The Massimo Show

On this episode of The Massimo Show, Rod sits down with one of the top 5 leadership experts in the world. Mark Sanborn is president of Sanborn & Associates, Inc., an idea lab for leadership development. A New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, he has presented over 2,600 speeches and seminars in every state and fourteen countries. His latest book is The Potential Principle. Mark is the Expert in Residence at High Point University located in High Point, NC and his client list includes Costco, FedEx, ESPN, IBM, and St Jude's.

As with the best of leaders, Mark came from humble beginnings. He grew up on a farm in Ohio, was an average high school guy, and attended Ohio State University. There he studied agricultural economics. "Economics was the most philosophical construct in my life," Mark tells Rod. "Economics is the allocation of scarce resources for maximum return. Our scarce resources are our time, energy, and expertise. We all want to get the most out of life." Mark never practiced as an agricultural economist but went into agricultural sales. It forced him to engage in a business where he was a manager. After a short stint in sales and marketing, he is now in his 33rd year as a professional author, speaker, and advisor.

From the age of 10, Mark was giving free speeches focused on patriotism and agricultural. Mark heard a lot of professional speakers, but it wasn't until Mark was 16 when he heard someone else speak that it dawned on him that person was getting paid a lot of money to tell their story.

The spirit of free enterprise set in. The only thing better than giving speeches, in Mark's mind, was having someone pay you to do it. As a freshman at OSU and because Mark had been involved in Future Farms of America as a state officer, he started getting invited to speak at commencement exercises and at after-dinner speeches. One day Mark got an invitation and he told them he charged $150 and they accepted. That was his first paid speech at the age of 19. From there he kept building.

1) Time

2) Expertise

3) Time and Expertise of their team

Mark alleges that right now finding people that have true expertise is difficult. "We are overwhelmed with information" he explains to Rod " The ability to access information is good, the ability to access its validity is harder than it's ever been. One of the hardest jobs for leadership is doing your due diligence to make sure the decisions you're are making and the practices you are using are solid and credible. It is important to learn from practice."

Mark explains that your skillset makes you a leader, not your title. You can be given a title, but you can't be given a skillset. A skillset has to be learned and developed. The real test of leadership is if you did not have a title, and you could not reward or punish people for things they did or did not do what you asked - would they still do it?

Bad managers get compliance but good leaders get a commitment. Commitment is getting people to do it because they are sold on it, they want to do it, they know it will benefit them and the greater good. True Leadership always benefits the greater good whether it is the colleague, vendor, customer, or community. Today too many people look at leadership as a tool to get what they want instead of the real use of leadership which is to help everyone to get what they need.

Fred was a Postal service employee who delivered my mail. He had a simple job of putting mail in a box, but he made it artistry through the things that he did. The quality of his service and the friendships he made. Mark was so impressed with it that he wrote a book about it. The Fred Factor is the ability to continually create value for the people you live and work with through 3 things you can control.

1) passion

2) creativity

3) commitment

Being extraordinary is a choice. Many of the most successful people Mark knows were extraordinary not because of the way they were brought up or circumstances but in spite of. "We learn a lot more through failure than we do from success." Mark says.

What made Fred so special? When Mark first moved into a house in Colorado, there was a knock at his door and it was Fred introducing himself. Fred was more worried about Mark's mail than he was. He was a professional. A professional is more worried about the solution to your problems their product or service solves than you are. There were dozens of other examples of where Fred, without a title and just a commitment to do an extraordinary job - you can be extraordinary. Fred does it because he believes that excellence is the right thing to do.

The only thing people want more than disposable income is time. We don't have enough time and we are always too busy. Covid has killed the excuse you don't have time. With Covid, everyone is adapting. A surfer interacts with the wave to get the outcome they desire. We need to learn to develop those skills. First, stop looking for the new normal. "I never liked the phrase the new normal," Mark tells Rod. Through necessity we are going to say it's the new abnormal. Every day is going to be a little different. By thinking about the abnormal we never get complacent we become more vigilant and more agile.

Tune in to hear Mark talk more in-depth concerning leadership and the new abnormal.

On this episode of the Massimo Show, Rod sits down with author, keynote speaker, strategic business coach, and global event promoter Tony Rubleski. Tony is the president of the Mind Capture Group and has been highlighted on the Detroit press, Fox TV network, ABC and CNN radio. He is the creator of the mind capture book series, as well as the authors of Trailblazers: Leadership Lessons from 12 Pioneers Who Beat the Odds & Influenced Millions and he is about to release a new book: So You Want to Write a Book. His core expertise and message is designed to help people 'Capture' more minds and profits.

