SharkPreneur

Learn how human-centric AI is changing businesses by increasing productivity, improving customer service, and boosting employee satisfaction, all without replacing people.   In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene speaks with Mark Vange, CEO of Autom8ly, a company focused on human-centered AI solutions. Mark explains how his company is transforming business operations by using AI to enhance human work, making employees more productive instead of replacing them. From improving customer service in sectors like trucking and healthcare to enabling AI-supported marketing, Mark discusses how businesses can use AI to boost efficiency and profits while keeping the human touch.   Key Takeaways: → How collaborative AI can support businesses by enhancing employees’ productivity. → The role of AI in automating everyday tasks like email marketing. → The importance of “confidence levels” in AI, balancing accuracy with real-world usability. → The challenge of keeping up with the rapid pace of technological advancements in AI while balancing human-scale adoption. → The value of entrepreneurial partners who can visualize cases in specific industries and collaborate with AI developers.   Mark Vange brings a vision for technology, manages international teams, and has extensive experience in cloud-based delivery of mobile and social products. He also has the knowledge of building and selling several companies. At age 10, Mark met and fell in love with the Apple II computer, which led him to set aside a promising career as a violinist and dive into business and technology. He sold his first program that same year, started his first company by age 13, and entered university with 25 employees and the year’s top-selling video game under his belt. Since then, Mark has founded and sold multiple companies and has become a sought-after advisor and mentor.    Mark's first online success was VR-1, a company he helped grow into the world's largest publisher of Massively Multiplayer Games by creating a vision for MMO gaming, developing new communication protocols, and leading worldwide development efforts. Mark's most recent role was as Chief Technology Officer of Electronic Arts Interactive, which he joined through the acquisition of a company he co-founded, where he directed the development of EA's mobile, social, and online products and platforms.   Connect With Mark: Website LinkedIn   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover how a Fractional CMO can unlock your business's growth potential by providing high-level strategy and streamlining marketing efforts.   In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene speaks with Draye Redfern, CEO and founder of Redfern Media. He shares his insights into the changing role of fractional leadership in marketing. After facing the challenges of running both an agency and a CMO service, Draye explains how fractional CMOs help businesses improve their marketing efforts while giving owners the ability to stay in control and promote growth.    Key Takeaways: → The benefits of using a fractional CMO to bridge gaps in marketing expertise. → How minor adjustments in marketing can drive profound business growth. → The importance of understanding KPIs and high-level strategy in marketing. → How fractional leadership brings both strategy and accountability to a business. → The challenges and rewards of transitioning from full-service agencies to fractional support.   Draye Redfern is the CEO and founder of Redfern Media, a marketing and consulting agency that helps businesses redefine their marketing approach with systematized processes and automations, turning prospects into loyal clients and brand ambassadors. He also founded Fractional CMO, which provides executive-level marketing strategies and resources without the cost of a full-time marketing director. Over the past decade, Draye has assisted clients across various industries, including top Instagram travel accounts, personal development psychologists, and SharkTank entrepreneurs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, his success led him to create the Recession Flywheel™, a 7-step framework that helps businesses improve their mindset, security, offer, team, marketing, sales, and financials.   Connect With Draye: Website Facebook LinkedIn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn how FastWill went from a simple digital will service to a full-fledged SaaS platform revolutionizing estate planning for financial advisors and clients alike.   In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene speaks with Zach Tsakiris, founder of FastWill.com. He shares how he expanded his digital estate planning platform into a successful SaaS business that now serves thousands of clients. Starting in the financial services sector, Zach saw the need for an affordable and efficient estate planning solution for mid-tier clients and professionals. He discusses building a SaaS platform for financial advisors, insurance brokers, and clients, offering an easy way to create wills and trusts. Zach outlines the key decisions, partnerships, and strategies that have fueled FastWill’s growth and success in a competitive market.   Key Takeaways: → The initial inspiration behind turning FastWill into a SaaS platform. → Key challenges business founders face when scaling and how to overcome them. → The value of a seamless user experience in attracting both clients and professionals. → Why FastWill’s SaaS model is a game-changer for estate planning professionals. → The importance of constantly evolving your product to meet user needs and market demands.   Born in Dallas and based in Manhattan, Zach Tsakiris became a top financial advisor in estate planning. He founded FastWill to simplify the process for clients and advisors. As the world goes digital, he envisions estate planning’s future online and aims to make FastWill the industry leader.   Connect With Zach: Website Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is your sales team underperforming? Before blaming the team, it might be time to consider the bigger picture. Learn how building trust and aligning marketing with sales can produce significant results.   In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene speaks with Geoff Ketterer, an 8-Figure Sales Trainer & CRO. He shares his journey from being a chef to building a successful sales consulting business. After helping over 150 businesses grow, Geoff explains how to transform sales teams, the importance of internal culture, and how to use a hybrid social engine to attract better leads. His approach moves away from traditional sales tactics, focusing instead on building a sustainable and motivated team. Geoff’s insights are valuable for CEOs looking to improve their sales teams and scale without burning out.   