Scaling Up Business with Bill Gallagher

Whether or not you consider yourself a risk taker, life requires taking risks every single day. From relationships and parenting to the financial and careers we pursue, we all take risks, bet big, and hopefully win often. We are surrounded by risk, and how we look at it, relate to it, and leverage it makes all the difference.   Angie Witkowski is the NY Times best-selling author of the business books SPARK, Bet on You, and Leading From the Front. She’s been a coach inside the world’s best businesses and has shared a keynote stage with some of the most influential leaders of our time. Angie served as an officer in the Marine Corps and holds a BA and MBA from the University of Michigan. Too often we celebrate overnight successes while overlooking the years of hard work and risk that went into making the success happen. Taking your time, fully understanding your financial situation, and relying on your ability to make good decisions will all have a major impact on the outcome of the risks you take. Consider first how much time you are willing to invest in your risks. You can take the short-term route if that is where you feel most comfortable, or you can dive in head first and see what happens. The truth is, you can always make more money if this risk fails. Angie and Bill share their process for approaching and evaluating risk. Bill aims to first look for the opportunity, then consider the worst-case scenario and create a coping mechanism from there. Angie tends to see opportunities everywhere but asks herself two questions when considering risk: Do I have the bandwidth to make this happen, and do I actually want to do this? The answers to these questions will make the next steps clear. Interview Links: Angie Witkowski   Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube Recruiter.com Short List (use code scaleup) Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth. We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth. Scaling Up is based on Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits. Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then please leave a review! Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.

What happens when you hear “no’”? How do you handle that rejection?   Bill once coached a woman named Debbie who was in conflict with her business partner. She wasn’t handling the rejection very well, and it was clear that she hadn’t considered what her business partner possibly thought about her. When she was able to think more openly about the other side of the conflict, she realized that she was also contributing to the tension. At Bill’s recommendation, when she showed more interest in her partner’s project, she got the results she wanted. With just one shift in her actions, the partner magically changed. Simply put, if you can shift the way you handle rejection, change can happen. Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube Recruiter.com Shortlist (use code scaleup) Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth. We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth. Scaling Up is based on Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits. Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then please leave a review! Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.

Real connections win out over canned messages every single time, but wow can you amplify your brand narrative through organic content that makes those meaningful connections?   Morgan Ingram is the founder behind Ascencion Media Productions (AMP). He’s a sales educator and content creator and has been named one of the Top 50 Sales Leaders to Follow by LinkedIn, a Top 25 Sales Development Thought Leader by Inside Sales, and a Four-time LinkedIn Top Sales Voices. Technology has enabled people to be lazy at scale, which can have a massive negative impact on your potential audience. Consider the thousands of emails you have sent out without doing your homework first, and how many of those recipients marked your unwanted email as spam. Or the impersonal connections you’ve tried to make on LinkedIn without even reviewing a person’s profile first. These impersonal efforts are not only a waste of your time, they have the potential to damage any future opportunities you might have otherwise had. Personalization is key to connection. Read their profile, listen to their podcast, and review their website. Take proactive steps to connect in meaningful and sincere ways. Consider what you can document and share in your efforts that can help you make better connections with others. Don’t be afraid to occasionally show the less polished, perfect version of yourself along the way. Morgan shares when and why he made the switch from black-and-white tactics to a more real evolution of his content, and how he was able to make more connections as a result. He has learned that the only way to effectively scale up is to continually expand the universe that you have created in your business. Interview Links: AMPCreative.io   Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube Recruiter.com Short List (use code scaleup) Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth. We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth. Scaling Up is based on Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits. Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then please leave a review! Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.

Something always seems to get in the way of a perfect pitch. What you are worried about is tripping you up more than what’s going on with the other party. What gets in the way of a perfect pitch is YOU.   Bill coached Nick through setting his worries aside so that he could more effectively focus on his pitch. He was able to pause his worries, the board loved his pitch, and the company was improved by his input. Stop worrying, set yourself aside, and think more about your client than you are about yourself. That is the key. Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube Recruiter.com Shortlist (use code scaleup) Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth. We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth. Scaling Up is based on Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits. Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then please leave a review! Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.

What makes great marketing? Marketing that is efficient, cost-effective, and memorable isn’t easy to come by, but it can make all the difference in growing your business.   Brandon is CEO of Win BIG Media, and formerly, as the COO, Brandon is a leader in the marketing world. He is SPHR Certified and is an experienced operations professional who has worked with various teams to improve processes, advance team engagement, and create winning cultures with great success. The data about a company reveals the story that the marketing needs to tell. Off-cycle marketing might be the ticket to changing the message altogether, and the creative components of company branding can help pinpoint the information the customer needs to see. Many companies today are tightening their budgets in preparation for an impending recession, but whether another recession arrives or not, the lessons learned from the recession of 2009 can benefit businesses today. Studies have revealed that many companies that cut or eliminated marketing in 2009 are no longer around today, while those who increased their marketing efforts and dollars during the recession captured market share in the years since. Although Win Big Media is a digital marketing agency, they don’t always push clients toward digital marketing. In a furniture store case example, with a few strategic tweaks, Brandon’s team was able to create a $1.8 million return on a direct mail ad spend with a 23.17 ROI. Brandon highlights the key components of successful marketing. First, test your ideas. Don’t put your entire marketing budget into one avenue if it hasn’t been proven yet. Second, tailor and customize the creative. Identify what your customer needs and then market directly to those needs. Ultimately, when you understand your customer, utilize the data, and shift your creative approach, you may not even have to spend more advertising dollars to reach more of your target audience and level up your marketing efforts. Interview Links: Win BIG Media   Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube Recruiter.com Short List (use code scaleup) Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth. We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth. Scaling Up is based on Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits. Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then please leave a review! Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.

