Intentional Growth

Mike Nunez founded AffiliateManager.com with his brother but always wanted to work for Channel Intelligence in Orlando. After a random encounter with the CEO of Channel Intelligence, he was called up to work for them. Six years later Channel Intelligence was acquired by Google for $125 million in an all-cash deal. Now Mike’s back growing AffilateManager.com into an industry leader by applying all the techniques he learned selling to Google. If you listen, you will learn: How a start-up company operates with the clear goal of acquisition The importance of taking advantage of networking opportunities What Google looks for when acquiring a company and how to align your business to be ready for an acquisition The importance of having a clear vision and initiatives in your business How Google handles acquisitions and the merging of employees Having a solid team of employees is everything Channel Intelligence Mike Nunez always wanted to work at Channel Intelligence in Orlando. They were a good company with a great reputation. Mark knew he couldn’t get hired there right out of college so built up his experience. He discovered affiliate marketing in college and ran a few different affiliate marketing programs at different companies as well as working on his own business. While networking at a conference, he met the CEO of the company he always wanted to pursue. Eight months later he was recruited to work for Channel Intelligence (CI). CI just received $15 million in funding so the company grew to around 150 employees in 2007, six years before they were acquired by the big guy, Google. Aligning with Google Channel Intelligence was a provider of technology to companies that enabled customers to buy their products online. They were active in over 30 countries working with over 850 retailers such as Best Buy and Target. Acquisition was always the goal at Channel Intelligence. The owners were very transparent about this. They never talked about going public or staying private. Every employee knew this and marched toward the same goal. In 2012, the CEO of Channel Intelligence left the company and the new CEO provided much needed focus. He helped align the company with Google and Google Shopping. They focused only on their “Where to Buy” feature on websites as well as feed syndication. Google soon came knocking after analyzing the company. Google had big goals for Google Shopping and wanted to acquire the company to be able to hit their goals quicker. It was a strategic acquisition and after some back and forth and due diligence, Google acquired CI for $125 million, 4X their gross revenue. “Everybody was very excited. We all felt like we were getting called home by the Mothership. We were all just super excited to be acquired by Google. Everybody gets to put Google on their resume,” says Mike. Life After Google Mike loved working for the Mothership but had more of entrepreneurial spirit. He wanted to change people’s lives and make more of a measurable impact. After 4 years with Google, he left to put more time into AfflilateManager.com. “The thing that us entrepreneurs want is that we want to feel like we are making an impact. In one year after the Google acquisition I sold more than Channel Intelligence had acquired in the 13 years prior. It was significant yet the impact on Google’s bottom line was the smallest of decimal points of percentages,” says Mike. Mike now works with medium sized businesses at AffiliateManager.com. Unlike Channel Intelligence and Google, he does not focus on the big fish. “We want the owner on the other side saying you guys changed my business and you guys changed my life,” says Mike. Mike learned a lot from his time at Channel Intelligence and Google and looks back fondly at his time with both companies. The acquisition process was an amazing experience. Not a lot of people can say they were a part of a Google acquisition and he learned some big lessons from the experience. Listen to episode to hear more! Contact Information and Bio for Mike:  Email: mike@affiliatemanager.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/affman/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/AffiliateManagr Company Website: https://affiliatemanager.com/ Company Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AffiliateManager/?ref=br_rs Mike Nunez is an 18-year internet marketing veteran, with 4 years at Google on the Google Shopping and DoubleClick Search teams, who went on to co-found The Performance Company (.com), a performance-based digital marketing agency with subsidiaries that include AffiliateManager.com, a premier affiliate management company with offices in Orlando and Chicago. AffiliateManager.com has won Pinnacle awards for Affiliate Manager of the Year in 2013 and Affiliate Agency of the Year in 2016, as well as the Avantlink Best Agency of 2016. Our success is powered by our proprietary technology, AffiliateRecruitment.com – with over 8.4 million affiliate pages indexed – and BounceLinks.com, a content monetization tool that allows affiliates to easily monetize their websites. Mike has also served on the board of the Performance Marketing Association as well as the Affiliate Summit Advisory Board.