Key Takeaways: → The most prominent misconceptions CEOs have about sales team struggles. → Why culture is the key to a high-performing sales team. → How skepticism in the market is affecting sales conversions. → How to align sales and marketing teams to achieve better results. → Strategies for scaling businesses without overloading the sales team.   Geoff Ketterer is the guy CEOs call when their sales teams are underperforming and they're tired of wasting money on disconnected strategies that don't work. With years of experience working alongside top-tier companies like 7th Level and Closers.io, Geoff knows how to fix broken teams and transform them into high-performing sales powerhouses. As a fractional CRO, he has helped over 150 businesses scale with his no-nonsense approach to aligning sales and marketing into one unstoppable revenue machine. He scaled Functional Medicine Academy from $7K/month to SIM/month in just 9 months, and he's done it for countless others since.   Connect With Geoff: Website Instagram TikTok LinkedIn   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mastering the art of referral partnerships can propel your business to new heights, transforming how you connect, collaborate, and scale.   In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene speaks with Brandon Barnum, CEO of HOA.com and bestselling author. He shares his inspiring journey from a struggling single dad to a successful entrepreneur who grew multiple businesses through raving referrals. With over 5 million business professionals impacted, Brandon now focuses on helping homeowners and businesses build lasting relationships through powerful referral networks. Listen as he reveals his secrets to creating thriving partnerships and how anyone can achieve exponential growth by leveraging trust and community.   Key Takeaways: → Why HOA.com is on a mission to connect professionals with homeowners in trusted local partnerships. → The role of AI and automation in scaling businesses and maintaining effective communication. → The difference between networking and referral partnerships, and why referral partnerships are more effective. → Insights on how real estate professionals can turn vendors into proactive partners to maximize their referral potential. → The importance of identifying and nurturing relationships with people already serving your idea clients.   Brandon Barnum is a serial entrepreneur and referral-marketing expert best known as CEO of HOA.com—the platform bringing together all 375,000 U.S. homeowner associations under the banner of “Unity Through Community.” Over three decades, he has launched and expanded multiple tech ventures and referral networks that serve over 5 million business professionals worldwide. Through his bestselling Raving Referrals books, practical workshops, and a national network of certified trainers, Brandon helps real estate agents, home-service professionals, and purpose-driven entrepreneurs increase their income, influence, and impact.   Connect With Brandon: HOA.com RavingReferrals.com X Facebook LinkedIn   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want to land meetings with decision-makers who seem out of reach? How to break through the noise with a personal touch that delivers results.   In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene speaks with Stu Heinecke, a Wall Street Journal cartoonist, Hall of Fame-nominated marketer, and best-selling author of Get the Meeting. Stu is the creator of the concept known as contact marketing. This strategy utilizes personalized, creative outreach to secure meetings with anyone, including the most difficult-to-reach decision-makers. From sending custom cartoons to using AI tools, Stu shares how entrepreneurs can make their outreach stand out in an age of digital noise. He also discusses his new AI-enhanced version of his book, How to Get a Meeting with Anyone, and how he has kept his marketing fresh, human, and engaging over the years.   Key Takeaways: → How personalized cartoons can break through the noise in marketing. → Why AI plays a huge role in the future of contact marketing. → Why effective delegation is the most critical skill for entrepreneurs. → How to find and leverage your niche in the digital marketing world. → The power of humanization in your outreach strategies.   Stu Heinecke is a bestselling business author, a Hall of Fame-nominated marketer, and one of The Wall Street Journal’s cartoonists. In How to Get a Meeting with Anyone (2016), he introduced the world to “Contact Marketing,” which uses micro-focused campaigns to connect with critically important accounts and prospects. Using the twenty categories of contact campaigns outlined in the book, readers have achieved explosive growth in their careers, businesses, and lives. In Even More Outrageous Ways to Get a Meeting with Anyone (10-2019), Heinecke adds more techniques, tips, and strategies, more than sixty illustrated case studies, an updated Contact Marketing model that sets a new response baseline—at 100%—and introduces “Pocket Campaigns” as a replacement for business cards.   Connect With Stu: Website Facebook LinkedIn   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If burnout is the silent epidemic of high achievers, this episode is your wake-up call.   In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene talks with Erika Glenn, COO and Co-founder of Glenn Professional Services and a TEDx speaker, who shares her deeply personal journey from corporate burnout to wellness entrepreneurship. After experiencing six hospitalizations in a single year and years of nonstop work, Erika created Enough by Me—a comprehensive recovery program for executives that combines integrative medicine, somatic therapy, nutrition, and community support. She reveals how she's helping high achievers reset their nervous systems, reclaim their energy, and heal from the inside out.   Key Takeaways: → The hidden signs of executive burnout most people miss. → How high achievers suppress burnout symptoms to protect their careers. → What a nervous system reboot looks like, and why it matters. → Why somatic therapy plays a key role in burnout recovery. → How community support combats the shame and isolation of burnout.   