The Maverick CEO Podcast

Fire Up Your Personal Brand! – Get The Clients That Speak To Who You Are

Christian Brodin — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 02:36:13 -0400

With More than 1 Billion websites in the world (http://news.netcraft.com/archives/category/web-server-survey/) putting a strong personal brand on the frontline of your sales process can be the most important thing you will ever do for yourself and for your business, and it could dramatically improve conversion rates and attract the Clients that speak to you! (http://maverick-ceo.com/wp-content/uploads/dreamstime_s_18633194.jpg) The real questions for entrepreneurs are: What is my personal brand? How do I develop a stronger personal brand? The kind of brand that helps you engage the best kind of clients, those who would LOVE to work with you. In this episode of The Maverick CEO Podcast I sit down with brand expert and legend Debra Trappen (http://d11consulting.com/meet-debra/) (CEO/Owner of D11 Consulting (http://d11consulting.com/), Co-Host of Brevetv.com (http://brevetv.com/), Key Note Speaker, Co-Producer and Presenter of the LEXI Leadership Summit (http://www.lexileadership.com/)) to find out how she helps entrepreneurs build their personal brand by finding their passion, defining their values, and using social media to spread the word of their new brand. A few highlights from my conversation with Debra : * Why it's important to define your core values * How to brand or re-brand yourself * Taking your business to the next level by attracting your ideal clients * How to stand out and be unique * Building the Golden Circle - the people that will help you build your brand * How to use your personal brand on social media, Facebook vs Twitter Listen On iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-maverick-ceo-podcast/id797620563?mt=2) Debra makes one thing clear when it comes to your personal brand: “You already have one,” she says “whether you know it or not." [Tweet "Your brand is a specific image or impression in the mind of others!"] To Survive You Have To Be Unique Now, more than ever, it is mission critical for leaders to develop a solid personal brand that helps differentiate them from everyone else in a “sea of same.” As an entrepreneur, executive, or small business owner you must understand that leadership has changed. The days of running a business from “behind the curtain” are gone. The social consumer wants to know YOU, the leader and visionary of the company they will do business with. As well as helping you stand out from the crowd, strong branding can help elevate your business to the next level by defining your ideal clients. A Strong Brand Attracts Your Ideal Customers With a strong personal brand, you will attract clients that believe in the same things you do, and relate to you on a very personal level. This compatibility means less time wasted with problem customers, leaving more time for the ones you really want to work with. Debra says, “connecting on a personal level first can change the entire trajectory of a business relationship.” The best way to do this? Debra explains that the first thing she does with clients trying to develop their personal brand is walk them through a values exercise. "If you define your core values you can build a brand and business that fires you up!" Customers can see this passion, and will flock to it. Once you understand what's important to you and your business it's time to show your customers what you're all about. Related: The Secret Of Making Clients Love You, And Avoid The Crazy Ones (http://maverick-ceo.com/the-secret-of-making-clients-love-you/) Creative storytelling on social media Debra suggests you do this by engaging in creative storytelling on social media. If your pets are important, share pictures of you walking your dog. If you love the outdoors, tweet updates on your weekend camping trip. You will build a stronger connection with your customers by sharing the things you love with them.

