Podcasts about fitzee foods

Is your gatekeeper anything like your ideal client? Or, are they basically the exact opposite? Blair Fletcher Hardy is the co-founder and Head of Brand for Pop & Bottle, the wellness-first coffee brand known for its organic, dairy-free lattes with no refined sugar or junky extras. With more than ten years of experience in branding and design, Blair spearheads Pop & Bottle’s visual team and helps to design the product packaging, create brand assets, and manage the brand’s overall aesthetic. While in London completing a year of study at the University of the Arts London learning the core tenants of branding and design, Blair became fast friends with fellow co-founder Jash Mehta. Fast forward a few years later, Blair relocated to the Bay Area. Blair reconnected with Jash and the two bonded over their love of San Francisco’s farm-to-table food culture and, of course, coffee. The two females founded Pop & Bottle in 2014 with a broader commitment to provide clean, plant-based beverages that are meant to elevate the everyday. The gatekeeper is one of the most important business relationships that you can develop. Of course it’s important to connect with your ideal client, and those who are going to help you increase your top line revenue, but learning how to win over a gatekeeper is a game changer.  That gatekeeper is often the key to your success! When I was looking at getting FITzee Foods in The Vitamin Shoppe stores in New York and New Jersey, I knew that it was going to be hard. They’d have to get new permits and remodel their stores. It would not be a small undertaking, and it would require that I engage and enroll the right person to help me! By way of research and figuring out who the right person was, I found the perfect person to make it happen: Doug Jones. But I didn’t have a connection with Doug. Yet. However, I did build a connection with someone who knew Doug well: Evelyn. His Executive Assistant. Every time that I was in New Jersey, I would make it a priority to meet up with Evelyn. I’d bring her coffee or other things that she liked, and we’d chit chat. Our relationship grew over the years, and she was able to connect me to Doug. That relationship with Evelyn connected me to the right person that I needed a YES from, and I was able to get FITzee Foods in The Vitamin Shoppe, thanks to my relationship with the gatekeeper! This week’s guest on Success Unfiltered, Blair Fletcher Hardy, created a healthier alternative to lattes and coffee drinks. She just needed to connect with health food stores in order to get Pop and Bottle on their shelves. The problem was that she found that the gatekeepers didn’t always prioritize healthy products, so they weren’t always connected with her mission. She had to find different ways to connect with those gatekeepers in order to get a YES! Is your gatekeeper anything like your ideal client? If not, you won’t want to miss this week’s episode of Success Unfiltered! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered!   To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn  To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Blair Fletcher Hardy for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us on 4/13/2020 for our next new episode! Your Business Depends On Relationships. And You Can Start Building Them TODAY! Business is about mutually beneficial connections with REAL live people. But creating those relationships doesn’t have to be a scary ordeal! All you have to do is show up, be yourself, and connect with people in a genuine way. Listen more than you talk. Don’t rule out anyone for a potential conversation. And stay open to opportunities no matter where you are. Sound like a lot of work? It doesn’t have to be! My FREE guide, “3 Simple Steps To Building Relationships ANYWHERE” will show you how to come out of your shell, embrace new connections, and “get out there” without stressing yourself out! Grab it HERE!   Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Blair Fletcher Hardy. Blair and her business partner had no experience in the food industry, so they found themselves facing a lot of NO’s! “There’s a host of reasons people give you for not believing in you and your concept.” ~ Blair Fletcher Hardy Sales is a numbers game: you’re not going to reach out to 10 people and automatically have 10 investors. Learn from feedback: every NO is a learning opportunity. You will become more confident with your product and your story as you continue pitching. Got a fund-raising goal? Double the amount of time that you think it will take to raise that amount of money. Reach out to fellow entrepreneurs. As you share your stories with them, you’ll hear how they have gone through similar experiences. Surround yourself with others who are like-minded. Many entrepreneurs have learned to wear their failures like a badge of honor. “There is no growth without failure.” ~ Blair Fletcher Hardy Blair made their own original branding for Pop and Bottle, and was told NO that it didn’t look like a product that would be in a grocery store; that it looked like a perfume bottle. “Trust yourself and lean into what makes you unique.” ~ Blair Fletcher Hardy Don’t be afraid to marinate in your rejection, and learn from it. If you’re new to the entrepreneur world, learn how to take NO, learn from it, and not let it completely define you. Just because one person says NO doesn’t mean it is bad. Blair learned that their gatekeeper was not their ideal client. Instead of an almond milk latte, that person preferred soda.  Instead of reaching their gatekeeper with their business mission, Blair and her business partner had to create case studies to show that their product would be a success. Data is key when it comes to working with a gatekeeper who is not your ideal client. Blair shares what she would tell her younger self. Connect with Blair Fletcher Hardy: Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Website Your Business Depends On Relationships. And You Can Start Building Them TODAY! Business is about mutually beneficial connections with REAL live people. But creating those relationships doesn’t have to be a scary ordeal! All you have to do is show up, be yourself, and connect with people in a genuine way. Listen more than you talk. Don’t rule out anyone for a potential conversation. And stay open to opportunities no matter where you are. Sound like a lot of work? It doesn’t have to be! My FREE guide, “3 Simple Steps To Building Relationships ANYWHERE” will show you how to come out of your shell, embrace new connections, and “get out there” without stressing yourself out! Grab it HERE!   Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com

138 | Anna David Helps YOU Identify HIDDEN Red Flags in Business Do you see any business red flags waving? Anna David is the New York Times and #1 Amazon bestselling author of eight books. She’s been published in  The New York Times, Time and The LA Times, among many others, written about in numerous publications, including Forbes, Martha Stewart Living, Entrepreneur, Allure and Women’s Health and has appeared on TV hundreds of times, including on The Today Show, The Talk and The CBS Morning Show. Her podcast is in the top 10% of successful shows, she’s been a featured speaker at three different TedX events and her company, Light Hustle Publishing, writes and publishes books for those who want to share their experience and stories. When you’re working deep within your business, it’s easy to miss business red flags. You’re working on payroll, or trying to show your investors that you have cash coming in. Then, along comes someone who isn’t quite your ideal client. But...they have cash. And you need cash. Payroll is tight this month, the investors are nervous, and you’re getting worried. It’s ok to sign the new client up just this once, right? NO!  When you make business decisions that ignore any red flags, like signing up with less-than-ideal clients, you’re going to wish later that you’d said NO. I ignored a lot of red flags when I still had FITzee Foods. Life would have been a whole lot easier if I had learned precisely what those red flags were, and how I could have paid attention to them to learn how to make better choices in my business. The best part of learning to pay attention to red flags? You say NO to those less than ideal clients, and have time and space to say YES to those clients that are perfect for you! This week’s guest on Success Unfiltered Podcast, Anna David, founded the Launch Pad Publishing group after years of working as a freelance writer. As she learned how to listen to the universe when it waved red flags in her face, she was able to align herself and her business with the best clients and grow! If you’re ready to be inspired to listen to the hidden business red flags, you won’t want to miss this week’s episode of Success Unfiltered! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn  To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Anna David for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us on 2/17/2020, for our next new episode! Business Risks Can Be Foolish Sometimes. But NOT taking risks at all is just as short-sighted! If you want to get to the next level in your business, you’re going to have to put yourself out there. But you don’t have to bet the farm to score a win, either. Learn how to take risks in business the smart, savvy, courageous way. Click HERE for my FREE checklist, “The Calculated Risk Checklist: 3 Ways To Take Business Risks With CONFIDENCE.” Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Anna David. Anna shares how she got started in the business, constantly pitching her writing. Editors would “bark at her” for bothering them as she followed up on her pitches. “15 years of slugging it out as a freelance writer and you kinda get immune to [NO].” ~ Anna David Anna encourages entrepreneurs to lean into their strengths when it comes to follow up - as a writer, she communicated best through writing! “Rejection is God’s protection.” ~ Anna David Sometimes NO is just a redirect to where you are supposed to focus. It’s important to diversify your income so that you have multiple streams of income. “I always say I have six balls in the air so that when five are on the ground you've got something in your hand.” ~ Anna David We are meant for greatness…if we can tap into it. Anna shares about how she has been fired from multiple jobs, and how devastating it was. Being fired from a job pushed Anna to go into business for herself. “I had no idea I was capable of making more money.” ~ Anna David In order to succeed, you need to learn how to listen to messages that the universe is sending to you. Anna decided how much money she wanted to make in 2019, and wrote a check to herself. At the end of the year, she had made that amount! Got a goal? Make it your password! Every time you type it in, you’ll be reminded of that goal. One of the most powerful things that an entrepreneur can do is say NO. Anna shares how she has learned to read red flags from potential clients, and say NO to bringing them into the publishing house. When you say NO to the wrong type of client, you are making room for the best clients.  Anna shares that it is her love for her work that keeps her going. Anna shares what she would tell her younger self. Connect with Anna David: Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Website Business Risks Can Be Foolish Sometimes. But NOT taking risks at all is just as short-sighted! If you want to get to the next level in your business, you’re going to have to put yourself out there. But you don’t have to bet the farm to score a win, either. Learn how to take risks in business the smart, savvy, courageous way. Click HERE for my FREE checklist, “The Calculated Risk Checklist: 3 Ways To Take Business Risks With CONFIDENCE.” Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com

130 | Monika Kochhar Teaches Us How to Train Our Mind for Optimistic Thinking Have you ever thought that something as simple as optimistic thinking could change the course of your business? Monika Kochhar is the CEO and Co-founder of SmartGift. She has launched, grew and led startups that transformed music, payments and commerce, and redefined customer experiences. Monika previously worked in finance in derivatives trading, selling and emerging markets for JP Morgan, BNP Paribas and Goldman Sachs. Monika attended Mount Holyoke College and the London School of Economics. In addition, she is an avid writer and speaker on payments, commerce, tech philosophy and women in entrepreneurship. She grew up in India and lives in NYC. When you hear NO, does it ever make you question your abilities? Or do you believe in yourself enough that hearing a NO slides right off your back? I’ve heard a lot of NO’s in my life!  From my job right out of college, FITzee Foods, or even with what I’m doing today! What keeps me going is that I believe in myself, and I live in a state of never-ending optimism.  I know, based on my past experiences, that it’s ok to hear a NO. It’s ok to face rejection. Every time I hear a NO, I look to learn what I can from the experience, and then move forward. When I closed FITzee Foods, it would have been easy to hang up my entrepreneur hat, close up shop, and start applying for corporate jobs. You’ve felt that way after hearing a NO, right? But, like you, I knew that there was something else bigger out there for me, and I believed in myself and said YES! The best part is, the more I believe in myself and keep pushing forward, the happier I become. I am so happy with how far I’ve come, and I absolutely love what I do. This week’s guest on Success Unfiltered, Monika Kochhar, is the founder of Smart Gift. When she first created Smart Gift, she reached out to several large brands and they said NO to being part of her network. Her belief in herself carried her through, and you wouldn’t believe that the companies that initially told her NO later reached out to her to be included in the Smart Gift lineup!  If you’re feeling discouraged from the NO’s you’re hearing, make sure that you tune into this episode of Success Unfiltered! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn  To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Monika Kochhar for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! Why Do Most Business Strategies Fail? It’s not because they don’t work. It’s because you’re not READY for them to work. Before you can succeed, you’ve got to believe in yourself. And most of us don’t know how. But that’s all about to change! Let me show you my 3 best mindset hacks to help you raise your vibe, shift your thinking, and ultimately ROCK your business. Grab your copy right HERE and start believing in yourself, for REAL this time! Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Monika Kochhar. Monika explains Smart Gift, and how the business works: it’s all about creating an experience during the gifting process! When you’re starting out and have no name recognition, it’s key that you remain in an ego-less state, so you can pitch, and learn from rejection. Monika shares about a crushing rejection from a big retailer. Instead of just taking the NO, Monika reached out and asked for feedback; and asked what it would have taken to get a YES from them.  Because she asked, and asked in an authentic way, they gave the feedback she requested! For Monika, taking, implementing and learning from that feedback was key. When you hear NO, it’s tempting to just ask for more time, five more minutes to show them why you are the best choice. Monika found that keeping it together and calmly asking for feedback was far more valuable. You have to know that this will work: have “blind faith” in yourself. You’ll also need a supportive team surrounding you! The feedback from that NO led to Monika and the team completely redoing their system, and making it better than ever. The more rejection you get, the more feedback that you get and are able to make yourself and your systems even better. Monika raised a little over $2 million dollars in the beginning stages of Smart Gift. Many investors said NO to funding Smart Gift, but Monika kept moving forward and still pulled it off. Moving forward was hard: Monika had to believe in herself with unbridled optimism, always pressing forward. When you hear NO, it can be tempting to start applying for corporate jobs. You want to create a frictionless experience for gaining new clients. Genuine conversations are a great part of the sales experience: they help create the chemistry for that perfect match. Ask directly for the deal: many people struggle with closing business because they don’t even actually ask for it.  You can’t help your ideal client unless you close the deal by asking! Monika shares what she would tell her younger self. Connect with Monika Kochhar: Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Twitter Why Do Most Business Strategies Fail? It’s not because they don’t work. It’s because you’re not READY for them to work. Before you can succeed, you’ve got to believe in yourself. And most of us don’t know how. But that’s all about to change! Let me show you my 3 best mindset hacks to help you raise your vibe, shift your thinking, and ultimately ROCK your business. Grab your copy right HERE and start believing in yourself, for REAL this time! Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com

