Big Ideas Small Business

Brian and Shavonnah are joined by the owner of MK Search Elithia Marshi. Discussion includes staffing, hiring, employee retention, and so much more. 

Shavonnah speaks with Full-time Real Estate Investor, Entrepreneur, & Business & Mindset Coach Misty Flanagan.

Brian and Shavonnah talk with Bran & Bobby the founders of the new dog supplement company All Fido (https://allfido.com) launched as a company in 2020 they are just about to begin sales of their first products - The Chill Chew and Clear Ears. A very exciting time for a new company, we discuss all the journey that brought them to this point including product development, manufacturing, sale, marketing, partnerships, and so much more! We pack a lot in this discussion in about 30 minutes. Get inspired by their story and gain a few nuggets about having successful partnerships, productivity tips and much more! 

Brian and Shavonnah are joined by entrepreneur and author Megan Silanoff and have an open discussion about starting and running businesses. We discuss building and working in effective teams, and uncover that we as entrepreneurs all enjoy, or at least work best, when under pressure. 

Brian is joined by Ali Nasser, Founder & CEO of AltruVista. Ali is a passionate leader and entrepreneur who shares his approach to living your best life, industry disruption (in financial servies), challenges with building wealth, culture and values and much more! A very dense conversation and relevant for any one in business! 

Will Coleman, CEO of Alto joins Brian and Shavonnah to have an inspiring discussion about business development, differentiation, and perseverance . He is very open and honest about the struggles of launching his company in the middle of the pandemic and the strain that put on their outlook and strategic planning. He discusses being a late market entrant but not as the lower cost alternative. Plus learn about how Alto has accelerated their brand through win-win-win business development agreements with complementary services.  Chose Alto for your next lift! https://ridealto.com and stay posted for our next business owner forum on the topic of Business Development! 

Brian and Shavonnah are joined by guests Jordan Harton, CEO and Founder of RISE UP Recruiting and James Brown of James Brown Jr. 360 Chief Talent Officer, International Speaker and Voice Over artist.  We explore leadership in the current business and political environment. We cover topics including generational differences in the workforce, women in leadership, addressing racial discrimination and biases and  much more! 

Brian and Shavonnah discuss the leadership gap -- The business world needs strong leaders now more than ever! They explore how leaders need to adapt and change to the new business climate and provide some resources and examples drawn from their own experiences. Most importantly we are looking for you Big Idealists out there to join in on our one-hour panel to discuss the Leadership Gap. We are looking for business owners, entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, sidehustlers or any other leader out there interested in the topic. Please email into info@bisbmedia.com and let us know a little about you and why you would like to join the panel. Content from the panel will be used in "The Leadership Gap Part 2" episode released in February 2021. 

Are you doing strategic annual planning for your business? If not what better time to start than now, and if you are, how are you holding yourself and your team accountable throughout the period? Hosts Brian and Shavonnah draw from their personal experiences and other resources to break down the different considerations when doing strategic annual planning. A must listen for any leader in business! 

Brian and Shavonnah discuss the importance of being intentional and strategic about your personal brand. They offer tactical advice based on their own experiences in how to build your own value-based personal brand foundation.

Brian and Shavonnah interview best selling author and business coach, Bill Flynn. Bill shares his philosophies on how to grow a business starting with the distinction of if you are a startup or a scaleup. We then dive into leadership strategies, product strategies, what exactly does "strategy" even mean, and discuss the importance of being prepared for financial downturn. Bill's book, Further Faster The Vital Few Steps That Take the Guesswork out of Growth is available on Amazon or through his website https://catalystgrowthadvisors.com/.