How Small Businesses Make More Money With Social Media

Christian Brodin — Thu, 04 Sep 2014 11:00:34 -0400

Whether you are a real estate agent, a budding tech entrepreneur or small business owner you know by now that social media is an important part of marketing your business. The real question is how you can engage more people in your brand, and make money with social media? If you want to know how successful businesses use Facebook and social media strategies to win more business, and make more money, read on! For this episode of the Maverick CEO podcast I interviewed Katie Lance for advice on how small business engage more people in their brand, and make more money from social media. Listen on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-maverick-ceo-podcast/id797620563?mt=2) Some of the questions that Katie helps answer are: * Which platform should you be on? * Where do you find your target customers? * How to engage more people in your brand. * Can you still make money with Facebook? * What is the next big thing? A frequent contributor to The Huffington Post and Inman News, Katie is a social media consultant working to help businesses supercharge their social media presence. Through her company Katie Lance Consulting (http://www.katielance.com/) she helps some of the biggest names in the real estate: Zillow.com, REMAX International, Docusign (just to name a few) develop and improve their social media strategies to be intentional and highly effective. It's easy enough to open a profile on a few sites and start posting, but very hard do it well. When I asked for the number one tip she gives her clients on how to build a social media strategy, she talked about using "brand ambassadors" to greatly expand a companies social reach. As an example she explains how she engaged a core group of fans of Inman by “giving them a little insider access, making them part of the process.” Katie dedicated 200 of the most raving fans of the brand as "Brand Ambassadors", and was able to grow the social following of Inman from just under 7,000 to over 300,000 people! With the total reach of the Ambassadors being over two Million people! Related: The Ultimate Facebook Fan Page, Learn How This Blog Reached 1.8 Million Facebook Followers (http://maverick-ceo.com/ultimate-facebook-fan-page-blog-reached-1-8-million-followers/) The second piece of advice Katie gives is that businesses need to be intentional about their actions on social media, and their social media strategy. [Tweet "If you want to be smart about social medial, you need to “stop the random acts of social media.” "] Katie says business owners must understand “who you want to reach, what's your goal, and how are you going to get there.” The answers to these question will lead a business to a successful social media strategy. Get more advice like this. Sign up for our newsletter here (It's FREE) This is just the tip of the iceberg. Be sure to listen to the full podcast to hear Katie’s thoughts on whether Facebook is still relevant for making money, what social platforms your business should be active on, emerging trends in social media, and much more. Listen on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-maverick-ceo-podcast/id797620563?mt=2) For more from Katie, take a look at the 6 week group coaching program she offers, Get Social Smart. Her next round of classes start in October 2014. How Small businesses make more money from social media doesn't have to be difficult if you follow a few simple rules: * Be intentional about why you are using social media, and your social media strategy * Know what platform you should be on to reach your target customers, * Utilize the power of your raving fans, and inviting them to be brand ambassadors * Social media is also about listening to what your customers are saying about you! If you found this podcast interesting and informative, please share it with your friends! Please also leave a rating on iTunes. It helps increase our visibility on their Podcast ranking.

The Secret Of Making Clients Love You, And Avoid The Crazy Ones

Christian Brodin — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 17:11:09 -0400

Are you in the real estate industry, and in the business of managing clients? Are you looking for clients that loves your work, and that will come back to you again and again for more business? Or, maybe you are just looking for a way to avoid the clients that drive you crazy? Then this post and podcast is for you. To purchase or sell a house can be, for many, the single largest investment that they will ever make. The large amounts of money involved in buying or selling a house is a very personal and intimate experience, and emotions can fly high. Imagine if the price that the client would like to sell his or her house for is higher than what the market supports. What would you do as their agent? Would you tell the client that you can't sell the house for that price, and potentially lose the sale, and the income? To help you better handle similar situations like this, I sat down with one of the highest ranked real estate agents in Seattle, Kim Colaprete of Team Diva Real Estate (http://teamdivarealestate.com/). One of the best Real Estate teams around. I wanted to learn more about how her team manages their clients, and keep them coming back again and again, and giving them TOP ratings on Social Media. And..... maybe more importantly how they avoid crazy clients. With over 15 years in the industry, and owning one of the highest ranked real estate agencies on Yelp, Kim knows more than most about successfully managing clients. Many of these tips might be surprising, but Kim's success is all the proof I need that they are a gold mine for real estate agents, or for that matter, any business in the service industry. Key takeaways: 1. Build Your Own Brand And Identity - In the service industry knowing who you are and how you want to run your business leads to a better understanding of how to find the right clients, and the best way to serve them. 2. Identify Clients That Share Your Interests And Brand Identity - Once you have your own brand and identity, search for places to find clients with similar interests. Using social media (http://maverick-ceo.com/ultimate-facebook-fan-page-blog-reached-1-8-million-followers/) is one of the best ways to find and market to your target clients. 3. A Successful Client On-Boarding Process - When a client comes onboard for the first time, make sure that you have a solid system to introduce them to you and your business. The more you do up front the easier it is to see if this is a right fit for you, and for the client too. Listen On iTunes. And now for the details of how Kim and her team use client management to the great benefit of her business and it's clients. 1. Build Your Own Brand And Identity The first step for Kim and Team Diva was to understand themselves (http://maverick-ceo.com/what-is-your-message/). By finding out who they were as people, they were able to discover who they were as a brand and company, and more importantly, who they wanted to work with. This vision of the company's brand and identity helps them attract clients that appreciate their way of doing business. Kim says “it's important to attract people who want to work with our brand.” Team Diva's strong identity is clear to any customer visiting their website, blog, or any one of the many social media channels they are active on, and that's a good thing. Too many companies today try to be everything to everyone by presenting a bland, and sanitized brand sure not to ruffle any feathers. This is not the Diva way! Ask Kim if she's concerned about turning off potential clients with her strong branding and you get a definitive no, “we're not the agency for everyone, and there's nothing wrong with that.” 2. Identify Clients That Share Your Interests And Brand Identity Kim loves the urban and walkable neighborhoods of Seattle, and is looking for clients who feel the same way. By hosting parties, running a paperless office, and being very active on social media,