129 | Marcus Murphy Teaches Us That Failure Doesn’t Have to be a Death Sentence When someone says NO to you, what is your first thought? Marcus Murphy is an entrepreneur and sales expert who cares deeply about the flourishing and success of entrepreneurs. Marcus previously worked for Yelp in San Francisco, going from start-up to multi-billion dollar giant. He has also worked at Infusionsoft as the Global Partner Development Manager where he developed and broadened new international markets through strategic partnerships, and is a recognized instructor and speaker at LinkedIn. Currently, the Head of Business Development & Partnerships at DigitalMarketer, Marcus has pioneered new and effective techniques that enhance the results of the traditional inside sales model.  He believes a combination of inside sales, social selling, and strategic partnerships are the next generation of business growth. Marcus prides himself on his ability to connect with diverse and international audiences while captivating their attention with storytelling. Hearing a NO is a defining moment in your business, right? Whether it’s a supplier, investor, or customer, that NO is going to change how you move forward! Anyone good at sales is going to look at every NO as a learning opportunity: what can we learn from that NO? How can this NO teach us what to do in our next sales meeting, or pitch? I’ve heard a lot of NO’s in my career, and every single one of them has taught me something. Back when I was pitching Jamba Juice, to bring FITzee Foods into their stores. I thought we were on the way to a huge YES, but they told us NO. To make it worse, it was through email. Looking back with everything I’ve learned about sales since then, I can see a lot of improvement. There are so many steps to nurturing a sales relationship, and I’d skipped some along the way.  But failure isn’t just failure unless you choose to learn from it! Take lessons from the NO’s, and move on to your next win! This week’s guest on Success Unfiltered, Marcus Murphy, works with Digital Marketer. He’s heard a lot of NO’s in his career, and is here to share exactly what he has learned from those NO’s, and how you can learn from them too! If you’re feeling discouraged from the NO’s you’re hearing, make sure that you tune into this episode of Success Unfiltered! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn  To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Marcus Murphy for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! What Do You Do When The Client Says NO? Rejection in sales can be harsh. How do you get back in the game after one too many NOs? Learn how to get over the NO’s in this guide. Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Marcus Murphy. Marcus shares about his sales history, from selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door, all the way to working for Yelp! “Rejection is so basic...we are in a culture of winning.” ~ Marcus Murphy Marcus shares about how he is a serial entrepreneur: rejection is in his DNA. Failure is a great learning tool, but if you don’t take the time to learn from it, it’s nothing more than just failure. Marcus shares the juicy details about how he landed a $30,000 deal as a marketer: he had a plan with blog posts and social media management. But because he didn’t communicate, he got fired from the job, and had to give $20,000 back.  The reason for that failure? It wasn’t about the numbers of the stats: it was HIM. They didn’t like Marcus and working with him.  The lesson to learn is that not everyone is going to like you; we’re all an acquired taste. “You can’t go into sales trying to dodge rejection. You need to embrace the fact that it is going to happen.” ~ Marcus Murphy Marcus advises that you should always assume that the first response will be NO, and keep an option in your back pocket. If someone says NO, then ask when was the last time that they spent that amount of money! Find out what would make it worth it to them.  You have to show your customers or clients the value, and build the hype and anticipation. The best salespeople are those who are comfortable with silence.  Help them to see what their lives would look like after your product or service. It’s all about creating the best before state and after state, and showing how you make your customer’s lives better. How can you appropriately sell to people? Marcus shares the steps of selling, and how you can break past the stigma of selling. Marcus encourages all of his sales reps that he works with to watch the movie, Patch Adams, to reinforce that first and foremost, it’s all about the people and the relationships. Marcus shares about the 12 stages of human intimacy, and how they relate to sales. When you’re in sales, all 12 of those steps are important, and help with closing the sale at the end. You can’t skip any of the steps: that’s where the stigma of sales comes from. Keep your core values at the front of everything that you do, and don’t be afraid to say NO to potential clients and customers who don’t fit those values. Keep looking for wins, especially in relationships. Some of Marcus’ best friends are the people he has made the most money. Marcus shares what he would tell his younger self. Connect with Marcus Murphy: Digital Marketer Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Twitter YouTube What Do You Do When The Client Says NO? Rejection in sales can be harsh. How do you get back in the game after one too many NOs? Learn how to get over the NO’s in this guide. Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com

125 | Majid Raees Shares How to Connect With Your Intuition For Business Alignment How pure are your intentions for your business? Are they aligned with your intentions? Do you want and actively seek to do the right thing in business? Majid Raees is a world champion Kickboxer who was a protege of the legend “Benny the Jet.” Born in Kuwait, Majid moved to the states in 1996 to pursue the dream to work with  Benny after seeing him fight with Jackie Chan in the movies. Within a short time, Majid became the number #1 kick boxing champion in the US along with Golden Gloves and Blue/Gold National Champion - in addition to US Gracie Open Grappling Champion. With these skills, Majid has since opened his own business training celebrities, entrepreneurs, CEO’s and Global entrepreneurs. Majid’s training is a truly unique as it combines human intelligence to reach its optimal potential. Are your intentions and actions pure in your business? It really is a gift to know if your intentions and actions are pure. You may recall stories from my old business, FITzee Foods, and how I had some issues with the COO.  His intentions may have been pure in how he wanted to push the business forward, but his actions were not in alignment: and they compromised the entire business! Employees were stealing food, and he had hired illegal immigrants. However, it doesn’t matter if your intentions are pure: if the two are not in alignment, it will only hurt you and your business.  It would have been better to turn away customers and keep the business pure. In the end, this was one of the many things that led to the end of FITzee Foods. This week’s guest on Success Unfiltered, Majid Raees, became one of Pakistan’s leading boxing champions, and attributes his success to his pure focus on achieving his dream. He’d held that dream close for 13 years, and made it his focus, and made his dream come true. Now, he helps celebrities and entrepreneurs align their intentions and their actions so that they can achieve success. If you’re ready to make sure you’re in alignment, tune into this episode of Success Unfiltered!  Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn  To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Majid Raees for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! What Is The Biggest Asset In Your Business? If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you’ve probably invested a LOT of time into strategies and business plans. But before any marketing tactic or sales funnel will work, you have to believe in YOU first. Let me show you the simple mindset hacks that have helped me trust in myself (and explode my business)! My FREE guide Believing In Yourself (For Real This Time) will show you how! Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Majid Raees, a professional kickboxing world champion. When Majid won the championship in Pakistan, he decided it was time to conquer his next challenge: winning a global championship! It was hard to pursue that dream because so many others laughed at it and thought it was impossible. Dreaming is so important: from the age of 13, becoming a global champion was Majid’s dream, and he held onto that dream. “If you work on your dreams, they will come to you. It's all about the intent. I think it's all about your focus and how deeply you connect with the dream.” ~ Majid Raees “Once you discover your gift it's the most powerful thing in the world.”  ~ Majid Raees Majid shares how he connects with people’s feelings to help them realize their gifts. Pay attention to the feelings that you feel or do it without even realizing it: feelings like love, or like driving a car. “Listen to the intention, not the thoughts in the process.” ~ Majid Raees One of Majid’s biggest NO’s was when he turned down a high-profile client because this client was not in alignment. The opportunity was huge for Majid, but he said NO because he was not willing to put himself in an “impure” scenario. Some opportunities may double your income, but you still have to say NO because you are not willing to pay the cost! When Majid works with people who are not in alignment with their intentions, he finds that it comes at a cost: he’d experience bad things happen, like a parking ticket, a car accident, or he’d fall and have an accident. “Business is done not by the product [but] by the people.” ~ Majid Raees Don’t ignore your gut feelings in business interactions. That is your intuition telling you something, and that tends to be 99% right! Small things matter a lot: small promises not kept add up to big things. If you see small things that don’t add up, that means that the big things will likely not add up either. “When you attract something in the universe, it will come way one way or the other. No one can stop it. It's just meant to be.” ~ Majid Raees “Most people get influenced by other people's work. I actually use their words to fuel my source of energy and push myself to the best limits. That's my key: do not ever allow other people's work to suck your energy. Words are powerful. Use their words to ignite your feelings.” ~ Majid Raees Majid shares what he would tell his younger self. Connect with Majid Raess: Website Instagram YouTube What Is The Biggest Asset In Your Business? If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you’ve probably invested a LOT of time into strategies and business plans. But before any marketing tactic or sales funnel will work, you have to believe in YOU first. Let me show you the simple mindset hacks that have helped me trust in myself (and explode my business)! My FREE guide Believing In Yourself (For Real This Time) will show you how! Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com

124 | Mada Seghete Shares How to Believe in Yourself and Push Past Business Fear Are you holding back from taking the leap into your business? Mada Seghete leads the growth marketing team, and is one of the co-founders of Branch. She was included in Linkedin’s Next Wave, 150 top professionals in 15 industries all under 35. Anyone who has closed a business knows how hard it is. It’s emotional and painful. Your business is like your baby, and it’s hard to let go! When I closed FITzee Foods, and started the Success Unfiltered Podcast, I learned that I had to ask myself an important question: “Does continuing with this help me in the long term?” That meant that I had to say NO to things that did not help me.  Instead of trying to continue to solve pain points and continue with my old business, I had to completely end FITzee Foods, and embrace my new life as The Pitch Queen! I was not able to serve my ideal client’s pain points until I embraced my business and was 100% a YES to that new business! This week’s guest, Mada Seghete, was told NO from investors for her “Fitbit for dogs” app that she had created. When it came time to move on to her new business, Branch, Mada learned that in order to be successful, she had to make a complete leap from her old business into the new. Once she made that decision, and leaped into her new business, Mada saw her new business grow! If you’re ready to make the leap into a new business, make sure that you tune into this episode of Success Unfiltered! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn  To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Mada Seghete for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! If You Don’t Believe In Yourself, Nobody Else Will. But why is doing it so hard? Most entrepreneurs can learn strategies. But the strategies are useless if your mind is stacked against you. What do you do to stop the negative self-talk and become your own biggest cheerleader? Start by investing in the most vital asset your business has: YOU. Grab my FREE guide Believing In Yourself (For REAL This Time) and let me show you how! Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Mada Seghete. Mada shares about her experience with app creation and all her entrepreneurial experience. Mada and her team were trying to create an app like Fitbit for dogs, and were told NO from investors! At the beginning, it’s easy to think when you’re not getting investment money, that it’s about you, not your product! When they started connecting with their ideal client, the pet owner, Mada and her team found that people were not interested in their product for their pets. Facing rejection was the hardest thing Mada and her friends had ever faced. They lost a lot of money, and one even had to stay on another friend’s couch because they lost everything. It was helpful to understand that NO’s came from customers, not from investors. The market was small, and already saturated. Hearing a NO helps you refine your business model! If customers say YES and investors say NO, then you may be able to get traction to eventually gain investors. Transitioning between businesses was one of the hardest, most depressing times of Mada’s life. Mada’s biggest NO was when her green card was denied, and she had to wait six months before she could reapply. During that time, she started Branch, her current company. When Mada was in her low times, she wallowed in grief and frustration for a while: then she said NO to grief and frustration and moved on and realized it was time for her to believe in herself. When they decided to sell their app, they were asked to continue working on it. But they realized that it NO longer served their purpose and long-term goals. Your company and your entrepreneurial journey is your baby, and it’s hard to let go! “We were just kept holding onto it because it was this thing that we had built. And looking back it seems crazy to me that we did that.” ~ Mada Seghete When it comes to closing a business, you should ask yourself a few questions: “What am I gaining? What will I gain in the long term by doing this, and focusing my time on this, and how valuable is my time, and should I focus on this?” When it comes to business, and attracting investors, you just have to jump in completely! It’s the only way you can make your business work. “Say NO when you know that you cannot deliver.” - Mada did, and was very clear that she would not be able to deliver. Mada shares what she would tell her younger self. Connect with Mada Seghete: Branch Website Facebook LinkedIn   YouTube   If You Don’t Believe In Yourself, Nobody Else Will. But why is doing it so hard? Most entrepreneurs can learn strategies. But the strategies are useless if your mind is stacked against you. What do you do to stop the negative self-talk and become your own biggest cheerleader? Start by investing in the most vital asset your business has: YOU. Grab my FREE guide Believing In Yourself (For REAL This Time) and let me show you how! Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com

