Podcasts about one million cups

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BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Students participating in the Frontera Leadership Institute at the eBridge Center for Business & Commercialization in downtown Brownsville have nothing but praise for the program. The 12-week program is run by LMNTS, a nonprofit based at eBridge whose aim is to empower diverse talent with the elemental skills needed to become transformative leaders. “Our goal is to inspire and equip the next generation of diverse leaders with cutting-edge training in technology, leadership, and emotional intelligence,” said Ruben Cantu, founder of LMNTS. The program covers topics such as product management, executive leadership, and emotional intelligence. “Our students get to learn about user experience, user interface, design from one of our former alumni who actually went through the program,” Cantu explained. “And the students are phenomenal. They show up, they're putting in the work, and they're going ahead and asking for more resources. So, this is a good sign for where we're going. We want more students to sign up in the next cohort.” One of the students on the course, Mykel Delangeo, Brownsville, said his goal as a future entrepreneur is to open a music venue. “That's one of the projects my team is working on. So hopefully, by the end of this course, we will have the foundations and the plans to bring that to life soon,” he said. Asked what he thought of the course, Delangeo said: “It's amazing. It's really transformative. I'm not the same person I was before this course. I've learned so much, and I've grown as a person and a leader, as an entrepreneur. They teach you not just how to run a business, but they teach you how to understand the people you want to help with your business.” Another student, Martin Cuevas of Brownsville, said he wants to give back to his community. “Right now, my goal is to create something that will help out my community, that will eventually outlast me. I want to build either a business or an organization or something that will eventually help people. Because for me, that's my ideal goal… to help people.” Asked what he liked most about the Frontera Leadership Institute, Cuevas said: “It is really good seeing other people who have already achieved their goals, already have their own businesses, or who are just like me or ever so slightly older than me, doing their dream. That's ideal. It gives me it gives me something to follow.” Another student, Daidree Wright of Brownsville said she learned about the Frontera Leadership Institute when she visited the eBridge Center for One Million Cups event. She said she is pleased to have signed up for the course. “It's really interesting. We're getting different perspectives from my peers, other business owners who have years of experience in product management and product development,” Wright said. “And it's also more than just management and how to manage a company. It's how to truly be a leader and lead from the front and show others how to lead also.” Cantu, the LMNTS founder, added: “We really want to thank the City of Brownsville for investing in this effort, because we're already seeing the fruits of the labor. It's really going to be something amazing.” Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.

Christina and Frank compare kid's lives today with their lives as kids. Spoiler alert - There's absolutely NO COMPARISON. John Snee, from Trenton Makes Tech, Startup Grind, One Million Cups, and U-Limo, visits the studio this week to talk about Trenton Startups and many other business opportunities for Trentonians and the world. An Interview with John SneeFile Size: 47206 kbFile Type: mp3Download File [...]

Educate, engage and inspire - that's the goal behind the nationwide network of entrepreneurs called One Million Cups. With chapters in communities across the U.S., One Million Cups aims "...to present an inclusive and supportive front door to...local entrepreneurial ecosystems." In this episode, TRPS visits with Sandra Cochrane, one of the community organizers for One Million Cups in Kalamazoo, Michigan. If you are an entrepreneur in business for a relatively short time - or just have an idea for a business - click to listen about the supportive and engaging network of One Million Cups people just like you.Episode ResourcesOne Million Cups websiteOne Million Cups Kalamazoo websiteRichard Piet's One Million Cups presentation (turn up your volume after hitting 'play')Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation websiteMore Richard Piet Show episodes---Could your organization or business use purposeful exposure like this in order to share your story? Check out Livemic Communications for more information.The Richard Piet Show is a  Livemic Communications podcast.

I signed up to pitch at One-Million Cups in Fort Collins this morning. I decided to share my pitch with you here on the Coffee Break. 1MC is one of my favorite networking organizations. If you have one where you are you should check it out. If you can't find one, see if you can jump into one of the Zoom meetings that are still happening. My pitch is all about creating a leave-behind that people will value, keep, and use. Some of this will be familiar to some of you, but it's a new spin for me. Stay tuned for a longer presentation that expands the ideas here. To see the examples mentioned in the audio podcast, see the video here: https://youtu.be/1bWqp0WkUwE And if you want to schedule an IdeaBurst Session, go to https://bit.ly/IdeaBurst #creativity #marketing #businesscards

Topher Morrison has tips aplenty when it comes to authors getting booked to speak and it makes sense: he is, after all, the founder of Personofi, a firm that specializes in brand messaging for small business owners. He is the author of four best-selling books and was voted one of the top 10 business speakers in Tampa Bay. His extensive speaking career, spanning over the past 30 years, has earned him a global reputation as an expert in mass communication and influence. He has spoken for top execs with American Express, Microsoft and Google, just to name a few. In this episode, he shared so many gems I'd never heard before—including where authors who have never spoken before can get experience for a reel, the importance of a one-sheet, how to make a book into a speech by using the vignettes in it, why the opening of the speech should not be the same as your first chapter and how to sell your book while speaking without sounding like a douche. WANT 7 DAYS OF WRITING TIPS? GO TO WWW.YOURBOOKWRITINGTIPS.COM TRANSCRIPT: Anna: Okay Topher, thank you so much for coming to chat with me today. Topher: I am stoked. It's been first off way too long since we've chatted anyway. When did we meet each other, 10 years ago, maybe longer? Anna: Hold on. It wasn't quite 10 years ago, but this is sort of an awesome thing. I was thinking about it because there's a comedian that I used to know pretty well and I haven't seen him since then. I think it was John Heffron, right? Topher: John Heffron. We are still good buds. Yes. That's how I met you. Anna: But I think what happened is I saw him tweet about you. Or he told me directly. He said, "I know this guy, I work with this guy who's the best speaking coach." And I reach out to you and you were so sweet. And you said, "I'm going to be in LA. I'll just work with you." Or maybe you even said, "I'll come to LA." Topher: I can't remember. Anna: And I remember because I had this office at WeWork and you worked with me and you really helped me restructure a talk that I had and deliver it. And you are just such a sweet, sweet person and so good at what you do. Topher: Thanks. Anna: I'm really happy that you're here to talk about something I've never talked about on the podcast and my listeners are very much interested in, which is how do you convert a book into a talk? And how do you use the fact that you're an author to get booked as a speaker? So let's actually do it backward. Because as I always say, if there are two people that a booker is considering, and they're equal, but one has a book, they're always going to book the author. Tell me about that. Topher: Every single time they will pick the published author over the unpublished author even if the other speaker is a better speaker and has a better demo reel and is more entertaining. They will almost always, I guess I should probably preserve that, not be so hyperbolic, but they will almost always pick the author. Because there is this perceived notion in society that authors are experts. And that's probably rightly earned as well. At least if it's a good book, they probably are an expert in it and they took a long time, you know, you've written a book, it ain't easy. It's hard. So by the time somebody's gone through all that process, they are probably an expert. But it's a false assumption, but it is a societal assumption that the authors are the experts. Yeah. Anna: Yes. It's why we do what we do. Because a lot of our clients are experts, but nobody knows that because they've sort of been working towards their expertise, doing their 10,000 hours of work, and they need that book to show the world. Topher: Yeah, they're working on their craft. They're the world's best-kept secret because they're an expert in it and they are bonafide phenomenal and they don't have the book. And there's just no social proof. In fact, the scary part is that, especially in today's society, because publishing has become such a mainstream thing, nowadays the question people get is, "Have you written a book?" And you know, if somebody ever asked you, "Well, do you have any books? Have you written any book on it?" you know you're six months or a year behind if people are asking if you have a book and you don't. You definitely want to have one, no doubt about it. And the only anything better than having one is having two or three or four. Anna: Or eight like me, right. Topher: Yeah. Ooh. Anna: And, oftentimes bookers are quite excited to have a signing. So I think that that's... And/or a lot of speakers will gift their book or they'll say basically, "Hey, if you buy 200 copies, you don't have to pay me." Tell me a little bit about how that works. Topher: Yeah. So there are several different packages that you can offer as a speaker when you have a book, which is just what you just said. You have your speaking fee and then you will gift a certain number of books. Or you could have bought my book and I will speak for free. And something people might say, "Well, why is that important?" Because the monies to buy the books come out of a different account than the money to pay the speakers in large corporations. So they may have already blown their budget on their conference for their speakers, but yet they still have money in their budget for swag bags. And by the way, that's a great way to say, "We'll get the books in time for you to put them in your swag bags," and they love that as well. So it comes out of a different purse. And so, while you may have a budget that you have to stay within the speaker fees, the book fees could be added. And it's just a great way for you to have more flexibility and still get maximum dollars from that event. Anna: That's so interesting. I've never thought about that. And then, of course, if you have a business and let's say you one client is worth anywhere from a thousand dollars to a hundred thousand dollars, it is well worth the investment in the $3 a book or whatever it's going to cost for you to gift that. Topher: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Although, definitely don't gift it first, sell it first. And then if they don't buy, then go down to hard costs. And then if they don't buy, then you can gift. Start off with the price that makes you the most amount of money, obviously. Because like I said, sometimes these big corporations don't bat an eye. Remember this, the one thing I love to tell people when they're thinking about charging their speaking fees and like, "Oh, how much is the right fee and blah, blah, blah, blah," remember that the bar tab at a conference for a large corporation will outweigh your speaking fee by at least five times, at least five times. Just keep that in mind. It may seem like a big fee for us when we charge it. It is a drop in the bucket for these large corporations that are hosting and spending $300,000, a half million, $2 million, $10 million on their annual conferences. A $10,000 or a $20,000 speaking fee is nothing for these companies. Anna: Let's say I'm a first-time author. And my book, maybe I feel, because I hear people say this, not qualified to be an expert, even though I have all this hard-earned personal experience, but I don't have a master's degree or I don't have whatever, and I go, "Okay, I want to be a speaker." How do I start? Topher: Okay. And you don't have a book or you do have a book? Anna: You do have a book. You have your first book and you're like, "Okay, here we go with speaking. What do I do?" Topher: Perfect. Well, at the risk of sounding self-promotional, hire a speaking coach for one, because you could have the best information in the world and if you don't know how to present it in a palatable way, they're never going to book you back. So you absolutely want to do that. And by the way, you should probably get a media coach as well, because you're going to be asked to speak on TV or on the radio. And if you've never been in front of a camera or you've never had a microphone shoved in front of your face, it can be quite intimidating. Anna, you know this. You've done this for years. So for you, it's second nature. But if you can recall back to that first time you were on the bright lights in the camera, it's unnerving, right? And so you could have all the... The natural law of memory, it is inhibited when you are relaxed. It is enhanced when you're relaxed, it's inhibited when you're stressed. And nothing can cause more stress to a new time author than is the first time they're on a show. You could forget your damn name when you're on TV. So hire a media coach for sure or a speech coach. Topher: But beyond that, and I'm not trying to push my services either, I'm really not. What I'm saying, though, is that the delivery is as important as the knowledge. And that's the point that I want to make. Absolutely. Yeah. So you want to make sure you have that. Then once you do that, so the question is you're a new time... You want to break into the speaking gig, you need to have a one-sheet. It is the most important marketing piece for a speaker. It's more important than a sizzle reel, by the way, is the one sheet. The one-sheet is exactly what it sounds like. It's one piece of paper. It probably has your picture. It has your brief bio. It has a highlight of what you are going to learn in the keynote or one of the takeaways that the audience will get. And it probably has some quotes from people that are impressed by you that have some name notoriety that people if they were to see those quotes who go, "Well, if this person's saying they're good, they must be amazing." That's really all it is. Topher: And oftentimes, the one-sheet will make a bigger impact than the sizzle reel. Because the sizzle reel requires a computer to watch. And keep in mind, sometimes these board meetings where you've got the planner and you've got the board and they're all sitting around, they don't have time to sit there and watch 15 different speaker reels. So you're lucky if they'll watch it. They probably won't. What they're going to do is they're going to refer to the person who found you, who's [inaudible 00:09:02] and saying, "Hey, this is a great speaker. Here's their one sheet." And they look at it and they go, "Yeah, they look like they're smart. I like the photo. It was a professional headshot. It doesn't look like it's a stupid selfie." By the way, also be sure that you're investing in a good professional one sheet. And it just gives a quick highlight. That's oftentimes all they make the decision. They don't need to see the sizzle reel. Anna: I'm curious, so they'll book speakers without seeing how they speak. Topher: Yeah, absolutely. It depends. If you were referred to them, almost always they don't need to see the sizzle reel. If you're the one knocking on their door, doing the Oliver Twist, "Please sir, may I have a cup of porridge," then yeah, you might need to get them to watch the sizzle reel to know that you're good. But for the most part, you want to get your message out to as many people as possible so people who are on those committees hear about you and then they come to the committee and they go, "Oh my God, I saw this person on YouTube," or, "I saw this person on a podcast," or, "I heard this person on a podcast. They were amazing. I think they'd be great for our presentation." It can literally boil down to that. And they're like, "Yeah, good. Let's get them booked." Anna: Okay, but so then, and I remember how I solved this, here's the problem, you go, "Okay, I want to get booked. I don't have a sizzle reel because I've never spoken." So how do you get around that? Topher: Okay. Well, there are a couple of things. Nowadays, at the risk of aging myself, back in my day, it was hard to get video production. But nowadays, for crying out loud, you've got a 4k camera on your phone. You can set something up. It doesn't have to matter. Have a small event at your house if you have to, invite some people over. If you don't have a nice house, go to your friend's house who's got a nice house, I don't care. And do a quick presentation. Have it set up. The only thing that I'd recommend is that if you're going to set up an iPhone or a smartphone, don't use the microphone. As powerful as phones are in their high definition, 4k recording quality, they still suck when it comes to the recording of audio. So go get one... Nowadays, by the way, it used to be like an $800 lapel mic you'd have to get, nowadays, you can get it for 50 bucks, you can get these wireless lapel mics that plug right into your phone, you clip them, and the sound is just impeccable. It's beautiful. And just do something like that just so they know that when you get up in front of people, you're not going to stumble and fall and make a fool of yourself. It can literally be something as unofficial as that. Topher: But also, it's not that hard to get booked to speak nowadays. There are so many organizations from One Million Cups up to your chambers of commerce, all of the animal clubs, the Elks, the Moose, the Eagles, whatever. Those people are starving for speakers to come in. And just reach out to all of the local chapters, all of the local organizations that are in some level of professionalism and just say, "Hey, you know what? I've just published my first book. It's on this topic. And I think that your audience might benefit from it. I'm not trying to sell anything. I'm just trying to get some exposure and some experience speaking in front of the stage. I would love to come out to your group and give them a 20 minute or a 30 minute or a 15-minute presentation," whatever it is that your keynote is, "And there's no catch. There's no sales pitch. I just want permission to record it so I can improve and do better later." And honestly, you could book yourself up a month straight with local chapters for organizations that are just looking for people to come out and speak to their audiences. Anna: That's an amazing, amazing tip. So let's say I have my book. How do I make my book into a speech? Topher: Okay. Remind me, by the way, before we get off this call, to share with your listeners some techniques on how to sell the hell out of their books when they speak without being a salesy, douche-baggy guy. So remind me to do that. Anna: Love it. Topher: So what your question was, how do you turn the book into a speech? So let's first break down what a speech comprises. A speech, the best analogy that I can give, and I'm going to roll credits to this, by the way, to a gentleman by the name of Bill Gove. Now, I did not learn directly from Bill. I learned from his mentee, which is a guy named Steve Seebold, and he's a good friend of mine. And Bill Gove by the way, is kind of like the grandfather of motivational speaking. He is the guy who started it all. All of the great speakers that we admire love today, most of them are trained by this guy named Bill Gove, 30, 40 years ago. And he had it so well. He said, "A keynote speech is nothing but..." I'm paraphrasing his statements here, "A keynote speech is nothing but a concert in spoken word." So you want to have, just like if you were to go to a concert, you want to have your songs rehearsed. You want to be able to know in what order those songs are going to be played. And you want to have practiced those songs so well that if something were to happen on stage, it wouldn't throw your game off. In fact, you could even improvise and play around with that a little bit and make it look like it's effortless. Topher: So think of your speech as a concert in spoken word. And your concert is broken down into short little songs. Yours are vignettes. And a great speech is made up of short little vignettes, no more than five minutes apiece, as short as 30 seconds apiece. And they are stacked together one after another, in whatever order makes the most sense for the flow and the feel of the concert, just like a concert. You want to start off with something dynamic, but not your best hit. You want to start off with something that just kind of warms up the crowd. And then you want to build up. And then at some point in time, you need to slow down and you need to relax and you got to put the ballad on. Because you can't have a concert that's just loud, nonstop. And then after the slow, then you got to build it back up again. And presentations have that same flow. I call it the charisma pattern, by the way, which is that there is a cadence to a presentation, which is you start off at a medium pace, you work up into a louder, faster pace, and then as you get louder and faster, then you drop it down to something slow and soft. Anna: It's interesting because a book, the best, the most effective way to do a memoir is to have your first two chapters be the bottom, the most dramatic, and then you move into childhood so that doesn't... And then you start going chronologically. And then around chapter eight, you catch up to whatever that first chapter was. And that's not what you do with speaking. Topher: No. Yeah. So interestingly enough, the same strategies and skills that make a great book a great book, do not translate into what makes a great presentation. Nor do great strategies and skills as a speaker in a live audience translate to being a great speaker on camera as well. There are differences between all of those things. But there are different environments. I'm glad that you brought that up. It makes a big difference. With the presentation, you don't want to start off with your best. You want to just kind of warm up the crowd a little bit. Because let's face it, they're still sussing you out. If they bought your book, at some level, they're kind of convinced. But remember, buying a book is this person has something I need and I want to hear it. But in a presentation and a keynote, it's completely the opposite. It's, "Who is this yahoo, and why do I have to sit here and listen to them speak?" Totally different market. So you kind of got to win them over. And if you go in too hard, too fast, you're like that guy at the bar who's just hitting on the girls a little bit too fast and too hard. Slow your roll, cowboy. Just bring it down a notch or two. Be cool. Anna: Yeah. You don't walk up and propose. Topher: Right. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Or maybe you don't even walk up. Maybe you just sit there and just let them come to you. You got to know your game, right? Anna: Look at that. And so how do you know, do you need 10 anecdotes? How many do you need? Let's say this is a 10-minute speech. Do you need 10 anecdotes? Topher: Sure. Fantastic. Yeah. Listen, if you could do 10, I'll call them vignettes, because that's my language, but an anecdote is the same thing, yep, 10 anecdotes, 10 vignettes in 10 minutes would be an unbelievably awesome speech. Most people are not that well-rehearsed. They could maybe get two to three vignettes out in a 10-minute speech. Only a pro could do 10 in 10 minutes. And I always think back to, and I'm sure you've heard this quote, I believe it was Mark Twain, who said, "I apologize for not writing a shorter speech. I didn't have time." Or something to that effect. I'm sorry it was so long. I didn't have time to write a shorter one, or something like that. Anna: It's been attributed to so many people. Allegedly, it was a note to his wife, and who knows who he is. And it said, "I wanted to write you a short note. I wanted to..." Oh, you know. Yeah. That basically it's harder to do short than it is long is the point. Topher: Yeah, yeah. You get the idea. Same thing with the presentation. If I just wanted to tell some ideas and I didn't have them rehearsed, I would ramble on and on, I would get derailed, I would come back and I would be disheveled. And I would be like, "La, la, la, la." But on a keynote, you cannot do that. You have to have everything you're going to say rehearsed and prepared so you know how to do it. Now, the question is how many vignettes do I need for an amount of time? What I would say to that is this, it's not so much how many vignettes for a certain amount of time, it's just that do you know how much time each vignette takes? Topher: So create a vignette book with all the different stories that you have. And by the way, go into your book. This is back to your original question, how do you convert a book into a keynote? You take the best stories in your book. You bring them out of the book and you say, "Okay, what are the lessons or the big takeaways that this story in my book reveals?" And by the way, you could twist your stories just slightly to focus on something just slightly different. And one story you could have 10 or 15 different takeaways that you would use depending upon the audience that you're speaking with. So for example, oftentimes you'll hear keynote speakers, they'll say something like, "And we will customize the presentation to your audience." They don't. The good ones don't anyway. But what they do is they customize the takeaways to the audience, but the stories are always the same. And they're repeated the exact same way every single time with the right inflection because it's a song in spoken word. You got to practice it. But you do want to know what those takeaways and those lessons are. Topher: And then what I do is when somebody books me, I say, "Okay, well what are the current challenges that your company's dealing with? What are the things, what are the takeaways that your audience wants?" And then when they give those to me, then I go, "Okay, now what stories do I have that would fit into that category?" And then I'll apply that story to that takeaway. And then I just simply go, "All right, well, this is the number of takeaways," and I add up, this is a three-minute speech, this is a five-minute speech, this is a 30-second speech. And I add them all together and then I've got my presentation length. Now, sometimes though, your committees, your speaking committees, will go, "We just want them motivated. We just want them to be grateful that they're here at the conference. That's fine. We just want them having fun." "Okay, good. Then leave it up to me and I'll do my thing. How much time do you want me to speak?' And they'll say 45 minutes. And then you go, "Great." And then you go through and you put your song list together of all your different vignettes that add up to 45 minutes. Topher: Now, here's the cool thing about breaking a speech down into little bite-size vignettes. I have never in the history of speaking professionally in over 30 years, I have never, ever shown up for a keynote presentation where they have said, "Remember the agreed-upon time we asked you, that's exactly how much time we want you to speak." It has never ever, ever gone that way. This is always what happens. Once again, I'm speaking a little hyperbolic. I'm sure that I had one or two, but I just don't remember them. Topher: This is what normally will happen when somebody books you to speak. They'll come up to you backstage, usually five minutes before you're ready to go on, and they'll say something like this, they'll go, "Our next speaker is stuck at the airport. They're not going to be here. I know this is really last minute. I'm so sorry to ask this. I know we only asked you to speak for 45 minutes, but could you speak for 55 minutes?" or, "Could you speak for an hour and 15 minutes? If we have to pay you more, we will." By the way, they will say that too. But if they don't offer, by the way, that's fine. Just be cool. And they'll go, "Can you stretch it out to an hour and 15 minutes?" And then you go, "Absolutely. No problem. Because you know you've got a bank of other stories that didn't make the cut and you're just going to add a couple more of them in, not a big deal. Topher: Most commonly, though, that's not what's going to happen. Most commonly, they're going to come to you five minutes before your presentation and go, "Hey, I know we asked you to speak for 45 minutes, but the vice president just showed up and he's on a tight deadline. He's got to get on a plane. He wants to get on stage a little bit of earlier. I hate to do this to you. I know we asked you to speak for 45 minutes. Could you cut your presentation down to 30 minutes?" That happens, I'm going to say that probably happens, and I'm not exaggerating 90-plus percent of the time that's what will happen. And then you smile and you go, "Absolutely, no problem." You don't throw a fit because now you just know, "I'm going to cut a few songs out of my playlist and I'm going to get it down to 30." Whereas if you design a 45-minute presentation that has a beginning and a middle, and then I'm going to tell them what I'm going to tell them, I'm going to tell them and I'm going to tell them what I'm told them, the old Dale Carnegie speech stuff, which is just dead and done now, that doesn't work. Because now what do you? Do you tell the promoter, "No, I'm sorry. My presentation is 45 minutes. I have to do 45." Topher: No, what'll end up happening is you go, "Okay," and then you're like, "How do I speak really fast to get it done?" And then you end up going over and you piss off the promoter and they never bring you back. So yeah, take your best stories out of your book, make a list of all the different lessons or takeaways that could come from them. Create your vignette book, which is all a different story. And by the way, you might have five different stories for one point. That's okay too because you know what? They might have loved that point so much you need to drive it home again, and then you have another story as well. But that's the most time-consuming and professional way to build a speech from a book. Take your best stories, pull out the takeaways, build it based upon the takeaways and the time. Anna: And is it have a 10-minute, a 20-minute, and a 40-minute version? Do you think that's- Topher: No. I think you should just have 30-second to five-minute vignettes. And then when somebody books you, you go, "Oh, I got a 15-minute speech? I'm going to pull out my three best five-minute vignettes," or, "I'm going to pull out my four best three and a half-minute vignettes." And then you just add them up that way. Yeah. If you do it that way, you'll be golden. But that takes practice. It takes preparation. And unfortunately, most people... And by the way, this is just the mark between a professional speaker and a professional who speaks, there's a difference there. The professional who speaks is working on their slide presentation the night before. The professional speaker doesn't even deal with slides because he knows that they're a hassle and is going to entertain the audience with their stories anyway. Topher: So a couple of other things. The biggest misconception that I think people make that aren't professional speakers that have been asked to speak and it's their first keynote presentation and they're nervous about it, they think that they need to wow the audience with all of this great information and you're going to change their minds and their hearts and their lives with this dialogue. I think getting in perspective what it is that the keynote speaker does is very helpful. Your job, in my opinion, and I think if you were to talk to most professional speakers, people who run the circuit and they do this for a living, I think that most would probably agree, your job is not to change their lives in 45 minutes. Your job is to entertain the crap out of them for 45 minutes. Get them to laugh, get them to cry, get them to feel, get them to emote. Entertain them for 45 minutes. Don't try to change their lives. Topher: Which means you don't need a bunch of slides. You don't need a bunch of bullet points. You're not teaching them strategies and techniques and steps and processes. You're simply telling them stories and entertaining them. And if you do that, think about entertainment, emotion, don't worry about the content, don't worry about having them walk away with three successful strategies. Most people aren't taking notes anyway. Remember, they didn't even know who you were five minutes before you got on stage. So don't think that they're sitting there with baited breath and a pen and paper going, "Entertain me with your amazing words." They're just not going to be there. And I will say this, these smartphones have become the world's best feedback tool for speakers, because you will know exactly how good you are as a speaker based upon how many blue lights you see, glowing faces from the audience. Because they'll be on their phone. If you can see phones lighting up, you know you've lost them. Because they're, "Ah, screw this guy. I'm going to check my text messages now." And so they start- Anna: That's the worst. Topher: It is the worst. Yeah. Anna: But, speaking of the phone, I will say what I do to prep is I do it into my phone, then I listen, then I do practice again, then I listen again, then I practice again, then I listen again. I find listening when I'm practicing really, really as helpful as the practice. Topher: Yeah, absolutely. Now I will tell you this, by the way, technology has made our job so much easier as well. There's a difference between... By the way, as an author, everybody knows this, the typed word is different than the spoken word. If you just transcribe audio into a book, it's an average book. I hope I don't offend some of your readers, your listers. Anna: Yeah, they know that. Topher: Yeah. Don't transcribe your work. It just doesn't sound... It doesn't translate. Well, guess what? It doesn't translate the other way as well. You don't want to sit there and recite or memorize your book because that's not human speech as well. But I do believe that there is a need for a script when you're starting your presentation in your rehearsal. So one of the best strategies right now is to use otter.ai, I think is that software. Holy heck, that thing is incredibly good. So just hit record, start telling your stories and talking, and then it'll transcribe for you. And then you go through. And the strategy that I like is to take three highlighters, a green highlighter, a yellow highlighter, and a red highlighter. Topher: And I go through the script after it's been transcribed, and I read through and I highlight red, yellow, green, red is unnecessary dribble, yellow is, "I like it if I have time," and green is, "This is so good I have to keep it in the presentation." And go through the entire speech and just highlight it red, yellow, green, red, yellow, green. And if you're like me and you're being honest, you'll have mostly red, a lot of yellow, and just a few greens. When you're just talking a story out, it'll take 20 minutes sometimes. And you can edit that down to a two-minute story if you give it the time and the attention that it needs, for sure. Anna: So great. We have to get close to wrapping up. So how do you sell that book from the stage without sounding douchey? Topher: Yeah. Okay. I learned this technique from a guy named Tom Antion. He is one of the few people that when he sends me spam email, I read it because the man just generally makes me laugh. His sales copy is just hilarious. And this was his technique. In fact, I think he had a presentation called How to Sell from the Stage Without Being a Douchebag, I think is what it was called. I was like, "I love this guy already." Here's the technique. You have on stage your book, but you're not going to hold it up and say it's for sale or anything like that. All you do is you take one small piece from your book which is a really golden gem, and you just pick it up and you go, "Let me just read something for you real quick." And then you open it and you just read 2, 3, 4 lines, that's it. And just read it, and you set it down. You can say, "I just want to read something from my book." You can say that. But you just read it. Topher: But you're not saying it's for sale. You're not saying it's $29.95, but today you can buy a copy for $10. You don't say any of that stuff. You just read one paragraph out of your book and then you set it down, respectfully, it's a nice piece of art. Set it down. Yep. Don't just throw it off to the side. Set it down. And then you continue with your presentation. That's it. That's all you do. You just read one small... And what happens is people get obsessed. They're like, "I loved what he just read," and they make this assumption, "The rest of the book must be just as good." And they want to buy it. Yeah. And I will tell you, literally, I saw my book sales, I'm not exaggerating, they probably jumped 60%, maybe more. I remember calling Tom going, "Tom, you are a genius. I tried that." And every person I've told that to, they do this technique and they're like, "People were running into the back to buy my book." I'm like, "Yeah, I can't even really explain it other than I think they feel that was so profound, the rest of the book must be just as profound." Anna: And you're doing that thing where you're closing the loop, like how marketing people will talk about how you sort of give the first part so that people are psychologically very invested in whatever the ending is. Topher: Yeah. Well actually, let's talk about that. Because once again, going back to the biggest mistake people make because they want to give, give, give, give, give, just give so much value, so much content, so much information, if you have 10 steps to transforming your life, don't try to talk about all 10 steps. But here's what you could do. You could say something like this. You could say something to the effect of, "For the past 25 years, I've been trying to narrow down what it takes to succeed in speaking into the most succinct, small, and easy to get patterns. And I've discovered that there are five things, that if every speaker does these five things, they will hands down get standing ovations, sell books at the back of the room without having to sell it. And out of those five, here's the one that I want to talk about today." Anna: Oh, that's so good. Topher: Right. And now, you didn't say, "But we don't have time to go through all," or you say, "Here's five, but I'm only going to give you one today. But if you want to buy the others, you can." No, you just say, "There are five things. And here's the one that I think is the most relevant today." You make it like, "I picked this one just for you guys." And what a beautiful open loop. They want to know what the other ones are. And by the way, maybe that chapter one, that's that good thing, the big, whatever your 10 steps are, that's the one you... Be the good one. Anna: Well, Topher, this has been absolutely fantastic. Tell people how they can reach you. And this is reaching you for help converting their book into a speech as well as help training. Topher: Yeah, sure. They can go to tophermorrison.com. That's probably the easiest way to do it. Tophermorrison.com. Yeah. And I have a book on public speaking. It's called The Book on Public Speaking. I get to say I wrote the book on public speaking. Not being self-aggrandizing, it's just the name of the book. It's called The Book on Public Speaking. So they can go to their Amazon and get that if they want to as well. Yeah. But listen, I've got tons of YouTube videos for free. Listen, they don't have to buy anything. They can get a lot of my stuff for free. They just go to YouTube and search for my name. Anna: Except of course, by giving out these gems, you were doing exactly what you advise people to do in a speech, which is giving the gem so that they go, "Well, God, booking him and reading that book must just be even better."  Topher: Listen, hey, I'm a squirrel trying to get a nut just like everybody else. So I'd be honored if somebody feels so inspired and they would like to do business with me. I would love that. But believe me, I'm just here because I think the world of you. I remember meeting you so many years ago and had such a blast with you. For you to reach back out to me so many years, I was just like, "Oh, this just made my day." I was just thrilled that you reached out. You made my day. Anna: You're the best. Thank you so much for doing this. And you know, you listeners, thank you so much for listening. I will talk to you next week. RELATED EPISODES How Do I Use My Book to Get Speaking Gigs? How to Get on Podcasts to Promote Your Book with John Corcoran Jess Lahey on Influencer Endorsements and Much More

