

Smart Business Revolution | Turn Relationships into Revenues | Networking | More Clients | Relationship Advice
John Corcoran
"Top 100 Small Business Podcasts 2014" -- Small Biz Trends. Former Clinton White House Writer John Corcoran shows you how to build relationships intelligently to get more clients, grow your income and advance your career. Discover how you can use win-win networking and intentional relationship-building with Influencers and VIPs, even if you "hate networking" or feel like you have "nothing to offer" people who are successful. Interviews with today's top entrepreneurs and authors such as Dan Pink, Michael Port, Gary Vaynerchuk, Marie Forleo and Guy Kawasaki, who reveal how they use relationships to grow their businesses and their incomes. Find out more at SmartBusinessRevolution.com.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 10, 2021 • 38min
Jennifer Rotner | Scaling and Systematizing a Creative Business and Rebounding from Losing a Whale Client
Jennifer Rotner is the Founder and CEO of Elite Creative, which consists of Elite Editing and Elite Authors. They provide writing, editing, publishing, and content marketing solutions. From her real-world experience as a professional editor, Jennifer recognized the need for a better way to ensure that editing and proofreading services were customized to each of her customers. Therefore, she developed an exclusive matching system to pair every project and customer with the right proofreader or editor — which is why Elite Editing boasts of a loyal roster of satisfied customers and an unrivaled pool of editors and proofreaders who hail from the business, academic, and journalism realms. Prior to founding Elite Editing, Jennifer helped form the editorial division at NYC & Company, New York City’s official marketing organization, where she ran the copy department as Copy Chief. Before that, she gained years of experience in the field as features editor for Focus - New York Magazine and as an editor for the marketing department at the American Museum of Natural History. In this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, John Corcoran interviews Jennifer Rotner, the Founder and CEO of Elite Creative, about her process of systematizing and scaling creative businesses to over seven figures. Jennifer talks about the mistakes she made and the lessons she learned when building her first businesses, explains how she structures her companies, and shares her tips for working with big clients.

Sep 6, 2021 • 30min
Shirin Oreizy | Supercharging Your Marketing with Behavioral Science
Shirin Oreizy is the Founder and CEO of Next Step, an award-winning behavioral marketing agency with offices in San Francisco and Boston. Next Step leverages the latest research in behavioral science (the study of how humans make decisions) to design better outcomes for businesses in their marketing and growth initiatives. Shirin has a degree in Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley and holds accreditations from Duke University and UC Berkeley on behavioral science and positive psychology. Her work applying behavioral science in marketing is regularly featured in Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and The Huffington Post. She has also been on the board of Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) and a guest lecturer at Stanford University. In this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, John Corcoran is joined by Shirin Oreizy, the Founder and CEO of Next Step, to discuss how you can use behavioral science to supercharge your business’ marketing. Shirin explains what behavioral science means, talks about the role it plays in building a company's culture, and explains how she pivoted her business from a digital design agency to start focusing on behavioral science.

Sep 3, 2021 • 30min
Michael Arrieta | Meeting Michael Dell, Building DocuSign into a $40B Company, and Helping Service Companies
Michael Arrieta is the Founder and CEO of Garden City, a purpose-driven buyout holding company that buys, grows, and forever-holds service companies across the Southeast. Once acquired, Garden City seeks to grow them through culture, technology, and sales. Michael was an early employee at DocuSign where he served as Global Vice President, General Manager, and Chief of Staff to the CEO. DocuSign has now achieved a $50B market cap with 5,000 employees. In 2016, Michael founded MAV Ventures, a venture capital group that has invested in over 50 companies and multiple funds. He also co-founded New Story, a nonprofit that has built over 2,000 homes in developing countries and is recognized for creating the world’s first-ever 3D home printer. He was recognized by Forbes as “30 Under 30” in 2016 for his social entrepreneurship work. He graduated from the University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management and now lives in Atlanta with his wife and children. In this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, John Corcoran is joined by Michael Arrieta, the Founder and CEO of Garden City, to talk about investing in service and technology-based businesses. Michael discusses his career background working at Cutco, Wyse Technology, Dell, and DocuSign — including the lessons learned from Michael Dell. He also shares his hiring strategies and explains how he evaluates the best companies to invest in.

Aug 30, 2021 • 32min
Anna David | How to Become a NY Times Best-Selling Author
Anna David is the Founder and CEO of Launch Pad Publishing, a company that helps people share their stories and increase their credibility through book publishing. She is a New York Times best-selling author of eight books and has been a featured speaker at three different TEDx events. Anna has been published in The New York Times, Time, and The LA Times among many others. She has appeared repeatedly on The Today Show, The Talk, The CBS Morning Show, and dozens of other programs and has been written about in Entrepreneur, Forbes, and Martha Stewart Living. Anna is also the host of the Launch Your Book podcast. In this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, John Corcoran is joined by Anna David, an author and the Founder and CEO of Launch Pad Publishing, to talk about the journey to become a New York Times best-selling author. Anna discusses the challenges she faced building her writing career and publishing company, as well as her experience battling addiction. Plus, Anna shares how Launch Pad Publishing can help you produce your book and grow your business from there!

