Unleashed - How to Thrive as an Independent Professional

In a matter of days, Umbrex member Kaihan Krippendorf has organized a fantastic event to support the fight against COVID-19: the 2020 Outthinker Virtual Summit. 100% of the proceeds will go to charities working on COVID-19. Kaihan has lined up 20 amazing speakers who have each agreed to donate an hour of their time to providing a perspective on the crisis and answering questions. This online event is taking place April 6 and 7, and I definitely encourage you to check out the website and consider signing up. If you attend live, you’ll be able to submit questions to the speakers. If you can’t attend every session, they’ll be available afterwards for registered attendees. Listeners of this show can use the discount code UNLEASHED30 to get a 30% discount (disclosure statement: I do not receive a referral fee.) Read more at: https://summit.outthinkerroundtables.com/ In this episode, Kaihan explains how he and his team pulled the summit together so quickly, and provides tips on how you can set up something similar yourself – perhaps a summit for your industry or a functional area where you focus. Kaihan discusses the technology tools used to pull it together, including: Zoom – Webinar version Ticket Tailor to sell the tickets Stripe and PayPal to collect payment Squarespace for the summit’s web page Doodle to coordinate speaker schedules

Daniel Weiner is a prominent attorney with forty years of experience serving companies in distress, guiding them through restructuring efforts. He is widely published on the subject of bankruptcy, including co-author of the Collier Bankruptcy Practice Guide and  contributing author to Bankruptcy and Its Impact on LLC Membership Interests, published by The Institute of Continuing Legal Education. In today's episode, Weiner provides a broad overview of how restructuring works, and then in the second half suggests some specific steps for owners of small businesses impacted by the global pandemic. To learn more about his work, visit http://www.schaferandweiner.com/

If you are looking to stay productive while between projects, one way to use the time productively is to invest time in creating or improving the marketing collateral of your firm. In this episode, I share 14 recommendations. I mention some previous episodes of this show in my discussion, including: Episode 211: LinkedIn Profile Best Practices Episode 235: Mark Williams on creating an amazing LinkedIn profile Episode 140: Creating a project list Episode 121: Creating a portfolio of sanitized work

If you are looking to stay productive while between projects, one area to invest time is setting up technology tools for your practice. In this episode, I share 17 recommendations. I mention some previous episodes of this show in my discussion, including: Episode 172: David A Fields on setting up a CRM system Episode 236: Evernote Episode 237: MixMax Episode 73: Calendly

MixMax is a tool that plugs into Gmail or G-Suite email and provides you with email superpowers. In this episode I discuss the incredible capabilities of this tool, including sending sequences with automated follow-ups, finding out who has opened your emails and when, and scheduling emails to get sent at some future time. Sign up for MixMax at www.mixmax.com

I highly recommend Evernote - it is far more than a note-taking app.  You can also clip websites, save voice memos, store emails, and many more. In this short episode I give some examples of how I use Evernote. Sign up for your own Evernote account at www.evernote.com

Mark Williams, aka 'Mr. LinkedIn', is the host of one of my favorite podcasts, LinkedInFormed - I've listened to dozens of episodes, and much of what I know about LinkedIn I know from Mark. In this episode, Mark provides tips on key aspects of the LinkedIn profile: the headline, the photo, the about section, and the experience section. At one point I mention a specific episode of LinkedInFormed on the types of posts that engage. That one is Episode 242, and it would be a great episode to start with if you haven't heard this show before. You might also check out Episode 211 of Unleashed, in which I share my perspective on each aspect of the LinkedIn profile.    

Umbrex has set of a task force to help small businesses navigate the coronavirus pandemic. We'd love to get your help across these workstreams: 1. Create the content for the playbook 2. Design and publish the playbook (as a wiki? website? TBD) 3. Recruit coaches and consultants 4. Spread the word to business owners who need help 5. Administration of a database and reporting 6. Outreach to partner organizations and government 7. Legal advice on NDAs, employment law, etc.    

Our guest today is Umbrex member Susan Drumm, a BCG alum and the CEO of Meritage Leadership Development. Susan has extensive experience in running virtual meetings via videoconference, and in today’s episode she shares a set of tips to make virtual meetings more effective. Susan is publishing an article on this very topic tomorrow, March 16, and you can find that article and more of her writing at www.meritageleadership.com/blog If you find some value in this episode, I encourage you to check out Episode 65 of this show, in which Susan provides tips on facilitating high-impact offsite events. In that episode our discussion focused more on content, which in today’s discussion we focus more on tactical aspects of running  a virtual meeting. In today’s episode I suggest that someone on each meeting be designated to send a recap email; I discuss recap emails in more detail in Episode 203. I also mention the real-time polling tool Mentimeter, and to learn more about that tool, check out Episode 53 in which I interview Johnny Warstrom, the CEO of Mentimeter. To get your own account, visit www.mentimeter.com

Our guest today is Rhona Silverbush, co- author of Speak the Speech!: Shakespeare's Monologues Illuminated. Rhona teaches small-group classes and privates one-on-one coaching to actors on how to speak the language of Shakespeare. You don’t need to be a professional actor to work with Rhona: some of her students are members of the regular public who just want to get a better appreciation of the plays – and there is no better way to do that than reading the plays aloud in a group. She periodically hosts a play-reading circle in New York City, and if you are interested to learn more, check out her website: http://www.rhonasilverbush.com/