Erika Glenn, COO and Co-Founder of Glenn Professional Services, is a sought-after keynote speaker, TEDx presenter, and award-winning healthcare executive dedicated to inspiring the next generation of forward-thinking professionals. With a career spanning leadership roles in provider systems, healthcare conglomerates, and health tech startups, Glenn has helped Fortune 500 companies achieve clinical and financial success through innovation and strategic growth. A leader in healthcare transformation, Glenn has developed and scaled programs that improve patient outcomes, advance AI technology, and drive systemic change. Having overcome her health struggles, she brings a deeply personal perspective to her work—showing professionals that setbacks can be the foundation for extraordinary impact.   Connect With Erika: Website LinkedIn   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’re an entrepreneur looking to scale quickly, mastering delegation and understanding traffic are two secrets you can’t afford to ignore.   In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene speaks with Kasim Aslam, a serial entrepreneur and best-selling author, who shares his journey from a welfare baby to a successful business owner with multiple seven and eight-figure businesses. Kasim discusses his philosophy on building businesses through talent acquisition and delegation, emphasizing that the key to success is not being the most intelligent person in the room, but rather surrounding oneself with more competent individuals. He also delves deep into solving traffic problems first and how businesses can thrive by focusing on leveraging external challenges to create opportunities.   Key Takeaways: → Why delegation is the most essential skill for an entrepreneur. → The difference between inventors and entrepreneurs. → Why talent acquisition is a life hack for entrepreneurs. → How to scale your business by leveraging the right people. → The importance of liquidity in business and personal finance.   Kasim Aslam has built six, seven, and eight-figure businesses, with two successful eight-figure exits, all driven by his ability to recruit and manage top remote talent worldwide. With extensive experience in hiring hundreds of people, he is a recognized expert on finding, training, and managing peak performers. His latest venture, Pareto Talent, specializes in recruiting, training, and matching high-performance Executive Assistants with growing entrepreneurs. Kasim firmly believes that remote hiring not only unlocks a global talent pool but also creates meaningful opportunities for professionals, particularly in emerging markets like Latin America. His mission is to connect entrepreneurs with dedicated, high-quality remote talent, fostering growth and providing financial and professional freedom to individuals around the world.   Connect With Kasim: Website Instagram X Facebook LinkedIn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you prepared to protect your wealth from unexpected lawsuits?   In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene speaks with Blake Harris, Founding Principal at Blake Harris Law and an expert in offshore asset protection. He shares essential insights into protecting your wealth through strategic planning. With ten years of experience and a proven track record of establishing thousands of offshore trusts, Blake offers practical advice to business owners, entrepreneurs, and high-net-worth individuals seeking to safeguard their assets. He explains why an offshore asset protection trust isn't just for the super-rich and how even those with $1 million in assets can benefit from this approach.   Key Takeaways: → The importance of setting up an offshore asset protection plan. → Clarifying the misconception that asset protection is only for the ultra-wealthy. → Why taxes remain unaffected by offshore trusts, and how to stay compliant with the IRS. → How to create the proper legal foundation for a successful offshore trust. → The future of asset protection in a changing legal and financial landscape.   Blake Harris is the founding principal at Blake Harris Law, specializing in offshore asset protection for clients worldwide. With a global network cultivated through travel to over 40 countries, Blake collaborates with trust companies, protectors, and bankers to provide tailored solutions for safeguarding wealth. An accomplished author and international speaker, he regularly educates professionals through legal education lectures on asset protection and offshore planning. Blake has appeared in major national publications, including Forbes, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, and MarketWatch. He has built a significant social media following, with hundreds of thousands of followers. Before founding his law firm, Blake worked with one of America’s top wealth management firms, advising high-net-worth clients on asset protection strategies. Recognized as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers Magazine for five straight years, Blake is an AV®️ Preeminent™️ Attorney and actively participates in the American Bar Association and the Bars of Florida and Colorado. He lives in Miami Beach. Connect With Blake: Website X Facebook LinkedIn   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you ready to elevate your Amazon business and brand?   In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene speaks with Norman Farrar, a serial entrepreneur and Amazon expert, who shares powerful strategies for succeeding on Amazon and building a brand that thrives in a competitive market. From utilizing AI tools to enhancing product listings and diversifying sales channels, Norman provides invaluable insights on maximizing efficiency and profitability. With decades of experience, Norman reveals the secrets to building a loyal community and growing your brand beyond Amazon.   Key Takeaways: → Why selling on Amazon has become more challenging than ever.  → How AI is transforming Amazon listings. → Tips for building a strong brand presence on Amazon as a “micro brand.” → Key mistakes to avoid when selling on Amazon, including the dangers of low-cost strategies. → The role of personal branding and authority in building a sustainable business.     Norman Farrar is a visionary entrepreneur who provides online marketing and manages eCommerce solutions for brands. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies, including Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, and 20th Century Fox. Since the early 1990s, Norm has focused on helping entrepreneurs improve their operations and unlock their business potential. Currently, he hosts the popular eCommerce podcast Lunch with Norm and co-hosts The Marketing Misfits.   Connect With Norman: Website Instagram X Facebook Group   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices