Podcasts about how dennis

Dennis Kelly, the CEO and founder of Postalytics, talks about building his MVP, attracting customers, and navigating his 0-30,000 MRR journey. Get more details from the podcast. Dennis Kelly has tremendous experience in sales, marketing, HR, and finance. He started his career journey as a sales representative and spent time running data centers, developing products, and being the CEO of venture and angel sponsored startups. During his career, Dennis has developed numerous self-financed businesses. He talks to Geordie about his journey. What You'll Learn What triggered the creation of Postalytics? How the Postalytics concept works Importance of research before venturing into a similar project How Dennis and his team handled technology-agnostic challenges Marketing avenues that Dennis and his team are currently focusing on What is it that Dennis would have done differently when starting? In this Episode: Technology has evolved tremendously over the last few years. With more advanced communication options available, no one would ever think direct mail would become relevant again. While traditional direct mail is no longer effective, the automated version is what many marketers are reaping huge benefits from. Dennis says their direct mail automation software solution solves three crucial problems with traditional direct mail marketing. These problems are production speed, integration, and analytics. Listen to the podcast for his detailed explanation of these solutions. Starting a business can be challenging. Dennis gives a brief explanation of how he started his Postalytics journey out of chance. He says he has been developing software companies for the past 30 years. At some point, he collaborated successfully with a young architect, but they would soon lose touch. When they later reconnected, they discovered they were close neighbors. The architect introduced Dennis to some technology he had developed as a side project to help direct mail marketers digitize their marketing channels. Dennis and his team saw potential in the project and pitched it. Listen to the podcast and learn how they developed the software together and the struggles they faced along the way. However, the project did not work according to their expectations. Find out how some customer's problems came as a wake-up call to the team. Postalytics offers a cloud-based SaaS solution where marketers can log in and create a letter or postcard. It allows users to import data from lists directly in their marketing automation tool, spreadsheets, files, and CRM (customer relationship management) platform. Dennis says they have incorporated a model to accommodate direct mail. Listen to the podcast for his extensive explanation of how that system works. More people today are using email marketing than direct mail. Dennis says they leveraged email marketing as a model for their project. The team came up with a concept to develop an email experience that people would use to send direct mail. They were armed with email marketing software for their first product and knew what people wanted in an email marketing experience. How did they execute the business model? Find out from the podcast. As Dennis and his team pivoted their product, they focused on developing their website and producing marketing materials. Upon launching the product, they realized their ideal customer profile overlapped with the Hubspot customer profile. Still, they went ahead with the launch while targeting the Hubspot customer setup. Dennis mentions one unique thing that helped them get off the ground, and you can learn about it from the podcast. He also explains further about the Hubspot platform and customer profile. Should you want to venture into a project similar to the Postalytics platform, Dennis says, you need to research and focus on one platform at a time. Did they use the same approach when starting? Dennis says their first product gave them an advantage. Find out how from the podcast. Dennis mentions their response rate has doubled recently and attributes the growth to reduced competition in mailbox currently, unlike in the past. He adds that there is better targeting today, which leads to better technology, data, and reduced competition. Dennis explains another use case that you can learn about from the podcast. You will understand how to leverage direct mail to target people who often ignore email and convert them to increase ROI. Dennis talks about leads and outlines strategies they use to attract leads. While competitors have emerged in the market; Dennis reiterates they have maintained a targeted approach towards the technology-enabled small and medium-sized businesses as their primary audience. He discusses some of the things they do that their competitors don't. Get all the details from the podcast. Having a unique business model has been instrumental in helping Polystatics remain ahead of its competitors, Dennis says. He concludes the podcast with some wise words to people considering introducing a SaaS tool in the market. He says: you cannot be all things to all people. Focus on building something that a specific audience will find value in. Resources   Postalytics David Kelly LinkedIn David Kelly Twitter

Today, Maria shines the light on the change in education that often occurs unnoticed through initiatives teachers lead in their classrooms. She shares the stories of three high school teachers who teach different subjects from history to English, physics and chemistry but do have one thing in common: They want to help their students build skills that are rarely developed through the traditional curriculum, or they are developed in ways that students don’t find engaging. Under their respective circumstances and in their own ways, these three teachers decided to lead initiatives and create new experiences for their students. In doing so, they expanded or replaced the standard curriculum in their classrooms. Listen to these inspiring stories and Maria’s reflections to help you make education better, one classroom at a time.   Listen to this episode and explore:How teachers’ initiatives help high school students build skills rarely developed in the classroom (0:30)How Matt identified a different approach to motivate students to learn to write by becoming bloggers (2:20)How Howard taught his students financial skills to help them avoid making the mistakes he did  (7:20)How Dennis started a school newspaper to help his students develop media literacy skills and find their voice. (13:45)Maria’s closing reflections and call-to-action (20:05)  Where to find more about Matt, Howard and Dennis:Matt Neil on LinkedInMatt Neil on TwitterMatt’s Podcast: The Good Humans Show Howard Malitz on LinkedInDennis Mihalsky on LinkedinStudents Disrupting Mentioned in this episode:Episode 57 - Creating Good Humans by Teaching Students & Training Teachers with Matt NeilEpisode 63 - Becoming a Teacher: The Long Road to True Belonging with Howard MalitzEpisode 37 - Empowering Students to Find their Voice with Dennis Mihalsky Production team:Host & Producer: Maria XenidouIntroduction Voice: David Bourne Contact us:impactlearningpodcast(at)gmail.com  Music credits:Like Lee performed by The Mini VandalsTransition sounds: Swamp Walks performed by Jingle Punks

This interview is split into two parts – the first is geared towards creative entrepreneurs – with part 2 focusing on how businesses can harness video marketing.Dennis Morrison is a serial entrepreneur, business storyteller and founder of Audience Magnet, which helps businesses and professionals to communicate authentically and effectively.When he’s not lecturing in post production at The London Film Academy, Central film School or Ravensbourne University, he’s helping business owners and digital creators find their own unique voice through his 'Find Your Story' program.Dennis has worked in the Film & TV industry for over 30 years, and has created branded content for companies like Diesel, L'Oréal and Red Bull. He’s consulted on numerous video projects for various companies, helping them develop their video strategies and build their audience. He is a business mentor and marketing story strategist.Dennnis says, 'The truth is that storytelling can be learned like any other skill or technique. But you need an experienced guide to break down the structures of communications and storytelling, into a step-by-step system that you can start using immediately in your business. Whether you’re a complete beginner or a seasoned marketing pro.'In part one of this interview, Dennis talks honestly about the options for film students post-uni, how Dennis learned the hard way what it takes to make it as a creative entrepreneur and how to develop a business mindset when it comes to money.You'll discover:How Dennis learned the hard lessons of being an entrepreneurHow being an extra on a film set changed everythingWhy it’s not about the tech - it’s about understanding critical thinkingWhy your pricing structure is hugely importantHow he learned to edit on a SteenbeckHow to get started as a creative entrepreneurWhy you make the decision to become entrepreneurialWhy creatives can struggle when they leave universityWhat happens when the job market is saturated for creativesWhy there's a lack of diversity of thoughtWhy it’s not about the gear to get the gigHow to get results by following a framework

PreMarket Prep is a live trading talk show that airs weekdays from 8-9 am ET on YouTube as well as http://premarket.benzinga.com/pre-market-show/ Check out our chat rooms to get your questions answered on the show! We pride ourselves on being the best source of premarket trading strategy, and we feature some of Wall Street’s best traders as guests. On today’s show, we discuss…. - Earnings from VZ, INTC, AXP, and more - How Dennis traded GILD on Thursday - Why it's a bad idea to short stocks under $1 Featured Guest: Greg Weldon, Weldon Financial (35:40) Meet the Hosts: Dennis Dick Bio: http://www.premarketprep.com/author/premarketinfo/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TripleDTrader Joel Elconin Bio: http://www.premarketprep.com/author/joelelconin/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Spus Tune in to the show live or via podcast! iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/benzinga-tv Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/bztv Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/benzinga-morning-show TuneIn: https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics/Benzinga-TV-p1006070/ Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Id2myc5nfdgd4pry47sjss2n2my Like the show? Keep up with all Benzinga news! Visit https://www.benzinga.com/ to subscribe to our newsletter Visit https://twitter.com/Benzinga to follow us on Twitter Visit https://www.facebook.com/Benzinga/ to like us on Facebook Be sure to check out https://pro.benzinga.com/. Benzinga’s real-time news platform with all the information you need to invest better today. For FASTER NEWS and IN-DEPTH market data, check out Benzinga Pro. For a free two-week trial go to https://pro.benzinga.com/?afmc=6c