We are joined by Jeremy Jenson CEO of Encore Search Partners, LLC discussing strategies for hiring commissioned sales people! Encore has been featured on INC 5000, Houston Business Journal Fast 100, and HBJ Best Places to Work and all more than once. so he's been doing a few things right! Join us to hear directly from him what has helped him be successful in sales leadership! #bigideas #smallbusiness #podcast #entrepreneurship #businessstrategy #sales #humanresources #salesleadership

The Big Ideas team are having a conversation with David about the characteristics of a strong sales person, how to keep selling and teams motivated in a particularly unstable environment, and much more!  David is the head of Global sales for RS Energy Group and has over 25 years of sales leadership experience.  #bigideas #smallbusiness #sales #busienssdevelopment #entrepreneurship 

A call out for feedback, guests, sponsors, and other partners to help us with our six part series where each month we will cover a different topic starting in July. We will be looking at how businesses remain nimble and responsive in rapidly changing environments in these six areas each to be its own episode (1)  Pricing – how to price your service,  Customer Retention methods, "Big Fish" Customers– what to consider, how support, Blue Ocean – what are people not doing in your industry, Upskilling (Coaching, industry associations, Submitting abstracts) and Lawsuits – why, when, how, etc.? Please reach out to us via info@bisbmedia.com or on social media at @bisbshow to get involved in anyway with our series. 

Brian and Shavannah discuss running a business virtually and how to adopt and thrive with the new communication and cultural norms. We’re losing human-to-human non-verbal communication but we still have to run businesses and run the well but we are gaining flexibility and reach. We offer up ideas on how to use to maximize the effectiveness of digital platforms both internally and externally for your business operations. Tune in to learn what we mean when we say “Keep your digital door open.”

Hosts Brian Gendron and Shavannah Roberts Schrieber have record a casual conversation about how small business owners can weather the storm caused by the COVID-19 national public health crisis and the economic impact. We explore the ideas of stretching cash flow and payroll including discussions about the federal assistance loan programs -- Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and strategies to address and negotiation expenses with suppliers, as well as a way to make sure you keep yourself paid as an owner! 

Lead, stay calm, communicate, be resourceful, be opportunistic, stay on mission, don't panic!  Coronavirus and the impact it is having on our daily lives and the economy presents huge challenges for business owners but remember we are problem solvers! We talk about some tips, resources and ideas on how to get through this and come back stronger than ever! Resources:  Information for Small Business Owners from the SBA.GOV website landing page: https://www.sba.gov/page/guidance-businesses-employers-plan-respond-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19 Current Declared Disasters: https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/Declarations/Index   Step 1 to Obtaining SBA Disaster Assistance (the only action that can be taken at this time is to create an account, anyone planning to apply for a loan is advised to get financials in order): https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/Account/Login   TruFund -SMALL BUSINESS COVID - 19 RESPONSE SURVEY Help Us, Help You! Your responses help TruFund Financial and our partners best help you through this crisis! SUBMIT COVID-19 SURVEY RESPONSE ConvertKit has established a $50,000 fund to help creators in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. Please read details below and then submit your information if you are in need. What types of expenses are covered? If you're already in a tight spot, unexpected expenses could really cause a problem. With that in mind we've made the creator fund flexible. It can be used toward medical expenses, childcare, groceries, or your rent or mortgage. How much will you cover? We've established a $50,000 fund to cover up to $500 per creator. We chose this amount for two reasons: It allows us to help at least 100 creators. We're able to stay under the tax requirements of sending a 1099 or similar paperwork, which would make this far more complicated. ​We'll use our discretion to decide who to allocate funds to. We know we won't be able to get to everyone before the pool runs out, but we hope this makes a difference for at least 100 people!  https://creatorfund.ck.page/

Season 3, Episode 2 "Funding your Business" - Brian and Shavonnah discuss different ways of coming up with the capital needed to start your business.  Since they started their services businesses with their own capital and credit, they welcome guests Heath Butler Network Partner of Mercury Fund to discuss strategies for going the Venture Capital route and Bobby Bryant  Founder of Ask DOSS shares his experience of starting his technology real estate company with a friends & family funding round. All guests have agreed to help answer any questions derived from the show, please send inquires to info@bisbmedia.com or through our social media channels!