Tony spent his younger years in catholic school but eventually transitioned to a public high school. He refers to himself as a curious soul who pondered the priesthood for about six months but ultimately played football and baseball in high school as well as played in a heavy metal band. In his senior year of high school his band, The Creed, opened up for Green Day. For Tony, music was an extension of creativity and joy.

Once he got through college he began to understand the reality of having to get a job. Today his creative extension comes in the form of writing books instead of music.

At 19 Tony was cold-calling and door to door selling for Telecom. "I was having fun but didn't know what I was doing." Tony tells Rod. "I enjoyed going door to door, was young and naïve." At 20 Tony came across Tony Robbins and he says it changed his destiny. This led him to study Dan Kenndey and Jay Abraham. "My marketing classes in college, we weren't learning about setting goals. I would go to my marketing classes after studying Jay Abraham and ask the strangest questions. The professors would be like what planet is he on." Tony jokes with Rod. His inquisitive curiosity and his appetite for the subject matter led him to seek out Tony Robbins, Jay Abraham, and Dan Kennedy a couple years later. "Looking back, there are moments that change your destiny. Being around those guys in my early 20s was impactful." Tony says.

Over time Tony began to gradually transition from telecom sales to being a thought leader in his field of marketing. Tony met with and worked for Dan Kennedy by age 23. "I was able to get the CEO's to call me back by using direct mail grabbers such as scratch off tickets, money bags with fake money." Tony reveals to Rod. "I had no fear of embarrassment to mail the CEO of a bank a bank bag with a funny note. When you do different things, you may ruffle some feathers, but you sure do stand out."

Tony learned from Dan Kenned that when you are cold calling you are an uninvited pest. As opposed to someone reaching out to you - that is a welcome guest. It is about positioning. Today, Tony teaches referral marketing around the world to big companies. Through the evolution of working with Dan Kennedy, Bob Burg, Jay Abraham, and Ivan Meiser, he will often name drop to give credit to those who taught him and reference his source materials. "I don't have all the knowledge. Universal knowledge runs through many teachers and masters. And Then I teach it in my style or mind capture way." Tony says. At Telecom Tony used successful direct marketing principles. He recalls how a lot of Jay Abraham teaching came into effect. "was selling phone service, the most hated and boring service. You had to be motivated. It was Tony Robbins and Zig Ziglars who came in to motivate me to keep doing this."

Mind Capture

About 17 years ago, Tony was still in Telecom sales and he would have agents he recruited come to him and say "you need to write a book. You are a great teacher who does these crazy marketing things!" But people kept prodding him asking when his book would be done. At the time, Tony lied and said he was working on it but eventually that prodding pushed him to write a manuscript. "When the manuscript was completed, I was the VP of Sales at an Ad Agency. I was looking at my bookshelf one night and saw a Jay Abraham seminar called Mind Capture. That is when I thought, that is what I am trying to convey. A year later I met Jay Ahrahmam in Detroit at an event. I gave him a signed copy of my book and told him you were the inspiration for the title of my company." Tony recalls. Tony describes Mind Capture as a battle we all face in business and doesn't hesitate to give Jay Abrham credit for the brand and the source for what he now teaches around the world.

Mind Capture is the ability to stand out and get attention in a world with too many choices and demands placed on our time. Since Tony's first book, attention spans have gotten shorter. We are trained and addicted to our phones. Tony recommends that the best way to get attention is through referrals and introductions. Still today, Word of mouth is still the most powerful.

Build relationships and not transactions.

How do we grab attention? What is your story? What is your uniqueness? Uniqueness captures attention. In the 9 second world we live in you have to fight for attention at all costs. Get a client and you do such a great job providing exceptional service they want to refer you. They send you more people via introduction. Word of mouth accelerates, and you keep repeating the process.

During this lockdown time everyone is doing soul reflection. People are doing business reflection, life reflection. It's a good time to reach out to your current clients and referral partners and check in. How do you do it? Right now, Tony is doing more webinars and zoom interviews training for large groups because everyone is at home. "I am not charging for that. I am doing that as a value added to thank core clients. I am here to serve them not sell them." Tony says " These are unpaid auditions for the right target groups."

Tony has written 6 books. His latest book: So you Want To Write a Book is available via e-book. "This is the time to put this book out. We put out our E-book first. Most people are home right now." According to a recent survey 81% of Americans want to write a book before they die. "The numbers are huge. That means there are potentially 260 M people in the US that would like to write a book someday. If you put a book out at the right time, it should fall at a better audience. I didn't see a pandemic or lockdown. We rushed and pivoted to what was happening." Tony explains.

