The Chris LoCurto Show

Crystal Paine is the creator of moneysavingmom.com and author of the soon-to-be-released book, Say Goodby to Survival Mode. On today's podcast, Crystal and I talk about not quitting and how she turned Money Saving Mom into one of the highest-trafficked personal finance blogs on the web.Join the discussion at http://ChrisLoCurto.com/interview-with-crystal-paine-podcast/Crystal is a true entrepreneur and built her thriving business on a shoe string budget by becoming a self-taught expert on search engine optimization, web development and social media. She shares her insight on Facebook and Pinterest as well as building a virtual team and serving people.

This is the gift-giving time of year and there's no greater blessing in life than to be a giver. Many of you are small business owners, entrepreneurs and team leaders but let me remind you - your business is what you do not who you are. When you make your business your life, you're missing out on life. You're sure not able to give of yourself either.Join the conversation at http://ChrisLoCurto.com/you-get-what-you-give-podcast/Colossians 3:12 - You must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.There's only one way to clothe yourself with mercy and kindness and patience and that's to take care of yourself. I'm not telling you to be selfish, but if you don't take care of you, you don't have anything else to give.As you take time this holiday to step away from work, make sure that you're scheduling time to replenish, exercise and create balance in your life. Going forward into the new year:How are you going to replenish you?What are the things you need to be doing to be the absolute best you?When you do these things, you can pour yourself out into other people. You get what you give. Take care of yourself and help those around you be the best they can be.Merry Christmas!

Culture is kind of a big deal around here. I spend a great deal of time teaching entrepreneurs and guiding teams on how to create high quality culture in their organizations. It's a major component of every business, and it has the power to destroy your company or make you successful.INC Magazine invited me to do a talk on culture and those lessons have been available in chapters to blog subscribers. Today, I'm featuring three of the lessons in the podcast. Join the conversation http://ChrisLoCurto.com/creating-high-quality-culture/

Meetings. Suck. At least most of the time. Why? I'll tell you!Get your copy of my new, free eBook Why Your Meetings Suck at http://chrislocurto.com and share it with your team, office and social circles.Today's podcast is dedicated to the topic of making your meetings more productive! Join the conversation at http://ChrisLoCurto.com/why-your-meetings-suck-podcast/

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! For some of you, it's a fantastic time of year. For others (and quite possibly people on your team), this whole holiday season is difficult.I'm sharing several stories on the podcast today as well as information that I teach in my LifePlan coaching events. Join the conversation at http://ChrisLoCurto.com/hurt-people-hurt-people-podcast/"When you can't fix yourself, you're frustrated with the broken people in your life." - Chris LoCurtoBe sure to pick up a copy of Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life as well as the North Pole Patrol single, "Naughty List" featured at the end of the podcast!

It's the week of Thanksgiving and there's no better time than the present to show your team how thankful you are. Making your team productive starts with making your team feel appreciated.In today's podcast, we get into a bunch of fun Thanksgiving themed discussion around coffee and my top secret Deep-Fried Turkey recipe. Which isn't so top secret. Turns out Bon Appétit is on the exact same page. Join the conversation - http://ChrisLoCurto.com/make-your-team-productive-podcast/

When Rory Vaden and I sat down to talk about his upcoming book, Procrastinate On Purpose, we couldn't stop talking! If you missed the first part of the interview, be sure to listen here first - http://wp.me/p1Yb4m-4tjHere's Part 2 of our interview on The Chris LoCurto Show! Join the conversation at http://ChrisLoCurto.com/procrastinate-on-purpose-with-rory-vaden-part-2-podcast-2/

Today's topic is a question I get asked all the time and it came up in several comments on our recent reader survey. If you're struggling to understand your leader or just hoping to make things better around the office, here are a few things to keep in mind:- You have to understand how they receive information and how you communicate to them is equally important. Learn more about communication in this post, Start Communicating Better Today.- Lead up - make sure your intentions are to help them, not belittle them. It's got to be beneficial to both of you.- Ask questions and get to understand them personally. When you do that, you'll get perspective on why they are the way they are.- Don't allow a terrible leader to hold you back. Do everything you can to make the people around you successful - up, sideways and down.Join the conversation at http://ChrisLoCurto.com/how-to-lead-your-leader/

New York Times best-selling author, speaker, radio show host, genius, and all-around great guy, Rory Vaden, joins me today on The Chris LoCurto show. Rory talks about his upcoming book, Procrastinate On Purpose, and how to manage life and business in our overly busy and constantly connected lives.Join the conversation at http://ChrisLoCurto.com/procrastinate-on-purpose-with-rory-vaden-podcast/

Creativity and focus come from clearing your mind...and your desk! If you're in need of a mental refresh, listen to today's Coffee With Chris podcast! Join the conversation at http://ChrisLoCurto.com/whats-killing-your-creativity/When your office is a mess, whether it's paperwork scattered across your desk or unanswered emails junking up the inbox, your subconscious is cluttered. Here's what I want you to do:- Tell your staff or co-workers you're going to clean your office.- Pick a Saturday to actually clean your office and go through everything.- When you find something you need to be working on, put it in a place where you'll get to it immediately.- When you find something you don't need to be working on, delegate it.- When you find something irrelevant, throw it away. Get it out of your brain and your subsconcious.Once you've done this and see how effective it is, have your team do it as well!