Podcasts about money monday

Looking for the best NBA, CFB & NFL picks, predictions, and betting tips for Monday, October 27, 2025? Tune in to Profit Picks with expert handicappers Hakeem "Skee" Profit and Rob Veno as they preview today's biggest matchups with sharp insights and actionable advice.

It's Monday, so that means it Money Monday! A survey shows workers feel that their income is not keeping up with inflation. Evan Taylor, Associate Professor of Economics at the UNiversity of Arizona joined Arizona's Morning News to discuss worker sentiment and what a delayed CPI report may say about the economy. 

I've been intrigued by all of the LinkedIn posts lately from sales professionals, leaders, and experts proclaimings the phone is back! Even the “phone-is-dead” evangelists seem to have had a change of heart and are encouraging salespeople to “phone a customer.”  My favorite posts are from salespeople who took this advice, called a customer, and were surprised—even stunned—to discover that their customer actually wanted to talk. It's more proof that buyers are starving for real, authentic, human-to-human conversations with their sales reps and account managers.  When Sellers Make Their First Call in Years I saw one post yesterday from an account manager who said that, for the first time in years, he had picked up the phone and called a customer. In his post, he described how rewarding it was to have a real, live conversation—as if this was some new revelation. He said that even though the phone was “old school,” he had given it a try because his customers weren't responding to his emails anymore.  Although I'm super pleased to see that salespeople are rediscovering the power of the humble phone, I was bothered by this particular post because it is an indictment of just how far the sales profession has fallen over the past few years. It also exposes the malpractice of this guy's leadership team. Seriously, how is it possible that his leaders and company allowed him to avoid having actual conversations with his customers for years?  Pick Up the Phone and Talk to Your Customers Account managers who are not talking with their customers, the ones who keep their customers at digital arm's length and send random “just checking in emails,” are swinging the door open and inviting competitors in. When you fail to proactively manage relationships—when you don't talk with your customers—those customers end up talking to your competitors and considering other options. Nearly 70 percent of customers are lost due to neglect. Not prices, not products, not the economy, not aggressive competitors. Neglect! They feel the sting of being taken for granted. If you've ever been taken for granted (and I bet you have), you know that it makes you feel unimportant, small, and resentful, which can lead to the feeling of contempt. Resentment and contempt are the two most powerful negative emotions in the pantheon of human emotions. They are the gangrene of relationships, festering below the surface, slowly rotting away the connections that bind people together until the relationship is destroyed. The good news is the secret to defending accounts is completely in your control. It's simple. Pay attention to your customers. And guess what? A simple, regular  phone call can make all the difference. Just pick up the phone, dial their number, and ask or say: How are you doing? What can I do to help you? I have an idea for you.   Have a great weekend. Thank you for your business. Regular telephone contact ensures that you are top of mind with customers. Hearing your voice lets them know that you care. It doesn't need to be anything particularly special. You don't need to schedule it on their calendar. You don't need a reason to tell your customers that you appreciate them.  Pick up the phone and say “hello” because it doesn't cost a thing to pay attention to your customers. A “How AI Will Replace You” Reality Check But it's not just that account manager and his company. Rather than picking up the phone and talking with people, sales professionals everywhere have replaced this beautiful, synchronous sales communication tool with email. This aversion to talking with people by phone has become so acute that at least half of Sales Gravy's training and consulting engagements have focused on one thing: Teaching and compelling salespeople to pick up the damn phone and just have real-time human conversations.  So, let's start with a reality check: The telephone is not old school. 

You've probably heard it a hundred times lately—AI is coming for your job. Every week, there's a new headline about another role being automated, another company replacing people with bots, another “AI agent” that can do the work of ten humans in half the time. And if you spend too much time reading those headlines, it's easy to start wondering, What happens to me? What happens to salespeople like us in a world where machines can do almost everything we used to do? AI is Here to Stay You can't escape the truth. AI is going to change everything and impact almost every part of our lives. The train has left the station, and it will not be turning back. AI is going to displace a lot of people and jobs, but it's not going to replace everyone. Because no matter how smart machines get, they can't feel or connect the way you and I can. Sales is, and always will be, the ultimate human profession. It's the one job built entirely on human emotion, human judgment, and human connection. What You Can Do That AI Can't Just think about it: AI can write words. But it can't create belief. It can predict who might buy. But it can't build trust. It can score a lead. But it can't lead a human being through uncertainty, fear and doubt while giving them confidence to make the right decision in complex situations.  That's what you do. That's what we do. That's what salespeople have always done—long before there was technology, long before there was AI, and long before algorithms tried to simulate emotion. In sales, it's not about the product. It's about the person. People buy you. What you sell might get you to the door, but it is how you sell that determines whether they let you in.   Every sale is a transfer of emotion from one human being to another. It's the transfer of  belief and confidence and trust. When a customer says “Yes,” they're not just saying yes to a proposal or a price. They're saying 'Yes' to you. No matter how powerful technology becomes, that moment—that human moment—will never be replaced by a line of code. As modern sellers, what we need to understand is that AI isn't the end of selling. It's just the next leap forward in our incredibly resilient profession.  Keeping it Real AI will replace some salespeople, so we need to keep it real. There are reps who are lazy, transactional, and just go through the motions and never bother to think, adapt, or grow. Those reps will get left behind. So AI will not make sales professionals less valuable, but it will absolutely make the gap between poor and exceptional salespeople wider and more pronounced.  But the top performers—the ones who combine human empathy with AI-powered insight—will be unstoppable. Because when you merge the intelligence of machines with the intuition of a human being, it becomes a force multiplier.  How to Become Irreplaceable with AI Right this moment, top sales professionals and high-earners are elevating their performance with AI tools that do the grunt work. It'll build your lists, do your research, automate your follow-ups, and write every sort of draft.  It will give you more time for human-to-human connections: to listen, discover, develop creative solutions, persuade, and see the emotional context behind the data. The question isn't whether AI will replace you. The question is whether you'll use AI to become irreplaceable. It's simple. AI can give you the right words to say. But only you can make someone feel something when you say it. AI can pull the data, do the research, and build your presentation. Only you can look someone in the eye and say “Trust me. We can solve this together.” and close the sale.  Your Emotional Intelligence Seals the Deal That's The AI Edge. It's not about the tools. It's about using the tools to amplify your humanity. In the age of AI, your #1 competitive advantage is emotional intelligence. It's your ability to understand how people feel,

Will the government shutdown effect Arizona more than other states in the country? Evan Taylor, Associate Professor of Economics at University of Arizona joined the show to answer this question and tell us how Wall Street is reacting to the continued shutdown. 

Shaun hates a crooked copper. PLUS, Tom Fortino, Founder & Principal of Alpha Wealth Group, tells Shaun the truth about gold, discusses the political destruction of our economy, and what you can do to protect your money. And ICYMI: Scott "The Cow Guy" Shellady and Shaun solve the financial problems of the world! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here is an undeniable truth: The No. 1 reason for failure in sales is an empty pipeline, and the No. 1 reason you have an empty pipeline is that you are not doing enough prospecting. In sales, everything rests on putting qualified opportunities in your pipeline. Prospecting is the beginning and the end, alpha and omega. If you don't prospect, you will fail. That is a guaranteed truth. Each and every sales day, you must connect with prospects, engage them in meaningful conversations, and convert them into pipeline opportunities.  It's a Noisy World The problem is that we live in a noisy world in which those same prospects are being inundated with prospecting messages from dozens of other salespeople who are also attempting to get their attention.  So, if you don't stand out, you lose.  But I doubt I'm telling you anything that you don't already know. It's freaking hard to get attention when prospecting, and it's not getting easier. There are days when it feels like you could be jumping up and down in front of your prospect in a pink bunny suit while throwing hundred-dollar bills in the air, and they'd still ignore you.  The Sledgehammer Approach Is Dead One of the key reasons so many salespeople fail to break through is that their entire prospecting strategy is pounding away at prospects through a single communication channel—typically a series of automated emails sent through a sales engagement platform like Outreach or SalesLoft.  Sadly, this sledgehammer approach just doesn't work anymore. Recent data reveals that salespeople are sending as many as eight times more emails today than they did five years ago and getting just a tenth of the results.  A big reason prospects are tuning out is that AI-powered sales automation tools have scaled email prospecting activity to an extraordinary level.  In the past, writing a prospecting email involved strategic thought and taking time to craft a message that was unique to each prospect. It was a slow process, which meant salespeople sent fewer but better prospecting emails. Today, AI engines can pump out hundreds of cold email variations in seconds with shallow, and often cringeworthy, personalization that, more often than not, turns prospects off. And as AI-generated prospecting emails flood inboxes, the sheer volume of this outreach has eroded any impact from the improved efficiency.  Constant exposure to this irrelevant, repetitive AI-generated crap has left business executives exasperated. They are overwhelmed and have tuned out, turned off, and are ignoring all prospecting messages—good or bad, human or AI-generated. Break Through the Noise Most sales professionals today are desperate to find new techniques to help them break through the noise and get attention when prospecting so that they can engage in more meaningful conversations.  Most salespeople want a bigger, stronger pipeline filled with qualified opportunities. Yet many overlook one of the most powerful prospecting tools right at their fingertips: LinkedIn. Why LinkedIn, Why Now It can be argued that the moment the sales profession changed forever and the door opened to modern selling as we know it was when Alexander Graham Bell said on the very first telephone call, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.” The telephone's impact on the sales profession was profound and lasting. Then, as now, the phone remains the most efficient and effective means for conducting real-time, synchronous human-to-human conversations with prospects. Bell made his call to Mr. Watson 150 years ago. Since then, only a handful of pivotal technologies have advanced the sales profession with such impact: The automobile gave sellers the freedom to cover wider regional territories more efficiently. Air travel literally gave sales professionals wings, expanding their reach nationally and globally. The internet put unimaginable data at the fingertips of both sales professionals and buyers.