Fresh out of college with the urging of his Dad, Tim Keran took over the daily operations and management of the family printing business, Western Graphics. He quickly grew the company from $3 million in revenue with 25 employees to $11 million with over 50 employees at its peak. If you listen, you will learn: How Tim used professional management techniques to run the family business Open-book management practices The benefits of a peer group Importance of improvement projects which hold all employees accountable The list of 6 key points Tim needed for the perfect sale of his company Importance of exit planning and a clear plan for your “second act” Family Business Tim watched his Dad start the family business from scratch and started working in it as a janitor in his teenage years. After a few more years and some more education, Tim started as a Controller out of college. Since his Dad was not the management type, he pushed Tim to take over as soon as he was ready. At 27-years-old he started to take over the operations of the company. With a background in accounting and obsession with learning different business practices, he brought in some professional managers to help run the company more like a business instead of like a family. “The journey there for me was the ability to take a small business kind of running ad hoc and putting it more in a professional model. I put some process behind some of the madness that happens in a small business,” says Tim. Tim bought the business from his Dad in 2001 and owned it for another 15 years. By the time he decided to sell, he had been in the business for 36 years. Deciding to Exit Tim built a great company culture as well as a profitable company. His management style was people and culture, then the numbers. He empowered his employees which motivated them to take ownership of improvement projects which helped the company run more effectively and efficiently. He loved being an entrepreneur but was more interested in business in general – growing a company and culture – versus the printing business. He wanted to work with business owners and help solve their business puzzles as he had done in his own company. Pushing 50-years-old he asked himself, “Am I ever going to do this?” It took him awhile to admit it but finally in a peer group setting he came to the conclusion, “I think I am going to sell Western.” Tim sat down with his Financial Advisor / CPA and drew up a list of friendly competitors to talk with about selling the company. They eventually realized their company with 8 million in sales was too small for a financial buyer to run it as a standalone business. They were going to be a “tuck in” to a larger company. Tim came to terms with this but had six main goals he wanted to accomplish with the sale which he talks about in the interview. These six things had to be met for him to feel good about the sale and where his employees were going. Second Act Knowing what he wanted to do in his “second act” helped get Tim through the emotional part of the exit. Some business owners do not plan for life after business which can leave them in a lonely spot after a sale. Tim had a passion to work with other business owners and knew this is what he wanted to do. “I knew what I wanted to do in my second act, I called it. Now I am helping other business owners build great businesses and hopefully a better life for them. My second act was really clear for me and I moved right into it. I have something else I am passionate about. I don’t have any regrets,” says Tim. Tim took the time to plan what he needed from the exit of his company, financially and emotionally, as well as having a plan for what was next in order to execute the perfect exit.    Contact Information and Bio for Tim: Email: Tim@altusba.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-keran-7362307/ Altus Business Advisors Website:altusba.com Peer Group Website: http://alliedexecutives.com/ Allied Executives Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlliedExecutives Previous Company Website: http://www.westerngx.com/companyinfo/index.html Tim has 25+ years of executive management experience and has been on his own personal continuous improvement journey since 1987. Altus Business Advisors is a business improvement company. Tim serves business owners and leaders who are interested in improving culture, accountability and results in their companies. Tim has been involved in various local and national business peer groups for over twenty years. Prior to Altus, Tim owned Western Graphics, a 50 employee, general commercial printing company. He focused on building a fun, rewarding and winning work culture. Western was a seven time winner of PIA’s Best Workplace in the Americas and won the prestigious Manufacturer of the Year and Best Lean Culture awards from the Manufacturers Alliance. A graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College, Tim is married with three children and lives in Lake Elmo. He enjoys skiing, music, traveling and mountain climbing.

Dr. Patrick Porter is an entrepreneur, award-winning author, speaker, consultant, and the creator of BrainTap Technologies which uses technology to reformat how the mind works and thinks. Dr. Porter and his newest BrainTap technology helps people tap into their minds full potential through light, sound, and frequency. If you listen, you will learn: How to use technology for a meditation experience How technology can offset the stress overload that we encounter The four primary brain wave states How to retrain and refocus your entrepreneurial mind Not just what to think, but how to think How to train your brain to function at its highest peak potential Positive Changes At an early age, Dr. Porter had experience with meditation and relaxation techniques. His dad taught him the techniques using the Silva Relaxation Sound to work on his concentration and focus. Later in life Dr. Porter learned about Neuro-Linguistic Programming which was all about digitalization and relaxation. This lead to him creating his first business, Positive Changes. Positive Changes turned into one of the largest self-improvement franchises using mind-based technology. This made Dr. Porter a highly sought-after expert within the personal improvement industry. The company quickly grew when they implemented a training program of the brain technology. It continued to grow strongly until some bad hires were made and their decisions changed the course of the business. Dr. Porter decided to get out of the business and continued to receive a payout and royalties for the technology he created. The new management of Positive Changes eventually decided to stop paying him royalties and therefore ended up in a court battle with Dr. Porter. It ended in his favor and the company could not use his technology in any future sales so quickly fell apart. After his non-compete was over, Dr. Porter got back into the brain game with the urging of a friend travelling around and doing shows with the mind-based technology. This is where the idea of BrainTap Technologies was born. Training Your Brain “A lot of people think our brain is fixed. Our brain can change. You can literally retrain your brain. You can use technology, like the Brain Tap, to bring your brain back into balance and start getting the best life now instead of waiting for life to happen,” says Dr. Porter. There are four primary brain wave states and BrainTap helps you “tap into” these different states through light, sound, and vibration. It teaches you to go to these different brain wave frequencies, which depending on your goal and the program you choose, will help you relax or give you more energy. “We call it tai chi for the mind,” states Dr. Porter. Listen to the podcast to find out more on the different brain states and how BrainTap can change how you think. The Entrepreneurial Mind “The mindset of an entrepreneur is different than the mindset of an everyday worker. That’s why there are only so many people that are successful in business,” says Dr. Porter. Entrepreneurs tend to hit a burnout phase at some point. You work yourselves to the bone and cannot seem to shut it off at the end of the day. The brain gets stressed out and does not function at its highest peak at this point. When you can’t sleep because you are thinking too much about what to do or where to go next, you are missing a brain wave frequency called Theta which is the bridge between fears and frustrations and deep peaceful sleep. Again, BrainTap helps train your brain to move through these frequencies so you can learn how to relax or recharge your brain. “The greatest pharmacy on Earth is not on the corner, it is in between our ears. It can release any number of 30,000 different neurochemicals to make us feel good or bad so we have the opportunity every day with technology like the BrainTap to reboot our brain and to reach our peak potential,” explains Dr. Porter. What entrepreneur wouldn’t want that!? Take the BrainTap challenge today –  Click image below for your FREE TRIAL: To visit the BrainTap store and purchase a headset, click HERE! Contact Information and Bio for Dr. Porter: BrainTap Technologies Phone: 302-721-6677 Company Website: http://braintaptechnology.com/bt/mysolidity Personal Twitter: https://twitter.com/PatrickPorter Patrick K. Porter, Ph.D. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patrickporterphd Company Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrainTapTech Company Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/braintaptech/ Patrick K. Porter, Ph.D. has been on the cutting edge of brainwave entertainment technology for 25 years. He was a co-developer of the MC2, the first personal light & sound brainwave training machine, voted “Best New Gadget of the Year” at the 1989 Consumer Electronics Show. His newest device, BrainTap, is distinctively designed to take the Brain Tap Technology sessions to the highest possible level with the addition of light & sound frequencies. Dr. Porter is known for developing Positive Changes, the largest self-improvement franchise using mind-based technology, making him a highly sought-after expert within the personal improvement industry. Dr. Porter’s successes were featured in The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, People, Entrepreneur and INC magazines, as well as ABC, NBC, CBS and the Discovery Channel. He is a licensed trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and is the head of mind-based studies at the International Quantum University of Integrative Medicine (IQUIM). He is the author of seven books including Thrive In Overdrive, How to navigate Your Overloaded Lifestyle and the bestseller, Awaken the Genius, Mind Technology for the 21st Century, which was awarded “Best How-To Book of 1994” by the North American Book Dealers Exchange. Most recently, he co-authored with Dr. Bob Hoffman Your Flourishing Brain; How to Reboot Your Brain and Live Your Best Life Now, a book that teaches chiropractors why they must focus on neurological health and brain balance to stay on the leading edge of the profession. His highly anticipated new book, BrainTap, The Ultimate Guide to Relaxing, Rebooting and Strengthening Your Busy Brain is due for release in 2016. Dr. Porter has produced an arsenal of more than 650 audio-recorded motivational programs and creative visualization processes, and has sold more than 3 million books and recordings worldwide.  

Dan Faggella founded a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy to pay for college and grad school which sparked the idea for his eCommerce business, Science of Skill. Science of Skill was created for the sole purpose of eventually selling it and using the exit money to fund an artificial intelligence market research company. He grew Science of Skill past $2 million in revenue, sold it in 2017, and TechEmergence was born completely funded by the exit. If you listen, you will learn: How recurring revenue helps the value of your business Importance of finding a marketing channel that ensures consistent profitability and growth Having key employees that can run the company without the owner can increase the value of the company and provide for a smoother transition/exit Importance of knowing how the processes of your company tie into growth and profit How to figure out and analyze the core metrics of your business Finding the right broker makes a ton of difference when selling a business Building Up Science of Skill Dan went from owning a physical Jiu-Jitsu gym to starting an eCommerce business. He started taping the Jiu-Jitsu seminars he was giving in person and putting them on the internet. He took the curriculum he used and studied himself and turned the videos, information, and skill development exercises into monthly subscription based lessons which would allow the company to have recurring revenue. “I had it impressed on me early on that recurring revenue is a good thing. Recurring revenue is going to help you sell for a higher margin. Recurring revenue is going to give you less nightmare than businesses that don’t have recurring revenue. The only reason I was able to sell that gym was because it was recurring so I think that lesson kind of traveled over. I transferred that to an online business model I could run from anywhere,” explains Dan. The Jiu-Jitsu videos and information quickly extended out into general self-defense and self-protection lessons which attracted a broader audience to Science of Skill making the company more diverse and valuable to a buyer. Starting With The End In Mind TechEmergence was always the goal at the end of the tunnel. Dan wanted to start a purpose led business in AI technology by growing and selling something highly profitable. He spent half his time giving Ted Talks, writing articles, and building a media business around artificial intelligence and spent the other half of his time selling self-defense materials on the internet. Dan wanted to sell Science of Skill quickly to fund his AI research company. He thought it would take a year or so and ultimately, it took over three years. He didn’t realize when founding the eCommerce business that it would be so difficult to sell. “I thought I am going to flip this bad boy and call it a day,” says Dan. Dan was under what he calls a “naïve belief” that he would be able to sell the company easily. In reality, he had to grow the company for four years before a bank would facilitate a seven-figure transaction. The banks required three years of tax returns and valuations. “Banks don’t like stuff that involve the internet,” says Dan. He did find a buyer who had previous experience in the eCommerce space with a bank that backed them. They purchased Science of Skill in early 2017. It was three years longer than what Dan originally planned and was anxious to get TechEmergence going on more of a full-time basis.  Lessons Learned Dan learned a lot throughout the process of starting and selling his eCommerce business. Not only shouldn’t you expect to sell a small company a year after founding it, you also shouldn’t expect a “glamorous exit” unless you have a strategic buyer in your space, proprietary list, or something more than just your cash flow. “One of those naïve notions was that we could get some decent multiple of profit to sell the company. It is unusual for a small business to sell for that much more than 3X profit,” says Dan. Another lesson was that finding the right broker makes a ton of difference. The broker Dan dealt with had previously sold similar eCommerce businesses for around what he hoped for with his exit. Two of Dan’s biggest takeaways that allowed him to successfully scale and exit Science of Skill involved marketing and his team. Figuring out the marketing channel that worked for them was extremely important for growth. They invested heavily in marketing once they nailed down that email marketing was their channel. The next biggest takeaway was the importance of training a good team. “The owner shouldn’t be the guy responsible for bringing money in the front door,” says Dan. Training his team to be able to know and do everything he could allowed him to step away from the company and use his exit money to fund his next venture that had been brewing since the beginning. Contact Information and Bio for Dan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danfaggella/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/danfaggella Blog: http://clvboost.com/blog/ Company Website: https://www.techemergence.com/ Company Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TechEmergence/ Company Twitter : https://twitter.com/TechEmergence Exit Article : www.emerj.com/exit Science of Skill Website: https://scienceofskill.com/ Daniel Faggella is a recognized email marketing expert, entrepreneur, and speaker. Starting his first business in his undergraduate years, Dan began with his second business while attending the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Master of Applied Positive Psychology program. His expertise lies in targeted marketing strategies and exceptional attention to maximizing the ROI from email. Selling his first business at age 25 and moving from Rhode Island to Boston, Dan has a passion for helping startup and existing businesses use marketing automation technology to drastically increase their Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), and drive business metrics that matter. Dan has been recognized not only by the many companies he’s helped directly, but by major media sites such as the Boston Business Journal, MarketingProfs, Direct Marketing News, and more. He has been interviewed on popular shows such as MIXERGY, GrowthHacker.tv, Entrepreneur on Fire, and many others. He also speaks around the country on successful marketing strategy and business, including the eMarketing Association’s national conference, Bryant University, the Cambridge Innovation Center, and more. Today, Daniel works with a select group of companies ranging from software, hard products, eCommerce, service businesses and beyond. His consulting efforts focus entirely on email marketing, marketing automation strategy, copywriting, and conversion-rate optimization. He is the CEO / founder at TechEmergence, the only market research and company discovery platform focused exclusively on artificial intelligence and machine learning. “I’m of the belief that the most important ethical considerations of the coming thirty years will be the creation or expansion of sentience and intelligence in technology. My time is focused exclusively on this major concern. TechEmergence is intended first as a vehicle to proliferate an open-minded conversation about the implications and applications of AI. Business model came later, purpose was and is first.”

