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Today on Grow Sessions we navigate the complex waters of legal cannabis with a unique perspective with Carl Giannone and Jesse Pitts, Co-Founders of Trade Roots Cannabis in MA. Their journey begins with Jesse's incarceration for cannabis-related offenses—a pivotal moment that would inspire their commitment to transforming the industry through legitimate means. Tune in for an episode titled “Trade Roots: Redefining Cannabis from the Inside Out” as they recount their experiences with your host, Tony Pavlakis.In an industry marked by over-regulation and ongoing change, their transition from the illicit market to legitimate business provides meaningful perspectives on both the hurdles and possibilities that the industry faces.Join us as they share their unique perspective on:Navigating the transition from illegal to legal cannabis operationsBuilding a successful social equity business in a heavily regulated marketBalancing craft quality with commercial successThe future landscape of cannabis industry regulation and complianceTheir vision for Trade Roots and the broader cannabis marketListen as they share how they're charting a course through uncharted waters, helping define the future of legal cannabis in Massachusetts and beyond.About Trade Roots CannabisJesse Pitts, Co-Founder/CEO After graduating from UMASS Amherst with degrees in Astronomy and Physics, Mr. Pitts continued his business selling cannabis. A bit ahead of his time, in 2006 he got arrested and served 9 months of an 18-month sentence at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility, where upon his release, he founded and ran a successful construction company. In 2012 Jesse co-founded The Center for Alternative Life Medicine - a medical cannabis company that was acquired by New England Treatment Access (NETA). In 2017 Jesse and his partners founded Trade Roots in his hometown of Wareham-- becoming the State's first adult use, vertically integrated social equity operator. Jesse serves on the Board of Directors and is the Company's CEO. Carl Giannone, Co-Founder After graduating without distinction from Lafayette College with degrees in Economics & Business, Carl began his career as an equities trader at Trillium Management in 1999. In 2006 Carl started his own desk, first under Sungard and then T3 Capital Management (2010). By 2014, his desk employed over 100 traders in two offices deploying myriad strategies across a range of asset classes. In 2017 he joined Jesse in helping found Trade Roots- Massachusetts first vertically integrated social equity operator in the cannabis industry. Carl serves as the Board's Chair, and his daily responsibilities include strategy, business development, marketing and brand--specializing in irreverent LNKD content. If you have questions about Trade Roots, please visit their website at www.traderoots.buzz. You can also connect with Jesse at jesse@traderoots.buzz or on Linkedin at www.linkedin.com/in/jesse-pitts-4b560199/. If you'd like to connect with Carl, please email him at carl@traderoots.buzz or on Linkedin at www.linkedin.com/in/carlgiannone.For a video version of Grow Sessions, please visit us on the TSRgrow YouTube Channel. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast to receive upcoming episodes.
Book Besties Season 5, Episode 8: A Flicker in the DarkThis week Nurse Katie fills in while April takes a much needed and deserved break. This week's book is A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham. Listen in as Molly forgets her meds, Katie gives us great medical advice, and Chloe Brown, we are sorry but you can't be our doctor. And remember kids do not drink with Valium.Things talked about in this episode:Casper 1995: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112642/?ref_=ext_shr_lnkCasper Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@beautifuldaybeautybar/video/7289101692258422062Stacy Willingham : https://www.stacywillingham.com/a-flicker-in-the-darkLouisiana Script law: https://www.verywellmind.com/can-psychologists-prescribe-medications-2795756#:~:text=Where%20Can%20Psychologists%20Prescribe%20Medications,Illinois%2C%20Iowa%2C%20and%20Idaho.Drug Rep Movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11816814/?ref_=ext_shr_lnkD.I.D.: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9792-dissociative-identity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorderMidnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/386187.Midnight_in_the_Garden_of_Good_and_EvilMeet Molly and April, they bonded over books and became Book Besties. So, what do you do when you find your book bestie? Start a podcast of course. Hang out with April and Molly as they talk about everything they love and hate about books.
Talking Energy Show by Oilfield Tailgate with Host Matthew Hill and Guest Nathan Watt #oilgas #energy #podcast https://lnkd.in/gVb6avzw Jan 2023 Episode - Meeting Nathan in person finally to experiment with his discovery, NEOSafe™ Sorbent Powder, the best most unique formula, safest, easiest, lightest weight Occupational Safety product ever to clean up petroleum based spills. Learn more at neosafe.eco We have had long talks where he has been a huge support and advocate for me. Our conversations continue here how we hope to make our industry safer and better. He loves Knight Fire Specialists LLC suppression systems and ambitions as well as his own entrepreneurial passions to protect people, the environment, and our industry. Never stop dreaming and inventing ways to help others and combine efforts. If all goes well we can put out a fire and clean up a spill with the same foam or at least now we have two perfect separate products that all operations should have handy. Thanks to all who make oilfieldtailgate.com possible and hope you enjoy talkingenergyshow.com ! Check out the calendar of all the Oklahoma meetings and events to get involved! Thank the sponsors and become one too! Tres Management puts up with us in their office so come by and say hello to Jason Goss and Luke Riggins All fun informative entertaining insightful episodes exploring petroleum, business, sales, engineering, whiskey, cigars, education, history, politics, religion, relationships, mental health, science, math, STEM, technology, data, bitcoin, cryptocurrency, sports, fashion, networking, wind, solar, Fossil fuels, LNG, Upstream, midstream, CNG, hydrocarbons, hydrogen, downstream, respect, purpose, infrastructure, exploration, safety, fire, hse, esg, investing, analytics, music, seismicity, management, law, money, oilfield, frac, geology, research, remediation, stewardship, fracking, Reservoir, farming, agricultural, advertising, work, values, art, entrepreneurship, teamwork, collaboration, privacy, security, capitalism, physics, philanthropy, electricity, refinery, travel, pipelines, war, nature, journalism, kids, children, planning, military, natural resources, food, charity, health, internet, industry, motivation, medicine, humor, diversity, fuel, oil, weather, gas, drilling, ethics, blockchain, automation, intelligence, humanity, survival, hunting, invention, government, globalization, transportation, distribution, fundraising, immigration, completions, guns, weapons, production, facilities, SWD, water, spirituality, manufacturing, construction, imports, trade, workforce, climate, policy, organization, philosophy, earth, environment, parenting, leadership, culture, voting, election, media, retirement, success, marketing, literacy, love, literature, news, democracy, innovation, freedom, prosperity, liberty, America, community, communication, crime, and more.
Arkady Hagopian is an experienced professional in the market intelligence reports space both in industry and academic startup sectors. In this episode of lab to startup, we will talk about what market intelligence reports are; the building blocks of these reports; how startups could build one; mistakes to avoid; how to decide on hiring a firm if you are looking to do so. This is going to be a master class for startups on this subject Shownotes: - What are market intelligence reports? - Breakdown of a typical market report - Good reports and not so good reports - TAM, SOM, SAM - How to size markets? - Rubric for market analysis- Bottom up approach, top down approach, competitor approach - Which method to choose? - Deep dive into competitive analysis - How investors view market reports by entrepreneurs- what to do and not to do? - How founders can avoid developing tunnel vision - KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid) - Who should indulge in market research and build market reports at startups - Market research is not exactly science! - How do truly innovative startups present future markets? - How do you pick boutique market research firms to build a report for you? - Qualifying questions for market research firms - Arkady's LNKD: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arkadyh/
Andrew Hamilton (President of NY Metro Black MBA Charter) - Live Transformation Coaching Session Go to Listen: https://lnkd.in/ePtfRgut Obtain a list of my services: https://charlietransforminglives.wordpress.com Contact Info: 917-524-6129 Email: charlie@transformationpro.net Andrew and I spoke about "Black Empowerment" and the barriers that black and brown people might face as they grow professionally. We break down some of the key areas: Confidence, Empathy, Determination, Lifetime Student Mindset, and always finding ways to build a strong brand for yourself. In addition, we addressed the topic of diversity and inclusion that has been a cross industry initiative. Why is diversity and inclusion still an issue after "affirmation action" was put in place many years? How can this become more about "affirmative respect" as it will cover everyone cross culturally? Finally, Andrew and I discuss some of the programming initiatives that his charter has scheduled. I provided a few simple ideas that can be implemented in the black and brown community. Andrew Hamilton can be reached using the links below: Email is president@nyblackmba.org Website www.nyblackmba.org Upcoming events https://linktr.ee/nyblackmba Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/professional-transformation-coaching/id1591856945 Anchor: https://anchor.fm/charles-williamson35/episodes/How-to-measure-your-success-e19365i Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4bmtl6Qau0FZTKWx7YKwZi?si=7226b9d278d14321 Obtain a list of my services: https://charlietransforminglives.wordpress.com Contact Info: 917-524-6129 Email: charlie@transformationpro.net
Bakes’ Takes Podcast Show Notes Saturday April 10, 2021 :23 1) Cut your losses! 2) Hold your winners! 3) See #1! :33 Why I do this—Bobby, Jack, please listen in. 1:04 ‘87 crash, journey, technical analysis first, fundamentals second, not right or wrong, just works for me. read WSJ, Barron’s Economist, listen to podcasts, devour relevant newsletters, monitor what Google alerts bring. Point you to them, but if you don’t want to do that, please know that I’ll do it for you and I eat home cooking, I have no conflicts. What are your pain points? Problems you’d like solved? Topics I should cover? Thank you. 2:11 Not investment advice. Please conduct, and share, your own due diligence. Bakes’ Take—Fan Mail! Calls! Questions! Mike! 2:25 Jack—FIVG? Did not have in system, now do Fact Sheet T, NOK, zzzz… 4:50 Hey Mr. Bakes - attached is a voice recording for a question I had for you about selling discipline. One thing I wanted to add to this question is about your -15% general rule of thumb. Is it when your investment is down 15% at any point or do you have this discipline for a set amount of time? For example, if your investment is down 15% over 1 month vs 3 months vs a year and if that comes into factor when you evaluate selling a holding to cut losses. Thank you, as always, for your insight! Best, Murph 8:29 -15% Always 9:53 Please connect with me, LNKD, etc. DM, fire away 10:19 Market tells me how long to hold. URNM-Years, I hope 12:02 Sell discipline--RCL 13:48 Mark Cuban, Ethereum 15:08 Watch for “Buffet effect.” 17:20 ETHE—Triangle, looking better, breakout! 80/20? 20:05 Bakes’ Take—5G? not for me for now, cut losses 15%, works, hold your winners 20:21 Please share this with your RH or RR friends, send your other stocks/ideas and I will offer strategy for them as well. Please stay tuned. 20:30 Bakes’ Takes—My Themes/Groups Bakes’ Take-No change 21:06 Bakes’ Take—Podcasts of the Week! https://www.businesscasual.fm/our-economy-needs-workers-to-learn-new-skills/ Bakes’ Take—Check out CareerKarma 22:08 Bakes’ Take—Reporters of the Week! If you’ve been vaccinated, there’s almost no direct safety benefit—to yourself or others—of wearing a mask. If you’re unable to get vaccinated, it’s reasonable to expect others to accept infringements on their freedom as a precaution. Not if you refuse to get vaccinated. Dr. Saphier is a physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, an assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, and author of “Panic Attack.” 24:00 XRT—4% GME, retail will catch a lot of money 24:43 Let me be blunt: Tech stocks are still alarmingly expensive. Sacconaghi counts 366 tech stocks currently meeting the 15-plus sales-multiple criteria, up from 25 in 2017. It’s the highest total since 2000, when a staggering 1,540 traded above 15 times sales. We know what happened to the market after that. 25:50 Bakes’ Take—Stocks are expensive, bull with head on a swivel 26:07 Bakes’ Take—Charts/Tweets/Posts of the Week! 30:36 Bakes’ Take—At extremes, see #1 30:37 Bakes’ Take— Newsletters of the Week Bear Traps Report 34:34 Bakes’ Take—Like copper, biotech not so much 34:39 Please also subscribe to my Bakes’ Takes YouTube Channel, the audio is the same but the charts that I reference are on the screen. Follow us on Twitter @BakesTakes_ and other social media. Please, please use your voice memo app, tape your question(s) and email to bakes@bakestakespodcast.com or write if you prefer. I will also keep you anonymous is you’d like. Thank you for listening, Mike Wilson is my producer. Have a great week. Bakes Much needed levity… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKgIp2rPwNI 35:08 Heavy Metal Baby covers Metallica—Enter Sandman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOLlfPPTld0 35:29 The Funniest Roasts & Comebacks by Comedians—Jay Leno, Louis CK, Bill Burr, others
This episode we sit down with Mike Morris, Physical Education Teacher at Baskerville Elementary School & Red Oak Elementary School in Rocky Mountain North Carolina, OPEN National Trainer, and creator of the Mike Morris Fitness Challenge, Thanks for listening! Find Mike online: mikemorrisPE.com; @mikemorrispe; OPEN PhysEd Follow the show on instagram: @wishidknownpod; email us: wishidknownpod@gmail.com follow & connect with our hosts: Jack (@a_healthypour, LNKD); Joey (@jgartnerlaw, LNKD)
This episode we sit down with Lisa Vandesteeg, CIPP, Partner & Chair of the Litigation Practice Group at Sugar Felsenthal Grais & Helsinger LLP in Chicago. Thanks for listening! Find Lisa and SFGH online. Follow the show on instagram: @wishidknownpod; email us: wishidknownpod@gmail.com follow & connect with our hosts: Jack (@a_healthypour, LNKD); Joey (@jgartnerlaw, LNKD)
This episode we sit down with Mike Schallau, Founder and Owner of is/was brewing in Chicago. Thanks for listening! Find is/was on instagram. Vote for is/was for Best New Brewery on USAToday! Follow the show on instagram: @wishidknownpod; email us: wishidknownpod@gmail.com follow & connect with our hosts: Jack (@a_healthypour, LNKD); Joey (@jgartnerlaw, LNKD)
This episode we sit down with Chris Quinn, Founder and Owner of the Beer Temple in Chicago. Thanks for listening! Find the Beer Temple at 3173 N Elston Ave, Chicago IL 60618 and online at craftbeertemple.com. Find Chris elsewhere on his podcast, the Beer Temple Insiders Roundtable, and at Craft Distro. Follow the show on instagram: @wishidknownpod; email us: wishidknownpod@gmail.com follow & connect with our hosts: Jack (@a_healthypour, LNKD); Joey (@jgartnerlaw, LNKD)
This episode we sit down with Garrett McGuire, Senior Brand Manager for CAT Footwear. Thanks for listening! Follow & find Garrett online: @gjmcguire Follow the show on instagram: @wishidknownpod; email us: wishidknownpod@gmail.com follow & connect with our hosts: Jack (@a_healthypour, LNKD); Joey (@jgartnerlaw, LNKD)
This episode we sit down with Josh Meyer, Founder and President of Got IT Digital Media in Chicago. Thanks for listening! Find Got IT online: gotitdigital.com Follow the show on instagram: @wishidknownpod; email us: wishidknownpod@gmail.com follow & connect with our hosts: Jack (@a_healthypour, LNKD); Joey (@jgartnerlaw, LNKD)
This episode we sit down with Doug Veliky, CFO & Head of Communications for Revolution Brewing in Chicago. Thanks for listening! Follow & find Doug online: @beeraficianado; beercrunchers blog Follow the show on instagram: @wishidknownpod; email us: wishidknownpod@gmail.com follow & connect with our hosts: Jack (@a_healthypour, LNKD); Joey (@jgartnerlaw, LNKD)
This episode we sit down with Whitney Hutchinson of Borkan & Scahill Ltd. Thanks for listening! Follow the show on instagram: @wishidknownpod; email us: wishidknownpod@gmail.com follow & connect with our hosts: Jack (@a_healthypour, LNKD); Joey (@jgartnerlaw, LNKD)