Tony and Rod end the show with Tony's two best tips for success in business. Tune in to hear the full interview.

On this episode of the Massimo show Rod sits down with a ghost writer and (his own) writing coach Wally Bock. Wally is an authority on the issues of supervision, leadership, and management and has the various career endeavors to prove it. More recently he has spent his time helping others lean into and expound upon their own leadership qualities by helping them write about them.

Wally was born in New York City in 1946 to a Lutheran Pastor and his wife. He attended the Bronx High School of Science and graduated from there in 1963. He was a bright kid with scholarship opportunities for college as well. But one day his father told him about a relative who had gone off to a major university with their family paying the way. But this relative didn't go and study.

They avoided going to classes for a year and a half, before their father found out. "I thought about that a lot. I realized that however bright I was, if I went to college right then I'd probably do pretty much the same thing." Wally tells Rod.

Instead of potentially wasting his money and scholarships Wally decided to pursue a lifelong interest - the military. He joined the Marines and served from 1963 to 1968 and it was here that he learned a lot about courage and leadership and principles and about how your capacity is more than you ever imagined.

Wally's first book was called Budgeting for First Line Supervisors. This was his first book because when he got out of the Marines he was teaching for a government program called Model Cities helping small businesses. He started writing articles around that. An acquisition editor at a publishing company heard some of his speeches, read a couple of his articles and offered him the opportunity to do four books.

A couple of years after that, Wally moved on from the multinational to a non-profit, where he was the Business Manager at a graduate school. He got the numbers right and they improved on every measurable performance indicator. But he messed up in other ways and got fired. "That is when I figured out the only person who would keep me hired was me. That is when I started my own business." Wally remembers. He established his consulting firm in 1982 and for the next several years, he had a fairly conventional practice where he did business consulting as well as speaking, training, and writing on leadership issues.

"I was good at finding the story a business had to sell and turning that into something that helped them get business." Wally tells Rod " It is a dynamite skill to have, however it takes time to get the info out of the person who has the business." Wally had a skill of understanding the story behind the business. It is the story that attracts the sales.

Mixing the old and the new

Wally is an excellent example of the merging of two very important skills: connection and progress. When asked how he marketed his books he simply says: Letters. "I wrote letters to people. That and the yellow pages. Letters are more important than ever today. It is more important than email, twitter. I am all for those, but I am for writing letters." Additionally Wally was one of the first wave of people who engaged in e-commerce to sell his books.

Wally was writing for speakers, trainers and consultants for a report called Cyberpowers. A publisher came to him and asked him to write a book about "Taking on the Super Information Highway". That book came out in 1995 and resulted in 2 more large book contracts. That was when he went from small to big. The market warranted it and he was ready.

Why Coaching?

Wally was speaking across the globe and traveling all the time for business and then

911 happened. After 911 travel was harder to travel. "I was going to come off the road and needed to figure out something else to do." Wally says. "Up until that time, all the books I had written were by myself but I wrote CyberPower for Business with Jeff Sonea and discovered I really liked working with somebody else." The idea of ghost writing came to him and it took off - that was over 20 years ago.

Wally and Rod talk about the types of ghostwriters, how the pandemic has forced people to shift in their businesses and the value of writing your story. Tune in to listen to the full podcast!

On this episode of The Massimo Show Rod sits down with one of his own coaches - NYT best-selling author and world renowned hall of fame speaker Chris Widener.

Early Life

Chris was born in Seattle, Washington. His father was the CFO of an architecture firm called NBBJ and was making almost 100K in the late 1960's. Unfortunately, he was severely underinsured and when died at 41 years old (when Chirs was just 4) he only had 30K in life insurance. Chris' brother was 13 years older than him and left home after the death of their father and married a girl who did not like their mother. Alone with a young child, Chris' mother had to sell the house we were living in because she couldn't afford the $400 mortgage payment. Chris pinpoints this tragic event as the beginning of his downward spiral.

Chris experienced an avalanche of instability in his formative years. After living in 28 homes, attending 11 different schools, being shipped off to live with relatives twice - once in 4th grade and once in 9th grade it may not come as a surprise that he started doing drugs in the 5th and 6th grade. Even smoking opium by 8th grade. With limited supervision and the lack of strong parental figure. Chris spent most of my time growing up scalping tickets to the seahawks and mariners games outside the Kingdome and betting on the ponies at Longacres Horse Track.