Cicero once said, "Cultivation of the mind is as necessary as food to the body." Sales is fundamentally a mental game. Your capacity for understanding your prospects at a deeper level and developing creative solutions that solve their problems – that's your winning edge. In a profession where you need to outwit and out maneuver your competitors in order to win,  your ability to think, to truly contemplate and reflect, might be the most underutilized competitive advantage in your sales arsenal. Always Responding. Never Reflecting. Yet most salespeople these days are starving their minds. They're constantly in motion, constantly busy, constantly doing, constantly in front of screens – but rarely thinking.  We've created a culture where being busy equals being productive. Most salespeople spend their days reacting – to emails, to phone calls, to urgent requests, to the latest fire that needs to be put out. We are always responding, never reflecting. Always moving, never thinking strategically about where we are going. Noise Kills Your Ability to Think William Penn wrote, "True silence is the rest of the mind; it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment." Think about that for a moment. You wouldn't dream of going weeks without sleep because you know your body would break down. But you regularly go weeks, maybe months, without giving your mind the silence and space it needs to just think and function at its highest level. We live in the age of noise. Constant noise. Digital noise, physical noise, mental noise. Your phone is buzzing with notifications. Your email is pinging every few minutes. Your CRM is demanding updates. Your manager wants reports. Your prospects are texting. Your colleagues and customers are interrupting.  We have so many things going on at once and so much noise in our lives that it has become almost impossible to think. All of this noise is killing your ability to think clearly, to make good decisions, to see the big picture, to be the creative and thoughtful professional you were meant to be.  Schedule Thinking Time That's exactly why scheduling thinking time is so important. Most people don't take the time to think because they don't feel like they can afford to. Sitting quietly and thinking doesn't feel like work. It feels like you're being lazy. Our culture has programmed us to believe that if we're not visibly doing something, we're not being productive. Likewise, constant stimulation has become a drug. Silence feels uncomfortable because we've forgotten how to be alone with our thoughts. I passionately believe that we must schedule, on our calendars, for thinking. No distractions, no music, no TV, no laptop, no phone – just you and your thoughts, alone. Notice I said "schedule" it. If you don't put it on your calendar, it won't happen. You'll always find something more "urgent" to do. Thinking Time Taking time to just think is powerful. It slows you down, helps you relax, and frequently generates incredible ideas and inspiration.  Thinking time isn't meditation, though it shares some similarities. It's not prayer, though some people find it spiritual. It's simply dedicated time for your mind to process, reflect, and contemplate. The beauty of thinking time is that it can take many forms.  The Quiet Corner Think  Find a quiet space – your office with the door closed, a park bench, your car in an empty parking lot, or a corner of your home. The location doesn't matter as much as the lack of distractions. Start with just 15 minutes. Don't try to go for an hour right away. Build the habit first, then extend the time. The Walk and Think This is my personal favorite. Take a long walk – alone, without music, podcasts, or phone calls. There's something about the rhythm of walking that unlocks creative thinking. Steve Jobs was famous for his thinking walks. Many of his best ideas came while walking around Apple's campus or thro...

It's Money Monday! As usual Associate Professor of Economics at University of Arizona Evan Taylor joined Arizona's Morning News to discuss the increase in personal consumption expedenitures and other recent shopping trends. 

It's Money Monday! Yay! As always on Monday we spoke with UofA economics professor Evan Taylor about poverty rates declining in the Valley and the economy being “K shaped”. 

Get the latest financial news from Allworth Financial's Brian James

Brian talks with Chris Smitherman to hear his Smithervent, Money Monday with Brian James, Ryan Walters of Empower U and his seminar on September 23rd on President Grover Cleveland plus your calls.