Good Morning Onward Nation – I’m Stephen Woessner and welcome to Episode 715 – this week’s solocast. I am excited about you and I will cover today because it addresses a gaping hole that exists inside most businesses. And that hole is the lack of qualified leads flowing into a the sales pipeline -- or -- potentially the lack of a sales pipeline altogether. Here’s the most recent data…of the 28 million small business owners in this country – over 43 percent of them cite “growing revenue” as being their top challenge in their company. That is over 12 million business owners in this country, Onward Nation. And yes, the challenge to grow revenue can be complex – there can be a myriad of factors or obstacles in the way. But, in my over 20+ years of experience in owning five different companies – and having interviewed over 700 of today’s top business owners – I will say that the inability to generate leads – or to generate high quality leads that consistently flow into a well-defined sales pipeline represents the most significant challenge to building a scaling a business. So that is going to be where we spend our time together today. We will focus on how to effectively use LinkedIn to fill your sales pipeline like a pro. Today’s lesson will provide you with the tools, resources, and the step-by-step you and your team can take and apply right away to begin building momentum with your lead gen. Before we dig into the tactical step-by-step…I want to first make ensure that we level set around mindset. Here’s what I mean. Generating leads is not hard work. In fact…it is straightforward and very little tech…especially when you have the right recipe to follow. But…just because the work is simple does not mean it is easy. In fact, I can almost guarantee that you will be frustrated at the beginning, you may even pound your fist on your desk and wonder why the results are not better, and you may get upset at your sales team for their lack of productivity. I am sharing this with you so that when it does happen – instead of getting frustrated and thinking that success will always elude you – I want to you to say to yourself, “Ah, Stephen said that I would think this right.” And then push forward. Because pushing forward, whether we are talking about generating leads, or pursuing your life’s passion, is what it takes to be successful. As Vince Lombardi once famously said, “The man at the top of the mountain didn’t fall there.” But, if you remain focused on continuous improvement – refining your recipe — you will be successful. This is a long haul – it requires data collection – testing – adjusting – testing again – scaling – making mistakes – testing again. So let’s dig into the recipe and all of the ingredients. First…some quick words as to why I love LinkedIn as much as I do, and why in my opinion, it should be the cornerstone of your lead gen strategy. There are approximately 500 million LinkedIn members — yes, 500 million. Hugely valuable community. Next…want to guess the average number of LinkedIn connections for a CEO? Interesting. Why? Because if 933 is the average — some are higher — some are lower — but you tend not to get 933 connections by accident — you work at it — so if someone has 933 connections — it is likely intentional. Meaning, LinkedIn is a platform that he or she values — and a place where they spend time — that that is great news for you. And yes, you should be reaching out to the CEO — the top decision maker at your prospect client — but that can be a topic for a completely different solocast. Okay, next…some additional insight into why you should care about LinkedIn…27 percent of all members are between the ages of 30 and 49…and another 24 percent are 50 to 64 years old…and 13 percent are over the age of 65. So to say that another way…over 64 percent of LinkedIn members are over the age of 30…and 38 percent of total members earn $75,000 or more per year. Bottom line…there are 433 million people on LinkedIn…64 percent of them are over the age of 30…and 38 percent earn more than $75,000 per year…with the average CEO having 933 connections on the platform. All of that speaks well to your opportunity of finding and connecting with the prospects who can accelerate you biz dev, Onward Nation. So let’s press forward by reviewing the seven ingredients within our recipe. Our recipe for how to effectively use LinkedIn to fill your sales pipeline consists of seven core ingredients, and they are: Ingredient #1: Improve your LinkedIn profile by adding video / audio clips, value proposition, etc. to the Summary. Again — we will get tactical here in just a minute — and I will give you tangible visual examples within today’s Show Notes for each ingredient. Ingredient #2: Import your existing email list in LinkedIn and send connection requests. Ingredient #3: Export your LinkedIn connection list and import into your client’s email list. Ingredient #4: Personalized thank you message sent to each new connection Ingredient #5: Build your prospect list using LinkedIn’s Advanced People Search tool. Ingredient #6: Send InMail messages to your top prospects — and be sure to speak the language of your “client avatar.” Ingredient #7: Create and send consistent nurturing email campaigns with exclusive content just for your LNKD connections so they feel valued to be part of your growing community. Okay, now that the high-level view of the forest is complete — let’s dive in and go tree-by-tree so you can see all of the tactical ingredients of this recipe. Ingredient #1 is all about getting ensuring that your LinkedIn profile is not just good — but that it is excellent. Why does this matter? Because when you send InMail messages as part of Ingredient #6…the very first place your recipients — your prospective clients will go to learn more about you — is your LinkedIn profile. And if it is sparsely populated with value propositions, your connections count is low, you haven’t taken the time to include a quality profile picture, you have zero recommendations, etc. — then it looks like you don’t care — and they won’t respond to you. Maybe your InMail was just spam — you are ignored — and they move on. Or, if you have taken the time to include audio and video clips, Slide Shares of recent presentations you delivered, links to articles you have written recently, blog posts, recommendations from current clients — it not only takes advantage of all the profile building tools that LinkedIn provides you — but — you also visually demonstrate your thought leaderships and expertise to your prospective clients — and that is a very good thing. Now when they receive your InMail message as part of Ingredient #6 — they move from skeptical questions like “Why did she send me this?” to “Oh, interesting…they would like to talk with me? Awesome.” Think of your LinkedIn profile as your personal landing page and it needs to be excellent — just like everything else in your business. If you would like a tangible example — check out what my team has built for me on LinkedIn…look me up…send me a connection request…and you will see illustrations of each step I just shared with you. Let’s move on to Ingredient #2 — import your existing email list into LinkedIn and send connection requests. To make sure we are on the same page here — I am talking about taking your email list — the list you communicate with often — consisting of customers, prospects, maybe even vendors — people with whom you have a relationship — and then uploading that list into your LinkedIn account and inviting them to connect with you on LinkedIn. But why? First…when you increase your number of LinkedIn connections — your network and credibility grows. Instead of having several hundred connections — you move to several thousand. And the next time a prospective client checks out your LinkedIn profile — they may see the number — and be impressed. Second…your number of 1st-degree connections in LinkedIn impacts the number of prospects you will be able to see during Ingredient #5 of this process — when you use LinkedIn’s Advanced People Search. To cement this into place — let’s quickly review what LinkedIn defines as 1st degree, 2nd degree, and 3rd-degree connections. A 1st-degree connection on LinkedIn is — let’s say you are listening to this solocast — you like what you hear — and decide to send me a connection request on LinkedIn — and by the way — you should totally do that — anyway — when I receive the request — I personally accept it. And so you and I become 1st-degree connections. Now, here’s what’s interesting. My nearly 24,000 1st degree connections instantly become your 2nd-degree connections. And all of my 2nd-degree connections become your 3rd-degree connections. Again, why is that important? Well, back to my connections…my nearly 24,000 1st connections extrapolates out to a total network of over 20 million people when considering 1st degree, 2nd degree, and 3rd-degree connections. That means…I can search through a huge number of people during Ingredient #5 in finding our ideal prospects we might want to reach out to. So, Onward Nation, building your number of 1st-degree connections is essential to your success on LinkedIn — and uploading your email list and sending out connection requests is a quick and easy way to boost your connection count — and the size of your network — with a couple mouse clicks. Very powerful. Here’s how you complete the step. Click your “My Network” on the left side of the menu and then you should see an option on the right side of the screen to import your contacts. Then click “Add Contacts” and you will see a screen with options to connect LinkedIn with your email service Definitely do that — as well as the option to upload your email list and send out a massive number of connection requests all at one a couple of clicks. In the testing that we have done here at Predictive ROI over the years -- is that about 30% of your recipients will accept your mass connection request within the first 72-hours. So this is an efficient way for you to boost your number of 1st degree connections -- nearly immediately. Moving on to Ingredient #3: You should export your LinkedIn connection list and import into client’s email list. This might seem a bit backwards after you just uploaded your email list into LinkedIn — why am I now recommending that you reverse the process and export the list back out and import it into your email list? A couple of reasons: First…LinkedIn is the only social media platform that gives you the ability to export the contact and profile details of your connections — and that is just plain awesome! Second…the email address someone used when getting onto your email address may be different than the email address they use within a professional community like LinkedIn — so you should have both inside your email list. This gives you the ability to cross-pollinate — ensure your high-quality email content that you will be sending (ahem — only high-quality content here, Onward Nation) — will be able to reach them via LinkedIn posts — as well as via email. And third…there may be some hundreds of people who connect with you via LinkedIn — and not know how to signup for your email list. No problem…if you are importing and exporting on a consistent basis…you will solve that problem to ensure you are fully covered. Okay, onto Ingredient #4. Do you feel the momentum starting to build, Onward Nation? You just beefed up your profile so it is ready to be checked out by the highly targeted prospects who will soon be coming your way. And then you expanded the size of your network so you have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or maybe even millions of people you can sort through to find the right prospects. Rock solid awesome! With ingredient #4…I recommend that you send a personalized thank you message to each new connection — and — that the message includes something of value — and — it is a personal message. Not one of those automated messages that feels like a heavy-handed sales pitch as soon as you connected with someone. Ugh — those are awful and I tend to remove someone as a connection as soon as I receive one because I feel as though I got duped into a sales pitch. Yack. We will not be doing that with Ingredient #4. No...instead I recommend you send something personal — a warm hello and thank you — some personalized context so he or she knew that the message was just for them and then a link to the video. Now, here is a little scaling secret, Onward Nation — you — you personally — do not need to be the one who sends each of these messages. You can and should delegate this to a member of your team — maybe even an unpaid intern on your team — and my team at Predictive ROI has been blessed to have worked with 24 rock star interns who were assigned this project as well as other front line — forward facing activities. And if you’re thinking “unpaid interns — he is out of his mind — there’s no way we could recruit unpaid interns in this market.” Let me just say…we have worked with interns who were students at Duke University, Ohio State, Purdue University, University of Northern Iowa…and many other schools around the country — all unpaid. If you want our recruiting recipe — go take a listen to Episode 137 — because I share all of the step-by-step of how we do it in full transparency. Okay, back to lead gen and Ingredient #5: How to build your prospect list using LinkedIn’s advanced search tools. With these tools, you will be able to search through your entire network of connections using several powerful filters, such as: Keywords First Name Last Name Title Company Name Location — or mile radius from your office or location And then you can take it deeper and make your searches more refined by including your prospect’s years of experience, their function within their particular company, seniority level, what they are interested in, company size, and so forth. And if you are looking to upgrade to a premium membership -- I am a big fan of LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator because of the additional granularity in data that can be pulled as well as how leads can be categorized and some of the reporting actions or reminders you can put into place. Sales Navigator is not a CRM but it is definitely getting closer to that. Okay, by taking the time to get specific about your prospect — you leverage LinkedIn’s database — to deliver back to you a list of prospects who match your criteria and you eliminate the time wasting of sending direct mail to a purchased list and hoping for a better result outcome than the last campaign. So let’s say that in your first attempt — LinkedIn returns a list of 100 people. You can then click on the profiles of each person (see — Ingredient #1 is really important) and from their profile — you can better determine if he or she is a good fit for your lead gen efforts. If yes, add the person and their details to an Excel or Google Sheet so you can keep a running list of who you have reached out to. I get it -- this is tedious work — I completely understand — but — it is also where the rubber meets the road in the success of your business and it will fill your sales pipeline. Okay, so if you have worked you way through all of the ingredients, you will have built a solid profile — you expanded your LinkedIn network by leveraging your email list — and being smart — to also reverse the process and cross-pollinate your connections back into your email list…and now…you have mastered LinkedIn’s search tools with the resulting outcome being — a highly targeted prospect list — perhaps the most targeted list you and your sales team have ever had. Now what? Ingredient #6 is next. Crafting your InMail message and sending it to each of the people on the list you just created. There are seven sub-ingredients, if you will, that make up the InMail message…and they are: Include the first name of the recipient in subject line Your first 255 critical characters need to be awesome Speak to your “Avatar” Include credibility indicator(s) Include a client testimonial Include a call-to-action – reason for your prospect to reply to your message Include your email signature Here is an actual InMail message — a template — you can use to create your own. Please use it. My team at Predictive ROI has sent thousands and thousands and thousands of InMail messages on behalf of our client’s lead gen efforts — as well as for our biz dev — and the template we included in today’s Show Notes is the resulting outcome of all that testing and hard work. You will dramatically shorten your learning curve by using the template. One last point about the InMail and the template you will see in the Show Notes — there is a reference to “speaking to your client avatar.” And yes, we have a recipe for that, too. If you go to Episode 208, I explain in full detail how to identify your client avatar — how to speak directly to him or her — and how to deliver value in the process. Having and mastering this knowledge is a must in writing effective InMails. And now we have arrived at our final ingredient…Ingredient #7…creating and sending consistent lead nurturing content to LinkedIn connections. When you export your LinkedIn connection data — and then import into your CRM like InfusionSoft, etc. be sure to add the emails to a special list tagged as “LinkedIn Connections” or something else that lets you know these email addresses are super special. This list represents your MVPs and your goal should be to create content just for them — exclusive — and then share it with them — letting them know it was created just for them — and that your connection means something to you — your connection is important — that you value their opinions — that you want to hear from them and how you can do better — and that you share your insights and expertise along the way in such a context that you are providing value that can be incorporated into their business straight away. So that when you do reach out to them to explore the potential of a business relationship — you are not reaching out to a stranger with a cold call — you are reaching out to someone who already knows you, already likes you, and may already trust you because you offered tremendous value first — and that is an awesome way to begin a business relationship. Before we close out for today…I’d like to leave you with a couple of important thoughts. Now that you have learned the recipe – and have seen the typical result outcomes – there are two questions you and your team need to answer. First…how will we take immediate action based on what you learned here today? How will you apply it right away to fill your pipeline? And that leads to the ultimate question. Are you committed…or are you just interested in having a steady stream of well-prepared prospects flowing into your sales pipeline? Being committed means knowing exactly how much new business you are seeking, from what sources, and having a strategy in place to fill the pipeline to get it. Let me share a quick story about Coach Nick Saban from the University of Alabama – who, in my opinion, represents the epitome of being committed. Alabama is consistently one of the top-ranked teams in college football each year. They were the 2015 National Champions and won the title again at the close of the 2017 season. Coach Saban’s reputation is one of precise detail and process. And once he uncovers a “recipe” for success…he uses it over and over again. But he also freely shares his secrets without fear that his competitors will be able to duplicate his results. How is this possible? Case in point…my good friend, mentor, and three-time guest on Onward Nation, Don Yaeger, interviewed Coach Saban as they considered writing a book together. During one of Don’s visits with Coach, he asked if there was a secret formula or recipe that gave Saban an edge to recruiting the best talent out of high school year-after-year. Coach told Don that his recipe is simple. He committed himself to watching every single play that any of their 85 scholarship athletes every played while in high school. Every play…so he could evaluate talent, effort, and other qualities. Let’s just think about the magnitude of that for a minute. Alabama has 85 scholarship athletes…who likely played at least 2-years of high school football…at 10 games per year in high school…and many high school players play both offense and defense during a game, so let’s call it 100 plays per game. All totaled, Coach Saban watches film on 170,000 plays to make his recruiting decisions. It is an overwhelming number, right? How could anyone do that? But Coach Saban does. And the resulting outcome is that Alabama is consistently the best on the field each year. So Don asked him, “Coach…aren’t you worried that if we put your secret recipe into this book that people will steal it from you?” And Saban looked at Don and said, “Nope…not worried at all. Because no one is going to be willing to put in the same amount of effort that I am willing to commit to our success.” So my hope is that you don’t leave this solocast thinking – yeah, I knew LinkedIn could do that. My challenge to you is…but is your business doing it? And as Tony Robbins says…“A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.” So I hope you will decide to put this sales pipeline-building recipe into action and then please drop me a line and let me know about your success. So with that said, Onward Nation… I want to say again, thank you for taking the time to be here with me today. It is an honor to have you here — thank you for tuning in — your time is sacred and I am delighted you chose this episode to be what you listen to, study, and take with you on your morning run, or maybe Onward Nation has become part of your daily commute, or in some other way has become part of your morning routine. However our daily podcast fits into your daily routine — I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today’s top business owners. I look forward to being back with you again tomorrow as we spend time learning from another one of today’s top business owners. But until then -- onward with gusto!
Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media. Good Morning Onward Nation – I’m Stephen Woessner and welcome to Episode 455 – this week’s solocast. I am excited about the lesson that I prepared for our time together because it addresses the gaping hole that exists inside most businesses. I have been talking about it for a while now and the hole is the lack of qualified leads flowing into a business owner’s sales pipeline for his or her company. Here’s the most recent data…of the 28 million small business owners in this country – over 43 percent of them cite “growing revenue” as being their top challenge in their company. That is over 12 million business owners. And yes, the challenge in growing revenue can be complex – it can certainly be impacted by value proposition – perhaps a business is trying to solve a problem that doesn’t actually exist. Or, perhaps their pricing is off. There could be a myriad of factors or obstacles in the way of a business owner’s ability to grow revenue. But, in my over 20+ years of experience in owning five companies – and having interviewed over 450 of today’s top business owners for Onward Nation – I will say that the ability to generate leads – and – to generate leads at such consistency that a steady stream of well-prepared prospects flow into a business owner’s pipeline – represents the most significant challenge. So that is going to be where we spend our time together today. We will focus on how to use LinkedIn to fill your sales pipeline like a pro. Today’s lesson will provide you with the tools, resources, and step-by-step you and your team need in order to begin using LinkedIn to fill your sales pipeline like a pro. And if you want to take the process even deeper, I encourage you to register for the web workshop I am teaching tomorrow called the 4-Steps to Filling Your Sales Pipeline. Just go to OnwardNation.com/webinar for the details. That’s OnwardNation.com/webinar. Rest assured — I know you are busy. I will respect your time by delivering a workshop packed full of real, actionable strategies, that when followed, will fill your sales pipeline in 30-days or less. I look forward to seeing you there. Okay, let’s bring our focus back to today’s lesson…how to use LinkedIn like a pro so you and your team can generate a steady stream of well-prepared prospects, grow revenue, and scale your business. Before we dig into the tactical step-by-step…I want to first make ensure that we get your mindset right. Generating leads is not hard work…in fact…is it simple work…especially when you have the right recipe to follow, which I am going to share with you in full transparency in this solocast. But…just because the work is simple does not mean it is easy. In fact, I can almost guarantee that you will be frustrated at the beginning, you may even pound your first on your conference room table and wonder why the results are not better, and you may get upset at your sales team for their lack of results. All of this will most likely happen…initially. I am sharing this with you so that when it does happen – instead of getting frustrated and thinking that success will always elude you – I want to you to say to yourself, “Ah, Stephen said that I would think this right.” And then push forward. Because pushing forward, whether we are talking about generating leads, or pursuing your life’s passion, is what it takes to be successful. As Vince Lombardi once famously said, “The man at the top of the mountain didn’t fall there.” In fact, let’s think about the path of one of the most successful Hollywood actors of all time, Sylvester Stallone. I learned this story from Tony Robbins. Stallone knocked on the doors of 1,500 talent agents in New York City and many of them multiple times. And each time, Stallone was rejected, made fun of, and utterly ridiculed when he was thrown out of their offices. But he didn’t give up. He knew his goal – he knew his destiny. He didn’t send out one direct mail letter or email campaign – receive zero results – and then thought – “Well, the market doesn’t want me so I guess I will try something new.” NO! He was committed to what he wanted so he continued to adjust his presentation…he adjusted his offering…and focused on delivering even more value to the market. And ultimately…that led to him delivering a huge amount of value in the form of the script of “Rocky”. And then – Stallone “Made it.” He appeared on the silver screen in the starring role as what seemed to be an overnight success. But that couldn’t be further from the truth, Onward Nation. He had gritted it out for years and years and stood fast in the face of brutal and cruel rejections, in being dirt broke, and having to sell his dog just to buy some food. But he didn’t quit – he kept getting up – to take another swing. You need to continue taking your at-bats because if you don’t…you may very well miss your golden opportunity for success. Case in point…let’s take a look at Derek Jeter…arguably the greatest New York Yankee to ever wear the pinstripes. Jeter is a lock to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer with his long list of impressive accomplishments including five World Series Championship rings. But…what most people don’t know about Derek Jeter is that of all players in Major League Baseball history, he is number 12 on the list of total strikeouts. So to say that another way…there have only been 11 people in the history of baseball who struck out more often than Derek Jeter. In fact, Jeter struck out 1,840 times during his 20-year career. So in baseball terms, Jeter failed 1,840 times – but yet – he continued to get up there – to take another at-bat – to keep on swinging. And through it all – he recorded 3,461 hits, which is 6th all time and he finished 11 of his 20 seasons with a batting average of 300 or better. A Hall of Fame resume to be sure. But he never got up to the plate – struck out – and then headed back to the dugout and said, “Well, I guess I don’t have what it takes to play ball after all. Thanks for having me Skipper, but I am hanging up my cleats after that at-bat.” The stories of Stallone and Jeter are perfect illustrations of how important it is to remain focused on the long-term – the long play – the end game – and getting better every single day so you continue to deliver more and more value — whether that value is delivered on the silver screen, the ball diamond, or in your marketplace as a business owner. If the market rejects you – celebrate it – because that feedback is priceless. Then be smart and use it – learn from it – apply it – get better – and take another at-bat. Onward Nation, if you remain focused on continuous improvement – you will be successful in implementing the lessons I have prepared for you in this solocast. This is a long haul – it requires data collection – testing – adjusting – testing again – scaling – making mistakes – testing again. But, if you stick with it…you grow and scale your business in such a way that your competitors will wonder what your secret recipe is. And how will that change the game for you? It’s exciting to think about. No doubt it’s substantial. I believe the great Archimedes had it right when he so wisely said… “Give me a lever long enough, and a prop strong enough, and I can single-handedly move the world. So, what will your lever and prop be, Onward Nation? You guessed it…chocolate cake. I know – chocolate cake sounds silly, right? But let me explain why this metaphor makes so much sense. Let’s say that I happen to make the world’s best chocolate cake. The absolute best. And I have spent the last 20 years perfecting my process. And then you come along and ask me to teach you how to make my cake – the same cake – the one that took me 20 years to master! How could this be possible? You, Onward Nation, may not have spent the same 20 years perfecting your baking skills. How could someone other than me even come close to duplicating my chocolate cake? What would I need to give you to prepare you – that could ensure your success? For one…I would need to give you my recipe, right? Because with my recipe, you can see my full process. You can see the strategy behind the chocolate cake. With the recipe, you begin to get the overall picture of what needs to happen. But, what else? What else do you need beyond the recipe? Yep, you need the actual ingredients! With both the ingredients and the recipe, you now know how to put all of those things together – in the right order – in the right amounts – at the right time – and how long to bake the cake and at the right temperature. And if you follow the recipe – and if I didn’t accidentally leave anything out of the recipe card that I gave you – you now have the ability to duplicate my success. In fact, duplicating my success becomes easy – IF – you are willing to make the EFFORT. So here’s the key…with the right recipe, you are able to compress the process of learning 20 years of my knowledge down into the audio of this solocast. Learning and then compressing the outcomes into a shorter time period is one of the powerful benefits to getting the right training and aligning your business with the right mentors. So let’s dig into the recipe. First…some quick words as to why we love LinkedIn as much as we do…and why it should be the cornerstone of your lead gen strategy. There are approximately 433 million LinkedIn members — yes, 433 million. Hugely valuable community — just ask Microsoft — they agree since they acquired LinkedIn for $26 billion in an all-cash deal. Next…want to guess the average number of LinkedIn connections for a CEO? 933. Interesting. Why? Because if 933 is the average — some are higher — some are lower — but you tend not to get 933 connections by accident — you work at it — so if someone has 933 connections — it is likely intentional. Meaning, LinkedIn is a platform that he or she values — and a place where they spend time — that that is great news for you. And yes, you should be reaching out to the CEO — the top decision maker at your prospect client — but that can be a topic for a completely different solocast. Okay, next…some additional insight into why you should care about LinkedIn…27 percent of all members are between the ages of 30 and 49…and another 24 percent are 50 to 64 years old…and 13 percent are over the age of 65. So to say that another way…over 64 percent of LinkedIn members are over the age of 30…and 38 percent of total members earn $75,000 or more per year. Bottom line…there are 433 million people on LinkedIn…64 percent of them are over the age of 30…and 38 percent earn more than $75,000 per year…with the average CEO having 933 connections on the platform. All of that speaks well to your opportunity of finding and connecting with the prospects who can accelerate you biz dev, Onward Nation. So let’s press forward by reviewing the seven ingredients within our recipe. Our recipe consists of seven core ingredients, and they are: Ingredient #1: Improve your LinkedIn profile by adding video / audio clips, value proposition, etc. to the Summary. Again — we will get tactical here in just a minute — and I will give you tangible visual examples within today’s Show Notes for each ingredient. Ingredient #2: Import your existing email list in LinkedIn and send connection requests. Ingredient #3: Export your LinkedIn connection list and import into your client’s email list. Ingredient #4: Personalized thank you message sent to each new connection Ingredient #5: Build your prospect list using LinkedIn’s Advanced People Search tool. Ingredient #6: Send InMail messages to your top prospects — and be sure to speak the language of your “client avatar.” Ingredient #7: Create and send consistent nurturing email campaigns with exclusive content just for your LNKD connections so they feel valued to be part of your growing community. Okay, now that the high-level view of the forest is complete — let’s dive in and go tree-by-tree so you can see all of the tactical ingredients of this recipe. Ingredient #1 is all about getting ensuring that your LinkedIn profile is not just good — but that it is excellent. Why does this matter? Because when you send InMail messages as part of Ingredient #6…the very first place your recipients — your prospective clients will go to learn more about you — is your LinkedIn profile. And if it is sparsely populated with value propositions, your connections count is low, you haven’t taken the time to include a quality profile picture, you have zero recommendations, etc. — then it looks like you don’t care — and they won’t respond to you. Maybe your InMail was just spam — you are ignored — and they move on. Or, if you have taken the time to include audio and video clips, Slide Shares of recent presentations you delivered, links to articles you have written recently, blog posts, recommendations from current clients — it not only takes advantage of all the profile building tools that LinkedIn provides you — but — you also visually demonstrate your thought leaderships and expertise to your prospective clients — and that is a very good thing. Now when they receive your InMail message as part of Ingredient #6 — they move from skeptical questions like “Why did she send me this?” to “Oh, interesting…they would like to talk with me? Awesome.” Think of your LinkedIn profile as your personal landing page and it needs to be excellent — just like everything else in your business. If you would like a tangible example — check out what my team has built for me on LinkedIn…look me up…send me a connection request…and you will see illustrations of each step I just shared with you. Let’s move on to Ingredient #2 — import your existing email list into LinkedIn and send connection requests. To make sure we are on the same page here — I am talking about taking your email list — the list you communicate with often — consisting of customers, prospects, maybe even vendors — people with whom you have a relationship — and then uploading that list into your LinkedIn account and inviting them to connect with you on LinkedIn. But why? First…when you increase your number of LinkedIn connections — your network and credibility grows. Instead of having several hundred connections — you move to several thousand. And the next time a prospective client checks out your LinkedIn profile — they may see the number — and be impressed. Second…your number of 1st-degree connections in LinkedIn impacts the number of prospects you will be able to see during Ingredient #5 of this process — when you use LinkedIn’s Advanced People Search. To cement this into place — let’s quickly review what LinkedIn defines as 1st degree, 2nd degree, and 3rd-degree connections. A 1st-degree connection on LinkedIn is — let’s say you are listening to this solocast — you like what you hear — and decide to send me a connection request on LinkedIn — and by the way — you should totally do that — anyway — when I receive the request — I personally accept it. And so you and I become 1st-degree connections. Now, here’s what’s interesting. My nearly 4,000 1st degree connections instantly become your 2nd-degree connections. And all of my 2nd-degree connections become your 3rd-degree connections. Again, why is that important? Well, back to my connections…my nearly 6,000 1st connections extrapolates out to a total network of 20 million people when considering 1st degree, 2nd degree, and 3rd-degree connections. That means…I can search through a huge number of people during Ingredient #5 in finding our ideal prospects we might want to reach out to. So, Onward Nation, building your number of 1st-degree connections is essential to your success on LinkedIn — and uploading your email list and sending out connection requests is a quick and easy way to boost your connection count — and the size of your network — with a couple mouse clicks. Very powerful. Here’s how you complete the step. Roll your mouse over the “My Network” section of the LinkedIn menu…and then the option “Add Contacts” will appear. Then click “Add Contacts” and you will see a screen with options to connect LinkedIn with your email service — definitely do that — as well as the option to upload your email list and send out a massive number of connection requests all at one a couple of clicks. Moving on to Ingredient #3: You should export your LinkedIn connection list and import into client’s email list. This might seem a bit backwards after you just uploaded your email list into LinkedIn — why am I now recommending that you reverse the process and export the list back out and import it into your email list? A couple of reasons: First…LinkedIn is the only social media platform that gives you the ability to export the contact and profile details of your connections — and that is just plain awesome! Second…the email address someone used when getting onto your email address may be different than the email address they use within a professional community like LinkedIn — so you should have both inside your email list. This gives you the ability to cross-pollinate — ensure your high-quality email content that you will be sending (ahem — only high-quality content here, Onward Nation) — will be able to reach them via LinkedIn posts — as well as via email. And third…there may be some hundreds of people who connect with you via LinkedIn — and not know how to signup for your email list. No problem…if you are importing and exporting on a consistent basis…you will solve that problem to ensure you are fully covered. Okay, onto Ingredient #4. Do you feel the momentum starting to build, Onward Nation? You just beefed up your profile so it is ready to be checked out by the highly targeted prospects who will soon be coming your way. And then you expanded the size of your network so you have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or maybe even millions of people you can sort through to find the right prospects. Rock solid awesome! With ingredient #4…I recommend that you send a personalized thank you message to each new connection — and — that the message includes something of value — and — it is a personal message. Not one of those automated messages that feels like a heavy-handed sales pitch as soon as you connected with someone. Ugh — those are awful and I tend to remove someone as a connection as soon as I receive one because I feel as though I got duped into a sales pitch. Yack. We will not be doing that with Ingredient #4. Here are several examples of thank you notes my Predictive ROI team used following the interview I did with Gary Vaynerchuk — our guest for Episode 42 of Onward Nation. When someone connected with me on LinkedIn, I sent a personal thank you message to my new connection — with a warm hello and thank you — some personalized context so he or she knew that the message was just for them and then a link to the video. Now, here is a little scaling secret, Onward Nation — you — you personally — do not need to be the one who sends each of these messages. You can and should delegate this to a member of your team — maybe even an unpaid intern on your team — and my team at Predictive ROI has been blessed to have worked with 24 rock star interns who were assigned this project as well as other front line — forward facing activities. And if you’re thinking “unpaid interns — he is out of his mind — there’s no way we could recruit unpaid interns in this market.” Let me just say…we have worked with interns who were students at Duke University, Ohio State, Purdue University, University of Northern Iowa…and many other schools around the country — all unpaid. If you want our recruiting recipe — go take a listen to Episode 137 — because I share all of the step-by-step of how we do it in full transparency. Okay, back to lead gen and Ingredient #5: How to build your prospect list using LinkedIn’s Advanced People Search tool. From within this powerful tool…you will be able to search through your entire network of connections using several powerful filters, such as: Keywords First Name Last Name Title Company Name Location — or mile radius from your office or location And then you can take it deeper and make your searches more refined by including your prospect’s years of experience, their function within their particular company, seniority level, what they are interested in, company size, and so forth. By taking the time to get specific about your prospect — you leverage LinkedIn’s database — to deliver back to you a list of prospects who match your criteria and you eliminate the time wasting of sending direct mail to a purchased list and hoping for a better result outcome than the last campaign. So let’s say that in your first attempt — LinkedIn returns a list of 100 people. You can then click on the profiles of each person (see — Ingredient #1 is really important) and from their profile — you can better determine if he or she is a good fit for your lead gen efforts. If yes, add the person and their details to an Excel or Google Sheet so you can keep a running list of who you have reached out to…and no…LinkedIn does not offer any sort of automated CRM functionality. This is tedious work — I get it — I completely understand — but — it is also where the rubber meets the road in the success of your business and it will fill your sales pipeline. Okay, so I’m going to assume you did all of the work you needed to do up to this point. You have built a solid profile — you expanded your LinkedIn network by leveraging your email list — and being smart — to also reverse the process and cross-pollinate your connections back into your email list…and now…you have mastered the Advanced People Search tool with the resulting outcome being — a highly targeted prospect list — perhaps the most targeted list you and your sales team have ever had. Now what? Ingredient #6 is next. Crafting your InMail message and sending it to each of the people on the list you just created. There are seven sub-ingredients, if you will, that make up the InMail message…and they are: Include the first name of the recipient in subject line Your first 255 critical characters need to be awesome Speak to your “Avatar” Include credibility indicator(s) Include a client testimonial Include a call-to-action – reason for your prospect to reply to your message Include your email signature Here is an actual InMail message — a template — you can use to create your own. Please use it. My Predictive ROI team has sent thousands and thousands and thousands of InMail messages on behalf of our client’s lead gen efforts — as well as for our biz dev — and the template we included in today’s Show Notes is the resulting outcome of all that testing and hard work. You will dramatically shorten your learning curve by using the template. One last point about the InMail and the template you will see in the Show Notes — there is a reference to “speaking to your client avatar.” And yes, we have a recipe for that, too. If you go to Episode 208, I explain in full detail how to identify your client avatar — how to speak directly to him or her — and how to deliver value in the process. Having and mastering this knowledge is a must in writing effective InMails. And now we have arrived at our final ingredient…Ingredient #7…creating and sending consistent lead nurturing content to LinkedIn connections. When you export your LinkedIn connection data — and then import into your CRM like InfusionSoft, etc. be sure to add the emails to a special list tagged as “LinkedIn Connections” or something else that lets you know these email addresses are super special. This list represents your MVPs and your goal should be to create content just for them — exclusive — and then share it with them — letting them know it was created just for them — and that your connection means something to you — your connection is important — that you value their opinions — that you want to hear from them and how you can do better — and that you share your insights and expertise along the way in such a context that you are providing value that can be incorporated into their business straight away. So that when you do reach out to them to explore the potential of a business relationship — you are not reaching out to a stranger with a cold call — you are reaching out to someone who already knows you, already likes you, and may already trust you because you offered tremendous value first — and that is an awesome way to begin a business relationship. Before we close out for today…I’d like to leave you with a couple of important thoughts. Now that you have learned the recipe – and have seen the typical result outcomes – there are two questions you and your team need to answer. First…how will we take immediate action based on what you learned here today? How will you apply it right away to fill your pipeline? And that leads to the ultimate question. Are you committed…or are you just interested in having a steady stream of well-prepared prospects flowing into your sales pipeline? Being committed means knowing exactly how much new business you are seeking, from what sources, and having a strategy in place to fill the pipeline to get it. Let me share a quick story about Coach Nick Saban from the University of Alabama – who, in my opinion, represents the epitome of being committed. Alabama is consistently one of the top-ranked teams in college football each year. They were the 2015 National Champion and played again this year for the title but lost to Clemson. Coach Saban’s reputation is one of precise detail and process. And once he uncovers a “recipe” for success…he uses it over and over again. But he also freely shares his secrets without fear that his competitors will be able to duplicate his results. How is this possible? Case in point…my good friend, mentor, and three-time guest on Onward Nation, Don Yaeger, interviewed Coach Saban as they considered writing a book together. During one of Don’s visits with Coach, he asked if there was a secret formula or recipe that gave Saban an edge to recruiting the best talent out of high school year-after-year. Coach told Don that his recipe is simple. He committed himself to watching every single play that any of their 85 scholarship athletes every played while in high school. Every play…so he could evaluate talent, effort, and other qualities. Let’s just think about the magnitude of that for a minute. Alabama has 85 scholarship athletes…who likely played at least 2-years of high school football…at 10 games per year in high school…and many high school players play both offense and defense during a game, so let’s call it 100 plays per game. All totaled, Coach Saban watches film on 170,000 plays to make his recruiting decisions. It is an overwhelming number, right? How could anyone do that? But Coach Saban does. And the resulting outcome is that Alabama is consistently the best on the field each year. So Don asked him, “Coach…aren’t you worried that if we put your secret recipe into this book that people will steal it from you?” And Saban looked at Don and said, “Nope…not worried at all. Because no one is going to be willing to put in the same amount of effort that I am willing to commit to our success.” So my hope is that you don’t leave this solocast thinking – yeah, I knew LinkedIn could do that. My challenge to you is…but is your business doing it? And as Tony Robbins says…“A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.” So I hope you will decide to put this sales pipeline-building recipe into action and then please drop me a line and let me know about your success. So with that said, Onward Nation… I want to say again, thank you for taking the time to be here with me today. It is an honor to have you here — thank you for tuning in — your time is sacred and I am delighted you chose this episode to be what you listen to, study, and take with you on your morning run, or maybe Onward Nation has become part of your daily commute, or in some other way has become part of your morning routine. However our daily podcast fits into your daily routine — I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today’s top business owners. And remember… if you want to take the pipeline process even deeper, then register for the web workshop I am teaching tomorrow called the 4-Steps to Filling Your Sales Pipeline. Just go to OnwardNation.com/webinar for the details. That’s OnwardNation.com/webinar. Rest assured — I know you are busy, Onward Nation. I will respect your time by delivering a workshop packed full of real, actionable strategies, that when followed, will fill your sales pipeline in 30 days or less. I look forward to seeing you there and thanks again for being here — today. Onward with gusto!
Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media. Good Morning Onward Nation — I’m Stephen Woessner — Happy New Year and welcome to this week’s solocast. And today’s episode also happens to be Episode 400 — so before we dive into the sales pipeline building toolbox that I want to share with you — first — I need to offer up a very big thank you, Onward Nation. If someone would have told me back on June 15, 2015 that we were about to launch a podcast that would soar to the top of iTunes New & Noteworthy, that our email list would grow to over 20,000 people, that we would receive feedback every day from business owners who we have impacted in a positive way, that our message would now reach 105 countries around the world…and that all of the knowledge we collected in the last 18-months would turn into a book that a major publisher would want to buy and then publish…there is no way I would have believed that person. In fact, I might have run the other way. And yet, what I just shared with you is exactly what happened. And it happened because of you, Onward Nation. Because you downloaded episodes and then let us know how we could make them better. You emailed me, you hit us up on Twitter, you shared your thoughts on Facebook — and my team and I listened. We made adjustments and then you offered even more advice. So we pivoted again. And again. And then again. And we will continue to pivot and adjust because our goal is to deliver as much value to you, Onward Nation as we possibly can. Please continue to let us know what you think of Onward Nation…thumbs up or thumbs down. We want to get better — and our first 400 episodes — are just the beginning. So thank you for being here — and please know — how much you downloading, and listening to our episodes, and sharing your feedback means to me and my team. Thank you, Onward Nation. Now… Let’s continue the momentum that we started during last week’s solocast…Episode 396 that I entitled, “Get Your Hands Dirty” and we focused on two main lessons: 1) why and how you should jump into the trenches with your team — and the impact you getting your hands dirty — will have on your team And… 2) how to create your client avatar so you and your team focus your valuable time and attention toward the right customers. And as I walked you through the practical and tactical steps last week — the “in the trenches process” that you need in order to create your client avatar — I also made you a promise. I promised that last week’s solocast would be the first in a series of four tactical lessons you take and apply in order to fill your sales pipeline. So today’s solocast is my next step in fulfilling my promise. Today’s lesson is going to tactical and provide you with another opportunity to get your hands dirty working alongside your team. However, I am also going to push you to think differently before you dig into the tools. I am going to do that so you can be sure to get your mindset right — to get your head right — so you are ready to unleash your full potential. If you work through the client avatar exercise from last week without getting your mindset right — you may focus on clients who don’t push you — who will not challenge you to grow — you may focus on the ones who you think are safe — prospects who are lower hanging fruit — decision makers who operate at lower levels in the organization instead of the C-suite. Run from those thoughts, Onward Nation. I believe it was Albert Einstein who said, “The same thinking that got you and your business to your current level – is not the same thinking that is going to get you to where you want to go.” So you must push yourself to be open to the ideas I share with you – even if I challenge you – even if I make you feel uncomfortable from time-to-time – please know – that’s what a good mentor does – they help you see the path you need to take. For example…I can almost certainly guarantee that as you and I move our way through the lessons over the next several weeks…you may begin to think of challenges you expect to encounter if you were to implement what you learn. You may think to yourself… “That would never work in my industry.” “I can work on that when I have more time.” “I would put that into practice if only my team were up to the challenge.” “My sales have slumped because I have a couple of really tough competitors – or – our pricing is too high.” I am here to tell you – as a good mentor would – your key challenge – your key obstacle to having a vibrant, full sales pipeline heading into 2017 – with a steady stream of qualified prospects is not being blocked by any of these. Okay, so then what is blocking you from having a full sales pipeline? It’s you, Onward Nation! Yes, you. But how could I say such a thing? Please…just hear me out. We as business owners…we fall victim each day by asking ourselves really horrible questions like… “Am I good enough?” “Am I smart enough?” “Oh, that company over there would never want to do business with us because we are too small!” We tend to set ourselves up for failure before we ever start. We tell ourselves we can’t do something. The way we speak to ourselves — in our own heads — can be truly cruel at times. Instead…as you are building your client avatar…you need to get your mindset right…to eliminate the word “Can’t” from your vocabulary. Why do you need to eliminate this word – and these thoughts? Because this word is the root of the Imposter Syndrome – and if you don’t take aggressive action – the word will build a stronghold in your mind…and the Imposter Syndrome will keep you as its victim. The Imposter Syndrome is your one and only barrier to success – and it will keep your sales pipeline empty if you let it. Onward Nation — you are good enough – you are worthy of more – you have worked hard! Don’t let the Syndrome become a roadblock to your next level. In fact, next time you catch yourself asking yourself road-blocking questions…I want to you to apply a little success secret to push past the blockade. Here it is… “Decide to win – before – you ever start.” And that’s a powerful lesson I learned from Joanna Riley during Episode 324. She went from zero to being the largest shareholder in her company now worth over $800 million. Jo has accomplished much – but – it is because she learned at the age of 14 what it took to believe in herself – and that winning was as much about performance as it was deciding to win at the outset. I believe in you, Onward Nation – you are far more capable, amazing, awesome, wonderful, and beautiful than you give yourself credit for. And now I want to repeat the two warnings from last week because they still apply for today’s lesson. As we move through the steps…you may catch yourself saying… “Oh, I already know that…” If you catch yourself saying that – take a moment – and instead ask yourself – “But have I mastered it?” And then take it deeper by asking yourself, “Can I leverage it even greater that what I am currently doing?” Deal? Okay, so let’s jump in. The primary tool we will focus on today is LinkedIn. Why? Because LinkedIn is the platform where business-to-business deals get done – and – get done quickly. Plus, there are over 433 million business people on the planet who use LinkedIn. So it is highly likely that your top prospects are there – using LinkedIn – every day. And you should be, too, Onward Nation. LinkedIn members also may represent the right demographic – the right economic earning potential – that fits your ideal prospect or client avatar. So let’s begin…and in total…I am going to share tactical steps — or tools — you can use to find your client avatar in LinkedIn, build your Dream 50 list, expand your number of connections, and then reach out to your Dream 50 to generate leads to fill your sales pipeline. Step 1: Boost your LinkedIn profile. You need to do this by giving it a serious, deeply critical look. Does it include a deep summary description? Have you linked videos from your YouTube account? Do you have your experience section properly built out? And if the answer is “no” to any of these — you need to make immediate adjustments. Why? Think of your profile as your landing page within LNKD. If it’s not up to par — then prospects will bounce off your page and move on with their day. Step 2: Participate in LinkedIn’s Pulse publishing platform by sharing your long-form content at least once per week. Publishing to LNKD gives you the opportunity to share your expertise and deliver value to your connections – and – to boost credibility on the platform. Go to my LNKD profile for tangible examples that you can dissect and get some ideas. Step 3: expand your LNKD connections I encourage you to export your existing email list, import it into LinkedIn, and send connection requests. But why? Because with each new LNKD connection, your network of 1st degree, 2nd degree, and 3rd degree connections expands. This will give your team a larger network to search within for high-value prospects — your client avatar. For example, I have over 4,000 1st degree connections on LinkedIn, which equates to a lead gen network of approximately 17 million people for business development team here at Predictive ROI, my content marketing and lead gen agency. By expanding your connections, your will be able to “see” as many high-value prospects within LNKD as possible. Step 4: expand your email list! Now you should reverse the process from Step 3 and export your list of LNKD connections — and then — import the email addresses back into your email list. LinkedIn is the only social media platform that allows you to export the email addresses of your connections. This rinse and repeat cross-pollination will ensure yours prospects receive future content via multiple channels. Step 5: build your Dream 50 list Here is where you will take the details you identified regarding your client avatar using the recipe I shared with you in Episode 396 — and then apply it — to build your Dream 50 list using LinkedIn’s Advanced Lead Builder tool. The Advanced Lead Builder gives you the opportunity to conduct custom searches based on keywords, titles, industry, years of experience, employee size, geographic proximity to a zip code, and a variety of other variables. But…just a heads up…LNKD recently announced their decision eliminate a number of the searching options because not enough members were using them. Ugh. So we will have to wait and see what the revised version of Advanced Lead Builder will look like — I will keep you posted. Once you have your Dream 50 list compiled — you will be ready for Step 6, which is sending your InMail messages. InMail is kind of like LNKD’s version of email — except it is only available to premium members — you can only send 30 InMail messages per month without buying more credits — credits cost $10 each — and — the process cannot be automated…each InMail is sent to each recipient manually…one at a time. Yes, I know — it is time consuming…but…that is also why we often see response rates of 10-20 percent…because there is very little spam via InMail. You can go to Episode 298 of Onward Nation for our complete InMail template so you can swipe it and then customize the content for your business. Now, that covers some of the core LinkedIn ingredients but there is another success secret I learned from Jeffrey Hayzlett in Episode 121 that I want to share with you right now. And that is – to Crawl – Walk – Then Run. Yes, it is going to take you time to perfect this recipe. My team and I have sent thousands and thousands and thousands of InMail messages within the last 24-months alone. Did it take us time to develop the expertise that we now have? Of course it did. So do as Jeffrey says…Crawl…Walk…and then Run. And soon…you too will have mastered LinkedIn and your pipeline will be full. So with that…I want to thank you again for taking the time to be here with me today. It is an honor to have you here — thank you for tuning in — I am delighted you chose this episode to be what you listen to, study, and take with you on your morning run, or maybe Onward Nation has become part of your daily commute, or in some other way has become part of your morning routine. However our daily podcast fits into your daily routine — I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today’s top business owners. And please continue to let me know what you think of Onward Nation…good or bad…I always want your feedback. My direct email address is stephen@onwardnation.com — and yes — that is my actual Inbox. No fancy filters or filing system and I read and reply to every single email. So please let me know how you think we are doing. I look forward to hearing from you. We will be back tomorrow with an incredible interview with Kyle Reyes — where we focus on the power of not losing your identity as a business owner — and how your identity can, and should, become the foundation of your brand. Kyle is rock solid awesome. You will not want to miss it, Onward Nation! Until then, onward with gusto!