121 | Dan Fleyshman Shares the Importance of Failure How can you turn your failure into a win? Dan Fleyshman is the youngest founder of a publicly traded company in history. At the age of 23, after selling $15 million dollars worth of clothing in six department store chains and surpassing expectations with his $9.5 million dollar licensing deal with STARTER apparel, Mr. Fleyshman launched the “Who’s Your Daddy” energy drink into 55,000 retail stores. He later went on to launch Victory Poker, which became 1 of the top 5 online poker brands internationally.  Along the way, Fleyshman became a very active Angel Investor and advisor to 29+ companies that range from mobile apps and tech companies to travel sites and celebrity clothing brands.  As a serial entrepreneur, some of the successes include launching a media site to garner over 300,000,000 views in the first year, a hoverboard company to $5 million+ revenue in 4 months and multiple subscription box companies to gross over $48 million dollars in combined sales.  Currently his social media agency “Elevator Studios” works with over 600 influencers and manages campaigns for a variety of large companies. The agency has also hosted 30 live events called “Elevator Nights” which has helped 1000’s of entrepreneurs learn from and network with investors in multiple sectors including cannabis & cryptocurrency.  Playing poker as a hobby, he’s managed to win multiple championships and more importantly use the game to be able to raise millions of dollars for various charities by organizing dozens of poker tournaments around the world.  Over the last 7 years his main passion has been his charity www.modelcitizenfund.org which creates backpacks for the homeless filled with 150 emergency supply items inside. Money talks, and sometimes, it’s telling you that it’s time to shut down your business. But what then? How do you face that “failure”? How do you face the giant NO? When I closed FITzee Foods, I could hear the money talking, and it was saying NO. People were not buying the meals at the rate that I needed to sell in order to be successful and keep the company open. I had to make the tough decision to listen to the money talking, and say NO to FITzee Foods.  But what then? What about all the people who are watching me? How could I work with that failure, and find a way to turn it into success? I chose to turn my past experiences into a success, teaching others to love the sales process, and telling the stories of so many entrepreneurs on this podcast.  You could even say that through saying NO to FITzee Foods, I have said YES to something far better! This week’s guest on Success Unfiltered Podcast, Dan Fleyshman, knew that he was going to have to close his poker business, but he was able to leverage his experience in such a way that he turned a potential failure into an absolute success! His “failure” brought him more success than he had found in his original business! If you’re worried about the aftermath of failure, make sure that you tune into this episode of Success Unfiltered! You won’t want to miss this inspiration! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn  To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Dan Fleyshman for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! What Do Successful Entrepreneurs Know (That Most Entrepreneurs Don’t)? That rejection in sales doesn’t mean failure. It means that you’re that much closer to the success that you desire...as long as you don’t quit! But how do you put yourself back together when a dream deal goes south? Grab your copy of my FREE checklist “5 Ways To Come Back From Sales Rejection” and learn how you can harness the power of NO for yourself! Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Dan Fleyshman. Dan saw the writing on the wall that he would have to close his online 8-figure poker business - his competition was being shut down, and he knew that his time was coming! Rather than wait to be shut down, Dan decided to be proactive and shut it down first. “It’s not easy to have that failure on the scoreboard. When you look at history, you see wins and losses.” ~ Dan Fleyshman Dan’s choice to shut down proactively made him look like a good guy, and he was able to leverage his experience and get hired as a consultant at multiple casinos! “By taking the loss, I actually had more wins.” ~ Dan Fleyshman Staying in a bad business too long can be like being in a bad relationship: you’re working hard to make it work, but it’s not a good fit. Eventually, you have to rip the bandaid off! People vote with their wallets. If they aren’t saying YES with their spending, then you need to know how to move on! It’s better to end a business prematurely when you know you have to say NO to it, and be able to give something back to investors, rather than have nothing in the end! Better to stop at 70% done instead of 100% finished! After closing his poker business, Dan decided to never have all of his eggs in one basket again! He has taken on multiple investments, and has become an angel investor in many companies. Someone with a “failure” on their record has valuable skills! You can be a very valuable consultant: people want to learn from someone who has been there and has experience! “Failure” can lead to a lucrative speaking career, helping share your story. Failure can be a million dollar MBA, and teach you valuable skills. You can have a taco truck, but you’ll be better in business if you teach others how to have better taco trucks! We’re always going to make mistakes: it’s better to run your business under the guidance of someone who has been there, done that, and made the mistake! They can guide you through because they have been through it. That’s so much better than any marketing course. When Dan was making his pitches with his beverage company, there wasn’t a NO option! He asks, “Would you like to be my distributor in the southeast, or nationwide?” There is not a NO option for that question! Know and address objections before they become objections! “I don’t want there to be a single NO in the room!” ~ Dan Fleyshman For a service-based business, Dan talks about showing the expertise that qualifies you above anyone else. Sometimes it can be hard to work with large companies, especially when you are projecting sales, and you don’t have a lot of money to work with, and they pay you after the product has been delivered. You have to learn to anticipate their needs, their re-ordering, and be ready for whatever - and sometimes, that requires that you be creative when working with suppliers. When pitching investors, make sure that they know that they are in it for the long game: you won’t make money with your business for a while; they won’t see a return on their investment for a while! When you’re just beginning, it’s ok to keep your job. In fact, you may need that income! It could be years before your business takes off. Make a plan for when you succeed! Dan has a “red ropes” policy for potential clients. When they cross any of these boundaries that he has for his business, he says NO to them as clients, because they will be the wrong kind of client for the business he wants to have! One red flag for Dan that he looks out for in potential clients is that the clients that want to work with him to sign an NDA. Dan shares what he would tell his younger self. Connect with Dan Fleyshman: Victory CEO Website Model Citizen Instagram LinkedIn Twitter What Do Successful Entrepreneurs Know (That Most Entrepreneurs Don’t)? That rejection in sales doesn’t mean failure. It means that you’re that much closer to the success that you desire...as long as you don’t quit! But how do you put yourself back together when a dream deal goes south? Grab your copy of my FREE checklist “5 Ways To Come Back From Sales Rejection” and learn how you can harness the power of NO for yourself! Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com  

120 | Heather Saffer Shares How to Successfully Recover From an Unethical Business Manager Have you seen the true colors of the people that you work with?   Heather Saffer is the founder of Dollop Gourmet; a better-for-you frosting brand sold in thousands of major retail stores. Heather is a winner of Food Network's Cupcakes Wars and author of two bestselling cookbooks. Heather has been featured on Shark Tank, QVC, Forbes, Huffington Post, Oprah.com, and People Magazine. It takes about three months for someone to show you their true colors, and you get to learn quickly if they are someone that you want to work with, or if they are someone you have to say NO to, and run away from. Before I started FITzee Foods, there was this guy named - well, let’s call him Charlie. I was one of his clients, and I would pay quarterly for a meal subscription service.  Well, Charlie would be spending money right and left, but not paying his vendors. Eventually, he came to me for help, but I had seen his true colors and knew that working with him would be a hard NO! I knew that I could do it better, so I started FITzee Foods.  But Charlie didn’t just go away: in fact, he started stealing my potential clients, and ordering food under his significant other’s business, and I would be the one delivering the food.  The few clients this happened to then called me, saying that he had a charge for food, but had not received a delivery. Talk about unethical, and absolutely absurd!  Many entrepreneurs find themselves working with just anybody who is willing to help them, but what they really need to do is see that person’s true colors first. That way, these new entrepreneurs can either say NO and run away, or create a great partnership! This week’s guest on Success Unfiltered, Heather Saffer, lost everything, including her business, when she aligned herself with a shady worker who conned her out of her life savings. You’ll be inspired by the lessons she has learned since, and how persevered and eventually got an investment from on Shark from her Shark Tank pitch! Are you ready to be inspired to learn the importance of the follow up? If so, this episode of Success Unfiltered is a MUST LISTEN! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn  To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Heather Saffer for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! Sales Relationships Don’t Have To Be Hard! You CAN make connections, whether it’s Facebook, on the phone, or “IRL.” How do you do it? By using old-school tools with a new-school spin. Relationships don’t have to be hard! That’s what I’m going to show you in my FREE guide “How To Build Relationships Online: Your Checklist For TRUE Connections (And REAL Sales)!” Grab your copy HERE and start making connections wherever you go, online or off! Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Heather Saffer. Heather had never had her own business before, so when she started out, she had NO Idea what she was doing! She brought on a guy to help grow the business, and worked with him for 10 months. He was paying employees, handling payments to vendors, etc. But Heather later found out that he had done nothing! He had used client’s credit cards to make vendor payments, and using Heather’s checkbook to pay for things like his car payment and his daughter’s daycare. Heather found out about his con when he used a client’s card to pay for a $20,000 payment for a charity event, and the client called her screaming about a $20,000 charge. How can you avoid this? Heather has some advice: “Never get to the point in your business where you depend on only one person to help you out; especially if you don’t know them well.” She took his help because she felt desperate and stuck. Recovery was hard: Heather spent a lot of time in court because multiple people sued the business. Eventually the guy was caught, charged, and went to prison. Heather did NOT make any of the struggles public, because she didn’t want it to impact her business as it continued on. But now, she openly shares how she overcame her encounter so that others can learn from her. She dissolved the current business, and started a new business so she could start fresh: she didn’t want to leave the industry because making the cupcakes was something she was good at, and there was a high demand for her product. Heather decided that it was time to pivot her business, and instead of just making the cupcakes, she wanted to sell a product to more people! So she decided to focus on making the frosting, and making a healthier version of frosting! It took her a year and a half to find a manufacturer for the frosting. She heard so many NO’s that she actually took a month-long break during the search for a manufacturer. Heather couldn’t quit in her search for a manufacturer because she knew that she had to make this product: she was obsessed with it! In yet another disaster, one guy who introduced her to a manufacturer came on and worked for her for a few months, but it was a disaster!  “Don’t work with just “anyone” - make sure that you vet your partners, workers, and investors! It’s ok to say NO to someone who is not the right fit. Just because they want to work with you doesn’t mean that you have to work with them!” ~ Heather Saffer When working with a partner, investor, or anyone, you get to see their true colors within 3 months! Heather shares about her Shark Tank experience: she had a flawless pitch, but something crazy happened behind the scenes. Right before she was supposed to go on air, Heather peed her pants! She has a bladder condition that actually makes her lose bladder control. After she peed herself, she ran from the area, and had to change into jeans that she had in her dressing room. Pitching to the Shark Tank investors was her moment: Heather wasn’t going to miss out on her chance by an embarrassing moment. She just had to set that aside, and do it anyway. “When you put your ego and pride aside, magic happens.” ~ Heather Saffer Heather shares what she would tell her younger self. Connect with Heather Saffer: Heather’s Cupcake Website Heather’s PR Website Dollop Gourmet’s Facebook Heather’s Personal Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Pinterest Twitter Sales Relationships Don’t Have To Be Hard! You CAN make connections, whether it’s Facebook, on the phone, or “IRL.” How do you do it? By using old-school tools with a new-school spin. Relationships don’t have to be hard! That’s what I’m going to show you in my FREE guide “How To Build Relationships Online: Your Checklist For TRUE Connections (And REAL Sales)!” Grab your copy HERE and start making connections wherever you go, online or off! Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com

116 | Alice Lewis Shares How Being Fired Can Grow Your Top Line Revenue Do you recall what propelled you into entrepreneurship?  Alice Lewis, fine art enthusiast turned floral expert - CEO - entrepreneurial architect - has introduced the nation to a beautiful dose of floral-infused, curated maker events and a modern day take on entrepreneurial endeavors. In 2015 she introduced the lifestyle company Alice’s Table and the Alice’s Table Event Exec program with the mission to empower women to start their own creative businesses, and give them the tools, knowledge and community they need to be successful. By building a community that prioritizes living well and working hard - the possibilities are endless. Alice has been featured on Shark Tank, LIVE with Kelly & Ryan, The Everygirl, Create & Cultivate, among other accolades. She has secured top investors including Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and Sara Blakely, Founder of Spanx, to help bring the Alice’s Table mission into reality. What was the moment when you jumped into life as an entrepreneur?  Was it a moment of passion and inspiration, fueled by a desire to change the world? Was it a drive to help others? Or was it a simple NO that pushed you forward to make that leap? With the right mindset, a NO can be exactly what you need to push yourself into success!  My career training people how to be successful in sales started when I was fired: I was fired from a job in college, and then, even with FITzee Foods, I was essentially fired.  After rejection, or a massive NO, or even being fired, It’s your mindset that will impact what comes next. Mindset will turn that NO into a life-changing opportunity, and keep you from getting in your own way. A NO was what pushed me into the career that I have now. Because I was fired, I have been able to impact hundreds, even thousands of entrepreneurs with business-changing sales training via my online courses and this podcast. This week’s guest on Success Unfiltered, Alice Lewis, thought she was on the start-up path to success, but was fired! That NO pushed her in a different direction, which led to the creation of Alice’s Table, and the perfect YES for her future! Are you ready to learn more about how being fired might just be the best thing that has ever happened to you? If so, this episode of Success Unfiltered is a MUST LISTEN! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn  To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Alice Lewis for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! Your Prospect Said No. Is it Game Over? Nobody likes to think about losing a sale. But if you’re not being turned down, you’re not asking nearly enough! There’s a lot to be learned when the sale falls flat. Don’t miss that opportunity! Click here and learn all about how you can turn a NO into a WIN! Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Alice Lewis. Alice founded Alice’s Table, a company purposed with helping female entrepreneurs looking for a flexible business connect with each other. The fear of NO is worse than actually hearing NO: protecting yourself from NO does not make it any better or easier to hear. Changing your mindset helps offset the pain of the NO. For every five NO’s you’ll hear a YES: turn it into a game, and then hearing NO starts to become fun! “As an entrepreneur, your job is to be introspective, you are not a good founder or CEO unless you can take a hard look at yourself in the mirror…. If you are the problem, you need to also be the solution.” ~ Alice Lewis Do you spend time spinning your wheels, or dancing around a NO? Cut to the chase and make it happen!  When building a team, your first hire can be scary, because you’re scared, and intimidated, and can easily lose the best candidate from fear. Alice had her idea for her own business, but was working at another startup company as one of their two employees. However, it was not a good fit, and she was fired! Being fired brings up personal questions, but when you know that you’re capable, that mindset will help you get through it. “Looking back, being fired was the best NO that happened in my life.” ~ Alice Lewis You’ll have to get used to that pit in your stomach. Alice found ways to keep herself going and keep the lights on.   “If you really care about your passion enough, don't be afraid to find the scrappy things. It's what I had to do to start the business that I wanted to start.” ~ Alice Lewis When you’re the CEO, you need to find a network to support you. That is a scary role, with hundreds of people looking to you for leadership and to be accountable! Have someone you can talk to about business. That’s critical! Make sure to catch the small fires when they start, so three months later, you’re not looking at a giant mess. “Not ignoring the scary things is important.” ~ Alice Lewis Use “think time” to be strategic in introspecting about your business. Alice takes several hours a week to self-evaluate. Alice shares about her Shark Tank experience. It all started when she had filled out the form as something potential to do, and hadn’t expected to get picked. Make sure that you have your core business needs at heart: when you have to do hard things, like fire someone, it helps you make the right decision. Don’t be afraid to turn away an investor whose check is too small. When you don’t have the answers, it’s ok! Live in the unknown, and take action, and you will see a shift. Alice shares what she would tell her younger self. Connect with Alice Lewis: Alice’s Table Website Facebook Instagram Alice’s Personal Instagram Pinterest Your Prospect Said No. Is it Game Over? Nobody likes to think about losing a sale. But if you’re not being turned down, you’re not asking nearly enough! There’s a lot to be learned when the sale falls flat. Don’t miss that opportunity! Click here and learn all about how you can turn a NO into a WIN! Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com

113 | Oren Klaff Teaches Us How to “Pitch Anything” Do you ever feel like your pitch just doesn’t resonate with the right people? Do you ever wonder why? With securities markets experience, Oren Klaff is Director of Capital Markets at investment bank Intersection Capital, where he manages its capital-raising platform. Since 2005, Oren has since grown the firm history to approximately $2 billion in aggregate trade volume across a diversified portfolio of companies and transactions. He is responsible for business development and product development, and oversees the firm's flagship product, the Velocity™ method of corporate finance. Applying his pioneering approaches to raising capital and incorporating neuroscience into the capital markets programs, Oren has supervised the placement of over $500 million of investor capital from high net-worth individuals and financial institutions. He is the #1 best-selling business author of the McGraw Hill publication Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal. Do you know that when you’re pitching a good product or service and then all of your pitches start to sound similar, but you figure, “that’s ok; I’ll find the right investor who resonates with what I have to say.” But instead you hear NO again and again. Why is that? For me, one of the products that I dreamed of placing into Costco with my last company, FITzee Foods were FITzee Bars. These meal replacement bars were a perfect fit to the company and to the consumers.  I pitched the FITzee Bars as a separate project going into Costco to an investor, and it looked like something we would do in the future to keep this part of the business going after I had closed the food production of FITzee Foods. But then, they just kept putting it off. For a year, he kept putting me off, and had various reasons why.  There are red flags and warning signs, and if we can learn how to interpret those from investors, buyers or clients, we can be more effective in our pitches. This week’s guest on Success Unfiltered, Oren Klaff, has pitched more than $2 billion in sales. When he started hearing NO, he went back to the very bottom, took an entry-level job, and worked hard to learn the language of his investors. Once he learned to listen to the language used by those who were saying NO, he was able to change the way he pitched, and closed more deals! If you’re ready to learn how to Pitch Anything, then this episode of Success Unfiltered with Oren Klaff is a MUST LISTEN!  Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn  To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Oren Klaff for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! Don’t Stress About The Pitch. ROCK it! How do you tell the world what you do and make it clear, concise, and magical? Create a pitch that makes your heart sing and your ideal clients swoon! Get your FREE guide, 3 Steps To ROCK Your Pitch (And Get More Sales) right HERE! Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Oren Klaff. Oren shared how at his software company, the accountants double reported income, and left no money! He had to go pitch new software to investors. When he did, and heard NO, he realized that he knew nothing about pitching and sales! When Oren looked for where to learn, he knew that it had to be from experience. So he quit his job, and took an entry level position at a bank to learn. While he was there, he met a guy who was a natural at pitching, and studied him, so that Oren could learn exactly what it was that this guy did that was so exceptional. When Oren began to implement these strategies that he learned, he saw more YES’s. Oren shares what the markers are in sales: there are clear check points in every sale that help you know if you will hear a YES or a NO. When asked to sell a company, Oren said YES. He worked hard to prepare the company, and found a buyer willing to pay $15 million! Then, the original seller changed his mind and said that NO he did not want to sell. Listen to find out why! There are clear signals during deals that help you to know if you are on track or not - you have to learn to read them! Rarely does a deal just fall apart at the end without some signs indicating how it happened. Always have a bigger pipeline of deals: this helps with a sense of urgency with clients. “If something’s wrong, it’s wrong for a reason.” ~ Oren Klaff When working deals, you can learn to take control of the deal, so that you can help make sure that you are working with clients or investors that are the best fit for your business and will be able to deliver! No real investor is going to back out of a deal just because you follow up and continue to make sure that you’re a good long-term fit! “People want what they can’t have. People chase that which moves away from them. And people only value what they have paid for.” ~ Oren Klaff A pitch isn’t just giving information: it’s “info-tainment” to deliver that information in a way that is giving them new information in an entertaining way and is a performance. Practice; it gets better with repetition! Oren shares what he would tell his younger self. Connect with Oren Klaff: Pitch Anything Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Twitter Don’t Stress About The Pitch. ROCK it! How do you tell the world what you do and make it clear, concise, and magical? Create a pitch that makes your heart sing and your ideal clients swoon! Get your FREE guide, 3 Steps To ROCK Your Pitch (And Get More Sales) right HERE! Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com  

How to Charge Clients in Advance before Providing Services | Episode 20 Do your clients pay upfront, or do they pay after you've done the work? Charging your clients in full before you do any of the work can help your firm be a more efficient and effective for your business. When I was talking to one of my recent accounting students, I was shocked to find out that he had more than $60,000 in accounts receivable! He found himself spending so much time chasing down clients for payment, when he could have been serving them and increasing his value in the services he was providing. If you're charging after you complete the work for a client, I'd encourage you to consider changing to require payment in full before any work has even begun. It can be a tricky transition, but you can take baby steps towards dwindling down your receivables to zero When I worked with my last company, FITzee Foods, I had a brick and mortar location, and when we were working with the contractors, I had to pay 50% before the plans would be taken to the city for approval, and I had to pay the other 50% before the construction would begin. Following a 50/50 system can baby step your clients into paying in full before the work starts, and you'll ultimately be able to spend more time serving your clients and getting them better results vs chasing them down after sending invoices out! If you're tired of chasing clients down for payment, then this week's episode of The Abundant Accountant Podcast is a MUST listen! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into The Abundant Accountant Podcast! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Share The Abundant Accountant Podcast on Facebook, & LinkedIn To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Be sure to join us on August 1st for our next amazing episode! Do You want to MAKE MORE MONEY, WORK FEWER HOURS? Join me so you can unlock the secrets to growing a profitable accounting firm with less stress by joining our upcoming Abundant Accountants Masterclass! You will learn: The easiest ways to sift through clients and get to the RIGHT ones! Proven tactics to actually get paid instead of giving away FREE advice! How to stop competing on price FOREVER! Join our Abundant Accountants Masterclass today over at theabundantaccountant.com. Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces herself, and the topic of today's episode: requiring payment upfront from clients. Many accounting firm owners find themselves chasing down clients for payment, often for work completed as far as nine months previous. This doesn't serve accountants, nor does it help them serve their clients at the highest level! I get asked a lot about how to start charging upfront for services instead of after the service is done. It may not be the most common practice for a CPA or accountant to charge up front for services, but there's no reason why you can't incorporate this into your firm right away. You can request payment ahead of time for a long-term project, or with a brand new client for even just compliance work or services rendered monthly. Michelle shares a story of a student that had more than $60,000 in accounts receivable. That's crazy; you don't have time for that and this can get down to zero quick. If you think about how much time you spend chasing down payments from work you have already completed, that is time that you could be delivering value to your other clients instead. Getting payment upfront not only can increase your revenue, but it can get cash flow going in the positive flow, and make you appear more professional and trustworthy. Think about courses, similar to a leadership training I just took. I had to pay in advance before I started any of the training! Also, think about a general contractor: with my old business, I had a retail store. When we were doing the store build out, I had to pay 50% of the fees upfront before they even took the blueprints to the city for approvals. I had to pay the other 50% of the fees before anything was even started for the build out! If you think that your clients will hesitate at paying upfront, you can start with a 50/50 system: require the first % of the payment upfront, and then before you deliver the tax returns or the final tax plan, require the other 50% to be paid in full prior to delivery of any work. Take baby steps towards charging in full upfront! Before I personally work with any clients, they pay in full, in advance before any work or classes begin. Having clients pay in advance ensures that you have cash flow and money in the bank. When it comes time to pay your employees, or the rent, you know where the money is and don't have to chase it down. For monthly work, you can bill up front. For example,Bill on the 1st of the month for the full month of service: that can also help cover any expenses for you, like software, etc.. Charging upfront helps eliminate cash flow problems in your business. Remember, this is The Abundant Accountant Podcast, so if you want to live that life of abundance, you have to do the work to establish a firm of abundance. When you charge upfront, you do elevate your value, and set yourself apart from other firms. One of my students runs an efficient firm, and actually has set up ACH debits for his clients, so they are billed automatically on the 1st of every month prior to the services being performed. Charging upfront builds trust, as you are making the process smooth and easy, so that you can spend the maximum time possible with serving your clients. Having a money-back guarantee will also help ease the minds of hesitant clients. Making the change to getting paid upfront can be hard, but framing it as a way to provide even better client service will help your clients see and embrace the benefit. For a monthly retainer, I do not personally recommend the 50/50 approach we talked about earlier. Monthly retainers should be collected 100% upfront This can be a big shift in your firm, and it will help make it more efficient! Learn More & Connect With Me Here! Read The Abundant Accountant Blog Join us on Facebook Follow Michelle on LinkedIn P.S. Do You want to MAKE MORE MONEY, WORK FEWER HOURS? Join me so you can unlock the secrets to growing a profitable accounting firm with less stress by joining our upcoming Abundant Accountants Masterclass! You will learn: The easiest ways to sift through clients and get to the RIGHT ones! Proven tactics to actually get paid instead of giving away FREE advice! How to stop competing on price FOREVER! Join our Abundant Accountants Masterclass today over at theabundantaccountant.com.