Welcome to Grind Season. This week, we enter the most pivotal period of your entire sales year. From now until mid-December, how you choose to invest your limited time will determine whether you end your year strong, hit your income goals, make it to the winner's circle at President's Club, and start next year with a full pipeline OR wallow in mediocrity, miss your number, and damage your career.  Write Your Sales Comeback Story If you're ahead of your goals, this is your time to build an insurmountable lead and give yourself an unfair advantage as you enter next year. Do not rest on your laurels and coast. Grind it out and build a massive next-year pipeline. If you're on track, this is your time to accelerate, finish strong, and propel yourself into the President's Club.  If you're behind, this is the time to shift from being defense to offense. Most salespeople who are going to miss their annual quota already know it by now. They can feel it. See it in their pipeline. Sense it in their gut. But what separates winners from losers is that winners use this moment as a wake-up call, not a death sentence.  Stop making excuses about market conditions, difficult prospects, or bad luck. Start taking complete ownership of your results and your future. Stop thinking like someone who's behind. Start thinking like someone who's about to write their own sales comeback story.  Your energy and confidence level will directly impact your results during Grind Season. If you show up defeated and desperate, prospects will sense it. If you show up confident and focused, prospects will respond in kind, and you will sell more. But whatever your situation, this is not the time to coast. This is the time to get serious about finishing the year strong. The Grind Season Mindset "Grind Season" is more than just a motivational catchphrase – it's a winning mindset grounded in the unglamorous, but essential, embrace of this crucial period with intense focus, hard work, discipline, and consistent, intentional activity.  It's about ignoring distractions, drowning out the noise, being stingy with your time, and using every moment of your sales day to put new opportunities into the pipeline and actively advancing those deals through the pipeline. This isn't about activity for the sake of activity. It's about deliberately and proactively getting back to the basics and fundamentals of prospecting and sales at a time in the sales year when it matters.  Your Pipeline Reality Check Here's the key gut-check question you must look into the mirror and answer right now: Where do you stand relative to your year-end number, and based on that answer, what will be your next move? To fully answer that question, begin with a pipeline reality check. Your current quota attainment tells you where you've been. Your pipeline tells you where you're going. Far too many sales professionals look at their pipeline and see what they want to see, not what's actually there. This is especially true at this time of year when we allow baggage from the first half of the year to remain in our pipeline, hoping that somehow we might close it. But here's the deal, during Grind Season, hope is not a strategy.  The truth is, those deals have been dead for a long time. The stakeholders are ghosting you; they never commit to next steps, and most haven't returned your calls in months. In the words of Sales Gravy University trainer and author Kristie K. Jones, “stalled” is not a step in the sales process.  So start by getting brutally honest and ruthless with your current pipeline. First, clean house. Go through every opportunity and ask yourself: "If I had to bet my own money on whether this deal will close by the end of the year, would I take that bet?" If the answer is no, move it out of your active pipeline and replace it with something else. Stop lying to yourself and counting on it for this year's numbers. Second,

I had intended for this Money Monday to be something powerful, a new message that would get you fired up for this week and this season. But last week, while delivering training to an amazing group of young salespeople with wide-open minds, I learned that Charlie Kirk had been assassinated. It disturbed me deeply and I feel compelled to deliver this message. The Assassination That Shook America On Sept. 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was fatally shot while addressing an audience at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. A young man, thirty-one years old with his whole life ahead of him, was killed for no other reason than someone disagreed with him. After learning about the assassination, I found myself incredibly disturbed that a person in the public square could just be shot and killed like that—murdered right in front of everyone. So I did what I always do when I want to understand something: I started learning. I watched hours and hours, dozens and dozens of Charlie Kirk's videos to learn more about the man, his message, and why someone would think it would be okay to assassinate him. I still haven't found the answer to that last question. This Isn't About Politics Before I go any further, let me be crystal clear: This is not a political message. This is not a religious message. It is about how we treat each other as human beings. If you know me, if you've been to my events or training, you know I never talk about politics or religion. If you look at my social media feeds on any channel, you won't find much that would help you understand what my politics or religion are. Do I have convictions? Yes. Do I believe certain things? Yes. But they're my beliefs, and I keep them to myself because my job is to train salespeople. I'm a sales author, trainer, expert, and consultant. That's my lane. I train salespeople no matter what they believe. I train salespeople no matter what their religion. I train salespeople and help salespeople no matter where they're from or what their walk of life is. I don't care where you come from because my entire purpose, my reason for being on earth, is to help you sell more, help you gain confidence, and to help you with your biggest sales questions and challenges. What Charlie Kirk's Example Taught Me What I discovered in watching those videos was something that transcends political beliefs. Charlie Kirk's example was his willingness to go sit down face-to-face with people who disagreed with him, sometimes vehemently, and just have a conversation. And do it respectfully. I noticed something remarkable in his videos: More than once, he said, "You know what, I stand corrected." Someone would come to him with a different set of facts, and he would say, "Okay, that sounds right. I agree with you." In many cases, he would shake the person's hand after a debate. He was respectful. It was never about the person. It wasn't personal. He didn't hate the person. He had conversations about their ideas. How Charlie Kirk disagreed mattered. That is what we need to get back to. Not someplace in the future—today, right now. The Human Cost I watched his wife's, Erica's, message to the world, and I found myself on an airplane as a grown man with tears streaming down my face, trying not to let everyone see that I was crying. It was heartbreaking watching her pain. She has two kids; they are one- and three-years-old. That assassin changed their lives forever. I can't imagine when one of them gets older and either finds the video of their daddy getting assassinated or someone puts it in front of them. If you step into that frame for just a moment with your human empathy, it will make you hurt. Charlie's children will be raised with stories instead of memories, photographs instead of laughter, and silence where their father's voice should have guided and loved them. The Conflict We All Face Everywhere in our lives with other people, we have disagreement. Everywhere in our lives,