We discuss possible effects that the Trump presidency will have on the tech world. The ideas are more or less known, but the details and whether they'd be enacted are sketchy and unreliable. Before that, of course, we talk about containers. This episode features Brandon Whichard (https://twitter.com/bwhichard), Matt Ray (https://twitter.com/mattray), and Coté (https://twitter.com/cote). Mid-roll Matt: Dec 1st and 2nd - DevOps Days Australia 20% discount code - SDT2016 (https://ti.to/devopsaustralia/2016-sydney/discount/SDT2016). Coté: Nov 16th - Cloud Native Roadshow in Omaha, next week (https://pivotal.io/event/cloud-native-workshop/omaha). Coté: Various dates - Pivotal Cloud Native Roadshows (https://pivotal.io/event/pivotal-cloud-native-roadshow) - Cincinnati - Nov 10 (https://pivotal.io/event/pivotal-cloud-native-roadshow/cincinnati); St. Louis - Nov 14 (https://pivotal.io/event/pivotal-cloud-native-roadshow/stlouis); Hartford - Nov 16 (https://pivotal.io/event/pivotal-cloud-native-roadshow/hartford); Denver - Nov 18 (https://pivotal.io/event/pivotal-cloud-native-roadshow/denver); New York - Nov 22 (https://pivotal.io/event/pivotal-cloud-native-roadshow/newyork); Los Angeles - Nov 28 (https://pivotal.io/event/pivotal-cloud-native-roadshow/losangeles). K8s Operators Stateful applications for K8s, a shot at Mesos (https://coreos.com/blog/introducing-operators.html)? Prometheus & etcd first examples (spark? hadoop?) This begs the broad question: so, what’s CoreOS’s business posture now? Azure Container Service, now with K8s Those Microsoft folks will just put anything that looks tasty in their cloud (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-container-service-the-cloud-s-most-open-option-for-containers/) - what a reversal from the Microsoft we grew up with. Docker in Production: A History of Failure From this dude’s perspective (https://thehftguy.wordpress.com/2016/11/01/docker-in-production-an-history-of-failure/): a failure of product management and stable releases. Bugs, documentation spotty, cleanup scripts, kernel support (Debian!?), aufs & overlay & overlay2, 7-hour outage with no post-mortem “Docker only moves forward and breaks things” “The docker hype is not only a technological liability any more, it has evolved into a sociological problem as well.” A retort… that mostly agrees (https://patrobinson.github.io/2016/11/05/docker-in-production/) “boring tech is what makes money” shiny tech makes resumes? Mesosphere Jay Lyman on the momemtum (https://451research.com/report-short?entityId=88226): “Mesosphere does not disclose its number of paying clients, but says it has dozens of large enterprise customers, its primary target. The company says its experience supporting software deployments in production is among its key differentiators, helped by the use of Apache Mesos by companies such as Twitter, Netflix, Airbnb, PayPal and Yelp, which was featured in a 451 User Deployment Report. Mesosphere says its focus is customer deployments of 500-1,000 nodes per day in production. It also says the bulk of its customers are licensees with professional services accounting for less than 10% of its clients, which tend to move to its subscription software.” TrumpTech, aka, “Putting the 400 lbs hackers on diets.” Turns out there is some marginally clear policy, just not McKinsey title mode versus white papers (http://www.vox.com/2016/11/10/13584390/donald-trump-first-100-days). Jonathan Shieber@Tech Crunch (https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/09/what-does-a-president-elect-trump-mean-for-silicon-valley-nothing-very-good/): "The biggest question facing millions of Americans this Wednesday is: just how much of what Donald Trump said on the campaign does he intend to actually try to make happen." (For example, Korea (http://www.vox.com/world/2016/11/10/13585524/donald-trump-phone-call-south-korea-park-geun-hye).) Dave Lee, at the BBC has a good laundry list: “Uncertainty, frustration and an increased fragility for the global home of tech innovation. Mr Trump certainly won't want to go down as the president who destroyed Silicon Valley, but the concern here is that of the few policies that have been explained in detail, some seem directly at odds with each other.” 10% repatriation program (http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2016/11/09/apple-adobe-cisco-citi-focuses-on-big-techs-big-trump-tax-windfall/) - tech companies have tons of cash abroad: Historic rates (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/repatriation.asp): “At the highest tax rate, corporations must pay 35% to repatriate capital, minus local taxes charged by countries in which the funds are held.” Hardware: “AAPL (93% of $230bln), CSCO (91% of $64.6B), IBM ($8.2B total cash, undisclosed % of cash held overseas but note 58% of earnings are from non US operations), HPE ($10.0B total cash, undisclosed % of cash held overseas but 65% of earnings are from non US operations), HPQ ($5.6B total cash, undisclosed % of cash held overseas but 65%-70% of earnings are from non US operations), JNPR (94% of $3.2B).” Software: “Specifically, some of the mid and large cap companies that have large cash balances “trapped” offshore are likely to benefit from being able to return a portion of this cash to shareholders. We note companies with high gross cash balances trapped offshore include: ADBE (85% of $4B – from 2015 10-K), ADSK (86% of $2.1B), CA (76% of $2.7B), CTXS (80% of $2.45B), FTNT (38% of $1.2B), ORCL (76% of $56B – pre-N), MSFT (96% of $113B – pre-LNKD purchase), RHT (42% of $2.0B), SYMC (93% of $5.6B – post-BC), VMW (77% of $7.5B), VRSN (68% of $1.9B). We believe the chances increase of a larger share repurchase or (lesser chance) dividend from these companies.” Apple & Amazon are not in a good situation (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/09/tech_trump_silicon_valley/) - they’ll be a good test of WTF happens. Meanwhile, tech stocks dropping a bit (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tech-stocks-plunge-for-second-straight-day-after-trump-win-2016-11-10). Ovum has a shit ton of quick analysis, all free (https://www.ovum.com/us-presidential-election-2016/): Fear of US public cloud companies, globally (https://www.ovum.com/will-trump-presidency-mean-public-cloud-computing-2-2/). Remember the freak-out from NSA stuff? Same idea. I think the Gemans got over it. Outsources (https://www.ovum.com/providers-prepare-trump-presidency-potential-impact-global-delivery-2/): “A massive curtailing of H-1B visas, for example, will mean providers will need to make immediate shifts in what they’re able to offer customers locally, unless or until they’re able to compensate with talent.” “For providers, there’s also the unanswered question of the impact on US government spending.” [Education](https://www.ovum.com/trumping-expectations-now-us-public-sector-2/ - some proposals for de-centralizing, meaning fragmentation of IT spend. Government talent, regulations, and spending (https://www.ovum.com/trumping-expectations-now-us-public-sector-2/) - “If there is a large exodus of high-caliber and skilled staff, how will departments fill the gap? It also raises the question of funding for programs aimed at modernizing tech in the federal government such as F18 and FedRAMP. Trump might reduce the barriers to swapping out tech and push down expenditure that way. Certainly, the high cost and length of time needed to get Authority to Operate (ATO) under FedRAMP has been a barrier to uptake.” Telcos (https://www.ovum.com/trumps-victory-will-affect-us-telecoms-market/) - other than him stating he’d stop the AT&T/TimeWarner merger, telco stuff is very unclear. No one’s sure what the traditional Republican +/- Trump equals, or what the formula is. M&A from Brenon@451 (https://451research.com/report-short?entityId=90759&type=mis&alertid=211&contactid=0033200001wgKCKAA2&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=market-insight&utm_content=newsletter&utm_term=90759-In+Trump%2C+an+M%26A+watchdog+with+more+bite): “Chinese buyers probably won't be shopping as freely in the US in the coming years.” They spent $14bn this year, I think. Chinese buyers have recently picked up Ingram Micro, which swings nearly $50bn worth of tech gear and services each year, 25-year-old printer maker Lexmark and even a majority stake in the gay dating app Grindr." Also see shorter blog post with chart of Chinese M&A spend (https://blogs.the451group.com/techdeals/investment-banking/in-trump-a-tech-ma-watchdog-with-more-bite/). Snowden for Head of NSA! (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/346998236776640513). Follow-up That’s how you do it! (https://twitter.com/simonmcc/status/794951901720805376) We got actual comments (http://www.softwaredefinedtalk.com/77#disqus_thread)! BONUS LINKS! Not covered in episode Matt wrote up an Amazon ECS thing The blog entry (https://blog.chef.io/2016/11/07/habitat-amazon-elastic-container-service/) Doing Business in Japan Not new, but a good primer (http://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/11/07/doing-business-in-japan/). Recommendations Brandon: New season of The Startup podcast (https://gimletmedia.com/episode/shadowed-qualities-season-4-episode-3/) Matt: TransferWise (https://transferwise.com/u/matthewr9) for transferring money abroad. A16Z on TransferWise (https://a16z.com/2016/01/29/a16z-podcast-when-banking-works-like-my-smartphone/). Coté: “Tighten Up.” (https://open.spotify.com/track/2pBgtxhgqevCHEnJ7W5UKI), Archie Bell & The Drells - once you’re done being depressed, get your shit back together. HSAs. Meanwhile, this “pastrami burger” (https://www.instagram.com/p/BMpHcIhDJkk/) at 3 Greens Market (http://3greensmarket.com/) in Chicago is AMAZING.
Falamos nesse podcast sobre a venda do Vine pelo Twitter. O nosso podcast traz notícias dos principais mercados no mundo inteiro. Falamos sobre política internacional, tendências de mercado e trazemos noticias sobre as principais empresas americanas e europeias. Nesse cast falamos da: Twitter Bayer Dupond Linkedin Facebook Toyota AcelorMittal Você pode assinar o Feed do […] The post Papo de Dividendo #29: TWTR – BAYRY – DD – LNKD – FB – TM – MT appeared first on Viver de Dividendos.
Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media. Good Morning Onward Nation…I’m Stephen Woessner. And I am really really excited for today’s solocast because — it is going to be rock solid awesome! One of the reasons that I am so excited is because I am returning to full teaching mode this morning with a powerful lesson about building your platform — more importantly — some practical and tactical steps about building a nation of what Kevin Kelly describes as “True Fans” who will help you mobilize and move your business onward to that next level. True fans of you — true fans of your message — true fans of your business. Fans who will support you — because — of the sacred bond you have built with them. A bond that was built upon — and continues to be built upon — the foundation of the value you created, you delivered, and the value you shared with them on a consistent basis. Whether you do that every day — every week — no matter what the schedule — no matter what the rhythm — the fact that you are consistent is what is important. This is going to be such an awesome solocast — and I am delighted you are here with me — your time and attention mean so very much to me. But before we dive deep into today’s lesson…I have a very important favor to ask. In fact, this is the first time I have ever asked this favor within one of my solocasts. So, if you could do this — please know — it would mean a lot to me. I’d be grateful — and would really appreciate it — if you would go to iTunes and give Onward Nation a rating and then write a review for our podcast. I respect your time so I wanted to make this as efficient as possible to find us in iTunes…so my team created a special link to save you time. So if you go to www.onwardnation.com/itc you will go directly to our channel within iTunes. Okay, why am I asking for this favor? Last week, I was excited to share with you how Onward Nation is now listened to in 102 countries — and — that we had surpassed the milestone of 50,000 downloads. WOW — still a bit unbelievable — not going to lie — need to pinch myself to realize that yes, this is indeed our reality. And I credited our growth to our incredible guests and all of the wonderful feedback we have received from you, Onward Nation — all of your comments on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, — and — all of your emails. Thank you! But in celebrating these amazing milestones — I made a mistake! I forgot to mention a critical type of feedback that helps us reach more and more people with each one we receive…and that’s…all of the ratings and reviews we receive inside iTunes. With each rating and review we receive, Onward Nation…you help us increase our rankings within iTunes — and — higher rankings means more people will see us in their search results — and potentially they will be seeing us for the very first time. Each and every review helps more and more people in more countries to hear the wisdom and expertise shared by our guests each day. So, if you haven’t already given us a star rating and written a review — it would really mean a lot to me if you did. It’s simple to do. It doesn’t take much time. Again, just go to www.onwardnation.com/itc — or — if you are listening on your phone — you can give us a rating and write a review from within your podcast app on your phone. We’ve occasionally received feedback that leaving ratings can be a confusing process, so here are the steps in detail: First, after going to the www.onwardnation.com/itc link, please click the blue button that “View in iTunes.” Next, click on the link titled “Ratings and Reviews.” Next, click on “Write a Review.” If you are not signed into iTunes, you will be asked to sign in. If you are already signed into iTunes, it is likely that you will skip this step. Finally, you will be able to leave a review. Don’t forget the star rating! So thank you, Onward Nation — and please know — I greatly appreciate all of your help, support, encouragement, and feedback — you make me and my team better every day — and — it is an honor to be here with you again this morning. With that said…let’s get dialed in and ready for this week’s lesson. You ready? Because I’m so totally ready — I’m going to bring the thunder this morning, Onward Nation…YES! I spent quite a bit of time working through and preparing what I wanted to share with you today. Such an important lesson. How one of the vital priorities in your business should be to build a nation of true fans — to develop a sense of community, collaboration, and profitability around the purpose of your business. Let’s begin by breaking the phrase “Build a nation of true fans” into its three core components. First — let’s tackle the word, “Build.” How would you “build” a nation of true fans. Whether that’s a… Podcast Blog YouTube channel Instagram stories The platform from a tech perspective is irrelevant — any or all of the above — will serve your purpose of “building” a nation of true fans. The tech behind it all is relatively easy. Is there a learning curve? Sure. Will you feel at times like you are trying to fly the space shuttle with so many knobs and buttons to push? Sure. How does Facebook Live work? What time of day should I create a story on Instagram? What kind of camera and mic are best if I want to be a serious YouTuber? All of these are tech questions — and within an afternoon with your best friend Google — you can solve those problems and find the answers as long as you don’t let the fear of the unknown become paralyzing to you. So let’s shift our focus away from the tech — and instead — focus on the value you will be providing through those channels. What’s your story — how will you serve your audience — how will you make what you are doing so valuable to their business or life, that they actually consider you to be indispensable. That you become so consistent in the help, advice, recommendations, and over value that you are providing on a consistent basis — that you BUILD deposits in their emotional bank account. They begin to trust you — they begin to like you — and then because of them liking you and trusting you…they move even closer to you by truly KNOWING you. So, your first step in building your nation of true fans has nothing to do with the actual content delivery platform and has everything to do with the value of what you will be delivering — because your nation of true fans is built on VALUE. And if you get that right — the actual platform — or your conduit through which you share your value — will fall into place — and it will feel less stressful because the value you were called — put on this Earth to deliver — will then be in the driver’s seat. You, Onward Nation — will become unstoppable. Now let’s shift our attention toward the word “Nation” and break that down. And I want to address to make sure we address this because we live in a world where bigger lists, bigger subscribers, massive downloads, huge customer lists, etc. etc. etc. is what attracts headlines and massive attention. I’m here to share with you the reality…you don’t need an email list of 100,000 people…you don’t need to have a podcast that gets a million downloads a month…you don’t need to have a customer list with 20,000 prospects on it. Nope. You don’t. That’s not your Nation. What you need — realistically — depending on the size of your business is somewhere between 100 to 1,000 high-qualified prospects. That’s it…100 to 1,000 of the very best prospects who precisely match your client avatar — in fact — your knowledge with some of these people is so deep that you can boldly claim them as your Dream 50 prospects. If you need a refresher on why your Dream 50 matters — please go back to Episode 308 of Onward Nation — and I map it all out — how to figure out who your Dream 50 is — and — how to romance your Dream 50 so they understand how important they are to you. Again, that was in Episode 308. To take this point deeper — I want to share a very tangible example of a company that grew from zero to become a multi-billion a year company — yes — billion — with a capital B. My mentor, Darren Hardy, former publisher of SUCCESS Magazine…decided to interview my friend Cody Foster, co-founder of Advisors Excel and to share the interview on the March 2014 edition of the SUCCESS CD that rides along with the magazine. You may remember Cody Foster, and the wisdom he shared, as my guest on Episode 81 of Onward Nation. During the interview with Darren, Cody shared several personal stories of very humble beginnings — and how those stories — helped shaped the kind of company Advisors Excel has become. A company packed full — wall to wall — of incredible people — a team whose sole focus is to deliver more and more value every day to the financial advisors around the country they are there to serve. And Advisors Excel team does it masterfully well. They have BUILT their platform — a platform that is indeed built on a solid foundation of value. But…did they build this platform by trying to serve the 60,000 financial advisors located in the state of Florida alone? No. How about all of the financial advisors up and down the west coast? Nope. Did they focus on spending large amounts of advertising dollars trying to reach everyone they could with their message of value, value, value? Nope. Strike three. Instead…what they did focus on was carefully, meticulously selecting, 1,000 of the very best financial advisors who they wanted to earn the opportunity to serve. Yes, Onward Nation, Cody shared with Darren that they built a list of 1,000 financial advisors — just 1,000 — and then they went to work to deliver more value than another other insurance marketing organization in the industry to the 1,000 advisors they wanted to work with. The 1,000 advisors became their Nation…and advisors outside of the Nation didn’t exist. Advisors Excel was solely focused on being the best they could be for this small group of prospects. The result outcome? Well, in year six of the business…they reached over $4 billion in revenue. $4 billion, Onward Nation. When they are the right prospects — you don’t need 10,000…you actually only need a small number to make your business amazingly successful and profitable. 1,000 people — who you can love on — who you can support — who you can add value to — who then in turn are excited to do for you some of what you already shared with them. So now, let’s take this number — 1,000 — deeper — because it is a magical number that we all ought to really focus on in our businesses. Kevin Kelly was the first person — at least I think he was the first person — who popularized the theory — the notion — the strategy that if a business created a base of customers who were more like fans — 1,000 True Fans in fact — then that business could become sustainable and profitable by simply focusing on the needs of its true fans. And here is a link to Kevin Kelly’s blog post as well as the long tail curve he created to illustrate the 1,000 true fans strategy. Kelly describes — or defines — “True Fans” as customers who will help you mobilize and move your business onward to that next level. They are true fans of you — true fans of your message — true fans of your business. Fans who will support you — because — of the sacred bond you have built with them. A bond that was built upon — and continues to be built upon — the foundation of the value you create, you deliver, and the value you share with them on a consistent basis. As I mentioned at the onset of this solocast. Whether you do that every day — every week — no matter what the schedule — no matter what the rhythm — the fact that you are consistent is what is important. According to Kevin, “A True Fan” is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to visit your location. They will buy the super deluxe version of your product even though they already own the standard version, too. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They have bookmarked your website. They come to your product announcements — or — ribbon cutting ceremonies for a new office location. They come to your book signings and ask for you to sign their copy. They cannot wait for your next webinar — your next podcast episode — your next event — your next release of whatever. And the best way to increase sales for your company is to connect with your True Fans directly…so you need to have a platform built on value…see? We keep coming back to that foundational truth. Onward Nation, 1,000 true fans is a very reasonable number. As Kevin explains in his brilliant blog post… “if you added one fan a day, it would take only three years. True Fanship is doable. Pleasing a True Fan is pleasurable, and invigorating.” The key challenge is that you have to maintain direct contact with your 1,000 True Fans. And you do that through building your platform — delivering value — and making sure you are using the right conduit so it reaches your 1,000 true fans on a consistent basis. Again…it doesn’t matter if you use a podcast, blog, robust LNKD profile and LNKD publishing, long form posts on Medium, Instagram stories, Facebook Live, and the list goes on. What’s important to identify is not the platform you are most comfortable — but — the platform your fans use the most — what is the best conduit to them? For me — it’s this podcast, my LinkedIn account, email campaigns, and webinars. But there is also another piece to True Fans…and that are the concentric circles of “Lesser Fans.” These folks will not purchase everything you produce, and may not seek out direct contact, but they will buy much of what you produce. The processes you develop to feed your True Fans will also nurture Lesser Fans. As you build your nation of True Fans, you will also add many more Lesser Fans. And as you are building…don’t avoid…don’t miss the opportunity to go deep…to develop intimacy with your audience…with your true fans. Onward Nation…that is one of the reasons I ask for feedback in every solocast. My team and I legitimately want to get better — but — I also want to hear from you — to get to know you — to learn from you — and to deliver even more value so Onward Nation becomes — and hopefully remains — your most favorite podcast. Okay…with that said…and before we go…I want to make one final connection between today’s lesson and the favor that I asked you to do for me at the onset of our discussion today. I know that I have absolutely no permission to make an ask of your time — unless — I have consistently delivered value. And — even if I have consistently delivered value — I must be considerate in the favors I ask for — no one wants to spend time with the takers — the people who just ask, ask, ask, and never ever give. So, Onward Nation — I am using today’s solocast as a way to ask for a legitimate favor — and — to give you a recipe for how you can do the same to build you own nation of true fans — and when you do — your nation — just like Onward Nation has become this amazing, awesome, wonderful, beautiful incredible platform of people who are so generous with your feedback and help guide your business in the exact direction it needs to go in order to deliver even more value to what it is they need. So build your own platform for your business — or if you already have one — think about Kevin Kelly’s lesson — and ask yourself how you can add even more and more value to your the people already in your community — and build your nation of true fans. Because when you do — your business, your team, your life will move onward to a completely new level. So with that…I want to say thank you again for taking the time to be here with me today. It is an honor to have you here — thank you for tuning in — I am delighted you chose this episode to be what you listen to, study, and take with you on your morning run, or maybe Onward Nation has become part of your daily commute, or in some other way has become part of your morning routine. I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today’s top business owners. And please continue to let me know what you think of Onward Nation…good or bad…I always want your feedback. We will be back tomorrow with an incredible encore interview with Paul Maskill — you will not want to miss Paul’s philosophy when he encourages you to, “Go ahead — make mistakes on purpose,” Onward Nation. The conversation with Paul is packed full of discussions regarding systems — and more specifically — how he used systems to sell his company for 6 times what he bought it for and 4 times the profit. This systems discussion will help you create financial leverage within your business. Until then, onward with gusto!