Dennis Yu has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, NPR as the co-founder of Blitz Metrics. A company that has spent over a billion dollars on Facebook Ads powering today's largest brands such as the Golden State Warriors, Nike and MGM He's also the co-author of Facebook Nation – a textbook taught in over 700 colleges and universities. In this episode, Dennis dives into how he got his insane work ethic and some million-dollar mess-ups he had to go through before he gained authority in his niche. INSIDE THE EPISODE: [01:05] What drives Dennis to work 16 hour days & the insatiable curiosity he had growing up [05:52] How Dennis applies his model of “Learn, Do, Teach” [08:03] The $3 million dollar mistake with American Airlines [09:46] Dennis discusses what it takes to build a world-class network & how budding entrepreneurs should start [16:35] The first service business that Dennis sold [18:18] The book that made the biggest impact on Dennis & other key things that helped him win [21:27] How Dennis plans to mentor on a large scale Get your cheatsheet for Dennis’s episode at unstoppablebusiness.com/podcast

2:31 - Dennis explains what Lagardere company is.5:32 - What sports/media events and shows he works on with Lagardere.7:27 - How the sports arbitrage business works in representing a sports property and how Lagardere helped the NBA with their international business.9:09 - The competitiveness for sports media rights.10:13 - The daunting task of securing rights and how individual sports properties have different goals in partnering with an agency.11:30 - How tricky or complex it is to monetize a property.13:05 - How Dennis got into the rights side of sports media.14:32 - What some of the most interesting sports he’s been a part of.15:33 - What he loves about it and what are some of the challenges with what he does.17:02 - How he balances dealing with multi million dollar contracts and still being a part of the production environment plus how specialization for young people can limit their growth.18:03 - What goes into producing the Boston Marathon for domestic and international viewers.20:25 - How viewers outside the United States digest the sports they watch.22:25 - Productions for sports are shrinking with on-site presence depending on the event.23:00 - Where Dennis was during the Boston Marathon bombing and how the Boston Athletic Association has adjusted to making the event a special one.25:47 - The most special event he’s been a part of.27:30 - What the biggest challenges are for many of the sporting events around the world.29:15 - Dennis explains what the SPORTEL convention is about.30:10 - What makes a sports property have value.30:38 - What makes a sports property valuable?31:30 - What Dennis would like sports fans to know about the international landscape and how it impacts the sporting world.33:00 - Importing & exporting sports media properties33:37 - What the toughest event he’s ever been a part of.35:10 - How much time he spends on the airplane.35:34 - Best piece of advise he’s gotten working in the sports industry.

Today's guest is Dennis Kuntz the owner of the popular YouTube channel called 2nd Chance Tackle. Dennis has repaired thousands of reels and shows you step-by-step how to do it on his channel. This episode is a gem for anyone interested in maintaining their gear. In this episode we cover: The proper way to maintain or fix your fishing reels. I pop-quiz him on the various reels I have that were given to me by my late uncle. I'm able to stump him on one! How the quality of reels and brands have changed over time. If you're interested in learning from Dennis or using his reel fixing services, check out 2nd Chance Tackle. Jump to what interests you: 01:12 - Introduction to Dennis and where he's located. 01:30 - How Dennis started his business and why social media is so important for his fishing repair business. 06:42 - How the craftsmanship of the reels has changed over time. 12:49 - Going through the different types of reels and what they are used for. 19:20 - The proper way to maintain your reels and the recommended set of tools. Grease and oil recommendations. 24:40 - The perfect sweet spot of grease. Specific drag system designs that Dennis likes. 32:11 - Dennis's recommendations to improve the innovation in reels. 38:42 - The TOP 10 things not to do with reels. We covered a bunch earlier, but there are a few more gems here. 44:34 - How you can get started looking for quality older reels at flea markets, Facebook Marketplace, and Craigslist. Maybe you can even start selling them with a quick repair. 49:58 - My pop-quiz with the reels that I own. We cover Newell, Abu, and many others. 1:14:15 - How you can find Dennis and learn from his videos. If you have a reel that's too difficult to fix yourself, then Dennis can help you repair it if you send it to him. Email him at 2ndchancetackle [at] gmail.com 1:16:50 - Why does Dennis fish?

The financial advice industry has always been a place of change, and yet certain old practices hang around for decades. Our guest today, Dennis Moseley-Williams, is all about moving things forward for the good of the client and the advisor. The basis of his understanding is the characterization of the economy as one fundamentally built around experiences. Applying this lens to the financial sector means that advisors need to think about how to provide more than just a service to their clients, they need to stage an experience and a process of curated growth and learning. In our conversation, Dennis unpacks the evolution up to this point, showing how each step requires adjustments and progress from providers and the space that opens up due to technological advances must be filled with something of value. We discuss communication, fulfillment and happiness and Dennis makes a strong argument for the role of the financial advisor reaching beyond the bank; he believes it should include all important areas of life. The last part of the episode is spent thinking about ways that willing advisors can offer the most to their clients and how to pitch and scale these businesses in the smartest ways. For this fascinating chat with a truly innovative thinker and gifted speaker, be sure to join us! Key Points From This Episode: Dennis' explanation of the experience economy and trends in the financial services industry. [0:04:04.4] How Dennis found himself in the world of finance and investments. [0:07:07.7] The evolution of the skillset needed for good financial advice. [0:09:38.2] The five stages of experience and the lasting impact of a meaningful experience. [0:14:40.7] What the experience economy means in terms of finding good financial advice. [0:18:52.9] The space created by new tech advances and what will fill it. [0:23:35.6] Better communication in today's economy; physical and virtual experiences. [0:31:41.5] Differences between big and small business; pitching your offer for those who care. [0:33:29.3] Red flags and green lights for investors in the search for the right advisor. [0:38:12.2] The place of technical financial know-how and its decreasing value. [0:42:31.7] How an advisor can fill the space left by the church. [0:48:31.3] Happiness and fulfillment; putting funded contentment at the top of the list. [0:54:47.8] Dennis' hopes and predictions for the future of financial advice. [0:59:00.2] A highly differentiated and relevant offer — the recipe for success. [1:01:35.5] Connecting clients and allowing relationships to grow out of advice. [1:04:02.6] The question of scale; the care and caution that goes into growth. [1:08:39.9] Dennis' own definition of success in his life! [1:10:54.6]

