INspired INsider Podcast

Lyn Wineman is a marketing veteran with over 30 years of experience, and her award-winning work has helped many national, regional, and local organizations achieve their goals. Lyn is the President and Chief Strategist at KidGlov, a boutique advertising agency. She leads a diverse team of passionate and talented professionals to drive growth through strategic branding and marketing communications. KidGlov has been recognized multiple times as one of Lincoln, Nebraska's best places to work. It recently completed its B Corp certification. Before KidGlov, Lyn held many key leadership roles, including the President of Pickering Creative Group, Senior Vice President of Swanson Russell Associates, and Marketing Director of Tabitha. In this episode… Since the reopening of businesses after the pandemic's lockdown, brands are seeing that consumers and employees are more interested in aligning with companies that are making a positive impact in the world. But a positive impact doesn't mean your business has to give away products. Your business can be impactful even through marketing — and that's where purpose-driven marketing comes in: you can communicate why your brand exists and its impact on the world. But the first step is to let go of your implicit bias and open the doors for your brand to make a positive change. Want to find out more? Listen to this Inspired Insider Podcast episode with Dr. Jeremy Weisz featuring Lyn Wineman, the President and Chief Strategist at KidGlov. They discuss the purpose-driven marketing process, dealing with implicit bias, handling controversial campaigns, and more. Stay tuned.

Shannon Hansen is the Owner of Lightfoot Media, a business he founded in 1995. Lightfoot Media is a full-service internet marketing agency focused on providing innovative ways to keep clients ahead of the competition. Shannon started his entrepreneurial journey at 21 while in college, where he created his first business that helped see him through college. Although Lightfoot Media is successful now, it has been a topsy turvy journey and was bankrupt for six years. After multiple iterations, Shannon's figured it out, and his business has expanded rapidly, taking advantage of bigger and better opportunities. In this episode… The death or growth of any business depends on partnerships, employee recruitment, and retention. Without a system to continuously hire and retain A+ people in your company, you lose business and partnerships that could take you to the next level. The good news is that there's a system that works to help you develop powerful partnerships and hire great people. It's the CRMPPS (coachable, reliable, motive, problem-solving, personability, and superpower) method for hiring A+ people. Using this system, Shannon Hansen of Lightfoot Media was able to increase their employee retention from 30% to 80% and is better able to crush their organizational goals and build better partnerships. Want to know what CRMPPS is and how to use it? Listen to this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast with Dr. Jeremy Weisz featuring Shannon Hansen, Owner of Lightfoot Media. They discuss Shannon's 26-year-plus entrepreneurial journey and how he uses the CRMPPs method to develop excellent partnerships and hire and retain A+ team members.

Matt Fraser is America's top psychic medium. He's also the star of the reality TV series Meet the Frasers on E! Entertainment. His sold-out live events, television appearances, and spiritual teachings have allowed him to bring healing, hope, and laughter to people all around the world. He's the Author of When Heaven Calls and We Never Die: Secrets of the Afterlife. Currently, he's on a nationwide live event tour throughout major cities. In this episode… The most challenging part of being a business owner is having so much self-doubt. We have so many limiting thoughts and limiting self-beliefs, and we're afraid to take that next risk or that next chance. When we're scared of listening to ourselves, we miss out on trusting our intuition and psychic voice. When everybody around might be saying that your dream is not a good idea, that's when your intuition kicks in. It is that one voice inside that tells you it will. And when you listen to it, you can suddenly have these breakthroughs that nobody else has. Sadly, not too many entrepreneurs know how to listen to their intuition. But one expert is here to show us how it's done… Listen to the Inspired Insider Podcast episode with Dr. Jeremy Weisz featuring Matt Fraser, America's top psychic medium. They discuss Matt's journey to becoming a psychic, how he helps business owners unlock their psychic abilities, what to do to heighten your intuition, and more.