Join me as I reconnect with serial entrepreneur Ben McDougal who has been busy with a host of projects that are all centered on the Entrepreneurial Eco System. We dive into his work as a regional manager of One Million Cups, his continued work about connecting people with projects and his new book, "You Don't Need This Book"...but we think you do. Let's talk business with Ben McDougal. Thanks for listening!  The award winning Insight on Business the News Hour with Michael Libbie is the only weekday business news podcast in the Midwest. The national, regional and some local business news along with long-form business interviews can be heard Monday - Friday. You can subscribe on PlayerFM, Podbean, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or TuneIn Radio. And you can catch The Business News Hour Week in Review each Sunday Noon on News/Talk 1540 KXEL. The Business News Hour is a production of Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications. You can follow us on Twitter @IoB_NewsHour.

Meet Erica Petersen!  She is one of the Vice Presidents at Central Bank in Sedalia Missouri.  She is also the Business Development Coordinator and the Marketing Director.  I had the pleasure of meeting Erica when I was a presenter at a One Million Cups monthly meeting.  Erica is under 40, but already has 20 years of experience in banking!  Join us as she shares banking advice and services for businesses, young adults, and the average Joe!  Banking is changing.  Erica explains innovative ways in which a bank can help your business and steer clear of pitfalls.  I hope you learn just as much as I did in her interview! 

In The Moment … November 9, 2020 Show 939 Hour 2 One Million Cups is a weekly event that highlights local businesses. This Wednesday is Veterans Day and the Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship will host a special edition that includes a couple of veterans. Major Chris Mercado is a Sioux Falls native and is behind the Objective Zero app and foundation. Welcome back. Jeremy Holein is a retired Air Force, he and his wife are co-owners of the only veteran-owned food truck in the Sioux Falls area, welcome to the show. Brienne Maner is the executive director of the Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship in Sioux Falls, she joins us as well. Find us on Apple , Spotify , and Google Play . Plus, watch interviews from our show on YouTube .

In this episode of Strategy + Action = The Power of Speed in Business Two years ago at a One Million Cups event at Nadim Ahmed's Venture X space in Dallas, TX, I saw our guest stand up and present the concept of his new company, ROBOAMP, and the solution it provided - a massively improved mobile web experience. Roberto Inetti has gone on to build that company up to ten employees, a solid client base, a recent round of funding, and an astounding first place prize at a pitch competition sponsored by mega-accelerator techstars. Johnathan King and I dig into how Roberto and his team have delivered on that promise of a faster mobile experience, the millions of dollars it can make for their clients, and the incredible human benefit that has the ability to affect billions of people around the world. With a single line of code, ROBOAMP can make a mobile site load 400-600x faster, and deliver a beautiful experience at the same time. Even though like Roberto mentions, in “startup time” a month can feel like an eternity, what he has built with ROBOAMP in two short years is amazing.