How does a marketer charged with helping tech companies and the blockchain industry simplify messaging and help his clients reach their audience? This week on The Inbound Success Podcast, Dennis Lewis of Greenlight Digital talks about the strategies he uses to market one of the most complex and misunderstood products in existence - cryptocurrency. The lessons that Dennis has learned as a marketer and cryptopreneur can help any marketer understand how to translate industry jargon or complex products and services into language and messaging that anyone can understand. In this interview, he shares his thoughts on customer research, storytelling, and striking the right balance between technical content and simple messaging. Highlights from my conversation with Dennis include: Dennis describes himself as a marketer and cryptopreneur. He says the blockchain is a decentralized bookkeeping system located all around the world, and being maintained by literally thousands and thousands of computers working synchronized. His company, Greenlight Digital, provides marketing services for technology and blockchain companies. He got into marketing blockchain when a friend of his did an initial coin offering (ICO) and asked him for marketing help. Dennis says that all marketing needs to start with the problem that a product or service solves for the customer. Unfortunately, entrepreneurs tend to fall in love with their products, and put that before understanding the customer. Dennis's mantra is "listen, think, and do" and he says that marketers should heed those three words. One of the more impactful books he's read is The Culture Code by Clotaire Rapaille. The book talks about the three brains that every human being has: the reptilian brain, the limbic brain, and the cerebral cortex. All decisions are made by the reptilian and the limbic brains. The cerebral cortex is used to justify the decision you've already made. Marketing needs to feed the reptilian and limbic brains by forming an emotional connection, and the best way to do this is through effective storytelling. There are many ways that marketers can learn more about their customers, from doing focus groups, to researching what they are saying on online forums, or even inviting a customer to coffee. The most important thing in marketing is to assure your customer that they won't look bad or be embarrassed due to their decision to buy your product. In addition to having strong messaging, your brand needs to stand for something. That is the most effective way to differentiate from the competition. Resources from this episode: Visit the Greenlight Digital website Connect with Dennis on LinkedIn Follow Dennis on Twitter Get Dennis's book Behold the Cryptopreneurs Visit the Cryptopreneurs Club Listen to the podcast to learn more about simplifying the messaging for complex products and services, and how, if done right, it can help you get better marketing results. Transcript Kathleen Booth (Host): Welcome back to the Inbound Success Podcast. I'm your host Kathleen Booth and this week my guest is Dennis Lewis, who is a cryptopreneur and blockchain marketing specialist with Greenlight Digital. Welcome Dennis. Dennis Lewis (Guest): Hey Kathleen. Thank you for having me on. Dennis and Kathleen recording this episode. Kathleen: Yeah, I'm excited to have you on because I'm actually weirdly fascinated with cryptocurrency and the blockchain, but I think maybe not everyone is quite as nerdily interested in that as I am, so maybe you could just start by explaining what a cryptopreneur is. I don't know if I'm going to try to have you explain what the blockchain is because that might be biting off more than we can chew, but give my guests a sense of what it is you're working on. What is a cryptopreneur? Dennis: Sure. So, I mean, let's go ahead and try and bite off a little bit here at least so that we can give everybody kind of something to wrap their heads around. The blockchain isn't really all that complicated as it may seem. Like most technology sectors, the people in the industry tend to really kind of dive into all of the plumbing and the complications of it. Sure, we could certainly throw out a whole bunch of weird sounding words to make it sound complicated, but it's really just a bookkeeping system. It's just a way of keeping track of transactions that is decentralized. It's all around the world being maintained by literally thousands and thousands of computers working synchronized, but you know, no single point of failure. That's in a nutshell what a block chain is. It is a decentralized bookkeeping system. Kathleen: That is a great explanation and it totally ties in to what we're going to talk about today, which is a big challenge I think a lot of marketers have, particularly in these more technical industries, and that is simplifying the complex. About Dennis Lewis and Greenlight Digital Kathleen: Now before we do that, maybe you could talk a little bit about your journey. How did you wind up doing this, and what is Greenlight Digital? Dennis: Okay, sure. Well, it's funny, like all great things in life, I got into this industry just by accident. It wasn't a planned event. It wasn't enormously prepared either. A friend of mine called me up one day and said, "Hey, we're going to do this thing called an ICO where we're going to try and raise some money. We don't know anything about marketing. Can you help us?" And I knew absolutely nothing about cryptocurrency at the time or blockchain and I didn't even know what an ICO was, And like the brave soul that I am, I just rolled up my sleeves and said, "sure, let's do it." That's where the journey began with blockchain. Rolling back farther, because there's some gray hairs on my head, a long time ago I worked for IBM. I spent my whole career sort of trying to make things that most people think are complicated, make them easy to understand. And I realized that that isn't a skill that is very common. A lot of people are really good at making simple things complicated, but going the other way around it seems to be less frequent. That's why I'm excited today to talk to you about making the complex simple. As far as Greenlight Digital, that's my company. We are a boutique marketing agency. We do everything from content marketing, to social media, to working with companies on their branding and their messaging, full suite sort of marketing, mostly for tech companies and blockchain companies, although we do work with some traditional companies as well just to kind of keep us on our toes. That's pretty much what I do. I like to tell stories. Kathleen: I love it. And you really, I think, hit the nail on the head with marketing, which is that a lot of us, especially trained marketers, and this is so interesting to me, that tend to make things more complicated than they need to be. A lot of marketers really, really struggle with boiling things down and expressing the value of that thing they're trying to market in a way that is simple and easy for the audience to understand. So, this is one of the reasons I was so excited to talk to you, because if you can do it in blockchain, I feel like you could do it in anything. Dennis: You're probably right there. You know, it's funny, but in our industry, marketing is so hooked recently on all of the plumbing, all of the technical part of marketing, which is awesome and it's interesting and it is important, but I always tell my customers, it all boils down to the words on the page. If you're not making a connection with the right person, if you're not saying the right thing to the right person, you can have all the bells and whistles that you want, it's not going to work. I'll take a step back and I'll go back. I remember that when I was back in the day at IBM, I remember going to conferences with big companies that IBM, they had, they were always doing the best, and there were always 50 presentations and they were always about the new version of product X, Y, Z, and these are the new features and these are the new... This is what makes this one better than it was before. And you could look out in the audience and see people dozing away. They were literally, I think it was the best cure for insomnia that's ever been invented, it's just send them to a tech conference and they'll sleep like babies. It really got me thinking, and I guess that's sort of where all this came, the problem is that it all boils down to what problem you're solving. If you're not making something better for somebody, then your features and your benefits and your whistles and your bells and your shiny stuff, it just is irrelevant. I mean, people just don't care. You always start with the problem. You have to start with the problem, and if you don't you'll go wrong. People just won't, they'll tune out. There's so much information out there right now. Gosh, I mean, how much time do you spend staring at Google Chrome every day? You know? And how many people are competing for that time of your eyeballs? And they're smart people, right? They're there, they're good at it. And if you want to kind of get your fair share of those moments of those eyeballs, you really have to be interesting. It has to be engaging in that. It has to be, and it has to talk to that problem because otherwise, what's in it for me? Kathleen: Yeah. Now, I totally agree with you, but I feel like that's much more easily said than done. Simplifying the messaging for complex topics Kathleen: So when you think about this challenge of simplifying the complex, and let's use the stuff you're working on now with cryptocurrency and blockchain, if you're working with a new client or something, how do you tackle that? Where do you begin with that process of trying to make it simpler and easier for an audience to understand? Dennis: Sure. So one of the things I've learned is that entrepreneurs always fall in love with their products. They fall in love with what they're doing. And that's great. That's normal. It's kind of what you have to do if you're going to build something. But I always tell them, "Look, you've got to fall in love with your customer first. You've got to put yourself in their shoes." Who are you serving? Who is the person on the other side and why would they care about what you're doing? Because if you think it's going to be everybody out there is going to fall in love with your product because you have, you're mistaken. They just don't care about your product. And I mean, they'll gladly give you money if you can make the pain go away, but if you can't make the pain go away, they couldn't care less how many hours, how many people, how much sophisticated technology you throw into the basket. That's your problem, that's not theirs. I always start there. I always say, "Look, you've got to focus on the person on the other side. It's always got to be about how you're making their lives better." And that could be by delivering a pizza quicker or it could be curing cancer. It's not necessarily that problems have to be big or they can be small, it's, they have to be real. They have to be something that somebody cares about and because otherwise, why are we doing this? As a marketer, and I know you've undoubtedly come across this as well, people frown on us. They think we're manipulators, they think we're tricking people into buying stuff when it should be all completely the other way around. If you've got a product that makes things better for your client, you'd be doing them a disservice not to tell them, not to try and get them to use it, not to try and get them to have access to that solution, you'd be a bad person. Kathleen: It is sort of depressing because I have seen stats that say that people, when they rank how much they trust different types of people, I think marketers ranked down there with used car salesman for how much people trust us, which is really depressing. I would like to think that we're not quite in that category, but maybe I'm underestimating the value of used car salesman. I don't know. Dennis: You got to be at the bottom of the list. Kathleen: Right. Exactly. No, you hit on something that I really agree with that and feel quite strongly about, which is that a lot of times when people talk about marketing, they talk about trying to sell things to people and I really think that marketers are more successful when they have this mindset shift and they think of it as, we need to help people to buy as opposed to try and sell them something. We are helping them to purchase something and we're doing it because that thing genuinely solves a problem for them. I think if you can shift your mindset in that way, it produces much better marketing. Understanding your customer's pain Kathleen: So you talked about needing to understand the pain that the customer is experiencing. How do you do that? Dennis: Well, I guess that the only way to do that, is like every human being does it, is by being empathetic, it's by listening. On all my emails, I always start with, I was in the same three words and it's kind of been my slogan for years and years and years and it's, "listen, think and do." The order of the three words is very important, it always starts with listening, and that's a lesson I learned from my grandma and I could tell you a good story about how I learned that lesson. Kathleen: I'm now very curious. Is it a quick one? Can we hear it? Dennis: It's not too long, sure. My grandma was an amazing woman, she died at 101 years old and she was smart as a whip. Up until the very end, she was winning at bridge. I remember being a little boy, and I was always a talkative little boy, and I remember she sat me down in the kitchen one day, she put this mirror in my hand. She said, "Dennis, look in this mirror and tell me what you see." I said, "Grandma, it's me. I am in the mirror." And she says, "Yeah, but tell me something specific. How many mouths do you see in that mirror?" I said, "Well, I've only got one mouth." And she said, "Now how many ears do you have?" I said, "Well, there's two ears Grandma, of course." And she said, "Well God made you that way on purpose." Kathleen: I love it. Way to go grandma. Dennis: Yeah. So yeah, it's all about listening. It's all about putting yourself in the shoes of the person. And sometimes that's easier said than done, but the way I see it is, there was a really a great book, it was called The Culture Code, by this French person, Clotaire Rapaille, I don't know, I can't even pronounce his name, but really good book, the Culture Code. In the book he talks about the three brains that every human being has. There's a reptilian brain, a limbic brain, and then there's the cerebral cortex, the brain, that kind of gray mass that we all think about when we say "Brains." In the book he says that all decisions are made by the reptilian and the limbic brains. The cerebral cortex is used to justify the decision you've already made. So kind of like when you're going to go buy a car, you're going to buy the car that you want. You're going to buy the car that you secretly know that you just want that car, but you're going to sit down and you're going to study it. You're going to look at a kazillion different factors so that you can feel justified that that's the car you're going to buy. But pretty much you've already figured it out, which car you're going to buy beforehand. He talks about that in the book. And so, you've got to have an emotional connection with your audience. You have to, it can't just be, "We're faster. We're more sophisticated. We do this better. We give you a better ROI. We give you..." All that is great. You need to do that in your marketing as well because you do need to feed that cerebral brain, but you've got to make the sale down deep. You've got to grab a bit, that's why great marketing always tells great stories. Kathleen: So you start by listening, I'm assuming, when you say that, you mean listening to customers or prospective customers, is that correct? Dennis: Yeah, that's right. And that could just be go out and read, go to the forums, look at how they talk, look at what they're talking about. It doesn't have to be super sophisticated. You don't have to have spend millions doing focus groups and all that stuff, which is great I'm sure. If you've got lots of resources, go ahead and do that, there's no doubt that that's a good idea. But there's a lot of ways, we have so much information now. Sit down and have a coffee with somebody that's in your target audience and try to figure out what motivates them. Why would they be interested in something that you do? Most of the time the motivations are often completely different from the answers. You have to read between the lines. If you're selling in a corporate B2B market, you know it. One of the most important things that you have to do is make sure that people understand that they're not going to look bad by buying your product. That they're not going to be embarrassed. Their boss isn't going to get mad at them later or say, "Look at what a bad decision you made." And those are objections that are real and they're emotional and that's a big part of B2B sales is developing that security for your customer. And those are the kinds of things you've got to listen to. Turning customer research into messaging Kathleen: Yeah. So if you've done this, if you've sat down and listened to customers and you understand some of the pain they're feeling, some of the problems they're trying to solve, how do you then take that and make it actionable? Dennis: I always take notes, because usually the words that your customers use are the words you ought to be thinking about using, and then you can get creative about it. But don't, don't try to be, you know, you never want to make it. Yeah, you don't want to, you don't want to fill your head with too much stuff, but make it simple. Try to spell out that pain and then say, "Hey, and I make it go away by doing this." And when you do that, people, if they have the pain, they'll listen. And if they don't, that's okay too. Part of it is just being willing to hear "no." Go for the no. I mean, I'd much rather have a conversation with somebody who comes out and says, "Nope, I don't need this." I think that's great. That's good. I mean, a no is much better than a maybe. How Dennis markets crypto Kathleen: In a technically complex industry like crypto, let's actually use some examples. You've done marketing in this industry, what have you learned as far as what the pain is or the problem is and how have you translated that into a more simplistic way of