Learn How To Start A Small Business Without Risking Your Paycheck

Christian Brodin — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 02:53:31 -0400

Take 5 seconds to look at the statement below. “I wish I could be my own boss and start a small business, then I could do what I REALLY love to do” Have you ever had this thought? “Yes”, you say. “However, I can’t just quit my day job and risk losing my income…..” But what IF I told you that you CAN start a small business without having to quit your 9 to 5 job. What would you do then? Nick Loper of SideHustleNation.com shows how you can start a business and not risk losing your pay check Nick Loper, Chief Side-Hustler at SideHustleNation.com, decided to do exactly that, and in today’s podcast he shares his story, and his experiences on how to do it successfully with you. Listen on iTunes. “I never wanted to work for a large corporation” Nick says. “I wanted to be my own boss”. “But I wanted to do it without giving up the keys to the company car or abandoning the comfort of a stable salary before going into it full time.” In 2005 Nick decided that the time was right, and made a $10,000 investment to build his first small business online. He started his own footwear-only comparison shopping website while still keeping his day job. His business idea was that he could help shoe shoppers find the best deal online and then get paid when he sent shoppers to sites like Amazon.com or Zappos.com. (In the internet world sending customers to other sites is called affiliate marketing.) It was smart, and he wouldn’t have to spend all his time doing it. While the comparison shopping website business has started to take less of Nick’s time, he now uses all of the experiences and lessons learned to teach others how to start their own business while still keeping their 9 to 5 job on his wildly successful blog and podcast Side Hustle Nation. Listen on iTunes The key take aways from the podcast and the conversation with Nick are: 1. Don’t wait to realize your dream. 2. The 4 work week is baloney! BUT You can start a business while still having a full time job and have fun doing it if you have the right business strategy…. 3. It’s ok to start small and take baby steps while you continue to build your business. 4. Have an Experimenter’s Mindset 5. Join a Master Mind Group! If you keep on delaying your dream something will come up to discourage you from chasing or living that dream. Don’t wait for that to happen! Listen to how Nick was almost wiped out by Google before he got going. If he had waited one more day he might have given up before he even got started. “I didn’t want to risk everything and hand back the keys to the company car, or the comfort of a steady paycheck, before starting my own business” Nick says. “Actually, It scared the S*&t out of me, but I just knew it was the right thing to do” Nick goes on to say: “It is fully possible to start a business while still working full time. You just have to have the right business strategy.” “Can you make your hobby into a business? It’s already something that you are passionate about, and know a lot about.” The next step is to “Figure out how you can monetize it.” Just like the scientist that is looking for a solution in the labora...

With Massive Amounts Of Student Debt And A Tough Job Market, Where Will Millennials go? [Podcast]

Christian Brodin — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 01:00:47 -0400

Did you think that we have escaped the worst recession in over 70 years? Did you know that the current generation of graduates will carry the largest amount of student debt ever seen? What is up with the Millennials? It’s hard to understand that we are just coming out of the worst recession the world has seen in over 70 years. Although it might not seem like it with all the focus on glitz and glamor , the reality is that just 24 months ago the world was standing on the brink of disaster as one economy after another blew up. Countries like Spain, Italy, France and Greece have seen unemployment amongst youth reaching as much as 50% in some areas! 50%!! Imagine one out of two young people you know not having work. The generation graduating from college now will be carrying the largest amount of student debt ever.Click To Tweet According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, student debt has crossed the $1 trillion mark! That is $1,000,000,000,000! Or, to view it differently, student debt is almost 17% of the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the value of all goods and services produced in the US economy each year. There is also a growing gap between the way our universities and colleges teach and train students, vs the way corporate organizations are built and organized. The educational institutions are focusing more and more on collaborative environments, and team work as a foundation for success. However, many corporations still have very rigid structures with cubicles, and separate offices. So what is a 20 something Millennial with tons of student debt, and not enough work experience to do? (Millennial is defined as someone born after 1981 and before 2006) We are about to find out in this weeks podcast. Listen on iTunes Despite facing a staggering challenge entering the job market, and with student debt, Nina Sawhney realized that she could not wait for the perfect opportunity to come to her, instead she has to take the matter into her own hands and came up with a way to monetize her knowledge. She is now about to start her own company. While Nina is not your typical 26 year old, did I mention that she has a degree in electrical and computer engineering, and is a Milken Institute Scholar and Alumnus? Her expertise is in programming the software that works between you and the computer, or what the professionals call, user interface. You might remember that Apple was one of the first companies to roll out graphical user interface, where you could use your mouse to move a cursor around, and click on files etc. Some of the lessons I learned from speaking to Nina, and that you can hear in our podcast, are quite important. Whether you are a Millennial yourself, or a parent of or an employer with Millennials these are all topics that will concern you. Listen on iTunes What are the lessons we can learn from this younger generation that is set to take over the world in not that distant future...