In this episode we talk with Steve Wegman, who owns and operates Weggy's On Campus, the 507 Food Truck, The 507 (downtown), Krusty's Donut Shop and most recently, The Wagon Wheel. Steve talks of his history and how he got to where he is today. Our second guest is Mike Hahn with the SBDC - Small Business Development Center in Mankato. Mike talks about the One Million Cups monthly event and how it has become a premiere recourse for startups and small businesses to get in front of the community. Connect Business Magazine https://www.facebook.com/ConnectBusinessMag/

Professional organizer Rachel Murphy joins us in the interview on Saunders and Cash to talk about her experiences starting a business to help people de-clutter their homes, offices and work spaces. In just a few short years Rachel helped over 150 people and has worked with clients who want a simple redo of their closet all the way to a complete redesign of their home or garage. She hasalso help hoarders overcome the challenges they face by dealing with the psychology of hoarders which often includes holding on to a deep seated underlying trauma. Rachel helps clients find what really serves them well and makes it much easier to maintain an organized life. Her solutions are custom, as there is no one size fits all solution to having an organized life. Her clients often feel overwhelmed by the clutter in their life or even their workspaces. Rachel is about to launch her own podcast on the topic of simplifying your life, which is also the business also her business. In the second half of the interview, we talk about the common junk drawer and the fact that everyone has one, but it seems useful to keep even the junk drawer organized. Rachel decided to start a business to help support her family members after working in real estate as an assistant who helped stage and de-clutter homes for sale. By taking care of the clutter in a home, many of her customers are able to complete a sale much faster, One reason Rachel decided to be self-employed is so she has more control over her time and income. One thing that she has learned from being an entrepreneur is learning to overcome fears of things like public speaking and is now also has a successful speaking career and is about to launch both her own radio show and podcast. One thing that she has learned along the way was not to just trust everyone, good to do your research on the people you might want to enter into business arrangements with and along way has meet some amazing entrepreneurs.  We love capturing quotes from our guests and here is Rachel's:  “Entrepreneurs go where other people don't and we do what other people don’t.” She has learned to barter for services and skills that she does not do well, exchanging organizing talents for things like building a website. She participates in One Million Cups but finds most of her clients by word of month.   The Magic of Thinking Big by David J Schwartz is one of favor books. Rachel offers a special printable handout from her website that is a 15 minute day exercise to help you de-clutter your home. SimplifyMyLifeICT.com or on Facebook at SimplyMyLifeICT. All of her speaking engagements have also been on a referral basis as well Her podcast will be Jump, Pivot and Roll. Look for it soon. This will be co-hosted by Shannon Stiles who is also the host of Successful Living, locally on KQAM 1480 AM and 102.5 FM. Be sure and check out our sponsors for Saunders and Cash and let then know you found them right here: Foreman Law, Retreat To Joy,  FlagshipKansas.tech, SCKEDD, Lee Gray Action Coach, Friends University, Shaken not Stirred Bartending, and 2UAuto.  You can listen to the Saunders and Cash podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play and most other popular podcast directories.

We started the interview, with Andrew Gough, the founder of Reverie Roasters, with a brief summary of the grand opening of Groover Lab, a new co-working space locally here I Wichita, KS and a preview of our partnership with FlagshipKansas.tech, followed by introducing our guest, the founder and CEO of Reverie Roasters, a local company that includes a wholesale operations, coffee shops, a bakery and a community events space. Andrew didn’t start out thinking he would flourish as a entrepreneur with a business focused on community and coffee. He completed a degree in public relations at Kansas State University and worked first in financial services where he coordinated and delivered retirement planning education to local businesses employees. It while traveling for work, that he first realized the challenge for a local coffee establishment is building up excellent coffee experience but also a place for community. He also learned that coffee as a business is a service industry that attracts younger workers. As he started his entrepreneurial journey, one of the first groups he engaged with was One Million Cups, a local group for connecting business leaders to each other. His presentation was the foundation for his continued support of the group by providing coffee to the group each week. He was then able to be in the first person in the e2e Accelerator program, now NXTUS. Later engaged with Wichita State LaunchPrep program and worked with the Small Business Development Center to get his business plans launched. He also found a relationship with Network Kansas to provide a number of connections and a grant to do some research for a program called economic gardening. Andrew has always had an expansion, growth mindset and looking back at his first five-year plan, realized that he achieved those goals, but the goals were not his focus, it was really building community around coffee. His why for being engaged in the community is really simple: “I believe communities blooms in the presence of opportunity.” At Reverie, they are committed to how they source, roast, and serve coffee. The coffee beans come from various origins around the world and are chosen through a rigorous sourcing process. At the café, they offer pour overs, craft espresso beverages, cold brew, and delicious drip coffee. Reverie is just a comfortable place for anyone to meet, study, or even just relax and get some alone time. One of the things that happen at Reverie is they ignite meaningful connections among team members and customers, creating a place for opportunities to happen, and the community to thrive. For Andy his love for coffee is because coffee is a connector. It provides opportunity for conversation or to break the ice in an uncomfortable situation. We only touched on the surface in this interview, we will have Andy back for a more in-depth discussion about his philosophy around building a business around community. Be sure and check out our sponsors for Saunders and Cash and let then know you found them right here: Foreman Law, Retreat To Joy, FlagshipKansas.tech, SCKEDD, Lee Gray Action Coach, Friends University, Shaken not Stirred Bartending, and 2UAuto.   

Lily Shaw works to support and connect the worlds of entrepreneurs, businesses, and communities through access, content and support. She is the community lead for 1 Million Cups Saint Paul, the trainer, and facilitator for Co-Starters, a 10-week program presented by the James J Hill Foundation designed for entrepreneurs to develop and fine-tune their ideas and determining next steps to bring that idea to fruition through real-time feedback. Participants leave the program with a deeper understanding of how to create a sustainable business, articulate their models, and repeat the process. Lily is also the Director of Customer Experience at Startup Space and works with diverse startups to promote inclusive access to resources and tools that help all people build more businesses without barriers. Click here to learn more about the Co-Starters curriculum structureFor questions regarding the program visit the CO.STARTER MN information page click here.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/StephanieHansen)

Lily Shaw works to support and connect the worlds of entrepreneurs, businesses, and communities through access, content and support. She is the community lead for 1 Million Cups Saint Paul, the trainer, and facilitator for Co-Starters, a 10-week program presented by the James J Hill Foundation designed for entrepreneurs to develop and fine-tune their ideas and determining next steps to bring that idea to fruition through real-time feedback. Participants leave the program with a deeper understanding of how to create a sustainable business, articulate their models, and repeat the process. Lily is also the Director of Customer Experience at Startup Space and works with diverse startups to promote inclusive access to resources and tools that help all people build more businesses without barriers. Click here to learn more about the Co-Starters curriculum structureFor questions regarding the program visit the CO.STARTER MN information page click here.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/StephanieHansen)

In this episode Kristin Slice from Peoria Forward, Arizona State University talks about the entrepreneurial programs in the city of Peoria, including Peoria forward to assist west valley Arizona entrepreneurs to success. Kristin talks about One Million Cups, West Valley Programs to help business grow, the City of Peoria, and the challenges of being an entrepreneur.Support the show (https://pocketfulofawesome.com)

Brandy Willett Brandy Willett, an “entrepreneur enabler” is closely engaged in a broad number of entrepreneur programs in Wichita including the E2E incubator, Start Up Grind, One Million Cups and Women Entrepreneurs of Kansas. In the interview she talks about the advantage of working with entrepreneurial start-ups because of the flexible of starting with a dream and a vision of what you want to do, but also have the ability to pivot if the market demands its. Her best advice to a startup entrepreneur is to start with yourself to make sure you are authentic. And then look at what your customers want and then, third is what are you doing for your employees with your company brand.  The entrepreneur starts the dream and then as part of branding be able to tell a clear message about what your company does or what products you are providing. Entrepreneurs need to keep the big picture in mind, and not the small details about the right font for marketing materials. The number one thing you need to do to get your message out is understanding the central message you want to communicate and then finding the right channel for that communication. The one thing that stands out with entrepreneurs is an understanding of what their passion is. And then working on that passion. We also highlighted the social impact of one of sponsors, Retreat to Joy and the advantages of understanding mindfulness and the balance of the leadership team. After the break we talk about creating strategy. A lot of people talk strategy and get tactical in trying to get the strategy going. A strategy is really the big dream, and then the ability to break it down into tactical action plans. Entrepreneurs also need to have the ability to adjust along the way. Understanding if you are getting off track from a strategy. We also talk about the purpose of One Million Cups as being a organization that inspires connections. The common themes of this podcast is really about connecting to a network, using mentors/advisors, giving back, being authentic, working with advisors. Connecting is really learning about what someone does and then helping them before you use that connection for yourself. We also talked about Brandy’s work with the Small Business Development Center workshops she does on branding and communications. Brandy also talks about her engagement with Camp Destination Innovation and how it actually builds youth entrepreneurs in four weeks. The common theme of Brandy’s work is being an enabler, her most recent project is Women Entrepreneurs of Kansas. We also talked about the need for early stage capital in the Wichita Entrepreneurial community. One of the highlights is the new Founders Grove ability to connect with Network Kansas to help find seed funding for a new small business entrepreneur. We highlighted the various groups that can help entrepreneurs, Network Kansas, Small Business Development Center, SCORE, the SBA, and groups like One Million Cups, Start Up Grind.  Be sure and check out our sponsors and let then know you found them on Saunders and Cash: Foreman Law, Retreat To Joy,  FlagshipKansas.tech, SCKEDD, Lee Gray Action Coach, Friends University, Shaken not Stirred Bartending