111 | Will Smelko Shares How to Find Investors that Lead to Strategic Moves What value do investors add to your business relationship? And what value do you add? Will Smelko is the visionary and CEO behind Ora Organic as well as a fervent foodie. Upon graduating from UC Berkeley, he dove headfirst into the world of strategy consulting for Fortune 500 healthcare and pharmaceutical companies but soon realized his calling was elsewhere. Understanding that the most promising solution to climate change involved food, Will began exploring plant-based nutrition. Ora is changing the status-quo by creating nutritional products made directly from food without artificial additives. Ora reflects the values of its co-founders, which is why the company prioritizes organic farming, sustainable harvesting practices, and delicious, plant-based nutrition. When you’re starting out, it can be very tempting to just accept money from anyone who is offering it, and figure things out after. But, vetting our investors can help us strategically grow our business.  You started your business because you were passionate about the product you manufacture, or the service that you provide - not solely for the money. That means you want investors who are going to be able to help that business move forward: you know what your business needs, who has the connections and the ability to meet those needs? That’s who you want as an investor. I know how tempting it is to take money from any investor when you have none. When I started FITzee Foods, I accepted money from any investor who was willing to give. But if I had taken the time and interviewed potential investors to see what value they could bring, and if I had figured out what value I brought to them, it would have completely changed how I approached investors in my business.  This week’s guest on Success Unfiltered, Will Smelko, started his plant-based nutrition company, and instead of accepting any investor interested in his business, he faced his fears and asked the hard questions. Are you ready to see how vetting investors strategically can lead to success? You’ll find all that AND MORE in this episode of Success Unfiltered! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn  To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Will Smelko for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! If You Don’t Believe In Yourself, Nobody Else Will. But why is doing it so hard? Most entrepreneurs can learn strategies. But the strategies are useless if your mind is stacked against you. What do you do to stop the negative self-talk and become your own biggest cheerleader? Start by investing in the most vital asset your business has: YOU. Grab my FREE guide Believing In Yourself (For REAL This Time) and let me show you how! Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Will Smelko. Will, the Shark Tank veteran of the month, created a plant-based supplement, named Ora Organics to avoid additives in food and supplements. The most NOs that Will heard were in the early days, from investors: there was a long string of NOs! In the beginning, a lot of people said NO because it was a product that had a negative connotation: many people were not interested in supplements. One of the earliest NO’s was overcoming objections through education; helping people see that their supplements weren’t “artificial”; that they were made from plant-based products. Working with investors can be hard because they ask the tough questions: some of which you don’t have answers! Prepare as much as possible, and embrace that you won’t have all of the answers in the end. Learn what numbers and metrics are important, and focus on those. Make sure that you are working with the data that is most important to you and your company. When investors don’t give money, sales will keep you afloat! “When we are out there talking to investors, you can figure out pretty quickly (in the first 5 or 10 minutes) what investors care about.” ~ Will Smelko Instead of catering to all of your different audiences, go back to the core of who you are and what your company is all about. That will naturally attract the right kind of investors and help vet out the ones that aren’t the best fit.  Shark Tank was especially defeating because most of the Sharks said NO so quickly, and they critiqued the packaging. Ora Organics was able to turn it into a conversation on social media, and have conversations with their consumers. Ora Organics had to go to a completely new manufacturer, and risk selling out of stock on hand. When it came to making that decision, it came down to staying true to their core values. Will and his team vetted potential investors to see if they’d actually be a good fit for the company and the culture. It was scary to do that, for fear of investors feeling like they weren’t trusted, but Will and his team would follow up with references. The key thing that they looked for was value for both parties: “If you can't sit down and write out clearly on paper exactly where this, "value add" investment fund is actually going to add value, then they're not a value add.”  It took Will a while to grow into being the kind of entrepreneur who would vet investors. “The 2015 Will would have just been like 'Oh my God I'm so grateful that these people are talking to me! Maybe we'll get an investment!  I don't know if I should even call - if I call the references, are they going to think that I'm like doubting them?' I lacked that self-confidence at an early stage. I was just happy to be talking to someone and that they hadn't told me NO yet.” ~Will Smelko Will and his team knew that even if the company failed, they would still be committed to creating the product, and would somehow be involved in something like it. That kept them going through the hard times. Will shares what he would tell his younger self. Connect with Will Smelko: Ora Organic Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Twitter If You Don’t Believe In Yourself, Nobody Else Will. But why is doing it so hard? Most entrepreneurs can learn strategies. But the strategies are useless if your mind is stacked against you. What do you do to stop the negative self-talk and become your own biggest cheerleader? Start by investing in the most vital asset your business has: YOU. Grab my FREE guide Believing In Yourself (For REAL This Time) and let me show you how! Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com  

110 | Luna Shimada Teaches Us How to Discover Our Superpower What is your business superpower? It’s what makes you unique and special; and when you use that superpower, you stand out from the crowd. Luna Shimada has been performing in top venues across the world from Europe to Japan to America, and the showrooms of Las Vegas. Luna is a philosopher and a teacher of magic and her many talents encompass writing, dance, & performance art spoken word. Luna began her career on stage early at the age of 12 and has spent the last 30 years honing her craft and is now recognized in the world of magic today as one of the best female magicians of our time. Luna has paved the way for many woman to follow in a profession that has primarily been a male dominated field. Luna has created her own distinctive style of performance magic that is unique, dramatic, sensual and thought provoking. She is the quintessential renaissance woman of our day. In the face of rejection, having practices that help us align and find our superpower is so important! It may be yoga, meditation, or spiritual practices, but these help us to refocus, not become bitter, and to keep our eye on the prize. When I had to close FITzee Foods, it was hard, but it helped me to find and tap into my superpower: helping entrepreneurs learn about sales, and helping you through this podcast, & learning the stories of others who are going through the same things as you. This way, you can learn from the success and mistakes of others, and find an easier road to success! This week’s guest on Success Unfiltered, Luna Shimada is a second generation magician who struggled to find her superpower after feeling suppressed and not good enough for years. When she leaned into what made her special and unique in her industry, she unlocked her superpower and began to see amazing success! Are you ready to see how knowing your superpower can change your business? You’ll find that this episode of Success Unfiltered is a MUST LISTEN! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn  To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Luna Shimada for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! Business Rejection: It’s NOT About YOU...BUT it Can Help You! Does a customer rejection mean you aren’t good at what you do? Not at all. Is there a gift in the sting of rejection? You bet there is! Click here and learn 3 reasons why a NO is actually a future YES (and how to start seeing it that way right NOW)! Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Luna Shimada. Most people join an entertainment career later in life: Luna was literally born into the world of magic. At the age of 8, her father told her she didn’t have what it took to be successful like him, and started her down a path of doubting herself and standing in the shadows. She married a fellow magician and became his assistant, but when the time came for her to step out of the shadows and perform, he suppressed that. Luna decided that it was time to chase her dreams and her passion, and that meant that she had to walk away from that marriage. “I don't think that there is a cookie cutter mold that everyone can fit into, especially when you're promoting something like yourself. And you're selling yourself as a product. It's about cultivating a relationship with your audience.” ~ Luna Shimada “I think that you can't overcome anything unless you first really take the time to take some personal inventory and learn who you are and what it is that you want. If you don't know what you want then you don't know what your direction is.” ~ Luna Shimada When setting off on her own, Luna quickly realized that she didn’t want to be like regular magicians, using tricks and illusions to entertain. She wanted to evoke good feelings in her audience. Instead of finding what she had in common with others, Luna focused on what made her unique. “Everyone I believe comes into this world with a particular superpower, a talent, a gift that only they excel in better than anyone else.” ~ Luna Shimada Luna found herself in a place where she had to reinvent herself: after her divorce, she lost the business she had spent 15 years developing, and had to find something new. Everyday, Luna faces rejection. As a woman in a male-dominated world, she has to constantly keep pushing against stereotypes. “Be true to yourself. First of all believe in your vision. Don't get derailed or influenced into becoming something that you're not. Don't compromise your integrity.  Because there's a lot of temptation for that. A lot. And I have always stuck to my guns. I have always been true to my vision; true to myself.” ~ Luna Shimada When it comes to facing rejection, Luna has sage advice: “Don't waste any time or energy being angry with the people that oppress you or suppress you because that's a waste of energy. It isn't about that. In the end the biggest obstacle that lies before us is ourselves.”  Luna shares what she would tell her younger self. Connect with Luna Shimada: Luna’s Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Twitter YouTube Business Rejection: It’s NOT About YOU...BUT it Can Help You! Does a customer rejection mean you aren’t good at what you do? Not at all. Is there a gift in the sting of rejection? You bet there is! Click here and learn 3 reasons why a NO is actually a future YES (and how to start seeing it that way right NOW)! Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com  

Episode 105 | Jeet Banerjee Shares How Having a Passion for Your Business can Lead to Success Do you truly feel passionate about your business? Jeet Banerjee is a 25 year old serial entrepreneur and TEDx speaker. He’s sold 2 businesses and launched over 10+ companies since he became an entrepreneur 8 years ago. In addition to that, he has spoken at conferences all around the world and has helped others start their entrepreneurial dreams. Owning your own business can feel like a marriage. You’ll want to make sure that you’re truly in love, instead of falling for some trendy business, or something you don’t know anything about. When I reflect on my time at FITzee Foods, I started a business that I knew nothing about! Anyone who knows me knows that I am very passionate about eating right - but I am NOT passionate about cooking. If I could, I would eat smoothies all the time. Well, I found out that when I started FITzee Foods, I was starting a business in the food manufacturing industry, which I was not passionate about! Maybe that was part of what made it such a struggle: I didn’t focus on using my passion. Sure, I could probably teach a course on food manufacturing now, but it’s not something I am passionate about. This week’s guest on the Success Unfiltered Podcast, Jeet Banerjee, heard his biggest NO when he tried to start a music business, and it failed. He learned how to turn his liabilities into some of his biggest drivers on his path to success, and follow his biggest dreams. If you aren’t following your dreams (or think that you’re either too young or too old to follow your dreams), then this episode of Success Unfiltered is a MUST LISTEN! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Jeet Banerjee for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! Business Rejection: It’s NOT About YOU...BUT it Can Help You! Does a customer rejection mean you aren’t good at what you do? Not at all. Is there a gift in the sting of rejection? You bet there is! Click here and learn 3 reasons why a NO is actually a future YES (and how to start seeing it that way right NOW)! Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Jeet Banerjee. Jeet first started his business at the age of 17 - He was young with a baby face! His first business client mistook him for a kid looking for his dad - so he turned and fled! Everyone said “oh Jeet, you’re too young.” This big rejection was a reality check, almost deterred him from entire career as a whole. But he thought, “I can’t let it end like this.” Jeet turned his liability into an asset: “Yeah, I’m young…let me own it and show why I am a better candidate.” ~ Jeet Banerjee One of the biggest things that I learned was that my confidence exudes into the world. If I believe it, other people will believe it. Rejection is going to happen, but it’s really not that bad. Jeet thought he had a multi-million dollar idea and always getting rejected was devastating and eye-opening at the same time. Don’t focus on money or trendy industries; go after what you are passionate about and know a lot about. If you don’t like what you do, you’re going to struggle with those extra hours. Get a lot of data before you launch a business, run it past people who would use it. You may need to revise or improvise your business. “Anytime I have a failure, I have a period of reflection so I am a little bit smarter and better.” ~ Jeet Banerjee “I let the early successes get to my head, and learning that lesson so early helped.” ~ Jeet Banerjee You’re going to have successes, and you’re going to have failures. You’ve got to learn from them. “I’ve always been competitive: receiving NOs never bother me, but I can’t let the last thing that happens be a NO.” ~ Jeet Banerjee The greatest idea in the world can fail if it doesn’t have the right person behind it. 99% of people are not pursuing dreams, and cite three reasons: no time, no money, and are either too old or too young. Jeet shares what he would tell his younger self. Connect with Jeet Banerjee: Jeet Banerjee’s Website Instagram Twitter Facebook Business Rejection: It’s NOT About YOU...BUT it Can Help You! Does a customer rejection mean you aren’t good at what you do? Not at all. Is there a gift in the sting of rejection? You bet there is! Click here and learn 3 reasons why a NO is actually a future YES (and how to start seeing it that way right NOW)! Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com  