"I was headed in the wrong direction." Chris recalls. "The year before my senior year of high school I got invited to sleep at one of my big pot smoking friends' houses. It was a Saturday night and we probably spent the night getting high." The next day Sunday, his mother opened the door at 8am and said get up we are going to Sunday school. "I had no clue what Sunday school was because I had no religious upbringing." Chris tells Rod.

Finding a Father

The youth minister was from Helena, Montana and he had 2 things that I needed in my life at that point. First of all, he had size 11 cowboy boots. This was good for me because I never had a male role model. I didn't know my grandfathers, my father had died when I was 4. This pastor became Chris' role model and taught him about God, purpose, having a vision in your life, and knowing that life is bigger than YOU. Additionally he inspired Chris to go into ministry where he discovered and honed his gift for public speaking. "If you want to become a world class speaker, spending time in the ministry is good because you need to come up with 3 new speeches a week." Chris explains. " I started speaking to summer camps, high schools, colleges about overcoming a crazy youth. As I got older, I transitioned talking to adults focusing on leadership. I got a few lucky breaks in the early 2000's."

Career Success

Chris was asked to ghost write for John Maxwell where he spent 18 months writing for him on his national syndicated column. From there he was asked by Jim Roan to write with him. "I wrote the Jim Roan 1 program as well as his last book the 12 Pillars of Success. And then there was a television show in Dallas who wanted Zig Ziglar to do a show and he didn't want to do it by himself, so they asked me to co-host his TV show." Chris says.

When people ask how do you build a successful speaking career. I say it's easy. Three step process:

1) Have John Maxwell call you

2) Have Jim Roan call you

3) Have Zig Ziglar call you

Once that happens it's all easy from there.

All joking aside, Chris recommends that when opportunity presents itself you need to be able to walk through that door. Preparation may look like working for others but you are also curating your own skills. Be ready to use them!

Principles to create a lasting legacy:

1) Understand you don't know the impact you are leaving. You need to trust.

2) Take advantage of opportunities and be prepared.

3) What to do when you thought was going to happen doesn't happen.

Listen in to the full podcast to hear more from Chris including information about his latest book!

On this episode of the Massimo Show Rod sits down with Tom Ziglar, son of Zig, CEO of Ziglar, and key collaborator on his father's 30th book, Born to Win. Tom Ziglar carries on the organization's "profoundly simple" philosophy "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."

"You have got to be ready or sick and tired of the way things are going." - Tom Ziglar

Growing up in Dallas, TX Tom played golf with his dad and fell in love with it. So much so that he ended up going to college playing golf. But in the long run he was mistakenly called to help others in the same way his father had. Prior to being named CEO, Tom began his career in retail and direct sales. He joined the Zig Ziglar Corporation in 1987, learning every aspect of the business as he climbed from working in the warehouse, to sales, to seminar promotion, to sales management and then on to leadership.

Learning the Ropes from a Legend

"Zig Ziglar would always say to people, I have walked in your shoes." Tom explains to Rod. "What he is telling the audience is 'Hey, I struggled like you.'"

Born in Alabama, Zig grew up in Mississippi. His dad died when he was 5 in the heart of the great depression. Raised by his mom (who had a 5th grade education) and the 10th of 12 kids Zig used to explain to his son that they were "the second poorest family in the city." He never did well in school and joined the Navy at the end of WWII. Zig tried his hand at college but school still wasn't for him and he ended up dropping out. He got married and got a sales job. For 2 and a half years he didn't sell anything. A man PC Merrell, a man Zig respected, pulled him aside at a convention and said

"Zig, in all my years I have never seen such a waste, but if you believed in yourself and went to work on a regular schedule you could be a champion."

That was the first time that anyone in the position of authority had told Zig he could be a champion. That was the day he went to work to try and figure out what it meant to believe in yourself and he made the commitment to start work every day at the same time. It was that year that he finished #2 out of 7000 salespeople. In the prior 2 and a half years prior he hadn't even broken the top 5000. "So when he would tell people I walked in your shoes what he was saying was 'I have had my car repossessed, my lights turned off and struggled.'" Tom continues. Zig's mission became to help people understand that they have these gifts and amazing abilities in them already.

Choose to win - you can transform your life one choice at a time.

The fastest way to success is to replace a bad habit with a good habit but every success starts with a choice. Why do we want to make the choice? What Is the big reason that propels us? Once people answer these questions, then the different areas that we need to focus on become clear. "At Ziglar we teach balanced success." Tom explains. "What is the point if you have tons of money but no health or family? The choice we speak about in the book encompasses every area of life."

What do you want the result to be?

Listen to the rest of the podcast to learn more about Tom's book!

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.