  We caught up with a very busy young entrepreneur,Jessica Thomas Tang who found her inspiration as to start a business as she was planning her own wedding, focused on helping brides on a budget.  Jessica is a new bride; an MBA student; works at the Hive; a local company designed to help women with co-working space and support to start businesses and a new entrepreneur. Wichita Coordination is designed to help brides on a budget have the wedding of their dreams, without breaking the bank. We also talked about why Dad’s might want to use a business like Wichita Coordination, to help stay on a budget. Part of what Jessica does is to help empower brides to work with family expectations and her own dreams to get a wedding that works for everyone. We also highlight the relationship Jessica has with Andrea, her boss at the Hive. Jessica really used that inspiring network to get a real business start-up. Jessica started her business two weeks before her own wedding. It wasn’t a business honeymoon, she actually came back to inquires and potential clients based on the works she did on social media channels like Instagram. Her supportive groups have included One Million Cups, The Hive, and the Wichita State University (WSU) supportive groups. Learn more about her ideas and how she plans to grow this business and make the business repeatable as it grows. We also talk about the entrepreneurial resources at WSU including LanuchPrep. Be sure and check out our sponsors and let then know you found them on Saunders and Cash: Foreman Law, Retreat To Joy,  FlagshipKansas.tech, SCKEDD, Lee Gray Action Coach, Friends University, Shaken not Stirred Bartending Lean more about Wichita Coordination. 

We welcome DJ to the show on this episode to share a bit about one of his passions, helping people find success in their communities. He's gone so far as to help establish a 1 Million Cups chapter in his city , which is a branch of the Kauffman Foundation. Starting & maintaining a business is a skill not taught in schools, but many of us have bright ideas, and outgoing personalities meant for just that. Listen in as we discuss how to take that crucial step out of your shell, and into the successful world you belong in! Enjoy

There are certain people in our industry who, when you meet them, you just kinda get excited about everything. Christine Saba is one of those people. Christine is technically the Head of Growth at Noiseaware, which is the fire alarm for noise. But her roles and responsibilities tend to spill over into all kinds of areas. I had the chance to visit NoiseAware's headquarters in Dallas, Texas and the irony that we had noise challenges in the recording was only surpassed by the fact that we solved them.  If you want to innovate like Christine, consider a demo with our friends at PointCentral (free HVAC Analytics included from this landing page): https://www.pointcentral.com/vrmb/ Mentioned in this episode: Noiseaware: https://noiseaware.io/ NoiseAware’s Booking.com Partnership: https://join.booking.com/lp/noiseaware/?utm_source=NA&utm_medium=inflG Heather's Vacation Rental Success Summit: www.vacationrentalsuccesssummit.com Dallas Pets Alive: https://dallaspetsalive.org/ One Million Cups:  https://www.1millioncups.com/dallas Rent Responsibly: https://rentresponsibly.org/ Lyric: https://www.lyric.com/ Sonder: https://www.sonder.com/ The Guild: https://theguild.co/ VRMA International: http://www.vrma.org/page/international-conference

This is part one of our interview with Marc Colcord and Brandy Willett, local leaders for the One Million Cups networking group. Each week this group introduces Wichita to two local businesses and/or non-profits. 

Catch part of our interview with Marc Colcord and Brandy Willett local leaders of the One Million Cups networking group. 

18:04 - Drew But I don't remember ever thinking to myself that I wanted to kill myself, but something in my head was saying you can't continue to keep doing this. So something has to be different. So I think the manifestation of that was something that was pretty scary that evening.   INTRO   In this episode, I talk with Drew Kincius about stress, money, anxiety, and the frightening night when it all became too much.  We will get into the details of what brought Drew to that point of overwhelm, but first, a little bit of background.  One of my first meetings with Drew was at a co-working space here in Indianapolis where he is the emcee of an event called One Million Cups, which is a monthly meetup that exists to support entrepreneurs.  Drew led the event with a disarming vulnerability.  In a one-on-one interaction, he is an active and engaged listener, you can see it in the way he listens intently, brows furrowed 42:32 - Drew Kincius I just, I like to get to know people, figure out what, what they're, what makes them tick and what really motivates them and then figure out a way that I can help to, help them grow and help them do what they love and grow their passions.   In addition to One Million Cups, Drew and his wife, Colleen, are passionate about contributing to their community through casues like Veg-Fest.  Drew works for a company called BeLithe 05:09 - Drew Kincius Yeah. So, I am the creative director at BeLithe and we are an organization that is, I like to describe us as, we're transforming individuals and companies through agile methodology.   He is the parent of pets with special needs 04:32 - Drew Kincius Yeah we have a dog named Ethel, who's recently gone blind but she's super great. And then we also have two cats:  Biz and Heidi, who is missing one of her back legs and then Biz has really really strong anxiety.   And he has a range of interests outside of work 06:44 - Drew Kincius I'm an avid runner. I run four to five miles every morning. It's almost like meditation for me, it just allows my thoughts to go wherever and then get centered again before I'm done. I also drum. So for the sake of all those lovely animals and my lovely wife, I've bought all these kind of fun mash drum heads and quiet cymbals I can still play and not annoy everyone. But I always say I'm not a bad drummer: it could be worse.   Drew has a great capacity to care for people and causes, and he gives a lot of himself to his work, and this capacity and passion eventually became a problem for Drew.  While living in Bloomington, Drew began to take on more and more responsibilities at his workplace.  He oversaw the new construction of space at the winery, which was exciting.  Then, upon opening, Drew was the general manager AND he ran the kitchen. There was a lot of pressure and no work-life balance. 09:15 - Drew Kincius Once again, a great experience but just a lot of pressure and there was no such thing as work life balance. I mean that's kind of what I was doing and that's it. So I think that really started a trend for me of I appreciate that I care about things. I appreciate that I put my heart into what I care about, but not being able to hit pause occasionally and see what else is going on in the world and just being so hyper focused on something that it just wears me out pretty, very quickly. So once again, that starting there was, it was, it was great. In terms of, I guess, I don't know when I say becoming an adult or whatever phrase you want to use there, but I got used to the idea that that's just what you did:  that you worked 10, 12, 14 hours a day, right, consistently.   Compounding this stress was the pressure of the hospitality industry in general   30:59 - Drew Kincius You have to be on. You have to be consistently performing. If you're a server or your bartender and you have an off night that directly affects your pay. If you're not feeling particularly social that one evening, that is a tremendous amount of stress even if you're the most extroverted person on the planet, that's stressful because we can't all be. Go go go go go. All at the same time.   After ten years in Bloomington, he decided to come back to Indianapolis. Drew moved in with his parents and began to work in alcohol production, learning how to make wines and beers.  He took a second job as well.    12:10 - Drew Kincius I was working two jobs that did not pay very well, working 60 65 hours a week not really having a any sort of plan or path to be able to eventually leave my parents. So that was a frustrating way to start. I guess a frustrating way to be introduced to Indianapolis.   It was a frustrating way to begin, but Drew soon moved to manage coworking space, his first 8-5 Monday through Friday job.  Yet, similar to his experience in Bloomington, Drew began taking on more responsibilities, creating new roles and expectations for himself.    13:27 - Drew Kincius And then, just like how the winery. There was a certain role and then something I added onto it. The coworking space added an additional space to it. So, there were two now that I was running instead of one. And I took it upon myself, back to the altruistic side of myself, to say OK well, not only am I going to run this space as a general manager and just make sure that the rooms are booked and that the Wi-Fi is working, but I'm going to be the director of community outreach or, I gave myself some some fancy title that barely fit on a business card.   There was a particular stress to working as a manager of a coworking space 22:11 - Drew Kincius The job that people that run coworking facilities have is very stressful because people don't realize this, but you're working for your company, you know you're, you're helping your clients and your customers but you're actually working in the exact same space they work too. So imagine pouring drinks for someone and then, like, grabbing a beer with them at the same time. It would just be a really weird dynamic. It's hard to tell people, hey I have to work on something even though you're my customer. It's a strange dynamic there.     This stress was mounting, both the stress of a full schedule and also stress around money issues.  And that stress began to take its toll physically. 15:03 - Drew Kincius So I, a couple of times actually in 2017, I had gotten, I had gone to the hospital because I had felt like something was going on with my heart and I'd had a couple of weird episodes in a couple. I don't know maybe one 5 years ago and one two/three years ago. I would just wake up and feel like somebody was sitting on my chest and some people, some people I've talked to have suggested maybe it was anxiety. Some people have said acid reflux and some people said all emotional or it was purely physical. But I think it was a little combination of both.   Musical transition 16:01 - Drew Kincius I just remember, I had come home one day and I don't think my day was particularly stressful. I just remember the culmination of not feeling like I was able to make the kind of impact that I was making that I wanted to make.    The role that I had I was just really really frustrated and, and I took that frustration out on my significant other in a verbal argument sort of way. And then, I just remember, and it's a little it's foggy that night, but I but I distinctly remember just not having control over myself anymore and not in this, like ,I want to break everything but almost this there's so much going on in my head that I can't, like my brain can't handle what's going on internally. And so it's almost like something shut off, just as a survival tactic.    And so I just remember walking outside. We live right off a College Avenue, which is obviously a pretty busy street. And I just mean, we're walking outside going into the grass and just like laying down and then I remembered that I just got so frustrated at myself that I actually went and I started actually walk towards the street without the intention of stopping and just hanging out in traffic and seeing what was happening.   17:43 - Drew Kincius And I just hesitate. Suicide is a very real and a very, it's, it's something to not be taken lightly and it's, it's a, it's finality that doesn't ever go away. But I don't remember ever thinking to myself that I wanted to kill myself, but something in my head was saying you can't continue to keep doing this. So something has to be different. So I think the manifestation of that was something that was pretty scary that evening.   18:22 - Drew Kincius Luckily my wife I mean she, she saw what was going on. And she she's not very big. But when endorphins kick in, and it wasn't like I was really fighting her, but she just kind of pulled me aside and then we walked back towards the house and then I just sat there in the grass and I don't think I ever felt as empty as I did sitting in the grass. I was completely disconnected with what was going on around me. I mean, I still remember my shirt being stretched out on one side from her having to like tug me away from. I didn't run into the street and I wasn't yelling or making a fuss. I just, it was it was like I was a zombie going towards, going towards the street.   [00:19:17.690] - Drew Kincius So that the next morning, I emailed my, I just knew I wasn't in the mental state to to go into work, so I e-mailed my employer and as I mentioned this earlier to you, but I was very clear with them and I said:  I I don't know if I'd call it a breakdown or whatever it was but I did not. I had a bad night, so I won't be coming in. And I was very open about that and they were very, their response was really great as well.   19:48 - Drew Kincius  And they said don't worry about it. Like, come in when you come in.   Musical transition   23:20 - Drew Kincius And I did talk to some of the coworking members that were my friends and share that I was struggling but it was hard to explain that exact evening with people because it wasn't, that moment was there and gone. That's not what I cared about anymore. It was all the stuff around it that it caused that moment which is still real.   Musical transition   24:11 - Liesel Mertes When you had a moment like that, is there something that enters into your process where you wonder is this going to happen again? Like does that, did that kind of creep on the shadows of wondering like, oh is this going to be tonight or tomorrow that you were also having to deal with in real time?   24:34 - Drew Kincius Yeah, and I mean leading up to that, then there were moments when I would just sit in bed like lay in bed and just be really really sad. And that happened a lot after that too. And because I was in a very public facing role, I didn't feel comfortable with, I would shut down when I got home. Which is really unfair to my family. But I could be open and vulnerable with them. And so, at a certain point I decided that I need to be open and vulnerable with everyone else and not just fall apart when I get home. Because, once again, that's not fair to the people that I care about to say, oh I'm on during the day, and then forever, you know when I get home, then I just, I'm trash. I just shut down.   As Drew moved towards becoming healthy, he began to see a counselor.  26:02 - Drew Kincius I hadn't really been to a counselor in three or four years, so that was a moment where I said, oh yeah. Just like with your physical health, maybe your mental health should be something that you proactively consider instead of just being reactive if you're having a massive heart attack and you're being reactive. There's probably habits that have led to that and that's, that's what it felt like, not to create some silly phrase, but it was, it was, it was like I had some sort of attack right but it was more about my soul and it was more about my emotions and it was like physically something locking up. So from there on, I was just a lot more open. But with with friends. Especially with my wife, I had had this martyrdom complex of being the provider and being the person who needed to right the ship and make sure that everything was doing what I needed to do.   This openness and vulnerability is especially important to Drew 32:48 - Drew Kincius it just made me realize that a lot of people that I see is very strong individuals who seem to have everything that they want and have things tidy it up, you don't know what's going on internally and you don't know what they're struggling with because they're struggling with something whether or not they admit it.   As he moved towards healing, Drew also took proactive steps within his life structuring 27:02 - Drew Kincius But I just started to say no to things. I started to take stock of the things. I was in a band and I started to dread going to rehearsal. So why am I doing that? There are organizations that I was a part of that I enjoyed being a part of these organizations but I didn't really put the time into it that they needed to to create the impact I wanted. So, just respecting dead space and respecting just not having so much utility in my life was one of the big aspects   Drew also changed the way that he talked to people 29:06 - Drew Kincius I know I've mentioned this to you before, but if you walk up to somebody and say, How are you? They're going to say, "Oh, I'm fine" or, "Oh I'm great." But, but they're not universally sad or happy or whatever the phrase is. And so, when you ask a question like that of a question you're going to get a vague answer. And so, that's really helped me to say things like, when a man is, somebody, what's the best thing that's happened today? Or, if I know someone is struggling with something, just ask a question like, how are things, not how are things, but, but hey I heard about a loss in your family or or just just saying, I'm here for you if you need me. But not setting that, not setting an expectation of saying I have to help you. And if you don't call on me I'm gonna be upset.   Musical transition 33:39 - Liesel Mertes As you think about that version of you from a couple of years ago, sitting in that driveway, what would you speak to yourself or someone in a situation like that, either at that sort of an apex feeling moment or leading up to it?   34:05 - Drew Kincius The idea that, although you are one of what, seven and a half billion people on the planet, your impact, if you quantify it, may seem small but it's still very very important.   4:21 - Drew Kincius And I was looking at myself in that vantage point as one, not, you know, I'm thirty one, thirty, thirty one, would have my injuries and there's all this stuff I haven't done, I was thinking very glass half empty. I should have really been thinking about all the things I had, how appreciative I should have been. And just to ask for help, you know the person that I was closest with, my wife I did not feel comfortable with asking her for help or being very open with her about a lot of this.   34:57 - Drew Kincius And so me just having this giant break down in front of her, she knew that I was struggling already, it wasn't a secret but that opened up the door for me to just say, I'm still, I'm, if I'm struggling with something and ask for help, there's absolutely no shame in having to do that. And the yeah, Drew from two years ago was pretty excited about himself. I like me as a person still, but I'm a lot more excited about who I'm empowering in and the actions I'm taking to help make the world a better place, which is a very pie in the sky thing to say, but I'm not interested in me and how I can boost my standing. I'm interested in helping other people figure out what their calling is and how they can make an impact and be at peace with who they are and thrive.   36:05 - Liesel Mertes Thank you for that. And if you could offer any words to someone like Colleen in that setting to say, to someone who says, I I care about someone who I think is going through something similar, whether it's my co-worker or my significant other or my son, what words you offer to that person?   36:34 - Drew Kincius Call for backup. And she did that. I mean, there was a point when I came home from work and my parents and my sister were randomly at my house because Colleen had talked to them and said sometimes, something, something's going on here, something's not right. And the biggest takeaway from that is is they, they came over and said, we are here to help but we're not going to tell you what you have to do. But you need to understand that, that you that this has to happen sooner than later. Because I have so I had so many distractions in my life. And I think that's why I stayed so busy, because in the dead space is when you really started to think about what's going on. And if there's things that bother you, they started to creep up to the surface. But if you're just only thinking about tasks and you're only trying to get things done, you can   37:29 - Liesel Mertes Then you're just in execution.   [00:37:30.930] - Drew Kincius That's right. Push that kind of stuff side. And so, so when I say ask for backup, I mean you never know if somebody doesn't feel comfortable with talking to you about what some their issues are. To have other people reach out. And it can be something as simple as just a quick phone call and just saying, hey what's up. And not starting it with, hey I've heard specifically that in this exact instance you are struggling right now. That's a lot to throw on someone. They get defensive. But if you just call and say, hey what's going on? And if you, if you mentioned something that you're struggling with, something it's not going super wrong in your life. The likeliness of somebody else opening up about that same thing is gonna be a lot stronger because they there's empathy there.   38:22 - Liesel Mertes You know what I hear in that was there was an important, importance of people reaching out relationally,. not telling you a certain thing you had to do and meeting you with their own vulnerability. Does that seem to kind of capture the people that met you well? Some of the things that they were doing?   38:41 - Drew Kincius Addiction works in that similar way where, if you tell someone they have to do something, they will never take ownership in the process of trying to remove that addiction from their lives. So by saying this needs to happen but, but allowing me to figure out what that next step is, it allows me to take ownership in that process.   39:06 - Drew Kincius And so patience is very important too, because I'm sure if my family had a choice or if my wife had a choice, in that moment, they would have just physically taken me and put me in a car and just went to someone to talk out my feelings. But once again, they'd be them mandating that for me and I would always say, well you made me do this and you made me do that. Which is, I'm not saying that's the right thing for me to do, but most human beings, although it comes from a good place, they treat that as as as aggressive or some sort of attack or something like that.   39:40 - Liesel Mertes You know, whether you're 4 or 45, you don't really want to be told what to do.   39:44 - Drew Kincius Right. When I was a kid, my mom would say, you need to take a nap. And I'm like, I'm fine, I don't need to take a nap, I don’t know what you're talking about. And I'd be crying, clearly exhausted, and then I would take a nap and wake up and it was unicorns and butterflies and everything.    Musical transition   41:25 - Drew Kincius You know we're all struggling with something. We're all, we have very, very, busy lives. The world expects a lot out of us, but people are still people. And you'll be pleasantly surprised that if you actually talk to humans as humans not only what you'll get out of it but for those people who are in a high stress situation, like that dealing with people all the time, you might be making their day or you might be helping them get through their day because you care about the...more than once, again, just over an output of what you need   Musical Transition   A few reflections on Drew’s story, both for those that are struggling with feeling that it is all too much and for the coworkers, friends, and family that surround them.  Reach out relationally. If you see someone struggling, give them a call, grab a meal. And here are some helpful pointers for the interaction.  Don’t just ask a vague, “How are your doing?” question; you will get a vague answer. And, as Drew said, maybe don’t start out the interaction with making it all about their problem.  Connect on a human level.  Perhaps ease into the conversation, maybe share a story of your own struggle or weakness, making a way for them to be vulnerable as well.  If you are a support person, whether at work or in a personal context, be patient and be an advocate for the affected individual.It is tempting to prescribe a path for healing, to try to force someone to follow your suggestion.  For Drew, it was important to feel ownership and agency as he choose his journey towards healing.  Beware of pushing too hard.  If you are feeling on the brink, like it is all just too much, I offer you Drew’s words of insight: if you are struggling with feeling hopeless and overwhelmed, there is no shame in asking for help.  Who are the safe people in your world that you can share with?  Beyond your social sphere, there are resources available. Many workplaces offer you access to heavily subsidized or free counseling through the Employee Assistance Program, or EAP.  You may have forgotten about your EAP, or the info is buried in your employee onboarding packet.  So, I encourage you to ask your HR representative about access.  These services are completely confidential and can be so very helpful.    Outro  