communicating about it? Dennis: We talked a little bit about the blockchain being a bookkeeping system and when I talk to people about in the industry they come and they say, "Oh, but our blockchain is faster, it's got a more sophisticated consensus algorithm. It uses better cryptography, it's more secure." And all of this stuff. And I say, "Yeah, but why don't we talk to them about how you can use it for healthcare. Why don't we talk to the users about how you can use it to make democracy better? Why don't we talk to them about how you can use it to make social media where you're not the product instead of what it is now where we're the product being sold? Okay?" These are ways of making the technology relevant, making it personal. Of course, I want the blockchain that where, the solution to be robust and fast and better than all the rest. That's great, and you'll get to that point, but that's not how you lead the conversation, because nobody's interested in that really. I mean, that should be a given, right? I remember Warren Buffet once said that, "The only problem with technology is that pretty soon everybody in the room, all your competitors have the same technology as you." He's really good at metaphors. He said, "At the beginning you stand up on your chair and you're the tallest person in the room, and then everybody else starts standing on the chair so you've got to go find a ladder." Kathleen: That's a great metaphor. I love it. Dennis: I always try to tell customers, you have to frame it in things that are important to the people that are listening. So sure, if I'm going to be talking to investors, well of course I want to appeal to their desire to pick the winner. It's maybe not a spreadsheet of, this is going to be a 13.8% ROI compared to a 10.4, right? I mean, come on, that's silly. But if you're talking to a VC company, what do they do? They're looking for the unicorns. They're looking for the projects that have the best possibility to shine, so talk about that, go there. If you're going to talk about if your product is really good at making micropayments, well talk about how this could be used in Africa to improve the lives of people in Africa. Make it something that people could visualize, that they can see, that they can feel. Because that's where you get people engaged. Tell a story. I really believe in stories as stories are really the the oldest part of humanity is telling stories. Yeah. When you sit down with somebody, it doesn't matter how hardheaded they are. If you look them in the eyes and say, "Look, I want to tell you a story." You can just watch people's defenses drop down, because everybody loves stories. So figure out a way to put your product into a story. Kathleen: That's a great suggestion. And I like that you, I mean I think you've been very clear and the top line messaging needs to lead with the benefits, not the features of the product or the outcomes that the audience will experience or the use cases. My experience has been that, that that is very effective and especially in grabbing attention. And then at some point in the sale there does come a moment when that buyer may want more technical information, or someone on their team may want more technical information. Dennis: Oh, definitely. Balancing the simple and the complex Kathleen: How do you handle that in terms of the way you do marketing? When is the time and the place for conveying the technical specs, if you will, versus that simplistic top line messaging? How do you strike that balance? Because I think you can also be too simple and frustrate your audience if they're not getting their questions answered when they're at that evaluation stage. So I'd love to know how you think about that. Dennis: That's great. I wish I had a golden rule. I'm almost tempted to just ask you, because you probably know a lot more than me. Kathleen: Don't bet on it. Dennis: My experience over a long time in this, and it's just that, it's not anything, it's not data-driven really, it's just gut feeling, is that most of the time we dig into the details too soon. That doesn't mean that you can just not dig into the details. There is a time, but you want to know that your customer really wants it before you give it to them. I think that's the deal because otherwise, how many times have you sent a beautiful proposal with 30 pages of, you've sweated all the details, and it ends in somebody's inbox and then crickets, right? You don't hear anything back. You've given them probably too many excuses to not buy from you. So, I don't know, there's a dance there. I wish there were a one size fits all solutions, but my gut is, is that people will get the information, that's part of having publishing content and making sure it's out there. People don't talk to us very soon anymore. It used to be that you would go out and you'd take customers out for lunch and that's where you'd start the process, right? Nowadays it's completely the other way around. When somebody actually comes to have a conversation with you, they've probably done an awful lot of research about it anyway. They probably know more about you than even you realize. Kathleen: Yeah, absolutely. I know, I've always thought about that question of like, when do you share technical information? I've always liked the approach that events and conferences take when they sell you on the notion that you need to be at the conference, and then they have the convince your boss letter, where they just acknowledge. They're just right up front and they say, "We know you need to convince your boss to spend the money, so here's a letter you can just hand to them, customize it for yourself and go." And it's a very kind of explicit acknowledgement of the dynamic that happens in the purchasing process, and I've always liked the idea of translating that and taking the convince your boss approach and applying it in other ways. So for example, I've worked with a lot of cybersecurity companies on their marketing and that dynamic exists in that industry too, where you have your less technical buyer, it could be risk officer, it could be somebody at a senior level in the organization who knows they need to keep it secure and they're concerned more from sort of a boardroom level that, "We're a secure company. We're not going to be at risk." But at some point in the buying process, some sort of analyst that's lower than them in the hierarchy of the company is going to be called in and asked to vet the product, and I've always liked the idea of having a convince your analyst packet where it's like, "Just hand this to your analyst. This is everything they need." Dennis: That's a really great strategy. I like that. Kathleen: Being that up front about it. I don't know, I mean I don't have enough proof to know that it works, but it seems to work in the conference and events world, so that's why I've always been intrigued. Dennis: But I think that comes back to what we were talking about at the beginning, the, what's the problem you're solving there? The problem you're solving for your buyer, who's your champion inside that organization is, they want to look good inside. They want to look good with their boss. They don't want to be called out because they missed something that was a glaring error and they want to feel that they'll be respected and their credibility will increase because of making this deal with you. What you're doing is you're making it easier for them to do that. You're saying, "Yeah, look, I understand." You know, you're not going to go up to somebody and say, "Hey, I'm going to help you not get fired by buying my product." But you've got to have that in your head right there. That's what they're thinking. You know, am I going to is this going to help me get my year end bonus? Is it going to make me look good? Am I going to get the next promotion because I did a good job on X, Y or Z? And by keeping those human aspects in mind and having that preparation where you can say, "Okay, yeah, I know you're going to need to, this is going to have to be bedded here. I've got this whole planned out for you." Show that you've really done your homework to get the vetting materials together. And then I've always thought that making other people look good is a really great strategy, not just for selling, it's just a good strategy in life. Kathleen: Yeah, make your customer the hero. Absolutely. Dennis: Yeah, definitely. Companies that have done a great job of simplifying their messaging Kathleen: Well, do you have any examples of companies that you think do this really well? And they could be crypto companies or they could be other types of companies. I'm just curious, like, if somebody wanted to go out into the internet, and I'm springing this question on you right now, so for anyone listening, he has not had a chance to think about this in advance, but I'm just curious like when you think of companies that are really great at simplifying the complex, are there any that spring to mind? Dennis: A lot that spring to mind that aren't great, but I'm not going to go down that way. Gosh, it's a tough question. But there are companies that... It was a company that I remember we're using a software that it's a project management software and I remember that really did a pretty good job of explaining and putting the content out in a way that, I believe it was called that LaSeon I they do JIRA and stuff like that, so that kind of comes to the back of my head, but now it's been a long time so I don't know, maybe they've moved on and they do it really poorly now. Kathleen: Well, I was going to say the one example that I think of immediately, and it's funny because I always ask people on this podcast, is there a company or an individual who's really doing inbound marketing well right now, and the answer I get most commonly is Drift. I'm not sure if you're familiar with them? Dennis: Yep, mm-hmm (affirmative). Kathleen: Yeah, they're actually a company that I think does this really well. And Dave Gerhardt who has been their VP of marketing who's actually leaving, or by the time this airs will have left Drift to go somewhere else, really brilliantly did this. Because I'll never forget, I went to their conference, HYPERGROWTH, it was like either last year or a year and a half ago, something like that. What they did that was so smart was they boiled everything they do down into one word and it's fundamentally like a chat bot, live chat tool. They're now introducing other features. But you know, you could talk about this in terms of chat, right? But instead they boiled everything they do down to one word, which was "now," and they talked about how, as customers, we want our information now, we don't want to have to wait. If we have a question, we want the answer now. And really that's sort of the essence of what chat bots and live chat solve for. And I just thought it was brilliant. And somebody asked this question the other day, if you had to boil what you do down into one word, what would that one word be? And I'm still trying to figure that out. Dennis: I'm a storyteller. That would be my word. Kathleen: It's tough, right? It's tough. Dennis: It is. Kathleen: But I think, I just thought that was interesting. So for me, that's the example that I think of when I think of a company that does a really good job of simplifying the complex. Dennis: Yeah. I mean, sure. As a marketing geek, like you probably are. I just love to, watching the TV, I always liked the commercials better than the programs. Everybody gets up and leaves in the commercials, and that's when I'm sitting there looking at them like yeah, I just love it. And especially get to Christmas and- Kathleen: Oh my God, at the Super Bowl, I watched the Super Bowl only for the commercials. Dennis: Yeah, I love the way that some of the brands tell really great stories in a 32 second, or a 60 second spot. And they tell a real story and they kind of, they can reach right in there and grab you in the gut. And I think that's what, I love watching that. That's more B2C kind of companies, but I think B2B marketing should be just as fun and just as entertaining. Kathleen: Oh, I totally agree, but it's so not in most cases. And the ones who are able to do it tend to do really, really well. Stand for something in your marketing Dennis: Yeah. Because I don't know why it is. I mean, I guess I do. I know that I see this with my clients sometimes too, they're scared. It's scary to be something that not everybody else is. And I tell my customers, "Look, you can be boring, but you have to write big checks. If you can't write big checks, you cannot be boring." Because there's no other way there. You can't, you can't play it safe and shine at the same time unless you've got... If you've got the budget to pour people into your funnel nonstop and it doesn't matter, you can just keep pouring, go for it. You can be boring and you'll still make sales. But if you don't have that ability, you don't have those resources and you have to be careful, then you can't afford to be boring. You've got to be entertaining. You've got to be funny. You've got to be controversial. Kathleen: Authentic. Dennis: Authentic. Got to stand for something. And you know, hey, you, you've got to be willing to, to rub a few people the wrong way sometimes. And that's just the way it is, because otherwise, if you're too nice to everybody, you're nobody to anybody. Kathleen: And it doesn't mean... I get what you're saying, but it's interesting. I've talked to some people about this who disagree because they read it as you're being offensive or mean, and I don't think that's what this is about. I think this is just being authentically true to who you are and understanding that not everyone's going to agree with you. Dennis: Exactly. Kathleen: Instead of like, you don't need to attack anyone or name and shame or call anybody else out. It's just being true to you. Dennis: Exactly. But you know, it's being willing to be brave enough to say what you think and sometimes you even using language that is brave enough that people will understand like, "Hey, these guys, they really mean it." You can't fake it though. I mean, if you fake it, you'll get caught because have really good BS radars, right? It's easy to tell when somebody's being aggressive just to call attention to themselves, but when you know that somebody actually believes something, that's what people, they feel it. We're having this conversation about marketing, I know that people out there understand that we like this. This is fun. It's interesting. We do this for a living because we like it, because it's meaningful. I'm not ashamed of being a marketer. I like it because I think that I'm doing good. I don't take clients that I don't like, if they don't fit with who I am, then they need to find a different marketer, right? Kathleen: Oh, totally the same for me. I have to believe in not only the product I'm marketing, but the claims that I'm making as a marketer. I can't make myself do marketing if I think the claims are overinflated or BS or not true, or unsubstantial. Is that a word? Dennis: Yeah. I think it is. Kathleen: You have to be able to go to sleep at night and be happy with yourself. So I totally agree with that. Kathleen's two questions Kathleen: Well, I can talk about this with you forever, but we don't have forever. So first I have two questions I always ask all my guests and I'm really curious to know what you're going to say. Earlier I talked about how one of those questions is, is there a particular company or individual that's really killing it with inbound marketing? Anyone come to mind for you? Dennis: Yeah, it's probably too simple, but HubSpot is really good at it. I mean their marketing materials are spot on. They really are good at using content to drive people to their solution. Kathleen: Yeah. And they better be because they invented the term inbound marketing, so they better be. Dennis: I guess so, right? Kathleen: And the second question is really with marketing changing so quickly, a lot of it, digital being driven by technology changes, how do you stay up to date on that changing landscape? Dennis: Oh gosh. I guess probably like everybody, you're always reading, you're always looking at stuff. I try though. I think for a long time I was suffering from the shiny penny syndrome. I would try everything new that came my way and we would test it out. I would drive my team absolutely crazy doing different stuff. I've tempered a bit that I try not to, you have to do it kind of yourself though. I learned the lesson that it really isn't that important. It's all about what you're saying and who you're saying it to. So, you know, play around, do it as best as you can, places to read. I mean, gosh, there's, there's one guy I would definitely recommend any marketers should go check out bensettle.com. Ben Settle, he's very irreverent, but he's a great marketer, a very good email marketer. You just get on his emails and listen to them. I guess that's my tip. How to connect with Dennis Kathleen: Ooh, I love that. I'm definitely going to check that out. Thank you for sharing that. Well, if someone is listening to this and they have questions or they want to learn more, is there a good way for them to connect with you online? Dennis: Sure. Dennis H. Lewis on LinkedIn, DennisHLewis on Twitter. Definitely check out my book on Amazon, Behold the Cryptopreneurs, and you can go to thecryptopreneur.club and cryptopreneurs.club and you can get the first four chapters for free. Kathleen: Oh, awesome. I love it. All right, well I will put links to all of that in the show notes, so if you're in connecting with Dennis, head to the show notes and check that out, that'll all be in there. But in the meantime, thank you Dennis. This has been great. I've really enjoyed talking with you about simplifying the complex and getting your insights on the best way to do that. Dennis: I guess the last thing to say is talk to your grandma. She probably has a good idea. You know what to do next... Kathleen: Yes. Go to the grandma's for the advice. All right, well that's it for this week. If you're listening and you learned something new, or you enjoyed this podcast, please head to Apple Podcasts and consider leaving the podcast a five star review, that is how people find us. I would really appreciate it. And if you know someone else who's doing kick ass inbound marketing work, as always, please tweet me @ workmommywork, because I would love to interview them. Thanks so much. That's it for this week.

