks how to apply those same principles, mindsets and habits into business.

Many of these ideas stem from what Alan calls performance training. When Alan first started he referred to it as strength and conditioning with the goal being to get players to be stronger so they would be resilient to injury to get them in great shape to be able to be as fresh in the 4th quarter as they were at the start of the game. Over time, the title was confining. What Alan was really doing with these players was more than strength and conditioning. "We worked on the physical side: flexibility and mobility, hand eye coordination and balance but also the mental side: mindset and habits." Over time Alan morphed that title to performance and he addressed everything except the skills of the game. How to eat well, how to take care of their bodies, how to improve their athleticism, how to have a winning mindset and how to develop an environment and habits to support all of those things. "I do the same thing in the corporate space, just to a different audience." Alan tells Rod.

"You have to master the fundamentals". Alan explains. As a performance coach in basketball you have to create the soundest foundation possible so that when an athlete learns the skills of the game they would be the best player they could be. Alan does the same thing in the corporate space. Alan works with a lot of sales professionals and instead of teaching them a sales philosophy or protocol he creates their foundation so when they apply their sales philosophy they are as effective as possible.

"The life changing lesson that I learned from Kobe Bryant was that the secret to his success was to never get bored with the basics. He had a strong appreciation and respect for the fundamentals and he knew he needed to constantly work to master those. He did that because he respected the game and the process. I bring that to the corporate world."

After leading a workshop one of the first things Alan does is help people to gain clarity on what their basics are. To Alan, it doesn't matter if they are an executive, in sales or HR, they need to know what their fundamentals are. The one that works universally is Listening. If you want to improve your influence or impact as a leader, improve your active listening skills.

Mindset is the #1 limiting element. It can make or break anyone in any walk of life. Your Foundation has to be solid.

3 pillars to Growth:

1. Foundation
2. Skillset
3. Mindset

Alan describes Mindset as your self awareness, your emotional intelligence, your ability to recognize and process your own emotions. "What I learned in 2020 was that our emotions are designed to inform us, not direct us." Alan recalls. To him, this is important if you are in a position of leadership. It is important that your emotions are not dictating your behavior. Having an elite mindset is having your emotions and not allowing them to dictate your performance.

Another component of an elite mindset is saying I am going to do the best I can with what I have where I am. There will be no excuse, no blame and no complaining.

The next part of mindset is to learn how to be in the present moment: WIN

What's

Important

Now

Effort and attitude are two things Alan has control over. He focuses on giving the best effort and attitude in everything he does. "Part of that attitude is my response to what is going on around me. How I choose to respond with what's going on around me will dictate what tomorrow looks like."

Are the habits you have today on par with the dreams you have for tomorrow?

On this episode of The Massimo Show Rod sits down with Dave DesRochers.

Dave is a former offensive lineman who was a 12th round pick in the 1987 draft and played in the Seattle Seahawks organization for a couple of years. After his football career, he got into acting and worked on various television shows, movies, and commercials. After moving on from acting he owned a financial investment firm for about 20 years. Today he is the Vice President of PATH2HappiSuccess which is a company that helps lead students to better college experiences and assists them in finding lifelong careers that will lead to their happiness.

In High school, Dave was a basketball player - tall and lanky. He was good enough to make it to the final cut for the Olympic development team and get scholarship offers at small universities. The football coach approached him in his junior year and asked if he was going to play. "I said 'no, I am a basketball player and I have some scholarships.'" Dave recalls. Despite Dave's protests the coach encouraged him to come and play football and promised him even better scholarship opportunities. Dave remembers telling the coach "I'm not very good. I like football, and I want to be, but I'm not." The coach said he'd help him but 3 practices in he pulled Dave aside and said "you know you're not very good. You really need to work on your footwork" and handed Dave a jump rope.

Despite his skepticism, Dave took the jump rope home and worked until he was proficient at it. "The jump roping gave me confidence," Dave tells Rod "and I did fairly well that year." Dave was offered scholarships to CAL, U of A, Hawaii, Fullerton on a dual scholarship and the school he chose, San Diego State.