Aug 27, 2021 • 30min
Kait LeDonne | 4X'ing Your Business in 18 Months (Without Breaking Your Business Along the Way)
Kait LeDonne is the Founder of Brandwise Media, a personal brand agency that builds executive and authors’ unique brands using content marketing strategies through social media. She is the author of the book, The Attraction Magnet: The 7 Insider Secrets The World's Biggest Brands Use to Attract Customers Who Can't Wait to Buy From Them. Kait has been featured regularly in national and international publications as a commentator on celebrity and corporate brands. Kait developed The Influence Academy, one of the first online courses centered around LinkedIn, to teach executives how to position themselves as thought leaders in their respective spaces. To date, over 100 executives have completed the program. In this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, Kait LeDonne, the Founder of Brandwise Media, gets interviewed by John Corcoran about the business strategies she used to expand and 4x her agency in only 18 months. Kait also shares her recruitment strategies, explains how she builds her company's culture, and talks about the KPIs she uses to evaluate the performance of her business. Stay tuned.

Aug 23, 2021 • 22min
Dr. Jeremy Weisz | How To Get More Exposure by Appearing on More Podcasts
Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the Co-founder of Rise25, a company that helps B2B business owners connect with their ideal prospects, referral partners, and strategic partners through a done-for-you podcast service. Dr. Weisz has been involved in podcasting for 11 years and was a senior producer for one of the early business podcasts; he assisted in putting all of their systems in place and helped them add volume, feature, and edify various business leaders. Since 2011, Dr. Weisz has also been running his own podcast, Inspired Insider. Through those video interviews, he features top entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs of companies such as P90X, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, the Orlando Magic, and many more. Dr. Weisz also founded a nutritional supplement business and continues to run his chiropractic and massage facility, Chiropractical Solutions & Massage. In this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz, host of the Inspired Insider podcast, joins John Corcoran, his Co-founder at Rise25 Media, to share their best strategies for increasing exposure by appearing on other podcasts. They also talk about sending personalized outreach messages, the benefits of having your own podcast, and their advice on being a good podcast guest. Stay tuned.

Aug 20, 2021 • 46min
Craig Cummings [Top UCSB Entrepreneur Series] Nuclear Engineer to Unicorn Co-Founder, and $1 Million to $8 Billion in Revenue and 40,000 Employees
Craig Cummings is a Co-founder and investor at Santa Barbara Angel Alliance. He has founded or co-founded several technology-driven startup companies that executed multi-billion dollar IPO's (known as "unicorns") and one that was acquired for $650 million. Craig has served as a Trustee for both the UC Santa Barbara Foundation and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. He previously served on the advisory boards of the Eco-Entrepreneurship Program at the Bren School and the Technology Management Program, both at UC Santa Barbara. He is a member of Tech Coast Angels and is the past Chairman of the Central Coast chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum. Craig holds nuclear engineering degrees from UC Santa Barbara and MIT. Craig Cummings, a Co-founder and investor at Santa Barbara Angel Alliance, is John Corcoran's guest in this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, where they talk about Craig's experience working at SAIC under Bob Beyster's leadership and what he learned from the experience. They also talk about investing in startups, the benefits of an angel alliance, and what led to the collapse of SpectraFluidics. Stay tuned.

Aug 16, 2021 • 31min
Katty Douraghy | The Massive Changes in Creative and Digital and How Businesses Get Through Grief and Loss
Katty Douraghy is an entrepreneur, author, podcast host, and the President of Artisan Creative, a staffing and recruiting agency focused on digital, creative, and marketing talent and based in Los Angeles. She is a forum and retreat facilitator at Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), where she works closely with entrepreneurs to help them become better versions of themselves. Katty recently published her memoir, The Butterfly Years: A Journey Through Grief Toward Hope, detailing her personal journey through grief. She is on a mission to demystify grief and create a space where people can talk about loss, grief, and death without feeling judged or rushed. Katty was raised in San Francisco, London, and Tehran. In this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, John Corcoran interviews Katty Douraghy, the President of Artisan Creative, about how her experience with loss and grief inspired her to write The Butterfly Years. She also talks about the lessons she learned in the process, how she now helps others going through loss and grief, and how she has grown Artisan Creative.

Aug 13, 2021 • 31min
Todd Anthony | [Top Agency Series] Peddling Phone Books Door to Door in the Czech Republic to Advising Top Tier Brands
Todd Anthony is an award-winning verbal branding expert and the Executive Creative Director of Pinwheel Content. With more than 20 years of experience, he has worked at some amazing global creative agencies like Ogilvy, Young & Rubicam, J. Walter Thompson, as well as held creative leadership stints at big media companies such as CBS, Yahoo, and CNET. In 2014, Todd created Pinwheel, a creative agency focused on brand storytelling and content marketing. He has worked with some incredible clients including Johnson & Johnson, Fitbit, Experian, Nokia, and Amazon. He has also helped launch and nurture young startup brands. In this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, John Corcoran interviews Todd Anthony, the Executive Creative Director of Pinwheel Content, about his journey to the Czech Republic and back to the US, and how he built a top creative agency. Todd explains how he got started in copywriting and shares his experience working at companies including Ogilvy and Yahoo.

Aug 9, 2021 • 41min
Bill Prater | From Farm Kid to Over $1.3 Billion Worth of Business Deals
Bill Prater is the Founder of Business Mastery. He has raised over $1.3 billion for private businesses of all kinds. He was the Founder of Weatherly Private Capital, an investment banking firm that raised money for companies to finance new businesses, aggressive expansions, management buyouts, and M&A. Bill grew the firm to over 125 people with offices in New York, Seattle, and Washington, and later sold it. Today, he's a trainer, coach, mentor, and author of two books, Business Mastery: Dominate Your Market and Dynamic Growth. Bill Prater, the Founder of Business Mastery, joins John Corcoran in this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast where they talk about Bill's entrepreneurial background and how he ended up founding an investment bank. They also talk about some of the clients Bill has worked with and the challenges he faced growing his business.