Renaissance Man, Dennis Jones, is an artist, speaker, photographer, musician, author, and professional traveler. Our rich conversation delves into how to live the authentic life. In this episode, Luci and Dennis discuss: How Dennis found success after the recession and gained valuable experience  towards his goals Tips for becoming a great architectural photographer Travel photography as a business Key Takeaways: Keep your self open to whatever might unfold for you It is all about light- enhance the lighting that is already there Move in a direction towards your passion; reinvention takes action "What makes a good photographer is that we are able to see patterns, and to find meaning in patterns that most people just don't see." —  Dennis Jones Connect with Dennis Jones: Instagram: dreamcatcherimaging Facebook: dennis.jones Website: dreamcatcherimaging.com Book: Land-Turks-Journeying-through-Hospitality YouTube: DennisJones Connect with Luci Dumas: Twitter: @lucidumas Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LuciDumasCoaching/ Website: www.lucidumascoaching.com Email:   luci@lucidumas.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/luci-dumas

Today we have the honour of talking with one of the top authors of piano books over the last nearly 35 years: Dennis Alexander.   With over 400 publications and recordings on Alfred Music, including Alfred’s flagship piano method Premier Piano Course, Dennis is one of the world’s most prolific and popular composers of educational piano music for students at all levels. In 2015 he was awarded a “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy in recognition of his extraordinary service to the music teaching profession.   Mr. Alexander provides a rich learning experience for his students by bringing awareness to the importance of musicality. Often dull topics like music theory and reading notation are brought to life with a creativity and a consciousness of musical expression.   In this conversation we talk about:   • How Dennis’ background in playing by ear and improvising feeds into how he approaches composing. • The main difference between children and adult learners and one great way to make learning more enjoyable and improvisation less intimidating if you’re an adult learner. • And the specific aspects which you should have in mind to bring a rendition from a strictly-correct but unmoving one through to a compelling, musical performance.   Enjoy this glimpse into what makes one of the top piano methods much more than just “playing the right notes at the right time”. Even if you’re not a piano player you don’t want to miss all of the deep musical insight in this interview!     Subscribe For Future Episodes! Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS | YouTube   Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 212   Links and Resources • Dennis Alexander Online • Premier Piano Course • Keys to Stylistic Mastery • Keys to Artistic Performance • Dennis Alexander on Alfred Music • Dennis Alexander Compositions         Enjoying the show? Please consider rating and reviewing it! Click here to rate and review

