Business Leaders Podcast

Are you executing the right strategies to market your products and services? Are you planning to buy or sell a business? In this episode, guest https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameron-kolb-49426015/ (Cameron Kolb), senior broker at Raincatcher, speaks with host Bob Roark on how business owners spend their money, time, and effort in growing their businesses. Cameron explains his company's professional process so you can start analyzing yours. He helps and guides people to get the maximum value when buying or selling their businesses. He values being true and honest to the people who are asking for their help while getting the job done. Stay tuned to know more to scale your business up! --- Watch the episode here:   The Essentials Of Buying And Selling A Business With Cameron Kolb The big questions are how do business owners like us spending our own money, time and effort? How do we grow our businesses and jump the line that lets us accelerate the delivery of our products services in our community while being smart about our growth profits culture and still create a lasting value in our business? Those are the questions in this show. We'll share some of those answers. Our guest is Cameron Kolb. He's a Senior Broker with https://raincatcher.com/ (Raincatcher). Welcome to the show. --- Our guest is Cameron Kolb. He's the Senior Broker at https://raincatcher.com/ (Raincatcher). Cameron, welcome to the show. Thanks for taking the time. Tell us a little bit about your background and bring us up on where you are now. I started my professional career at Northwestern Mutual doing financial planning. We initially started with insurance and worked in the niche of business owners because we thought that was a good need there. As we expanded the team investments or more licenses they got, I started to specialize in exit planning. I worked with a lot of physicians and business owners. I did that for about six years and then, the debt in the family caused me to have to rethink things then, ultimately decided that based on what I've experienced with all these business owners and how difficult of a time they've had trying to sell their business, I thought there might be some opportunity to help essentially do business brokerage. My path after that was that I went out on my own, learned how to do business brokering, did it on my own for about five years and then was asked to join Raincatcher back in May 2021, which has just been great. I essentially went from being a solo practitioner to doing everything that there is to do with now. Now, I get to focus on what I'm great at, which is bringing buyers and sellers to the table and getting deals done. I think about the compare and contrast between the team approach to a business sale versus the sole practitioner approach to bring it to a sale. What it reminds me of is the difference between having a job and a business. For the sole practitioner, they might've been expertise that you didn't have, it might be franchising or one type of specialist event, whereas at RainCatcher, you have a depth of field. [bctt tweet="Continue learning. When you start working with people, you will realize that there's a lot you don't know yet." username=""] I thought I was smart then I started working with some smart people and realized there's a lot that I didn't even know I didn't know. It'll bring 4 or 5 months together on a deal we're working in. It's just made a huge difference in the execution and the progress that I've made as a business professional. I feel that one of the lots about what you can do to add a lot more value than I'm previously doing. There are different ways to sell businesses as a business broker. I thought I'd been doing it the best way and then sure enough, I learned that there are better ways to do it, which is humbling. It's interesting to maybe expand on that a little bit. You think about, “I thought I knew this way to sell a business and then I...

  If you want to grow as a company, you have to do it organically, not by following trends. Ask your customers what they want and then build from that. Stop anticipating the next trend and just work on your core business. Be creative and original. Join your host Bob Roark and his guest https://www.angusfletcher.co/ (Dr. Angus Fletcher) as they break down how you can lead your business to grow organically. Angus is a Professor of Story Science at https://projectnarrative.osu.edu/ (Ohio State's Project Narrative). Discover Angus's love for both neuroscience and storytelling. Come and join the conversation on how you can grow your company in a world that's so different from before. Be open to change and anomalies so that you can grow. Feed your creative brain so that you can grow. Grow organically today! --- Watch the episode here:   How To Grow Your Company Organically In This New World With Dr. Angus Fletcher Our guest is Dr. Angus Fletcher. He is a professor at Ohio State University's https://projectnarrative.osu.edu/ (Project Narrative). He is a polymath with dual degrees in Neuroscience and Literature. He received his PhD from Yale, taught Shakespeare at Stanford, and published two books and numerous peer-reviewed articles. He has consulted with Sony, Disney, Amazon, and the Army Command and General Staff College. He is the author and presenter of the https://www.audible.com/pd/Screenwriting-101-Mastering-the-Art-of-Story-Audiobook/B0778Q1BHY (Audible Great Course Guide to Screenwriting). He was awarded the Rodica C. Botoman Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching and Mentoring 2020. Welcome to the show. --- https://www.angusfletcher.co/ (Angus Fletcher), thank you so much for taking the time to be on the show. Thanks for inviting me. I'm honored and excited. In the pre-interview here, I was doing homework. The more homework I did, the more I knew I was lacking. I talked to another good friend of yours, https://www.linkedin.com/in/longkenneth/ (Ken Long). He had some input too and he says, "Maybe he has this." We will narrow down the discussion as to how it might apply to the business community and narrative. What I was fascinated with is you have literature and neuroscience. It's like chicken and egg. Which one came first? I started in neuroscience and that continues to be the bedrock of everything that I do as a young neuroscience researcher. I was in the lab where, like every other lab in America, everyone thought the brain was a computer. They thought that the brain is operated by taking on data, storing it into memory, and then processing that data to make decisions logically and that the brain program has this thing called emotion. That was how everyone was working on the brain. I started to notice the human brain didn't work as a computer at all. First of all, human brains are much worse at doing logic than most computers. Human brains can't take on the same amount of data. Even when we do, we are much more irregular in how we process it. Humans are a lot smarter than computers in certain situations. Humans are much better at low-data decision-making. We are much better at figuring out what to do when there's not a lot of information. That's a situation where AI goes completely haywire. Humans are also better at being creative. Even though AI can be better at predicting the future, humans can be better at making the future and making it in ways that AI can't predict. That got me thinking, "What is this secret thing that's going on in the human brain that's different from what is going on in computers? How is it that we can have these other kinds of intelligence?" That started me on this very unusual career, where I went to Silicon Valley and Hollywood. I have a PhD and all these kinds of names, which I'm sure your audience doesn't need to know about. It has brought me into working with the US military, traders, and other folks to bring out some of the...

Your hiring process should not just start with stacking up resumes. If you want the right fit for the job and for your company, you need to be thorough. Joining Bob Roark today are https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevepurban/ (Steve Urban) and https://www.linkedin.com/in/kegerreis/ (Scott Kegerreis), co-founders of https://www.riderflex.com/ (Riderflex), a generalist boutique recruiting firm servicing all industries, all functions, nationwide, C-level to associates. The two recruitment experts share how you can optimize your recruitment process. It's not just about credentials on paper but also the character and personality. It all comes down to a human element. Learn more about their process and how they've helped build successful companies through their work by tuning in. --- Optimizing Your Hiring Process With Steve Urban and Scott Kegerreis The big questions are, “How do business owners like us spend our own money, time and effort? How do we grow our business and jump the line that lets us accelerate the delivery of our products and services in our community while being smart about our growth, profits, and culture, and still creating lasting value in our business?” Those are the questions in this show. We will share some of those answers. Our guests are Steve Urban, CEO and Cofounder, and Scott Kegerreis, CRO and Cofounder of https://www.riderflex.com/ (Riderflex), a global recruiting and consulting firm. Welcome to the show. --- Thank you so much for being on the show. It has been a long time. The last time we talked was in February of 2018 on one of the http://businessleaderspodcast.com/episodes/steve-urban-founder-ceo-of-riderflex/ (episodes) of the show. You have been hitting it out of the park. You have amazing five-star reviews counting over 200. What is it that you offer to your customers? What is it that you do? For the readers, I'm glad to be back on the show. We are a recruiting firm and what we're here to talk about is our recruiting business. If it wasn't for you, I don't think https://www.riderflex.com/podcast (Riderflex Podcast) that we would do would not exist if it wasn't for you because you gave us that suggestion way back a long time ago. I always think to myself, “The podcast we have would not exist without Bob.” Thank you for the mentoring and advice you gave us way back then. You have a wonderful show and all the guests that you have had on. I try to mimic that a little bit and follow your lead, especially early on when I was first getting started. Thank you for the advice and the relationship that we have. With Bob Roark is appreciated. For the readers, Riderflex is a generalist boutique recruiting firm for all industries and functions nationwide from C-level to associates. We are having great success building the company. Scott and I started it in late 2016. We both came from executive backgrounds. I was an operations guy and Scott was a sales guy. We had met each other working at a horticulture outfit. We bonded and had a lot of similarities. We enjoyed being around each other so we stayed in touch. I called him and said, “I want to turn https://www.riderflex.com/ (Riderflex) into a recruiting firm.” He's like, “There are 20,000 recruiters. Why do we want to do that?” I said, “Most of them suck. We can do a lot better.” I've got some ideas on how to do it the right way because I had dealt with and hired recruiters, and recruiters had worked for me because I had run a couple of $40 million companies as a CEO. I had a lot of experience in hiring, interviewing and dealing with recruiters. I knew it could be done better. At Buffalo Wild Wings, after the 3rd or 4th beer, I finally scratched out on a napkin what I thought we should do. I was trying to convince Scott to come to help me do it because I was an ops guy but Scott was sales. I knew that he could sell it and I could execute it. That's how it got started but I will let Scott give a better overview of who we are and...

For many business owners and entrepreneurs, the time comes when they have to move on. When this happens selling your business becomes a priority. What can you do to ensure that you get the most out of it? In this episode, Bob Roark discusses business exit strategies with senior business broker https://www.linkedin.com/in/garywofford/ (Gary Wofford) of Raincatcher LLC. Gary helps businesses buy and sell their companies and here, he gives you what you need to know with how to sell your company. Curious? Then learn more by tuning in to Bob and Gary. --- Watch the episode here:   How To Sell Your Business With Gary Wofford The big questions are how do business owners like us spend our own money, time and effort? How do we grow our businesses and jump the line? That lets us accelerate the delivery of our products and services in our community while being smart about our growth and profit culture and still creating lasting value in our business. Those are the questions in this show and we will share some of those answers. Our guest is Gary Wofford. He's the Senior Business Broker at https://www.raincatcher.com/ (Raincatcher). Welcome to the show. --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/garywofford/ (Gary Wofford), thank you so much for taking your time to be a guest on the show. Welcome. Thank you, Bob. I'm glad to be here with you. I have been looking forward to this. You started talking about your experience in the franchise space. It seems like there isn't anything you haven't done. If you would tell us a little bit about how you got here. I have been reflecting on my background and experiences. I do cover a lot of bases. I first was on the corporate side of the franchising world. It was with a company based down in Dallas that decided to franchise all of their company-owned restaurants. That was https://www.bonanza.com/ (Bonanza International). I was VP of Operations over about 250 stores. They allowed me to become a franchise owner as a little bit of a stay bonus. My franchise fee was waived and I was able to pick 1 of 2 or 3 stores that would be mine. That's when I first got involved in the ownership side of franchising. It was a wonderful experience. I was able to develop two additional Bonanza Family Steakhouses as a franchise owner in North Texas and Southern Oklahoma. I go back to that as a grassroots learning experience because with the adage, “You learn where the buck stops.” When it's snowing outside, you got a payroll on Monday and the business is down, you learn what you have to do as a business owner to take care of that. From that very early beginning, I started gaining a strong appreciation for business owners, knowing their world and what they were faced with on a day-to-day basis. That later led to an opportunity to sell those stores to a larger franchise owner after about 6 or 7 years because the town that I was in built another highway. The cows cut the traffic patterns down quite a bit. I could see the handwriting on the wall that it was time to consider moving on to something else. I did sell those three locations to another franchise owner and that system. I got affiliated with another franchise as the operating partner back in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Luther's BBQ. We built over 6 or 10 years of AAA locations. This was back in the day. We were selling barbecue sandwiches for $1.99 but we had $2 million on average with a lot of drive-throughs, takeouts and catering. Each of these restaurants would sit 200 people. We were very successful in the Dallas-Fort Worth market despite some failures of the franchise company. That led to having a little bit of a dispute. We ended up, long story short, settling with those folks. We had to change the name from Luther's to http://www.coltersbbq.com/ (Colter's). I still have the little writing pad that I use to come up with that name because we did a little marketing thing and didn't want to confuse customers. Luther was the...

  Most entrepreneurs' exit strategy is selling their business. But how do you sell your business at the best price? https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-woodbury/ (Mark Woodbury) is the Managing Director at https://raincatcher.com/ (Raincatcher), helping entrepreneurs buy and sell remarkable companies. Today, he joins Bob Roark to break down the process behind how they help clients get maximum value for their businesses. He shares mistakes to avoid and things to prepare when you're planning to exit and sell your business. Tune in for valuable insight on how to make your life's work sellable! --- How To Sell Your Online Or SaaS Business At Maximum Value With Mark Woodbury The big questions are, “How do business owners like us spend our own money, time and effort? How do we grow our business and jump the line that lets us accelerate the delivery of our products and services while being smart about our growth, profits, culture, instilling increased value in our business?” Those are the questions in this episode. We will share some of the answers. --- Our guest is Mark Woodbury. He's a Managing Director of https://raincatcher.com/ (Raincatcher). Mark, welcome to the show. I appreciate you having me on. I appreciate your time. Tell us a bit of you and what got you from there to here? My background was in finance and I have worked in finance as my first job out of school. I always had an itch for a little bit more independence and less rigidity than I had. Since this is my first job, there is supposed to be some rigidity and you have to earn your stripes a little bit. I learned a ton. I liked what I was doing but I had an itch towards self-employment. They say, “Necessity is the mother of invention,” meaning if you want to start a business and you don't have any money, you better figure out how to start a business with no money. For me, that was learning the digital space. It was a very low barrier to entry to do business online, to build websites as a service. At that point, start a website, get into eCommerce with very low customer acquisition costs. That's what I did. I dabbled around online and figured things out the hard way. Initially, I taught myself a lot of hard lessons. I stumbled and fell many times but this was nights and weekends for a while and I ended up having some success. I was at the right place and at the right time. That was an easier time to get into eCommerce. It's much more competitive now. There are a lot of software that has decreased the barrier to entry even further. There are probably 10, 20 times as many merchants online competing for the same ad space as when I've got into it. I've got in and got my feet wet into self-employment. I learned the hard way about keeping your books and quarterly estimated taxes. I learned that lesson the hard way. Plenty of stumbles, as you have seen with yourself or potentially your clients. I ultimately ended up selling that. I didn't know what my next venture would be until I sold that company. Throughout the sales process, that's where I learned, “This is what I want to do.” I have done consulting at other firms before. I wanted to do consulting and eCommerce. I wanted to do consulting for some supply chains and logistics. It didn't ring a bell but when I sold my company, I realized this is what this person does. They understand the M&A process and know who all the key players are. It's a lucrative space to be. It provides value. It's fun. It's very goal-oriented. I'm not racking up hours on somebody else's bill. I'm working for free most of the time until I close something. That's how I've got into the business brokerage space. I started at my own company with a partner and we had a couple of employees. After a few years, he and I split off. He went to work with his wife on her business. Fortunately, I met the folks at Raincatcher, which is the firm you are familiar with and the group I'm at. It has been a great...

  It's not just what you say that matters, but also how you say it. Everyone communicates differently, and knowing how to approach different people at different times can make or break you.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/drethanbecker/ (Ethan Becker) is the President and second-generation senior coach and trainer from https://speechimprovement.com/ (The Speech Improvement Company). In this episode, he chats with host Bob Roark and shares some tips from his book, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08GQH3KD9/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0 (Mastering Communication at Work: How to Lead, Manage, and Influence). Ethan talks about the impact of communicating effectively and how that translates in different business situations. He also discusses the science behind speech and communication to give a better understanding of how it works. --- Watch the episode https://youtu.be/R7tQz1fEG2E (here) Dr. Ethan Becker On The Impact Of Mastering Communication In Business How To Lead, Manage And Influence This is going to be quite the episode. We have Dr. Ethan Becker. He's the President and second generation senior coach and trainer for https://www.speechimprovement.com/ (The Speech Improvement Company). It's the oldest communication coaching and training firm in America. More importantly, he's created what I would consider a tool case, a set of tools for https://speechimprovement.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=25&product_id=64 (Mastering Communication at Work). That's the name of his book with the co-author, https://www.thoughtleadersllc.com/ (Jon Wortmann). It's how to lead, manage, and influence. It's the second edition. He was kind enough to provide me a copy, which I promptly read. It resides on my desk as a go-to resource and how-to in the speech side of the house. Dr. Becker, thank you so much for taking the time. If you would, maybe starting out with a story about your company and your mom and how this all came to pass. It's good to be here. I get asked that question about the company because we were founded in 1964. My mom and my dad were both at Emerson College, which for a long time is where you would go for communication. She was studying Speech Pathology and he was studying Rhetoric and Public Address, that was the vocation. They met, and dated, and they got together. They had this idea that if you could coach an executive, a businessperson, the same way an athlete was coached, you could help that person. Their specialty was in communication, so they did that through the lens of communication and the company name, they started right away. They said, “Let's name it what we do, The Speech Improvement Company.” Between the two of them, they found something that could focus on, in some cases, mechanics of speaking, and in other cases, psychology, persuasion, and rhetoric. Naturally, that grew into the business world. That's how it originally started a long time ago. Was there a recognition or a pushback when they started the company? Good speakers are born not made. You get some of that stuff. They also had other challenges. They were out of the norm. My mother, a blind Jewish woman who married a Catholic boy. In the 1960s, that didn't go over well. Your dad must have needed a lot of work for her to marry him and to try to improve. An Irish Catholic boy from Pennsylvania hitchhiked his way up to Boston and did what he couldn't to get through school. She came from a long line. Her grandfather was one of the founding members of Brandeis University. She came from a different place. These two were not from the same background, but they found love and commonality, and they started this business and then it quickly grew. They never wanted the company to grow large. There were always about 10 or 11 on the team. Now, we're about 20. They never wanted to be like a Dale Carnegie or a McKinsey or some watered down, one size fits all for everybody type of thing. They...