#052 - Season 1, Episode 1 - Finding Purpose in Your Business If you are in business or thinking about starting a business, you are doing that with a goal in mind - maybe a financial goal a freedom goal or a change the world goal. So you have a goal, but is that goal tethered to a purpose? Or not? I believe you can start a business and even be successful - to a point - in that business without have a larger purpose defined. However. In this episode we cover: 1. How to identify the purpose for your business? 2. How to update the purpose to make sure that it is an intentional one then aligns with your values? 3. How to activate your purpose in your business' day-to-day operations Join in on the conversation! Share any comments or message us on Social media on purpose or for our next episode on funding your business live on Linkedin on Monday, February 17th at 2:15PM CST.

Episode 51 - Alla started her own immigration law firm and discusses lessons learned from her first year in business including goal setting, balancing family life, and the importance of maintaining relationships.  Books Alla would recommend: Man Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There are No Easy Answers  

Episode 49 – Changing Food Culture is Jimmy Tay Trihn’s purpose and BIG IDEA! How does a start up entrepreneur tackle a huge global problem? Keeping on purpose is key. His six P’s Founding Principles: Purpose, Passion, People, Product, Planet , Philosophy/Prosperity! He wants the world to eat healthy, nutritious and convenient authentic Vietnamese meals that uses healthy oils and gluten-free rice noodles. Naughty Noah’s has his son’s namesake and is a family recipe that Jimmy used his culinary background to “modernize” using all healthy and natural ingredients as well as a vegan broth as opposed to the animal-based bone broth found in traditional pho noodles. His noodles can be purchased online and at retail locations across the country. Learn more: https://www.naughtynoahs.com/ Naughty Noah’s is participating in the HEB Quest for Texas Best competition as a Houston finalist on August 8th @ Houston Food Bank 535 Portwall, Houston 11:30am. Support Jimmy and Naughty Noah’s if you can make it! Jimmy’s book recommendations that have helped him with personal development? the Success Principles by Jack Canfield, Start with Your Why by Simon Sinek, Jab Jab Jab Right Hook, by Gary Vaynerchuk. Emotional Intelligence Mastery by David Clark, Storybrand by Donald Miller Jimmy’s technology/software/apps that he f would recommend All google apps like google drive, google sheets, etc

Episode 49 – Brian is joined by Shavonnah Roberts Schreiber the Founder & Managing Director of SNR Creative. We dive into how the differentiators of her business drive her success. How the culture of her agency is built on fast execution of ideas to deliverables to their clients and how their firm is truly a full-service marketing agency. We discuss leadership and management strategies such as setting proper expectations, holding people accountable, open communication and allowing team members to feel comfortable and confident to independently think things through to the end. Where to Find SNR Creative / Shavonnah https://www.snr-creative.com/ Twitter: ShavonnahSNRC Social Media: SNRCreative, Instagram SNRCreativeHou App Recommendations: Flock Book Recommendations: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath The Power of Who: You Already Know Everyone You Need To Know by Bob Beaudine Hope Is Not a Strategy: The 6 Keys to Winning the Complex Sale by Rick Page The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Seeds for the Soul: Living as the Source of Who You Are Paperback by Chuck Hillig

Elle’s journey from a nurse to a hospital administrator to entrepreneur is nothing short of inspiring and informative. Elle was able to recognize how much value she was bringing as an expert in her work for the hospital. Over time she found a way to bring that to the market as a consultant. Those who are working a corporate job who are interested in going into business on there own will benefit from hearing how she gracefully and strategically exited her career and began her business. Consumerism has changed healthcare; the online forums and social media are avenues for patients to share both positive and negative experiences. Elle’s big ideas was to help healthcare providers manage online reputation and improve overall business. How she manages her business and her time is helpful guidance for business owners. App Recommendations: Asana for Teamwork Collaboration and Project/Workflow Management Zapier for software automation and integration. Audible for Audiobooks Book Recommendations Objections: The Ultimate Guide for Mastering The Art and Science of Getting Past No by Jeb Blount– for sales and marketing strategies

