The Thoughtful Entrepreneur

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to the co-founder of eLearning Partners, Hector Simoudis. eLearning Partners is committed to helping companies create internal training programs and courses that their learners will love. They aren’t a tech platform, learning management system, content library, etc. eLearning Partners focuses on the professional and strategical development behind creating these courses. They also help their clients know what resources they have available and how to use them effectively.Josh and Hector explore the biggest mistake in eLearning. Hector stresses that it’s not just small businesses who experience this blunder, but even enterprise businesses can have this issue. This mistake is the misconception that it’s all about the technology and finding the right learning management system. While these aspects are important, they should not be the driving force behind the development of your eLearning. Avoid falling into this trap by making sure your learners are part of your decision-making process. What drives your eLearning development shouldn't be finding the perfect learning management system, but rather you should focus on your learners. They should be a part of your development process from step one. You absolutely must understand who your learners are, what they want, and what they need before you start developing a course or program. Hector explains that there are two types of eLearning. There is internal eLearning, which encompasses things like onboarding, training, and continued education. The other type is eLearning to generate revenue – you’re taking this to market to create a recurring revenue stream. It’s absolutely imperative that you give content to your learners for free when developing this type of course. Don’t ask your prospect to ‘marry you before dating you’ – your lead magnet should be your stellar content so that your prospects can get to know you. When you give them high-level content for free, you’ll see your purchase rate go up.eLearning Partners offers their free masterclass, "Create and Launch a Successful eLearning Program, Online Course, or Virtual Training" on their website by following this same principle of giving away high-value golden nuggets. This masterclass teaches you how to guarantee success in every course and program you create. You’ll also learn the three pillars of eLearning. People think that eLearning just requires steps – but it’s not steps, it’s pillars. You need to develop these pillars simultaneously, all while keeping the most important element in mind: your learner.Want to learn more? Check out eLearning Partners’ website at https://www.linkedin.com/company/elearning-partners/. Sign up to watch eLearning Partners’ masterclass "Create and Launch a Successful eLearning Program, Online Course, or Virtual Training" at https://www.e-learningpartners.com/masterclass. Check out eLearning Partners on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/madewithmerit/. Check out Hector Simoudis on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hectorsimoudis/. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass. 

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to the founder and CEO of Merit, Adam Vasquez. The basics of the ‘market’ is community, Adam shares - Merit literally creates markets in order to solve problems for like-minded individuals. Merit facilitates market growth for their clients and also for themselves. They’re passionate about innovation and seek to create other market inventors who can change their industries as they know it. Merit is leading the charge in how the conscious economy affects sales and marketing. Marketing is outdated, plain and simple. If you’re not already the leader in a market, you’re very truly just emulating the market leader. If you’re not the market leader, your advertising will only serve to send business to the market leader. You need your own market. This starts with building community. Authenticity is critical now more than ever, and the transparency of the internet is shifting the marketing and advertising spaces. Merit doesn’t just consult with their clients, they eat their own dog food and create their own markets.But how do you demonstrate that you’re a market leader and innovator? Any aspect of your business can be negatively impacted by the market leader – many entrepreneurs get caught up in the fallacy that the market leader is the ‘standard’. Flip this misconception on its head; innovators don’t copy their processes or products from others. Innovators look at problems that others have already tried to solve and look at things from a different perspective. This is what sets them apart and turns innovators into market leaders. Market invention is about recognizing opportunities and collecting perspectives and insights from those who have created markets before. Market invention is more holistic and not only addresses opportunities but actually seeks to change the status quo on a wide scale (this is where innovation comes in!)According to their website, most marketing and advertising agencies rely on decades-old formulas where they swap out businesses and logos and collect fees. Merit believes in strategic marketing with purpose, where the goal and outcome is sector leadership. Can a company move from fifth place to first in market share within the average CMO tenure of 41 months? According to Merit, yes. Market Invention is their philosophy and practice. Adam and his team seek to understand the business of your business and then get to work growing your brand to create or own your market.Want to learn more? Check out Merit’s website at https://madewithmerit.com/. Check out Merit on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/madewithmerit/. Check out Adam Vasquez on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamvasquez/. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass. 