Dave was taken on a scholarship with potential. What he came to find out is potential is a nice way of telling somebody "you are not good". For Dave, it was the same thing with the NFL as well. He was a 12th round draft pick - meaning he was decent and picked based on his potential. Dave credits this mostly to the fact that, unlike many other players, he was in excellent condition. Furthermore, he did things to take care of himself and work hard that most big guys don't want to have to worry about. What Dave learned is that if you do the little things other people aren't willing to do, you will succeed. You will put yourself above everyone else in the room.

In 1992 he stopped playing football and became a financial advisor. "My first year I made $5,000," Dave tells Rod. "The first thing my ex-wife asked was, 'are you sure you should be doing this?'" The entry-level for the job consisted of cold calling. Dave was handed a phone book and asked to call 25-30 people, speak to 10 and set 2 appointments a day for his advisor. He would have to speak to complete strangers, get them to listen to him, and then get them to come into these appointments. "Most people would dread that" Dave says "I dreaded it, but that was my job." He would call 100 people and set a goal of setting 5 appointments a day. Dave always doubled what was expected of him and in 2 months, senior management was having him give presentations to all other junior representatives on how to cold call. Within 4 months he was given his own branch, and in 3 ½ years, he was vice president of the bank. "It was like the jump rope, I did something no one wanted to do. I took it and did more, better and quicker. I put myself above everybody else which put me on the fast track to succeed."

Four years ago, Dave was talking with his fiance's uncle about a program he came up with that would help students solve the problems surrounding changing their major, taking 6 years to graduate, and student loan debt. He was writing his book: Career Happiness and Success: A Definitive Path to Determine Your Best Career. As he was researching college statistics he found 70% of college students change their major once, 33% change it twice or more. He started looking at the career assessments and came up with a program that he thought would be a solution to this problem. He asked Dave to take the program and tell him what he thought. Dave did all parts of the assessment, it took him 3 days, but he realized that this was a program that could help so many more people. Dave went to work with him on this project.

Our program starts with 2 general assessments, we have to know what you are going to love. What that doesn't say if you will be good at what you love. Being good at something is your aptitude. So we have an aptitude assessment. This is where we begin. We take what you are going to love and what you are good at along with general vocation categories. We use the US dept of labor data of all careers. We have you pull up specific careers in all categories. As you look at them it will show you how much education you will need, how much money you can earn, and the job growth rate.

Listen in to hear Rod and Dave talk about what equates to talent, potential, and the path to happiness.

Listen in to hear Rod share his latest lessons as he navigates through his most recent challenge.

On this episode of The Massimo show, Rod sat down with Brand Architect, Speaker, and Certified Go-Giver Coach Bill Ellis.

Bill Ellis is a master at unlocking the fearless potential in others. A veteran of corporate brand management for more than 25 years at global beverage giant Anheuser-Busch, Bill has come to learn and deliver his true value in the past decade as a public speaker, certified coach, and brand architect for individuals and businesses.

As with most people in less traditional jobs Bill didn't start out knowing he would be working with companies and individuals to build their brands. Bill was the 4th out of 5 children in a military family who moved around a lot. Despite their constant relocation, Bill found a sense of identity in the fact that both of his parents were from New Orleans. "My influence was around moving around, military life, and Louisiana culture," Bill tells Rod. Adding to his love for NOLA Bill attended high school in New Orleans. "What I was focused on during that time was being able to stay in one place for some time. I could make friends that I wasn't going to leave in a year. Beyond that I did not have big dreams or big ideas." Bill recalls.

