Unleashed - How to Thrive as an Independent Professional

Our guest today is Jason Bay, the founder of Blissful Prospecting, a firm that helps B2B sales reps, SMBs, and nonprofits create sustainable revenue growth. In our discussion, Jason explains to me the REPLY method that his firm created to guide the writing of cold emails to prospects. REPLY stands for Results, Empathy, Personalization, Laser-focus, and You. The way I connected with Jason is that he used his own methodology on me. Jason researched me and this podcast, and then sent me a personalized video message of himself speaking to me, in which he mentioned this show, and in fact a specific episode of the show. Here is a link to that episode Jason sent me: https://embed.vidyard.com/share/RgRyiMAMGugfYPERrm3jyp?autoplay=1&vyemail=will.bachman%40umbrex.com&vydata[email]=will.bachman%40umbrex.com&vydata[name]=Will%20Bachman&vydata[messageId]=41TvW5ar9WC0DOhTZ That is the first time anyone has ever reached out to me with a personalized video, and I thought it was a pretty powerful approach, partly because it is so unscalable. Sending out 1,000 uncustomized LinkedIn connection requests can be automated or outsourced, but researching a target and recording a custom video message has a high signaling cost, and I wanted to learn more about this approach. After having Jason explain to me how he creates and uses these videos using Vidyard, I think it is an approach that could work well for many independent professionals.  You can learn more about Jason on his firm’s website, https://BlissfulProspecting.com/ If you have questions you like me to answer on this show, or are interested in joining our global community of independent management consultants, email Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com  

Our guest today is David A. Fields, Umbrex member and the author of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom. David advises many boutique consulting firms, and over the years he has seen partnerships thrive and partnerships fall apart. On today’s episode, David shares some observations on how to make a partnership successful. We also discuss the idea of adding an advisory board to your firm, and we spend a few minutes on how to select the right gift for a client. Got questions about how to thrive as an independent professional? Email Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com

Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez is a thought leader in the area of project management. Antonio is the author of two books: The Focused Organization: How Concentrating on a Few Key Initiatives Can Dramatically Improve Strategy Execution And The Project Revolution: How to Succeed in a Project Driven World He has been awarded the title of Thinker of the Month by Thinkers50, and has presented on the topic of project management at more than 120 conferences around the world. To learn more about his work, visit https://antonionietorodriguez.com/#!/about If you are interested in joining our global community of top-tier independent management consultants, email Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com    

Our guest today is Christina Ungaro, the Executive Vice President of Corporate Development at JLL. In case you aren’t in the real estate world: JLL is the second-largest commercial real estate services firm in the world, ranked 189th on the Fortune 500, with revenue of $16 billion in 2018. Christina was hired by JLL to build the corporate development group, and she has completed 32 acquisitions (mostly professional services firms) since she joined JLL. In this episode, Christina gives me a quick primer on the commercial real estate services industry, discusses lessons learned in building her team, and – significantly if you are ever thinking of selling your practice, Christina shares what she looks for as a buyer when she is considering the acquisition of a professional services firm To learn more about JLL, visit jll.com To learn more about Christina, check out her LinkedIn profile, a link is in the show notes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-ungaro-0a17321/ If you are seeking to engage an independent consultant, or if you are an independent consultant and would like to join a global community, email Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com  

Our guest today is Josh Miramant, the Founder of CEO of Blue Orange Digital, a full-stack data science agency using machine learning to simplify business decisions. In our discussion, Josh provides several case studies of how his firm is helping clients improve decisions through better predictions, including one project for a hedge fund that analyzes a wide range of data on job applicants to help the fund hire analysts who are likely to perform better. I also learn a new term: data lake Blue Orange regularly partners with consultants, and if you have a client you think you could benefit from their help, Josh would love to discuss it with you.  You can reach Josh at: josh@blueorange.digital And you can read more on their website: blueorgange.digital If you are seeking the support of a top-tier independent management consultant, or if you are interested in joining our global community of consultants, email Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com  