Mark Raderstorf is a Rehabilitation Psychologist by training and lifelong entrepreneur by choice. Mark was working at the University of Minnesota Medical School and decided to launch into private practice back in the 1980’s. He founded Behavioral Medical Interventions, Inc. (BMI), a disability management company and national provider of psychiatric and physical disability management services. For the next 15 years before selling the business, he helped people with injuries or disabilities in their emotional, psychological, or vocational adjustments. If you listen, you will learn: How important referral relationships and reputation are to a service business The impact key employees/shareholders have on the value of a company The importance of having a coach/consultant during a company sale How employees are the key asset in a service business sale Having a plan for the sale of your company and your life after business can relieve stress and help with the adjustment From Psychologist to Business Man Mark describes himself as a service-oriented individual. His passion for helping people was sparked by a traumatic event in his brother’s life. His older brother had a football related head injury and almost died from an aneurysm which dramatically changed the trajectory of his career. This experience was eye opening for Mark and he knew he wanted to help people in similar situations. Mark’s small private practice grew from Raderstorf and Associates to Behavioral Medical Interventions, Inc. when he was becoming too busy to handle the incoming business all on his own. He hired one person after another and the company continued to grow even through the financial downturn of 2009. The key to their success was a little bit of luck mixed with good relationships and reputation in the industry. Working on a Sale Mark took on more and more with the business which caused stress and worry. At the age of 50, he contemplated if he wanted to continue with the business for the rest of his life. He was spending more and more energy managing people and customers. He couldn’t “turn it off” at the end of the day and it was taking away from time with his wife and kids. “The business can just gobble you up if you let it. You gotta draw a line somewhere,” says Mark. Mark found himself spending less time impacting the daily lives of people which was why he went into psychology in the first place. He decided he wanted to do something different and figure out what his encore career was going to be. It took Mark two to three years to get his company ready to sell with the help of a CFO advisor. He brought in key employees to increase the value and marketability of the company. He tried to first sell to a private equity group but the deal went nowhere. He talks more about his experience in the podcast and what he learned throughout this process. Eventually Mark did sell to a partner, Crisis Care Network that later rebranded into R3 Continuum, whose services were a natural complement to BMI’s. What’s Next? Even though he could have stayed in the business and possible sold for more at a later stage, Mark does not regret the decision. It was his time to sell. The plan for Mark was to sell the business, take a sabbatical to Ecuador with his wife, and figure out what to do with the next stage of their lives. “The more time and energy you can spend on what’s next around the corner, the better the adjustment is going to be. It is really hard when you’re selling a business because all the focus is on getting business ready…It is important not to get too far down the road…It is important to talk through what’s next,” concludes Mark. Mark wanted to get back to really helping people and also focus on helping kids. This is exactly what he does today working in private practice three days a week with baby boomers that are looking for their encore career and then volunteering in school the other two. At 62 years old, he is back to living his passion in his life after business. Contact Information and Bio for Mark:  Email: mark@raderstorfassociates.com Main Office Phone: 612-823-5187 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-raderstorf-0a94501/ Raderstorf Associates Website: https://raderstorfassociates.com/ Mark Raderstorf has over thirty years of clinical experience, including assessing and counseling psychiatric and physically disabled patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Mark Raderstorf earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Ohio State University and a Master’s in Rehabilitation Psychology from Texas Tech University. After relocating to the Twin Cities from Ohio, he started his private practice in 1989, providing personal adjustment counseling, psychological and vocational evaluations, and career counseling. In 1995 Mark Raderstorf founded Behavioral Medical Interventions, Inc. (BMI), a disability management company and national provider of psychiatric and physical disability management services. He then spent fifteen years building a career path focused on helping individuals with disabilities become stable, productive, and engaged in new and rewarding career paths. BMI became a national leader in the behavioral health disability and absence management field as Mark was fortunate to surround himself with very talented and energetic professionals. After selling BMI in 2010, Mark enjoyed a sabbatical in Ecuador and returned with a renewed passion for his clinical practice.   Mark is now focused on providing vocational and psychological assessments to clients experiencing a major life change due to illness, injury, sexual trauma, or change in marital status. As a complement to these assessments, Mark also provides career counseling, labor market research, disability consultations, threat assessments, and fitness for duty examinations. Mark has lectured locally and nationally on topics related to behavioral health disability management and psychological/ vocational issues in the workplace. He has also authored several peer-reviewed articles that have been published regarding work capability and mental health issues in the workplace. As an adjunct to his clinical practice, Mark contributes to his community through leadership and direct service to several non-profit organizations in the Twin City Area. He is particularly interested in assisting organizations that want to improves the lives of children and youth. Mark presently serve on the Board of Directors for the Loppet Foundation, a non-profit committed to promoting a healthy, active lifestyle, especially to inner-city youth. He is on the Advisory Board to the Minnesota Urban Debate League, which promotes critical thinking and debate skills to junior high/ high school students in Minneapolis and St. Paul City Schools. Mark also enjoys tutoring and mentoring immigrant students at Minneapolis Roosevelt Senior High School and is a cross-country ski coach at Minneapolis Northeast Middle School.