How to be strong in the face of adversity. Successful entrepreneur and mentor Sharon Herzog shares her secrets

Christian Brodin — Fri, 30 May 2014 10:25:31 -0400

What questions would you ask if you had free access to a mentor? A Mentor who had already walked the road ahead and been where you want to go. What could you learn from someone who has seen the highs and the lows that you are experiencing, but survived to tell the story about them? Sharon Herzog is just that kind of mentor, and she has seen and done more in business, and in life, than most other people.Â At age 17 she began helping manage her familyâ€™s assisted living facility, before going to college and getting her Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and IT. Then she worked as a solopreneur successfully selling womanâ€™s apparel on Yahoo.com, before eventually going back to school for her Graduate Degree in Bioinformatics.Â Now 7 years after joining, and subsequently becoming a Director atÂ InTouch Health, a world leading Telemedicine Company, she has returned to her family's business Sex Wax Inc. as Vice President and Marketing Strategist. Sex Wax is famous to all the millions of surfers out there asÂ MrÂ Zog'sÂ Sex Wax I initially met Sharon speaking at Disrupt LA, a tech summit for the Los Angeles start-up scene. There she was featured on the panel of Women in Tech, sharing her background, and the highs and lows of being a female in the highlyÂ male dominated tech business world. With her story she inspired the audience, giving her best advice and mentoring the future generation of leaders. Listen in iTunes. In today's podcast you will hear Sharon talk about the following: - The Importance of speaking up to your boss (you can also check out our blog post on this topic here) - Taking action and making change has to come from within yourself - How to deal with stereotypes as a successful female entrepreneur - The need to know what is right for you (not only money wise, but also mentally) - How important it is to surround yourself with great people, and finding a mentor - Understanding that you canâ€™t do everything alone I really hope that you will enjoy today's podcast and be touched, moved and inspired to go out and live a powerful life! What experiences have you had with being a woman in business, or tech that could help mentor other people? What advice would you give a younger version of yourself? Please share your advice here. Also, if you liked today's podcast don't forget to sign up for our free monthly newsletter. You can do that here.

3 Traits Of A Successful Business Owner. Executive Coach Bob Moore Shares His Insights [Podcast]

Christian Brodin — Thu, 15 May 2014 21:04:55 -0400

Building a successful business takes time, dedication, passion and hard work, but is there a formula that helps some businesses succeed faster than others? 3 Traits Of A Successful Business © Andres Rodriguez I sat down with successful executive coach Bob Moore to find out what truly makes a successful business owner and a successful business. In this podcast you will hear more about the importance of using peer groups, building a great culture in your company, how to manage your employees to success. Also Learn how GREAT business owners work ON their business and not in it.Click To Tweet Read on! Before becoming a highly sought after executive coach at Vistage International, Bob ran his own engineering company successfully for over 30 years! Now he spends all of his time helping others build their businesses and organizations, and judging from the growth of his 3 groups of top executives, business owners and entrepreneurs people cant get enough of his advice. After listening to this podcast you will know more about: – Why creating a successful and sustainable culture in your company is so important – How you can use other successful people to help build your own successful business through a structure of excellence – Why you need to be clear about the goal and the purpose of the business – Why a strategy for managing people is equally important to your product and sales strategy – What you can gain from being part of a peer group, and sharing your success and challenges with others can be the most important thing you every do Check out the podcast here: Listen on iTunes Do you use peer groups to grow your business? If so what did you learn and how did it help you? Post your comment here

How To Make A Killer Business Plan! – A Venture Capitalist Shares His Secrets

Christian Brodin — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 16:01:07 -0400