In this episode, Kelley Weaver chats with Dennis Lewis, author of Behold the Cryptopreneurs: How to thrive in the new blockchain economy without feeling slimy. Dennis got into the space a few years ago when a friend called him up who needed help marketing an initial coin offering (ICO). Dennis has seen many projects fail, prompting him to identify areas in which crypto companies should improve. He expresses changes that need to be made so that cryptocurrency doesn’t end up as a speculative backyard to the financial industry. Dennis is excited about blockchain technology in general but reveals one use case in particular that he sees as a huge opportunity. A distributed ICO is one way that can prevent a problem that Dennis identified, and he explains how it can help. We hear about Dennis’ belief that every entrepreneur, even those not directly involved in this space, should educate themselves on crypto, beginning by accepting it as a form of payment. He also gives his thoughts on the touchy subject of developers titling themselves as CEOs. Finally, he stresses the importance of putting in an effort to understand this revolutionary technology.   Topics covered: - How Dennis made his way into this industry. - Fundamental reasons that Dennis saw leading to the failure of projects. - Helping the industry begin solving real problems facing real people. - Providing projects with the funds that they need. - Dennis’ definition of a cryptopreneur, as outlined in his book. - The value in deciding whether to share our data or not. - The ability of distributed ICOs to raise funds over time. - Advice for entrepreneurs in and out of the blockchain industry. - Trends in fundraising today and what the future holds. - Skills to design a blockchain versus skills to run a business. - Bridging the skills gap by focusing on the problem that blockchain solves.   Links to Resources: Crypto Trader News: https://cryptotradernews.com/ Dennis on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dennishlewis Dennis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennishlewis Download the first 4 chapters of Behold the Cryptopreneurs: https://cryptopreneurs.club/ Behold the Cryptopreneurs: How to thrive in the new blockchain economy without feeling slimy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/107806363X/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

DRESS FOR HAPPINESS. People live their lives trying to find their purpose. They are looking for ways to express their true selves. But many are worried about judgment and the opinions of others. Do you deny your destiny? How can you get on the road to happiness and self-fulfillment? You have to ignore the noise. Be yourself no matter what people say. Take the time to discover what makes you happy. And once you find your happiness, work hard to keep it. Keep moving forward, step by step. When you look back, you’ll be amazed at what you accomplished. On today’s episode of The School of Greatness, I talk about finding yourself and living life to the fullest with Dennis Rodman. Dennis Rodman is a five-time NBA Champion, seven-time NBA Rebounding champion, two-time NBA All-star, and trailblazer for the LBGTQ community. He recently released a remarkable ESPN 30 for 30 Documentary about his life and career. Dennis is open about his highs and lows, including his rise from poverty and his struggles with alcoholism. Through it all, he is proud of his accomplishments and hopes that others will learn from his life journey. So get ready to learn how to live life to the fullest on Episode 854. Some Questions I Ask: Was it easy being vulnerable in the NBA? (09:30) How did you stay out all night and still have the energy for practice? (18:45)  What makes you proud? (30:50) Who was the best player you played with or against in the NBA? (29:55)  Who was the first person in your life that you respected and admired? (33:05) What is the biggest lesson you learned in North Korea? (45:25)  When it comes to your mother, what makes you proud? (01:00:50) In this episode you will learn: How he lives with enthusiasm (11:14) How he opened the door for the Gay community (11:20) Why he always does something that makes him happy (14:30) How Dennis feels he is never too old to ask for help (54:17) Plus much more... If you enjoyed this episode, check out the video, show notes, and more at http://www.lewishowes.com/854 and follow at instagram.com/lewishowes.