It's Money Monday, and Evan Taylor, Associate Professor of Economics at university of Arizona's Eller College jined Arizona's morning News to discuss inflation, wage growth, and umemployment. 

Former vice mayor of Cincinnati Chris Smitherman gives his Smithervent, Money Monday with Brian James of Allworth Financial and KRC Cares with Ulysses Days of Affordable Imaging Services.

Yeehaw, y'all! Scott Carson's back with a Money Monday breakdown that'll make you shout "Show Me the Money!" This week we're diving DEEP into a South Texas arbitrage deal that left students shouting Eureka at the last workshop!It's a note in Floresville, Texas! It's land! It's a mobile home! It's a performing note with a huge discount! What is there not to love? The higher the yield, the better in this analysis.What we are covering in this episode:Arbitrage 101: Buy low, sell high.The Floresville Deal: The ins, outs, and red flags.Private Investor Financing Secrets: How to structure for maximum profit.Risk Rundown: Mitigate those foreclosure fears.Value Check: How to pull comps and avoid overpaying.This ain't your grandma's real estate! This is a straight shot on how it's time to capitalize and check out this case study. Then, go rinse and repeat to exponentially grow your note business!Watch the Original VIDEO HERE!Book a Call With Scott HERE!Sign up for the next FREE One-Day Note Class HERE!Sign up for the WCN Membership HERE!Sign up for the next Note Buying For Dummies Workshop HERE!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the Note Closers Show community today:WeCloseNotes.comThe Note Closers Show FacebookThe Note Closers Show TwitterScott Carson LinkedInThe Note Closers Show YouTubeThe Note Closers Show VimeoThe Note Closers Show InstagramWe Close Notes PinterestGet Signed Up For the Next Note Buying Workshop HERE!

In this power episode of The Unapologetically Rich Show, your Host Shamina Taylor welcomes powerhouse marketer and transformational leader Amber Spears for a raw, inspiring conversation that spans affiliate marketing, wealth consciousness, authentic leadership, and the power of intentional community. Amber opens up about her conventional upbringing, the early struggles of building her career, and how she's now helped over 2,500 companies generate more than $580 million in front-end sales. But this conversation goes far beyond numbers. Together, Shamina and Amber dive deep into why clarity, celebration, and integrity are essential to sustaining long-term success especially for women in high-performance spaces. From the soul behind her invite-only Four Rooms Mastermind to how she sources world-class experts and curates personalized growth experiences, Amber shares what it truly takes to create high-level impact while honoring your feminine power. You'll also get a sneak peak into Shamina's upcoming Wealth Consciousness event and why being in the room accelerates transformation. How to BECOME Unapologetically Rich yourself: ✨Grab your ticket for our in-person event in West Loop, Chicago October 2nd-3rd: The Wealth Consciousness Experience

In this jaw dropping episode of The Unapologetically Rich Show, your host Shamina Taylor sits down with Keira Brinton, an author activator, mother of five, and multi-millionaire entrepreneur who redefined her destiny after a painful 20-year marriage came to an end. With only $5,000 to her name, no home in her name, and five children depending on her, Keira made the courageous decision to walk away from everything she had built and trust that something greater was calling her foward. What unfolded next was nothing short of divine alignment. Keira shares how she went from rock bottom to generating $200K in one month, then scaling to multiple millions all through intuitive guidance, activating authors to birth powerful books, and building high-ticket transformational retreats on a private island. You'll hear how she matched the frequency of wealth, released fear, and created a soul-aligned business in under two years. This episode is for any woman who's felt the tug of "more" but fears the leap. It's raw, riveting, and a powerful reminder that faith, clarity, and aligned action can change everything. How to BECOME Unapologetically Rich yourself: ✨Grab your ticket for our in-person event in West Loop, Chicago October 2nd-3rd: The Wealth Consciousness Experience