How can you hear more “yes”? Be more engaging. When someone is engaged with you, they will then commit to action.   Hearing “yes” in action has less to do with how effective your pitch is and much more to do with how effectively you are listening for what matters to the other person. If you really pay attention to what they are saying, it will be much easier to find a way in your proposal to meet their needs. So listen carefully. Because when you do, you’re much more likely to hear “yes.” Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube Recruiter.com Shortlist (use code scaleup) Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth. We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth. Scaling Up is based on Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits. Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then please leave a review! Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.

Just as professional pilots, doctors, and golfers regularly return to the fundamentals, it is just as essential in the business world to continually return to the basics of the performance platform. Going back to the basics is far more effective than constantly seeking new techniques.   This week, Bill talks with Verne Harnish, a world-leading expert, speaker, author, and entrepreneur in the field of business growth. Together they offer insights into Altman’s Maxims, Jobs’s doers vs. dreamers, the power of asking, daily routines, remote work, and much more. Everyone will tell you it’s important to focus, but Sam Altman, founder of ChatGPT, advises in his 13 Maxims that we would do well to step back and determine what it is that we should focus on. You don’t really have a strategy if you’re not doing everything differently anyway. The key is that the ambitious goals are not simply linear, they are exponential. Have overconfidence in yourself. Be bold in your goals. Surround yourself with people who challenge your thinking and push you higher. When you get too comfortable with your success, you are limiting yourself. Instead, employ Matthew McConaughey’s definition of humility and recognize that there is always more to learn. Verne highlights his four-step process for innovation, which includes preparation, incubation, inspiration, and finally, verification. Each step is a critical point in making real progress in the work that you are aiming to do. The most important words in any language are “Can you help me?” That is what separates the dreamers from the doers. Whether you are Steve Jobs or an early-stage entrepreneur, finding ways to ask for the help you need is the ticket to making your aspirational dreams come true. Interview Links: “How to Be Successful,” by Sam Altman   Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube Recruiter.com Short List (use code scaleup) Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth. We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth. Scaling Up is based on Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits. Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then please leave a review! Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.

Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. As a child, Bill lived on the north shore of Oahu and was invited to surf Waimea Bay. He was brave enough to paddle out but then talked himself out of every wave as it came along. He was lit up by the bold audacity of being able to say he had surfed these famous waves, even though he never actually caught a wave.   Being bold can also mean being frightened. There is power in going for what you really want. A BHAG (big hairy, audacious goal) is not a small thing, it’s a thing that is meant to frighten you into action! Of course, there is a balance between ridiculous and extraordinary, but when you strike that balance, you will find success. Being scared (in a good way) is key to powerful boldness that inspires. Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube Recruiter.com Shortlist (use code scaleup) Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth. We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth. Scaling Up is based on Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits. Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then please leave a review! Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.

The future of health matters to every one of us. From biotech to the latest innovations, we are all impacted by the rapid transformations that are happening in healthcare.   Neil is the Founder & CEO of Bioverge Ventures, an investment platform democratizing access to enable individuals to diversify their portfolio with private biotech and healthcare investments for the purposes of long-term wealth creation. Between surviving a plane crash and watching helplessly as his grandmother battled cancer, Neil realized that biotechnology was the perfect way to create more tools for more doctors to help more patients. He highlights his experience with an almost sci-fi-like cure for a genetic disease with the use of novel biotechnologies and recognizes that the future of biotech is happening today.  But what does this mean for investors? The pandemic proved that when biotech needs to move fast it is entirely capable of doing so. Neil points out that the loss ratios in biotech aren’t as high as it is for software companies, making it an appealing choice for investors. Bioverge aims to understand the science behind technologies to highlight key risks and milestones for potential investors. By investing at the seed stage, they bear the greatest risk as well as the potential for the greatest reward. From growing human organs to creating 3D models of working lungs and growing stem cells, the future of biotech in the healthcare industry — and the benefit of investing in it — is happening today. Interview Links: Bioverge Ventures   Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube Recruiter.com Short List (use code scaleup) Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth. We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth. Scaling Up is based on Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits. Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then please leave a review! Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.

Do you have a range of emotional expressions? We’re often taught to keep our emotions in check and not be expressive, but there is power in sharing your emotions. Even if you’re having a bad day, you can express yourself as a leader and leave people with an inspiring thought about your stand on an issue.   Bill had an experience with a man named Alex who was ready to quit his job as a CEO. He decided it was time to move on after a setback on a project, but after an effective coaching session, he found the strength to share his experience and emotions with his team. When he did, he found even better solutions and engaged his team in a way that he wouldn’t have been able to if he hadn’t had the courage to express his emotions. All leaders experience a full range of emotions; the best ones are those who are willing to express themselves in ways that engage and inspire others. Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube Recruiter.com Shortlist (use code scaleup) Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth. We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth. Scaling Up is based on Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits. Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then please leave a review! Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.