Our guest today is Stephen Redwood, who has been a Partner in the Organization practices at PricewaterhouseCoopers, McKinsey & Co., Oliver Wyman, and Deloitte. He is now running his own firm, Redwood Advisory Partners, where he helps clients develop a high performing organization and an exceptional employee experience. In today’s discussion, Stephen explains what an organizational design project is all about, and he also discusses his other business, Tri Endeavors, where he coaches elite triathletes. To learn more about Stephen’s triathalon coaching practice, visit http://triendeavors.com/ And To learn more about Stephen’s consulting practice, visit https://redwoodadvisorypartners.com/ If you are interested in joining a global community of top-tier independent management consultants, or if you are looking for support from an independent consultant, contact Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com  

Our guest today is Seiya Vogt, the VP of Growth at Boxed – where he is responsible for Marketing and B2B Sales. Boxed calls itself “the easiest way to stock up and save for your household essentials." In today's discussion, Seiya provides a behind the scenes view of the tools available to the modern marketer, and along the way he explains why direct mail – that’s right – good old hard-copy mail – is making a comeback. After this episode you may be inspired to stock up on a bulk order of household cleaners or snacks or health and wellness products – if so, check out their website: boxed.com Sign up for their emails to get some coupons and see Seiya’s team in action. You can learn more about Seiya’s background on his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seiya/ Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, the world's first global community connecting top-tier independent professionals with one another. To request to join, or to inquire about getting consulting from one of our members, email Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com    

Our guest today is Tim Hughes, who has written the book on social selling; he is the author of Social Selling: Techniques to influence buyers and customers, as well as Smarketing: How to achieve competitive advantage through blended sales and marketing. As you’ll hear from Tim, social selling is not actually about selling, or at least not about trying to sell – it is about building relationships. Tim’s LinkedIn headline is: Should have played Quidditch for England, and in today’s discussion he explains why he leads with that. Based on Tim’s advice, I have updated my own LinkedIn Headline and Summary, and since I’ve done that I’ve received a couple unsolicited comments in favor – so I’ll vote in support of Tim’s recommendations. Tim’s firm is called Digital Leadership Associates and you can learn more about their work on their website: dlaignite.com Unleashed is produced by Umbrex. If you are an independent consultant interested in joining our community, or if you are looking to hire an independent consultant, reach out to Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com

Our guest today is Brian Hecht, who freaked out his family in 1994, just two years after graduating from Harvard College, by leaving a perfectly fine job to join an Internet company – before that was a thing. Brian went on to have a successful career as an Internet entrepreneur, and today he is a Venture Partner at a NYC startup accelerator called Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator. Check them out at eranyc.com And as a hobby, he, along with his cousin Rachel Dodes, hosts the very popular and hilarious podcast This Week in Nope, in which they dissect the most abominable news of the week and shut it all down, usually over whiskey. Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, the world's first global community connecting top tier independent management consultants with one another and with clients. To inquire about joining our community or engaging one of our members on a project, email Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com or visit www.umbrex.com  

Our guest today is David A. Fields, the author of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom.   David is leading an upcoming professional development program for independent consultants that I thought could be valuable for many of the listeners of this show, so I asked David if he’d share an overview of the Solo Practice Accelerator. The next one is August 18-19, 2019 in San Francisco, CA.   Details: https://members.davidafields.com/solo-practice-accelerator If after listening to this episode you are interested in attending but those dates don’t work for you, then subscribe to David’s blog and you’ll get notified of the next one. David kindly offered a bonus for listeners of Unleashed who attend the Accelerator – if you attend the program and let him know you heard about the program on this show, he will schedule an hour-long, private one-on-one phone call with you to discuss your practice. David has been a popular guest on the show three times before: Episode 001, where David shares highlights from his book Episode 170, where David discusses how to make outbound calls And Episode 172, where David shares his approach to setting up a CRM system. If you are interested in hiring an independent consultant or joining a global community of independent consultants, email Will Bachman at unleashed@umbrex.com