Woo-hoo, it’s our 200th episode!  And for this show, we brought back one of our most popular guests to date, Dennis Yu of BlitzMetrics who joins us with a co-guest Tanner Laycock. We cover a lot of ground on this one, going deeper with some of the things we asked in the first round, such as the content wheel and the dollar a day ads. We also discuss how they systemize their business so they can hand them off and fulfill any role in the business.  Dennis and his company have done an amazing job of building checklists out of everything in their business. Plus, you’ll hear how they are able to capture a huge audience for their brand, without selling up front. And you’ll be ready to pack your suitcase after hearing them both give up their favorite travel hacks. After you’re done, be sure to give another listen to our first show with Dennis as you’ll see why it was so popular, as well as our episodes with John Corcoran and David Gonzalez for more insight on making those all important connections with top performers and influential people. “Something that does well on Facebook can show authority on the web. It can also be your pinned tweet, be recycled into YouTube, turned into an article, can be put into an email roundup summary of the top twelve things from last month. Take something that works, and copy it to the other channels.” - Dennis Yu “If you can take the subjects that you want to be known for which relates to your topic and create videos with people of authority in that topic, and you boost it to the people that already like that topic, instantly you are going to take a piece of their pie.” - Tanner Laycock Some Topics We Discussed Include: How to get more power out of your existing content How to cross post How Dennis and Tanner got into the highly secured CNN building when even one of their top correspondents had a hard time Why working along smarter people is a great business strategy How Dennis has one of our most downloaded episodes of all time What the Topic Wheel is and how to set one up for your business How to get word of mouth so that your greatest hits can work against Twitter, Spotify, YouTube, etc. The proper way to position yourself without selling anything up front Some amazing travel hacks that will save you time and money And much, much more! Contact : Tanner Laycock on Linkedin Blitzmetrics Dennis-Yu.com References and Links Mentioned: Get the EGP Letter here where you’ll get not only all of the notes for everything episode we’ve done and will do in the mail, a private forum community, plus new training videos all the time with us and our guests. This episode is sponsored by our go-to SEO research tool, Ahrefs.com. We use this amazing tool all the time in our own business, and they have a feature where they will do an in depth website audit, noting everything you can do to up the technical SEO aspect of your site. As of this episode, they have a 7 day $7 trial, so be sure to check it out. Twitter Youtube Facebook Check out our previous episode with Dennis Yu and his Dollar Ad Strategy Our episode with John Corcoran Our episode with David Gonzalez

“The definition of leadership is credibility plus vision” - Dennis Barsema Dennis Barsema was previously the President and CEO of Redback Networks, where he led the company through rapid growth and one of the most successful IPOs in Wall Street history. Dennis has more than 30 years of executive experience in telecommunications, software, and optical networking. Dennis is the current Chairman of the Northern Illinois University Foundation and he has been a director on numerous non-profit boards, including Oportunidad Microfinanzas of Mexico, Se Mas (a microfinance institution) of Mexico, NEST (St. Louis), Collaboration Group, and Carpenters Place of Rockford, Illinois. He is also an advisor to the non-profit, microfinance organization, Opportunity International in Oak Brook, Illinois, Panzanzee, and the School of Business at Northern Illinois University, and is a past advisor to the School of Business at Santa Clara University in San Jose, California. 7:22 Overcoming a stutter 9:20 How Dennis got into the tech space 12:00 Most important mentors + role models. 14:32 Lessons learned from Dennis's upbringing 15:00 Definition of leadership is credibility plus vision 19:11 Dennis's first entrepreneurial experience 36:00 Keeping bridges unburned. 40:00 How to keep fear from making your decisions. 48:00 5th most successful IPO in the history of US companies 56:00 Biggest unfair advantages 1:02:00 Next opportunity after Redback - Blue Lane 1:09:00 The folly of pride 1:10:00 Live where your purpose is 1:17:43 How do you get people to like you? 1:18:50 How do you build your reputation? 1:23:00 What makes a great salesperson? 1:26:00 What do you want your legacy to be? 1:27:30 Quinton's True Takeaways

Dennis Mortensen is the Founder & CEO @ X.ai, the startup that realises scheduling sucks and provides ridiculously efficient AI software that solves the hassle of meeting scheduling. To date, Dennis has raised over $44m in VC funding from the likes of Firstmark, IA Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, DCM and more fantastic names. As for Dennis, he is an expert in leveraging data to solve enterprise use cases and prior to X.ai he was the Founder & CEO of 3 companies, 2 of which were acquired and one which went bust or as he describes a rather expensive MBA. Dennis is also the author of Data Driven Insights, on collecting and analyzing digital data. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Dennis made his way from Copenhagen to New York, the world of startups and came to found one of the hottest AI companies of our day in X.ai? 2.) What were Dennis' biggest lessons from enjoying 3 successful exits prior to X.ai? What were Dennis' learnings from his one failed startup? What would he do differently if he were to start another company? How does Dennis navigate the balance of between pursuing a vision and miss vs when something is just not working? 3.) Does Dennis believe that there really is such a thing as an AI first company? What is the right mentality to approach a company solving a problem through AI with? How does Dennis view the standardisation of AI tools today (Tensor Flow, libraries etc etc)? Does this remove barriers and defensibility for AI companies? What is the key to success for all AI companies? 4.) What does a truly differentiated data acquisition strategy look like? How can one determine the different utility value between different sizes of data? At what point does Dennis believe utility value of data diminishes due to the sheer size of existing data? 5.) Does Dennis believe that conversational UI is truly a paradigm shift in the way we interact with our devices or an iterative improvement? What have been some of the biggest lessons for Dennis in designing conversational UI products? What have been some of the fundamental challenges? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Dennis’ Fave Book: The Narrow Road: A Brief Guide to the Getting of Money, Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE, Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Dennis on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.  

1. Who is Dennis Yu 2. How Dennis uses Science Fiction To Find Out How The Market Is Working 3. Check out: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennisyu/ 4. How He Found Success Through Failure 5. "Dennis is a very motivated person that has a strategic vision he introduces into every situation. " 7. Making A Difference Vs Just Making another Dollar 8. Why Dennis Loves His Mentoring 9. Dennis's relationship with his team  If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the podcast. I'd also love it if you could leave me a review. Doing this will help more people discover the show so they to can get more done and get more out of life. If you want to get on a podcast, or receive the cliff notes for this episode: email me at logan@logantylernelson.com -Website: www.logantylernelson.com -Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/thelogantylernelson -LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/logan-nelson-964ba140/ -Twitter: https://twitter.com/LoganTnelson -My Radio Show: http://logantylernelson.libsyn.com/ Start a course: https://conveyour.com?rfsn=1126381.f4b9e2 Music By: l u v t e a (acoustic revisit) by autumn keys https://soundcloud.com/autumnkeys Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/Kwvzd3tkTRk We Are One by Vexento https://www.youtube.com/user/Vexento https://soundcloud.com/vexento Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/Ssvu2yncgWU  

We live in a world that teaches us to fall in line, to choose the safe, conservative route over being a disruptor. But playing it safe doesn’t facilitate global change. In fact, innovation comes from making trouble and seeing the possibilities in doing things a new way. How, then, do you develop the courage to break through barriers? To risk the isolation that comes with an intense commitment to transformation? A true maverick, Dennis Langlais began his career as a professional BMX Freestyle rider, performing and competing at venues all over the world. He went on to create Perfection on Wheels, a BMX stunt team that did produced events in 10,000 locations worldwide. Dennis recently founded Codie Dog Interactive and the FIVE Minute Bark podcast with the intention of helping grassroots entrepreneurs increase their visibility and achieve next-level peak performance through the relentless pursuit of purpose. Today Dennis joins Emerald to share his take on what a Man on Purpose looks like, discussing his approach to reinventing industries and the qualities necessary to facilitate global transformation. He offers insight around giving yourself permission to be a disruptor, attracting a loyal tribe, and choosing to break through barriers rather than fall in line. He explains how four-year-old Dennis was inspired by the Red Sox and how the relentless pursuit of his goals has driven him ever since. Listen and learn why it’s okay—necessary, even—to back off and go play a round of golf when you hit a wall. What You Will Learn Dennis’ insight on what it takes to facilitate global change How Dennis innovates to create new possibilities in established industries Dennis’ advice around being a disruptor Breaking through barriers comes at a cost Embrace polarity to attract your tribe Why Dennis chooses breaking the rules over ‘nice’ Dennis’ crosswalk metaphor for innovation The story of four-year-old Dennis’ desire to achieve big things How Dennis leverages an intense level of commitment to reach his goals The necessity of backing off when your health starts to suffer Dennis’ commitment to helping grassroots entrepreneurs increase their visibility Dennis’ simple approach to celebrating success Connect with Dennis Langlais FIVE Minute Bark Relentless Rebel Masterclass Resources Arnold Schwarzenegger: Life’s 6 Rules Connect with Emerald GreenForest Emerald’s Website Emerald on LinkedIn Emerald on Twitter This episode is sponsored by the Creative Age Consulting Group. Men - Is it time NOW for you to make your mark? Visit timetomakeyourmark.com to apply for an invitation-only consultation.