Everything is in the red as the storm of a century rocks Tusk Media headquarters and Andrew tries to stay dry. Featured Topics: Bleeding Markets, Yahoo Buyout Rumors, Losers, Negative Interest Rates Featured Stocks: YHOO, SYF, COF, LNKD, MSFT What is a negative interest rate? How is Andrew staying dry? Why is Yahoo! Stock up? Follow us on Twitter: Twitter.com/TuskMediaLLC Check out our video archive: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT1iK2MbBjXGCyni_CKxB9Q
The markets posted a real statement loss on Tuesday, fighting back hard but coming up short. Featured Topics: Major U.S. Equity Indices, Brexit, Google + Twitter, Retirement Featured Stocks: TWTR, GOOG, LNKD, MSFT Can you retire with $5,000? If Google buys Twitter will it become Gitter or Twoogle? Follow us on Twitter: Twitter.com/TuskMediaLLC Check out our video archive: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT1iK2MbBjXGCyni_CKxB9Q
Major U.S. indices are down but they've rallied a bit from their intra-day lows. Featured Topics: Bond Week, Stock Market, Stock Losers, Stock Winners, LinkedIn's Buyout, Microsoft's Big Spending, Twitter's rally. Features Stocks: MPC, AAL, LNKD, MSFT, TWTR Why are the markets down? What's up with American Airlines? Did LinkedIn get a good deal? Follow us on Twitter: http://Twitter.com/TuskMediaLLC Check out our full video archive: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT1iK2MbBjXGCyni_CKxB9Q
Major U.S. indices and oil closed down for the day as gold showed strength. Featured Topics: Reeling Markets, Long-Term Perspective, Winners, Losers, Brexit 101, Bond Week Featured Stocks: MSFT, LNKD, SYMC, MPC, VLO Why were markets down so deep today? What's a Brexit? Follow us on Twitter: http://Twitter.com/TuskMediaLLC Check out our full video archive: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT1iK2MbBjXGCyni_CKxB9Q
I veckans episod av Fill or Kill Sociala medier: FB, GOOGL, LNKD, TWTR Mental träning Fråga: Vädereffekter på klädbolagen? Recap: Sohnkonferensen Indextävlingen Veckans Fill or Kill
Xpress Block: We have special guest co-host: Barry Metzger, CEO of optionsXpress. He discusses: The latest developments at OX. Interesting platform upgrades and tech overhauls What are the OX clients trading during the height of earnings season? Any interesting customer questions/feedback? Trading Block: Options Traders Brace for Amazon Earnings. Amazon at $612.60. ATM straddle $49, approx. 8%. LinkedIn Corporation - $123. ATM straddle $16.20, approx. 13%. Earnings before the bell: CME, Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Company, Honda Motor Company, MasterCard Incorporated, MSCI Inc, Time Warner Cable, United Parcel Service, Viacom Inc. It was a rough week for Apple - $96.20 today. Stock crushed post-earnings, opened down $8.35 or 8%. Icahn bails out on Apple stock. Nasdaq mulls new exchange to ease trading in illiquid ETFs. Odd Block: Calls trade in Methanex Corp (MEOH), calls and stock trade in Ebay Inc. (EBAY), and calls trade in KKR and Co. (KKR). Mail Block: Listener questions and comments Question from Mohammed - Hi Mark! The Options Insider website is superb resource for new and experienced options traders. I know your weekly newsletter you folks you report significant/unusual done options trading activity across stock and ETFs. After searching on your site and overall online, I have found it quite difficult to locate a website which details some of the terminology used when describing the large blocks traded (e.g. "price variation"). If you could compile a glossary or an overview of how to view/assess options order flow that would be excellent. Keep up the great work! Thanks. Question from Maha - How difficult is it to become a successful options day trader? Around the Block: A review of after-hours prices for LNKD, AMZN. Earnings parade continues with CBOE and XOM. Will the Icahn dump of AAPL have a longer-term impact. Central bank flim flammery.
Xpress Block: We have special guest co-host: Barry Metzger, CEO of optionsXpress. He discusses: The latest developments at OX. Interesting platform upgrades and tech overhauls What are the OX clients trading during the height of earnings season? Any interesting customer questions/feedback? Trading Block: Options Traders Brace for Amazon Earnings. Amazon at $612.60. ATM straddle $49, approx. 8%. LinkedIn Corporation - $123. ATM straddle $16.20, approx. 13%. Earnings before the bell: CME, Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Company, Honda Motor Company, MasterCard Incorporated, MSCI Inc, Time Warner Cable, United Parcel Service, Viacom Inc. It was a rough week for Apple - $96.20 today. Stock crushed post-earnings, opened down $8.35 or 8%. Icahn bails out on Apple stock. Nasdaq mulls new exchange to ease trading in illiquid ETFs. Odd Block: Calls trade in Methanex Corp (MEOH), calls and stock trade in Ebay Inc. (EBAY), and calls trade in KKR and Co. (KKR). Mail Block: Listener questions and comments Question from Mohammed - Hi Mark! The Options Insider website is superb resource for new and experienced options traders. I know your weekly newsletter you folks you report significant/unusual done options trading activity across stock and ETFs. After searching on your site and overall online, I have found it quite difficult to locate a website which details some of the terminology used when describing the large blocks traded (e.g. "price variation"). If you could compile a glossary or an overview of how to view/assess options order flow that would be excellent. Keep up the great work! Thanks. Question from Maha - How difficult is it to become a successful options day trader? Around the Block: A review of after-hours prices for LNKD, AMZN. Earnings parade continues with CBOE and XOM. Will the Icahn dump of AAPL have a longer-term impact. Central bank flim flammery.
In this episode, Tracey is joined by Jeremy Mullin, Zacks Stock Strategist and Editor of Zacks Counterstrike, a long and short trading service. But this leads to the question: How DO you short a stock? Tracey admits that she has never shorted an individual stock before so she brought in Jeremy to discuss the various scenarios that he looks for to create the most favorable short selling conditions. There are 2 main scenarios: 1. When an “event” of some kind happens. Recent examples of this were with Lumber Liquidators (LL) when it was the focus of a 60 Minutes segment about its Chinese laminate flooring and Chipotle (CMG) which had to shut restaurants after a health scare. Both “events” caused the stock to plunge. 2. When there are disappointing fundamentals. This usually happens when a company reports earnings or pre-announces disappointing sales or guidance. Recent examples of this scenario were with LinkedIn (LNKD) and Michael Kors (KORS). Both stocks plunged on earnings fears, and rebounded. But is the selling really over or is another shorting situation appearing? How do traders play both of these scenarios? How do you figure out your risk and reward? Should you only be shorting the glamour names? What about those stocks that appear to be overvalued? GoPro (GPRO) certainly seemed ripe for the short sellers after its shares soared and that turned out to be a big shorting opportunity for the savvy investor. If you don’t want to short individual stocks, should you stick to the ETFs? Shorting stocks doesn’t have to be scary. Think of it as just taking the other side of the trade. Jeremy takes on all of these questions and more in this week’s podcast. Chipotle: http://www.zacks.com/stock/quote/CMG?cid=cs-soundcloud-ft-pod Lumber Liquidators: http://www.zacks.com/stock/quote/LL?cid=cs-soundcloud-ft-pod Michael Kors: http://www.zacks.com/stock/quote/KORS?cid=cs-soundcloud-ft-pod LinkedIn: http://www.zacks.com/stock/quote/LNKD?cid=cs-soundcloud-ft-pod GoPro: http://www.zacks.com/stock/quote/GPRO?cid=cs-soundcloud-ft-pod Follow us on StockTwits: stocktwits.com/ZacksResearch Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ZacksResearch Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ZacksInvestmentResearch
Options Questions of the Week: How do you prefer to trade options? 19% - Long premium 15% - Short premium 56% - I avoid earnings 10% - Other, explain below How many U.S. options exchanges do we need? 5% - 14 is perfect! 29% - The more the merrier 62% - Make it stop! 4% - Other, explain below Should options trade after hours? 53% - Heck Yes! 15% - Only in Major Names 15% - No, poor liquify 17% - No, other Question from Alfy - Is it possible to be a day trader using options, or do you gave to take a longer term view? Question from Alex - Insider Trading, What are your thoughts on Shorting 1Y 25 Delta Puts on LNKD midday today (LNKD is at 105 as I write this message). Puts are quite juicy right now with quite acceptable break even points. I am very interested in hearing your feedback. Cheers, Big Options Trading Podcast fan, Alex. Question from Michael - $15 put Twitter drops off the map; yet the premium still has been declining. Can you explain? Question from FuturesMD - Is there a directional options strategy that you'd suggest for someone who wants to play the 2016 election? Question from TraderSon - Can a trader make a decent living buying straight call and puts, or do you have to get crazy with the complex stuff like iron condors?
Options Questions of the Week: How do you prefer to trade options? 19% - Long premium 15% - Short premium 56% - I avoid earnings 10% - Other, explain below How many U.S. options exchanges do we need? 5% - 14 is perfect! 29% - The more the merrier 62% - Make it stop! 4% - Other, explain below Should options trade after hours? 53% - Heck Yes! 15% - Only in Major Names 15% - No, poor liquify 17% - No, other Question from Alfy - Is it possible to be a day trader using options, or do you gave to take a longer term view? Question from Alex - Insider Trading, What are your thoughts on Shorting 1Y 25 Delta Puts on LNKD midday today (LNKD is at 105 as I write this message). Puts are quite juicy right now with quite acceptable break even points. I am very interested in hearing your feedback. Cheers, Big Options Trading Podcast fan, Alex. Question from Michael - $15 put Twitter drops off the map; yet the premium still has been declining. Can you explain? Question from FuturesMD - Is there a directional options strategy that you'd suggest for someone who wants to play the 2016 election? Question from TraderSon - Can a trader make a decent living buying straight call and puts, or do you have to get crazy with the complex stuff like iron condors?
Trading Block: Traders are now taking the possibility of a Trump presidency seriously. What was once thought to be a flight of fancy is moving ever closer to becoming reality, with one of the real estate moguls rivals, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, declaring that Trump may be "unstoppable" if he dominates the upcoming Super Tuesday contests. Gold allure burnished by Fed outlook as treasuries lag: analysis - U.S. Treasury 10-year futures may continue to underperform gold over the medium-term in a global fixed-income environment punctuated by negative rates as the relative opportunity cost of holding the yellow metal decreases. Stocks mixed as oil prices rise above $33 a barrel - Stocks were mixed in lackluster trading Monday as oil prices rose and global stocks fell after a meeting of G20 finance officials ended without pledges for joint action to stimulate sagging global economic growth. Earnings today: Crocs, Inc. (before) Hertz Global Holdings (before) AMC Entertainment Holdings Icahn Enterprises Lumber Liquidators Holdings Tribune Media Company Odd Block: Calls trade in Charles Schwab (SCHW), calls trade in Enbridge Inc (ENB), and calls trade in Signet Jewelers Ltd (SIG) Mail Block: Listener questions and comments Question from Alex - Mark, Thanks again for covering my question. I agree that I am not capitalizing on the Theta curve as much (although $5.3/per day is also decent). However my intention was more to capitalize on the Vega Surface where Vega tends to be much higher at longer maturities and it was especially bloated during the earnings date when volatility spiked to the highest ever level. Given that the Volatility levels are at its highest then Vega itself is expected to be at its highest ever. That said I am not really set-and-forget strategy and collect on theta premium. I just have to wait until the volatility normalizes for LNKD and collect on a decent Vega premium. In a sense I am shorting both Volatility and Vega. Hence further out months give richer Vega to short. And if i were to write shorter maturity puts, then Vega would have lost its juice in a month or two. As a side note, I entered into a CashSecuredPut, I do not trade on margin yet. Yield is approximately 15%. It would be a separate exercise to compute the Vega surface for LNKD. Maybe this question is an overkill for the show but at least this were some of my reasons why I shorted a 1-year put. Cheers, Alex Question from JM - Hey Folks. I thought this might be a great question for The Option Block: Would you mind talking about the “Limit Order Display Rule: Exchange Act Rule 11Ac1-4”? How it can help the retail investor? How the rule is applied to SPX and VIX options? When reading the actual rule, it can get a bit confusing because its talking about “odd lots” and “block size order”, etc. Would be good to get your take on it. Perhaps the Rock Lobster may have an interesting perspective as a former market maker. Great program! Cheers, JM. Question from 777 - Do I trade Eurodollar futures options? what drives massive OI? Question from TradersOM - Can a trader make a decent living buying calls and puts - or do you have to get crazy with the complex stuff like iron condors? Around the Block: Earnings! Tuesday - JD.com Ross Stores Wednesday - Costco Wholesale Corporation, American Eagle Outfitters, Goldman Sachs, Tribune Publishing Company Thursday - Kroger, Alamo, Barnes & Noble, Burlington Stores Friday - Staples, Big Lots
Trading Block: Traders are now taking the possibility of a Trump presidency seriously. What was once thought to be a flight of fancy is moving ever closer to becoming reality, with one of the real estate moguls rivals, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, declaring that Trump may be "unstoppable" if he dominates the upcoming Super Tuesday contests. Gold allure burnished by Fed outlook as treasuries lag: analysis - U.S. Treasury 10-year futures may continue to underperform gold over the medium-term in a global fixed-income environment punctuated by negative rates as the relative opportunity cost of holding the yellow metal decreases. Stocks mixed as oil prices rise above $33 a barrel - Stocks were mixed in lackluster trading Monday as oil prices rose and global stocks fell after a meeting of G20 finance officials ended without pledges for joint action to stimulate sagging global economic growth. Earnings today: Crocs, Inc. (before) Hertz Global Holdings (before) AMC Entertainment Holdings Icahn Enterprises Lumber Liquidators Holdings Tribune Media Company Odd Block: Calls trade in Charles Schwab (SCHW), calls trade in Enbridge Inc (ENB), and calls trade in Signet Jewelers Ltd (SIG) Mail Block: Listener questions and comments Question from Alex - Mark, Thanks again for covering my question. I agree that I am not capitalizing on the Theta curve as much (although $5.3/per day is also decent). However my intention was more to capitalize on the Vega Surface where Vega tends to be much higher at longer maturities and it was especially bloated during the earnings date when volatility spiked to the highest ever level. Given that the Volatility levels are at its highest then Vega itself is expected to be at its highest ever. That said I am not really set-and-forget strategy and collect on theta premium. I just have to wait until the volatility normalizes for LNKD and collect on a decent Vega premium. In a sense I am shorting both Volatility and Vega. Hence further out months give richer Vega to short. And if i were to write shorter maturity puts, then Vega would have lost its juice in a month or two. As a side note, I entered into a CashSecuredPut, I do not trade on margin yet. Yield is approximately 15%. It would be a separate exercise to compute the Vega surface for LNKD. Maybe this question is an overkill for the show but at least this were some of my reasons why I shorted a 1-year put. Cheers, Alex Question from JM - Hey Folks. I thought this might be a great question for The Option Block: Would you mind talking about the "Limit Order Display Rule: Exchange Act Rule 11Ac1-4." How it can help the retail investor? How the rule is applied to SPX and VIX options? When reading the actual rule, it can get a bit confusing because its talking about “odd lots” and "block size order," etc. Would be good to get your take on it. Perhaps the Rock Lobster may have an interesting perspective as a former market maker. Great program! Cheers, JM. Question from 777 -Do I trade Eurodollar futures options? what drives massive OI? Question from TradersOM - Can a trader make a decent living buying calls and puts - or do you have to get crazy with the complex stuff like iron condors? Around the Block: Earnings! Tuesday - JD.com Ross Stores Wednesday - Costco Wholesale Corporation, American Eagle Outfitters, Goldman Sachs, Tribune Publishing Company Thursday - Kroger, Alamo, Barnes & Noble, Burlington Stores Friday - Staples, Big Lots
Trading Block: TSLA: Options traders are betting on a 16% move in Tesla shares in either direction through the end of the week. Four of the five most traded Tesla options on Wednesday were put options, but it was not clear whether investors were buying or selling them. It has been a rough year for Elon Musk - off $3.3B between TSLA and SCTY. Earnings today: Before the bell: Nokia, PepsiCo, After the bell: Activision Blizzard, Groupon, Pandora Media Group. Odd Block: Calls trade in SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), calls trade in Yamana Gold Inc., and calls trade in IAMGOLD Corp (IAG) Mail Block: Listener questions and comments No love for daily options - Twitter poll has 40% of respondents saying heck no to dailies!! Comment from KDDiddy - Position Delta is a stupid term you must learn to get an Options license in Canada. Sure, we rule the hockey world, eh? But we are the Jamaican bobsled team of the Options industry. On behalf of all Canadians, I apologize for the term and, for the Montreal Exchange. Perhaps you hosers could suggest some reading on the subject of Delta. After Andrew pulled my jersey over my head and lobster clawed me with "Beta weighted to SPY" and "Extra curvature," I thought I better grab some books 'n start givn'er in the library." Question from Michael - @Options $15 put Twitter drops off the map; yet the premium still has been declining. Can you explain? Question from Alex - Insider Trading, What are your thoughts on Shorting 1Y 25 Delta Puts on LNKD midday today (LNKD is at 105 as I write this message)? Puts are quite juicy right now with quite acceptable break even points. I am very interested in hearing your feedback. Cheers, Big Options Trading Podcast fan, Alex. Around the Block: Reminder: No show on Monday, February 15 due to the market holiday. Next show on Thursday, February 18 is our live 500th episode spectacular!