Episode 48 – Brian is joined by Jeff Miller, founder and CEO of Potentia, a full service staffing firm with a passion for finding careers for candidates with autism. Learn about Jeff’s journey as an entrepreneur driven by learned skills, his passion for autism (having a child on the autism spectrum himself) and the opportunity to be in front of the wave of Neurodiversity that is starting in corporate America and will be a large part of inclusion initiatives in the years to come. Jeff’s journey has not been easy. He discusses the importance of learning to fail fast as an entrepreneur and be willing to pivot your business if needed by tracking and measuring results while maintaining your values, passion, and mission as the long-term goals. Recommended Book: Be Chief, It’s a Choice, Not a Title by Rick Miller App Recommendation: Note To Self

Episode 47 – Brian Interviews Founder and CEO of Paysphere Matt Umholtz. Matt founded Paysphere in 2012 with the idea that he could differentiate in his industry by not treating customers like numbers. Paysphere provides HR and payroll benefits to midsized businesses located mostly locally in Houston, TX. Along the way Matt has carefully cultivated an award-winning culture that has been recognized by the Houston Business Journal as the Best Places more than once including in 2017 when they took the top spot. Additionally PaySphere has been recognized for their business growth featured in the Houston Business Journal Fast 100 and in 2018 in the Inc 5000 nationally. Brian and Matt have a great discussion about what true culture is based on values and how those values are guided by a clear mission and vision.

Episode 49 – Brian welcomes author and speaker Jason B Montanez. Jason will challenge you to think about what is holding you back in your life from being your best self. In January 2019, he released his second book titled “I’ve Got 99 Things to Quit And Giving Up is One.” that is a guide to self-improvement by identifying and working on things in your life that are holding you back. Jason is the self-proclaimed Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion of Quitting.  While consulting, Jason had an epiphany and identified that it’s not so much about what one needs to do in order to realize success, but what one needs to Quit that is preventing them from progressing. For this reason, he decided to start the Quitters movement which removes the negative connotation from the word Quit. Quittingis a great thing when one is Quitting the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are counterintuitive to success! Jason can be found on his website 99thingstoquit.com.

Book Recommendations: Beyond IBM by Lou Mobley, Kate McKeown

Episode 44: Brian and Laura are joined by Co-Founder of sEATz Aaron Knape, and app to get food, beverage and merchandise to fans at sporting events. Book Recommendations: The Startup Equation: A Visual Guidebook to Building Your Startup Paperback by Steve Fisher and Ja-Nae Duane  Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Tim Ferris https://www.amazon.com/Tools-Titans-Billionaires-World-Class-Performers-ebook/dp/B01HSMRWNU The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferris Apps Recommendations: Spark email https://sparkmailapp.com/ Cozi Calendar https://www.cozi.com/calendar/

Episode 42 – We welcome Steven Rozenberg to share his journey from airline pilot to real estate investor, to property manager, to business owner, to author and public speaker. What’s most incredible is he is still doing all of those things today. As an airline pilot during the 9/11 tragedy, Steve realized that there was no certainty when working for someone else and decided to take his future into his own hands. He built up a real estate portfolio and learned a lot of what NOT to do before recognizing that he needed property management to help him and couldn’t find the one he needed in the market He the built a successful property management company with his partner Pete which they are rapidly growing into new markets. We will talk with Steve about how he is able to keep all these ventures going successfully. We will learn form him the challenges has faced and how he was able to overcome them, and what his plans are for the future including releasing his biography that is expected to be available before the end of 2018. Steve’s book/media recommendations: Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone The MFCEO Project Podcast by Andy Frisella   Steve’s App recommendations: Evernote – note taking Asana – Team Collaboration and project management