The Builders

In this weeks episode we are joined by Michael DeLon.  He is a marketing strategist focused on helping business owners develop their message, write (speak to write) their book and market it via his marketing systems.  We begin by taking a bit of a dive into his story and journey.  How he ended up where he is today helping businesses as a consultant. From there we have a great conversation around the reasons we should think about writing a book.  How it can be used to open doors and close sales; even if you don’t have a lot of experience in your domain.  “People are going to buy YOU more than what you sell” is only a taste of the wisdom he dispenses.. To drive his own message home he shares some great case studies.. examples of people he has helped sculpt their passions into a powerful message and book.  And we weave in some lessons about sales, networking and so much more!  Don’t miss this one!  Enjoy!

On this episode we are joined by AJ Saunders.  AJ is the founder of AJS Digital Group and has been doing digital marketing for over a decade.  We start by chatting about his background and some things we have in common.  We both were members of the Warrior forum. I go back a little further.. early 2000s on that forum.  He joined around 2010.  But we both have similar experiences and it played a roll in both of us working out how to make money online.  We talk about the benefits of such forums and where their true value lies. Then we get into his businesses and specifically around his experience with digital marketing and affiliate marketing.  Today he’s really focused on helping businesses with SEO (including affiliates!) and guiding them with their content strategies.  There are a lot of great nuggets around that in this episode.  Enjoy!

In this solo episode, I talk about the very real problem of all these money opportunities online that distract us from what we should be doing.  This is not a new problem.  I first started seeking opportunities online around 2003.  And through the last few decades I’ve seen a lot of trends and opportunities come and go. But I’ve enjoyed success in a number of arenas.  And a BIG reason for that is my skills around ‘staying focused’.  This is what we get into in this episode.  How do I filter out all that noise?  How do YOU pick a path and put your blinders on or only look deeper at opportunities that are in tune with what you’re already doing? Your business plan should be your guide.  You should have a clear picture of where you want to go and what you want to do.  And then everything you do is for that end.  There is certainly the risk you could ‘miss out’ and expect that to happen.  But that’s balanced by a much more stable and long term business that will provide for you for years to come.  Enjoy the episode!

Today I’m joined by Roland Pokornyik, the founder of Chamaileon.io.  Roland decided to become an entrepreneur at age 16 and has been on a journey building software products online ever since.  While riding a train one day, he looked at his email.. and it dawned on him that they look pretty bad on mobile devices.  And that’s when he decided to enter the ‘email builder’ market and develop his first product with friends back in 2012! We dive into that journey a bit and then talk about his service and email building.  He’s not actually an email service, but a platform for teams to take advantage of an Email Design System.  We talk about the benefits of such a system.  And his thoughts around email in general. Through that we also talk a lot about the challenges of marketing such products.  And how important it is to find a niche, focus on a narrow product and look for ‘your’ channel.  Because it’s different for all of us!  There isn’t a one size fits all solution and things have gotten much more competitive in recent years; so there are challenges around that and that’s why it’s so important to narrow your focus. Great conversation with someone ‘building stuff on the web’.  Dive in and get ready to be inspired!

In this episode I’m joined by Cristina Samoila.   She’s unBEElievable ( her website is beeproductive.eu .. see what I did there? ) at what she does for her clients.  She helps businesses create scalable automations, systems and processes inside their business to help them run a smoother, more efficient business that is set to grow faster and smarter. I have her start telling her story about how she fell in love with all of this.  What event happened where she said, “hmmm.. I really love this!”.   And how did she turn that into a business helping others implement these things. She also shares her definitions and provides an analogy that helps us better understand what processes are and how documentation fits into the picture.  And towards the end we talk about how business owners can get excited about all this.. hint, it’s not about getting excited about the work involved.  Enjoy the episode!

In this episode I’m joined by Atiba De Souza.  Atiba has been around a long time on the web!  He started building websites in the mid-90s.  And in fact, they did something really, really innovative for that time.  They built website search engines!  BEFORE GOOGLE!  That story alone is so fascinating. We’re taken through the evolution of the web in this one..  In the 2000s he started working for an agency with government contracts and building search engines for them (including the EPA!!).  When that phase was behind him and after some soul searching he started doing work for the private sector again. In this phase (2003-07) he realized Google and Merchants on the web had a problem.  He figured out what it was, the solution and helped both solve those problems.  He saw new problems just a few years ago.. and explains why he’s hyper-focused on video creation and marketing! Really, really great conversation.  Especially if you find yourself wondering how to get your content in front of your target audience.. or trying to figure out why you aren’t getting the results you expect in search.  You’ll gain some insight into how to solve for that.. and some great tips around how you can gain the courage to create video for the web!  Enjoy!