  Interestingly, many banks receive customer complaints not about their services but their standard procedure of asking for ID all the time. Regulars often see this as annoying and repetitive, which sometimes leads to arguments with bank tellers and staff. Setting the record straight regarding this particular policy with Bob Roark is https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinjroberts (Robin Roberts), CEO of https://ppnb.com/ (Pikes Peak National Bank). She explains why confirming one's identification is critical in securing one's money and financial information. Robin emphasizes why this simple action promotes better relationships between you and your bank.  --- Watch the episode https://youtu.be/KgF3waxUreg (here) Robin Roberts: The Reason Behind Banks Asking For ID All The Time  Have you ever wondered why banks sometimes do things that are not quite clear? In this series, I have Robin Roberts. She's the CEO of https://www.ppnb.com/about/ (Pikes Peak National Bank). She's here to demystify why banks want to see your ID again. You go, "Why would they want to see my ID? Don't they know me?" I thought it might be useful to talk about that process from the bank's perspective. Enjoy.  --- I got back from my bank. As always, I want to take some funds out and they wanted to see my ID again. I can't tell you how many times they've asked. Pretty much, it annoys me almost every time. Robin, why do they ask? Robin is the CEO of https://www.ppnb.com/about/ (Pikes Peak National Bank). She gets asked this question all the time so we thought we would answer it. Go ahead, Robin.   [bctt tweet="Banks are protecting not only your money but also your financial identity, social security number, and all other personal information. " via="no"] I get more customer complaints about the fact that we asked for their ID than any other customer complaint. It boggles my mind. We are protecting your financial information and access to your accounts. For most people, that's either the most important thing to them or the second most important thing to them after their family. There is their money. I always equate it to when someone goes into a liquor store or they go to a restaurant and the bartender cards them, they feel so flattered like, "I must look young. Someone asked me for my ID. He must have thought I was under 21." You know that's not why they asked for the ID. They're flattered when the bartender asked them for their ID.   We're protecting not only their money but their financial identity, their social security number, date of birth, all of their personal information. They get irritated when we ask for an ID. Often I get, "Don't you know how long I've been banking here?" "I do know how long you've been banking here but the new teller doesn't." Banks have new tellers all the time. It's an entry-level position in our industry. Usually, good tellers get promoted so then you're going to have a new teller. The new teller doesn't know you and they better be asking for your ID because what if you're going through a divorce and your soon-to-be ex-wife is trying to access your accounts. We need to look at IDs to know who's authorized to have access to this and who isn't.   It's not optional, isn't it?   [caption id="attachment_5903" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Asking For ID: Banks need to look at IDs to know who's authorized to have access to the account and who isn't.[/caption]   It's not optional. If the bank allowed someone to take money out of your account and didn't ask for an ID, I can promise you you'd be complaining to me. It's the opposite side. It's not about us trying to create inconvenience for you. It's not about us not knowing who you are or appreciating your long-term relationship with us. It's us doing our job. We're protecting your financial information, your financial identity and access to your money. Please give us your ID. You could thank the teller for asking because they are doing...

  Negotiating with banks when getting a loan is not only about getting the most rewarding end of the deal. There are a lot of regulations and policies to be considered here after all, and you must be aware of each one to ensure a smooth process. Bob Roark talks with the CEO of https://ppnb.com/ (Pikes Peak National Bank), https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinjroberts (Robin Roberts), to delve into the right approach to bank negotiations. She explains why you can't argue with banks about submitting tax returns and financial statements, delving into why it is not an invasion of privacy. On the other hand, Robin talks about loan covenants - which are negotiable - detailing how you should discuss its specifics with the bank to come up with a satisfying agreement for both parties. --- Watch the episode https://www.youtube.com/embed/sEUCyl3HyaA?rel=0 (here) Robin Roberts: What You Must Know When Negotiating With Banks Have you ever wondered why banks sometimes do things that are not quite clear? In this series, I have Robin Roberts. She's the CEO of https://ppnb.com/ (Pikes Peak National Bank). She's here to demystify some of the things that might be bothering you. One of the things that we talked about at length is how to negotiate with your bank. There are so many people that miss this one particular component and it is not the 1/8 of the quarter that you negotiate on the loan. Oddly enough, it might be the covenants that you might want to spend some time on. Take care, enjoy, and I hope you learn something from this episode. --- What can you negotiate with your bank? If you've finished negotiating with your bank and you've got an extra 1/8 off on my five-year fixed 30-year amortization note, don't necessarily pat yourself on the back. You may have missed basically the entire positive things that you can do. In this episode, we have Robin Roberts. She is the CEO of https://ppnb.com/ (Pikes Peak National Bank) to illuminate and demystify what you can negotiate with your bank in the commercial loan for your business. The first thing that business owners who have not borrowed before, they equate commercial loans with getting a residential mortgage on their house or getting a car loan. That's a consumer purpose loan and those types of loans have their purpose. They are very different. They're regulated differently. They have different laws that cover them than commercial lending. Commercial lending is its own animal. It's important for business owners to understand commercial lending, how it is different than getting their residential mortgage, and how the process was. Not just now when you get the loan, but over the course of the loan because the bank is much more involved with you on an annual basis with your loan than when you get your residential mortgage for 30 years. You make your payment every month and no one ever bothers you again from the mortgage company or the servicer. You make your payment and you're good. Commercial lending is not that way and business owners can, if they understand the whole process of the loan, negotiate things at the beginning of the loan that will help them 2 and 3 years down the road. For a lot of them, when you do your home mortgage and you do it through a bank, most don't realize or don't realize until they get a notice that the note's been sold. It's not on the bank's balance sheet and their responsibility and concern about your note is now gone. Whereas the commercial loan is the banks are intimately interested in making sure of the quality of your note because it resides at the bank that you have the note from it and it's not sold. [bctt tweet="Most small business loans are not sold. They're held on the bank's books to be monitored regulatory-wise." username=""] Most commercial loans and small business loans are not sold. They're held on the bank's books and the bank has a responsibility regulatory-wise to monitor that loan portfolio we grade it actually on...

  It is often believed that bank lending is only accessible to those with money. But if that's the case, then it conflicts with the entire idea of getting a loan. Breaking this misconception with Bob Roark is the CEO of https://ppnb.com/ (Pikes Peak National Bank), https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinjroberts (Robin Roberts). She explains how banks determine the qualified persons for bank lending. She enumerates the most important factors that come into play in such transactions, from the required cash of 10% to your overall credit/FICO score. --- Watch the episode https://youtu.be/BxF538PraYU (here) Robin Roberts: Is Bank Lending Only Available To Those With Money? Have you ever wondered why banks sometimes do things that are not quite clear? In this series, I have Robin Roberts. She's the CEO of https://ppnb.com/ (Pikes Peak National Bank). She's going to talk about who banks lend to and why. I thought that might be interesting to the business owners out there so they might be a little more prepared. Enjoy. --- https://ppnb.com/ (Robin), you and I talk a lot about some of the misconceptions and things that we hear on a regular basis. You've heard more times than you would like to count, “Banks only lend to people that have money.” That strikes me weird because what do you think they're going to do. Let's dive into that and talk about why that is. We have another in the series with Robin Roberts. She's the CEO of Pikes Peak National Bank, talking about questions she gets asked and some of the answers that people don't know. Here we go. [bctt tweet="Banks lend based on your cashflow, not on the amount of money in your bank account." via="no"] The comment that is made frequently is that, “Banks only lend to people who have money. It's when you need money that banks won't lend and if you have money, then you don't need to borrow.” Both of those are not true. Banks lend to people who can pay it back. Banks lend based on your cashflow not on the amount of money that you have in your bank account. We certainly look at that. That's a measure of liquidity for you as a borrower but we're looking at what cashflow is being generated either from whatever it is that you're purchasing or generated through your activities. You have a job, so you get paid every month. That's cashflow. Earnings after expenses are your cashflow and what is left over to make the payment on the loan. From a business perspective, what are your earnings? Were the revenues from your business after expenses you have profit? What is the cashflow available to take on this additional payment? We're looking at what sources of repayment are there to pay the loan payment. You don't have to have $200,000 in the bank in order for the bank to make a loan to you. They do look at also after cashflow then what happens if the business, for some reason, can't make the payment. Is there cash in the bank? Is there cash in you, the business owner's accounts where you have some liquidity and can make payments? When you're looking at any business loan, particularly purchasing real estate, you're going to need 10% of whatever. You're going to need cash of 10%. There are government programs that can make up that difference, the down payment. You're going to have to have 10% in. If you don't have 10%, then there's a problem. You need to think about it in that way. Otherwise, banks don't make loans only to people who already have the same amount. If you want a $300,000 loan, you don't have to have $300,000 in the bank in order for us to make a loan. [caption id="attachment_5897" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Bank Lending: When looking at any business loan, particularly purchasing real estate, you're going to need cash of 10%.[/caption]   There's a myriad of indicators of your ability to pay back. The fight goes, credit scores, the experience in TransUnion of the world. When banks looking at you only lend to people with money, there are...

  Since a bank is still a business, it has to follow specific rules and regulations. So when it comes to loan approvals, one must be prepared to abide by the required loan package. Bob Roark is joined by https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinjroberts (Robin Roberts), CEO Of https://ppnb.com/ (Pikes Peak National Bank), to discuss what constitutes such a package and how business plans differ depending on your scope and reach. They also talk about why banks favor those mitigating risks and how banking changed a lot over the years because of politics and culture. --- Watch the episode https://youtu.be/ESw6FO7SN2w (here)   Robin Roberts On Putting Together A Loan Package Have you ever wondered why banks sometimes do things that are not quite clear? In this series, we have Robin Roberts. She is the CEO of https://www.ppnb.com/ (Pikes Peak National Bank). She's here to demystify some of those things. We're going to talk a little bit in this short episode on the best practices to improve your odds and getting that loan that you've lived with for loan success. Enjoy it. --- I'm the business owner and I've done a good job. I have a reasonably good relationship with my bank. We have talked about this in some other series of things not to do. In the things of to, I want to take it and do a strategic acquisition for my business. I want to put together a loan package, present it to the bank, and do everything that's within common practices to increase the out-of-the-bank gone. I understand what you are trying to do. I can see the numbers, we are willing to take in, and be a business partner with you in this note. What can they do? I have with me, Robin Roberts. She's the CEO of https://www.ppnb.com/ (Pikes Peak National Bank). More of our series of things you didn't know about banking but wish you did. [caption id="attachment_5877" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Loan Package: The better prepared you are with this information, the faster the loan decision will be made, and you can get to whatever goal you're after.[/caption]   It depends on the type of loan that you are wanting. There are some things in your loan package. They are always going to have to be there. The better prepared you are with all of this information, the faster the loan decision is going to be made and the faster you can get to whatever goal it is that you are after. If you are doing anything new, starting a new business, adding a second product line, buying someone else's business, or expanding and opening another location, you need to have a business plan. Now, it doesn't have to be 500 pages. The bank is not looking for you to do something that is 500 pages. If you are an existing business, you are opening a second location or you are adding to an existing product line, the business plan is a validation of your business model. If you are a startup, you are writing a business plan to validate that the product or service that you are going to provide is needed. If you are already in business and you are generating revenue, that question is already answered. Somebody needs your product or service and you are generating revenue so you already exist. Less work has to be done on validating your business model and more work has to be done on, “Here's how we are going to pay for the second location.” More financial projections, more talk about who the management team is going to be, what your supply chains are, and how you are going to support the new product, service, second location or whatever. [bctt tweet="If you're thinking about doing something big, get your tax returns filed by the deadline and don't extend to them." via="no"] A business plan with projections having that done before you go to the bank is important, it tells the bank what you are wanting to do, and why you think that you can pay the loan back given the revenues that are generated by whatever it is that you are going to do.A business plan is...

  Banks has always been a secretive establishment, heightened even more so by The Bank Secrecy Act. This makes most, if not all transactions with them a bit unclear and complicated. Bob Roark sits down with https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinjroberts (Robin Roberts), CEO of https://ppnb.com/ (Pikes Peak National Bank), to delve into this law and how the 9/11 incident strengthened it through the Patriot Act. She explains why it is better to simply go on with your usual bank transactions instead of structuring it. Robin also talks about the penalties that come with breaking the Bank Secrecy Act both on the side of the customer as well as the banks. --- Watch the episode https://youtu.be/xzO4mty6K7E (here) The Bank Secrecy Act, What It Is And Why Business Owners Should Be Aware With Robin Roberts, CEO Pikes Peak National Bank Have you ever wondered why banks sometimes do things that are not quite clear? In this series, I have Robin Roberts. She's the CEO of https://www.ppnb.com/ (Pikes Peak National Bank). She's going to be talking about the Bank Secrecy Act and how that might apply to you as a business owner. Enjoy. Thank you. --- How many times you have said, “I've got a secret and I'm not telling.” The banks have secrets too, but it's not because they want to have secrets. It's because they have a Bank Secrecy Act. We thought we would take in, pull the cover off of the secrets in the Bank Secrecy Act. You talk about them and how they might affect you as the business owner and a client of a bank. Robin, thank you. This is Robin Roberts the CEO of https://www.ppnb.com/ (Pikes Peak National Bank). We are in the demystifying stage of talking about lending, banking and business owners. I always felt like I need to talk about the Bank Secrecy Act because it's a law. First of all, it was created in 1971 or 1972 to at least find racketeering, drug rings and money laundering being done through the banking system. After 9/11, with the Patriot Act, the Bank Secrecy Act was strengthened. Several things were added to the Bank Secrecy Act that banks have been doing since 2001. The Patriot Act continues to be renewed by Congress so they stay in place. I'm not telling any secrets. You can look up the Bank Secrecy Act and the regulations, it's publicly available but I don't think it's public knowledge. [bctt tweet="Any business dealing in money is going to have to follow the Bank Secrecy Act." username=""] Most people do not understand how much the bank is reporting about you and not under penalty of law for the bank but under penalty of law for individual employees who do not follow the Bank Secrecy Act. This is a particular law where the employee themselves can be assessed that is called a Civil Money Penalty or assessment where they have to pay a fine because they didn't follow the Bank Secrecy Act. There are severe penalties for not following it. That's how seriously the Bank Secrecy Act is looked at by bank regulators and by bankers in general. [caption id="attachment_5889" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Bank Secrecy Act: Most people do not understand how much the bank is reporting about you and not under penalty of law for the bank, but under penalty of law for individual employees who do not follow the Bank Secrecy Act.[/caption]   With that being said, one must not cross the Bank Secrecy Act. Our favorite discussion is the one about if I deposit X dollars at this bank and X dollars at this branch, is that a reportable thing? Please don't ask that. Do not go up to the teller and ask them, “I've got this cash. I need to bring it in but I don't want it to be reported. What's the threshold if I take it over here to this branch?” The fact that you are asking that, the teller has to report that you wanted to structure transactions. It's called structuring. There are basic thresholds under the Bank Secrecy Act. $10,000 is a general fine. $9,999 is not going to cut it? At least $10,001

  The vast majority of business owners spend somewhere between 90% to 95% of their time working IN their business and only about 5% working ON the business. Running the business is working in it; exit and transition planning are working on it. However, when it’s high time to sell, most business owners don't know what they don't know about selling their company. They are unaware of how to transition or exit their business. Joining Bob Roark on today’s show is Cam Bishop, the Managing Director at https://www.raincatcher.com/ (Raincatcher), a business brokerage and M&A firm that partners with entrepreneurs and business owners looking for help in buying or selling remarkable companies. If you’re thinking about selling your business or in the process of doing so, you don’t want to pass up this episode as Bob and Cam dive into the exit planning fundamentals that will help you extract additional value out of your company. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/eB4ILmWLn_g[/embed] Exit Planning Fundamentals With Cam BishopWe're incredibly fortunate we have Cam Bishop. He's the Managing Director at https://raincatcher.com/ (Raincatcher). It's a business brokerage and M&A firm that partners with entrepreneurs and business owners who are looking for help in buying or selling remarkable companies. He is the author of Head Noise: Perspective and Tales from the Executive Suite and Onward & Upward: Motivational Advice for Career Success. --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameron-bishop-19b6804/ (Cam), thank you from Kansas City and for coming on the show. We appreciate it. Thank you, Bob. You’re welcome. I'm glad to be here. Before the show, I did a little bit of homework. I looked at your long resume of experience. If you could, give us a quick snapshot or thumbnail of your experience prior to here. It has been an interesting journey. I went to the University of Missouri School of Journalism. I got a degree in Journalism and came out of school. I wanted to become an advertising copywriter. I thought I'll spend my entire career working in ad agencies. Instead, I started out in a marketing job and writing ad copy in a small publishing firm. It was a $7 million business. It got acquired and the new owner said, "We want you to go out and buy companies to grow this thing." We grew from $7 million to $13 million, to $90 million and then we got sold again. We grew from $90 million to $300 million. I stepped in as the CEO of that company and we grew it to $400 million. It was a profit machine. We were throwing off $100 million a year. We had 2,000 employees in 23 US cities in 4 or 5 foreign countries. It was a crazy ride. [bctt tweet="The integration plan is the absolute make or break of the deal." via="no"] The management structure changed and I said, "I liked this business model." I took six months off, wrote a business plan, flew around the country, pitched in the concept to about 50 different private equity firms, and ended up landing in a very happy relationship with JPMorgan Chase Banks' Private Equity Division. At that time, they had about $6 billion fund they were working out of. Unlike most PE deals, we didn't start with a direct acquisition. We started on my kitchen table. We went out and sourced a business as a starter, what they call a platform company. We ran the same model I had been running at the previous business, which they called in the PE world, the leverage roll-out business, where you buy a platform company and then you rapidly begin to tap companies that are strategic fits for your business. You build it up into a much bigger company, then you exit that deal and gain a benefit from scale that we used to call arbitrage on the exit multiple. Meaning if you had averaged all your deals in six times EBITDA, when they're aggregated together and you resell it, you can sell it for 8 or 9 times EBITDA based on the scale of the business and the efficiencies that you've driven into the...

  People often have this misconception that investments in marketing almost always run contrary to an organization's mission. They feel that any spending that isn’t directly tied to the mission runs counter to the good you accomplish in the world. Bob Roark and his guest, https://www.linkedin.com/in/sswineford/ (Stu Swineford), tackle this very subject today. Stu is the author of https://missionuncomfortablebook.com/ (Mission: Uncomfortable - How Nonprofits Can Embrace Purpose-Driven Marketing to Survive and Thrive). Stu talks about purpose-driven marketing, showing that marketing isn’t really a bad thing, especially if you’re the leader of a non-profit organization or its marketing department. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/XIxoAhUkEbc[/embed] Purpose-Driven Marketing With Stu SwinefordMarketing is not a dirty word. As a leader of a nonprofit organization or its marketing department, you may have been told that investments in marketing run contrary to your organization's mission. At the least, you may feel that any spending can't be directly tied to the mission that runs counter to the good you accomplish in the world. We're going to talk about that. My guest is Stu Swineford. Stu is the co-author of https://missionuncomfortablebook.com/ (Mission Uncomfortable: How Nonprofits Can Embrace Purpose-driven Marketing to Survive and Thrive). He's also the co-founder of https://relishstudio.com/ (Relish Studio), a digital marketing firm and he's also the host of his own podcast, https://relishstudio.com/podcast/ (Relish This). Stu, thanks for taking your time. Thank you for having me on, Bob. I appreciate it. Fair disclosure, Stu and I are working together on a website. They do awesome work so I can attest to that right upfront. One of the things that we wanted to cover is one, we will talk about purpose-driven marketing and then the pillars of purpose-driven marketing, which are attract, connect, bond and inspire. Stu, maybe the first thing that we want to dig into is your thoughts on purpose-driven marketing. Thanks, Bob. Purpose-driven marketing is a phrase that we came to over the course of a few years where we're trying to give people the idea that marketing shouldn't just be an activity that you spend money on and check a box but it is something that should return an outcome. A lot of people think about marketing as a cost. One of the things that we've tried to establish in purpose-driven marketing is that it's more of an investment. It's something that you're doing to either run experiments or prove a hypothesis or tackle a challenge that you're having with your organization. There should be an outcome attached to that and it should be a positive outcome. That's what purpose-driven marketing is all about. Purpose-driven marketing can be applied to both for-profit and nonprofit businesses. It's marketing that has a specific goal in mind and we try to create all of the mechanisms by which you can attain that goal. In the context of Mission Uncomfortable, the book that I wrote, it's geared toward those businesses in the nonprofit sector specifically but the purpose-driven sector, additionally, to try and help them fuel growth. Fair disclosure, too, I read your book. Thank you for providing the copy. In the nonprofit arena, the folks that are in charge of marketing are trying to identify who their avatar or ideal donor and/or client might be. We usually start these discussions with an exercise that we call the values, vision and mission exercise. It takes some nonprofits a second to wrap their arms around it because their entire MO is around values, vision and mission. Making sure that that culture is intact and defined and everyone has a North Star so that we know what direction that we're going. When we work for for-profit businesses, we do an exercise that we call find the money and this can be something that a nonprofit can do as well. Essentially, it's looking back at your prior...