Jay Coughlan, former CEO of Lawson Software, took the company public at $200 million and grew the revenue to $430 million. Besides CEO of Lawson Software, he is also known for other titles including former CEO of XRS Corporation, a father, a son, and a convicted felon. After a devastating accident, Jay spent time in jail and completely redefined his life. If you listen, you will learn:  The five bold choices to help you rise above your circumstances and redefine who you are How not to live “comfortably numb” How eliminating negative self-talk will make you more confident A quick three question debrief exercise to help turn failure into a learning opportunity The importance of knowing and performing activities that give you energy How to apply the five bold choices to your business and take some action   The Accident Back in 1998, Jay and his father went out to a local hunt club and then a bar afterward. Jay drove drunk and ended up hitting at train at 60mph. Jay was devastated when he woke up in the hospital to find out that his father did not survive the accident. Before even leaving the hospital, Jay found faith. After receiving forgiveness from God and eventually from his entire family, he decided he wouldn’t let this low point in his life define who he was. He was a convicted felon and went on to serve a 6-month jail sentence but wasn’t going to be a victim of his circumstances. 5 Bold Choices “Life is going to throw all of us a bunch of opportunities and a bunch of challenges. Those opportunities and challenges are going to demand a response,” says Jay. Jay’s response to his circumstance was to rise above and make choices that would help him be defined by something else, something better. He was being asked at speaking events how exactly he was able to do this which he describes in his book, “Five Bold Choices: Rise Above Your Circumstances and Redefine Your Life.” Jay created his current company, TruBalanced, and now consults business leaders and speaks at many events using these lessons he learned in his past and choices he made for his future. The five things, in addition to faith, that was driving Jay are listed below. He goes into these five things much more in depth in the podcast: Clarity: Keep the important things important Accountability: Take responsibility for your life journey Adaptability: Anticipating changes ensures growth Confidence: Keeping things in proper perspective Balance: Life is a marathon, not a sprint  Applying to Your Business You can apply the five bold choices to your business and be able to take action: Clarity: Business owners must have the clarity of knowing what is important, what is urgent, and what is not. Prioritizing is key. You can’t do everything. Accountability: There is a motivation in your accountability to do things with your family in addition to your business. The main thing about accountability is it’s about continuous learning. You have to learn from both your successes and failures. Adaptability: You must embrace change. “You need to embrace the ability to adapt versus fight it,” says Jay. If you are not thinking about where your company may go or even your “Life After Business,” you are not thinking through the realities of what is going to impact you and your family on an ongoing basis. If you don’t adapt, you die very quickly and can become a victim of your circumstance. Confidence: Confidence comes down to being prepared and knowing the truth. Don’t get caught in negative self-talk. When you have confidence, you have credibility. Balance: There are only 168 hours in a week so how are you going to allocate your time? “Are you doing things that matter that go toward your goals or give you energy? These are the things that allow you to appreciate life more than becoming the victim,” says Jay. Business owners tend to isolate themselves. The company’s problems and issues are their problems and issues. Jay gives some final advice to get yourself out of isolation. Don’t do everything in a bubble. It doesn’t have to be “lonely at the top.” Get out and get insight from other people. Discussing your business (and even personal) challenges with other people will give you encouragement and get you out of negative self-talk. Join a peer group or find an advisor. Surround yourself with the right people to make you and your business better. Too many people try to solve problems on their own or self-medicate if they are going through professional or personal problems and it never ends well. Jay ends our discussion with, “My goal is to help people before they hit the train.” Contact Information and Bio for Jay: Email: jay@trubalanced.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaycoughlan/ Twitter: @TruBalanced Company Website: http://trubalanced.com Book Purchase: http://5boldchoices.com/ Company Facebook: https://business.facebook.com/TruBalanced/?business_id=932769676811624 Jay Coughlan is a keynote speaker, mentor to aspiring business leaders, and an inspiring leader who fosters a culture of high-integrity and openness, having served as CEO of such industry leaders as Lawson Software and XRS Corporation. During his tenure as CEO of Lawson Software, the company completed a $200 million initial public offering (IPO), while growing revenue from $200 million to $430 million. He is also a convicted felon, and has spent time in prison. During this dark part of his life, he began developing a framework for dealing with the troubles that life inevitably brings. Jay uses lessons gleaned from his own missteps to help change the paths of individuals and organizations. He has captured the energy from his true passion and combined it with his experience as a chief executive, creating TruBalanced™: Building Better Business Leaders. Jay and his family make their home in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