Episode 104 | Harriet Mills Shares How Written Contracts can Save Your Business Have you ever considered a prenup for your business? If you have a partner in the business, you should consider getting a written contract to protect you, your business, and the future of the business! With over a decade of experience as an entrepreneur, Harriet Mills, a mother of three, co-founded her franchise company Wine & Design to help support her family financially. Since pursuing her dreams to grow her business by bringing art and creativity to new communities looking for a fun alternative to a typical night out, Harriet and her team of talented women have grown Wine & Design to one of the nation's' leading Paint and Sip companies with over 80 locations in the US! Harriet and Wine & Design have been recognized both locally and nationally through awards and notoriety such as The Triangle Business Journal's 40 Under 40, ABC's Shark Tank, the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Yahoo Finance. She has used her position in her local community and through Wine & Design to partner with Project ALS to raise money and awareness for the disease. Harriet strives to provide mentorship and guidance to women navigating the world of business. She understands the value of having a tribe of dedicated and passionate women for support and thrives on helping others achieve their business goals, whatever they might be.   Spending money on a lawyer to draw up written contracts and agreements is hard, especially when you’re just starting your entrepreneurial journey. When you spend money, you want to make sure that money brings in more revenue. You might think hiring a lawyer will hurt your cash flow, because it’s not helping you make money, but it is a wise decision in the long run. I personally understand that! When I started FITzee Foods, I needed to invest money into the things that would make my business grow. So, I avoided spending money on a lawyer, especially since I didn’t have a ton of money. However, money spent on a lawyer saves you money in the long run. When I closed FITzee Foods, I lost almost $2 million dollars because I didn’t have written contracts in place to protect me. This week’s guest on the Success Unfiltered Podcast lost $1 million for a similar reason. Learn from our us, and take our $3 million dollar lessons to help you in your business. These written contracts act like a prenup for your business and can save you money, relationships, and stress in your future. This week’s guest on the Success Unfiltered Podcast, Harriet Mills, experienced her most devastating NO when her ex-business partner said NO to an investment from an investor from Shark Tank. Harriet learned from this experience and is coming to share the juicy details with you so that you can learn from her NO and protect your business with written contracts. If you have a business partner or partnership relationships, then this episode of Success Unfiltered is a MUST LISTEN! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Harriet Mills for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! Everyone Gets Rejected In Sales. It’s what you do AFTER the NO that counts! I’ve got 3 ways that you can turn a NO into a win (and maybe even a future YES)! Grab my guide to surviving rejections in business and making them work for you right HERE! Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Harriet Mills. Harriet shares her inspiration for her business, Wine and Design. When Harriet asked the owners of one of the places she visited if they would be willing to let her have a location in North Carolina, they said NO! “No one tells me NO! I’m going to … make it bigger and better!” ~ Harriet Mills When someone tells you NO, take the fear out and do it on your own, and do it better! Harriet found that people didn’t believe in the concept of her business, and didn’t take them seriously. Even the lawyer didn’t think it would work. The lawyer they hired to do their first franchising agreement recycled an old agreement that had been created for a car-related business. The agreement had terms about cars and oil! As an entrepreneur, Harriet says, “You have to take it upon yourself to learn the business as a lawyer, as a marketer, etc. You can trust people,  but you have to watch your back.” One of the keys for a successful franchise is having a kick-a** flagship store - it shows all of those who want to open a franchise that this business is a viable business and can make money! Harriet would have joined the International Franchise Association sooner. Even though she hadn’t planned on franchising, that would have helped her know the ins and outs of the business. Her most devastating NO came when she appeared on Shark Tank, and one of the investors chose her business! Her business partner said NO to an investment from a Shark, and that was when Harriet realized it was time to do business by herself. Not having an operating agreement with her business partner from the start of her business cost her more than $1 million dollars. “It made me fight for the company.” ~ Harriet Mills An operating agreement is like a prenup for your business. If you don’t have an agreement, you’re not going to work out. You’re going to experience one of these: A) your business will fail, B) you will lose friendships, or C) it will be awful. This was a lesson learned - operating agreements are #1 in your business if you’re going to work with a partner. Spend the money on written contracts! Have everything in writing. Follow verbal agreements up in writing, with an email restating what was said and agreed upon! Everything you have in writing is documented. “I can’t stress this enough - spending extra money on attorneys is worth it. If you can’t afford it, wait to start the business!” ~ Harriet Mills I don’t like to say NO, I am willing to give everyone a chance. Harriet had to fire her marketing firm because they weren’t a good fit. If your marketing firm isn’t giving you statistics about conversions and growth, you need a new firm! Make sure there is an “out” clause with your written contracts, give them a retainer and make sure you’re getting detailed reports. Let them show you conversions - if there isn’t any, they aren’t doing their job & it’s time to implement your out clause. Harriet shares what she would share with her younger self. Connect with Harriet Mills: Wine and Design Website Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Everyone Gets Rejected In Sales. It’s what you do AFTER the NO that counts! I’ve got 3 ways that you can turn a NO into a win (and maybe even a future YES)! Grab my guide to surviving rejections in business and making them work for you right HERE! Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com

Episode 102 | Adi Arezzini Shares How to Move from Confusion to Clarity Have you ever watched your sales plummet by 50% almost overnight? Adi Arezzini is co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Teami, a lifestyle tea company with premium-quality loose-leaf teas and tea-infused skincare. From a young age,  Adi was taught the benefits of holistic health and plant-based eating by her health-conscious mother. Following her interest in health and wellness, at 19 Adi worked as a combat trainer for the Israel Defense Force and a few years later became a National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) certified personal trainer. After returning home from living for years in the army barracks in Israel, Adi realized her gut wasn’t functioning properly, due to a lack of access to quality nutrition. Soon Adi began experimenting with loose leaf tea blends as a natural remedy and only four years later, Adi created Teami. As entrepreneurs, we need to learn to keep a long term vision. When I still had FITzee Foods, we were everywhere - in stores, online & had a retail store of our own! When I started the business, there were minimal healthy pre-packaged foods companies in the area, and when we closed, there were hundreds. Everything changed fast! The key is to keep a long term vision, and lean in during the tough times, and turn those into our strengths. After being rejected by several brick and mortar stores to carry her products via the wholesale way of growing a business, Adi Arezzini turned to digital marketing to sell her wellness teas. Her company was growing and flourishing, until April 2016, when the Instagram algorithm changed. Adi’s customers didn’t see her company’s posts anymore and weren’t making purchases like they had been. Their entire digital marketing strategy was dangerously close to failure, as the company’s sales dropped in half - until Adi decided it was time to lean in and find ways to turn that into a strength. This week’s guest on the Success Unfiltered Podcast, Adi Arezzini, started out going into stores to see if they’d be interested in selling her wellness teas. When they said NO, she decided that it was time for her to choose her own strategies, and found herself on her new digital entrepreneurship journey! If you’re ready for a roller coaster ride of imports, sales, and algorithms, then this episode of Success Unfiltered is a MUST LISTEN! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Adi Arezzini for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! Resilience is KEY. In Business and In Life. Of course, it’s not always easy. Staying positive when you keep hearing NO, focusing on your dreams when the world is stacked against you...none of it is for the faint of heart. How do you keep your eye on the prize? Resilience. My FREE guide will show you 3 Steps To Building Rock-Solid Resilience In Business. Want to make your business dreams come true? Click HERE! Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Adi. Adi shares her first NO - $10,000 worth of tea getting held by customs, and destroyed! “I make mistakes when I am not educated on something. The biggest mistakes I made were when I didn’t research something, and then I wasted money.” ~ Adi Arezzini In retrospect, Adi says she waited too long to find a mentor. She would have found someone local in the field, and learned from them sooner! When you utilize digital marketing, no one is telling you “NO” because you’re not knocking on doors; all of the sales come from marketing. We relied on platforms for people to see our products and service. Successful people lean into the fears and challenges in front of them; others turn and walk away so they don’t have to deal with it. By leaning into obstacles, you put the control in your own hands. We changed organizationally what we were doing, so people focused; and were not spread thin. Our team was able to become experts at what they did so marketing was wiser and created clarity. Move from confusion to clarity. “I cling to concrete facts; numbers don’t lie.” ~ Adi Arezzini A friend urged Adi to take her tea to Whole Foods and Sprouts. She bought a pants suit and took a basket of assorted teas in, met with managers, and was brushed off. Adi thought, “How can I be in control of my own success? I can take up digital marketing; telling my own story, not waiting for someone to give me a chance.” Hunger and a drive to survive keep you going through the NOs. No matter where you are in business,  you still go through rough times; it’s what you sign up for as a business owner; everyone deals with it. Being a business owner is a long term commitment. Keep long term goals, because one business will not uptrend forever. You need to know you will be in it for the long term. Vision and long term planning is the most important; stick to the vision and why you started. Adi shares what she would tell her younger self. Connect with Adi: Teami Website Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest Resilience is KEY. In Business and In Life. Of course, it’s not always easy. Staying positive when you keep hearing NO, focusing on your dreams when the world is stacked against you...none of it is for the faint of heart. How do you keep your eye on the prize? Resilience. My FREE guide will show you 3 Steps To Building Rock-Solid Resilience In Business. Want to make your business dreams come true? Click HERE! Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com

Episode 101 | Kevin Gelfand Shares How Patience is the Secret to Success How long is your sales cycle? And what are the obstacles that prevent you from being able to move forward on the business that you’re so excited about? Are you patient or are you on edge at all times? Kevin Gelfand, Co-Founder and President of Shake Smart, started the concept when he was a college student at San Diego State University. As an avid gym goer, he saw a need for healthy post-workout nutrients that can be customized to an individual’s taste or nutritional preferences. When he is not working on his business, Kevin is out playing basketball, working out, or playing some sort of “game”. Kevin loves…absolutely LOVES competition and will turn anything into a game. His competitive nature is what drives him to be a better business owner, mentor, friend, and husband. Kevin and his wife, Jazmine, met in college before Shake Smart and she has supported him in building the Shake Smart empire since day 1. They also live with their two dogs: Bear and Juna. One of the biggest obstacles in any sales process is the fact that you are only in control of so much. You create a business plan, present it, and maybe you hear a YES. Or maybe you need to revise it. Or maybe you need to present to others, to get multiple people to sign off on your business ideas and plans. That can double the time that it takes to get your business going. When I had FITzee Foods, I learned that if I expected to do something in 45 days; I should plan for 90 days. If there was a plan to get something done in 90 days, then I should plan for 6 months. This helped me to learn how to be patient through the process! Ultimately, patience can be a key takeaway for those of us in the world of sales or entrepreneurship. Since we can only control so much, having patience will help us reach even higher levels of success. Even better, is when patience helps you be strategic during those long sales cycles. This week’s guest on the Success Unfiltered Podcast, Kevin Gelfand, works with a long sales cycle, as he takes Shake Smart on college campuses. But when he’s patient, it leads to higher levels of success! If you’re wondering how you can be creative in your business during a long sales cycle, then this episode of Success Unfiltered is a MUST LISTEN! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn To help the show out: Please leave an honest written review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Kevin Gelfand for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! Are Your Sales In A Slump (And Your Patience Is At An END)? Yesterday you were on fire. Now you’re just plain burned out. Have you really lost your business mojo? And how do you get the passion burning again? Take my FREE quiz right here and find out! Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Kevin and his business, Shake Smart. You spend so much time on your business, and with the snap of a finger, it can get shut down anytime. Kevin’s business model is growing and expanding on college campuses. Campuses are finally coming to Shake Smart to start new locations, but it took about 6 years of constant rejections. When working with multiple people who have to say YES to you to launch a project or a business, start at the top, and that will direct the path down, instead of starting at the bottom and working the way up. To prove their worth with their first pitch, Kevin found the center of his mission statement, and broke it down piece by piece, and showed how his business aligned with their mission. A NO can just mean not right now - it takes time and failures to build those “muscles” to get to a YES! The key to sales is to make people realize we’re all human and should connect on a personal level. “I try to do something different every time, you don’t want to be repetitive in your sales process if it didn’t work the first time, it isn’t going to work.” ~ Kevin Gelfand Luck is when preparation and opportunity collide. You have to stay true to your core values, don’t say YES to everything and anything that comes your way! Stay true to your niche; stay laser focused. Don’t be afraid to try things to help with relationships, but do have an “escape plan” if needed. You have to learn from everything! If you don’t try it, you won’t get to learn from your mistakes and deeply know all of your strategies! Be patient, can control what you can control. A lot of time my biggest stressors come from things that are out of my control. Great things do happen with time. Kevin shares what he would tell his younger self. Connect with Kevin Gelfand: Kevin’s Website Facebook Twitter Instagram PPS. Are Your Sales In A Slump (And Your Patience Is At An END)? Yesterday you were on fire. Now you’re just plain burned out. Have you really lost your business mojo? And how do you get the passion burning again? Take my FREE quiz right here and find out! Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com  

