The Elite Entrepreneurs Podcast

Brett Gilliland is Founder and CEO of Elite Entrepreneurs, a company that specializes in giving $1M+ business owners the knowledge, processes, and tools to grow to $10M and beyond. Brett is an expert in organization development, leadership, and strategy and spent 10 years helping Infusionsoft grow from $7M in revenue to over $100M. Brett was involved in the foundational work of Purpose, Values, and Mission at Infusionsoft and facilitated the strategic planning process for many years. One of Brett’s favorite professional accomplishments is co-creating Infusionsoft’s Elite Forum along with Clate Mask and building the Elite business inside of Infusionsoft. As the leader of the Elite business, Brett has helped hundreds of struggling seven-figure business owners overcome their biggest challenges and achieve new levels of success. He also played a central role in the development of Infusionsoft’s Leadership Model and was serving as the VP of Leadership Development when the decision was made to spin the Elite business out of Infusionsoft. As the new owner of Elite Entrepreneurs, Brett can’t think of anything else he’d rather be doing professionally. When Brett isn’t busy helping $1M+ businesses succeed, he is a family man who enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife, Sharon, and their 8 children. What the podcast will teach you:●       How Brett ran a full-day event for six entrepreneurs to help them get clarity in their personal lives, their businesses, and their leadership teams before their annual planning●       Why you should conduct personal offsites on a quarterly basis at a minimum, just as you should be doing for your leadership team●       Why it is easy to get stuck in a “treading water” mode and in a habit of responding to everything, and why a personal offsite with minimal distractions and technology is the key to breaking out●       Why the first, most important step in a successful personal offsite is dumping all the mental clutter from your brain by spending time writing it all down●       Why you should journal positive thoughts and gratitude after you have dumped your mental clutter, and how it helps you get into the right mindset●       What steps to take to create a “wheel of life” to grade yourself in each of the areas of your life that matter to you, and how it helps you identify areas where your life is out of balance●       What other activities you can do to help you better achieve personal clarity and identify the things that are important to you●       How to get clarity in your company, whether your team is fully engaged in the company’s vision and values, and what adjustments can be made to improve the company’s overall health●       How to evaluate the health of your leadership team and identify the steps you can take to strengthen your leadership team, both individually and as a team●       What Brett’s “fire and rehire” tool is and how it can help you identify whether you have the right people in the right seats on your leadership teamResources:●       Email: info@GrowWithElite.com●       Website: https://growwithelite.com/

Craig Cody is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Tax Coach™, business owner and the host of The Progressive Dentist Podcast. Prior to his current work, Craig spent seventeen years with the NYPD, where he retired as a Lieutenant in September 2000. Craig is an expert in helping his clients legally reduce their tax liabilities and keep more of their money. Through his podcast, Craig helps dentists grow their practices through smart financial decisions and through financial education of the kind that isn’t offered in dental school. What the podcast will teach you: Resources:

Melanie Churella Johnson is a distinguished twelve-time bestselling author and recognized publishing and marketing expert. She is also a single mom of two, a previous Miss Michigan and first runner-up to Miss America. Before founding Elite Online Publishing, Melanie owned and operated two independent TV stations in Houston and Dallas. She’s also been a News Anchor, Producer, and Financial Strategist and worked in Public Relations, Promotions, TV Ad Sales and Programming Negotiations. Melanie is the mother of two wonderful boys, loves gardening, and of course, reading a good book. For more information and to find Melanie’s books, visit her page on Amazon. What the podcast will teach you:How Melanie initially got started in media through owning television stations, and why she decided to begin Elite Online PublishingHow Elite Online Publishing has published over 2500 books under their imprint, working with more than 85 authors and holding a 100% track record of Amazon bestsellersWhy writing a book is a powerful way to market yourself and your business, and how doing it correctly puts Amazon’s tools to work for youHow Elite Online Publishing helps authors repurpose existing content to make writing a book quicker and easierWhat steps Melanie recommends for anyone who wants to get started in online publishing but isn’t sure howWhy the Amazon Author Page is an incredible, flexible and underutilized self-marketing toolWhat tips, tricks, and tools Melanie recommends for people who are better at verbal skills than at writing, or for people who think they don’t have time to write a bookWhy putting a call-to-action in both the beginning and end of your book is a smart and effective tacticWho can make the best use of ghostwriters, and why it is important to find a ghostwriter who can mirror your unique voiceWhy the right publisher can make the process of writing and publishing a book easy and effectiveResources:Website: https://eliteonlinepublishing.comMelanie Johnson’s Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/35AEW9zLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/melaniejohnson-eop/Instagram: www.instagram.com/eliteonlinepublishing/

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker with more than 30 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience as a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker. He is the founder and principal of Kupfer & Associates, PLLC, a leading corporate and deal law firm; the founder and CEO of Authentic Enterprises, LLC, a speaking, training and consulting company committed to inspiring authenticity in business; the author of the Amazon best-selling book Authentic Negotiating: Clarity, Detachment & Equilibrium – The Three Keys To True Negotiating Success & How To Achieve Them. He is also the creator and host of the Fueling Deals Podcast. You can learn more about Corey, his companies and current projects at www.coreykupfer.com. What the podcast will teach you: Resources:

Brett Gilliland is Founder and CEO of Elite Entrepreneurs, a company that specializes in giving $1M+ business owners the knowledge, processes, and tools to grow to $10M and beyond. Brett is an expert in organization development, leadership, and strategy and spent 10 years helping Infusionsoft grow from $7M in revenue to over $100M. Brett was involved in the foundational work of Purpose, Values, and Mission at Infusionsoft and facilitated the strategic planning process for many years. One of Brett’s favorite professional accomplishments is co-creating Infusionsoft’s Elite Forum along with Clate Mask and building the Elite business inside of Infusionsoft. As the leader of the Elite business, Brett has helped hundreds of struggling seven-figure business owners overcome their biggest challenges and achieve new levels of success. He also played a central role in the development of Infusionsoft’s Leadership Model and was serving as the VP of Leadership Development when the decision was made to spin the Elite business out of Infusionsoft. As the new owner of Elite Entrepreneurs, Brett can’t think of anything else he’d rather be doing professionally. When Brett isn’t busy helping $1M+ businesses succeed, he is a family man who enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife, Sharon, and their 8 children. What the podcast will teach you: ●       Why the planning process often causes business owners to feel “frazzled”, causes them to “shoot from the hip”, makes them feel like the “blind leading the blind” or that they’re “winging it” or “hanging on by a thread”●       Why you should read Greg McKeown’s Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, and what insights the book offers●       How Greg McKeown defines an “essentialist” versus a “non-essentialist”, and why the difference matters●       Why many business owners who have hit $1 million in revenue and reached new growth challenges struggle to focus more on the strategic progress side of their business and focus too heavily on the operational excellence side●       Why focusing on too many tasks and goals at once can divide your resources too thinly, while focusing on the essentials can allow you to achieve more with your resources●       How to determine whether the goals and tasks you think are a priority for yourself really are, and how breaking your time habits can help further your goals●       How to avoid disconnects between what you say are priorities for your business and where you invest your money●       Why it is important to surround yourself with the right people on your team who share your focus and priorities●       Why now is the time to begin planning for 2020, starting with a strategy session with key members of your team●       Why clarity and intentionality are the keys to leading your team and managing your business effectively Resources: ●       Website: www.gregmckeown.com●       Essentialism by Greg McKeown: https://amzn.to/2OrTW2s●       Email: info@GrowWithElite.comWebsite: https://growwithelite.com/

Lee Caraher is the founder and CEO of highly sought after communications firm Double Forte, known for producing great results with its innovative approach to traditional, digital and experiential programs. She has a long history of leading high-performing, multi-generational teams that enjoy working together. Lee is a champion for creating a positive workplace culture that fully supports its talent, even when they choose to move on. She takes the long view to support employees building their own personal brands that balance loyalties to themselves and their employers. Lee believes that companies able to inspire lifetime loyalty from employees — currently or formerly employed — are the companies that are best suited to thrive. She has long recognized that people will leave employers and understands the real problems this causes for companies.What the podcast will teach you:How Lee’s career journey led to founding and leading coast-to-coast communications firm Double Forte, now 17 years old and thrivingHow and why Lee made the challenging transition from working for a major company to founding her own businessWhat challenges Lee faced when she reached seven-figure revenue, and how she navigated those common challengesWhy Lee’s business deeply cut into their expenses, slimmed down, and altered their business model to survive the 2008 recession and a loss of talentHow Lee dealt with difficult staffing situations and a long period of losing new hires and being understaffedWhy Lee struggled to understand her new Millennial team members, and how she learned to adapt her hiring and communication strategies as a resultWhy the ongoing staffing issues were exacting a high cost on the business despite ongoing growthWhy Lee focuses on personal growth and on building and nurturing the right culture for her businessWhy investing in the people within your company can help propel your organization’s growth and successResources:Website: www.leecaraher.comWebsite: www.double-forte.comLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/leecaraher/Millennials & Management by Lee Caraher: https://amzn.to/2pKUzvZ

Meny Hoffman is the CEO of Ptex Group, an award-winning branding, marketing and business services agency headquartered in Brooklyn, NY. As a lifelong entrepreneur passionate about creating winning strategies that help growing businesses flourish, Meny has been successfully helping private label product brands grow and thrive since 2001, some of which have reached over 8 figures in sales. He is the founder of the Let’s Talk Business (LTB) platform, a movement to provide entrepreneurs with powerful tools needed to learn, grow and lead. Meny is a popular speaker who shares his strategies at regional corporations and conferences. He is a proud husband and lucky father of seven. To learn more, visit www.menyhoffman.com. What the podcast will teach you: Resources:

Chris Prefontaine is the best-selling author of Real Estate on Your Terms: Create Continuous Cash Flow Now, Without Using Your Cash or Credit. He’s also the founder of SmartRealEstateCoach.com and the Smart Real Estate Coach Podcast. Chris has been in real estate for over 25 years. His experience includes the construction of over 100 single-family and duplex homes (mostly in the 1990s and selectively to date), has owned a Realty Executives Franchise (Massachusetts 1994-2000) as broker/owner which maintained high per-agent standards and eventually sold to Coldwell Banker in 2000. The 2000s included coaching ½ million and higher REALTORs® in order to scale & automate their business throughout the US and Canada. He also participated (and still does selectively) in doing condo conversions (multi-family homes to condos) and “raise the roof” projects (converting single-family ranches to colonials in growth neighborhoods). Chris has been a big advocate of constant education and participates regularly in high-end mastermind groups, as well as consults with private mentors. He runs his own buying and selling businesses with his family team, which buys 2-5 properties monthly, so they’re in the trenches every single week. They also help clients do the same thing around the country. Chris and his family team have done over 80 million in real estate transactions. They mentor, coach, consult, and actually partner with students around the country (by application only) to do exactly what they do. What the podcast will teach you: Resources:

Bill Harney is the CEO at Keeping Current Matters, a fast-growing educational content provider that’s changing the way real estate advisors educate and serve their clients. After taking over for his father in 2014, he’s led the team at KCM as it scaled from a small 5-person firm in a garage, to a 22-person team of aligned rock stars, all while growing revenue 600% in 5 years. Under his watch, KCM has been on the Inc. 5000 list the last two years, recognized as a 3-time Top 30 Great Small Workplace in America, and one of the Best and Brightest workplaces in the country. Today, Bill leads the strategic direction at KCM and works with his senior leaders to not only scale the business at KCM, but more importantly scale the talent-magnet-culture as well.What the podcast will teach you:How Keeping Current Matters has experienced 600% growth over the period of five and a half years that Bill has been in chargeWhy Bill’s father founded the company in 2006 in anticipation of a likely real estate market collapse (which did take place in 2008)How Bill and the early team at Keeping Current Matters established their strong Purpose, Values and Mission, and why consistency and intentionality were keyWhat Keeping Current Matters’s six Core Values are, why those particular Values were chosen, and how they help to steer the company towards its successWhat culture awards and recognitions Keeping Current Matters has received in honor of their stellar culture and great work environmentWhy Bill believes every business should apply for a Great Place to Work certification, and what companies can learn about themselves from the processHow the organization’s Purpose, Values and Mission have changed the way they conduct their hiring and onboarding processesHow applicants are interviewed by multiple team members who are hiring for a Values fit, and what strong onboarding tools the team uses to bring new employees inHow the onboarding process at Keeping Current Matters allows new team members the tools, resources and relationships they need to succeed from day oneWhy Bill’s team has developed a unique process of offering a month’s pay as a “bribe to quit” at the end of a new employee’s two-week evaluation periodResources:Website: www.keepingcurrentmatters.comWebsite: www.greatplacetowork.comLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/billharney/Instagram: www.instagram.com/keepingcurrentmatters/Instagram: www.instagram.com/kcmcrew/

Morty Hodge is the Founder and CEO of Atlanta Compressor, a company that sells, installs and services industrial-sized compressed-air systems. Morty started his business in 2010 in Atlanta and has since become a true expert in growing his business to the next level, opening new locations in Nashville (Nashville Compressor), Charlotte (Charlotte Compressor), and, most recently in Detroit (Detroit Compressor). Morty’s company consists of nearly thirty team members across all four locations, and by the end of the year, Morty anticipates that his business will do more than $6 million in revenue. What the podcast will teach you: How Morty moved beyond the early “caveman-era” of his business after reaching the multi-year plateau of $1 million in revenueWhy Morty himself became the bottleneck of his business, and why he realized that having everything filter through him was holding the company backWhy his brother-in-law’s suggestion that Morty read “The E-Myth” by Michael E. Gerber changed his outlook on leadershipWhat steps Morty took to stop micromanaging the business, hire the right team members, and grow his revenue beyond the $1 million plateauWhy setting and adhering to a company Vision was a critical step, and how Morty brought in the entire team to develop that VisionWhy “providing peace of mind” has been a unifying purpose for Morty and his team, and how they reflect that Purpose every dayWhy defining their Purpose, Values, and Mission, setting clear goals, and hiring “talent rockstars” helped the company break through the $1 million revenue ceilingWhy the company’s Vision and culture allowed Morty and his team to attract top industry talentWhy leadership development was a key component allowing the company to grow to the next levelWhy the business created a company Audible account to give everyone in the company an opportunity to access personal growth resources Resources: Website: www.atlantaaircompressor.comWebsite: www.nashvillecompressor.comWebsite: www.charlottecompressor.comWebsite: www.detroitcompressor.comLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mortyhodgeThe E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber: https://amzn.to/2pn1rinGood to Great by Jim Collins: https://amzn.to/2IPC3bN