  Selling a business is much more complicated than handing it over for an amount of money and then walking out of the room. On the part of the buyer, it involves a meticulous process of diligence and preparation. If those buyers, who are experts in buying, are taking the effort to be prepared before the transaction happens, why should you, the seller, who is probably selling for the first time, not want to achieve the same level of preparedness? Joining Bob Roark on the show, https://raincatcher.com/ (Raincatcher) CPA https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronlinnebach/ (Aaron Linnebach) has some advice for business owners who are thinking about selling their companies at some point. Old wisdom tells us that “The early bird catches the worm,” and it couldn’t be truer when it comes to M&A. Listen in and learn why you should already be investing in exit preparedness now, even if (especially if) you’re not raring to let go of the reins just yet. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/hYihvAHyBP0[/embed] Start Early: Hard But Necessary Advice For Business Owners Thinking About Selling With Aaron LinnebachThe one thing that I would tell a business owner is to start the conversation early. If you can find your advisory team before you're ready to sell, and start discussing the things you can do on your business so that when it comes time to close that deal, you're prepared. You've got a clear strategic goal. You've got a compelling investment thesis. Starting early before the deal is about to close is only going to create money. It's only going to create extended value for your business. Our guest is Aaron Linnebach. He is the Managing Director of https://raincatcher.com/ (Raincatcher). Aaron, thank you so much for coming on the show. Bob, thank you so much for having me. It’s always a pleasure to talk to you. We have a little history. We've shot out a few birds here a little bit, so that's a good thing. I've seen him in the field, in his natural setting for lack of a better term. Aaron, tell us a little bit about Raincatcher. What is your role at Raincatcher? Your backstory about how you came into this field is interesting. Raincatcher is a business broker and M&A advisor for small to medium-sized businesses. We help deliver it to you in our succinct form. We help business owners buy and sell remarkable companies. We exist to represent sellers when it's time to go to market. My personal role in that is incredibly exciting. I get to spend all day every day working with my team and our business owner clients to help shepherd that business through the process of getting ready to go to market, pulling the trigger and go into the market, navigating all the uncertainty in that path, and then successfully closing that deal. It is an incredible honor and privilege to be a part of that process. For us, it boils down to four main value add activities that we take. The first is emotional. It's a big deal to sell a company or your business. It's not all about the numbers and the Ps and Qs. Oftentimes, it's about the heart as much as anything else. We help navigate that part of it. We help take the mystique and the mystery out of selling your company. The next part is educational. It's making sure the business owners are smart on what they need to do today, what they need to do tomorrow, and what they need to do the day after that to complete that objective of selling the company successfully. The next one is strategic. That’s where we differentiate ourselves. It’s being able to take a strategic perspective on the overall life cycle of your business and why now is the right time to go to market, and then it’s tactical. It's the blocking and tackling. It's the boots on the ground grind of crunching the numbers, telling the story, putting together marketing materials, contacting buyers, negotiating on your behalf. At the end of the day, you take all of those things together. What we do is serve business...

  Business acquisition is a unique challenge, especially if you’re an owner-operator who’s being pitted against larger private equity entities. Navy SEAL officer https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-hossfeld/ (Ian Hossfeld) knows where his competitive advantages lie and tries to stay within that lane in his ongoing search for a company to acquire. Ian is the founder of https://fossmtn.co/about (The Foss Mountain Company), which was created in 2020 for that specific purpose. He spends time with Bob Roark on the show to share what his company is looking for in a business, as well as some insights on what business owners should be looking at if they’re planning to sell. If you’re a business owner who’s contemplating an exit, listen in to know if Ian is a good fit for you. If not, then he would gladly help you find a buyer who is! --- Watch the podcast here:[embed]https://youtu.be/kcvjBqljX9E[/embed] Navy SEAL Turned Entrepreneur Lays Down His Business Acquisition Criteria - Ian HossfeldIn this episode, we have a special treat. We have Ian Hossfeld. He is the Managing Partner and Founder of https://fossmtn.co/ (The Foss Mountain Company). He's a SEAL Officer with the US Naval Reserves. Ian, thank you for joining us.  Bob, thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to join you.  Ian and I ran across each other. He is working on purchasing a company. I thought we would take and dig in with his thoughts on the type of company he's looking for and some of the criteria. Ian, in a thumbnail sketch, give us a quick snapshot of what got you from the Navy to where you are now.  I was a Navy SEAL Officer on active duty for eight years before transitioning from active duty to the Reserves, returning to school to get my MBA and pursuing this path. A couple of steps along the way that led me to this. What led me to transition from active duty was in 2016, my wife was pregnant with our first born. I was staring at my fourth deployment in five years and didn't see that changing while I was on active duty. I wanted to be around more for fatherhood and chose to leave active duty but still be able to serve while serving in the Reserves. You do when you don't know what you want to do and that's go back to school. I went and got my MBA.  I wanted to do something with entrepreneurship. What led me to that was on my last tour on active duty, I was deployed to Iraq and was in charge of a 75-man militia in the Upper Euphrates River Valley helping lead the charge to clear ISIS out of the area. In my capacity there, I was in charge of manning, training, equipping and operationally employing this force. In many ways, I had wide left and right lateral limits. I got to be in charge of this force and in some parallels, it’s like being in charge of a company. I loved that autonomy and ability to make meaningful decisions and have to think on my feet. Having to problem solve, to work with individuals both inside and outside the organization.  [bctt tweet="There is such a thing as a wonderful business to own, but not a wond erful business to buy." via="no"] It was a meaningful experience that I knew leaving from that, I wanted to replicate that and didn't want to be a cog in a larger machine. I knew entrepreneurship was the right path for me. While I was at business school, I met up with some professors, investors and mentors that worked with folks such as myself and help advise them and mentor them in going out and purchasing a company after graduation. I worked with them my last year I was in business school on a couple academic...

  Not every entrepreneur goes into the process of putting their business on sale. But when the time comes that selling your business is necessary, whatever your purpose may be, you will have nothing to lose on your end if you prepare well. Demystifying the intricacies of business selling and acquisition with Bob Roark is https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-warrillow-a54b241/ (John Warrillow), the CEO of https://builttosell.com/ (Built To Sell). John discusses how to know the right time to sell a business, present it to potential buyers, and start a healthy bidding war. He also goes deep into the most critical responsibilities business owners must take on when delving into such a transaction, from breaking the news to your employees to treading carefully when signing a no-shop clause. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/UtLDWtUfbrE[/embed] Preparing To Sell Your Business With John WarrillowEvery business owner will exit their business at some point. If you want to learn how to create value, understand what makes your business attractive to a buyer, and then how to negotiate the sale of your businesses, where John says, “Punch above your weight with that buyer.” You're going to improve your skill stack on this episode with John Warrillow. He's the best-selling author of https://builttosell.com/the-books/ (Built to Sell), top ten Forbes ranked podcast host on https://builttosell.com/radio/ (Built to Sell Radio), and CEO of https://valuebuilder.com/ (The Value Builder System). He has started an excellent four companies. You would agree it's safe to say a couple of things at a minimum. John is a subject matter expert and an advocate for business owners on creating value in their business, maximizing the return on their legacy. He's one busy guy. John, welcome to the show. It's good to be here, Bob. Thank you for taking the time. John, I've read your previous books and I bought additional copies to share with business owners. I’ve got it dog-eared and worn out. One of your books, https://www.amazon.com/Art-Selling-Your-Business-Strategies/dp/1733478159 (The Art of Selling Your Business), is an important book. It's a must-have investment for every business owner. I have to ask, being as busy as you are, why this book and why now? It's funny you mentioned the podcast I do. I've done something like 300 episodes and what I've come to learn is that there are cadres, a small cohort of entrepreneurs, who seem to get much better offers when they go to sell their business than the prevailing industry benchmark. It got me curious about, “What is it that the small group is doing? What do they know that others don't? What are the secrets?” Independent of what industry you're in or what the mechanics of your business is. It seems like there was something they were thinking and doing differently. I tried to distill that down into some lessons and some secrets, and that's what inspired me to write the book. You're doing field research. You're talking to business owners every week on Built to Sell Radio. If you don't have your finger on the pulse of the business owner, no one else does. On the selling trends for business owners that were hit in a difficult patch during the COVID pandemic, what do you see the trends doing here during this period of time and post-pandemic? There are two big things that we've seen. We've done some research where we looked at people that complete the Value Builder questionnaire, which is our intake questionnaire for people who use the system prior to the announcement of the pandemic in March of 2020 and the next eight months during the pandemic. Two big things popped. One is that the pandemic is causing business owners to want to sell sooner. They moved up their sales by 20%. Number two is their appetite to do a family transition. Passing their business down to their kids has dropped through the floor. In lieu, they are now planning to sell their business to a third party. We could riff...

  If there is one industry that can be tough to understand, especially if you are doing it legally, it would be the cannabis industry. Those who are in the medical cannabis business know how it can be challenging to understand the regulatory risks and compliance, to name a few. Stepping right in to help businesses and investors navigate this complex and new industry, https://www.linkedin.com/in/niceasley/ (Nic Easley) founded https://www.linkedin.com/company/comprehensive-cannabis-consulting-3c-/ (3C Consulting, LLC). He joins Bob Roark and https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-nespor-zawmon-b861731/ (Jaime Zawmon) of Titan CEO this episode to share with us what goes on behind the scenes of this business as CEO, highlighting what characteristics will make one a Titan of Industry. Nic then gives some advice about leading and building a great business, no matter what industry. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/9iEQcvXuA7A[/embed] Navigating The Complex Medical Cannabis Industry With Nic Easley, Founder & CEO of 3C Consulting And Co-host Jaime Zawmon of TitanCEOIn this episode, we have our special cohost Jaime Zawmon. She is the Founder and President of https://www.titanceo.com/ (Titan CEO) and our guest is Nic Easley. He's the Founder and CEO of https://www.3ccannabis.com/ (3C Consulting) and he’s the Managing Director of https://www.multiversecap.com/ (Multiverse Capital). Jaime, Nic, welcome. Thanks for making the time. We were privileged by you taking the time and sharing your experience and wisdom with us. With that being said, if you would, tell us about your business and who you serve. I've been in the legal cannabis industry for many years. Originally, I was an Air Force Linguist and I speak a few languages. I was from the farm county Wisconsin. After the military, I got hurt after about four years and came to Colorado. Medical cannabis was legal in 2006 or 2007 and I got my first medical card. I saw how people were growing and was disgusted by pesticides and indoor lights which is very unsustainable, non-environmental and not safe for patients. I started my business many years ago to help the cannabis industry form in a responsible way. As you see it now being over a $30 billion industry, which is a drop in the bucket for where this would go. It was to help companies understand the regulatory risks and compliance of navigating this brand-new industry that is a medical product. It's an adult-use product, but then also getting into the hemp industry and making papers, plastics and fibers. Helping businesses and investors navigate this complex and new industry is how we established ourselves. What are the typical issues that a client you're serving now has that you were able to solve their problems? I'm trying to paint a picture in the reader's mind of what's your clients and who your clients are? One of the challenges with cannabis is that it's federally illegal and each state has come up with its own medical or adult-use program. At the end of 2020, we have sixteen adult-use states where 21 and older consumption and possession is legal and we have 47 states with some medical laws on their books. About 37 of those are also having medical sales. In a normal business, you're like, “I want to open a gas station or a restaurant,” you would have that state's Department of Health to deal with. When it comes to cannabis, each program is different. I'm working on applications right now in the State of Georgia. Eleven million people are giving six licenses for cultivation for eleven million-person marketplace. It can be competitive. How does a client build a team, put their financial models together and start to raise capital? Put together thousands of pages of voluminous application content about the standards of DEA cages and vaults that they might need or video recording or production plants based on the Georgia Department of Agriculture requirements. We help people that...

  Honing your skills in a certain craft is best done through first-hand experience. In the case of https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-ganahl-3694044/ (Jason Ganahl), he was able to start his own barbeque restaurant by spending time as a judge and competitor in the biggest professional barbeque contests. Jason sits down with Bob Roark, joined by his cohost Jaime Zawmon, to share how he founded https://gquebbq.com/menu/ (G-Que BBQ) and his strategies in maintaining its success, particularly in keeping good connections with customers even beyond good food. He also shares how his business dealt with the changes caused by the pandemic and how he plans to address any future adjustments that may come. --- Watch the podcast here:[embed]https://youtu.be/i62p_M84UOY[/embed] Jason Ganahl, Founder Of G-Que BBQ With Cohost Jaime Zawmon, President Of Titan CEOWe are joined by Jaime Zawmon, my cohost, President and Founder of https://www.titanceo.com/ (Titan CEO). We also have Jason Ganahl, the Founder of https://gquebbq.com/ (GQue BBQ) and the Maestro of Meat. Good day, Jaime and Bob. Tell us about GQue BBQ. Tell us about your business and who you serve. In GQue, we got several different taglines. One of them is “Colorado's Only Championship Barbecue Restaurant.” I started out as somebody who wanted to eat good barbecue and then I became a judge for a professional barbecue contest. I started competing in a professional barbecue contest and opened up a barbecue restaurant. We are the only barbecue restaurant in Colorado that won a professional barbecue contest. How does one get to be a judge? I'm thinking that's clever. It's great but you pack on the pounds being a judge. You eat pounds of food at a barbecue contest, which is great, I loved it. I was a judge many years ago. We have a lot of judges that are 65 or 70 years old. I can't imagine how they feel for 2 or 3 days after they judge a barbecue contest. Even now, if I eat a big barbecue meal, which is nowhere near the amount of meat that you would eat while you were judging a contest, I still feel it the next day. I'll get the barbecue burst the day after at lunch or whatever. I'd burp up smoke and a little bit of the meat. I can’t imagine what it is like for some of these judges. These judges will do it every single week too for 35, 40 weeks out of the year. I think about the travel and the schedule. For you, how did you take and apply what you learned from judging to start to influence what you were offering in your restaurant? I tell people all the time, judging lent itself to a lot of the success I had when I was competing. When you're competing, you're trying to impress just the judges and being a judge for 2.5 to 3 years, I got to learn the entries of how they were presented. I got to see how they tasted but more importantly, I got to think like a judge. There are different strategies involved when you turn food in July at a contest when it's 100 degrees outside. If you're in a humid area, not in Colorado because we don't have a lot of humidity, but you're going to have a different type of flavor profile. If it's fall, in October or September, judges prefer different types of food given the different environments, climates and places of the country you're in. [bctt tweet="When creating a restaurant menu, include food that will not offend any particular person." username=""] It's also important to think like a judge when you're turning in your barbecue at these contests. I think judges helped me in that regard, more than any other regard. I don't know if it helped out a whole lot. I guess it did when I created the menu for the restaurant, but more so, what helped me with the background in that when I created the menu for the restaurant was getting the feedback from the judges. I judged for about three years and then I competed for about five but then getting all the feedback from the judges for those five years, that gave me a good idea of what...

  There are many paths toward financial independence. But which can take you to it faster? https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolerueth/ (Nicole Rueth), the Producing Branch Manager of https://theruethteam.com/home (The Rueth Team), believes it is in using home equity. In this episode, she joins Bob Roark and https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-nespor-zawmon-b861731/ (Jaime Zawmon) of Titan CEO to tell us why that is so and how she helps people get to them and capitalize on their biggest asset and liability. Featured as one of the 2020 Titan 100, Nicole then shares what characteristics make a Titan of Industry and how you can build a company with the best version of yourself—from habits and rituals to mindset. Join today’s conversation as Nicole takes you into her journey of leaving a legacy and helping people. --- Watch the podcast here:[embed]https://youtu.be/nwB-UwBCUZU[/embed] Leaving A Legacy Through Home Equity With Nicole Rueth, Producing Branch Manager, The Rueth Team, Fairway Mortgage, And Co-Host Jaime Zawmon, President of Titan CEOWe have our co-host Jaime Zawmon. She is the Founder and President of https://www.titanceo.com/ (Titan CEO). Our guest is Nicole Rueth. She is the Producing Branch Manager of https://www.theruethteam.com/ (The Rueth Team) at Fairway Mortgage. Thank you for taking the time. I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you for having me. Nicole, if you would tell us about your business and who you serve? As a lender, I serve people who own homes and want to refinance or buy homes but that's 1/100 of what we do. What my team does and what differentiates us in the market is the fact that we come alongside our clients to evaluate what is the swiftest way to get them towards independence financially using home equity. How do they capitalize on appreciation, principal reduction and rental income? How do they capitalize on what is the biggest asset and liability for most people? We solve the problem of how to finance that first purchase, that move up purchase and that investment property that's going to help take care of your family. When you first started on this path, was that your service offering? I first started as most lenders do dropping off candy at real estate offices, trying to connect with a divorce attorney, and trying to figure out who the financial planner that I was going to get referrals from. I operated it small and I was thinking about how do I get the next deal in my pipeline? It was a couple of years later when I started down this path of creating a team. I come from Corporate America so I manage large scale projects. This is back in the day of Andersen Consulting, now they're Accenture. I knew how to develop teams, strategies or solutions. I had no idea how to track that in mortgage lending. When I got out of the corporate business to have three amazing kids who are now young adults and then got back into a job, which that's all I thought it was. It happened to be in lending but I was trying to originate a loan. I started figuring out that I could originate more loans if I had people beside me that believed the same thing and then I got my first investment property. I had somebody come alongside me that cared enough to spend the time to teach me about what that meant because I didn't know, even though I was in the business. I started teaching other people. I had to pay it forward because I was generously given and I had to give it all away. As I'm giving it away, people want some of that and they're like, “I don't know how to build wealth.” Not real wealth where you invest in the stock market and right now that might be going well but next year it might not be. “How do you create that stability in that foundation?” It was that incremental change that somehow you don't even see coming until it's starting to build on itself and then it does. You realize that you want to start to build something that you're proud of, you can leave a legacy and you're

  Marketing is a vital part of the business. As such, there are so many subject matter experts that claim they have the best practices. However, when everybody's doing best practices, they all end up doing basic practices. Working his way around that by understanding how things fit holistically, https://www.linkedin.com/in/room214guy/ (Jason Cormier) co-founded https://www.room214.com/team (Room 214)—a growth studio that helps bring coherence across an organization's brand marketing and sales efforts. In this episode, he joins https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-nespor-zawmon-b861731/ (Jaime Zawmon), Founder and President of Titan CEO, to share how he is helping businesses achieve that while taking us across their shift from digital marketing to growth and coherence. He also talks about the role of human intelligence, the iterative growth in digital, and the value of data gathered from customer conversation. Plus, Jason also shares some of his best leadership lessons, emphasizing how, at the end of it all, it is the people that leaders should take care of. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/FgDaQWYUeKk[/embed] Jason Cormier, Cofounder of Room 214, with co-host Jaime Zawmon, Founder and President of TitanCEOWe are joined by Jason Cormier. He's the Cofounder of https://www.room214.com/ (Room 214) and my co-host, Jaime Zawmon. She's the Founder and President of https://www.titanceo.com/about-titanceo (Titan CEO). Jaime and Jason, welcome. Thanks a lot, Bob. I appreciate it. We talked a little bit before the show. I am fascinated by what you do. If he could tell us a little bit about your business and who you serve. The name of company is Room 214. We are what is called a growth studio. We help bring coherence across an organization's brand marketing and sales efforts. We have a digital marketing agency background. A lot of folks come to us for those kinds of services. We've migrated a bit outside of what you would probably consider as traditional digital marketing and social media. Real quick to finish the answer to the question, the clients that we serve vary quite a bit. From funded startups to Fortune 100, across multiple industries over the last several years. The question that comes to my mind is you've migrated a bit from digital marketing to growth and coherence. Paint me a picture of what that looks like. When you look at digital marketing, in particular, and what you understand about marketing in general is that when everybody's doing best practices, what they're doing is basic practices. What you learn pretty quickly is what worked last season doesn't necessarily work this season, or what works for your competitor doesn't necessarily work for you. What happens is you get a bunch of people in marketing that are frustrated over time. They're working their butts off. The chief marketing officer and the chief revenue officer, these two roles these days, there's so much responsibility on their shoulders to increase leads, increase sales, whatever the case may be. The problem is they keep running up against the same walls. There are a lot of great subject matter experts in digital marketing and a lot of great marketing agencies out there, but what we found over time, and this is the migration, is that understanding how things holistically fit is where that's going to be most helpful to people. For example, this concept of coherence. If you look at a CEO or even ask a CEO, “Where's there coherence in your business?” You might get a deer in the headlights look from them. If you say, "Where is the incoherence in your business?” You're never going to hear the end of it. A lot of what we've done with this migration from a marketing agency to a growth studio is we've recognized that if we can bring coherence across an organization's brand marketing and sales, this is something that is missing. This is something that will make a tremendous difference in terms of their...