Winnie Hart is the Founder and Chief Right Engine of TwinEngine, a brand growth agency fueled by purpose. Winnie is an industry-recognized interpreter of a business' brand and personality. She brings more than 30 years of experience in impacting firms and leaders to know what they stand for so that they can make a difference in the world. She is the Author of Stand Out: Tools to Manage the 8 Fundamentals of Standing Out in Business. Winnie is also the creator of the One Page Marketing Plan and Brand in the Box, which are strategic tools to help brands build a clear, structured plan to stand out. For the past 15-plus years, Winnie has been a member and is currently a Global Board Director of Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO). In this episode… Is your business missing out on opportunities, and you don't know why? Or has your business grown to a level where you've lost touch with why you started in the first place? If you said yes to any of those questions, your business is out of alignment. And that impacts everything, including employee and customer retention and finding partnerships. The secret to changing that and unlocking your brand's sustainable growth is aligning your brand strategy with your business strategy (and no, they're not the same). Knowing what your business stands for is one thing, but knowing the difference you make in the world is another, and marrying those two is where many businesses struggle. Want to learn more? Listen to this Inspired Insider Podcast episode with Dr. Jeremy Weisz featuring the Founder and Chief Right Engine of TwinEngine, Winnie Hart. They discuss what goes into creating a brand strategy, identifying and sticking to your target audience, why it matters, and more.

Skyler (Sky) Fernandes is the Co-founder and General Partner at VU Venture Partners, a venture capital fund. He is also the Founder of Venture University, a multi-stage investment fund and a trade school for venture capital, private equity, and angel investing. Sky has over 15 years of venture capital and private equity investing experience with over 150 portfolio companies. Prior portfolio companies include Beyond Meat (IPO'd, $14B), Sensity (acquired by Verizon, $300M+), ShopKick (acquired by SK Telecom, $200M), Made In Space (acquired by AE Industrial Partners), and more. Sky is also the Co-founder of the #1 startup board game, The Next Big Thing: The Game of Entrepreneurship, backed by over 25 top accelerators and VC investors. In this episode… Investing in a startup is a significant risk, but the massive opportunity it holds is too good to pass on, especially for venture capitalists. What do these venture capitalists know that makes them invest millions into certain startups that almost no one has ever heard of? For companies yet to make a dollar in revenue, how do they determine their valuation? And which types of companies do VCs invest in? Sky Fernandes walks us through these critical questions. According to Sky, a significant deciding factor for VCs to invest in a startup is the market size and how extraordinary the opportunity is in terms of the magnitude of improvements. But getting the hang of these things is not a walk in the park. After 160 investments, Sky would still tell his younger self to have a higher bar of what 'extraordinary' is when he makes investments. Ready for a VC masterclass? Listen to the Inspired Insider Podcast episode with Dr. Jeremy Weisz featuring the Co-founder and General Partner at VU Venture Partners, Sky Fernandes. They discuss what goes into a startup's valuation pre-revenue, how Sky chooses companies to invest in, raising capital, and more.

Tom Foster is the Founder and Owner of Foster Web Marketing, a web design and Internet marketing agency. He is also the creator of DSS (Dynamic Self-Syndication) marketing automation software, a powerful and highly effective online application that allows clients to update every aspect of their website. Tom is a nationally recognized author and adept at marketing law firms online. He is the Author of The 7 Biggest Mistakes Lawyers Make With Their Web Marketing That Cost Them Millions in Cases, Clients, and Profits. Tom also authored How Smart Lawyers are Using Video on the Web to Get More Cases Without Breaking the Bank. He is the Co-author of the best-selling book, Shift Happens: America's Premier Experts Reveal Their Biggest Secrets to Help You Thrive in the New Economy. In this episode… It's every business owner's dream to one day hand over the reins of their business without feeling like they're giving up an arm and a leg. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs struggle with letting go and firing themselves from the business because they are too involved in day-to-day activities. Tom Foster of Foster Web Marketing once shared that struggle. A chance at selling and exiting the business opened his eyes to the need to fire himself after 20-plus years at the helm. He needed to hire for the roles he hated, those he wasn't good at, and bring on the right people to take the business to the next level. Ready to learn more? Listen to this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast with Dr. Jeremy Weisz featuring the Owner of Foster Web Marketing, Tom Foster. They discuss the pain of being involved in every aspect of your business, the roles you should hire for, how to fire yourself from your business, and why you need to do it fast.