In this transformative episode of The Unapologetically Rich Show, host Shamina Taylor sits down with powerhouse entrepreneur and salon industry disruptor, Danielle K. White. From rock-bottom moments to cars repossessed, credit cards maxed out, and postpartum depression to building an 8-figure hair brand and redefining feminine leadership, Danielle shares the raw truth behind her evolution. They unpack the emotional toll of burnout, the power of self-worth, and why women must stop tolerating unfulfilling lives. Danielle reveals how she turned a hairstyling “hobby” into a premium brand, overcame resentment in her marriage, and reclaimed her identity as a wife, mother, and business mogul. The two discuss raising standards, rewiring money mindset, balancing chaos with intention, and stepping into your next level, even when fear kicks in. This episode is a must-listen for ambitious women seeking wealth, freedom, fulfillment, and the courage to rewrite their story. Plus, get a sneak peek into Shamina's Wealth Consciousness event and why being “unapologetically rich” means much more than money. How to BECOME Unapologetically Rich yourself: ✨Grab your ticket for our in-person event in West Loop, Chicago October 2nd-3rd: The Wealth Consciousness experience

In this bold and refreshing episode of The Unapologetically Rich Show, your host Shamina Taylor sits down with powerhouse entrepreneur Gali, a 24-year old sales leader shaking up social llmedia with unapologetic truth and real results. No fluff, no fake gurus, just raw conversations about what actually builds wealth. Gali opens up about her journey from the Israeli army to building a 6-figure income in the U.S. alongside her partner, scaling her brand, and mentoring others into financial freedom. They dive deep into the mindset required to quantum leap your income, why cold plunges and journaling aren't enough, and how execution, data, and identity work are non-negotiables for success. You'll hear her viral take on "commission breath," the importance of qualified leads, and why freedom, not just money, is the ultimate measure of success. Whether you're an aspiring millionaire, a female entrepreneur, a simply tired of the online hustle hype, this episode will challenge you to think bigger, act bolder, and step into your next level. How to BECOME Unapologetically Rich yourself: ✨Grab your ticket for our in-person event in West Loop, Chicago October 2nd-3rd: The Wealth Consciousness Experience

Money Monday with Brian James

Brian Thomas talks with former Vice Mayor of Cincinnati Christopher Smitherman for his weekly Smithervent, Money Monday with Allworth's Brian James and Ohio State Representative Tex Fischer talks about recreational marijuana in Ohio.

In this powerhouse episode of The Unapologetically Rich, Shamina Taylor sits down with Heather Monahan best-selling author, confidence queen, and multimillion-dollar revenue generator for a raw, transformative conversation about what it really takes to rise from rock bottom and step fully into your purpose. Heather shares her incredible journey from growing up poor in Worcester, to becoming a media mogul, getting fired at the height of her career, and building a brand rooted in authenticity, faith, and fearlessness. Together, they unpack the emotional rollercoaster behind success: money mindset shifts, healing through faith, the power of letting go, and embracing uncertainty as a gateway to expansion. This episode is a must-listen for high-achieving women ready to rewrite the rules of success on their own terms.

In this powerhouse episode of The Unapologetically Rich Show, Shamina Taylor sits down with Adley Kinsman, affectionately crowned "The Viral QUeen" who went from broke, bankrupt, and living on a mattress to generating over a billion views per month across social platforms. Her journey is as wild as it is inspiring, from competing on The Voice, to signing away her name, to finding her true voice through chickens, creativity, and consistency. Adley drops game-changing insights on building a personal brand, how to authentically go viral, and the #1 mindset shift that turned her into a multi-millinaire. You'll learn the secret to crafting compelling content that converts, why being real beats being perfect, and the unexpected power of solving real problems with your unique gifts. She shares the exact framework that helped her students hti 1M+ views in under 7 days and how you can monetize your magic, even if you're starting from scratch. Whether you're a content creator, entrepreneur, or just chasing your next level of greatness, this episode is your permission slip to go all in.  How to BECOME Unapologetically Rich yourself: ✨Grab your ticket for our in-person event in West Loop, Chicago October 2nd-3rd: The Wealth Consciousness Experience