  Cold therapy has been around for a long time, and it has a lot of great benefits. The Ice Barrel is the best way to take an ice bath. It's the easiest and most accessible product out there when it comes to cold therapy. Joining Bob Roark to discuss the benefits of cold therapy is https://theicebarrel.com/ (The Ice Barrel)’s Founder, https://www.linkedin.com/in/wyattewing/ (Wyatt Ewing). Together, they talk about the positive effects of cryotherapy on the body. Wyatt also tackles its role in staying healthy, mental conditioning and growth, and dealing with the work-from-home stresses of life. Interested to know more about cold therapy? Then tune in to learn more. --- Watch the podcast here:[embed]https://youtu.be/Rwes-gL5mtI[/embed] Cold Therapy And How it Can Help You With Wyatt EwingWe were incredibly fortunate. We have a returning guest, Wyatt Ewing. He is the Founder and CEO of https://theicebarrel.com/ (The Ice Barrel). Welcome back. It’s good to see you. Thank you, Bob. It's great to be here. You were one of the first guests in the first cohort of being on the show and you had the distinction of being one of the most widely downloaded episodes. Congratulations. Well done on that. Lots of interest in what you had to say. For the folks that didn't read the http://businessleaderspodcast.com/episodes/the-ice-barrel-with-founder-wyatt-ewing/ (first episode), tell us about The Ice Barrel. Tell us about your business and who you serve.  The Ice Barrel is the best way to take an ice bath. It's the easiest and most accessible product out there when it comes to cold therapy. It’s simple what it is. It's The Ice Barrel. We take this unique-made barrel, we fill it with ice and water, and we all jump in it, sometimes on a daily basis. Cold therapy has been around for a long time and it has a lot of great benefits. That's who we are. For the folks who are going like, “That's unique.” There has been a recognition of the benefits of cold therapy, there's been Wim Hof, who's from out of Europe that does a lot of cold work. There's Tony Robbins that has punched tanks that he has by his house that are chilled as well. We have Tim Ferriss that does the ice in the bathtub routine. Cryotherapy is gaining because there are franchises around. For the folks that aren't aware of the benefits of cold therapy or ice baths, share with us the benefits as you understand them.  Cold therapy has been around for a long time, though it's new to some people in the US. It's not a fad. It's something that's been tried and true for a long time. It's not popular here in the west because we like to be comfortable. Whereas in this practice, the point is to get uncomfortable, which also is the best place as a human to grow is an uncomfortable situation. There are a lot of unique benefits to cold therapy that people are taking advantage of. Immune system support is a huge thing. It's one of the strongest anti-depressant and anti-anxiety practices. It’s amazing for elevating the mood, focus and clarity. There are a lot of top performers out there, both in sports, but also in business, that use it as an extra edge to get to that next level and to gain full mastery over the mind and body. I got interested as well after our episode. I went digging around. Some of the research that's out there, there's pH level change, increase in mitochondria production, there's all of these various and sundry benefits that come from cold therapy. My first observation, when you'd see the Scandinavians, they would be in a hothouse of some kind. They'd go and jump in a hole in the ice in the middle of winter and you go, “That bunch is collectively crazy as well.” As folks are going, “What in the world?” Going back to the beginning, walk us through the steps from where you started the idea and where you are.  [caption id="attachment_5655" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Cold Therapy: Cold therapy isn't a fad. It has been around for a long...

  Most of us address developmental, intellectual, and mental challenges within the family as they come along, and that's why most of us are unaware of what to do until it's too late. Therefore, https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-s-burpo-55673b22 (Katie Burpo) dedicates herself and her team at http://www.gsloinc.com/ (Goldstar Learning Options) to offer the most effective life intervention programs from childhood all the way to adulthood. She joins Bob Roark and cohost Jaime Zawmon in sharing the story of how her company started because of a small childhood dream and how they connect with the varying needs of every client, particularly in this challenging time of the pandemic. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/A6TEhe9Xm6I[/embed] The Benefits Of Life Intervention With Katie Burpo And Cohost Jaime ZawmonWe have Jaime Zawmon. She is the Founder and President of https://www.titanceo.com/ (TITAN CEO). She is co-hosting on this special series where we interview the TITAN 100. We have as our guest, Katie Burpo. She is the CEO and Founder of http://www.gsloinc.com/ (GoldStar Learning Options). Jaime and Katie, thanks for taking the time. Katie, we’ll jump straight into it. Tell us a bit about your business and who you serve. GoldStar Learning Options is an agency for individuals with developmental, intellectual, and mental health needs. What that means is we have a multitude of services and what makes GoldStar a little bit unique is we offer lifespan services. That's from birth through adulthood and that's for families to be able to access through all transitions of life, intervention for behavior, educational, academic, social, emotional support, community intervention, vocational training, and finding a purpose in life for all these kids and adults. All I can think of is from here to here, that's like an 80-year time span or it can be. I think about the challenge of families that are faced with developmental issues and how they find resources and informed experts to help them on their journey. That’s fascinating because what I usually hear about is specific applications on narrow sectors have a learning disability, you have this, you have that, they serve that part and they don't do the lifespan issues. Well done. I know that she mentioned to me that they hired one of their students. He was the first individual who inspired me to add services where they're needed and how they need to be delivered. We have many different examples of individuals, but one powerful moment is when I received a job application from one of our participants in our program, and it has been inspiring and a true demonstration of what real services look like to excel in life and find purpose throughout the life. I think about drinking your own Kool-Aid and you have a student that comes out of what you do and says, not only that, but they're employed here too. We walk the talk and that’s incredibly important. [bctt tweet=”Success requires you to keep moving forward and dedicated to your passion and mission.” via=”no”] It's a great testament to what you do. That's why I wanted to brag on you. We're going to find it's easy to brag on you. We'll embarrass you if we can. Jaime, she's a TITAN 100. She is a 2020 TITAN 100. We are excited to include Katie in this list. I've got a copy of the https://www.titan100.biz/titan100-book (TITAN 100) book here, which I am showcasing. Katie is featured inside this book, recognizing Colorado's Top 100 CEOs and C-level Executives 100 TITANS of Industry. Katie is doing amazing things in her industry, which makes her a TITAN. Katie, as we kick off things, I always like to ask every TITAN 100 that comes on to this show, what characteristics do you believe it takes to be considered a TITAN of the industry? I'm truly honored to be included in this group and inspired by how you have supported a lot of the Titans that I have come to pass, and to be included in that group does make...

  Cashflow may be the number one most important thing in any business, but company culture comes in a close second. It is what https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuart-smith-4439294/ (Stuart Smith) strives to build everyday as the CEO of https://buehlercompanies.com/ (Buehler Companies), a top-rated moving company that does everything from commercial moving to Girl Scout cookie distribution. Leading with humility and a strong commitment to company culture, Stuart definitely deserves a place at the Titan 100. Listen in as he shares his take on company culture and humility-driven leadership in this conversation with Bob Roark and co-host, Jaime Zawmon, the President of TITAN CEO. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/SzrZgiPL9f8[/embed] Culture That Moves With Stuart Smith Of Buehler Companies And Co-host Jaime Zawmon, President Of TITAN CEOWe have Jaime Zawmon, the Founder and President of https://www.titanceo.com/ (Titan CEO). Our guest is Stuart Smith, the CEO of https://buehlercompanies.com/ (Buehler Companies). Welcome, Jaime and Stuart. Thank you. We're going to jump straight into it. Stuart, if you would tell us about your business and who you serve. The name of my company is Buehler Moving and Storage and we're an agent for http://www.mayflower.com/ (Mayflower Van Lines). We also have https://www.alliancerelocation.com/ (Alliance Relocation), which is an agent for http://www.unitedvanlines.com/ (United Van Lines). A couple of years ago, we bought https://www.thestudentmovers.com/ (Student Movers) and that's our local moving company. We bought that because people had the perception that we were the big trucks. They skipped over for small little moves, and in essence, we do all those, but we bought Student Movers to give people the perception that that's what they wanted was something for a smaller move. That’s been a great acquisition. We do local household goods, interstate, international, and we do have about 500,000 square feet of storage space between all four locations. We do a tremendous amount of office moving, and commercial business has turned into about 60% of our revenue now. We do hotel renovations and we also have gotten into battery work, where we go to different cell sites from El Paso all the way to South Dakota and we replaced cell site batteries from A to Z. We climb to the top of the mountains and we go to the desert. It's crazy some of the places we've been to change cell site batteries. We do Girl Scout cookies. We're the largest distributor of the United States for Girl Scout cookies. That's a cool little thing. In fact, they're coming into our warehouse and we'll end up getting about 72 truckloads of cookies by 270,000 cases. It's a lot of cookies and we deliver those out. We do design work. Designers will ship all kinds of furniture in and we'll deliver them out to homes and resort places. We'll set up everything from A to Z with the houses. We do work for a big home builder that we go around and set up all their model homes. We've tried to be diverse. Probably my favorite thing we do is the office moving because it’s a great piece of business and you can do a lot of different things quickly. I love the Girl Scout cookies. That’s exciting. It's fun. I'm excited to have you here, Stuart, as a 2020 Titan 100. It's no surprise that you have made this list. For those of you that are reading, Stuart was recognized as one of Colorado's Top 100 CEOs & C-Level Executives, the book that features 100 titans of industry. As we kick off this podcast, one of the things I always like to ask every Titan that we interview in this series is, what characteristics do they believe it takes to be considered a Titan of the industry? There are a lot of different characteristics that it takes to be a titan and one of them is you have to have culture in your company. The number one most important thing in running a business is cashflow but number two is culture. If you don't have a great

  Being at the top of any team is truly a regaling feeling, but keeping your position also means dealing with loneliness, marketing strategies, and the constant urge to improve. In any CEO experience, a tenacious and curious mindset plays a huge role. Bob Roark is joined by cohost Jamie Zawmon in talking with https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickjdennis/ (Patrick Dennis), the President and CEO of https://twitter.com/_patrick_dennis (Aspect Software). Patrick spends some time detailing what it takes to lead a team, from getting rid of the fear of change and learning how to get out of a messy situation in the most optimal way, to the right way to motivate oneself. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/XpHLa48uODo[/embed] Breaking Down The CEO Experience With Patrick Dennis And Cohost Jaime ZawmonWe have Patrick Dennis. He's the President and CEO of https://www.aspect.com/ (Aspect Software). We have my cohost Jaime Zawmon. She is the Founder and President of https://www.titanceo.com/ (Titan CEO). Welcome. It’s good to be here. Thank you for taking time, Jaime and Patrick. I appreciate it. We'll go right into it. Patrick, tell us a little bit about your business and who you serve? We are the leading provider of contact center software and workforce management and optimization software for enterprises around the world. Four of the five top commercial banks are our customers, three of the top four telecom providers, four of the top five tech companies, and six out of the six top airlines. You've interacted with our software if you've ever called Southwest Airlines to book a reservation. You've interacted with our software or the people that are behind our software if you've ever ordered anything off Amazon, Apple or from Microsoft. That's what we do. It's an awesome job. There are about 1,300 people that work here and we do about $300 million in revenue. [bctt tweet="If you don't have the curiosity bug, it's hard to figure out what went off track in a business." username=""] Nothing to do. It keeps you busy. Yes, it keeps us busy. I'm excited Patrick, that you are a 2020 Titan 100. For those reading, Patrick was selected as one of Colorado's top 100 CEOs and C-level executives. We featured him in https://www.titan100.biz/titan100-book (The Titan 100 Book). What I always ask every Titan who we interview on this show is what characteristics do you believe that it takes to be considered a Titans of industry? Jaime, you asked me this question a lot. For my little niche of what I do for a living, tenacity plays a big role. Much of what I do involves turning businesses around or helping businesses that were at one time struggling. If I think about the arc of my career and what's helped me be successful, tenacity has played a big role. It's hard to take on challenges like the ones taken on historically if you don't have the intestinal fortitude to want to win and stick with it. The second one is you need to be a little curious. If you don't have that curiosity bug, it's hard to figure out what went off track in a business. Some combination of tenacity and curiosity has served me well over the years. I completely agree with your curious statement there. I've watched you in interactions for many months and I believe it's a part of your DNA. I always see you asking incredible questions. It makes sense to me that you would say that. For those of you that don't know, I helped Jaime out in a board capacity occasionally with her business. I find the best way to get Jaime a benefit is to ask her questions that she should have contemplated the answers to. That's been a fun part of our relationship. It's fun to watch you craft your business based on some of the answers to your own questions. You have gotten to see that in action. That's true. Patrick, you have an interesting journey from beginning to now. If you would share with us a little bit about how you got started and what brought you to where you are...

  Joining Bob Roark is his cohost Jamie Zawmon, the Founder and President of Titan CEO. Together, they talk to https://www.nickstanitz.com/ (Nick Stanitz-Harper) as he discusses the story of co-founding https://edisoninteractive.com/ (Edison Interactive) as well as his leadership experiences as its current Chief Revenue Officer. Nick provides a peek at how he manages his team, from the importance of instilling positivity to everyone to how they manage partnerships. He also shares his personal secrets in maintaining a healthy leader mindset, detailing his daily mantra centered on high gratitude and efficient visualization. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/yyDYt-1QIY0[/embed] Nick Stanitz-Harper, CRO & Co-Founder Edison Interactive With Cohost Jaime Zawmon, Founder & President Titan CEOWe have Jaime Zawmon. She is the Founder and President of https://www.titanceo.com/ (Titan CEO) and we have as our guest, Nick Stanitz-Harper. He's the CRO and Cofounder of https://edisoninteractive.com/ (Edison Interactive). Thank you, guys, for having me. Before we get started, congrats on being selected as a Titan 100. Great honor. Well done. Thank you very much. If you would, Nick, tell us a little bit about your business and who you serve. Edison Interactive is a VC-backed tech company that builds interactive customer experience solutions primarily for complex environments. Our platform was originally designed to allow companies of all shapes and sizes to design, build, deploy and then manage large-scale screen networks globally. We focus on building enterprise-level IOT and digital out of home solutions that personalize and enhance the customer experience. Our solutions currently span across multiple industries ranging from golf carts, rental cars, ride shares, fan engagement, sports betting platforms and more. We're currently one of the fastest-growing digital out-of-home screen networks in North America. We've got about 40,000 screens on our network right now. Folks go, “IOT?” For the folks that are reading that aren't aware of what IOT is, could you expand on that just a little? IOT is Internet of Things. It's being able to control different devices in the wild and do creative, cool things. For us, an example of IOT would be one of our platforms is Shark Experience presented by Verizon, which is a partnership between Verizon and Greg Norman Media and Club Car. We do stuff through our technology that controls the devices and controls the golf carts and allows us to do creative, unique things with our solutions. Congratulations on your recognition as a Titan 100. For those of you that are reading, we recognized the Titan 100, 100 CEOs and C-level executives in Colorado, 100 Titans of industry. I always like to kick things off and ask our Titans what characteristics they believe it takes to be considered a Titan 100 or a Titan of Industry. [caption id="attachment_5606" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Edison Interactive: If your vision isn't massive, you're going to have a hard time getting your investors, partners, and employees attached to the mission of the company.[/caption]   First of all, thank you very much, Jaime. You've been phenomenal to work with and I’m impressed by what you've done through such a crazy time. Thank you. I'm going to break this down into three main characteristics for the sake of time. The first one for me is vision. A Titan needs to think globally, not locally. From my experience, it takes as much time to build partnerships on a global scale as it does on a local scale. With one of my previous startups, our mission was focused on simply dominating the Colorado market. As a tech company, that was a very important lesson that I learned back in the day. If your vision isn't massive, it's going to have a hard time getting your investors, your partners, your employees attached to the mission of the company. Number one for me is always vision. The second for...