Bob Moesta, current President and Cofounder of The ReWired Group, created the Jobs To Be Done Theory along with Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen. The theory has successfully helped Moesta start, build, and sell several startups and launch over 3,500 products over the years. It is the main method used in his current occupation which helps business owners reevaluate their companies and drives them to really understand their customer to be a more profitable and valuable company. If you listen, you will learn: What businesses are mistakenly doing that cost them customers and sales How to use the Jobs To Be Done Theory to reevaluate your company How to define progress and what that looks like to you What causes people to make progress How to frame your product or service as a solution to your customer How context can create value The Backstory and Theory From an early age, Bob Moesta always had a notion of questioning and wanting to know how things work. He always took apart things and put them back together. Because of his dyslexia, it made it hard for him to read and write but he learned by questioning and listening. He took this way of learning and his knack for product development and created the Jobs to Be Done Theory which is described in the book “Competing Against Luck” written by Clay Christiansen. “People don’t buy products or services, they hire them to do a job in their life,” Moesta explains in the podcast. When you ask people what they want out of a product or service, they usually have no clue. They know what their desired outcome is which is what a company must understand to be able to sell to them. Moesta goes into a business and intently interviews new, current, or previous customers about the company’s product or service. His goal is to find out what actually made them switch to or away from the product. What caused them to buy or choose a different product? What was their struggling moment that caused them to make progress? The Jobs to Be Done framework allows you to see the struggling moment leading to the customer’s purchase.   Putting Theory into Practice After multiple customer interviews, business owners should be able to have an idea of what they should be focusing their business or messaging on. Some businesses need to completely reevaluate how they bring their products or services to market and may have to change their focus entirely. “You can sit in a conference room all day and guess what people will say,” says Moesta. Actually understanding why a customer purchases your product or service will help you position the product in a way that makes the consumer see you as a solution rather than just another product. “The moment that a customer or consumer struggles, they care about something and want something better. The more you find struggling moments and understand the progress they want to make, then you can design better products,” says Moesta.  You have to understand what causes people to value something over something else. This knowledge will not only make better products and drive revenue, but can help cut costs of marketing to the wrong people or in the wrong way.   Value & Progress Bob’s main reason for doing what he does it to ultimately create value for companies. Bob and his team help businesses grow by understanding what their customers need in order to progress into a sale. The customer interviews conducted may result in a company having to change their offering or positioning. A company grows by selling actual solutions people need and in turn the value of the business also grows. Business owners, like consumers, have to define what progress is to them. Progress looks different for everyone. There are many different struggling moments or reasons people buy (or don’t buy) products. The same can be said for progress in “Life After Business” as well. What is the reason you sell and keep on living your life? Progress for a consumer may be to buy a product that solves the issue they are having in their life at the current moment allowing them to free up time or be more confident in what they are doing. Progress in life after business is not just getting a sum of money for your business. That may be the goal but what pushes you toward or past the goal? What is the thing that will make you move forward in life? Bob questions, “What is your metric for how you fulfill your life? What does progress look like at 70?” What do you need or want out of your business that will make your life better after the sale? What is the thing that will make you be OK with the sale and continue to move forward in life in a way that makes you happy, proud, or content? What will make it all worth it?   Contact Information and Bio for Bob: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobmoesta/ Twitter: @bmoesta Company Website: http://www.therewiredgroup.com/ Jobs To Be Done Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jobstobedone/ Jobs To Be Done Blog: http://www.jobstobedone.org/ Jobs To Be Done Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id499859427 Competing Against Luck (book purchase): https://www.amazon.com/Competing-Against-Luck-Innovation-Customer/dp/0062435612/ Entrepreneurs and enterprise leaders alike recognize the importance of innovation, but few harness it effectively. Bob Moesta helps make it more predictable and successful. Among the principal architects of the Jobs to be Done theory in the mid-90s along with Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen, Moesta has continued to develop, advance and apply the innovation framework to everyday business challenges. Currently president & cofounder of The ReWired Group, a Detroit, Mich., Innovation consultancy & incubator, he is also a fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute. A visual thinker, teacher and creator, Moesta has worked on & helped launch more than 3,500 new products, services and businesses across nearly every industry, including defense, automotive, software, financial services and education, among many others. The Jobs to be Done theory is just one of 25 different methods and tools he uses to speed up and cut costs of successful development projects. He is a guest lecturer at The Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan School of Entrepreneurship and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Moesta is an entrepreneur at heart and engineer & designer by training. He has started, built and sold several startups. Moesta started out as an intern for Dr. W. Edwards Deming father of the quality revolution & worked with Dr. Genichi Taguchi extensively. He traveled to Japan & learned first-hand many of the lean product development methods for which so many Japanese businesses, including Toyota, are known. A lifetime learner, he holds degrees from Michigan State University and Harvard Business School. He has studied extensively at Boston University’s School of Management, M IT School of Engineering and Stanford University’s “D” School.