In this episode, I’m joined by Christina Hooper.  Today she helps those that have fallen out of love with the business.. helping entrepreneurs take things to the next level via consulting and speaking at events.  While she’ll tell you her entrepreneurial story isn’t anything special, I’ll beg to differ.  While it’s not flashy, it’s certainly inspiring none the less.  We all arrive at our destinations, where we are today, on varying paths.. and within that there are lessons and common threads that others will connect with or find inspirational. But the best part of this chat was that she weaved in her thoughts and ideas around how to tell a good story as a guest on podcast!   What do you do when you story isn’t “Things are going ok, but then.. your world falls apart.. you lived out of a car, homeless.. and some amazing things happened to turned everything around”?  When you’re done listening to this episode, you know what to do. At various points of her story we dive into relevant topics that contain great lessons.  From the power of strategic partnerships, the evolution of hiring.. to what you need to do to prepare to sell your agency or business.  So much gold in this hour.  Don’t miss this one!

In this episode I virtually sat down with Genesis Amaris Kemp.  She’s a Visionary Life Coach, Motivational Speaker, Author and Podcaster.  We began the conversation as we often do by listening to her story, her journey, in her own words.  As she puts it, we discussed the lows and highs.. we talk about the lows too because that is what contributed to her development personally and professionally. She spent 15 years in corporate America.  Starting out in real estate, working for a cancer center to building a career in the oil and gas industry, she shares how that all developed.  There are many positive aspects of that and inspiration to extract.  It’s inspiring how she approached life with a positive attitude, how she overcame ‘situations’ and how she used networking as a powerful advantage. But there were also negative aspects.  Working in the industry where she was a ‘Chocolate Drop in Corporate America’ ( her words, not mine - she has a book with the same name ), was tough.  Micro aggressions, feeling inadequate, being held in positions longer than she was supposed to, suspect of people’s (or businesses) intentions .. were just some of the things she experienced just because of how she looked on the outside. Through all that, she’s come out the other end to speak to that, to share that story.. to be a voice and have the conversation around diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging.  I really enjoyed this conversation.. she’s an amazing human being.  If nothing else, it’ll make you think deeper about this topic and help answer the question.. how can we do better?

Our guest today is Inbal Claudio.  We listen to her story from working in the service industry, starting a real estate brokerage, starting her own candle company to pivoting to a tech startup  We all hear the stories of non-techie founders who try to start a tech company or build an app with no experience.  She was the same, but she found her way through this gauntlet!  A lot of lessons shared. This is where her support systems come in.   Her Father being in tech was able to be a sounding board for her.  Her husband was very supportive.  She was able to find, through some trial and error, a great developer to help her build, maintain and manage the project.  We discuss the pitfalls trying to find good developers and things to look out for; there are a lot of people that aren’t entirely truthful in that space. Besides those challenges, we also talk about how she balances everything as a Mom and wife to someone in the military.  There’s a lot of nuggets of inspiration and insights in this episode for busy mom’s wanting to become an entrepreneur or those looking to build something in tech starting from a disadvantage.  Enjoy the listen!

In this episode we are joined by Laura Raynak.  She shares her long journey through corporate America and how she landed where she is today as a successful business owner.  This journey includes many challenges and a path of discovery.  It includes moments she had to stick up for herself, fight and make difficult moves to continue to move forward with her career.  It’s a story of learning the lessons and resilience. While she started out her journey getting a degree in Bio-chemistry & Molecular Biology, Laura’s passion is recruiting.   We dig into why she’s loves recruiting and why she chose that path.  We follow her story as she finds her way through various jobs .. always learning.  Always growing.  She talks about those that helped her, inspired her.. and how by chance it finally all came together. There are many stories of Entrepreneurs.. of struggles and messy journeys.  It’s rarely a straight line.  But Laura’s story is inspiring.. she worked hard and is now proudly running her own business and doing what she loves.  We round off the episode talking about her thoughts and advice around building diverse teams.  Good stuff.. enjoy!