Ben Hogan, who was arguably the greatest ball striker the game of golf has ever known, taught that if you wanted to improve your swing you should focus on the cause rather than the result.  This was good advice for golfers and brilliant advice for sales professionals. Because in sales, if you want to sell more it pays to become obsessed over your behaviors, techniques and processes rather than your outcomes.  Most Sellers Obsess Over Outcomes Most salespeople are focused on winning or losing individual deals. They get emotionally wrapped up in every prospect, every conversation, every close attempt. When they win, they're on top of the world. When they lose, they're devastated. But top performers? They think completely differently. They're not obsessed with any single deal. They're obsessed with the process that creates consistent results over time. This mindset shift is the difference between feast-or-famine selling and predictable, sustainable success. The Downside of Outcome Based Sales Goals Here's what happens when you're obsessed with outcomes instead of process: Every deal, every month, every quarter becomes life or death. You put all your emotional energy into individual prospects and hitting numbers which clouds your judgment and makes you act desperate. You take rejection personally. When someone says no, it's not just a business decision – it feels like a personal attack on your worth as a salesperson. You make poor decisions under pressure. When you need a deal to close to hit your number, you start discounting too early, chasing bad prospects, or making promises you can't keep. Your performance becomes inconsistent. You have great months followed by terrible months because you're riding the emotional roller coaster of individual wins and losses. You burn out faster. The constant emotional highs and lows are exhausting and unsustainable. Shift to Process Goals Process goals are different. They focus on the activities and behaviors you can directly control, not the outcomes that depend on factors outside your influence. Instead of "I need to close three deals this month," a process goal is "I will make 50 prospecting calls every day." Instead of "I have to win the Johnson account," it's "I will have four meaningful touch points with stakeholders at Johnson this week." Instead of "I need to hit 120% of quota," it's "I will follow my proven sales methodology on every single opportunity." Process goals put you in control. You can't control whether a prospect buys, but you can control how many prospects you contact, how well you qualify them, and how consistently you follow your process. Why Top Performers Love Process Goals Create predictable results. When you focus on the right activities consistently, the outcomes take care of themselves. It's like compound interest – small, consistent actions create massive results over time. Reduce emotional volatility. You're not devastated by individual losses because you know that if you stick to your process, the wins will come. Improve decision-making. When you're not desperate for any particular deal, you make better strategic decisions about where to invest your time and energy. Build confidence. Every day you hit your process goals, you build momentum and confidence, regardless of whether deals close that day. Create sustainable habits. Process goals turn success behaviors into automatic habits rather than things you do when you feel motivated. The Mathematics of Sales Process Goals Here's why process goals work: Sales is a numbers game, but most people focus on the wrong numbers. Average performers focus on: How many deals they close The size of individual deals Their closing percentage on active opportunities Top performers focus on: How many new prospects they contact daily How many discovery calls they conduct weekly How many proposals they deliver monthly

Former First Lady Michelle Obama revealed on her IMO podcast that she’s so glad she and Barack never had a son, joking that a Baby Barack would have had a heavy burden to bear. Also, it is Money Monday’s with Jini Thorton. Listen as she gives financial advice as college kids come home. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this electrifying episode of The Unapologetically Rich, your host Shamina Taylor sits down with powerhouse entrepreneur Natalie Dawson, a bold visionary who's redefined success, wealth, and womanhood on her own terms. From driving a hand-me-down Buick to co-leading a 350-person company and launching a private equity fund, Natalie's story is as inspiring as it is disruptive. She opens up about dropping out of college (despite a full scholarship and two doctorate parents), making her first major financial leap at 21, and navigating love, legacy, and leadership with a partner twice her age. But don't get it twisted, Natalie isn't riding coattails. She's built systems, led teams, authored books, and now she's on a mission to help women own their wealth and power unapologetically. Expect real talk on:

Is there such a thing as natural sales talent? Are top-level sales professionals born that way? Do they possess a gift from God that powers their ability to close sales? On this Money Monday, I answer these age-old questions. For the Love of the Game When I was 9 years old, after going to the Masters tournament with my Dad, I cut a limb that was shaped like a golf club from a tree, dug holes all over our backyard, and started playing “backyard golf” with a wiffle ball.  I loved my little backyard golf course and played every day after school. One day though, my Dad, who had been watching me, said, "Why don't we just go play real golf?" My dad didn't know anything about golf. He didn't grow up playing. But we went down to Walmart, bought some cheap golf clubs, and started chasing little white balls.  We played at a legendary course in Augusta called The Patch—a municipal course with hard dirt fairways and patchy greens but a super fun place to learn the game. Our game was terrible, and we never practiced or took a lesson. But I loved going out with my dad to the course, and we had fun! In high school, I started playing on the golf team. That might have been a turning point for my game if we'd had a real coach, but instead we had a math teacher who did not play golf assigned to babysit us. So, we were on our own, but we had fun. Those years playing on my high school golf team were a blast! In college, I continued to play golf for recreation—usually with my fraternity brothers. Golf was about going out, telling jokes, and drinking a lot of beer. I have so many fun memories from those days.   The Myth of Natural Talent Stole My Joy After getting out of college, I continued to play—mostly in business situations—and that's when golf stopped being fun. I would golf with clients and peers who were so much better than me. It didn't make sense that they could hit the ball so well and I could not.  I would go out to the range and practice until my arms hurt, but I never got any better. It never occurred to me to take a lesson.  By my mid-30s I was so frustrated with golf that I started to believe something that would haunt me for the next 20 years: I convinced myself that people who could play golf well were just naturally gifted. And because I wasn't naturally gifted, I would never be good at golf. So I quit. For two decades, I didn't pick up a golf club. A Massive Mindset Shift Leads to a Comeback If you have read my books and listened to my podcasts you know that I'm a big horse person. I've been involved in equestrian sports since I was a kid. I've had formal coaching and training with horses. On horseback, I thought I was naturally gifted. I believed it was something that God had imbued in me. So I forgot about golf and poured my time and energy into horses. Eventually, though, my son got older and started playing golf. And being an equestrian at my age became more and more dangerous. A bad day on a horse means you're in the hospital in traction. A bad day on the golf course means you go to soothe your wounds with a cold beer in the clubhouse. So I picked up the sticks again. But this time, I sought out a golf coach. A pro who could help me learn how to play the game.  Starting over has been hard. It is difficult to learn new skills. But with lessons, I've gotten better. In fact, last week I shot my lowest score ever. Over the past two years of working on my golf game, I've come to realize how much the story that I kept telling myself about not being naturally talented hurt me and how much it stole from my life. That story cost me 20 years of enjoyment of a game I loved. The difference between my success with horses and my failure with golf wasn't natural talent. It was coaching and instruction.  The Power of an Open vs Closed Mindset Once you stop believing that you have to be naturally gifted in order to do anything well, you open your mind to new possibilities and amazing th...

Have you ever been working on a deal where you had this feeling, this intuition, this Spidey sense—something in the back of your mind telling you that this wasn't going to close? That you were going to waste your time? Maybe you had one of the stakeholders who was against you—an enemy. There was a naysayer who kept calling you out. Perhaps the stakeholders weren't engaged, or the incumbent vendor was so integrated into the organization that it would be very difficult to displace them. Whatever the case, you knew in the back of your mind that you weren't going to close the deal. But you kept working on it anyway. You rode that puppy to the ocean floor like the Titanic that it was. If you've done this, and I know you have, take heart because we've all been there. We've all had these situations, and we've later regretted them.  Top Sales Pros are Quick to Walk Away From Bad Deals  One of the traits of Ultra-High Performers that has always been true is that they're very quick to walk away from a deal they can't close—a deal where they've concluded that the probability of winning is so low it doesn't meet their threshold. The reason Ultra-High Performers walk away from deals like this is simple: They know that the greatest waste of their time is investing it with the wrong prospect. The time they invest in a prospect that's not going to close is money down the drain, because it's time they can't focus on a deal that will close. But average salespeople? They hang on—hoping against hope that somehow, miraculously, things will turn around. In sales, awareness matters. You must always know where the exit is. There are two primary reasons why salespeople work on deals that are never going to close. Understanding these reasons is the first step to avoiding the trap. Reason #1: The Failure to Qualify Properly Too often, qualifying is treated like a one-and-done activity. We qualify the opportunity against our ICP. We qualify the numbers, budget, timing, urgency, and whether we're talking to a decision-maker with buying authority.  These are all quantifiable metrics that we can measure and check off our list.  But Ultra-High Performers take qualifying to the next level. Rather than making it a quick process, they understand that qualifying is never done. It's an ongoing process of awareness that keeps you tethered to reality in every deal. And their top qualifier, once they've checked off the must-haves, is engagement. Are the stakeholders engaged? Are they leaning in? Are they matching your effort, answering questions, and working collaboratively with you? It's okay that there are some stakeholders who may be naysayers. That's normal in complex deals. But if you've got stakeholders who are enemies—people who are actively working against you—then your deal might be a bridge too far.  Engagement is my No. 1 qualifier. I'm constantly asking questions and giving stakeholders things to do to see whether or not they're engaged. If they're not engaged, I walk away because lack of engagement is a clear signal that you are not going to close the deal.  Reason #2: An Empty Pipeline This brings us to the second reason salespeople stay in bad deals—desperation born from an empty pipeline. On Friday, Dennis J. Walker, who is a benefits consultant with USI, posted something on LinkedIn that perfectly captures this dynamic. Here's exactly what he wrote: Jeb Blount regularly states that you can't be delusional about your pipe, your prospects, your efforts, etc and be successful as a salesperson. This week one of the larger deals in my pipe definitely didn't progress the way I wanted- and it turns out one of the executives is what I call a "deal enemy" - he was actively working against me and my team. The last two meetings I've had with him tipped me off this could be the case; this week we had an incident that indicated he was actively working against us. Because my pipe is full?