His first professional job was working for National Supermarkets. As with most first forays into work for pay Bill felt he learned the most in those first few roles. From stock work to overnight clerk to customer service desk to cleaning out the incinerators, Bill cultivated a sense of self-motivation and work ethic. In the end, he knew he didn't want to be working at a supermarket for the rest of his life and decided to go to college. After graduating from college Bill thought his path would be in the financial world and he went to work for The Bank oF New Orleans. There he met his first wife and eventually decided he didn't enjoy banking as a career. He found himself working in sales for one of 12 Anheuser Busch-owned distributors. "I worked in New Orleans in sales for 3 years. During that time I traveled to St Louis and was able to contribute to marketing. That led me to a job offer in St Louis working in the marketing department" Bill explains. "We moved from New Orleans to St Louis where I started a career in Brand Management which is the heart and soul of marketing at Anheuser Busch." Bill admits that this was not a path that he had anticipated but, it was the one that connected him to what he does today.

…. It is more the value a product has.

According to Bill, the first step to creating a well-thought-out brand is to identify what your value is and what service you are going to provide. Pro Tip: It should be something you and other people believe in. While a logo is critical in branding it is not something pretty or arbitrary - people need to understand what value they get from your company when looking at the logo.

If you provide a service instead of a physical product branding is still important!

When trying to suss out your branding start with "What's the point?" Does this speak to the purpose of your service? Does that purpose have relevance to anyone else out there? If yes then ask what's the point to them (prospect or customer). How does our service differentiate from someone else? Who is providing the same service? These questions will help you identify your own brand and set you apart from others in your industry.

Rod and Bill finish out the podcast by discussing Bill's 3 Ps (Passion, Purpose, Persistence) and as well as the 5 Pillars of Branding (Leadership, Behavior, Communication, Influence, Team).

On this episode of The Massimo Show, Rod sits down with CEO David Horsager.

David is a business strategist, keynote speaker, and author of the national bestseller, The Trust Edge: How Top Leaders Gain Faster Results, Deeper Relationships, and a Stronger Bottom Line and his new release, The Trusted Leader: 8 Pillars That Drive Results. Additionally, David is the CEO of Trust Edge Leadership Institute and a global authority on helping leaders and organizations become THE most trusted in their industry. David's work has been featured everywhere from Forbes to The Wall Street Journal. He has taken the platform to 6 continents and advised everyone from IBM, Toyota, and global governments to the New York Yankees and FedEx.

David grew up on a 1500 acres bean farm. 8 miles from the nearest town of 500 people. He grew up loving all sports and working on the farm. David became All-State in football under the winningest coach in the state of Minnesota. "Working on a farm taught us how to work. I learned a lot about trust and leadership by working under who I think is the best leader of all time - my dad" David tells Rod.

David didn't leave his love of sports back in high school. Out of college, he went to work for the biggest Christian sports camp in the country. He then became director of a youth and family organization building some of his leadership curriculum along the way. In 1999, David and his wife moved back to Minnesota and started their first business. David spent a lot of time speaking to youth and was even given the opportunity to teach at the Coast Guard Academy.

While He was doing graduate work, He had an epiphany about trust. David realized all that time he had been working on the leadership curriculum there was a nagging feeling that the core issue wasn't a leadership issue at all - it was a trust issue. "My graduate work was based on the lack of trust being the biggest cost to an organization's bottom line," David explains "Twenty years ago, no one was talking about trust in organizations. It was unique for me to prove that a lack of trust in an organization was their biggest cost. Trust changed me - my parenting, being a better husband, friend, that is why I am even more passionate about it today."

How does trust work for a small business owner? The first thing to do is to see trust as the cause. Increase trust in the message. Then you move to the 8 pillars of trust.

Trust impacts the bottom line. If a boss doesn't trust you he is going double-check your work and that takes time. Ultimately there is a massive cost - mental and monetary - to a lack of trust in any business. If we take a look at the metric of the most successful leaders, brands, and organizations we can see that every time trust increased, attrition went down - retention went up the cost went down and efficiency sped up. The question isn't if but how do you increase trust with key people to further success in your business?

Listen in as David and Rod catalog the 8 pillars of trust and how to implement them in your own business.