  Change has been going rapidly for the past few years. Where that leaves many businesses and entrepreneurs is having to move alongside it; otherwise, you’ll only get left behind. Someone who has found comfortability with change is https://spearheadadvisors.io/team/lisa-miller/ (Lisa Miller), the President and COO of Spearhead Advisors. In this episode, she joins Bob Roark with guest co-host https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-nespor-zawmon-b861731/ (Jaime Zawmon), the founder and president of TITAN CEO, to share with us her career journey and how she is acquiring the skill stack to adopt. Lisa further tells us about her company and how she is working to maintain being a Titan in the industry. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/Sw3ySU_x_mA[/embed] Acquiring The Skill Stack To Adapt To Change With Lisa Miller And Cohost Jaime ZawmonWe’re extremely fortunate we have Jaime Zawmon. She is the Founder and President of https://www.titanceo.com/ (Titan 100 CEO). We have Lisa Miller. She is the President and COO of https://spearheadadvisors.io/ (Spearhead Advisors). Welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. Greatly, I appreciate being here. I love the picture in your background. It's the mountains with a herd of horses in what looks like a loop and meadow. It is Granby, Colorado at a dude ranch. With that being said, Lisa, tell us a little bit about your business and who you serve? At Spearhead Advisors, we are a master agent. In the industry, if you are an enterprise customer and you need communication services, we are working for you. We provide about 100 different vendors that we can supply services for an enterprise. Coming from a former carrier myself, the benefit that we have is we can provide you services and capabilities from many different options versus one single provider. That's the value proposition. CIO staffs are smaller and getting smaller by the day. Technology teams are getting smaller. What we are is an extension of your organization to provide services and capabilities from a consulting standpoint. [bctt tweet="Many times, people forget the people or the culture. It's important to be able to look at how every action you take impacts on others. " username=""] I failed to mention in the introduction, you were a President with https://www.lumen.com/en-us/home.html (CenturyLink), where you had 2,400 people in your organization. For the business owner or CIO that's out there, what are the typical problems that you can bring as a solution from your company to them? Many times, what a CIO sees is they have to go out and meet with many different suppliers to determine who is best in breed or class in the industry. We can do that for them. For example, security, top of mind for everyone. There are many bad things going on the dark web. There are many hackers out there trying to break into your data because data is power. CIOs are constantly having to control the perimeter and having to worry about who break into their company and take their data that they count on to run their business. Security is a big feature that we can help with and we can bring best in breed solutions to many of the enterprise customers. I love your experience on both sides of the coin, which is unique unto itself. That's fantastic. Lisa Miller is one of our 2020 Titan 100 honorees. We recognized her. This is a copy of the book that she was recognized in, The Titan 100 recognizes Colorado's Top 100 CEOs & C-Level Executives, 100 Titans of Industry. One of the questions that I always love to ask all of the Titans that we interview in our series is what characteristics do you believe that it takes to be considered a Titan of Industry? To be a Titan in any industry, you have to constantly be looking at all of the challenges in front of you and being able to say, “How can I attack that? How do I think differently?” There's the book, https://www.amazon.com/What-Got-Here-Wont-There-ebook/dp/B000Q9J128...

  For the past 94 years, the https://www.mgma.com/ (Medical Group Management Association) (MGMA) has been leading in the business of medical practice management, currently representing almost three-quarters of the medical practices in the United States. Even well-entrenched organizations such as this has to change with the times, however – a task that MGMA has been able to fulfill with flying colors for the past four years under the leadership of its President and CEO, https://www.linkedin.com/in/halee-fischer-wright-41a5152/ (Dr. Halee Fischer-Wright). This exemplary leadership has caused her to be selected as a Titan 100 for 2020. Join in as she shares her personal take on leadership in this conversation with Bob Roark and his co-host, Jaime Zawmon, the President of TITAN CEO. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/CXmKZD1mz8w[/embed] Lessons On Flexible And Authentic Leadership With MGMA CEO Dr. Halee Fischer-Wright And Co-Host Jaime Zawmon, President Of TITAN CEOWe're extremely fortunate. We have Jaime Zawmon. She is the Founder and President of https://www.titanceo.com/ (Titan CEO). We also have Dr. Halee Fischer-Wright. She's the President and CEO of https://www.mgma.com/ (Medical Group Management Association), MGMA. Jaime, Halee, thank you for being on the show. Thank you, Bob. First off, congrats on being selected as a https://www.titanceo.com/titan-100 (Titan 100). Tell us a bit about MGMA, what's it about and who do you serve? We're a 94-year-old organization and the largest healthcare association focused on business of medical practice management. We represent over 60,000 members and more importantly, we represent 15,000 group medical practices, which is almost three-quarters of the medical practices in the United States. We represent everyone from the tiny practices like family doctors in rural communities to the national large health systems. We touch almost 350,000 physicians across the United States in a variety of specialties. We're in the background of almost all healthcare delivered at the front line. What we do is we work closely with medical practice leaders to help them solve their business challenges so they can focus on what matters, which is providing outstanding care for their patients in communities. In this day and age, that means now. We also provide and what we're known for in our industry is the gold standard and benchmarking for compensation and medical practice cost surveys. We advocate on behalf of our members on national regulatory and policy issues. We take it from the top at the federal government level all the way down to the doctor seen patient in a room. It’s such a steady, non-regulatory, not changing industry especially now. Halee, I have to say I'm excited that you've been recognized as part of the Titan 100 for 2020. As those of you may or may not know reading, we have published a copy of the https://www.titan100.biz/titan100-book (Titan 100) book in which Halee was profiled in. We'll talk a little bit more about how you can read her profile. I always like to start our show, as you know this platform recognizes Colorado's top 100 CEOs and C-level executives 100 Titans of Industry. I always like to ask every Titan that we interview in this show, what characteristics they believe that it takes to be considered a Titan of Industry? Once again, thank you for the honor of being a Titan 100. Now more than ever, especially given the challenges and changes as we're going through this global pandemic. Flexibility is someone like myself and the Titan 100 community has to have. As I've read through the book, all of my colleagues that are Titans have shown that as well. Some of those characteristics include, and we've talked about this with Jaime before, having the ability to alter your original plan of action. This is what I find has benefited our organization the most in the last several months is actively seek out a situation from many different...

  One characteristic that sets industry Titans apart from the crowd is that they understand the importance of building their personal brand as well as their business. https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiefofchaos/ (Matt Frary) has exited quite a number of times during his career, but he has always been and will always be the http://www.chiefofchaos.com/ (ChiefOfChaos). For over 20 years, Matt has been helping big brands all over the world scale by making sense of the chaotic online marketing world. He earned a place in the Titan 100 as the CEO of http://www.smarterchaos.com/ (SmarterChaos), a boutique consulting firm that he founded in 2010. Having just exited this company last July, he is now the EVP of Brand Strategy for the acquiring firm, https://digitalmediasolutions.com/ (Digital Media Solutions Group). In this conversation with Bob Roark and TITAN CEO President, Jaime Zawmon, he shares his career as a serial entrepreneur as well as some personal branding tips. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/9ykToozPzkI[/embed] Business Scaling And Personal Branding Tips From The Chief Of Chaos, Matt Frary With Cohost Jaime Zawmon Of TITAN CEOWe're extremely fortunate to have Jaime Zawmon as a cohost. She is the Founder and CEO of https://www.titanceo.com/ (Titan 100), and we have Matt Frary, https://digitalmediasolutions.com/ (Digital Media Solutions Group), EVP of Brand Strategy. Jaime, thanks for taking the time. Matt, I appreciate you carving out the time given the Chaos that has been happening in your life. With all that being said, Matt, if you would give us a thumbnail sketch of your business and who you serve. First off, thanks Jaime for having me in, and thank you, Bob for having us as well. We appreciate it. We built this little company a few years ago called http://www.SmarterChaos.com (SmarterChaos.com) and I'm one of the Founders and was the CEO of that company. There's a long lead up to this, but we were purchased by Digital Media Solutions. On July 15th, the same day that we were purchased by Digital Media Solutions, we went public. We have some exciting news that we sold our company, and we also got to join a company that had an IPO. It's exciting times. I have to say, I've never imagined growing this company years ago, then selling and participating in a public event on the same day. A crash course in, are you kidding me? You can't script this stuff, I swear. Maybe we'll talk about this, but when I did start the company SmarterChaos.com, I did say something to the founders about, "We should build a strong foundation so this thing could scale someday." I’m curious to know the types of clients that you worked with or you envisioned working with through SmarterChaos as you originally created that foundation to scale it and grow it. SmarterChaos was originally built so that we could help large brands navigate the chaos of the online marketing world. I started SmarterChaos on the back of a napkin, sipping a margarita down in Mexico in Puerto Vallarta. My son who was 2 or 3 at the time was playing in a little waterfall fountain. My wife said, "Are you good here?" I said, "I'm good. I have an idea." Two hours later, I had sketched out this business plan and I had realized that the online marketing world for the layperson was extremely chaotic. You have all these different places you need to log in, all these different theories you needed to employ. I looked at serving any brand that looked at the internet as a chaotic confusing place where you could lose money quickly trying to navigate that space and pumping money into Facebook, Twitter, and all the partnerships. To make a long story longer, we focused on the brands that wanted to acquire customers profitably. If it was a household brand, that was the type of brand that we wanted to go after. When we first started, I used Shark Tank as my lead list. I would watch Shark Tank and I figured if they got funded, they had money. They...

  Tenacity, creativity and adaptability – these are the qualities that a CEO should embody to become a titan in their industry. Bringing in these qualities to the emerging microbiome industry, https://www.linkedin.com/in/marthacarlin/ (Martha Carlin) leads https://www.thebiocollective.com/ (The BioCollective), a unique business that invests in both consumer products and microbiological research. Driven by a passion to give people the tools to take control of their health, the BioCollective team leverages some of the most advanced expertise in microbial ecology to tap the massive potential of microbiota in promoting human health. Because of her inspiring leadership, she has won her rightful place among the 2020 Titan 100. She graces the podcast on this co-hosted episode with Bob Roark and his co-host, https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-nespor-zawmon-b861731/ (Jaime Zawmon), President of TITAN CEO. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/0bXNCv6gpMM[/embed] Leading With Tenacity, Creativity And Adaptability With Guest, Martha Carlin Of The BioCollective And Co-host, Jaime Zawmon Of TITAN CEOWe have quite the treat. We have a Jaime Zawmon. She is the Founder and President of https://www.titanceo.com/ (Titan CEO). We have Martha Carlin. She is the CEO and Cofounder of https://www.thebiocollective.com/ (The BioCollective). We're having a co-hosted episode. Martha, Jaime, thank you so much for being on the show. Thank you for having me. Martha, thank you and congrats on being selected to the Titan 100, a big honor. I’m very excited about it.   Martha, tell us about your business and who you serve. My business is unique. It's in the field of the microbiome. For people who may not know what the microbiome is, it's the trillions of bacteria, fungi and viruses that live in and on our body. Over the last years, it's become increasingly apparent that the bacteria that live in and on our body are a critical component to our health. I recognize this after reading a book called https://www.amazon.com/Missing-Microbes-Overuse-Antibiotics-Fueling/dp/0805098100 (Missing Microbes) back in 2014, founded The BioCollective in 2015 to try to accelerate the path to discovery and helping people get healthier. By doing that, we went into an industry that most people had never heard of. It was rapidly growing and expanding. When I started the company, there were about twenty microbiome companies worldwide, and now there are thousands and thousands, but it's still pretty early days. Our company has evolved in the ways that we are serving two different customer bases. We serve the scientific research community through tools that we developed for our own work to build out a bio-bank of fecal samples and genomic data so that we could start to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify patterns in healthy people and diseased people. Through the tools that we developed, we received an NIH grant for $1.2 million to develop one of those quality control and research tools. The division of the BioCollective that has all these research tools is serving the scientific community, the nutrition community, pharmaceutical companies, and big food and big ag to some extent. Along the way, we developed our expertise and brought in a chief scientific officer with over 30 years of microbial ecology and developed a line and a brand of consumer products that replace lost function in the microbiome that we were able to identify through our data analytics. We have a consumer products platform called https://biotiquest.com/ (BiotiQuest) that has six products, three are currently on the market. One is for changing sugar metabolism in the body, it's called Sugar Shift. Another is for the immune system specifically protecting us and helping us ward off viral infection. That's called the Ideal Immunity. Another called Heart Centered, which is focused on cardiovascular health and the production of nitric oxide...

  Pavement reconstruction and maintenance is one of the largest spending categories for commercial property owners in terms of yearly maintenance. Owning a big market share in this industry in the Colorado market, http://www.dacs.co/ (DACS Asphalt and Paving), one of the largest and fastest growing pavement reconstruction and maintenance firms serving the state’s front range. A selectee for the 2020 Titan 100, its President, https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasondunn7/ (Jason Dunn) leads from the front and invests a lot in continuously improving himself so that he can lead by example. In this conversation with Bob Roark and TITAN CEO Founder, https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-nespor-zawmon-b861731/ (Jaime Zawmon), Jason discusses what he believes are the marks of a true industry leader in a highly-specific niche. A humble leader and a team player, Jason is a good example that other leaders in blue collar industries should look up to. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/bAHA-ivD6ho[/embed] Leading From The Front With Guest Jason Dunn, President Of DACS Asphalt And Paving, And Co-Host Jaime Zawmon, Founder Of TITAN CEOWe have quite a treat. I have my co-host, Jaime Zawmon. She is the Founder and President of https://www.titanceo.com/ (Titan CEO). Our guest is Jason Dunn. He's the President of http://www.dacs.co/ (DACS Asphalt and Concrete). Thank you, Jaime. Thank you, Jason, for being on the show. Jason, tell us a little bit about your company and who you serve. DACS Asphalt and Concrete is one of the largest and fastest-growing pavement reconstruction and maintenance firms serving the front range of Colorado. We serve commercial property owners and commercial property managers across the front range, all things pavement. That's one of the largest spending categories they have per year in terms of maintenance items. Whether it's us having to repave an entire apartment complex parking lot or take care of a single broken piece of curb and gutter from a snowplow, we take care of that for our customers. In the parking lot out here, there's a pothole and periodically the crew shows up. That's an interesting niche paving market. What drove you to that particular niche? A few things are special about this market. One is it's a good business itself. I was a business analyst for many years. I'm accustomed to looking for characteristics and businesses that make them great, sustainable, generators of free cashflow, but one of the things that attracted me to this business too is it's a low bar industry. This is blue-collar world where my competitors oftentimes work growing up in concrete and asphalt and then doing their best as business owners once they grew an attractive firm. If you bring business sophistication, especially from outside of this industry into this world, it gives you an ability to easily differentiate for the customer. If the customer recognizes it, that makes it an exciting opportunity for us. For you, when you say front range, what's the furthest north you go? what's the furthest south that you go? It's a little bit nebulous, but it's Colorado Springs to Fort Collins. We’ll go down as far south as Pueblo if needed. My team finished with an overnight, nearly camping trip through the mountains because we were serving some convenience stores that seventeen of this same brand of the store needed work throughout the mountain area. We packed up the crews, overnighted them and got that work done. We can be moving around, but it's Colorado Springs to Fort Collins.   Jason, first of all, we're so excited to recognize you as a 2020 Titan 100. I've got a copy of the book in which you were profiled. This book recognizes 100 of Colorado's top CEOs and C-level executives, https://www.titanceo.com/titan-100 (Colorado-100 Titans of Industry). Being a Titan of the industry is about finding your niche and you have definitely found that in what you're doing. I'd like to ask you what...

  In one way or another, everybody leaves their business. Prepare well for the inevitable by knowing your exit strategy. In this episode, Bob Roark talks with Donna and Gary Thiel, small service business owners who, after more than 30-plus years, has closed the sale of their business. They share their journey and offer great insights about the process, for when you also decide on selling your business. Follow along to learn about who to talk to and what to do during this important business decision. --- Watch the episode here:Listen to the podcast here:[smart_track_player url="" title="The Process Of Selling Your Business With Donna And Gary Thiel" image="http://businessleaderspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BLP-SquareLogo-WhiteBlueBG1400x1400.png" background="default"] The Process Of Selling Your Business With Donna And Gary ThielWe have Donna and Gary Thiel. Thank you for your time. This is going to be a little bit different episode. We're going to talk about the journey between deciding to sell your business and the process. First off, tell us a little bit about your business. We own a small service business. Window cleaning was our main function. We did everything from residential to high rise. We also did snow removal services through the winter months. How long had you run the business? I originally bought it in fall 1986. I had worked for the company for about 6 or 7 years prior to that. Donna came in ‘96, ‘97-ish. She came in and helped with a lot of things like accounting stuff. What was the date that you closed on the sale of your business? March 1 of 2019. You ran that for a long time, 30-plus years. There's that ongoing discussion that you hear from business owners. At some point, you're going to exit the business in one way or another. Everybody leaves their business I suppose. What was that thought process like when you started thinking about selling your business? The stress level got high. The economy was good in Denver and stuff, but that brought along some difficulties of finding help and things like that. The salaries had gone way up in the city. It got difficult to compete and finding enough good people to get the work done to stay competitive was getting difficult. I would imagine it's not the everyday person that wants to hang over the side of a high rise. They are a different old breed. There are a lot of them out there. It’s some of the bigger companies and a lot of the construction industry was even taking employees that would normally be doing things in our industry. They had increased salaries much and benefits and it got difficult. I think about the challenges when you're in a full-employment economy. You and Donna got together and made it a decision that it was time to sell the business. Once you had that decision in place, what were your next steps to try to identify how or who you are going to use to help you sell? We were lucky because Marla is one of our accounts in my work in commercial packaging. I'm a broker. We automatically went to her and started asking questions. She comes involved with Keith and Keith was amazing. Marla is a unique individual. She is the CEO of (https://raincatcher.com/). You were fortunate you had a contact within the industry. You started working with Keith. For that process of going through, what was the process from when you started talking with Keith to when the business was effectively ready to go on the market? What was that like? [bctt tweet="You got to wait until it's completely done and not get wound up." username=""] There was some work involved. There were a lot of things they were asking for that we weren't expecting. We attempted to sell it ourselves. We're probably about 1.5 years before going out and seeking a broker in Raincatcher and such. What was that like? That got a bit frustrating. We had a couple of people that showed interest. We didn't know all the ins and outs of how to deal with them, and all the nuances...

  What are potential buyers looking for in a business? While there is no such thing as perfect acquisition criteria, different buyers do have their preferences in terms of what industry the company is in, what its corporate structure and company culture looks like, and what the reason for the owner’s exit is. Taking a break from the usual format, Bob Roark interviews someone who is looking to acquire a business. Parkland Field Management (https://parklandfield.com/), a search fund that intends to become the succession plan for a business inColorado or the surrounding states. Coming from a family business background, Nick has deep respect for business and is not looking for a quick flip as private equities tend to do. He plans to hold on to the business to see it grow and provide long-term value to its employees, customers, shareholders and community. What is his criteria for acquisition? What does a handoff transition period look like? What does he think business owners have to do to make their company attractive to search funds if they’re planning to sell? Nick shares all of these in this episode. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/DbL4zSzZDdQ[/embed] Business Acquisition Criteria: From The Buyer’s Perspective With Nick SegerWe have Nick Seger. He's the President of (https://parklandfield.com/). Nick is a recent arrival to Denver. He's in search of a company to acquire. This show is a little different and many times we talk to business owners that have an existing business. They may be looking to transition their business or they may be looking at some point to sell. In this case, what we have is a potential buyer of a business. We're going to explore some of Nick's thoughts and also the view from the buyer's eyes when you're looking at a business. Nick, thank you for taking the time to be on the show. Thanks for having me, Bob. Nick, tell me a little bit about your business and a little bit backstory on you. I moved out to Denver over the 4th of July 2020 weekend. My significant other and I were living in Chicago before this. We were trying to figure out where we wanted to start that next phase of our lives and I had gone out and raised a little bit of money from some investors, which I'm sure we'll touch on here in a little bit. She was graduating from a Master's program and we figured Denver was a great place. She's from San Diego, I'm from Indiana and we picked up and drove the U-Haul out here and brought our puppy out. I've been searching for a company out here in Colorado. I appreciate you giving me some space here to talk about it. For you, people go, “You raised some money from some investors but you didn't just start.” You come from a family business background. I do. I grew up back in Indiana. My family still runs a third-generation agriculture business, turkeys and chickens. My grandfather started the business decades ago. My father has seven brothers, grew up in a large German Catholic family and large agriculture community back in Indiana. My dad and his five living brothers still run that business. People ask me all the time, “Why did I do this?” I tell them all the time that I had never seen the path to success being anything other than being a business owner. Where I grew up, it was the largest town within 60, 70 miles. I tell people the nearest Starbucks was 60 miles away. There were no consultants, bankers, lawyers, accountants or tech companies. That didn't exist in my hometown. What I saw as success in business was being a small business owner. That's always what I grew up wanting to do. I had always thought I'd go back and help run my family's business one day but they have strict rules. You have to go out and prove yourself in the world before and so I did. I went out and worked in finance and sales marketing for ten years. I was at Wells Fargo for a number of years and towards the latter half of my career was in more of a business development sales type role. I...

  Who you surround yourself matters. Especially in business, being in a circle of successful CEOs and entrepreneurs can offer a lot to how you position yourself to succeed as well. In this episode, Bob Roark interviews Titan 100 (https://www.titanceo.com/titan-100) feels like and what benefits they can expect. Learning from these great people, Jaime then tells us some of the important traits successful people have that took them to where they are now. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/zsRAoHJhhJE[/embed] TITAN CEO: Why Surrounding Yourself With Successful People Matters With Jaime ZawmonWe are fortunate we have Jaime Zawmon. She is the President of (https://www.titanceo.com/). She's graciously agreed to be a guest to talk about what she's doing with the TITAN CEO Group. Jaime, tell us a little bit about your business and who you serve. Thanks for having me, Bob. First and foremost, TITAN CEO is a company that I started that is essentially a CEO Peer Group, or a series of different CEO Peer Groups. We work with Colorado area-based companies, CEOs ranging traditionally between $1 million and about $50 million in annual company revenues. We work to do experience sharing, to help CEOs work through business-related challenges. We also work on building business valuation inside some of the work that we do with the CEOs because every CEO is looking to grow their business either, to build it as a lifestyle business or to grow it in order to sell it. That's a big blend of what we do within our groups. You're somewhat of a resident of the Rocky Mountain area. Tell us a little bit about your background because you have a long history of working with CEOs. I'm from the East Coast, originally born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. I went to school at Towson University in Baltimore County. I was recruited to a magazine publishing company back in 2003. I fell in love with the concept because the magazine was a magazine that was focused on CEOs, and every month we would feature one of the region's most enterprising CEOs. We would tell their story on the cover of the magazine. We would write about the success and/or the failure, obstacles, trials, and tribulations of running a company and growing it. We did that on a monthly basis. After about a year, I went to the owner and said, "I love this concept. We should expand it to Washington DC." He made me a partner and I moved down to DC. In 2005, we launched with Ted Leonsis, the former Chairman and CEO of AOL on the cover of our first magazine and we took stride ever since. We grew the magazine to seven cities up and down the East Coast, reaching over 100,000 CEOs on a consistent basis. We pioneered award programs that recognized the best of the best. We recognized CEOs that created incredible cultures, those that were technology-based CEOs, or growth companies CEOs, and the 50 fastest growing companies in each region. I've always surrounded myself with some of the region's most enterprising CEOs and it was an incredible ride. During that time I met my husband on a ski trip, ironically in Colorado, which is what brought him back to the East Coast for me for a short period of time and then I made the promise that I would eventually move back to Colorado for him because it's such a beautiful state. I can see where you compare Denver and Baltimore. It was like, "Your love for the water or your love for the mountains?" Unfortunately, I'm more of a water baby than I'm a mountain lover, but I'm an avid skier and so as my husband.   I grew up in the deep South on the Lake, so I'm a water skier and you go, "It's a lot colder when you do the skiing up here." I'm the business owner going I don't know that I'm familiar with the TITAN 100. How do I find information? What it takes to qualify? To explain a little bit more about how that evolved, I have always believed that it's important that who you surround yourself with matters, which is one of the reasons...

  The healthcare industry has been so slow in adopting digital technology to deliver its services that it took COVID-19 for telemedicine to be taken seriously by virtue of necessity. WorldClinic (https://worldclinic.com/), pioneered the company’s innovative concierge telemedicine model at a time when almost nobody else was doing it. More than two decades ago, Dr. Dan took the challenge of leveraging connectivity to deliver healthcare to people who need it, wherever they are. Through all the challenges, he successfully built WorldClinic into what it is now, a concierge level telemedicine practice that serves families, executives and corporations. During this time of pandemic when everyone is forced to do physical distancing, telemedicine is booming and providers will certainly have a lot to learn from WorldClinic’s best practices. Joining Bob Roark on the podcast, Dr. Dan explains the rationale for telemedicine, its brief history and the future that the post-COVID world holds for it. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/reYEV4ERSvI[/embed] Pioneering Concierge Telemedicine With Dr. Daniel Carlin, CEO Of WorldClinicWe have a real treat. We have Dr. Dan Carlin. He's the Founder and CEO of (https://worldclinic.com/). He pioneered WorldClinic’s innovative concierge telemedicine model. He's a national leader in the field of telemedicine. He's a recognized pioneer in the delivery of medical care to distant populations, board-certified emergency physician, and a former US Navy Medical Officer. Commander Carlin, thank you so much for being on the show. I haven't received that title for years but I still love hearing it. It's a privilege to have you on the show. For the business owners out there, it's extremely important as you work hard, you have a tendency, or at least most that I know of, to neglect healthcare. When you have a liquidity event, it seems like you wake up with all the things you want to do, and your health condition is not going to support your efforts. For Dr. Carlin to be on the show and talk about what we can do about that, tell us a bit about what WorldClinic is about. How you got into a clinic? Before I jump in there, I wanted the audience to know that I'm an entrepreneur also. I'm a physician but I'm not in the big white tower of medicine here. I want to talk on the ground level like this is what's going on. I've built a successful practice and a company. These issues I'm talking about are also personal. I want to speak one-on-one around this stuff. Let me tell you about WorldClinic. It's a 22-year-old telemedicine practice. Back in the ‘90s, I was a pioneer trying to figure out how do I deliver healthcare at a distance using the internet. I had a big vision for it. I've seen most of that vision come to pass. It hasn't been easy. It's been a lot of struggles along the way but also a lot of some amazing successes. In 2020, this is a private concierge level telemedicine practice. We take care of families, executives, corporations. We've gone from superyachts, because my naval background suited me well for taking care of ships, to the families that own those superyachts to the companies in the portfolios of the families. At this point, we've broadened out to taking care of and in some cases, C-Suite executives or an entire workforce. We did that classic marketing strategy thing of start with a niche market and expand and use technology to scale. We still have our original families. Most of them are still with us many years later. They are several generations worth and lots of corporate executives, but I'm happy to report we're on now taking care of a lot of line workers, construction workers, these kinds of things. It's been a fun, challenging journey. The biggest thing I've seen, I want to close the loop here, is I know a ton of entrepreneurs that put their healthcare, their basic health and wellness as a 3rd, 4th or 5th place issue behind their business and their family. I want...

  The industry leader for custom-made 3D-printed casts and splints in the United States, (https://www.linkedin.com/in/piacet?challengeId=AQEKxqSnpI3RAQAAAXNH9STA4_9Qc_0PXAusuKieWixRULrMyRzXrzAnhUJA3QzbqBzgqP0ydVh47rZV2cvxBSp8wFferOcY8g&submissionId=c16e2249-bc4c-2116-5181-6747c350aa0a) about the face masks. Dr. Kaplan and Eric share their experiences wearing the face mask, while Diana explains how they’ve added the product line using their existing technology. They also dive into the company’s cast and its benefits for athletes and regular patients. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/D1uoZyaf3ls[/embed] Listen to the podcast here:[smart_track_player url="https://podcasts.captivate.fm/media/35545366-dcb7-43e9-88da-fa25f01cdb23/blp-diana-hall-dr.mp3" title="ActivArmor™ With Diana Hall, Dr. Kevin Kaplan And Eric Miller" image="http://businessleaderspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BLP-SquareLogo-WhiteBlueBG1400x1400.png" background="default"] ActivArmor™ With Diana Hall, Dr. Kevin Kaplan And Eric MillerWe have three guests on the show. We have Diana Hall. She's the President and COO of (https://www.linkedin.com/in/piacet?challengeId=AQEKxqSnpI3RAQAAAXNH9STA4_9Qc_0PXAusuKieWixRULrMyRzXrzAnhUJA3QzbqBzgqP0ydVh47rZV2cvxBSp8wFferOcY8g&submissionId=c16e2249-bc4c-2116-5181-6747c350aa0a). He's a critical care flight nurse and paramedic and a Major in the Wyoming Air National Guard. We're going to be talking about ActivArmor, both their casts and their face masks. Eric, tell me a little bit about the face masks and why they're useful and attractive for you to use in your business. I work on the helicopter, and also work in an ICU. One of the big complaints, if you talk to any healthcare worker about masks, and if you have to wear these things, every time you breathe or exhale, your glasses are fogging up. The ActivArmor mask, I got a 3D scan of my face. This thing fits directly on my face and I don't get that fog in my glasses. I can tell you, if you're in a helicopter, you can't have that happening. It's a safety issue. Being in an ICU, after twelve-hour shifts, it's irritating. The other great thing is the ability to be able to see facial expressions and stuff, especially with patients. It's already scary enough. In this, you can see if you're smiling. If they have trouble hearing, they can see your lips. They're a fantastic tool and the fact that they're N95s, which is great for the situation with the COVID. I use mine all the time. Eric, you said that you were out flying and that you got your sound boom to work with the mask on. That's another big issue for me. I can put my visor down. It works like it goes over my nose and then putting the microphone to the side, I was able to still communicate within the cabin with the other crew members and discuss the patient. It was fantastic. You were talking about an interest in the hearing-impaired school and potential uses of those masks for the instructors at the school. Could you talk a little bit about your thoughts there? I was approached by somebody when I was wearing the mask and he says, “I am a teacher for the hearing impaired. Where did you get that mask?” I told them about ActivArmor and he said, “Do you think we can get some of those masks?” I said, “The custom ones, you want to be using them all the time. There's a price point on those, but they also make some other ones that are probably more affordable for what you're looking for staff.” As soon as there are materials ready again, I'm going to buy some and have them try it out and see if that works. Being able to see and read the lips is an important aspect of the hearing-impaired community, not just the sign language. This is a little bit backward, but we got everybody together, which you guys can imagine might be a tad challenging with everybody's efforts in the community. Diana, if you would, going backward, the mask came along later in the product cycle for you...

  Many business owners are understandably extremely passionate about their business. Sometimes, they are too passionate that they fail to view their business from the buyer's perspective. When that business life cycle finally hits the break, they find themselves having seller's remorse from selling their business without maximizing its value early on. In this episode, Bob Roark is joined with co-host and CEO of IBVA (https://www.ibva.biz/About.html) and IBVA Pros. Together, they discuss assessing your business and making adjustments from there in terms of valuation, moving from micro to macro that touches the people, processes, and systems involved. Join this great business coaching session to learn how to maximize the value of drivers of your business. --- Watch the episode here:  Maximizing Your Business’ Value With Co-Host And CEO Of Raincatcher, Marla DiCarlo, And Guests, Jim Gilbert And Allen HarveyBusiness CoachingWe're doing a continuation of the series with my co-host, Marla DiCarlo. She's the CEO and Cofounder of (https://jimgilbertcpa.com/). In the previous episode, they were going through the details of the sale of a business that they ran together in Denver. Marla's company handled that transaction. What I wanted to cover with Jim and Allen with Marla's help is to unpack the skillsets that both of these gentlemen bring to the table and their insights to the businessowner mindset and skillsets. Some of the levers and tools that they can have in place that will help them run their business. We talked about this a lot before we started. We'll start off alphabetically. Allen, if you would tell us a little bit about your business and who you serve? I'm an independent valuation expert. I do professional certified business appraisals. We also work on calculations, which are not independent certified business appraisals. I work for IBVA and IBVA Pros is the team that we put together with some other evaluation experts. I’m teaming with a valuation expert by the name of Mike Dougan, who is a veteran appraiser in the industry We are also developing some relationships and teams with other appraisers as well. We have a team approach to our appraisal practice. That's what I do. We are at IBVAPros.com (http://www.IBVAPros.com). I'm a CPA. I run a CPA consulting practice. We have three sides of our business. One side is the traditional accounting bookkeeping day-to-day, which helped many clients’ Cloud-based accounting. I've got the business side where I work on lots of CFO, controller, advisory business, and then the other side of our business, which is my passion is technology. How do you apply technology? I spent a lot of time working with my greatest love is merger and acquisition. I spent a lot of time helping my owners, both buyer and seller, be successful and how to get to those processes and achieve maximum value on whether you're buying or selling. Marla, you and I are friends. We've talked a lot and we've had a number of episodes. Talk a little bit about what you do at Raincatcher and then we'll try to weave together while we're all on this show together. At Raincatcher, we help entrepreneurs to sell their companies and more importantly, to maximize the full value before they sell. That's something we see owners are either aware that they're leaving money on the table or that they have options before they decide to sell their company. We're here because Jim and Allen are a big part of the affiliates that we use to help those owners make sure that they don't have seller’s remorse, maximize value. Thank you for that. That's exactly why you're here. I think about the business owner and for many of them, it's their life's work. They're extremely passionate. They know everything about that particular service or product that they have. I think what they fail to do, or in many cases difficult to do is view their business from the buyer's perspective. There's the difference that we talked...

  When you enter the world of business, you have to be ready to experience setbacks and develop inventive ways to overcome them. We have all read somewhere that good business owners can step away from their business and still have things run smoothly as they envisioned. You’ll know you’re dead wrong when you hear about the sobering experience of Marla DiCarlo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marladicarlo/), the owner and CEO of Raincatcher, the leading business brokerage firm in the US. Susan and Marla have worked with each other and are bound by their passion for helping small businesses overcome adversity and achieve success – something that is of extreme value now as we navigate these difficult times. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/FBxA0-IQ7yg[/embed] Listen to the podcast here:[smart_track_player url="https://podcasts.captivate.fm/media/703e9ac6-61cb-488e-b640-c602009b3361/blp-marla-dicarlo-susan-frew.mp3" title="Overcoming Setbacks In Business With Susan Frew" image="http://businessleaderspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BLP-SquareLogo-WhiteBlueBG1400x1400.png" background="default"] Overcoming Setbacks In Business With Susan FrewCo-hosted by Marla DiCarloWe have a special treat. We're going to do a joint hosted podcast. My co-host is Marla DiCarlo. She's a good friend and she's the CEO and Co-owner of (https://advisor.fixthisnext.com/). I’m looking forward to it. Thanks for taking the time, Susan. If you would, tell us a little bit about your business and who you serve. I was a business coach for a long time after a corporate career. I was on an international assignment. When I came back, I became a business coach and coached unintentionally seventeen different trades. Through that, I met my husband who is in the plumbing, heating and air conditioning business. We started our own company called Sunshine Plumbing, Heating & Air. Things were going great. We had massive growth. I started going around speaking about how we grew our company. It was awesome. I wrote a book about all of that. I realized that I had made a very bad hiring decision. While I was traveling, a lot of bad things were happening to my company. There were some embezzlement and some theft, a lot of mismanagement and we almost lost it. We have been successful in turning it around. It's my passion to go back to coaching and continue speaking as well to help business owners to avoid what I went through because it was a real nail biter. I didn't think we were going to pull it out, but people like Marla who have known me for a long time encouraged me to coach myself for a minute. She knows that I could do it, but it was definitely with a lot of encouragement because I have given up a couple of times. I think about drinking your own tea where you go through and go, “I'm a coach and I coached before.” There's got to be some level of looking in the mirror and you go, “I coached this, what the heck?” I think about the advice that you might offer to a business owner based on your true veils. What might you tell a business owner based on your experience? As business owners and what you hear a lot and different books that you read, is you need to be able to step away from your business and it will run without you. You just sit on a beach and collect checks. That is possible and it is probable but you need to put a lot of effort into your systems, key performance indicators, financial drivers, know how to monitor them remotely and know how to wall them off from the wrong people or else you could get in a lot of trouble. That's what happened to us. I thought I was monitoring KPIs, bank accounts, QuickBooks and everything else. Clearly, when you have a wolf in the hen house, it is challenging. It's very difficult to figure that out because you don't expect that someone's going to do that. Marla, you are a professional CFO prior to Raincatcher for many companies. If they’re the business owners that are reading out there...

  There is no doubt about the skills that each of us possesses; what is often lacking is the right mindset to turn those into success. (https://www.amazon.com/Think-Say-Do-Disrupting-Systemic-ebook/dp/B08D7767BZ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=) and other books. As he talks with host Bob Roark on the show, partake of the incredible wisdom he has accumulated over the decades in the areas of mindset, motivation, self-development, and personal mastery. With Charmas, you can learn how to make excellence a habit and success a default state. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/DMKWnGX4E7Q[/embed] Building Champion CEOs With Charmas LeeOur special guest is Charmas Lee. He is the Owner of (https://www.amazon.com/Think-Say-Do-Disrupting-Systemic/dp/1094901032). He's the author of six additional books. He's prolific and a two-time TEDx speaker. He also speaks to Vistage groups across the country. Charmas, thanks so much for taking the time. Thank you much for this opportunity. I'm glad to be here. We're going to have some fun. Tell me about your business and who you serve. The name of the business is Building Champions. We specialize in personal and professional development. I've been a coach for over 32 years, eclipsed the 10,000-hour rule 2.5 times. What I've seen is with victory in site, I've seen many people slip into mediocrity. We create comprehensive strategies for those who are trying to move in a different direction, provided with a purpose plan and a clear set of priorities and get them to knock the ball out of the park. I read the Think Say Do book. I also was lucky enough to see you speak at a Vistage group. I am exposed to your work. You're working in the athletic arena at the Olympic level. You've done track and field. I've had a chance to work with athletes in the National Football League, senior level of figure skaters, USA track and field, and the World Boxing Organization. I think of figure skaters and boxers, they both got to move on their feet or bad things happen. They've got to have excellent footwork, but more than that, they have to have the right mindset. They've got to bring the right mindset every single day, especially in the competitive environment. [bctt tweet="Start with the vision and then move forward from there." username=""] Maybe years ago, the mindset wasn't that much of a buzzword. I’ve got kids and I try to coach my kids and they're older. We talk about mindset and approach. Having mindset and keeping a mindset are two distinct skillsets. When you're working with the athlete that's on the long grind to get to a honed edge, what do you do to help them keep their mindset?  The most important factor is it's going to start with their attitude. My responsibility is to ensure that they bring the right attitude so that they'll have the right perspective. It’s funny how the mind works. Based on the attitude, it will determine how you see others and how others see you and it plays such a big role. The second thing is that we have to create a series of habits, practices, and rituals that they perform on a daily basis. I want them to get to a place where when they don't perform a habit, practice or ritual that we've designed, for example an AM or a PM ritual, by creating incredibly uncomfortable. What that will do is that will set the tempo and press the agenda for the day, whether it be in the training or the competition environment. We implemented mental fortitude routines. We call them mental mastery routines. Sometimes they're amazing that these athletes are trained to put a full script together in black and white and memorize it, including sights sounds and smells and things of that nature of the environment they're about to go into. They can visibly or visually see what's going to take place during the competition, whether it be boxing or whatever the case may be. They already have a strategy in place on what's going to...

  One of the great indicators of a business' growth is its ability to function without the business owner. This entails a lot of task delegation, taking off some of the weight from the business owner's shoulders and passing it down to those who can do them better and more efficiently. If you feel you are at this stage in your business already, this episode will provide you with some great insights about that transition. Bob Roark interviews LifePoint Strategies (https://lifept.co/), a company that works with business owners who want a business that can run without them. Either you want to prepare for an exit or focus on the things that really matter and would make good use of your focus, Terri shows you the steps and the strategies to make that move while maximizing your business' value without skipping a beat. Dive deep into this great conversation to know the amazing services they offer and more. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/vcCayoIi-Hs[/embed] Listen to the podcast here:[smart_track_player url="" title="A Business That Runs Without A Business Owner With Terri Starck" image="http://businessleaderspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BLP-SquareLogo-WhiteBlueBG1400x1400.png" background="default"] A Business That Runs Without A Business Owner With Terri StarckWe're extremely fortunate because we have Terri Starck. She is the Founder and Business Strategist with (https://lifept.co/). Terri, thanks for taking the time. Thank you for having me, Bob. Tell us a little bit about your business and who you serve. LifePoint Strategies works with business owners who want a business that can run without them. They either want that because they're almost ready to sell and they want to maximize the value of their business prior to selling. They want a business that runs without them so that they can focus on the things that matter to them. Maybe they like to do more strategic work for their business. Potentially, they want to get back in the field and do the things that they enjoy doing and the reason why they started the business in the first place. Some of them quite honestly just want to play more golf. The way I play golf, that wouldn't help much. I would spend all my time in the field not playing golf for sure. For the business owners, that sounds interesting. I'm going to try to play the role of the business owner and ask you some questions. That sounds intriguing. How do you work? When a business owner calls us, we start by going through what we call the discovery phase. It is where we come into the business and interview some of the key players, the owner, COO, CFO, management team players, and some of the key employees. Once we interview them, we'll have a good feel for the overall business because we take them through what we call the business assessment. We'll then take a look at their finances, P&Ls, and do a pretty good in-depth financial analysis. After that, we do a leadership assessment to identify any of the gaps that they have in their leaders, maybe communication or abilities to confront or resolve issues, those types of things. Finally, we go through what we call our walkabout. We walk around the business and get the feel of the company and the culture for how people interact with each other and how the businesses run overall. Once we do the discovery phase, then we move on and go through the strategy days. Those are two days that are packed with taking the information that we have gotten from the discovery phase. We will then prioritize what has to be done in order to achieve the financial goals of the owner as well as the leadership development goals. Anything else that needs to be done either to maximize the value of the business or get the business running on its own without the owner. Once we do the strategy days, then we're off to the implementation phase. In the implementation phase, we implement the findings that we have. Within one year, we'll achieve our...

  Immunization is an important subject to talk about, especially in the midst of a pandemic like COVID-19. While traditional immunization methods are popular as ever, more and more companies are seeking out methods for needle-free immunization that mitigate some of the risks presented by needle immunization. Bob Roark is joined by PharmaJet (https://pharmajet.com/), to discuss the pressing impetus for investing more resources into needle-free immunization. Let Bob and Heather take you through this vital topic with a spirited conversation. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYQTMdkD5qI[/embed] Listen to the podcast here:[smart_track_player url="" title="The Pressing Need For Needle-Free Immunization With Heather Callender-Potters" image="http://businessleaderspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BLP-SquareLogo-WhiteBlueBG1400x1400.png" background="default"] The Pressing Need For Needle-Free Immunization With Heather Callender-PottersMy guest is Heather Potters. She's the Vice Chairman, Global Business Development Officer, and Cofounder of (https://pharmajet.com/). Welcome, Heather. It's exciting for me. Thank you. I'm so excited to have this time with you and get your story out there, which it's already out there, but at least through this channel. If you could talk about PharmaJet's vision and your vision is needle-free applications for immunization and the story of why you started there and why that's still your focus. My mother and me cofounded the business. We wanted to make sure that we made a contribution to healthcare. She had experienced needles, she'd seen reused and there was a call to action by the World Health Organization because they were witnessing needle reuse about whether or not somebody could develop a needle-free immunization tool. We decided to rise to that occasion. When we looked at the market, immunization is global. We all share the healthcare burden. We're in the midst of something around Coronavirus where it's abundantly clear that if people are healthy, they're at work, the economy works. If a group of people is healthy, then the population generally is healthy. We focused on what we could do around taking needles out of the garbage dumps and the risk of reuse and needlestick and then that immunization market that's growing in perpetuity. More people being born, more need for immunization. If you fast forward to where we are, the exciting thing is that over time we've been able to prove that you might be able to move from the muscle to the skin and functionally reduce the dose of the vaccine by 80% and get the same immune response. It’s nifty. It's around the immunology that our skin has. Our body's barriers are always protecting us from things. The other exciting thing is that we kept seeing this glimmer of making vaccines work better. In particular in nucleic acid vaccines, messenger RNA, and DNA vaccines, we tend to see a multiple of higher immune response versus needle-based delivery. There's a whole slew of things, whether or not it's infectious disease or oncology, things coming to market to address disease concerns that we don't have treatment for. Like on the infectious disease side, it could be Zika and now also COVID. On the oncology side, it could be someone who's manifested HPV, cervical cancer, lung cancer, or leukemia. Lots of things that give us joy around near-term immunization, medium-term, reduce the dose in the longer-term of bringing things to market that don't have vaccine cures. [caption id="attachment_5238" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Needle-Free Immunization: A significant percentage of people avoid immunization because they don't like needles.[/caption]   Thinking about the mechanics, my memory goes back to when I was a little boy. I got my polio sugar cube with a little red dot on it. We have certainly progressed a long way since then. For you with the jet injection, what role do you think that's going to...

  The COVID-19 pandemic has forced everyone to take a good, long look at how things were being run once upon a time and see how things can change for the ultimate benefit of public health. One of these fields is the technology sector, where every day, companies find new uses for existing technologies to help the world adapt to the crisis.  Visual Globe (http://www.visual-globe.com/) . They sit down with Bob Roark to discuss how artificial intelligence can be used to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The time to act about the crisis is now, and with these technologies on hand, we might just be able to make the full recovery we need to. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/z6Wu4OZRGr0[/embed] Listen to the podcast here:[smart_track_player url="https://podcasts.captivate.fm/media/80f18bbf-8247-4a3c-8638-8dae067bf2b2/blp-mike-blakeman-trevor-chandler.mp3" title="Using Artificial Intelligence To Combat The COVID-19 Pandemic With Mike Blakeman And Trevor Chandler" image="http://businessleaderspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BLP-SquareLogo-WhiteBlueBG1400x1400.png" background="default"] Using Artificial Intelligence To Combat The COVID-19 Pandemic With Mike Blakeman And Trevor ChandlerMy name is Mike Blakeman. I’m the CTO of Visual Globe (http://www.visual-globe.com/) . With me is Trevor Chandler, our CTO for our technology and what we're doing now. I know, Bob, you wanted us to share our vision and what we're trying to do with our experience and solutions. We’ll be talking more about that technology here. The thing I wanted to do, which I typically do, is you guys have created an ability to solve some particular problems. You were working in the utility space and then we had the pandemic come along. You took, adjusted, and adapted to also solve this problem. If you would talk about what problems or benefits you bring to the utility space and then also talk about the benefits that you're bringing to the safety of the community in the COVID timeframe. I’ll give a brief overview of what the company's doing now and what we're about to do with the wellness program. I’ll allow Trevor to go into the details of the technology and his experience with artificial intelligence. Our company is strictly focused on data and information that we receive from our customers regardless of the market we're serving. Now we're serving power and telecom, but the information that we receive, it's all about taking raw data and converting that to information. We convert that to put that into insight and actionable items that they can react to. This has been on extracting information out of images that we collect on the distribution poles for telecom power and the ability to go out to the field and capture transformers with infrared technology to be able to determine if there those assets are healthy. As a company, Visual Globe is focused on physical assets that you can see on earth and to determine their wellness, condition, and maintenance and what needs to be handled and what the decisions need to be made in order for something to be reacted to or supported by others in the field. Right now, our contracts are simply going out and doing auditing at poles on the transformers and those who are attaching their equipment to the poles and be able to pull that information right out of the images based upon artificial intelligence and the automated feature extraction. Let me move it over to Trevor. He’ll talk more about the technology as it relates to what we're doing and then we'll move into what we see as a great opportunity for people to get back to work using our technology.   What we're going to go through here is there's a benefit from this company, first in the utility space pole and equipment and monitoring and creating intelligence from the data extraction. We were issued the COVID pandemic. Data extraction and looking at heat signatures and so on map nicely over

  It is going to be a very different stage for marketing as we come out of the ashes of the COVID-19 pandemic and into a brave new world. To talk about what this pivot means for the promotional marketing space, Pica Marketing Group (https://www.picamarketinggroup.com/) join Bob Roark on the show. With decades of experience in coming up with innovative marketing solutions for businesses, Paul and Stephanie are experts in promotional marketing and spreading the marketing message using promotional tools and products. Listen as they talk about the future of promotional marketing in the post-COVID world and share some very amusing and incredible stories of marketing strategies that you never thought anyone could have pulled off. --- Listen to the podcast here:[smart_track_player url="" title="Promotional Marketing In The Post-COVID World With Paul And Stephanie Zafarana" ] Promotional Marketing In The Post-COVID World With Paul And Stephanie ZafaranaWe have a special episode. I have my good friend Stephanie Zafarana and her husband Paul on. They're from (https://www.picamarketinggroup.com/) . We're going to talk about marketing post-COVID pandemic and what they're doing to serve their clients. Stephanie, Paul, welcome to your episode. Thanks for having us. Tell us a little bit about the Pica Marketing Group and who you serve. Pica Marketing Group was conceived in 2008. There isn't a better time to start a company. We learned a lot of lessons starting in such a crazy environment, but we incorporated it because we saw the needs that not only were our clients and people in the marketing community looking for innovative marketing ideas. They were looking for hard numbered returns. They were their board of directors and all of the people that they report to for real numbers. No longer was it okay to throw money at the marketing and sales department without any actual results. That is why we call it Pica Marketing Group because pica is a unit of measurement. It plays well to our audience. We work on serving nonprofit organizations, healthcare, and then manufacturing. Those are the vertical markets that we serve the best and we engage in a couple of different ways. We have some large clients where we're able to plug into their already established marketing department and be that outside voice. We’re that different perspective to help them accomplish a particular project. Be plugged in to some of those smaller organizations that maybe have a person that's the office manager/marketing director. We become the marketing department for them, offering ideas, working and collaborating to get their message out, but doing that heavy lifting. It seems to work well for our clients. The great part is we find ourselves dealing with all sides of projects. Nothing's too big and too small. The more creative, the more fun we all tend to have. In the end, it is about results. We like to start the conversation with what you are trying to accomplish and work from there. It's been an interesting time. We're starting to come out of some of the quarantine and restrictive movement events post-COVID. A lot of the companies, their worlds changed. What are your thoughts on these companies on, what they should be thinking about as far as marketing and spending money and both from their customer perspective and also how to keep their employees safe? One of the biggest things that some people may or may not realize is back in the late '80s, early '90s when there was another recession that happened, a big player came out of that and that was Clif Bars. Those energy bars that everybody has. They were a big player in that and the time to spend on marketing and advertising is in these times. People tend to remember those brands that are out there that are there for them on a personal level. They tend to remember that they were there for them during this whole time. That's been a huge part of it. You want people to...

Inarguably, one of the sectors that have been hit the most by the COVID-19 pandemic is small businesses. Unlike large conglomerates or corporations, many of these small businesses operate independently, with a much smaller pool of resources than their more considerable counterparts, so they have to take a few more steps to deal with the economic aftermath of COVID-19.  Holland & Hart LLP (https://www.hollandhart.com/) . Using his experience working with small businesses, he joins Bob Roark to discuss how small businesses can go about weathering the storm and mitigating any more negative effects that might rear their head in the wake of COVID-19. Don’t miss this important and timely discussion. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgQsW6c-M-0[/embed] Listen to the podcast here:[smart_track_player url="" title="How Small Businesses Can Weather The COVID-19 Storm With Mike Dill" image="http://businessleaderspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BLP-SquareLogo-WhiteBlueBG1400x1400.png" background="default"] How Small Businesses Can Weather The COVID-19 Storm With Mike Dill In this episode, we have Mike Dill. He is a partner with  (https://www.hollandhart.com/) , a firm located out of Denver. He’s a Corporate M&A Security and Startup specialist in the legal arena. Mike, thanks for coming on the podcast. It is my pleasure. Thanks for the invitation, Bob. Given the COVID pandemic and some of Earth’s changing or seismic shifts in the business climate, I thought it was particularly useful to bring Mike on and talk about some of the issues that might be facing business owners. What we hope to cover so you have an idea of what’s coming is we’re going to talk about what you do about staying compliant or being aware of the state local orders and directives. We are going to talk about some of the issues that may be facing you on the HR side of the house. As far as some of the things that you need to be keeping in mind with as you’re either continuing or resuming operations, whether it’s supply chain issues, new business lines or so on. We will talk a little bit if you’ve got outstanding lines, loans, or financing issues and what you do about those. How do you take and provide? There’s a fair amount of concern or shifting landscape on some of the government relief programs, in particular, PPP. We’ve got Mike on. We’re going to go through so you can know what you’re looking forward to in the episode. Mike, why don’t we start out a little bit with how you got here and who you serve? I act as an outside general counsel for a lot of my companies that are clients. They’re smaller companies that can be growing in a variety of industries such as tech and manufacturing, but they don’t have a lawyer that’s on staff. They have a firm that they can call to get a lot of their questions answered. I will help people when they sell their companies. I will help people raise debt and equity financing, but for a lot of my clients, I get asked all kinds of everyday questions, which is, “I’ve got an employee that reported me to the police because I’m still operating when I’ve got to stay-at-home order that’s going on.” That is a real client and a real situation. I am the quarterback of a team at my firm, so I can pull in specialists that are well-versed in very specific issues such as in employment, tax, etc. A lot of the questions I can answer is as an outside general counsel, I help my clients navigate the variety of legal issues that are facing their businesses, which is a lot right now. [bctt tweet="The COVID-19 directives from municipal and state governments are not optional, and should not be treated as such." username=""] I thought we would try to drill down. As we go through the categories, I can imagine the quantity and volume of questions from the clients due to the level of uncertainty. How should they be thinking about the directives from either municipality...

  As businesses make the shift to working remotely, it's important to remember that not every strategy that works in a brick and mortar workplace will work in a virtual office. There are specific strategies that you need to implement to maintain balances now that every employee has to integrate their work life with their home life seamlessly. Joining Bob Roark is Gossett Marketing (http://www.gossettmktg.com/) . Bob and Danette discuss some important strategies and solutions you can implement to manage your virtual office. You are not alone in this transition. Take the time to refine the way you operate to make the most of your time working remotely! --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/jTRLF-lKgzI[/embed] Listen to the podcast here:[smart_track_player url="https://podcasts.captivate.fm/media/dd0aa265-6068-49ee-a2e5-b1441947a626/blp-danette-gossett-part-4.mp3" title="Virtual Offices: The Growing Remote Working Culture With Danette Gossett" image="http://businessleaderspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BLP-SquareLogo-WhiteBlueBG1400x1400.png" background="default"] Virtual Offices: The Growing Remote Working Culture With Danette GossettI’ve got Danette Gossett of (http://www.gossettmktg.com/) . She's a highly respected marketer out of Southern Florida. She and I have been friends for a long time so I thought we'd have it on. What we're going to do is focus on the virtual business owner's thoughts and/or processes because it looks like more and more businesses are going to rotate toward the virtual office format while we're all in this pandemic condition. It may be that we find that we don't need bricks and mortar down the road. If so, these are some of the thoughts and observations. Danette, welcome. Thank you. It's been interesting. We thought we would structure this a little bit and talk about some of the observations. Danette had a case study as she was working with her people that are all working virtual on GovSpend training. Think of some of the things that are going forward and then thinking about whether it's Zoom or Microsoft Teams or GoToMeeting. How do you take and manage the use of your time so you can maintain effectiveness and optimize the time that you're working? Danette, what did you notice? We've been at home for so much longer now. Even though things are starting to open up in some areas, Southern Florida is a hot spot, so we are not opening up anytime soon. They're talking maybe June for us. We've got another month. For a lot of people, the room started closing in a little bit on them. The trials and tribulations of having their kids, their dogs, their spouse, their significant other all around them all the time. Not that they don't love them desperately but being 24/7 is not what anyone signed up for, to be sequestered with an individual or a whole family or my dogs or the isolation. For me, I'm isolated. It's me and my dogs. For me, it's “I want people” type of thing. Having more Zoom meetings has been a big part of it. Having my team wanting to spend more time with me on the phone or on the Zoom has ticked up. I found myself losing my day sometimes. I wasn't managing them and my time as I normally do. We're going to get back to that. A lot of companies are realizing now that this may go on for a long time where if you've got to have 60% less people in your office or more space between people, you may not have the space. People are going to have to be working remotely for months, if not a year or more. Some companies are going to do that. I did have a conversation with a company. They don't expect to have 100% people in their office for almost eighteen months. The landscape of the work team is changing completely. How do you make sure everyone feels a part of the team when they're in 50 locations or even five locations? How do you make sure that everybody is on the same page, going through the same goals? How do you make sure that...

The process of moving forward after the massive disruption created by the COVID-19 is not going to be easy, so as early as possible, you need to figure out how you can go about things. A "new normal" has begun to settle, and the best way of moving forward is finding ways to find your place within the renewed status quo. Gossett Marketing (http://www.gossettmktg.com/) . She joins Bob Roark to dive into planning the process of moving forward after COVID-19. If you've mapped out what you need to move forward, you won't feel trapped by the future, so let Bob and Danette show you the way through. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/_8ENd1Vm4GM[/embed] Listen to the podcast here:[smart_track_player url="" title="Moving Forward After COVID-19 With Danette Gossett" image="http://businessleaderspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BLP-SquareLogo-WhiteBlueBG1400x1400.png" background="default"] Moving Forward After COVID-19 With Danette GossettOn the continuing series with Danette Gossett of (http://www.gossettmktg.com/) out of Miami. We're talking about what the business owners are going through and Danette as a business owner and observations and maybe some things to consider as the landscape is starting to shift to possibly people coming back to work. Danette, thanks for taking the time again. Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity. From your thoughts, what are you starting to see on the landscape that's starting to change? People are talking about, "When are we going to reopen? How is this going to change? What's going to be our new normal?" A lot of companies have gone remote workers and not everybody closed down. There were a lot of people working from home. I talked to you were talking that not everybody is going to go back to the office. They're going to stay remote. Some people are looking at, I don't need to have that big office building lease. We can have a smaller office somewhere and people will continue to work remotely. If you're doing that, what are you doing with your employees to keep them feeling like they're part of the team, they are being productive, and they are being motivated? They're not getting burned out because I don't know about you, but I spend eight hours a day on the phone and on Zoom meetings. It's not like the old days where I've had a meeting after meeting, but at least then I got to be able to get in the car and drive to another location, get a break for 15, 20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes. Now, you hang up the phone and you start the next one and pick it up again. It's exhausting being in front of this computer screen all day long. You think of the mental depress and as you go through these and you start to recognize, it's back-to-back. You have to be spot on, listening, and caring. You can't loaf in between, you can't reset. One of the things to consider is as you set your phone calls up if you can then take and put a break in between. You take this, I'm going to take 5 or 10 minutes in between I'm going to go outside, I'm going to go for a short walk, I'm going to go and down the stairwell. I'm going to do something to maintain the machine because we're all thinking maybe it's going to be a shorter time frame, but if this ends up being a marathon instead of a sprint, then you go, "How do we adjust to the new normal and maintain our personal machine and outlook?"  We need to maintain it and employers need to understand that. You're right about saying sprint versus a marathon. A lot of businesses were thinking, "This is a sprint. We're going to get this done and you all will be back to work. I need you to get all these new initiatives figured out before we get back into the office." Even though we are talking about getting back to work, it's going to be a slow process. They're not going to turn a switch on and we all go back to the normal. They're saying methodical and fourteen days of trying one thing and then another fourteen...