Trading Block: TSLA: Options traders are betting on a 16% move in Tesla shares in either direction through the end of the week. Four of the five most traded Tesla options on Wednesday were put options, but it was not clear whether investors were buying or selling them. It has been a rough year for Elon Musk - off $3.3B between TSLA and SCTY. Earnings today: Before the bell: Nokia, PepsiCo, After the bell: Activision Blizzard, Groupon, Pandora Media Group. Odd Block: Calls trade in SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), calls trade in Yamana Gold Inc., and calls trade in IAMGOLD Corp (IAG) Mail Block: Listener questions and comments No love for daily options - Twitter poll has 40% of respondents saying heck no to dailies!! Comment from KDDiddy - Position Delta is a stupid term you must learn to get an Options license in Canada. Sure, we rule the hockey world, eh? But we are the Jamaican bobsled team of the Options industry. On behalf of all Canadians, I apologize for the term and, for the Montreal Exchange. Perhaps you hosers could suggest some reading on the subject of Delta. After Andrew pulled my jersey over my head and lobster clawed me with "Beta weighted to SPY" and "Extra curvature," I thought I better grab some books 'n start givn'er in the library." Question from Michael - @Options $15 put Twitter drops off the map; yet the premium still has been declining. Can you explain? Question from Alex - Insider Trading, What are your thoughts on Shorting 1Y 25 Delta Puts on LNKD midday today (LNKD is at 105 as I write this message)? Puts are quite juicy right now with quite acceptable break even points. I am very interested in hearing your feedback. Cheers, Big Options Trading Podcast fan, Alex. Around the Block: Reminder: No show on Monday, February 15 due to the market holiday. Next show on Thursday, February 18 is our live 500th episode spectacular!
Trading Block: Today we have guest co-host Dan Cook from NADEX. LNKD after the bell. ATM straddle: $22, approx. 11.5%. Wall St. fluctuates as equities track oil prices. Is oil driving the stock market - and should traders care? As energy rout deepens, CME, ICE reap benefit from record volumes. Earnings today - Before the bell: ConocoPhillips, Intercontinental Exchange. Odd Block: Calls trade in SPDR S&P Metal and Mining ETF (XME), calls trade in Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX), and calls and puts trade in BHP Biliton Ltd (BHP). Mail Block: Listener questions and comments Question from KDDiddy - Hey guys, Getting back to the great Stupid debate....I wrote in a few weeks ago regarding the use of a put stupid to hedge a stock 2% below market. You mentioned there is a better way using position delta. I understand position delta and delta neutral but sadly, although I have tried for a couple of weeks, I am too stupid to figure this out! Is there a formula? Would you explain? Regards, Mr. Not So Smart Sent from my iPhone Around the Block: Upcoming activity in non-farms product on NADEX. Earnings on Friday for CME Group Inc.
Trading Block: Today we have guest co-host Dan Cook from NADEX. LNKD after the bell. ATM straddle: $22, approx. 11.5%. Wall St. fluctuates as equities track oil prices. Is oil driving the stock market - and should traders care? As energy rout deepens, CME, ICE reap benefit from record volumes. Earnings today - Before the bell: ConocoPhillips, Intercontinental Exchange. Odd Block: Calls trade in SPDR S&P Metal and Mining ETF (XME), calls trade in Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX), and calls and puts trade in BHP Biliton Ltd (BHP). Mail Block: Listener questions and comments Question from KDDiddy - Hey guys, Getting back to the great Stupid debate....I wrote in a few weeks ago regarding the use of a put stupid to hedge a stock 2% below market. You mentioned there is a better way using position delta. I understand position delta and delta neutral but sadly, although I have tried for a couple of weeks, I am too stupid to figure this out! Is there a formula? Would you explain? Regards, Mr. Not So Smart Sent from my iPhone Around the Block: Upcoming activity in non-farms product on NADEX. Earnings on Friday for CME Group Inc.
Welcome to Episode 15 of the SheCanTrade podcast with Sarah Potter. The markets are crazy and zany again this week, yet Sarah and TJ were able to have a spectacular week in the live trading room last week so this podcast we review three trade setups last week in WMT, CMG and LNKD. Plus, Sarah takes a look at the S&P 500, discussing if it might be forming a technical double bottom, or an “h” pattern, as she likes to observe. Perhaps it is, maybe it isn’t. Time will tell. Tune in to find out more on her outlook for the market.
Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media. Good Morning Onward Nation...I’m Stephen Woessner. Before we jump into the topic of today’s solocast -- I wanted to take a moment to wish you, your family, and your friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. My hope for you is that you will be able to take some time away from your business to celebrate all of the wonderful blessings in your life -- and to take this opportunity to plan for 2016 and to gain even more clarity on your most vital priorities for the coming year. How will you make 2016 your best year ever? I can tell you for certain -- that becoming your best and achieving more -- will not be the result of you working harder -- or even as a result of you working smarter as we often hear. Nope. You need to add more scale and leverage into your business -- to make your business more systematic, more predictable, repeatable, and measurable. All of which are key ingredients we talk about with today’s top business owners here at Onward Nation. With that -- again -- I wish you, and all those in your life, a very Merry Christmas and Happy 2016. Our Onward Nation and Predictive ROI families are taking a break as well. We will not be airing new episodes tomorrow or Friday so our team can spend time away from the business on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We will follow the same schedule next week by not airing new episodes on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. Have a wonderful holiday week -- and take some time to practice Habit #7 -- or “Sharpen the Saw” from the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Everything you need to make 2016 your best yet -- the year of your dreams -- is already in your midst. So let’s keep this momentum of 2016 going by focusing on a key ingredient that can propel your business onward to that next level. Hiring “A Players” -- but -- I don’t mean adding several high salaried or highly commissioned positions to your team. Instead, I am referring to the opportunity of hiring “A Players” who also happen to be unpaid interns. Yes, I did say unpaid interns. On the Predictive ROI side of our business, we have built an outstanding internship program and have provided over 20 unpaid internships over the last several years to students in their senior year of study at Purdue, Duke, Ohio State, University of South Florida, University of Northern Iowa, and several other universities throughout the country. I decided to focus today’s solocast on how to recruit rock star interns because last week, I was on-site with a client leading a 2-day intensive on SMART Search Engine Optimization and Lead Gen. And like in many companies, the marketing manager was responsible for everything -- new content development, generating qualified leads, optimizing content, email campaigns, print collaterals materials, trade show analysis, trade show displays, PPC campaigns, coordinating all of the in-house experts for any technical writing, the blog, video production, and the dizzying list goes on and on. My word. Toward the end of our first day -- I asked him if he had access to any interns who could provide some additional production capacity and support so he could focus more of his time toward his most vital priorities. He quickly said no -- but then went on to share some insights about their corporate culture, its view of interns, and actually needing permission to hire a full-time employee even if he only wanted to hire an intern -- because they wouldn’t hire an intern unless there was a pathway to employment. And since budget was tight -- no funds were available for recruiting and then paying interns. So I asked… “What about unpaid interns?” And I received the reaction that I am very used to seeing or hearing when I mention unpaid internships. The typical objections are that you will only be able to recruit the unmotivated...the people who are just looking to check the box off the list...they are there to do the bare minimum...and nothing more. And I suspect that has been the experience for most companies. But not at Predictive ROI...our sister company to Onward Nation. In fact...our recipe for recruiting rock star interns is so good...I am going to share all of the ingredients during this episode. I am going to give you the exact recipe so you can take it and apply it into your business right away. But before I do...I want to take this opportunity to pull back the green curtain and take you behind the scenes at Onward Nation for a minute so you can meet some of the rock star members of our Predictive ROI team who pull all the levers regarding the day-to-day production behind Onward Nation as well as the other podcasts we produce for clients. I should also point out that not everyone on our Predictive ROI team is part of the Onward Nation team. For example, Alex Krupski, Whitney Puent, and Hagan Whiteleather are interns and assigned to other teams. I will be sure to introduce you to them during a future solocast where we focus on search engine optimization and content development. Because all three of them are absolutely rock stars -- and their expertise is deep! So for Onward Nation...let me introduce you first to Katherine Bartlett -- yay, Katherine! Katherine is our full-time multi-media producer and the wizard behind all of our episodes -- how they sound -- and how they look out on social media. Anything audio and visual related is all orchestrated by Katherine. Katherine began her career at Predictive ROI as an unpaid intern. She was one of those people who raised her hand and said -- “Um, I know that I am only required to do 10 hours per week for this internship. But, could I do more?” And our response was...oh my...yes, please. When her internship was complete...we transitioned Katherine to what we call “Super Intern” during her final semester at the University of Northern Iowa. She received a very small stipend of compensation while she focused on her remaining education. And when she graduated, she became a full time salaried employee. Katherine is a rock star. And then there is Louie Schuth...who is in-charge of all our show notes, email campaigns, blog posts, our Twitter strategy, and LNKD articles. Louie is an amazing writer and a graduate of University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Louie finished his unpaid internship today and will begin his super internship on Monday, January 4th. We are thrilled to have Louie as a member of our team…because he and Katherine are cut from the exact same cloth of -- “Yes, please -- I can do more.” We started Louie off with a variety of writing projects and he quickly excelled. And then he asked if he could allocate a portion of his time to WordPress and managing some of our websites. Uh, yes please! And he excelled there, too. And Louie is the one who stays up late with me Tuesday nights before my solocasts air to make sure the show notes and audio file are set correctly. We are excited for Louie to complete his super internship and then become a full time member of our Onward Nation and Predictive ROI teams. Then there is the trailblazer...Christian McCauley. Christian was a critical part in the launch of Onward Nation. It was Christian who created the framework of our Show Notes -- and our daily ONE email system was his invention. Christian also took over the editing of our daily episodes from me so I could focus on other vital priorities. He built a system -- a process -- a recipe -- that later, Louie picked up and ran with. Christian provided scale to Onward Nation and we provided him with an opportunity to sharpen and refine his marketing education that he received from Walsh University in North Canton, Ohio. Following his internship with us, Christian went on to work full-time at Waggoner’s Chocolates and is building a career in the confection industry and using what he learned at Predictive ROI every day. We are thrilled to watch his success. You’re a rock star, Christian -- thank you! And last but not least...I’d like to introduce you to Erik Jensen, our vice president of client services for Predictive ROI and he also oversees our entire production team for Predictive and Onward Nation. I first met Erik while I was a part of the academic staff at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. I served at the Small Business Development Center on campus. One day, the chair of our marketing department suggested to Erik that he come see me regarding a business plan that Erik and his business partner were developing for a competition at Duke University. We met and I was blown away by his professionalism and grasp of so much detail. Later that night -- I said to my wife, wow...this guy is amazing -- I hope some day there is an opportunity to work together on something. Years later...Erik became our first intern at Predictive ROI...he then became full time employee #3 as an associate...we then promoted him to engagement manager...then the leadership team...then vice president of client services...and within the next several months...Erik will become an equity partner in Predictive ROI. Erik is a rock star in the truest sense of the word. Erik helped set the standard by which we evaluate and measure all interns. He invested a full-time schedule toward his internship even though it wasn’t required. And that is the type of heart you are looking for, Onward Nation, in your interns. You need to treat your unpaid interns exactly as full-time members of your team and you will get a higher level of production and proactivity. So with that...I am going to share the complete recipe for how we recruit rock star candidates to our unpaid internship program. Please note: We only take students in their senior year of school. We have had positive experiences with juniors (but that is often not the case) and we have had positive experiences with interns post graduation (but that is often not the case as well). So we decided to focus on seniors and have found them to be the most motivated, eager to learn, and hungry to gain experience because graduation is looming and so is their job search. Ingredient #1: Define your culture with your leadership team, employees, and post a page on your website for candidates to study. On our culture page for Predictive ROI, we define with the following phrases (and more): "We promise to provide our clients with the very best, most outstanding consulting and training services available. "We are so committed to being outstanding that we deliver a minimum of 200 percent financial return on investment to clients. We take it further by guaranteeing each client’s ROI. "And refund our fee if we do not deliver what we promise. "We demand a standard of excellence of ourselves and are committed to delivering that standard to clients 100 percent of the time. No excuses or exceptions. "We are a team. We work hard. We rise together – because as our clients succeed – we succeed." You can find our full culture description here: http://predictiveroi.com/culture/ Ingredient #2: write a position description that is in-line with your culture and post on your website. We clearly define who and what we're looking for in our position descriptions. Here's how we begin our description of what we do -- and -- who exactly we are looking for: "Predictive ROI is a growing digital marketing consulting agency that works with an array of visionary businesses in many industries. We work with our clients to help them achieve explosive growth by reaching their digital goals. This includes increasing their ROI and enhancing their brand across many platforms/mediums. We are looking for candidates who embody our standard of excellence, our culture of teamwork, and who are enthusiastic about learning while delivering their best work. We offer the flexibility of working remotely, a robust on-boarding program, training through our Predictive ROI Institute, a team of like-minded high achievers and opportunities for advancement. "If you are a member of the Predictive team, or a client, you are family. We work together to achieve our goals, we care and we go all in to get it done." You can find full position descriptions here: http://predictiveroi.com/digital-marketing-careers/ Ingredient #3: post testimonials / social proof on your website because “A Players” want to work with other “A Players” -- or -- where other “A Players” have worked. “The team at Predictive ROI is incredible. They are so talented and passionate about this industry, and that really makes such a difference. I feel like I have learned much more through this internship than I ever expected. With every step of the way, I felt involved in the process and that my thoughts and ideas mattered. Through the help of some pretty great mentors, I was able to not only learn more about this industry, but was able to apply what I was learning first-hand.” — Whitney Puent “There's one word that comes to mind when looking to describe the Predictive ROI internship: special. Predictive ROI gives you the opportunity to do great work that has an impact. But, more importantly, at Predictive ROI you work with the greatest team you could ever ask for, a team that will have your back and guide you so that you're better prepared for the working world, and better prepared for life. If you're willing to put in the hard work, don't think twice about applying for an internship with Predictive ROI. You won't regret it.” — Louie Schuth “Applying for an internship with Predictive ROI was the best decision I've made in a long time. Going into my final semester of college, I knew I wanted an internship that would allow me to hone and develop my professional skills by making impactful contributions within an organization. An internship with Predictive ROI gives you exactly that. At Predictive ROI, you are given the opportunity to work with an unbelievable team that will teach you the the tools and skills needed to be successful in your career.” — Alex Krupski Ingredient #4: weed out B and C players by sending a pre-qualifying email with challenging thought provoking questions to each candidate. We send the following email immediately after receiving someone's application / resume: [Candidate's First Name]...thank you for your interest in our internship! As the first step in our process...please review the following questions and email us back your thoughts for each. Your answers to each question will give our team an opportunity to: 1) understand how we can create the right internship experience for you and ensure you learn everything you want to learn, 2) evaluate your written communication skills, and 3) assess your depth of interest in joining our team. Please introduce yourself (beyond what we can learn by reading your resume) and why our internship is of interest to you. Please describe the top three things you would like to learn during this internship. And we encourage you to be as specific as possible. Tell us about your digital marketing experience up to this point (and if it is zero...that is okay). Things we cannot teach are work ethic, commitment to teammates, integrity, and excellence. Please share an example of when you consistently demonstrated excellence in your work. Please share an example of when you demonstrated integrity. What are the attributes or qualities you look for in teammates? How can we help support your growth and development during this internship? This is my direct email address -- please feel free to reply here. We look forward to talking with you. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Sincerely Yours, Stephen Woessner Host of The Onward Nation Podcast CEO of Predictive ROI Ingredient #5: conduct initial call to assess cultural fit and subject matter expertise deep dive If the answers provided back are at our standard of excellence -- I will schedule a subject matter expertise-focused phone call in order to assess: cultural fit depth of current knowledge. Their current knowledge is not a deal breaker because we train and teach all we do -- but it is good to have a baseline. I also make a decision -- along with the candidate -- on whether or not there is a good enough of a fit to move on to Step 3. Ingredient #6: conduct team interview with the candidate. Team interview with the candidate, Katherine (former intern, now our multi-media producer), Erik (former intern, now our vp of client services and co-owner), and me. Our focus during this interview is to answer any questions from the candidate about Predictive, the internship, and where the company is headed. And we ask a lot of questions about teamwork, proactivity, independent working / thinking, etc. Ingredient #7: make a go or no go decision -- then send “Congratulations” email Good Morning [Candidate's First Name]...thank you again for your time yesterday afternoon! I am excited to give you a very warm welcome to the Predictive ROI team. Katherine, Erik, and I thoroughly enjoyed our time with you yesterday and look forward to having your contribution to the work we are all doing. I am preparing a formal acceptance letter that will detail initial responsibilities, internship duration, etc. I will email it to you on Friday for your review and approval. But at this point...would Monday be a good start date for you? And would you be able to attend our 8:45 am kick-start meeting via Zoom? Onward with gusto! Ingredient #8: kick-off the semester long internship. After they've accepted the internship, we bring them into our daily kickstart meetings at 8:45 am where we all answer four questions: My three most vital priorities for the day are… What I didn’t get done yesterday but should have (not a judgement question -- but an ask for teamwork) This is where I need some help… I do / don’t have available time today Take vital projects off your plate and give them to your interns -- not filing projects -- put them on the front lines with meaningful work. They will love you for it if you do. You will recruit "A Players" -- rock star unpaid interns -- just like Predictive ROI and Onward Nation has if you apply these 8 ingredients. So with that said... I want to say again, thank you for taking the time to be here with me today. It is an honor to have you here -- thank you for tuning in -- your time is sacred and I am delighted you chose this episode to be what you listen to, study, and take with you on your morning run, or maybe Onward Nation has become part of your daily commute, or in some other way has become part of your morning routine. However our daily podcast fits into your daily routine -- I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today’s top business owners. And please continue to let me know what you think of Onward Nation...good or bad...I always want your feedback. My direct email address is stephen@onwardnation.com -- and yes -- that is my actual Inbox. No fancy filters or filing system and I read and reply to every single email. So please let me know how you think we are doing. I look forward to hearing from you. Merry Christmas and we will be back on Monday with an incredible interview with Becky McKinnell -- she is off the charts amazing. Don’t miss it. Until then, onward with gusto! You can also find us here: ----- OnwardNation.com -----
Option Block 451: What Happens When We Go Live? Trading Block: Still in the thick of earnings season. LNKD straddle going out at over $25. Talking FB, VIX. Trading the Sebastian bottom. The introduction of VIX weekly futures. Whole Foods prices weigh on earnings. Who's afraid of insider trading? Chinese equity vol. Will Gold fall to $350/ounce? SO MANY new CBOE indexes. SO MANY. Odd Block: Ratio/vertical calls roll in MDLZ. Ratio buy-write in NOW. Taking the short off in NOK. The Mail Block: Listener questions and comments. What happened to Options Oddities? What is the worst beginner options trade? Beware of paying through the offer Around the Block: Still some earnings coming: XOM, CBOE, CVX. Introducing the inverse mullet: the tellum. Greece. Jobs report next week.