What is the most important part to focus on when you’re writing a business plan? Do you know what investors look for? How you ever wondered what a truly successful business plan looks like? In this interview I talk to Mark Levine of Southern Growth Studio about what makes a successful business plan He also shares what investors really look for when they review a business plan. Southern Growth Studio is a growth consulting agency that works with FedEx, Merck and other Fortune 1000 companies to help them develop new or re build businesses and products. Through their venture arm Southern Growth Ventures, they also invest in start-up companies to help them develop into successful and lasting businesses. We asked Mark what they look for when identifying a successful business plan, and a winning start-up. Make sure you check out the podcast, and or the youtube video for the full interview! Listen and Subscribe on iTunes Watch Interview On YouTube When writing a business plan many of us struggle to find the focus needed to make it short and sweet. It is easy to get lost in all the details, and how to write it in such a way that it will grab the intention of investors. Having a good business plan template might make the process easier. So far in my career I have written a 5 to 6 individual business plans, and a handful of strategy documents for our own company (I consider them to be the same). To me it has been a long learning process, and several of them have ended it failure. BUT when it works, it really works and it has the amazing power to actually realize your dreams. Nothing is more fulfilling than to see a successful business plan come to lifeClick To Tweet and a team of people working together to create real results. To me some of the most important questions to understand are: – How much information needs to go into it – What parts of the business plan you should emphasize – What really grabs the attention of a potential investor – What do you bring in addition to a great idea? Many of the talking points that Mark mention in the interview are exact answers to these questions. Some of them might also come as a surprise to you. They certainly did to me. It is clear that to write a successful business plan and create a lasting company is more than just what you write on a piece of paper. Below I have outlined some of the most important takeaways from the show, and hopefully they can help you to! If you liked this post make sure you subscribe to our newsletter, and get new posts directly into your email. Subscribe here. Share with us some of your best insights on how to write a successful business plan. What has worked and What hasn’t worked for you? Also, if you have any further questions for Mark please feel free to follow up by posting them below this post! Key takeaways from today’s show are: you need to be clear about where you are going, and what result you want to createClick To Tweet

The Ultimate Facebook Fan Page, Learn How This Blog Reached 1.8 Million Facebook Followers

Christian Brodin — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 16:17:38 -0400

Do you want a Facebook fan page and a social media strategy that really works? Have you ever wondered how some businesses build a massive amount of followers and loyal fans? Find the right way toÂ build a winning social media strategy, andÂ spread the word about your business using Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms. [...]

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Entrepreneurs Arenâ€™t Born, They Are Built! How Amy Letke Built Her Success From Scratch

Christian Brodin — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 10:42:25 -0400

Do you think only those blessed with a special gift have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Have you ever wondered if a â€œnormal personâ€ can start a thriving business from the ground up? In this episode of the Maverick CEO podcast, I interview Amy Letke, nominated for Enterprising Woman of the Year and [...]

The post Entrepreneurs Aren’t Born, They Are Built! How Amy Letke Built Her Success From Scratch appeared first on The Maverick CEO.

Do you believe that one person can change the world? Learn how from a social entrepreneur

Christian Brodin — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 17:54:35 -0400

Do you believe that one person with a vision can change the world?

Have you ever wondered what traits help people take action and turn ideas into a reality that will affect millions?

Â© Christopher Elwell | Dreamstime.com

In this episode of the Maverick CEO Podcast, I interview Xoliswa Moraka, a South African social entrepreneur, to learn how she is working to solve the problems of under resourced populations in her country.

Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates are the business and tech giants we hear about every day.Â Â On TV, in magazines, on the radio, and through podcasts, hundreds of thousands of fans admire these business rock stars of our generation for their work on the leading edge of technology.Â Â

Many of these fans take great lessons from the experiences of these entrepreneurs, but become discouraged when they find they are unlikely to match the resources of these four.

But what if those resources could be allocated to helping people solve theÂ real world problemsÂ faced every day by their communities.Â Â Problems like finding a job, getting to work, child care, and escaping poverty are more relevant to millions around the world than space travel, or features of the next tablet will ever be.

For years Western countries have been throwing untold billions atÂ developing countriesÂ with goals of reducing poverty, disease, and war.Â Â The record of success is mixed at best.

Now, a new generation of people are using the ideas of social enterprise to help pull their communities up from the depths.Â Â

Doing good through business is turning out to be a winning combination.
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In Johannesburg, South Africa, social entrepreneur Xoliswa Moraka is using modern tools to solve the very old problems of her community.Â Â She is working to inspire her fellow South Africans to take their lives into their own hands.Â Â To this end she has started a co-working space for women that include child care.Â Â This is freeing up mothers to start businesses, employee neighbors, and support their families.