Michelle’s Best Tips of the Year | Coffee is for Closers Did you know that FITzee Foods was previously sold in The Vitamin Shoppe?  It’s true! This didn’t just happen, though. I didn’t just call The Vitamin Shoppe one day and ask if they’d sell my fresh prepared foods in their store. NO way!!  They likely would have laughed in my face. The number one reason my food made it into The Vitamin Shoppe was because I believed in the products I sold. I had confidence in my products. Which helped me when I was at a trade show and bumped into Michael, my champion from The Vitamin Shoppe. Michael and I hit it off, and I worked hard to build a solid business relationship with Michael. I knew that my products could help take their store in a different direction and fulfill on a vision the executive team had for the brand. A direction that their competitors hadn’t yet gone in. Once we made it into The Vitamin Shoppe, and the executives were so pleased with Michael for bringing in an ideal Company that had products that aligned with them, he was able to take full credit for his work. It was a success for me, for Michael and of course for The Vitamin Shoppe. That’s a super condensed version of my story, but within that story, 3 different sales techniques were used. Techniques that I’ve taught over the past 52 weeks of Coffee Is For Closers episodes. With that said, Happy birthday to Coffee Is For Closers!! Can you believe it? We’ve made it through 52 weeks of INCREDIBLE content that will help you grow your businesses so you can live a life of abundance without ever having to do a day of selling and without being sleazy or pushy. In this episode, I review my favorite sales tips and secrets from the past 52 weeks! If you’re through with fearing sales, or not asking for what you’re worth, then this episode of Coffee Is For Closers is a MUST LISTEN! **** Do you want to learn how to sell without the sleaze? My simple 5-step system will help you boost your confidence during your sales conversations and teach you exactly WHEN to ask for the sale – so you get a YES with confidence and ease! If you’re ready to take the stress out of selling for good, get the FREE 5 step Pitch Queen System now! *** Thank you for joining us on Saturday Morning with your morning cup of joe or tea for your special Success Unfiltered bonus episodes of Coffee Is For Closers. It was a great 52 weeks! Thank you for supporting and joining us. To share your thoughts:  Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Connect with The Pitch Queen & Join the others in the Royal Family:  Website: http://www.thepitchqueen.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepitchqueen/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepitchqueen/   Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepitchqueen LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleweinstein/   **** Do you want to learn how to sell without the sleaze? My simple 5-step system will help you boost your confidence during your sales conversations and teach you exactly WHEN to ask for the sale – so you get a YES with confidence and easeyes! If you’re ready to take the stress out of selling for good, get the FREE 5 step Pitch Queen System now! Here’s to brewing YOUR Sales Success & Thank you for spending the last 52 weeks with us! Music produced by Deejay-O    www.iamdeejayo.com  

The 6 Principles of Persuasion | Coffee is for Closers I love meeting and getting to know people, so it’s no surprise that the major thing that works in my favor is building KNOW, LIKE and TRUST factor with people.That know, like and trust actually worked in my favor, in a BIG way!When FITzee Foods was still open, I spent a good deal of time courting investors and bigger businesses, trying to either get us on the shelves or get investments to keep our doors open.One of my proudest moments was when The Vitamin Shoppe decided to bring FITzee Foods into their stores. Fresh food in a supplement retailer is no easy task to take on! This was a massive project and a massive win!They didn’t choose FITzee Foods because of our HUGE revenue. At the time, we were only a 1 million dollar business, but I had worked hard to get to know the right people at The Vitamin Shoppe.I built that Know, Like and Trust factor.In fact, I beat out a multi-million dollar company for the space on their shelves, all because of the relationships I’d built.People buy from people, not the revenue.On this episode, I'm talking about the 6 principles of persuasion and how to use them in your business to skyrocket your sales and revenue. Does the thought of having to persuade one more person to work with you have you crying in your soup? Don’t let a prospect pass you by because you weren’t sure how to persuade them to work with you. Let me teach you the authentic art of persuasion! *** Do you want to learn how to sell without the sleaze? My simple 5-step system will help you boost your confidence during your sales conversations and teach you exactly WHEN to ask for the sale – so you get a YES with confidence and ease! If you’re ready to take the stress out of selling for good, get the FREE 5 step Pitch Queen System now! *** Join me every Saturday Morning with your morning cup of joe or tea for your special Success Unfiltered bonus episodes of Coffee Is For Closers. Each week I’ll share my best sales tips, secrets, and tricks for entrepreneurs to learn sales without the sleaze, so that you can close more deals and serve more people with your product or service!   To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Connect with The Pitch Queen & Join the others in the Royal Family: Website: https://www.thepitchqueen.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepitchqueen/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepitchqueen/   Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepitchqueen LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleweinstein/   *** Do you want to learn how to sell without the sleaze? My simple 5-step system will help you boost your confidence during your sales conversations and teach you exactly WHEN to ask for the sale – so you get a YES with confidence and easeyes! If you’re ready to take the stress out of selling for good, get the FREE 5 step Pitch Queen System now! Here’s to brewing YOUR Sales Success! Music produced by Deejay-O    www.iamdeejayo.com

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Michelle Wienstein. Michelle is “the Pitch Queen.” Michelle is a sales superstar and has done everything from advising CEO’s at billion dollar companies to landing contracts with companies like Costco and pitching her way on to Shark Tank. She is also the host of the Success Unfiltered Podcast and the Saturday morning Facebook Live show Coffee is for Closers. Michelle’s mission is to help entrepreneurs sell high-value services to their clients without feeling pushy or desperate and to show them how to have empowered sales conversations and skyrocket their top-line revenue. What I like about Michelle is that she has been through it all. She has been on top of the world in business only to have it all come crashing down on her, but then fought her way back. The lessons she has learned on her journey are priceless and what she can teach you about how to sell yourself and your business will help you grow your business and earn more money. www.successunfiltered.com www.thepitchqueen.com www.sellwithoutsleaze.com Out of college, Michelle was a financial analyst. She followed the mantra of go to school, get a secure job, and plan for retirement. After a few years, she couldn’t take it. She left and went into sales at Nordstroms. It was there she learned a lot of skills. She got thinking what she could do with her analyst background and sales, so she got into the real estate and mortgage businesses. She was working a lot and started to have an unhealthy lifestyle – and she was a health enthusiast. She hated to cook, but wanted to find a way to eat healthier. She came up with an idea for healthy prepared meals to sell. She started Fitzee Foods. She had initial success. She raised over million dollars for the business. She got into Costco and the Vitamin shop and even got to pitch the idea on Shark Tank, but ultimately had to close the business down in 2017. As she says, “It was a really expensive MBA program…” The lessons learned with Fitzee were really the stepping stone to becoming the “Pitch Queen.” What were the most important things you learned going through the experience with Fitzee? Why didn’t it survive? And How did you claw your way back? She’s still paying things back over a year later One lesson she learned was that although she had a passion for health, she wasn’t a chef, and didn’t have the real experience needed. You should have an expertise in the product or service you are selling You have to interview your investors as much as they are interviewing you. Interview at least 3 companies that they have invested in. Michelle made the mistake of taking investment money from the wrong group. Make sure every single investor is an “accredited investor.” Remember, you are getting “married” to those investing in you. How important is timing? It is very important Fitzee came before the “boxed meal” craze and was early on the trend capitalization is very important – you have to be well-capitalized to whether the storms and get through the startup phase to really make it. If you are underfunded, it makes it even harder. Some businesses are more capital intensive to get going than others – you must understand this At the 24 min mark, Michelle shares why learning to sell is so important for success… No matter who you are, you are having sales conversations all of the time. Sales is really about how you are helping people Sales is the foundation of your business. The first number on your P&L is sales (income) Selling does not have to be stressful. We make it stressful. The core of sales is building a great relationship and focusing on building a great relationship with your prospect makes it easier to ask them to buy – not “sell” them. Michelle’s 5 Step PITCH Queen System (www.sellwithoutsleaze.com) Problem solve: Figure out what your client’s problem is and make sure to help them solve it in your pitch. It’s not about you: It is about what is important to them Talk less: Use the 80/20 rule. They talk 80% of the time, you talk 20% of the time. Cues: Buying signals. Look for the cues (verbal, non-verbal) that they want to buy Hit the ask the button: Ask them for the business At the 37-min mark, Michelle talks about what it means to be “professionally annoying” and gives examples. How did you pitch your way on to Shark Tank? You have to be professionally annoying. It is a better place to pitch for a product based business or tech business. Michelle reached out to every producer and followed almost 2 times per week. They send people home all the time if you are not on point for your pitch at all times – you have to be on your game. Know which Shark you are pitching to because one of them will be the best fit for your pitch and solution. Shark Tank is the Olympics for entrepreneurs   Best Quote: “When you are always showing up, you become “professionally annoying” and get business”   Misfit 3: If you stay in the game, success is inevitable. Embrace the selling process with confidence. It’s the only way you are really going to help people. Live every single day with passion and be true to your “why.”

Your Big Why | Coffee is for Closers It was just under a year ago that my last business crashed to the ground. Little did I know what a blessing in disguise that was. I started my last business, FITzee Foods, with a strong mission and a ton of ambition. I was on a crusade for a healthy planet, and my freshly-prepared meals were going to change the world. By March of 2017, the dream had fizzled out, and the mission proved to be impossible. With a heavy heart, I conceded defeat and closed down FITzee Foods for good. But from that disaster, some pretty magical stuff started to emerge. The more I analyzed this epic fail, the more I realized that EVERY successful person had at least ONE similar story.   I remembered numerous off-the-record conversations I’d had with wildly successful entrepreneurs. Stories of disappointments and losses that they usually kept close to the vest. That’s when the lightbulb went off in my head. What if as entrepreneurs, we talked about the REAL stuff? Like the times we lost a major deal. The days that we couldn’t make payroll. The lawsuits we endured. The rent we couldn’t pay. And that somehow, some way, all of us came back for more. And eventually made it. I was staring my biggest failure in the face, and just like that, I realized my ultimate WHY. My friends, business is hard enough. It’s next to impossible if you don’t have a powerful WHY. And that WHY needs to light you up like a Christmas tree, or it will never keep you going. On this episode, it’s all about the WHY. How to discover yours, why you need to know it, and how it can help you weather any storm...IF it’s strong enough. Tune in and let me show you how to harness the power of WHY in YOUR business! Do YOU have a burning question about your WHY? Or a question about anything else sales-related? How about getting a little bit of hot set coaching on my Facebook Live from yours truly? If you’d love a chance at a 30-minute, 1:1 hot-seat coaching session LIVE on Facebook with me, The Pitch Queen, it’s your lucky day! Shoot me an email at hello@thepitchqueen.com and tell me who you are, what you do, and how I can help you rock your sales and change more lives. Spaces are limited. Is one of them YOURS? **** What if you’re still lost on the road to your passion and purpose, though? If that WHY has been eluding up to this point, I’ve got something that’ll help you get clear on what really drives you. My brand new checklist, “5 Steps To Your Ultimate WHY,” will help you discover your purpose, ignite your passion, and lead you to the mission you’ve been searching for. This checklist is going to help you get to the heart of what you do, find your strengths, and underscore your value. From there, it’ll help you figure out what drives you the most. Your ultimate vision. The reason WHY you do what you do. And the thing that’ll keep you inspired, focused, and steady even when the road gets rough.Your purpose, passion, and WHY are waiting! *** Join me every Saturday Morning with your morning cup of joe or tea for your special Success Unfiltered bonus episodes of Coffee Is For Closers. Each week I’ll share my best sales tips, secrets, and tricks for entrepreneurs to learn sales without the sleaze, so that you can close more deals and serve more people with your product or service! To share your thoughts:  Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Connect with The Pitch Queen & Join the others in the Royal Family: Website: http://www.thepitchqueen.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepitchqueen/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepitchqueen/   Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepitchqueen LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleweinstein/   **** What if you’re still lost on the road to your passion and purpose, though? If that WHY has been eluding up to this point, I’ve got something that’ll help you get clear on what really drives you. My brand new checklist, “5 Steps To Your Ultimate WHY,” will help you discover your purpose, ignite your passion, and lead you to the mission you’ve been searching for. This checklist is going to help you get to the heart of what you do, find your strengths, and underscore your value. From there, it’ll help you figure out what drives you the most. Your ultimate vision. The reason WHY you do what you do. And the thing that’ll keep you inspired, focused, and steady even when the road gets rough.Your purpose, passion, and WHY are waiting! Here’s to brewing YOUR Sales Success! Music produced by Deejay-O    www.iamdeejayo.com  