Trading Block: Still in the thick of earnings season. LNKD straddle going out at over $25. Talking FB, VIX. Trading the Sebastian bottom. The introduction of VIX weekly futures. Whole Foods prices weigh on earnings. Who's afraid of insider trading? Chinese equity vol. Will Gold fall to $350/ounce? SO MANY new CBOE indexes. SO MANY. Odd Block: Ratio/vertical calls roll in MDLZ. Ratio buy-write in NOW. Taking the short off in NOK. The Mail Block: Listener questions and comments. What happened to Options Oddities? What is the worst beginner options trade? Beware of paying through the offer Around the Block: Still some earnings coming: XOM, CBOE, CVX. Introducing the inverse mullet: the tellum. Greece. Jobs report next week.
Options Oddities 175: NBL, GSAT, LNKD Unusual Activity for May 4, 2015: Combos trade in Noble Energy Inc. (NBL) Calls go up in GlobalStar, Inc. (GSAT) Put spreads going up in LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD)
Option Block 335: The Giovinazzi/Tosaw Spectacular Trading Block: A slow day on the market today. TLT was one of the few things to light up the tape. Yellen, the Fed and bond buying. An update of the VIX and S&P with Andrew. Odd Block: Call buyers in Auxilium Phramaceuticals, Inc (AUXL) Call buyers jump into EQT Corp. (EQT) Call spreads trade in Verso Paper Corp (VRS) Calls roll in Mechel OAO (MTL) Strategy Block: A question/poll for our audience: Given the level of the VIX, is this market a better environment for doing verticals spreads or horizontal spreads? Around the Block: More earnings: XOM, LNKD, KRFT and EXPE. The biggest news will come for the jobs report on Friday. Will gold continue to slide? GDP?
Option Block 335: The Giovinazzi/Tosaw Spectacular Trading Block: A slow day on the market today. TLT was one of the few things to light up the tape. Yellen, the Fed and bond buying. An update of the VIX and S&P with Andrew. Odd Block: Call buyers in Auxilium Phramaceuticals, Inc (AUXL) Call buyers jump into EQT Corp. (EQT) Call spreads trade in Verso Paper Corp (VRS) Calls roll in Mechel OAO (MTL) Strategy Block: A question/poll for our audience: Given the level of the VIX, is this market a better environment for doing verticals spreads or horizontal spreads? Around the Block: More earnings: XOM, LNKD, KRFT and EXPE. The biggest news will come for the jobs report on Friday. Will gold continue to slide? GDP?
Option Block 333: AAPL, AMZN Earnings Roundup Trading Block: A mild rally on the street today. Apple earnings play-by-play with Uncle Mike Tosaw. A very boring Apple earnings - will this become the next Microsoft? What is the future for Apple? What is the future of the Minis? Will 7 to 1 be the death nail? Odd Block: Strangles, calls and puts trade in Eagle Rock Energy Partners LP (EROC), closing call buys trade in SandRidge Energy Inc (SD), closing call buys in iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ), and put buyers trade in AmerisourceBergen Corp. (ABC) Xpress Block: A very busy day at OX, but one that is not represented in the numbers. A lot of paper in FB and APPL going into earning. Mail Block: Question from Nick Snow - Hey Mark. Second time writer here. I was recently scanning brokers out there and have listened to almost everything on options insider. I found one that is highly regarded by barons and some there's for price and technology recently. One of their "proprietary scanning" functions is meant for spread traders. I opened a virtual trade account and played with it and it is all out of the money low Vol 2 standard deviations debit spreads. Is this not a complete love your broker trade? Is there something more that they can build in a spread debit trade that I do not know? Question from George - You posted a chart recently on Options Insider and unfortunately I do not know what "P/C" mean. Would you please explain it for me? Many thanks. Your site is very interesting and readable. Question from A. Berger - When are futures options going live in Idea Hub? Thanks and I love the show. P.S. - Can OX add a caps lock indicator to the website like they have in iTunes? It would make it easier to log on since I am always forgetting about my caps lock. Question from Doc Phil - Why do so many options traders fall to the “dark side?” You do not see many short sellers in equities. Is premium selling just more attractive or is there something about options traders? Around the Block: A final look at MSFT, AMZN and APPL after the bell. More earning on the horizon: MAR - 4/29, NOK - 4/29, TWTR - 4/29, LNKD - 5/1 & CME - 5/1.
Option Block 311: VIX Drops the Ball Trading Block: An aggressive selloff today, S&P off 41 handles, NADAQ down 107 handles. VIX cash passes the 20-handle. A weak start to February. Apple and GLD were the lone greens on the screen today. That makes for a happy Tosaw. The OIC announced today that 389,821,135 total options contracts traded in January, the seventh highest monthly volume ever. TTWO earnings after the bell. Odd Block: Collars go up in Two Harbors Investment Corp. (TWO), call buyers trade in Powershares DB Agriculture (DBA), and collars go up in Seattle Genentics, Inc. (SGEN) Xpress Block: A difficult day at the OX desk. All hands on deck after the opening selloff. Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw expands on his discussion on rolling down puts. Around the Block: More Earnings-palooza: CME 2-4 before; RDN 2-5 before; DIS & TWTR 2-5 after; GM, LNKD, and ZNGA 2-6; CBOE 2-7.
Option Block 311: VIX Drops the Ball Trading Block: An aggressive selloff today, S&P off 41 handles, NASDAQ down 107 handles. VIX cash passes the 20-handle. A weak start to February. Apple and GLD were the lone greens on the screen today. That makes for a happy Tosaw. The OIC announced today that 389,821,135 total options contracts traded in January, the seventh highest monthly volume ever. TTWO earnings after the bell. Odd Block: Collars go up in Two Harbors Investment Corp. (TWO), call buyers trade in Powershares DB Agriculture (DBA), and collars go up in Seattle Genentics, Inc. (SGEN) Xpress Block: A difficult day at the OX desk. All hands on deck after the opening selloff. Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw expands on his discussion on rolling down puts. Around the Block: More Earnings-palooza: CME 2-4 before; RDN 2-5 before; DIS & TWTR 2-5 after; GM, LNKD, and ZNGA 2-6; CBOE 2-7.
Option Block 310: GOOG After Hours Mania Trading Block: The “Correction” is over. Earnings Trading Review: GOOG and CME after the bell. FB - ATM straddle went out around $6, traded nearly $3 through that today. F - Announces "best year ever" but closes nearly unchanged on the day. APPL - That $460 put is not looking so outlandish now. Odd Block: Puts sales trade in Kellogg Company (K), puts buyers trade in Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (NWL), and puts sellers and buyers trade in Overstock.com, Inc (OSTK) Xpress Block: A big day at OX, driven by all the earnings events. Perplexed by Google. Mail Block: Question from C_Dog - What is a scenario where you would consider a ratio vertical spread (1x2, 1x3) going into earnings? Comment from Go Husky - I only trade options around earnings. Am I crazy? Around the Block: A quick update on Amazon, Google and Chipotle. Upcoming earnings: DIS 2-5, GM 2-6, LNKD 2-6, CME 2-4, ZNGA 2-6, TWTR 2-5
Option Block 310: GOOG After Hours Mania Trading Block: The “Correction” is over. Earnings Trading Review: GOOG and CME after the bell. FB - ATM straddle went out around $6, traded nearly $3 through that today. F - Announces "best year ever" but closes nearly unchanged on the day. APPL - That $460 put is not looking so outlandish now. Odd Block: Puts sales trade in Kellogg Company (K), puts buyers trade in Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (NWL), and puts sellers and buyers trade in Overstock.com, Inc (OSTK) Xpress Block: A big day at OX, driven by all the earnings events. Perplexed by Google. Mail Block: Question from C_Dog - What is a scenario where you would consider a ratio vertical spread (1x2, 1x3) going into earnings? Comment from Go Husky - I only trade options around earnings. Am I crazy? Around the Block: A quick update on Amazon, Google and Chipotle. Upcoming earnings: DIS 2-5, GM 2-6, LNKD 2-6, CME 2-4, ZNGA 2-6, TWTR 2-5
Option Block 286: Super Thursday Trading Block: Another mild day on the street. Earnings-Palooza today! Ford before the bell. A newly revived Microsoft. Amazon surges after hours. Zynga breaks the four handle. Crazy developments in Apple post iPad. Odd Block: Calls trade in Covanta Holding Corp (CVA), straddle trades in Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), calls trade in Silvercorp Metal Inc. (SVM), calls trade in Jive Software Inc. (JIVE). Xpress Block: More interesting OX trading patterns. Apple is back! Around the Block: More earnings around the bend: 10/28 - Apple; 10/29 - EA Games, LinkedIn, Take Two, Nokia; 10/30 - General Motors, Marriott
Option Block 195: Post-Hurricane Sandy Edition Trading Block: The market reopens Wednesday after closing for two days due to Hurricane Sandy. Apple opens nearly unched, some long premium holders ended up alright. Vol has been coming in hard. How was the NYSE not prepared for a disaster such as a hurricane? Odd Block: Straddle sold on Take 2 Interactive Software (TTWO). Xpress Block: Dave Vitamonis gets the OX hot seat for today's show and discusses using an iron condor, instead of an iron butterfly. Strategy Block: Mike Tosaw discusses risk management and when you should use a point A to point B type of risk management. Around the Block: Watching the vol crush and Non-farms tomorrow. LinkedIn and Amazon.
Capstone Investments senior internet analyst Paul Meeks explains why he is the only guy on the Street with a sell rating on LNKD, citing excessively high valuations. Meeks thinks we could see a bubble in social media last until some of the bigger players like Facebook and Twitter come to market.
Capstone Investments senior internet analyst Paul Meeks explains why he is the only guy on the Street with a sell rating on LNKD, citing excessively high valuations. Meeks thinks we could see a bubble in social media last until some of the bigger players like Facebook and Twitter come to market.
Option Block 74: Apple vs. U.S. Government Trading Block: Uncle Ben spooks the markets into retreat. If you can't buy stocks, and you can't buy treasuries, what can you do? Buy puts. Would a government shutdown be bad for the market? Metals rally. LNKD update. Odd Block: Unusual activity in North American Palladium, Ltd. (PAL), and Virgin Media (VMED). Around the Block: Debt. Debt. Debt. Debt. Debt. Earnings season is upon us, with Citi and AAPL coming up. The wonder that is AAPL. Option Block fans you only have six more days until the first ever live Option Block episode is taped. If you have ever wanted to see what goes on behind the scenes when taping an episode, your chance has arrived. The entire gang will be live, in person at Elephant & Castle at 111 W. Adams Street in Chicago on July 21. Taping will start around 3:30, so you won't miss a minute of market action. Stop by, bring your friends, and come prepared for a podcast experience like no other. If you're inclined to want to RSVP so that we make sure we have enough room, you can do so at the Options Insider Facebook page. Coming up at... Option Pit: Register for services on Friday, July 15 and receive 10% off. Check out OptionPit.com for details. Know Your Options, Inc.: Get your free, 18-minute portfolio review from Know Your Options, Inc. It's fast, it's free, it's easy. Go to KnowYourOptionsInc.com for more information. Read more: http://www.theoptionsinsider.com/radio/?id=260#ixzz1SCQ4jwiE The Options Insider: Your Inside Source For Options Information
Trading Block: Contagion woes on the continent. KYO liking LNKD for a stock replacement strategy. GLD was one of yesterday's few bright spots. Ford takes a hit from India. Premium buyers have returned. The futures parking lot, V2.0. Odd Block: Unusual activity in CLX and IGT. Xpress Block: The many ways to screw up covered calls. Option pricing when looking at longer and shorter-dated options. Synthetic covered calls. Listener Question: Is it true that you can't do more than four trades in five days or your account will get locked? Around the Block: Earnings season: It's back. LNKD. VIX to break 25? Problems in Europe...do tell. Initial and continued jobless claims. Read more: http://www.theoptionsinsider.com/radio/?id=258#ixzz1S69UpYl4 The Options Insider: Your Inside Source For Options Information