The challenges faced by these budding social entrepreneurs isn’t lack of access to billions of dollars, but rather the need for basic business skills, lack of networks, and mentoring.Â Â By giving her community access to these tools of success she hopes to help people transition from surviving to thriving.

Xoliswa is showing us that

one person does have the power to change the world, even if it starts with a just one small step.
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Â Her new co-working space may allow 10 mothers to start 10 businesses that employee 50 people. Allowing each of them to be a true social entrepreneur and have lasting postive impact on their community.

The world has seen individuals like Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and Mother Theresa use their influence to affect incredible change.Â Â These legends were not pre-disposed to greatness or to be a social entrepreneur, they had the faith in themselves and their communities that they could make the world a better place.

Â In our interview Xoliswa talks about the traits needed to have this kind of influence:

Define what success is looks like for you.
Have a vision of how you will get there
Have the character needed to achieve your success
Take action, your dreams won’t come true on their own
Build networks of successful people
Don’t be afraid to hear NO
Surround yourself with people who support you mission and believe in you. They will fuel your success.

No matter how little you think that your impact is, to someone it can have a lasting effect and it can change the world.

Question:Â How about you? Do you have any advice for budding social entrepreneurs?

You can leave your comment under this post.

The post Do you believe that one person can change the world? Learn how from a social entrepreneur appeared first on The Maverick CEO.

The $150,000 sandwich and the tale of a young entrepreneur

Christian Brodin — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 19:00:12 -0500

Crunchbutton.com order food with the click of a button

Â Imagine yourself back in college, scrambling to get your last paper done. Â

Â Your blood sugar getting dangerously low, and your stomach is screaming for something to eat. Â

Â The last pack of cup noodles won’t cut it. You need a fix of your favorite junk food.

Â The problem:Â Endlessly long and overly complicated menus that make it a hassle to order.Â

Â Judd Rosenblatt wanted an easier way to order his favorite sandwich, the Wentzel, a chicken cutlet sub with cheese, mayo, and hot sauce.

Â He asked himself: â€œWhat if you could order food with a single click of a button?â€

Â Hard wiring a google email account and a text messaging system he literally hacked his own â€œone button orderâ€ application and presented it to the restaurant owner.Â He loved it!

Â By launching a â€œguerrilla marketing campaignâ€ word of one button ordering for the popular sandwich went viral, and soon sales exploded.

Â Fast forward and the sale of the Wentzel have now reached an amazing $150,000 in sales!

Â If you want to know howÂ Listen Now:

Â Following the incredible success of the Wentzel, Judd decided to take his idea to the next level.Â

Â In 2011 he and his team decided to start the company Crunchbutton.com, a service that allows customers to order their favorite dishes from any restaurant with the click of a button.Â

Simply put, you enter your address or favorite restaurantÂ (you have to register your info first time), a menu comes up, you click and food is on its wayÂ

Judd is the typical â€œaccidentalâ€ entrepreneur who saw a need, filled it, and made it go viral.
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Crunchbutton.com is now expanding rapidly to campuses around the country. Staying true to the idea that students are early adopters and a bit lazy when it comes to food choices. Judd uses their help to spread the word.

Â How does he find the right people to help?

He says, “When we find people that are equally passionate about this solution that we are, we help them as much as we can to establish a presence.â€

Â He emphasizes the word passionate.

Â “When you really believe in something and you can see that affection rub off on other people it is like magic. They start believing too!”

Â Some other highlights of the podcast are:

- Making it easier for people to choose in an information-overloaded world byÂ simplifying their choicesÂ

- Be willing to learn. Everything is a process and you will slowly but surly fine tune your skills by soaking up new knowledge.

- Donâ€™t think too big, better to start out with something small and build it bigger and bigger along the way.

- Do more with less!

- Celebrate and have fun! It helps being out the best in people, including your team.Â

- Great teams can move mountains! When people come together to solve a problem there are no limits.

- Unplug to get new energy and ideas

What is your favorite start-up story? Please share in the comments field below.

The post The $150,000 sandwich and the tale of a young entrepreneur appeared first on The Maverick CEO.

Career Change? Podcast

Christian Brodin — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 12:39:40 -0500

career change?

Have you ever found yourself in a career that isnâ€™t going anywhere?

Do you wake up in bed and question whether you feel well enough to get up and go to work?Â

Where is your current career path leading you?

Is it time for a career change?

This podcast is for you.

Listen Now:

One dayÂ John HowardÂ knew that he didnâ€™t want to get up and go to work. The motivation was gone, the energy and the excitement about doing his current job was gone.Â It was time to change career path!