Most people say that business isn’t personal, however if you’ve ever owned or currently run a private business, you know that statement is completely false… your business is a reflection of you and all your values. Your business and your life are inevitably intertwined. Marc Miller, Owner and Chief Happiness Officer at Imagine IT, has made happiness his life’s work after experiencing a tragic family event. Even though life threw him a very challenging curveball, he is on a mission to figure out “what it takes to be happy” even if it comes from an unlikely place. If you listen, you will learn: How to keep running a business when you experience a family tragedy Four principles of happiness How to use your business to teach your values How to make happiness actionable in the workplace A Family Tragedy Over two years ago, Marc’s son, Gunnar, was in a fatal accident. Gunnar had issues with substance abuse and depression, but that is not what took his life. He was over 14 months sober and wiped out on a skateboard and died. After this tragic and devastating accident, Marc wanted to do something to honor his son. He started a non-profit, The Gunnar Project. He didn’t want to create another youth addiction non-profit so decided to go another route with it. “Gunnar had this unique ability to make people happy,” explains Marc. Marc decided to focus on the idea of happiness for the non-profit. The mission of the Gunnar Project is to inspire young adults and others to wake up every morning and pursue happiness.  What Makes Us Happy? Happiness is an intangible thing. It is a buzz word in our society today. Marc has read tons of books and research articles on happiness and outlines the four main principles of happiness in the podcast which can also be found on the Gunnar Project website: Healthy people find more happiness than those who are sick or unhealthy. People who learn, create, teach, grow are happier than those who are bored. People who are closely connected to others find happiness more than lonely people. People who are “good”, who have a relationship with a higher power are happier than those who are bad, who lie, cheat, and steal. Marc urges listeners to plan to intentionally do things every day that make you happy. Outline your day in the morning and avoid doing things throughout the day or talking to people that will make you crabby. Plan and choose to be happy. “The investment you have to make to be happy every day is a 3-minute investment. If you don’t have 3, 4, or 5 minutes in your day to pursue happiness, you are screwed.” People may think happiness is this big thing or event. It isn’t a milestone or pot at the end of the rainbow. In talking about happiness being more about the journey, not the goal, Marc says, “Happiness can be found in the little spaces in between the milestones, because that is where the action happens.”  Culture of Happiness Marc has created a culture of happiness at Imagine IT. After Gunnar died, Marc changed his title to Chief Happiness Officer to further his mission to drive happiness with everybody he meets day in and day out. Talking about happiness at work isn’t a “normal” thing in most companies. Imagine IT puts happiness at the forefront and therefore have a vocabulary around the subject which makes it easier for employees to talk about happiness. Happiness is actionable within Imagine IT’s culture. It is talked about in weekly and quarterly meetings, sit-down conversations with employees and partners, as well as in day-to-day conversations. Imagine IT’s mission, even as an IT company dealing with mostly problems and issues daily, is to expand their circle of happiness into the world. Marc is fortunate enough to spend his time pushing this agenda in his life and business. Contact Information and Bio for Marc: Email: Marc@gunnarproject.org Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-miller-3b06ba100/ Gunnar Project Website: http://www.gunnarproject.org/ Gunnar Project Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gunnarproject/ Gunnar Project YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHn2snqQQ6xuJG14jEyvtqQ Imagine IT Company Website: https://www.imagineiti.com/ Imagine IT Company Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ImagineITInc/ Marc is one of Imagine IT’s Owners and is responsible for education and business development, spending a large portion of his time adding amazing new clients to the Imagine IT family. He is also very focused on delivering positive, exceptional experiences for the business owners, employees and customers of our clients. After earning his BA in Computer Science at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN Marc enjoyed an extremely varied career as both a tennis and golf professional, the Owner of Dogleg Indoor Golf Centers and Vice President of Sales at Intellifeed, Inc. To date, Marc has 20 years of industry-related experience, making him the ideal boss to lead us on to even bigger and better things! When not working with technology, Marc works to connect young adults to happiness through his work with the Gunnar Project. By lecturing on college campuses, in high schools and other youth community groups Marc shares the latest research and findings on happiness and teaches young adults the importance of intentionally pursuing happiness every day.

Paul Spiegelman founded BerylHealth and eventually sold to Stericycle, a global services organization with 25,000+ employees. He was able to take his most favorite part of his job and transition into the role of Chief Culture Officer at Stericycle in hopes of scaling the culture he built and cherished at his first company. If you listen, you will learn: How culture can impact business Three things every employee wants out of their company and culture Processes to implement and measure culture Challenges and rewards of transitioning out of a business that is a reflection of yourself Business Beginnings Paul’s first business was a medical alerts company he started with his two brothers. Within a year of starting the company, a hospital contacted the brothers in need of someone to handle physician referrals and their core business changed. They ultimately became an outsourced provider of call-center services for hospitals across the country taking calls and tracking patients into hospital systems. A call-center operation can easily become a commodity business but Paul wanted to create value for their customers. They ended up building a great brand around their unique internal culture that drove customer loyalty and profitability. This created extreme value when they eventually decided to exit the company in 2012. Organizations Are a Reflection of the Leader Paul explains a few different definitions of culture. “Culture is the extent to which team members or employees will do work beyond what is expected of them as well as the vibe that you feel when you walk through the doors of that business.” “Culture and leadership are really the same thing and as leaders we have to make choices on how we lead. Culture and treating people well is not only the right thing to do, it is good for business. There is an ROI to it. It is as important of a process in our business than any other process we have. Not every company works this way,” explains Paul. Paul helped create a brand around their culture that not only drove employee loyalty, but that drove customer loyalty. The culture allowed them to sustain and grow. A call-center is a tough place to work but they made it fun for their employees who they cared about, rewarded, and let them be themselves. Scaling Culture Paul and his brother that was still involved in the business didn’t have any intention of selling but knew it would come at some point. “All I wanted to do was build a great business and sustain it for as long as possible.” An offer for the business did come up in 2010 and during due diligence, they walked away from the deal to protect their team members. It just wasn’t the right fit. A year later they were approached by Stericycle to become a part of their family, and it was a better fit for their company and culture. Paul was curious to determine if his current company culture could scale to a bigger company like Stericycle which had been around for 25 years with 25,000 employees in 18 countries. He became Chief Culture Officer of Stericycle after the sale in 2012 with this goal in mind. After some work and overcoming challenges with management, Paul was successfully able to bring his company’s culture and vibe over to Stericycle. The transition to life after business for Paul was pretty smooth as he felt good about the company taking over his business and he could continue to do the part of the work he loved most. During this podcast episode, Paul further talks about some of the challenges he faced during transition, gaining trust of management and employees, and programs and processes that can be put in place to measure culture and employee happiness. Contact Information and Bio for Paul: Website: http://paulspiegelman.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulspiegelman/ Personal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paulspiegelman Personal Twitter: @paulspiegelman Stericycle Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stericycle Stericycle Twitter: @stericycle_inc Small Giants Community Twitter: @smallgiantsbuzz Books: http://paulspiegelman.com/books/ Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1199124989? Paul Spiegelman is Chief Culture Officer of Stericycle, a NASDAQ listed global services organization with 25,000+ employees and is the Founder of BerylHealth, The Beryl Institute and the Small Giants Community. Paul is a New York Times best-selling author and has been honored with the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. Paul is a sought-after speaker and author on leadership, employee engagement, entrepreneurship, corporate culture, and customer relationships. He makes frequent radio and TV appearances and his views have been featured in the Wall Street Journal and Inc. Magazine, and is currently a columnist for Forbes.com. Paul practiced law for two years prior to founding BerylHealth. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from UCLA and a law degree from Southwestern University.