047 | How to Be Fueled By What We Do with Dave Ellis Dave Ellis, RD, CSCS is the President of Sports Alliance Inc. and creator of the Fueling Tactics® system.  Dave's three step Fueling Tactics® system is simply the widest used and copied fueling system in sports and one could argue that Dave is simply the most prolific influencer in the world of sports nutrition!  With over thirty years of work and counting in the trenches of big time athletics, few can measure up when it comes to the variety of exposures of Dave's career. Have you ever questioned whether you really love what you do? Does your heart burn with passion for your work? Dave Ellis believes that with passion, work becomes easy. That working 12 or 14 hour days won’t phase you because you’re fueled by what you do. The question is how do you determine what your passion is and then put it into motion? Dave shares how he knew he had started in the right field and that staying up at all hours of the night to do the work was never a bother. How leaving the comfort of a stable job was exciting because he knew he was doing what he loved! If you’re tired of dreading every Monday and not doing what you love, then this episode is a MUST LISTEN! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Dave Ellis for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! P.S. WANTING to be an entrepreneur is exciting. But BEING one isn’t always sunshine and roses! You have to be driven by something more than the desire for freedom and flexibility. You need the passion that comes from your personal WHY. If your WHY isn’t strong enough, chances are you won’t cross the finish line. But if it IS, you’ll become unstoppable. Do you know WHY you do what you do, and is it strong enough to see you through? Grab my FREE checklist, “5 Steps To Your Ultimate WHY” and find out if your passion and purpose are on point (and what to do to reignite them if you have to!) Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Dave. Dave shares a little bit about what he does. Dave’s first NO came when he was hired as a strength coach with dietician responsibilities. The University of Nebraska eventually created a full-time position for him, where he helped take them to three national titles. Dave shares the honest feedback he gave me when I presented FITzee Foods to him to use with his pro teams. Dave shares how a dare led to him creating The Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitians Association (CPSDA). The Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitians Association will be celebrating its 10 year anniversary and has over 1,000 members. Dave shares what the CPSDA has been able to do for sports nutrition. By shining a light on the high achievers who brought on dietitians Dave has been able to encourage other sports teams to do the same. “I think if you know you're doing the right thing, have a gut decision and there was an obvious need, it’s was time to push through it” ~ Dave Ellis Dave shares what keeps him going for 12 hour days, 6 days a week. In July of 2001, Dave left the security of his state job to work for the MLB. He shares the full story. Dave shares the pitch he uses when he goes into meetings with pro-sports teams. “That is what high-performance is, not making the same mistakes twice, and being collaborative on how you go about solving the problems.” ~ Dave Ellis Sports teams don’t always immediately understand the value that Dave brings to the team, but over time many come around to the idea. Dave shares what he believes is a great way to overcome customers or clients that don’t understand the value. When Dave follows-up, he is subtle and empathetic. He shares it all in this interview! Dave shares what he would tell his younger self. Connect with Dave: Twitter Dave’s Website P.S.  WANTING to be an entrepreneur is exciting. But BEING one isn’t always sunshine and roses! You have to be driven by something more than the desire for freedom and flexibility. You need the passion that comes from your personal WHY. If your WHY isn’t strong enough, chances are you won’t cross the finish line. But if it IS, you’ll become unstoppable. Do you know WHY you do what you do, and is it strong enough to see you through? Grab my FREE checklist, “5 Steps To Your Ultimate WHY” and find out if your passion and purpose are on point (and what to do to reignite them if you have to!) Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com

[00:30] What's up Creative Hustlers! [01:20] It's chilly in Brooklyn. [02:02] Today we're recapping Michelle's interview. [02:15] Michelle is on the panel for Empowered Women in Digital on March 8th in San Diego. [02:55] Michelle is the Pitch Queen. She's all about sales and strategy! [03:30] Selling without being sleazy is so important. [03:50] Used car salesman are the definition of sleazy. [05:07] Empowered Women in Digital, March 8th, 6-9pm at the Loading Dock in Little Italy, San Diego! [05:45] Michelle was actually on Shark tank season 4! [06:00] Michelle owned Fitzee Foods, and had a physical store but was not prepared for Shark Tank. [07:00] Shark Tank can give you a crash course in what is wrong with your company all at once. [07:45] Constructive criticism is really important to entrepreneurs. [08:25] It's easy to come up with ideas when you have a giant of team of people working on it. [09:20] Billy Corgan discussed that it's hard to hear criticism when you're so used to hearing praise. [10:25] Entrepreneurship can be I...I...I. [11:25] You evolve and step into the unknown. [11:53] Those who have success got comfortable in being in the idea of the unknown. [13:00] Alan was given opportunities and was always prepared to step into the unknown. [13:47] Entrepreneurship is Indiana Jones stepping on the invisible bridge. [14:40] Michelle gets herself pumped up for the day by working out 1 to 3 times a day! [15:20] It's discipline to allow time to workout multiple times a day, it's an escape and regeneration. [16:55] Being the descendant of immigrants who worked hard to be successful can be a driving force. [18:19] Michelle found something with her podcast that she has a passion for. [18:30] Michelle's podcast was Success Unfiltered, and she's interviewed John Lee Dumas, Pat Flynn, Kate Erickson and Jill Stanton. [19:15] Michelle also does Facebook live videos called coffee is for closers! [19:45] Empowered Women in Digital has Michelle, Maresa Friedman, and Mia Rene Davies, with Melissa moderating! [20:15] Melissa will be talking about how to sell without being sleazy, how to create value with every interaction that you have, and so many more. [21:25] Every small little interaction could build your brand to that person. [22:35] What is the legacy you want to leave behind? [24:50] Steven wants to leave behind the fact that he created an awesome experience. [25:40] That's a wrap, Creative Hustlers! [26:30] Check out SoCalMarketing Club for all events coming up! [26:44] Melissa's Moment of Hustle Michelle's Opt In: Owning Your Worth: A Guide To Knowing Your Value and Naming Your Price http://www.thepitchqueen.com/own-your-worth/   Contact Michelle: Connect with The Pitch Queen & Join the others in the Royal Family Website: http://www.thepitchqueen.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepitchqueen/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepitchqueen/   Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepitchqueen LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleweinstein/  

029 | Larry Marcus Tells Us Why Experiencing Fire in the Belly is So Important in Business Larry Marcus has a long and successful background in media, marketing and finance.  Having served in the capacities of CEO, CFO, and VP Business Affair of several large and small media companies, he is currently, Principal of Marcus Strategies, a business consulting practice, the Managing Partner of Marcus Investments as well as Chief Executive Officer of Peak Media Holdings, an investor in television stations. Additionally, Larry is an Angel investor for half a dozen early stage start-ups. In his current semi-retirement mode, Larry is and has been involved with multiple non profits, serving San Diego's inner city youth, economic environmental impact and hospice care among them.  Larry has experienced a lot in business, beginning his career in media at the age of 12 or 13, with a neighborhood paper route. His parents were from the depression-era and were constantly telling Larry NO to the things he wanted. He made it his life’s mission to learn how to turn every NO into a YES. Larry takes us through many of the NO’s he heard and how he worked to flip that answer. The number one thing to learn from Larry is that you need to find your fire in the belly. Once you’ve discovered that and where it comes from, it becomes easier to grow your career or business. You won’t let anything stand in the way of your drive to move forward. Join the conversation with Larry, and hear how he’s successfully grown several businesses as well as become an amazing angel investor (who almost invested in my last company, FITzee Foods). Enjoy, thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Larry Marcus for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! P.S. Are you ready to niche down and find the prospects of your dreams? Stop feeling obligated to say YES to everyone who shows up. Let's put the odds in your favor so that the RIGHT people to show up! Check out my guide “Getting REAL About the Ideal: 5 Steps To Knowing (And Finding) Your Dream Clients” and start calling in the perfect prospects TODAY! Right HERE! Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Larry Marcus. Larry shares his story of growing up with depression-era parents and how it changed the whole way he viewed hearing NO. Michelle and Larry talk about where “fire in the belly” comes from. Delivering newspapers led Larry to a life in media. When Larry hears NO, he hears an opportunity to find out why they said NO and then uses that to learn for the future. Larry believes that NO does not equal failure! When you get a YES from one person you use that YES in your next pitch session, to help inspire more people to invest. Larry stresses how important it is to follow-through on all of your deadlines when meeting with companies. “The more tangible we can make something for an investor, the more they can understand it” ~ Larry Marcus Investors are risk averse, they want to know if something goes wrong that you have a solution. Larry shares how important it is to be prepared before going into a meeting with an investor. Larry shares what he’s looking for when he’s considering investing in someone. Larry talks about how important it is to find a partner that aligns with your business goals. Larry shares what he’d tell his younger self. Connect with Larry: LinkedIn Larry’s Website Are you ready to niche down and find the prospects of your dreams? Stop feeling obligated to say YES to everyone who shows up. Let's put the odds in your favor so that the RIGHT people to show up! Check out my guide “Getting REAL About the Ideal: 5 Steps To Knowing (And Finding) Your Dream Clients” and start calling in the perfect prospects TODAY! Right HERE! Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com

Visit EOFire.com for complete show notes of every Podcast episode. Michelle is the owner and CEO of FITzee Foods. She graduated from the University of Arizona in December of 2000 with a degree in Finance.

000 | How Michelle’s 20 Years of Business Experience, Helps Turn Every NO To A YES! | with John Lee Dumas and Michelle Weinstein This episode is a very special one, our very own host, Michelle Weinstein, is interviewed by her friend, John Lee Dumas founder of the award winning Podcast, Entrepreneur on Fire. Michelle shares the details of her extensive business history, as well as what has helped shape her over the past 20 years in business. Michelle wants to help as many entrepreneurs as possible, and is excited to do that in her latest project, Success Unfiltered, a podcast created to help the entrepreneur close any deal that comes their way, sell more products & services, overcome any obstacles, and turn a NO into a “YES.” Michelle’s goal is help them break through barriers and provide you more tools for your tool-box. If you’ve been wondering how Michelle has been able to sell anything from enchiladas to 7 figure homes, you’ve got to hear this episode. We cover everything from how Michelle got her start in finance (hint: it started in the home), to how she came to sell Paleo meatballs. Listen to hear our host’s detailed business past. Enjoy and Thank you for listening to Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Leave a comment in the section below. Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share this show on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn To help the show out: Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to John Lee Dumas for taking the time to interview Michelle. Be sure to join us tomorrow, for our next new episode!  P.S. Get my FREE guide to discover the 10 things you should know about being an entrepreneur that will skyrocket your sales! Here’s what you’ll learn from today’s interview: Michelle introduces her newest project-- Success Unfiltered Michelle introduces John Lee Dumas founder of the award winning Podcast, Entrepreneur on Fire, who dives deep into Michelle’s business past. They discuss Michelle’s experience as a financial analyst, turned mortgage broker, turned real estate agent. Michelle shares how her parents taught her how to be financially savvy. John asks Michelle about the financial crisis that started when subprime loans began to turn over. Michelle shares her journey from creating FITzee Foods, to how she came to know it was time to close her doors. The exciting experience Michelle had when pitching on The Shark Tank. Michelle’s journey isn’t over, she shares what the next big chapter is for her! Connect with Michelle: Facebook Twitter Instagram Michelle’s Website Get my guide right HERE that I made for you of the 10 things that I wish I knew when I first started my first business that will save YOU millions of dollars & avert a few million mistakes!                 Connect with John: Facebook Twitter Instagram John’s Website Music produced by Deejay-O www.iamdeejayo.com

Women are starting businesses at three times the rate of men.  However, not enough women are attracting investors to start and grow businesses.....and we wondered, why?! Join us on Women Leading the Way Radio as we interview Michelle Weinstein, President of FITzee Foods, a company that creates and packages freshly made pre-portioned food.  With a focus on health and well-being, Michelle has attracted investors in bulding her business in the local San Diego community.  We'll ask Michelle why she started FITzee Foods and how she went about attracting investors for her business.