Only two problems:

He was 54, and it wasn’t the first time that he had that thought!

Actually it was the 7th time in his life that he had that feeling.

You need to wake up excited about going to work every day
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Knowing that what you do has a purpose.

“If not, then it is not the right career path”, John says. Â

“This has been theÂ ultimate driver for making a career change, and also how I now run my business.”

From his tour in the Vietnam War, to getting his PhD in Social and Organizational Psychology at the University of Oregon, John has done more than most people. His career path includes working as a research assistant, building homes in Alaska, selling over $100 million worth of RVs in a single year in Oregon, and now finally helping others improve their business by hiring and developing the right teams and team members.

John is what you can call a life change artist.

Today he is the successful owner and President of Performance Resources Inc. a Utah based company that specializesÂ in helping businesses increase their profits, by reducing their people costs. Like their website states: “Our clients hire better, fire less, manage better, and retain and develop top performers. We improve their productivity.â€

Some people make a career change byÂ necessity, other change because they want to.

John has done both.

“We were building a $6 million dollar building in Juneau,Â Alaska. Then, out of the blue, the price of oil dropped from $24 to $16. The economy ground to a halt, investors cancelled their purchases, and soon the bank came knocking on our door. They wanted their payment, or else they would foreclose on us.”

â€œI was forced to make another career change”. But, life is all about acquiring transferable skills and utilizing these in new situations.Â

“Ultimately my career changes have allowed me to build a business where I use everything I learned along the way, a business that allows me to live comfortably and live the way I want to live.”

You might be discouraged byÂ thinking about everything that can go wrong, and the fear of notÂ getting a paycheck every month.

JohnÂ recognized thisÂ fear early, butÂ thought to himself that whatever happens I can always work harder to overcome theÂ challenges.

“You just have to push through it. Freedom is on the other side!”

Other Key takeaways in this episode are:

Choosing one career path is not for everyone, and you can actually achieve more having transferable skills from alternative careers

Career changes are good! It brings back the excitement and energy you need to feel alive.

Having a plan and a system in place increases the chance of success.

If you start a business, be careful about having partners. Decision making becomes increasingly difficult with the number of people involved.

Find what you are really good at, outsource what you are not good at. It allows you to work on your business and not just in it

Find mentors that have experienced failure. They know best what works and what doesn’t work, and can give you the best career information.

Have any questions or feedback?

Please make a comment below!

The post Career Change? Podcast appeared first on The Maverick CEO.

Grow your business like a Fortune 500. Podcast

Christian Brodin — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 00:41:08 -0500

learn how to grow your business from the experts

What would you do if you had unlimited access to people whose profession is to help Fortune 500 companies grow to the next level?

What questions would you have for them?

How could they help you transform your business?

In this weekâ€™s podcast we are talking to Mark Levine who is the President of Southern Growth Studio (SGS). SGS is a growth strategy and innovation firm located in Memphis, Tennessee.

Despite being a relatively young company they have already managed to secure Fortune 500 clients like Merck, FedEx, and non-profits like ALSAC and St. Jude Hospital, and are helping them grow to the next level.

About the company Mark says: â€œOur forte is really the fact that we take both left-brained and right-brained thinking and apply them to business problems, to growth strategies.”

“Companies come to us in several situations. First, if they got a multitude of issues or of opportunities that they can go after and they want help to decide which opportunity makes most sense.”

“Or they could be at a stopping point and they need to supercharge growth again and theyâ€™re not sure which way to turn to do that.”

Does your business fall into any of these categories?

Listen Now:

One of the things that Mark talks a lot about is the need for clarity. They help others find clarity by listening in on the conversation about the company, internally and externally.

â€œWe take a look at what the customer needs are, what theyâ€™re telling us, what their solutions are, what the market is saying, how big that market is, where your competitive energy isâ€

â€œWe boil all that down into growth opportunities and look at the ability to execute and the market opportunity and help them choose a path that makes the most sense. So we provide clarity. I guess it would be one thing that we do best.â€

90 percent of what we say is something that they already know.Â

Itâ€™s that 10 percent that they donâ€™t know that we really add value to and that will take them to the next level. Â

If you have followed our earlier blog posts you know how important we think this is too,”Â what is your message?”

