Entrepreneurs United

Joel Bennett (Owner, Veel Hoeden Consulting) has 20+ years of human resources experience and builds improved organizational capacity by providing customized consulting, training, and coaching services to growth-focused businesses. His expertise in leadership development, performance management, and change management in blue-collar environments allows him to assist leaders in tackling challenging personnel and organizational issues.     Joel’s firm, Veel Hoeden Consulting, develops leaders who transform their teams and exceed expectations.  To do that, they use a proven methodology to bridge the gap between education and application that helps companies measure the impact of their efforts.  Its flagship program, Frontline Leadership, has been utilized by a variety of businesses in the manufacturing, construction, and field service industry.

Mike Zani (The Predictive Index, CEO), runs The Predictive Index, a talent optimization platform that uses over 60 years of proven science and software to help businesses design high-performing teams and cultures, make objective hiring decisions and inspire greatness in people.   Mike is also the co-founder and partner at Phoenix Strategy Investments, a private investment fund. An avid sailor, he was the coach of the 1996 US Olympic Team.    Mike's newly released first book “The Science of Dream Teams” provides entrepreneurs and leaders with actionable advice on how to win starting with your talent and human resources strategy.   Lot’s of aha moments in this episode, let’s jump right in!

Building a world-class sales team should be a major priority for entrepreneurs wanting to grow their businesses.  In this episode, our co-hosts, Rich Hoffmann and John St.Pierre share their learnings from both success and failures of building sales teams. The 5 keys to building a world-class sales team will walk entrepreneurs through finding and recruiting top sales talent, how to properly train them for success, helping them become top producers, and ultimately how to retain the best performers.

Johnathan Grzybowski (Co-founder/CMO, Penji), and his team ultimately found the solution to a larger problem with Penji. Today Penji provides companies with unlimited and on-demand access to dependable and vetted digital designers that will deliver your graphic design project in under 48 hours. In today's conversation, Jonathan shares a very transparent view of the life of an entrepreneur.  He shares some very genuine thoughts about the trials and tribulations of finding your niche and growing a global team at a rapid pace. We hope you enjoy the conversation!

Bill Pienias (President, FinFit Life), has been a leader in the insurance and investment industry for over 25 years and has built and led companies in the US and Europe, most notably being the President of AEGON’s largest Broker-Dealer.   Rich and I first met Bill in our first couple of years out of college and spent a lot of time learning under his leadership   In our conversation about business, entrepreneurship, leadership, and life- Bill provides some incredible wisdom of his learnings and some new insights about his company. FinFit Life helps individuals achieve strong health, wealth, and the lifestyle to enjoy them!

Jeffrey Unger (Founder and CEO, G2 Capital), is a very accomplished CEO, Director, and Sr Executive with experience in building scalable organizations across several sectors including. Jeffrey also has Significant experience working with Private Equity, Venture Capital, and Debt/Credit financing.   In today's conversation, we talk about why and how businesses get themselves into trouble, what they must do to get “unstuck”, most importantly what the characteristics are of healthy companies.   The majority of entrepreneurs of small to medium-sized businesses are unable to answer one very important question:   “What is your 3-year capital strategy?”    We hope after this episode you consider this question more seriously and make sure you have the right answer for the sake of your business's future.

Meridith Elliot Powell (Business Motivational Speaker, Award-Winning Author, Business Strategist), is a Sales strategist, leadership expert, Certified Speaking Professional, and award-winning author. Meridith wants today’s businesses to stop viewing uncertainty as something that prevents them from being successful. This is why her virtual programs, leadership coaching, online courses, and keynote presentations leverage her 9 step formula for making uncertainty your company’s strategic advantage™. Everything about today’s marketplace is different – your customers, competition, technology, and employees. In a world that has changed so drastically, doesn’t it make sense that you need a new approach to how you sell, how you lead, how you grow your organization? So you can stop letting unpredictability be an obstacle to your success, and start embracing today’s uncertainty to drive your organization’s growth and achieve phenomenal results.

Jill Diamond (by Jill Diamond, Owner), is a seasoned communication coach with a specialization in working with international professionals. With more than 20 years of experience, a background in the performance arts, and a keen interest in people, Jill helps professionals Write it, Show it, and Voice it with precision, passion, and impact. Whether it is a board presentation, a weekly meeting, or a dialogue between two individuals, Jill is a skilled advisor on creating and conveying meaningful messages. Jill is also widely known as an Accent Training Expert helping international professionals increase their English Communication Confidence to better compete in the English-speaking marketplace.

Cameron Herold (Founder, COO Alliance), has become known around the world as The CEO Whisperer. He is helping hundreds of CEOs from 17 countries grow their businesses by growing their 2nds in Command.    Today we sit down with Cameron as he shares his 25 years of mind-shifting experience as a Business Growth Guru, having helped build TWO $100 Million Dollar companies by the time he was 42.   Companies are purchasing Cameron's books in bulk for employees to learn from. You may have heard of a few of them; Vivid Vision, Meetings Suck, Free PR, Double Double, and The Miracle Morning.   What he did at one company was so impressive; it became a case study at the Harvard Business School.    Enjoy the episode.

Cory Carlson (CEO, Connector Consulting) is an entrepreneur, former executive, husband, and father of three, Cory Carlson understands the pressures working parents face every day. He is passionate about helping business leaders win at home and work.   Twenty years working in corporate America gave Cory amazing opportunities - But he also saw brokenness: work without purpose, burnout, lack of focus, strained marriages, and absentee parents. He witnesses business leaders not living life to the fullest and sought out a better way.    In this episode, Cory shares with us what he learned to become a better leader, husband, and father. He left his corporate career to help other leaders achieve a healthier work-life balance.    His first book released in June 2019 titled, Win at Home First, and is an inspirational guide for work-life balance and is listed in FORBES as ‘7 Books Everyone On Your Team Should Read’.   Rich and I subscribe to Cory’s core belief that we cannot win at life, or at work unless we Win at home First and love Cory’s clear messages, we hope you enjoy the episode as well!