This week the Eggs crew come together to talk about the many goings on recently. Hot off the heels of a travel disaster for Ryan, Mike has one of his own in Denver, CO on his way to meet with DJ Z-Trip (LL Cool J's guy) about his software project. Ryan prepares to leave to LA for the "Mini Mø-Tour" where his favorite Danish pop-singer MØ will be performing this Thursday and Friday night in LA and Santa Ana, CA. The guys also talk about some recent studio upgrades, Silicon Slopes, One Million Cups and investing in Bavaria. It's a little all over but sure to be a good time. Tune in and check it out! Our Guests: Eggs hosts Mike and Ryan The Carton: https://medium.com/@eggsshow Feature with Zack Chmeis of Straight Method https://medium.com/@eggsshow/zack-chmeis-35dae817ac28 The Eggs Podcast Spotify playlist: bit.ly/eggstunes The Plugs: The Show eggscast.com @eggshow on twitter and instagram On iTunes: itun.es/i6dX3pC On Stitcher: bit.ly/eggs_on_stitcher Also available on Google Play Music! Mike "DJ Ontic" shows and info djontic.com @djontic on twitter Ryan R2 SLC/BCN r2mg.com ryanroghaar.com @r2mg on twitter @r2mediagroup on instagram

During this panel with a live studio audience at the University of North Carolina - Pembroke, four panelists discussed marketing, finance, measurement, and analytics and behavioral finance.  Suzanne Altobello, Caroline Glackin, Kim Adamof and Cyndi Fifield shared their thoughts on measuring the success of marketing campaigns, their views on Net Promoter Scores, and practical things leaders could do to improve their reach and increase conversions.  Michael Barbera moderated the panel from UNC-P's Thomas Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.  Panelists Suzanne Altobello, University of North Carolina-Pembroke Caroline Glackin, Fayetteville State University Kim Adamof, Raleigh Inbound Marketing Cyndi Fifield, Novae Design Group Moderator Michael Barbera, Barbera Solutions | Consumer Experience Lab About The Thomas Center for Entrepreneurship Incubator at the University of North Carolina - Pembroke The Thomas Center for Entrepreneurship Incubator at the University of North Carolina helps startups and small business succeed so they can create jobs. To support this mission, the newly renovated facility located in downtown Pembroke has nine private incubator spaces, a variety of co-working spaces, a maker’s space, and an ideation lab. We offer a range of programs for entrepreneurs to improve their skills and build their network from One Million Cups and Startup Grind to workshops from the SBA and talks from local business men and women who have successfully started companies. We are thrilled to host Clicksuasion's Nudge Pembroke Panel.

Chris and Brian sit down with Ryan Sanderson. Ryan is involved in several different ventures. He is a Founding Organizer of One Million Cups of York County. One Million Cups is program designed to educate, engage, and connect entrepreneurs with their communities. He is also the Co-Owner of Knowledge Perk. Knowledge Perk is a full immersion coffee experience in Rock Hill that gives the customer the chance to guide, lead and learn about the entire coffee making process. Ryan is also the Co-Owner of Scraps Trash Removal. Scraps is a full service trash pick up company serving York County. They make taking your garbage to the dump a chore no more. Ryan is also Chair of the Small Business Council and a Board Member of the York County Chamber of Commerce. And as if all of that wasn't enough, he is in the band at Lakewood Baptist Church. www.thejoneszones.com www.1millioncups.com www.knowledgeperk.com www.scrapstrashremoval.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/undisputedawareness/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/undisputedawareness/support

In today s high tech world, we re increasingly isolated from one another. And yet, in some ways it s easier than ever to make connections. On this edition of Out to Lunch, Stephanie Riegel introduces two guests who are helping us connect. One, through an app that brings people together; the other, through an organization that helps start up businesses connect and find synergies that can help them thrive and grow. Alayna Dixon is the creator of a mobile app called Redu, which enables its users to connect with someone they ve actually seen and might like to meet. It s like a mobile dating web site, but instead of browsing through bios and pictures of strangers, you re searching for a guy or a girl you ve actually spotted in an elevator or walking across campus or at the gym. And if that person has the app, too and here s the key to its success then you re able to find them and make contact. Alayna and her mom, Marcelle, created the app after one missed opportunity. They rolled out the product earlier in 2016 a first time venture for a stay at a home mom and a recent college graduate. Matthew Wiggins helps local tech entrepreneurs like the Dixons turn their great ideas into products and bring them to market by helping them meet other entrepreneurs and potential investors. Matthew Wiggins is one of the local Baton Rouge organizers of One Million Cups, a national nonprofit organization that is designed to educate, engage and connect entrepreneur. The group meets every week to hear a presentation from one or two start ups. The rest of the time, Matthew is a consultant with the Louisiana Business and Technology Center where he is managing a new prototyping center called Protostripes. Photos at Mansurs on the Boulevard by Ken Stewart. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eric Renz-Whitmore is a ninja-level organizer, networker and promoter within Albuquerque's tech scene, and just wrapped an amazing Tech Fiesta ABQ week. He is Community Manager at the NM Technology Council, Organizer at One Million Cups, and Organizer at Startup Weekend New Mexico. We chat about cool stuff happening with art and tech, news on start-ups in NM and more. Host Peri Pakroo is joined by Pyragraph Contributing Editors Josh Stuyvesant and Jeremy Kinter, and Contributing Editor at Large Eva Avenue. Theme song: "Brainless Job" by Grand Canyon (featuring Sam Miller). The video is rad.