When asked about where most businesses fail to create growth Mark sees two common mistakes:

The business lacks focus
The business owner or managers thinks that what got you here is what will get you there

Again Iâ€™ll give the word to Mark:

Entrepreneurs by trait have tunnel vision.
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Theyâ€™re so deep in their business that they have trouble getting outside of their perspective and seeing it from the outside. So we do that for them. We donâ€™t pretend to know more about their business than they do. Whenever we look into an industry or market, 90 percent of what we say is something that they already know. Itâ€™s that 10 percent that they donâ€™t see that we really add value too and that will take them to the next levelâ€œ

Other key takeaways from this episode are:

Building stabile revenue sources and longtime relationships
Getting the right clients and how to find them
Asking questions and listening in on what your customers are saying to create new solutions
Finding renewed clarity and focus in your business by having someone from the outside look at it with new eyes
Most common problems in mature businesses: lack of focus and believing that what took you here will take you to the next level

You can find more information about Markâ€™s company Southern Growth Studio here.

We are really excited about this podcast and hope that you are too.

We are also eager to hear what issues that you are dealing with in your business. If you send us a message on Facebook or leave a comment on this page we will help answer any questions that you have.

Also, who would you like for us to interview? A business owner, a successful entrepreneur? Let us know and you might get your wish fulfilled.

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When you sign up youâ€™ll also get a FREE copy of our 3 step productivity guide.

Thanks,

Christian

The post Grow your business like a Fortune 500. Podcast appeared first on The Maverick CEO.

Starting a new business. Podcast

Christian Brodin — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 11:35:19 -0500

Starting a business, take your business to the next level? Follow maverick-ceo podcasts now.

Ever wondered how it would be to start your own business?

Want to take your existing business to the next level?

Do you want the best advice from real business people?

The Maverick-CEO podcast is a show from Maverick-ceo.com, a blog dedicated to business, leadership and management mentoring.

Itâ€™s designed to help busy entrepreneurs and executives listen to other people in a similar situation, and what works and what doesn’t work for them inside the world of business.

The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

This episode is an interview with Von Ralls, the owner of Olive Branch Crossfit, and the person behind the fitness blogÂ Lift Heavy, Run Long

Von shares an inside look at some of the lessons he has learned through the highs and lows of quitting his job and starting a new business.

Youâ€™ll learn about what works and what doesnâ€™t work when you start your own business, and what it will take to be successful.

Share your feedback and get the links mentioned in this episode below!

Listen Now:

According to Von, one of the biggest lessons learned was the importance of time management. To use his own words:

Biggest thing is time management. So when you go to work for eight hours every day, you leave your house. You get into a routine and you know youâ€™re supposed to be at a place for eight hours and youâ€™re going to come home. Youâ€™ve just fallen in to a routine and then if you just imagine cutting that out completely. I told somebody early on itâ€™s like every day is Friday. I mean you can do whatever you want but it doesnâ€™t â€“ it only takes a couple of days before it hits you.

Oh man, I need to stop sitting around and doing extracurricular activities. I need to go and do something that is going to make money. You know what I mean? Iâ€™m going to have to pay my bills next month.Â

What am I going to do to make that happen? When you sit around your house, itâ€™s so easy to just like â€“ say my wife would come through and say, â€œHey, weâ€™re going to go shopping.â€ I would say, â€œOh, hey, I will go with you.â€ Weâ€™re going to go to lunch. I will say, â€œOh, I will go with you. Yeah, letâ€™s do it.â€

So I had to move my office to the gym.Â

I took my computer and everything, my desk and all that from the house and brought it to the gym. So that now I can kind of separate being at home and actually being at work.Â

The take home lesson is that you need to separate where you live and where you work to get the most bang for your buck.

Other key takeaways mentioned are:

Being Optimistic. Like Henry Ford said: “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.â€ You need toÂ believe you can!

Mentoring. Von got a great head start by finding mentors that were willing to teach him the basics of the business and what works and what doesn’t work. Donâ€™t make the same mistakes as other people. Learn from the best!

Building multiple revenue sources. A business needs more than one revenue source. How can you leverage what you already have or know to generate more revenue from different products?

Customer Service and the importance of focusing on existing clients. Word of mouth marketing is the strongest marketing source that you will ever have. Keep your existing clients happy and they will sell your products for you!

What drives a business owner mad. No business is without challenges. The difference lies in how the business solves problems. Where do you seek advice to overcome challenges?

The importance of starting early. “While we are postponing,Â life speeds by.”-Â SenecaÂ The time to start is not tomorrow, it was not yesterday, it is now. While you are waiting opportunities are lost. Donâ€™t procrastinate, and make the choices that are right for you right now.

Connect with Von through his own blog:Â Lift Heavy, Run Long

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