Lisa Larson-Kelley is the Founder and CEO of Quantious, a premier marketing agency specializing in emerging technology. Over the past decade, Lisa has grown the company from a small, two-person enterprise into a sought-after boutique marketing services agency. They've received national certification as a Women's Business Enterprise by the Women President's Educational Organization. Lisa is an online-video industry veteran, published author, and certified expert in emerging technologies. Her deep understanding of the developer ecosystem allows her to bridge the gap between tech-talk and marketing-speak. In this episode… Since the pandemic began in 2020, companies working in remote or hybrid environments have struggled to keep everyone engaged and connected. As a result, they grapple with employee retention and productivity. Fortunately, some have found the tools and tech to work through these challenges and succeed. Lisa Larson-Kelley is one of those using the latest tools to help foster a community while working remotely. She keeps her remote team engaged and ready to learn using AR, VR, and other capabilities. What are these capabilities, and how do you deploy them? Listen to this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast with Dr. Jeremy Weisz featuring Lisa Larson-Kelley, Founder and CEO of Quantious. They talk about how Lisa is leveraging AR for collaboration, the opportunities to create a diverse remote team, and the key steps that helped her grow her business.

Chris Madden is the Co-founder of Matchnode, a digital advertising and strategy firm that works with B2C brands. He also started Seabums, an NFT project focused on massively improving ocean health. They've donated over $140,000 to ocean charities within a six-month timeframe. In this episode… The cryptocurrency and NFT space continues to grow, and virtual experiences are becoming more common. Does this trend affect digital advertising strategies? And what should you know before entering these digital worlds? Envisioning a future in which creators and people own digital networks, Chris Madden decided to create virtual communities of his own. He started Seabums, an NFT project that rallies around a cause — protecting our oceans. With this cause at the forefront and a community-led roadmap to help guide you, Seabums makes it easy to venture into the crypto and NFT world. Listen to this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast with Dr. Jeremy Weisz featuring Chris Madden, Co-founder of Matchnode and Founder of Seabums. Chris breaks down the process of buying an NFT, why crypto and the metaverse are becoming more popular, and the best resources for those looking to enter into these digital spaces.

Bill Harper is the CEO and Chief Creative Officer at wmHarper, a strategically-led, creatively-driven transformation agency. The agency focuses on brands in need of transformation and helps them transition from a stagnant awkward stage to a growth-generating stage. Bill offers leadership teams the insights, strategy, and fearless creativity they need to set them on a path to reaching their full potential. Over his 30-year career, Bill has created compelling creative executions and success stories for brands like Denny's, Ryobi, Bosch, Michelin, Delsey Luggage, and Music & Arts, to name a few. During Bill's downtime, he enjoys spending time with his family, fishing for striped bass, a good book, woodworking, and all things IPA. In this episode… Is your business taking two steps forward and three steps backward? Do you wish you could find a way to push through barriers so your brand could reach its full potential? Your brand has the potential to dominate its category, but it has to create a contagious, market-shattering impact on its customers and competition. Once you discover what the consumer values — what they're either striving for or moving away from — and your product leaves the consumer in a better emotional state, then you've got something. Your brand's growth can soar when you lock in that insight and align it with the right marketing strategy and a winning team. How do you build that winning team to achieve the growth you want? Listen to this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast with Dr. Jeremy Weisz featuring Bill Harper, the CEO and Chief Creative Officer at wmHarper. They discuss Bill's entrepreneurial journey, strategies for brands to achieve their full growth potential, the process of creating marketing campaigns that achieve real growth, factors to consider when hiring, and lots more.

Laurel Rundle is the Founder and CEO of Aha! Marketing, a leading provider of targeted product sampling that delivers millions of samples to consumers yearly through thousands of locations. They drive trials and awareness for top consumer products and natural brands. Over the past 20 years, they've worked with companies such as Gerber, Brita, Dove, and Gillette. Laurel puts health, wellness, fitness, nutrition, education, and pet lifestyle brands at the center of human interactions that are already happening. So every brand campaign is delivered through one of their proprietary networks. In this episode… After creating an amazing consumer product, what's next? How do you drive awareness for your product and get it in the hands of your preferred consumers? One sure way to do so is by delivering samples to your target market. This requires partnerships to get the products to the relevant consumers at the right time. However, many consumer brands miss the context involved in driving awareness through trial. They make the mistake of sending product samples out to consumers who don't know them at a time when the product may not be relevant in their lives, thereby making the trial ineffective. How can you do it better? Listen to this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast with Dr. Jeremy Weisz, featuring the CEO of Aha! Marketing, Laurel Rundle. They discuss Laurel's approach to driving effective trials for consumer brands, why it works, how some big brands use it, and what to think about when you want to drive product awareness through trial.