In episode 58, I'm joined by German trance legend Dennis Sheperd. He had his first vinyl release in 2005, and made a hit soon after. We talk about that, and also discuss the importance of rest in a stressful line of work like DJing/producing. We also talk about: - Whether you should learn sound design or not - Advice for mixing - Why you shouldn't skip the hard work or take the easy path - How Dennis built his network before Facebook existed - The stress that comes with being an artist, and how to deal with it - His ‘Trance Retreat' event This episode is brought to you by EDM Foundations (www.edmfoundations.com) Read full show notes: www.edmprod.com/58

My old buddy Kyler brought his business partner and personal friend, Dennis, over to my studio to talk about Elderberries. It's a really amazingly beneficial food with a surprising lack of presence in most people's daily lives. It was interesting to note that some good strains of the plant are native to our home state, Missouri. Full Episode Notes On Steemit: https://goo.gl/VfwXGVFull Episode Notes On Minds: https://goo.gl/Hf5jzVThe short speech at the very beginning of the episode was taken from Manly P. Hall - Reclaim The Mind: https://youtu.be/F2fwpw_6qGMHere's a link to the book I read from in this episode: https://goo.gl/I9P5dgSupport InnerVerse on Patreon!www.patreon.com/innerverseTopics:+ Kyler's Youtube channel Dorothy the Drone - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyUjn8reYrsMrxtQ6uhS8_g+ Theraputic Hortaculture Consultants (http://www.thethcfirm.com)+ How Dennis & Kyler Met+ Researching Cannabis strains and their variety of medicinal effects+ The uncertain future of Cannabis legality+ The difference between Cannabis and alcohol (poison!)+ Dennis used to *never* drink water!+ Elderberries and the myriad health benefits they provide. http://www.buehlerorganics.com/elderberry/+ The lack of production and research of Elderberries in the US+ Elderberry strands native to Missouri+ Juicing and Fasting + Getting educated through documentaries+ The inherent corruption of the mass education system+ Resisting control structures because they're based in fear+ Bill Hicks CNN Bit - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2gzsug+ Nazi Germany origins of America's pharmaceutical empires+ Prescription Opioid use overtakes Tobacco in US - http://www.denverpost.com/2016/09/20/prescription-painkillers-tobacco-study+ Elderberry Wine (not the Elton John song)+ The HUGE disparity between Elderberry production vs. demand in the US+ The vampiric healthcare industry draining our eldersMusic in this Episode: Foni Al Foniyahttps://goo.gl/jW2YXOInnerVerse is sponsored by Wanderwear. Check out www.wanderwearshop.com for epic festie-craft goodies and creations. Use code "INNERVERSE" at checkout for a discount! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dennis Mortensen is the CEO and Founder of X.ai, the artificial intelligence driven personal assistant that lets people schedule meetings using plain English and nothing more than a CC to amy@x.ai. Their female persona Amy is so lifelike that users have asked her on a date at a rate of one request per month! X.ai is now one of the best funded AI startups having raised over $30m from our friends at FirstMark and DCM and a big thanks to Matt Turck for making the intro and from DCM, who also helped us with some of the questions for Dennis! In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Dennis came to found one of the leading AI startups today with X.ai? 2.) Why is product market fit like porn? How does this analogy affect Dennis' evaluation of product market fit? 3.) What are the fundamental features required to turn a single user consumer product into an enterprise product? How should that transition be managed? 4.) Is Dennis concerned by large incumbents making their entrance into the world of more traditional enterprise companies with the likes of GSuite and Facebook for Work? 5.) How did Dennis evaluate the right pricing method for X.ai? What pricing mechanisms did he consider? What does Dennis believe is the future of enterprise pricing? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Dennis' Fave Book: Shoe Dog Dennis' Fave Blog or Newsletter: Azeem Azhar: The Exponential View As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Dennis on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. X.ai is AI-poweredered personal assistant for scheduling meetings bringing you Amy or Andrew. The assistant you interact with like you would to any other person and it allows you to avoid the tedious hours of email ping pong in order to schedule one meeting. Even better, there is no sign in, no password, no download, all you do is cc amy@x.ai beautiful! And you can check it out now on x.ai it really is a must! Workable is the all-in-one recruiting software for ambitious companies. From posting a job to tracking and managing candidates, Workable provides everything you need to hire better. Transparent communication, organized candidate profiles, structured interviews and a full reporting suite gives hiring teams the information they need to make the best choice. Workable is available for desktop and mobile and you can find out more on workable.com where you can try it for free.

Famed radio talk show host, author, and conservative thinker Dennis Prager joins us on the podcast this week. We discuss his views on progressives and The Left, as well as his views on Israel and Jewish leftists. He talks about why he supported Trump in the general election even though he didn’t support him in the primaries. And we finished with what he says people should do to gain wisdom and educate themselves. Show Notes Why Dennis was so happy the night of the election His take of the fight that happened during the election among conservatives Why he thinks The Left is the greatest danger to the United States How he was anti-Trump during the primaries What Trump’s position on Russia really is Why the conservative base is different than Republicans think Where he thinks Trumps stands on Israel Why Dennis thinks so many Jews vote democratic The only time that Dennis has ever raised his voice on his radio show How the media covered the 2016 election How to get more conservatives in Hollywood and academia His relationship with Adam Carolla How to be the next Dennis Prager What we do to gain wisdom, and how it is different than knowledge How Dennis taught himself how to conduct music Why there is too much power in Washington Links Jonah Goldberg Alan Dershowitz episode Michael Oren episode Man’s Search for Meaning DennisPrager.com Prager University

Dennis Mortensen is the CEO and Founder of X.ai, the artificial intelligence driven personal assistant that lets people schedule meetings using plain English and nothing more than a CC to amy@x.ai. Their female persona Amy is so lifelike that users have asked her on a date at a rate of one request per month! X.ai is now one of the best funded AI startups having raised over $30m from our friends at FirstMark and a big thanks to Matt Turck for making the intro and from DCM, who also helped us with some of the questions for Dennis!    In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Dennis came to found X.ai and what the a-ha moment was for him? 2.) What did the training look like for X.ai? How long did it take? How much data did you have to painstakingly annotate? What is more important; data or algorithms? 3.) Many VCs are concerned about large incumbents having proprietary data sets. Does this concern Dennis and what can be done to mitigate this 4.) Question from David Cheg @ DCM: How will AI startups interact with giant corporates also investing heavily in AI research? 5.) How was the fundraising journey for Dennis? How did he approach it strategically? What challenges did he face? How did he go about choosing his investors? Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode:  Dennis’ Fave Book: How To Get Rich by Felix Dennis Dennis’ Fave Blog: Wait But Why As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Dennis on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here!   If you are looking to make your move into the world of VC or improve your investing skills,  Venture Capital Unlocked: Secrets of Silicon Valley Investing is a must! It is a 2 week crash course at Stanford run by Stanford Professional Development Centre and 500 Startups. You will learn the mechanics of all things Silicon Valley investing, check it out here.   The Twenty Minute VC is brought to you by Leesa. Lees is like the TOMS Shoes or Warby Parker of the mattress industry. Here are 3 reasons why they are the best place to get your new mattress: Leesa has done away with the awkward mattress showroom experience by allowing a fully online experience, shipping to your doorstep for free. Their 10 inch mattresses come in all sizes and is crafted with 3 unique layers o foam including2 inches of memory foam and 2 inches of really cool latex like foam design to keep you cool. All Leesa mattresses are made 100% in the US or UK and they give you a 100 night trial, to make sure the mattress is perfect for you. Go to leesa.com/VC and enter promo code VC75 to get $75 off!