  The COVID-19 pandemic has undeniably changed the way we do business. One of the areas that got affected is how we build business connections. Fortunately, with people migrating online, we can now fully utilize our LinkedIn accounts. Helping you make the most of it in this episode is  Linkability, Inc (https://linkability.us/) . Here, she shares some of the LinkedIn business strategies that are particularly helpful in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic. She shares in detail how you need to set-up your account, how to position your message, what features you need to take advantage of, and what kind of content to put out. Kim also shares some of the relevant trends in the space when it comes to communicating with others, as well as some of the advantages of joining a group to your business. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://youtu.be/IFNHNoPSgdQ[/embed] Listen to the podcast here:[smart_track_player url="" title="LinkedIn Business Strategies During The COVID-19 Pandemic With Kim Peterson Stone" image="http://businessleaderspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BLP-SquareLogo-WhiteBlueBG1400x1400.png" background="default"] LinkedIn Business Strategies During The COVID-19 Pandemic With Kim Peterson StoneWe have a special treat. We have (https://linkability.us/) . She's been a previous guest before. We're good friends. We talk all the time. We thought we would take in and put on an episode given the current environment. Kim, you work with people in the LinkedIn space. During this Coronavirus, COVID timeframe, what are you seeing out there and what should people be considering as it relates to their business and LinkedIn? I'm glad to be here, Bob. Thanks for having me. Things have shifted and since this whole thing started, we've been inundated with people, “What is it that I should be doing?” Whether you're in middle management and you're concerned about what your organization is going to be doing, maybe you need to make a pivot. “How do I do that?” That's some projects that we're working on there. It’s a corporate presence. You had a game plan and things that you were going to be doing. You are going to be going to events and doing all these wonderful things. All of a sudden that wording is no longer appropriate and you need to roll that back in, shift and change your narrative. We've been working with organizations that way. We're getting a wave of people also that have not been that active on LinkedIn and are now thinking, “I'm not going to these events. I'm not being able to get out there and get in front of people. How do I use LinkedIn to do that?” Those three things are happening in droves right now. It's a good time to get your feet under you in all of those areas, depending on which aspect is affecting you right now. You're talking to clients of various types of jobs in various businesses and so on. Some are at home, some are working remotely for the very first time. Given that environment, there have been some insights that are starting to gain. I've been encouraging people to get at least one thing done while you're at home, one accomplishment. One of the things that you can do if we don't know how long we're going to be doing this at-home gig is to take a look at what you're doing on LinkedIn. How does it look? How's it perceived? Is it useful or is it just an, “Yes, I have one?” To that end, when you look at somebody's LinkedIn site, what are you thinking when you look at them and what are you seeing now? The big thing is, are you positioned to be found? Is your profile structured in such a way that you will be found for the things that you want to be found for? That would mean that you've got to take a look at your headline. What wording are you using? What industry are you in? Are there any catchphrases that you should be using within your headline so that it's not a title and your company, but you're indicating what it is that you do or more importantly,...

COVID-19 is a hot topic these days, but you can't let it steal your show and paralyze your business. Fighting the virus can also mean doing your part in making a productive difference business-wise. In this episode with CEO of  Danette Gossett (https://www.linkedin.com/in/danettegossett/) , Bob Roark follows up their discussion about mobilizing your business during the pandemic. Danette showcases the importance of having a contact list and using it to remain pro-active in the eyes of your clients and employees. Driving traffic to your business is crucial these days, simply reaching out to those who matter can help maintain and even improve your business' reputation.  --- Watch the episode here:Listen to the podcast here:[smart_track_player url="" title="Capitalizing On Your Contact List During The COVID-19 Pandemic With Danette Gossett" image="http://businessleaderspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BLP-SquareLogo-WhiteBlueBG1400x1400.png" background="default"]   Capitalizing On Your Contact List During The COVID-19 Pandemic With Danette GossettI've got Danette Gossett of (http://www.gossettmktg.com/) out of Miami, Florida. We were talking in the previous episode about steps you can take now and what we zeroed in on is in many of the businesses, whether it's bricks-and-mortars or others, you either have a contact list where you can reach out to your clients or you don't. We thought we would talk about both of those issues and what you can do in this environment to help drive traffic not through your door anymore, but drive traffic. Danette, what are your thoughts on contact lists, whether you have them or you don't? One, hopefully, a lot of people do already have a contact list and they've been using them. We talked about previously was if you haven't reached out to your customers already, you need to start contacting them, letting them know that you're still around and you're still in business and that you're here to help them in whatever it might be that they need. If you don't have an active contact list, then you need to start getting one. One of the ways that you can do that is through LinkedIn. If you don't have a LinkedIn profile, let's start that. Get your LinkedIn profile going. You'll see, because I have a lot of people that you can start looking up and saying, "It could be your neighbors. It could be your other business competitors." It can be a lot of different types of people that you can start your list with. I've had a LinkedIn profile for years. My network is thousands of people. You can see that little thing at the bottom where some people have 100 people that they're connected with. I have 100 people in the same company that I'm connected with in many cases or people that I have connections with that we have hundreds of people in common in our networks. That's how it works because you want people to start looking at you and saying, "I want to connect." If you have your LinkedIn, then you can also put in your information if you've got a special coming up, if you've got some program. Here, a lot of museums are doing virtual tours of their museum and they can't have people coming in if you're a member or not a member. I saw one for one of the museums here that you had an extra conversation with the artists if you were a member. That was all added value that you got, but everybody could go on the tour. I thought that was a great way to connect with the members of the museum. A lot of them are doing that and that's a great way. Even for a realtor if you're trying to show a house.  Right now you can't. I was on the call with a realtor friend of mine and she's in the business office, she's one of our business development people. They found out when this happened, even though they had always encouraged their realtors to have videos of all their properties, only 20% of the properties were represented. They can't get into the buildings. She's like,...

How can business owners cope with the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic? Some binge on Netflix and accept defeat that comes with business paralysis while others do what they can to continue mobilizing their business. In this episode, Bob Roark interviews bestselling author and CEO of Danette Gossett (https://www.linkedin.com/in/danettegossett/) . They talk about these trying times and how businesses can re-develop a routine that allows them to be as productive as they were before the crisis, highlighting the benefits of creating a contact list. Danette then shares some tips on how businesspeople can do their part in flattening the curve through creativity and resourcefulness. --- Watch the episode here:  Listen to the podcast here:[smart_track_player url="" title="Mobilizing Your Business To Thrive And Survive During The COVID-19 Pandemic With Danette Gossett" image="http://businessleaderspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BLP-SquareLogo-WhiteBlueBG1400x1400.png" background="default"]   Mobilizing Your Business To Thrive And Survive During The COVID-19 Pandemic With Danette GossettWe're putting together the show with Danette Gossett of (http://www.gossettmktg.com/) out of Miami, Florida. Danette and I have been friends for years and she's working hard with her clients during this COVID crisis. Danette, thanks for taking the time. Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to give me a buzz. What we wanted to talk about is we're going to have shorter versions. In this lockdown, COVID virus and marketplace, there are a lot of business owners out there. Danette works with business owners and has for years and years. I thought we would get some insights from her and what we were talking about to talk about in this small piece is if you're a business owner and you find yourself stuck in the mud or paralyzed, what should you do? She got some great insights that we put those together. It's not just business owners, even the marketing departments. The business owners and the businesses themselves, a lot of them are paralyzed in understanding what in the world am I supposed to do? You hear about people binging on Netflix, being bored at home, and I'm like, "Who are these people? Where do they work? We’re working, they are bored at home." I'm working eleven hours a day, seven days a week trying to make sure that my clients are getting the attention they need and getting things out there that they need. First, they were seeing this as, "I get a couple of weeks of vacation." This is a much longer-term issue and people are very worried about their income and the economy. They're scared and they don't know what to do. They look at their business no matter what size it is, and they've had to close their doors, let off their employees, or all their employees are scattered in remote locations. They're like, "Are they working? Are they not working? Will they do what I tell them to? What do I do?" They're stuck. They can't seem to get a grip as to, "Where do I start? It seems overwhelming," all the information and their businesses out there. I gave up on trying to do all the SBA loans and the PPP loans and all that. I gave it to my expert. I gave it to my accountant to do. It's not my expertise so why should I be spending my time putting those types of things together? Let the experts do it. Get rid of some of those things that are paralyzing you because you're spending your time is not on your business, not even in your business. You're trying to ride the wave. That's one of the things that you need to put aside. After you put all that aside is to look at your customer base. Who are they? Where are you getting most of your revenue during normal times? Is it that standard 80/20 Rule where 20% of your customers are giving you 80% of revenue? If so, what can you do for that 20% of your customers? Have you reached out to them? What are you doing for them? That's your bread...

  With data just at the tip of our fingertips, great innovations abound to take us closer to our potential. Founder and CEO of  Brad Paz (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradpaz/) , builds innovative sports technologies that optimize training for the use of amateur sports athletes. In this episode, Brad tells us how this idea came about and was conceived. He shares the process of how it captures metrics and videos of the athlete’s performance in a dynamic environment and delivers actionable insights to coaches. More on his entrepreneurial journey, Brad then imparts great wisdom on building products that are not only for today but also for the ever-evolving technologies of tomorrow. Don’t miss out on this insightful conversation fit not only for the athletes and coaches out there but also for those budding entrepreneurs. --- Watch the episode here:  Listen to the podcast here:[smart_track_player url="https://podcasts.captivate.fm/media/55a5e2f7-f044-42bf-80bd-d7cab5b5a5d5/blp-brad-paz.mp3" title="Building Innovative Sports Technologies For The Athletes Of Tomorrow With Brad Paz" image="http://businessleaderspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BLP-SquareLogo-WhiteBlueBG1400x1400.png" background="default"] Building Innovative Sports Technologies For The Athletes Of Tomorrow With Brad PazWe’re incredibly fortunate to have Brad Paz. He's the Founder and CEO of (https://getzoptic.com/) , which builds innovative sports technologies that autonomously capture metrics and videos of the athletes while they're in the field. Brad, thanks for taking the time to come on the show. Thank you. I was happy to be invited here. I look forward to our conversation. Tell us about your company and what it does. We build technology that captures a carbon copy of the athlete's performance in a dynamic environment, indoor and outdoor, and delivers actionable insight into the performance coaches or coaching staff. Ultimately, what we want to do is optimize training for the use of amateur sports athletes. I think about what little I was involved in coaching. I was small, slow and unathletic as a kid. I would be the wrong guy to teach any ball sports, but I can remember working with my daughter in swimming. What you're trying to do is help them be better and you have no metric to come from. Let's say that I was out on the soccer field with my kids and I wanted to help them. How do you field this technology? What does it do? The athlete wears a small tag. It's about 80 grams. It's collecting all of the nonvital metrics on the athlete. Your traditional speed, distance, things of that nature, but also looking at the number of accelerations, number of decelerations. The sports science has not reached the youth and amateur market yet. This type of technology is used in professional sports. I'm sure someone like LeBron James has all of the statistics that anyone could imagine. We're trying to bring it down to the youth and amateur levels to be able to help those athletes improve their performance. It’s safely doing it in an optimal way and that needs to come from a performance coach. We're not like a watch or a band that will tell you what day you're having. We want to deliver that insight, that objective data to the performance coach because he or she knows and understands how to use that data to help the athlete get better. Is this like a solo application or if you had an entire team, would it capture all? It is a team product. That's what we're focused on and making sure that all of the athletes on the field have one of our wearable tags on. When we look at that, there are a couple of different applications that we run into in the market. From a coaching perspective, there are three things that they look at or three things that they would review. There's a tactical analysis, the X’s and O’s. There's your statistical analysis, so assists, pass, things of that nature. There's the third one,...

  Many financial and real estate professionals out there, including CPAs and attorneys, don't know anything about real estate exchanges, and how these transactions can help their clients. While seemingly byzantine at first, this system of exchanges actually yield a lot of benefits for people who are looking to reinvest their money in different kinds of real estate, sometimes even to diversify their portfolio. IPX1031 (https://www.ipx1031.com/) , where he specializes in real estate exchanges. Luke speaks to Bob Roark about the basics of real estate exchanges, and how one can navigate the processes involved. If you're looking to reinvest your assets, don't miss this conversation. It might just be what you've been looking for! --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_YCobtceXY[/embed] Listen to the podcast here:[smart_track_player url="" title="Performing A Real Estate Exchange With Luke Hays" image="http://businessleaderspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BLP-SquareLogo-WhiteBlueBG1400x1400.png" background="default"] Performing A Real Estate Exchange With Luke HaysWe're very fortunate because we have Luke Hays out of Nashville, Tennessee. He's with (https://www.ipx1031.com/) . Luke is a specialist in Real Estate Exchanges. With that being said, welcome to the show and tell us a little bit about what you do and how you got here. We're very fortunate because we have Luke Hays out of Nashville, Tennessee. He's with (https://www.ipx1031.com/) . Luke is a specialist in Real Estate Exchanges. With that being said, welcome to the show and tell us a little bit about what you do and how you got here. I was born and raised in Birmingham, and went to Alabama for undergrad. I hope that doesn't scare away some of your readers. I went to law school at Tulane and then after law school, I joined IPX. As an attorney in Tennessee, my sole practice is 1031 exchanges. In the company I work for, IPX1031, we act as a qualified intermediary. I'm sure at this point you have no idea what that is and that's most likely why I'm on here is to go over some of that terminology, as well as the 1031 exchange as a whole. I usually like to begin with a call I normally get because I give a number of continuing education classes to agents, brokers, CPAs, real estate attorneys. This is a small part of the code. I'll address the background of the 1031 exchange, why it was implemented and why I worked with IPX. The call goes something like this, “Luke Hays, IPX.” “I want to do 1055.” If someone's in a rush, if they're in a hurry, they're going to get the name wrong. They're going to call 1055, 1088. They're going to say, “I don't want to pay any taxes.” I'll say, “Where are we at in the real estate transaction?” They'll say, “I closed and I have the funds. What is my next step?” Unfortunately, the bad news is coming at this point because I have to inform them that their next step is to contact their CPA or tax advisor. The number one rule in a 1031 is it has to be set up prior to the close. You would think that would be something that everyone would understand. It goes into a lot of what I do, which is more of a teaching element. Not a lot of people know about exchanges. They don't know when the rules apply. Maybe they have some rules correct, but the other rules are incorrect. My role is the combination of an advisory role as well as a teaching role and setting up these exchanges. Many people, we all specialize and people don't know what they don't know. In the 1031 space, it sounds pretty simple to say, “Consider doing 1031.” Anything past that, even if they know that much, there's a real acknowledged gap. I would agree, particularly attorneys and CPAs. They don't have time. It's a small part of the tax code; they don't have time to comb through the way we do. If I was an attorney in private practice, I wouldn't be able to do 1031s. I wouldn't be able to apply the bonding and...

  We are in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic that has since affected so many lives around the world. It has been testing the economy, public health infrastructures, and even our personal relationships. In this episode, Bob Roark tackles this pressing matter with someone who has a great deal of expertise about it, Shawn Cupp, Ph.D. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/o-shawn-cupp-ph-d-13224b11/) , the professor of Force Sustainment and Management at the Army Command and General Staff College. Shawn helps us understand COVID-19, comparing and contrasting it to what we've had before and helping us know how it will continue to affect us. Gathering up some news as well as scientific data, he informs us of the latest findings and development in terms of the creation of a vaccine. Shawn then taps into the many industries that are suffering because of the Pandemic, showing us the far-reaching implications that this will inevitably teach us for the following years to come. --- Watch the episode here:[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA7MawLP7Tw[/embed] Listen to the podcast here:[smart_track_player url="https://podcasts.captivate.fm/media/29ff829d-2291-43d1-a3e7-c0c5925a3c63/blp-shawn-cupp.mp3" title="COVID-19 Pandemic: Understanding Its History And Its Future With Shawn Cupp" image="http://businessleaderspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BLP-SquareLogo-WhiteBlueBG1400x1400.png" background="default"] COVID-19 Pandemic: Understanding Its History And Its Future With Shawn CuppWe have (https://www.linkedin.com/in/o-shawn-cupp-ph-d-13224b11/) . He's a PhD. He's the professor of Force Sustainment and Management at the Army Command and General Staff College. Shawn, thank you so much for taking the time to be here. Thank you for having me. We're going to do a little bit of something different. We're going to talk about COVID-19. We're in the midst of it and Shawn has a great deal of expertise and thoughts on it. I thought I would turn it over to Shawn. When we talked about it was compare and contrast what we've had before and some of the history and some of your thoughts about that. There have been about thirteen different pandemics since the 1700s. The last major one that was worldwide was the 1918-1919 Spanish Flu that happened during the middle of World War I. It came from Kansas where I'm at. It went into Camp Funston and spread around the world. Historically, it was called the Spanish Flu because Spain was neutral during that fight and was the only one that would report on it. That has some significance now because China and some other news agencies are trying to blame people for what happened. We're in the midst of somewhat weaponizing information about blame. Who did what? Who started this? That is something significant that's going to happen in the outcome 3 to 5 years from now. We've also had a pandemic in Hong Kong and another flu in the late ‘50s and late ‘60s. Another pandemic was another H1N1 designated with swine, which was in 2009. Each of these viruses, at least Coronaviruses, you have to remember a few things about them. They don't need oxygen to live. They don't produce any products. They don't have to have any gender to reproduce. They are RNA-based, not DNA-based. When a water droplet that has COVID or SARS version two in it gets into your hands or you rub what we would call fomites like a computer screen or a door handle or a bag, you touch your mouth. That's why we talk about washing your hands all the time. You wash your hands, you get rid of the virus. Its only way to reproduce is to get into your lungs and change the RNA, DNA the next cell beside it. That's how it reproduces. When you cough or sneeze, then you expel that out. That's why we have the ten-foot social distance requirements that have been put out by the CDC. That's how you keep the virus moving from person to person. The other part of the science piece is the R0. How infectious is it? For example,...