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the President of Capitol Integration, Gene Moran. Gene helps companies achieve dramatic outcomes when selling to the federal government. Gene is also an author of several books, including Make Your Move. Gene shares that as a result of his experience as a Navy veteran, he felt unfulfilled after he left active duty. This is what drove Gene to get into entrepreneurship, which has given him great success.Gene shares that most contractors don’t understand the process of actually securing a contract with the federal government. Gene’s work focuses on funding, which comes long before a contract does. If you don’t understand the ins and outs of where your money is going and what policies will affect it, you absolutely should not seek out a contract.Josh and Gene also talk about the sales cycle of the federal government. The federal government operates in fiscal years with three budgets in motion at any given time. These budgets can be in development, review, or execution at any time, as well. Gene shares that if you get involved during the review or development stages, there is often a lot of room for influence and opportunity. According to his website, when you’re pitching your defense product or service solutions to the U.S. Federal Government, you have more success when you think as your customer does – you need a plan! The best results are achieved when your plan includes the entire federal process, not just the capture. Walking into an opportunity without understanding the budget environment and complexity of the terrain, you will likely be disappointed with your government sales. This is where Gene comes in.Gene and Josh explore how veterans are some of the perfect candidates for entrepreneurship and becoming a contractor for the federal government. It requires hard work and grit, which is something that veterans would be familiar with from their time in the military. These skills have serious value in the corporate and business world, but many of these people undervalue their skills. Don’t overlook your own unique strengths that you learned from your time serving. If you want to avoid wasted investment, lost time, and flat or declining federal sales, don’t spend another minute spinning your wheels. If you need help receiving funding from the federal government or need a policy change in order to sell your product or service, reach out to Gene and the Capitol Integration team here. Want to learn more? Check out Capitol Integration’s website at https://www.genemoran.com/. Check out all of Gene Moran’s books at https://www.genemoran.com/make-your-move/. Check out Capitol Integration on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/capitol-integration/Check out Gene Moran on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/genemoran/ .Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to Earl Flormata, who runs marketing operations at Mogul Productions. Earl shares that he was raised in computer science and has been programming since he was five years old. By the time he was 25, he had been programming for 20 years. At that point, he realized he wanted a career change, so he turned his attention toward marketing and sales and never looked back. He's been marketing for 20 years since and couldn’t be happier!Mogul Productions is a community based around the entertainment industry. They help artists, music creators, entertainers, and movies find funding and audiences for their work. They help these artists convert their work to the NFT/crypto space so it can eventually be put to market. Earl explains that much of the media and content Mogul Productions helps to put to market is very unique and highly creative because it breaks from the mold of mainstream media. This allows their users to let their creativity shine through and stand out, rather than conform for the sake of funding. An NFT is a non-fungible token. An NFT is proof that you own an irreplaceable item of some sort. For example, you can own an NFT that represents ownership of a famous dress or pop culture item. Those who buy NFTs want to be part of something bigger than themselves and wish to support the artists they want to purchase the tokens from, Earl explains. Anyone can make an NFT in theory, but you have to own the license in question in order to sell the NFT. These tokens have to be acquired from a reliable source with access to these licenses, Earl says. The structure behind this crypto phenomenon is decentralization. If all of this lived in one database, it would be highly susceptible to cyber-attacks. This decentralization comes in the place of the blockchain across millions of computers, which is also what maintains the valuation of the NFTs. Mogul Productions sell NFTs that equate to production rights and ownership in films as one of their services, which also in turn helps to fund the production of the film directly. If you’re an artist looking to launch your film, album, piece of art, or other creative venture, reach out to the team at Mogul Productions to see if the NFT space is the funding solution for you. Want to learn more? Check out Mogul Productions’ website at https://www.mogulproductions.com/. Check out Mogul Productions on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/mogul-productions-incorporated/. Check out Earl Flormata on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/earlflormata/. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks with Talking With Teri’s Teri Karjala.Teri shares that she was a therapist for 25 years before she combined her therapy background with energy psychology and applied principles of quantum physics. Teri’s work combines understanding the business, transformational, and spiritual aspects of entrepreneurship. Often, we get in our own way when it comes to getting our business to the next level. Teri shares the top five negative blocks she sees when it comes to being our own greatest obstacles. These blocks are self-limiting beliefs, self-sabotage, fear overwhelm, burnout, and imposter syndrome. Teri explains that one of her clients brings in 78 billion dollars annually – but has terrible self-esteem. Working with Teri has helped her bring up her own view of herself – and has helped her get out of her own way. Teri explains that many business owners and thought leaders have trauma from the industries they work in. This is what leads to issues with self-esteem or any of the five blocks, especially in high achievers. Teri shares that she’s interviewed entrepreneurs from all walks of life, and they all experience these types of blocks. If we don’t address these blocks, it will get to a point where you can’t grow anymore. As Teri says, ‘a new level creates a new devil’. How we address these blocks not only directly impacts your quality of life, but also your business. Stop to consider what your business would look like if you didn’t stop yourself out of fear. How many more discovery calls might you have booked or connections might you have made? When you lead with generosity and love, you don’t need to be afraid of asks. You might still have fear as you work on your blocks, but Teri reminds us that fear is a warning sign. Accept that fear and appreciate that you have a comfort zone that you’re taking steps out of, but take those steps anyway. We weren’t put here to stay the same, Teri says, so ground yourself with growth and evolution. Teri invites our audience to ask themselves ‘what’s right about this that I’m not getting?’ Your brain will naturally seek out the answer - this will teach you slowly how to gather important, positive insights from a negative situation. She also invites our audience to remember that your brain will find what it seeks; when you perceive something is negative, ask yourself ‘how much better can this get?’ This opens your mind and energy to more possibilities through this perspective of gratitude. Want to learn more? Check out Talking With Teri’s website at https://talkingwithteri.com/. If you would be interested in listening to Teri on her podcast, check it out at https://talkingwithteri.com/podcast/. Check out Teri Karjala on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/terikarjala/. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence: Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to the CEO of Video Supply, Dallin Nead.Video Supply is an on-demand video production services marketplace. Users can sign up on their website for free and shop for the specific video production services they need, whether it's a one-time request or a regular custom project. Video Supply helps brands all around the world create professional, high-level content to effectively promote any product or purpose. Dalin shares that the first thing you need when trying to create video content is a plan. Without a plan, you're setting yourself up to fail when it comes to getting eyes on your content. Dallin also explains that there needs to be true intention and purpose behind your video content, especially if you want any of it to go viral. You need to be able to use video to tell your audience your message, no matter where they are in the customer journey. Video Supply plans, produces and promotes video content for their clients. Video Supply offers a paid video strategy consultation where they meet with their clients and their teams to guide them on how to get the biggest ROI for their video content creation. Video Supply can also write video scripts, and produce videos using their trained professional videographers. Dallin shares that your content should reflect what your brand is trying to do, whether that's creating a video marketing campaign or training videos for your team. No matter what type of video you need to generate for your business, Video Supply offers hands-on, high-level services that can meet those needs. It’s all about meeting people where they are, Dallin explains. Pricing is very transparent on their website so you’re never wondering how much you’ll need to spend on video work. Their marketplace offers a unique customer experience that makes shopping for video content services easier and more seamless than ever. Systematizing your video content is extremely important. You need to use the power of SEO and consistency in order to maximize the ROI of your videos. Driving traffic especially from YouTube to your website is vital if you want the most bang for your buck. You also need to leverage your content by getting it in front of the right people. Josh and Dallin agree that you have to consider what matters more to you – views aren’t worth much if they don’t include your target audience. Remember, views are ultimately a vanity metric, and who is seeing your video matters more than how many people saw it. Want to learn more? Check out Video Supply’s website at https://www.videosupply.com/. Check out Video Supply on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/videosupplyhq/. Check out Dallin Nead on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dallinnead/. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the founder and CEO of SaaS Partners, Patrick Parker. Patrick shares that he started out as a software architect and worked primarily in private consulting. He felt there were missteps he observed in the way things were handled at the firm where he worked at that time. Much of his work is around project delivery and software implementation. He was tired of seeing his clients not knowing how to use the software that was being delivered to them, or their expectations not being met at all. Patrick thought there was a better way to do things and so this is what inspired him to open his own firm, where he felt he could offer that next-level experience. SaaS Partners take a more human-centric approach to the entire design, discovery, and delivery process, yielding much higher results and ROI for their customers. Josh and Patrick explore how software companies often over-promise and under-deliver. Patrick shares that many of his clients had come from previous bad experiences with other firms where what was delivered simply didn't meet the standards or expectations of their agreement. These clients are often coming to Saas Partners to ask them to rewrite the software. However, they can work with both established companies and start-ups. Saas Partners does a lot of custom enterprise work, but they also work with smaller businesses. For these entrepreneurs, SAS Partners utilizes a variety of platforms on their back-end to develop software. It's all based on the individual needs of their clients. It depends on especially the industry the client is in. Patrick and his team look at each company as a silo and determine what tech suites to use based on the specific circumstances and needs of the business. SaaS Partners set themselves apart in how they operate their business. SaaS Partners features US-based designers, architects, and developers. They deliver a high level of quality and are available during US office hours – which makes for an excellent user experience from start to finish. SaaS Partners provides growth support and maintenance even after the software is developed and delivered to the client. Patrick shares that it’s extremely important to him and his team to help companies grow. They are passionate about finding growth solutions and new revenue opportunities as they maintain the software they build. For them, it’s not just about delivering a product, it’s about knowing the full context of what it’s meant to achieve. Want to learn more? Check out SaaS Partners’ website at https://saaspartners.io/. Check out SaaS Partners on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/saaspartnersio/. Check out Patrick Parker on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickbparker/.  Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to business strategist and messaging energetics coach, Eugenia Oganova. Eugenia works with business leaders and entrepreneurs who know that they have big ambitions and dreams. She especially helps women entrepreneurs who have these aspirations to change the world, but simply don't know how to take the first step. Spirituality and business have been seperated for quite some time, and many of Eugenia’s clients struggled with making their dream-led business visions profitable. One of Eugenia’s superpowers is that she unites non-lineal creation and consciousness. She uses energetic work to align her clients’ businesses with their true soul design.The first thing Eugenia looks at is with her clients’ is what their soul expertise is. This is something you're born with. After identifying these factors, she goes over her clients’ soul design, which has to do with what lessons our soul is learning in this lifetime. This is all step one. You have to talk to your prospects in a way that compels them to come to you, Eugenia shares, and aligning your soul expertise and design can help immensely. Your content should generate leads in a way that feels good and fulfilling to you. You have to shift how you look at what you do and how you talk about it. Sometimes, something as simple as changing your mindset around your messaging and how you approach your audience is really what it takes to draw the right prospects to you. When you have the right foundation, energy, confidence, and intention, the mechanics of your business are the easy parts. Too many entrepreneurs focus too heavily on the mechanics of their business and not the soul of it; this is what Eugenia sets out to help business owners discover. Much of business is based on intuition and how consumers feel from an enegeretic and emotional standpoint. Eugenia stresses that if you’re going to work with a coach, you want to work with one that makes you more, well, you – not more ‘them’. Your coach should make you feel good about who you already are so you can further align your energetics with the efforts you’re making to improve your business. If you’re not fulfilled with your life or business, the first thing to look at isn’t necessarily logistics. You need to look at how your energetics are affecting how you conduct business. There are many ways to find what’s right for us as business owners, but it all starts with recognizing who you are at a deep level. Want to learn more? Check out Eugenia’s website at https://transcensiongate.com/. Check out Eugenia’s Soul Strategy Webinar at http://www.soulstrategywebinar.com/ Check out Eugenia Oganova on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugeniaoganova/. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the founder and CEO of Fetch & Funnel, Samir ElKamouny.Fetch & Funnel is an omnichannel media buying agency that accelerates business growth in months, not years. Fetch & Funnel helps their clients navigate major changes and trends in the paid ad space, as well as helping to direct their efforts in new channels such as TikTok. Going back to basics and building your brand is extremely important. You have to be authentic when you're building a brand. It seems obvious, but it's easy to forget and get lost in the weeds. You need to translate your message into what you do to benefit your prospects, not the features you offer. Josh and Samir explore how to utilize TikTok as a small business. Fetch & Funnel is finding that TikTok either works or it simply doesn't for their clients. Not all brands see success on TikTok, it all depends on what the company offers and who they’re targeting. It takes time to train algorithms and access different audiences using platforms like this one. If you're looking to try adding TikTok to your marketing channels, consider repurposing your Instagram content (or other similar media in video form.) Samir shares that user-generated content always performs the best, especially if you're a product-based company. On TikTok, users are fed content from all types of accounts whether they follow them or not. User-generated ads tend to perform well because it rings as relatable to consumers since they’re created by other TikTok users. You don't need a robust plan in order to start incorporating TikTok into your marketing. Besides repurposing other content you’ve created, record some simple one-minute tips that you can share with your audience that delivers legitimate value. Be consistent with posting, but you don't need to go all out to get started. Experiment with different types of video-form content to see what your target audience appreciates and enjoys.Samir shares that this method works organically over time. Yes, you might do some tweaking as you continue to post, but he explains that he has seen success with his clients as long as they are willing to share their expertise via short snackable clips on TikTok. TikTok and Instagram are great for product-based businesses, so those who offer professional services need to know that they aren’t likely to go viral on the platform. However, this doesn’t mean your audience can’t be found on the platform. If you offer authentic value, the people you DO attract on TikTok will be extremely high-value prospects and it can absolutely work for you. Want to learn more? Check out Fetch & Funnel’s website at https://www.fetchfunnel.com/. Check out Samir's podcast, eCom Growth Leaders at https://www.fetchfunnel.com/podcast/. Check out Fetch & Funnel on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/fetch-&-funnel/. Check out Samir ElKamouny on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/samir-elkamouny/. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks with the owner and Creative Director of Viim, Steph Hilfer.Steph shares that what Viim does is tied to the meaning of its name. For one thing, ‘vim’ is an English word that means ‘enthusiasm, high-spirited, and vitality’. Viim’s company name is also an acronym – Visual Intentional Integrated Marketing. Steph explains that before you can begin marketing, you need to have a solid foundation. Your visuals , your intentions, and how you integrate those aspects through your marketing are what create that solid foundation.Viim works with a variety of different types of businesses as their clientele. Their vim comes from your vim, Steph says. Collaboration is very important to the Viim team and combining the best aspects of your creative ideas and theirs is key. You have to continuously nurture your intentionality with your business and brand. Keep yourself in alignment with your mission in order for your messaging to make an impact.Intentionality means changing your perspective on how you show up in the world. Viim and their team offer a one-day-long discovery call for their new clients that aligns their vision, their business’s vision, and their team’s vision. This time for discovery outlines what their client is already doing and why - you’d be surprised with how many businesses really don’t fully grasp what they do. (If your consumer is confused about what you do, that’s probably rooted in your confusion about what you do.) This discovery call brings all the power players within a business into the same room, which is what drives team alignment. Consumers will always notice if you're confused about your own brand alignment. This is usually a subconscious realization most of the time, Steph explains. Unless you're in sales and marketing professionally, you don't typically catch what makes you uncomfortable with a brand. It's all about the consumer experience and how it affects the consumer subconsciously. They may not know what about the brand makes them uncomfortable, but they feel that discomfort and will steer clear. The worst part is that, to begin with, consumers will usually start by blaming themselves and think that their misunderstanding of your brand is their fault. NO brand should ever sit idly if their consumers are feeling this way – and a confused mind will not buy (and if they do, they may feel buyer’s remorse.) Want to learn more? Check out Viim’s website at https://www.getviim.com/. Check out Viim on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/getviim/. Check out Steph Hilfer on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephhilfer/. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur and thank you for listening. Tune in next time!More from UpMyInfluence:✅ We are actively booking guests for our DAILY Entrepreneur Success Podcast. Schedule HERE.✅ Are you a 6-figure consultant? Let us fill your sales schedule and move you to 7-figures. Learn more here.✅ Check out our free Authority Transformation Masterclass.