  President and CEO of Make-A-Wish Minnesota, Mia Hoagberg, explains that business owners and entrepreneurs should be involved in non-profit work in a way that makes sense to them, their business, and that aligns with their skills and passions. If you listen, you will learn: Transferable skills from traditional business to non-profit What ways entrepreneurs/business owners can get involved and make a difference How you can leverage your relationships and skills in a non-profit Mission of Make-A-Wish Foundation and different types of wishes Three misconceptions of Make-A-Wish Foundation Transferable Skills from Traditional to Non-Profit Mia didn’t start off her career in the non-profit world. After working in Marketing and Advertising for 13 years and staying home with her kids for 6 years while earning a Masters, she had a change of heart. Mia decided to become involved in fundraising and philanthropy work. Mia talks in the podcast about what skills were transferable from her traditional work to non-profit work. The most transferable skill she took from one career to the next is relationship building. Fundraising is all about creating relationships with different people. She took her skills of working with clients and vendors in advertising and puts them to good use in her current role. She also explains how people can use the skills they have in business to help Make-A-Wish or any non-profit they want to be involved with.  Be Involved in a Meaningful Way There are many ways business owners and entrepreneurs can get involved in non-profits. The most important thing, as Mia explains, is for people to get involved in a way that is meaningful to them or in a way that brings joy back to the work that they already do. She gives an example of a wish that an architecture firm helped with in Minneapolis. A little girl wanted a playset in her backyard and the architects put a plan together for the layout of the backyard and playset to support the wish. Individual people or a company must look at what their goals, objectives, and skills are and tie it in with the work they do with Make-A-Wish to make it meaningful for them. Entrepreneurs and business owners are usually all about relationships, networking, and connections. Even if a person has exited their business, they still have these contacts and skills that may go unused. These are key skills in fundraising and can be used to help grant someone’s life-changing wish. If you help in a way that aligns with your skills, goals, and passions, the work and impact will be greater. All About the Wishes “We are all structured around making sure that a child’s one life-changing wish happens and putting everything into place to make sure that happens behind the scenes.” – Mia Hoagberg Wishes drive everything that Make-A-Wish Minnesota does. They have a budget and work with individuals, schools, corporations, and foundations to raise money, get in-kind donations, and volunteers. They work with other chapters across the country to determine best practices, partner with local sports teams to make wishes happen, and are always looking for more people or organizations to donate things to keep costs down. There are so many ways individuals and organizations can become involved in Make-A-Wish. It is all about granting life-changing wishes for those that need them. Check out the podcast episode for more information and see below for a list of upcoming events: Make-A-Wish MN EVENTS: http://mn.wish.org/news-and-events/calendar-of-events  May 20th: Wish Ball 2017, Hilton Minneapolis August 5th: Walk for Wishes Twin Cities, Minnehaha Regional Park September 14th: Golf for Wishes, Keller Golf Course, Maplewood October 1st: Walk for Wishes, Duluth November 2nd: Wine, Women and Wishes Contact Information and Bio for Mia Hoagberg: Email: mhoagberg@wishmn.org Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mia-hoagberg-76bb806/ Company Website: http://mn.wish.org/ Company Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/makeawishmn/ Company Twitter: @MakeAWishMN Company Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makeawishmn/?hl=en Mia Hoagberg is the President and CEO of Make-A-Wish Foundation Minnesota. She worked in the for-profit world in marketing and advertising for 13 years before staying home with her children for 6 years. Mia received her Master’s Degree at the same time she was home with her children. While finishing her degree, Mia went through an exploration process deciding what she wanted to do when returning to work and settled on wanting to make a difference through fundraising at a non-profit. She worked in two different healthcare philanthropy departments before coming to Make-A-Wish Minnesota in 2014. Duties: Manages internal and external relationships to grant the wish of every eligible child in Minnesota. Education: B.A., St. Olaf College. M.A., University of St. Mary’s, Minneapolis. Hobbies: Walking the Minneapolis lakes, biking the Minnesota trails, and travel. Some of Mia’s favorites from growing up: Game: Cribbage Class in school: Algebra Movie/Show: The Brady Bunch